July 11, 2018 | Morning Headlines
Civil Aviation Director Sacked Amid Controversy
10 July – Source: Garowe Online – 280 Words
Somalia’s Aviation and Air Transport Minister, Mohamed Abdullahi Salad, has sacked the country’s Aviation Managing Director, Yusuf Abdi Abdulle. The minister announced the dismissal through a statement dated 9th July 2018, stating that the decision was made after seeing the need for transformation of the agency’s services.
However, no reason was given for the sacking of the Director of Somali Civil Aviation and Meteorology Authority (SCAMA). The sacking curiously comes hours after Somali Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire fired the Minister for Religious Affairs, Hassan Moalim Hussein.
SCAMA is the national civil aviation authority body based at the Aden Adde International in Mogadishu and which is currently preparing to control the Horn of Africa nation’s airspace after decades of conflict. Abdulle, who is said to be a close ally to Somali President, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo, has been replaced by his deputy, Ahmed Moalim Hassan, in an acting capacity. Sources revealed to Garowe Online that the Religious Affairs minister; was removed from office for allegedly striking a secret deal with private airline companies to provide flight services to Hajj Pilgrims.
The sacked minister, who is also a member of the Lower House Chamber of Somali Federal Parliament, was sent home less than two months after appointment. PM Khaire did not give reasons for the drastic action. It’s not yet clear if Abdulle’s sacking is related to this corruption scandal. However, both Hussein and Abdulle have not yet commented on their predicaments.
Last December, the Somali government declared it had officially regained control and management of its airspace after 27 years of it being run by the United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) regional office in Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi.
Key Headlines
- Civil Aviation Director Sacked Amid Controversy (Garowe Online)
- Somalia Launches Electronic Case Management System For Courts (Halbeeg News)
- Farmajo Meets Former President In Turkey Discuss Key Issues (Shabelle Media)
- Kenyan Police Foil Al-Shabaab Attack In Border Region (Xinhua)
- UAE Ambassador Meets UN Special Envoy To Somalia (WAM)
- Somali Students Volunteer To Educate The Dispossessed (Daily Mail)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Somalia Launches Electronic Case Management System For Courts
10 July – Source: Halbeeg News – 261 Words
Somali government on Tuesday launched electronic case management system that will be used by the courts across the country. The ceremony to launch the new system was attended by the Minister of Justice of the Federal Government of Somalia, Attorney General, Somalia’s Chief Justice, judges and senior officials of the Federal Government.
Giving a keynote speech at the ceremony, Justice minister, Hussein Hassan Haji, said the new will increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the court operations. Haji added that the new system will allow management and storage of files electronically without loss of important data required for prosecution of accused persons: “As you know the world has launched a new electronic system of managing court cases, which is different from the manual system that has been in use to administer cases. This new system will allow storage of data, which will minimize loss of the same,” the minister said.
Speaking at the same function, Attorney General Ahmed Ali Dahir praised the new electronic system highlighting that it will pave way for immediate access of court files and documents by different authorized court departments: “I am happy that we are launching an electronic system that will allow our courts to manage the cases smoothly. The new system will also guarantee confidentiality of the cases.”
Somalia’s Chief Justice, Bashe Yusuf Ahmed, asked judges to be seen to be impartial. The creation of electronic court files will provide opportunity for Court users to expand their interaction with the courts. The system allows the documents to be stored in an electronic court file (ECF).
Farmajo Meets Former President In Turkey, Discuss Key Issues
10 July – Source: Shebelle Media – 106 Words
Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo met with his predecessor Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in Ankara, the capital of Turkey on Monday night. According to a statement posted on the President’s Twitter handle, Farmajo and Mohamud discussed a wide range of issues regarding the current situation in the country.
President Farmajo, who took office after winning last year’s election in Mogadishu, succeeded Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, the 8th president of the Federal Republic of Somalia. The President arrived in Turkey on Sunday for the inauguration of his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who was re-elected in June presidential elections. Under Erdogan’s leadership, Turkey’s relations with Somalia has significantly improved.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Kenyan Police Foil Al-Shabaab Attack In Border Region
10 July – Source: Xinhua – 236 Words
Kenyan security officers early Tuesday thwarted al-Shabab attack on a police camp in Liboi border town in northeast Kenya. Garissa County Commissioner Joshua Chepchieng said about 20 heavily armed militants believed to have crossed from neighboring Somalia attempted to raid an Administration Police camp in Amey but were repulsed. Chepchieng said the militants chose to ambush the police officers at 2 a.m. local time but quick response from the officers who have been on high alert kept them at bay. “We have information that the militants have been planning to attack the camp and other key installations along the border but have been on high alert,” Chepchieng told journalists in Garissa.
He denied reports that some of the officer were injured in the heavy gun fire between them and the militants and were missing noting that they have all been accounted for. “I want to also state that no firearms were stolen and the militants did not take away the police land cruiser as alleged,” Chepchieng said. The government administrator said the militants partially destroyed the Safaricom mast fairly weakening the mobile phone communication in the area. The militants usually destroy telecommunication mast to disrupt communication in the area before they could inflict harm on the local. The militants have been targeting police patrols, camps and the Safaricom mast in their attacks along the border in a bid to disrupt police response to their attacks.
UAE Ambassador Meets UN Special Envoy To Somalia
10 July – Source: WAM – 106 Words
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) ambassador to Somalia, Mohammed Ahmed Othman Al Hammadi, has met with the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General to Somalia, Michael Keating.
During the meeting, Al Hammadi and Keating discussed cooperation ties between the UAE and the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), as well as mechanisms to work together to support security, stability and development in the country.
The UN Special Envoy praised the UAE’s efforts in Somalia across various humanitarian aid and development. Al Hammadi expressed his thanks and appreciation the UN envoy for his to visit to the UAE Embassy, and his keenness to strengthen ties to support peace and stability efforts in Somalia.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“What these young volunteers are doing is really commendable. It is the responsibility of the government to help camps in providing basic education to children, but we don’t see that role being played well”
Somali Students Volunteer To Educate The Dispossessed
10 July – Souce: Daily Mail – 646 Words
Taking time out from their studies, a group of young student volunteers in Somalia’s capital are providing free education to children uprooted from their homes by war and famine. Seven years after hunger and disease killed a quarter of a million people, and in the midst of an ongoing Islamist insurgency in Somalia, so-called IDP camps dot Mogadishu.
These squalid villages of makeshift huts for the homeless, called “internally displaced people” by aid workers, crowd the spaces between buildings and neighbourhoods in Mogadishu. They are among the most destitute: landless, penniless and with little hope for their children’s future. But an initiative by some of the city’s more fortunate young folk is offering basic literacy and numeracy skills to the displaced youngsters. Most of the volunteers are students at local universities, such as Abdirashid Abdulahi, one of the group’s founders.
“After having seen, and studying, the existence of lack of government-controlled education centres for the destitute communities, we have decided, as academics, to assist our needy people at the displacement settlements in Mogadishu,” said the 20-year-old medical student. “We have nothing else to give to these people, except our time to educate them,” he said. Abdulahi said the group’s 30 volunteers are teaching 600 pupils aged six to 15 in four centres at informal settlements around the city. “Nothing is easy here — some of our classes are held under trees or simple shelters — but we are happy because our morale, and that of the students, is high,” he said.