November 1, 2018 | Morning Headlines.
Somali Military Distances Itself From Claims Of Election Meddling
31 October – Source: Halbeeg – 220 Words
The command of the Somali National Army (SNA) 60th division has distanced itself from any claims of interference in the upcoming presidential elections in the regional states. The commander of SNA’s 60th division, General Ibrahim Yarrow, told a news briefing that the forces had been briefed accordingly not to meddle in the polls.
“It is none of your business who is elected. Just work with whoever is elected,” said the commander while briefing the forces. The commander’s sentiments come barely days after dozens of elected politicians from the Southwest state met in Mogadishu city and accused the Federal Government of Somalia (FMS) of meddling in the upcoming presidential elections of the region. The presidential election is scheduled for 17th November 2018, less than three weeks away. The Speaker of Southwest regional assembly, Mr Abdikadir Sharif Shekhuna, heads a 27 member presidential electoral committee that will preside over the presidential elections. Members have also elected a chairman and vice chairman of the committee.
The United States has welcomed the creation of the Southwest state election committee and selection of the leadership team ahead of next month presidential election. In a Twitter post, the US Mission in Somalia affirmed its support of the electoral process, clarifying it will not particular candidates. The mission has called for a free and fair poll exercise.
Key Headlines
- Somali Military Distances Itself From Claims Of Election Meddling (Halbeeg News)
- Somaliland Opposition Warn President Against Delay In Parliamentary Elections (Hiiraan Online)
- Scholarship Scheme In Bari Region Giving New Prospects To Displaced Children (Radio Ergo )
- Kenyan Al-Shabaab Fighters Used As Sacrificial Lambs Returnee Says (The Star)
- Three Men Convicted Of Plotting To Bomb Somali Refugees Say They Were Encouraged By Trump’s Rhetoric (Buzzfeed)
- Hargeisa Smugglers Reveal Insights Into The Sordid Business Of Human Trafficking Of Somali Migrants (Radio Ergo )
NATIONAL MEDIA
Somaliland Opposition Warn President Against Delay In Parliamentary Elections
31 October – Source: Hiiraan Online – 233 Words Words
The two main opposition parties in the breakaway northern Somalia territory of Somaliland have warned they will not accept any attempts by President Muse Bihi Abdi to postpone the enclave’s upcoming parliamentary election scheduled for March, next year.
There have been speculations in recent weeks in Somaliland that President Abdi was planning to deliberately delay both the upcoming parliamentary and local council elections in a bid to favor the ruling party, which continues to maintain majority in both the parliament and local council for over a decade now. “We are well aware of the ongoing plans to delay the election. And we accordingly affirm that we shall hold the President solely responsible in the event of any delays in the polls,” said Mohamed Ali, the flag-bearer of Wadani, one of the largest opposition parties in Somaliland.
Meanwhile, opposition parties are demanding the disbandment of the electoral commission which they accuse of being heavily biased in favour of the ruling party and incumbent President. Electoral officials have, however, dismissed the claims: “We have also submitted an official complaint letter regarding the election commission which is not credible and which is heavily influenced and thus not qualified to preside over the elections in March”. The Opposition politician warned that failure by the President to address their complaint would prompt them to convene a national dialogue in which elders would have to decide on the matter.
Scholarship Scheme In Bari Region Giving New Prospects To Displaced Children
31 October – Source: Radio Ergo – 417 Words
Local authorities in Bari region in Puntland are running a scholarship programme for children from displaced families to equip them for alternative livelihoods instead of relying only on livestock like their parents. With an annual fund of $24,000, the education programme is targeting children from livestock herders who were uprooted from their homes due to drought between 2016 and 2017. Ahmed Salad Noor, the director of social affairs of Waiye district, told Radio Ergo that the local authorities support the education of 50 children drawn from families displaced by the 2016 drought.
According to the director, the administration in coordination with the learning institutions based in the town divides the children into age groups to ensure they meet their educational needs effectively. Those between 13 and 16 were enrolled at Darul-Madina and Darul-Towfiq, which operate as adult schools, whereas those between seven and 12years now study at Al-Hamdulilah Primary and Secondary School.
The project has been covering the fees of these children since 2016. Ardo Farah Ali, 40, fled her home in a remote area in 2016 after 150 of her goats perished in the drought. She currently lives in Waiye town. Six of her eight children receive the local authority bursaries. Speaking to Radio Ergo, Ardo said one of her problems has been resolved, as she only struggles to support the education of her remaining two children.
“Six of my children, three girls, and three boys are being sponsored by Waiye administration schooling scheme. Five of them were admitted at Al-Hamdulilah while the sixth one has joined an adult school,” said the mother of eight. “Our focus now is diverted from livestock and we want to adapt to life in the town.”
Ardo works as a vegetable vendor and her husband works at a quarry. They struggle to educate their other two children. Shukri Abdi Hirad, who lost all her livestock to the drought, came to Waiye from Nobir village, a remote area in Bari region in 2016. The authorities took the responsibility of educating three of her five children, two girls, and a boy.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Kenyan Al-Shabaab Fighters Used As Sacrificial Lambs, Returnee Says
31 October – Source: The Star – 698 Words
Majority of Kenyans joining the Al Shabaab are being used as sacrificial lambs, a former foreign fighter and returnee has revealed. The fighter, who came back into the country in 2013, says this has contributed a lot to discrimination against foreign fighters within the group. The returnee has since reformed after being taken through a rehabilitation program by the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC). He revealed that Al Shabaab’s explosives unit, Istishadi, and foot soldiers component, Jabha, mostly use foreign fighters as a litmus test on their loyalty and to reduce their influence on the group. “They use Kenyans and other regional foreign fighters as sacrificial lambs – for suicide missions or on the frontlines against the enemies,” he said on condition of anonymity.
