January 10, 2017 | Morning Headlines
Puntland President Visits Recently-liberated Coastal Town Of Qandala
09 January – Source: Garowe Online – 191 Words
A delegation led by the President of northeastern region of Puntland, Abdiweli Mohamed Ali Gaas has reached the coastal town of Qandala in Bari region on Monday. On December, joint military forces have recaptured Qandala district, 75 km west of Bossaso from ISIS-affiliated faction in Puntland, after it had been under the control of the militant group for nearly two months.
The purpose of the president’s visit was to assess the security situation of the liberated town and hold talks with community leaders to ensure collaboration between the community and the security forces in an effort to repulse any attempts by militant groups to recapture the town. The delegate is also expected to visit other coastal towns in the eastern region to closely assess the drought situation in remote areas.
Recently, about 10,000 nomadic families were reported to have migrated to Bandar Bayla district in Karkaar region, in search of water and pasture after severe drought hit large parts of Somalia. Since it declared a state of drought last year, Puntland government failed to woo support from international organizations operating in Puntland to provide immediate aid to thousands of affected families.
Key Headlines
- Puntland President Visits Recently-liberated Coastal Town Of Qandala (Garowe Online)
- Galmudug Marine Forces Seize Yemeni Fishing Boat With 40 Fishermen (VOA Somali)
- Hirshabelle President Appoints New District Commissioner For Beledweyne (Goobjoog News)
- Sudanese Army Arrests Over Hundred Somali Migrants (Goobjoog News)
- ‘Growing Hopelessness’ Grips ‘Forgotten’ Somali Refugees Warns UNHCR (UN Refugee Agency)
- Mandera Court Releases On Bond Tanzanian Caught Sneaking Into Somalia (Daily Nation)
- Somaliland Story Made Up By Rivals Says Speaker (The Star)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Galmudug Marine Forces Seize Yemeni Fishing Boat With 40 Fishermen
09 January – Source: VOA Somali – 106 Words
Galmudug marine forces arrested Yemeni fishing boat with 40 sailors illegally fishing in Galmudug shores. In an interview with VOA Somali Service, Deputy commander of Galmudug marine forces Abdirashid Mohamed Ahmed said the boat was seized following brief gunfight between the marine forces and armed guards on the boat.
A Somali national was among the detainees on the boat. The rest are Yemenis. Two of the sailors, who sustained injuries in the gunfight, are being treated in a Hobyo hospital. The arrests came barely days after a similar operation by Puntland marine forces saw the seizure of several Yemeni fishing boats illegally fishing in Puntland waters.
Hirshabelle President Appoints New District Commissioner For Beledweyne
09 January – Source: Goobjoog News – 104 Words
President of HirShabelle regional state, Ali Abdullahi Osoble, has appointed new district commissioner for Beledweyne district in a presidential decree after dismissing the former area district commissioner, on Monday. Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim has been appointed as Beledweyne district commissioner while Qadar Hassan Noor Afrah was named to be his deputy. Meanwhile, Osoble appointed Du’ale Adan Ali as new deputy district commissioner for Mataban district.
President Osoble, who has reached Beledweyne town last week, has been carrying out shake-up in his administration. Hirshabelle Parliament approved to extend period to appoint new cabinet for the state following failure to meet previous deadlines to form the administration.
Sudanese Army Arrests Over Hundred Somali Migrants
09 January – Source: Goobjoog News – 153 Words
Hundreds of African migrants including 101 Somalis, who wanted to reach Europe through Libya, have been arrested in Sudan, Somali Embassy in Sudan said Monday. Fiidow Mohamed Fiidow, one of Somali officials at Somalia’s Embassy in Sudan, said foreign nationals including Somalis, Ethiopians and Djiboutians were arrested by Sudanese forces.
“Among the detainees are 101 Somalis including 34 female migrants as they tried to cross from Sudan to Libya,” said Fiidow. The embassy official said the migrants will be arraigned in court in the forthcoming days to decide whether they will be sent to their home countries or allow them to stay in Sudan as quota refugees.
Thousands of sub-Saharan migrants are trying to reach Libya daily where they embark on a dangerous crossing to Europe in boats often dilapidated and overcrowded. Libya is located 300 km off European coasts and in which many migrants move to make the crossing through the Mediterranean.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
‘Growing Hopelessness’ Grips ‘Forgotten’ Somali Refugees, Warns UNHCR
09 January – Source: UNHCR – 609 Words
Nearly one million Somalis in refugee camps in the Horn of Africa and the surrounding region face growing hopelessness as their displacement drags on for decades and donors become fatigued, a senior representative with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has warned. “There is a growing sense of hopelessness in the camps, because people are feeling forgotten,” said Mohamed Abdi Affey, UNHCR’s Special Envoy on the Somali refugee situation.
