January 19, 2012 | Daily Monitoring Report.
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MSF closes largest medical centres in Mogadishu after killings19 Jan – Source: MSF Somalia/Reuters Alert Net – 432 Words Following the tragic killings of our colleagues Philippe Havet and Dr. Karel Keiluhu in Mogadishu, Somalia, on the 29th of December 2011, the medical humanitarian organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) sees itself forced to end all activities in that project. This closure halves the assistance MSF is providing in Mogadishu. For now, other MSF projects will continue to provide medical care in the other districts of the capital, as well as in 10 locations in the rest of Somalia. However, the continuation of MSF work to assist Somalis in need of medical care is dependent upon the respect for personnel, patients and medical facilities. Where these conditions prevail, MSF remains committed to continue its activities in Somalia. “It is hard to close health services in a location in Somalia where the presence of our medical teams is genuinely life-saving everyday,” states Christopher Stokes, MSF General Director, “but the brutal assassination of our colleagues makes it impossible for us to continue working in this project in Mogadishu.” |
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Key Headlines
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SOMALI MEDIATFG, al Shabaab clash in parts of Bakol region19 Jan – Source: Radio Bar-kulan, Radio Mogadishu – 104 words Fierce fighting between TFG troops and al Shabaab rebel fighters reportedly erupted at Kesow settlement, Hudur district on Wednesday night. The clash erupted after TFG troops attacked a rebel base in the area in an effort to seize control of it. Although the exact number of casualties on both sides is yet to be established, locals say they saw several dead rebel fighters in the area. Reports say government troops seized the rebel base in Kesow settlement and captured some rebel fighters and other military supplies following the clash. Al Shabaab officials and doctors killed by raids in Kismayo19 Jan – Source: Shabelle – 115 words More details are coming from the air strikes that hit in the suburbs Kismayo town in Lower Jubba of Southern Somalia, witnesses said Thursday. Reliable reports that Shabelle Media got from the port city of Kismayo are saying that twenty al Shabaab fighters among them doctors and other officials were killed. Moreover, the reports are adding that one civilian was killed and two others injured.The strike hit a treatment center for al Shabaab fighters. No one has claimed the responsibility of the bombardment. Puntland president meet his Djiboutian counterpart19 Jan – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 110 words Puntland’s president, Abdirahman Mohamed Mohamud Farole who arrived in Djibouti on Wednesday has reportedly held talks with the host president, Ismail Omar Guelleh. The two leaders discussed issues related to Puntland and the bilateral relations between Djibouti and Somalia. President Guelleh urged Farole to double his efforts to initiate developmental projects in Puntland and stabilising Somalia. President Farole on his part briefed the host president on the ongoing oil exploration in parts of Puntland. Kenyan jets hit Bulo Haji, South Somalia18 Jan – Source: Radio Kulmiye, Shabelle – 84 words Kenya Defence Force have reportedly killed a large number of al Shabaab extremists after hitting their base in Bulo Haji, South Somalia. Area residents confirm that the Kenyan Air Forces on Wednesday hit Bulo Haji town, which is almost (80kms) West of the port town of Kismayo, damaging many al Shabaab bases in that town. On Sunday in the town of Jilib, located south of the strategic port city of Kismayo, Kenyan fighter jets killed seven children of former government administrator Abdullahi Maalim. Al Shabaab say Somali elders “officially” joined fighting in capital18 Jan – Source: Jowhar Online – 225 words Al Shabaab said traditional elders in Mogadishu have officially joined ongoing fighting. Al Shabaab commander in Banadir Region, Sheikh Mohamed Hasan Omar alias Abu Abdirahman said traditional elders have now stepped up to the mark by taking part in the ongoing Jihad. “Elders role in the Jihad has now begun. Traditional elders have now taken the gun,” said Sheikh Mohamed Hasan Omar. Abu Abdirahman said they held a meeting with traditional elders in North Eastern parts of Mogadishu in which they agreed on a number of things, including intensifying fighting and what role they could play. “If the youth used to beo on the frontline of the fighting, today it is the elderly and we thank God for that. Every elder is a representative of his clan and has now taken up the gun,” said Abu Abdirahman. Al Shabaab has in the past paraded traditional elders taken from various regions across the country whom they had given arms to and said they were ready to take part in the fighting. None of the elders paraded publicly