May 26, 2015 | Morning Headlines

Main Story

Banadir Administration Resettles Somali Yemeni Refugees

25 May – Source: Somali Current – 148 Words

Forty five families who fled the conflict in Yemen were today resettled in Mogadishu by Banadir administration. Banadir Deputy Commissioner of political affairs and head of refugee committee said the families resettled today were Somalis who arrived Mogadishu week ago via government sponsored plane. The deputy commissioner also stated his administration will help families to trace their relatives before embarking their respective regions.

On the other hand, Banadir administration said they are planning to prepare makeshift camps to welcome the new refugees, urging Mogadishu resident to help their brothers and sisters. More refugees are expected to arrive in the capital Mogadishu in the coming months. In the recent months, wave of refugees have been arriving the port towns of Bosaso and Berbera fleeing the conflict in Yemen with thousands more trapped in the ongoing conflict.

Key Headlines

Banadir Administration Resettles Somali Yemeni Refugees (Somali Current)
A Somali Businessman To Send A Ship To Evacuate Somalis In Yemen (Goobjoog News)
Puntland Frees Two Detained Journalists (Garowe Online)
Somali Government Soldiers Withdraw From Janaale Locality (Goobjoog News)
Puntland State Officials And Donors Open Talks In Addis Ababa (RBC Radio)
Repatriation Of Somali Refugees From Dadaab Camp Set To Continue (Daily Nation)
Al Maktoum Charity UNESCO’s East Africa Office Discuss Plans To Launch Illiteracy Eradication Project In Somalia (WAM)
Limping Along With Somalia On The mind (Daily Nation)

NATIONAL MEDIA

A Somali Businessman To Send A Ship To Evacuate Somalis In Yemen

25 May – Source: Goobjoog News -174 Words

Abdi Ali Farah, a well-known Somali businessman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Jubba General Trading Company has pledged to dispatch a cargo ship which will ferry Somalis from Yemen which became home for ferocious fighting between the internationally recognized government and the Houthis, who have taken control of large swaths of Yemen. Speaking to Goobjoog News Farah said that he decided to help brotherly Somalis who were captivated by Yemen violence which cost hundreds of innocent lives. “The vessel can ferry over 1000 people at once therefore I voluntarily send it to evacuate Somalis who in Yemen” he said. He added that the ship directed by Somali refugee rescue committee, it will sail from Mogadishu. He called upon other Somali business people to step forward for the help the Somalis in Yemen. Farah will be the first Somali businessman who has offered to charter a ship for Somali refugees stranded in Yemen.

Puntland Frees Two Detained Journalists

24 May – Source: Garowe Online – 246 Words

Somalia’s Northeastern state of Puntland has released two detained radio journalists from a police station in the state capital of Garowe on Sunday morning, Garowe Online reports. Daljir Radio Director Abdirahman Gaardi and station editor Jamal Farah were set free following joint efforts by Nugal regional administration and Media Association of Puntland (MAP). Adan-who spoke to Garowe Online-alleged that the order to arrest them came from Puntland presidency. “We’re not just farm animals, sometimes arrested and sometimes freed. We have a right to be proved the reasons behind our arrest and any criminal offences we committed,” detained station editor, Adan told GO.

After lengthy debate, MAP, security ministry and presidential officials agreed to discuss the jailing of two journalists on Monday. Daljir Radio moderated an hour long programme on the worsening security situation, and ailing economy on Friday. On Saturday, Media Association of Puntland (MAP) Chairman, Faisal Khalif Barre and Daljir Director-General Ahmed Sheikh Mohamed (Tallman) condemned the detention of two prominent station journalists, calling on security agencies to unconditionally set the two free. In December 2014, Reporters Without Borders unveiled that media is censored with impunity in the northeastern state. OnDecember 7, Garowe police stormed Radio Garowe, with station journalist being threatened with arrest. In a leaked letter, presidential aide ordered that Garowe Online and four other websites be blocked from inside Puntland, drawing condemnation in late 2014. Somalia was ranked 176th of 180 countries in the 2014 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.

Somali Government Soldiers Withdraw From Janaale Locality

25 May – Source: Goobjoog News – 123 Words

Reports from Lower Shabelle region indicate that Somali National Army has withdrawn from Janaale locality when several insecurity cases are reported from several areas under the region. The soldiers left the areas yesterday evening as residents say that there are no presence of government soldiers in Janaale town. It is not yet clear the reason behind the withdrawal of the soldiers when the Somali government is fighting with Al-Shabaab fighters who always carry out raids on government forces. Somali government did comment on the withdrawal as the residents fear from imminent attacks from Al-Shabaab fighters who are speeding up their influence in the region. It was on 23rd this month when Al-Shabaab fighters seized two strategic localities, Aw-dhegle and Mubarak town for hours.

