07 Sept 2011 – Daily Monitoring Report
Key Headlines:
- Three-Day Consultative Meeting on Somalia Transition Ends with Adoption of Road map
- Somalia: UN-backed meeting endorses roadmap to end transition restore stability
- President Sharif urges for more support to Somalia
- Famine turns to health crisis in Mogadishu
- Malnutrition taking its toll on Somali children
- US ‘opposed Kenya on Somalia buffer zone’
- Somali leaders agree to hold elections within 12 months
PRESS RELEASE
Three-day consultative meeting on Somalia transition ends with adoption of road map
07 Sept – Source: AMISOM – 458 words
The first High Level Consultative Meeting to be held in Mogadishu ended yesterday with the adoption of a Roadmap with elaborate tasks for the Transitional Federal Institutions and Regional Administrations in Somalia for the remaining one year of the Transition.
The three-day meeting brought together representatives of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia (TFG), Transitional Federal Parliament (TFP), Puntland, Somaliland, Galmudug, Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama’a (ASWJ), the African Union, IGAD, United Nations, Somali Diaspora, Somali business community, and civil society.
The forum was an opportunity for different layers of the Somali population to come together and have a sincere dialogue about the end of the transition in Somalia. In addition to the plenary sessions, four discussion groups deliberated on four thematic areas, namely security; good governance; outreach and reconciliation; the constitution, parliament reforms, and elections.
The consultative meeting ended on September 6 with the adoption of the Roadmap based on four principles of National Ownership, Inclusively, Timely Resources Mobilization and Monitoring and Compliance. The colorful end was graced by the presence of ten European Ambassadors, representatives of IGAD and League of Arab States, among others.
Speaking at the signing of the adoption statement, EU Ambassador Marc Andre gave special appreciation to AMISOM for the contribution made to bring security to Mogadishu. He pledged EU support to TFG at all levels to ensure respect of what had been signed in the interest of Somalia. US Ambassador congratulated the organizers of the consultative conference and thanked he too AMISOM for support to TFG towards improved security. He prayed that the gains made in the security sector would be marched with political gains as he looked forward to a successful conclusion of the Somali transition.
Speaking at the conclusion of the consultative conference, Hon Wafula Wamunyinyi observed that the adoption of the Transitional Roadmap by the main Somali institutions marks a monumental step forward in the Djibouti Peace Process. He however reminded the Somali stakeholders, with support of the international community, to focus on the more difficult work of implementing the tasks outlined in the document. He concluded by reiterating the resolve of the African Union to remain supportive of the Somali people, in all ways possible, to ensure that this country attains peace and returns to its glorious past.
In his closing remarks, President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed commended AMISOM for sparing no efforts, sleepless nights and shedding blood to assist the Somali forces drive out Al Shabaab from Mogadishu. While thanking Ambassadors accredited to Somalia for coming to Mogadishu to participate in the formal closing of the consultative conference, the Somali President encouraged the Ambassadors to relocate to Somalia. In a special way, he thanked AU for deploying Hon Wafula wamunyinyi and his team of civilian and police staff to Mogadishu during the difficult times.
SOMALI MEDIA
President Sharif urges for more support to Somalia
07 Sept – Source: Radio Mogadishu, Bar-Kulan, Kulmiye and Shabelle – 118 words
The president of the TFG on Tuesday urged internal donors to increase financial support to his government which is in battle with al Shabaab. Speaking at the conclusion of Somalia’s three-day consultative conference in Mogadishu, President Sharif said international support of Somali government could help bring peace back to the war weary Horn of Africa nation. He also said that drought and famine hit Somalis are in desperate need of urgent humanitarian assistance, thanking some of world countries for their urgent response to famine crisis. But more is needed. Ahmed said the drought-affected people are suffering in the refugee camps of the capital after escaping the devastating famine that hit many of southern Somalia.
