July 30, 2018 | Daily Monitoring Report
Jubbaland State Claims Victory In Battle With Al-Shabaab
30 July – Source: Shabelle Media – 136 Words
A senior Jubbaland state official says the regional forces backed by National army soldiers have repulsed an ambush by Al-Shabaab militants against their base in Gedo region. Osman Nur Hajji, who is the Deputy Governor of Gedo on security affairs, has similarly denied Al-Shabaab claims of capturing Seetaalow area near Garbaharey following an attack on Sunday.
Speaking to Radio Shabelle, Mr. Hajji reaffirmed the allied troops were still in full control of the village, adding that the Al-Shabaab fighters had been repulsed. The official reported that Jubbaland and Somali government forces fought off and inflicted heavy losses on Al-Shabaab fighters. He, however, could not confirm the number of casualties. Al-Shabaab controls large swathes of land in southern Somalia despite losing ground to Somali and AMISOM forces, including Mogadishu and other key towns since 2011.
Key Headlines
- Jubbaland State Claims Victory In Battle With Al-Shabaab (Shabelle Media)
- Convicted Rapists To Face 25 Years Of Jail As Somaliland House Representatives Approved Rape Bill (Halbeeg News)
- Mahdi Guled “We Are Bringing A New Political Party Led By The President” (Goobjoog News)
- Uganda Peacekeepers Arrive In Somalia (New Vision)
- KSRelief Launches Relief Project For Somali Refugees (Arab News)
- Surviving Al-Shabab: The Boy Who Escaped The World’s Most Ruthless Terror Group (Yahoo News)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Convicted Rapists To Face 25 Years Of Jail As Somaliland House Representatives Approve Rape Bill
30 July – Source: Halbeeg News – 376 Words
Convicted rapists now stand to face up to 25 years in jail after the Somaliland House of Representatives approved an anti-rape bill. The senators, on Sunday, dropped the amendments made to the bill by the House of Elders (Guurti) and endorsed the initial bill. For the first time, the bill criminalizes rape and stipulates jail terms for individuals convicted of the crime — a move that has been praised by human rights groups.
The bill will now be forwarded to the office of Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi, to append his signature for it to become law. This will be the first major legislation geared at averting rape and all gender-based violations against women. Under the new law, attempted rape will carry a four to a seven-year jail sentence. An individual who rapes a victim using force or threats would get 15 to 20 years. If the victim is under the age of 15, the perpetrator will get a jail term of between 20 and 25 years.
Attackers who cause bodily harm or infect their victims with HIV will be imprisoned for life. An increasing number of reported rape cases are related to gang rape. Gang rape was not mentioned in the existing penal code, but the new bill has a specific provision for gang rape which carries 20 to 25 years imprisonment.
Guleid Ahmed Jama of the Human Rights Centre in Somaliland welcomed the passage of the bill, which was also approved in June by the Guurti: “The House of Representatives made history by approving the anti-rape Bill and rejecting changes made by the Guurti,” he said in his twitter account, “This means the House approved the Bill in its original format by overturning Guurti amendments. The Bill will go to the President to sign it into a law.”
Somaliland Human Rights Center said rape is one of the least reported crimes in Somaliland. According to the organization, 81 rape cases were prosecuted in 2017. This is a small figure compared to the number of alleged victims. Somaliland declared itself independent from Somalia in 1991 but is not internationally recognised as a country. There is still no specific law against rape in Somalia, although it is punishable through a penal code, which recognises some sexual offences.
Mahdi Guled: “We Are Bringing A New Political Party Led By The President.”
29 July – Source: Goobjoog News – 200 Words
The Deputy Prime Minister of the Federal Government of Somalia, Mahdi Guled Khadar, has announced the formation of a national political party to be led by the President. He said the party would be the biggest national party and will be chaired by President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo: “We are setting up a national political party with a big vision ahead of the 2020 elections,” said the deputy PM.
