August 24, 2017 | Daily Monitoring Report
Armed Gunmen Kill Traditional Elder In Afgooye
24 August – Source: Hiiraan Online – 117 Words
Armed gunmen have last night killed a famous elder in Hawo tako neighborhood in Afgooye district. The deceased elder was identified as Duran Ali Ahmed who was a member of the traditional elders in Afgooye, according to the head of community affairs at the Lower Shabelle administration. The assailants who were armed with pistols escaped from the scene moments after killing the elder.
It is reported that the security agencies are carrying out investigation and are searching for those who killed the respected elder. No side has so far claimed responsibility for killing the traditional elder. His killing comes after two consecutive nights of fighting in Afgooye that saw government forces clash with heavily armed Al-Shabaab fighters.
Key Headlines
- Armed Gunmen Kill Traditional Elder In Afgooye (Hiiraan Online)
- Somaliland President Underwent Surgery In UAE (RBC Radio)
- Al-Shabaab Commander Surrenders to Somali Government (Horn Observer)
- Djibouti And Somalia To Share Submarine Optic Fibre (IT Web Africa)
- In Somalia Resilience Can Be Strengthened Through Social Protection (The World Bank)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Somaliland President Underwent Surgery In UAE
23 August – Source: RBC Radio – 114 Words
Somaliland President, Ahmed Mohamed Mohamud Siilaanyo underwent successful surgery in a United Arab Emirates (UAE) hospital, spokesman Hussein Deyr told reporters. The spokesman on Tuesday said Mr. Siilaanyo’s doctors carried the surgery and successfully removed appendix during the surgery at Abu Dhabi hospital.“The president is doing well. the surgery was successful. He is 100% feeling well.” Mr. Deyr told reporters at a news conference in Hargeysa.
President Siilaanyo left for Abu Dhabi on Friday after feeling unwell. The ailing aged leader has been regularly visiting his Abu Dhabi doctors since at the end of last year. In July this year, government officials were quick to react after reports surfaced claiming president Siilaanyo’s death.
Al-Shabaab Commander Surrenders to Somali Government
23 August – Source: Horn Observer – 124 Words
The Al-Shabaab Commander, in charge of the health department, has surrendered to the Somali government forces stationed in Mahaas district of Hiiraan region, state media reported. Somali military commander Gen. Ahmed Mohamed “Taree Dishe” confirmed to the state run Radio Mogadishu that 18 year old militant commander Sakariye Ibrahim Abdullahi surrendered to the government forces in Mahaas district in Hiiraan region. The defected commander was in charge of the group’s health department.
The defected commander said as cited by the state media that he was unable to keep silent the group’s atrocities against the Somali people. Two weeks ago, former deputy Al-Shabaab leader Muktar Roobow aka Abu Mansuur surrendered to the Somali government after several weeks of intense self defense fight against Al-Shabaab forces.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Djibouti And Somalia To Share Submarine Optic Fibre
24 August – Source: IT Web Africa – 209 Words
The governments of Djibouti and Somalia have reached an agreement on capacity sharing of the submarine optic fibre cable, the Djibouti African Regional Express. The agreement was reached at the end of a four-day working visit to Djibouti by Somalia’s telecommunications minister Abdi Ashur Hassan. Hassan and his Djibouti counterpart Abdi Youssouf Sougueh signed on behalf of their respective countries.
The communique revealed the existence of a principle of progress in the negotiations between the two governments on the one hand, and between the Somali telecommunications carriers and Djibouti Telecom on the other hand. According to the agreement, the Djibouti African Regional Express will connect Djibouti to Mombasa, and will have several landing stations in Somalia. “Somalia no longer wants to live the blackout internet that it has known for 21 days following the break of the only submarine fibre cable to which it is connected,” Hassan said. This is in sharp contrast to Djibouti which is currently served by eight submarine fibre optic cables.
