April 14, 2015 | Morning Headlines.

Main Story

Cord Insincere About KDF – MP

13 April – Source: The Star Kenya – 95 Words

MP Jamleck Kamau has said the calls by Cord leaders for the withdrawal of the Kenya Defence Forces from Somalia are inopportune and baseless. Kamau said Cord principals were in power when the soldiers were deployed to the war-torn country. He said their calls for the soldiers’ withdrawal are a plot to distract the Jubilee government. Kamau was speaking on Friday at Mariira, Kigumo constituency, during the commissioning of a Mariira Secondary School bus. He said the presence of KDF in Somalia is not the reason for Shabaab attacks.

Key Headlines

Dadaab Returnees In Squalid Conditions In Baidoa (Radio Ergo)
Puntland Government UNDP Review Progress At Garowe Meeting (Garowe Online)
A Time Of Hardship and Agony: Somali Citizens Stranded In Yemen (Horseed Media)
Prominent Somali Cleric Speaks Out On Kenya Assets Freeze (Garowe Online)
Preparations In Top Gear As Adaado Braces For Conference (Wacaal Media)
Somali Official Calls On Kenya Not To Shut Down Dadaab Camp (Radio Danan)
Cord Insincere About KDF – MP (The Star Kenya)
Police Shoot Dead Two Al-Shabaab Suspects (Daily Nation)
Repatriation Threat Alarms Somali Refugees In Kenya (IRIN News)
Closing Dadaab Will Not Fix Insecurity (The Star Kenya)
How To Re-Open A Cash Lifeline To Somalia (Chatham House)
Life In Dadaab (BBC World Service Radio)

SOMALI MEDIA

Puntland Government, UNDP Review Progress At Garowe Meeting

13 April – Source: Garowe Online – 184 Words

The President of Somalia’s Puntland Government Dr. Abdiweli Mohamed Ali along with cabinet ministers and parliamentarians joined United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) officials on Sunday to review progress being made in capacity building, livelihoods and crosscutting issues over the past year, Garowe Online reports. With UNDP management present in the annual meeting, President Gaas stressed the need for identifying priorities for 2015 in line with five- year development plan: “Don’t forget to translate the needs of Puntland people into priorities during such roundtable meetings. Donor community supports Somalia through UN bodies, and we’ve a full right to write to international bodies about our priorities”.

Held under the theme: “Country Programme Strategic Review Meeting,” Puntland called for the expansion of development projects into remote areas. Over the course of the performance review conference, UNDP presenters showcased activities including civilian policing, improving access to viable justice, alternative livelihoods, HIV-Aids projects, and strengthening institutional performance. UNDP has constructed prisons, helped Puntland authorities train police officers and stepped up involvement in governance, legal and prison services according to officials.

A Time Of Hardship and Agony: Somali Citizens Stranded In Yemen

13 April – Source: Horseed Media -728 Words

Tens of thousands of Somali citizens are currently stranded in Yemen, many in conflict-zones, leaving family members thousand of miles away concerned for their safety. For two decades, Somalis fleeing their failed state found in Yemen a safe haven, a place to work, and a gateway to wealthier Gulf States risking one of the world’s most dangerous boat journeys across the Gulf of Aden. More than 540 people have died and 1,700 have been wounded in Yemen since March 19, the World Health Organization has said. At least 74 children had been killed since the coalition strikes began – though the real figure is thought to be much higher – and more than 100,000 have been displaced, according to the UN. Evacuation out of a conflict zone is no easy exercise: multiple governments and actors are involved, the lines of communication are not always direct and open, the environment is unpredictable; circumstances are beyond one’s control and even the slightest delay or lapse can lead to major problems. But while other countries have scrambled to evacuate their nationals in Yemen by the thousands, the Somali Federal government has delayed to speed up the process while countries such as neighbouring Kenya have gone on to seek assistance from other nations like China and India for the withdrawal of their nationals from the strife-torn country.

