August 19, 2016 | Daily Monitoring Report
U.S. And Kenya To Discuss Somali Political Transition
19 August – Source: Shabelle News – 105 Words
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Kenya, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia next week for talks with senior officials on regional issues, the State Department said on Thursday. State Department spokesman John Kirby said the visit to Kenya would focus on South Sudan’s peace process and Somalia’s political transition. In Nigeria, he would meet President Muhammadu Buhari to discuss cooperation on the fight against Boko Haram militants, the Nigerian economy and human rights issues, the spokesman said. In Saudi Arabia, Kerry would meet senior Saudi leaders as well as counterparts from Gulf Arab states to discuss the conflict in Yemen, Kirby said.
Key Headlines
- U.S. And Kenya To Discuss Somali Political Transition (Shabelle News)
- Somali Interior Minister Calls on Ahlu-Sunna To Come To The Negotiating Table (Goobjoog News)
- Somaliland Reshuffles Cabinet To Appease Sool (Garowe Online)
- Somali President Bids Burundi Envoy Farewell (Goobjoog News)
- Somalia’s State-level Electoral Bodies Briefed On Procedures Of 2016 Electoral Process (UNSOM)
- Sir Mo Farah? Mo Farah set to be awarded knighthood after heroics at Rio 2016 Olympics (Metro)
- Hodges Offers Leadership With Proposed Funding For Somali Youth Programs (Star Tribune)
- Hanging By A Thread: Somalis Traumatic Past and Uncertain Future (Hiiraan Online)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Somali Interior Minister Calls on Ahlu-Sunna To Come To The Negotiating Table
19 August- Source: Goobjoog News – 130 Words
The Minister of Interior and Federalism, Abdirahman Mohamed Odawaa called on Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama’a to come to the negotiating table while speaking to the local media. The minister urged the group to iron out differences with Galmudug. “We call upon Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama’a to share the power with their brothers and negotiate with their brothers as to get their rights, ” Odawaa said. Meanwhile Ahlu Sunna has rejected the offer several times and characterized the Galmudug Interim administration as an agent that does not represent the interest of locals. Last year the group publicized that it has nominated its own president for areas under its rule.
Somaliland Reshuffles Cabinet To Appease Sool
19 August – Source: Garowe Online – 256 Words
Somaliland President Ahmed Mohamed Mohamud (Silanyo) made a far-reaching cabinet reshuffle, giving the Sool region politicians more positions in the government on August 15. Analysts describe the move “appeasing” amidst crucial talks between self-declared Khaatumo administration and Somaliland government. New faces including Interior and Security Minister Yasin Haji Mohamud Hiir (Faratoon) have managed to secure portfolios in the cabinet, with seven months to go until general elections which are scheduled for March, 2017.
Khaatumo leader and federal Member of Parliament Ali Khalif Galaydh says, he aims to live side-by-side in peace with Somaliland. Other cabinet members from Sool include –Guled Mohamed Shire who became Deputy Minister of Civil Aviation, Yusuf Ahmed Farah (Af Lahar) Deputy Minister for Justice, Minister of State of Agriculture Abdiwahid Abdikadir Abdirahman, Mohamed Ahmed Hassan (Jabarti), National Tender Committee Director-General, Mohamed Ahmed Adan (Boocame), State Minister for Information, Saleban Barre Hassan, the commandant of second division of national army, Mohamud Ismael Elmi(Dek), Marodijeh Governor and advisor to Interior Minister Haji Jeniyare.
The Somaliland government is seeking to smoothly conduct voter registration exercise in Sool, Sanaag and Ayn, regions which are fiercely disputed between Somaliland, Puntland and the self declared Khaatumo. In 2013 Buuhoodle residents in the Ayn region clashed with Somaliland troops due to voter registration.
Somali President Bids Burundi Envoy Farewell
19 August – Source: Goobjoog News – 149 Words
Somali President, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on Thursday bid farewell to Burundi Ambassador, Joseph Nkurunziza, who will depart soon after completing his two-year tour of duty. During the meeting, they discussed matters related to bilateral cooperation in peace and security sectors. The outgoing Burundi ambassador has made achievements during his tour of duty.
Nkurunziza praised Somalia’s increasingly influential role in international diplomacy, especially in pursuit of regional integration, infrastructure growth, peace, stability and rule of law. Mohamud praised Burundi’s efforts in securing peace and security and its growing role as a major player in Somalia peacebuilding.
He also hailed the envoy for his role in entrenching peace and recognising security issues that have troubled the region for decades. The president said Somalia will seek to deepen bilateral and trade relations with Burundi. Mohamud conveyed his best wishes to Ambassador Nkurunziza in his future endeavours.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somalia’s State-level Electoral Bodies Briefed On Procedures Of 2016 Electoral Process
19 August – Source: UNSOM – 374 Words
The bodies formed to implement Somalia’s 2016 electoral process at the state and regional levels received an in-depth briefing on the process from the Federal Indirect Electoral Implementation Team (FIEIT) during three days of meetings in Mogadishu this week.
The meetings brought together six State-Level Indirect Electoral Implementation Teams (SIEITs) consisting of 11 members each, and FIEIT chairperson Omar Mohamed Abdulle urged the bodies to maintain their impartiality and independence throughout the process that will select the country’s next federal parliament later this year.
According to a timetable released by the National Leadership Forum last week, electoral colleges will select the 275 members of the lower house of the federal parliament between 24 September and 10 October. The 58 members of the upper house will be chosen at the state and regional levels on 25 September.
Members of the new parliament will take their seats on 20 October and hold a vote on presidential candidates on30 October. The briefings of the 66 SIEIT members focused in part on the role of the 135 elders who will choose the 14,025 delegates of the 275 electoral colleges as well as the composition of the delegates.
