March 30, 2015 | Daily Monitoring Report.
Somalia Administration Offers Help In Yemen Fighting
30 March – Source: Somali Current – 201 Words
Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has officially accepted a Saudi-led coalition request to use Somalia’s waters and airspace in the fight against Houthi rebels, saying his government will provide any facilities needed for the operation and stands with Saudi Arabia and its allies. The president’s statement triggered controversy in Somalia, with the separatist administration of Somaliland saying the central government has no authority to allow the Saudi-led coalition to use Somaliland’s waters arguing that they are independent state. Somaliland’s Interior Minister Ali Mohamed Waran Ade lashed out at the Somali Federal Government, saying his administration will not allow the coalition to use its waters.
“We are [an] independent administration, not under [the] Mogadishu administration. They [the Somali government] cannot come, let alone give permission to other countries,” he said. Somaliland, located in northwestern Somalia and declared its independence from the rest of the country in 1991 after the collapse of central government, but has not been recognized by the international community despite its constant campaigns. Earlier this month, talks between the Somali Federal Government and Somaliland disintegrated after Somaliland refused to start dialogue until members they viewed as ‘Somaliland rebels’ on the Somali government’s side were removed from the talks.
Key Headlines
- Somalia Administration Offers Help In Yemen Fighting (Somali Current)
- Salad Ali Jelle: “Government Should Do A Census” (Radio Goobjoog)
- Ex-Puntland President Lambasts Central Government For Security Lapse (Garowe Online)
- UN Chief And Somalia President Discuss On Key Vision 2016 Deadlines (Horseed Media)
- Somali Government Says It Cannot Dismantle Al-Shabab Without The Support Of The People (RBC Radio)
- Somali Diaspora Plea To Westpac: Don’t Cut Remittances Lifeline (Somali Remittance Action Group/Hiiraan Online)
- Women Nabbed At Kenya-Somalia Border En Route To Join Al-Shabaab (Standard Media)
- Garissa Residents Demand Answers After Two Killed Bodies Carried Away (Daily Nation)
- ‘We Need Change Now’ (Minnesota Daily)
- First Football Academy Opened In Mogadishu (CCTV Africa)
- UN Strongly Condemns Deadly Terrorist Attack On Mogadishu Hotel (UN News Centre)
- Somalia Border Wall Is A Vital Strategy For Kenya (The Star Kenya)
SOMALI MEDIA
Salad Ali Jelle: “Government Should Do A Census”
30 March – Source: Radio Goobjoog – 157 Words
Former deputy defense minister and one time presidential contender Mr. Salad Ali Jelle has urged the government to do a census to support security forces in their investigations after major attacks. “The people who are doing these heinous criminal acts are not coming from outside the city, they are living here, but to identify them, we need [a] census,” Jelle said. Jelle said that the government can only discover who carries out attacks when they establish who is living in the city. He added that he believes Al Shabab are finished off, and are only conducting these attacks for media attention and to frighten the people. There is no official data about the population of the capital city, even the basic data like physical address and ownership of the city’s houses; a huge stumbling block to any investigation after major attacks like that of Makka Hotel on Friday.
Ex-Puntland President Lambasts Central Government For Security Lapse
29 March – Source: Garowe Online – 299 Words
Former Puntland President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole lambasted the federal government for failing to protect the lives of government officials and its citizens following a terror attack on popular hotel in Mogadishu, Garowe Online reports. In a phone interview with Garowe Online from Melbourne, Farole strongly condemned the deadly attack, calling it an ‘inhumane and heinous act’ that goes against Islamic values. Farole wished a swift recovery to the people wounded in the attack, and sent condolences to the bereaved families over the killing of their loved ones. “Especially, I condole with the family of late Yusuf Ismael Bari Bari. May Allah rest his soul in eternal peace and give patience to his family,” Farole said. As Al Shabaab militants target government officials and foreigners in broad daylight attacks, largely in Mogadishu, the former Puntland president pointed to the weak security apparatuses and the irresponsible manner which the Somali government responded to the situation.