Somalia is in the process of embracing multi-party politics after 50 years of internal self-rule, thanks to the interim registration of the first seven political parties. The National Independent Electoral Commission (NIEC) has so far issued certificates of temporary registration to seven political parties, in a move that could also see the country depart from the clan-based political power-sharing arrangement commonly referred to as 4.5.
The registration of the political parties is historic as it comes half a century after the country fell into military dictatorship in the late 1960s. Somalia is preparing to hold elections in 2020 under the one-person one-vote principle. Formation of and registration of political parties is a major step towards the 2020 elections as set out in the 2016 electoral agreements between the country’s top leadership.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Uganda Peacekeepers Arrive In Somalia
30 July – Source: New Vision – 330 Words
The first batch of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) soldiers under Battle Group XXV over the weekend landed at Mogadishu International Airport. The over 1,000 troops, commanded by Col. Paul Muwanguzi and deputised by Lt. Col. CK Asiimwe, have replaced Battle Group XXII that completed its tour of duty in Somalia on Friday.
The new battle group completed its training at the Peace Support Operations Training Centre in Singo, Nakaseke district on July 16. The returning troops, who started jetting into the country over the weekend, were deployed in August last year.
They have been operating in the tough trenches of Lower Shabelle. Speaking at the send-off ceremony in Mogadishu on Friday, Brig. Paul Lokech, the commander of the Ugandan contingent in Somalia, said the troops had shown “a deep sense of commitment and sacrifice” and fought against al-Shabaab in the rough Somali areas of Celjaale, Ayub, KM50, KM67, Buffor, Shalambot, Marka, Masla and Qoryoley.
Lokech also explained that the main goal of the UPDF in Somalia is to help the conflict riddled Horn of Africa country regain stability. “In the struggle to pacify this country, we have lost comrades. In the struggle to pacify this country, we have the wounded in Mubende.
We still look at the scars of what we went through. But all this has been to help our African brothers and sisters; the Somalis,” he said. Lokech added: “One of the pillars in our doctrine is pan-Africanism. And that’s the agenda that drew us into this mission. We have no other interest beyond this. The main focus of our coming to Somalia is to help the Somalis get back to where they were some 30 years ago.”
A statement issued by AMISOM officials also noted that Lokech lauded what he described as “efforts” of the Ugandan troops to reconcile rival clans in their operation areas. The returning troops were awarded service medals by the African Union (AU) for their contribution towards the pacification of Somalia.
KSRelief Launches Relief Project For Somali Refugees
30 July – Source: Arab News – 138 Words
The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSRelief) has launched a project to distribute 1,200 tons of food aid among Somali refugees in Kenya’s Dadaab region. The project will benefit over 77,646 people including, nursing mothers, pregnant women and tuberculosis patients.
The KSRelief project in question has been initiated on the directives of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and is part of the Kingdom’s efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to the needy people all across the world without any discrimination.
The aid center also donated 31 tons of dates to the World Food Programme (WFP) in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. The Saudi shipment reached its destination on Sunday and was handed over to the WFP officials in the presence of Saudi Ambassador to Mauritania Hazza bin Zaban Al-Mutairi and other officials.
OPINION, ANALYSIS & CULTURE
“After Abdi managed to get back to his hometown, he went straight home and had an emotional reunion with his mother and siblings. However, he was too afraid to stay there, fearing that al-Shabab members might come looking for him.”
Surviving Al-Shabab: The Boy Who Escaped The World’s Most Ruthless Terror Group
28 July – Source: Yahoo News – 3350 Words
By the time Abdi (not his real name) was 9 years old, he had already joined al-Shabab, the al-Qaida-affiliated terrorist organization in Somalia. He had taken part in several attacks, witnessed an assassination, and left the body of a young friend by the side of a road. Then he escaped the group. And ever since, against the odds, he’s been trying to rebuild his life.
