January 21, 2015 | Daily Monitoring Report.
Puntland hosts historic climate change conference in Garowe
20 Jan – Source: Somali Current – 166 Words
Puntland President Abdiweli Mohamed Ali Gaas officially launched the first conference on Somali climate change. Officials from the Somali Federal Government and top UN representatives attended the meeting at the PDRC hall in Garowe. Speaking at the meeting, Puntland President Abdiweli Gaas said that climate change in Somalia has led to natural resources disasters, food scarcity, health hazards, and massive environmental stress. “In Puntland the people have experienced the worst climate change catastrophes due to storms hitting in the seaside districts “ Gaas said. UNDP head for Somalia said that climate change in Somalia has reduced agricultural production. Puntland Minister for Environment, Guled Salah Barre, said that next phase of the meeting is scheduled to take place at Garowe in April. “Puntland and other Somali regional stakeholders will discuss the exacerbating Somali climate change “he said.World climate change experts believe that between 350 million and 600 million people are projected to experience increased water stress due to climate change in 2050.
Key Headlines
- Himan-Heb state announces the arrival of the technical committee and the opening of state formation conference (Radio Goobjoog)
- East and Central African journalists’ peace operations talks underway (Radio RBC)
- Puntland hosts historic climate change conference in Garowe (Somali Current)
- Elder Ahmed Diiriye calls for MPs to fear Allah and approve upcoming cabinet (Radio Danan)
- 750 Somali refugees set to return home (Radio Bar-Kulan)
- Somali forces tighten security in Mogadishu (Sabahi Online)
- Refugees in Kenyan camps hail resumption of food rations (Sabahi Online)
- Somali children still vulnerable despite signing of UN convention (Shanghai Daily/Xinhua)
SOMALI MEDIA
Himan-Heb state announces the arrival of the technical committee and the opening of state formation conference
21 Jan – Source: Radio Goobjoog – 142 Words
The Himan-Heb administration has confirmed the arrival of the technical committee for the central state formation conference in Adado town. Himan and Heb administration spokesman, Osman Mohamed Areys, speaking to Goobjoog FM said that the committee, elders, politicians and intellectuals were warmly welcomed at Adado airport by senior Himan-Heb officials and civil society, and that the technical committee has started talks with all the groups. He reiterated that the administration of Himan-Heb has finalized its preparations to open the conference in Adado, adding that they have tightened the security of the town.The committee will facilitate the opening of the conference aimed at establishing an inclusive regional state for Galgadud and Mudug regions.
East and Central African journalists’ peace operations talks underway
21 Jan – Source: Radio RBC – 256 Words
Over 30 journalists and media practitioners from the East and Central African region have met in Dar Es Salaam to discuss sensitive reporting issues around peace and conflict in their regions.The conference is a grassroots level dialogue about conflict and peace reporting, peacekeeping and peacebuilding operations and other issues in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Somalia, South-Sudan, Uganda, Burundi and DRC-Congo. The aim of the talks is to outline the way journalists cover these issues, and has entered its third day. The conference was opened by the director of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies in Africa (IPCS) Mr. Cosmas Nikahara Bahali, and honorable guests including the second secretary from the Embassy of Japan in Tanzania, DRS. Noriko Tanaka, and the country representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Mr. Godfrey Mulisa, on Monday January 19, 2015. From Somalia, the Secretary General of the Somali Media for Environment, Science, Health and Agriculture (SOMESHA) H. E. Mr. Daud Abdi Daud, who also heads the African Federation of Environmental Journalists (AFEJ) and prominent female journalist Hindia Haji Mohamed Abdi, who works in Radio Mogadishu and SNTV are attending the meeting, and taking part in the dialogue. OnWednesday January 21, 2015 ambassador Augustine Mahiga is invited to join the meeting and contribute his UN peacekeeping experience in a panel titled the “United Nations and the role of the media in international peace and security,” and to further explainthe UN system ,the security council, and the protection of civilians in armed conflicts.
