December 18, 2015 | Daily Monitoring Report
Amman Declaration Launched In Somalia As Youth Commit To Peace
18 December – Source: UNSOM – 449 Words
A roadmap to help the Somali youth contribute to achieving meaningful peace and security in the country was launched today in Mogadishu. Called the Amman Declaration on Youth, Peace and Security, the roadmap seeks to support youth in transforming conflict, preventing and countering violence and building sustainable peace in Somalia. Organized by the Federal Government of Somalia, the United Nations and the youth groups Y-Peer and Maan Somalia, the launch was attended by hundreds of youths who took part in discussions on how to improve the participation of young people in the country’s affairs in order to promote peace and stability.
Several cabinet ministers attended the launch, among them the Minister of Youth and Sports, Mohamed Abdullahi Hassan, the Minister for Women and Human Rights, Sahra Samatar, and the Planning and International Cooperation Minister, Abdi Aynte. Also on hand was the Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) for Somalia, Peter de Clercq.
The event brought together youth from all over the country who are interested in boosting their involvement in the political decision-making process of the country ahead of the 2016 electoral process. Speaking at the close of the ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister Mohamed Omar Arteh pledged that the Somali government would ensure implementation of the recommendations adopted at the launch.
“The force of the country is the youth. So we have to focus on the youth and aspects key to their development such as health, education and job creation. We have to protect them from migration and its negative consequences and safeguard their rights. All of that is of priority to the government,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.
Key Headlines
- Amman Declaration Launched In Somalia As Youth Commit To Peace (UNSOM)
- Two SNA Soldiers Killed In Landmine In Marko (Goobjoog News)
- Somalia Deploys Troops In Beletweyne To Observe Ceasefire After Tribal Fighting (Hiiraan Online)
- Police Conduct Operation Drug Dealers And Growers (Goobjoog News)
- Council of Ministers Approve Law Establishing Somali National Navy (Radio Muqdisho)
- UNHCR Repatriates Nearly 6000 Somali Refugees From Kenya (Bernama.com)
- Minneapolis Family Questions FBI Tactics After Home Raid (MPR News)
- What’s In A Soccer Game? For Somalia A Milestone Goal (Christian Science Monitor)
- Polio In State House (BBC)
- Somalia: The Roots of Crisis (Safe Space Radio)
PRESS STATEMENT
The United States Commends Somali National Consultative Forum Declaration And Urges Final Agreement On Electoral Model By January 10
17 December – Source: U.S. Department of State – 154 Words
The United States commends Somalia’s National Consultative Forum for its efforts to reach consensus on an inclusive, transparent, and legitimate electoral process in 2016. We welcome the agreed principles in the Mogadishu Declaration as essential elements of a more inclusive and democratic electoral process than the 2012 process. We encourage all participants to seek compromise and to uphold their commitment to reach a final agreement by January 10, 2016.
The United States strongly supports the participants’ commitments to not extend the legislative or executive branch mandates, consistent with United Nations Security Council Resolution 2232. An on-schedule electoral process that is conducted in a fair, transparent, and inclusive manner will strengthen the relationship between the Somali people and their government and accelerate stabilization and development efforts. The United States remains a committed partner to the people and government of Somalia and will continue to support Somalia’s efforts to realize a peaceful, united, and prosperous future.
NATIONAL MEDIA
Two SNA Soldiers Killed In Landmine In Marko
18 December – Source: Goobjoog News – 86 Words
At least two SNA soldiers were killed and one civilian injured after SNA vehicle ran over landmine in Marko town. Goobjoog News correspondent says the landmine explosion killed two government soldiers and one civilian. The security forces launched operations to pursue the perpetrators though nobody was arrested yet. A resident in the area said that the casualties in attack were mainly army soldiers who were deployed to intervene and ease the hostility and the clan clashes in the town which claimed lives of over ten people.
Somalia Deploys Troops In Beletweyne To Observe Ceasefire After Tribal Fighting
18 December – Source: Hiiraan Online – 303 Words
Somalia’s government has deployed troops in the central Somali town of Beletweyne to monitor a ceasefire between two warring clans following deadly clashes that killed at least 15 people, officials said Thursday.The fighting erupted on Sunday after the two militiamen from Galje’el and Jajele clans who fought for control of land and pastureland before again clashed in the town which is the provincial capital of Hiiraan region, leading to street battles involving battlewagons and militiamen.
