January 20, 2017 | Daily Monitoring Report
Intense Security Operations In Afgooye
20 January – Source: Goobjoog News – 153 Words
Somali government forces have launched security operations in number of suburbs in Afgooye town following Al-Shabaab’s attack on town located southwest of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, official said. The soldiers have nabbed several people suspected of being members of Al-Shabaab. Heavy fighting broke out between the Somali National Army and Al-Shabaab on Thursday night after the group’s fighters attacked.
Sources in Afgooye have confirmed the operations conducted by the soldiers saying that the forces arrested over ten suspected people as investigations are underway. “The government forces have carried out operations after suspected members of Al-Shabaab fighters attacked the town on Thursday night, ” he said.
The security of the town has been deteriorating recently after several government soldiers were gunned down in the hands of suspected of Al-Shabaab members. Afgoye is an agricultural and strategic town located only 30 kilometres southwest of the Somali capital Mogadishu, which was once under Al-Shabaab control.
Key Headlines
- Intense Security Operations In Afgooye (Goobjoog News)
- List Of Candidates Seeking Senate Speaker Position Released (Jowhar.com)
- Senator Farole Meets Newly Appointed EU Special Envoy (Garowe Online)
- Somali President Appeals For Assistance As Drought Worsens (VOA)
- Djibouti Backs Amina For AU Commission Chair Position (Daily Nation)
- VOA Somali And BBC Somali: A ‘Cancer In Our Midst’? (Hiiraan Online)
NATIONAL MEDIA
List Of Candidates Seeking Senate Speaker Position Released
20 January – Source: Jowhar.com – 141 Words
The names of 16 candidates eyeing the position of Upper House speaker and its two deputies have been unveiled. According to the list made public by the committee overseeing the senate leadership elections, Abdi Hashi Abdullahi and Mustaf Mohamed Godah will both contest for the position of speaker and seven other candidates will seek the first and second deputy speaker positions respectively.
Those eyeing the first deputy speaker include; Hassan Farah Hujaale, Ahmed Haashi Mahamud, Abdiwahid Elmi Omar, Abshir Mahamed Mahamuud, Abdi Ahmed Duhulow, Mohamud Ahmed Mahamud and Abdirisaaq Osman Ali.
Those eyeing the second deputy speaker position include; Hodan Mohamud Osman, Osman Ahmed Maow, Iftin Hassan Basto, Fartun Abdulkadir Farah, Saadio Hassan Osman, Mowlid Hussein Guled and Abdikafi Moalin Hassan. Elections are scheduled to be held on the 22nd of this month as earlier announced by the committee.
Senator Farole Meets Newly Appointed EU Special Envoy
20 January – Source: Garowe Online – 203 Words
Former Puntland President and presidential candidate Abdirahman Mohamed Farole has met the newly appointed European Union (EU) special Envoy to Somalia, Veronique Lorenzo in Nairobi, Kenya on Thursday. The meeting between both sides was reported to focus on the upcoming elections of Upper House speakers and presidential elections including the need to provide relief response programs for drought victims in the country.
However, close sources stated that both have made consensus to the need to ensure credible electoral process, whereas Ambassador Lorenzo noted EU commitment for fair Somali election. Discussing about the persistent drought condition, they agreed on the need to provide immediate humanitarian aid for the affected communities to avert the worsening situation.
Following the meeting, presidential hopeful Farole held talks with Foreign Affairs Ministers of Kenya and Djibouti in Nairobi. The meetings were also reported to focus on the forthcoming presidential election in Somalia. This coincides with the ongoing presidential campaign of Farole who announced earlier his bid to compete for the top office in the country. Senator Farole is expected to arrive to the Somali capital of Mogadishu in the coming days to take part in the election of the Upper House leadership.
INTERNATIONAL
Somali President Appeals For Assistance As Drought Worsens
20 January – Source: VOA – 317 Words
As Somalia faces its second major drought this decade, the government has issued an urgent appeal for large-scale, life-saving aid. Holding a joint press conference with the country’s National Drought Task force on Thursday, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said millions of his people are at risk of starvation if action is not taken soon.
“The devastating drought ravaging many parts of the country continues to take a terrible toll on animals. Many children and aged have lost their lives and now those who were strong enough to endure have started to fall,” Mohamud said. On Tuesday, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Somalia warned that five million Somalis, nearly half the population, do not have enough to eat because of poor rains and continued fighting between the African Union-backed government and the Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab.
Yahye Ali Ibrahim, Somalia’s director general of interior ministry, said Thursday that some 2.7 million Somalis are on the verge of starving to death. “I want to remind the Somalis and the world community that the life of a single person should not die for a glass of water they can provide today,” Mohamud said. “A person dying today cannot wait [for] your tomorrow aid.”
