April 18, 2017 | Daily Monitoring Report
PM Names Ministerial Committee To Oversee Galmudug And ASWJ Talks
18 April – Source : Jowhar.com – 127 Words
The Prime Minister of Somalia, Hassan Kheyre, who had a meeting with the leader of Ahlu Sunna Wal Jamaa (ASWJ), Sheikh Shaaakir reiterated the government’s commitment to see the success of the talks between Galmudug and the moderate group, Ahlu Sunna Wal Jamaa. As part of efforts to see the talks succeed the Prime Minister has appointed a ministerial committee which will spearhead the talks.
The committee will be led by the Foreign Affairs Minister, Yusuf Garaad and his interior counterpart, Abdi Farah Juha.The ASWJ group has set condition for talks with the Galmudug administration among them is the need to block the members of the Galmudug assembly from taking part in the talks. The talks between the two group are set to start in Mogadishu today.
Key Headlines
- PM Names Ministerial Committee To Oversee Galmudug And ASWJ Talks (Jowhar.com)
- Car Accident Near Bandiiradlay Town Injures Two (Goobjoog News)
- Puntland Denies Reports Of Islamic State Capture Of Areas In Qandala (Hiiraan Online)
- FGS Forces Conduct Security Operation In Leego (Goobjoog News)
- Russia Calls On Loosening Of Arms Embargo On Somalia (Intelligence Brief )
- Somalia Famine Fears “Threaten Years Of Progress” (South African Broadcasting Corporation)
- Somaliland’s Port Deal Sparks Land Rush (Thomson Reuters Foundation)
- Terror Fight Near Key Africa Strait Seen Stymied By Pay Feud (Bloomberg)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Car Accident Near Bandiiradlay Town Injures Two
18 April – Source : Goobjoog News – 102 Words
Two people have been injured after their car was involved in an accident near Bandiiradley town in Somalia’s central region. The injured are admitted at the town’s hospital, according to medics. The accident occurred last night at 10.30pm after the driver has lost control causing the car to veer off the road, rolling severally. Abdirisak Ahmed Jama’a confirmed the incident. The motor vehicle, Toyota Noah, was towed to the town. Jama’a cautioned drivers to be careful. The road accidents in Somalia are attributed to inexperienced and careless drivers, as well as rough roads that has not been maintained for the last three decades.
Puntland Denies Reports Of Islamic State Capture Of Areas In Qandala
18 April – Source : Hiiraan Online -120 Words
The Puntland administration has denied new reports that the Daish group has captured the town of Saan which is part of the district of Qandala. The district commissioner of Qandala, Jama Mohamed Quurshe has refuted the claims that the terrorist group has entered the district confirming the presence of Puntland troops in the area.However, the Puntland official confirmed the existence of the militia belonging to Daish in some areas near Qandala.The comments from the Puntland official comes after reports emerged yesterday that the town of Saan in Qandala district has fallen into the hands of the terrorist group. Last year, the Islamic State group captured the ancient port town of Qandala before they were dislodged by Puntland troops.
FGS Forces Conduct Security Operation In Leego
18 April – Source : Goobjoog News – 88 Words
The armed forces of the Federal Government of Somalia have conducted an operation aimed at ensuring security in the district of Leego in Lower Shabelle. The district commissioner of Leego who spoke to Goobjoog News said the operation was carried out in the last few nights and have greatly improved the security of the town. He mentioned that a curfew has been imposed in the town for close to a month now. The district commissioner did not mention if the forces have made any arrest in their operation.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Russia Calls On Loosening Of Arms Embargo On Somalia
18 April – Source : Intelligence Brief – 184 Words
Russia has called for loosening of arms embargo on Somalia saying the country need to be given an opportunity to acquire needed military equipment more when AMISOM is expected to exit Somalia in 2018. Russia’s representative Petr V. Iliichev told the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) sanctions committee that the sanctions on Somalia need to be reviewed due to changing situations. United nations Security Council imposed an arms embargo on Somalia in 1992 in response to the then deteriorating conflict and humanitarian situation.
UNSC has however revised the embargo allowing Somali military to access limited weapons in subsequent years. The February 2007 Resolution 1744 allowed the supply of weapons and military equipment intended solely for the purpose of helping develop Somali security sector institutions. Russia maintains arms embargo on Somalia must be reviewed. Russia abstained from last year’s vote which extended the embargo to November 15, 017. Italy said further progress in managing arms and ammunition should be taken into account in considering future sanctions. Other countries however maintained the embargo had helped bar armed groups including Al-Shabaab, ISIS from easily accessing the weapons.
Somalia Famine Fears “Threaten Years Of Progress”
18 April – Source : South African Broadcasting Corporation – Audio – 3:23 Minutes
The United Nations Development Programme, the UN agency helping with development in the East African nation, cautioned that if drought turns to famine, recent progress in making the country more resilient to such shocks may be “eroded”. At the same time, UN humanitarian coordinating agency OCHA warned that a suspected cholera outbreak is proving to be deadly.
