April 17, 2015 | Daily Monitoring Report.
Somali Prime Minister Reaffirms Strong Relations With Sweden
17 April – Source: Mareeg Media – 159 Words
The Prime Minister of Somalia Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke reaffirmed the country’s strong relationship with Sweded. Following a meeting with the Swedish Ambassador Mikael Lindvall in Mogadishu on 16 April, 2015, The prime minister said the following: “we reaffirmed our excellent relations with the Kingdom of Sweden and its people. I expressed our deepest gratitude for Sweden’s relentless efforts to help Somalia rebuild its state institutions and reclaim its rightful position among the community of nations. Sweden is home to tens of thousands of Somalis who are thriving in their adopted country, and are sending back vital support to their families and friends in Somalia. As a champion of human rights globally, Sweden has demonstrated a commitment to diversity and respect for all cultures and religions, including Islam and Muslims. The bond between Sweden and Somalia is unbreakable. Our relationship dates back to post independence in the 1960s. That relationship is strengthened by our shared objective of advancing peace and stability in Somalia, and promoting tolerance and respect for people of all faiths.
Key Headlines
- Somali Prime Minister Reaffirms Strong Relations With Sweden (Mareeg Media)
- “People Are Free To Choose Their Leader” Says Interior Minister (Goobjoog News)
- EU Condemns Somaliland’s Prisoner Executions (Hiraan Online)
- Four Dead In Mandera Scores Injured (Somali Current)
- Lightning Kills Two In Southern Somalia.(Radio Danan)
- Federal Parliament Speaker Meets UN And AU Delegates (Goobjoog News)
- Kenya ‘Begins Construction’ Of Somalia Security Barrier (Gulf Times)
- Somali Refugees Reluctant To Return Despite Kenya Directive (Shanghai Daily)
- After Piracy Crisis Somalia Battles Al-Shabab Unemployment Hunger And An Ineffective Government(International Business Times)
- Kenya Annexes More Somali Territory With Border Fence (Radio RBC)
- Why I Call Dadaab Home (Sahan Journal)
SOMALI MEDIA
“People Are Free To Choose Their Leader” Says Interior Minister
17 April – Source: Goobjoog News – 156 Words
Somali Interior minister, Abdirahman Mohamed Hussein who gave exclusive interview to Goobjoog News expressed good hope over Adado Convention which is intended to form new State for Mudug and Galgaduud regions. Addressing dissatisfaction with the process of the state formation conference in Adado, the Interior Minister said that issues between the federal government and the technical committee have been solved successfully through negotiations. Hussein dismissed rumors that the government is backing certain individuals to be elected as the president of soon-to-be formed Somali central State. “People are free to choose their leader and there is no plan that government wants to support any aspirant” he said. He added that there are several government officials who wish to vie for the president but the government has no right to tell anyone not to run for president. “Federal government supports the wish of the people, as far as the person is citizen he or she can be candidate” he said.
EU Condemns Somaliland’s Prisoner Executions
16 April – Source: Hiraan Online – 216 Words
The European Union on Thursday condemned the execution of six prisoners by Somaliland breakaway region in northern Somalia and said its an unexpected act that serves as a setback in the progress made in spreading the rule of law in Somaliland. This week, Somaliland authorities carried-out six death sentences at the Mandera maximum-security complex after a long de facto moratorium. Capital punishments are rare occurrence in Somaliland which declared a unilateral independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991. “The EU Heads of Mission strongly and unequivocally oppose the death penalty and consider that the death penalty constitutes a serious violation of human rights and human dignity.” said a statement from The Heads of Mission of the European Union and Member States on Thursday.
They called upon the Somaliland authorities to immediately halt death sentences as a first step towards adopting appropriate legislation, which they said aims at the abolition of the death penalty. It’s unclear the crimes the executed convicts committed, however, the Somaliland government holds hundreds of suspected militants and criminals in its jails, awaiting trial. Somaliland, a peaceful enclave in northern Somalia has escaped Somalia’s two decades civil war. Despite lacking an international recognition, Somaliland considers itself as an independent state, employing its own independent government and army.
