December 27, 2016 | Morning Headlines
Somalia To Delay Election For 4th Time, Official Says
26 December – Source: Associated Press – 268 Words
Somalia has decided to delay its presidential election for a fourth time amid allegations of fraud and intimidation, an electoral official said Monday.The vote had been set for Wednesday, but the official said it likely will be Jan. 24 instead, though leaders were discussing the specific timing. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
This Horn of Africa nation is riven by clan rivalries and threatened by al-Shabab Islamic extremists opposed to Western-style democracy.Somalia on Wednesday is expected to swear in parliament members, who are elected by some 14,000 delegates selected by their clans. Parliament members elect the country’s president, who is not chosen directly by popular vote. The electoral official said the new parliament was likely to elect a speaker on Jan. 4.
Opposition leaders have expressed concern over the months-long delay, saying the process is marred by fraud in favor of the current administration’s hand-picked members.Somali officials were not immediately available for comment.”We are deeply concerned about the delay of the elections for the fourth time,” said Jabril Abdulle, a presidential candidate. “Failure to hold elections in a timely manner will certainly generate new instability that radical groups may take advantage of.” He also said the electoral process lacks oversight.
Key Headlines
- Somalia To Delay Election For 4th Time Official Says (Associated Press)
- Police Defuse Landmines In Mogadishu (Goobjoog News)
- Sharif Hassan Continues Bid For President: South West Minister Says (Shabelle News)
- Dozens Arrested In Bosasso For Army Prosecutor’s Killing (Shabelle News)
- Somaliland And Northern Regions Elect Two More Women To House Of The People (UNSOM)
- Documents Reveal Britain Made Secret Deal To Defend Kenya In Case Of Invasion By Somalia (Daily Nation)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Police Defuse Landmines In Mogadishu
26 December – Source: Goobjoog News – 144 Words
Somali police forces in the capital Mogadishu, have defused a bomb planted inside a restaurant in Howlwadaag district. A police officer at the scene said that the landmines could have claimed the lives of innocent civilians, blaming Al-Shabaab for the terror plot. “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. 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.
Sharif Hassan Continues Bid For President: South West Minister Says
26 December – Source: Shabelle News – 145 Words
A minister in Southwest regional administration has on Monday refuted reports by a section of local media that the state’s leader Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden has suspended his bid for presidency of Somalia. Speaking to Radio Shabelle, Minister of Commerce and Industry for Southwest, Abdullahi Sheikh Hassan said Sharif Hassan is one of the candidates who are still contesting for the presidency in the upcoming elections.“It is baseless and false information that Southwest state president has changed his mind and suspended his campaign for the presidential election,” Hassan said during an interview.
The minister said Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden is committed to compete for the country’s top seat in the upcoming presidential elections scheduled in January, 2017. There has been rumors that Ethiopian government has asked Southwest state leader Sharif Hassan to cancel his candidacy for presidency and remain in his position as Southwest president.
Dozens Arrested In Bosasso For Army Prosecutor’s Killing
26 December – Source: Shabelle News – 112 Words
The security forces of the northeastern semi-autonomous state of Puntland have arrested hundreds of people in connection with the murder of the region’s military prosecutor. The prosecutor of Puntland’s military court Abdikarim Hassan Firdiye was killed in Bosasso on Sunday by two men armed with pistols who escaped on foot from the scene.The security officers have launched an operation in parts of the city, and netted the suspects who are now held at a police custody in Bosasso for interrogation. Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the killing of the military prosecutor of Puntland, whose murder was the latest in string of assassinations in the coastal town in the last two weeks
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somaliland And Northern Regions Elect Two More Women To House Of The People
25 December – Source: UNSOM – 375 Words
Delegates from Somaliland and the northern regions today elected four more candidates to the House of the People including two women, bringing the number of members of parliament (MPs) elected from these respective areas to 34. The latest round of voting means the regions have 12 more seats to fill in order to conclude elections for the House of the People and embark on voting for the Upper House.