The Somali refugee situation, now in its third decade, is among the most protracted in the world, with a third generation of refugees being born in exile. Nearly one million Somalis are displaced in the near region, and a further 1.1 million are displaced within Somalia itself. Affey was speaking in Geneva after going to Somalia and visiting refugee camps in Djibouti, Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda, where 905,060 Somali refugees live in a drawn out exile, some since the 1990s. Last month, he visited Yemen, where he witnessed the increasingly desperate conditions facing refugees in the war-torn country.
The Special Envoy said donor attention was drawn to other emergencies including Syria and South Sudan. “There’s dwindling attention … because of the fact that it is protracted. The world is focused elsewhere, forgetting a very critical population,” he said. “Meanwhile hunger is growing, meanwhile frustration is growing, meanwhile desperation is setting in and people are becoming angry.”
As the situation draws on for decades, Affey said that refugees in the camps faced challenges ranging from dwindling food rations as a drought builds in East Africa to limited access to education and skills training, particularly for the youth. “Refugees should be skilled enough, trained to prepare them for an eventual return so that they can participate in the reconstruction of their country. So that they don’t go back after 30 years, without skills, within the camps we must create these conditions and possibilities.”
Mandera Court Releases On Bond Tanzanian Caught Sneaking Into Somalia
09 January – Source: Daily Nation – 291 Words
A Tanzanian national who was arrested while trying to enter Somalia through an illegal immigration point in Mandera Town has been released on a Sh500,000 ($5000) bond with a surety of the same amount after denying the charge. Rashid Rashid Mkumba was charged that on December 28, 2016 at Najma in Mandera Town, he was found unlawfully attempting to exit Kenya into Somalia through an illegal point.
Mkumba said he arrived in Mandera on the same day from Nairobi and was looking for a friend he only identified as Musa. “I came straight from Mwanza after Musa invited me to come and join him in his taxi business and we were in communication since I left Mwanza only for his phone to be off once I arrived in Mandera,” said Mr Mkumba. He said he knew Musa as they sold mobile phones together in Mwanza.
“I was looking for a mosque he lived in when someone at a playfield called me and after interrogation took me to the police,” he said. Mandera Senior Resident Magistrate Peter Areri set the hearing of the case for January 11. Meanwhile, nine Somalis were separately charged in the same court with being in Kenya illegally. Four of them — Abdi Mohamed Abdille, Hussein Raggia, Abdi Ahmed Adow and Mohamed Ahmed Abdille — were set free by the court as they were first-time offenders.
Police were ordered to repatriate them to Somalia. The others — Aftin Mohamed Sala, Hussein Adan Abdi, Mohamed Hussein Adow, Abdifatah Gabow Ibrahim and Ahmed Abdullahi Abdirahman — pleaded guilty and were fined Sh10,000 each or in default serve three months in prison. In mitigation, the nine said they were donkey-cart operators providing transport services between Somalia and Mandera Town.
OPINION, CULTURE & ANALYSIS
“I reiterate, neither I nor anyone of my delegation have met the Prime Minister of Somalia. The delegation, or anyone of them, including me, have made no “hint” or indication of reunion” with Somalia. The Waddani party stands for Somaliland, its existence and independence,” Abdirahman said in a statement delivered to the Star.”
Somaliland Story Made Up By Rivals, Says Speaker
10 January – Source: The Star – 350 Words
The Waddani party, Somaliland’s main opposition party, has hotly denied that it is seeking to reunite with Somalia ahead of this year’s elections. Somaliland has been independent since 1991 and the collapse of the Siad Barre regime. On December 23, the Star published a story headlined ‘Somaliland pushing for reunion with Somalia after 25 years of division’. The story appeared as a paid-for advert in the newspaper.
The story claimed that Waddani chairman Abdirahman Mohammed Abdullahi, Speaker of the House of Representatives for the past 11 years, had reached out to Somali Prime Minister Omar Sharmake at a meeting at the Serena Hotel before Christmas. However, it is now clear that the story was fabricated by political rivals of the Waddani party and that a photograph of Abdirahman with Sharmake was photoshopped from three different photos.
Elections to be held in March in Somaliland are expected to be hotly contested. “I reiterate, neither I nor anyone of my delegation have met the Prime Minister of Somalia. The delegation, or anyone of them, including me, have made no “hint” or indication of reunion” with Somalia. The Waddani party stands for Somaliland, its existence and independence,” Abdirahman said in a statement delivered to the Star.
“Somaliland’s withdrawal from the 1960 arrangement is the decision of the Somaliland people and is enshrined in the Constitution of Somaliland which the Waddani Party fully upholds,” he stressed. “We believe the article was an ill-fated, inflammatory and seditious act aimed at undermining Somaliland’s cause for self-determination. We believe it was insinuated by somebody who is an eminent enemy to my people’s aspirations and rightful self-determination,” Abdirahman said.