June 23, 2016 | Daily Monitoring Report
Former Bosaso Mayor Forms Armed Opposition In Puntland
23 June – Source: Goobjoog News – 131 Words
The former mayor of Bossaso threatened to oust Abdiweli Ali Gas. Abdismad Mohammad Gallan, with hundreds of armed men occupied strategic villages and small towns along the main tarmac road that connects Bossaso to other main cities of the state, including Garowe and Galkayo.
Speaking to the local media in Armo town, 100 km south of Bossaso, Abdisamad said he is fighting for social justice in the state. Puntland security agencies met in Garowe and Bossaso however no formal communication was issued about the security threat from the former mayor. Elders and traditional leaders in the state were reported to have headed to Armo town to hold talks with Abdisamad and prevent clashes between his militia and Puntland state forces.
Key Headlines
- Former Bosaso Mayor Forms Armed Opposition In Puntland (Goobjoog News)
- Protests Over Prominent Elder’s Arrest (Garowe Online)
- Government Is Not Ready For War With Al-Shabaab: Jubbaland (Shabelle News)
- Al-Shabaab Plans Ramadhan Raids – Officer (The Star)
- MASE Programme Is To Promote The Coast Of Somalia Maritime Security (UNODC)
- Turkey Qatar Deliver Humanitarian Aid In Somalia (Daily Sabah)
- Uncertainty Stalks Returning Somalis (Daily Nation)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Protests Over Prominent Elder’s Arrest
23 June – Source: Garowe Online – 120 Words
Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama’a in the central Somali town of Guri’el have briefly detained a prominent clan elder as traditional leaders prepare for the vetting role in the parliamentary selection process ahead of presidential poll later this year. The paramilitary group of Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama’a has put Ugas Hassan Ugas Mohamed Nur–the Ayr sub-clan elder–behind bars for trying to pick new MPs for Somalia’s next parliament in Adado, the headquarters of rival Interim Galmudug Administration (IGA).
Angry crowds took to the streets shortly after his arrest, forcing local policemen to set their traditional leader free. The elder was reportedly heading to Mogadishu via Adado before being arrested. Ahlu Sunna and Galmudug forces previously clashed in central Somalia over regional influence. The parliamentary selection process is expected to take place in the capitals of Federal Member States and Interim Regional Administrations.
Government Is Not Ready For War With Al-Shabaab: Jubbaland
23 June – Source: Shabelle News – 144 Words
President Ahmed Madobe of Jubbaland has accused the Federal Government of failing to put an end to the war on Al-Shabaab militants. Speaking in an interview with a state-run news agency, Madobe said President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Sharmake are responsible for slow military operations against Al-Shabaab.
Madobe’s comments come as the Somali army, backed by African Union mission in Somalia (AMISOM) forces, make slow advances towards Al-Shabaab stronghold in south and central Somalia. “The top leadership of the Federal Government of Somalia should direct the funds from the international community intended for the fight against Al-Shabaab towards military operations against the terrorist group,” said Ahmed Madobe. He added that the long-term presence of Al-Shabaab is to jeopardize the political process by making the country insecure, and that can only be achieved through major military and fund co-ordination.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Al-Shabaab Plans Ramadhan Raids – Officer
23 June – Source: The Star – 123 Words
Northeastern regional coordinator Mohamud Saleh yesterday said intelligence reports indicate Al-Shabaab plans to carry out major attacks during the holy month of Ramadhan. He said their major targets are social places, government offices, police stations and military convoys. Other attacks are to be carried out at the Coast and Nairobi. “We have intelligence that Al-Shabaab has planned attacks on Kenyan soil during Ramadhan,” Saleh said.
He said security has been increased in major government offices, social gatherings and on the Kenya-Somalia border. On Monday, suspected Al-Shabaab attacks were carried out in Elwak and Hulugho in Mandera and Garissa counties. Saleh said the attacks were planned by the Garissa University College attack mastermind Mohamed Kuno, alias Gamadhere, before he was killed on June 1, during a joint operation by the Somali army and foreign forces in Bulo Gudud, Somalia.
He said the militants want to prove they have not been weakened by carrying out fresh attacks. “We suspect they will keep on harassing us in the remaining days of the Ramadhan period. We have prepared ourselves for them. The remaining days are very crucial in our security surveillance,” Saleh said.
MASE Programme Is To Promote The Coast Of Somalia Maritime Security
23 June – Source: UNODC – 220 Words
Although there has been a recent decline in attacks, piracy off the coast of Somalia continues to inflict substantial human and financial costs and threaten the development of a stable Somalia. States in the East African and Indian Ocean are also increasingly threatened by wider maritime crime, including the trafficking of drugs, arms, people and prohibited goods; migrant smuggling; and illegal fishing.
This Project aims to develop and/or strengthen the national criminal justice institutions in Kenya, Seychelles, Mauritius and Tanzania to ensure the fair and efficient trials, and humane and secure detention, of individuals suspected or convicted of piracy and maritime crime, within a sound rule of law framework and in accordance with international human rights standards. The promotion of human rights from the point of arrest, through the process of trial and subsequent imprisonment is central to this project.
