February 19, 2018 | Morning Headlines

Main Story

Mogadishu’s Main Market Closed Over Tax Hikes

18 February – Source: Garowe Online – 202 Words

The businesses in Mogadishu’s main Bakara market closed in a protest over new taxes imposed by the Finance Ministry of Somalia’s Federal government. The traders say they decided to close their business shops in the market following tax increase on imports at Mogadishu port and pledged to continue their protest until the government fully addresses their grievances. “We decided to shut down our business premises in Bakaro market because of the unaffordable tariffs imposed by the Finance Ministry of Somalia,” said Ahmed Hassan, a trader while speaking to Garowe Online by phone from the market

The market closure came after talks between a trade union in Banadir region and Somalia’s Minister of Finance Abdirahman Dualle Beyle over the new taxation ended with no apparent breakthrough for the stalemate. The Minister has last week held a press conference in Mogadishu and announced that the government charges the least tax on the commercial goods imported at the seaport and summarized previous 11 taxations in three tariffs. The government also imposed a 5% value-added tax on the hotels and says the tax collection is aimed at boosting its budget and pay civil servants and soldiers as the East African nation is recovering from decades-long conflict.

Key Headlines

Mogadishu’s Main Market Closed Over Tax Hikes (Garowe Online)
Lawmaker Terms New Tax Selective Calls For Nationwide Implementation (Goobjoog News)
Somali Forces Carry Out Massive Operation Near Barawe Town (Shabelle News)
Somaliland Detains Head Of Universal TV In Hargeisa (Hiiraan Online)
Police Foil Major Terror Attack Arrest Two Al-Shabaab Agents (Daily Nation)
Somali Migrants Returning From Libya Tell Of Abuse Horror (Voice of America)

NATIONAL MEDIA

Lawmaker Terms New Tax Selective, Calls For Nationwide Implementation

18 February – Source: Goobjoog News – 187 Words

Federal MP Mohamed Abukato has lashed out at the government for what he termed as selective taxation noting the newly introduced sales tax should not be confined to Banadir. Speaking hours after traders in Bakaro market closed their business over the issue. Abukato said the government should have made the taxation nationwide. “The Ministry of Finance is a ministry for the whole country. The taxes should be imposed universally across the nation,” said Abukato.

The lawmaker also said since the taxes only affect Banadir traders, proceeds from the taxation should be used to develop Banadir alone. “I am suggesting that the sales tax to be allocated to BRA for development and public service.” Bakaro market remained closed today in day one of the protest with traders pledging not to resume business until the government consider their grievances. The government recently introduced a 5% sales tax on imports to be paid upfront as it seeks to boost domestic revenues in a bid to finance its national budget and cut down over-reliance on donor funding. However traders are up in arms complaining the taxes were adversely affecting their businesses.

Somali Forces Carry Out Massive Operation Near Barawe Town

18 February – Source: Shabelle News – 110 Words

Somali National Army backed by Africa Union troops have begun a joint military operation in parts of the southern Lower Shabelle region. Hussein Barre Jeeh, the commissioner of the port city of Barawe, told Radio Shabelle that the ongoing operation was aimed at flushing out Al-Shabaab from its remaining strongholds.

Jeeh added that the allied troops are advancing towards the Al-Shabaab controlled villages in the region and will drive out the militants to reopen the blockaded roads. This comes a day after a landmine struck a passenger bus near Barawe town and killed at least two civilians on board. No group has yet claimed credit for the latest bomb attack.

Somaliland Detains Head Of Universal TV In Hargeisa

18 February – Source: Hiiraan Online – 153 Words

Police in Somaliland arrested the Hargeisa bureau chief of Universal TV, the region’s media watchdog confirmed. Somaliland’s Human Right Centre has said that Mohamed Aabi Digaale was arrested for airing a news report broadcasted by the London based television network in early this month. Somaliland Journalists Association (SOLJA) said Digaale was arrested by the police without a valid court warrant. Chairperson of SOLJA, Mohamoud Abdi Jama has called for the immediate release of the journalist. Somaliland government has not commented on the arrest of journalist.

