June 11, 2018 | Daily Monitoring Report.
Jubbaland President Visits Troops At Bar Sanguni, Site Of Recent Deadly Clashes Between Al-Shabaab And Allied Forces
11 June – Source: Hiiraan Online – 165 Words
Jubbaland President Ahmed Mohamed Islam ‘Ahmed Madobe’ has made a visit to the Bar Sanguni area, 58 km north of Kismayo, where Jubbaland forces backed by AMISOM and U.S. forces recently engaged in deadly clashes that led to the loss of several soldiers including an American officer.
Ahmed Madobe, who was dressed in military uniform, held a meeting with military commanders from the Somali National Army (SNA) and Jubbaland Darawish Forces leading the offensive. He thanked the forces for waging an offensive against the militants Al-Shabaab and encouraged them to intensify the operations aimed at liberating areas in the region under Al-Shabaab control.
He promised that the forces will receive all the support they need from his administration for the operations to continue smoothly. Meanwhile, he urged residents living in the areas to be liberated from Al-Shabaab to welcome and show support for the forces. His visit is seen as a morale boost for the troops who have recently been attacked by the militants Al-Shabaab.
Key Headlines
- Jubbaland President Visits Troops At Bar Sanguni Site Of Recent Deadly Clashes Between Al-Shabaab And Allied Forces (Hiiraan Online)
- Galmudug Officials Called To End Their Disputes (Goobjoog News)
- Tuktuk Operators Demonstrate Over Ongoing Closure Of Mogadishu Roads (Jowhar.com)
- Al-Shabaab Lays Ambush On Somali Army Base Outside Mogadishu Casualties Reported (Goobjoog News)
- Somalia To Print New Currency (The East African)
- ‘Leave Now Pay Later’ Migration Scams Lure Somali Teens To Their Deaths (Reuters)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Galmudug Officials Called To End Their Disputes
11 June – Source: Goobjoog News – 133 Words
Sultan Abdulkadir Mohamud Da’al, one of the proponents of the Galmudug administration, called on top officials to resolve their disputes. The sultan said “these are a great blow to the people of Galmudug and called on all sides to enter into dialogue in order to end the disputes.” Galmudug residents told the Sultan that they don’t want to see disputes within their government and that they need governments that work on the development of the region.
Sultan Abdi Karin said “there was a great deal of hope for the new changes in Galmudug region, after the peaceful agreement between the Galmudug government and Ahlu Sunna.” The political crisis in Galmudug has emerged following disputes over power sharing agreement with Ahlu Sunna after the federal government of Somalia has mediated to end the disputes.
Tuktuk Operators Demonstrate Over Ongoing Closure Of Mogadishu Roads
11 June – Source: Jowhar.com – 108 Words
Tuktuk operators in Mogadishu this morning held a protest over the ongoing closure of main roads in the capital. The protesters camped at the KM4 junction bringing public transport to a standstill. Security forces fired bullets to disperse them but the protesters refused to leave.
Speaking to the press, some of the demonstrators demanded the reopening of the roads and complained that President Farmaajo’s recent order to reopen the roads was not enforced. They stated the security forces temporarily open the roads in the morning and close in the afternoon. They threatened to continue with their protest unless government officials come to them and address their grievances.
Al-Shabaab Lays Ambush On Somali Army Base Outside Mogadishu, Casualties Reported
11 June – Source: Goobjoog News – 131 Words
Al-Shabaab militants attacked a military base under Somali National Army in Siinka Dheer in the outskirts of Mogadishu last night, reportedly killing two Somali soldiers and injuring several others. According to reports “Al-Shabaab militants attacked the base and engaged in heavy gun battles with the soldiers at the base.”
Al Shabaab has been driven out of some of the major strongholds by AMISOM and Somali army offensives launched last year. But the group still controls some rural areas and often launches guerrilla-style assaults and bomb attacks in military bases. Al-Shabaab carried out similar attacks two days ago at Sanguuni, Lower Shabelle region where they killed an American soldier and injured four others. The situation in Siinka Dheer has quietly come back to normal this morning with public transport operating normally.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somalia To Print New Currency
10 June – Source: The East African – 179 words
The Somali government will print new currency notes to replace the ones currently in use, official said. Finance minister Abdirahman Dualeh Beileh made the announcement in his office in Mogadishu on Saturday, where he displayed two samples of the new notes. The specimen were of the 5,000 and 10,000 shillings denominations.
