April 21, 2016 | Daily Monitoring Report
At Least 28 Killed As Somali Forces And Al Shabaab Clash In Central Somalia
21 April – Source: Goobjoog News – 235 Words
Fighting between Al Shabaab and government and African Union (AU) troops in the central Galgaduud region has left 28 people dead, Somali officials said on Thursday. Somali forces backed by AMISOM troops on Wednesday night raided Al-Shabaab military bases in the outskirt Elbuur town.
Elbuur district commissioner, Abdi Hassan, who spoke to Goobjoog News said 25 Al-Shabaab members had been killed, but gave no figures of any casualties from the government and AMISOM side: “Somali soldiers with the African Union killed 25 Al-Shabaab fighters in the fight,” Musab said. He said that heavy fighting took place at the military bases in Budbud and Ulajarad localities, which lie 75 kilometers outside Elbuur.
A local resident in Budbud village, Abdi Omar, said there was a heavy exchange of fire which lasted for some hours: “We heard the sound of heavy gunfire but we were unable to get outside,” he said. He further claimed that ”there were three bodies of Somali soldiers in area”. Since 2006 Somalia has witnessed deadly battles between government forces and Al-Shabaab allied elements.
Key Headlines
- At Least 28 Killed As Somali Forces And Al Shabaab Clash In Central Somalia (Goobjoog News)
- AU Special Representative Receives The Visiting Independent Expert On The Human Rights Situation In Somalia (AMISOM)
- Al-Shabaab Abduct School Children From Harardheere District (Radio Kulmiye)
- Puntland Interior Ministry Relocates To New Premises (Garowe Online)
- Terror Attack Families Yet To Return Home In Lamu East (Daily Nation)
- Construction Sector Driving Somalia’s Economic Recovery (AMISOM)
- Ifrah Ahmed : Fighting Genital Mutilation In GM World Capital Somalia (Newsweek).
PRESS STATEMENT
AU Special Representative Receives The Visiting Independent Expert On The Human Rights Situation In Somalia
20 April – Source: AMISOM – 367 Words
The Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (SRCC) for Somalia, Ambassador Francisco Madeira, received in his office in Mogadishu the Independent Expert (IE) on the Human Rights Situation in Somalia, Mr. Bahame Tom Nyanduga
Ambassador Madeira and the Independent Human Rights Expert (IE) discussed a wide range of issues including action taken by AMISOM to ensure compliance with International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and respect of Human Rights in AMISOM’s conduct of military operations in Somalia. The Independent Expert (IE) commended AMISOM for its role in restoring security in Somalia and urged the mission to ensure continued compliance with applicable IHL obligations including Human Rights Due Diligence Policies (HRDDP).
The AU Special Representative noted that the recovery of more areas from terrorists by AMISOM and Somali National Army (SNA) has created more space for state formation, promotion and protection of Human Rights and humanitarian access. Ambassador Madeira further observed that the situation has also enabled Somalia to take various measures to promote human rights, including legislative measures to strengthen the institutions that play a key role in human rights promotion and protection and to enact rights-based national policies and strategies.
“As we reported during your visit on 29 May 2015, AMISOM continues to train its forces in International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and Human Rights and undergo constant in-mission training designed to maximize compliance with the rules governing the conduct of AMISOM operations including the UN Human Rights Due Diligence Policy”, he added.
Ambassador Madeira emphasised that the protection of civilians is at the heart of AMISOM and the inviolability of civilian lives is sacrosanct in AMISOM’s operations. He said that AMISOM applies an Indirect Fire Policy which is aimed at minimizing the impact of civilian casualties during military operations and a mission-wide protection of civilian strategy.
“We will leave no stone unturned to ensure that perpetrators of IHL violations are held fully accountable.” Said Ambassador Madeira. The Independent Human Rights Expert, Mr. Bahame Nyanduga who was on his second visit to Somalia to assess the human rights situation, also met with representatives of the Federal Government of Somalia. He is expected to report his findings to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, in September 2016.
NATIONAL MEDIA
Al-Shabaab Abduct School Children From Harardheere District
20 April – Source: Radio Kulmiye- 199 Words
Al-Shabaab militants in Harardheere district were on Tuesday abducted a dozen school children against the will of members of their families in the southern Mudug province. Local residents, who spoke to Radio Kulmiye on condition of anonymity, said armed Al-Shabaab elements stormed into the school in a remote rural village, seizing at least 10 young students before driving away to an unknown destination.
