April 7, 2016 | Daily Monitoring Report
Puntland Leader Defends Move To Back Down In Poll Row
07 April – Source: Garowe Online – 298 Words
The President of Somalia’s Puntland Government Abdiweli Mohamed Ali has defended his recent move to ease the deadlock regarding the 2016 electoral transition in the wake of heightened criticism on the social media.
On Sunday, UN-backed national government and Puntland agreed to a blueprint guaranteed by the Chairperson of IGAD Council of Ministers and Ethiopian Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Tedros Adhanom. The President appeared on the State Television, PLTV, to allay the people’s fears and criticism levelled at his government, saying Puntland backed down in favor of national interests after weighing in on a breakaway decision.
“We [Puntland] have been faced with difficult compromises including; whether Puntland should consider seceding from Somalia, take a back seat in the 2016 elections or strike a balance and end the deadlock,” said President Ali. He added that Puntland’s move served national interests, and averted further fragmentation in the country: “The agreement clears the way for fair and transparent elections by 2020, and a roadmap is ready for that.”
On April 4, parties struck a deal covering scheme for 2016 Electoral Process, Upper House, 2020 roadmap, and tight implementation to be closely monitored by the international community. UN Somalia envoy Ambassador Michael Keating, AU representative Francisco Madiera, EU envoy Michele Cervone d’Urso, IGAD Chief Mahboub Maalin, Ambassador Mohamed Abdi Affey, Ethiopian Foreign Affairs mInister Adhanom and diplomats from Turkey, UAE, Sweden, Djibouti as well as Italy attended the signing ceremony in Puntland capital, Garowe.
Somalia Federal Government and Puntland have been in disagreement over which modality Somalia should adopt for 2016 selection and electoral process. In January, Mogadishu-based federal government introduced a model endorsed by international community. Puntland immediately objected to the proposal, citing opposition by wider public opinion. Ever since, spirited efforts have been launched to strike a deal between the two sides.
Key Headlines
- Puntland Leader Defends Move To Back Down In Poll Row (Garowe Online)
- Mogadishu Mayor Issues Three Day Ultimatum (Goobjoog News)
- Somali And AU Troops Take Village From Al Shabaab (Shabelle News)
- President Kenyatta Wants AMISOM Elevated To UN Mission Status (Capital FM)
- UN Takes On ‘Violent Extremism’ Seen As A Cause Of Terrorism (ABC News)
- Laptop Shows Suspect Visited Shabaab Websites Ahead Of Westgate Attack (Capital FM)
- Leftist Norwegian Politician Gets Raped By A Somali Begs For Him Not To Be Deported (The Daily Caller)
- “It’s An Assault On Our Civilization On Our Humanity” (The New York Times)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Mogadishu Mayor Issues Three Day Ultimatum
07 April – Source: Goobjoog News – 206 Words
The administration of Banaadir has issued a three day ultimatum to all motorists whose vehicles do not bear registration numbers to acquire the registration plates or else the police will seize their vehicles. Mogadishu mayor Yusuf Jima’ale, who also doubles as Banaadir region governor, told Goobjoog News that police will execute the order in three days time and officers who fail to heed the order will be charged for abdicating their duty.
“If your vehicle does not have any number plate then you have three days to ensure you get one failure to which police will confiscate it.I am also ordering all security agencies to seize such vehicles. Any officer who fails to act on this order will be charged for failing in his or her duty,” said Jima’ale. He added that no vehicle will be registered unless the licensing authorities have information about the owners.
The mayor has also informed Mogadishu residents that they can now apply for national identification cards from four centres in the city. The offices are located in Shibis, Howlwadaag and Wadajir districts. The issuance of registration cards in Mogadishu had started last year but stopped when parliament questioned the manner in which the cards were being issued.