has however been seen directly taking part in the fighting so far. Analysts have said, in parading the elders, al Shabaab are trying to gunner support for the group given that youths have been killed en masse in recent battles. Al Shabaab and Ahlu Sunna clash in central Somalia19 Jan – Source: Shabelle – 109 words Fighting has erupted in Galgudud region between Ahlu Sunna Waljama’a and al Shabaab fighters, reports said on Thursday. The battle broke out after al Shabaab attacked bases of Ahlu Sunna Waljama’a in the outskirts of Dusamareb town in central Somalia. The chairman of Dusamareb town Moalim Abdurrahman told Shabelle Media that al Shabaab attacked a place located 5 km away from Dusamareb and pointed out that the fighting happened in that suburb. Mr Abdurrahman said that they killed many al Shabaab fighters. Thousands of dead fish washed up on beaches near Bosaso Port18 Jan – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 171 words Thousands of dead fish have been washed up on beaches near Bosaso Port, Bari region for the last two days, officials say. An estimated three tonnes of dead fish washed up on the beaches near the Port were spotted in the area, according to Puntland’s Fisheries Ministry officials. Thousands of dead fish is currently carpeting the beach, with experts’ views differing on the cause of their death. Although the mystery surrounding the mass death of the fish still remains unknown, local authorities suspect water contamination could have been responsible. Puntland’s Director of Fisheries Ministry Abdiwahid Mohamed Jo’aar told Bar-kulan that evidences suggest that petroleum products used to clean vessels docking at the harbour were responsible. He said Somali and Yemeni traders normally clean their boats using already used petroleum products or even spill the product in the area when dispatching them to other parts. REGIONAL MEDIASomali Islamists release photos of “abducted Kenyans”19 Jan – Source: Daily Nation – 176 words Al Shabaab militia have released photos on the Twitter website claiming to be a district registrar of persons and a district officer who were abducted last week after a raid at the Administration Police [AP] camp, Wajir [northeastern Kenya].The local district registrar of persons, district officer and two APs were reported missing during the attack that occurred on Wednesday [11 January] last week. The militants invaded Gerille town near the Kenya-Somalia border just before 7 p.m. [1600 gmt] and bombed the Administration Police camp, according to a security source in Wajir. North Eastern Deputy Provincial Commissioner Wenslas Ongayo said the militants attacked the AP line with hand held grenades.”They raided the centre at about 6.45 p.m. [1545 gmt] as locals thronged the mosque and other centres for evening prayers while the registration officers were distributing IDs,” said Mr Ongayo. Last week, media reports quoted the militants warning that they would continue to raid towns inside Kenyan territory and carry out killings and abductions. INTERNATIONAL MEDIAMSF closes largest medical centres in Mogadishu after killings19 Jan – Source: MSF Somalia/Reuters Alert Net – 432 Words Following the tragic killings of our colleagues Philippe Havet and Dr. Karel Keiluhu in Mogadishu, Somalia, on the 29th of December 2011, the medical humanitarian organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) sees itself forced to end all activities in that project. This closure halves the assistance MSF is providing in Mogadishu. For now, other MSF projects will continue to provide medical care in the other districts of the capital, as well as in 10 locations in the rest of Somalia. However, the continuation of MSF work to assist Somalis in need of medical care is dependent upon the respect for personnel, patients and medical facilities. Where these conditions prevail, MSF remains committed to continue its activities in Somalia. “It is hard to close health services in a location in Somalia where the presence of our medical teams is genuinely life-saving everyday,” states Christopher Stokes, MSF General Director, “but the brutal assassination of our colleagues makes it impossible for us to continue working in this project in Mogadishu.” Turkish foreign minister discusses Middle East with UK, Saudi counterparts18 Jan – Source: Anatolia News Agency, Ankara ANKARA -Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Tuesday separately spoke over phone to his British and Saudi Arabian counterparts. Turkish diplomatic sources said Davutoglu discussed with William Hague latest situation in Somalia and prospective international and regional meetings on the country as well as a reform process at the European Court of Human Rights and developments in the Middle East. The Turkish foreign minister discussed with his Saudi counterpart Saud Al Faisal Gulf Cooperation Council Strategic Dialogue and latest development in the Middle East. SOCIAL MEDIACULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDSFatal