April 18, 2016 | Daily Monitoring Report
NISA Seizes Car Packed With Explosives
18 April – Source: Shabelle News – 124 Words
Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) says its troops have seized a luxury car packed with large explosives and two AK-47 rifles, along with two suspects in northern Mogadishu.Following a tip-off from the local residents, NISA soldiers nabbed the car bomb on Sunday at midnight and the suspects who are thought to have been planning suicide attacks in the capital of Mogadishu, according to Daynile District Commissioner, Ahmed Nur: “NISA troops have managed to seize the car laden with explosives and two men believed to be Al Shabaab members who were planning attacks in Mogadishu.” The men, who were detained during the night-time operation have not been identified, but are suspected to be members of the Al- Shabaab terror gang that has been carrying out attacks in Mogadishu.
Key Headlines
- NISA Seizes Car Packed With Explosives (Shabelle News)
- Confusion Mars Mogadishu’s Transport Sector Revenue Collection (Goobjooge)
- Somali President Meets Ethiopian PM In Bahir Dar (Shabelle News)
- More Than 400 Migrants Drown In The Mediterranean After Four Overcrowded Boats Capsized Whilst Crossing From Egypt To Italy (Daily Mail)
- Somali Security Forces Arrest 14 Al-Shabaab Suspects In Mogadishu (Xinhua)
- Can Somalia Hold Elections In 2016? (Newsweek)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Confusion Mars Mogadishu’s Transport Sector Revenue Collection
17 April – Source: Goobjooge.com – 196 Words
The quarterly revenue collection from the transport sector in Mogadishu has been rocked by allegations of mismanagement after it has emerged that collusion between a privately owned company tasked with revenue collection and traffic officers has thrown into disarray revenue collection.
The revenues, previously collected by the Ministry of Finance, experienced delays by almost a month in collection and transmission early January. In the second quarter, an account was opened at Salama Bank where the public was directed to deposit the necessary payments. Hundreds of people were however unable to make the payments due to the bank’s slow system leading to a backlog of unpaid bills.
It was then decided to revert the collection role to officials of the private company and those of the Ministry of Finance through the use of Mobile service EVC.Motorists expressed frustrations at the confusion that has marred the revenue collection. They said even though it was not their fault, they were forced to make the payments again in the last quarter (Jan-March), failure to which officials demanded $10 in bribes. Some motorists argued they either bought their vehicles recently or were not in operation during the period in question.
Somali President Meets Ethiopian PM In Bahir Dar
18 April – Source:Shabelle News – 132 Words
The President of the Federal Republic of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has met with Ethiopian Prime Minster Hailemariam Desalegn on the side-line of Tana High-Level Forum on Security in Africa in Bahir Dar city.The two leaders have discussed on ways to boost their bilateral relations, mainly security and economic issues , according to a statement from the office of Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.
Ethiopian PM Hailemariam Desalegn has welcomed a proposal from Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud that suggested to form a joint ministerial committee to work on the agreement signed during their meeting.Somalia and Ethiopia will cooperate in several developmental projects, including agriculture, technology, investment and improving basic social services.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
More Than 400 Migrants Drown In The Mediterranean After Four Overcrowded Boats Capsized Whilst Crossing From Egypt To Italy
18 April – Source: Daily Mail – 123 Words
Dozens of African migrants have reportedly drowned after a boat carrying 400 people capsized in the Mediterranean Sea. Most of the 400 migrants aboard the boat were fleeing from Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea and had been hoping to reach Italy.
Somali media reports say that rescue workers have only managed to save 29 passengers from the waters after the shocking incident.Over 400 migrants are thought to have drowned, the Somali ambassador in Egypt told BBC Arabic.Social media users have claimed that the boat had started its journey in Egypt with Italy being its intended destination, a route favoured by many smugglers.Photographs of a handwritten list of victims names have been uploaded on to social media by several Somali speaking users.
