26 Aug 2011 – Daily Monitoring Report
Key Headlines:
- Authorities conduct security operations in Darkenley district Mogadishu
- Mogadishu Mayor meets with Ba`aad Market traders
- Angola to announce $ 5 million for Somalia aid
- Famine displaced people complain of robbing looting by govt soldiers
- Al Shabaab detain Koranic class teacher in Beledweyne Hiiraan
- AU famine meet raises $351m figure questioned
SOMALI MEDIA
Authorities conduct security operations in Darkenley district, Mogadishu
25 Aug – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan – 151 words
Darkenley district authorities have said that they are conducting a major security operation aimed at curbing criminals from infiltrating their area and pose security threats to locals in the district. Darkenley district commissioner Maalim Abdullahi Hilowle told Bar-kulan that his administration is prioritizing security issues in the district, saying that they have already arrested several people suspected of trying to plant land mines in the district. He said that they are holding three suspects who are alleged to be members of the outlawed al Shabaab militia group in Darkenley central police station. He added that the suspects were arrested as they were trying to implant land mines in areas within the district. Hilowle said they will handover the suspects to the concerned institutions for further actions against them. The DC however revealed that his administration intends to establish military court in the district, claiming that they have a cordial working relationship with local residents.
Somali lawmaker passes away in Mogadishu city
26 Aug – Source: Radio Shabelle and Kulmiye – 85 words
A Somali lawmaker on Friday morning died in Mogadishu. Adam Ibrahim Malaq Dhayow, a Somali MP, confirmed the death of the lawmaker Ibrahim Garabey during in a brief interview with the media. The deceased parliamentarian had been sick for the last few days and died in his house near the presidential compound this morning, Dhayow said. He worked as senior in the past governments of Somalia and hailed from the region of Bay, southern Somalia.
Mogadishu Mayor meets with Ba`aad Market traders
26 Aug – Source: Radio Mogadishu, SONNA – 180 words
Mogadishu Mayor Mohamud Ahmed Noor Tarzan has said that steps to improve the living and working conditions in markets in the capital are set to improve after meeting with Ba’aad Market traders. Tarzan said that the security and mutual cooperation with traders will continue as long as the traders keep the end of their bargain. The Mogadishu mayor also warned of traders against building business outlets on the roadside as well as erecting small shops in unwanted places in the capital.
Addressing the local business community at the Ba’aad Market, located East of the capital Mogadishu, Tarzan said that the Somali government in collaboration with his administration are determined to develop the private sector as well as create progress for the markets located in Mogadishu.
Ba’aad Market was a famous al Shabaab stronghold and was badly ruined in the fighting but is set to undergo complete renovation. The market has also been officially opened with traders set to immediately commence on their daily duties after the Somali government forces and AMISOM flashed out al Shabaab from Mogadishu.
University in Puntland holds fund-raiser to help famine victims
25 Aug – Source: Garowe Online – 169 words
University students in Somalia’s stable Puntland region have held a fund-raiser to help famine victims in southern Somalia, Garowe reports. Puntland State University President Mohamud Sheikh Hamud told reporters Thursday in the Puntland capital of Garowe that the event was organized by PSU students and the university’s administration. The PSU endeavor is part of ongoing efforts by the people of Puntland to help fellow Somali victims of the famine in Mogadishu and southern Somalia.
Mr. Hamud encouraged PSU students and other supporters to send the relief aid to southern Somalia “before Eid celebrations,” which is Tuesday or Wednesday marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Puntland President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole has repeatedly appealed to Puntland’s community leaders and business class to fundraise and send financial and material support to Somali famine victims.
Angola to announce $ 5 million for Somalia aid
25 Aug – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan – 167 words
Angola is set to announce $5 million aid in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to help relieve the humanitarian situation prevailing in Somalia. Angolan Foreign minister, George Chicoti made the announcement in the capital, Luanda on Wednesday.
The minister was speaking to the press shortly before leaving for Ethiopia, where he will attend, in representation of the head of State, José Eduardo dos Santos, the Summit of African Heads of State under the aegis of the continental organization, Angola Press reports. Meanwhile, the Angolan head of State, José Eduardo dos Santos and the former Ghanaian president, Jerry Rawlings, Wednesday in Luanda, discussed the humanitarian crisis prevailing in the Horn of Africa region.
