16 Sept 2011 – Daily Monitoring Report
Key Headlines:
- President Sharif laid the foundation for a new army barracks to be constructed at Jazeera
- Mogadishu mayor appeals for more than relief aid from SA
- In Somalia, thugs stand in way of aid
- UN: One-third of Somalis now displaced
SOMALI MEDIA
President Sharif laid the foundation for a new army barracks to be constructed at Jazeera
15 Sept – Source: Radio Mogadishu, Bar-Kulan and Kulmiye – 220 words
The President of the Republic of Somalia H.E. Sharif Sh. Ahmed laid the foundation for new army barracks to be constructed at Jazeera, south of Mogadishu. The new barracks will be used as a base to train the Somali National Army. The base will house up to two thousand army personnel. The project will take six months to complete with the cost of 3.2million dollars; this is a TFG/AU initiative although EU is contributing the funds for the construction.
The President also visited an existing training base in Jazeera; after receiving a demonstration from the army cadets the President addressed hundreds of new army recruits. President Sharif spoke of his joy about the prospect of having a well trained, disciplined Somali National Army.
President Sharif also informed the new recruits that wearing an army uniform does make you a soldier but is not enough to attain all the attributes that is needed to be a good soldier. The President emphasized the importance of having an army that is loyal only to the state that protects its citizens, especially at a time when there is a clear enemy of the Somali nation.
AMISOM still probes the death of Malaysian journalist in Mogadishu
16 Sept – Source: Shabelle, Mareeg Online – 207 words
The African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia AMISOM is still probing the death of Malaysian journalist who was killed in Mogadishu as well as another one who got injured early this month. The spokesman of African Union forces in Mogadishu, Paddy Ankunda, said that when the investigation is wrapped up, results will be released to the Somalia and the international community.
Cameraman Noramfaizul Mohd, 39, was accompanying the Putera Malaysia Club on an aid mission when he was fatally shot in the chest at a busy intersection. Working for Malaysia’s national Bernama TV, he was there to report on the mission’s work. A second camera operator, Aji Saregar, 27, working for Malaysia’s TV3, was hit in the right hand by gunfire; he has since returned to Malaysia.
Ankunda noted that if soldiers from African Union peacekeepers have involved in the shooting, they will be punished.
http://www.shabelle.net/
Injured al Shabaab reportedly taken to Baidoa
15 Sept – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan – 132 words
At least 80 injured al Shabaab militias have been taken to Baidoa, the regional headquarter of Bay region, after they were injured in a fight that took place in Elwak district of Gedo region.
A witness and a resident in Eel- elan village, which is 40 km west of Bardhere town and who asked to remain anonymous has confirmed to Bar-kulan that five vehicles laden with injured militias of al Shabaab have been transported to Baidoa.
The witness added that the injured were first passed at Bardhere but later moved to Baidoa. The witness said that the militias have sustained heavy losses in the Elwak fighting. The injured were mostly young men who were taken from Mogadishu after the militias moved out of the city. It is not yet known how the injured are holding up with their injuries
Air strikes hit al Shabaab targets in Lower Jubba
16 Sept Source: Radio Kulmiye, Shabelle and Risala – 70 words
Reports from Taabta village in Somalia Lower Jubba region indicate that drone air strikes took place on an al Shabaab training camp in the area late Thursday. Residents told the media that they heard the sound of heavy explosions then saw smoke erupting across the sky as a low-flying airplane patrolled the area. In the few last days, there were airplanes flying over the town and al Shabaab bases in Taabta village.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Somalia has the highest child mortality rate
16 Sept – Source: KBC – 449 words
Somalia has the world’s highest mortality rate for children under the age of five, according to the latest data released by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation. The group’s report, ‘Levels and Trends in Child Mortality,’ indicates that Somalia’s child mortality rate in 2010, stood at 180 deaths per 1,000 live births which now ranks worst in the world.
“Even before this current crisis, one in six children was dying before their fifth birthday. Now we anticipate this number of deaths will be even greater,” said Rozanne Chorlton, UNICEF Representative in Somalia. “There is no doubt that Somalia is one of the toughest places for a child to survive.” The report further finds that preventable deaths of young children have dropped by 35 per cent worldwide since 1990.Six areas in southern Somalia have been declared famine zones by the UN: Lower Shabelle region, parts of Bakol and Middle Shabelle,Bay region and the IDP settlements in the Afgoye corridor and Mogadishu.
In central and south Somalia, 750,000 people are at imminent risk of death and 1.5 million children need immediate humanitarian assistance – including 336,000 children under the age of five who are acutely malnourished. The highest rate of global acute malnutrition is in Bay region, at 58 per cent, nearly four times the emergency threshold of 15 per cent set by the World Health Organization.
The report warns that with the onset of rains in the coming months, the risk of disease outbreaks, like malaria and pneumonia, is likely to increase mortality even further. Already during August in South and Central Somalia, there has been a dramatic increase in the numbers of reported cases of measles (1,903 cases), pneumonia (over 9,500 cases) and acute water diarrhea (7,109 cases).
