April 9, 2014 | Morning Headlines.
Somali Parliament allow citizens to apply for passports without national identity cards
08 Apr- Source: Radio RBC/Radio Dalsan/Radio Kulmiye/Radio Mustaqbal- 130 word
Somali parliament in their 8th meeting of the fourth session on Tuesday has withdrew directive suspending the issuance of Somalia national identity cards. In a debate startedon Monday, the Somali parliamentarians highlighted few points including the difficulties faced by Somali citizens when applying for the national identity cards. This meeting attended by 154 members chaired by second Parliament deputy speaker Mahad Abdalla Cawad stated that, all members attended except one agreed to the suspension of the national identity cards issuance. The members of the parliament agreed to direct application of national passports without taking the national identity cards, which its application becomes difficult. Somali immigration authority recently ordered citizens to apply for National identity cards before applying for the national passport.
Key Headlines
- Somali Parliament allow citizens to apply for passports without national identity cards(Radio Dalsan/Radio Kulmiye)
- Bomb blasts hits Galgadud’s Guriceel district (Hiiraan Online)
- Somalia investment conference concludes in Dubai (Radio Goobjoog)
- Puntland sets Fact-Finding Committee on Killing of UN staffs in Galkayo (Radio RBC/Radio Garowe)
- Adado suffers water crisis (Radio Ergo)
- Al Shabaab members seized in central Somalia Official confirms (Al Shahid)
- Likelihood of al Shabaab members hiding among civilian population stokes fears (Sabahi Online)
- Middle Shabelle region administration rejects al Shabaab claim (Al Shahid)
- British and French UN workers killed in Somalia named (BBC)
- Somaliland authorities shut down independent papers (CPJ)
SOMALI MEDIA
Somali Parliament allow citizens to apply for passports without national identity cards
08 Apr- Source: Radio RBC/Radio Dalsan/Radio Kulmiye/Radio Mustaqbal- 130 word
Somali parliament in their 8th meeting of the fourth session on Tuesday has withdrew directive suspending the issuance of Somalia national identity cards. In a debate started on Monday, the Somali parliamentarians highlighted few points including the difficulties faced by Somali citizens when applying for the national identity cards. This meeting attended by 154 members chaired by second Parliament deputy speaker Mahad Abdalla Cawad stated that, all members attended except one agreed to the suspension of the national identity cards issuance. The members of the parliament agreed to direct application of national passports without taking the national identity cards, which its application becomes difficult. Somali immigration authority recently ordered citizens to apply for National identity cards before applying for the national passport.
Bomb blasts hits Galgadud’s Guriceel district
08 Apr- Source: Radio Shabelle/Hiiraan Online- 83 words
An IED bomb exploded inside a car in Guriceel of the Galgaduud region. According to preliminary reports, only the driver was killed and the vehicle completely wrecked although civilians were injured. The district commissioner Osman Nuur Taardhuled told Radio Shabelle that he suspects al Shabaab to be behind the blast. After the explosion, Ahlu Sunna Wal Jamaaca (ASWJ) militia carried out operations in Guriceel and captured people assumed to be behind the attack.
Somalia investment conference concludes in Dubai
08 Apr- Source: Radio Goobjoog- 134 words
Somalia investment conference has been concluded in Dubai, the headquarters of United Arab Emirates. Somali and foreign owned companies participated in the meeting to discuss the proper ways investing the horn of African country whose economy got devastated following over two decades of lawlessness and civil war that kept away the international investors. Ministers from the federal government of Somalia and prominent politicians also attended the conference. The director of Somali economist forum Bile Hassan told Goobjoog FM after the conclusion of the conference that the world is eager to invest Somalia to develop trade relations with the countries in the horn of Africa. He added that a conference of its kind is expected to take place in Somalia. There were two investment conferences held in Dubai and Nairobi earlier this year.
Puntland sets Fact-Finding Committee on Killing of UN staffs in Galkayo
08 Apr- Source: Radio RBC/Radio Garowe/Horseedmedia/Halgan Online- 124 words
The President of Somalia’s Semi-autonomous State of Puntland Abdiweli Mohamed Ali who is currently in Galkayo has appointed a high level Fact-Finding Committee on the killing of the two innocent UN staff at the Galkayo Airport on Monday. A statement released by Puntland Presidency said that the president of the state assigned the committee to probe up the motives behind the Galkayo shooting against two UN foreign workers- one Briton and one French. Puntland also asked the governments of UK and French to help probing up the case and bringing all possible intentions to the public.
Members of the High Level Fact-Finding Committee include:
1. H.E Mr. Hassan Osman Aloore, Minister of Security, Chairperson
2. H.E Mr. Ali Haji Warsame, Minister of Education
3. Gen. Said Mohamed Hersi, Commander of Puntland Defense Forces
4. Gen. Mohamed Said Mohamed, Puntland Police Commissioner
5. Mr. Abdi Hassan Hussein, Director of Puntland Intelligence Agency
The committee will inspect the cause of the incident, examine the Airport Security Operations and prepare a detailed report on this matter. The deceased staff worked for the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) as International Staff members and had landed in Galkayo Airport before their shooting. President Abdiweli continues to share his condolences with the relatives and friends of the deceased staff, promises to facilitate the return of the victims home, and will discuss collaborations on strengthening the security of International Personnel with all international partners.
