May 23, 2017 | Daily Monitoring Report
Somalia Condemns Manchester Terror Attack, Says Ready To Stand By UK
23 May – Source: Somali Update – 164 words
Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo has condemned the suspected terror attack in Manchester in United Kingdom where at least 22 killed and 59 others injured after a suspected suicide bomber blew himself up outside the main Manchester Arena where a Monday night concert was taking place. Last night explosion happened in the Foyer of Manchester Arena after a concert by an American popular singer Ariana Grande ended. According to media reports children are among those killed.
In an official Twitter post early on Monday, President Farmajo said that Somalia would stand by UK as a friend. “We condemn evil of terror against innocent people in Manchester. UK is resilient and will overcome,” the president said in a tweet. “Our thoughts and prayers with all victims of Manchester attack. #UK has stood by us and we are ready to stand by our friends.” UK is among the nations backing and training Somali security forces in the battle against the terror group Al-Shabab in Somalia.
Key Headlines
- Somalia Condemns Manchester Terror Attack Says Ready To Stand By UK (Somali Update)
- Fighting Between SNA And Al-Shabaab Kills At Least Two (Goobjoog News)
- Measles Outbreak Kills 20 Children In Lower Shabelle (Goobjoog News)
- UNICEF Seeks 148 Million USD To Help Somali Women and Children (Xinhua)
- Suqia Provides Drinking Water to Over 90000 in Somalia (Emirates News Agency)
- Improved Security Helps Aid Access in Southwest Somalia (VOA News)
- Footprints: Turning away from home (Dawn)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Fighting Between SNA And Al-Shabaab Kills At Least Two
23 May – Source: Goobjoog News – 135 words
Fierce fighting between Al-Shabaab and Somali government security forces in Lower Shabelle has killed at least two combatants from both sides on Monday night, military sources. Local sources also say the fighting began after Al-Shabaab militants attacked a Somali National Army (SNA) base in Lanta Buro.
Residents reported hearing a huge explosion at around 4am local time, and then heavy gunfire which lasted for several hours. Al-Shabaab claimed the responsibility for the attack saying their fighters killed several Somali troops in the attack. “Mujahideen fighters stormed a military base owned by militias from Somali government in Lower Shabelle, overrunning the base and killing more than 10,” the group said in a statement. Despite being pushed out of Somalia’s major cities and towns, Al-Shabaab continues to launch deadly guerrilla attacks across the Horn of Africa country.
Measles Outbreak Kills 20 Children In Lower Shabelle
23 May – Source: Goobjoog News – 160 words
At least 20 people mostly children under the age of five were confirmed dead due to measles outbreak in Mandera village of Somalia’s Lower Shabelle region. Several others suffering from the infection were hospitalized, according to health officials in the region. Mandera village chief, Salah Mohamed Ali told Goobjoog News that the outbreak has mostly affected children in the locality and surrounding areas. Ali said there were no health facilities close by and the disease was fast spreading to other areas. “All the children were not vaccinated against measles. We are appealing for urgent help because hundreds of children are at risk,” he said.
Due to chronic insecurity, many have no access to primary health care in south-central regions, and deadly diseases including measles continue to grow rife. Measles, a viral respiratory infection that spreads through air and contact with infected mucus and saliva, thrives in congested, unsanitary displacement settlements that have multiplied across the country as people flee drought.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
UNICEF Seeks 148 Million USD To Help Somali Women and Children
23 May – Source: Xinhua – 403 words
The UN children’s fund (UNICEF) is appealing for 147.9 million U.S. dollars to scale up life-saving assistance for women and children to help avert a famine in Somalia. In its situation report released on Tuesday, UNICEF said it has a funding gap of 38 percent against the revised appeal, stating that continued and timely donor support is critical to scale up the response and avert a famine. “Adequate, predictable and flexible resources will allow UNICEF and its partners to respond effectively where needs are greatest and reach the most disadvantaged children,” the report says. “The projected number of children who are, or will be, acutely malnourished has increased by 50 percent since the beginning of the year to 1.4 million, including over 275,000 who have or will suffer life threatening severe acute malnutrition in 2017,” UNICEF said.
According to UNICEF, an estimated 4 million children are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance in Somalia. Despite the large scale humanitarian assistance delivered, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) managed Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU) and the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWs Net) post Jilal assessment indicates an elevated risk of famine due to a combination of severe food insecurity, high acute malnutrition, and high disease burden. “In light of the scale of internal displacements to urban centres, it is critical to scale up access to sanitation and hygiene services,” UNICEF said. The number of people in need has increased to 6.7 million, including 3.2 million people in crisis.