“[The] Federal Government shoulders the responsibility…the ambassador’s security would have been tightened unlike the ordinary people,” he added, noting that the UN-backed weak central government only opts for condemnations at all times. “It [Federal Government] doesn’t go beyond condolences when something happens…no investigations, nothing is reported back and no tight care is exercised…I am really sorry,” Farole said. On February 28, 2015, Farole cautioned about a ‘political religious-minority’ dominating the Somali Federal Government and lobbying for term extension. Sources in Mogadishu say Al Shabaab gunmen freed two high-ranking officials who were chatting with Ambassador Bari-Bari in the hotel at the onset of the terror operation. The Puntland government, in northern Somalia, is planning to honor Somalia’s ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council with a state funeral in the capital, Garowe on Sunday.
UN Chief And Somalia President Discuss On Key Vision 2016 Deadlines
29 March – Source: Horseed Media – 169 Words
The Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon met Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud and discussed issues related to the peace, security, humanitarian situation and development affecting the country and the wider Horn of Africa. On the sidelines of the Arab League summit in Cairo, Mr Ban Ki-moon first expressed his condolences to the President over the victims of the Friday al-Shabaab attack on a Mogadishu hotel that left 14 people dead. In a press statement from the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), the Secretary-General praised the President’s leadership in the ongoing state formation process, including the establishment of the National Leadership Forum. He stressed the importance of including women, youth, minorities and other marginalized communities in the country’s statebuilding process. Both sides also discussed the 2016 vision where Somali stakeholders reiterated their commitment to meet key Vision 2016 timelines to complete Somalia’s federal state formation process and to review the provisional constitution.
Somali Government Says It Cannot Dismantle Al-Shabab Without The Support Of The People
29 March – Source: RBC Radio – 171 Words
The Somali National Minister for Security, Abdirazak Omar Mohamed, said on Sunday that his government cannot counter terrorist attacks and dismantle Al-Shabab without cooperation from the people. The minister speaking to the media, said his government needs more than security officers to counter the terrorist threat in the country, especially in Mogadishu. “Al-Shabab cannot be defeated by 100,000 soldiers if [there is no] support from the civilians. [They] can be defeated only with the support of the civilians,” Mohamed said. The minister’s comments came right after Al-Shabab stormed a popular hotel in Mogadishu killing dozens including respected Somali diplomats.
Somali Diaspora Plea To Westpac: Don’t Cut Remittances Lifeline
29 March – Source: Somali Remittance Action Group/Hiiraan Online – 548 Words
The Australian Somali community has warned Westpac that closing the accounts of Somali money transfer operators on Tuesday 31 March will cut off a vital lifeline for thousands of poor Somalis dependent on funds sent by family to purchase basics such as food, water, health and education. Westpac, which was the last of the big four banks to offer services to remittance organisations transferring funds on behalf of Somali migrants to loved ones in the fragile nation, will close the accounts by the end of this month, with no extension past this date. Westpac has advised Somali and other money transfer operators that the closure is driven by increased perception of risk around remittance services, in the context of changing international and domestic regulations and the bank’s own compliance requirements. The bank has noted that its decision is not based on any specific actions by Somali money transfer operators. Dr Hussein Haraco, chairman of the Somalia Remittance Action Group, a network of Somali money transfer operators and community members working to ensure safe and sustainable remittances can continue to flow to Somalia, said the impact of the account closures would be dramatic. “Remittances are vital for Somalia’s fragile economy and for the Somali people’s ability to feed and sustain themselves,” Dr Haraco said.
The Somali Diaspora sends home more than $1.3 billion annually, a sum larger than foreign aid and investments combined. This includes an estimated $33 million from Australia, more than double the $15 million in Australian aid sent to Somalia last year. Remittances are a crucial component of the Somali economy, making up more than half of the nation’s gross national income. An estimated 73 percent of Somali households use overseas cash transfers to pay for food. Remittances help build schools and hospitals and pay for school fees. Nearly 80 percent of Somalis receive some form of remittances, highlighting the dependence on the money transfers from abroad.