Nightfall shells kill 6, injury 4 others in Mogadishu
07 Sept – Source: Mareeg Online, Shabelle – 103 words
At least 6 people were killed and 4 others (from the same family) were injured after nightfall shells landed on their houses in the north of Mogadishu, eyewitness said. Nightfall shells landed in a house in Karan district, north Mogadishu, last night killing 6 people and wounding 4 others of one family, eyewitness said. Residents believe the mortar shells were from al Shabaab.
http://www.mareeg.com/fidsan.
Anti-piracy forum held in Hargeisa, Somaliland
07 Sept – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan – 147 words
An anti-piracy forum in Hargeisa has brought together Somaliland’s coastguards, judiciary and experts to deliberate on ways to fight piracy along Somaliland’s coastline. The forum, aimed at discussing the impact of piracy in the area and ways to fight it was also attended by Somaliland’s foreign Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Omar who officially opened the forum. Speaking at the opening of the forum, the minister said his administration is committed in fighting piracy off the coast of Somaliland. He added that they will review their agreements with the international communities on piracy as it will tighten security and help them tackle sea gangs in their area. This is the first forum of its kind since piracy has flourished along the Somali coastlines including Somaliland’s coastal area. The area’s administration has so far arrested several suspected pirates who are facing jail terms in Somaliland and promised to crack down sea pirates operating along their coastlines.
Four kids die of malnutrition in Mogadishu IDPs camps
07 Sept – Source: Radio Shabelle, Kulmiye and Risala – 94 words
At least four kids from southern Somalia family on Wednesday died of malnutrition and other related complications in the refugee camps in Mogadishu. Also diarrhea and measles are the main killers of Somalia’s famine-affected children, according to some of the internally displaced people. The mother of four dead kids told the media with sadness on her face that all died within hours respectively. She said she could not take them to the medical facilities for urgent treatment.
Galmudug police gun down two gangs south of Galkayo, Mudug region
07 Sept – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan – 129 words
Galmudug police officers have gunned down two militia men and wounded two others in a shootout with gangs who had hijacked a car on Tuesday night. The two hijackers were shot dead after a dramatic chase with police south of Galkayo, the capital of Mudug region. The car was later recovered from them. Area police boss Col. Mohamed Noor Ali Bidar told Bar-kulan that police who had been on hot pursuit with the gangs descended on them, killing two members of the gangs on the spot. He said they have also captured two others who sustained gun wounds during the firefight, saying that they are treating them at Galkayo main hospital under tight security. Col. Bidar added that none of his officers were harmed during the incident.
REGIONAL MEDIA
The persistent drought in Somalia that boosted the influx into Dadaab refugee camps
06 Sept – Source: Al Shahid – 425 words
The crippling drought in the Horn of Africa has affected about 11 million people in a region straddling Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya. But it’s Somalia that has been hit hardest. On July this year, the United Nations declared a famine in two parts of the lawless nation – Lower Shabelle and Bakol in the south.
Thousands of Somalis are crossing the border into semi-arid northeastern Kenya, in search of shelter, food and medical care. They are streaming into the giant Dadaab refugee complex, which is the world’s biggest collection of camps.
For the new arrivals, life is grim. They start off at what are called spontaneous settlements, which have sprung up all over the outskirts of the camps. The one in Dagahaley stretches endlessly in inhospitable, sandy ground, with a howling wind whipping up the dust.
Halima Abdi Khalif is 32 year old woman with seven children was received in Dagahaley refugee camp and lives in bulla bakhti: An outskirt self-settlement area at Dagahaley refugee camp. Halima immigrated from Kismayo in 2009 due to persistent fighting and famine in southern Somalia; she married three husbands who divorced her leaving with her the burden of caring for the children alone.
The U.N. says 80 percent of the new arrivals are women and children. The Somalis are crossing into Kenya at a rate of about 1,000 a day. Many spend their first few days living out in the open, with precious little shelter except for scattered thorn trees.