Somaliland’s Port Deal Sparks Land Rush
18 April – Source : Thomson Reuters Foundation – 652 Words
The land along the road into Berbera is barren and empty. Somaliland’s small, rusty Gulf of Aden port which for centuries made the town prosperous rises suddenly out of the ground as the road hits the coast.The crumbling town has languished for decades, but its fortunes look set to change following a multi-million dollar deal to revamp the port, which has triggered a rush to buy land. Berbera, along the coast from Djibouti, has been a backwater since 1991 when Somaliland broke away from Somalia following a bloody civil war.The town’s buildings, some dating back to the Ottoman era, stand neglected. Unemployment is rampant, exacerbated by a devastating drought that has decimated livestock, a backbone of the export economy.
But last September Somaliland’s government signed its largest ever investment deal which could allow Berbera to become a major trading hub for goods to and from the Horn of Africa. The development will be carried out by DP World, a multinational port operator from the United Arab Emirates, which has valued the project at more than $US400 million.The deal was followed by another with the UAE, signed in March, for a military base a few kilometres down the road.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“Somalia, emerging from decades of civil war, is trying to rebuild amid attacks by al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda-linked group that’s waged a decade-long insurgency to impose its version of Islamic law. Puntland, which became semi-autonomous in 1998, has escaped the worst of the violence. However, a faction loyal to Islamic State, or IS, has emerged in the territory, last year seizing Qandala, a port east of the commercial capital, Bosaso, for six weeks.”
Terror Fight Near Key Africa Strait Seen Stymied By Pay Feud
18 April – Source : Bloomberg – 789 Words
Security forces protecting the semi-autonomous Somali territory of Puntland from Islamist militants on the approach to one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes haven’t been paid for months. The payment delays, spurred by a 2016 budget crisis, have developed into mutinies, with soldiers briefly seizing government buildings and officers from the Puntland Intelligence Agency resigning, according to local media and the agency’s former foreign liaison chief. Meanwhile, troops in the region are battling factions of the world’s two biggest Islamist-militant groups. Puntland’s president has denied any “real mutiny” has occurred.
About 400 miles northwest of Puntland’s main port lies the Bab el-Mandeb, the strait bordered by Yemen, Djibouti and Eritrea that gives oil tankers access to the Red Sea as well as the Suez Canal. It’s ranked the fourth-busiest oil- and fuel-shipping bottleneck in the world by volume. U.S. troops are stationed in Djibouti, where China is building its first overseas military base. “If security and intelligence organization become non-functional,” it would be “easy” for the Islamist militants to attack civilian vessels and warships, said Wang Chuan, a retired Chinese army major who heads a counter-terrorism studies center at the Knowfar Institute for Strategic & Defence Studies in Jiangyin City, China. “That would be a new horrible threat to the water lane.”
Somalia, emerging from decades of civil war, is trying to rebuild amid attacks by al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda-linked group that waged a decade-long insurgency to impose its version of Islamic law. Puntland, which became semi-autonomous in 1998, has escaped the worst of the violence. However, a faction loyal to Islamic State, or IS, has emerged in the territory, last year seizing Qandala, a port east of the commercial capital, Bosaso, for six weeks. Puntland’s intelligence agency called their expansion a potential “threat to global maritime trade routes.”
International Shipping: Increased lawlessness in Puntland could fuel a re-emergence of piracy, which caused havoc to international shipping off Somalia’s coast over the past decade. After several years of inactivity, there have been at least three piracy incidents in the area in 2017, according to the European Union’s Somalia naval force.
TOP TWEETS
@DrBeileh:Arrived in #Washington for @WorldBank & @IMFNews #springmeetings today. Grateful for the warm welcome from Amb. Awad & @SomaliEmbDC team
@HarunMaruf: Al-Shabab’s Fu’aad Shongole tells fighters to “ignore and not be intimidated” by Trump’s move to declare group-controlled areas a war-zone.
@RVInews: Male power, insecurity & inequality in #Somalia. Findings from the impact of war on Somali men study http://bit.ly/IWMBriefing
#Somalia: PM Khayre’s surprise visit to our offices gives us renewed commitment to implement good governance, accountability & transparency
@OCHASom:Humanitarian partners in #Somalia have put all hands on deck to help those most in need, find out how http://bit.ly/2pcr1FI
@Dahirkulane:Mayor of Mogadishu & Governor of Benaadir @ThabitMhd hits ground running,brings Hope for Change & access for all #Somalia: #MovingForward
IMAGE OF THE DAY
The Minister for Youth and Sports, Khadija Mohamed Diriye welcomes CAF President to Somalia
Photo: Radio Muqdisho.