Puntland hosts historic climate change conference in Garowe
20 Jan – Source: Somali Current – 166 Words
Puntland President Abdiweli Mohamed Ali Gaas officially launched the first conference on Somali climate change. Officials from the Somali Federal Government and top UN representatives attended the meeting at the PDRC hall in Garowe. Speaking at the meeting, Puntland President Abdiweli Gaas said that climate change in Somalia has led to natural resources disasters food scarcity, Health impacts and massive environmental stress. “In Puntland the people have experienced the worst climate change catastrophes due to storms hitting in the seaside districts “ Gaas said. UNDP head for Somalia said that climate change in Somalia has reduced agricultural production. Puntland Minister for Environment, Guled Salah Barre, said that next phase of the meeting is scheduled to take place at Garowe in April. “Puntland and other Somali regional stakeholders will discuss the exacerbating Somali climate change “he said.World climate change experts believe that between 350 million and 600 million people are projected to experience increased water stress due to climate change in 2050.
Elder Ahmed Diiriye calls for the MPs to fear Allah and approve upcoming cabinet
21 Jan – Source:Radio Danan – 188 Words
Ahmed Diiriye Ali, an elder and a member of the Mogadishu elite, called for the members of the federal parliament of Somalia to cast their vote of confidence for the anticipated cabinet which will be nominated by the prime minister.“I would advise the members of the parliament not to disagree. We are ashamed of ourselves at the moment. Let them consider the cabinet which will be nominated and let them approve it.” Ahmed Diiriye said. “This government didn’t work. The previous ones didn’t work. The government leaders especially the president should be ashamed of himself. Let the cabinet which will be nominated by the prime minister be approved. Fear Allah!” The prime minister is expected to nominate a quality cabinet. Four days ago, Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmaarke dismissed his cabinet after the federal parliament vowed to reject it. In a letter addressed to the federal parliament, the premier said he dismissed his newly appointed cabinet and he needed two more weeks to nominate a new cabinet.
750 Somali refugees set to return home
21 Jan – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan – 97 Words
Somali authorities in Gedo region have said they are ready to receive 750 Somali families from Dadaab refugee camp.The district commissioner of Luq, Ahmed Bulle Garad, confirmed to Bar-Kulan that the families are expected in the coming days. He said they are part of more than 2000 families who voluntarily decided to be resettled in Gedo region.United Nations High Commission for Refugees has already prepared areas where repatriated Somali refugees will be resettled.Luq and other two towns in Somali Gedo region were identified by the UNHCR as safe areas for resettlement.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Somali forces tighten security in Mogadishu
20 Jan – Source: Sabahi Online – 236 Words
Somali forces have been conducting a security crackdown in all districts of Benadir region, Somalia’s Goobjoog News reported Tuesday (January 20th).The security forces have made a number of arrests, including of five people allegedly caught preparing explosives, said Ministry of National Security spokesperson Mohamed Yusuf Osman.An investigation is under way to reveal the suspects’ plans and the results will be released within 48 hours, he said.
The crackdown follows the death of Afgoye District Commissioner Ali Abdow, who was killed Mondayalongside two of his guards in a roadside bomb in Mogadishu, Radio Bar-Kulan reported.Two other guards were injured in the incident, which occurred as Abdow’s vehicle led a convoy of visiting administrators from the Interim South-Western Administration.No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.On Sunday, two men were killed in Mogadishu’s Dharkenley district when a bomb went off in an auto rickshaw, Garowe Online reported.
The two had intended to carry out an attack in Mogadishu, but were killed while attempting to assemble their explosives, said Dharkenley district deputy commissioner Daud Abdullahi Nur.Increased security measures also are being put in place ahead of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s official visit to the capital this week, Horseed Media reported.Security personnel have been deployed in sensitive areas and along roads leading to the airport and presidential palace, and police have been checking all vehicles and suspicious persons since Monday.
