December 23, 2016 | Morning Headlines
FIEIT Rejected SIEIT Decision On Upper House Election Scheduled For Saturday
22 – December – Source: Goobjoog News – 84 Words
Federal Indirect Electoral Implementation Team (FIEIT) rejected (SIEIT) decision of upper house election on Saturday. This comes after (SIEIT) confirmed on Thursday that Somaliland Upper House election will take place in Mogadishu on SaturdayState Indirect Electoral Implementation team (SIEIT) has expressed confidence in the electoral preparations of the Somaliland‘s Upper House elections. A spokeswoman from Federal Indirect Electoral Implementation Team (FIEIT) told Goobjoog News that (SIEIT) has nothing to do with the election mandate and therefore no election will take place on Saturday.
Key Headlines
- FIEIT Rejected SIEIT Decision On Upper House Election Scheduled For Saturday (Goobjoog News)
- Security Forces Conduct Search Sweeps In Bosaso (Garowe Online)
- 3 Killed In Mogadishu Explosion (VOA)
- 6 Al-Shabaab Militants Get Life Imprisonment (Xinhua)
- Somalis Abroad Are Rebuilding Their War-Torn Country Through Selfless Giving (Quartz Africa)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Security Forces Conduct Search Sweeps In Bosaso
22 December – Source: Garowe Online – 222 Words
In response to deteriorating security situation in Bari region, Puntland security forces have carried out an overnight operations in Bossaso, the commercial city of Puntland, whereby scores of suspects were arrested. A security official told Garowe Online that forces have conducted search operations in several neighborhoods and houses in the city and arrested suspects in relation to the killing of government officials.
The suspects are currently held at the police station and under ongoing investigation to probe possible links with militant groups or the assassinations, added the official. Bossaso has seen an increase of targeted assassinations over the past couple of days. Last week, third deputy commander of Puntland Police Forces has died of wounds following gunshots by unknown assailants. Similarly, the Director of Presidential Palace in Bosaso city was killed at Huruse Hotel on Tuesday afternoon. In both incidents, the gunmen were reported to have fled the scene following the crime.Consequently, authorities conducted security sweeps in the city that napped 120 suspects in the past couple of days. However, authorities are yet to identify the culprits behind the killing of the two officials as investigation and search operations are ongoing. Last year, a faction has announced allegiance to the Islamic State and captured port town of Qandala in late October but were later pushed back by joint military forces in the beginning of December.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
3 Killed In Mogadishu Explosion
22 December – Source: VOA- 309 Words
Somali government officials say two civilians and a government soldier were killed after an explosion near one of Mogadishu’s busiest junctions known as Black Sea, late Thursday. Spokesman for the Mogadishu administration Abdifatah Omar Halane told VOA Somali that the explosion was the result of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) which was detonated near a garage where security forces are based.“The enemy of Somali people have caused this tragedy,” Halane said. He said the security forces were alert and were searching the area for possible explosives when it was detonated. Halane confirmed that the same garage has been the target of several grenade attacks recently since the national security forces took it over in late November.
The government deployed the security forces in the garage after investigations revealed that other Al-Shabab attacks were allegedly planned there.“This is where they readied the truck which was detonated at the vegetable market, that is when the security forces took over the garage,” Halane said.The truck explosion on the vegetable market occurred on November 26 killing 20 people almost all of them civilians.
6 Al-Shabaab Militants Get Life Imprisonment
22 December- Source: Xinhua – 174 Words
Somali Military Court on Thursday sentenced six Al-Shabaab militants to life term in prison after they were found guilty of being terrorist group members and attacked regional state of Galmudug early this year, an official said.Hassan Ali Nur Shute, Chairperson of the Somali military Court, ruled that the six were among 41 militants who were captured from east of Mudug region under Galmudug State on March 24.”The Prosecutors sat for the hearing case of six terrorist members of Al-Shabaab, they are Abdullahi Sh. Hussein Hassan (27), Mohamed Aden Khayr (30), Ibrahim Hassan Isak (38), Omar Hassan Noor (29), Mohamed Mohamud Noor (34), Mohamud Moallim (30). The six were found guilty of being terrorist members after being captured in a war with Galmudug State forces in central Somalia on March 24,” Shute said.
He added that these members will end their life time in prison. The military court often carries out sentence to Al-Shabaab militants and some government soldiers to either long term sentences or death penalties, a move rights groups have condemned.
OPINION , CULTURE & ANALYSIS
“Abubakar admits that sometimes he gets a call when he is cash-strapped, and considers saying no. But then he remembers how these friends and relatives were there for him during “the struggle, the hunger, the pain.” Sending the money, he said, is “a way of connecting back to the country you left. It is a way of saying, ‘Thanks for being there for me back then.’ It’s a relationship that you build and you want to carry it on with this money by saying, ‘This is how I appreciate you.’”
Somalis Abroad Are Rebuilding Their War-Torn Country Through Selfless Giving
22 December – Source: Quartz Africa – 1093 Words
At the end of every month, Ahmed Abubakar walks to a local money transfer agency in Memphis, Tennessee to send money to the Horn of Africa. Abubakar, 29, works as an accountant and the cash is wired to his mother and siblings who now reside 8,000 miles away in Nairobi. It also goes to friends, former teachers, and distant relatives in neighboring Somalia, some of whom Abubakar hasn’t seen in years—or in some cases, never met. Some of the recipients, like his former madrassa instructor, are getting married; a childhood friend just had his first baby; a distant cousin or an extended aunt wants money for the upcoming Eid holidays. Whatever it costs, Abubakar receives the calls, plans his finances, and one way or another sends whatever he can. Abubakar is not alone in this: every year, 2 million Somalis living in the diaspora send approximately $1.4 billion back home, according to the World Bank.
The remittances contribute to 23% of Somalia’s gross domestic product and surpass any amount of aid given to the country. Somali-Americans, who number over 150,000, are the highest contributors; they send an average of $3,800 per person annually, according to a 2013 study published by Oxfam. The money is a lifeline for thousands of families, who rely on it to get food and shelter, pay for education and health services, and sustain their small businesses. It is also a testament to something else: the incredible expression of faith, generosity, and solidarity that is common among Somalis.
From the milch camel to the hawala: The traditional Somali pastoral system was built on a code of hospitality—known as martigalis or martisoor—which ensured that strangers and travelers were received and never let to go empty-handed. The expectation was that this would be reciprocated the next time your family was caught in the same situation. During droughts and famine, when a family lost its livestock, the entire community would contribute to help them restart again.
Within nomadic communities, the transmission of livestock also evolved, especially during weddings when the bride and groom were given a milch camel for milking and a burden camel for transportation to begin their new life. In modern times, gifting extended to jewelry, usually gold for the girls, in addition to expensive garments given during weddings, religious, and cultural celebrations. But the breakout of Somalia’s civil war in 1991 destroyed all that, tearing apart families and upending the traditional Somali way of life. Before a new government was instituted in the country in 2012, Somalia was the longest-running example of complete state collapse in post-colonial history.