Failure: Did Aid Agencies Let Up To 100,000 Somalis Die in 2011?18 Jan – Source: Time Blog – 1168 Words Even the best aid agencies find they can rarely admit their faults. Aid depends on donations, and donors need to feel confidence and trust to hand over money to an aid agency, which means the $126-billion-a-year foreign aid industry might collapse if aid groups didn’t present a convincing portrait of capable altruism. In some ways, that’s a good thing: it encourages aid organizations to produce good results. But it also encourages them to make results look good. That immutable fact of aid agency life finds recognition in the positioning of a publicity and marketing operation at the core of any big aid organization. These departments have two aims: to present the agency in the best possible light, and to drum up donations for their work. Self-criticism is extremely rare. So mark this date, Wednesday, Jan. 18. Because today two of the world’s biggest aid groups, Oxfam and Save the Children, admitted that however inadequate the public and government response to last year’s famine in Somalia (and it was, and continues to be, insufficient), the emergency response from aid agencies and the U.N. was in any case so flawed that it allowed anything between 50,000 and 100,000 people to die. Dispatch – Dadaab reality18 Jan – Source: Intercross Blog ICRC – 346 Words Imagine a boy’s quick grin when he hears his father’s voice on the line; a woman’s sigh when her husband says hello; sagging shoulders and a quick turning away when there is no answer, or the tears of an old man who can’t find his children. These are Somali refugees telephoning relatives from the Dadaab Refugee Complex in Kenya. The cell phone calls are a high-tech approach to traditional Red Cross Messages being used by the ICRC and Kenya Red Cross Society to restore family links at Dadaab. These are calls to say, “I made it alive.” The refugees have phone numbers written on the palms of their hands, some squat to write phone numbers in the dirt, or unfold worn scraps of paper to find the crucial number of a relative left behind or someone they hope to locate. The news relayed is not always good because the 80 kilometer trek from the Somali border crossing at Liboi to Dadaab is a no- man’s-land where refugees are often robbed of what little they possess and abused. People die on the way, and some of these are children. Aid workers break the tension with laughter now and again but the sound is hard to take in the presence of this suffering. Puntland and 201218 Jan – Source: Somalia Online Forum The Govt of Puntland has made great progress and failures under the Farole administration The Health Sector New Health Facilities under construction or opening up around the region, Health Initiatives such as immunisation, rapid impact surgeries, and also setting up relations between Puntland Health and International health organisation around the world The Education Sector Scholarships of nearly 500 students last year alone. Puntland high-school certificates recognised by Sudan, Kenya and Ethiopia. One curriculum for all primary and secondary students Domestic and International Relations The Puntland profile is domestically and internationally accepted. Dual-Track is the new way. Excellent conferences held in Garowe to re-cement that in People’s mind Sports Sector Excellent football tournaments nationally and regionally, rehabilitations on sporting facilities inside puntland, Setting up sporting committees around the diaspora and connecting them inside the nation, Construction of the Olympic Village Multi-plex facility Commerce Sector Created New building for his ministry in Bosaso, Held the business fairs in Bosaso which was a great success, created powerful separate chambers for agriculture and businesses. He is looking to add other chambers like fishery, livestock, manufacturing. His brought excellent policies to to enhance investments while thousands of puntlanders have been trained in technical and entreprenuer skills. Woman’s Sector This sector has improved alot, the minister of this sector is leading a huge fight to stop female genital mutiliation inside Puntland, The ministry today has 150 employees and in 2005 it only had 30. She has created a lobby group for puntland women. She has held successful nation-wide women’s conference to bring somali women closer to each other. The ministry is building a Women’s Center in Garowe. Oil Sector Excellent work so far as far the drilling rig being in-place at shabeel-1 well. But within this year we need to complete the drilling for all 4 wells in nugaal and bari. We should start also looking into drillings at the offshore oil which the seismic studies have been completed or at the very least begin seismic studies in the mudug basin. |
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A public notice poster encouraging residents in Mogadishu to report anything that can jeopardize the security, including explosives and al Shabaab men on mission.