According to the UN agency, severely malnourished children are nine times more likely to die of killer diseases like acute watery diarrhoea (AWD)/cholera and measles. During the 2011 famine that killed an estimated 260,000 people, over half of them young children, the main causes of death among children were diarrhoea and measles. “As of week 18, close to 38,000 cases of AWD/cholera have been reported; 2.4 times more than the 2016 caseload. Since the start of the year, 683 deaths have been recorded, with a case fatality rate (CFR) of 1.8 percent,” the report says. The report says over 7,000 measles cases have been reported across Somalia since the start of the year, exceeding the total 2016 caseload as UNICEF and partners continue to scale up the response with more than 350,000 children immunized against measles in 2017.
Suqia Provides Drinking Water to Over 90,000 in Somalia
23 May – Source: Emirates News Agency – 549 words
The UAE Water Aid Foundation, Suqia, under the umbrella of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, has implemented two projects to provide drinking water to over 90,000 people in Somalia. Suqia has implemented these projects in cooperation with the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Charity and Humanitarian Establishment. This is one of Suqia’s humanitarian projects to support international efforts to combat poverty and disease by finding sustainable and innovative solutions to water scarcity around the world. The projects also support the ‘For You, Somalia’ campaign.
One project, in Ufayn in the eastern region of Somalia, included the building of a 300-cubic-metre water collection point near water springs at the foot of a mountain and 600 cubic metre water reservoirs. The project also included repairing and replacing the three-kilometre pipeline network. Solar-powered pumps will be provided to pump water from the ground reservoir to an elevated water tank in the town. The project will make it easier for residents to access potable water, reducing the distance they have to travel to obtain water. The project will benefit about 50,000 people in the town and neighbouring villages.
The second project involved drilling an artesian well in the village of Tookiyo in the Lower Shabelle province and the installation of pipes and an electric pump. This covers the basic water needs of the village whose residents rely on agriculture and livestock. The project included building a 20 cubic-metre water tank, 3 basins for animals, and shaded water taps to protect residents from the sun. The well will provide over 40,000 people with clean water, alleviating residents’ difficulties in accessing clean water, and limiting diseases that could spread as a result of drinking contaminated water.
Improved Security Helps Aid Access in Southwest Somalia
23 May, Source: VOA – Video – 2:34 minutes
When famine struck Somalia in 2011, the southwestern town of Baidoa was under Al-Shabaab control. Humanitarian agencies could not access people in need. Today, the town is under government control, and the improved security situation has meant better access to aid for tens of thousands of people. In Baidoa for VOA, Mohammed Yusuf reports.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“The authorities believe that between 2007 and 2010, some 25 young Somali Americans travelled to Mogadishu to join Al Shabab. One of them — a Minnesotan high school graduate, Shirwa Ahmed — blew himself up in northern Somalia in 2009.”
Footprints: Turning away from home
23 May, Source: Dawn – 845 words
With winter temperatures as low as minus 50°C, Minnesota may not seem to be the most obvious destination for Somali immigrants to the United States. Yet the city of Minneapolis now vies with London and Toronto to be the leading location for the world’s Somali diaspora. After the first groups of Somali refugees were sent to this state by the US government in the 1990s, newer arrivals have joined them. Today it is estimated that there are some 100,000 Somalis here. Many have arrived in the last 15 years. America knows how to integrate newcomers. The rules are simple enough: swear allegiance to the country and work hard. In return you get a chance to make it.
And there are examples of American Somalis successfully embracing the American dream. Having arrived in the US 20 years ago at the age of 21, Abdirahman Kahin now runs two restaurants and has plans to expand the Afro Café and Deli brand to London. Kahin was helped in getting his business off the ground by a state-provided loan scheme for business people from minority communities. He was lent $75,000 at just two per cent interest. But some American Somalis of Minnesota are finding the process of integration more difficult.
The authorities believe that between 2007 and 2010, some 25 young Somali Americans travelled to Mogadishu to join Al Shabab. One of them — a Minnesotan high school graduate, Shirwa Ahmed — blew himself up in northern Somalia in 2009. More recently, some Somali Americans wanted to fight for the militant Islamic State group. And in the most recent iteration of Minnesotan violent jihadism, a second-generation, self-radicalised Somali American ran amok in a shopping mall last September. Twenty-year-old Dahir Adan shouted the words: “Are you a Muslim?” as he stabbed 10 people with kitchen knives before an off-duty police officer shot him dead.