Refugees in Kenyan camps hail resumption of food rations
20 Jan – Source: Sabahi Online – 1,062 Words
Refugees in Kenya, some of whom have endured food aid cuts for up to four months, are welcoming the resumption of full rations in the Dadaab and Kakuma camps. The World Food Programme (WFP) anounced mid-November it was halving the bimonthly food rations for refugees in the Kenyan camps as a result of funding constraints. The United Nations agency was seeking $38 million to ensure the continuation of regular rations, but after failing to raise the amount needed, rations were cut, said WFP spokesperson in Kenya Challiss McDonough. The distribution of full rations resumed January 1st after donor countries responded to an appeal for funds and raised $45 million in December. Denmark, the European Union, Germany, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund each have contributed funds, and the United States is expected to contribute an additional $20 million in February, McDonough told Sabahi. When it is operating at full capacity, the WFP distributes food twice monthly to 480,000 refugees in Dadaab and Kakuma camps. During each distribution, each registered person receives three kilogrammes of wheat flour, three kilogrammes of maize, 250 millilitres of cooking oil, 300 grammes of mung beans and a nutritional porridge.
“Refugees depend on food assistance for their survival and we are relieved that we can now once again meet the full food needs of refugees in Dadaab and Kakuma,” said WFP Acting Country Director for Kenya Thomas Hansson. “I thank our donors who continue to contribute generously to ensure that refugees in Kenya have access to nutritious food and hope we can all work together to prevent disruptions in the future,” he told Sabahi. Refugees at the camps have welcomed the resumption of full food rations, saying it will ease their burden and help prevent camp residents from resorting to criminal activities in order to survive. “We were very concerned by the cuts because even at full ration the food is not enough for us,” said Kakuma refugee camp resident Esther Deng, 41, a mother of six from South Sudan. “I fled from Bor in January 2014 to Kakuma because of war,” she told Sabahi. “We could have died here because of lack of food.”
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somali children still vulnerable despite signing of UN convention
21 Jan – Source:Shanghai Daily/Xinhua – 573 Words
Many children still remain vulnerable despite Somali government sign UN Convention of on Rights of the Child (CRC).The Horn of Africa nation became the world’s 195 latest signature of the CRC on Tuesday, as thousands of Somali children are suffering from extreme violence including forcibly recruitment as child soldier and hard labor, such as severe cute malnutrition in IDP camps in country, according to experts.
Faadumo Hassan, a mother of five who is living in an IDP camp just a kilometer from the presidential villa, said many children living in the camp suffer from malnutrition, stomach pain, tuberculosis which sometimes cause death to their children.”We are concerned about lack of health; we are not able to take our ailing children to health facilities. It costs too much. We feed our children on what we have begged from the people, that is our life,” Hassan told Xinhua in Mogadishu.The Horn of Africa nation has been without an effective central government in the past the 20 years where children were the worst affected by the crisis in the country.
Many children still live in IDP camps, Mogadishu roads have become homes for many who do have shelter and war orphaned children have no public care facilities or effective schools to go for free education.Analysts say the ratification of this UN convention will make obligatory for the federal government to obey the intentional laws for the provision of child basic necessities giving protection to thousands of vulnerable children across the country.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“The political blood-letting caused by the unceremonious Prime Minister vs. Presidential conflict quickly percolated beyond the confines of Villa Somalia. For weeks, both Villa Somalia and the house of the parliament looked like an ungovernable terrain stained with political vendetta.”
Could government by consent rise out of the ashes of division?
20 Jan – Source: Wardheer News – 1, 283 Words
Somalia is at a cross roads. On the early morning hours of January 17, 2015, Prime Minister Omar AbdiRashid Sharmarke presented a well-thought out proposal, a life-saving [move] indeed, to a near-full-attendance house of the Federal Parliament of Somalia. The Prime Minister’s proposal has been dubbed a letter of dismissal of the controversial cabinet which he had put together on January 12, 2015. Technically speaking, as Reuters opined “the parliament has not officially rejected the new cabinet by voting but the Prime Minister said he would review his list.” Most of the nation’s rage for the last one week focused on five members of the new cabinet whom some believe to be the source of Mogadishu’s “political turmoil.” These are ministers who have been retained from the previous administration. Although no legal instrument in the federal constitution bars them from serving their country, many associate these five with pervasive factionalism and “political turmoil.”
