March 30, 2018 | Morning Headlines
Jawari Now In Charge After Senate Mediation Collapses
29 March – Source: Radio Dalsan – 144 Words
The embattled Speaker of the Lower House, Mohamed Osman Jawari has taken full charge of the Speaker’s duties after collapse of mediation talks by the Senate. Jawari chaired the House Business Committee late Thursday as Lower House awaits to resume its business on Saturday. Radio Dalsan has learnt that the top agenda on the committee meeting was the Beled Hawo border dispute. The Speaker’s duties had been taken up by Deputy Speaker Abdiweli Mudey
On Wednesday, the Senate announced mediation efforts to arbitrate rival MPs in the ongoing political stalemate had collapsed with the Upper House now also split. The crisis was triggered when MPs allied to Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire plotted to have Speaker of the Lower House Mohamed Osman Jawari ousted. The pro Khaire Mps accuse Jawari of being an impediment in the Parliament procedures. Jawari has been the Speaker since 2012.
Key Headlines
- Jawari Now In Charge After Senate Mediation Collapses (Radio Dalsan)
- The Foreign Ministers Of Somalia And Kenya Meet Over Border Dispute (Halbeeg News)
- Pakistan Somalia Agree To Enhance Mutual Cooperation (Shabelle News)
- Members of Somalia’s HirShabelle State Assembly Tour Kenyan County Assemblies To Learn Parliamentary Best Practices (AMISOM)
- Somalia Seeks To Develop Inclusive Security Plan To Curb Extremism (Xinhua Online)
- Puntland Police on Alert as Somalia Terror Threat Moves North (VOA)
NATIONAL MEDIA
The Foreign Ministers Of Somalia And Kenya Meet Over Border Dispute
29 March – Source: Halbeeg News – 250 Words
Somali Foreign Minister, Ahmed Isse Awad and Kenyan counterpart, Monica Juma held talks in the capital city of Kenya, Nairobi on Wednesday. The leaders discussed a wide range of issues touching on the recent border dispute, security, trade and other issues affecting the two countries.
A statement by Kenya’s Foreign minister, Juma, stated that she discussed wide range issues including bilateral relations and the border issue with Somalia’s foreign minister Awad. “The Ministers held lengthy discussions on the need to reinvigorate efforts to scale up collaboration in areas of mutual interest and the two country border,” reads the statement. It did not mention the outcome of the meeting between the two ministers. Meanwhile, the state owned media reported that the ministers talked about the recent discussions between the presidents of Somalia and Kenya, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo and Uhuru Kenyatta respectively.
The discussion was on the heel of a preliminary meeting between the leaders of Gedo and Mandera leaders in Mandera town. Early this week, Kenya agreed to halt the construction of the security wall along its border with Somalia after the two Presidents of Kenya and Somalia had lengthy discussions on the border dispute. The tension sparked when the constructors from Kenya National Youth Service (NYS) resumed the construction of security wall, along Somalia’s border with Kenya. Hundreds of residents took to the streets of Bula Hawo and Garbahey towns to protest against the resumption of the construction. The residents accused the government of Kenya of encroaching into Somalia’s territory.
Pakistan, Somalia Agree To Enhance Mutual Cooperation
29 March – Source: Shabelle News – 175 Words
Pakistan and Somalia on Thursday agreed to enhance mutual cooperation and boost bilateral relations. The understanding was reached in a meeting between the National Security Advisor Lt. General (retd) Nasser Khan Janjua, and the Foreign Policy Adviser to the President of Somalia Balal Mohamed Osman. The Somali Ambassador to Pakistan Ms. Khadija Muhammad Al-Makhdoomi was also present in the meeting, in which the two sides discussed matters pertaining to bilateral cooperation and security. They also reiterated to work together in close collaboration in all the fields and also to learn from each other experiences. The satisfaction was expressed by both sides over the improving trajectory of bilateral relations.
In his remark, Nasser Janjua said, that Somalia is a Country of great fortune and strategic importance, while the Somali Ambassador expressed her desire to expand cooperation with Pakistan in multiple areas including trade, human resource development, defense, and security. The envoy said that Pakistan has a great capacity to tackle internal security problems and Somalia wants to learn from the experiences of Pakistan in this regard.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Members of Somalia’s HirShabelle State Assembly Tour Kenyan County Assemblies To Learn Parliamentary Best Practices
29 March -Source: AMISOM – 572 Words
Somalia’s HirShabelle state assembly members who are attending a capacity building workshop on parliamentary best practices in Kenya’s capital Nairobi, held twinning sessions with their counterparts in the Nairobi and Machakos county assemblies, to enhance their debating skills. The visits and interactions with members of the two county assemblies, provided the 42 legislators who are members of legislative and oversight committees, with knowledge and firsthand experience on managing parliamentary business.
