November 24, 2017 | Morning Headlines

Somali Parliament Paid Over $700,000 To Families Of 26 Deceased MPs Since 2013

23 November – Source: Goobjoog News- 207 Words

Federal Parliament has paid $757,000 to families of 26 MPs killed, or who died under other circumstances since 2013, according to reports from the House on Wednesday. The report also indicates the House still has arrears to the tune of $23,000 for families of the deceased lawmakers, most of whom were killed through terror attacks and targeted assassinations. Each family was paid $30,000 while six of them are yet to receive the full amounts with arrears between $2,500 and $7,000.

Another $260,439 was paid out during the same period to 25 lawmakers for medical treatment ranging from $1,500 to $40,000. A further $38,000 was spent to cover funeral expenses for the 17 deceased lawmakers, the report said. The House also paid out of $79,000 to families of parliamentary including 9 security officers staff, who were injured or killed during bomb attacks on parliament. The amounts range between $5,000 and $30,000. The report tabled Wednesday also indicates the House paid $60,000 to families of MPs who passed on before the formation of the welfare committee. The family of the deceased lawmaker Mr. Yusuf Dirir is the only one remaining to be paid the amount of $30,000.

Key Headlines

• Somali Parliament Paid Over $700000 To Families Of 26 Deceased MPs Since 2013 (Goobjoog News)
• Somali Military Officers to Complete Training on Engendering Women (Somali Update)
• Federal Gov’t Detains Soldier Who Shot Dead Regional MP In Mogadishu (Hiiraan Online)
• Somali Pirates Caught At Sea Transferred To Seychelles (News24)
• As ISIS Fades Al-Shabaab Is Building Its Own Islamist State (Alawaba News)

NATIONAL  MEDIA

Somali Military Officers to Complete Training on Engendering Women

23 November – Source: Somali Update

Somali security forces on Thursday will be completing two day workshop on how to to engender and support the integration of gender issues at work.  The training, facilitated by African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) will be attended by 32 security personnel drawn from federal government and member states. Deputy Minister of Defence Abdullahi Olad Rooble has commended the initiative which is supported by the United Kingdom saying “If there are no rights for women, then there are no rights for all humanity. If we safeguard the rights of women, that’s when we can say that we have safeguarded the rights of all humanity.”

AU special envoy, Francisco Caetano Madeira said the training will align the Somali forces to global and regional frameworks. “The UN Security Council Resolution 2372 in (extending) the new mandate for AMISOM, places emphasis on upholding accountability, accountable security forces that comply with international obligations, particularly International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law. Protection of women and gender equality is paramount,” Madeira stated in his remarks during the opening of the training. He said the training which will be rolled out in the federal member states, is part of the mission’s gender capacity building project for the Somali security sector.

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Federal Gov’t Detains Soldier Who Shot Dead Regional MP In Mogadishu

23  November – Source: Hiiraan Online – 179 Words

Somalia’s Federal government on Thursday apprehended a Somali soldier who is linked with the fatal shooting of a Galmudug MP.  Mohamed Abdi Guleed, member of Galmudug state Assembly was killed on Wednesdaynight by a bodyguard attached to Mohamed Abukati, a federal MP after he opened fire  on  Guleed’s vehicle near Somali parliament building.

Mr. Abukato whose bodyguard killed the MP said the soldier was handed over to the Crimnal Investigation  Department (CID)  headquarters in Mogadishu. “After the tragic incident, I handed over my bodyguard and the firearm to the CID headquarters for investigation,” said Abukato. Guleed, former police officer and current regional MP was rushed to the hospital where the doctors pronounced him dead.

Somali government has not commented on the incident which is the second one to claim life of a lawmaker in less than six months. It is not the first time government official killed in unclear circumstance, May 3rd this year, Somali ministry for Public  Works, Abbas Abdullahi Siraji who a member of federal MP was killed by a bodyguard escorting Somalia’s former Auditor General.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Somali Pirates Caught At Sea, Transferred To Seychelles

 

23 November- Source: News24 – 230 Words

Six suspected Somali pirates have been transferred to the Seychelles following their arrest for attacks earlier this month off southern Somalia, a Seychelles prisons official said on Thursday. The suspects arrived on Thursday morning at the port of Victoria, capital of the Indian Ocean archipelago nation, said Raymond St Ange, acting commissioner of Montagne Posee prison.

