March 30, 2016 | Morning Headlines
Somaliland Suspends Voter Registrations Amid Droughts
29 March – Source: Hiiraan Online – 305 Words
The breakaway northern Somalia republic of Somaliland has announced it suspended the ongoing voter registrations ahead of presidential elections in response to calls to reach thousands of people in regions hard hit by droughts. However, opposition parties have immediately protested against the decision by president Ahmed Silanyo who said that the suspension was made with the consideration of calls for the government to mobile its resources to urgently assist the drought-stricken victims, a decision opposition officials protested as ‘unacceptable.
According to the United Nations Office for humanitarian coordination, the droughts that largely hit Puntland and Somaliland had compounded an already challenging humanitarian situation, affecting an estimated number of 385,000 people who face acute food insecurity. “Considering the urgent humanitarian crisis we are facing, it’s a national duty for us to take an urgent step to assist people affected by droughts.” Mr. Silanyo said during an emergency meeting with the government officials at the presidential palace on Monday.
The suspension in voter registrations prompted protest by the opposition leaders who accused the government using the droughts issue as pretext to buy time to influence the independent electoral commission. The development comes as the enclave is heading into the final months of an election season which would see the ruling party contesting against coalition of opposition parties.
Opposition parties have earlier endorsed the voter registration process and urged the electoral commission to ensure transparency in order for the upcoming election to be held on schedule. Togdheer region was earlier declared as the launching point for the voter registration process, despite challenges facing the remote region, of the areas hard hit by droughts and water shortages. Somaliland, a breakaway region in northern Somalia has declared a unilateral independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991; however, no country has so far recognized it as an independent state.
Key Headlines
- Somaliland Suspends Voter Registrations Amid Droughts (Hiiraan Online)
- Madobe Explains Delays In Naming Cabinet (Wacaal Media)
- Gunmen Attack Army Base In Northern Mogadishu (Shabelle News)
- Two Hundred Somali Police Recruits Complete Training In Baido (Goobjoog News)
- Boni Forest Action Success Says KDF (The Star)
- Somalia Enlists Irish FGM Campaigner To Rid Country Of Practice (The Guardian)
- German Minister Visits Kenya’s Dadaab Refugee Camp (Deutsche Welle)
- UAE Gives Food Aid To 10000 Somalis (Emirates 24 News)
- Islamic Groups: Anti-radicalisation Not Just The Work Of Somalis Muslims Migrants (Yle’s Amatu TV)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Madobe Explains Delays In Naming Cabinet
29 March – Source: Wacaal Media – 80 Words
Jubbaland President Ahmed Mohamed Islaan (Madobe) has attributed his ongoing reconciliation efforts to the delays in naming his cabinet. Speaking in Kismayo, Madobe said he was in talks with aggrieved local clans in an effort to bring them all on board before naming his all-inclusive government. Madobe said he deemed it fit not to name his administration before bringing all clans on board. His sentiments came days after the Jubbaland parliament gave him 45 more days to put his administration together.
Gunmen Attack Army Base In Northern Mogadishu
29 March – Source: Shabelle News – 117 Words
Armed men believed to be Al-Shabaab members have attacked a Somali army base in northern Mogadishu on Monday night, the latest in a series of assaults on government troops and AMISOM in the capital. The attack began after the assailants using machine guns and rocket propelled grenades launchers stormed the military base located in Suqa Holaha, a volatile area in Mogadishu’s Huriwa district. There were no immediate official details about the casualty figures. No group has yet to take credit for the attack, but Al-Shabaab militants usually carry out such daring attacks on army bases and government institutions in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu.
Two Hundred Somali Police Recruits Complete Training In Baido
29 March – Source: Goobjoog News – 187 Words
Two hundred Somali Police recruits celebrated the completion of six months of training in Baidoa on Tuesday, making the second batch of trained police officers who will be posted in police stations in the Interim South West Administration. The passing out parade ceremony was presided over by the President of the Interim South West Administration (ISWA), Shariff Hassan Sheikh Adan, and AMISOM Police Commissioner Anand Pillay.
“I congratulate you for successfully completing the training. Now you will have new responsibilities and you will be upholding the law of the land. You are conferred authority. I request the commanding officers to immediately deploy the officers and to fully equip them, ” said President Sheikh Adan.
The pass out was witnessed by government and regional administration officials among them the southwest ministers, Bay region Police Commissioner Col. Mahat Abdirahman and federal MPs. The new police officers were awarded certificates for successfully completing training within the stipulated period. They will be posted in various police stations in the south west to keep law and order. They are the first group to be trained by the police for posting in the regions.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Boni Forest Action Success, Says KDF
29 March – Source: The Star – 456 Words
Lamu will soon be declared a terrorist-free zone following the success of Operation Linda Boni, seven months after it began, director of operation James ole Serian has said. The main objective of the operation launched in September last year was to hunt down al Shabaab militants said to be hiding in Boni Forest in Lamu. The militants were believed to retreat to the forest after carrying out attacks in Lamu and Tana River counties.
