June 7, 2018 | Morning Headlines

Former Somali MP Shot Dead In Mogadishu

06 June – Source: Radio Dalsan – 102 Words

Unknown gunmen on Wednesday evening shot dead a former Somali lawmaker at his home in Mogadishu’s Hodan district, according to reports. According to residents, three armed men raided the former MP Hussein Ghedi Jimale’s home, shooting him several times before fleeing the scene.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, although similar assassinations have in the past been blamed on militant group Al-Shabaab. There have been at least 18 similar killings since the beginning of the month of Ramadan. Recently, the militant group released its first ever video featuring its assassin unit that operates in Mogadishu and neighbouring Lower Shabelle region.

Key Headlines

• Former Somali MP Shot Dead In Mogadishu (Radio Dalsan)
• Somali Students’ Exams Disrupted By The Floods (Radio Ergo)
• Somali Military Court Calls for Probe into Civilian Casualty Caused By SNA Rival Clashes (Halbeeg News)
• Blast Kills 5 Kenyan Security Officers In Border Region (Xinhua)
• Pathways For Peace: Reflections From Somalia (World Bank)

NATIONAL MEDIA

Somali Students’ Exams Disrupted By The Floods

06 June – Source: Radio Ergo – 341 Words

Abdirisak Adan, 22, lost all his school books in the floods that struck Beletweyne in southern Somalia, leaving him and his seven-member family displaced. He is one of the 1,000 or more students in Beledweyne who missed the planned government-administered Unified National Examinations due to be held in early May. These exams are crucial for gaining entrance to university. Abdirisak, who was in form four at Sheikh Mohamed Maalin secondary school, had to leave everything behind when they moved quickly to higher ground at Buundo-weyn on 25 April, just 10 days before the exams that he hoped would usher him into university. Abdirisak said he had been studying hard and is extremely worried that he will not be well prepared when the exams are rescheduled later on. The flooding Shabelle river displaced people including students from all four districts of Beledweyne. Most of them are now internally displaced in El-Jalle, 12 km northeast of the town, either camping out or living with relatives like Abdirisak’s family. All the schools closed after they were flooded by the river water.

One of the schools has subsequently dried but all the classrooms are clogged with slippery wet mud. Middle school students like Miski Ali Elmi, 17, also missed their final exams that pave the way for before joining secondary schools. Miski and her family are now living with relatives in El-Gaal area. She said she managed to protect all her books and has been using the extra time to study. She is ready to return to school as soon as they are asked to come for the exams. The director of the Formal Private Education Network in Somalia (FPENS), Professor Ahmed Dhaqane, said 14,000 students in 10 schools in Beletweyne have been out of classes for a month and half due to the floods. Professor Dhaqane noted that the students will be able to sit for the exams when the floods subside and normal life resumes. They will communicate to the students the new schedule and the dates of the exams.

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Somali Military Court Calls for Probe into Civilian Casualty Caused By SNA Rival Clashes

06 June – Source: Halbeeg News – 204 Words

The Somali Military on Wednesday called for an investigation into the civilian casualty caused by clashes between rival army soldiers in the Somali capital city, Mogadishu. An unknown number of civilians were killed and others sustained injuries after the government forces engaged in armed conflicts in and around Mogadishu in recent months. The chairperson of Somali Military first degree court, Hassan Ali But Shute has directed the judiciary department to launch an investigation into the collateral damages caused by clashes between army soldiers. “I hereby direct the prosecutors to investigate the cases of those killed in clashes between army forces,” he ordered.

Shute termed the clashes of the rival army groups inside the city as unacceptable. “In fact, it is unacceptable to shed blood of the public. We need someone to be held accountable,” he said. The chairperson said soldiers involving the clashes will be held accountable for the crimes committed. “We need to bring those who committed the crimes against the civilians before the justice,” he said. Two people including a female student were killed last week after rival Somali National Army forces engaged in gun battle in Mogadishu. The government has not yet arrested any soldiers for the crime committed.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Blast Kills 5 Kenyan Security Officers In Border Region

06 June – Source: Xinhua – 283 Words

Five Kenyan paramilitary police officers were killed and three others were seriously injured when their vehicle ran over an improvised explosive device (IED) near the Kenya-Somalia border early Wednesday. Garissa County Commissioner Joshua Chepchieng said the 8:30 a.m. incident happened as the officers were on en route to Liboi in Garissa County, eastern Kenya. “It is true that we have lost our officers this morning in the unfortunate incident,” Chepchieng told Xinhua in Garissa. He said the incident happened when the officers were carrying out normal border patrols aboard Landcruiser vehicle towards Liboi from their camp. Their vehicle is said to have rolled several times.

