NATIONAL MEDIA
19 August – Source: Halbeeg – 186 Words
The Deputy leader of Puntland state of Somalia, Ahmed Elmi Osman has opposed the list of the interim regional electoral commission appointed by state leader, Saed Abdullahi Deni. A statement from Ahmed Karash office said the move was unconstitutional since his office was not involved in the consultation process as per the per law. “According to article 80 paragraph 5 as well as article 81 paragraph 2 that stipulates the significance of consultation with my office, the appointment of new commissioners has violated the constitution.” In the letter copied to the regional chief justice, Puntland Deputy President also described the appointment by his boss as null and void. “The appointment of the new commissioners is null and void regarding article 138 paragraph 2.” Ahmed Karash reiterated. No comment from President Saed Deni office regarding his deputy leader statement on his appointment. The nine-member committee including veteran Journalist and former BBC Somali editor, Ahmed Abdinur must be approved by the regional parliament before their service but the move seems unlikely due to the lack of consultation raised by the second most powerful official in the semi-autonomous administration.
18 August – Source: Halbeeg – 181 Words
Somali National Army (SNA) has said its forces recaptured new villages in southern from al-Shabaab fighters. Speaking to the media, the commander of 49th platoon of SNA’s 10th battalion, Ali Mohamed Hassan said Somali military launched operations against al-Shabaab in Gedo region. “The operations took place in villages under Bardhere district. The operations were meant to flush out al-Shabaab from the areas,” he said. During the operations, the forces took control of Abdi-faray and Bar-moalim village near Bardhere town. “Al-Shabaab fighters fled from the villages, we successfully managed to the security of the villages. There are ongoing operations hunting down the sympathizers of the group,” he affirmed. The commander vowed that the military will continue the fight against al-Shabaab in the region. “It will be continuous until we make sure that al-Shabaab is driven out of the region and peace is restored,” said the commander. The liberation of villages comes on the heels of new offensives against al-Shabaab fighters in Lower Shabelle region. Last week, Somali military liberated Aw-Dhegle town in Lower Shabelle region following a covert operation against the group.
18 August – Source: Garowe Online – 152 Words
Somalia’s northeastern Puntland state on Saturday congratulated Abdi Mohamed Abdirahman on his re-election as speaker of Jubaland parliament and his two deputies, Garowe Online reports. The presidency released a statement commending the members of the House for electing the Speaker through a transparent process and lauded Jubaland Electoral body for peaceful, orderly elections in Kismayo on August 17. With the election of the parliament leadership now successfully completed, Puntland expresses hope for smooth and peaceful Jubaland elections without interference on August 22, according to the statement. In addition, Puntland has reaffirmed its unwavering support for Parliament and for the new Speaker to achieve tangible results that benefit the people of Jubaland and entire Somalia. On the other hand, UN envoy for Somalia James Swan on behalf of the country’s Int’l partners warned a serious risk that the outcome of Jubaland election will not enjoy broader support unless concerns of stakeholders are addressed.
18 August – Source: Goobjoog – 113 Words
Somali government forces commandos DANAB have early Sunday conducted security operations in Mudug region of north-central Somalia. The forces have invaded specific target areas and arrested three men who were working with Al-Shabaab. The forces are still in operation in the neighbourhood of Amara area, 85-km northwest of Xarardheere district, Mudug region. Amara regional commissioner Sheikh Yusuf Salad confirmed to government media that the security operations are still ongoing in the area where the forces have arrested individuals who were suspected for spying for the extremist’s groups and their associates. The 21st divisions of SNA forces who have recently undergone leadership change are conducting their operations in parts of Mudug and Galgaduud regions.
18 August – Source: Halbeeg – 185 Words
Puntland state leader, Said Abdullahi Deni, has called for new efforts to start a dialogue between his region and Somaliland. Speaking at an event to promote peace in Garowe town, the leader expressed his government’s readiness to engage in talks with Somaliland authorities. The leader called on the residents of Sool and Sanaag regions to live in harmony with one another. “I am sending my first message to Somaliland, if someone disputes with you over the ownership of your shirt, you should hold talks with the person. I call for peace and dialogue,” he said. Puntland and Somaliland states have a long protracted dispute over two regions. Both Somaliland and Puntland claim the ownership of the two disputed regions, Sool and Sanaag. Hargeisa-based its claims on the imaginary boundaries set by the British during the colonial period as Puntland’s claim is based on clans agreement inked during the formation of the state two decades ago. Somaliland declared independence from the rest of Somalia on 18th May 1991. Despite relative stability and commendable governance, the region has not yet been recognized by the international community.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
18 August – Source: Daily Nation – 713 Words
Sheikh Islam Ahmed Madobe, the president of Jubbaland state of Somalia may on August 22 be waiting for the spinning coin to land in his favour when he faces other candidates for another term in office. Previously planned for August 21, the poll for the state presidency was pushed back by a day when the Jubbaland Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission yielded to pressure from the international community on Friday to allow more candidates to register for the race. The UN and the African Union had been pressuring the JIEBC to make changes.