Special Agent in Charge Richard Thornton, the most senior FBI officer in Minneapolis, thinks the sheer size of the community means that some of its members don’t need to assimilate. “You can cradle to grave here as a Somali immigrant into this country with no need to learn the language, learn the culture or participate in the broader American experience if you choose not to,” he said. The police are trying to build bridges with Somali Americans. For example, Richard Stanek, the sheriff of Hennepin County which includes Minneapolis, now speaks the language of outreach. “Our prevention efforts centre around community engagement and using that as frontline strategy for the resiliency against countering violent extremism,” he said, referring to a federal scheme to prevent radicalisation.
But there is push back from some Muslim community leaders who say that any funds coming under the Countering Violent Extremism programme should be rejected and who complain that the community is being stigmatised, demonised and misrepresented. “That we are even talking about this subject is a clear indication that we are not moving forward,” said Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). Many Somali American children, such as 14-year-old Hodan, complain that misperceptions about the community mean they are bullied at school. “Some people say: ‘She is a terrorist because she is wearing a hjiab’. But I wear a hijab because I am a Muslim,” Hodan said as she walked from her bright yellow school bus towards her low-rent housing in the city St Cloud near Minneapolis. Experiences like that lead many in the Somali American community to talk about a culture clash.
Two days before the election last November, Donald Trump speaking in Minnesota denounced the state’s refugee policy on Somali Americans. “With some of them joining ISIS [sic] and spreading their extremist views all over our country and all over the world, its been a disaster,” he said. For officials, satisfying all sides of the debate in Minnesota isn’t easy. In February Sheriff Stanek, the man who has championed building trust with Somali Americans, was among a dozen sheriffs who met President Trump at the White House. An exchange between Stanek and Trump was filmed. “Do you have a big problem with the refugees pouring in?” Trump asked. “Yes, we do, sir.”
After the conversation was broadcast on Minnesota news programmes, Sheriff Stanek suggested the broadcast comments were not representative and that he had been very candid with President Trump. “He has got his ideas but I am living it and working it every day,” he said. “My job is to help educate him about the Somalis who are really good and thriving and learning and want to be engaged.” But for many in the Somali American community in Minnesota, the exchange suggested that behind all the talk of community outreach there is a hidden agenda. “What he said to the President is all that matters because that it what they had on tape,” said Somali American activist Haji Yusuf, who runs an advertising agency in St Cloud. “He may have said many good things. But what matters is what he said to the president at that moment.”
TOP TWEETS
@M_Diini: Somalia Famine Dinner, $100k collected n sent by our Columbus youth. @MinisterDini @AmbAhmedAwad1 @Abukar_Arman @SomaliEmbDC WALHAMDULILLAH!
@Aynte: Abdi Aynte Retweeted Abdihakim Ainte
Why does it suck? While other countries provide non-budget support, Turkey & KSA are among rare breed still providing direct budget support Abdi Aynte added.
@SomaliPM: “Every child deserves a decent education and I am sure that you will deliver it” DPM Mahdi speaking last night to education sector.
#Somalia
@Aynte:Abdi Aynte Retweeted Charles Onyango-Obbo. Very positive news for #Somalia. Country needs to join EAC for economic & political reasons. @TheVillaSomalia @SomaliPM @MofaSomalia
@AbdihakimAinte: So Somaliland receives more development aid on project-level than the rest of Somali regions, according to report from @MofSomalia.
@Daudoo: Commander of #British forces in #Somalia congratulating Somali troops after receiving training from #UK army team in #Baidoa – @DefenceOps.
@TheVillaSomalia: Our thoughts and prayers with all victims of Manchester attack. #UK has stood by us and we are ready to stand by our friends.
@adancabdulle: My heart goes out to the victims of the despicable #ManchesterArena terror attack. Such a horrific scenes on CNN now.
@DalsanFM: #Mogadishu Mayor @ThabitMhd has announced Major Clean up Campaign to be conducted ,the clean-up targets various areas across the City .
@Somaliupdate: #Somalia: 2 Somali players in critical condition and a couch killed after government forces shot them. http://somaliupdate.com/
@mpfsomalia: Remittances & aid are fueling #Somalia’s consumption-driven growth. How is it being spent? Find out http://bit.ly/2r9aaVe
@HarunMaruf: BREAKING: Gunmen open fire on a bus carrying football players outside Mogadishu, at least one person is dead, two injured: reports#Somalia
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Somali Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khayre poses for a photo with children in Mogadishu.
PHOTO: @SomaliPM