August 14, 2017 | Daily Monitoring Report
Robow Meets With PM Khayre In Mogadishu
13 August – Source: Dhacdo.com – 193 Words
Mukhtar Robow Ali ‘Abu Mansur’ who has surrendered to the Somali Federal Government on Sunday has met with Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khayre at the Presidential Palace on Sunday evening, an official at the PM’s office confirmed. During the meeting, Prime Minister Khayre praised Robow for his bold decision to surrender to the government. A senior official at the PM’s office told Dhacdo.com that the meeting between PM Khayre and Robow was brief because Robow complained of feeling pain and asked for a medical checkup. He was later taken to a health center for a checkup.
Upon his arrival at Mogadishu airport, security forces barred the press from taking photos or videos of the cleric. He will, however, speak to the media about his defection and future plan after the medical checkup, the official, who requested not to be named, said. Southwest President, Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan, who has been in Mogadishu during the past few days is said to have played a significant role in convincing Robow to surrender to the government side. It is not however known how the government will treat Robow now that he is in their custody.
Key Headlines
- Robow Meets With PM Khayre In Mogadishu (Dhacdo.com)
- Mogadishu Airport Security Disrupts Europe Bound Suspected Human Smuggling Case (Horn Observer)
- Puntland Sends Troops To Parts Of The Disputed Sool Region (Goobjoog News)
- Somalia Government Unveils Plans To Rebuild Mogadishu Stadium (Horn Observer)
- AU To Train 1000 Policemen To Enhance Security In Southern Somalia (Prensa Latina)
- All Talk No Action – Unemployment Growing Marginalization And Khaire’s Input (Somali Update)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Mogadishu Airport Security Disrupts Europe Bound Suspected Human Smuggling Case
13 August – Source: Horn Observer – 215 Words
Somalia immigration officials have on Sunday denied 10 suspects to board a Turkish airplane bound for Istanbul over suspicion of smuggling, Somalia’s Danan Radio reported. The smugglers have been eyeing Turkey as a safe route, prompting sharp increase of the price of the visas from €8000 – €12000, after the sea journey become hazardous during the current windy season in the Indian Ocean. “10 people disguising as Journalists and Trade Unions were stopped by the airport security on Sunday morning” Radio Danan reports cited government officials, making the highest number of suspected human trafficking case in a single day.
It’s believed that the human traffickers have collected thousands of US dollars from these individuals to reach Turkey, where people either search another smuggling route to Europe or seek asylum by registering with the UNHCR Offices in Turkey. Sources say that some corrupt government officials are now campaigning and putting pressure on the Somali immigration to allow the suspected individuals to continue with their journey. The Security of the airport have significantly improved, making one of the best airports in the eastern African region. Last week, a human smuggler, forced more than 120 Somali and Ethiopian migrants into the sea as they approached the coast of Shabwa, a Yemeni Governorate along the Arabian Sea, according to IOM.
Puntland Sends Troops To Parts Of The Disputed Sool Region
14 August – Source: Goobjoog.com – 167 Words
Puntland has deployed troops to parts of the disputed Sool region days after its neighboring state of Somaliland sent teams to establish ballot boxes in the region. Puntland furiously denied recent claims made by Somaliland that it has agreed with Puntland not to disrupt the voting process in the disputed regions. Puntland Minister of Information, Abdi Qarjab said his administration will not tolerate aggression perpetrated by Somaliland against their territory. Puntland’s motive of sending troops to Sool is to prevent any attempt by Somaliland to launch the electoral process in parts of the region that are administered by Puntland.
Puntland, however, has not yet commented on this latest development. On the other hand, Somaliland authorities continue with their efforts to implement the election process in Sool and enable people in the region to participate in the upcoming elections. The disputed regions of Sool, Sanaag and Ayn have seen clashes between Puntland and Somaliland since the collapse of the Central government. The clashes usually increase during election periods.
Somalia Government Unveils Plans To Rebuild Mogadishu Stadium
13 August – Source: Horn Observer – 150 Words
The Somali Ministry of Youth and Sports have unveiled plans to reconstruct the Mogadishu Stadium, which is the biggest sports fields in Somalia, SONNA reported. The stadium has been non operational for more than a decade, after AMISOM troops selected the stadium as one of their bases since they entered Mogadishu. Minister of Youth and Sports Khadijo Mohamed Dirie announced that “AMISOM troops who were stationed there for a long time, are planning to move out of the stadium and relocate to other bases” According to Somali National News Agency (SONNA),
“Once AMISOM troops move from the stadium, we will be starting the process of rebuilding the studium in order for the stadium to contribute to the country’s sports fraternity.” Minister Dirie added. Recently, AMISOM vacated and renovated the Somali National University to a world class university campus after Burundian AMISOM contingent occupied it for the last 10 years.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
AU To Train 1,000 Policemen To Enhance Security In Southern Somalia
13 August – Source: Prensa Latina – 167 Words
African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM) said today it will launch a new phase of training exercise for 1,000 newly recruited police officers to help enhance security in southern Somalia. AMISOM said in a statement that 600 police recruits will come from Belet Weyne and another 400 in Jowhar which are part of HirShabelle state in southern Somalia. ‘AMISOM will continue to lobby for more equipment and will renovate the police stations in order to ensure that the goals of the Somali Police Force (SPF) are achieved,’ said Chikunguru Maxwell, who is the AMISOM Police Coordinator of Reforms, Restructuring and Development pledged.