The Somali refugees who have had a little time to establish themselves at the camp construct makeshift homes out of tree branches, covered in plastic sheeting printed with the names and symbols of humanitarian agencies. Men and women drag the branches or hoist them onto donkeydrawn carts. Then they begin manually tying strips of cloth and weaving them in between the branches to stabilize the precarious structures they call home.
http://english.alshahid.net/
US ‘opposed Kenya on Somalia buffer zone’
06 Sept – Source: Daily Nation – 280 words
The United States strongly opposes Kenya’s effort to establish a buffer zone in southern Somalia, a leaked diplomatic cable shows. In the December 2009 message recently posted by WikiLeaks, a US State Department official is said to have “forcibly underscored” Washington’s concerns over reports that Kenya was “recruiting and training an ethnic Somali force as part of a ‘Jubaland’ initiative”.
US deputy Assistant Secretary of State Karl Wycoff expressed America’s position to Foreign minister Moses Wetang’ula at a meeting in Djibouti, the cable indicates. Mr Wycoff emphasized to Mr Wetang’ula that the Jubaland move “is a bad idea that would more likely add to Somalia’s instability than to help stabilize the country”.
“Wetang’ula defended the initiative by noting that it was an evolving concept and that Kenya had carefully coordinated every aspect of it with the TFG (Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government)”, the cable says. The minister is said to have insisted nearly two years ago that the al Shabaab insurgency was “weak”.
He recalled during the Djibouti talks that Ethiopian troops had marched into Mogadishu in 2006 “like a hot knife through butter”. According to the cable, Mr Wetang’ula further said that the Kibaki administration hoped that the Kenyan-backed effort to defeat al Shabaab militants in southern Somalia would “cage in the Hawiye”, Somalia’s largest clan.
The US should not only criticize Kenya’s plan but should also present its own proposals, the Foreign minister is said to have suggested. “I sincerely believe that good ideas should give way to better ideas,” he said. Kenya could in any event no longer afford to sit on the sidelines, Mr. Wetang’ula stressed. The threat of a major terrorist attack in Nairobi was increasing every day, he warned.
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/
Somali leaders agree to hold elections within 12 months
06 Sept – Source: Africa Review – 131 words
Somali leaders Tuesday signed a deal that will see the Horn of Africa state conduct elections within one year. The consensus was arrived at following a UN-sponsored consultative meeting held in the capital Mogadishu.
During the meeting, Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali outlined the main transitional tasks to be undertaken by the government over the coming 12 months. The international community is expected to provide the funds necessary for the success of the election pact. The PM indicated on Sunday that four major components would characterize the work of his government, which he urged the participants to endorse.
“Improvement of security, practice of good governance, attainment of reconciliation and drafting of a national constitution are going to be the tasks that need special attention from the participants of this meeting,” said the PM.
Kenyan soldiers ‘missing in action’ in Somalia
06 Sept – Source: Daily Nation – 227 words
Two Kenyan soldiers have been declared “Missing in Action” (MIA) after they got lost during an operation at the border with Somalia. Defense Assistant Minister Joseph Nkaissery said Senior Sergeant Jonathan Kipkosgei Kangogo and Corporal Evans Mutoro have not been found since the incident on the morning of July 24.
The two were in the company of Sergeant Said Abdiaziz Haji as they went about military resupply duties in Wajir County near the border with Somalia. Mr. Nkaissery said the three lost their way and entered Somalia at a place called Dif, and were 60 kilometres inside the war-torn country when they were intercepted by the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) troops.
“It is believed that Sgt Kangogo and Cpl Mutoro escaped from the TFG troops because, as at that time, they could not establish whether they were friendly or al Shabaab,” said Mr. Nkaissery. The assistant minister said that Sgt Haji was surrendered to his unit at the border, but Sgt Kangogo and Cpl Mutoro are yet to be found.
All three were serving on the Transport Battalion, which is based at Kahawa Garrison in Nairobi. Sgt Haji was said to have been injured when he was taken back home.
The matter raised a storm in Parliament after MPs questioned the veracity of the statement by Mr. Nkaissery. Dujis MP Aden Duale alleged that the area is controlled by the al Shabaab.
New ‘roadmap’ for Somalia
07 Sept – Source: AFP – 720 words
Somalia’s disparate leaders yesterday signed a “roadmap” for the formation of a government to replace the fragile transitional body that has failed to bring peace to the fragmented country. “We are clearly committed to implement this roadmap, the Somali people have suffered a lot,” said Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed after three days of talks at a heavily-guarded conference venue in Mogadishu.