Somalis have created efficient money wiring agencies, known as Hawalas, which provide the only safe, practical and regulated means to send money in the absence of a formal banking system in Somalia. It has been the country’s rare lifeline over the last two decades that is now in jeopardy. Dr Haraco noted that the Australian Government had formed a Remittance Working Group (RWG) in December 2014 to work with the Australian banks and remittance organizations to find a sustainable long term remittance solution that meets the concerns of all stakeholders. While this group had made some progress in last few months, more time was needed to reach an outcome around a viable alternative for remittances to Somalia. “We welcome the fact that Westpac, via the Australian Banking Association, has been supporting efforts to reach a long term solution to maintain remittance flows,” Dr Haraco said. “However, closing the accounts of money transfer operators now, before that solution is found, may undermine those efforts by sending the remittance industry underground, where it cannot be policed.” “In the absence of any practical alternative for Somali migrants to send funds home, we urge Westpac to defer their remittance account closure decisions by at least six months to allow time to the Remittance Working Group (RWG) to find a viable long-term solution”.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Women Nabbed At Kenya-Somalia Border En Route To Join Al-Shabaab
30 March – Source: Standard Media – 720 Words
Military officers have arrested three young women believed to be Al-Shabaab sympathisers in Wajir as they attempted to cross into Somalia from where they were to be transported to Iraq and Syria to become ‘Jihadist brides’. The arrest of the three women thwarted an ambitious attempt by the trio to join extremists, but also raised fear among residents, with families of the women reported to be too traumatised by the event to speak. Two families in Malindi acknowledged that their three daughters had gone missing for days and said they had been informed they were arrested in Wajir on Friday. The families released a statement through human rights group Haki Africa, indicating that the three women had been arrested. Three young women have been arrested by military personnel in Wajir while allegedly trying to sneak into Somalia to become “jihadist brides” and suicide bombers. At least two of the women are believed to have been students in university campuses in Mombasa while the third, said to be Tanzanian, is said to have secured a scholarship to study at Khartoum’s International University in Sudan. The suspects are now being held in police stations in Mombasa. Although authorities in Mombasa say only three women were arrested, some accounts claim up to six women were arrested by anti-terrorism police while trying to enter Somalia from Wajir. It is believed they wanted to join Somalia’s terrorist group Al-Shabaab and later head to Iraq and Syria through Turkey from Mogadishu.
On Sunday, Mombasa county commissioner Nelson Marwa identified the Tanzanian suspect as Ummul Khayr Sadir Abdullah from Zanzibar. He said she is a 19-year-old Medicine student. Marwa said last evening the three women were recruited through social media to become “jihadist brides” and suicide bombers and were to be picked in Mandera by an unnamed contact. “They were arrested trying to enter Somalia through El Wak,” said Marwa who also identified the Kenyans as Khadija Abubakar and Mariam Saad. Both are both 21 years old. Marwa said the Tanzanian confessed to interrogators that she was recruited by a Mr Abdalla Zubeir who allegedly contacted her via a cell phone from Somalia. If confirmed, this will be the first time that Kenyan women have been arrested planning to travel abroad on a jihadist mission. Two families in Malindi have said their daughters have been missing for days, and that they were informed that they were arrested in Wajir on Friday. The families were reluctant to speak to journalists but released a statement through human rights group Haki Africa. Francis Auma, an official at Haki Africa, told The Standard last evening that the women were arrested in Wajir on Wednesday and taken to Mombasa. He said both were from Malindi and were students at a university in Mombasa. Auma alleged that the two were being held at Makupa and Port police stations in Mombasa and that their families had been denied access to them.
Garissa Residents Demand Answers After Two Killed, Bodies Carried Away
29 March – Source: Daily Nation – 597 Words
The mysterious killings of two people in Garissa Town last week have puzzled many including the security agents who are unable to explain the motive behind the shootings. At the same time, the victims’ relatives have demanded for answers from the government. On Thursday, two people are said to have been shot dead in hotel and their bodies carried away by the killers. Another two were abducted and taken to an unknown destination. During the morning incident, unknown people, who wore balaclavas and who drove a Toyota Land Cruiser pick-up whose number plates were concealed, stormed Durdur Hotel in Garissa Ndogo ordered everybody to lie down. They then proceeded to shoot dead two people. They left with the two bodies and two other men whom they abducted from the hotel in the dramatic raid that lasted less than 30 minutes. Leaders and civil society groups condemned the killings which have caused a lot anxiety and fear among residents. Garissa OCPD Benjamin Ong’ombe confirmed the killings saying his officers went to the scene and found blood stains but could not ascertain the number of people killed as there were no bodies.