The operation was launched by Interior CS Joseph Nkaissery. It is currently being conducted by the Kenya Defence Forces and the RDU, Anti-Terror Police Unit, Kenya Forest Service and the Police Service. Speaking to the Star yesterday, Serian attributed the massive success of the operation to the good working relationship between the security agencies conducting the operation and the general public.
He said an undisclosed number of terror suspects have been arrested in various parts of Lamu, Garsen, Boni, Kibaoni and Bargoni. Serian said most of the suspects have been charged while others will be prosecuted soon. He said the national government has set up nine new police stations in the operation zones and adequate personnel had been posted to ensure tranquility and the success of the operation. Serian said several old police stations have been reinforced with additional security.
Somalia Enlists Irish FGM Campaigner To Rid Country Of Practice
29 March – Source: The Guardian – 371 Words
An Irish woman who survived female genital mutilation as a child is to become the Somali prime minister’s adviser on gender issues. Ifrah Ahmed, a former asylum seeker, will return to her home country of Somalia in April to help draw up a national FGM eradication programme. This month Ahmed persuaded Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke to add his signature to more than 1 million names calling on Somalia to make FGM illegal.
Recent Unicef figures revealed that 98% of the Somali female population between the ages of 15 and 49 have undergone FGM, making it the country with the highest prevalence in the world. The practice has been unconstitutional since 2012, but no bill has been passed to ban FGM outright. At a meeting in Rome with Ahmed and representatives of her charity the Ifrah Foundation last week, Sharmarke also promised to enact FGM legislation at the next parliamentary session in April.
Sharmarke said he was “committed to outlaw female genital mutilation in Somalia through legislation, advocacy, education and community engagement.”Speaking exclusively to the Guardian about her new role in the PM’s office, Ahmed said it was important to get legislation in place as soon as possible because the unstable situation in Somalia meant that while the issue was currently on the political agenda that could change quickly.
German Minister Visits Kenya’s Dadaab Refugee Camp
29 March – Source: Deutsche Welle – 444 Words
The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, says the Dadaab camp complex in northeastern Kenya is home to some 350,000 Somali refugees, forced to flee by war or famine. In January 2016, 10 people died and 1,000 fell sick in a cholera epidemic at the camp. Funding shortages have forced the UN to cut food rations to Dadaab twice since 2013. The UNHCR’s head of operations in Dadaab, Ahmed Fall, told DW that the situation has improved since German government contributed some $24 million (21.5 million euros) earlier this year. He was speaking before the minister’s arrival.
DW: In what capacity will Minister Gerd Müller be visiting Dadaab – as an interested minister from a donor country?
Ahmed Fall: Germany is one of our biggest donors, they contribute directly to our programs, funding our operations, and they also fund World Food Program (WFP) on the food.
Last year, there was food cut of 30 percent because of lack of funding but at the beginning of this year we received about $24 million from Germany. That money allowed WFP to cover full rations for all the refugees who belong to families of a certain size. They are receiving full rations, not 70 percent, because of the contribution we received from Germany, which is very important for us. Apart from contributing individually as a country to this program, Germany also contributes through the European Union (EU). The EU is also one of our biggest donors and we receive a lot of support from them.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“Finnish officials have estimated that roughly 100 individuals have left the country to join the extremist militant organisation Islamic State. There are different reasons why people have left, said Finnish Somali League vice chair Abdulrahman Rage. However one reason is marginalisation.”
Islamic Groups: Anti-radicalisation Not Just The Work Of Somalis, Muslims, Migrants
29 March – Source: Yle’s Aamu-tv – 487 Words
Islamic organisations in Finland have roundly condemned the deadly terrorist attacks that killed some 35 people and injured hundreds more in Belgium last week. Speaking on Yle’s Aamu-tv, representatives of three Islamic groups emphasised that measures to prevent youth marginalisation are key to countering radicalisation – and are not the sole responsibility of non-Finnish groups.
Anas Hajjar of the Islamic Society of Finland, Shiia Muslim Imam Abbas Bahmanpour and Abdulrahman Rage, vice chair of the Finnish Somali League told Yle’s Aamu-tv breakfast programme that preventive work among migrant youths would be the best way to prevent radicalisation among young people. According to Rage, it is important for such work to be done throughout the entire society. He added that young people must feel that they belong to society and to the cities in which they live. “It takes a village to raise a child, not just Somalis, Muslims and immigrants,” Rage observed. “If young people growing up feel that they are a part of this society and that they are accepted, then it is more difficult to recruit them,” he noted.
Shiia Muslim Imam Abbas Bahmanpour said that his religious group had long cooperated with officials to prevent the marginalisation of young people. He noted that youths who fall through society’s cracks are ripe for recruitment by extreme movements. “Extreme groups offer a place in the world, in the same way that the extreme right here offers a sense of belonging. Unfortunately Finnish society now has now gone in the direction of polarisation, and that should be avoided,” Bahmanpour noted.
“It is fertile ground for radicalisation, if you experience friction and racism at a young age,” he added. The Imams say that their mission is to share the teachings of real Islam, said Sunni Muslim cleric Anas Hajjar. “The teachings can be misused, as the recruiters are doing. Our message is that peace is the way,” he added.