December 5, 2016 | Morning Headlines
Outgoing Deputy Speaker Retained His Lower House Seat
04 December – Source: Garowe Online – 176 Words
The Lower House election for Banaadiri clans has resumed today in the capital Mogadishu, and witnessed the re-election of the outgoing deputy Parliament Speaker, Jeylani Nur Iikar. Iikar retained his parliamentary seat after defeating his rival candidate Abdiaziz Osman in tough contest, 28 and 23 votes respectively, according to the poll results.
On the other hand, the outgoing MP and deputy Minister of Women and Human Rights Affairs, Fahma Ahmed Nur, has also retained her parliamentary seat following landslide victory of 51 votes against her opponent and cousin Tuma Osman Nur. Banadir clans received 7 seats in the upcoming Lower House chamber of Federal Parliament, based on the National Leadership Forum communiqué endorsed early this year.
Two seats were elected today in the ongoing parliamentary election for Banaadiri clans in Mogadishu city, and reported the seat for Arab Salah clan will be contested in the parliamentary election in Jowhar town. Last week, Federal electoral body has announced that the parliamentary election for clans hailing from Banadir and Somaliland region will take place in the capital Mogadishu.
Key Headlines
- Outgoing Deputy Speaker Retained His Lower House Seat (Garowe Online)
- Residents Flee Southern Somalia Village As Fighting Intensifies (Goobjoog News)
- Villa Somalia Reacts To Prime Minister’s Speech (Hiiraan Online)
- Somaliland Says Not Party To Ongoing Somalia Elections (Xinhua)
- Somalia State Forces Kill 7 Pro-IS Militants (Xinhua)
- In Somalia Better Education Alone Is Not Enough To Challenge Extremism (Midnimo Information Centre)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Residents Flee Southern Somalia Village As Fighting Intensifies
04 December – Source: Goobjoog News – 226 Words
Hundreds of people have fled their homes in and around Bariire village, 30 kilometers south of the agricultural town of Afgooye as fighting intensified. The exodus follows outbreak of fighting in the last two days between Somali government forces and Al-Shabaab fightersBariire residents say the fighting is intense, with Al-Shabaab fighters firing continuously from pick-up trucks mounted with heavy weaponry in the outskirt of the village. Families were leaving the village and the surrounding areas to Afgooye town and its environs and were moving in response to reports of renewed fighting and a fear that “the fighting will go on for some time” “Many families are taking advantage of this calm before the situation changes due fighting, to reach safety,” the resident, Farah Abdullahi, said. “I have just taken my children to Afgooye.”
Afgooye officials said hundreds reached the village. “People came here and they are struggling to get the basics needs including food, shelter and water. There are no aid agencies operating in the area to help displaced people,” said a local official in Afgooye town. The move comes less than 24 hours after drone, which Al-Shabaab said it had been on a reconnaissance mission above their territories crashed in bariire village. Al-Shabaab have recently increased attacks against AU and Somali forces in the Lower Shabelle region, which has seen a surge of attacks.
Villa Somalia Reacts To Prime Minister’s Speech
04 December – Source: Hiiraan Online- 203 Words
Villa Somalia has reacted to comments made by the Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke who said that the country is in dire need of new capable leaders. He singled out the Presidency of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as an example of bad governance ahead of the anticipated presidential elections.
The director of information for Villa Somalia, Shador Haji Mohamud said the PM’s words were a mistake and in a direct breach of election ethics.”It was better for the premier to protect the election ethics and his role for the government and nation. It was not appropriate for him to personalize the quest for power in the upcoming presidential election’. Shador Haji Mohamud said.