After the audience, Jerry Rawlings, who is the AU Commission High Representative to the Horn of Africa, told the press that he had received from president José Eduardo dos Santos guarantees that the Angolan authorities will extend their solidarity to help relieve the situation caused by drought and affecting more than 12 million people in the region covering Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Famine displaced people complain of robbing, looting by govt soldiers
26 Aug – Source: Shabelle – 100 words
Some famine-displaced people in Mogadishu are complaining about TFG soldiers who are allegedly robbing and looting aid food intended to feed them. Drought affected families at IDP camps in Mogadishu’s Dharkenley district told Shabelle radio that aid food was often looted before reaching the needy people. They say that some aid from Turkish government has come under raid and was then looted while hundreds of drought and famine hit families were waiting for it. The government has recently vowed to create Special Forces to protect aid convoys, but these have yet to be used.
http://www.shabelle.net/
Somalis in Dubai send aid to Mogadishu IDP’s
26 Aug – Source: Radio Mogadishu – 123 words
The Somali community in Dubai has today delivered cash, food and non-food items to internally displaced persons in Waberi district of Mogadishu. The food rations distributed to the drought hit IDP’s contained rice, dates and oil that saw 350 families benefit from the relief aid, with every family receiving 10kgs of dates, 10 kgs of rice and 3 kgs of cooking fat. The Somali community in Dubai sent the aid, which was distributed by the management of Keysaney local Hospital in North of Mogadishu. A SONNA News correspondent confirmed that a sum of nine thousand ($9000 USD) was donated by the Somali community dwelling in Dubai as part of the growing aid programs initiated by the Somali communities all over the world.
Al Shabaab detain Koranic class teacher in Beledweyne, Hiiraan
26 Aug – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan – 122 words
Al Shabaab in Beledweyne town of Hiiraan region have reportedly detained a Koranic class teacher after one of his relatives ditched the militia and disappeared with a gun. The militia vowed not to release Mr. Abdullahi Warsame until his cousin returns their gun. Mr. Warsame, who is said to be a Koran class teacher at a local Koran school in Bergadid area in Mataban district of Hiiraan region, was arrested in Beledweyne town which he was visiting at the time. Local elders in Beledweyne town failed to secure his release after the militia insisted on holding him in custody until their gun was returned. The elders accused the militia of infringing the rights of the teacher as he was not the one who disappeared with the gun.
Grenade attack injures a journalist in northern Galkayo, Mudug region
26 Aug – Source: Radio Shabelle, Kulmiye and Risala, – 153 words
Reports from northern Galkayo town say unknown gangs have on Thursday night attacked Daljir radio station with hand grenades injuring a journalist and a guard. The attack occurred in the late hours of the night.
Daljir editor, Farhan Jemis confirmed to the media, that the injured journalist is in critical condition while the guard is in stable condition following injuries they sustained during the attack. He said the two are incubating in one of the hospitals in the district. The building housing the station is said to have been badly damaged especially the studio, management office and other centers close to the radio station.
It is not yet known who the attackers were and the motive behind their attack on the station. Locals say the attack indicates fragile security situation in Puntland-administered northern Galkayo. The incident comes just a day after a remote-controlled land mine went off near Sayland Hotel on Wednesday night causing no human casualties.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Ugandans leading al Shabaab
25 Aug – Source: New Vision – 181 words
Some commanders of al Shabaab fighting to overthrow the Transitional Federal Government in Somalia are Ugandans, the UPDF spokesperson, Lt Col. Felix Kulayigye, has said. The revelation comes a few weeks after the AMISOM peacekeepers and TFG forces captured Mogadishu from the al Shabaab group. Al Shabaab is formally a military wing of the deposed Islamic Court Union that controlled central and southern Somalia in 2006.
Kulayigye told heads of diplomatic missions and religious leaders from Africa that the militants commanding al Shabaab were not Somalis, but Ugandans, Pakistanis and others from Arab countries.
This, he said, had complicated the conflict that had been raving since the fall of Siad Barre’s government in 1991. Kulayigye was speaking during a conference organised by a united religions initiative at Hotel Africana in Kampala on Tuesday.
