April 18, 2018 | Morning Headlines
Somalia’s Puntland Region Asks UAE To Stay As Gulf Split Deepens
17 April – Source: Reuters – 414 Words
The dispute goes to the heart of an increasingly troubled relationship between Gulf states – divided by their own disputes – and fractured Somalia, whose coastline sits close to key shipping routes and across the water from Yemen. Analysts have said the complex standoff risks exacerbating an already explosive security situation on both sides of the Gulf of Aden, where militant groups launch regular attacks.
The central Somali government said on Wednesday it was taking over a military training program run by the UAE. Days later the UAE announced it was pulling out, accusing Mogadishu of seizing millions of dollars from a plane, money it said was meant to pay soldiers. “We ask our UAE friends, not only to stay, but to redouble their efforts in helping Somalia stand on its feet,” said the office of the president of Puntland, a territory that sits on the tip of the Horn of Africa looking out over the Gulf of Aden. Ending UAE support, “will only help our enemy, particularly Al Shabaab and ISIS (Islamic State),” it added late on Monday.
The UAE is one of a number of Gulf powers that have opened bases along the coast of the Horn of Africa and promised investment and donations as they compete for influence in the insecure but strategically important region. That competition has been exacerbated by a diplomatic rift between Qatar and a bloc including the UAE.
Key Headlines
- Somalia’s Puntland Region Asks UAE To Stay As Gulf Split Deepens (Reuters)
- Qatar Donates 30 Buses To Somali Government (Halbeeg News)
- Small Grants Bring New Livelihoods To IDP Families In Galguduud (Radio Ergo)
- Ugandan Troops Feted By AMISOM For Distinguished Service (AMISOM)
- Japan Gives US$3 Million To Keep Somalia’s Drought Affected Children Healthy In School And Protected (Reliefweb)
- Naima Qorane’s Unjust Sentence: A Combination Of An Oppressive Regime Silent Human Rights Organization and Inexperienced Defence Lawyers (Wardheer News)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Qatar Donates 30 Buses To Somali Government
17 April – Source: Halbeeg News – 202 Words
Qatar government on Tuesday donated 30 new buses to be used to expand the work of the local governments across the country. In the handing over ceremony held in Mogadishu, officials from Qatar government handed over the keys of the vehicles and their logbooks to Somali officials.
According to Somali government, 17 of the buses will be given to Mogadishu local government; of which will be used in facilitation of the government works in the seventeen districts of the capital. The other remaining thirteen buses will be divided among the regional states. Neither the government nor Qatar had announced the value of the buses donated to Somalia.
Mogadishu local government in collaboration with the federal government has been charting up plans, to revive municipal bus transportation for the first time over two decades. Qatar is one of Somalia’s political and economic ally. The Gulf country provided millions of USD in aid and investments in the recent year.
In February, Qatar handed over 30 new brand Toyota land-cruisers to Somali police force. Following last year agreement between Somalia and the government of Qatar, the Gulf nation will soon implement $200 million deal, that will go towards the reconstruction of roads and government institutions.
Small Grants Bring New Livelihoods To IDP Families In Galguduud
17 April – Source: Radio Ergo – 281 Words
Mohamud Ali, 43, opened a food stall place selling fresh fruit juices and basic dried food items, with a $500 cash grant he received last month from Danish Refugee Council (DRC), as part of a job creation project. The income of $2-3 a day has enabled his wife to cook three meals a day for their four children for the first time since they came to Kheyre IDP camp in Abudwak, Galgadud, around a year ago.
They had been depending on irregular aid handouts and money from relatives and friends. They migrated to Abudwak in early 2017 at the height of the drought, after losing their 200 goats in Dhaqayabor, on the Somali-Ethiopian region. Around 450 other families have benefited from the project in Abudwak and Guriel, according to Abullahi Elmi Ali, head of the local DRC office. Most have set up small business such as shops or eating places, livestock sales, and tailoring. The local administration and the IDP camp leaders identified those who were struggling most to take part in the scheme. They participated in a three day training workshop before setting receiving a grant.
Maryan Barre Diiriye, a mother of eight, used her startup grant to open a stall outside Siligle IDP camp selling vegetables, meat and sometimes livestock. She told Radio Ergo she does not have any plans of returning to the rural area as their entire herd of 300 goats died. For the first time, she has enrolled four of her children in school, using her own income to pay the $5 monthly fees for each of them. There was no school in their home Goofado village, in the rural area between Hiran and Galgadud regions.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Ugandan Troops Feted By AMISOM For Distinguished Service
17 April – Source: AMISOM – 617 Words
A contingent of Ugandan soldiers has been feted by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) for distinguished service, at a medal awards ceremony held in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu. The soldiers, who have completed their tour of duty, are part of battle group 21 of the Uganda People’s Defence Force who were tasked with securing Mogadishu and neighbouring regions.
The AMISOM Deputy Force Commander in charge of Support and Logistics, Maj. Gen. Salvator Harushimana, while commending the outgoing troops, reiterated the commitment of the African Union towards ensuring a safer and stable Somalia. He lauded he troops for performing their duties with diligence. “During their stay, they performed their duties with dedication and a high level of professionalism. They did not only represent Uganda well but also made the African Continent proud,” Maj. Gen. Harushimana noted.
