April 20, 2017 | Daily Monitoring Report
State Forces To Be Integrated Into National Army And Police In 3 Months
20 April – Source : Source : Goobjoog News – 337 Words
Forces from regional administrations will be integrated into the national army or form part of the state police within the next three months in line with the new national security architecture. The recommendations contained in a document seen by Goobjoog News also seeks to fast-track the integration programme which started during President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s administration as Somalia aims to bolster its security structure ahead of African Union forces draw-down next year.
The integration programme will be conducted by the National Integration Commission whose formation is to be completed by the end of June this year. The recommendations follow a two days meeting in Mogadishu by political and security advisors of the Federal and State governments.According to the new security architecture taking into consideration budgetary constraints, Somalia shall have at least 18,000 troops excluding the Special Forces (Danab), Air Force and Navy. The training of these forces shall be harmonized and unified under a Somali curriculum ‘to revive national training institutions, which shall be re-equipped and re-supplied’.
The 18,000 SNA force shall be distributed across the existing SNA sectors but which shall be re-drawn to align with the FMS boundaries based on geographic and military need. This task, the advisors propose will be completed in six months starting June this year. The recommendations also include the formation of 500 Danab forces in each SNA sector with the input of state governments and will report to the Danab Brigade headquarters in Baledogle. Danab force was put up in 2013 specially trained by US elite forces for special operations and intelligence gathering.
The Somali Police which is 32,000 force strong will be distributed at state and federal level with a number of this forming the military police (Darwish) which will work with SNA in times of national crisis. The integration programme will also involve disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of armed personnel who do not meet the requirements for inclusion into any security forces to mitigate any risks of extremist groups recruiting former security forces personnel.
Key Headlines
- State Forces To Be Integrated Into National Army And Police In 3 Months (Goobjoog News)
- Speaker Calls The PM To Appear Before Parliament On The UAE Base (Jowhar.com)
- Ten People Die Of Diarrhea In Gadoow In Central Somalia (Goobjoog News)
- Abu Dhabi Fund To Contribute $89m To Somalia Growth (Arabian Business )
- Global Charity Says Malnutrition “Very Critical” In Somalia (Xinhua)
- Why Should Somalia’s Children Starve To Pay For A Debt Crisis They Didn’t Create? (The Guardian)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Speaker Calls The PM To Appear Before Parliament On The UAE Base
19 April – Source : Jowhar.com -111 Words
The parliament has transferred the handling of a motion on the UAE military base in Somaliland to the Prime Minister’s office. In a meeting held in Mogadishu, MPs have voiced their opposition towards the military base in Berbera and called for the government to do all what it takes to block the base.
Some of the MPs have accused the Speaker, Mohamed Sheikh Osman of blocking the motion to be debated in the house. However, the Speaker said it was not in order for parliament to debate a motion with scanty information about the deal. He has instead requested the Prime Minister to come before the parliament to address the issue.
Ten People Die Of Diarrhea In Gadoow In Central Somalia
20 April – Source : Goobjoog News – 153 Words
At least ten people have died in a diarrhea outbreak while over 300 others are undergoing treatment in various medical facilities in Gadoow in Galgadud, authorities have said. Gadoow administrator Ahmed Abdi Yusuf told Goobjoog News the situation was worsening with the risk of many people getting infected by the disease. “We are still treating people in different medical centres and 10 others have died in the last one week. We fear more people will be infected besides the 300 who are already infected,” said Yusuf.
The official appealed for urgent help to avert further suffering. Acute watery diarrhea has claimed several lives countrywide in the past few months as the ongoing droughts subjects thousands to conditions which could lead to disease outbreaks. Red Cross said last week 28 people had died of diarrhea in Somaliland within a ten days period with 411 cases having been reported since the start of April.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Abu Dhabi Fund To Contribute $89m To Somalia Growth
19 April – Source : Arabian Business – 165 Words
Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) has announced a contribution of AED330 million ($89.8 million) to implement development projects and programmes in key sectors in Somalia, particularly infrastructure and transport. The funding underpins efforts to improve public services, create new job opportunities and ensure stability and social development, state news agency WAM reported on Wednesday. It said the contribution aims to help Somalia overcome the economic challenges it faces through financing sustainable projects which in turn promote socio-economic well being, alleviated living standards, long-term growth and prosperity.
ADFD said its support will stimulate construction efforts, expand and rehabilitate roads, build bridges and ultimately increase efficiency in the movement of goods and products across Somalia. Since its inception in 1971, ADFD has financed development projects valued at AED80 billion in more than 80 countries around the world. The fund focuses on projects that are designed to enhance key sectors including renewable energy, transport, infrastructure, agriculture, mining, industry, health care, social services, housing, water and electricity.