Four Dead In Mandera, Scores Injured
16 April – Source: Somali Current – 251 Words
Four passengers were killed and 20 remained unaccounted for after flash floods swept away the bus they were driving in. County Commissioner Alex Ole Nkoyo confirmed the deaths adding that rescuers were still searching for more bodies along and the banks of the river where the incident took place. “The bus had 59 passengers with unknown number of children when it was rummaged by the fierce waters. Only 42 passengers had been rescued by around 5 pm local time”, Mr Nkoyo said. There is a growing fear that the number of dead could rise as more bodies could be seen rescued from the fierce water following heavy downpour in the area.
“We had the police escort but their vehicle had already crossed the Gadudia seasonal river in which the bus stalled before it flooded,” said Mr NKoyo. The bus was traveling from Mandera town to the capital Nairobi. “Scores of passengers were washed away as others climbed on top of the bus to save their lives,” a passenger who survived the incident said at the scene. Mandera Kenya Red Cross Society coordinator Ahmed Mohamed also said 42 passengers who were in the bus as it tried to cross the river had been rescued by 2 pm. The KRCS official said the bus which overturned after being hit by the floods had been removed from the waters and turned over. The bus which was headed to Nairobi got stuck in the mud before it was swept by floods together with its passengers.
Lightning kills Two In Southern Somalia
16 April – Source: Radio Danan – 119 Words
A lightning strike killed two persons from a same family in a village in southern Somalia, residents told DBN on Thursday. The fatalities during the lightning storm are common in Middle Shabelle region which has seen numerous deadly lightning strikes for the past few years. Lightning strikes often occur in Somalia during rainy seasons. Residents in a village close Balad town, 30km north of Mogadishu said two other persons from the same family were injured and were rushed to hospitals in Mogadishu.
Federal Parliament Speaker Meets UN And AU Delegates
16 April – Source: Goobjoog News – 219 Words
Federal parliament speaker, Mohamed Sheikh Osman Jawari has today taken a meeting with UN and AU delegates at his office in Mogadishu. Also in attendance at the meeting were the national security minister, Abdikadir Omar Mohamed and Chief of the Somali Military Forces, Dahir Adan Elmi Indha Qarshe. They discussed a wide range issues including how to accelerate the process to liberate areas controlled by Al-Shabab group, security of the Nation and how to modernize the Somali National Army in order to fight Al-Shabaab more effectively. They focused on the formation of an inclusive and capable fighting force as federal government is facing attacks and ambushes from Al-Shabaab fighters.The delegates pledged support to Somali national Army and other government department.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Kenya ‘Begins Construction’ Of Somalia Security Barrier
16 April – Source: Gulf Times – 389 Words
Kenyan youths have begun construction of a security barrier along the vast and porous border neighbouring war-torn Somalia, although critics have scoffed it can work, reports said on Thursday.The proposed barrier is the latest in a string of measures Kenya has announced to stem attacks by Somalia’s Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents in the wake of a university massacre in the northeastern town of Garissa. Youths from a government youth training scheme started digging a ditch this week in Kiunga, Kenya’s coastal Lamu district, which officials said would stretch for some 700 kilometres (435 miles). “The fence will consist of various obstacles including a ditch and a patrol road,” Immigration Services director Gordon Kihalangwa said, according to The Star newspaper.
The government has given no details of the construction, cost or how long it will take to complete the fence, which would separate Kenya’s north-eastern ethnic Somali region from Somalia itself. However, Kenyan Vice-President William Ruto said Saturday that “the way America changed after 9/11 is the way Kenya will change after Garissa”. The Shebab group has warned of a “long, gruesome war” unless Kenya withdraws its troops from Somalia, where they have been fighting the Islamists since 2011. Cartoonist Victor Ndula in The Star newspaper drew an image of a half-built wall, with a hole knocked through labelled “corruption.” “They are building a wall to keep us out but leave a gaping hole to let us in,” a Shebab gunman says in the cartoon. Since the Garissa attack, Kenya has demanded the UN refugee agency shut down the world’s largest refugee camp complex at Dadaab, and repatriate hundreds of thousands of Somalis by July.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somali Refugees Reluctant To Return Despite Kenya Directive
17 April – Source: Shanghai Daily – 681 Words
Kenya’s directive last week giving the UN refugee agency three-month to repatriate all Somali refugees in the country’s Dadaab refugee camp has caused anxiety with opinion divided over whether they should leave or not. Deputy President William Ruto said the government had started talks with UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to shut down the camp, and threatened that the government will forcefully close down the world’s largest refugee settlement if no agreement is reached.
