August 2, 2016 | Daily Monitoring Report
15 Killed In Clan Fighting In Central Somalia
02 August – Source: Goobjoog News – 152 Words
At least 15 people have been killed in a deadly clan-related violence in central Somalia. The battle between local clan militias broke out in El-dabole village of Galgaduud region in the early morning hours of Monday.
Reasons that led to the fighting are still unclear but reports indicate that the fighting is related to land disputes and pasture. Residents told Goobjoog News that at least 15 people died during the fighting, including militias from both clans. Dozens of others were injured.
The clash between the two rival clans has been going on for years following a land dispute. While local elders tried to mediate between the two groups, a lasting ceasefire has remained elusive according to reliable sources. Since the collapse of the central government in 1991, water, pasture and politics have been at the centre of sporadic clashes between Somali tribes across the country.
Key Headlines
- 15 Killed In Clan Fighting In Central Somalia (Goobjoog News)
- Al-Shabaab Arrests Traditional Elders In Southern Somalia (Goobjoog News)
- IGAD Seeks To End South West & Upper Bakol Standoff (Xamar Cade)
- ISIL-Inspired London Tube Knifeman Sentenced To Life In Jail (Hiiraan/AFP)
- Somalia’s Electoral Team Promises A Fair Process (UNSOM)
- Between The Facts and Rumors Of Somalia’s Gender Bill (Somalia Newsroom)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Al-Shabaab Arrests Traditional Elders In Southern Somalia
02 August – Source:Goobjoog News – 210 Words
Al-Shabaab fighters have arrested seven traditional elders in Berhani village, located some 30 kilometres away from Kismayo town, the administrative capital of Jubbaland state. Al-Shabaab claims the local traditional elders have been spying for Somali government and were collaborating with the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) and Jubbaland forces in Lower Jubba region: “Al-Shabaab fighters have arrested seven prominent traditional elders in the location, and are insisting that these elders have been spying for Somali government and the allied forces. But I am sure these elders are quite innocent,” said a local resident in Berhani location, who declined to disclose his identity for security reasons.
The detention of the elders came after Al-Shabaab seized control of Berhani area on Sunday from Jubbaland troops backed by KDF. The fate of the elders, who are now in the hands of Al-Shabaab, is not yet known. Al-Shabaab fighters are fighting to topple the internationally recognised government of Somalia.The group has been carrying out attacks on government installations, hotels, United Nations offices in Somalia and military bases of African Union (AU) and Somali National Army (SNA) troops.Al-Shabaab lost the control of Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu in 2011 after Somali forces backed by AMISOM defeated and drove the group out of the city.
IGAD Seeks To End South West & Upper Bakol Standoff
01 August 2016 – Source: Xamar Cade – 112 Words
A high-level delegation from the Federal government, Intergovernmental Authority and Development (IGAD) and former government officials arrived in El Barde town of Bakol region yesterday in a bid to find solutions to disagreements between the Interim South West administration and its neighbor Upper Bakol — a recently formed administration in the region.
IGAD envoy Amb. Mohamed Abdi Affey commended El Barde for the relative peace it enjoys and expressed optimism for a positive outcome from the meeting with local elders. A Member of Parliament, Abdiwahab ugas Hussein, told Risala FM that the standoff between the two administrations will be resolved at regional level without necessarily escalating the matter to the Mogadishu-based national government. The delegation held a series of meetings with elders and officials from both sides.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
ISIL-Inspired London Tube Knifeman Sentenced To Life In Jail
02 August – Source: Hiiraan Online/AFP- 520 Words
A paranoid schizophrenic knifeman who tried to behead a commuter in a London Underground station in an Islamic State-inspired attack was sentenced to life behind bars on Monday.Somali-born Muhaydin Mire, 30, said during the rampage that he was doing it “for my Syrian brothers”, while a bystander shouted at him “You ain’t no Muslim, bruv” — a phrase that went viral online.
Mire attacked random stranger Lyle Zimmerman with a rusty knife as the 56-year-old musician walked through Leytonstone Tube station in east London on December 5.Zimmerman suffered serious injuries but recovered well after the attack.Last month a jury convicted Mire of attempted murder.He was sent Monday to begin his sentence at the top-security Broadmoor psychiatric hospital, where he was already being detained for treatment. Mire will serve a minimum of eight and a half years before he can possibly be considered eligible for release.