He said although they had initiated investigation into the incident, no one, not even family members of the said victims, has come forward to report to the police about the matter. “It is a complicated matter because no one has seen the bodies of the people said to have been killed but we have initiated investigations into the incident,” he told the Nation on Sunday. Local leaders and human rights groups in the town have given the government one a week ultimatum to produce the bodies of the deceased failure to which they threatened to lead a massive protest in Garissa Town to compel the government to produce them for burial. Speaking to the journalists on Sunday, family members of the slain men demanded immediate investigations and that action be taken against the people who were involved in the incident. They were accompanied by members of the civil society groups, Supkem officials and 13 MCAs from Garissa County. Led by Iftin Ward MCA Mohamed Issack and his Fafi counterpart Mustapha Abdirashid, the leaders claimed that State agents killed innocent citizens which they said was a blatant abuse of the law.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
‘We Need Change Now’
30 March – Source: Minnesota Daily – 588 Words
Residents and community members assembled outside the Riverside Plaza on Friday afternoon holding signs touting messages like “We need change now” and “Stop mistreating us.” Nearly 100 people gathered for the second demonstration this month to protest against the plaza’s management. Residents echoed concerns they’ve had over the past two years, including a lack of transparency from the tenant association, mistreatment by the apartment’s staff and insufficient facilities. “They see us as voiceless, and we need something to change,” said Faysal Hassan, a resident of the plaza since 2006.
Riverside Plaza, an apartment complex just off the West Bank, is home to more than 4,000 residents and has the highest concentration of immigrants in the city. Some residents questioned the role of the Riverside Plaza Tenants’ Association, which is designed to act as a bridge between residents and management. Mubashir Jeilani has served as the association’s vice president for about two years and said he plans to step down. Though the board is supposed to meet once a month, he said, he’s been included in fewer than 10 meetings. Jeilani speculated that the other meetings have been private between the association’s president and Sherman Associates, which manages the plaza. Osman Ahmed, president of Riverside Plaza Tenants’ Association, declined to comment.
When board members did meet, Jelani said, they didn’t work to find solutions for tenants’ complaints. “This problem isn’t what the board has done; it’s what it hasn’t done,” he said. “We shouldn’t have to have the residents come onto the street to protest and demand things that we as a board should already be doing.” Hussein Ahmed previously held the executive director position of the West Bank Community Coalition, which represents the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, where the apartment is housed. When he sat on the coalition, Ahmed said he tried to meet with the tenant association multiple times to share concerns brought to him but would show up to the meetings to find a note saying the meeting was canceled. “It was all very hush-hush and secretive,” he said.
First Football Academy Opened In Mogadishu
29 March – Source: CCTV Africa – Video – 2:44 Minutes
Football in Somalia has received yet another boost, with the opening of the first football academy in Mogadishu. In just two years, football in the country has gained pace and is now quite promising. CCTV’s Mohammed Hirmoge reports.
UN Strongly Condemns Deadly Terrorist Attack On Mogadishu Hotel
28 March – UN News Centre – 332 Words
The top United Nations official in Somalia along with the members of the UN Security Council have strongly condemned yesterday’s terrorist attack on a hotel in Mogadishu city that resulted in the death of many civilians, including the Somali Federal Government’s Permanent Representative to the UN Office in Geneva, Ambassador Yusuf Bari-Bari. “I condemn yesterday’s terrorist attack in Mogadishu in the strongest terms and am appalled by the complete disregard for the lives of innocent civilians shown by the attackers,” said Nicholas Kay, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM). Mr. Kay went on to say that he was saddened to learn that Somalia’s Permanent Representative to the UN Office in Geneva, Ambassador Yusuf Bari-Bari, was one of the victims who succumbed to his injuries last night. “He will be remembered for his strong personal commitment to protecting and promoting human rights for all,” said the UNSOM chief, adding: “At this difficult time, I would like to offer my sincere condolences to the Federal Government, the family and friends of all those who died or were injured.”
