August 17, 2018 | Daily Monitoring Report.
Somalia To Register Foreign Nationals In The Country
17 August – Source: Hiiraan Online – 155 Words
The Somali government plans to conduct a registration exercise of all foreign nationals in the country. The motive is to know the exact number of foreigners currently living in the country. The decision was made at yesterday’s Council of Ministers’ weekly meeting chaired by Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire. Officials from the immigration were in attendance of the meeting and briefed the meeting on the issue.
State Minister of Office of the Prime Minister Abdullahi Hamud Mohamed spoke to the press and stated the meeting resolved to launch a registration exercise foreigners in the country, adding that the exercise will help the government obtain a comprehensive data of foreigners in the country. A committee led by Deputy Prime Minister Mahdi Mohamed Guled was tasked with steering the process. An increase in the number of foreign nationals arriving in Somalia have been recorded and the trend has been attributed to the improving security in the country.
Key Headlines
- Somalia To Register Foreign Nationals In The Country (Hiiraan Online)
- Somali Military Court Sentences Soldier To Death Over Murder (Halbeeg News)
- Ahmed Madoobe Warns The Federal Government Against Interference Of His Administration (Goobjoog News)
- Al-Shabaab Militants Blamed For Wave Of Killings In Somalia (CGTN)
- Online Business Thriving In Somalia (Africa News)
- Annual Book Fair Enters Third Day (AMISOM)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Somali Military Court Sentences Soldier To Death Over Murder
16 August – Source: Halbeeg News – 174 Words
A Somali military court in Mogadishu on Thursday sentenced to death by firing squad a soldier for killing a colleague. Abdirahman Omar Osman given a death sentence after he was found guilty of the murder of Hassan Abshir Warsame in February this year. According to the prosecutors, Mr. Osman escaped the crime scene but was arrested last month after security officials found him at a police recruiting centre in Mogadishu.
The military Court said Mr. Osman committed the crime deliberately and he killed the victim in the centre of Beledweyn town. “The court sentenced to death Abdirahman Omar Osman after finding him guilty of killing Hassan Abshir Warsame on Feb. 18,” reads the court statement. It added that there had been an argument between the two before the accused opened fire on the deceased.
Meanwhile, the military court judge stressed that the defendant can pursue an appeal. The military court often carries out sentences and executions of Al-Shabaab fighters and government soldiers who commit crimes despite condemnation from human rights groups and the European Union.
Ahmed Madoobe Warns The Federal Government Against Interference Of His Administration
16 August – Source: Goobjoog News – 157 Words
Jubaland State President Ahmed Mohamed Islam Madobe warned top officials of the federal government of Somalia not to interfere with the internal affairs of his administration.
The warning comes after the federal government of Somalia appointed a new head of National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) for Jubaland without consulting the Kismayo-based administration. “The government appointment of national security intelligence officers to Kismayo in order to create disharmony among the people of Jubbaland and their administration,” said Madobe.
Ahmed Madobe added that “The government’s responsibility was to bring the Somali people together, to ensure their security but not to create conflict in a stable region.” We call the federal government officials to respect the law of the country, and not appoint whoever person they feel without any consultation with the administration governing the region. Jubaland administration sent back to Mogadishu, a government appointed NISA head for the region after the federal government in Mogadishu appointed the officer with any consultation with the Jubbaland administration.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Al-Shabaab Militants Blamed For Wave Of Killings In Somalia
16 August – Source: CGTN – 285 Words
Insecurity has once again gripped Somalia after recent attacks perpetrated by Islamist militant group al-Shabaab. According to the United Nations Human Rights Council, 44 individuals who took part in the country’s last general elections were killed for their role in the formation of the current Somali government Those targeted include clan elders and electoral delegates who picked representatives of the current 275-member parliament. Fifteen of them were targeted in the run to the presidential poll in February last year, with 29 other targeted after the election of the Somali president.
Al-Shabaab has been named as the main culprit in most killings – with the UN Human Rights Council now calling on state and non-state actors to ensure the protection of human rights. Due to that threat, an electoral college was constituted made up of 14,000 delegates. 51 representatives picked by clan elders helped elect each of the 275 federal parliamentarians who later voted for a president last year – in one of the most competitive polls in Somalia history. Al-Shabaab has waged war in the horn of African region for over a decade, killing tens of thousands and displacing millions others.