Puntland State Officials And Donors Open Talks In Addis Ababa

25 May – Source: RBC Radio – 136 Words

North eastern autonomous in Somalia, Puntland, officials including mayors and state ministers have today met with international donors In Addis Ababa, Ethiopian Capital, RBC Reports. In twelve day conference which commenced today, district and state level officials of Puntland government and senior representatives from International Donors are scheduled to review on achievements, challenges and recommendations on developmental projects happening across Puntland regions.

The two sides are expected to discuss the ways in which the developmental projects can be implemented throughout the state in fair, successful and transparent manner.Amid the conference, decentralization of governance into village level was among the topics on table. Puntland, a relatively stable state in Northern Somalia has been experiencing infrastructure developments including paved roads mainly in urban areas in the past decades that Southern Somalia was under anarchy and total lawless.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Repatriation Of Somali Refugees From Dadaab Camp Set To Continue

25 May- Source: Daily Nation – 245 Words

The repatriation of Somali refugees from the Dadaab camp will resume this week. The relocation was suspended due to heavy rains that affected roads, according to the Commissioner for Refugee Affairs Haron Komen. So far 2,050 Somali refugees who were living in Dadaab camp, the world’s largest refugee camp, had been repatriated up to early April when the exercise was put on hold.

Mr Komen said on Friday that the number of refugees to be repatriated will increase when the exercise resumes next week.Up to 200 people will be returned per convoy to speed up the process and ensure as many refugees as possible go back home by the end of the year.The repatriation is being done through a framework agreed upon in a tripartite agreement among Kenya, Somalia and the United Nations. The Kenya government has supported the exercise and wants the refugee camps closed following increased attacks attributed to Al-Shabaab militant group from Somalia.

Al Maktoum Charity, UNESCO’s East Africa Office Discuss Plans To Launch Illiteracy Eradication Project In Somalia

25 May – Source: WAM – 195 Words

A delegation from Al Maktoum Charity Foundation on a visit to Kenya has met with representatives of UNESCO Regional Office for Eastern Africa in Nairobi to discuss the possibility of implementing a project to eradicate illiteracy in Somalia.

Mohammed Obeid Al Ghanem, Secretary-General of the Foundation and head of the delegation, said the Foundation, under the directives of its patron, H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance, has taken upon itself to actively participate in plans and programmes for eradicating illiteracy in East Africa.He added that the Foundation’s illiteracy eradication programme aims to provide primary education and encourage continuous education among dropouts and tailor curricula keeping in mind the environment in which learners live.

OPINION, ANALYSIS & CULTURE

“If a Somali agrees with you, he will tell you so; if he disagrees with you, he will also tell you so — to your face. You might despair the clan competitiveness among the Somalis that has caused so much bloodshed over the years; but you have to respect the desire to make their own decisions and resist any imposed authority. But I can’t describe the paradoxes better than the Irish writer, Gerald Hanley, did in his book, Warriors: Life and Death Among the Somalis. During the Second World War, Hanley was leading a platoon of Somali soldiers, for most of the time right out in the bush. This is something of what he says about the Somali character:

Limping Along With Somalia On The mind

23 May – Source: Daily Nation -796 Words

I spend much of my working time these days appraising donor-funded projects across Africa.One of the most interesting issues we explore is whether a project has led to any unplanned outcomes, whether positive or negative. I am home again after 15 long days and nights at the Nairobi Hospital, where the surgeon’s objective was to successfully re-arrange some bones and bits of metal in my left hip. The nursing care was as good as it can be; and I am only now recognising some of the things I had taken for granted in the hospital — like, once home, the difficulty of getting out of bed when one of your legs is still stiff and painful after the surgery, or making yourself a cup of tea while also having to cling on to the “baby walker” frame that is going to be my close companion for the next few days.

But I also have the same kind of feeling I often get when I fly into Nairobi after a trip to Somalia. Please don’t get me wrong — I am in no way insinuating that a couple of weeks in Nairobi Hospital is anything like as challenging as a couple of days in Mogadishu. No, my point is that, having driven for many miles across the desert wastes of Somalia; having witnessed the barrenness of conflict-torn city streets; having been able to go nowhere without attendant security — driving home from JKIA I can feel again how lucky I am to live in such a vibrant, multi-cultural and progressive city as Nairobi. You can even smile at the thought that it takes almost as long to get from JKIA to Lavington as it does from the Gulf of Aden to Nairobi. (But next morning I will be cursing again.)

So one very rewarding outcome of travel can be the re-appreciation of things back home: like making straight for chunks of bread and cheese after a month-long diet of rice and beans in Karamoja in Northern Uganda; like the peace of sitting on the terrace with my laptop and watching the changing patterns as the sunlight filters through the greenery of the garden’s trees, after some days marooned in a Catholic Church compound in Rumbek of South Sudan, when there is fighting going on in nearby villages.