At the Old Bailey Central Criminal Court in London, judge Nicholas Hilliard said he accepted that Mire was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the attack.But he said he was also in no doubt that Mire was motivated by the conflict in Syria.”Because Muslims were being bombed in Syria, he was going to attack civilians here,” said Hilliard, the recorder of London.Hilliard said he was sure that the “extremely serious violence” was intended “to intimidate at least a section of the public” in order to advance a “religious and extremist cause… namely Islamic extremism”.
Somalia’s Electoral Team Promises A Fair Process
01 August- Source: UNSOM- 459 Words
Members of the Federal Indirect Electoral Implementation Team (FIEIT) have assured the public that they will carry out their assignment with impartiality to ensure the electoral process is successful.Omar Mohamed Abdulle ‘Dhagey’, the chairman of the FIEIT, made the undertaking during a media briefing held today in the Somali capital Mogadishu. Abdulle said the electoral process would be held concurrently in 37 locations in the federal and regional capitals including Mogadishu, Garowe, Cadaado, Kismaayo, and Baidoa.
According to Abdulle, the FIEIT has established committees at both the federal and regional levels and was working closely with Somali security agencies, mainly the army, police and intelligence, as well as the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), to ensure that the electoral process is held in a secure environment.The team will oversee the conduct of the 2016 electoral process and handle complaints in accordance with the principles of democracy, transparency and accountability.In addition, the upcoming elections will be more inclusive, with a representation of over 14,000 “electoral envoys”, mandated to elect members of the lower house of Parliament who will in turn participate in electing the President along with the upper house of the legislature. Dates for the voting for members of the country’s next federal Parliament have yet to be announced.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“Preaching gender equality in a country like Somalia, which was cut off from the rest of world for the two and half decades, is a herculean task. Gender equality (which is not always easy to translate in Somalia) not only sounds bizarre to conservative Somali men — it is also difficult to grasp for some Somali women who stayed after the civil war and grew up in male-dominated environment,”
Between the Facts and Rumors Of Somalia’s Gender Bill
02 August – Source: Somalia Newsroom – 836 Words
A few days after the Baidoa Consultation Conference, an octogenarian Somali lady asked me, furrowing her eyebrows, if I heard the outcome of the conference.Out of curiosity, I said “no” and asked her to tell me what was agreed upon. I thought she was going to say something about the selection of elders and the upcoming general [s]election process — until, livid with rage — she started ranting about Somali leaders promoting homosexuality and same-sex marriage in Somalia. If profanity could kill, the words she uttered would have been brought a political apocalypse to Somalia.
Somalis have mastered the art of spreading propaganda and they can change your mind completely by feeding you all sorts of propaganda similar to the U.S. Creel Committee in World War I, which succeeded in turning a pacifist population into a hysterical, war-mongering population bent on saving the world.The rumors of LBGT advocacy in Somalia turned many die-hard anti-Islamist Somalis into hardcore Salafist idealogues who were — at least rhetorically — ready to battle ministers who brought the bill out of the cabinet.One of the longest struggles in contemporary history has been that of women for equality in a conservative and patriarchal world. While Somali women are part of this millennial struggle, fear of being branded as an LGBT advocate by the Sheikhs is a huge stumbling block.
TOP TWEETS
@ICRC:Our work in #Somalia helps women build a better future for themselves – and their families.
@DrumChronicles:#Somalia #Mogadishu high ranking military official shot and wounded by gunmen in Hosh neighbourhood this morning.
@engyarisow:Building a Strategic National Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (P/CVE) Response for #Somalia – Ole Sereni Hotel In Nairobi
@IlwadElman:in #Nairobi 4 #TubtaToosan Building a Strategic national P/CVE response for #Somalia now listening 2@AmbGamal looking fwd2discussions ahead
@AAbdishakur:#Somalia; there is need to take tough actions against grand-scale corruption in procurement, and natural resource licensing.
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Somalia’s Minister for Women and Human Rights , Zahra Samatar and former education Minister, Maryam Qassim pose with a copy of UNICEF’s latest report on children.
Photo:@DrMaryanQasim