August 17, 2017 | Morning Headlines
Somalia’s Puntland Backs Saudi Allies, Calls Mogadishu To Reconsider Qatar Ties
16 August – Source: Somali Update – 329 Words
Somalia’s semi-autonomous state of Puntland has backed the Saudi-led coalition that severed ties the tiny Gulf nation of Qatar amid the ongoing Gulf crisis. In a statement on Wednesday, Puntland, a key member of Somalia’s federal republic has called the Federal Government of Somalia to reconsider its position regarding crisis, saying that “if not addressed properly, will have lasting and negative consequences for the people of Somalia.”
The Qatar crisis began June 4 when a group of six Gulf states, led by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain, announced they were cutting all diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing the country of funding terrorist groups. The allegations have since been proven unfounded. After a trip to Doha, a team of US intelligence officials reached the conclusion that Qatar’s state news agency had been hacked, most likely by a Russian interest. The hacking involved the planting of fake news which has been discredited.
From the start of the blockade, Somalia has remained neutral, urging the countries involved to find a speedy solution through dialogue. In a statement in early June, the Somali Foreign Ministry suggested to assist settle the Gulf diplomatic crisis. “We acknowledge the fact that the Middle East issue will not be resolved anytime soon, and the continuing crisis will have security as well as developmental implications throughout Somalia.” said the Puntland statement signed by presidential spokesman.
Puntland asserts that it has been partner with the oil-rich Saudi and UAE in the areas of security, trade and key developmental projects. “It’s widely known that Somalia has historically enjoyed good relations with the people and governments of UAE and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.” the statement goes on “Therefore, we believe our position is to clearly stand with our partners, namely Saudi Arabia and the UAE”. Mogadishu maintains friendly ties with all the five countries, as Somalia President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo visited Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar a month after his election victory in February this year.
Key Headlines
- Somalia’s Puntland Backs Saudi Allies Calls Mogadishu To Reconsider Qatar Ties (Somali Update)
- Suspected U.S. Surveillance Drone Crashes Near Mogadishu (Garowe Online)
- We Don’t Receive Any Budget Support From The Federal Government Says Ahmed Madobe (Radio Dalsan)
- US Lauds Defection Of Former Al-Shabaab Leader Robow (Goobjoog News)
- Rights Group Calls For Probe Of Former Al-Shabab Leader (Anadolu Agency)
- Somalia Should Pursue Tax Reform World Bank Says (Tax News)
- On The Run From Bullets And Bruises: Ayaan’s Story (News Deeply)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Suspected U.S. Surveillance Drone Crashes Near Mogadishu
16 August – Source: Garowe Online – 140 Words
A suspected U.S. unmanned surveillance aircraft has crashed on Wednesday into a small village near the Somali capital, Mogadishu. A witness has confirmed to Garowe Online that the drone went down in an area close to Garasbaley, a small settlement located in Mogadishu’s Deynile district, a former hotbed of the militant group Al shabaab. Somali security forces and dozens of local residents have immediately arrived at the crash site, and recovered the remains of the surveillance drone.
No casualties were reported from the incident. It’s yet unclear who are the owners of the crashed drone, but the U.S. military has been using unmanned aircraft to attack or observe the Al-Qaida-linked militants in Somalia. The cause of the drone crash is still unknown, as the Somali Federal government officials are yet to release any statement, regarding Wednesday’s incident.
We Don’t Receive Any Budget Support From The Federal Government, Says Ahmed Madobe
16 August – Source: Radio Dalsan – 79 Word
Jubbaland President Ahmed Mohamed Islam said his administration is not receiving any budget support allocated for his administration by the Federal Government. He denied recent media reports that the Federal Government has set aside financial support for the regional states including his administration.
He noted that the regional state MPs and other state officials have not received any salaries for a long time. He made the remarks at the closing of the 3rd parliamentary session held in Kismayo on Tuesday.
US Lauds Defection Of Former Al-Shabaab Leader Robow
16 August – Source: Goobjoog News – 220 Words
The US has hailed the defection of former Al-Shabaab deputy leader Mukhtar Robow while commending the Somali government for facilitating his defection a day after the renegade militant addressed the media in Mogadishu. In a statement Monday, the US Mission in Somalia said it supported the efforts aimed at further defections and degrading of the group. “The United States supports a Somali-led process of degrading Al-Shabaab’s influence using a comprehensive approach, including through high-level defections, reconciliation, and improved governance and service delivery,” the statement read in part.