One of the stranded Somali citizens in Sana’a told local media outlets that they are facing “difficult humanitarian, health, and security circumstances”. He pointed out that amongst the stranded are entire families and children. Though the exact number of Somalis stuck in Yemen is unknown, hundreds of people in Somalia and abroad have expressed concern about loved ones in the middle-eastern country. While trouble has been brewing in the strategic Arab country for nearly five years, the turmoil grew into a full-blown regional conflict as Saudi Arabia started bombing Houthi rebels, who had forced President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi to flee in February. The stranded man questioned the establishment of embassies and consulates if they cannot provide assistance to the citizens of their countries. “What is the army of ambassadors, diplomats, advisors, and employees doing? I appeal to the authorities in Mogadishu to promptly evacuate and transport the stranded Somalis, before we perish.” Last week, the government announced that it will send a ship to the port town of Aden for evacuation but it did not specify when the ship will be dispatched. Others questioned how a ship can be enough to evacuate tens of thousands people. Abdullahi Ahmed, a Somali student pursuing his degree studies expressed his disappointment on why the government has failed to evacuate them when much smaller countries with much less stable governments have been able to evacuate their nationals.

“We are angered by the government for failing to provide means to evacuate us back to our homes. Are we not true Somalis that deserve to be helped?” In the last two weeks, hundreds of citizens managed to escape the violence by themselves. They travelled by small boats all the way from Yemen coastal town of Mukalla, arriving in stable regions in Northern Somalia of Puntland and Somaliland. “Somali citizens have been effectively abandoned in Yemen,” Maryam Ali told reporters, when she had safely arrived in Puntland’s commercial hub city of Bossaso days ago. “No one helped us come here. I’m happy to be back, but at the same time I feel saddened by the situation of others still left behind.” Their plight was made worse as the Somali government publicly announced that it is supporting the Saudi-led military offensive against the Houthi rebels.

Ahmed said that ever since the government revealed its involvement in the operation, Somalis are confined in their homes for fear of being targeted or killed. “Why should the government do such things while it knows that many citizens are still living in the country? Now we are afraid that the rebels who control here will hunt for us and retaliate on the government’s decision,” he says. Though there were demonstrations by the Somalis opposing the government’s decision, Ahmed believes that they are still in danger. “Some of my friends living in other neighbourhoods told me that Houthi supporters were very angry to hear that and luckily they were not harmed. But still we are a prime targets.”

Prominent Somali Cleric Speaks Out On Kenya Assets Freeze

13 April – Source: Garowe Online – 155 Words

Prominent Somali Islamic Scholar Sheikh Mohamed Abdi Umal has spoken out on the freezing of his assets by the Kenyan government, distancing himself from allegations of maintaining links with the Al Qaeda linked Al Shabaab group, Garowe Online reports. Sheikh Umal called the decision to freeze his assets ‘astonishing’: “It is really a wonder that Kenya has frozen my assets and accused me of giving Al Shabaab support,” Umal said, adding that he has long preached against Al Shabaab ideology. “The decision [has stunned] everybody, let alone me, because I am known for my firm stance over Al Shabaab,” Umal told media in Nairobi. Umal, one of the most popular clerics in East Africa set up businesses in Nairobi, and issued Fatwas declaring the Somali militant group ‘heretics’. Last week, Kenyan government imposed sanctions on 86 accounts of people and organizations suspected to be funding Al Shabaab activities.

Preparations In Top Gear As Adaado Braces For Conference

13 April – Source: Wacaal Media – 117 Words

Preparations for the conference on the formation of a Central State are in top gear in Adaado. Conference, accommodation and recreational facilities have been put in place ahead of the much awaited event in the area. Adaado has been painted white and blue, with pedestrians, vehicles, businesses and road signs reflecting the colors of the national flag. There are, however, murmurs among several leaders of Adaado who have a bone to pick with the president for naming Dhuusamareeb the headquarters of the upcoming regional government. Interior minister Mr. Abdirahman Odowaa who is currently in Adaado announced that the conference will kick off on Wednesday this week.