The displacements have created a refugee and humanitarian crisis in Somalia, causing suffering to millions of Somalis. This was even made worse by a drought that hit the country in 2016/17, causing famine and malnutrition across the country. The UN however hopes that regional and international efforts to pacify Somalia will bear fruits before the next election, which will be conducted in three years. The country’s electoral commission has registered more than a dozen political parties since president Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo came to office last year vowing of a return to democracy.
Online Business Thriving In Somalia
16 August – Source: Africa News – Video: 09:43 Minutes
A big business in Somalia, the emerging e-commerce is generating thousands of jobs every year. It is an increasingly competitive market, and despite the war, Somalia’s e-commerce is doing well. The country is witnessing a proliferation of e-commerce companies. Such is the case of Soomar Online Market, one of the most successful startups in the country, which reaches 500,000 commercial transactions each month.
OPINION, ANALYSIS & CULTURE
“So instead of fighting and disagreeing with weapons; to be able to disagree and share perspectives through language, through ideas, I think is the basis of any thriving nation. I think this is going to go along way to helping that and building a more prosperous democratic society,”
Annual Book Fair Enters Third Day
17 August – Source: AMISOM – 619 Words
Thousands of book enthusiasts have thronged the annual Mogadishu Book Fair, which opened its doors to the public on Wednesday. The three-day literary festival, which ends today, has brought together writers, scholars, authors, intellectuals, poets, musicians and other literary giants from Somalia and the diaspora.
More than 36 guests and twenty renowned poets from the Middle East, Asia, Europe, North America, the East and Horn of Africa region are attending the three-day festival. About fifty (50) new titles are on display at the Book Fair, while more than two-thousand books on 178 different topics are being exhibited.
While officially opening the annual fair on Wednesday, Somalia’s Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Mahdi Guled Khadar, underscored the importance of inculcating a culture of reading in the country. “Knowledge should be our guiding principle; we should use our minds creatively. Writing, reading and literary competitions, as well creative ideas, are a prerequisite for development,” said the Deputy Prime Minister.
For the first time in its history, the Mogadishu Book Fair has introduced a reading tent for children. At least 80-children are attending the fair and interacting with storytellers and writers of children’s books. “I think this is going to be something great for the parents and children because ultimately what the Book Fair is all about is to promote literacy, reading not just for schooling purposes but reading for fun, reading for pleasure, promoting anything that is related to knowledge, scholarship and uniting authors and professors and poets and playwrights, Somalis and non-Somalis, giving them a chance to network, benefit from each other so that it will contribute, as I say every year, to the building of the new Somalia that will be better tomorrow than today,” said Mohamed Diini, the fair’s organizer.
Somali – Canadian novelist and journalist Hassan Gedi Santur is exhibiting at the fair for the first time. His anthology of short stories called ‘Mediterranean’ gives a look at the African migration crisis and the perilous journeys through the Mediterranean, in search of a better life abroad. “As a writer I feel nothing is more important than writing and reading for the culture, for the civilization of a nation,” said Hassan.
TOP TWEETS@TheVillaSomalia: H.E @M_Farmaajo has received invitation from H.E @RT_Erdogan to attend the AK party’s 6th Ordinary Congress on 18th August, and to discuss bilateral relations, cooperation on economy, security and promote trade and investment. #Turkey is #Somalia’s close ally and friend. @HarunMaruf: Mogadishu based @HIPSINSTITUTE says Somali Govt foreign policy decisions are “deeply worrying”, says country can’t afford to engage in “impetuous foreign policy”. “The country doesn’t need enemies, but it must not lose friends either, such as Djibouti.” > http://www.heritageinstitute. @Ymahmoudali: Somalia and Djibouti will remain strongly interrelated despite the recent scramble . Pres Farmajo’s visit to Djibouti today and his meeting and consultation with pdt Guelleh reaffirms the solidity of the relationship. @HarunMaruf: Somalia and Djibouti to end diplomatic rift. Neither country can afford to start diplomatic quarrel with the other at a time when bigger powers are forming strategic alliances, analysts say @UNFPA_SOMALIA: The main survey for the #Somali Health & Demographic Survey #SHDS started in Somaliland on 15th August in two regions Maroodijeex in Hargeisa & Awdal in Borama & will continue till 17th September 2018 thanks to@SwedeninSomalia and @UKinSomalia for the financial support |
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Photo: Hiiraan Online |
President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo during a meeting with his Djiboutian counterpart, Ismail Omar Guelleh in Djibouti.