Somali And AU Troops Take Village From Al Shabaab
06 April – Source: Shabelle News – 108 Words
Federal Government troops backed by Ethiopian soldiers of AMISOM contingent took control of a village in central Somalia on Wednesday after Al Shabaab left the area, a resident said: “Allied forces have taken Dirr area peacefully today. The settlement is now under SNA and AMISOM control,” said a villager who did want to be named, fearing his own safety. The resident also said there was a brief exchange of gunfire between coalition forces and Al shabaab, but the militants fled the area before troops moved in. The al Qaeda-affiliated Al Shabaab, which is seeking to overthrow the Western-backed government, regularly attacks Somali Govt army bases and AMISOM soldiers.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
President Kenyatta Wants AMISOM Elevated To UN Mission Status
06 April – Source: Capital FM – 404 Words
President Uhuru Kenyatta wants the African Union Mission in Somalia elevated to a UN Mission in order to ensure its sustainability in the face of budget cuts by financing partner: the European Union.
At a meeting with de facto EU leader and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday morning, President Kenyatta said cutting the funding to the troops in Somalia would be a grave mistake. Instead, he said, the funding needed to be increased to levels commensurate, “with similar UN peace enforcement missions.”
“Kenya’s and the African Union’s position regarding AMISOM is that it needs full support from international partners,” he said. Germany being the largest budgetary contributor to the EU, President Kenyatta lobbied Merkel on the necessity of the funding level being increased.
“You know it’s a global war. What happens in Somalia affects the rest of the world. All these groups are interconnected whether they’re in Libya or they’re in Somalia, in Yemen, Syria or Belgium they’re all interconnected and they all work together and so should we,” Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed had explained to Capital News.
AMISOM had also been on the agenda when President Kenyatta met with French President Francois Hollandeon Monday. After the meeting, Hollande assured the Kenya people at a press briefing that the French were committed in the fight to quash Al Shabaab having themselves been victims of terror in November, 2015. Other than security, President Kenyatta’s visit to Europe is also focussed on securing a fairer balance of trade.
UN Takes On ‘Violent Extremism’ Seen As A Cause Of Terrorism
07 April – Source: ABC News – 200 Words
Government envoys, civil society advocates, social media gurus and U.N. officials have opened a two-day conference billed as the first of its kind to tackle violent extremism, part of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s efforts to address the root causes of terrorism.
Jehangir Khan, director of a U.N. counterterrorism task force, said violent extremism is threatening all major U.N. missions and noted that Ban has made the issue a priority in his last year in office: “There is no quick fix, there is no magic wand,” he said at the start of the conference. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Khan said a key aim of the meeting was to get governments and communities on the same page, such as focusing on disillusioned, unemployed or disadvantaged youths that radical groups like Islamic State and al-Qaida like to recruit.
Khan said the meeting was the first time that the international community had come together since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States to look at the “prevention agenda” — not just the response to terrorism. Ban is expected to speak to reporters as the conference, co-sponsored by Switzerland and attended by roughly 30 government ministry representatives, ends on Friday.
Laptop Shows Suspect Visited Shabaab Websites Ahead Of Westgate Attack
06 April – Source: Capital FM – 404 Words
A senior officer yesterday tabled a report containing information on seven Al Shabaab training websites. The sites, according to Joseph Korum, were saved in a computer by one of the accused persons facing trial over the 2013 Westgate terror attack. Korum, the head of state communication from Directorate Criminal Investigation, told magistrate Daniel Ogembo that on October 5, 2015, he received a computer requesting forensic investigation.
He was supposed to ascertain if the laptop recovered from Mohamed Abdi had any evidence in relation to the attack. Korum said he discovered Abdi had visited seven Al Shabaab websites, among them training series in Kiswahili about AK47 rifles. The officer said the seven are Al Shabaab sites dedicated to production of jihad sites and propaganda related to their terror attacks.
Leftist Norwegian Politician Gets Raped By A Somali, Begs For Him Not To Be Deported
06 April – Source: The Daily Caller – 384 Words
Leftist Norway politician Karsten Nordal Hauken was brutally sodomized by a Somali and felt so incredibly guilty in the aftermath he subsequently begged authorities not to deport the man. Hauken has finally come out to tell the public his story of his rape and forgiveness, Norway’s public broadcasting channel NRK reports.
Hauken has finally come out to tell the public his story of his rape and forgiveness, Norway’s public broadcasting channel NRK reports. Immediately after the rape first occurred, Hauken was taken to the hospital in Oslo where nurses collected samples for DNA evidence. About six months after the rape, police completed their investigation. They secured the DNA and fingerprint evidence necessary to move the case forward.
