December 26, 2016 | Morning Headlines
Somali Leaders Increase Number Of Upper House Seats to 72
25 December – Source: Goobjoog News – 161 Words
Somali leaders have increased the number of seats in the Upper House to seventy two seats after two weeks of standoff. A communiqué released on Sunday following the conclusion of the National Leadership Forum conference in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, the leaders agreed to increase the number of the Upper House seats with 18 more seats. The distribution of Upper House seats previously allocated to each regional state has been increased with three more seats.
Somaliland and the semi-autonomous regional state of Puntland which disputed over the distribution of Upper House seats for Sool, Sanag and Ayn regions got 14 seats each. The senatorial seats allocated for Galmudug, Hirshabelle, Southwest and Jubbaland were moved to 11 seats each.This comes barely two days after politicians and elders from Somaliland community have issued a statement, demanding 33-percent quota in the upcoming Upper House chamber of the Federal Parliament, with reference to power-sharing accord between northern and southern Somalia back in 1960.
Key Headlines
- Somali Leaders Increase Number Of Upper House Seats to 72 (Goobjoog News)
- Somalia’s Security Forces Detain 3 Men-linked To ISIL (Shabelle News)
- Somaliland Elect Four Candidates To The House Of The People (Goobjoog News)
- UN Envoy Warns Against Renewed Violence In Central Somalia (Xinhua)
- Somalia Threatens To Impose Ban On Miraa From Kenya (Daily Nation)
- Review: Harding Peels Back Layers of ‘Mayor of Mogadishu (The Missoulian)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Somalia’s Security Forces Detain 3 Men-linked To ISIL
25 December – Source: Shabelle News – 138 Words
Somali authorities in central Hiiraan region have announced that the government security forces have detained three men on suspicion of being members of a faction loyal to Islamic state in the horn of Africa country. The men had been captured at a checkpoint in Beledweyne, as they were onboard a bus travelling from the northeast coastal city of Bosasso, the commercial hub of Puntland state of Somalia.The National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) officers are interrogating the ISIL suspects at a detention centre in Beledweyne city, the regional capital of Hiiraan region in central Somalia. The detained men are believed to be pro-ISIL fighters fought in the seaside town of Qandala, 72 Km east of Bosasso city. Pro-Islamic state militants captured Qandala in November before they were pushed out of the city by Puntland forces this month.
Somaliland Elect Four Candidates To The House Of The People
25 December – Source: Goobjoog News – 193 Words
Four more candidates have been voted to the House of the People, raising the number of elected representatives from Somaliland and northern regions to 34. The four were elected in a peaceful electoral process, held in Mogadishu, and secured by Somalia security forces and security officers from African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).Two of those elected in the peaceful exercise are women as northern regions made efforts to fulfill the 30 percent women representation quota as required by the Federal Indirect Electoral Implementation Team (FIEIT).
Those elected in the latest round of voting are, former personal chef of Somali president, Abdirahamna Iidan Yonis who retained his seat; Abdalle Haji Ali, , Fadumo Odowa Raage and Sahro Yusuf Ige. The four hailed the process, describing it as free, fair and transparent.Somaliland and the northern regions now have 12 more seats to fill to complete the exercise. The regions are also expected to commence Upper House elections soon. Somaliland is the only region yet to complete the electoral process. Jubbaland, HirShabelle, South West State, Galmudug Benadir and Puntland have filled seats allocated to them in the Upper House and the House of the People.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
UN Envoy Warns Against Renewed Violence In Central Somalia
25 December – Source: Xinhua – 352 Words
The UN envoy for Somalia has expressed concern over renewed violence between rival states in the central Somali town of Galkayo, which killed at least three people and injured several others on Friday.In a statement issued on Sunday, Michael Keating, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Somalia, called on the warring states of Puntland and Galmudug to honor a ceasefire agreement reached last month.”Puntland and Galmudug must resolve their differences in a non-violent manner and immediately agree on steps to dismantle the roadblocks, reopen the roads, and pull back the forces without further delay. Any spoiler against peace and stability should be scrutinized,” Keating said.
Galkayo is currently divided into two parts, governed by Galmudug and Puntland respectively. The town has been plagued by recurrent clashes between the neighboring states over its control.Recent fighting in Galkayo that first broke out on Oct. 7 has killed more than 45 people and displaced tens of thousands.Keating said the situation in Galkayo has raised serious humanitarian concerns.He said trucks carrying humanitarian food supplies for people affected by drought had been blocked on the northern side of Galkayo over the past three weeks due to road blockades.
