August 29, 2018 | Morning Headlines

War On Terror: KDF Won’t Leave Somalia Yet – Uhuru

28 August – Source: The Star – 338 Words

President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya has said it is impossible to say when Kenyan troops will withdraw from Somalia. Speaking to VOA news in Washington DC, Uhuru said Kenya hopes to pull out of Somalia “in the shortest possible time”. “We hope to work together with the government of Somalia to help strengthen their security so they are able to take care of their country. After that we can pull back to our borders and reduce the costs we are incurring,” Uhuru said.

He, however, said until that happens, it would not be right to pull out and leave a vacuum. “It is impossible for us to say when the withdrawal date will be. It is based on us being able to defeat Al-Shabaab, on the Somali people being able to establish strong, solid security structures, on a national army and good administrative structures,” Uhuru said.

The President said the focus should be on stabilising Somalia. Uhuru and US President Donald Trump agreed to deepen cooperation in defence and security for efficient war against terror.”We have had very strong and excellent cooperation with the US in security and defence, especially in the fight against terrorism. Most important, we are here looking to enhance our partnership in trade and investment,” Uhuru said.

According to the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2,372 (2017), Kenyan troops are expected to leave Somalia in December 2020 after mentoring Somali security forces to take over control from Amisom. In the plan, all the 16 Forward Operating Bases occupied by KDF troops under Amisom will be taken over by Somalia National Army and the Jubaland Security Force.

 

Key Headlines

• War On Terror: KDF Won’t Leave Somalia Yet – Uhuru (The Star)
• Somaliland Leader Signs Long Awaited Rape And Sexual Offences Bill Into law (Halbeeg News)
• PM Khaire Meets With British Ambassador To Somalia (Jowhar.com)
• After 7 Years AU Quits Base At Somali National Stadium (Daily Mail)
• China And Somalia Enjoy A Long History Of Friendship (CTGN Africa)
• Number Of Somalis Evicted From Their Homes Doubles In First Half Of 2018 (Reuters)

NATIONAL MEDIA

Somaliland Leader Signs Long Awaited Rape And Sexual Offences Bill Into law

28 August – Source: Halbeeg News – 235 Words

The President of Somaliland state, Abdi Muse Bihi, has signed into law the Rape and Sexual Offences Bill. The Bill, signed at the presidential palace in Hargeisa town, for the first time criminalizes rape and stipulates prison terms for individuals convicted of the crime — a move that has been hailed by human rights groups.

The bill, signed into law on Tuesday, is the first of its kind in Somaliland criminalizing, not only rape, but all gender-based violations against women. It lays out a process to investigate the cases and prosecute perpetrators. Under the law, an attempted rape conviction would carry a four to a seven-year jail sentence.

An individual found guilty of raping by way of force or using threats, will serve a jail term of 15 to 20 years. If the victim is under the age of 15, the perpetrator will be jailed for a period of between 20 and 25 years. Attackers who cause bodily harm or infect their victims with HIV, will receive life sentence in prison.

An increasing number of reported rape cases are related to gang rape. Previously, there was no mention of gang rape in the penal code, but the new bill has a specific provision for gang rape which carries 20 to 25 years imprisonment. There is still no specific law against rape in Somalia, although it is punishable through a penal code that recognises some sexual offences

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PM Khaire Meets With British Ambassador To Somalia

28 August – Source: Jowhar.com – 137 Words

Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire met with the British Ambassador to Somalia, David William Concar on Tuesday. The two officials discussed a number of issues including the strengthening of bilateral relations and enhancing cooperation with regard to security and economy.

Ambassador Concar lauded the government’s efforts in combating graft and improving good governance and security. Their meeting comes ahead of this week’s planned visit to Africa by UK’s Prime Minister Theresa May.

It is not yet clear if Theresa May will pay a visit to Somalia as part of her tour to Africa. Ordinarily Western leaders don’t announce their visit to Somalia. Mr Concar termed Theresa May’s visit to Africa as a unique opportunity at a unique time for the UK to renew its partnership with the region. The visit will focus on stability, jobs, growth and security partnerships.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

After 7 Years, AU Quits Base At Somali National Stadium

28 August – Source: Daily Mail – 289 Words

African Union troops on Tuesday pulled out of their base in Somalia’s national stadium, freeing up the venue for sporting events for the first time in years, an AFP correspondent said. The AU’s mission in Somalia (AMISOM) comprises some 20,000 troops split across several bases, one of which was the stadium in the capital Mogadishu where they have been stationed since 2011. “We thank AMISOM for handing back the stadium to the government because the Somali people have been requesting this for a long time to allow sporting activities to resume,” Defence Minister Hassan Ali said at a departure ceremony.

