June 29, 2018 | Daily Monitoring Report
President Farmaajo Begins Negotiation Efforts To Mediate Galmudug Leaders
29 June – Source: Jowhar.com – 245 Words
President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmaajo has kicked off negotiation efforts to mediate between Galmudug leaders who are once again embroiled in a political stalemate over power-sharing arrangement as well as the Djibouti agreement between Galmudug State and the Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama’a (ASWJ) paramilitary group. Galmudug leaders, including President Ahmed Du’ale Geelle Haaf, his deputy Mohamed Hashi Arrabey and Speaker Ali Ga’al Asir, arrived in Mogadishu a couple of days ago following an official invitation from the Federal Government aimed at ending the political dispute.
Sources close to Villa Somalia say President Farmaajo met both sides in closed-door meetings. President Haaf of Galmudug reportedly expressed his frustration to President Farmaajo over suspicion that the Federal Government was involved in the Galmudug leadership crisis and reminded the President the need for top government officials to stay neutral and stop meddling in the Galmudug disputes.
Separately, Deputy President Arrabey and Speaker Asir dismissed President Haaf’s allegation against the government and instead emphasized no other group apart from their faction and that of President Haaf are involved in the crisis. They stated they were opposed to some of the changes made to the State’s constitution and violations of the Galmudug-ASWJ agreement in Djibouti. Meanwhile, the Chief Minister of Galmudug Sheikh Mohamed Shakir is expected to arrive in Mogadishu to join in the talks aimed at reconciling the Galmudug leaders. The Galmudug leaders embroiled in the dispute have lately been operating from different bases in Adado and Dhusamarreb respectively.
Key Headlines
- President Farmaajo Begins Negotiation Efforts To Mediate Galmudug Leaders (Jowhar.com)
- Jubbaland Readies An Anti-Al-Shabaab Push Says Minister (Shabelle Media)
- Somali Cabinet Endorses Establishment Of A National Agency For Persons With Disabilities (Jowhar.com)
- Somali National Charged With Assault On Wajir Politician Denied Permission To Leave Kenya (The Star)
- A Former Somali Refugee Warns: Trump’s Travel Ban Is Creating A More Perfect Division (The Washington Post)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Jubbaland Readies An Anti-Al-Shabaab Push, Says Minister
28 June – Source: Shabelle Media – 108 Words
Jubbaland administration in southern Somalia announced it has mobilized hundreds of troops for fresh offensives against the Al Qaeda-linked Al Shabaab militants. Jubbaland Security Minister Abdirashid Janan said the new offensive is aimed at liberating areas remaining under the control of Al-Shabaab, mainly Gedo and Jubba regions. Janan added the operation will be rolled out in the coming weeks with the support of Somali and African Union forces in the region.
Jubbaland has previously announced similar operations to take back Al-Shabaab’s strongholds. Al-Shabaab maintains it holds the whole of Middle Jubba region and other large swathes of land in Lower Jubba and Gedo provinces in southwest of Somalia.
Somali Cabinet Endorses Establishment Of A National Agency For Persons With Disabilities
29 June – Source: Jowhar.com – 95 Words
The Council of MInisters has approved a bill seeking the establishment of the National Agency for Persons with Disabilities in Somalia. The bill was presented before the Cabinet by the Ministry of Women and Human Rights.
The Ministry has hailed the approval of the bill as a huge milestone as people with disabilities in Somalia will finally have a voice and an advocate agency to help them demand for equal participation in nation-building. Deputy Information Minister, Adan Ishaq, said the approved bill specifies the rights and the care required by people with special needs.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somali National Charged With Assault On Wajir Politician Denied Permission To Leave Kenya
29 June – Source: The Star – 365 Words
Somali national accused of beating up a Wajir politician outside a Mosque in Eastleigh will go on trial before travelling out of the country. Jamal Mohammed had asked senior resident magistrate Eunice Kimaiyo to release his passport to enable him to travel to the UK to have a kid with his wife through surrogate.
During the hearing on Friday, prosecution counsel Daniel King’ori opposed his application stating that he did not prove that he was a businessman and a frequent visitor to the country: “Your honour if the accused person is allowed to travel, he might not return as he faces a serious offence that if found guilty, he risks a life sentence jail term maximum”, King’ori told the court.
The prosecution expressed that Jamal’s application was a delay tactic of the hearing that was so close to being heard. Jamal claims that he wants to have a kid with his wife through a surrogate in the UK. The prosecution added that the suspect is in no way involved in the said procedure as he has not shown any documents to prove in court. Jamal, however, said he was not a flight risk as he had another wife in the country.
In his application, he had pleaded with the court to release his passport saying that his wife was in the UK and they have been trying to conceive a baby through natural means for years but in vain. He claimed they had scheduled a procedure medically to be done in the UK and were to meet the surrogate mother on June 21.