Ugandan and Burundian troops make up the 9,000 strong AU peacekeeping forces protecting the beleaguered government. Kulayigye blasted some Western countries that he said were calling for early elections following the relative peace in Mogadishu. He said the political situation in Somalia was still too volatile for polls.
http://newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/
WAMY distributes water to drought victims in Somalia
24 Aug – Source: Saudi Press Agency – 77 words
World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) has distributed water to hundreds of families affected by drought and famine in Somalia, especially in the region of “Bay” which is one of the most affected regions by drought in this country. Water transported to the affected regions by tankers, according to WAMY. International relief agencies of the United Nations had warned that the drought and famine in Somalia could lead to a humanitarian tragedy of serious consequences and dimensions.
http://www.spa.gov.sa/English/
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Food prices unaffordable in Kenya and Somalia
25 Aug – Source: SOS – 564 words
The emergency aid program of SOS Children’s Villages in East Africa is securing food for the drought victims. Both in Kenya and Somalia there is actually food available in local stores, but almost no one can afford it. The prices on basic food supplies have risen to the sky.
When we hear of a hunger disaster like in Kenya and Somalia, most people imagine an area with no food at all. The drought in Kenya and Somalia has spoiled the harvest in many areas, but even in some of the worst-hit districts of Somalia and Northern Kenya, the stores can still provide basic food supplies.
“We want to start giving out food for the refugees in Mogadishu and Baidoa, although we also have to think of logistics and security. Just recently, ten people were killed when a truck with food came into the Badbado camp. Where we can, we will try to contract with local stores and give out food vouchers for the needy instead,” Ahmed Mohamed, National Director of SOS Children’s Villages Somalia said.
http://www.sos-usa.org/
UNICEF charter plane lands in Southern Somalia
26 Aug – Source: UNICEF – 476 words
An aircraft, chartered by UNICEF, has landed in Somalia carrying five tons of life-saving supplies. It is the second relief flight to have landed outside of the capital Mogadishu – the first flights in two years which have been permitted in this area.
Dennis McKinlay, Executive Director of UNICEF NZ said, “The south of Somalia is the area worst affected by the drought, so getting supplies into this region is significant for the many vulnerable children who need our help. Getting aid to people before they have to move from their homes is one of UNICEF’s key priorities.”
UNICEF’s NGO partners received the supplies as soon as the plane landed in Garbaharey, Gedo region a few days ago. The plane carried micro-nutrients and medicines for malnourished children, as well as emergency high-energy biscuits, to benefit vulnerable children and their families affected by the drought in Garbaharey and Bardera.
http://www.unicef.org.nz/
Somalia may face generation dying
26 Aug – Source: china.org.cn – 776 words
African leaders convened a fund-raising conference Thursday for famine-wracked Somalia, where tens of thousands of people have already died and 3.2 million are on the brink of starvation, with a top United Nations official warning that the crisis stretches far beyond hunger to issues of health, protection and livelihood.
“The future of an entire generation hangs in the balance,” Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro told the pledging conference hosted by the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. “If we do not respond, the consequences will reverberate for years. We will be asked how we stood by and watched a generation die, how we allowed a crisis to become a catastrophe, when we could have stopped it.”
She noted that communities had already been shattered and a generation of orphans would bear the scars of hunger for the rest of their lives. Migiro stressed the multiple facets of the crisis, including public health, with disease, including cholera and measles, threatening to spread throughout Mogadishu, the capital, and beyond.
“We must do everything to ensure that affected communities have enough clean water, medicine and hygiene supplies to stop it spreading further,” she said. “This is also a protection crisis, where women face the threat of rape in overcrowded camps, where orphaned children are lost and scared, with no sense of future, where refugees are being preyed upon by armed gangs and bandits during their long walk to safety.”
http://www.china.org.cn/world/
Somalia welcomes drought pledge by African Nations
25 Aug – Source: VOA – 305 words
A spokesman for Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government, Abdirahman Omar Osman, welcomed the “exceptional” contribution made at a donor’s conference in Addis Ababa Thursday. The conference was organized by African Union, which says the meeting raised more than $350 million for East Africa drought relief.
AU Commission chairman Jean Ping told reporters the donations included $300 million from the African Development Bank and $51 million from other African sources. Osman said the funds will go a long way to help combat drought in the region. “This is the first time that we have seen [Africans] coming together for the sake of helping [their] brothers and sisters in the Horn of Africa,” said Osman. He was cautiously optimistic, despite previous promises by the international community that have not been met.
“We have seen before pledges being made but not fulfilled,” said Osman. “We believe this time is different because of the manner in which it was organized…and we believe the African Union is taking the leadership [in] solving issues that concern the continent.” The AU has been criticized for its slow response to the drought and famine in parts of East Africa.
AU famine meet raises $351m, figure questioned
16 Aug – Source: Reuters – 605 words
A much-delayed African Union summit held to raise money to tackle famine in Somalia and drought in the Horn of Africa held on Thursday raised $351 million officials said, but activists questioned the figure.