The statement follows Somali government’s statement Tuesday thanking those who participated in facilitating Robow’s defection. “The Federal government hugely thanks anyone who played a role in facilitating the current discussion with Robow, in particular all segments of the society and our international friends and partners.” The US lifted a $5 million bounty on Robow in June in what could be seen as enabling enhanced negotiations with the Federal Government for defection.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Rights Group Calls For Probe Of Former Al-Shabab Leader
16 August – Source: Anadolu Agency – 186 Words
Human Rights Watch on Tuesday urged the Somali government to investigate alleged human rights abuses by a former deputy leader of the militant group al-Shabab who surrendered to the government this week. “International law prohibits amnesties for those responsible for grave abuses. Mukhtar Robow had a leadership role in Al-Shabaab at a time when we documented indiscriminate attacks on civilians, forced recruitment of children and other abuses against residents under the group’s control,” it said in a statement.
The Somali government needs to investigate Robow’s role and ensure that those responsible for the worst abuses are not able to escape just punishment, it added. Mukhtar Robow Ali, also known as Abu Mansur, officially announced Tuesday that he left al-Shabab more than five years ago.”I fell out with the group over ideological differences five years and seven months ago” he said at a news conference in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. “I was living in the Bakol region and al-Shabab attacked me there. They tried to kill me, but I defended myself,” he added. The Somali government said it welcomed Robow’s confirmation that he defected from Al-Shabaab.
Somalia Should Pursue Tax Reform, World Bank Says
16 August – Source: Tax News – 178 Words
The World Bank has said Somalia needs income from a broader tax base to rebuild the country. Domestic revenue (taxes plus fees) as a share of GDP remains very low in Somalia, at just 2.8 percent, making it difficult for the government to provide services, even though revenue mobilization has improved significantly over the past five years, the World Bank said.
Domestic revenue grew 36 percent in 2015, rising from about USD84m in 2014 to USD114.3m in 2015. Revenue growth has been flat, declining 1.4 percent to USD112.7m in 2016. International trade taxes, mainly customs duty, remain Somalia’s key source of domestic revenue, accounting for 68 percent of its total in 2016, the World Bank said.
In its new economic update for the territory, the World Bank said “a narrow tax base and the absence of the legal and regulatory framework necessary to govern revenue collection and administration have created a tax gap of 70-80 percent.””A tax reform agenda – coupled with strengthened public finance management – could increase domestic revenue,” it recommended.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“In Kenya’s largest refugee camp, a young Somali mother lives in hiding amid constant death threats from her ex-husband. With U.S. refugee resettlement frozen, all her efforts to leave the country have so far been in vain. Ayaan tells us her story in her own words,”
On The Run From Bullets And Bruises: Ayaan’s Story
16 August – Source: News Deeply – 3457 Words
I wasn’t Born yet when I became a refugee for the first time. A man ran into our home while I was still in the womb, to tell my mother that her son had been killed trying to secure food. He warned her to flee to a displaced persons’ camp. My mother refused and was still holding my baby sister when men stormed our home. They shot and killed my sister, who was still an infant. What sin of politics or history could she have committed at that age.? My mother gripped her body to shield me, her unborn child. She was shot in the hand and fell to the ground. The death of my sister did something no bullet or death could do to her. When the men left, my pregnant mother, still bleeding from her hand, carried my dead sister more than 30 miles to a displaced persons’ camp in Somalia.
I was born premature, displaced from the womb, prematurely battling history and politics to stay alive. My mother was too famished to breastfeed me, her body infirm with the shrapnel infection corroding her hand, nerve damage that would leave her blind in one eye. I was raised on maize in a stick hut, with a UNHCR tarp that never stopped the water from coming in.
I have no memory of those early days, just stories about how beautiful Kismayo was in that period of historical limbo, after colonialism but before the next chapter of conflicts. Life had returned to a tense peace after the 1991 civil war, following the overturn of the Barre government. In reality, Somalia only knew peace once in the 1970s, way before I was born.
Still, the sound of gunshots reminded us of the war outside our home. The people we lost – brother, sister, father – were an everyday reminder that the conflict would always be close to home. Kismayo no longer looked like the city of the stories we heard around fires in the camp – the histories of women who formed inter-clan armies to fight for liberation from colonialism. Clan identities now turned neighbors into enemies.
My first cousins, who were my age, were my best friends. We were like sisters, and managed to play like children, despite all the children in the camp too shattered to be children. Nothing was normal, but that was normal. Living between home and a refugee camp, peace and war, displaced from any feeling of true safety, displaced from your former selves, you have nothing to compare normal to. Then you do.