Later in the day, through a statement to the press, the members of the UN Security Council also deplored the attack on the Maka al-Mukarama hotel, and expressed their deep sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims, as well as to the people and Government of the Federal Republic of Somalia. The Council members also wished a speedy recovery to those injured. Paying tribute to the “swift response and courage” of the Somali National Security Forces in responding to this attack, the Council underlined the need to bring perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism to justice. “The members of the Security Council underlined that neither this, nor any other senseless act of terrorism in Somalia, would dent their resolve to support the peace and reconciliation process in Somalia,” concluded the statement.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“A concomitant and immediate solution to our current deteriorating security situation will be the construction of an all arms forward combat base into which KDF elements deployed to Sector Two can be withdrawn to be reconstituted into appropriate manoeuvre units capable of offensive action against al Shabaab along Kenya’s border with Somalia. Whether these units remain part of Amisom is for the government to determine, based on careful considerations of Kenya’s national interests and aggressive negotiation with its partners in Igad.”
Somalia Border Wall Is A Vital Strategy For Kenya
30 March – Source: The Star Kenya – 902 Words
Barrier planning along the entirety of Kenya’s border with Somalia is long overdue. The deteriorating situation in Yemen will soon give both Al Qaeda in the Arabian Penninsula and ISIS new opportunities to penetrate the Horn of Africa via Somalia and Northern Kenya. Announcements from the office of Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery concerning construction of a “wall” along our porous border should be seriously interrogated in order to ensure we get cost effective integrated security solutions that are technically appropriate, conceptually sound and within Kenya’s existing capabilities to build and maintain. During the last 12 months I have been promoting in digital and print media a ‘Somalia Border Control Project’, which can be fully implemented in 12 to 18 months. Massacres of innocent Kenyans by al Shabaab since June 2014 (eg Mpeketoni-Hindi, Mandera – twice) and al Shabaab’s ongoing campaign of ambushes on official convoys or gun and grenade attacks on business premises, government facilities and essential utilities in the Front Line counties of Mandera, Lamu, Garissa and Wajir need urgent response by government agencies at all levels, whether national or county.
The existential threat to Kenya’s security is the al Shabaab-instigated insurgency spreading through the historically marginalised areas of the four Front Line counties, whose porous borders with Somalia constitute a two-way conduit for terrorists, migrants, weapons and ammunition, logistics or supplies and illicit goods. The total budget for a ‘Somalia Border Control Project’ is roughly $260 million (Sh23.6 billion), including cost of materials and labour. This will result in substantial improvements in security throughout the Front Line counties as well as in the rest of the country as al Shabaab insurgents are shut off from their support networks in Somalia and their ability to launch terrorist attacks against civilian targets in Nairobi and Mombasa starts to degrade. Weapons proliferation, human trafficking, commodities smuggling and other “apolitical” criminal activities will also be curtailed and mitigated as salutary consequences of government actions to close our border. To put this into context, the budget for the Safaricom Integrated Surveillance Project is Sh15 billion, and it is being rolled out only in Nairobi and, latterly, in Mombasa; $160 million is being spent while al Shabaab fighters turn large swathes of Kenya into “no go” zones.
“Somalis have cultivated and created modes of knowledge transfer that go years beyond whatever it is institutions consider legitimate. The transmission of stories and histories across space, generation and location has taken place precisely because Somalis have perfected an oral scholarship. An oral scholarship so intriguing European colonial scholars have spent years making profit from a deep undertaking of research. An oral scholarship so complex, varied and unique that Somalis themselves are reconstructing their own history to better understand the stories still being passed from elder to child, stories that haven’t been documented because of an inability of whiteness and white colonial scholars to grasp the intricacies in which Somalis themselves engage in preservation.”
