November 30, 2016 | Daily Monitoring Report
Security Officials Met In Mogadishu Ahead Of Mogadishu Upper And Lower House Elections
30 November – Source: Dhacdo.com – 105 Words
An hour long meeting was convened in Mogadishu last night discussing the security and safety of the election places. The election of the Banadiri Lower house seats will be starting in Mogadishu today. The meeting was attended by the deputy head of National Intelligence and Security Agency -NISA, and Banadir police heads and was stressed to secure places allocated for the election.Banadir regional administration spokesman Abdifatah Halane told reporters that the meeting attendants shaped comprehensive measures securing the capital during the election process. Consequently, security forces this morning closed down several roads leading to the venues of the elections kicking off in Mogadishu today.
Key Headlines
- Security Officials Met In Mogadishu Ahead Of Mogadishu Upper And Lower House Elections (Dhacdo.com)
- Somali Federal Parliament Secretary Explains Registration Procedure For The Newly Elected MPs(Kismaayo News)
- Police Defuse Landmines In Central Somalia (Goobjoog News)
- Al-Shabaab Regrouping In Somalia To ‘attack Kenya’ Police Warns (Daily Nation)
- Concern Over Safety Of Elders In Somalia Electoral Process As Premier Writes To Concerned Authorities (Nep Journal)
- The Child of Somali Immigrants Who Makes OSU And The USA Proud (The Daily Beast)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Somali Federal Parliament Secretary Explains Registration Procedure For The Newly Elected MPs
30 November – Source: Kismaayo News – 86 Words
The secretary of the current federal parliament Abdikarim Haji Abdi (Buh) has clarified the registration process for the newly elected MPs. Speaking to media, Mr. Buh advised the newly elected MPs to contact FIEIT for issuance of certificates, then the parliament management will work on their identification cards and other procedural requirements.“As the parliamentary secretary office, we have already put in place all the necessary procedures for the newly elected members of parliament,” Buh said. The new parliament is expected to hold its first meeting on December 6, 2016.
Police Defuse Landmines In Central Somalia
30 November – Source: Goobjoog News – 162 Words
Somali police forces in the central town Beledweyne have defused and dismantled several landmines planted in key roads on Tuesday.Hiraan police commissioner, Isack Ali Abdulle told Goobjoog News that the landmines could have claimed the lives of innocent civilians, blaming Al-Shabaab for the terror bid.“Our security forces have defused several landmines planted by Al-Shabaab fighters,” said Abdulle.He noted that security teams have peacefully averted potential attack from the discovered landmines.The road which links between ElGayl and Kalabeer localities is extensively used by transport convoys. Abdulle said no arrest has been made in this connection.
He also called on individuals who may have any information on crime activities or any intelligence on possible attacks to inform the relevant authorities reassuring them their identities will remain sealed and in confidence. Al-Shabaab fighters who are fighting government officials as well as AU peacekeeping troops in Somalia have in the past carried out a series of attacks mostly associated with planting landmines.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Al-Shabaab Regrouping In Somalia To ‘attack Kenya’, Police Warns
30 November – Source: Daily Nation – 470 Words
Al-Shabaab terrorists are regrouping in Jedahaley, Somalia, and plan to attack the country, police have warned. Inspector-General of Police Joseph Boinnet has also revealed that some of the attackers were hiding in small groups pretending to be herders around Hida and Dambala in Somalia while plotting to sneak into the country.“The possible targets for the attacks include security personnel and establishments along the border as well as the passenger service vehicles plying the routes along the border,” he said.
The terror group had changed tact, said the police boss, and had split into smaller groups and infiltrated the country especially along the borders of Mandera, Wajir, Garissa and Lamu counties.In the coast region, he said, police were also closely monitoring the terrorists as they make efforts to return to the Boni forest.“The militants are known to take advantage of the ongoing rains to infiltrate the country through the general areas of Kolbio and close to Hulugho area in Garissa County,” Mr Boinnet said.
Security has been heightened in the country to avert any attacks, and police have also appealed to the public to continue cooperating with them and remain vigilant, said Mr Boinnet.Intelligence also shows that Islamic State still continued to target the youth for online recruitment but police said measures had been put in place to stop radicalisation.Police also warned that Al-Shabaab could exploit the tension between the Degodia-Matan and Degodia-Jirail sub-clans residing within a disputed area between Wajir West and Eldas sub-counties.“The county security teams are alert and we call upon the local leaders to help us in preventing unnecessary clashes and seek a lasting solution to their disputes,” he said.