The agreement also extends to the promotion and strengthening of cooperation in regional interconnection, terrestrial fibre optics, cybersecurity, ICT regulation, cross-border signaling problems, spectrum management and numbering plan. “Djibouti is a strategic partner that can help Somalia truly begin its digital development,” Hassan added.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“Understanding how Somali population managed to survive recurrent shocks can lay the groundwork for an integrated approach that builds on existing structures and mechanisms. Creating a dependent and reliable social protection program requires a transition from humanitarian to development approach.”
In Somalia, Resilience Can Be Strengthened Through Social Protection
23 August – Source: The World Bank – 581 Words
I have been working on assessing Social Protection mechanisms in Somalia for more than a year where we are trying to understand the country’s social protection landscape. In 2011, some 260,000 people died from famine. Given that 51.8 percentage of the population is poor with average daily consumption below $1.9 and 9 percent are internally displaced, it is only fair to despair over Somalia’s development, or lack thereof.
There is no denying that the country has suffered major losses due to climatic shocks as well as the civil war that had a huge impact on its social, economic and financial well-being. Other factors that have contributed to conflict and fragility are strong clan identities and land. Conversely, strong clan identities have also helped people survive famine and conflict.
But does that tell the complete story? Somalis have remained resilient in the face of these shocks. So, as development practitioners, we should try to look for missing pieces of this puzzle before designing any intervention. Despite the impression that Somalia may be in dire straits, the traditional structures and other coping mechanisms have protected Somalis against these continuous shocks.
There is a heavy emphasis on helping the poor and vulnerable, albeit along clan lines. Table 1 gives a snapshot of prevalent traditional safety nets — social programs that provide cash in exchange for children going to school or regular health check-ups — that are integral to Somali’s society. Other development actors are also implementing various small-scale programs to provide social protection. In addition to these forms of safety net, the mobile nature of Somali population has served as a coping mechanism where migration for better livelihood opportunities is a common phenomenon. Roughly 34 percent of the surveyed adult population (aged>15) have changed their dwellings over their lifetime.
Moreover, Somalis have traditionally engaged in pastoralism: a form of livestock production in which subsistence herding is the primary economic activity relying on the movement of herds and people. These pastoralists have adopted a nomadic lifestyle that relies on mobility to respond to the unpredictable supply of resources in the arid environment. And their livestock also provides them with a reliable source of nutrition not available without cash to others.
Lastly, remittances sent by the Somali diaspora have served as an important life line in which almost 21 percent of households received remittances in 2016. The total remittances sent back accounted for 23 percent of GDP in 2015, amounting to $1.4 billion. Such huge receipt of remittances has been made possible by mobile money transfer initiatives like Dahabshiil and high rates of cell phone penetration (Figure 1). It has established the technological infrastructure that helped reach people even in remote areas, providing a secure medium for monetary transactions.
TOP TWEETS
@ThabitMhd: Reopened the Ahmed Gurey national monument w the support of business community. BRA steadfast on restoring & preserving national heritage.
@EUNAVFOR: Republic of Korea Warship ROKS Dae Jo Young & @EUNAVFOR join forces to counter #piracy off the coast of#Somalia
#cooperation #saferseas
@Somaliupdate: #Somalia‘s Information Minister @engyarisowConfident Development of Freedom of Expression in the Countryhttp://somaliupdate.com/
@mbishaar: #BREAKING: Gunmen armed with pistols, suspected 2be Alshabab fighters killed a businessman in#Mogadishu’s Sanca junction-Witnesses #Somalia
@Eye_on_Somalia: #Hiraan In Somalia, resilience can be strengthened through social protection http://dlvr.it/PhCyXs #Somalia
@foodWV: Flexible funding & long-term #resilience planning critical to#FIghtFamine in #Somalia says @RefugeesIntl. Agreed!https://buff.ly/2wnoR93
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Somali Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khayre met with foreign diplomat at Villa somalia to discuss his administration’s achievement for the last 3 months and request for support and cooperation from them.
Photo: Radio Muqdisho