December 31, 2014 | Daily Monitoring Report.
Fresh tribal clashes break out in Deefow
31 Dec – Source: Radio Goobjoog – 81 Words
Heavy tribal clashes broke out in Deefow locality 35 kilometres North of Beledweyne district earlier on Wednesday. The exact casualty figure in the clashes is not clearly known but locals say the sounds of the bullets were heard from far away area as the two clan militias use heavy weapons. Our correspondent in Hiran region states that there have so far been no efforts made by elders and the administration to ease the hostilities and tensions between the two clans.
Key Headlines
- Fresh tribal clashes break out in Deefow (Radio Goobjoog)
- The President returns from Egypt (Al-Shahid.net/Horseed Media)
- WFP to resume full rations for refugees in Kenya (Radio Goobjoog)
- Puntland leader pays first visit to former pirate hub (Garowe Online)
- Somali army captures Shabaab stronghold (Star Africa)
- Two killed in separate Mogadishu attacks (World Bulletin)
- Refugees living on Nauru say they want to return to detention to flee violence (The Guardian)
- Kenya’s tourism slump is dragging down its economy (Skift.com/Bloomberg )
SOMALI MEDIA
Fresh tribal clashes break out in Deefow
31 Dec – Source: Radio Goobjoog – 81 Words
Heavy tribal clashes broke out in Deefow locality 35 kilometres North of Beledweyne district earlier on Wednesday. The exact casualty figure in the clashes is not clearly known but locals say the sounds of the bullets were heard from far away area as the two clan militias use heavy weapons. Our correspondent in Hiran region states that there have so far been no efforts made by elders and the administration to ease the hostilities and tensions between the two clans.
The President returns after visit to Egypt
31 Dec – Source: Al-Shahid.net/Horseed Media – 124 Words
President of the Federal Republic of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has returned to Mogadishu today after an official visit to Egypt. The President accompanied by ministers and other officials landed at Aden-Adde International Airport where he was welcomed by Speaker, Mr. Mohamed Sheikh Osman Jawari ministers, MPs, military commanders and other officials.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud on Mondaydiscussed Somalia’s efforts to fight “terrorist militias” in it, the Egyptian presidency said. It added in a statement that a meeting in Cairo between the two leaders also focused on latest developments on Somalia’s internal stage and efforts made by the Somali government to take control of Somali territories and confront terrorist militias.
Al-Sisi told the Somali President that Egypt was ready to offer help to Somalia so that it could honor its commitments, the presidency said in a statement. It added that the Egyptian President had underlined the importance of security and stability in Somalia. Mohamoud arrived in Cairo late on Sunday, heading a high-level delegation from his country, for talks with al-Sisi and Arab League Chief Nabil al-Arabi.
The Somali President is expected to spend a few days in Egypt, according to the official Middle East News Agency. The Egyptian presidency said al-Sisi also asked his government to offer assistance to Somalia – in the light of the needs of the Somali side – especially in the fields of education, culture, justice, agriculture and health. Somalia has remained in the grip of on-again, off-again violence since the outbreak of civil war in 1991.
WFP to resume full rations for refugees in Kenya
31 Dec – Source: Radio Goobjoog – 232 Words
The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) on Tuesday said it will resume providing full food rations to refugees in Kenya in January 2015, as a result of new donor contributions. WFP said it has raised more than 45 million U.S. dollars since it launched an urgent appeal in October alongside the UN refugee agency, UNHCR. “Thanks to substantial support from government partners, we are now able to resume full rations onJan. 1, 2015,” WFP acting Country Director for Kenya Thomas Hansson said in a statement.
WFP has been regularly distributing food twice a month to around half a million refugees in both the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps in northern Kenya, but in November, insufficient funding forced WFP to reduce the size of their food rations by half. The refugees are provided with cereals, pulses, vegetable oil, salt and a nutrient-rich maize-soya flour blend, together with 2, 100 kilocalories per person per day, which is the recommended daily caloric intake.
In addition, WFP also provides specialized nutritional support for mothers and young children. Hansson said refugees depend on food assistance for their survival, and the donors’ funds will enable his organization to meet the full food needs of refugees in Dadaab and Kakuma. Currently, Kenyan government policy prevents refugees working outside the camps, leaving them highly dependent on international assistance.
