May 1, 2015 | Morning Headlines.

Main Story

Somalia Appoints New Police Chief

30 April – Source: Horseed Media – 165 Words

Somalia’s federal government appointed a new chief for the country’s law enforcement force on Thursday. A former minister was named to head the vacant position in a ministerial meeting chaired by Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali. The position has been vacant since October last year, after the former late chief Mohamed Hassan passed away after suffering a cardiac arrest. General Mohamed Hassan Hamud previously served as the defence minister before the cabinet was ousted by the parliament following political bickering between the President and ex-Prime minister. His appointment could not come at a more critical time. The security of Mogadishu has been worsening since the beginning of the year following deadly attacks launched by Al-Shabaab extremists. Last week, intelligence officials warned of fresh attacks by the group, and revealed that they are planning to attack communal gathering places. In a statement released after the meeting, ex-intelligence chief Gen. Bashir Goobe was appointed as the new head of the custodial corps.

Key Headlines

Somalia Appoints New Police Chief (Horseed Media)
Campaign To Encourage Women Writers In Puntland (Radio Ergo)
Campaign Against Khat Gains Momentum In Somalia (Somali Current)
Main Agendas Of Key Conference In Garowe (Goobjoog News)
Families Returned To Bay Appeal For Tools To Clear Overgrown Farmland (Radio Ergo)
Uganda Says Checking Whether Islamist Rebel Leader Arrested In Tanzania (Reuters)
Kenya Softens Its Position On Proposed Closure Of Dadaab Refugee Camp (The Guardian)
Citizens Unite Against Hate Crime (Edgware Today)
How To Change The World: Malmö To Mogadishu (The Local – Sweden)

NATIONAL MEDIA

Campaign To Encourage Women Writers In Puntland

30 April – Source: Radio Ergo – 268 Words

An initiative to spur growth in the number of Somali women writers has been launched in Puntland by the Ministry of Education in collaboration with Women Writers Association (PWWA). Fadumo-shukri Abdi Hersi, director of women’s education development in the ministry, said committees had been formed to encourage women writers. “There are many active girls who are qualified to write but face challenges such as lack of funds and support. We are in the process of bringing out such girls and are working on seeing many female writers come up next year,” she said. Fatuma-shukri is currently writing a book on the challenges facing girls in education. She urged women to pursue their educational dreams while ensuring household tasks did not get in the way of their learning.

Women’s education activist, Sahra Ahmed Koshin, urged women to speak about their lives and prove to their communities that they can write. “We are developing writing courses for girls and we encourage them to contact the association for any assistance,” said Sahra, who is the author of three books. The initiative was boosted by the offer of reduced printing prices for women by a publishing house. Mohamed Sheikh Hassan Nur, of Scansom publishers based in Sweden, said women would give their male colleagues a run for their money when it came to writing. “We will put more effort into publishing books by women writers and will do so at half the cost. Most of our clients are currently male writers although there are a few women who submit their work for publishing,” he said.

Campaign Against Khat Gains Momentum In Somalia

30 April – Source: Somali Current – 167 Words

The anti-khat campaign in Somalia has taken a new twist and is gaining momentum since the arrival of anti-khat activist Abukar Awale ‘Qadid’ in the country a few months ago. A series of events have been organized in support of Qadid in Mogadishu, with several organizations promising to support the his campaign to uproot the culture of chewing khat in the Somali community. Abukar Awale termed khat a ‘menace’ and a ‘modern form of colonization,’ and called on Somalis to unite in the fight against the stimulant. The activist made global headlines after he won a petition in the UK seeking to ban the stimulant in the country, which was later implemented by law. Khat is illegal in many sub-saharan countries, but has flourished in the war torn nation with millions of dollars spent on the stimulant. Many Somalis anti-khat activists have campaigned against the drug, saying chronic use leads to high divorce rates, wife beatings, and job loss.

Main Agendas Of Key Conference In Garowe

30 April – Source: Goobjoog News – 145 Words

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud officially opened the country’s framework for action conference on Thursday, taking place in Garowe, the administrative capital of Puntland. Three regional presidents and the president of federal government are expected to focus on a wide range of issues including fulfilling Vision 2016, the plan to integrate regional forces and form a nationally cohesive force, a natural resources sharing agreement, and the situation of Somali refugees in Yemen and Kenya. On February 9, 2015, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, invited the leaders of the regional states of Puntland, Jubbaland and South Western Somalia; Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, Ahmed Mohamed Islaan and Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden, respectively, for a three-day consultation forum on developing a common national understanding and approach to issues facing Somalia in Mogadishu.

