November 23, 2017 | Daily Monitoring Report
Halt Debate On Bills Until We’re Consulted, Federal Member State Leaders Tell Senate
22 November- Source: Goobjoog News – 312 Words
State governments have called on the Senate to hold back debates on all government bills drafted without their input noting any such action contravenes agreements between the two levels of governments early this month and the Provisional Constitution. Under the Council of Governmental of Inter-State Cooperation (CIC) umbrella, the state leaders said in a statement date November 14, 2017 the government went ahead to table bills before the Lower House without consulting them despite earlier commitments. Citing Article 54 of the Provisional Constitution, the statement signed by CIC chairman who is also Puntland President Abdiweli Gaas notes the Federal Government must consult the Federal Member States in all other matters apart from those which solely fall within its province.
Article 54 singles out monetary policy, foreign affairs, immigration and citizenship and defense as areas exclusively under the authority and powers of the Federal Government. “Currently, there are bills that were entirely drafted without consultation with the regional governments which are tabled before the federal Lower House or passed among them the latest Water Bill which all of them will be presented to the federal Upper House for passage,” the statement read in part. The CIC also made reference to the November 5 meeting between the Federal Government and regional presidents and Banaadir administration which they said agreed to establish a technical committee of experts to advise on among others implementation of the federal system, resource sharing and political agreements within six months. “Therefore, the Council of Inter-State Cooperation honourably requests the federal Upper House leadership to halt debating and stop passing all the bills that the Federal Government did not consult with the regional governments till the government fulfills the bilateral agreement on the 5th November 2017 and Article 54 of the constitution,” the CIC said.
Key Headlines
- Halt Debate On Bills Until We’re Consulted Federal Member State Leaders Tell Senate (Goobjoog News)
- PM Khaire: Road Linking Mogadishu To Baidoa Will Be Opened (Hiiraan Online)
- Djibouti National Assembly Speaker Arrives In Mogadishu (Jowhar.com)
- Ahmed Iman Alias Kimanthi Flees After Al-Shabaab Fallout (Daily Nation)
- New Somaliland President To Strengthen Ties With UAE (The National)
NATIONAL MEDIA
PM Khaire: Road Linking Mogadishu To Baidoa Will Be Opened
23 November – Source: Hiiraan Online – 151 Words
Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire arrived in Baidoa on Wednesday and said his government plans to begin an offensive that will remove the militant group Al-Shabaab from areas they still control in the country. Prime Minister Khaire specifically noted the first phases of the offensive will seek to liberate the militant group from the main road that links Mogadishu and Baidoa.
He called on the people of Southwest to support the government in its bid to dislodge the militant group from the region. Al-Shabaab controls several towns in between the regions of Lower Shabelle and Bay. He vowed that they will lift Al-Shabaab’s besiegement on the regions of Bay and Bakol, adding that the reason Southwest administration is unable to function well as a result caused by Al-Shabaab’s blockade. Prime Minister Khaire’s visit to Baidoa is part of the government’s ongoing mobilization for the anticipated offensive against the militant group Al-Shabaab.
Djibouti National Assembly Speaker Arrives In Mogadishu
23 November – Source: Jowhar.com – 157 Words
Speaker of the National Assembly of Djibouti, Hon. Mohamed Ali Houmed on Thursday arrived in Mogadishu where he was warmly welcomed by Somali government officials. Lower House Speaker Mohamed Osman Jawari accompanied by members of the two houses and other government officials received Houmed at Mogadishu’s Aden Adde Airport. The Djiboutian delegation was then taken to Villa Hargeisa, home of the House of the People Leadership.
During his stay in Somalia, Hon. Houmed will meet with top government officials including President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed “Farmaajo” and Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire about the strengthening of relations between the two nations’ parliaments. He is also expected to attend Saturday’s Lower House session where he will deliver a speech to members of the parliament. This will be the first visit by the new Djibouti National Assembly Speaker to Mogadishu. His predecessor, the late Idris Arnaud Ali made a similar visit to Somalia and stayed in Mogadishu for several days.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Ahmed Iman Alias Kimanthi Flees After Al-Shabaab Fallout
23 November – Source: Daily Nation – 657 Words
A Kenyan who rose through Al-Shabaab ranks to become the poster boy for the terrorist organisation is on the run after falling out with other commanders who want him executed. Ahmed Iman alias Kimanthi, who appeared in numerous Al-Shabaab propaganda videos taunting Kenyan troops fighting in Somalia, the group’s stronghold, is now seeking to surrender to Kenyan forces and get amnesty, the Nation has learnt. Until the row, he was close to the current Al-Shabaab supremo Ahmed Diriye and Mahad Karate, also known as Abdirahim Mohamed Warsame, who commanded Shabaab’s Amniyat, its intelligence wing, when gunmen stormed Garissa University College and killed 147 students in April, 2015.
In the video clips, which are unavailable after they were pulled down by YouTube, Iman says the killings were carried out to avenge the killing of radical Muslim clerics. In those videos, he named the clerics as Aboud Rogo, Samir Khan and Sheikh Abubakar Shariff alias Makaburi. International security sources operating in Somalia, told the Nation that Iman has been the head of a group of foreign fighters who together with him, are now on the run from the main group loyal to Diriye and Karate. A number of Kenyans and other foreigners who joined Al-Shabaab terrorists in Somalia have since been captured and executed.
On November 6, a 25-year-old Kenyan from Garissa was among four people who were publicly executed by the terrorists in Somalia. Omar Adar Omar was killed by firing squad on accusations of spying for the Africa Union Mission in Somalia, which comprises the Kenya Defence Forces. The fall-out is further complicated after the emergence of a faction that has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in Syria, while Diriye’s group maintains its formal partnership with Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. The Nation has further learnt that Iman, in a bid to escape from Somalia, has evaded several dragnets to capture him.