The motives behind the latest juvenile abduction are not clear yet. But sources familiar with Al-Shabaab’s insurgency doctrine believe that given its reputation to exploit child soldiers, the Al-Qaeda-linked militants would most likely use the children for combat purpose.
Harardheere is the last Al-Shabaab stronghold in the highly contested Mudug region, which has come under growing military pressure from the Galmudug administration as well as local clan-militias. Al-Shabaab militants have been waging armed insurgency against the Somali government and its regional allies over the last ten years. And in the wake of their recent defeats to Puntland and Galmudug forces in Nugaal and Mudug regions respectively, the group might have been compelled to employ forceful conscription tactics to add to their numbers more combatants.
Puntland Interior Ministry Relocates To New Premises
20 April – Source: Garowe Online -126 Words
Puntland Vice President, Abdihakin Abdullahi Haji Omar has inaugurated new premises for Interior, Local Governments and Rural Development Ministry, during a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the State capital of Garoweon Wednesday. Youth clad in traditional Somali regalia danced to a folk song before Omar and his entourage in front of new building. In attendance at the event held for the ministry complex was Minister of Interior Ahmed Elmi Osman and his staff.
Osman expressed his gratitude for the new premises of the ministry, saying the outcome was a result of concerted efforts . Puntland Vice President termed the inauguration historic since he personally laid a foundation stone for the new building ten months ago. Event speakers welcomed the progress and asked the government to speed up infrastructural initiatives.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Terror Attack Families Yet To Return Home In Lamu East
21 April – Source: Daily Nation – 402 Words
More than 20 families who escaped from Milimani Village of Lamu East Sub-County are yet to return home in more than nine months after a terror raid in the area.The families moved from the village on August 15, 2015, shortly after more than 100 Al-Shabaab militants ambushed neighbouring Basuba Village and preached to more than 300 villagers for an hour.
Addressing journalists in Milimani Village on Wednesday, Basuba Chief Yusuf Nuri said many of the families had run for their safety in Bar’goni, Hindi and Bodhei junction but since then, have been reluctant to go back home.“We have a total of 58 families here in Milimani. After the August raid in Basuba Village, all the families sought refuge at Bar’goni, Hindi and Bodhei. So far only 38 families have come back to the village but the rest are reluctant to come back,” said Mr Nuri.
He said as a result, the village was yet to return to its former vibrancy.A resident, Mrs Asha Athman, lauded the national government for the adequate security provided in all the five villages of Milimani, Basuba, Mangai, Mararani and Kiangwe.She said there were enough security patrols, making it possible for the locals to spend nights in their homes peacefully.“We are well protected. We can comfortably sleep in our houses unlike before. Security patrols have been enhanced day and night. We have seen the Kenya Police and the Kenya Defence Forces officers in the area on daily basis,” said Mrs Athman.
Construction Sector Driving Somalia’s Economic Recovery
21 April – Source: AMISOM – 469 Words
A group of young men crush boulders with sledgehammers under the sweltering mid-morning sun in Wadajiir district. Not far away, youths feed crushed stones into a machine that grinds them, producing different sizes which they wheel away and deposit in a heap for sale.
Nearby, a rumbling earthmover scoops a load of boulders from a quarry and dumps it on higher ground, before being loaded into a waiting truck. The quarry in Wadajiir district is a testimony that Somalia’s construction industry is on the path to recovery, thanks to the high demand for construction materials.
“As Somali citizens we are doing our best by contributing positively in developing and rebuilding the country. That is why we are running such quarry to meet demands of the construction sector,” says Mohamud Hassan, the proprietor of the business. Crushed stone is a form of construction aggregate, normally produced by mining suitable rock deposit, which is removed and broken down to desired size using crushers. The stone is a major basic raw material used in the construction industry.
Since the return of relative peace in Mogadishu, thanks to the immense contribution by AMISOM and the Federal Government of Somalia, who wrestled control of the city from Al Shabaab militants in 2011, the construction sector is on a roll. High-rise buildings boasting modern architecture are being constructed and old ones, destroyed during the war, are receiving a facelift or brought down altogether.
