October 28, 2015 | Daily Monitoring Report
Puntland Parliament Sends Speaker Home Even As He Tenders His Resignation
28 October – Source: Wacaal Media – 137 Words
Parliament of the Semi-Autonomous State of Putland has unanimously passed a vote of no confidence in Speaker Said Hassan Shire, even as he tendered his resignation. Chaired by the First Deputy Speaker Abdihamid Sheikh Abdisalan, the house voted for the removal of the embattled speaker even after the Chair announced that Shire had tendered his resignation letter. Allegations against the embattled speaker were tabled before the house as the supporting members were also paraded before it. 47 members voted in favour, two abstained, while another two voted against the motion. The members also accepted his resignation as a member of the house. Shire held a press conference at his official residence in Garowe earlier today where he announced his departure.
Key Headlines
- Puntland Parliament Sends Speaker Home Even As He Tenders His Resignation (Wacaal Media)
- AMISOM Force Commander and SNA Chief of Defence Forces Pledge Stronger Partnership (Goobjoog News)
- Somaliland Opposition Leader Warns Against The Collapse Of The Ruling Party (Jowhar)
- Deradicalisation Programmes Still A Hit-Or-Miss Affair (Daily Nation )
- Long Road To A New Life: Asylum-Seeker From Somalia Makes Home In Germany (Globe&Mail)
- This Newly-Elected Somali-Canadian MP Should Be Appointed to Cabinet (Huffington Post)
NATIONAL MEDIA
AMISOM Force Commander and SNA Chief of Defence Forces Pledge Stronger Partnership
28 October – Source: Goobjoog News – 343 Words
The Force Commander of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), Lt. Gen. Jonathan Rono today met with the new Somali National Army (SNA) Chief of Defence Forces Maj. Gen. Mohamed Adan Ahmed, with discussions focussing on how to strengthen working relations between the two organizations they represent.Lt. Gen. Rono led a delegation of senior AMISOM military and civilian officers including AMISOM Deputy Force Commander in charge of Operations and Plans Maj. Gen. Mohammedesha Zeynu, Senior Political Officer Hajji Sebirumbi Kisinziggo and the AMISOM Force Spokesperson Lt. Col. Paul Njuguna. The meeting was also attended by the SNA Deputy Chief of Defence Forces Brigadier General Ali Bashe, among others. Lt. Gen. Rono hailed the good working relationship between the SNA and AMISOM, which he said has been critical to the success of operations against terror group, Al-Shabaab.“Our working relations with SNA are very good. From the time operations started in all the sectors, we found that SNA are very keen, have good knowledge of the ground and critical networks of intelligence. In the major operations that we have conducted such as Operation Eagle, Operation Indian Ocean, we have worked together with SNA and we are grateful,” said Lt. Gen. Rono.
Maj. Gen. Mohamed Adan Ahmed, who assumed command of the Somali National Army in September this year, said he has embarked on a programme of reforms that will cover key areas that include: improving the military command and control for improved communication; capacity building through training; finance and personnel management; as well as better logistical support. He reiterated his commitment to strengthening the partnership between the SNA and AMISOM, as both have a common goal of ensuring peace in Somalia.“We promise that we will cooperate, we will sit and plan together. We are willing to work together and review together the Concept of Operations because we are all undertaking the same mission,” said Maj. Gen. Mohamed.As part of its mandate, AMISOM military extends support to the Somali National Army, through training and mentorship, further manifested through joint operations.
Somaliland Opposition Leader Warns Against The Collapse Of The Ruling Party
28 October – Source: Jowhar Online – 98 Words
The Chairman of the opposition political party UCID, Feisal Ali Warabe of Somaliland, is hoping that the ongoing internal wrangles within the ruling party will not lead to the collapse of the ruling party, Kulmiye. The Opposition chief has warned that such a development could be detrimental to the country as it may affect the democratic process in Somaliland: “We have previously witnessed the collapse of a party that was 10 year old, and we hope that this one will not follow suit. Kulmiye party is equally 10 years old , and it is the ruling party,” said Faisal Ali Warabe.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Deradicalisation Programmes Still A Hit-Or-Miss Affair
28 October – Source: Daily Nation – 936 Words
The confession of a Kenyan young man who was a member of Al-Shabaab is a chilling reminder of how young men and women are recruited into terror groups, and there are many more others like him who are dying inside. Take Elly Mutunga, for instance, who, after converting to Islam, adopted the name Ahmed. He is a talented footballer and spends his time juggling between his kiosk and a local field in Ziwani, where he trains with a local non-league team.At 5 ft 4, he spots a bushy beard and is wearing tight jeans and second-hand rubber shoes on the day we sit down to talk. Aged 22, he grew up yearning to be a pilot, but he also came from a family of 12 and parents struggled to get him through school. After high school, he dropped out and started running a kiosk.Ahmed, like our hero in the main story, was recruited to become a terror merchant in 2013. A man who coached them football at school turned out to be an Al-Shabaab agent, and so the talk started to veer off football and ventured into “vision”, “destiny” and “faith”. Things went so fast that Ahmed does not clearly remember how he got himself supporting what he calls “weird ideas” about life.His only luck was that the man who had prepared to take them to Somalia never finally turned up on the day they had agreed to. The recruiter probably got killed while in Somalia, but he had left in his wake potent material in the form of radicalised youth: “There are many young people in the slums who are just lying idle, waiting for instructions,” Robert Ochola, who runs a rehabilitation programme for former hard-core criminals — called Graves to Grounds — told Daily Nation last week.
