August 16, 2018 | Morning Headlines.

President Farmaajo To Leave For Djibouti On Thursday

15 August – Source: Halbeeg News –  233 Words

President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo will make his second visit to Djibouti two weeks after its envoy in Mogadishu protested against Somalia’s call for lifting UN sanctions on Eritrea. On Tuesday, the Somali government announced, that it was ready to mediate to resolve the bitter dispute between Djibouti and Eritrea.

Abdinur Mohamed, spokesperson for the president announced that,  President Farmaajo will be leaving for Djibouti to meet the leaders of the tiny nation of the horn of Africa. “H.E President Farmaajo will pay an official visit to Djibouti tomorrow to meet H.E Ismail Omar Guelleh,” Mr. Mohamed said in a Twitter post. Mr. Mohamed pointed out that President Farmaajo, will hold talks with Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh over the bilateral relations of the two countries.“Both leaders will discuss strengthening bilateral ties between our two countries. Somalia and Djibouti share strong brotherly bonds.”

It is not yet clear whether President Farmaajo will talks with the leaders of Djibouti over the Djibouti-Eritrea border dispute. Somali Minister for Foreign Affairs, who spoke to the media yesterday, said the country expressed its desire to mediate between Djibouti and Eritrea. “We will mediate between Eritrea and Djibouti. Somalia believes reconciliation between Djibouti and Eritrea will also helps to end the hostilities that engulfed the horn of Africa,” said the minister. A border dispute between Djibouti and Eritrea resulted in armed clashes in June 2008, leaving several people dead from both sides.

 

Key Headlines

• President Farmaajo To Leave For Djibouti On Thursday (Halbeeg News)
• Somalia: ISIL-Linked Faction Imposes Tax On Businesses In Bosaso (Garowe Online)
• Jubbaland Leader Speak Out On Arrest Of Two Regional Spy Agency Officials (Halbeeg News)
• AMISOM Force Commander Concludes Tour Of Forward Operating Bases In South Central Somalia (AMISOM)
• Two Somali Memoirs: Reflections Of Different Generations (Wardheere News)

NATIONAL MEDIA

Somalia: ISIL-Linked Faction Imposes Tax On Businesses In Bosaso

15 August – Source: Garowe Online – 525 Words

A militant faction loyal to Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) in Somalia has imposed heavy taxes on local businesses in Bosaso, the commercial hub of the Federal State of Puntland.  Garowe Online has learned that the extremist group has bases and footprint spreading in the region, in an attempt to collect money from the firms operating in the port city to acquire revenue for its insurgency.

The ISIL-affiliated Islamist militants stepped up intimidations and killings against traders who turned a blind eye to their demand, while threatening to cripple the operations of the business companies in the entire Bari province. “The traders and businesses in Bosaso city continue to work in fear after being asked for huge sums of money by Islamic State branch in the region,” a local merchant, who asked not to be named said.

Al-Qaeda-allied Al-Shabaab extremists operating in Galgala mountains are not currently part of the ISIL extorting money from the businesses in Bosaso through threats and intimidations. “Al-Shabaab has been collecting taxes in the past without killing anyone or threatening. This is a new problem initiated by the Islamic State-linked group in the region,” said another anonymous trader in Bosaso.

On August 7, the deputy manager of Golis, the largest telecommunications operator in the Puntland, Abdullahi Ali Omar was killed after, gunmen sprayed him with bullets as he walked out of a mosque in Bosaso city. Garowe Online could not independently verify if the assassination is linked to the ISIL’s campaign but, sources said the group switched off Golis telecommunication mast in the coastal town of Qandala, about 75 kilometers east of Bosaso days before Omar’s killing.

The ISIL fighters receive monthly revenue estimated to be $72,000 for extorting taxation from the businesses, and wealthy people in the city, according to reliable sources within Puntland security agencies. This comes after the public lost confidence in the state security forces to defend them from the terrorist organizations, leading the business centres and merchants to pay the taxes for the ISIL and Al-Shabaab for survival.

“At the moment, there is no functioning intelligence service in Puntland, so I believed that the government lacks the ability to protect its people and avert the frequent killings,” said a former state Intelligence officer. The official who spoke to Garowe Online on condition of anonymity said the terrorist groups established networks to facilitate their operations in the regions since the incumbent president, Abdiweli Mohamed Ali Gaas took office in 2014.

The increase in strength of the Islamic State spin-off group has attracted attention because some security officials fear it could offer a safe haven for Islamic State militants fleeing Syria or Iraq. The Islamic State faction was founded by Sheikh Abdulkadir Mumin, a former Al-Shabaab commander in 2015, after his defection from Al-Shabaab. In October 2016, ISIL briefly seized Qandala before they were driven out by Puntland forces months later. The group is largely based in the Golis and Bari mountains of northern Somalia. In May, it was responsible for a suicide attack at a police checkpoint in Bosaso that left 5 people dead, in an attempt to vie with Al-Shabaab for recognition.

