May 18, 2016 | Daily Monitoring Report
Somali Parliament Postpones Election Debate In Dispute Over New MPs
18 May – Source: Hiiraan Online – 248 Words
Somali parliament said it called off a planned debate on the country’s forthcoming electionsWednesday following a protest by Puntland State against a plan to allocate additional 7 lawmakers from the next parliament to Benadir region, lawmakers said. The development comes as frustration grows over the parliament’s reluctance to approve the election bill for the horn of Africa nation which is gearing up for presidential election due to take place late this year.
However, a Somali lawmaker told Hiiraan Online that Puntland leaders lashed out the proposed plan to allot the remaining legislators for Benadir region in which Mogadishu locates, saying that the plan would flout the country’s 4.5 power sharing formula. Somali government officials started negotiations with Puntland officials to find solution to the new controversy which could lead to further delays to election plans.
Meanwhile, the Ethiopian government started new mediation efforts with the expectation of a potential breakthrough in ending the dispute. No comment could be reached from Puntland officials on the development which raises serious questions about the troubled relations between Puntland and the central Somali government which is trying to push for greater collaborations with the regional administrations.
Despite maintaining its status of being part of Somalia unlike its neighboring breakaway republic of Somaliland which declared a unilateral independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991, Puntland continues to resist the central government’s influence in its internal affairs, by maintaining its autonomous government and financial system.
Key Headlines
- Somali Parliament Postpones Election Debate In Dispute Over New MPs (Hiiraan Online)
- Somaliland Marks 25 Years Of Quest For Independence (Goobjoog News)
- Former BBC Correspondent Elected NUSOJ Secretary General (Radio Dalsan)
- Clashes Flare Up In Baladweyne Just After A 24 Hour Lull (Goobjoog News)
- EU Appoints New Operation Commander For EU NAVFOR Somalia (Council of the European Union)
- Parliament Summons CS Amina MohammedJoseph Nkaissery Over Dadaab Closure (Standard Digital)
- Somali Criminal Scores Third Human Rights Victory Over Theresa May (Express.co.uk)
- Somaliland: Making A Success Of ‘Independence’’ (BBC)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Somaliland Marks 25 Years Of Quest For Independence
18 May – Source: Goobjoog News – 178 Words
Somalia’s self declared breakaway state of Somaliland is marking 25 years of self declared independence from Somalia. The celebrations which started last night also saw heightened security in various parts of the region including the capital Hargeisa. Celebrations were held in the capital, Hargeisa, on Tuesday night, with people holding rallies, waving flags from their vehicles and staging shows in various stadiums. Heads of the government of Somaliland including president, Ahmed Silanyo have attended the public celebrations.
President Silanyo congratulated the people of Somaliland in their efforts to building the state and efforts for self determination. Somaliland, which is more tribally homogeneous than the rest of Somalia, has been striving for international recognition since it broke away in 1991. Having escaped decades of conflict in Somalia, Somaliland, which sits on the Gulf of Aden, employs its own security and police forces, justice system and currency. It has a reputation for successfully maintaining law and order for its population of 4 million. However northern state of the larger Somalia has not achieved any international recognition.
Former BBC Correspondent Elected NUSOJ Secretary General
18 May – Source: Radio Dalsan – 186 Words
Former British Broadcasting Cooperation Mogadishu correspondent was elected as Secretary General of National Union for Somali Journalists ( NUSOJ ). Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimu who reported from Somalia for several international media including BBC and Reuters won the closely contested election on Tuesday. His closest contender Ali Bashi conceded defeat allowing election monitors and delegates to call it a day.
Mahir Mohamed Adan was also elected the chairman of the national union for Somali Journalists. Over 150 delegates across the country gathered in the capital for the important exercise. The National Union for Somali Journalists was disbanded by court order earlier after serious leadership wrangles emerged between two opposing sides. Caretaker committee was formed that recommended the suspension of the two opposing leaders and called for immediate transparent elections.
Clashes Flare Up In Baladweyne Just After A 24 Hour Lull
18 May – Source: Goobjoog News – 171 Words
Fighting has entered the second day in Somalia’s central town, Baladweyne, located 350Km north of Mogadishu barely a day after six people were killed in the fighting. The fighting which lulled yesterday evening has reignited from Baladweyne’s Howlwadaag neighborhood. Goobjoog News correspondent in Baladweyne says Sporadic gunfire and sound of the machine guns could be heard across the city.
The fighting that started on Tuesday claimed lives of at least five people and seven others injured, according to Medics. Most of the local residents in area started fleeing their homes in fear of fighting between the two sides. The two clans severally clashed over control of boreholes and pasture in areas around the town, according to our correspondent in Baladweyne town Khalid Ilka Asse.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
EU Appoints New Operation Commander For EU NAVFOR Somalia
18 May – Source: Council of the European Union – 144 Words
On 18 May 2016, the Political and Security Committee appointed Brigadier Robert Magowan CBE, an officer from the British Royal Marines, as Operation Commander for the EU Naval Force Somalia- EU NAVFOR Operation Atalanta. Brigadier Magowan will replace Major General Martin Smith MBE. He is expected to take up his duties on 3 June 2016.
The European Union Naval Force Somalia Operation Atalanta was launched in December 2008 to contribute to the deterrence, prevention and repression of acts of piracy and armed robbery off the Somali coast. The operation is part of the EU’s comprehensive approach for a peaceful, stable and democratic Somalia.
