May 20, 2015 | Daily Monitoring Report
UN Envoy Draws Attention To Progress In Somalia
20 May – Source: Xinhua : 248 Words
The UN secretary-general’s special representative for Somalia, Nicholas Kay, on Tuesdaycalled on the UN Security Council to note of progress in the horn of Africa country, including a better functioning governance, despite challenges, such as the threats posed by Al-Shabaab in the region.
Kay, briefing the 15-nation Security Council via video conference from Addis Ababa, highlighted UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s latest report on Somalia, and said while it is too soon to celebrate definitive success in Somalia, the international community must look at the progress made in the country, including a better functioning governance, political dialogue and efforts to counter violent extremism.
Despite some progress, Kay said he remains concerned about the security in the country and the threats posed by Al-Shabaab in the wider sub-region. He urged council members to monitor closely and be able to respond to any sign that Al-Shabaab is benefiting from their links to extremist groups in Yemen.
Key Headlines
- Mogadishu Tax Collectors Undergoes Fresh Training (Goobjoog News)
- US To Offer Capacity Building To Jubbaland Armed Forces (Wacaal News)
- Somali Federal Government In Budget Deficit (Goobjoog News)
- MP Hosh Jibril “Federal Parliament Has Only Advisory Role In The Regional States” (Goobjoog News)
- Burundi Might Leave Somalia As US Cuts Aid (The Observer)
- 7000 Somali Refugees Return From Yemen (Gulf Today)
- Ethiopian Forces ‘Cross Into Kenya’ Risk Diplomatic Fallout With Key Regional Ally (Mail & Guardian Africa)
- Who Really Rules Somalia? – The Tale Of Three Big Clans And Three Countries (Mail & Guardian Africa)
- Somalia’s Al-Shabaab ‘Taking The Wrong Path’ (BBC News)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Mogadishu Tax Collectors Undergoes Fresh Training
20 May – Source: Goobjoog News – 131 Words
About 70 municipal tax collectors in Mogadishu have yesterday started a fresh training to enhance their skills. The head of Revenue Authority in Somali Police Force, General Hassan Barisa who spoke at the opening ceremony told the participants that they should respect the rule of law, deal with business people in a diligent way even if they are aggressive when asked to pay the taxes. But there are huge challenges facing these force, including safety issues, close to 30 Tax Collectors have been gunned down in the past two years. The government was forced to allocate an armed soldier to accompany each Tax Collector to guard him. The fresh training came at a time when the government is in a budget deficit and has announced plans to speed up tax collections.
US To Offer Capacity Building To Jubbaland Armed Forces
20 May – Source: Wacaal News – 123 Words
An American delegation composed mainly of Military and other security officials has set foot in Kismaayo yesterday to offer capacity building to the regional administration. Receiving the delegation, Jubbaland first Vice President Gen. Abdullahi Sheikh Ismail – fartaag said that they were happy to receive the delegation. Jubbaland is set to receive equipment and training from the Americans following lengthy discussion between the two sides. President Ahmed Madobe who spoke in the meeting reiterated that his administration was in the process to select officials that it will contribute to the national armed forces. The three regional state are expected to contribute forces to the national force which is set to be formed soon. The force is expected to be around 9,000 personnel.
Somali Federal Government In Budget Deficit
20 May – Source: Goobjoog News – 97 Words
In a cabinet meeting yesterday, the finance minister Mohamed Aadan Fargeti has presented financial report regarding the 2015 budget which showed that there is a huge deficit. The minister said that the expected foreign aid did not materialize and since 50 % of the budget is based on local income, and that government should spend wisely. The cabinet has also approved to speed up revenue collection exercise in the country, especially big corporations like telecoms. The 2015 budget is estimated to $200 million US Dollars and it’s the first time the government has complained of budget deficit. The international community which supports the Somali government is yet to comment on this issue.