“My government is determined to print new currencies of the Somali Shillings that include 5,000 and 10,000 denominations,” said Dr Beileh. The new currencies will replace the old ones that were largely out of circulation. The most readily available of the current notes are of the 1,000 shillings denomination, that have been in use for the past two decades.
Successive Somali governments have tried to introduce new currencies, but were always hindered by the debt relief conditions, imposed by the international financial institutions. Dr Beileh did not specify any date for the start of the currency printing. The Horn of Africa state has been unstable since the outbreak of the civil war and the subsequent collapse of the Siad Barre regime in 1991.
OPINION, ANALYSIS & CULTURE
“And travelling in the desert, risking your life when you come from a peaceful country is, by some elders, seen as a form of suicide.” Families who can afford to are investing in businesses for their children.”
‘Leave Now, Pay Later’ Migration Scams Lure Somali Teens To Their Deaths
11 June – Source: Reuters- 847 Words
When Hanab Ahmed’s 18-year-old son Mohammed did not come home for lunch or answer his phone, she feared that he — like several other teenagers who had disappeared from their neighbourhood — had set off for Europe, risking kidnapping and death. A month later, Ahmed, who lives in Hargeisa, the capital of the self-declared republic of Somaliland, received a call from her son who was being held for ransom by traffickers in Sudan.
“He said it was bad and that there wasn’t enough food or water and he saw people die,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, clutching a photo of her son between fingers stained orange with henna. “We sent $5,300,” she said, which she begged from relatives.
Migration is a tradition among nomadic communities in the Horn of Africa. Somalis have used smuggling networks to migrate to the Gulf and Europe for work and education since the 1970s, and later, with the outbreak of war in 1988, to seek asylum. For decades, raising money to send a relative abroad via a locally-known smuggler was seen as worthy investment in Somaliland, which declared independence from Somalia in 1991.
But it is becoming hard to distinguish between voluntary smuggling across borders and deadly trafficking — where criminals use leave-now-pay-later schemes to lure teenagers abroad, without their families’ knowledge, and hold them ransom. “They tell them they can just leave and don’t have to pay anything,” said Xiis Saleebaan Alinle, whose 17-year-old son Fadhi Hassan, left in secret almost a year ago.
“But then they trap them and beat them until we send money.” SUICIDE MISSION More than 1 million people have migrated to Europe since 2015, many fleeing conflict and poverty in Africa and the Middle East, with thousands drowning at sea. Overall numbers have declined sharply since Turkey began to exert more control over migrants trying to cross into Europe. But the long and dangerous journey, known as tahriib in Somaliland, continues to devastate communities struggling to combat recurrent drought and widespread
TOP TWEETS
@JLTVOfficial: Today in History: #Somalia‘s first president HE. Aden Abdulle handed over power in a peaceful transition after a seven-year rule. He remains symbolic of the first African president to leave office in a peaceful power transition.
@t_mcconnell: Another US casualty in #Somalia, reports@cegoldbaum
@DrBeileh: Today I chaired the weekly SMP meeting. Progress is been made & we are determined to reform for a progressive & prosperous Somalia & an empowered people.
@sntvnews1: Somali police have received equipment donated by the United Kingdom’s police through the #Somalia support. The equipment included a wide range of equipment among them; bulletproof vests, jackets and handcuffs
@EUCAPSOM: The upcoming Somali Partnership Forum that is to take place in Brussels (end of June) was one of the main topics under discussion at a meeting in the EUDEL Compound in Mogadishu on June 9th, which took place between the @EUDEL_in_Somalia, @EUTMSomalia and @EUCAPSOM.
@HarunMaruf: Quick Evacuation in Somalia Firefight Shows Disparity in U.S. Resources in Africahttps://www.nytimes.com/2018/
@EFASOMSomalia: Today the Ministry of Education of the FGS has officially launched a ceremony for the newly developed curriculum framework. The ministry has completed the lower primary text books based on the newly developed curriculum framework. It was a historic event in Mogadishu.
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Federal Government of Somalia, Ministry of Education officially launches newly developed curriculum framework.
Photo: @EFASOMSomalia