May 30, 2016 | Morning Headlines
Mogadishu On High Alert Over Possible Ramadan Attacks
29 May – Source: Shabelle News – 125 Words
Security agencies in the capital city of Somalia, Mogadishu, have been put on high alert over possible attacks by Al-Shabaab militants during the holy month of Ramadan.
Speaking at a press conference in Mogadishu, the deputy Mayor Mohamed Ahmed Dirie said the city’s security will be beefed up by local forces, with the help of administrations of the local districts and residents: “It’s our responsibility to take necessary measures to prevent Al-Shabaab from carrying out their heinous acts in the capital during this holy month.”
The deputy Mayor assured members of the international community and tourists of their safety in Somalia’s capital city. Dirie also took the opportunity to announce the scheduled trip of the Turkish President Racep Tayyep Erdogan to the city — the second in less than two years. Al-Shabaab militants are known to conduct deadly attacks during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Key Headlines
- Mogadishu On High Alert Over Possible Ramadan Attacks (Shabelle News)
- Somali President Officially Opens A High Profile Consultative Forum In Mogadishu (Goobjoog News)
- Somalia Denies Outside Control Of Its Airspace (Shabelle News)
- Somali Ministry For Finance Launches Somali Core Economic Institution And Opportunities Project(Goobjoog News)
- Dahabshiil Funding Helps In Reducing Unemployment In Hargeisa (Capital FM)
- Burundi Battalion Feted With Medals At The End Of Their Tour Of Duty In Somalia (AMISOM)
- Somalia Intends To Print Its Own Currency By Early Next Year (Bloomberg)
- How A Single Post Changed The Life Of A Somali Single Mother Of Eight (Global Voices)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Somali President Officially Opens A High Profile Consultative Forum In Mogadishu
29 May – Source: Goobjoog News – 177 Words
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on Sunday officially opened a two-day high profile consultative forum in Somalia’s capital city of Mogadishu.
Leaders of Galmudug, South-west, Jubbaland and Puntland, along the President and Prime minister of the Federal government, attended the forum. According to reliable sources, the leaders were scheduled to discuss the political state of Mogadishu or Banadir region and other factors relating to the forthcoming elections.
In April this year, the leaders agreed on “guiding principles” of the electoral process that will facilitate the transfer of power when the government’s mandate expires in 2016. The President, last week, used an executive order to legalize an electoral model thereby bypassing the Parliament which delayed debate and agreement over the matter.
In a presidential decree issued on 22nd this month, the President said it was imperative the electoral model be adopted into law to tame the escalation of rifts and protect the interests of the country. According to Somalia’s Provisional Federal Constitution, adopted in 2012, the mandates of the Somali Federal Parliament and of the government would come to an end in August and September 2016, respectively.
Somalia Denies Outside Control Of Its Airspace
29 May – Source: Shabelle News – 129 Words
Somalia’s Minister for Transport and Civil Aviation, Ali Ahmed Jama “Jangali”, has rebuffed reports that the country’s airspace is being managed in Kenya a foreign office.
The minister explained the international community gave Somalia access to independently handle its airspace management after more than two decades of conflict. The Mogadishu airport has currently upgraded to an international standard through a project funded by the Turkish government.
“Our airspace is now being controlled from Mogadishu and all the necessary equipments have been transferred already,’’ the minister told reporters during a press conference in Mogadishu. After the collapse of Somalia’s central government in the 1991 civil war, the United Nations Development Program and the International Civil Aviation Organization founded a civil aviation caretaker authority for Somalia in Kenya’s capital Nairobi.
Somali Ministry For Finance Launches Somali Core Economic Institution And Opportunities Project
29 May – Source: Goobjoog News – 281 Words
The Ministry for Finance has launched a project dubbed Somali Core Economic Institution and Opportunities project (SCORE) aimed at creating jobs for Somali youths.
The project funded by World Bank will operate in direct collaboration with Mogadishu port and Somali Central Bank authorities. At the launching ceremony, Somalia’s Minister for Finance, Mohamed Adan Ibrahim Fargeti, said the project, which will run for three years, would improve the cooperation between the ministries of ports, trade and the Somali Central Bank.
He also pointed out that the project will work closely with the private sectors in a bid to create jobs for unemployed Somali youth. Fargeti said the project will be implemented in different places across Somalia. The launching ceremony was attended by the Minister for Ports, Trade and the Finance Minister of the semi-autonomous regional state of Puntland and many other delegates.
Most of the people in southern Somalia, especially the youth who graduated from the various universities in the country are unemployed. The youth believe that their rightful positions of work were taken over by foreigners from the neighbouring countries and other nations in the continent, who were attracted to Somalia during its period of political stability.
Thousands of Somali youths migrate to European and Arab countries seeking jobs. This has proved dangerous in some instances as scores die in rickety ships before getting to their destinations. To make things worse, those who remain in the country run the risk of been recruited by the warring groups in Somalia, including the Al-Shabaab militants.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Dahabshiil Funding Helps In Reducing Unemployment In Hargeisa
29 May – Source: Capital FM – 505 Words
While unemployment in Somalia has forced many young people to leave the country, Dahabshiil is turning around the lives of many unemployed youth in Somaliland capital Hergesa by funding their business ideas.
Dahabshiil, through its Microdahab program is providing Small Micro Enterprises funding to the youth to set up business. MicroDahab MFI is a microfinance subsidiary of Dahabshiil Group. From barber shops to small scale farming, the youth are now engaged in business courtesy of the funding and according to a report on CCTV.