Somali Official Calls On Kenya Not To Shut Down Dadaab Camp

13 April – Source: Radio Danan – 155 Words

A former minister with the Galmudug administration in central Somalia urged Kenya’s government not to close Dadaab camp, one day after Kenyan government ordered UNHCR to relocate the Somali refugees. Abshir Mohamed, a Somali politician, says Kenya’s decision would have a devastating impact on Somalis. His remarks come after Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto on Saturday gave the United Nations’ refugee agency three months to relocate refugees from the Dadaab camp — the world’s largest — to Somalia, or “we shall relocate them ourselves.” “The way America changed after 9/11 is the way Kenya will change after Garissa,” Ruto said in Nyeri, according to a statement from his office. Al-Shabaab gunmen stormed Garissa University College in eastern Kenya this month, killing 147 people. Kenya’s government says that attack was masterminded by senior Al-Shabaab leader Mohamed Mohamud, whose “extensive terrorist network within Kenya” extends into the sprawling Dadaab complex.

REGIONAL MEDIA

Police Shoot Dead Two Al-Shabaab Suspects

12 April – Source: Daily Nation – 377 Words

Police officers from the Crime Prevention Unit have shot dead two suspected Al-Shabaab terrorists at Mwamambi Village in Ukunda, Kwale County.Police said the suspects, identified as Khalfan Mwamtaka and Hamisi Kulunga, were gunned down on Saturday morning after engaging them in a fierce gun battle. According to sources within the security forces, the two were believed to be part of a gang of nine, operating in Ukunda and Likoni and who were on the police watch list.The gang is said to comprise people who came back from Somalia after acquiring military skills. A-K 47 rifle
During the operation, a senior police officer was shot in the shoulder. He is receiving treatment in a Mombasa hospital.Contacted, Msambweni Officer Commanding Police Division Joseph Omijah said he would issue a statement as soon as investigations into the shooting were complete. Sources said an AK-47 rifle was among other weapons found at the site of the shooting. Records at Msambweni Hospital indicate that the two died due to massive bleeding resulting from gunshot wounds. According to the records, the suspected terrorists had wounds in the head, chest, stomach and legs. One had five bullet injuries while the other had four.Police said they were still looking for four other suspects, among them a former police officer. On the same night, Mr Mohammed Mazuri, a herbalist was shot dead by unknown assailants outside his house

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Repatriation Threat Alarms Somali Refugees In Kenya

13 April – Source: IRIN News – 1,090 Words

A threat from Kenya’s deputy president to send back hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees in the wake of the Garissa university shooting has prompted alarm in the camps and rebuke from advocacy groups and even some MPs. It may not reflect government policy, but William Ruto declared on Saturday in a televised speech: “We have asked the UNHCR [the UN Refugee Agency] to relocate the refugees in three months, failure to which we shall relocate them ourselves.” Ruto was speaking nine days after at least 147 people, mostly students, were murdered in a university campus in an attack claimed by al-Shabab, a mostly Somali insurgent group that also has a significant Kenyan membership. Some 350,000 Somali refugees live in the Dadaab complex in eastern Kenya, about 100 kilometres from the Somali border. Kenyan officials and MPs accuse al-Shabab of training and recruiting militants inside the camps, which were set up in the early 1990s to accommodate refugees fleeing Somalia’s civil war.

Shortly after the Garissa slaughter, the Kenyan government suspended the licences of 13 money remittance firms as a counter-terrorism measure. Many refugees in Dadaab rely on such firms to receive money from friends and relatives. It is unclear whether Ruto’s speech was backed by an actual plan formulated by the Kenyan government. Both UNHCR and the Somali government say they have had no formal communication about a large-scale repatriation. Kenya’s own commissioner for refugee affairs, Harun Komen, told IRIN he had not received any official directive so was therefore unable to comment. If such a repatriation did take place, “we would find it a big challenge,” UNHCR spokesman Emmanuel Nyabera told IRIN. He pointed out that Kenya had undertaken, in a tripartite accord signed with Somalia and UNHCR in late 2013, to ensure all returns would be voluntary. “Most refugees come from southern and central parts of Somalia and some of these areas are still unsafe. We can only facilitate returns when refugees can go back in a safe and sustainable manner,” he said. About a million Somalis are internally displaced within their own country, mostly as a result of insecurity.