“Yes, we are earning a profit out of the work we are doing. Most important our private investment is employing citizens who earn a salary to sustain their families. We are playing our role in rebuilding the country to the best of our ability,” adds Hassan. Somalia has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world, however, the good news is that small and medium sized industries, such as the quarry in Wadajiir district, are fast becoming major sources of employment for the country’s young population.
Despite Al Shabaab’s desperate hide-and-seek tactic, aiming at soft targets like restaurants and residential buildings, the spirit among Somalis to reconstruct again has remained strong. This has been made possible by the availability of raw materials produced by the quarry in Wadajiir district and many others in the country.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“In her new role, Ahmed will be driving legislative attempts to get a new FGM bill passed by the government in Mogadishu and is ambitious about the timing. “My goal is to bring the legislation before the end of the year. If I cannot get the legislation passed by the end of 2016 or before, I have to put FGM on the Somali government’s agenda. Whichever government will be in Somalia, they have to know FGM has to be a priority,” says Ahmed, who is the head of the Ifrah Foundation in Ireland, which raises international awareness of the issue,”
Ifrah Ahmed : Fighting Genital Mutilation In GM World Capital Somalia.
17 April – Source: Newsweek – 733 Words
Ifrah Ahmed remembers confronting her aging Somali grandmother, whose decision it was that the former should undergo female genital mutilation (FGM) at the tender age of 8. Ahmed asked her grandmother why she had been forced to go through the traumatic procedure, which involved having her legs bound together and being circumcised along with nine other girls, one of whom later died due to bleeding.“She explained to me that this is a cultural practice. It’s not something that started with me or my older sister, it’s something which started even before her generation. She said it’s something that everybody in the family has gone through,” says Ahmed, now 26.
Now, Ahmed—who had to undergo FGM a second time at the age of 13 due to complications—is trying to change the culture in Somalia that has seen the Horn of Africa nation become the FGM capital of the world. UNICEF data from 2013 estimates that 98 percent of Somali girls and women aged between 15 and 49 have undergone FGM, the highest prevalence across the globe. Despite the fact that the practice was banned under the constitution adopted by the government in 2012, it is still widespread in a country where certain types of FGM are considered assunna—or part of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, according to Ahmed.
Ahmed, who was born in Mogadishu but fled to Ireland as an asylum seeker in 2006, was recently invited to become an adviser to the Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke on gender issues and sexual violence. The campaigner recently got Sharmarke to sign a petition that currently has more than 1.3 million signatures and calls on the Somali federal government to adopt a total ban on the practice. The petition cites the example of the Puntland government—an autonomous region in northwestern Somalia—which adopted an official policy in 2014 to outlaw all forms of FGM.
At least she has experience in the matter. Ahmed played a role in bringing the issue to the attention of the Irish government, which finally passed a law in 2012 outlawing all forms of FGM and also stating that anyone who takes a girl outside Ireland for the procedure would also be subject to prosecution.Ahmed admits that it will be “very hard to change the mentality” of people in Somalia, but draws inspiration from the success of her and others’ efforts to have the practice outlawed in her adopted home. “I came to Ireland, a country where I didn’t even speak the language, and I never knew I could do such things,” she says. “What I believe is that I did it in Ireland, why can I not do it in my country where I speak the same language?” Ahmed’s work has thrust her into the public eye and led to her meeting with actress and humanitarian Angelina Jolie.
TOP TWEETS
@AbdulBillowAli:My new report: #Somalia entrepreneurs want chicken imports stopped. #Mogadishu Poultry Farm.
@SomaliaEU:People of Afgooye & Marka want peace & coexistence.Appalled by reports of continued incidents.Time for reconciliation & forgiveness #Somalia
@nasohassan:Excited about the 30% women representation in the next Federal parliament. Learned Somali women, rise up to the occasion PLEASE. #Somalia
@itayron5:At least 25 #AlShabaab militants killed in around#Elbur during #SNA & #AMISOM operation in #Galmudug#Somalia.
@Siad_A:#Somalia must stop varying degree of #Federalism & political system that often conflicts with unity @Marawayne@faaraxsheekh @alihwarsame
IMAGE OF THE DAY
President, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud arrives at the United States Institute Of Peace where he delivered a speech yesterday.
Photo: @USIP