This comes as police sources say foreign recruits planning to join Al Shabaab, and those fighting for the terrorist organisation, are now increasingly worried. This followed an emerging trend indicating increased incidents of persecution and executions of foreign fighters. The returnee said the mistrust between Somali and foreign fighters within the militant group is not new. Mistrust has reportedly led to a large number of Kenyan fighters sneaking back into the country, and a few remaining ones operating, almost semi-independently, within the densely forested Lacta area that cuts across the Kenya-Somalia border.
The persecution of foreign fighters has also reduced local, regional and global support for Al-Shabaab. Police sources indicate that in October alone, Shabaab has executed 10 foreign fighters, accusing them of spying for foreign enemies. According to the source, Shabaab gunmen on October 10 executed five of its members, including a Somali British citizen, for allegedly collaborating with the UK’s foreign intelligence service, M16, and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Three Men Convicted Of Plotting To Bomb Somali Refugees Say They Were Encouraged By Trump’s Rhetoric
31 October – Buzz Feed – 971 Words
Three men who were convicted of plotting to bomb an apartment building that housed a mosque and dozens of Muslim Somali refugees in Kansas were encouraged by President Donald Trump’s rhetoric and asked a judge for leniency in their sentencing, their attorneys said.
In court documents filed this week, attorneys for Patrick Stein, Curtis Allen, and Gavin Wright, say the men were influenced by Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric and Russian propaganda on social media and argue that life sentences against their clients would not deter others from committing similar crimes. “As long as the White House with impunity calls Islam ‘a dangerous threat,’ and paints average Americans as ‘victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad,’ a mixed signal gets sent,” Wright’s attorneys wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed Tuesday.
“As long as the Executive Branch condemns Islam and commends and encourages violence against would-be enemies, then a sentence imposed by the Judicial Branch does little to deter people generally from engaging in such conduct if they believe they are protecting their countries from enemies identified by their own Commander-in-Chief,” they continued.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“We were tortured, our hands and legs tied behind our backs. They locked us inside a container where we hardly ate anything,” said Ahmed, whose hand was broken in the ordeal. “My family sent $10,000 ransom but no sooner had I been released than I fell into the hands of another group who demanded $2,500. I had no other alternative but to pay,”
Hargeisa Smugglers Reveal Insights Into The Sordid Business Of Human Trafficking Of Somali Migrants
31 October – Source: Radio Ergo – 1067 Words
For the last six years, Elmi Noor, 38, has been making $4,000 a month from what he terms a ‘lucrative business’ – smuggling young people from across East Africa to Libya, where they are invariably held for ransom by criminal gangs under cruel conditions. Noor coordinates a network of people smugglers based in several African countries, who organise perilous journey for young Somalis eager to cross to Europe for better lives. After a four-month investigation, Radio Ergo journalists tracked down Noor and convinced him to meet one evening at a market place in Hargeisa, the administrative capital of Somaliland, for an interview.
Speaking to Radio Ergo, Noor confirmed that he had smuggled 4,000 people from Somaliland to Libya since 2012. He stated that the majority of these people had probably died either in the hands of Libyan militiamen who captured them or on risky sea crossings to Europe. Noor appeared not to care about the responsibility he and his co-smugglers bear for the suffering and even deaths of so many young Somali men and women. “We know that this work is a crime but it pays us handsomely. In a month I may get as much as $4,000, so it is very easy work,” he stated.
Noor said his work was risky and they operated secretly, taking care to switch Messenger accounts frequently to cover their trail, to avoid capture by the Somaliland police. “We have that worry about falling into hands of the police but we carry out our work covertly. So it is very rare for the police to notice our operations,” Noor said. Noor works with 10 others to lure young people into hiring them to get to Europe. Some would-be migrants are convinced by ‘leave-now-pay-later’ scheme offered to them, while others are told to pay as little as $300 thinking that will get them as far as Europe.
But another reality dawns on them when they find themselves in the hands of an affiliated criminal syndicate in Libya demanding huge ransoms by force. According to Noor, the militiamen in Libya fix the amount that the captives pay. He and other members of the trafficker ring get their commission sent to them through small money transfer firms. Radio Ergo made contact with a second trafficker in Hargeisa, known as Hassan Ali, who agreed to speak on the phone but not in person. The journalists agreed to distort his voice on recordings to be broadcast, in order to conceal his identity.
Ali said he earns between $500 and 800 per individual based on the number of migrants he lures. Before he joined the network, he travelled to Libya aiming to reach Europe but fell into the hands of the human traffickers himself and was held captive for several months. During that time, he learnt Arabic and worked for the traffickers as a translator. He was set free and returned to Somaliland, where he joined the Libyan trafficking ring as an agent.
During his years in the sordid business, Ali said he had information of the deaths of nine of the people he had helped to traffic. Some died on their way to Libya, while the rest died in detention centres run by Libyan militia. “I chose to work so whatever it costs does not bother me,” Ali boasted to Radio Ergo. “I started this work when I saw the opportunities that you get in trafficking.” The Libyan traffickers set ransom demands of $8,000-$12,000. Failure to pay brings threats of removing organs, maiming, or other kinds of physical torture to try to coerce relatives into sending money.