The deaths were the latest and came after a long lull from terror-related incidents that have been experienced in the area at large. Witnesses said the explosion badly damaged the vehicle killing the five. The three who survived were badly wounded. They were all from Harhar General Service Unit camp. North Eastern Regional Coordinator Mohamud Saleh confirmed the incident and added that more personnel had been sent to the area to pursue the attackers. “There was an IED that affected a police vehicle and we are still assessing the scene,” Saleh said. Residents said there were indications of imminent attacks in the area after reporting to authorities of movements that indicated al-Shabab terror group was planning an attack.

The latest incident came after the police had issued a security alert over possible attacks in the country by the Somalia based terror group during the Ramadan season. Improvised explosive devices are common in the northern and eastern Kenya targeting security officers and civilians especially after Kenyan soldiers crossed into southern Somalia in 2011 to pursue al-Shabab militants.

OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE

“Somali women have similarly played important roles in building peace, using their positions in communities to foster dialogue and reconciliation between conflicting groups.”

Pathways For Peace: Reflections From Somalia

06 June – Source: World Bank – 809 Words

Earlier this spring, I was invited to participate in the launch of Pathways for Peace, an important study jointly developed by the UN and World Bank. Based on extensive research of what has ‘worked’ in different countries, the study sets out recommendations for how development processes can better interact with security, diplomacy, mediation, and other efforts to prevent conflicts from becoming violent. Addressing exclusion, including of women and youth, is central to these efforts. The study features many useful insights and points to valuable initiatives for a wide range of contexts. From the perspective of Somalia and my experience as Minister of Women and Human Rights Development, three key messages and three next steps are particularly important: First, Pathways for Peace aims to shift our focus towards preventing conflict – rather than responding once lives have been destroyed. Representing a people who experience the enormous costs of conflict every day, my government knows that this is not only the smart thing but also the right thing to do. The increased momentum this report can generate for all actors to work together to prevent such suffering in the future gives me real hope for Somalia and for our globe.
Second, the study calls for deeper partnerships between all international actors to advance national pathways to peace. This will make an important difference in Somalia. We have been able to work with a wide range of international partners. However, a lack of coordination has often meant that this support is less than the sum of its parts. Finally, the report establishes that preventing conflict means investing in inclusion and participation of women and youth. This link is paramount in Somalia: more than two-thirds of our population is young men and women. During recent droughts, the disastrous October 2017 terrorist attack in our capital and many other occasions, they have demonstrated their immense capacities to forge our country’s pathway to peace with great energy and innovation. Somali women have similarly played important roles in building peace, using their positions in communities to foster dialogue and reconciliation between conflicting groups. Women’s organisations also make critical contributions to the delivery of essential services, including healthcare, education and trade. During conflict, women provided the backbone of our economy. In view of these capacities, it is clear that “Peace, stability and development can only be efficiently achieved by addressing the obstacles women face to fully contribute to their country’s development,” as our National Development Plan highlights.

Somalia’s recent history also shows that real progress on inclusion is possible even in the most challenging situations. Under the leadership of my Ministry, an Independent Human Rights Commission has been established through an inclusive and transparent process. Our 2016 elections, in turn, enabled women to take up 24 % of seats in parliament, up from 14 % in previous elections. As Deputy Chair of the 2016 Federal Indirect Electoral Team (FIET) I was able to directly support this achievement, and my Ministry is eager to do the same looking ahead. Going forward, we must ensure that preventing conflict does not become a new ‘project’ but a shift in our entire approach to fragile situations. An approach that is inclusive, sustained and focused on the potential of states and societies to develop their own pathways to peace.