MORE CANDIDATES
JIEBC chairman Hamza Barre said more people interested in the presidency had 72 hour to present their papers, a decision that could raise the number of candidates from the current six. “The JIEBC has decided to officially re-open the registration of the aspirants…Starting August Saturday 17 to Monday 19. The election date is August 22,” he wrote to James Swan, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative to Somalia who had led a delegation of AU and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development to call for a more credible process. Swan had said issues surrounding who takes part “if unresolved, could have a destabilising effect on Jubbaland”.
SPEAKER
With that cleared, the commission conducted the election of the local Speaker, which saw Abdi Mohamed retain his seat after garnering 55 votes against Hussein Shinow’s 18. It means he will be in charge of the presidential vote. Madobe was born in Somalia’s central region and was the leader of the Ras Kamboni Brigade, which routed Al-Shabaab from Kismayu with the help of Kenyan soldiers in 2012. Madobe’s education background is in Islamic philosophy.
AMISOM
He benefited from the support of the Kenya Defence Forces who re-hatted to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), occupying Sector II in Jubbaland. The impasse has seen former presidents Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, former Galmudug state President Abdulkarim Gulled and current Puntland President Said Abdullahi Deni support the poll agency. With the elections though, the interests in Jubbaland have grown beyond Somalia. On Thursday, a group of academics said the impact of the poll would shake regional security policies. “There are contestations from many players. Jubbaland is like the umbilical cord of Somalia and Kenya. It is very strategic,” said Patrick Maluki, a diplomacy lecturer at the University of Nairobi…….
17 August – Source: Softpower News – 541 Words
A contingent of 529 UPDF troops who were part of the fifth United Nation Guard Unit (UNGU V) in Somalia and an additional 1,406 troops of Uganda’s 25th Battle Group to Somalia have returned to Uganda. The peacekeeping troops were officially welcomed home on Friday by the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), Gen David Muhoozi at a function was held at the UPDF Peace Support Operations and Training Center (PSO-TC) in Nakaseke district.
Gen Muhoozi commended the troops for raising the Ugandan ag high in the foreign missions from where they have just returned after serving for one year. He said Africa is still faced with many challenges that Africans must strive to resolve as a united people. “It is in this spirit that we went to Somalia; extending a liberation struggle of Africa. A stable Somalia is a stable Africa,” Gen Muhoozi said. The General noted that Somalia is not very far away from any African country and what affects the country in a way affects all African countries. He said the African Union intervention in Somalia was a wise undertaking that has positively paid off. “We are now counting successes in Somalia due to the selfless contribution made by you and your predecessors towards the betterment of the situation in the Horn of Africa. Thank you for having Africa at heart,” said Gen Muhoozi. Despite challenges such as delayed payment of mission allowances due to circumstances beyond UPDF control, the troops have maintained their Pan African spirit and remained focused on their duty, Muhoozi said.
He noted that the model performance of UPDF in its internal and external operation stems from its exceptional qualities that also distinguishes the force from other armies. “You serve in an extraordinary force that is distinguishable from other armies by its character, discipline and capabilities,” he said. Muhoozi stressed that no matter the situation, the UPDF troops have always maintained high morale, resilience and courage to overcome all odds even in moments when sceptics thought the force would not make it. “Some people thought that since we were engaged in other operations like in Somalia we would not be able to respond to the call of condolence our brothers in South Sudan made on us. Others expected us to respond in months but they were surprised that in one week our battle group was in Juba and we had changed the situation.”…..
