November 6, 2018 | Daily Monitoring Report
CIC Welcomes Resignation Of South West Polls Committee
06 November – Source: Goobjoog News – 209 Words
Federal Member State (FMS) leaders have welcomed the resignation of South West state presidential electoral committee members noting that the absence of state Members of Parliament could not guarantee a free and fair process. The Council for Inter-State Cooperation (CIC), an umbrella bringing together FMS leaders save for HirShabelle’s president, accused the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) of sustained efforts to frustrate the electoral process: “The council welcomes the resignation of the members of the electoral committee after getting convinced the MPs, who are the base of a free and fair electoral process, had been abducted,” CIC said.
While announcing their resignations on Monday night, the committee said it could not proceed to execute its mandate because state MPs were being held in Mogadishu. The accusations follow claims that Lower House Speaker, Mohamed Mursal, had summoned the MPs to Mogadishu for ‘instructions on how to vote’.
In a statement today, CIC warned that the government’s interference in the elections, scheduled for November 17, risks plunging the region into instability and even war. Should that happen, they said Prime Minister Hassan Khaire and President Mohamed Farmaajo will be held squarely responsible for the consequences. The state leaders said they will not recognise any election results which goes against set procedures.
Key Headlines
- CIC Welcomes Resignation Of South West Polls Committee (Goobjoog News)
- Political Uncertainty In South West As Polls Committee Resign (Goobjoog News)
- Deaf Children In Burao Face A Bleak Future Without A Secondary School (Radio Ergo)
- In Galkacyo UN Envoy Urges Regional Leaders To Continue Political Dialogue And Collaboration (UNSOM)
- Jambojet To Fly To Mogadishu And Bujumbura (Capital FM)
- Somali Refugees Are Too Often Left Out Of Mental Health Discussions – Here’s Why I Want That To Change (The Independent)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Political Uncertainty In South West As Polls Committee Resign
06 November – Source: Goobjoog News – 245 Words
The upcoming presidential elections in South West suffered a major set-back on Monday night after the state’s electoral committee resigned en-mass barely ten days to the polls’ day, pointing accusing fingers at the central government. While announcing the resignation, the committee chairman Arfo Ibrahim Aden laid the blame squarely at the doors of Villa Somalia accusing the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) of “holding” the state Members of Parliament in Mogadishu with the intent of frustrating the process. The committee said the FGS was “interfering, threatening and challenging the electoral process”
One of the candidates in the upcoming polls, Amina Mursal, told Goobjoog News that Lower House Speaker Mohamed Mursal had summoned the state MPs to Mogadishu with clear instructions on how they should cast their vote. Ms. Mursal alleged the Speaker had ‘given them financial support “to meet their needs”.
The resignation of the committee now casts doubt on the likelihood of the elections taking place in time even as more accusations are directed at the FGS. Water and Energy Minister Abdiaziz Laftagreen, who is reportedly being fronted by the FGS, resigned on Monday to contest for the seat. A section of candidates and stakeholders have accused the FGS of attempts to manipulate the electoral process. “FGS is using corruption, nepotism, bribery and vote buying in order to install its own favourite candidate as President of SWS. This erodes the credibility of the constitutional and political legitimacy of the election processes,” the forum added.
Deaf Children In Burao Face A Bleak Future Without A Secondary School
05 November – Source: Radio Ergo – 334 Words
Despite getting basic education to enable them to cope with their hearing impairment, the hopes of deaf children in Burao are being dashed by the lack of a specialized secondary school in their area. Burao School for the Deaf, which was established in 2010 and is run by the Somaliland education ministry, has had more than 100 children on its roll.
The school has been trying to empower the children in preparation for future careers. However, there are currently more than 50 children who completed primary classes at the school who are now losing hope of furthering their education and ambitions, as there is no secondary school in the area catering for their needs. “Forty of those students who completed their primary education are staying at home in the town, while the remaining 14 have returned to their homes in rural areas,” Ahmed Abdirahman Ismail, the head teacher of the school, told Radio Ergo. The school currently has 90 pupils, including 30 girls, who are drawn from Burao town and its outskirts.
