December 25, 2017 | Daily Monitoring Report
Top Al-Shabaab Officials Surrender Themselves To South West State Administration
25 December – Source: Radio Dalsan – 122 Words
Somalia’s South West State administration gave details of Al-Shabab officials who surrendered themselves to the local authority. Spokesman for the region’s administration, Nuradin Yussuf who talked to Radio Dalsan over the phone said that three top Al-Shabaab officials from Dinsor and Bardale districts and over 20 militiamen have surrendered themselves to the administration.
Mr Yussuf added that Al-Shabaab’s head of training in Afjirow area was among the officials who surrendered themselves to the authority and that other officials are also expected to surrender themselves in the coming days. When asked how they handle them, the spokesman said that they will first be investigated and help the regional state and central governments to get more information about the group’s activities in the area.
Key Headlines
- Top Al-Shabaab Officials Surrender Themselves To South West State Administration (Radio Dalsan)
- Speakers Of Regional Assemblies To Meet Lower House Speaker In Baidoa (Dhacdo.com)
- Fresh Clan Battle Erupts in Somalia’s Hiiraan Region (Sahal News)
- AMISOM Deputy Head Of Mission Pledges Continued Support For Youths In Somalia (AMISOM)
- Somalia Once Again to Host International Soccer Matches (VOA)
- I’ll Never Return To Somalia Says Refugee Who Returned To Kenya (Daily Nation)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Speakers Of Regional Assemblies To Meet Lower House Speaker In Baidoa
25 December – Source: Dhacdo.com -128 Words
A conference that brings together the Speakers of the assemblies of the Federal Member States and the Speaker of the Lower House, Mohamed Osman Jawaari is today scheduled to kick off in Baidoa. The Speaker of the Southwest regional assembly, Shariif Sheekhunaa Maye said the participants of the conference will meet in Baidoa and the conference will go on for two days. The agenda of the meeting has not yet been made public however security of Baidoa has been beefed up ahead of the conference. It is first conference of this kind bringing together the Speakers of the regional assemblies and the Speaker of the Lower House.
Fresh Clan Battle Erupts in Somalia’s Hiiraan Region
24 December – Source: Sahal News – 121 Words
At Least four people have been wounded in clashes between two armed militia groups in Somalia’s Hiiraan region, residents and officials said. Hiiraan’s deputy security commissioner Dualle Aadan Abdi has said that clashes broke out near Matabaan district after both sides exchanged fire over land dispute.
He said that clashes have escalated to Ethiopia’s border along Somalia as both clans received military enforcements which have extended the loses. “We are calling the Federal Government to intervene on the matter and expose those who are behind the first attack by holding peace negotiations between the two sides “Mr. Abdi has said. He said women and children could be affected if the fighting spreads into new stable regions in Somalia’s Gal-gaduud and Hiiraan regions.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somalia Once Again To Host International Soccer Matches
25 December – Source: Voice of America – 350 Words
The Somali Football Federation (SFF) has announced plans to host international games beginning next year because of improving security, the head of the body has announced. President of the SFF, Abdiqani Said Arab, says the time has come for Somalia to organize home games in the country’s soccer stadiums in 2018. “Due to the betterment of the security situation in Somalia we have decided to stage our home games at home,” Arab said in a statement. “The Somali people have the right to watch their national team play at home and we have to make that happen now that the country is going ahead.” Arab said his federation will first invite East African soccer national teams to play friendly matches with the Somali national team.
He said staging friendly matches will be followed by hosting regional soccer tournaments, such as the CECAFA (Council for East African and Central Africa Football). SFF has not released the dates and fixtures of international matches to be played at home for next year. Somalia hosted its last international match in Mogadishu in 1988. Following the collapse of the state in 1991, the Somalia national soccer team was forced to play its home games abroad in a neutral country, mainly in the region, like Djibouti and Ethiopia, denying it the all-important home advantage that other teams enjoy against opponents.
The Confederation of African Football chief Ahmad Ahmad approved Somalia’s plan to host international soccer games when he visited Mogadishu in April. Somalia soccer has made steady development over the years despite the country’s difficulties. In April 2012, a suicide bomber killed both the head of the Somali Olympic Committee, Aden Yabarow Wiish, and the president of Somali Football Federation, Said Mohamed Nur. But in December that same year, the SFF completed installing an artificial turf at Mogadishu stadium. Two years later in December 2015, the soccer body had showed the first-ever live stream of a football game on TV. And in August this year, it was a bright night for Mogadishu as the first soccer game was played at night in more than 30 years.
AMISOM Deputy Head Of Mission Pledges Continued Support For Youths In Somalia
23 December – Source: AMISOM – 471 Words
The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) has pledged to continue supporting youths in Somalia to achieve their full potential and actively participate in the development of the country. The announcement was made by the Deputy Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (DSRCC) for Somalia, Simon Mulongo, in a meeting with a section of youth leaders held in Mogadishu today.