The Deputy Force Commander said the battle group participated in many operations, ranging from conducting combat operations against the Al-Shabaab to securing the Main Supply Routes, by conducting regular patrols and escorting vehicles carrying humanitarian relief aid. Uganda’s Deputy Ambassador to Somalia, Maj. General Nathan Mugisha, who was the chief guest at the medal awards ceremony, called for more investment in social amenities critical for the survival of the populations to help supplement efforts being made by the military to stabilize the country.
Japan Gives US$3 Million To Keep Somalia’s Drought Affected Children Healthy, In School And Protected
17 April – Source: Reliefweb – 270 Words
The Government of Japan is providing generous funding to UNICEF to support children with proper sanitation facilities in schools, keep them in education and provide abused women and children with support services, UNICEF said today. The US$3 million grant will, over the course of the next year, help some of the communities worst affected by the prolonged drought in central and southern regions of Somalia.
Somalia is still facing an ongoing malnutrition and displacement crisis, with 2.8 million children in urgent need of humanitarian assistance due to failure of successive rainy seasons. The coping mechanisms of the population have been weakened and the threat of famine could rapidly reappear without continued support from key donors such as Japan. The drought has meant widespread use of contaminated water, which in turn has led to disease outbreaks including Acute Watery Diarrhoea/cholera that affected tens of thousands in 2017 and is on the rise again this year.
Part of the Japanese funding will provide 10,000 children in 50 schools with a package of services. The school latrines will be rehabilitated or constructed, safe drinking water provided and hygiene education undertaken. Japan’s funding will be also used to establish temporary spaces or rehabilitate classrooms in the 50 schools, targeting areas with high IDP influx. Emergency cash grants will fund lunches and snacks at the schools, so that families have an incentive to keep children in school, while children who are out of school will be encouraged to join.
Japan is also the largest donor to UNICEF’s gender-based violence programme in Somalia. The new funding will be used to monitor grave child rights violations, as well as provide support to 1,250 survivors of abuse, and to children who were previously involved with armed groups. “This emergency education package, generously funded by Japan, promotes schools as places for the most vulnerable children to receive life-saving and life-sustaining services,” said UNICEF Somalia Representative Steven Lauwerier. “We also need to keep providing child protection services to the most marginalized children. UNICEF is the largest provider of emergency child protection and Gender Based Violence services in Somalia. It is thanks to donors such as Japan we can continue and scale up this crucial work.”
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“She suffered physical and verbal abuse and may have been exposed to ailments induced by the unhygienic conditions of her incarceration. Her jailers tried to break her into confessing to fabricated crimes against Somaliland and to drop her calls for a united Somalia.”
Naima Qorane’s Unjust Sentence: A Combination Of An Oppressive Regime, Silent Human Rights Organization and Inexperienced Defence Lawyers
17 April – Source: Wardheer News – 1238 Words
Legal equality, political freedom and rule of law have been identified as important characteristics of democracy. Democratic states value freedom of speech which is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or sanction.
Somaliland is a separatist enclave ruled by a former colonel in the old Somali army under strongman Mohamed Siyad Barre who was overthrown in 1991 by rebel movements. Muse Bihi Abdi, the current president of Somaliland, used to be a member of the Somali National Movement (SNM) that took up arms against the Somali government under the pretext of being denied legal equality, political freedom and freedom of speech by the regime he served for a considerable time before he joined the rebel movement. It is ironic that his regime stands accused of violating all these principles.
After the collapse of the central government in Mogadishu and to appeal to western donors, Somaliland formed three parties based on clan affiliations and held elections monitored by sympathetic observers who overlooked the many flaws in the system which many believe is not based on genuine democratic principles. Democracy is not about holding elections only. As a matter of fact, Somaliland violates most of its principles. Like dictatorships, the Somaliland administration uses armed units to arrest perceived dissidents in the middle of the night without court warrants. Journalists are routinely thrown in jail if they displease the Somaliland leaders.
Many believe that the latest elections were marred by deliberate and flagrant vote rigging and widespread fraud that prompted Somaliland intellectuals in the Diaspora to form a government in exile known as the United States of Somaliland under the leadership of Mr. Mustapha Martin, a resident of Minnesota in the United States. His call for a democratic state built upon equality and real democratic principles have received widespread support among the Somaliland Diaspora.
Naima Qorane is a young poet who grew up in Somaliland despite having deep roots in the Ethiopian occupied Western regions of Somalia known to many as the Ogaden region. Although the region is inhabited by ethnic Somalis, the British decided to hand it over to Ethiopia well before it granted Somaliland its independence in 1960. The 1977 war between Somalia and Ethiopia broke out over the Ogaden region.
The Ogaden region is famous for being the cradle of Somali poetry and many well-known poets were born there. Young Naima’s father is a poet in his own right. Naima took after her father and started reciting poetry from a young age. Her poetry is largely about Somali Unity and the need for a strong central authority instead of weak federal states that challenge the authority of the central government in Mogadishu.