April 29, 2015 | Daily Monitoring Report.
Gunmen Raid Mandera County Chief’s Offices
29 April – Source: Radio Danan – 153 Words
Suspected Al-Shabaab gunmen attacked the office of the Mandera county chief on Thursday morning. KDF soldiers guarding the centre repelled the attackers, officials said. Using light weapons and grenades, the attackers tried to storm the office of Ahmed Abdullahi, however their attempts were foiled by soldiers at the scene who pushed back the assailants.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the raid, however, the Al-Qaeda linked al-Shabab group often carries out such attacks in Kenya. Kenyan police sources reported that two of three attackers were apprehended while police are pursuing the third attackers who escaped after the attack. Kenya sent troops into Somalia in 2011 to kill its members who took part in cross-border raids and kidnappings. Kenya’s troops in Somalia are part of an African Union force and are also shoring up the beleaguered Somali government. Kenya has conducted airstrikes in Somalia before.
Key Headlines
- Gunmen Raid Mandera County Chief’s Offices (Radio Danan)
- Somalia Ready To Evacuate Thousands From Yemen-President (Garowe Online)
- Somaliland Delays Election Extend President’s Term (Hiraan Online)
- FIFA Training Course For Somali Football Referees Gets Under Way In Mogadishu (Somali Current)
- SOSCENSA Expresses Its Concern Over Situation Of Somali refugees In Yemen (Goobjoog News)
- Somalia Registers Record Exports Of 5 Million Livestock In 2014 (Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations)
- Monitor Madrassas Says National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi (Standard Media)
- Somali Refugees Fear Being Thrown Out Of Kenya (Time Magazine)
- Somali Police Recruit Leaves Class Over Headscarf Rule (The Columbus Dispatch)
- Somali Group To Purchase Building To Create Community Center In Minneapolis (Star Tribune)
- Somalia Looks Forward To 2016 And Beyond (Wardheer News)
CORRECTION
AMISOM Daily Media Monitoring this morning posted a story titled “Bomb Targets UNOCHA Officer In Galkayo” that appeared on Garowe Online. The report said UNOCHA Officer Mohamed Abdirahman was the target of a remote controlled bomb in his car. Since there has been no claim of responsibility for the attack and other unnamed persons were traveling in Mr. Abdirahman’s car, there is no evidence, so far, to indicate that UNOCHA or its personnel were the intended target of the bomb. We will keep you posted on any new information regarding this story.
NATIONAL MEDIA
President: Somalia Ready To Evacuate Thousands From Yemen
29 April – Source: Garowe Online – 163 Words
Somalia’s Federal Government said on Tuesday that it would evacuate as many as thousands of Somalis by planes and ships from conflict-hit Yemen, Garowe Online reports. Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said at a news conference in Puntland State House in Garowe that the East African country will be evacuating distraught citizens trapped in Yemen on ships and planes three days after Saudi Arabia airstrikes left 30 Somali refugees dead near Aden Port city.
“Somalia Government is working on evacuation operation to ferry and airlift [nationals]. Planes and ships from Somalia will conduct the operation very soon,” said the President. He expressed Somalia’s keenness on welcoming Yemeni refugees, but cautioned against the infiltration of terrorists. “We welcome Yemenis but we will keep vigil on our security. We will never allow Daaesh [Islamic State elements] to mix themselves with the worried Yemeni refugees,” warned Somalia President. Somali refugees in Yemen have complained of lack of rescue as Saudi-led coalition jets continue to pound Houthi forces.
Somaliland Delays Election, Extend President’s Term
28 April – Source: Hiiraan Online – 233 Words
Somaliland’s House of Elders speaker says the breakaway region in northern Somalia delayed the elections that were to take place next month, extending the term of the president for an indefinite period. Speaking to the reporters upon his return from overseas trip on Monday, Saleban Mohamud cited unfinished work for the reasons behind the election’s postponement, saying the region cannot remain without government until the election time comes. He dismissed opposition parties’ protest of the election delays, terming it as ‘exaggerated’. “The cries we are hearing are extravagant exaggerations – everything will be alright.” he said. His remarks come at a time Somaliland’s parliament is expected to extend term for president Ahmed Silanyo, despite international and domestic criticism.