On Monday night, President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed also visited the site and pledged that the government would “restore the stadium to its former glory”. The last football match to be played at the stadium, which can seat up to 6,000 people, was in 2003, according to Mogadishu’s Sports Committee. Over the years, the stadium has been used as a base by many armed groups, notably by the Islamist Shabaab group between 2008 and 2011 who imposed a ban on all sporting events in the capital.

In 2011, AMISOM troops chased the Shabaab out of Mogadishu and turned the stadium into one of its top four bases in the country. The stadium is “a national symbol”, said Abdihafid Mohamed of the Mogadishu Sports Committee. “The public has been waiting for a long time for sporting activities to resume.” Built with funding from the Chinese government, it opened in 1978. But over the past 15 years, it has fallen into a state of disrepair, overrun with weeds and its walls peppered with bullet holes in testimony to the violence which has ravaged the city over the past 30 years.

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China And Somalia Enjoy A Long History Of Friendship

28 August – Source: CTGN Africa – 200 Words

Somalia has joined the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, aiming at boosting cooperation and communication with participating nations. “In Somalia, some of the most memorable buildings were built by China in the late 1970s and 1980s. So the memory of China-Africa cooperation in Somalia is quite distinct,” Somali academic and senior adviser to the Somali president Hodan Osman Abdi told CGTN. “A lot of people remember the cooperation went on between the Somali government and China in those years.”

Abdi said China was the entry point of the ancient Maritime Silk Road to the East African continent, adding that famous Chinese navigator Zheng He’s first contact with the East African continent was in Mogadishu. “In recent years, even though with the collapse of then Somali government in 1991, the cooperation between China and Somalia went throughout. So a lot of agriculture cooperation, educational cooperation and training, and some infrastructure cooperation in some cities of Somalia have continued,” said Abdi.

Abdi gave the building of an airport in Somalia by a Chinese company as an example of infrastructure cooperation between the two countries. She expressed belief that despite some security concerns in Somalia, the cooperation with China has been going stronger.

OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE

“In 2017, the United Nations estimated that more than half the population of 12 million needed food aid. A similar drought in 2011, exacerbated by years of war that began in 1991, sparked the world’s last famine, which killed 260,000 people.”

Number Of Somalis Evicted From Their Homes Doubles In First Half Of 2018

28 August – Source: Reuters – 448 Words

The number of Somalis left homeless has surged this year as thousands who had already fled war, drought and floods were forcibly evicted from mostly makeshift homes, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said.

The aid group, in a report published on Tuesday, said one of the main factors driving people out of their homes was property developers requisitioning land, often without warning, during a building boom in the capital Mogadishu. More than 200,000 Somalis, or one in 60 of the population, were forcibly evicted from their homes in January-July, more than double the number in the same period last year, the group said.

NRC said most evictions were done without due process, including without prior notice, and called on the government to address the problem by developing land policies and improving access to land for people who were forced from their homes. Many had fled to urban areas after being displaced by natural disasters and conflict in other parts of the country.

The aid group said Somali authorities and landowners were evicting people from public and private land mainly in battle-scarred Mogadishu, which is seeing a building boom: “These people are already in a vulnerable position. They have nowhere to go,” Evelyn Aero, NRC’s adviser for information, counselling and legal assistance, said. Somali government officials were not immediately available to comment.

A farmer with eight children who was interviewed by the NRC said she was not at home in Mogadishu when her family was forced out: “I came back to see my children on the street,” said Halimo Sidow, who had fled drought last year in the Lower Shabelle region in southern Somalia.
A devastating drought last year and this year’s floods forced “a massive migration to urban areas”, NRC said.

Somalia is also struggling to recover from more than 25 years of civil war and an ongoing battle between its federal government and Islamist insurgents, but is starting to attract investment again from Somalis living abroad. They send back home $2.3 billion annually and some of that cash – as well as hundreds of millions of dollars in aid – has been financing the construction of hotels, commercial buildings and houses in the capital of Mogadishu.