Since the initial withdrawal of forces on Nov. 18, the joint committee of local authorities and elders from the two states has made efforts to sustain the ceasefire through dialogue.However, a stalemate in the negotiations over removing roadblocks installed by both states and opening the roads is putting the ceasefire in serious jeopardy.The tension came amid food insecurity in areas that are usually reached by humanitarian groups through Galkayo.”It is unprecedented for humanitarian supplies to be denied access by either side,” said Keating.He called on the authorities of Galmudug and Puntland to immediately find a solution to the blockades to guarantee the safety and free movement of relief workers and supplies.
Somalia Threatens To Impose Ban On Miraa From Kenya
25 December – Source: Daily Nation – 640 Words
Somalia is threatening to re-impose a ban on miraa from Kenya in what it accuses Nairobi of disregarding an agreement to resume direct flights with Mogadishu. Mogadishu claims it agreed to lift the ban back in September because Kenya had agreed to allow direct flights between the two cities by December 13. Last week, officials from the Federal Government accused Kenya of remaining silent over a deal that would save Somalis the agony of having to land in Wajir for security checks before proceeding to Nairobi.“Somalia and Kenya had an agreement to ease these restrictions because both airports in Nairobi and Mogadishu can handle security checks before anyone can board,” an official told the Sunday Nation from Mogadishu last week. “That hasn’t happened in three months as agreed. So it means Kenya wasn’t committed at all. We will revert to the ban.”
Since 2006 when Somalia fell among the Union of Islamic Courts (which morphed into al-Shabaab), Kenya imposed a security restriction requiring all flights from the troubled country to first land in Wajir before proceeding to any other airport in Kenya. This requirement, Kenya says, is meant to ensure all cargo and passengers are screened before entering the country. But Somalia has been lobbying Nairobi to lift it, arguing its airports have sufficient security checks.
Somalia had in September banned miraa flights from Kenya, accusing Meru Governor Peter Munya of seeking a trade agreement with the country’s breakaway region of Somaliland in exchange for some sort of recognition. But amid the pressure from farmers back home to have the ban on miraa lifted, President Uhuru Kenyatta and his host had a sideline meeting to the, Intergovernmental Authority on Development Summit in Mogadishu. The two leaders agreed for miraa flights to resume the next day to Somalia, in exchange for a three-month grace period for the Wajir stop-over to be lifted.
http://www.nation.co.ke/news/
OPINION , CULTURE & ANALYSIS
“Nur, who is now running for president of Somalia, insists he is an open book. His trademark phrase echoes the recent U.S. presidential election: “Believe me.” But he remains guarded and slightly aloof, and that’s Harding’s main storytelling challenge throughout,”
Review: Harding Peels Back Layers of ‘Mayor of Mogadishu
25 December – Source: The Missoulian – 468 Words
BBC foreign correspondent Andrew Harding’s book “The Mayor of Mogadishu” opens with an arresting scene: An attack by the militant group Al-Shabab is underway at a mosque in the Somali capital’s government compound. Worshipers are jostling toward the exit. Only one man still kneels in prayer, apparently oblivious to the mayhem unfolding around him.That man is the book’s complicated subject, Mohamud “Tarzan” Nur, a Somali expat who served as Mogadishu’s mayor in the early 2000s, as the city edged out of Al-Shabab’s control and into a state of fragile near-normalcy. Through the story of a man who took one of the world’s most dangerous political gigs, Harding traces the turbulent modern history of Somalia – a place where the author dodges bullets, discovers remarkable resiliency and glimpses striking beauty amid the ruins of the onetime “Pearl of the Indian Ocean.”
Through elegant writing and dogged reportage, Harding sets out to introduce Nur, a man steeped in contradictions and controversy.In a sense, Harding tackles a mystery: Is Nur a brave and principled patriot or a charismatic opportunist with a carefully crafted public persona?One of the first stories Nur shares with the author – that his mother delivered him in Room 18 of a beachfront hospital – turns out to be a lie. In fact, he was born under a tree in the nomadic Ogaden region and grew up in a gritty Mogadishu orphanage, where he earned his nickname after sneaking out a window and swinging from a tree.
Before his homeland descended into civil war, Nur left for Saudi Arabia in search of opportunity. He eventually settled in London with his young family.In 2000, he returned to Mogadishu to take the mayoral job, tapped for it as the self-described “leader of the diaspora.” There, Nur proved adept at restoring a measure of normalcy and eluding Al-Shabab attacks. He was somewhat less adept at dodging the capital’s relentless mudslinging, clan politics and questions about government corruption.