In an attempt to defuse the political crisis, the UK ambassador to Ethiopia has met with political stakeholders in Hargeisa last week, warning of an imminent term extension for the president. Opposition parties accuse the government of making unilateral unconstitutional decisions, however, the government dismissed their claims as ‘groundless. The reactions by the opposition parties highlight challenges facing the government led by Ahmed Silanyo as his rival parties urged dissolving the two upper houses, accusing them of failing to perform their duties as planned. Somaliland, a breakaway region in northern Somalia has declared a unilateral independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991, however, its attempts to gain an international recognition has so far not accomplished success.
SOSCENSA Expresses Its Concern Over Situation Of Somali refugees In Yemen
28 April – Source: Goobjoog News – 167 Words
Somalia South-Central Non State Actors (SOSCENSA) has expressed concern over the deteriorating situation of Somali refugees in Yemen. The chairman of SOSCENSA, Abdullahi Mohamed Shirwa’a speaking to Goobjoog said that sends his deepest condolence to the families who lost their love ones in the air strike carried out by warplanes of Saudi-Arabia which occurred in Yemen on Monday.
“It seems that the Somali refugees occupied towns are under attacks of Saudi-led coalition, therefore there is [no] other alternative apart from repatriating them” he said. He called upon the federal government of Somalia and its people to support Somali refugees in Yemen. He also called upon the federal government of Somalia and its people to take measures to save the refugees in both Kenya and Yemen.“Somali citizens who most of them are refugees are trapped in Yemen violence and elsewhere Kenya is chasing our people therefore I called Somali people to support Somali refugees who are voluntarily want to return to their home country” he said.
FIFA Training Course For Somali Football Referees Gets Under Way In Mogadishu
28 April – Source: Somali Current – 161 Words
Somalia Assistant Minister of Sports Osman Adan Dubbow has today officially opened training Course for Somali referees in Mogadishu. The Course is part of FIFA efforts intended to increase the knowledge and experience of referees in Somalia. Prominent Somali Sports men who spoke at the event highlighted the need to train professional referees since they are the backbone of Somalia Football.
Somalia football federation secretary Abdi Qani Saed Arab who also spoke at the events thanked the FIFA officials and urged Somalia referees to show dedication, hard work and discipline during the training course. For his part Ahmed Al Shanawi from FIFA referee development in Egypt lauded Somalia referees’ progress and promised to share his experience with Somalia officials. This is the fifth training FIFA is offering to Somalia referees in the last three years with Djibouti hosting three of the training courses. Football and Basketball are the two favorites sports in the country, but majority preferred football as their hobby.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somalia Registers Record Exports Of 5 Million Livestock In 2014
29 April – Source: Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations – 683 Words
Somalia in 2014 exported a record 5 million livestock to markets in the Gulf of Arabia thanks to heavy investments in animal disease prevention backed by the European Union and the United Kingdom, FAO said today. This is the highest number of live animals exported from Somalia in the last 20 years. The export data, collected by the FAO-managed Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU), indicates that Somalia exported 4.6 million goats and sheep, 340,000 cattle and 77,000 camels in 2014, worth an estimated $360 million. Livestock is the mainstay of the Somali economy, contributing 40 percent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product. “This is a key milestone for the Somalia’s livestock sector that reflects the large investments being made to support the commercial development of the livestock sector to become more competitive in international markets,” said Said Hussein Iid, Somalia’s Minister of Livestock, Forestry and Range.
“This is important for both Somalia’s economy in general and for the livelihoods of the millions of livestock owners throughout Somalia. The sector’s potential is enormous,” Iid added. “This shows that despite the challenges, the Somali people are successfully working to improve their economy and food security,” said Richard Trenchard, head of FAO’s office for Somalia. “FAO and our partners are committed to remaining engaged and involved in supporting those efforts.” Buyers from Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Kuwait Qatar and United Arab Emirates have all taken advantage of Somalia’s thriving livestock scene and its improved disease surveillance and control mechanisms. Saudi Arabia, in particular, has contributed to steadily rising exports over the last six years, following a move to lift a 9-year ban on the import of livestock from Somalia aimed at preventing the spread of Rift Valley fever.