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Jubbaland Leader Speak Out On Arrest Of Two Regional Spy Agency Officials

15 August – Source: Halbeeg News – 216 Words

The leader of Jubbaland state, Ahmed Mohamed Madobe has spoken out for the first time about the detention of the newly appointed regional spy agency officials in Kismayo. The head of National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) in Jubbaland state and his deputy  Ali Mire Duale and Mohamed Ibrahim respectively, were arrested yesterday after their plane landed at the airport.

Speaking to the media in Kismayo, President Madobe said that, the officials were denied entry into Kismayo, as their appointments were not consulted with Jubbaland state. He accused the Federal government of breaching its deals signed with Jubbaland. “There was no consultations over the appointments of these individuals and, it seems that the federal government violates the deals we jointly signed previously,” President Madobe added.

The officials who were at Kismayo airport on Tuesday are said to have been taken into custody.
The leaders of the federal government have not yet commented on the arrest of the officials in Kismayo. There have been differences between the federal government and Jubbaland state, over appointments of several military and security officials from the country’s capital,  Mogadishu. Last month, Jubbaland authorities denied entry into Kismayo city the commander of the 43rd battalion of  SNA, Ali Bog Madow. Jubbaland leaders cited lack of consultation over the appointment of  Mr. Madow.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

AMISOM Force Commander Concludes Tour Of Forward Operating Bases In South Central Somalia

15 August – Source: AMISOM – 436 Words

Lt. Gen. Jim Beesigye Owoyesigire, the Force Commander of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), has concluded a weeklong extensive tour of Forward Operating Bases in all the six sectors where AU troops operate. The Force Commander who assessed the security situation and civil-military projects undertaken by AMISOM in support of local populations in its areas of operation, also interacted with troops in Jowhar, HirShabelle State; Baledogle in the Lower Shabelle region; Dhobley in Lower Jubba region; Beled-weyne in Hiiraan region; Baidoa in the South West State and Kismayo, in Jubbaland State.

In the Lower Jubba region the Force Commander called upon Somalis to support joint efforts by the national army and the AU forces to end the Al Shabaab insurgency. The Sector Chief of Civil Military Cooperation (CIMIC) in Dhobley, Colonel Constance Sikalumbi said plans are at advanced stage to renovate the Dhobley District Hospital, to improve its services, to enable it cater for more locals. Dhobley residents currently depend on the AMISOM Level II Hospital within the military base for their medical needs.

“There is a consignment of drugs that we expect to arrive soon to help with the management of diseases,” said Col. Silakumbi, who highlighted plans by the sector to undertake various community engagement and sensitization programmes. The programmes include gender, education and extra-curricular activities for youth in the area.

The Force Commander awarded outgoing troops with service medals in recognition of their distinguished service and sacrifices, in Somalia’s stabilization and peacebuilding processes. He presided over a similar service awards ceremony in Kismayo, where he encouraged the multinational troops in the sector to work closely with the Somali National Army and the Jubbaland security forces in order to reap more results in the fight against terrorism.

OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE

“At the start of the civil war, Iftin’s father abandoned his family after he couldn’t take the suffering and agony of his inability to protect and feed them. They ended up becoming homeless and beggars on the street of Xamar. Iftin and his older brother started helping their mother at very young age. They learned survival techniques and fetched water containers for the family on the dangerous streets of Mogadishu.”

Two Somali Memoirs: Reflections Of Different Generations

13 August – Source: Wardheer News – 1495 Words

Three weeks ago, when I read Abdi Nor Iftin’s new book “Call me American”, it reminded me Hassan Abukar’s Book “Mogadishu Memoir” which I read two and half years ago. Both books reveal stories of two different periods in Somalia which many Somalis including myself have firsthand experience.

Iftin remembers the civil war mayhem and the subsequent Al-Shabaab conflicts – he was only 6 years old in 1991 when turmoil started and remembers it with a vivid recollection, even at his young age.  In contrast, Hassan’s book ponders life before the war, the sixties, and seventies and up until early-eighties. For those of us who have lived that time, we all remember it as a “Golden Era”.

The reason that I am fascinated with these two stories is that both authors reproduce events similar to my life experience before and after the war. Not only Hassan and I happen to be around the same age, but we have crossed each other’s path.  In 1979, as a young Somali civil servant working for the defunct Somali Airlines, I was sent to the Somali Airline office in Cairo, Egypt for training and to obtain experience working as Somali Airlines representative in overseas offices. Hassan was already working in the office and it was a great opportunity to get to know and interact with him.

When it comes to Iftin’s, his story touched me in many ways – in 1991, the beginning of the war, I was working and living in Mogadishu and saw and went through all the tragedies.  Like Iftin, I fled with my family to Baidoa and when he and his family went back to Mogadishu, I continued a harrowing journey to Kenya and eventually being admitted as refugee in the Netherlands. Iftin and his family suffered appalling conditions for the next two decades in Mogadishu, including the loss of his sister from starvation.