March 28, 2018 | Morning Headlines

Somali Forces Recapture Villages in Bay Region

27 March – Source: Halbeeg News- 164 Words

Somali forces have on Tuesday captured several villages in Bay region from Al-Shabaab fighters, state officials said. Mohamed Adan, a local administrator  in Goofgaduud Burey locality said the forces engaged in clashes with Al-Shabaab fighters during  operations launched in the region. “Somali Army has carried out operations against Al-Shabaab. The forces took control of villages including  El-Dun Waregow village after Al-Shabaab was defeated,” said Adan.

The chief vowed to increase the fight against Al-Shabaab and liberate the areas under the control of the group in Bay region. “We will continue the operations until we liberate the villages and towns under Al-Shabaab town,” said Adan.  In recent weeks, Somali forces have been carrying out operations to smoke out Al-Shabaab from Bay and Bakool regions. Al-Shabaab once controlled most areas in South and Central Somalia but has lost nearly all its territory over the last six years to Somali forces backed  by AMISOM troops

Key Headlines

• Somali Forces Recapture Villages in Bay Region (Halbeeg News)
• President Farmajo Receives Credentials From The New Mauritanian Ambassador To Somalia (SONNA)
• Puntland Forces Launch A Security Operation In Bosaso City (Shabelle News)
• Nairobi MCA’s To Train Somali Counterparts On Legislative Functions (The Star Kenya)
• Today in History: March 26 1969 (Hiiraan Online)

NATIONAL MEDIA

President Farmajo Receives Credentials From The New Mauritanian Ambassador To Somalia

27 March – Source: SONNA – 155 Words

President of the Federal Republic of Somalia, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo on Tuesday, received credentials from the new Ambassador from the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, H.E. Wadad Walid Sayid, who was appointed to represent his country here in Mogadishu,Somalia.

The Ambassador conveyed a message from the President of the Republic of Mauritania,. Muhammad Walid Abdul-Aziz to the Somali President, Mohamed Abdulahi Farmaajo, said, having ties with Somalia has a priority for his country. On his side, President Farmaajo sent message to President Abdul Aziz of Mauritania, thanking  the way Mauritania is ready in enhancing relations and cooperation between the two brotherly countries, hoping this would lead to having both countries to productively cooperate.

On the other hand, President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo also met Mr. Jeff Merkely, a senator from United States of America today, at the State House and had very fruitful discussions on the humanitarian, security, and the fight against Al-Shabaab.

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Puntland Forces Launch A Security Operation In Bosaso City

 

27 March – Source: Shabelle News – 130 Words

The security forces of Somalia’s northeastern semi-autonomous region of Puntland have carried out a massive operation in parts of the port city of Bosaso on Monday night. The swoop came following series of insecurity acts and assassinations targeting security force members and civil servants in the town over the past few weeks.

Puntland officials said the state troop’s agents had conducted a house-to-house operation in parts of the restive Bosaso where they detained several suspects in the night-long swoop. Those arrested on the Sunday night crackdown are being interrogated by the security forces. The authorities promised to release suspects found not guilty.On Monday, suspected Al Shabaab assailants have shot and killed a top Puntland Intelligence officer whose name has been identified only as Shine, according to the local authorities.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Nairobi MCA’s To Train Somali Counterparts Legislative Functions

27 March – Source: The Star – 209 Words

The Nairobi county assembly has entered into an agreement with Hirshabelle regional assembly on how to enhance their legislative and oversight capacity. The 57 MPs were received by county assembly speaker Beatrice Elachi, Clerk Jacob Ndwele and majority leader Abdi Guyo. Elachi urged the parliamentarians to empower their local governments to collect revenues and have more oversight on how they are run. “I know in Somali the national government still collects everything on behalf of the local governments then disburse according to their development plan.