Puntland leader pays first visit to Former Pirate Hub
30 Dec – Source: Garowe Online – 141 Words
The President of Somalia’s Puntland Government Abdiweli Mohamed Ali has on Tuesday paid first visit to former Pirate Hub and Nugal region town of Eyl since being elected to the post in early 2014, Garowe Online reports. President Ali’s delegation including Environment, Wildlife and Tourism Minister Guled Salah Barre and Nugal Governor Abdiqani Hashi Ali was welcomed on the outskirts of Eyl by cheering crowds.
Eyl Coastal Town Deputy Mayor Faysal Khalif Waeys told Garowe Online that the President will lay foundation rock for new Puntland Maritime Police Force (PMPF) base and tour several landmark sites. The land where the anti-piracy unit base will be built constitutes 300 square meters and was donated to the government by Eyl municipality. Eyl, known for sandy beach, its residents are reliant on fishing for their livelihoods and recovers from the once rife high-seas crimes.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Somali army captures Shabaab stronghold
31 Dec – Source: Star Africa – 153 Words
The Somali national army says it has captured the strategic town of Daynunay from the militant group al-Shabaab. The small town which is 45 kilometer outside Baidoa was a stronghold of the group for over two years. According to Somali military official Hussein Noor Adan on Tuesday, the insurgents had used the town to launch raids on travelers and attacks on government and AMISOM troops.
He said there Somali soldiers did not meet serious resistance as they marched into the town which had been abandoned by Shabaab fighters. He claimed the situation in the area has calmed. Since 2011, Shabaab has lost several key towns including their former strongholds of Kismayo and Barawe as AMISOM troops secure more territory for the central government. The group has come under pressure since its leader Ahmed Godane was killed in a US airstrike in August and one of its former intelligence chiefs was captured this month.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Two killed in separate Mogadishu attacks
31 Dec – Source: World Bulletin – 220 Words
Unknown assailants on Tuesday killed a local official and a woman in her 20s in Somali capital Mogadishu, eyewitnesses have said. Two unknown attackers opened fire on a local official from the country’s eastern Yaqshid district killing him instantly, eyewitnesses said. “The assailants escaped before security forces arrived to the site of the attack. An investigation into the incident has been launched by police,” a witness told The Anadolu Agency.
In a separate attack, two unknown assailants killed a young woman in her 20s in western Mogadishu, according to sources close to the victim who declined to be named. Security forces were able to apprehend the culprits, a security source who requested anonymity told AA. The attacks have not been claimed by any group, nor has any statement been issued by the authorities.
Refugees living on Nauru say they want to return to detention to flee violence
31 Dec – Source: The Guardian – 1, 134 Words
Refugees on Nauru say they have pleaded with Australian immigration authorities to return them to detention centres because of violence and harassment from some members of the local population. Some women living in camps for refugees say they sleep wearing jeans because they are afraid of being raped by local men. The release of hundreds of refugees since May has caused turmoil in the tiny Pacific nation. Many Nauruans support the refugees and treat them with kindness. But a section of the community has declared its deep antagonism toward the new arrivals. An Iranian who asked to remain anonymous said refugees lived under constant threat of physical and verbal abuse.
In Anibare, one of four open camps that house those who have been granted asylum, Guardian Australia spoke to a group of Somali women who escaped their country alone. Without the protection of men they feel especially vulnerable. Hawo (names have been changed to protect identities) said she was attacked by local men twice in two days last week. On Wednesday a passing motorcyclist swung his arm at her and knocked her down in the road, she said. The next day a different man cornered her outside the supermarket. She said he grabbed her in a bear hug and tried to kiss her. She thought she was going to be raped and screamed for help, causing her assailant to run away.
Kenya’s tourism slump is dragging down its economy
31 Dec – Source: Skift.com – 290 Words
Growth in Kenya’s economy, the largest in East Africa, slowed in the third quarter as the tourism industry contracted following a spate of attacks carried out by Islamist militants. Gross domestic product rose 5.5 percent on an annual basis from July to September compared with 5.7 percent the quarter earlier, the Nairobi-based Kenya National Bureau of Statistics said today in an e-mailed statement. That compares with expansion of 6.6 percent in the third quarter of last year.