Out of the $351 million announced by Jean Ping, chairman of the AU commission, $300 million came from the African Development Bank, to be spent over a four-year period, not to be used to bridge a $1.4 billion shortfall aid groups say they need for the emergency. About 12 million people need emergency food across the ‘triangle of death’ region, straddling Somalia – where famine was declared in five regions – Kenya and Ethiopia.
‘This is what we pledged today,’ said Ping. ‘It is new money and it is exclusively African.’ Of the remaining $51 million announced, many of the donations appear to have been announced before and donations came from less than half of the AU’s 54 members. ‘We counted about $46 million in cash pledges,’ Irungu Houghton, pan Africa policy director for aid group Oxfam, told Reuters.
‘Just 21 countries made pledges out of 54 and, of the $46 million; $20 million came from three states – Algeria, Angola, and Egypt.’ Activists singled out Africa’s economic powerhouses Nigeria and South Africa for criticism after Nigeria pledged just $2 million and South Africa’s figure of $10 million was questioned.
‘In the case of South Africa, they actually seem to have contributed about $1 million dollars if you actually strip it to cash value, Houghton said African activists and political commentators took to social media to lambaste the fact that only four heads of state — from Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti and Equatorial Guinea — attended the summit.
Jerry Rawlings, former president of Ghana and now AU representative for Somalia, told Reuters he had ‘expected better’. Many aid experts, analysts and diplomats had said they expected little from an organization that has often been perceived as toothless and has seen its funding battered by the absence of its main financier, Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi.
Speakers, including Ping, acknowledged the criticisms but said they needed time to prepare and that they had already donated money. Kenya and Ethiopia won praise at the summit from leaders and activists for dealing with an influx of Somali refugees fleeing a prolonged conflict that aid experts say has worsened the impact of a bad drought and led to famine.
Analysts say African governments’ repeated pleas of poverty when asked for donations, rings hollow with several economies now oil-rich and others seeing double-digit growth over the past five years. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said the situation in the refugee camps was dire and that Somalis need to be given aid in their own country despite most of the regions affected being under the control of the Islamist al Shabaab rebel group.
Meles said Ethiopia would buy 300,000 tons of wheat to replenish its food reserves. Some ordinary Africans, frustrated by their governments’ reaction to the crisis, have stepped in and set up impromptu fundraising groups across the continent.
One of those, Africans Act 4 Africa, had urged countries to donate a ‘proportional’ share based on their economies, saying a $50 million pledge was the least that should be given but that $100 million would have shown a serious commitment.
‘It’s an important step in the right direction,’ European Union commission for humanitarian aid, Kristalina Georgieva, told Reuters. ‘Africa is now taking on the problems it faces. This is the first such summit held by a young organization with little humanitarian experience and a small but dedicated team. It will improve in the future.’
http://af.reuters.com/article/
CULTURE/EDITORIALS/BLOGS
World Humanitarian Day: Time to pay tribute to all who serve humanity
26 Aug – Source: Daily Monitor – 398 words
Last month, I sat with an exhausted Somali family that had walked for weeks to find shelter and food. We met in the Dadaab Refugee Camp – now the world’s largest camp and everyday growing larger.
The family with whom I shared only the briefest of moments was finally safe, thanks to the dedication of humanitarian aid workers laboring around the clock. They make it possible for nearly 400,000 Somalis fleeing hunger and conflict at home to find food, water, shelter, and medical care in Dadaab.
The World Humanitarian Day is an opportunity to pay tribute to these men and women who work in difficult and sometimes dangerous conditions, and who dedicate their work and their lives to the service of humanity. They place themselves at greatest risk than the UN peacekeepers – they carry no guns but face as much danger.
In 2010, there were 129 security incidents targeting humanitarian workers – 69 were killed, 86 were injured and 87 were kidnapped. A study commissioned by the UN says more than 100 aid workers are killed annually. These are the people risking their lives inside Somalia.
In Doolow, I had the opportunity to meet some of these remarkable individuals working on the frontline to help the people in greatest need. Among them was Maurice Kiboye, a programme manager for the European Union’s humanitarian partner COOPI. He talked about the families who rely on his team for their very survival and how brave they were in the face of hunger and armed gangs.
He also told me that he is able to do his work because the community protects him – “we are there for them, so they are there for us”. His words go to the very essence of the theme of this year’s World Humanitarian Day, which is ‘People helping people’.
http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/