The school teaches children between eight and 16 years of age. Somaliland authorities have employed six qualified teachers for the school, which uses the Somaliland curriculum. The school administration submitted their concerns to the Somaliland ministry of education which runs the school. “We have submitted our concerns and proposal to establish a tertiary institution. There are efforts underway to address the challenges,” the head teacher stated. Asha Jama Ali is a parent of two children with hearing impairments. The two children, a boy, and a girl have been staying at home since they completed their primary education at Burao School for the Deaf in 2016. “This situation could ruin the future of these children. Their education is disrupted. I call for support to help these children pursue their secondary education,” Asha urged. Somaliland education ministry coordinator in Togdher region, Mohamud Hassan Eynanshe, said the ministry is planning to open a technical college in early 2019 to equip deaf children with vocational skills.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
In Galkacyo, UN Envoy Urges Regional Leaders To Continue Political Dialogue And Collaboration
05 November – Source: UNSOM – 480 Words
The United Nations envoy to Somalia visited today the city of Galkayo in a series of meetings with regional leaders, with a renewed call for greater collaboration between the country’s federal and state authorities. “The overall concern is that Somalia is a country that requires all people to work together, all levels of government to work together, without which we cannot advance the project of bringing stability and prosperity to the country,” said the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Somalia, Nicholas Haysom. “No party can do it on its own, and no party can go it alone to achieve this objective,” he added.
The UN envoy met with the leadership of Galmudug state during his visit to Galkayo. The trip followed similar introductory visits to Kismayo, Baidoa, Garowe and Hargeisa. The visits have taken place against the backdrop of recent tensions between the Federal Government of Somalia and the country’s Federal Member States.
In Galkayo, as on some of his previous visits, he was joined by the African Union (AU) envoy to Somalia, the Special Representative of the Chairperson of the AU Commission, Ambassador Francisco Madeira. In meetings with Galmudug political authorities – who included President Ahmed Duale Geele ‘Haaf,’ Chief Minister Sheikh Mohamed Shakir, members of the regional parliament and state cabinet members – the two envoys reiterated the need for state leadership to restart a political dialogue with their counterparts at the federal level.
Mr. Haysom noted there are several potential avenues for reviving the dialogue, including through Upper House mediation or open political discussions with the President. “This could also be done through the technical committees that have made progress in developing the federalism framework, and that would need to be done in parallel with political engagement and agreement,” Mr. Haysom said. “People expect progress in all these areas, and particularly at this time immediately preceding regional elections and the upcoming 2020 general elections,” he added.
Jambojet To Fly To Mogadishu And Bujumbura
06 November – Source: Capital FM – 226 Words
Kenya’s local carrier, Jambojet, will start flying to Somali and Burundi as part of its plan to grow its regional presence, the Kenya Airways Chief Executive Sebastian Mikosz has said. The Mogadishu flights will start on 15th November. Speaking to Capital in The Morning Mikosz said the airline sees an opportunity in the growing regional air traffic. Mikosz said that the Kenya Airways subsidiary is being positioned as a regional carrier, flying within 2-hour destinations, “from Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar or Entebbe.”
“We want to use smaller and cheaper planes but fly to more destinations more frequently,” said Mikosz. He said increased local flights by Jambojet will boost the profile of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as an interconnectivity hub. In addition to seven destinations in Kenya, Jambojet expanded to Uganda in February 2018 flying to Entebbe daily.
The move by the Kenyan carrier to fly to the Somali capital comes just days after Ethiopian Airlines, one of the biggest carriers in Africa, resumed regular flights to Mogadishu this month, after nearly four decades. Ethiopian Airlines suspended its operations in Somalia following the outbreak of hostilities between the neighbours in the late 1970s.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“A popular analysis of someone suffering from an illness is that they are possessed by Jinn (demons) or that they are dealing with Allah’s wrath from their previous sins”.