Sir Mo Farah? Mo Farah Set To Be Awarded Knighthood After Heroics At Rio 2016 Olympics
19 August – Source: Metro – 157 Words
Mo Farah is reportedly set to be awarded with a knighthood. The 33-year-old runner, who is among Great Britain’s most successful ever athletes, defended his 10,000m title from London 2012 at the Rio 2016 Olympics last week. Farah also has the chance to defend his 5,000m title on Sunday and, regardless of the result, the Somali-born athlete will be recommended to the sports honours committee after his heroics at the Games, according to The Times.
The committee have the final say on the matter but it’s understood Farah will be named when the new year’s honours are announced in December. He is already a CBE following his achievements for Team GB at London 2012. Track cyclists Laura Trott and Jason Kenny, who currently have OBEs, are being tipped to become CBEs after the Games in Rio.
Hodges Offers Leadership With Proposed Funding For Somali Youth Programs
18 August – Source: Star Tribune – 307 Words
It’s still four months before the Minneapolis City Council will adopt the 2017 operating and capital budget. But the council’s 13 members should know that a high-profile summit on countering extremism, a gathering convenedThursday at the University of Minnesota, underscored the importance of a line item in Mayor Betsy Hodges’ proposed $1.3 billion spending plan.
Hodges is making a timely push to increase funding for programs serving the Somali-American community’s children and young adults. Alarmingly, these young people are targeted by recruiters from terrorist organizations such as ISIL. A small number of them have fallen prey to these false promises and traveled to the Middle East to wage jihad. Preventing this from happening has become a national security imperative, a reason why the “Diplomacy Begins Here” regional summit was held in the Twin Cities. The program is a partnership of Global Minnesota, the U.S. State Department and Global Ties.
The mayor’s proposed budget calls for a total of $50,000 in 2017, an increase of 40 percent from what she requested in 2016. While that sum pales next to the need, it is nevertheless a substantial addition to the scarce resources available. The federal government, with annual expenditures of nearly $4 trillion, has just $10 million in dedicated grants available nationally this year for programs working with such at-risk youth.
The summit at the U’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs had been underway barely an hour when a Department of Homeland Security official highlighted the need for cities and mayors to help as partners in the fight against global extremism. That Minneapolis has already embraced the cause reflects well on it.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“From a political perspective, the government must reform its anti-corruption strategy by establishing an independent panel, naming and shaming corrupt officials, and imposing travel ban and imprisonment.”
Hanging By A Thread: Somalis Traumatic Past and Uncertain Future
18 August – Source: Hiiraan Online – 1,595 Words
Across Somalia, on 1 July 1960, there was great jubilation and celebration as the country had gained independence from both Britain and Italy after a long struggle for independence. Having bitterly battled against and survived the devastating tyranny of colonisation, there was a slight uncertainty that the genesis of the new epoch would not only convey political sovereignty, but also lead to the fulfilment of its long-deprived economic liberty and social opulence hitherto unseen in the country.
The triumphant achievement, and the ultimate envisioned prospect, was notably depicted in Somalia’s national anthem—Somalia, Wake Up. The national anthem was composed in the 1940s to entice citizens to rise against colonial rule. These noble compatriots, warriors, the Somalia Project, the purpose of its struggles, successfully defeated the enemy who were an existential threat to Somali union, motherland, brotherhood, culture, religion, and to Somali moral and ethical standards/wellbeing—by advocating for a united Somalia to keep at bay any prospective threats from neo-colonisers, regional and non-regional, state and non-state actors.
As these newly liberated compatriots of Somalia were revelling in the midst of its pristine self-determinations, nonetheless, there was a greater, yet subtle, impending quandary waiting to strike. These malignant manifestations of imperialism recklessly revealed themselves in numerous ways: poor governance, widespread corruption combined with dictatorship; and clan divisions; relentless poverty, devastating diseases and appalling health conditions; decrepit public infrastructures and wretched under-development.
Although the Somali citizens have been magnificently liberated from the draconian chains of imperialism, Somalia has today become synonymous with inexpressible misery, tenacious diseases, famine and all the blemish of this planet, which is much more than anything imagined by those patriotic comrades who were out celebrating the fall of colonial rule. Regrettably, from the classic features of most Somali leaders of the post-colonial epoch, those faulty genetic factors were staunchly passed down and completely adopted by those leaders of today, rather than standing up to the calamity and delivering credible and concrete resolutions to their shortcomings, they began looking for scapegoats.
TOP TWEETS
@ferigom69 : Russian warship Yaroslav Mudry starts anti-piracy mission in Gulf of Aden | @scoopit http://sco.lt/6iQper #piracy#Somalia #Russia
@spfSomalia: The #MBF2016 might lead to social, political and economical transformation revolution in #Somalia ,#Somaliarising
@UKinSomalia : 3rd & of #MBF2016 in progress as #Somaliafosters a reading culture and looks past the war@HarrietLMathews
@richybosire : @JohnKerry set to visit #Kenya on Monday; to hold talks with @UKenyatta on #SouthSudan & #Somaliasecurity issues.
@SalahOsman0: The final day of #Mogadishu Book Fair. The best event of 2016. Thousands of books displayed #MBF2016#Somalia
@SalaDawe: All came together today to support#OromoProtests that are happening now in #Ethiopia #Somalia@CityMinneapolis
@AidCom: #Somalia:(Sina)-At least 1 person was killed and 4 injured in a car explosion in #Mogadishu Thursday night.http://buff.ly/2bMW8C1
IMAGE OF THE DAY
UNSOM police advisers in collaboration with Puntland Police concluded a three-day training for 16 female police officers from across the state.
Photo: UNSOM