October 9, 2015 | Daily Monitoring Report
Two Die As SNA Soldiers Stage Attacks On Ufurow Town
09 October – Source: Goobjoog News – 121 Words
At least 2 people were killed and many others wounded in an attack on Al-Shabaab training camps by Somali National Army soldiers. The attack began with heavy artillery and mortar fire by the ground forces from Somali National Army, who moved to Ufurow town to expand their control to nearby Al-Shabaab controlled areas, prompting deadly clashes: “At least 2 people have been killed during fierce clashes at Ufurow town,” resident said. The situation is calm and everything has returned back to normalcy after the battle between SNA soldiers and Al-Shabaab fighters subsided.
Key Headlines
- Two Die As SNA Soldiers Stage Attacks On Ufurow Town (Goobjoog News)
- Federal Defense Ministry Denies Battle With Jubbaland Forces (Wacaal Media)
- Ethiopian Lover Stabs Somali Girl To Death For Declining Marriage Proposal In Kenya (Hiiraan Online)
- Mogadishu Police Boss Sends Stern Warning To Officers (Shabelle News)
- Italy Paying Ransoms In Syria And Somalia (Al Jazeera)
- There’s More To Somali Fishing Than Piracy (Washington Post)
- Major Drops In Remittances To Somalia (Warya Post)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Federal Defense Ministry Denies Battle With Jubbaland Forces
09 October – Source: Wacaal Media – 127 Words
The ministry of defence of Somalia has denied a reported gun battle between the Federal army and Jubbaland forces. In a statement, the ministry said Jubbaland was currently home to the first batch of the integrated forces, whose contribution the Jubbaland administration has played a bigger role. “There is mutual cooperation between Jubbaland and Federal government forces. Both are ready to defend their country,” read part of the statement. “Federal forces have a mandate, which they cannot overstep. Reports indicating otherwise and a conflict with their Jubbaland colleagues on October 2 as carried by a section of the local media is untrue” the ministry added. The ministry thanked Jubbaland and its top officials for working together with the Federal government to ensure federal institutions were working seamlessly.
Ethiopian Lover Stabs Somali Girl To Death For Declining Marriage Proposal In Kenya
09 October – Source: Hiiraan Online – 191Words
A resentful Ethiopian man has stabbed a Somali girl to death in the Kenyan capital on Wednesday and then committed suicide after she scrapped his marriage proposal a week ago. The Ethnic-Oromo Ethiopian man by the name Abdimalik has reportedly stabbed the girl called Saado multiple times in the Somali-dominant Nairobi suburb of Eastleigh where the two lived after she rejected his marriage proposal. The man has immediately killed himself before the police arrived after drinking toxic substances to end his life, according the lady’s relatives.
Witnesses in Eastleigh told HOL that the man confronted the lady with a long knife in his hand as she walked out of her apartment and started stabbing her after she insisted his proposal would not work for her. Security forces who immediately arrived the scene have launched an investigation to determine the motives behind the murder which sent shockwaves across the Somali community in Kenya. Eastleigh, an overly populated Nairobi suburb is largely resided by Somali and Ethiopian communities in Kenya. The business hub serves as the crucial peaceful environment for Somali and Ethiopian citizens fleeing war and poverty in their respective countries.
Mogadishu Police Boss Sends Stern Warning To Officers
09 October – Source: Shabelle News – 129 Words
Ali Hirsi Barre, the new police chief of Benadir administration has sent a stern message to the officers accused of undermining smooth public transportation within the Capital, Mogadishu. He called upon the Bajaaj drivers and owners to apply for driving licenses and comply with the traffic regulations, to avoid being arrested or abused by local police forces in Mogadishu streets. “The drives of the local public transport vehicles have the right to do their daily job freely, if they pay taxes and enroll their vehicles into the country’s traffic rules,” said Ali Gab. Ali Gab added that he will not tolerate the local cars’ drivers being mistreated by Mogadishu police officers. “Any police officer accused of taking illegal money from the public vehicles will be punished in accordance with the law.”
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Italy Paying Ransoms In Syria And Somalia
09 October – Source: Al Jazeera – 724 Words
A six-month investigation by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit has cast light on the shadowy world of hostage negotiations, revealing how some governments negotiate with armed groups and pay cash ransoms. In one case, Italy paid millions of dollars for the release of one Italian and one Belgian journalist, according to Syrian fighters. In another, Al Jazeera obtained photographs of an $11m cash ransom paid by Italy to the armed Syrian group, al-Nusra Front, in return for the release of two aid workers.
Intelligence files obtained by Al Jazeera also reveal how Italy intervened in negotiations with Somali pirates and brokered a deal to pay $525,000 for the release of a dual Italian-South African citizen and his partner. The Italian and South African governments then fed the media a false story, claiming that a daring raid by the Western-backed Somali military had secured the hostages’ release. A new Al Jazeera Investigates documentary, The Hostage Business , exposes the multimillion-dollar payment handed over for the release of Italian journalist Domenico Quirico and his colleague Pierre Piccinin da Prata, a Belgian journalist. Mu’taz Shaklab, who served as a middleman between both parties in the deal, told Al Jazeera, “The kidnappers had asked for $10m, but I think they were given $4m.”