Leaders from the two clans signed a peace deal brokered by the Somali Government ministers on Wednesday, agreeing to pull militiamen out of battlefields to avoid further clashes. Somalia’s Security Minister Abdirizak Omar Mohamed and Mohamed Mukhtar Ibrahim, Ministry of Mineral Resources and Petroleum who led the efforts aimed at ending the violence have descried the development as ‘progress’, calling the two sides to observe the ceasefire deal.“The two sides agreed to pull their troops back to the outskirts of the town and pledged observing the ceasefire accordingly.” Abdirizak Omar told reporters.
Clan rivalry and civil unrest started in the horn of Africa country after warlords overthrew the central government in 1991, leading to a perpetual civil strife that killed thousands of Somalis. According to Somali officials, having clan militiamen still armed in the horn of Africa nation which is recovering from decades of war is a primary source of insecurity and threatens the relative stability restored after the ouster of Islamist militants from large parts across the country.
The deal was reached after mediations by local elders who held talks with the two sides to hammer out their dispute.Traditional elders have played major roles in keeping traditional conflict management mechanisms during the civil war and applied customary laws that served as the basis for negotiated settlements, and clan-based blood-payment groups serve as a deterrent to armed violence.
Police Conduct Operation Drug Dealers And Growers
18 December – Source: Goobjoog News – 174 Words
Security forces have conducted a large-scale operation against drug dealers and bhang growers in Jowhar town. Around 200 forces took part in the operation, in the early hours of thursday to counter the return of drug lords to the town. Detainees within the framework of the operation have been reported, though their number is not specified. Jowhar Police Commander, Mohamed Sday Ali has told Goobjoog News that the operation was intended to pursue dealers.
“It’s our responsibility to secure this district, so we had to launch this operation to arrest these people who sell drugs and those who also do substance abuse, in the operation we also managed to put behind bars muggers who use machetes to rob residents during the dark hours to the extent people were unable to go to the mosques for morning prayers, suspects would be taken to court” said the police commissioner.
Now the police have started to divert their attention to petty crimes like muggers and thieves as courts are struggling to contain domestic cases, something new to Somalia’s war ravaged country.
Council of Ministers Approve Law Establishing Somali National Navy
18 December – Source: Radio Muqdisho – 113 Words
The Council of Ministers of the Federal Republic of Somalia which has held it is normal meeting on Thursdayhas approved a law that aims to re-establish Somalia’s navy. The government spokesman, Abdisalan Aato said the ministers have approved the draft law which was prepared by the Somali Defense Ministry. The spokesman said the part of the responsibilities of the new navy force is to prevent the deposit of toxic substances and the general defense of the Somali waters. The ministers also approved the national tariff on tax law which was presented before it by the Ministry of finance. The Thursday meeting was presided over by the Deputy Prime Minister , Mohamed Omar Arte.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
UNHCR Repatriates Nearly 6,000 Somali Refugees From Kenya
18 December – Source: Bernama.com – 263 Words
The UN refugee agency said it has voluntarily repatriated 5,853 Somali refugees from the Dadaab settlement in northeast Kenya to areas in southern Somalia which have been pacified. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said some 448 returnees were assisted to return by flight to Mogadishu in November.
“In total 5,853 Somali refugees returned home since December 8, 2014, when UNHCR started supporting voluntary return of Somali refugees in Kenya,” UN agency said in its bi-Weekly report released in Nairobi. The UN agency said voluntary return movements by road remains suspended during the rainy season since roads are impassable.
The UN agency said flights convoys are to continue to Mogadishu mainly till the third week of December. The refugees are mostly returning to Kismayu and Baidoa in southern Somalia. The repatriation is being done through a framework agreed upon in a tripartite agreement among Kenya, Somalia and the UNHCR. The estimated number of Somali refugees in the country is over 500,000.
Minneapolis Family Questions FBI Tactics After Home Raid
17 December – Source: MPR News – 156 Words
Adam Aded thought he’d done all he could to steer his son away from government scrutiny and from the lure of overseas extremists. Then an FBI SWAT team broke down his doors. Agents came Friday morning, descending on his Minneapolis home to arrest his son, Khaalid Adam Abdulkadir, for allegedly threatening the FBI on Twitter.
Abdulkadir remains in custody and his case will now go to a grand jury for review. At a court hearingWednesday, Abdulkadir’s attorney raised questions about whether he typed the tweets and who he was specifically targeting. Whatever happens in Abdulkadir’s case, it’s already left his family shaken.
Sitting on his couch Tuesday evening, Aded criticized how the SWAT team conducted its arrest and also detailed the FBI’s interest in his son. “Forget about us harboring a terrorist in our home, they are the ones that terrorized us,” Aded said. “They really caused a lot of problems and damaged the house.”