Families Returned To Bay Appeal For Tools To Clear Overgrown Farmland

30 April – Source: Radio Ergo – 326 Words

Families recently returned from the refugee camps in Dadaab are finding it difficult to rebuild their lives in Baidoa as their farms have been overrun by thick bush. Many families, returning after 15 years or more away, have been unable to take advantage of the rainy season. “My farm is now more of a forest than a farm,” said Hussein Ahmed Ibrahim in despair. “There are so many trees and bushes, making it impossible for me to cultivate and plant ahead of the short rains.” Hussein’s farm is in Lidaale division of Baidoa district. Neighbours of his, like Sadia Hassan Ibrahim, share the problem. “I was expecting to rebuild my life when I came back,” Sadia said, “but I cannot do so now as a lot of trees have grown on my farmland. It is difficult to dig or even plant. I request the government and well-wishers to help us in bush-clearing as we cannot afford to hire labour nor do we have the necessary tools to do it ourselves.”

Abdi Ali Aden said he fled the country when it degenerated into anarchy but was now willing to rebuild his livelihood if he could. Farming is the only activity he knows, he said, and he hoped one day to harvest again from his own farm. He said he had relied on food rations donated by aid agencies for more than a decade and wanted to start a new life. Most of the families who voluntarily returned home from Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya are living in bad conditions in several IDP camps in Baidoa. While many of them still own their farm lands in Baidoa or elsewhere in Bay region, others have sold their farms and livestock. Qureisho Adan Mohamed, who returned from Dadaab two months ago, is among those who sold his farm. He said he has nowhere to go except the IDP camp.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Uganda Says Checking Whether Islamist Rebel Leader Arrested In Tanzania

30 April – Source: Reuters: 283 Words

Ugandan authorities said on Friday they were trying to verify whether a man arrested in Tanzania was Jamil Mukulu, the leader of an Islamist rebel group blamed for various deadly attacks in Western Uganda and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The Ugandan government has said that Mukulu’s organisation — the Alliance of Democratic Forces – National Army for the Liberation of Uganda (ADF-NALU) — is allied to elements of Somalia’s al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab insurgents. “We got information from Tanzania of someone arrested there a couple of days ago,” Uganda police spokesman, Fred Enanga, told Reuters on Thursday. “They wanted us to provide photographs and facial impressions of Jamil Mukulu … We have provided them with that information and we’re now waiting.”

Forced out of Uganda in the mid-2000s, the ADF-NALU operates from bases in the mountains of eastern Congo and U.N. officials estimate that it has between 1,200 and 1,400 fighters. Rights groups have accused it of mass civilian killings and kidnappings. Enanga did not say where exactly they believed Mukulu had been arrested and there was no immediate comment from Tanzanian authorities. A source in the Ugandan military told Reuters the man in Tanzanian custody had been confirmed as Mukulu. Uganda has long worried that ADF-NALU could pose a security threat to its oil fields if left unchallenged in Congo’s loosely governed east. The east African country discovered commercial hydrocarbon deposits in its Albertine rift basin which straddles its border with Congo. Production is expected to start in 2018. Mukulu has been subjected to targeted U.N. sanctions since 2011. ADF-NALU was added to the sanctions list in 2014.

Kenya Softens Its Position On Proposed Closure Of Dadaab Refugee Camp

30 April – Source: The Guardian – 462 Words

Kenya appears to have softened its stance on the imminent closure of a camp hosting more than a third of a million Somali refugees, weeks after the deputy president, reacting to the massacre at Garissa University, announced it would happen within three months. “While we are committed to the return of the refugees, you will not see us holding them by the head and tail and throwing them across the border,” said Ali Bunow Korane, who chairs Kenya’s Refugee Affairs Commission. Korane was addressing a forum at which officials from the UN, aid agencies and civil society discussed the implications of closing Dadaab refugee complex, where more than 330,000 Somalis live. He acknowledged that, while it was Kenya’s policy to encourage refugees to go back to Somalia, the country, “does not provide a conducive environment for mass return”. This is also the position of the UNHCR, the UN’s agency for refugees, and most aid agencies working in Somalia.