Separately, the Somaliland administration arrested Abdirisaq Ismail Hassan who is a licensed lawyer. Hassan was subsequently brought before a military court which remanded him into custody. The Somaliland government has been accused of detaining individuals suspected of criticising the administration or expressing views sympathetic to Somali unity. Naema Ahmed Ibrahim, a female poet was arrested on 27th January this year for alleged Facebook post on unification of Somalia.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Police Foil Major Terror Attack, Arrest Two Al-Shabaab Agents

18 February – Source: Daily Nation – 663 Words

Police have foiled a major terrorist attack after fighting off gunmen, killing one and arresting two others after which they found a cache of arms including 36 grenades and five automatic rifles. The officers also detained the terrorists’ car which was rigged up with explosives. Initial investigations showed the car was headed to Nairobi where the terrorists planned to use it as a vehicle borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), simply a bomb on wheels. Further investigations showed the car was assembled by Al-Shabaab experts in El-Adde, Somalia.

Following the Thursday evening gunfight in Merti, Isiolo County, a major police operation is underway in the city with the aim of arresting the terrorists’ accomplices. An initial report shared among security agencies and seen by Nation says the terrorists had probably booked a hotel room because they were carrying a key, which indicated the name of the hotel a room number. The Nation cannot name the hotel because of the ongoing security operation.

According to the report, there were five terrorists in the car when police officers spotted it. “Our officers spotted a Mitsubishi sport car registration number KBM 200D hidden in a thicket. The team alighted from their vehicles and approached. One of the occupants came out while shooting at the officers. The officers returned fire killing the unidentified gunman instantly. Four of the occupants tried to escape,” it said.

OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE

Somali Migrants Returning From Libya Tell Of Abuse, Horror

18 February – Source: Voice of America – 1024 Words

It was an emotional moment for the nearly dozen Somali migrants who were repatriated to Mogadishu from Libya on Saturday. Some fell to their knees, crying; others placed their foreheads to the ground in prayer; while some chanted the Somalia national anthem as they disembarked from a Turkish Airways plane that had flown them from Libya, where some had been stranded for years, to the Somali capital.

Since 2014, Libya has become a major transit point for migrants from Africa and the Middle East who are trying to get to Europe to flee instability and violence. Somalia’s Deputy Prime Minister Mahdi Mohamed Guled, members of parliament and representatives from civil society organizations welcomed the migrants at the airport. The migrants then told stories of abuse, fear and horror they had experienced in Libya.

Survivor’s tale; Abdikarim Mohamed Omar, 22, who shared his story with VOA’s Somali service, was among those repatriated Saturday. He said he left Somalia in 2016 and traveled to Libya via Ethiopia and Sudan. Before reaching Libya, Omar said, he lost several of his Somali friends during the journey. At one point, he said, they fought with Eritrean migrants. “I was among 150 migrants packed into a truck by smugglers from Sudan 100 Eritreans and 50 Somalis. They mercilessly forced us into a truck that fit only 30 people. Some of the Somali migrants were thrown out of the truck into the desert. Then we fought with the Eritreans for survival. Several of my friends were killed during the conflict,” Omar said.

Earlier this week in Libya, a truck packed with more than 200 illegal migrants, mainly from Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan, overturned near Bani Walid, killing 19 of them. Sixty others were injured. Omar said that once he reached Libya, he was filled with painful memories that he could not forget. He and other migrants were taken to the Kufra detention center, in southeast Libya. “They lock us up in a room, where we hardly eat. You have no place to urinate. The room is overcrowded with migrants. Some of us sit the whole night, and some sleep a few hours. Every morning, they severely beat you with iron rods and sticks,” he said.

“To taste the pain and convince our parents to pay them, the smuggler woke us up with beatings early in the morning and send us to silence or sleep at night with beatings,” Omar said. “It was like our daily greetings and the first communication between the smugglers and the detainees.” He continued, “Because of the constant torture [and] hunger, many of the migrants in the detention room where I was died, including my Somali friend who shared a blanket with me.”

Fleeing Africa, Middle East Since 2014, more than 600,000 people have crossed the central Mediterranean to Italy. But the number of illegal migrants housed in Libyan detention centers has risen dramatically this year since armed groups in the western city of Sabratha began preventing boats from departing for Europe.