With time they can empower their devolved units to be more independent,” Elachi said. She also urged them to help bridge the gender parity issue in the war-torn country. The Somali delegates are led by their speaker Osman Bare Mohamed and Deputy Speaker Anab Ahmed Isser. The two called for a more structured partnership between Kenya and Somali in terms of legislation. “We would love to learn more from Kenya and see where we can improve,” Anab said.

Guyo underlined the continued relationship between Kenya and Somali that has seen more Kenyan citizens of Somali origin take key positions both in government and the county assemblies. Kenya and Somali have some outstanding similarities in terms of power structures at national government and the assemblies.

OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE

“To prevent voters casting their ballot more than once, their left hand was marked with indelible ink before voting, a familiar system that had been in use since 1959. In a highly polarized political environment, few expected the build-up to the elections to be anything other than violent.”

Today in History: March 26, 1969

25 March – Source: Hiiraan Online – 1087 Words

This is the date the fourth and last parliamentary elections were held in Somalia before the country fell in the grip of a military regime. The first parliamentary elections were held in 1956, the second in 1959 and the third in 1964. Whereas twenty-one political parties had contested the parliamentary elections of 1964, this time sixty-four parties, representing sixty-four clans and sub-clans, most of which created just before the poll and all seeking a slice of the national pie, entered the field, with 2,214 candidates for the 123 available seats.

Most of the organizations contending for the election as political parties were not in reality parties in the true sense of the word, but rather temporary clan groupings, devoid of any clear political programme, formed solely for the purpose of putting up candidates with the ultimate aim of joining the ruling party after the elections. As one author eloquently puts it, “Politics in the Horn, like the politics of industrial societies, consist of competing among groups for influence in the management of public affairs.

The distinction lies in the character of the groups. In developed industrial societies the competing groups are made of individuals united by common economic or social interests or perhaps a common ideology. Among the Somalis they are determined by common ancestry”.  The country was divided into 48 electoral districts, out of which 5 had no contest at all, since only the ruling party had registered and presented lists of candidates who were automatically proclaimed elected before the counting of the ballots. The five ‘uncontested’ electoral districts were Aden Yaval, Bender Beila, Bur Hakaba, Jerriban and Zeila, all won by the ruling party.

The electoral law had introduced two new innovations with respect to 1964:(a) the system of proportional representation was modified by assigning each constituency an electoral quotient determined by dividing the total number of votes cast by the number of seats assigned to each constituency. Consequently, only parties which reached the electoral quotient were allocated seats. (b)  public servants, civilians or otherwise, who wished to stand as candidates were ineligible from running for the election unless they resigned from government employment at least 180 days before the date of voting “on the basis of the existing tradition in former Somaliland.”

By contrast, in the southern region, by prevailing tradition civil servants were allowed to stand as candidates on the assumption that they represented the best educated and most qualified members of the population and they would be able to improve the quality of the legislature. Accordingly, a number of civil servants had been elected to the National Assembly in 1959 and 1964, and had been placed on leave without pay for the duration of their elective office.

One obvious flaw of the electoral law was the lack of electoral certificates which allowed voters to cast their votes in the electoral district where they found themselves on the day of voting. Illiterate villagers and town dwellers had an equal say in choosing their candidates. This shortcoming encouraged irregular movements of the population from district to district. The security deposit for the election of MPs was raised from Sh.So1,000 in 1964 to Sh.So 5,000, to be forfeited and credited to State revenue in case the list failed to obtain the necessary votes for the election of at least one deputy.

To prevent voters casting their ballot more than once, their left hand was marked with indelible ink before voting, a familiar system that had been in use since 1959. In a highly polarized political environment, few expected the build-up to the elections to be anything other than violent. Official reports said that about 25 people died during the elections, but it is understood that this was a somewhat conservative estimation. Those who fell victims to the prevailing political violence included two civil servants involved in the election process: Abdi Omar and Hassan Omar assassinated in Baidoa and Merca respectively, a candidate standing as an MP, M. Sede, assassinated in El Bur and a paramount Chief, Ismail Bogor, brutally murdered in Iskushuban.