December 11, 2018 | Daily Monitoring Report
Somalia’s Political Turmoil Seems To Deepened
11 December – Source: Radio Kulmiye – 219 Words
New political struggle between rival parts of Somali Parliament is causing political confusion as an impeachment motion against President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo filed on Sunday. Speaker of Somali Parliament Mohamed Mursal Sheikh Abdirahman, accepted the motion signed by nearly hundred MPs. The MPs accused President Farmaajo abusing the office, violating the constitution and, that he did not reveal the tripartite agreement reached by Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea.
On Monday, MPs told the media that security forces stopped them to visit the home of the Speaker in Villa Somalia. MP Dahir Amin Jesow, called on the MPs to settle down the political turmoil through reviewing the motion in the parliament in accordance with the law. Protesters angered by the motion took to the streets in Mogadishu on Monday, saying that the motion is illegal and that MPs are seeking to oust President Farmaajo.
President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo is yet to discuss about the impeachment motion against him. The president was elected by parliament in February 2017 in a vote seen as a major step forward for a country devastated by years of civil war. Political scene in the nation has been relatively calm since then, punctuated by a spell of turmoil earlier this year, when Speaker Mursal’s predecessor, Mohamed Jawari, quit in a power struggle between him and Villa Somalia.
Key Headlines
- Somalia’s Political Turmoil Seems To Deepened (Radio Kulmiye)
- Somaliland Bans Opening Of New Private Schools In Its Region (Halbeeg News)
- Health Workers Fight Against Childhood Pneumonia In Somaliland (Radio Ergo)
- IMF Urges Somalia To Sustain Reform Momentum (Xinhua)
- Somalia Piracy: How Foreign Powers Are Tackling It (BBC News)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Somaliland Bans Opening Of New Private Schools In Its Region
11 December – Source: Halbeeg News – 163 Words
The breakaway Somaliland region has banned the registration and the opening of new private schools in its territory. In a statement released by the state’s Education Minister, Mr. Osman Jama Adam said, the ministry will no longer issue a license to new private learning institutions.
He also directed other government departments to help the ministry to implement the directive appropriately. “The ministry of education which is charged with streamlining the quality of education in the country, through the new education law 77/2018 seeks to bring uniformity in the sector that has been neglected for a long time,” the statement reads.
The minister said his ministry is committed to improving the education of the state. “The ministry is putting into perspective the need to improve the quality of education in the country and while the same time, it is aware of the shortages of educational facilities in the country. Thereby, orders all regional educational chairs to make sure this order is implemented,” he said.
Health Workers Fight Against Childhood Pneumonia In Somaliland
10 December – Source: Radio Ergo – 268 Words
Save the Children in coordination with Somaliland health ministry have launched an awareness and treatment campaign for pneumonia, in a bid to reduce child deaths. In 2017, Ministry of Health records show that 14,000 deaths of pneumonia. Save the Children, an NGO, trained 90 nurses and health workers for deployment to 70 villages in Awdal, Gabiley and Marodi-jeh region. Mohamed Omar Bobe from Save the Children said, the health workers are handling 94,000 children with pneumonia. So far, they have treated 2,800 children with pneumonia since August.
Ifrah Hussein lives in Balli-Matan village, where the disease has affected many children. She was trained as a health worker by Save the Children, on how to respond to pneumonia cases. Ifrah has been carrying out treatment and awareness activities in her village for the last four months. “Every morning I go around the village to assess the situation. Since I began this operation, I have treated about 120 children affected by pneumonia,” Ifrah told Radio Ergo.
A report by Save the Children in November 2017 said pneumonia kills more than two children every hour in Somalia. This is despite the fact that the disease can be treated with antibiotics costing as little as USD 50 cents. The report noted that 14,561 Somali children died of pneumonia in 2015. Dr. Ali Mohamed Omar, head of family health at the ministry, said pneumonia had spiraled into an epidemic in recent years. “The numbers infected have increased due to lack of awareness. Unless a child with pneumonia is treated immediately the disease can lead to death,” Dr. Ali said.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
IMF Urges Somalia To Sustain Reform Momentum
11 December – Source: Xinhua – 390 Words
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday urged the Somali government to sustain reform momentum to help long-term recovery and growth objectives. The IMF mission led by Mohamad H. Elhage, who visited Kenya from Dec. 1 to 6 to meet Somali financial officials and conduct the first review under the 12-month (May 2018-April 2019) Staff-Monitored Program (SMP), said it stands ready to continue supporting Somalia’s reform agenda and capacity development needs by intensifying technical assistance and training.
“Despite a difficult environment, performance under the SMP is strong,” said the mission in a statement. The IMF team welcomed the government’s commitment to continue improving the fiscal framework for the remainder of 2018 and for 2019 by expanding gains from the new tax measures and by keeping expenditure under control.
The team recommended several measures to strengthen public financial management reform, including expenditure control and minimizing the use of cash advances; improving domestic arrears management capacity; maintaining efforts toward achieving Treasury Single Account; and continuing to make progress toward fiscal federalism. “The authorities have made considerable progress in implementing steps to support the launch of the new national currency,” said the IMF mission.