Monitor Madrassas, Says National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi
28 April – Source: Standard Media – 162 Words
The curriculum used in Madrassas should be regulated to ensure rogue Muslim clerics don’t use them to radicalise the youth, National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi has said. Speaking at Full Gospel church, Sikago in Mbeere North constituency during a thanksgiving service, Mr. Muturi also urged parents to visit secular and religious teaching places to assess what is being imparted on their children. Muturi said MPs should set up special committees to check what is being taught in madrassas if the need arises. “Those overseeing education must know the curriculum being taught in Madrassas.
Religious leaders should not raise issue when the Government goes to monitor what is being taught there. We must agree that our education centres, be they secular or religious must be accessible to our security people,” he said. “We get concerned when people congregate and then resort to acts of violence. There is freedom of worship and we are alive to that but there must be responsibility,” he added.
Somali Refugees Fear Being Thrown Out Of Kenya
28 April – Source: Time Magazine – 687 Words
Authorities want the U.N. to close Dadaab refugee camp, which they say is used by al-Shabab to attack targets in Kenya Salat became a member of the Islamist al-Shabab group in Somalia more by bad luck than inclination; he happened to be one of nine boys standing by the school gate when the group raided his school looking for “recruits.” The younger boys were separated into two groups; some were sent to cook, others like Salat, were given clubs and sent into Mogadishu’s marketplaces to beat people acting outside of their interpretation of Islamic law.
“We beat the people who kept their shops open, who were not in the mosques,” he says, “They told us, during prayer time, go to the market and beat the people who were not praying. They said they would kill us if we did not listen.” Weeks later, convinced he would be killed, Salat escaped the al-Shabab compound and fled to Kenya and the Dadaab refugee camp, home to around 350,000 mainly Somali refugees.In the wake of the al-Shabab attack in April at Garissa University in which 148 people were killed, Kenyan vice-president William Ruto said the camp was used by al-Shabab and demanded the United Nations close Dadaab within 90 days. Leonard Zulu, an official of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in Dadaab, explains that aside from the logistical impossibility of repatriating the refugees within that timeframe, returning them to Somalia would be “a humanitarian catastrophe.”Dadaab has been good for Salat. He did not tell the U.N. of his association with al-Shabab so does not want his surname published. He first worked as a porter at the camp and he now sells the drug khat which is common and legal in East Africa. “I expected a better life here and already that’s progress. So I expect more big life changes,” he says.
Somali Police Recruit Leaves Class Over Headscarf Rule
28 April – Source: The Columbus Dispatch – 1111 Words
Ismahan Isse has wanted to be a police officer for years. She prepared herself by earning an associate degree in criminal justice and entered the Columbus police academy in December. She lasted until March 16. Isse, 29, is a Somali-American and a Muslim. The Police Division does not allow officers to wear headscarves and refused to change its policy for her. When she dropped out of the academy, “I told them the main reason was the scarf,” she said.
She would like to return, but her head covering, or hijab, is important to her identity. “I want to remain myself,” she said. Other police departments in U.S. cities have made accommodations for head scarves as they try to recruit candidates from increasingly diverse communities. Mayor Michael B. Coleman has asked Columbus safety officials to re-examine the city’s policy after The Dispatch inquired about it for this story. Coleman thinks the policy could affect recruiting, his spokesman, Tyneisha Harden, said. “We are trying to diversify the police unit. We want to take a look at what other cities are doing.”
That’s appropriate, said City Councilman Zach Klein, who leads the public safety and judiciary committee. The city should always aim to maximize diversity because a workforce that reflects the community “is one of the many solutions toward improving police and community relations,” Klein said. Columbus police spokeswoman Denise Alex-Bouzounis said the division does not allow head scarves for two reasons: so officers look the same and portray an “impartial appearance,” and for safety. Officers are required, at times, to wear helmets and gas masks, and the gas masks won’t fit over and around head scarves, Sgt. Rich Weiner said. A scarf also could be used to try to strangle an officer, Weiner said. Male officers wear clip-on ties to avoid that danger.