Al-Shabaab is well known for executing militants within its own ranks whenever there is a fallout. The latest developments are a repeat of what happened to Fazul Abdullah Mohamed, who was killed in a set up laid by Godane Ahmed Abdi Godane alias Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr, who was Diriye’s predecessor. Godane was later killed in a joint operation by US and KDF in Somalia. Besides assuming the role of commander of foreign fighters in Somalia, Iman also has a great influence in Jaysh Ayman, another Al-Shabaab faction operating in Boni Forest which spreads across the Kenya-Somalia border in Lamu County.
Furthermore, Iman is also said to be getting foreign funding directly, further angering indigenous Somali commanders, the sources also said. A 2016 security report published by the Nation, revealed that Iman and accomplices in Nairobi collected millions of shillings every year by renting shops and kiosks in Umoja and Majengo, and the money is smuggled to Somalia to fund terrorism activities. In one Al-Shabaab propaganda video, he was seen clad in KDF uniform, holding a walkie-talkie and an M-16 rifle, which he claimed was one of the arms looted from El-Adde Forward Operating Base, which was overran by the terrorists in January 2016.
Besides Kenya, whose soldiers are operating in southern Somalia, Al-Shabaab is also being fought by the US and other countries in Amisom, including Ethiopia, Uganda, Burundi and Djibouti. 100 fighters killed On Tuesday, 100 Al-Shabaab fighters were killed in an airstrike by the US. “In coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia, US forces conducted an airstrike in Somalia against an Al-Shabaab camp at approximately 10.30 local Somalia time, killing more than 100 militants. The operation occurred 125 miles northwest of the capital, Mogadishu,” said a statement by US Africa Command. The Statement added: “US forces will continue to use all authorised and appropriate measures to protect Americans and to disable terrorist threats. This includes partnering with Amisom and Somali National Security Forces in targeting terrorists, their training camps and safe havens throughout Somalia, the region and around the world.”
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“There is so much that Somaliland can pick up from the UAE, whether it’s in education, health, business, technology, security, international relations, you name it,” he said. “The UAE is a very cosmopolitan place; its government is run properly, its businesses are run properly, and there are international standards that the Somaliland people and their new president view with a great deal of admiration,” he said”
New Somaliland President To Strengthen Ties With UAE
23 November – Source: The National – 831 Words
As the self-declared state of Somaliland welcomes its new president – the fifth in a line since breaking away from Somalia in 1991 – it is looking to the UAE for a new chapter of cooperation. Professor Ahmed Ismail Samatar, head of Public Policy for the ruling Kulmiye Party, told The National that its victorious candidate, Muse Bihi Abdi, views the UAE’s achievements with “admiration” and is keen to develop the existing ties between the two regions. “The new partnership that’s developing between Somaliland and the UAE is a high priority for the government,” he said. “We want to deepen and strengthen and thicken the relationship with the UAE.” The region of 4 million people has not been internationally recognised but it has recently drawn in sizeable investments from the Gulf. Earlier this year, the government agreed to let the UAE establish a naval base in its port of Berbera. That came after Dubai’s DP World last year signed a multimillion dollar, 30-year contract to develop the same port, which is on the south coast of the Gulf of Aden.
This month, DP World said it would also develop an economic zone in the region, modelled on Dubai’s Jebel Ali Free Zone. The new economic zone is aimed at positioning Berbera as a gateway port for East Africa, by encouraging investments and trade in the warehousing, logistics, manufacturing and related businesses. “DP World building out the port of Berbera is an excellent way of injecting energy into the economy,” said Professor Samatar, who is himself formerly a Somali presidential candidate and Member of Parliament. “There is a great deal of anticipation around the project. The people of Somaliland are hoping it becomes a major hub for goods to come and go, and of course there are other positive side-effects, such as increasing employment and developing infrastructure. “For the military base, too, there are benefits such as greater security for the people of Somaliland. However, these benefits need to be fleshed out in more detail to the people.”
The Kulmiye party has six core public policy priorities, as laid out in their manifesto. These are: economic growth; national security and unity; foreign policy; healthcare; justice; and education. In each of these, Professor Samatar believes there is room to develop the relationship with the UAE. “There is so much that Somaliland can pick up from the UAE, whether it’s in education, health, business, technology, security, international relations, you name it,” he said. “The UAE is a very cosmopolitan place; its government is run properly, its businesses are run properly, and there are international standards that the Somaliland people and their new president view with a great deal of admiration,” he said. “They want to adopt the same practices, so they can lift their own country up.” “Even just the culture of competence, and having institutions that work well.
TOP TWEETS
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@hesheim: The @DNS_MoPIED will establish National Statistical office (NSO), which instrument and have the effect of raising the status of the Somali National Bureau of Statistics from a Government Department under a Ministry to that of an autonomous, independent public service.
@HassanIstiila: #UPDATE: Several people have been killed and dozens wounded after Al-Shabaab launched an attack on a military base manned by Somali Army in Qoryooley town of in Lower Shabelle region, on Tuesday, residents, say.
@HarunMaruf: From one of the leading Islamic scholars on how to deal with Al-Shabab, besides military actions: – An effective ideological warfare – Genuine negotiation as an effective instrument in building peace – Denying Al Shabaab to monopolize Islamic religion http://www.
@engyarisow: As part of govt’s political outreach @SomaliPMvisits #Baidoa, South West State of Somalia 2 enhance good governance
IMAGE OF THE DAY
PM, Hassan Ali Khaire visited the Khere university in Baidoa.
Photo: @SomaliPM