Jamal who is also an American citizen is charged with assaulting and causing grievous harm to a former Wajir south aspirant Hussein Muhamed. He allegedly committed the offence on September 17 at Eastleigh 7th street in Kamukunji. He was also charged with being in Kenya illegally.
OPINION, ANALYSIS & CULTURE
“After a string of violent robberies, one of which nearly took my father’s life, my mother knew our family — like many others — had to leave Mogadishu. We followed a beaten path, one trekked by those who sought a second chance at life, to a refugee camp in Kenya. The journey was fraught with danger; any Somalis who were captured faced potential imprisonment, but that did not stop my family.”
A Former Somali Refugee Warns: Trump’s Travel Ban Is Creating A More Perfect Division
29 June – Source: The Washington Post – 504 Words
When the Supreme Court decided to uphold President Trump’s travel ban on travelers from five Muslim-majority countries, Trump called the ruling, “a tremendous victory for the American people and our Constitution.” As a former refugee from Somali — one of the seven countries included in the ban — I cannot reconcile the American Dream with our current reality. Perhaps this is because I can still remember a time when that dream was all that my family and I had.
It was 1991 when the Somali civil war enveloped our native city of Mogadishu. My family sharply remembers this period, when streets once filled with hope began to harbor masked men carrying assault weapons, who terrorized citizens in their homes. These men worked to liberate themselves, while enslaving their own people. “We slept with an unexplainable fear,” my mother recently told me. “All we wanted was to be free.”
After a string of violent robberies, one of which nearly took my father’s life, my mother knew our family — like many others — had to leave Mogadishu. We followed a beaten path, one trekked by those who sought a second chance at life, to a refugee camp in Kenya. The journey was fraught with danger; any Somalis who were captured faced potential imprisonment, but that did not stop my family. We were propelled by our fundamental beliefs in liberty, equality, and freedom from tyranny — beliefs that were born in a distant country but were quintessentially American.
Twenty years later, it seems those fundamental ideals are in peril. Our president has made it clear that he seeks to advance an agenda of disdain and exclusion for Somalis, Muslims and other minority groups. In a 2016 campaign speech in Minneapolis, Trump darkly forecast his beliefs about the Somali people, claiming that Minnesota had “suffered enough” from accepting Somali immigrants into their state. Trump warned that a Somali immigrant who had recently gone on a stabbing rampage in Minnesota was a sign of a larger problem caused by “faulty refugee vetting.”
At a rally in Mount Pleasant, S.C., in December 2015, he proudly read a statement that his campaign had released that day: “Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on.”
As a U.S. citizen, I cannot ignore such explicit evidence of discrimination from our president. To believe this policy is independent of his previous words is simply foolish. From its inception, this travel ban has been riddled with injustice, but it continues to be excused under the guise of “national security.” We must be honest with ourselves. Policies like this travel ban don’t protect us; they change us. We have reached a pivotal moment in our history, when American ideals no longer align with the actions taken by our government. As a nation, we must measure ourselves against our core founding principles: Are we still the land of the free, for all?
TOP TWEETS
@SC_Somalia: Heavy Gu’ rains displaced thousands of people in Belet Weyne and in surrounding riverine villages. Save the Children with the support of partners provided immediate support to those affected @EU_in_Somalia @europeaid@IRF_UK https://bit.ly/2KltKaR
@ChismaioCity: #Kismayo: 12 Alshabab militants including low-level commander have surrendered to Government troops in Baar Sanguni.
#Jubbaland forces & SNA, backed by AU troops have been conducting operations in Lower jubba region pushing the militants from their main strongholds. #Somalia
@Jowharcom: Security Sector Reform in Somalia: A Disaster in the Making by hanad – http://tinyurl.com/y7omygve
@UNSomalia: On #TubtaNabadda: Mr. AbdiKani Said Arab, President of the #Somali Football Federation & @BloomfieldStalk about football’s positive role in the #peacemaking process in#Somalia. #WorldCup
https://bit.ly/2KxVHrR
@HarunMaruf: #Somalia: Puntland regional admin has merged two security agencies – Puntland Intel Agency (PIA), and Puntland Security Service (PSS) to create one big agency known as the Puntland Intel and Security Agency (PISA). Move comes after recent sacking of intel and security chiefs.
@amisomsomalia: Head of #AMISOM assesses ongoing arrangements being made by the Federal Government of#Somalia, for the transfer of security responsibilities during his three-day visit in #Kismayo and #Baidoa. http://bit.ly/2KhRDzW
IMAGE OF THE DAY
The Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (SRCC) for Somalia, Ambassador Francisco Madeira inspects a parade mounted by Kenyan military officers serving under the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) during a visit to Kismaayo.
Photo: AMISOM