This Project is funded as part of a larger EU Programme to Promote Regional Maritime Security (MASE). The Project will continue support to regional piracy prosecutions previously funded by the EU under the MASE Start Up Project and under the Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace. The Project will also seek to extend that support to counter wider maritime crime in the region, in particular drug trafficking at sea. This project is funded by the EU with €5 million.
Turkey, Qatar Deliver Humanitarian Aid In Somalia
23 June – Source: Daily Sabah – 277 Words
Turkey and Qatar have launched a joint aid campaign for residents in Somalia’s Hiran province, which has been heavily damaged by floods and fighting. Turkey’s Ambassador to Somalia Olgan Bekar said at the launch of the campaign Wednesday that the humanitarian campaign aimed to ease pain of communities suffering from tribal fighting and heavy floods in Beledweyne, the capital of south-central Hiran. Hasan bin Hamza Asad Mohamed, Qatar’s ambassador to Somalia, said $2.75 million have been collected to aid the residents of Beledweyne for one year.
The Turkish Red Crescent and the Qatar Charity will conduct and finance the effort that will provide staples such as milk, sugar, rice and olives for about 3,000 locals. The Somali government and authorities in Beledweyne have urged international charity organizations to provide immediate humanitarian aid. Governor Yusuf Ahmed Hagar Dabageed of the Hiran region thanked Turkey and Qatar for the assistance but emphasized the urgent need for medical supplies to help deal with epidemics after water shortages.
Last month, Turkey sent 11,000 tons of aid to Somalia, which is becoming more stable but is still largely underdeveloped and faces ongoing violence from the Al-Shabaab militant group. Since 2011, Turkey has made a concentrated effort to provide basic needs, including security, education, health, institutional capacity building, the building of state institutions, roads, ports, airports, fisheries and energy.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“We are uncertain about the peace situation in Somalia but what option do we have? The Kenyan Government keeps asking us to leave and life is hard in the camps due to food and water shortages. Things might be better back home.”
Uncertainty Stalks Returning Somalis
23 June – Source: Daily Nation – 3,742 Words
Not too long ago, a convoy of five buses drove into Dadaab Airstrip, raising a great cloud of dust. They were ferrying 417 refugees who had volunteered to go back home to Somalia months before the May 2017 deadline given by the Kenyan Government. The refugees had woken up at the crack of dawn, determined not to miss the buses that would take them home, a place most of them left six years ago due to a raging drought that killed thousands.
Others had been refugees for over 25 years, having fled the fighting that erupted in their country in 1991. This latest cohort of returnees had been picked up at Dagahaley, one of five camps that make up the Dadaab complex. The airstrip was just a stopover to collect the $120 (Sh12,000) resettlement money provided by aid agencies and food and blanket rations packed in small bags to give them a softer landing in Somalia.
From the airstrip, the next stop would be the border town of Liboi, from where they would cross into Somalia. The group would then be driven inland to the town of Doble, where the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) would officially hand them over to the Somali Government. From that point, they would cease to be refugees and the responsibility of the Kenyan Government. They will give up the protection the UN has afforded them for the time they were in Kenya and once again become citizens of a Somalia that will, hopefully, not spit them out again.
Mr Ali Abdi Ali, a 47-year-old father of five, was among those who left Dadaab on June 16 as part of the voluntary repatriation programme. When the Nation caught up with him at the Dadaab airstrip, he was deep in thought, possibly contemplating what awaited him on the other side of the border. When he left Somalia in 2011, he and his wife Khadija Mohammed had only two children. They got three more in Kenya, the youngest of whom is still suckling.
TOP TWEETS@Vatescorp: #Somalia: Security forces arrest murderer behind chief of NISA killed in middle Shabelle #alShabaabhttp://ow.ly/ZhKo301xYgT @Daudoo: BREAKING: Heavy fighting btwn #Puntland forces & militia led by former governor of Beri region, Gallan, erupts near#Armo village. #Somalia @SomaliaWeynNews : While UAE is sending armored vehicles to all the warring states in #Somalia. Qatar & Turkey are in Hiraan doing this @fqdayib: #Freudianslip The Somali women’s #quota is supposed to amplify their voices. Not to quieten or silence.#Somalia https://twitter.com/ @hassan_wali12 : JUST IN: At least 3 soldiers were killed after bomb blasts hit govt troops’ checkpoint in #Mogadishu’s Hilwaa – Witness #Somalia @KofiAnnan 2: Learn about the inspiring work of@Xtremely2gether‘s young leader from #Somalia,@IlwadElman, in this short video. @Vatescorp: #Kenya beefs up security along #Somalia border following attacks in northeastern by #AlShabaabhttp://ow.ly/PlL8301y5RZ |
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Photo: AMISOM |
AMISOM Official urges Somalis to return home to rebuild the Nation.