“We want the Somali people to be secure, to lead them to prosperity,” Ahmed added. The new political deal focuses on improving security in Mogadishu and other areas in southern Somalia, national reconciliation, a draft charter, governance and institutional reforms.
Somalia’s prime minister, as well as representatives of the breakaway Puntland region, the central Galmudug region and the pro-government militia Ahlu Sunna Wal Jamaa signed the deal under UN auspices. The agreement is the latest among more than a dozen attempts to resolve Somalia’s more than two decade-old civil war, with the country split between rival factions and host to pirate gangs who hijack ships far across the Indian Ocean.
Constant political wrangles and a bloody Islamist insurgency have undermined Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG), which has been unable to carry out its key mandate of reconciling the country, writing a new constitution and organizing elections. Hundreds of people are believed to be dying each day from famine exacerbated by conflict, with three-quarters of a million Somalis facing death by starvation, many of them children, the UN had said on Monday.
Representatives of the UN, African Union, Arab League and East African peace bloc, the Inter- Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), also inked the agreement. The UN-sponsored talks in the heavily-guarded parliament building and airport here started Sunday as political leaders worked to build on last month’s withdrawal of Al Qaeda linked al Shabaab insurgents from the capital.
The US representative to Somalia James Swann said he was “particularly pleased by the broad participation” at the conference, but also warned of challenges ahead to implement the deal. “The roadmap gives us a set of benchmarks, some of them with tight deadlines,” he said, speaking at the conclusion of the meeting. “We have to look at them closely to make sure they do indeed stay on track.” The roadmap is to be implemented over the coming year, after Sharif and the parliament speaker agreed in June to extend their terms for another year. A critical element will be agreeing on a system of government, as Somalia is fragmented into regional – and often rival – administrations. The northern Puntland and Somaliland regions declared autonomy in the 1990s.
The central regions are also governed by local administrations and militia, the TFG has for years had limited control of Mogadishu, and much of southern Somalia is ruled by hard line al Shabaab fighters. Al Shabaab was not represented in the talks, while Somaliland declined to attend because it is seeking international recognition as an independent state.
But analysts said the deal should be welcomed with cautious optimism – noting multiple failed agreements in the past and warning that forging peace in Somalia will take far more than inking paper alone. “The departure of al Shabaab from Mogadishu has opened some kind of political space, and it would be wrong to be too dismissive of the meeting,” said Sally Healy, from Britain’s Chatham House think-tank. “At least this time it is being held on Somali soil in Mogadishu, and not like other conferences held outside. It’s one and a half cheers, not three cheers.”
But J Peter Pham, senior analyst with the Washington-based Atlantic Council, warned that “discussions must be grounded in reality, not posturing, much less flights of fancy.” “Unfortunately the latter seems to be the case with the current meeting: people and agencies which have been largely absent or irrelevant in recent months are now rushing to make themselves appear important,” he said.
He was also deeply skeptical that given the government’s “lackluster performance” it could hold national elections within a year. “I would be very surprised, quite frankly, if the TFG was even able to conduct municipal elections in all sixteen districts of Mogadishu a year from now, to say nothing of across all of south central Somalia,” Pham said. “Its leaders are more likely to steal any funds for such a poll – assuming anyone is still naive enough to give those cash.”
Indonesian doctor ‘abducted’ in Somalia now in Johannesburg: Foreign Ministry
06 Sept – Source: Al Shahid – 154 words
The Indonesian Foreign Ministry says Indonesian plastic surgeon Aisha Wardana, who was earlier reported to have been kidnapped in Somalia, is now in Johannesburg, South Africa, and is ready to return to Indonesia.
The ministry said it had received the news through a text message from Aisha’s husband, Bustanul Arifin. “We heard news that she was found by a French volunteer named Damien on September 5,” said Bustanul in a letter published on his blog. He said the information came from a Twitter account belonging to one of Aisha’s acquaintances.