Concern Over Safety Of Elders In Somalia Electoral Process As Premier Writes To Concerned Authorities
29 November – Source: Nep Journal – 302 Words
Prime Minister of Somalia Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke has expressed concerns over the safety of elders selecting the Electoral College in Mogadishu a day after one elder was whisked away by security officers.In a letter dated November 29, 2016 that was addressed to the Elections security committee and copied to the commanders of security agencies as well as UN and AU special representatives, the Premier said one of the elders who hails from the Northern regions and is among the 135 selecting the electoral college was taken by officers from the National Security and Intelligence.“Safety and Security of the elders is the sole responsibility of the Elections Security Committee and no other body can interfere” said the premier in the statement.
Sharmarke directed security of elders, delegates and candidates guaranteed during the electoral process to safeguard smooth progress of the electoral process.Somalia’s 2016 electoral process is not a universal suffrage election, as conditions are not yet in place for a one-person-one-vote ballot. Instead, a system of indirect elections is taking place to identify the 275 MPs who will in turn elect the President.In particular, 275 electoral colleges, each consisting of 51 delegates selected by the 135 Traditional Elders, are currently electing the 275 members of the House of the People of the Federal Parliament of Somalia. A total of 14,025 delegates were selected
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“The goal of ISIS is to make the non-Muslims among us see Abdul Razak Ali Artan whenever we encounter a young Muslim, to so fill us with fear that we become less than ourselves.What ISIS fears is that we will see Ilhan Dahir and that we will be inspired and strengthened and reminded of all we can be, of our true greatness,”
The Child of Somali Immigrants Who Makes OSU, And The USA, Proud
30 November – Source: The Daily Beast – 1377 Words.
lhan Dahir and Abdul Razak Ali Artan were both of Somali extraction. Both attended Ohio State University.But ISIS claimed 18-year-old Artan as a soldier after he attempted to run down fellow students and leapt from his wrecked car with a kitchen knife, slashing at them until he was shot by campus cop.All of humanity can claim 23-year-old Dahir after she became a 2016 Rhodes Scholar and a Fulbright Fellow and was named a White House Champion of Change and was sent by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to represent us at an international meeting on violent extremism.
Her senior thesis at Ohio State was on the threat posed by foreign fighters in ISIS. She taught English in Turkey while on her Fulbright. She also spent a summer teaching English at the Iman School for Girls in Mogadishu, Somalia.As a Rhodes Scholar, she is said to be studying toward two master’s degrees, one in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies, the other in Global Governance and Diplomacy. She then figures on returning stateside for law school. Her ultimate plan is reportedly to become an international human rights lawyer.“I’m eager to use any sort of knowledge I gain to affect people’s lives in a positive way,” she has said.Since high school, she has worked to bridge the differences between religions and cultures. She rose to a leadership position in Face to Face—Faith to Faith, an international organization that strives to bring Muslim, Jewish and Christian teens together. She formed her own Interfaith Youth Corps. She also mentored Somali junior high and high school students.
At Ohio State, she was editor of the Ager, the student magazine. She wrote with particular power on the 12th anniversary of 9/11. Her article read in part, “In the years since the attacks on the Twin Towers, distrust still lingers like a putrid odor. It permeates interactions until we are heavy with the knowledge of it, until we learn to ignore it, until we stop noticing it altogether. Indeed, our rational minds tell us that American was never built to be an exclusionary word. We know that it is a banner under which the sons and daughters of pioneering immigrants stand for such radical notions as equality, justice, freedom, unity.”She went on, “But fear, incited by extremists and sketched into our psyches by revenge, keeps us from internalizing the message. In this weakness, we find comfort in separation, in finding those that look, pray or act like us, only to view all others with heightened levels of skepticism. In these moments of distrust, we should remember that it is these fault lines of discrimination and cynicism, and not another terrorist attack, that threatens to strip us of our identity.”She was writing as the daughter of Somali refugees, who had fled the civil war in their homeland and sought refuge in America, settling in Hilliard, Ohio. Her sister, Nima Dahir, also graduated from Ohio State and is equally accomplished. She was named a Beinecke Scholar and offered a position as a research analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. She had spoken of securing a doctorate in experimental economics.
TOP TWEETS
@SalahOsman0:Well-done to #Mogadishu University for launching e-Granary Digital Library #Somalia is making huge progress regularly #Somalia2016Elections
@doorashada2016:Elections on Banadiri community seats for the House of the People will be launched today in Mogadishu#Doorashada2016 #Somalia
@ReutersAfrica:Bomb kills four Somali soldiers as forces mull attack on Islamic State #Somalia http://buff.ly/2fBzVIq
@HassanIstiila:Massive cases of corruption and voter intimidation have marred the ongoing parliamentary elections in#Somalia, Auditor say #Doorashada2016
@amisomsomalia:As the Lower House elections draw closer to an end, #AMISOM notes the commendable role played by #SPFin securing #Doorashada2016 #Somalia
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Planning Ministers from Somalia’s Federal States attend a session to discuss the National . Development Plan.
Photo:@MoPIC_Somalia