April 18, 2018 | Daily Monitoring Report
Somali President Pays Impromptu Visit At AMISOM Base In Mogadishu
18 April – Source: Halbeeg News – 254 Words
Somali President, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo has paid a surprise visit at African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) base in Mogadishu. President Farmaajo along with Somali National Army (SNA) force commander, General Abdullahi Ali Anod, Chief of Custodial, Bashir Mohamed Jama’a and other military officials, visited Jalle Siad Military Academy, which host AMISOM’s Burundi contingent.
AU Special Representative for Somalia, Ambassador Francisco Madeira received the President and the delegates at the base. “I received the President of the Federal Republic of Somalia accompanied by senior defence & SNA officials, during his impromptu visit at Jalle Siad Military Academy (Siad Barre Military Academy)” Ambassador Madeira said in a twitter post. The president inspected different departments of the base which is scheduled to be base for SNA. “President Farmaajo visited the academy to inspect the facilities, to see how the academy can be used by trained Somali troops as AMISOM prepares & implements a phased & condition-based transition of security responsibility to the Somali National Security Forces,” Ambassador Madeira explained.
The president meet with AMISOM officials where they discussed on wide range of issues including security, transitional plan and SNA support. “President Farmaajo interacted with AMISOM troops and expressed gratitude, on behalf of the Somali people for the good work AMISOM is doing in Somalia, and encouraged the troops to continue with the good work in securing the country and support to SNA troops,” he noted. The African Union is planning to end more than 10 years of peacekeeping mission in Horn of African nation at the end of 2020.
Key Headlines
- Somali President Pays Impromptu Visit At AMISOM Base In Mogadishu (Halbeeg News)
- Two Government Soldiers Shot Dead Near Mogadishu (Shabelle News)
- Minister Beileh Discusses With World Bank And IMF On Somalia’s Fiscal And Economic Progress (Halbeeg News)
- Sierra Leone Deploys 160 Police Officers To Somalia (AMISOM)
- Is Qatar Taking Advantage Of Somalia – UAE Dispute? (Africa News)
- From Refugee Camp Young Somali Hopes To Attend Princeton (Voice of America)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Two Government Soldiers Shot Dead Near Mogadishu
18 April – Source: Shabelle News – 137 Words
A witness says at least two Somali government soldiers were shot and killed by armed assailants on the outskirts of Mogadishu, the Somali capital on Tuesday night. Two men armed with pistols have gunned down the soldiers at a tea shop in Arbiska area, located near Mogadishu and fled the scene before the security forces arrived.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the assassinations but, such attacks targeting government security force members are often carried out by Al-Shabaab. In a separate incident, Somali troops nabbed a man suspected of planting a landmine at Bood-Bood village, which lies around Afgoye town in Lower Shabelle region on Wednesday. Somali army has intensified offensive against Al-Shabaab in the region over the past few months as part of the government’s plan to flush out the militants from the entire country.
Minister Beileh Discusses With World Bank And IMF On Somalia’s Fiscal And Economic Progress
18 April – Source: Halbeeg News – 313 Words
Somali Minister for Finance, Dr. Abdirahman Beileh on Wednesday held discussions with officials from World Bank and IMF in Washington of United States. During the Spring Meetings between Somali delegates and World Bank together with IMF country teams, the leaders focused on Somalia’s fiscal and economic process in recent months. Beileh has commended the two agencies’ commitment to support Somali government which struggles to revive its defunct infrastructures. “(I) Had fruitful discussions on Somalia’s fiscal & economic progress with World Bank & IMF country teams during the Spring Meetings. grateful to both partners for the continuous support. We all agreed Somali is heading in the right direction,” said Beileh in a post on his Twitter account.
Somalia has succeeded to fulfill $42 million income target set by IMF late last year following years of economic setbacks caused by lack of transparency and mismanagement of Public funds. Early this month, Beileh said his ministry marvelously succeeded to collect the highest revenues in a single quarter of a year for the first time since the fall of Somali central government two decades ago. The ministry raised $42 million USD in domestic revenues following successful efforts to increase the sales taxes and other income revenues.
International Monetary fund last year praised the government’s commitment to carry out fiscal reforms saying the country’s latest budget met IMF terms. The agency launched staff-monitored programme and adherence to the agency’s fiscal framework which opens doors to grants and concessional funding from International financial institutions, thanks to the competence of the finance ministry. The country’s last year budget approved by the parliament was standing at $274 million USD, the highest since Somalia adopted federalism. Under tight scrutiny, the country is recovering slowly from two decades old civil war, plans to pay external debt of about $5.2 billion, according to IMF. Somalia has not made a service or amortization payment since 1990s.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Sierra Leone Deploys 160 Police Officers To Somalia
18 April – Source: AMISOM – 446 Words
A contingent of 145 police officers from Sierra Leone arrived in Somalia yesterday as part of a surge capacity that will implement policing programmes in south central Somalia. All the 145 officers from the Formed Police Unit (FPU), travelled to the port city of Kismayo to join an advance team of 15 officers who had arrived earlier. This is Sierra Leone’s biggest police contingent to Somalia since it started deploying peacekeepers to the Horn of Africa country. The additional officers have been deployed in response to the United Nations Security Council Resolution adopted in 2017, which approved an increase to a maximum of 1,040, in the number of police officers serving under the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).