MP Hosh Jibril “Federal Parliament Has Only Advisory Role In The Regional States”
20 May – Source: Goobjoog News – 130 Words
MP Hosh Jibril has labeled the anti Jubbaland motion in the federal parliament as a complaint seeking to rectify errors in the formation of Jubbaland assembly and not a motion to pass no confidence vote. He was speaking to Goobjoog and said that it was best suited that the federal parliament issue a statement rather than debating the matter. “Constitutionally we cannot call it a motion, it’s a declaration of a concern and complain, it was wrong for the speaker to treat this as a motion, because the federal parliament has only advisory role in the formation of regional states” Said the MP. His comments came at a time when the MPs were debating a no confidence motion against the formation of Jubbaland regional assembly which they believe is unconstitutional.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Burundi Might Leave Somalia As US Cuts Aid
20 May – Source: The Observer – 417 Words
The African Union Mission to Somalia might have to work without Burundian soldiers who form the second largest contingent there. The African Union and the United States have proposed a cut in funding to the Burundian mission in Somalia, which might prompt Bujumbura to pull out of Somalia. The 5,432 Burundian soldiers await feedback from the African Union, which has delayed the deployment of a fresh contingent of soldiers, and the United States which has cut military funding to Burundi.
The Burundian contingent in Somalia is actively engaged in safeguarding sector three that covers the area of Baidoa and also provides backup support for sector 1 where Ugandan forces operate, covering the capital Mogadishu. In a statement on their defence website, the US government said it will cut military funding to Burundi until the country’s army has steered clear of ‘human rights violations’ as it hunts down the masterminds of last week’s failed coup d’etat.
7,000 Somali Refugees Return From Yemen
20 May – Source: Gulf Today – 375 Words
About 7,000 refugees have fled to Somalia from war-torn Yemen since a Saudi-led bombing campaign was launched, compounding the dire humanitarian situation in Somalia, a UN envoy said on Tuesday. Nicholas Kay, the special representative for Somalia, also warned the Security Council that vigilance was required to prevent Al Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab militants from getting fresh support from extremists in Yemen.“We need to monitor closely and be able to respond to any sign that Al Shabaab is benefiting from their links to extremist groups in Yemen,” Kay told the 15-member council.
Somalia has received 7,000 arrivals from Yemen since late March when the Saudi-led coalition launched the air war. The vast majority of them are Somali refugees who have returned home, said Kay. The refugees are joining a group of three million Somalis who face food shortages, of whom 730,000 are unable to meet their basic daily food needs.
Ethiopian Forces ‘Cross Into Kenya’, Risk Diplomatic Fallout With Key Regional Ally
20 May – Source: Mail & Guardian Africa – 3, 954 Words
ETHIOPIA has risked diplomatically antagonising a major ally after local media reported that its forces had crossed into Kenyan territory. Kenya’s largest-circulating newspaper the Daily Nation Tuesday reported that about 50 armed Ethiopian soldiers and policemen had briefly taken over a Kenyan police station to the country’s remote north. Kenyan police told the publication that Ethiopian forces armed with AK47 rifles arrived and took strategic positions around the Illeret police station in the North Horr region.
The Ethiopians are said to have assessed and photographed the area, which is estimated to be be less than 20 kilometres inside Kenya. They allegedly admitted that the Kenyan government was not aware of their presence, but said they would return. Surveyors have in recent weeks reportedly been demarcating the Kenya-Ethiopia border, but this is unclear why given their joint border was agreed by treaty in 1970, having been mapped out 20 years before. According to a police officer quoted by the paper, this is the third time Ethiopian forces have crossed into Kenya during the year, and called for reinforcements for the station.
OPINION, ANALYSIS & CULTURE
“So divided is Somalia one of it’s breakaway territories, Somaliland, woke up this morning with a light head having just celebrated its 24th “independence” anniversary on May 18th – a secessionist move that followed some time after the overthrow of Barre. Therefore as it stands, Somalia is now been divided into three regions each with a separate president and each from a different clan. ”
Who Really Rules Somalia? – The Tale Of Three Big Clans And Three Countries
20 May – Source: Mail & Guardian Africa- 908 Words
COMPARED to the great majority of African countries, Somalia is one characterised largely by distinctive homogeneity. Regardless of regional distribution all Somalis speak the same language, practice the same religion – virtually all belong to the “Shafi i Rite” of the Sunni faction of Islam – and eat the same food – with only minor deviations. Though there is a small Somali Bantu population, descendants from various East African populations, most of them converted to Islam.