Things changed after 2012, when parents in Ziwani, Majengo, Pumwani and nearby areas started reporting to the police that their children had been disappearing mysteriously. Those who returned behaved weirdly: “We never understood it initially because we were targeting criminal groups, not terrorists. There are mothers who turned up at police stations saying they couldn’t tell where their sons had gone. Others claimed their daughters no longer wanted to watch television and termed it evil,” explained Malcolm Ngari, who works on the programme with Ochola.Through Graves to Grounds, Ochola and his team started to gather people in the community to attend public discussions on security and religious radicalism. Their programmers are partially supported by an EU-funded organisation called Royal United Services Institute. Ms Martine Zeuthen, who heads the counter-violent extremism project at the Institute, said working with local organisations and the government helps to understand the reasons for joining Al-Shabaab.
Long Road To A New Life: Asylum-Seeker From Somalia Makes Home In Germany
27 October – Source: The Globe & Mail – 203 Words
Warda Abdi, 23, an asylum-seeker from Somalia, lives in Bad Belzig, Germany. Her odyssey began in 2010, when at 17 she left Somalia, lived in Ethiopia for a year, braved the dangerous crossing into Sudan, trekked through a desert, was jailed for illegal immigration in Libya, was released and spent three nights with 83 other migrants on an inflatable boat in the Mediterranean Sea before being picked up by a ship and brought to Sicily.
In Sicily she lived for seven months in a refugee camp before authorities told her to leave. She then found refuge at a church, was mugged one night and pushed from a bridge and broke her leg, spent two months in a hospital, left and eventually made it to Sweden only to be sent back to Italy, then made it to Germany by bus nine months ago.Today she lives in uncertainty, waiting for the invitation for an interview that will be the next part of her asylum application, yet worried that she will be sent back to Italy since that was where she was first fingerprinted and registered. Germany expects to register over one million asylum applicants this year and is struggling to accommodate all the newcomers.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“As the new Prime Minister-elect, Justin Trudeau, fulfills a campaign promise of a gender balanced cabinet — I hope he would also fulfill the promise of cultural diversity among the executive members of his new government. He would be best served, by looking at Ahmed Hussen — a formidable, talented and hard working Canadian — up-close and using his talent in cabinet.”
This Newly-Elected Somali-Canadian MP Should Be Appointed to Cabinet
27 October – Source : Huffington Post – 854 Words
I love politics. I have been involved in many campaigns, including for Barack Obama’s unlikely presidential bid in 2008 as well as in Ottawa and Toronto over the years. I have actively participated in the Ontario electoral reform referendum of 2007. I know the power of politics and its potential for good. I have always valued the fact, in Canada, we can vote without fear nor a strange knock on our door.How many countries can guarantee that right to their citizens? Not too many. Every time I vote, even when our politics seem to be imperfect and broken at times, I have appreciated the power I have as a Canadian citizen. Politics excites me and keeps me awake at night. In all my efforts in it, nothing has excited me more than the efforts I put in helping elect the new MP from York South-Weston – Ahmed Hussen.Hussen became the first Canadian-Somali to accomplish this milestone.
When I met Hussen on a cold November day last year, in front of City Hall and he asked me to help him win a Liberal nomination, I did not think he had a chance. I was not sure, I wanted to work on a Liberal campaign, since I was not a partisan Liberal and more so because, I felt he had chosen a tough riding to win. He had a stiff competition, including from a former City Councillor. I thought he would be better off in Scarborough, where successful minority candidates seemed to do well.Wearing a lawyers robe, looking tall, elegant, and confident, he convinced me he could win it. I shook his hand and joined his campaign. On nomination day, I was surprised by the many people his team was able to sign up in such a short time frame and bring them out to actually vote. His supporters, were not the usual partisan Liberal cadres, but new immigrants, particularly Canadians with Somali background. In a diverse riding, with large Canadian-Somali population, his campaign used their numbers, as strength to champion their greatest advocate in him.
TOP TWEETS
@MogadishuNews: #BREAKING #Alshabab militants in Middle Juba detained dozens of #Kenyan fighters on suspicion of Joining #ISIS in Galgala mountains #Somalia
@TheVillaSomalia:#Somalia is blessed with the largest coastline in continental Africa – President Hassan http://bit.ly/1Mgvt5E
@HarrietLMathews:UK is supporting reconciliation. And to be clear, we don’t supply lethal equipment to anyone in #Somalia.
@Gobanimodoon:The visit of #Somalia pres. 2 Riyadh coincides with the #Saudi deportation of 200 Somalis without their possessions
@AnalystSomalia:Paid a courtesy call on former #Puntlandpresident Farole @ Garowe; enjoyed lively discussion on all things #Somalia
IMAGE OF THE DAY
The Force Commander of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), Lt. Gen. Jonathan Rono and the Somali National Army (SNA) Chief of Defence Forces Maj. Gen. Mohamed Adan Ahmed. Photo: AMISOM