Djibouti Backs Amina For AU Commission Chair Position
19 January – Source: Daily Nation – 221 Words
Djibouti today affirmed its support for Foreign Affairs Cabinet Minister Amina Mohamed’s candidature for the position of African Union Commission (AUC) Chairperson. Djibouti foreign affairs minister Mahmoud Ali Youssouf said it was time for the East African region to clinch the AUC top position.
Mr Youssouf, who is also Djibouti President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh’s special envoy, said Ms Mohamed is the best candidate the continental body has ever had. “Ambassador Mohamed is the most capable candidate and we are optimistic she will emerge the winner. Her victory will inject transformative leadership that will energize the AUC for the benefit of the continent and the East African region,” said Mr Youssouf.
He was speaking at State House in Nairobi on Thursday when he delivered a special message to President Uhuru Kenyatta from President Guelleh. President Kenyatta welcomed Djibouti’s support, saying Ms Mohamed is a candidate with vast experience who will steer the AUC to greater achievement. The President urged the region to work together in drumming up support for the minister.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“Because we Somalis have always been spectacularly led down by our so-called governments and also by everyone else, we have to at least stop letting ourselves down. We should create and promote independent people-centred media that aims to serve their people – independent as from any vested group interests whether foreign, domestic or businesses, and with the necessary venues to hold them to account.”
VOA Somali And BBC Somali: A ‘Cancer In Our Midst’?
19 January – Source: Hiiraan Online – 2,505 Words
Few Somalis were aware of, before 2013, that Voice of America (VOA) was prohibited from broadcasting their produced programmes directly to US domestic audiences. VOA programmes are broadcast in 61 languages and to more than 100 countries across the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia, but it was VOA Somalia that dominated the limelight for all the wrong reasons.
VOA which is an extension of the State Department, has been prohibited from disseminating propaganda and psychological operations inside the US due to restrictions imposed by Smith-Mundt legislation that dictated no US government funded propaganda “shall be used to influence public opinion in the United States.”
Although there are plenty of evidence that this regulation has never been adhered to by the US government, nonetheless, breaches thereof were illegal. It begs the question; if VOA service is considered harmful and illegal to broadcast to US citizens domestically, why are we Somalis allowing ourselves to be subjected to such insidious programming?
Foreign Policy publication quoted anonymous ‘former U.S. government source’ probably connected to the US State Department, advocating importance of VOA in Somalia as a counterprogramming tool, stating: “Somalis have three options for news, word of mouth, Al-Shabaab or VOA Somalia.”
This was the tone and the decisive framing of debates throughout, whether advanced by the Broadcasting Board of Governors responsible for VOA broadcasting networks, whether it was in public meeting hearings or in the US national mainstream media. As longtime Smith-Mundt activists have noted, it was more than “ironic that government propaganda was used to remove a legal ban on potential domestic application of government propaganda efforts.”
The Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012 as incorporated in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), effective 2013, allows U.S. government produced propaganda programmes to be disseminated in the United States as news and information. To be more precise within the context of VOA Somalia, VOA Director David Ensor confirmed on July 2013 when he said that “Amendments to the Smith-Mundt legislation which were made in the recent Defense Authorization Act will allow us to build greater awareness of our impact, particularly in this country’s large and influential diaspora communities.”
TOP TWEETS
@giu17raffa : #Guterres: Thousands of child soldiers fight in#Somalia @AJENews
@AbdulBillowAli : According to #AU, #Burundi‘s 5400 troops will continue to serve in #Somalia under #AMISOM.
@Husdarwish : Hon. @AU_Chergui and #Burundi Government deserves our thanks – And also @amisomsomalia – The aim is to bring peace to #Somalia
@joaoscarpelini : Want to know more about the #humanitariansituation in #Somalia? Tweet ur questions to @UNdeClercqusing #HumanitarianTalk! #SomaliYouth
@husseinaddow : #Somalia Al-Shabaab last night launched a large-scale attack on the town of Afgoye, Lower Shabele region they are said to have been repulsed.
@SalahOsman0 : Female youth voluntarily painting public roads’ pavedment in #Mogadishu let’s keep rebuilding our country#Somalia
@UNSomalia : Watch as #Somalia‘s police strengthen their capacities to manage a new policing model at an UNSOM workshop in Baidoa
@GermanyinKenya : Ambassador Frasch visited Kismayo in Southern #Somalia, meeting the President of #Jubbaland, Ahmed Mohamed Islam “Madobe”.
@SharmakeF : An analysis on the recent report released by the so-called Ethiopian ThinkTank CDRC suggests zt Addis has lost all its leverage on #Somalia
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Somalia’s economy continues to valiantly rise above the challenges of the past. The financial sector drives a large section of this economic boom.
Photo: AMISOM