In court, the Somali claimed the interaction was consensual, but Norwegian authorities begged to differ. The Somali went to prison for four and a half years. The story doesn’t end there. Shortly before the sentence was over, Hauken learned the man was about to be deported from Norway and sent back to Somalia.
“I got a strong feeling of guilt and responsibility,” Hauken wrote. “I was the reason he wouldn’t be in Norway, and instead be sent to an unknown future in Somalia. He had already done his time in prison. Would he get punished again, and this time much harder?”
Hauken fell into a deep depression. He started drinking heavily and lost years doing little else but smoking marijuana to dodge feelings of self-loathing. He’s since apparently turned his life around and has come to some important realizations, which may strike other observers as completely bizarre. As Hauken noted in the interview, it’s important not to stay silent about personal struggles and mental illness. Rape happens, and not just to women. But perhaps the most notable lesson Hauken says he learned is that “rapists are from a world so different from ours.”
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“In Somalia, Elman explained, women, who traditionally dominate the household, have been essential to the spread of Al-Shabaab, encouraging sons or other men in their households to execute attacks. For that reason, Elman said the role of women in expelling Al-Shabaab from
their communities will be crucial.”
“It’s An Assault On Our Civilization, On Our Humanity”
06 March – Source: The New York Times – 1,004 Words
Across Africa, the threat of radical Islamist terrorism has put countries like Nigeria, Somalia, Kenya, and Cameroon on edge — wary of the next terror attack and scrambling to counter the ideology that has quickly swept across the continent.
Three women fighting that ideology — activists Esther Ibanga and Obiageli Ezekwesili of Nigeria, and Somali National Army Captain Iman Elman — spoke about the threat to peace in Africa, on Wednesday at the Women in the World Summit in New York City. “It’s an assault on our civilization, on our humanity. It’s an assault on the universal values we all share,” Ezekwesili said.
Interviewed by CBS News foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Brennan, Ibanga and Ezekwesili said that Nigeria’s ongoing effort to secure its villages from the threat of Boko Haram, the brutal militant group notorious for the 2014 kidnapping of more than 200 girls from a Christian school in Chibok, has made little progress, and that it is more vital than ever for Nigeria’s government to loudly and transparently commit to fighting the group.
In the weeks after the girls were abducted, Ezekwesili launched the campaign known as #BringBackOurGirls, which spread globally on the Internet and social media and won the support of First Lady Michelle Obama. Fifty-nine girls escaped during the early days of the capture, she said, but 219 remain missing.
While the sudden rise of Boko Haram has posed a major threat to Nigeria and West Africa, the Al Qaeda-linked group Al-Shabaab has similarly terrorized Somalia and Kenya, on the continent’s eastern coast. Captain Iman Elman, a 24-year-old officer in the Somali National Army, grew up in Canada but returned to Somalia to help rid the country of Al-Shabaab.
TOP TWEETS
@mbashiir16: #US drone strike reported in #AlShabaab controlled town of #Jilib in Middle Jubba region last night, #Somalia.
@HarunMaruf: Longtime leader of #Djibouti @IsmailOguelleh and his supporters eye victory in tomorrow’s presidential elections. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/
@UKinSomalia: UK is pleased to be working with several partners #Somalia in improving maternal, & new-born health #WorldHealthDay
@SomaliaEU: OpEd: “Security cannot exist without justice, democracy, rule of law, good governance & respect for human rights” #Somalia striving for this.
@amisomsomalia: The ongoing operation is undertaken by #AMISOM & IJA security forces, aimed at protecting the Somali population from torture & exploitation.
@amisomsomalia: AMISOM & SNA have moved into Adan Yabaal district, the last Al Shabaab held district in Middle Shabelle, #Somalia.
@amisomsomalia: In Galgaduud region, AMISOM and SNA have moved into Moqokori. The town is now under the control of the joint forces. Operations continue.
@MikaelLindvall: Fantastic news about IMF’s deepened engagement with Somalia, through 12-month staff monitoring programme: http://mobile.reuters.com/
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Somaliland President Ahmed Silanyo hosts inner to members of a committee from Mogadishu who delivered a one million dollar cash aid in support of drought-affected people in Somaliland
Picture/Radio Muqdisho