16 August – Source: Devex – 826 Words
Humanitarian groups and diplomats are warning the United Nations against adding al-Shabab to the same sanctions list as al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, saying it could cripple the delivery of aid in Somalia. In recent months, Somalia’s neighbour Kenya has been advocating for the U.N. to list the group as a terrorist organization under Security Council Resolution 1267. It comes in the wake of an upsurge in attacks claimed by the group, including an attack in January on a hotel in Nairobi that killed 21 people, including aid and development workers. In response to a July 13 attack in the Somali port city of Kismayo, Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma tweeted that it was “another reminder to the international community of the imperative to list the Al Shabaab, like all other terrorist groups, under the UNSC resolution 1267.” However, such a move means humanitarian groups operating in Somalia would no longer benefit from an exemption that keeps their work in compliance with existing sanctions. “There would be a chilling effect on the humanitarian response,” said Mark Yarnell, senior advocate and U.N. liaison for Refugees International. “Aid organizations would be concerned that if they carry out programs as they are doing now, without the humanitarian exemption, their work could essentially be criminalized.”
Last week, a group of former U.S. diplomats, national security officials, and humanitarian leaders wrote to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin, and U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Mark Green urging them to reject the proposal. The 20 signatories included former USAID Administrator J. Brian Atwood and former U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Mark Bellamy. Their letter states that if the proposal is approved, it could “exacerbate the dire humanitarian situation and put hundreds of thousands if not millions of people at grave risk.” It is estimated that about 2.2 million people in Somalia are in crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity through September.
Somalia is already listed under a separate U.N. Security Council sanctions regime, which includes an arms embargo, travel ban, assets freeze, and charcoal ban — sales of which have been used to finance al-Shabab. But there is a humanitarian exemption in areas such as the arms embargo, which allows humanitarians in Somalia to use protective gear, and on the payment of funds to al-Shabab. The U.S. led the effort to establish this exemption, but the U.N. process for approving such humanitarian exemptions has been criticized as inadequate and opaque. The current sanctions regime that Somalia is subject to is focused on armed conflict, whereas resolution 1267 is focused on counterterrorism, according to a U.N. source familiar with the sanctions regimes. “There are certain places where al-Shabab sets up roadblocks and there is the need to pay taxes, and there are incidentals and diversions of aid,” Yarnell said. “If anything like that happens [under 1267], humanitarian groups could be violating these sanctions. The risk is that fewer aid organizations will feel comfortable operating in this environment, which is already extremely complex,” involving “substantial” due diligence efforts……
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“The President, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo, and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping also held discussions on bilateral and multilateral cooperation, trade and investment, new goals towards economic cooperation and efforts to further strengthen the earlier hearty China-Somalia relations. Let’s hope that these agreements which are clearly based on mutual respect and win-win cooperation deliver a Somalia that works for all of us and be part of the shared future for mankind as proposed by President Xi.”
18 August – Source: SONNA – 813 Words
Having strategic importance in terms of location, potential trade hub, and rich agriculture with the longest coast in Africa, Somalia is optimistic to be one of the beneficiary countries of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). BRI is the People’s Republic of China’s strategy in which it invests mainly in improving the infrastructure of countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America.
After Somalia witnessed the fruitfulness of the BRI in many counties like neighbouring Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti which are now heavily reaping from these tangible projects, It’s also not fragile to these developments! A good example of the growing China-Africa Cooperation is the Kenyan standard gauge railway which is funded under BRI, has not only reduced the transport fares but also created 50’000 new jobs for Kenyan citizens.
The example is the 756 km electrified railway project which is connecting the neighbouring landlocked country of Ethiopia to our sister-country, Djibouti in the region. These developed infrastructure projects opened new doors of opportunities for the people and governments of these counties in terms of creating new jobs, boosting economic and trade exchanges, movement and transporting goods and services. Passengers expend only 20 US dollars for the fare which is very cheap and affordable one. It is also worth mentioning the distance between Nairobi town, the capital of Kenya and the port town of Mombasa which is 478 km, and the rail covers within 4 hours and a half only while passengers pay the fare of 7 U.S dollars only. Just like Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti, Somalia which is also a developing country needs such infrastructure to help improve the livelihood of the Somali people.
Currently, Somalia Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is $17bn and the livelihood of the people isn’t that better even with the great country’s potential for economic development. This is mainly attributed to the collapse of the transport infrastructure caused by the civil war that broke out in the early 1991’s. Somalia has not been able to trade with its neighbouring countries because of the poor connectivity in and outside the country. Imagine, it takes me two days to visit my hometown, Jilib which is only 380km south of the capital Mogadishu, and in rainy seasons it can take me a week on the way by car….. |