Somali Refugees Are Too Often Left Out Of Mental Health Discussions – Here’s Why I Want That To Change
05 November – Source: The Independent – 905 Words
Mental health was never a topic that was discussed frequently in my household, or at all. I grew up in the Somali diaspora in north London after my family moved to the UK in 2002 from the Netherlands through secondary immigration. My mother, like many Somali families, fled the civil war in the Nineties and was forced to resettle in a foreign land after factional infighting broke out in Somalia.
It was a brutal war, one that caused many to see their loved ones murdered before their eyes for simply belonging to the wrong clan. Fearing for their lives, people fled on foot and paid smugglers for entry to foreign lands. Now in the UK, Somali refugees are forced to grapple with the cultural and economic battles common to many who are forced to abandon their lives and seek refuge thousands of miles away from home. But in spite of that shared pain, in the Somali community, mental health goes largely unaddressed.
In my early teenage years, I would hear of a lady who lived in our neighbourhood. My mother would occasionally check in on her and her children, and bring them food and provisions where needed. When I would ask what was going on, my mother would struggle to articulate the situation. Other Somali women in our community would lower their voices whenever they mentioned her and would look almost scared of voicing her “symptoms” as if mental illness was contagious.
They would religiously bless themselves afterwards and quickly move on to different, lighter topics of conversation. I don’t believe these women are to blame for their actions though, especially given the fact that these are people who have crossed borders to escape war, dealt with harsh socio-economic conditions in the UK and are still trying to adopt a new British-Somali identity. In light of that, it’s somewhat understandable, albeit upsetting, that learning about mental health may have been slightly neglected.
Language is a powerful tool and can help shape whole societies and their cultural norms and practices. In the Somali community, there is a lot of negative language surrounding mental health. It is not uncommon to be described as “crazy” and “sick in the head”. Often, the most reported cases of mental illnesses will be those observed in women.
The slurs also have a habit of taking a gendered turn, and the woman in question is often accused of being a “bad Muslim”, who is simply being punished by Allah for her sins. Other popular rhetoric, at least in my experience, includes calling people with mental health issues “lazy” and “attention-seeking”, meaning that in most cases, those suffering from mental health problems are rarely weaved into the Somali narrative at all.
TOP TWEETS
@HarunMaruf: BREAKING: Somali federal Govt tells the leaders of Southwest administration to hold regional leadership election as scheduled on Nov 17, state media. Statement issued by Interior Ministry says mandate of current leaders expires Nov and says delay will not be accepted.
@UNSomalia: #Somalia is a country that requires all people, all levels of government to work together, without which we cannot advance the project of bringing stability and prosperity in the country – @UN envoy Nicholas Haysom in #Galkayo today.https://bit.ly/2APx7Ap
@TheVillaSomalia: President @M_Farmaajo receives credentials from the new Ambassador of Finland to the Federal Republic of Somalia, H.E Eric Lundberg.
@MwomenHRD: Members of Parliament debate on Disability Agency Bill’s second reading in the house of parliament. Once approved the #Disability Agency Bill will lay the foundation for the formation of National Disability Agency in #Somalia@TheVillaSomalia @SomaliPM
@Allbanaadir1: The standoff among the somalia leaders is deepening, but Sharif’s election decides the champion!https://www.allbanaadir.org/
@SMDCMedia: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says in its annual Global Impunity Index that 2018 was the fourth year in a row #Somalia had topped the list with the worst records of prosecuting people who kill journalists.
http://smdc.or.ke/index.php/
@JvanGemund: An upsurge in insecurity and #conflict has triggered a new wave of displacement in #Somalia Lower Shabelle. @UNHCRSom-led Protection and Return Monitoring Network (https://bit.ly/2xehXDK ) shows over 34,000 people have fled the area since early Augusthttps://www.unocha.org/story/
IMAGE OF THE DAY
President, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo receives credentials from the new Ambassador of Finland to the Federal Republic of Somalia, Eric Lundberg
Photo: @TheVillaSomalia