Somali Group To Purchase Building To Create Community Center In Minneapolis
28 April – Source: Star Tribune – 132 Words
A Somali organization has signed an agreement to purchase a 24,000-square-foot-building for a future Somali community center in Minneapolis.The Confederation of Somali Community in Minnesota announced the purchase agreement for the new center Tuesday. Executive Director Mohamud Noor says the center will be a “one-stop-shop” for his group and others to deliver programs and services to “transform the Somali community.”
Benjamin Fribley, the group’s communications and development manager, says the building’s price is $1.9 million. He says the Confederation of Somali Community in Minnesota is currently fundraising.The building at 2639 Minnehaha Ave. will house early childhood education programming, youth development activities, workforce development and technical training, social and recreational activities and cultural programming.Fribley says the hope is that the center will be able to open this fall.
OPINION/ANALYSIS/CULTURE
“The question that no one has a satisfactory answer for is what is to be done to save Vision 2016? There is still time – sixteen months before September, 2016 – if the will is there; and much can be done. Hosh discussed four options, none of which is feasible – except the last, which is ‘Extension and its variations.”
Somalia Looks Forward To 2016 And Beyond
28 April – Source: Wardheer News – 2058 Words
The Somali people and the International Community (IC) are both looking forward to 2016 as a year to be pregnant with many very consequential changes in Somalia.. By the last quarter of that year the country is supposed to have a finished constitution approved by popular referendum; fully functioning constituent states of the federation; multiparty politics; free and fair general elections on the basis of adult suffrage; the election of the Head of State by Parliament; an independent judiciary, which will include a constitutional court; and a cabinet government led by a Prime Minister who, far from being under the thumb of the President, is accountable to Parliament . With the achievement of all this, the country is supposed to step out of a ‘post-transitional’ transition to a permanent and regular form of governance. However, there are some forebodings owing to the current state of preparedness, which leaves much to be desired.
Somalia’s 2016 election There has scarcely been any progress since I expressed my presentiments in an article titled “Whither Goest Thou Somalia” ( vide, Wardheernews.com, February 5, 2014). My purpose then was to give an early warning signal that the country was going astray and heading away from 2016. (The IC has also been giving early warnings.) Since then, not a single corrective measure has been taken. On the contrary, the situation has been aggravated further by paralyzing constitutional crises authored by none other than the President himself and encouraged by a corrupt Parliament used to making pecuniary gains from such recurring crises. I have discussed this matter in greater details in my last article, “The Poisonous, Putrid Politics of Somalia” (See, Wardheernews.com, November 26, 2014).
Will 2016 Deliver for Somalia? The year 2008 made history in the United States because Barrack Obama was elected as the first black president. The year 2016 is similarly expected to make yet another history in the same United States owing to the likely election of Hillary Clinton as the first woman president. For Somalia too 2016 has been planned to be a historic year in which all political transitions will come to end and the country will settle to a definite form of stable government after a quarter century of chronic and internecine instability, coupled, for the most part, with half-hearted attempts to revive the Somali State in the form of ‘transitional governments’. However, it is becoming increasingly obvious to all who have eyes to see that that cherished vision will not materialize and 2016 will just prove to be another sterile and woefully wasted year
TOP TWEETS
@Cidilibaax Its important for Unity&cohesion among #Somalislets stop divisions based on political, or tribal affiliations#Puntland @UNSomalia #Somalia
@Farhiyaa4 #Mogadishu is rising, #Somalia is rising
@Tuuryare_Africa #BREAKING: Heavy rains caused flash floods killed at least 2 incl 10 yr old girl in central #Somalia’s#Hiran region
@xidignet Why is that our livestock export is big but our seafood export is non existent while we have longest coast line in #Africa? #Somalia
@heikaare Hurra for somaliske bønder! Somalia registers record exports “The sector’s potential is enormous”hw.fao.org/news/story/en/it
IMAGE OF THE DAY
The training of senior officers of the Somali Police Force (SPF) including police station commanders and their deputies.
Photo: AMISOM