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“But Thursday’s broadcast holds special significance because it offers a glimpse of the advances Somalia is achieving during this period of stability – from the refurbishing of the stadiums and local leagues to the television station that broadcast the game.“This will be a test,” said Mr. Arab. “But if we are successful in this endeavor, we will try to get our matches shown live in the months to come,”
What’s In A Soccer Game? For Somalia, A Milestone Goal
17 December – Source: Christian Science Monitor – 792 Words
When the final whistle blew in Mogadishu’s Banadir Stadium on late Thursday afternoon, the winner of one of Somalia’s most popular soccer tournaments was neither of the two football clubs on the field. It was the airwaves.
Thousands around the country tuned in to catch the final of the General Da’ud cup – the first time it has been broadcast live on television in its 43-year existence and a sign that the Horn of Africa nation is continuing its steady process toward recovery after more than two decades of war.“It is a breakthrough,” Somali Football Federation (SFF) president Abdiqani Said Arab said in a statement before the game. “We had long dreamed of getting our matches watched live — this is almost the realization of our age-old dreams.”
The match, which saw the Somali military’s Horseed beat their police rivals, highlights Somalia’s hard-won military gains against Al Shabab rebels, who were pushed out of Mogadishu in 2011. The peace that has followed – the longest period of stability the capital has experienced since the country fell into a civil war in 1991 – has seen a national government move back into its headquarters, an American embassy reopen its doors in 2015, and a construction boom take off after war damaged 80 percent of the city’s structures.
“Somalia was recently declared polio free by United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in October 2015 – a testament to the work done by the Somali health authorities, with the support of UNICEF and World Health Organization (WHO) and the partners of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). BBC Media Action is proud to have worked with UNICEF on their response. However there’s a need to remain ever vigilant to ensure there is no resurgence of the virus.”
Polio In State House
16 December – Source: BBC – 637 Words
I didn’t know that a simple radio programme could help change lives, until I began working as a researcher for BBC Media Action. State House, the site of a dilapidated colonial building from which the British were once based, is now one of the largest camps for IDP (Internally Displaced People) in Hargeisa, capital of Somaliland. People living in temporary housing here – round huts covered with colourful rags – suffer from poverty, unemployment and a lack of basic sanitation facilities. They are also at high risk of contracting polio – an orally contracted virus which can cause crippling paralysis, especially amongst children under five years old.
I recently travelled to State House to conduct research on the impact of Dhibcaha Nolosha (Drops for Life), our weekly drama and discussion radio that aims to help improve understanding about polio and challenge negative attitudes towards polio vaccination. The programme is called ‘Drops for Life’ because the recommended vaccine ‘Oral Polio Vaccination’ (OPV) requires at least three doses of ‘drops’ before a child is fully immunised.
Somalia: The Roots of Crisis
16 December – Source: Safe Space Radio – Audio: 29:34 Minutes
On this week’s show, I speak with Colby College anthropology professor Catherine Besteman. She has spent her career studying Somali society, both in Somalia and here in Maine, where many Somali refugees have begun new lives after escaping civil war at home. Catherine explains the causes of that war and the violence it created, particularly for minority ethnic groups. Her explanation of why Somalis had to flee helps us appreciate that every refugee is dealing with trauma.
TOP TWEETS
@_sharmarke : Does #Qurbojoog only apply to those living in global north? Who is consider Qurbo joog and who is not? #HaDhicinDhalinyarada #Somalia
@IndianOceanU : Presentation of research at IOU campus to look into how to achieve lasting peace in #Mogadishu.#Somalia http://youtu.be/CxStkAXcvZY?a
@SomalilandState : Khaatumo State & its people warns this illegal foreign Mining Company which is in #Somalia. Time to leave!https://www.youtube.com/
@xasanmahamudmah : #Goobjoognews: Health minister says#Somalia is #free from #polio and the ministry launches#measles vaccination campaign
@MogadishuNews : #BREAKING: Chaos in the so-called National Youth conference. #HaDhicinDhalinyarada. #Somalia
@SomaliaJunkie: In light of Amman declaration,i share piece i wrote in salute to #Somalia‘s optimistic youthhttp://www.my252.com/somalias-
@Fatumaabdulahi: The #Diaspora Vs #Local bickering risks overshadowing the national youth conference + is counter productive. #Somalia #HaDhicinDhalinyarada
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Photo: @ShadorHaji
General Daud Cup, a match between Heegan and Horseed, the first televised football match in Somalia.