These, as well as malaria, are expected to increase in October during the the rains. Children in Somalia have faced an on-going crisis long before the recent famine declaration. As of last year, less than a third of one-year-olds were immunized against deadly vaccine-preventable diseases, over 70 per cent of the population lacked access to safe water, and just 3 out of 10 children of primary school age were enrolled in school.
With the escalation of the emergency in 2011, UNICEF has stepped up its existing nutrition, health and education interventions in Somalia. Still, Somali children require greater global support to meet their urgent needs. “To make sure we save children’s lives, we need a serious investment in Somalia’s future to make sure that anything like the current crisis never happens again. Such investment needs to begin with children, who are always the first to suffer during times of famine and hardship,” Ms. Charlton added.
http://www.kbc.co.ke/news.asp?
Mogadishu mayor appeals for more than relief aid from SA
16 Sept – Source: SABC News (South Africa) – 116 words
The Mayor of Mogadishu in Somalia Mohammed Ahmed Noor says Somalis hope for more from South Africa than just relief aid. The South African non-governmental organization, Gift of the Givers Foundation, is running feeding schemes in four camps in Somalia for displaced people, providing food to 300 000 families.
Noor says while this is appreciated, more is expected from Pretoria. “We were expecting South Africa to send a fleet of coast guards to protect our long coast from the predators that are dumping chemical and nuclear waste materials. We were expecting more from South Africa, not relief Aid.”
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
In Somalia, thugs stand in way of aid
15 Sept – Source: The Seattle Times – 520 words
U.N. warnings could not be clearer: A drought-induced famine is creeping across Somalia, tens of thousands have died, and a blockade of aid by the Islamist militant group al-Shabaab means hundreds of thousands of people could run out of food in the next few months.
The rains soon will pound down, but disease will bloom before crops. Malaria, cholera, typhoid and measles will sweep through immune-suppressed populations, aid agencies say, killing countless malnourished people. There is a déjà vu quality to all this. In the early 1990s, Somalia was hit by famine, precipitated by similarly callous thugs blocking food aid and producing similarly appalling images of skeletal children dying in the sand. That famine was in the same area of Somalia, the lower third, home to powerless minority clans that often bear the brunt of this country’s chronic troubles.
But the world was more willing to intervene in the 1990s. The United Nations rallied behind more than 25,000 U.S. troops who beat back the gunmen long enough to get food into the mouths of starving people. Contrast that with what happened last week at a famine summit meeting in Kenya. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi proposed to forcefully establish humanitarian corridors, so food could be delivered to al-Shabaab-controlled areas. Few in the West were enthused.
“There’s no mood for intervention,” said one U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly. “People remember what happened in the 1990s.’It doesn’t work’ was the conclusion.” Somalia’s politicians have been too busy squabbling to build institutions such as a functioning health ministry or a sanitation department. Some of the informal clusters of people camped out for aid is breaking up, and it is not clear where they are trudging. Many aid agencies — and Western militaries — are wary of this environment.
“I don’t think that there’s a case to be made that the famine can be mitigated through military intervention,” said Bronwyn Bruton, a democracy and governance expert who in a provocative essay published by the Council on Foreign Relations urged the West to leave Somalia. The African Union, which has 9,000 peacekeepers in Mogadishu, “isn’t able to safeguard the delivery of aid in Mogadishu,” Bruton said. “How could they possibly extend their reach outside the capital?”
“Theft, corruption and violence are endemic,” she added. “The problem extends past al-Shabaab to anybody with a gun.” In Somalia, there are many. This was the problem in the 1990s. The United Nations urged U.S. forces to disarm the warlords and their flip-flop-clad militias, but the Pentagon did not want to risk many American lives.
Instead, the United States opted for a narrowly scoped intervention and then hastily withdrew after 18 servicemen were killed in an epic street battle immortalized in the “Black Hawk Down” book and movie. The U.S.-led operation and the attendant relief effort saved around 110,000 lives,while 240,000 were lost in the famine, according to a study by the Refugee Policy Group. Analysts are bracing for possibly hundreds of thousands of deaths this time. “We’ve lost this round,” said Ken Menkhaus, a political-science professor at Davidson College in North Carolina. “We’re too late.”
http://seattletimes.nwsource.
UN: One-third of Somalis now displaced
15 Sept – Source: VOA News – 265 words
A new report says nearly one-third of Somalia’s people are now displaced from their homes because of drought, famine, and years of war. The U.N. humanitarian affairs office puts the number of displaced Somalis at 2.3 million – 1.4 million within the country, and 920,000 living as refugees in Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Yemen.
It says one in every three of those people fled their homes within the last year. The U.N. agency’s report also says Somalis are crossing into Kenya at a rate of 1,200 per day as famine conditions continue to spread across southern Somalia. The report details efforts to deliver food, shelter, and medicine to desperate Somalis, but warns the country still needs a “massive scale-up” in humanitarian aid.