SOCIAL MEDIA

CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS

Closing Dadaab Will Not Fix Insecurity

13 April – Source: The Star Kenya – 208 Words

Deputy President William Ruto over the weekend said that the UNHCR has three months to close Dadaab refugee camp, or the government will itself relocate the refugees back to Somalia.This kneejerk reaction is a strategic error. Firstly there is no evidence that the Garissa attack was linked to refugees from Daadab. The attackers crossed the border near Garissa and slept in a hotel in town (not in a refugee camp!). Secondly Kenya is a signatory to the international treaty that set up the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. That treaty obliges all signatories to accept refugees in their countries. Kenya would wreck its global image if it spat on its international obligations.
Thirdly there are around 500,000 refugees in Dadaab. The cost of supporting them is met by the international community, not by Kenya. This brings around $200 million a year into the Kenyan economy. Kenya actually profits from hosting Dadaab. Why throw that away? Finally, how many people is Kenya going to throw out of the country to make it safe? Every single Somali? Every single Muslim? Every single Coastal person? Every Sabaot? Every Mungiki? Closing Dadaab is not the solution to the problem of insecurity in Kenya.

“This makes the money more vulnerable to being lost or stolen while at the same time creating a worrying flow of unregulated and untraceable currency. Most of the money will be sent for positive and legal uses; but for those with more nefarious aims, the emergence of informal and opaque transfer channels is a dream come true. By withdrawing from the remittance sector to help reduce money laundering and terrorist financing, the banks and their regulators will have indirectly contributed to the creation of alternative channels.”

How To Re-Open A Cash Lifeline To Somalia

13 April – Source: Chatham House – 1,250 Words

For the million Somalis living overseas, trips to the local money transfer operator are a monthly obligation. They bring cash or a debit card together with proof of identity, provide their relative’s name, phone number and address and pay a small service charge, usually no more than five per cent. The agent looks up their transmission history, confirms their contact details and takes the money. Five minutes later, their relative in Somalia gets a phone call or text message saying they have money waiting to be collected. This routine, repeated each day in every Somali community around the world, means the Somali economy receives an estimated $1.3 billion to $2 billion a year. This is roughly equivalent to all the aid, foreign investment, and income earned from exports each year combined. Some 40 per cent of Somali households receive such remittances and three quarters of these share what they receive with poorer relatives in the country. Remittances are used to cover a household’s most basic needs – food, school fees and healthcare. In a 2013 UN Food and Agriculture Organization study, a third of remittance-receiving households in Somaliland and Puntland said that they would not be able to feed their families if remittances were to stop. Eighty per cent of those who receive them say that they are dependent upon a single relative to send them money.

As important as they are, remittances are now under threat from skittish banks and an increasingly restrictive regulatory environment. Afraid of being fined if money transfer operators are found to have funnelled money to terrorist groups such as Al Shabaab, banks have been closing money transfer accounts steadily in recent years. The problem came to a head in Britain in 2013 when Barclays Bank, the last bank offering services to the larger money transfer operators, closed its accounts. More recently in the United States, Merchants Bank, responsible for handling 60 to 80 per cent of US remittances to Somalia, closed its accounts. Just what the impact of these closures will be is still unclear. Oxfam and Adeso (African Development Solutions) have been warning of a potential humanitarian crisis if people are not able to send money home. They acknowledge, however, that Somalis are exceedingly resourceful. A more likely scenario than mass starvation is that if people cannot send money legally, they will send it through the underground economy. Money will be handed to friends or relatives travelling back to Somalia to carry with them, or people will be paid to act as couriers.

Life In Dadaab

13 April – Source: BBC World Service Radio – Audio – 3:51 Minutes

Dadaab, in eastern Kenya, shelters around half a million Somali refugees. Ben Rawlence -who’s writing a book on the camp- has been describing the conditions there.