In the January 17, 2015 proposal, the PM requested of the parliament, which has the power to approve or reject the new cabinet, to: (1) differ its action on the list of the new cabinet; and (2) give him a period of 14 days – a cooling period to go back and consult with members of the parliament at-large, stakeholders in the country, and all the contending sides of the parliament. After a short speech by the chairman of the parliament, about 190 members, an overwhelming majority, supported the new proposal, whereas only 8 members opposed it. By mid-morning of the same day, the nascent cabinet was de-listed, prompting the PM to go back to the drawing board.
In March, 2008, the State Department announced that it had added the Shabaab to its list of foreign terrorist organizations. On the phone, Moalin attributed this action to “the American spy agency.” In April, the drought around Guriceel ended. “All the water tanks are full,” Shikhalow told Moalin. “Now it is the time to finance the jihad.”
The Whole Haystack: The N.S.A. claims it needs access to all our phone records. But is that the best way to catch a terrorist?
21 Jan – Source: The New Yorker Magazine – 9, 040 Words (Jan. 26, 2015 Issue.)
Almost every major terrorist attack on Western soil in the past fifteen years has been committed by people who were already known to law enforcement. One of the gunmen in the attack on Charlie Hebdo, in Paris, had been sent to prison for recruiting jihadist fighters. The other had reportedly studied in Yemen with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the underwear bomber, who was arrested and interrogated by the F.B.I. in 2009. The leader of the 7/7 London suicide bombings, in 2005, had been observed by British intelligence meeting with a suspected terrorist, though MI5 later said that the bombers were “not on our radar.” The men who planned the Mumbai attacks, in 2008, were under electronic surveillance by the United States, the United Kingdom, and India, and one had been an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration. One of the brothers accused of bombing the Boston Marathon was the subject of an F.B.I. threat assessment and a warning from Russian intelligence.
In each of these cases, the authorities were not wanting for data. What they failed to do was appreciate the significance of the data they already had. Nevertheless, since 9/11, the National Security Agency has sought to acquire every possible scrap of digital information—what General Keith Alexander, the agency’s former head, has called “the whole haystack.” The size of the haystack was revealed in June, 2013, by Edward Snowden. The N.S.A. vacuums up Internet searches, social-media content, and, most controversially, the records (known as metadata) of United States phone calls—who called whom, for how long, and from where. The agency stores the metadata for five years, possibly longer.
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Section 215 is just one of many legal authorities that govern U.S. spy programs. These authorities are jumbled together in a way that makes it difficult to separate their individual efficacy. Early in the metadata debate, the fifty-four cases were sometimes attributed to Section 215, and sometimes to other sections of other laws. At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in October, 2013, Senator Patrick Leahy, of Vermont, called the fifty-four-plots statistic “plainly wrong . . . these weren’t all plots, and they weren’t all thwarted.” He cited a statement by Alexander’s deputy that “there’s only really one example of a case where, but for the use of Section 215 bulk phone-records collection, terrorist activity was stopped.” “He’s right,” Alexander said. The case was that of Basaaly Moalin, a Somali-born U.S. citizen living in San Diego. In July, 2013, Sean Joyce, the F.B.I.’s deputy director at the time, said in Senate-committee testimony that Moalin’s phone number had been in contact with an “Al Qaeda East Africa member” in Somalia. The N.S.A., Joyce said, was able to make this connection and notify the F.B.I. thanks to Section 215. That February, Moalin was found guilty of sending eighty-five hundred dollars to the Shabaab, an extremist Somali militia with ties to Al Qaeda. “Moalin and three other individuals have been convicted,” Joyce continued. “I go back to what we need to remember, what happened in 9/11.” At the same hearing, Senator Dianne Feinstein, of California, talked about “how little information we had” before 9/11. “I support this program,” she said, referring to Section 215. “They will come after us, and I think we need to prevent an attack wherever we can.”