Shaklab says he was present when the money was delivered and was accompanied by an Italian. A member of the Farouq Brigades, an armed group fighting in Syria, also witnessed the cash handover: “The money consisted of packs of 100,000 dollars,” says Mahmoud Daboul. “Each was in a separate plastic bag.” Al Jazeera also obtained photographs showing $11m in cash handed over in January 2015 to representatives of Nusra, a group linked to al-Qaeda. The money secured the release of kidnapped aid workers Greta Ramelli and Vanessa Marzullo.
There’s More To Somali Fishing Than Piracy
08 October – Source: Washington Post – 647 Words
Thanks to “Black Hawk Down” and “Captain Phillips,” Hollywood has permanently etched into the brains of my students (and probably a lot of Monkey Cage readers) that Somalia is a lawless place of warlords and pirates. Even as piracy has declined in the past few years, the narrative of Somali pirates has staying power. Over time, some of my students have adopted a more sophisticated perspective on pirates off Somalia’s coast, pointing out the origins of Somali piracy: “in conflicts between artisanal Somali fishers and foreign fleets.”
That quote comes from the report “Securing Somali Fisheries,” published by an interdisciplinary group of researchers last month. The report aims to close the information gap on Somali fisheries, using innovative (as well as tested) methods of data collection to estimate fishing in Somali waters and the potential opportunities that Somali fisheries offer, given the right mix of regulatory, political and economic environments. The report found that the primary challenge to making Somalia’s fisheries sustainable was foreign illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. “Securing Somali Fisheries” estimates that foreign IUU fishing vessels catch three times as many fish as the Somali artisanal fishing sector.
IUU fishing is not only a threat to Somali fisheries because of piracy (even if that’s what some journalists would have us believe). IUU fishing threatens income and food security. In “Securing Somali Fisheries,” one artisanal fisher from Puntland remarked about Yemeni vessels fishing close to the Somali shore: “They are not just robbing our fish. They are ramming our boats and taking our nets.” As a political scientist, what I found most interesting in the report were mentions of Somaliland, the self-declared independent state that is not internationally recognized as independent but as an autonomous region of Somalia.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“While it’s important not to draw hyperbolic conclusions from this relatively small data set, the news is not good. The bottom line is that at least a third, and possibly much more, of the reduction in remittances relates to problems with the money transfer system. It’s also clear that the statement “money is getting through” belies the harsh reality for thousands of Somali families that, in many cases, are missing out on the support they’re counting on to meet their most basic needs.”
Major Drops In Remittances To Somalia
08 October – Source: Warya Post – 773 Words
In recent years, Somali money transfer operators (MTOs), which represent the only legitimate mechanism through which the Somali diaspora can send money to their loved ones in Somalia, have struggled to maintain bank accounts. Remittances play a vital role in supporting vulnerable Somali families, with 41 percent of urban-dwelling Somalis receiving remittances. They spend the vast majority of the cash to meet basic needs like food, shelter, healthcare, and education.
Some MTOs have continued to operate in the US, but the situation is extremely fragile, with few guarantees of how much longer they’ll be able to continue. Some MTOs have closed agent locations and many have capped the amount of money each customer is permitted to send, raised fees, and resorted to unusual methods of transmitting cash. During some periods, it has been extremely difficult to send money. The response of the US Treasury Department – most recently articulated by Adam Szubin at his September 17 confirmation hearing for the role of Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and financial Crime – is “money is getting through.” Oxfam and other humanitarian organizations have doubted that this tells the full story.
While MTOs continue to operate and most customers are able to send and receive remittances, we have worried that the restrictions may have reduced the flow of money and that the difficulties some people may have receiving remittances may have been under-reported. Today, we can say for certain that money is not getting through – at least not like it was before. For the first time, we have a real-time snapshot of how remittances to Somalia are helping Somali families provide for their most basic needs. The Food Security, Nutrition, and Analysis Unit – Somalia, an arm of the Food and Agriculture Organization, today released a remittance assessment based on a survey of nearly 2,300 households in urban areas and among displaced populations across Somalia.
TOP TWEETS
@mcmadal : Revision of Piracy High Risk Area (#HRA) off the Coast of #Somalia https://shar.es/1uH3OP via @sharethis
@Daudoo : Clashes between #KDF and #AlShabaab reported in #BulaGudud village, about 30 km N of #Kismayo last night, casualties unknown yet. #Somalia
@garsoornews : Phone networks in #Bardere, #Gedo region is down for the 2nd day as #Somalia troops are conducting security operations in & out of the city.
@Somaliupdate : #SOMALIA: Failure To Pay Soldiers Threatens #Somalia‘s War on #AlShabaab Islamists
@SalahOsman0 : Somalia’s National Team for World Cup Qualifiers will today play against Niger in #Addis Ababa#Mogadishu #Somalia
@JeanMichelGrand : Congrats to #Tunisia National Dialogue Quartet for #NobelPeacePrize . Similar dialogues should start in #Yemen #Afghanistan #CAR #Somalia ..
@GermanyinKenya: Dep Amb to #Somalia at Max Planck Foundation workshop on federalism capacity building.@MoIFA01 @UNSomalia @SomaliOPM
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Abdi Aynte, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation visits the Elman Peace HRC to meet 100 youth receiving vocational training.
Photo: @Aynte