December 8, 2016 | Daily Monitoring Report
National Leadership Forum Enters Second Day
08 December – Source: Jowhar.com – 104 Words
National Leadership Forum has entered its second day with Somali leaders expected to release new dates for the presidential election that was set to take place in December. The meeting, also attended by Somalia’s international partners, focused on the importance of holding the presidential elections before the end of the year.Speaking at the forum, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said his administration is committed to see the elections concluded during December, calling on the regional states to complete the process in time. The meeting would also try to find a solution for Puntland’s grievances over the distribution of the northern regions Upper House seats.
Key Headlines
- National Leadership Forum Enters Second Day (Jowhar.com)
- Voting For Somaliland’s Upper House Seats Postponed (Jowhar.com)
- Puntland Police Chief And Head Of UN Police Meet In Garowe (Hiiraan Online)
- Fighting Near North Somalia Port Town Displaces 25700: UN (Xinhua)
- AMISOM And Somali Government To Join Hands To Tackle Use Of Child Soldiers (AMISOM)
- Puntland: In A Time Of drought Somali Families Forced To Separate To Survive(Daily Maverick)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Voting For Somaliland’s Upper House Seats Postponed
08 December – Source: Jowhar.com – 115 Words
Voting for Somaliland’s Upper House seats, which was expected to kick off in Mogadishu today has been postponed. A member of Somaliland State Indirect Electoral Implementation Team confirmed the adjournment, saying the exercise will start on Saturday.News sources say the postponement came after Puntland’s Vice President Abdihakim Amey, who is attending the National Leadership Forum in Mogadishu, threatened to pull out of the forum if the voting went as planned.Puntland is asking for the voting of two of the Upper House seats allocated to Sool and Sanaag regions to be held in Garowe. Somaliland’s Lower House elections are smoothly underway in Mogadishu’s Police Transport Centre with up to six MPs elected so far.
Puntland Police Chief And Head Of UN Police Meet In Garowe
08 December – Source: Hiiraan Online – 115 Words
Puntland police chief General Abdulkadir Shire Farah Ereg has met UNSOM Police Commissioner Christoph Buik in Garowe. The meeting was attended by Puntland deputy internal security minister, Abdiaziz Adan and legal experts to discuss the ongoing efforts regarding the new federal police structure reforms. During the meeting, both sides agreed to form a technical committee working on the process.Puntland Police chief stated that police quality was improving.“Puntland police capacity has been improving recently, though we don’t have adequate police training academies. This committee will work closely with stakeholders to harmonize the new police structure,” Gen Abdulkadir said.On the other hand, the UN police chief praised Puntland administration for the police reform progress and he said that this new structure will enhance security and will improve coordination between police nationwide.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Fighting Near North Somalia Port Town Displaces 25,700: UN
07 December – Source: Xinhua – 225 Words
Heavy fighting between pro-Islamic State (IS) militants and Somalia’s Puntland state forces for the control of the port town of Qandala has displaced 25,700 people since late October, a UN body said on Wednesday.
The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said a majority of the displaced were women, children and the elderly, adding that most of the displaced had moved to surrounding villages, while others have sought refuge in Bossaso, 75 kilometers from Qandala.Meanwhile, a Punland state official said their forces took control of the northern Somali town from the militants earlier on Wednesday.”Humanitarian partners and local authorities are concerned that the situation will deteriorate further if the displacement becomes protracted,” OCHA said in its report. Puntland forces on December 3 launched the operation to retake the northern Somali town, which was taken by the pro-IS group on October 26.
Local residents reported fighting between the two sides near the town in the past days.The OCHA said some 3,000 people had been newly displaced since December 3. It also said all humanitarian activities in the area had been suspended. However, Puntland authorities have called on residents displaced from the town to return to their homes.The pro-IS group split from Somalia’s Islamist group Al-Shabaab in October 2015. Al-Shabaab has been battling the Somali government for a decade.