The training will improve the skills of the SPF so that they can be more professional in keeping the people of Somalia safe and secure, with crimes professionally investigated. The training involves practical work designed to deal with prevailing crimes in a post-conflict environment such as Somalia. Since 1991 Somalia suffers an intermittent war that has broken down state institutions,mainly domestic security.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“Despite hard working, locally educated and much enthusiasm, the local youth extremely feel being excluded from the system. A good example is the almost more than half of the newly appointed Mogadishu district commissioners having foreign passports while most of them lacked skills or knowledge required to fill the local positions they were given. Abdirahman Omar was cautious on Saturday when PM Khaire said that his government will create a thousand new opportunities for the youth.”
All Talk No Action – Unemployment, Growing Marginalization And Khaire’s Input
13 August – Source: Somali Update – 788 Words
While most of Somali youth are showing their frustrations toward the current cabinet’s failure to address the reality of rampant youth unemployment and the long marginalized groups rights, Somali Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire and his cabinet members were not successful to address seriously on the dimming hopes of many young Somalis during the International Youth Day commemoration in Mogadishu on Saturday. On Saturdayhundreds of youths, many of them university graduates, gathered in Mogadishu for the International Youth Day under the auspices of the Ministry of Youth and Sports. It’s there where the youth expectations dashed. The youth were hopefully looking to hear from the Prime Minister talking about what his government was doing to create opportunities for the local youths and help marginalized groups and more recently reject the renewed clannish agenda of members of his cabinet.
According to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), having above 70% of the population being under the age of 35, unemployment rate for Somali youth aged 14 to 29 is 67 percent—one of the highest rates in the world; women lose out more, with unemployment rates at 74%, compared to men at 61%, and to the worse over 60% of youth have intentions to leave the country for better livelihood opportunities. Since May this year, two months after the appointment of Prime Minister Khaire and his cabinet, nearly all appointed government positions were made through clan influence or in favour of specific senior officials. These include posts at the offices of the President, Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and ministerial department.
On Saturday’s event, some of the youth at the Halane Compound, were also disappointed to realize that one of Khaire’s ministries developed a discriminatory-like job application instruction for the Somalis seeking opportunities at the Ministry of Women and Human Rights after posting a new form that requires job applicants to declare their clans and sub-clans. The form intended for job seekers of the new Independent Human Rights Commission is available at the ministry’s website.
“As we marked the Youth Day, we hopefully wished he could say something good about job creation and to reject the notion of clan-based opportunity brought by these Diaspora people.” Sumaya Abdirahman, 26, a Mogadishu University graduate said. The young woman, who said she was pulled several times inside government offices, admittedly described the current cabinet as “opportunistic and selfish tribalistic”. “If you do not hail from the same clan of the minister or an MP [Member of Parliament] it’s hard to access any opportunity,” She says. “Or you can accept a forced relationship with senior official to get opportunity.”
Discouraging steps: Despite hard working, locally educated and much enthusiasm, the local youth extremely feel being excluded from the system. A good example is the almost more than half of the newly appointed Mogadishu district commissioners having foreign passports while most of them lacked skills or knowledge required to fill the local positions they were given. Abdirahman Omar was cautious on Saturday when PM Khaire said that his government will create a thousand new opportunities for the youth.
TOP TWEETS
@HassanIstiila: #BREAKING: A taxi driver was seriously injured after bomb fitted under car seat went off near Hotel Jazeera, the car was heading to airport.
@WHOSom: “The last case of polio in Somalia was in August 2014. It’s been a hard battle since then to fend off the disease” Dr. Fikri @WHOEMRO
@PeterByass: Rebuilding research capacity in fragile states –#Somalia @GlobalHealthAct http://www.tandfonline.com/
@mafgoi: Honored, humbled & ready to begin to serve as the next Auditor General of our great nation, #Somalia .
@GEEL_Somali: Frankincense & myrrh are a valued commodity globally. In Somaliland, more than 1,000 tons, worth $16- 20 13 million, are exported annually.
@Mr_Omarsson: “HOW TO: deliver quality public services while saving the taxpayers’ money….” #Somalia http://mailchi.mp/
@Somaliupdate: #Somalia: 53 Hirshabelle MPs Submit Motion of No Confidence Against President Osoble as 13 Ministers Resigned http://somaliupdate.
IMAGE OF THE DAY
His Excellency President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo gives an award to Eastern Mediterranean WHO chief Dr. Mohamed Fiqi on their commitment to eradicate Polio from Somalia during the 3rd Polio free celebration event in Mogadishu
Photo: Radio Muqdisho