Aisha is a volunteer with the Aksi Cepat Tanggap (ACT) group, an Indonesian foundation involved in humanitarian missions in Somalia. The news regarding her kidnapping first came from Bustanil, who published it on his blog.
The Foreign Ministry said, however, that based on a report from the ACT group Aisha never went to Somalia but had canceled her plan to volunteer there at the last minute, kompas.com reported.
http://english.alshahid.net/
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Famine turns to health crisis in Mogadishu
07 Sept – Source: CNN – 907 words
Cassandra Nelson has been an aid worker with the international humanitarian aid organization Mercy Corps since 2002. She has been a first-responder to almost every major humanitarian crisis over the past decade including the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, the Iraq war, and the Haiti earthquake.
(CNN) — I’ve spent the past weeks working on the famine response with Mercy Corps, an international aid organization, in Mogadishu. As a humanitarian aid worker, I’ve responded to crisis around the world for almost a decade, but I’ve never seen a situation as devastating as what I am witnessing in Somalia today.
As far as the eye can see, makeshift shelters sprawl out across Mogadishu. Over 500,000 people in the city are displaced, forced from their homes by war, drought and famine. In the past couple of months, more than 100,000 people have come to this bullet-scarred and destroyed city in the hopes of finding food, medical care and assistance.
The new arrivals stream in by the hundreds daily and settle on any available patch of dusty earth they can find. They build makeshift shelters from twigs, cardboard, and scraps of old clothing. Living in the shadows of bombed out buildings that only a couple weeks ago were the front lines of the long-running war; families are packed into camps, without access to clean water or sanitation facilities. Most sites don’t have adequate toilets or latrines. Improper human waste disposal is causing food and water contamination.
U.N.: Somalians face ‘imminent starvation’ Although it is famine that has forced so many people into Mogadishu for assistance, the growing concern is that those who make it here may be as likely to die of disease as starvation. Cholera and Acute Water Diarrhea (AWD) are taking the lives of hundreds of children. Cholera is an acute intestinal infection caused by contaminated food or water. It causes watery diarrhea that can lead to severe dehydration and kill within hours if left untreated.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/
Somalia: UN-backed meeting endorses roadmap to end transition, restore stability
06 Sept – Source: UN News Centre – 455- words
Delegates attending a United Nations-backed meeting on ending Somalia’s transitional period today endorsed a roadmap that spells out priority measures to be implemented before the current governing arrangements end in August next year.
The three-day Consultative Meeting on Ending the Transition, held in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, considered four priority tasks for ending the transition – security, constitution, reconciliation and good governance. Delegates also agreed on certain principles for the implementation of the measures leading to the end of the transition on 20 August 2012.
The principles include Somali ownership of the process. The current Transitional Federal Government (TFG) is called upon to lead the process of the implementation of the roadmap, working with the Transitional Federal Parliament (TFP), regional entities, and all sectors of society, including women, the business community, religious leaders, elders and youth.
The statement endorsed at the consultative meeting also stresses that implementation of the process shall be inclusive with participation of the TFG, the TFP, the semi-autonomous region of Puntland and Galmudug, as well as the Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama’a group and civil society.
The Transitional Federal Institutions (TFIs) and the international community are called upon to provide timely support for the implementation of the roadmap in line with a “Resource Mobilization Plan” with milestones to be agreed within 21 days, according to the document.
“Financial support by the international community shall be on a results basis and contingent upon the implementation of the priority tasks in the Roadmap,” it states. “In view of the limited time and resources, the TFIs and international community should, to the extent possible, hold meetings inside Somalia to allow the TFIs to devote more time to the implementation of the Roadmap.”
The statement also notes that the roadmap’s implementation shall be monitored on a continuous basis and appropriate measures taken to ensure compliance with the benchmarks and timelines in accordance with the Kampala Accord, the pact reached in the Ugandan capital in June under which the terms of the country’s President and Speaker of Parliament were extended for one more year.
It also envisages the creation, within two weeks, of technical committee made up of the TFIs, regional entities, Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama’a, and regional organizations, as well as the League of Arab States, European Union and the UN to facilitate cooperation and collaboration among the Somali parties and with its international partners to implement the roadmap.