The additional officers will start supporting their Somali counterparts in keeping law and order in the outstations of the Jubbaland Administration. “Their coming is going to be a boost to the Jubbaland State Police Force. In 2016, we trained 600 police officers in Jubbaland and the Sierra Leone FPU will help them build and empower their policing operations,” Ms. Christine Alalo, the Acting AMISOM Police Commissioner, who received the contingent at the airport said. She thanked the Sierra Leonean government for deploying the extra officers to Somalia to help with stabilization efforts. According to Alalo, the FPU officers will play a critical role in ensuring improved security in liberated areas.
Is Qatar Taking Advantage Of Somalia – UAE Dispute?
17 April – Source: Africa News – 334 Words
As Somalia seeks to ease tensions with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar which is seen to be at the center of the fallout of the two nations, has donated 30 buses and two cranes to Mogadishu regional officials. Relations between UAE and Somalia have been steadily declining since the latter’s decision not to cut ties with Qatar, preferring to take a neutral position in the dispute between Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
In March, Somalia banned UAE’s DP World from doing business in the country after it nullified an agreement the company had entered into with Ethiopia and Somaliland for the management of Berbera port. One week ago, Somalia intercepted a plane chartered by UAE diplomats and confiscated $9.6m cash, saying it would investigate the intended purpose of the funds. UAE retaliated with a scathing statement describing the seizure of the money as a breach of diplomatic protocols. Both countries have separately issued statements ending a military cooperation program that was started in 2014, where UAE was training and paying some members of the Somali army.
OPINION, ANALYSIS & CULTURE
“The words I write may travel all around the world, but I am confined to the refugee camp where I was born. I can’t move freely in Kenya; I need a permit to leave Dadaab. My whole life, it seems, I’ve been living the American dream. I just don’t know how much longer I can bear to live it outside of America.”
From Refugee Camp, Young Somali Hopes To Attend Princeton
17 April – Source: Voice of America – 714 Words
Asad Hussein is a 22-year-old refugee. Last August, he got onto the back of a truck in Dadaab, Kenya. He sat down with other passengers among food supplies being driven to Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital. The truck went across the desert and deep into an area controlled by supporters of the al-Shabab extremist group. On his way to Mogadishu, Hussein got the chance to see where his father grew up. Now, Asad Hussein is preparing for another trip. He was recently accepted at one of the world’s most famous schools. He is making plans to attend Princeton University in the United States.
Life in a refugee camp; Asad Hussein was born in Dadaab, one of the world’s largest refugee camps, in 1996. His parents and older sister had fled the unrest in Somalia five years earlier in search of a new life. Dadaab was meant to be a temporary stop, but became the family’s home. In 2005, Hussein’s sister, Maryan, immigrated to the United States with her husband and son. It took 11 years for her and her brother to reunite.
Hussein told VOA’s Somali service that the life in Dadaab is “basically stranded.” You are not permitted to work or to do anything as a refugee, “and the word ‘refugee’ comes with so many restrictions,” he said. Even with those limitations, Hussein said, people had to make lives for themselves. They had escaped war, and they were prepared to keep on going. People told Hussein that one way to a better life was education. He kept the words in mind, and has been trying to get into a university for three years after finished high school in 2014.
Princeton has been among the U.S. colleges and universities trying to increase the number of students from different ethnic groups. That includes welcoming students with good grades who, like Hussein, may not have enough money to pay for college. Hussein said he has been offered a full scholarship of $70,010 from the university for the next school year. In Princeton’s Class of 2021, 13 percent of the students are from outside the United States. They include representatives of 11 African nations.
Last month, Princeton’s president, Christopher L. Eisgruber, wrote a letter to the university community. He wrote that the school has depended on “the talent and contributions of newcomers to this country” since it was founded in 1746. Last week, Princeton joined 30 other U.S. colleges and universities in questioning the Trump administration’s declaration to restrict immigration from several Muslim-majority countries.
TOP TWEETS
@Halbeeg_News: Minister Beileh Discusses With World Bank and IMF on Somalia’s Fiscal and Economic Progresshttps://en.halbeeg.com/2018/
@sa_poptart: Poet Nacima Abwaan Qorane has been jailed for three years for her poems advocating for Somalia reunificationhttp://www.bbc.com/news/world-
@AbdulBillowAli: “On one night while Naima Qorane was in [police] detention in #Hargeisa, two hooded men entered her cell and threatened that they will rape her if she would not provide passwords of her mobile phone and her social media pages particularly her Facebook”.
@IlyaGridneff: BREAKING: Kazakhstan has sent funds to AMISOM for the “construction of 16 boreholes in Somalia,” more specifically Bele-Amin outside Jowhar
@RadioErgo: Child Polio vaccination campaign in Mogadishu – some parents consent, others still resisthttp://www.radioergo.org/2018/
@mpfsomalia: We’re in Washington this week for#SpringMeetings! Kicking off with the country team meeting with@DrBeileh and @somalia_mfmr
IMAGE OF THE DAY
AMISOM Deputy Police Commissioner, Christine Alalo, receive newly deployed Sierra Leonean Formed Police Unit (FPU) officers at Aden Cabdulle International Airport in Mogadishu.
Photo: AMISOM/Ilyas Ahmed