April 4, 2018 | Daily Monitoring Report
Mogadishu Under Lockdown Ahead Of House Debate On Motion Against Jawari
04 April – Source: Hiiraan Online – 293 Words
Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu is under a complete security lockdown on Wednesday morning with major roads closed ahead of the House session to debate on the impeachment motion against embattled House Speaker Mohamed Osman Jawari.
Hundreds of security forces have been deployed around the parliament as the setting of the House is expected to start in the forthcoming hours. The motion which was submitted to the Parliamentary leadership last month, has created sharp division among the lawmakers with the top leadership of the House at loggerheads over the impeachment motion.
The negotiation effort to ease the political standoff collapsed over the weekend leading to the First Deputy Speaker to call for a session to decide the fate of Mohamed Osman Jawari. Hiiraan Online was learned that the two opposing factions, the pro-Jawari MPs and the Proponents of the motion are gathering at the Parliament building with their agendas. The Pro-Jawari camp may try to table the Beled-Hawa border dispute issue before the impeachment motion.
Mohamed Osman Jawari, the Speaker of House has called today’s session to debate on the motion against him as a plan engineered by the President. Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Jawari accused President Farmaajo of ‘dishonesty’ saying he has been pleading with him (Jawari) to step down, but that he refused. Jawari has previously said that he became House Speaker by the ballot, and he shall only be ousted in a legal manner.
High profile events in Mogadishu are usually marked by a complete security lockdown of the city. These events – such as the Presidential election or inauguration – are usually attended by Mogadishu’s political elite and prominent foreign dignitaries. Parliamentary sessions, despite sometimes being politically charged, are usually not events that call for a security lockdown of the city.
Key Headlines
- Mogadishu Under Lockdown Ahead Of House Debate On Motion Against Jawari (Hiiraan Online)
- Troops Loyal To Embattled Speaker Seize Parliament Building (Shabelle News)
- Galmudug President Calls For Dialogue Over The Political Stand-off (Halbeeg News)
- Somalia Speaker Slams Call To Quit As Impeachment Motion Set For Debate (Xinhua)
- ‘Increasing Awareness About Explosive Hazards Can Save Many Lives’ Says UN Demining Agency (UNSOM)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Troops Loyal To Embattled Speaker Seize Parliament Building
04 April – Source: Shabelle News – 125 Words
Heavily armed soldiers loyal to lower house speaker Mohamed Osman Jawari, seized control of the parliament building in Mogadishu, ahead on impeachment motion against him. The troops were reported to have laid siege to the building before the arrival of the opposition lawmakers signed the no-confidence motion aimed at ousting the Jawari.
Speaking to Radio Shabelle, Dahir Amin Jesow, who is among the MPs tabled the motion, has confirmed the takeover of the parliament headquarters by Jawari loyalists. There were reports of heavy security presence outside the parliament building, and main streets of the capital, halting public transportations and people’s movements. Amid the chaos, pro-Jawari MPs are at the buildings are planning to debate Kenya’s security wall construction on Beled-Hawo-Mandera border, according to the speaker.
Galmudug President Calls For Dialogue Over The Political Stand-off
04 April – Source: Halbeeg News – 171 Words
Galmudug state President Ahmed Duale Haaf, called for truce over the escalating political crisis. President Haaf, who spoke to media warned, the ongoing political row was causing concern, saying it will derail the gained achievements. “This looming political tensions can consume the hard-earned political, economic, and security achievements, I called upon the leaders of the Federal Government to resolve this matter through constitutional and peaceful means,” said President Haaf.
He added, “If the leaders of the government fail to reach mutual understanding, then they will take the responsibility of the crisis that, will engulf the whole country.” The remarks of President Haaf coincides with today’s House session, to debate on motion against Jawari. MPs are pouring into the House to decide the fate of the proposition, and many major roads remains on lockdown.
Following protracted political crisis, the first Deputy Speaker, on Tuesday called for session to debate the motion. Efforts to quell the tension which spearheaded by President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo have aborted after the talks between opposing factions collapsed.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somalia Speaker Slams Call To Quit As Impeachment Motion Set For Debate
04 April – Source: Xinhua – 438 Words
Somalia’s Lower House Parliamentary speaker Mohamed Osman Jawari maintained Tuesday he will not resign as being pushed by the Executive as a motion to impeach him is slated for debate on Wednesday. Addressing a news conference in Mogadishu, the embattled Jawari said the parliamentary sitting for Wednesday meant to discuss his conduct was illegal and unconstitutional.
The speaker who has been accused by lawmakers of violating the constitution also accused President Mohamed Farmajo of escalating the political crisis in the Horn of Africa nation by asking him to resign and instead of resolving the crisis without taking sides. “They are asking me to resign, but I am not going to resign, I will not resign since I do not work for them,” Jawari told journalists, adding that president Farmajo has been pushing him to resign instead of seeking avenues to resolve the political crisis that has brought Parliament to a standstill.
Jawari said efforts to solve ongoing political crisis have failed after rejecting calls by the Executive to resign, maintaining he was elected through the ballot and will exist through the same. The 72-year-old speaker said he had agreed with the president during his meeting on Friday evening to allow for some time to reach a political solution to the current crisis but added that the impeachment motion planned for Wednesday means that the Executive has approved it.
He appealed to the lawmakers who are planning to convene the session on Wednesday to discuss the no-confidence motion against him to rescind their decision, saying their actions and decisions “should reflect the interests of those people.” The president held a crisis meeting with Jawari and his two deputies including chairman of the Senate Abdi Hashi Abdullaahi on Friday evening to forestall a political crisis which has been roundly condemned by international community.