The directive has, however, been met with strong resistance from a section of legislators and UN body who urged the government to reconsider the move. Ruto said the government has evidence that terrorist are using the camps to plan and carry attacks in Kenya, with the recent being the massacre of 148 people at the Garissa University college. Leaders from Northern Kenya led by National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale were the first to call for the closure of the refugee camp housing 350,000, with most being Somalis. Kenyan Senate Speaker Ekwe Ethuro said the government and the UNHCR should negotiate on how to repatriate the refugees, noting that it must follow international obligations.
Ethuro said there must be a legal regime governing the welfare of refugees even as the government plans to repatriate refugees in Dadaab. He, however, conceded that the refugee camps have been infiltrated by terrorists. However, some of the 350,000 refugees who spoke to Xinhua refuted the claims, noting that the government has the machinery to detect and take action on those perceived to be sympathizers of the Somali militant group Al-Shabaab. The refugees living in northeast Kenya camp said on Thursday that they are not willing to return home due to insecurity and harsh economic conditions.
After Piracy Crisis, Somalia Battles Al Shabab, Unemployment, Hunger And An Ineffective Government
16 April – Source: International Business Times – 819 Words
International navies and private security officials have dramatically curtailed piracy attacks at sea off the coast of Somalia in the last few years. But on land, the East African nation still suffers from extreme economic hardship, civil unrest and political turmoil after decades of conflict that have left unemployed youth desperate to earn a basic income. An attack by Al Shabab gunmen on Tuesday at a government compound, which holds the higher education and petroleum ministries, left at least 17 people dead in Somalia’s capital city of Mogadishu. Last month, the Islamist militants seized a Mogadishu hotel and killed at least 18 people during a deadly battle with Somali security forces, which lasted more than 12 hours. The al Qaeda-linked group has launched almost monthly attacks in Somalia and cross borders since last year in an effort to expand its territory and overthrow the Somali government. The violence has unfolded as Somalia has struggled under a fractured government and weak economy. Some 80 percent of Somalis living in urban areas are currently unemployed and there are few legal options for them to make money.
“There’s no question that extremely high levels of unemployment have meant that young men are looking to make a livelihood from a gun,” said Ken Menkhaus, a professor of political science at Davidson College in North Carolina whose research focuses on the politics of the Horn of Africa. “Piracy was one of the many possibilities.” Clan warlords have battled for power in Somalia since the collapse of a military dictator’s regime in the early 1990s. After years of interim authority, a federal government headed by the president and parliament was established in 2012. But Somalia’s internationally-recognized government has failed to assert central authority over the nation. Much of Somalia is controlled by Al Shabab, which emerged in 2006 from the now-defunct Islamic Courts Union that controlled Mogadishu. Al Shabab launched its own insurgency on major Somali cities by 2009. The militants were pushed out of Mogadishu and other strategic cities by Somali and international forces around 2012. But Al Shabab has recently increased efforts to oust the United Nations-backed government, and the terror group still dominates many rural areas of Somalia where it has imposed a strict version of Shariah law.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
It seems that land ownership is vastly important when the discussion is between Somalis. We disagree on who owns what land. We accuse one another of stealing each other’s territories. We call for war to settle land issues. Passions run high and faces turn red.
Kenya Annexes More Somali Territory With Border Fence
16 April – Source: Radio RBC – 575 Words
The Kenyan Government has recently announced that it will build a fence along its porous border with Somalia. The fence, in theory, will to keep Al Shabab out of Kenya. As any sovereign state, Kenya has the right to erect walls and protect itself citizens. What it does not have right to is build that wall within Somalia’s borders. According to the former Somali Ambassador to Kenya, Abdillahi Mohamed Ali, the Government in Nairobi has not informed him of this development. It seems the Somali Federal Government (SFG) was not consulted either. The issue was not also brought up when the Somali Foreign Minister recently visited Kenya. As it stands now, Kenya has already commenced building the fence. Communities at the Somali-Kenya border have already reported the Kenyan builders moving into the Somali side of the border. Kenya wants to build the fence inside Somalia, 2km away from the internationally recognized border.