The operation also protects vessels of the World Food Programme and other vulnerable shipping, monitors fishing activities off the coast of Somalia and supports other EU and international missions in the region such as the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).
Parliament Summons CS Amina Mohammed,Joseph Nkaissery Over Dadaab Closure
18 May – Source: Standard Digital – 178 Words
Two Cabinet secretaries have been summoned to explain why the Government wants to expatriate refugees at Dadaab camp to Somalia. The Parliamentary Caucus on Human Rights asked the House committee on Defence and Foreign Relations to grill Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery will also face the committee on delegated legislation over the gazette notices he has made in prescribing the handling of refugees. Chairpersons of the committees wrote to the two CSs asking them to appear before them next week. Nkaissery and Amina sit in the powerful National Security Council, which makes policy decisions on all national security threats.
Addressing the Press yesterday at Parliament buildings, MPs drawn from both sides of the political divide slammed the Government’s decision to close down Daadab refugee camp. They argued the blanket condemnation of all refugees for Kenya’s security problem was wrong. “They say they are closing it because it poses a security threat, yet we have not seen anyone who has been convicted or charged in court from the camps,” said Shukran Gure (Garissa).
Somali Criminal Scores Third Human Rights Victory Over Theresa May
18 May – Source: Express.co.uk – 180 Words
A Somali criminal is set to pocket thousands of pounds in compensation after scoring a third legal victory over Theresa May. Abdiweli Gedi, 26, was jailed for six and a half years in 2010 after he deliberately drove into a group outside a nightclub. An immigration tribunal ruled then it would breach his human rights to send him back to Somalia. He was released on licence in 2013 and the Home Secretary ordered his deportation.
But in 2014 a judge ruled that returning to Somalia would put him in danger. Gedi, of Rotherhithe, south-east London, then sued for compensation over limitations on him during proceedings. Last year, Mr Justice Edis ordered damages for one period of false imprisonment but Gedi appealed over three further periods and yesterday three Court of Appeal judges ruled in his favour. Jamal Ali, 26, who was left in a coma following Gedi’s attack, said: “I feel very angry that my life, as it was, has been taken away.” The ruling comes just days after Mrs May called for Britain to quit the European Court for Human Rights.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“With the international gaze so firmly fixed on Mogadishu, it is unlikely Somaliland will be recognised in the near future – but that may be a blessing in disguise. The independence cause is the glue that binds Somalilanders together. If they were granted recognition, could it be possible that they too might fall to fighting, just like their southern neighbours?”
Somaliland: Making A Success Of ‘Independence’
18 May – Source: BBC – 689 Words
Exactly 25 years ago, after a ferocious civil war, north-west Somalia broke away from the rest of the country and declared itself independent. A quarter of a century later, not a single country recognises Somaliland, but this territory of about 3.5 million people is arguably one of the more stable, democratic places in the Horn of Africa. At the BBC, we don’t call Somaliland a country because officially it isn’t one. We call it a “self-declared republic”, inviting criticism from many Somalilanders.
But the territory has its own currency, passport, army and legal system. It’s presidents come to power through fiercely-fought elections, sometimes won with the narrowest of margins. Unlike many other African countries, the results are respected, even when the opposition wins. Somaliland is by no means perfect. Large parts of the east are disputed, sometimes violently, with other regions of Somalia. People in the west agitate for autonomy. There are reports of sleeper cells of the Islamist militia, Al-Shabaab.
Some migrants who die in the Mediterranean are from Somaliland, where youth unemployment is estimated at 75%. On recent visits to the territory, I have seen lines of young men walking along the roadsides, carrying small bags. “They are on tahrib,” I am told – starting their long, uncertain journey to Europe or the Gulf. The authorities are harsh towards the media, sometimes arresting journalists and shutting down newspapers. In January, six prisoners found guilty of murder were executed.
And such is the hostility towards Somalia proper that last year four members of the popular Horn Stars band were arrested on their return to Somaliland from Somalia. Their alleged crime was waving a blue Somalia flag at a concert in the Somali capital Mogadishu. Somaliland has its own green, white and red flag. Somalilanders take great pride in presenting giant versions of this flag to visiting diplomats who sometimes blush as it is unfurled in front of them because it puts them in a somewhat difficult position regarding the territory’s unrecognised status.
TOP TWEETS
@AnankeGroup : #Switzerland appoints new ambassador to#Somalia
@HarunMaruf : #Somalia: It’s a big day in Mogadishu too.Is the parliament going to convene a special session to vote on endorsing the 2016 election model?
@Abdifatah_Hsn : It is always the good pple who pay the price for the crimes committed by the bad pple #Stop arbitrary detention against activists #Somalia
@SomaliaEU : New commander of @EUNAVFOR Brig. Magowan succeeds Gen. Smith who leaves great legacy in deterring piracy in #Somalia http://dsms.consilium.europa.
RadioErgo : #Somalia:Borama livestock Market in the Doldrums http://bit.ly/1Tf5lSu @OCHASom @unicefsomalia@UNSomalia
@Eye_on_Somalia : #goobjoog OPINION: International community bent on forcing Parliament to adopt contentious poll issu… http://bit.ly/1YB86Mh #somalia
@DrumChronicles : #Somalia death toll rises to10 as fighting between clan militia continues for 2nd day in western#Beledweyne Residents fleeing the area
IMAGE OF THE DAY
SRSG Michael Keating and SRCC Francisco Caetano Jose Madeira meet with the Federal Government of Somalia to discuss the electoral model.
Photo: @SRSGKeating