The international community says it’s “extremely concerned” by recent political and security developments in Mogadishu that risk derailing hard-earned political, economic, and security achievements and tarnishing the reputation of Somalia. A motion to remove Jawari from office failed on March 15 to garner enough numbers to meet the 92 quorum threshold after 16 lawmakers withdrew their support in the last minute.
The impeachment motion which has been postponed thrice with anti-speaker lawmakers making efforts to attain more signatories for the vote of no confidence against the speaker. Jawari, who was re-elected in 2017 for the second term in office, has blamed the prime minister and now the president for being behind a motion of no confidence against him and has vowed to face the motion on the floor of the house if the legal requirements are met.
OPINION, ANALYSIS & CULTURE
“We used to see many people and animals dying from explosive remnants of war. We could not even build new houses because when we would start to dig the foundations, we would come across landmines that were buried there a long time ago, and this would impede building further.”
‘Increasing Awareness About Explosive Hazards Can Save Many Lives,’ Says UN Demining Agency
04 April – Source: UNSOM – 665 Words
Mukhtar Abdi was tending to his family’s goats in the southwestern Somali city of Baidoa one day when a shiny, circle-shaped metallic object caught the nine-year-old boy’s attention. “It seemed beautiful to me. I removed it from under a thorn tree and started playing with it. Unfortunately, when I banged it against that tree, it exploded,” he recounts.
Mr. Abdi survived, but he sustained severe injuries in his chest and a fractured right hand. No functioning hospital existed in Baidoa in the early 1990s, and he could only receive medical treatment at a local pharmacy. “I believe that the probability of fixing the fracture of my hand was very high at that time, but due to a lack of proper medication and personnel, my hand was amputated,” he says.
Many years of armed conflicts in Somalia have bequeathed a lethal legacy of explosive devices, including landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) which, according to the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS), affect marginalized communities in conflict-affected areas and along border regions. The threat of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the country remains an ever-present source of danger.
Almost 3,000 civilians have been killed or injured in IED incidents in Somalia over the last three years. Of these, 2017 was the deadliest, in large part due to an IED attack on 14 October in Mogadishu which killed more than 500 people and injured over 300. Children accounted for three-quarters of all casualties caused by unexploded ordnance last year. The threat posed by explosive hazards is a grim fact of life for many Somalis, causing the tragic loss of lives and livelihoods and affecting the physical and emotional well-being of people in many parts of the country. As the world prepares to observe International Mine Awareness Day on 4 April, UNMAS is highlighting how mine action operations provide a tangible form of protection, reducing the explosive threats faced by affected communities, as well as vulnerable populations such as internally displaced persons and refugees.
Abshir Mahdi Isakh is an UNMAS specialist on unexploded ordinance who educates Baidoa residents about the risks of explosive devices and carries out demining operations to help keep communities safe. “Last month, a farmer in Baidoa was trying to expand his farm. As he was trying to remove an old fence, he found a serious-looking ERW. He reported it to our office, so we went to the farm and removed it. He can now continue his work,” he says. According to UNMAS data, in 2017 alone more than 70 communities in Somalia benefitted from the clearance of explosive remnants of war in over 450 locations. Similar work is being carried out currently in more than 40 districts nationwide to rid communities of explosive hazards.
Abdinuur Moalim Abshir, a carpenter and builder by trade, lives in one of the communities which have benefitted from UNMAS activities in Baidoa and environs. “We had a big problem before demining began. We used to see many people and animals dying from explosive remnants of war. We could not even build new houses because when we would start to dig the foundations, we would come across landmines that were buried there a long time ago, and this would impede building further,” he says.
TOP TWEETS
@SomalNews: #BREAKING: Waiting press statement by the four security commanders – police, army, intel and custodial corps – at Police Headquarter regarding what happens today in parliament #Mogadishu #Somalia
@DalsanFM: BREAKING: Pro-Khaire MPs are reportedly regrouping at the Prime Minister’s residende and the SYL Hotel. Fate of motion hanging. Inside Parliament remains largely empty with the number of Police exceeding Mps.Only a handful of Pro-Jawari Mps present.
@HarunMaruf: Just in: Explosion targets military vehicle near Siinka Dheer checkpoint outside Mogadishu: reports.
@ICRC_Africa: Together with the Somali Red Crescent Society, we are working with a local radio station based in #Somalia, to encourage healthy habits that will help keep diseases like acute watery diarrhea & cholera away. http://ow.ly/3jZC30jiStg
@SomalNews:#BREAKING: Heavy security presence outside the parliament building. Scenes inside the Parliament is described as “chaotic”. #Mogadishu #Somalia
@MOALIMUU: Journalists and media workers were denied access to the parliament venue to pass the public to the information and the ongoing political deadlock they are interested to know . Security officials told they have no program for media today.
@JustinTBrady: After 17 years in Mine Action including 9 years w/ @UNMAS #IMAD2018 holds a special place in my heart. Hats off to the men and women who risk their lives on a daily basis so that others can live in safety. #Respect
@HarunMaruf: BREAKING: Legendary artist, and one of the most loved Somali singers Sahra Ahmed Jama dies after illness: Reports
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Heavily armed security forces are deployed at parliament this morning in Mogadishu, ahead of the impeachment against the Speaker of the House, Mohamed Sheikh Osman Jawari.
Photo: @DalsanFM