Unlike the border between Ethiopia and Somalia, the Somali-Kenya border is clearly delineated. There are no ambiguities or legal issues that can muddy the water. Kenya wants to create a dispute out of thin air. This is not the first time that Kenya has tried this. It already laid claim to large swathes of the Somali sea. The lack of response from the Somali Government is an abdication of its responsibilities. It is beyond comprehension why SFG has not spoken on this issue. Like any other Somali, I do realize and appreciate the Somali Government is a weak institution. It does not have military and political clout needed to ensure Somali sovereignty. However, what the Somali Government has on its side is its citizens and the international law. The Government and people must address this issue before it becomes a full blown crisis; one that might become a manufactured dispute, much like the Somali sea issue. Considering the current condition of the Somali Government, Somali citizens must fill the void that was vacated by the State.
If the Kenyan government decides to return Somali refugees to Somalia, let it do so with kindness and sensitivity. As we say in Somali, “Cimri tagay ceeb laguma sagootiyo,” a long life is not crowned with bad deeds.
Why I Call Dadaab Home
16 April – Source: Sahan Journal – 1109 Words
I was jolted by what Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto said on Saturday, April 11, when he visited Nyeri County in Kenya’s central region. He gave the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees three months to relocate the refugees in Dadaab camps to Somalia, and if this is not done, he went on to say, the government would do the work itself. These words unsettled me for the rest of the day. Because I am not just a refugee in Dadaab; I was also born in Dadaab, in Kenya. A few questions flooded my mind when I first read his statements. Will they come with a big lorry and cart me to a country I’ve never seen before? How will they go about it? Will police officers drag me out of my house and throw me into the back of a truck against my will? Will they ask my 80-year-old dad to get out of the mosque and quickly pack his stuff?
What will happen next? I wonder. It seems we soon have to pack our bags.Will my dad go back to his hometown Luuq in Somalia’s Gedo region? Will mom insist on going to her birthplace Negelle in Ethiopia? Will they settle in a completely different place? This is something that may take more than three months for them to decide. As for me, I don’t know where to go. I somehow think I still belong here. Will I be forced out of the only home I have known all my life? Though she has been in the U.S. for a decade now, my sister always asks me to send her photos from Dadaab. This is also the only place she knows. The dust. The scorching sun. The dry acacia trees. They are all ours.
Dadaab will forever be in my mind no matter what happens. I will set my fiction here. I know I carry the most important material with me everywhere I go: My childhood. That remains my reference as I follow my dream of becoming a writer. Ah the memories! I remember when I was a child growing up in Ifo refugee camp. I’d go to school every morning. Sometimes on an empty stomach. Education was a solemn enterprise in those days. I remember elderly women learning English under the shades of the trees. Everyone was eager to build a bright future for their family. No one wanted to be called a refugee. It was like an insult. But it has now become our identity and Kenya began to hate us for who we are.
Top tweets
@LaetitiaBader Somalia “no place to return to” warns MSF & calls on #Kenya & int’l community to improve protection of Somali refugees in Kenya
@AsliKulane Let #AdadoConference lead to the 1st Female led State in #Somalia. Support #Women in #Somalia for#Leadership.
@abdiwelisheikh Over 3,000 km coast,10m ha arable land,45m livestock,70% under 30 yrs & fierce determination to progress.I see opportunity, do you? #Somalia
@idil_ibrahim THANK U @Lattif for showing the world the positive side of Somalia which they’ve never seen. U did a fantastic presentation @Pawa254
@BBCAfrica Today’s #African #proverb: A man who does not know about war is likely to be the one who will rush to it. Sent by Mohamed Basal, Somalia
@kipmurkomen Al Shabab do not respect Muslims or Somalis that is why they kill Muslim Somalis every week in Somalia!
Image of the day
Somali refugees at Dadaab, which is located in Northeast Kenya. Dadaab is the world’s largest refugee camp complex.