In this sense the country does not compare to Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa or Ethiopia where the plethora of ethnic groups and tribes make bringing everyone onto the same page, a mammoth task. Yet, Somalia is a country so divided it has failed to form a unified government since the beginning of the war in 1991.
During the Siad Barre dictatorship (1969-91) one of the strongest governmental emphasis was to eliminate clan-associations. Anyone openly declaring themselves from a particular clan risked being reported by the numerous Barre-spies and placed in custody. Often for an undefined period of time.
http://mgafrica.com/article/
“Forming an alliance with al-Qaeda “was a very big mistake. Our duty at that time was only to liberate Somalia – our interests were local.” He added that it had a huge effect and diverted Al-Shabaab from its purpose. “Now it turns to terror acts, organised crime… we were against all that. In late 2010/2011 there was a lot of misunderstanding within the core leadership of al-Shabab… in terms of these terrorism events. “When we failed to get an agreement with [the group’s former leader, killed by a US drone strike in 2014, Ahmed Abdi] Godane and his inner circle, they started to silence all opposition.”
Somalia’s Al-Shabaab ‘Taking The Wrong Path’
20 May – Source: BBC News – 2,308 Words
One of the most senior figures to defect from Somalia’s al-Qaeda-linked militant group Al-Shabaab has urged his former colleagues to stop targeting civilians and to begin negotiations with the Somali government. In his first interview with a foreign journalist, Zakariya Ahmed Ismail Hersi – who once had a $3m (£1.9m; €2.7m) bounty from the US government on his head – condemned Al-Shabaab’s attack on Garissa University College in Kenya in April, where 148 students were killed.
Speaking at a government safe-house in Mogadishu, he described it as “wrong and unlawful” and offered his condolences to the victims and their families. Inside his heavily guarded residence he tells me the story of his rise through the ranks of the jihadists until the group’s policy of extreme attacks on civilians forced him to flee for his life. Mr Hersi’s defection – a lengthy process that appears to have begun in 2013, if not before – is now the centrepiece of a new government amnesty initiative designed to convince other militant leaders to follow suit.
“The path became wrong… and I had a tipping point,” he said in fluent English. Mr Hersi wants to try and persuade other Al-Shabaab fighters to leave the group ‘They’re trying to kill me’
Mr Hersi – widely known as Zaki – is a youthful, slim 33-year-old with a neatly trimmed beard and moustache. Wearing a new, Western-style checked shirt he struck me as proud, thoughtful, and extremely careful in the way he sought to present himself as a devout Somali patriot, who had been trapped inside a militant group that had lost its way.
“Now they’re trying to kill me,” he said of his former colleagues in Al-Shabaab, which explains the tight security at the safe house where a soldier manned a makeshift watchtower and two more guarded the gate.
TOP TWEETS
@ActForSomalia :UK and #Somalia have signed a deal to help rebuild the Somali National Army.#SNA
@UN_DPA :.@UNSomalia‘s Nick Kay today briefed #UNSC on the situation in #Somalia. Full text at http://ow.ly/N9wIk
@MKahiye:#Somalia Al Shabaab calls upon South East Asia#Muslim states to help #Rohingya fleeing #Burma violence.
@MakeWomenCount:#Somalia “They say that my place is in the private sphere” @fqdayib announces Pres bid, already proves critics wrong http://bit.ly/1PTOsFB
@BBCOS :#Somalia‘s al-Shabab ‘taking the wrong path’ by targeting civilians, defector tells the BBC http://bbc.in/1Aev8RR
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Residents of Heliwaa district hold posters during the community policing meeting.
Photo: AMISOM