Tourism has been affected by gun and grenade attacks in the country, mainly claimed by al-Qaeda’s Somalia-based affiliate, al-Shabaab. The militants have said the assaults, including a raid last year on a shopping mall in the capital, Nairobi, that left at least 67 people dead, are revenge for Kenya deploying troops in Somalia to help defeat the fighters.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“Covered in blood and high on khat, Abukar prayed to God to show him the right path considering that, nothing focuses the mind more than the prospect of death in particular where one has recognized that he has achieved very little in his time on earth.”
Abukar Awale: 2014 Hiiraan Online Persons of the Year
31 Dec – Source: Hiiraan Online – 705 Words
HOL is pleased to nominate the Person of the year Abukar Awale for his dedication to the Stop Khat in the UK campaign. His journey is one of great struggle with an incredible humility. In July of 1997, when Abukar first arrived in the UK, he had high hopes of England and felt lucky to have escaped the civil war in Somalia. He vividly remembers calling his family to tell them he made to it. Awale applied for asylum and while waiting for the British Home Office to decide on his case he was unable to work and earn a living. At this time of great insecurity he sought advice from people in the Merfish who were the gathering places khat chewers. The young men he met there persuaded him to start chewing to relieve his pain and to forget about his worries. However, what started as light relief became a cycle of addiction.
Awale began to feel the effects of chewing daily on his personal life. He always woke up late in the afternoon, constantly felt moody and aggressive and was spending his meagre welfare financial support on his addiction. He told HOL in an exclusive interview, “All the problems are reflected in one’s face and when waking up one needs go and chew again.” Like many other Khat addicts, Abukar very quickly lost his self-esteem and confidence, and as a result of his addiction lost all contact with his family. Abukar described this as the lowest point in his life and he subsequently became depressed and paranoid. He witnessed the success of fellow Somalis attending University and working and he felt extremely ashamed and embarrassed.
“The US carries out targeted killings through drone strikes in several other Muslim countries such as Yemen, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Washington claims the targets of the drone attacks are militants, but local officials and witnesses maintain that civilians have been the main victims of the attacks.”
Somalia is in Washington’s crosshairs: analyst
31 Dec – Source: Press TV – Video – 2:58 Minutes
American political commentator and veteran journalist Jim W. Dean says Somalia has been in the United States’ “crosshairs” for a while. “Actually, Somalia has been in the crosshairs for some time — in terms of the al-Shabab leadership [which] has been on the drone strike list for some time because they have been running major terrorist strikes. They have killed huge numbers of people,” said Dean, managing editor of Veterans Today, on Tuesday in an interview with Press TV.
The US military says it has carried out a drone attack targeting a senior leader of the al-Shabab militant group in Somalia. “The strike took place in the vicinity of (the southern town of) Saakow, Somalia,” US Defense Department spokesman Mark Wright said in a statement issued on Monday.
Top tweets
@Abdikarim_Abdi3
The city is coming back to life – #Mogadishu emerging as the desired & developed capital city it should be. #Somalia
@Harar24Editor Since 2008 #US conducted 9 attacks against#AlShabaab figures in #Somalia. 8 were successful, 1 carried out by Navy Seal Team 6 failed.
@AmbAmerico “The future is bright and it belongs to our young generation!
God Bless Them.” @Zahraqoranne #Somalia
@aysanei
The analysis that we shared in our Newsletter compares and contrasts #Somalia‘s legal documents of 1960s and…http://fb.me/1G0MnH63N ”
#Egypt to provide #Somalia with customs, tax expertisehttp://www.egyptindependent.
@Daudoo It’s 4+ months. 2 Radio Shabelle Journalists held in#Mogadishu central prison without trial. #Somalia #Journalism
Image of the day
A YEAR IN PICTURES (2014). UN Envoy to Somalia, Nick Kay was thrilled to host UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at Mogadishu International Airport in late October 2014, on the occasion of his second official visit to a more stable Somalia under a growing Federal Government.
Photo: UN