January 19, 2017 | Daily Monitoring Report
Puntland Arrests Top Al-Shabaab Militant In Bossaso
19 January – Source: Jowhar.com – 107 Words
Puntland police have arrested an alleged senior Al-Shabaab militant in an operation in the commercial town of Bossaso. Nugaal regional commissioner Omar Abdullahi Mohamed Farawayne told local media the arrested militant was in charge of targeted assassinations in Bossaso, which recently witnessed a string of assassinations targeting senior government officials.
The suspect is now in detention for questioning. Faraweyne, however declined to comment whether other militants were arrested alongside the suspect in custody. Al-Shabaab has claimed most of the killings in Bossaso including the murders of the director of Puntland presidential palace in Bossaso Adan Gaas Huruse and third deputy commander of Puntland police force Jama Sahardiid.
Key Headlines
- Puntland Arrests Top Al-Shabaab Militant In Bossaso (Jowhar.com)
- Galmudug Members Of The Lower And Upper Houses Reach Adaado (Radio Dalsan)
- German Delegation Visits Kismayo (Jowhar.com)
- Senior AU Official Begins Visit In Burundi (Xinhua)
- Paving The Road To A More Secure Somalia (Africa Command)
- Closing The World’s Largest Refugee Camp Is A Complicated Process (MPR)
- Surviving Gender-based Violence In Somalia’s Displacement Camps (Xinhua)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Galmudug Members Of The Lower And Upper Houses Reach Adaado
19 January – Source: Radio Dalsan – 168 Words
A delegation comprising of ministers and newly elected Members of Parliament from the Lower and Upper Houses representing the Galmudug region arrived in Adaado on Wednesday. The delegation which is led by the outgoing Minister of Interior, Abdirahman Odawaa reached Adaado to mediate the political deadlock in Galmudug between the regional assembly and the leadership.
Member of Parliament, Abdihakin Maalin Ahmed who is accompanying the minister said the delegation will meet with the regional assembly who recently impeached President Abdikarim Guled in an efforts to bring an amicable solution to the ongoing political tension.
In response to the delegation who reached Adaado, Mohamed Hassan Gelle who is an MP in the Galmudug regional assembly said they will not meet with the MPs from the Upper and Lower Houses alleging they are a product of corruption adding the MPs from the federal level are guilty of participating in an electoral process that used intimidation and corruption.
German Delegation Visits Kismayo
19 January – Source: Jowhar.com – 154 Words
A high-level German delegation led by the country’s envoy to Somalia Jutta Frasch arrived in the interim Jubbaland headquarter city of Kismayo earlier Wednesday. Jubbaland President Ahmed Mohamed Islan received the delegation before the two sides held a meeting at the presidential palace. Sources indicate refugee and IDP affairs topped the agenda of discussion. President Ahmed Islan told the delegation that refugees returning from Dadaab as well as the internally displaced persons within the areas posed challenges to the local administration and appealed for assistance by the international community.
Ambassador Jutta Frasch on his side pledged his country’s assistance to the Jubbaland administration especially in the areas of improving the capacity of security agencies as well as completion of the rehabilitation centres of Al-Shabaab deserters among other social structures. Jubbaland receives most of the refugees returning from the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya following a tripartite voluntary repatriation agreement signed by Kenya, Somalia and the UNHCR.
INTERNATIONAL
Senior AU Official Begins Visit In Burundi
19 January – Source: Xinhua – 453 Words
The Commissioner for Peace and Security for the African Union, Smail Chergui, Wednesday afternoon started a two-day visit in Burundi amidst the east African country’s threat to withdraw its peacekeepers from Somalia. Upon landing at Bujumbura International Airport, the senior AU official was welcomed by three Burundian ministers including Foreign Affairs Minister Alain Aime Nyamitwe, Defense Minister Emmanuel Ntahomvukiye and Security Minister Alain Guillaume Bunyoni.
Chergui then visited Mpanda cemetery, 12km west of the Burundian capital Bujumbura where he paid tribute to peacekeepers who were killed while serving in the African Peacekeeping Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). Those who died on the battle field in Somalia include Major General Juvenal Niyoyunguruza, former deputy-commander of the AMISOM, killed on Sept. 17, 2009 in a suicide attack in the Somali capital Mogadishu.
“Somali officials and citizens commend the work of Burundian troops serving in the AMISOM. A senior Somali official wrote on Twitter, saying that Somali people will never forget achievements of Burundian peacekeepers,” Nyamitwe said. During his visit, Chergui is expected to meet with Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza and human rights observers and AU military experts.
Chergui’s visit happens at a time when Burundian First Vice-President Gaston Sindimwo earlier this week announced the pullout of Burundian troops serving in the AMISOM over failure by the AU to pay Burundian troops. Sindimwo said, “If the African Union has failed to pay Burundian troops serving in the AMISOM, we will withdraw them from Somalia, and we will also withdraw their equipment.”