Korane said Kenya was working to mobilise international support to improve security and build up social infrastructure such as houses, schools and hospitals, in order to make potential areas of return more viable. On 11 April, William Ruto, Kenya’s deputy president, announced that the Kenyan government had asked the UNHCR “to relocate the refugees [in Dadaab] within three months, [failing] which we shall relocate them ourselves”. Ruto spoke shortly after 148 people, mostly students, were murdered in a university in the northern town of Garissa, in an attack for which al-Shabab claimed responsibility. Although al-Shabab is primarily a Somali jihadist insurgency, it has recruited many Kenyans – including, by many accounts, some of those who carried out the university killings.

Citizens Unite Against Hate Crime

30 April – Source: Edgware Today – 285 Words

Almost two years after a suspected racist arson attack on a Somali community centre, communities in Barnet have come together to ensure they don’t lose out in the long run. The Somali Bravanese Welfare Association’s building, in Coppetts Road, Muswell Hill, was destroyed in June 2013 – but the incident resulted in closer links with the Jewish community. Now Barnet Citizens – a group of nine community organisations – has launched its Don’t Let Hate Win campaign to ensure that the terms of the lease on the building where they are to be re-located are not worse than those they had before the fire. Barnet Citizens organiser Charlotte Fischer is concerned “that the Bravanese may be disadvantaged for simply being the victims of an arson attack”.

Labour and Tory parliamentary hopefuls for Finchley and Golders Green Sarah Sackman and Mike Freer have both backed Barnet Citizens’ campaign and members of the group will be asking councillors to sign the pledge over the coming weeks. Andrew Jacobs, a member of Finchley Reform Synagogue and the North London Citizens executive, said: “It’s crucial that the Bravanese are not disadvantaged in lease terms because they suffered an arson attack. This arsonist wanted the community to be divided, but we have united.” A Barnet Council spokesman said: “Late last year the council unveiled pre-planning proposals for a new building alongside the Old Barn Community Centre in East Finchley. The plans include first-class facilities for the Bravanese community which will also be available for use by other local residents. “The first step is to secure planning consent. Any lease arrangements will be thoroughly explored at that point and will be discussed with other community groups.”

OPINION/ANALYSIS/CULTURE

“In two countries on the same planet, one is a place where you go to learn, to challenge the norms, to express your creativity and enjoy your independence in a safe haven,” she notes. “And in another place, students are trying to empower themselves through education, get a good job and contribute to the socio-economic development of their country. And then this happens to them.”

How To Change The World: Malmö To Mogadishu

29 April – Source: The Local – Sweden – 892 Words

In what is increasingly one of the most dangerous regions in the world, an Australian graduate of Malmö University is helping to bring the rule of law back to East Africa. Kara De Kretser explains how her master’s degree was her ticket to a career in international development. Decades of war, corruption, piracy and poverty have left parts of East Africa torn apart and lawless. But even the looming presence of al-Shabaab, the Somalian terrorist organisation now affiliated with ISIS, has not deterred Kara De Kretser from moving to the region to offer the experience and skills she gained from a master’s programme at Malmö University.Originally from Melbourne, Australia, Kara now works in Nairobi, Kenya, as a Project Officer at the United Nations Office for Project Services’(UNOPS) East Africa Hub. UNOPS supports agencies and governments in troubled areas, sometimes by helping to procuring critical supplies, but often through building essential infrastructure. Much of Kara’s work is focused on Somalia, where, following the long period of conflict, the physical infrastructure and many government buildings are in a dilapidated condition.

“It is very challenging for a government or ministry to function efficiently when they lack offices suitable for future needs. Establishing police headquarters, new ministry buildings and prisons is all aimed at strengthening government institutions, improving security and justice, and above all, developing national capacity,” says Kara. She aims to travel into Somalia later this year to assess the situation on the ground – where the threats are very real. In January, al-Shabaab carried out a fatal suicide car bomb attack near Somalia’s Mogadishu International Airport compound, where UN staff are based. “We live in a bit of a bubble in Nairobi,” she says. “It’s easy to get accustomed to life here, but it is always a strong reminder when you land back home, and you reflect on the differences. For instance, it is very normal practice in Nairobi to go to a shopping centre and oblige security personnel as they search our cars for bombs or other weapons – it is very easy for that to become our norm.” The shootings at the Westgate Shopping Mall in 2013 which left 71 dead, and more recently the appalling atrocity at Garissa University College which killed 152, put Kenya in the spotlight as fundamental terrorists attacked soft targets.