Adado suffers water crisis
08 Apr- Source: Radio Ergo- 169 words
Residents in Adado are facing a severe water shortage after poor deyr rains. The water scarcity has been exacerbated by the rapid growth of the population in the town in the past three years. The 90,000 population of Adado, capital of the Himan and Heb administration in central Somalia, has been depending on only two water wells during the past decades. One of the wells was dug before the civil war, while the second was dug in 2006. However, the wells are far away from the town’s western side, where the water shortage is worst. “We don’t have access to water during the whole day. We get water a few hours during the night,” said a 60-year old woman. Mohamed Hassan Adde, the secretary of the city council administration, said the town’s population is rapidly increasing while the available water is declining. He added that the local administration was looking into the situation, but there would be no immediate move to solve it because of lack of resources.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Al Shabaab members seized in central Somalia, Official confirms
08 Apr- Source: Al Shahid- 123 words
Hudur town governor, Mohamed Mo’alim on Tuesday confirmed to local media that two al Shabaab members have been seized at the suburb of the town after security operation by joint Somali and AMISOM troops in the resident on Sunday. “Two of terrorist group members have been seized. They are investigated deeply. We also confiscated food they already looted from civilians”, Mohamed Mo’alim said. The governor threatened to al Shabaab fighters in Bakool region, saying, “We will seize many of you as we did before to these two of you. We are calling you to yield to Somali federal government before we detain you in operations”. Hudur town, Bakol regional capital has been last month seized by Somali federal government after one year of al Shabaab rule.
Likelihood of al Shabaab members hiding among civilian population stokes fears
08 Apr- Source: Sabahi Online- 446 words
The ongoing Somali National Army and African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) military operation against al Shabaab has created new fears that militants fleeing the allied advance could be hiding out in major cities and blending in with civilians. “Al Shabaab has been expelled from many towns, but the question is: Where have they gone?” said Hassan Dahir Yonis, a third year journalism student at Mogadishu University. “It is clear [to me] they are planning to bury their big weapons and enter the cities with the intention of hiding for a short period of time and then begin to throw grenades and cause explosions in the cities.” “The government has to take on more responsibility than before to shore up its investigations so that the ones who are standing in the way of our security and are hiding among the people can be captured,” Yonis, 30, told Sabahi.
Middle Shabelle region administration rejects al Shabaab claim
08 Apr- Source: Al Shahid- 181 words
The social affairs deputy governor of middle Shabelle region, Omar Mahamud Ilmi, rejected al Shabaab accusations against teenagers whom they detained in Barawe coastal town on Monday after they pointed them spy members working closely to Somali government administration in the region. Al Shabaab fighters conducted operations in entire Barawe town villages in Middle Shabelle region and detained at least ten teenagers whom they accused of involving espionage activities against al Shabaab officials. Al Shabaab official said their fighters detained the teenagers hiding themselves in the town threatening that that they will face punishment if found guilty. The social affairs deputy governor of middle Shabelle region, Omar Mahamud Ilmi, his side said that al Shabaab struggles to kill innocent teenagers with fake evidence.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
British and French UN workers killed in Somalia named
08 Apr- Source: BBC- 230 words
The UN has identified two of its workers killed in Somalia on Monday as UK citizen Simon Davis and French citizen Clement Gorrissen. Mr Davis, 57, and his colleague Mr Gorrissen, 28, were shot after getting off a plane at Galkayo airport. The attacker was dressed in a police uniform, an airport official said. A UN official called the men “two of the finest examples of the many dedicated colleagues we are fortunate enough to have”. Mr Davis was a specialist in investigating money laundering who had a “long and distinguished career” with the Metropolitan Police, the UN said. He joined the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in 2012. Mr Gorrissen first worked for UNODC in 2010 and was involved in operations in the Horn of Africa.
Somaliland authorities shut down independent papers
08 Apr- Source: CPJ- 396 words
Police in the semi-autonomous republic of Somaliland on Thursday raided the Hargeisa offices of the independent Somali-language paper Haatuf and its sister English-language weekly, Somaliland Times, and suspended them indefinitely, according to local journalists and news reports. The police cited a court order that said the papers should be shut down for publishing false news and insulting officials, according to the same sources. Haatuf publishes six days a week. Local journalists and news reports suggested the closure was linked to a series of critical reports in the publications that alleged government corruption and the mishandling of finances.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“Each moment is a moment of fear and headache. The police can come to our house any time. The days and the nights are long. My brother and I have no appetite for food, and for days I wore the same jeans and a shirt that I wore on the night of the explosions. The police took my friends, my neighbors – they can take me any time.”
A War on Somali Refugees in “Little Mogadishu”
08 Apr- Source: Refugees International Blog-559 Words
Hungry and scared, I got up the courage to come out of our building in the morning to eat at a small restaurant on 8th Street in Eastleigh. What happened was so embarrassing. A Kenyan who was eating there immediately ran to the door and closed it before I came in. A few seconds later, the owner opened the door and told me, “Toka hapa” – “Leave here.” I walked back to my house starving. This was the closest restaurant to our house. The Somali restaurants I sometimes visit were not open. Most of their owners and workers were spending their days in Pangani police station. Two days before, people who were dining at a small restaurant in Eastleigh, which some call Little Mogadishu, were killed in explosions. As a result no Kenyan will allow a Somali to eat at a Kenyan restaurant. There is no proof that a Somali was behind those explosions, but when the police said the word “terrorism,” they turned the attention on us. Eastleigh was empty for the third day in a row. The people were not there; they were in the jails. The few remaining Somalis, like my brother and I, tremble with fear when they reach for the doorknob. I am also afraid of getting near the window. Will they see me? Any knock at our door sends chills down my spine.