Paving The Road To A More Secure Somalia
19 January – Source: Africa Command – 463 Words
Leaders of the Somali National Army met with international military and civilian officials to discuss the future of Somalia’s security at the 2017 SNA Symposium in downtown Mogadishu, Jan. 10. The symposium is part of an ongoing international effort to aid security conditions throughout Somalia by fostering the growth and revitalization of the national military defense force, which disbanded following the collapse of the country’s central government in 1991.
According to symposium facilitator U.S. Army Col. Kyle Reed, the event was an unprecedented opportunity to bring all the key players together to engage in frank and open conversation. He began by thanking those present, to include expressing his appreciation to the SNA leadership in attendance. “Your presence here allows the [Somali] government to grow and develop,” Reed said. “Not only for your military, but for your country, and your families.”
More than 60 participants attended the two-day event, including representatives from Denmark, Germany, Italy, Somalia, Turkey, Uganda, the United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and the United States of America. Also in attendance, were representatives from international organizations such as the United Nations, European Union Training Mission, and the African Union Mission in Somalia.
Maj. Gen. Kurt Sonntag, commanding general of Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, expressed the need for urgency given the impending withdrawal of the AMISOM forces that have helped to maintain stability in Somalia since Jan. 2007. “We are coming out of a very successful election, and it speaks volumes for the contributions of AMISOM to Somalia’s security, but AMISOM’s time is ending,” Sonntag said. “Time is ticking and decisions need to be made, so we all have a blueprint on how to move forward.”
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
Closing The World’s Largest Refugee Camp Is A Complicated Process
19 January – Source: MPR – Audio: 11:17 Minutes
Kenya has been pushing to shut down Dadaab, the largest refugee camp in the world.
The camp, which is located in eastern Kenya, was opened in 1991 as a temporary home for people fleeing war in Somalia. It’s since grown into a huge city, housing almost 300,000 refugees and asylum seekers as of last August. In November, Kenya said it would delay the camp’s closure by several months after the United Nations warned of humanitarian concerns. MPR News host Tom Weber talked with Ben Rawlence, author of “City of Thorns: Nine Lives in the World’s Largest Refugee Camp,” for an update.
“I scream when men advance on me so that neighbors come.”
Surviving Gender-based Violence In Somalia’s Displacement Camps
19 January – Source: Xinhua – 447 Words
At 25, Fatuma Nur Artan is already a mother to five children. Four-month-old baby Seynab is the youngest, then Abdi, 2; Khadar, 5; Sahra, 7. The oldest is away at school. She was originally from Mogadishu, displaced because of the Al-Shabaab insurgence. For the past 10 years her home has been Bulamugis camp for the displaced persons in Bosaso, Puntland in Somalia. On the edge of the camp is their house, a single room made of metal sheets. Inside there is a worn-out mattress that takes up the most space, plus a few pots and pans, basins and cans, piles of fabrics – all scattered across the floor. The little courtyard outside is littered with waste.
As a single mother, Fatuma is the sole breadwinner of the family. She had been collecting and disposing garbage for a living, but lost the job when the business was taken over by a contractor. “I used to carry garbage bags, 20-50 kg each, and bring them outside the town. When I go out, the children are left alone, no one looks after them, they look after themselves,” she says. For each bag of garbage Fatuma disposes, she could make 1 U.S. dollar. “I normally took five bags a day.”
Struggling to keep her children fed, Fatuma has to face yet another threat that is all too common for vulnerable women like her living in harsh conditions of Somalia’s displacement camps. “Men would come and knock on my door in the middle of the night,” she says. Over the past months, she has been beaten three time and almost got raped by a group of men one evening. “I scream when men advance on me so that neighbors come,” she says lightly. “After a while, you get used to it.”
TOP TWEETS
@AbdulBillowAli : UN Report on #Somalia describes how grave violations against boys and girls were committed with impunity over the course of several years.
@FAOemergencies : #NowReading | #Somalia Rapid Results#Drought Response Plan 2016/17 #ElNino http://bit.ly/2jM8ehB
@Mohamedkeynan : It was a pleasure and an honor to give new senator Ayub Ismail representing #Somaliland his certificate this morning #Somalia #Mogadishu.
@Abdi_AlSheikh : Katumba concerned about Burundi planned exit from Somalia – KFM http://dlvr.it/N8KYwn #Somalia
@GGA_org : According to @ACLEDINFO political violence is most prevalent in #Somalia
@Adan_Seed : Abdikani Seed Retweeted Mohamd Ahmd Cantoob #Somalia: more than 100 of newly elected MP’s have dual passports.
@AmbAmerico : @Abukar_Arman @SomaliaThinks We need a real reconciliation to start in towns, cities and regional states led by Somalis in #Somalia
IMAGE OF THE DAY
AU Peace Commissioner Smail Chergui pays tribute to fallen Burundi soldiers who served in Amisom. Chergui is expected to negotiate a deal with Burundi to hold back its threats to pull out soldiers from Somalia. Photo: AU Peace Department