I interviewed Abdi, now 16, in a small, dreary conference room of a hotel in the Bulo Hubey neighborhood of the Somali capital of Mogadishu. Clad in an orange sports jersey, he was energetic, alert and full of stories that he peppered with Arabic phrases and Somali proverbs that belied his age. Language aside, Abdi seemed like any teenager you would encounter anywhere in the world — until he started telling his incredible life story.
“When I joined [al-Shabab] I was 7 years old. I was not forced. I joined willingly,” Abdi told me. He paused for a moment as if hearing the absurdity of what he was saying. “After all these years, I now realize that I was brainwashed,” he added.
Abdi is just one of thousands of Somali children who over the years have fallen into the clutches of al-Shabab. From the very start of the group’s reign of terror across much of Somalia, al-Shabab used Quranic schools to procure young recruits. During al-Shabab’s heyday, when it controlled vast swaths of the country, persuasion was enough to ensure a steady supply of young fighters. However, as the group lost more and more territory, it has turned toward coercion and abduction. And defectors like Abdi often encounter hostility and suspicion as they try to rebuild their lives.
In the past 10 years, Somali National Armed Forces and African Union troops have degraded the strength of the insurgent Islamist group. And since the election of Donald Trump, U.S. African Command, or Africom, has stepped up its airstrikes and drone attacks against suspected Shabab fighters. Africom has also expanded its presence in the country with a buildup of military bases and personnel.
In the years since former leader Ahmed Abdi Godane was killed in a U.S airstrike in 2014, al-Shabab has continued to lose territory that was once firmly in its control, and suffered several high-profile defections. In 2017, one of the group’s founding members and deputy leader Mukhtar Robow defected to the federal government. Though it’s difficult to gain an accurate picture of Shabab’s current size, security analysts estimate the group to have about 5,000 fighters.
Politically, al-Shabab continues to lose support, especially since the deadly car-bomb attack last October that killed over 500 civilians. But despite those setbacks, the organization maintains an uncanny ability to strike. In the first two weeks of July alone, the group conducted separate attacks in the capital that targeted the ministry of interior and security headquarters and the presidential palace.
TOP TWEETS
@Mogadishu_News: BREAKING: Leader of #ONLF Mohamed O. Osman says Somali President @M_Farmaajo has expressed “regret” and “apologised” for the renditioning of its commander Abdikarim Muse Qalbi Dhagah to #Ethiopia last year. He says he met with President Farmajo in #Asmara
@HarunMaruf: #Somalia: Deputy Prime Minister Mahdi Mohamed Guled warns opposition groups that the Govt is working on forming a “grand political party” led by@M_Farmaajo. He didn’t say when this political party will be be unveiled.
@taakulosom: 175 Households in Tuurka village of Awdal region receiving Food packages.This is among the Emergency Response Programs funded by Danish Emergency Relief Fund via @DM_AID to help Cyclone affected families by responding to their most urgent needs. @DanishMFA @akobaek @CISUdk
@BBCAfrica: Torture exposed at Somali rehab clinichttps://bbc.in/2AlcNIH
@AbdulBillowAli: President @M_Farmaajo meets members of the Somali community in #Eritrea as part of his three day official visit to the Red Sea nation. #Somalia
@AbdinurMA: H.E President @M_Farmaajo held a meeting with Admiral Mohamed Omar, Chairman of ONLF in #Asmara this morning. The president emphasized on the need for cooperation and peaceful settlement for security and progress of the Horn of Africa.
@DalsanFM: Detained Director Dahir Blames Deputy Minister Of Witch Hunt, Documents Purports He Is Cleanhttps://www.radiodalsan.com/
@Goobjoognews: Benadir Regional Administration concludes two days of stakeholders workshop on #Mogadishu Stabilisation Policy.
IMAGE OF THE DAY
President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo is received by President Isaias Afwerki at Asmara International Airport.
Photo: @VillaSomalia