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Before 9/11, the intelligence community was already struggling to evolve. The technology of surveillance was changing, from satellites to fibre-optic cable. The targets were also changing, from the embassies and nuclear arsenals of the Cold War era to scattered networks of violent extremists. The law still drew lines between foreign and domestic surveillance, but the increasingly global nature of communications was complicating this distinction. In Washington, many people blamed 9/11 on a “wall” between intelligence gathering and criminal investigations. In a report on pre-9/11 failures, the Department of Justice criticized the F.B.I.’s San Diego field office for not making counterterrorism a higher priority. Two of the hijackers—Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar—took flying lessons in San Diego and attended a mosque where the imam, Anwar al-Awlaki, had been the target of an F.B.I. investigation. They lived for a time in an apartment that they rented from an F.B.I. informant, and Mihdhar made phone calls to a known Al Qaeda safe house in Yemen. But the F.B.I. wasn’t solely at fault. The C.I.A. knew that Mihdhar had a visa to travel to the U.S., and that Hazmi had arrived in Los Angeles in January, 2000. The agency failed to forward this information to the F.B.I.
Three years after 9/11, the size of San Diego’s Joint Terrorism Task Force had tripled. In California, hundreds of local police became “terrorism liaison officers,” trained to observe anomalous activity that could presage an attack. The San Diego “fusion center” spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on computers and monitors, including fifty-five flat-screen televisions, which officials said were for “watching the news.” This was one of seventy-seven such centers nationwide, at a cost of several hundred million dollars. The F.B.I. office established a “field-intelligence group,” a special unit that gathered information about domestic terrorism threats.
Of particular interest was San Diego’s growing Somali population. The first Somalis came to San Diego in the late nineteen-eighties and settled in City Heights, a crime-ridden neighborhood of bungalows and strip malls half an hour east of downtown. Cheap housing and nearby social services had attracted immigrants fleeing Vietnam, Cambodia, Honduras, Guatemala, Serbia, Iraq, and Sudan. Most of the Somalis lived with members of their extended families and spoke little English. Many settled in an apartment complex at 3810 Winona Avenue: five gray two-story buildings, at the bottom of a hill beside a dusty ravine, known to the residents as the godka, the Somali word for cave. So many Somalis settled there that the owners changed the name of the complex from Winona Gardens to the Bandar Salaam Apartments.
Top tweets
@Jubaland: We’re excited to announce that the formation of the#Jubaland Regional Assembly has now officially begun.#Kismayo #Somalia #Progress
@villagaracad: Could Farah Abdulkadir be Hassan’s Helen of Troy? @TheVillaSomalia would destroy a nation for him?#Somalia #Somali
@amnesty254: By ratifying the #crc #Somalia has shown commitment to protect its children encouraging gov’t to take concrete steps towards achieving this
@SomaliainUS: Statement to #SecurityCouncil by@Awalekullane Deputy Permanent Rep #Somalia to #UNdebate on inclusive #development http://youtu.be/9fWxpCvbtbA
@Angelina_Soma Somalia is really improving I’m so happy for the future of my homeland insha’Allah …more good news we hope
@AmbAmerico: We celebrated #Somalia journalist day in Nairobi, prayed for the ones who were killed and quick recovery for injured
@Semhar: Register for Jan 29 webcast: Another humanitarian crisis in #Somalia? Learning from 2011 faminehttp://www.odi.org/events/
@darrinlandry: Please take a moment to watch Stories of the Maine Somali, via @Kickstarter #somali #somalia @Deltahttps://www.kickstarter.com/
Image of the day
A student at the Hamar Jajab School in Mogadishu holds a peace-themed comic book for children produced by UNSOM during the commemoration of Somalia’s ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Mogadishu, 20 January, 2015. Photo: UNSOM