#CadaanStudies, Somali Thought Leaders And The Inadequacy Of White Colonial Scholarship
29 March – Source: Sahan Journal – 1,099 Words
The inaugural issue of the Somaliland Journal of African Studies, SJAS was launched in February 2015 after a call for papers that is noticeably missing not only Somali authors, thinkers or scholars but Somali content as part of the final submissions. The four papers they announced, hand-selected from a mind-numbing total submission count of 15, examine South Africa, Kenya and Sierra Leone in some detail. The journal itself does not have a single Somali editor or Somali members on its advisory board. Safia Aidid, a candidate for a Ph.D degree in African history at Harvard University, in response launched the #CadaanStudies hashtag to speak to larger “questions of power, authority and knowledge production about the Somali territories and how Somalis continue to be marginalized in academic and policy studies concerning them and the Horn of Africa more broadly.” The hashtag elicited responses from Somalis all over the globe, with wide ranging personal experiences, anecdotes, debates and discussion about the place for non-Somali scholars in Somali scholarship, and more critically the ways in which white colonial scholars continue to sideline Somalis from these undertakings.
Markus Hoehne is a member of SJAS’s advisory committee and associate professor at the Institute of Anthropology at Leipzig University, Germany and his research over the past few years has included: odes to IM Lewis (considered the founding father of Somali studies); and the socio-politics of Somali thought, culture and, more recently, state formation. He responded publicly on the same Facebook thread hours later, not only defending a primarily European and colonial canon of white scholarship in Somali studies, but making disparaging classist and racist remarks regarding what he perceives to be the lack of Somali scholars in the field.There was a flurry of responses not only from Somalis but other Africans as well, rejecting and condemning Hoehne for his attack on Somalis. His words were not only racist in that they called into question the very intelligence of Somalis, but also reproduced very colonial narratives about whose expertise and knowledge is valued. Hoehne himself claims “self-reflection and self-criticism [as] the first and second nature of any social anthropologist, and in this regard I am certainly no beginner.” Yet, his remarks are in opposition to this.
The problem here goes beyond Hoehne and the mammoth sized hole he has managed to dig himself into. It is a generation of European colonial gatekeepers in Somali studies that are imbued with self importance. It is these scholars that consider that living as a Somali is somehow less critical than their time spent in books and institutions. It is these scholars who believe that Somali scholars’ work only has merit when it is authenticated through an institution. The mistake these “scholars” make time and time again is presupposing that we will hear their racist entitlement and silence ourselves. Their mistake is believing that four months spent in Somalia makes them an expert on Somali lives, language, identity and culture. Their mistake is believing that their words will have us police and regulate our ability to speak directly to the heart of whiteness. Their mistake is believing that teaching with a sprinkling of Somali words, and a shout out to free articles on academia.edu is enough for us to listen without complaint, without censure, without criticism, without the ability to clap back. Their mistake is underestimating Somali scholars, thinkers, activists, artists and movement makers and believing that we will not call them to account.
Top tweets
@HarunMaruf: So how many people live in #Mogadishu? 1.5 million? At least Jelle has an idea. What is the Govt going to do b4 the next attack? #Somalia
@USAforSOMALIA: U.S. Condemns Terrorist Attack in #Somaliahttp://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/
@WFPSomalia: A generous new contribution from #Finlandboosts @WFP’s operations in #Somalia. Thank you!@Ulkoministerio @FinlandUN
@will_mccants : you know it’s bad when RT @Gobanimodoon:#Somalia preparing to evacuate citizens from#Yemen http://horseedmedia.
@lasoco: Minister asks Al Shabaab members to surrenderhttp://j.mp/1IeJ8tJ #Somalia
@UNFPA_SOMALIA: Youth in #Somalia consulting on the kind of world they want in line with the #SDGs @GKyeyune @Aljaile@Pilirani
Image of the day
The Secretary-General met [on Sunday] with Mr. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, President of the Federal Republic of Somalia, on the margins of the summit of the League of Arab States.
Photo: UNSOM