Somali Security Forces Arrest 14 Al-Shabaab Suspects In Mogadishu
18 April – Source: Xinhua – 191 Words
Somali security forces on Sunday evening arrested 14 suspects during two different operations conducted in Wadajir and Hodan districts in Benadir region of Mogadishu, an official said Monday.
Ministry of Internal Security spokesman Abdikamil Mo’allim Shukri said the operations which were conducted by National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) were aimed at securing the region as well as flush out criminals hiding inside the town.”NISA officers carried out operations in Wadajir and Hodan districts on Sundayevening and arrested 14 Al-Shabaab suspects, two of them were behind the latest terrorist incidents in the capital Mogadishu,” Shukri said.”The security forces arrested the suspects with motor bike in which they use for committing assassinations. We will investigate them,” Shukri added.
He called on Mogadishu residents to provide information that could lead to possible arrest of more terror suspects to enable security officers to thwart future attacks in the restive capital. Somali National Army backed by the African Union Peacekeeping Forces removed Al-Shabaab from the capital Mogadishu in 2011, but the group often carries out deadly attacks against government and AU headquarters including social gatherings like hotels and restaurants in the town.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“There’s a substantial amount of bureaucracy to take place beforehand,” says Ahmed Soliman, Somalia expert at international affairs thinktank Chatham House. “There’s still really no timeline for these processes to take place before the government’s mandate runs out, so there’s a lot of work to be done.
Can Somalia Hold Elections In 2016?
15 April – Source: Newsweek – 382 Words
Somalia has got a plan to hold elections in 2016.The troubled Horn of Africa state is still emerging from decades of civil war and continues to be ravaged by an Islamist insurgency led by the Al-Qaeda affiliated militant group Al-Shabab. But despite such challenges, the country’s leadership are determined to stick to an internationally-backed timetable of holding elections later in 2016, since the current government’s mandate expires in August.Members of the Somali National Leadership Forum (NLF)—who include Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, as well as the presidents of Somalia’s autonomous regions—concluded a three-day meeting in the capital Mogadishu on Tuesday. The forum claimed to have hammered out a plan for holding elections before the end of the year, but there are still sizeable challenges to be overcome.
If they are to be held in 2016, elections in Somalia will look nothing like what most Western observers are used to. According to the NLF’s communique published on April 12, voting in Somalia will not follow the one-person, one-vote system utilized by the U.K. and the U.S. among others. Instead, there will be an electorate of just 13,750—Somalia’s total population is 10.5 million —for choosing the 275 members of the lower house of parliament. The electorate will largely be determined by 135 traditional elders, who hold positions of authority and function in political-judicial roles within their particular clans.
Somalia’s parliament is ostensibly bicameral, but the upper house has not yet been established. That is another task that must be completed before elections can take place and one that could hold particular challenges. The NLF communique states that 30 percent of seats be reserved for women in each member state (Somalia operates a federal system and is composed of 18 administrative regions). Such a lofty goal could prove difficult to achieve in a country ranked as the fifth most dangerous country in which to be a woman in a 2011 Thomson Reuters Foundation poll.
TOP TWEETS
@IntegrationTV:Today over 400 young #Somalis died on a boat from #Egypt to #Italy Majority were from North #Somalia#migrantcrisis
@fqdayib:My prayers are with the youth who perished in Egypt. Those beautiful souls who died getting to #Europe for a better life. #Somalia
@Omaar_nor:Police seize a luxury car full of explosives in#Mogadishu‘s Daynile district after a tip-off from locals.#Somalia.
@Aynte:At the SDRF meeting in #Mogadishu to discuss#Somalia Statebuilding & Peacebuilding agenda.
@UNDPSomalia:Federal Government of #Somalia establish Environment Wing in Office of the Prime Minister with the support of UNDP
@LotteLeicht1:Samia, a refugee from #Somalia, had a big dream. But her story has no happy endinghttp://trib.al/KWzdX4P #Refugees
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Traditional dancers perform in Mogadishu.
Photo: Mogadishu Images.