AMISOM And Somali Government To Join Hands To Tackle Use Of Child Soldiers
07 December – Source: AMISOM- 446 Words
The African Union Mission in Somalia and the Federal Government of Somalia have resolved to work together to tackle the use of child soldiers in the country .The Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (SRCC) for Somalia, Ambassador Francisco Madeira, said armed groups in Somalia had many child soldiers within their ranks, hence the need for a collective approach to security to enhance the war against the vice.“The continued recruitment and use of child soldiers by certain elements is a contributing factor to the protracted nature of the conflict in Somalia. Children are fighting wars created by adults”, said Ambassador Madeira.
Madeira spoke in Nairobi, Wednesday, when he presided over the opening ceremony of a three-day workshop on the prevention of recruitment of child soldiers.Among the participants were officials from African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), Somali National Army (SNA) and the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS).The SRCC said key in the campaign would be to counter radicalization and extremist ideology used by militants to influence young people into joining armed groups.“If we manage to make the extremist ideology unattractive, and if we manage to tackle the problem of child soldiers, Al-Shabaab will be wiped out because they will have nowhere to recruit soldiers. The guns will then go silent,” he added.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“But the needs are immense. On November 12, 2016, the Federal Government of Somalia issued an appeal to all Somalis and the international community, calling on their support for the drought-stricken communities throughout the country. The authorities in Jubaland, Puntland and Somaliland all followed suit.,”
Puntland: In A Time Of drought, Somali Families Forced To Separate To Survive
08 December – Source: Daily Maverick- 760 Words
Sitting in front of her new home in Rabaable village near Garowe in Puntland – a hut made of dried branches covered with rugs – Khadija Muuse, 70, sings about a family forced to be apart.Khadija is among three families, made up of 15 women and children, who recently settled in Rabaable village, 20km from Garowe, the capital of Puntland. They are pastoralists uprooted by drought that has ravaged the country after nearly four years of little or no rain.“We were a poor family, never had that many animals. But even the few we had, we lost them all in the drought,” says Khadija. Her extended family, like many Somali families under stress in situations like this, split into two groups – the men went to the towns and cities to earn a living, while the women and children moved in with relatives or went to villages or camps where there may be aid.“The men are in Garowe looking for work. We can’t afford to join them so we can only stay here,” Khadija says of her family’s separation.
Khadija and her fellow villagers are among the five million people – nearly two out of every five Somalis – facing food shortages exacerbated as a result of the ongoing drought. Failed crops and the loss of livestock are causing widespread misery; malnutrition and disease outbreaks are just two of them.At the moment 320,000 children are malnourished, among them more than 50,000 at risk of death if they do not get urgent treatment. Shortages of water have hiked water prices, triggered outbreaks of waterborne diseases and exacerbated the malnutrition crisis. A major outbreak of severe diarrhoea and cholera hit the country in early 2016, with 13,600 cases reported in the first nine months, an increase of two-thirds of the number last year.
But the worst may be yet to come. Precipitation in the currently rainy season, Deyr, which usually extends from October to December, has been well below average. The drought is deepening in the most affected northern areas of Puntland and Somaliland, and has also spilled over into southern and central regions. With the current weather forecast, life will only get harder for Khadija and millions of Somalis at least until April 2017, the next expected rainy season.“Our life is here”
TOP TWEETS
@thegulftoday: First US Somali lawmaker gets ‘Islamophobic threats’ in taxi http://gulftoday.ae/portal/
@ahol888: Somalia electoral body adamant new president will be in office this year https://youtu.be/T8Zt2ql7gDo via@YouTube #Africa
@business: Somalia must hold its presidential vote before the end of December, the UN says http://bloom.bg/2h5h05Q
@takhal: Kudos #Puntland forces for defeating all versions of extremism: #ISIS in Qandala, Al-Shabaab in #Suuj, & Al-Itihad in #Bosaso. #Somalia
@HarunMaruf: BREAKING: Electoral Commision disqualifies Ahmed Sheikh Nur who was competing against the Minister for his role in Jowhar violence on Nov 18
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Ambassador, Francisco Madeira, in a group photo with other participants during a recent workshop in Nairobi.
Photo: AMISOM.