The victorious candidates include Abdalle Haji Ali Ahmed, Abdirahman Idan Yonis, Fadumo Odawa Rage and Sahra Yusuf Ege. Ms. Rage and Ms. Ege won seats reserved for women by comfortable margins. Fardowsa Mohamed Du’ale, a member of the Federal Indirect Electoral Implementation Team (FIEIT), noted that the electoral process has been peaceful and expressed her satisfaction with the number of women elected to the House of the People.“We expect that at the end of the process, we should be having between 25 and 26 percent women’s representation. We will soon release statistics on the performance of the regions with regard to women election, but preliminary statistics indicate that Somaliland is leading, with HirShabelle coming second,” Ms. Du’ale observed.
Ms. Rage thanked traditional elders for their role in facilitating the election of more women representatives to the House of the People. “The representation of women has increased sharply this time. It is higher than it was in the previous election of 2012. I thank the clan chiefs for their resolve to ensure that women are elected and for supporting us,” she observed.
OPINION , CULTURE & ANALYSIS
“Ironically, despite the fears in the 1960s, it was the Kenyan Defence Forces that would go into Somalia decades later, in October 2011, to pursue Al-Shabaab terrorists. The Kenyan forces are now part of the African Union Mission in Somalia that is trying to restore security in the country that has been grappling with civil war since the collapse of the Barre regime in 1991,”
Documents Reveal Britain Made Secret Deal To Defend Kenya In Case Of Invasion By Somalia
24 December- Source: Daily Nation – 1744 Words
Britain made a secret undertaking in 1967 to defend Kenya in case of an invasion by Somalia, declassified documents recently released from the Prime Minister’s office in London reveal.The deal, known as the “Bamburi Understanding”, was a reassurance following a non-committal statement made by Mr Duncan Sandys, the British Secretary of State for the Colonies, in 1964.
Without making any concrete commitment, Mr Sandys had told Kenya’s new government that in case of an attack by Somalia, it was probable that Britain would intervene.Somalia, which was then considered to have one of the region’s most powerful armies equipped with sophisticated Soviet-made weapons, had threatened to annex the north eastern part of Kenya in pursuit of its Greater Somalia policy.President Jomo Kenyatta’s administration had since independence in 1963 been grappling with a secessionist conflict in the north east, known as the Shifta War, that was supported by Somalia. Indeed, Somali Prime minister Muhammad Egal had told British MPs in 1962 of the intention to unite all territories occupied by Somalis in Kenya and Ethiopia
When Somalia’s aggressive action seemed likely to lead to an invasion of Kenya in 1966, President Kenyatta quickly dispatched Attorney-General Charles Njonjo and Agriculture Minister Bruce Mckenzie to London to pressure the British government to not only give reassurances of protecting Kenya but also provide more sophisticated equipment.According to the declassified documents, although the British government turned down the request for arms terming it “unrealistic”, Prime Minister Harold Wilson, in a private message to President Kenyatta, committed to consider protecting Kenya from Somalia’s aggression.This private message marked “secret” was what came to be known as the “Bamburi Understanding”.“If Kenya were the victim of outright aggression by Somalia, the British government would give the situation most urgent consideration.
While the British government cannot in advance give the Kenya Government any assurance of automatic assistance, the possibility of Britain giving the Kenyans assistance in the event of organised and unprovoked armed attack by Somalia is not precluded,” the message read.Nine months after the “Bamburi Understanding”, a key diplomatic milestone was achieved when mediation spearheaded by Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda led to the signing of the Arusha Memorandum between Kenya and Somalia to end border hostilities.But the Somalia government, which had signed the Arusha Memorandum, was overthrown and replaced by a military junta led by General Siad Barre in 1969.This resulted in apprehension with senior Kenyan officials fearing that General Barre was more likely to revive and pursue the Greater Somalia ambitions actively.