Delegates included members of the TFIs, representatives from Puntland and Galmudug and Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama’a. About three dozen representatives from the international community participated in the proceedings, including regional organizations and the EU, the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The meeting was facilitated by Augustine Mahiga, the Special Representative of Secretary-General for Somalia.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/
Malnutrition taking its toll on Somali children
06 Sept – Source: AFP – 575 words
Nearly too weak to cry, Masteha Jama Mohamed’s three-month-old daughter is barely the length of her forearm, as the severely malnourished baby struggles for survival in famine-hit Somalia. Mohamed is herself just a teenager: the 16-year-old mother says her baby has been sick ever since she was two weeks old, and now at 2.5 kilogram’s, is still only the weight of a newborn.
But even after reaching Mogadishu’s Banadir hospital, she still fears her child might not survive. “I have not got help since I arrived,” said Mohamed wearily, who had been at the hospital for around six hours. “I am afraid that if she remains like this she might die.”
Mohamed trekked from Afgoi town — the world’s largest camp for displaced people where famine was declared last month — into war-torn Mogadishu in a desperate search for help. Three-quarters of a million people are facing death by starvation in Somalia according the United Nations, who declared Monday that famine had spread to a sixth southern region of the beleaguered Horn of Africa state.
Many children are brought to the hospital in a critical state. Over 100, 00 people have fled into Mogadishu in the past two months seeking food or shelter. “Their immune system is so suppressed that it brings complications — most of them have parasites and diarrhea,” said Yasmin Hiller, a German nurse, who works in the overcrowded Benadir hospital.
“For the small kids with dehydration, it is very difficult to stabilize them — often they die because their complications are too many,” she added. The beds are all full with an influx of malnourished children, and some parents sleep on the floor for lack of space. Even after treatment in hospital, children struggle for survival from a host of other diseases rife in the city, where many live in the ruins of bombed-out buildings or in makeshift shelters of rag and plastic.
“We have no hope…yet we hope to get treatment,” Fadumo Mohamed Omar, standing by her emaciated 10-year-old daughter, suffering from malnutrition and epilepsy, lying on a stretcher in the hospital’s busy hallway. “The doctors said they can do nothing for her epilepsy, but can treat the malnutrition,” said Ali Mohamed, Omar’s neighbor, who accompanied her.
Some 12.4 million people in the Horn of Africa, including parts of Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya and Uganda, are affected by the worst drought in decades in the region and are in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the UN.
http://www.terradaily.com/
Insurgents divert famine IDPs from aid
06 Sept – Source: IRIN News – 616 words
Al Shabaab insurgents have prevented thousands of people fleeing famine-struck parts of Somalia from reaching humanitarian assistance in Mogadishu, trucking them instead to a makeshift camp 50km south of the capital, where aid is severely limited.
“These were people who were going to Mogadishu in search of help. Instead they were brought here,” said a Mogadishu-based journalist, who visited the K50 camp, where some 45,000 people now live in inadequate shelters amid the rising threat of disease and hunger.
“They have become pawns. I don’t think they understand why they are not getting the same attention as those in Mogadishu,” he said, requesting, like almost everyone who talks about al Shabaab, not be identified by name.
While hundreds of thousands of people in Mogadishu have access to food and other humanitarian assistance – despite a rise in militia-manned checkpoints – insecurity prevents many international aid agencies from reaching places outside the capital, even those as close as K50. One aid worker in the city told IRIN that al Shabaab was stopping the displaced from reaching the city “for two reasons. One, they don’t want people to abandon their area of control. Two, they don’t want to be seen as unable to help the needy and their leaving is a vote of no-confidence in the group.”
Inside K50 camp, “there are roughly 7,500 families [45,000 people]. They have many problems, including hunger, shortage of water, lack of shelter and very poor sanitation,” a Somali aid worker there told IRIN.
“Their health is deteriorating by the day,” he added. When they arrive, mainly from the famine-hit southern regions of Bay and Bakol, “many are malnourished and are carrying children who are also malnourished. In the one day I was in the camp, six children died; some days even more die,” he said.