The members are in Kenya on a six-day learning tour, supported by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), as part of the Mission’s efforts to enhance the capacities of regional assemblies in Federal Member States. “We have a responsibility as AMISOM to ensure that institutions of Somalia are enabled, capacitated and made to run. Having the HirShabelle Parliament people visit here, meets this requirement of having the Speaker and his team work together with those of Nairobi County. We intend to also visit Machakos County where we will also practice the HirShabelle assembly members on matters of legislation, committee work and actually see how professional sessions are going on in both counties,” Dr. Opiyo Ododa, the AMISOM Head of Stabilization and Early Recovery Programme said.
He stated that AMISOM is committed to enhancing the capacity of legislators from the Somali Federal Member States, in order to expose them to parliamentary best practices. HirShabelle is one of the five Federal Member States of Somalia and the second regional assembly to tour Kenya, after a similar visit by members of the Jubbaland State Assembly in March last year. At the Nairobi and Machakos county assemblies, the visiting legislators were received by Speakers Beatrice Elachi and Florence Mwangangi respectively. Speaker Elachi called on the visiting delegation to exercise prudence while performing their oversight duties, in order to ensure efficient utilization of resources. She also advised them to accommodate public views, emphasizing that the public plays a key role in the management of the affairs of the county.
Somalia Seeks To Develop Inclusive Security Plan To Curb Extremism
29 March – Source: Xinhua Online – 446 Words
The Somali government has kicked off a series of meeting aimed at developing an inclusive National Action Plan to prevent and counter violent extremism in the Horn of Africa country. A two-day conference to review the existing strategy ended in Mogadishu with calls for the involvement of key sectors, in the development of the new national action plan.”The only way we can combat extremism is to listen to different perspectives, particularly the religious leaders and address this problem from a Somali perspective,” Deputy Prime Minister Mahdi Mohamed Guled said in a statement issued by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) on Thursday.
Guled said countering violent extremism through military means should be the last resort. “There should be an active awareness campaign on ideology and to cut the source of funding and revenue to activities that support violent extremism,” he added. The new plan will factor in the views and needs of all stakeholders, including the Federal Member States, to enable the implementation of a comprehensive strategy that will tackle violent extremism in a more decisive manner.
According to the government, religious leaders play a critical role in dialoguing, opinion shaping and controlling violent extremism in Somalia, thus the emphasis on their active participation in the review exercise, expected to culminate in the implementation of a national strategy on Prevention and Counter Violent Extremism (PCVE), as provided for in the country’s Comprehensive Approach to Security (CAS), Strand 4.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“Bossaso remains calmer than Somalia’s capital Mogadishu in the south, where deadly explosions are common. Attacks in Bossaso target security forces and officials, a contrast to large bombings in Mogadishu that mostly kill civilians,”
Puntland Police on Alert as Somalia Terror Threat Moves North
29 March – Source: VOA- 594 Words
A checkpoint in the desert of northern Somalia is the first line of defense against Al-Shabab and Islamic State from reaching the port city of Bossaso, the economic hub of the semi-autonomous Puntland state. The two extremist groups have set up camp in the mountains east and west of the city, and launch periodic attacks, including two assaults on the checkpoint last year.
In daylight, armed police search every car heading in and out of the city, looking for weapons, explosives, and hidden militants. At dusk, they take up positions behind bunkers in case the extremists attack again. “We are always on standby, we are always careful, but with God’s will we will defeat them one day,” says Lieutenant Colonel Mahmoud Mohamed Ahmed, who commands the checkpoint.
Puntland has long been more stable than the country’s volatile south, where al-Shabab has battled the government and African Union forces for the past decade. But in the past year, there have been a string of smaller attacks in Puntland, including tossed grenades and shootings in and around Bossaso. Now, government security forces are on alert amid fears that Somalia’s instability may be creeping north.
At the checkpoint, Ahmed says they uncover weaponry or make arrests almost every day. Two weeks ago, they found six al-Shabab suspects hidden in a truck bed, he says. Just days before VOA’s visit, Ahmed says his men captured a suspected IS member who had jumped off his vehicle and tried to skirt the checkpoint by foot. “I sent two groups of troops. Some took the vehicle, the others went by foot,” Ahmed explains. “When [the suspect] saw the first troops coming in front, he tried to run backwards, and he ran into the second group.”
In Bossaso itself, security appears tight, with police and soldiers riding pickup trucks, maintaining a visible presence on the streets. But authorities admit extremist cells are in the town, blending into the civilian population. There have been two attacks on police posts in Bossaso this year, killing a handful of officers. “As a normal person you can’t distinguish them from the rest of the people, and if they have the intention to do something, they do it and run away,” says Colonel Abdul Hakim Yusuf Hussein, the police commissioner for Puntland’s Bari region, which includes Bossaso. While it’s unclear exactly who carried out the two recent incidents, police have set up new checkpoints and conduct night operations in the city to round up potential troublemakers.