It says 750,000 Somalis are at risk of death unless drought and famine relief efforts are increased. Southern Somalia is at the center of the worst drought to hit the Horn of Africa in 60 years. The drought compounded already tough conditions in the country, which has not had a stable central government since 1991. The U.N. has declared six areas of the south to be famine zones, and international aid agencies have sent in large amounts of food aid, giving special attention to malnourished children.
But aid efforts have been hampered by lawlessness and a lack of security. Militant group al-Shabab, which is fighting the Somali government, has blocked aid groups from operating in areas under its control. The World Meteorological Organization recently forecast increased rains for southern Somalia but the U.N. warns the rains could bring more waterborne diseases in the congested refugee and displaced-person camps.
http://www.voanews.com/
CULTURE, BLOGS & EDITORIALS
Somalia needs much more aid than it is getting
16 Sept – Source: The Washington Post – 488 words
The famine in Somalia continues to spread. Last week the United Nations added a sixth area of the country to the zone where starvation has become acute and said 750,000 people could die in the next four months if aid does not get through. Already, tens of thousands have perished, most of them children; hundreds more are buried every day. Some 400,000 people seeking food have flocked to Mogadishu, the capital, while hundreds of thousands more have fled to neighboring Kenya.
The international response to this terrible crisis continues to be too slow and too weak. A United Nations appeal for $2.4 billion in emergency funds in July has raised $1 billion short of that. The United States has been the most generous donor, providing some $450 million in humanitarian assistance to the wider drought zone across the Horn of Africa. The European Union and a few other countries – notably Turkey – have stepped up. But the response of much of the world – especially the African states – has been shameful. An African Union pledging conference last month attracted representatives of only 20 of its 54 countries and raised just $50 million. South Africa, the continent’s richest state, offered $1 million.
Many governments may calculate that aid will be wasted on Somalia, a country devastated by anarchy and where an extreme Islamic movement, al-Shabaab, prevents food from reaching many of the starving. Yet in recent weeks a fragile opportunity to increase stability and open aid corridors to famine zones has appeared. Pressured by an offensive by African peacekeepers and the death of a top leader, al-Shabaab abruptly withdrew from most of Mogadishu in early August. Last week Somalia’s internationally recognized interim government,which has been plagued by weakness and infighting, agreed with the United Nations on a road map for reforms leading to elections in a year.
Reports from Somalia say the vacuum left by al-Shabaab’s retreat has been filled to a large extent by clan leaders and their militias, rather than government forces. But Somalia’s prime minister and the U.N. envoy to the country say the U.N.- backed peacekeeping force can and should be quickly expanded. Currently 9,000 soldiers from Uganda and Burundi are in Mogadishu, but the force is already authorized to grow to 12,000, and U.N. officials say five African countries are ready to send more troops. That could allow the force to move out from the capital to secure routes for aid.
What’s missing, predictably, is money as well as military equipment and logistical support to deploy the troops. That’s where the United States, the NATO alliance and Arab states such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar should come in. By supporting the expansion of peacekeeping forces, foreign aid can accomplish two critical goals: pushing back an extremist movement that is allied with al-Qaeda and making possible the delivery of critically needed food for hundreds of thousands of people who may otherwise starve.
Best Buy joins local Somali community and American Refugee Committee to fight famine in Horn of Africa
15 Sept – Source: Reuters – 489 words
With its contribution of $50,000, Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) has joined Minnesotans Fighting Famine – an alliance of Minnesota companies organized by the American Refugee Committee (ARC) to aid in the fight against famine in the Horn of Africa. To encourage more corporate giving, Best Buy has also offered to match contributions from other companies, up to $50,000, to support ARC in its effort to provide food, clean water and health care to those affected by the devastating famine in Somalia.
“News of this famine hits home for us. Minnesota has the largest Somali community in the country, and many of our neighbors and employees have loved ones who need help,” said Brian J. Dunn, CEO, Best Buy. “It’s been incredible to hear how the community has come together to provide assistance to their native country, and we felt it was important to support them in their efforts.” The American Refugee Committee provides relief to victims of war and civil conflict around the globe. As one of the only major relief organizations presently operating in the Mogadishu area, ARC is working to improve the lives of thousands of Somalis in dire need of help.
“Our team in Somalia is seeing people who have survived unimaginable conditions. In a Mogadishu hospital where we are working, we’ve seen three children die each day. It is absolutely heartbreaking,” said Daniel Wordsworth, President of the American Refugee Committee. “This generous donation from Best Buy will enable us to scale up our efforts right away. By acting now we can help people to survive and take back control of their lives.”
American Refugee Committee programs are built from the ground up. We work with people at the most vulnerable points in their lives, when they have lost everything to war or disaster. They let us know what they need most, and we work together to develop ways to help them get it. Our programs are as diverse as the people we serve, but they all work together for the same goal: to help people take back control of their lives. We have worked with refugees around the world for more than 30 years, and we help nearly 2.5 million people a year. Through our “Neighbors Initiative”, we are partnering with the Somali Diaspora community to build community in Somalia and in the US. We are based in Minneapolis, MN.
http://www.reuters.com/