The IMF team said it supports the Somali authorities’ effort to continue reaching out to donors to secure funding for the currency reform project. It noted that economic activity in 2018 is recovering from the 2016-17 drought, noting that a favorable rainy season is supporting the economic recovery, particularly in the agriculture and livestock sectors.
“Increased activities in the construction, communication, commerce, and service sectors are expected to be sustained,” the IMF said, noting that real GDP growth and inflation are projected at 3.1 and 3.5 percent from 2.3 and 5.5 percent in 2017, respectively. “Overall, fiscal performance through September 2018 has been strong. The fiscal balance at end of September recorded a surplus of 8 million dollars (up from 2.3 million dollars in June), mainly due to continued strong domestic revenue collection,” the Washington-based lender said.
The IMF team stressed the importance of accelerating the implementation of financial sector reforms, with priority placed on restructuring of the central bank and regulating the mobile money sector. “While progress continues on improving commercial bank and non-banking supervision, there is a need to further strengthen the capacity of the Licensing and Supervision Department,” said the lender.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“Marco Hekkens, an adviser on maritime security to the EU’s civilian mission in Somalia, said illegal fishing is continuing. EUNavfor can report suspicious fishing vessels to the authorities, but given Somalia’s limited capacity to deal with them, hardly anything is done.”
Somalia Piracy: How Foreign Powers Are Tackling It
11 December – Source: BBC News – 1189 Words
Foreign navies have played a key role in curbing piracy off Somalia’s coast, writes the BBC’s Anne Soy. On a beach in Hordeia on the northern coast of Somalia, I asked a former pirate what attracted him to piracy in the first place. The man, who wanted to remain anonymous, told me he was originally a fisherman and that was his main source of income but things changed when an illegal trawler destroyed his net. “I had a boat and a net on it, then a trawler cut our fishing nets and pulled them away. I was left with an empty boat,” he recalled. He and a fellow fisherman tried to shout and call the trawler crew, but it was in vain. It angered them. “They passed over our nets and pulled them away. Our fishing equipment was destroyed.” The former pirate’s story was not unusual. In the second half of the last decade what began as a defensive act against big trawlers, quickly morphed into a lucrative illegal business that raised global concern.
As he and other fishermen lost their trade, they turned to piracy, hijacking ships and passengers for ransom. It also drew in former militiamen who fought with warlords during Somalia’s long civil war. I wanted to know more about his days as a pirate but he became unsettled and ended the interview abruptly. What appeared to make him uneasy was a Spanish Special Forces soldier who had wandered over.
Security around the beach was tight as a helicopter hovered in the sky. The helicopter was part of the European Union Naval Force (EUNavfor). It gave a clue as to what has changed in recent years that has dramatically reduced the threat from piracy. A decade ago, pirates operated freely and there were plenty of hideouts for them along the coastline, like Eyl, a small, scenic port town in Somalia’s semi-autonomous region of Puntland.
As I approached Eyl, I saw the town by the beach right in front of a high, dramatic golden-brown cliff. The cliff seemingly shelters the town from wind and dust blowing from the mainland. Locals told me about the time years ago when pirates flooded the market with money, causing the cost of living to rise sharply. Armed, they also terrorised the local community, but they rarely killed anyone.
They also held some of the sailors they captured hostage as they demanded huge ransoms, sometimes of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The possibility of huge riches seemed to have been the main driver of piracy off the Somali coast. But it was the lack of an effective central government since the collapse of the Siad Barre regime in 1991, and the subsequent disbandment of the Somali navy, that enabled it to happen.
Somali territorial waters saw a rise in smuggling, illegal fishing by foreign trawlers, illegal dumping and later piracy. The route through the Indian Ocean past the Somali coast became known as one of the most dangerous sea passages in the world. But 10 years ago, the European Union, Nato and others began to deploy naval forces to the region shortly after the UN Security Council allowed warships to enter Somali territorial waters.
TOP TWEETS@hrcsomaliland: Journalists, civil society groups and youth activists in #Burao discuss freedom of expression in#Somaliland. Challenges, solutions and strategies will be explored to promote freedom of expression. @UNDPSomalia: In case you may have missed it: The Somali Gov. is making a plan to tackle corruption and build#transparency & #accountability in #Somalia w/ new agreement between @MOJ_FGSomalia & UNDP, that will assess what is needed for a national #integrity system http://bit.ly/2EdW7Du @Halbeeg_News: Somaliland bans opening of new private schools in its region – Statement https://en.halbeeg.com/2018/ @DrBeileh: “Despite a difficult environment, performance under the SMP is strong.” Our track record of reform & delivery continues under the @IMFNews SMP. IMF acknowledges our government efforts at transforming #Somalia‘s fiscal future. Read full report below: @DalsanFM: TONIGHT : MPs backing the Farmaajo impeachment meet the speaker to discuss their next move amidst hightened political tension in the capital #Mogadishu @SomaliPM: I had the pleasure to receive Italian Deputy Min of Foreign Affairs & Inter Coop @ecdelre as a follow up to H.E@M_Farmaajo recent Rome visit. Notwithstanding our interlinked history, Italy continues to stand by Somalia & reaffirms support for the progressive regional dynamics. |
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Photo: @SomaliPM |
Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire met with Italian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Emanuela C. Del Re in Mogadishu.