Mr. Mulongo said the African Union mission will offer training and work closely with partners to develop structures that will enable young people to exploit their talents and prepare them for leadership. “As AMISOM, we capacitate the youth through breaking down the negative forces and to create an enabling and stable environment for the youth to operate freely and thrive. We also support initiatives to protect the youth from extreme fundamentalism in addition to the continuous training and capacity building,” the DSRCC stated.
Mr. Mulongo was responding to requests for support made the youth leaders who also took him through the challenges young people face in Somalia. Led by Member of Parliament Abdufatah Kasim Mohamud and Abdikaafi Mohamud Makaran, the Chairperson of the National Youth Council, the youth also discussed ways and means AMISOM could offer its support.
OPINION, ANALYSIS & CULTURE
“I lived five houses from where the attack happened. I saw mutilated bodies being taken away from the scene, a memory that has refused to go away. I would never wish to remember that attack,”
I’ll Never Return To Somalia, Says Refugee Who Returned To Kenya
24 December – Source: Daily Nation – 494 Words
A refugee who returned to Dadaab refugee complex after voluntary going back to Somalia, vowed never to go back to her country. In an emotional interview with the Nation on Sunday, Mrs Jamila Hassan Abdi said the October 14 terrorist attack in Mogadishu, in which more than 400 people died, scared her and has changed her perception towards her country of birth.
The mother of eight children, who is now back to the Ifo 2 Camp, said she is worried about her husband Ayub Abdullahi Abdi, who was traumatised following the terror attack at Sobe junction, a few blocks from her house. She now watches him carefully as he sometimes wonders from their home. Mrs Abdi could not hold back tears during the interview as she recalled the attack and how it affected her family. She clutched tightly onto her three-month-old baby on her lap while surrounded by her seven other children.
“I lived five houses from where the attack happened. I saw mutilated bodies being taken away from the scene, a memory that has refused to go away. I would never wish to remember that attack,” she told the Nation. “When the huge explosive went off, some of my children were playing outside. I thought they were among those killed in the attack, luckily they were not.”
Mrs Abdi told the Nation that when the voluntary repatriation of refugees was announced, she registered her family to travel back to Somalia on April 2016 because they were assured of improved security in the country. She had fled Mogadishu in 2010 due to civil war. She came back to the camp in early November after the bombing and was helped to sneak back into Kenya as a refugee.
Mrs Abdi, however, faces discrimination from among refugees. “I will never go back to Somalia. Even if all refugee camps are closed, I will stay behind where I can stay in peace, where sounds of explosions are unheard. I don’t even want to remember what I went through in Somalia,” she said. Mrs Abdi said she now lives on the mercy of well-wishers in the camps as she was not fully registered by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. “I have only been given a card by UNHCR but I have not heard from them so we only depend on neighbours for survival,” she said.
Denis Alma Kuindje, UNHCR’s senior protection coordinator at Dadaab sub-office, said the agency was aware that some repatriated refugees have returned to the Kenya. He said they are now seeking to know why they back, adding that there are some security concerns. “Repatriation of refugees is purely voluntary and UNHCR is only facilitating them. It should also be understood that refugees can change [their] mind anytime whether they want or do not want to go back to their home country,” Mr Kuindje said. He said the UN refugee agency is not taking lightly the return of refugees after facilitating their repatriation.
TOP TWEETS
@omabha: #Somalia 15th MEU Marines, Sailors assist Ugandan Battle Group 24 with pre-deployment traininghttp://dlvr.it/Q7WDYk
@HarunMaruf: Breaking: Somalia to host int’l soccer matches from next year due to improving security, head of the Somali Football Federation – SFF announces. Plan is to invite East African teams to play friendly matches w/ the Somali national team followed by hosting regional tournaments: SFF
@AbdirizakOm: Kenya has again started erecting a wall on#BeledHawaborder with Somalia. The govt & #SomaliParliamentmust act quickly to investigate and protect the territorial integrity of the country@aHawsh: UN envoy to Somalia hails adoption of 2018 government budget as positive step towards…http://subulahanews.com/2017/
@omabha: #Somalia Somali refugees who fled drought, extremism face ration cuts http://dlvr.it/Q7Vxcz
@Jubalandtv1: Last night, the Mogadishu Mayor @ThabitMhd hosted a farewell party for the inter-state football champions, the Jubaland football team. this morning a historic welcoming awaits the lads at their hometown Kismayo. #sports #Somalia#Mogadishu
@abdi_adaani: Reports from #Baidoa claims that high ranking#AlShabaableaders to surrendered with #Somali forces at that areas. Yet gave further details. #Somalia #Mogadishu
@Blaiserboy: Somalia Once Again to Host International Soccer Matches http://dlvr.it/Q7WdKH #Arts_amp_Entertainment#Africa
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Mogadishu Mayor, Thabit Abdi Mohamed hosted a farewell party for inter-state football tournament champions, Jubbaland.
Photo: @Jubalandtv1