Mr. Haji Mohamud added that President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was ought to be praised for protecting the interests of the Somali nation and for thwarting the interference by foreigners. He added that the president is always dedicated to protect the rights of the country, on land and on sea. The reactions by Villa Somalia show the rift between the country’s two highest offices as both men vie for the presidency. Somalia is aiming to hold elections sometime this month following the selection of MP’s in the lower house.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somaliland Says Not Party To Ongoing Somalia Elections
04 December – Source: Xinhua – 170 Words
Somalia’s Somaliland region, which has been seeking independence, said Sunday it is not party to the ongoing elections in Somalia. Somaliland Information Minister Osman Abdullahi Sahardid told reporters in the region’s capital Hargeisa that Somaliland was keen on pursuing its independence and was therefore not party to the elections. Sahardid said Somaliland does not recognize those who are participating in Somalia’s ongoing parliamentary elections on behalf of the region, adding those people betrayed Somaliland’s quest for independence.”We do not have anyone representing us in the government of Somalia. Those who purport to do so are job seekers advancing personal interests,” Sahardid said.
Elections to choose members of both lower and upper houses have not started in Somaliland. The announcement is likely to deal a major blow to presidential elections in Somalia which have been delayed again and again. Somali officials recently said newly-elected lawmakers would choose a new president in December. Somaliland has been pursuing self-determination in the past 25 years but is yet to get any international recognition.
Somalia State Forces Kill 7 Pro-IS Militants
04 December – Source: Xinhua – 224 Words
Somalia’s Puntland state forces killed seven militants loyal to the Islamic State (IS) militant group and injured several others in a fierce fighting on Saturday, a local official said Sunday.The forces launched an offensive aimed at flushing out pro-IS militants in an area near the coastal town of Qandala in Bari region.”We have killed seven ISIS (IS) militants at Bashashin area and after fighting, three of our soldiers sustained light injuries in a landmine blast in the area. Our forces pushed the ISIS militants back,” Yusuf Mohamed, governor of Bari region, told reporters Sunday.
Mohamed said some of the militants were captured during the offensive.Other militants retreated into a hill outside the village after the fighting, he said, adding: “We shall keep on pursuing the fighters until we get rid off them from Qandala.”The pro-IS militants, which split from Al-Shabaab Islamist group in 2015, took over Qandala from the Puntland administration in October.
Residents reported sporadic gunfire ongoing near Bashashin and Karin villages.”Puntland forces — both security and maritime police forces — are in the operation to eliminate terrorists and restore Qandala location back to our control in 24 hours,” said Mohamed.There was no immediate comment from the pro-IS fighters led by Sheikh Abdulkadir Mumin, a former leader of the Al-Shabaab, which has been battling the Somali government for years.
OPINION , CULTURE & ANALYSIS
“Education alone is not enough — you raise the expectations and give students the tools but you don’t give them the platform to exercise some of what they have learned. And if that doesn’t happen then those raised expectations have the risk of being turned into frustration and grievances,”
In Somalia, Better Education Alone Is Not Enough To Challenge Extremism
03 December – Source: Midnimo Information Centre – 1029 Words
Better education and vocational training are not enough to steer young people in Somalia away from radical and violent groups such as al-Shabab. Instead they must be combined with opportunities to take part in community and civic projects in order to reduce violence, a new report has found. This is the main conclusion of the “Critical Choices” study by international aid agency Mercy Corps, which collates the findings of an impact evaluation of their five year USAID-funded Somali Youth Leaders Initiative.
The report found that interventions that combined secondary education with civic engagement opportunities — such as taking part in local sanitation and hygiene campaigns or planting trees in school grounds — led to a 14 percent reduction in young people’s propensity to participate in violence, and a 20 percent drop in their likelihood of supporting violence. In contrast, the results showed that while better access to secondary education by itself reduced actual participation in acts of political violence, it actually increased ideological support for political violence.
The findings mark a departure from the common assumption that lack of education alone is a main driver of violent extremism. It also debunks the traditional view that countering violent extremism interventions are “too difficult to measure,” said Shannon Green, director of the Human Rights Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which hosted a panel discussion on the new report in Washington, D.C. Mercy Corps researchers, through the report, also seek to fill what they perceive as an evidence gap around effective approaches to preventing politically motivated violence in Somaliland, Somalia, and other similar conflict situations around the world.
The report is timely, according to Jon Kurtz, director of research and learning at Mercy Corps, because it makes the case for continued non-militarized U.S. support to fragile and conflict-affected countries at a time of uncertainty among the development community due to President-elect Donald Trump’s comments about withdrawing aid from countries that “hate us.”