The six were arrested by the Italian navy, deployed as part of the European anti-piracy operation Atlanta, after being spotted by a military helicopter while attacking a container ship and a fishing vessel on November 17 and 18. The men were transferred to the Seychelles under an agreement with the EU. “The agreement allows us to prosecute cases of piracy, but the prosecution will depend on the evidence presented to the attorney general,” St Ange said.

There have been several attempted hijackings in recent months, a worrying sign of a possible resurgence of Somali piracy which had declined from its 2011 peak as navy patrols were stepped up. The years-long scourge disrupted international shipping and led to the kidnapping for ransom of many hundreds of seafarers. While warships and armed guards have reduced the number of attacks, they have done nothing to address the root causes of piracy, which lie in Somalia’s decades of state failure, poverty and lack of economic opportunity. The last similar transfer of suspects to the Seychelles was in 2014.

 

OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE

“Al-Shabaab, on the other hand, has comparatively fewer foreign fighters, and though its propaganda routinely refers to the global jihad, its goals and strategies remain firmly entrenched in Somalia. It organizes its troops largely according to clan affiliation and has only attacked targets outside Somalia in response to those states’ involvement in Somalia.”

As ISIS Fades Al-Shabaab Is Building Its Own Islamist State

23 November – Source: Albawaba News – 647 Words

“There are different forms of government such as democracy or dictatorship imposed by the military. But these are all created by people. Only the Islamic state is based on the word of God. God is the only true principle and it is the duty of all Muslims to follow God’s word.” These words sound like they come from a member of the notorious Islamic State (ISIS), but they have not. They are from a former fighter for Al-Shabaab, an extremist group operating in Somalia.

As the remnants of ISIS’ so-called caliphate is stamped out in Iraq and Syria, many are cautiously optimistic to see the group’s waning power while holding their breaths in anticipation for its next iteration. An ‘ISIS 2.0’ lurks in the future, but Al-Shabaab has been here all along, cementing its hold on much of southern Somalia while the world watches the ISIS’ unfolding thousands of miles away in the Middle East. Another extremist Islamic state is already here. Al-Shabaab is on the rise and promises to only become more dangerous in the near-future. Al-Shabaab, meaning ‘the youth,’ in Arabic, first came to prominence in 2006 when it broke off from the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), a coalition of Sharia courts attempting to rival Somalia’s government. After a few years, it briefly captured Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, and pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda, formally integrating it into the global jihad. A successful campaign by African Union troops (AMISOM) drove the group back into more rural areas of southern Somalia, but was unable to defeat the group entirely. The group, which has integrated into the social dynamics of Somalia’s clans and has dynamically changed its tactics from conventional to guerrilla warfare and terrorist tactics, has a staying power that neither ISIS nor its counterpart, Boko Haram, has.

When ISIS stormed the scene in 2014 with the capture of large swathes of northern Iraq and Syria, it became apparent their brand of jihadism did not involve ingratiating itself with locals. With tens of thousands of foreign fighters, mass executions, and a socio-political vision of creating an entirely new society, ISIS isolated itself from its local context. Al-Shabaab, on the other hand, has comparatively fewer foreign fighters, and though its propaganda routinely refers to the global jihad, its goals and strategies remain firmly entrenched in Somalia. It organizes its troops largely according to clan affiliation and has only attacked targets outside Somalia in response to those states’ involvement in Somalia. For instance, its attack on a Nairobi mall in 2013 was meant to be revenge for Kenya’s military engagement against it.

Boko Haram is the Central African-based group that gained widespread notoriety after it kidnapped 276 schoolgirls in 2014 and seized parts of northeastern Nigeria. And while it has killed more people than Al-Shabaab, it was cut down by a large military campaign co-run by Nigeria and elite South African mercenaries. Al-Shabaab is able to attract a steady stream of recruits. “I joined mainly for economic reasons because I wanted to make more money,” a former fighter told Deutsche Welle. Al-Shabaab is one of the few organizations in Somalia that has been able to provide a competitive and stable wage to Somalis, making it a rational choice to join in a deprived and lawless environment.

As a governing body too, Al-Shabaab has been able to assert a level of control and stability rarely seen in the wartorn country. “Al-Shabab collects taxes from the population. They tax you for your house, for your land and for your children. If you want to send your child to school, it costs around five dollars a month.” Part of the reason why it is able to assert such control is its brutality. It routinely executes civilians and even members of its own group, and exploits desperate populations, coercing women to be sex slaves and training children to be soldiers for its cause.