Global Charity Says Malnutrition “Very Critical” In Somalia
20 April – Source : Xinhua – 411 Words
International charity on Thursday expressed concern about the alarming increase in severe malnutrition among children in drought-hit Somalia. Save the Children said its new study found “very critical” levels of severe malnutrition in two of six districts assessed in some of the worst-affected parts of Somalia, which could spell disaster for a country where livelihoods have already been devastated and the economy crippled by the drought. Hassan Saadi Noor, Save the Children’s Country Director in Somalia, said 7 percent of all children under five in the districts of Badhan and Adado in Somaliland, an autonomous region of Somalia, are severely malnourished.
“We are on the brink of a massive catastrophe in Somalia with the death of three quarters of the country’s livestock, a rapid increase of children suffering severe malnutrition and the depletion of water stores in dozens of communities,” Noor said. The assessment also found exceptionally high rates of stunting in Hudur district, another part of Somalia heavily impacted by drought and an area devastated by the famine in 2011.
Less than 10 percent of children in Somalia are currently registered in a nutrition program, according to the study, which warns that children could start dying “in the near future” unless immediate action is taken, including a major and rapid scaling up of nutrition outreach services. “Despite April traditionally being the wettest month of the year for much of the country, it has barely rained so far.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“Almost all of Somalia’s debt stock is in accumulated arrears. Most of it can be traced back to the 1970s and 1980s, when the military dictator Siad Barre went on a spending binge, buying arms and investing in prestige infrastructure projects as profligate borrowing and reckless lending went hand in hand.”
Why Should Somalia’s Children Starve To Pay For A Debt Crisis They Didn’t Create?
20 April – Source : The Guardian – 804 Words
Abdulrahman Mahamud is one of the lucky ones. I met the four-year-old two weeks ago at an emergency clinic in the town of Shada, in Puntland region an area at the epicentre of Somalia’s devastating drought. Diagnosed with severe malnutrition and pneumonia, Abdulrahman was brought to the clinic after his mother walked 90 miles in search of food and medical help. He survived – just. For every good news story, however, there are a growing number of tragedies. A million Somali children need treatment for malnutrition, and more than 350,000 are at imminent risk of starvation. Epidemics of acute diarrhoea and cholera have already claimed hundreds of lives. These are lives that could and should have been saved. In the absence of a more effective international response to the drought, more deaths will follow.
One of the least visible but most damaging barriers to decisive humanitarian action is Somalia’s debt. If you thought Africa’s debt crisis was dead and buried, think again. In Somalia, it is alive, well and cutting a vital financial lifeline. But as finance ministers gather in Washington DC for the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, they have an opportunity to change this picture. Somalia’s debt is an anachronistic leftover from the great debt-relief reforms of the 1990s. Headline figures tell their own story: the country’s external debt is running at about $5bn (£3.9bn), or roughly 80% of GDP. At current rates of revenue collection, it would take 60 years to repay the debt.
Almost all of Somalia’s debt stock is in accumulated arrears. Most of it can be traced back to the 1970s and 1980s, when the military dictator Siad Barre went on a spending binge, buying arms and investing in prestige infrastructure projects as profligate borrowing and reckless lending went hand in hand. Barre knew how to deal with his creditors. Exploiting cold war rivalries, and appealing to Islamic identity and regional politics, he built up an impressive docket of IOUs. Today, the IMF and World Bank are sitting on more than $800m of Somali debt. Paris Club creditors – principally the US, Italy, France and Russia – are on the hook for another $2.3bn, having imposed penalty interest rates for non-payment for more than 30 years. The bulk of the balance is held by creditors like the Arab Monetary Fund, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
TOP TWEETS
@GEEL_Somalia: #Somalia traders earned $2.38 m in sales & potential trades worth $10 m at the Gulfood Fair in Dubai. Find out how: http://bit.ly/2pbDeqB
@mmroble: Why should Somalia’s children starve to pay for a debt crisis they didn’t create? | Kevin Watkins https://www.theguardian.com/
@SomaliAid:Boosting individuals’ health and strengthening their economy and #livelihood alleviates families in #Somalia from extreme #poverty.
@baydhabonline: UAE: Terror attack will not deter aid mission to Somalia http://dlvr.it/NxBLqb
@HassanIstiila: #UPDATE: #KDF jets carry out air strikes in Gedo region in southern #Somalia overnight, casualties reported. #Kenya
@UNSomalia: An estimated 30% (133,600) of children enrolled in school are at risk of dropping out due to drought-related hardships. #avertSomaliafamine
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Somali Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khayre accompanied by the Mogadishu Mayor Thabit Mohamed Abdi visited Mogadishu Liido Beach.
Photo : Radio Muqdisho