Abdirahman Osman Abdi, the Dahabshiil Micro finance manager says the project has turned around the lives of over 4,700 young men and women who have taken advantage of the program: “We allow then youth to present their business ideas to Microdahab and based on the ideas we scale the financing limit to between 5,000 dollars to 25,000 dollars per business. They come up with an idea that can be financed with minimum risks and we offer the funding,” said Abdi.
“But the major objective is to create opportunities to the youth who are at risk of violence, migration and other social problems,” he adds. From a small clientele base of only 250 youth, the program has now attracted 4700 young men and women and according to Abdi, the ripple effect has seen over 21,000 people benefiting directly or indirectly through the program.
Unemployment rate stands at over 70 percent in Somalia, many have migrated to Europe, some die at the high seas trying to find a route to Europe hoping for a better life, but the Microdahab program has made many think twice about migrating. Last December, MicroDahab MFI announced a collaboration with SolarGen Technologies to create the first ‘ijarah thumma Iqtina’ (‘lease to purchase’) sustainable energy product in Somalia.
Burundi Battalion Feted With Medals At The End Of Their Tour Of Duty In Somalia
29 May – Source: AMISOM – 357 Words
The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) has awarded medals and certificates to a battalion of Burundi soldiers, for their distinguished service while on tour of duty in Somalia.
The Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (SRCC) for Somalia, Ambassador Francisco Madeira presented the troops with the awards, at a farewell ceremony held for them in Mogadishu on Saturday. Acting AMISOM Force Commander Maj. Gen. Mohammedesha Zeyinu, Burundi Ambassador to Somalia, Ambassador Joseph Nkurunziza and General Abdullahi Osman Agey, of the Somali National Army (SNA) attended the ceremony.
In his remarks, Ambassador Madeira commended the soldiers for liberating key areas from Al Shabaab and spearheading delivery of humanitarian aid to desperate populations: “You are leaving with your mission accomplished. The tasks that you were assigned during your stay in Somalia have been accomplished. It is true that the war in Somalia is not yet over, but your mission has been accomplished.”
“I am very proud of the way Africa and Burundi in particular has fulfilled at this moment its international obligation and the African Union objective of giving a helping hand to our Somali brothers,” Ambassador Madeira added, as he addressed the troops who return home next week. Burundi Ambassador to Somalia, Ambassador Joseph Nkurunziza lauded AMISOM’s role is peacebuilding in Somalia.
“You the 31st Battalion have kept the morale, courage and determination to overcome everything. Today you have got certificates and medals; all these distinguish you from others. This is your pride to go home with,” he told the soldiers. Maj.Gen. Mohammedesha echoed similar sentiments. “I am aware of the sacrifices you have made by obediently responding to the call of duty to participate in the restoration of peace in Somalia,” he said.
Somalia Intends To Print Its Own Currency By Early Next Year
28 May – Source: Bloomberg – 271 Words
Somalia intends to print new official bank notes that will circulate alongside dollars in the Horn of Africa nation by early next year as the government seeks to replace counterfeit currency and promote commerce in an economy ravaged by civil war.
The International Monetary Fund is helping Somalia print and circulate the currency, Bashir Issa Ali, governor of Somalia’s central bank, said Friday in an interview in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. Somali shillings currently in circulation aren’t printed by the federal government in Mogadishu and most are fake, Ali said. The new banknotes would be produced by “reputable companies,” he said.
“The economy is overwhelmingly dollarized,” Ali said. “Poor communities and those in rural areas have no access to dollars. They will benefit most from the shilling circulation.” Somalia’s economy was destroyed by conflict that erupted after the ousting of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and the emergence of the Al-Shabaab Islamist insurgency. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud’s government is stabilizing the country and confidence among investors is increasing as the security situation improves, Ali said.
While the central bank has no reserves, Ali said the country receives about $1.5 billion a year in remittances from Somalis abroad. Neighboring Kenya, east Africa’s largest economy, received $1.55 billion in remittances from citizens living and working abroad last year, according to data from the Central Bank of Kenya.
The new banknotes will be a step toward formulating monetary policy, Ali said. Effective economic management and planning is difficult without an official currency. Printing money is very important for Somalia’s national payment systems and for our national pride,” he said.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“Never in a million years did she imagine that she would receive this amount of money. A week ago, she was discriminated against, hopeless and penniless and now, she has a continuous source of income for her family.”
How A Single Post Changed The Life Of A Somali Single Mother Of Eight
29 May – Source: Global Voices – 468 Words
On May 1, Somali Faces covered a story about a poor Somali mother who is an Internally Displaced Person (IDP) and has eight small children, none of whom were attending school. She was facing abuse for belonging to a minority Somali clan and because of her dark skin. She was contemplating suicide.
“Sometimes I’m treated like a foreigner in my own country, like I don’t belong here. I’m a single mother of 8 and none of my children are at school. I clean houses whilst carrying the child I’m carrying now. The rest of my children look for any type of work that they can find. I know it’s a hard life and it’s not easy but what makes it so much harder and at times unbearable is how people treat me and my children.”
“I sometimes feel like I’m in an ocean of people whose hearts are made of stone. Many discriminate against me because of my very dark skin colour. I tell them, that’s how God created me and I can’t change it. Either they reject me because I’m from a minority clan or because of my skin colour. Sometimes, I contemplate whether death is better for us than living in a wretched life.”
Readers were moved by her story, and began a fundraiser for her. A total of $4,000 was raised in 21 hours. After the donations, Somali Faces reported:“Your donations changed her family’s life. Because of you, she will have her own shop, her house will be repaired and she told us that with the money she will be making, she can easily pay for her children’s education. You couldn’t conceal her smile and happiness, at times; she had difficulty getting the words out”.