August 20, 2015 | Daily Monitoring Report
Somalia: International Community ‘Concerned’ On President Impeachment Motion
19 August – Source: Horseed Media – 201 Words
Somalia’s International partners have for the first time clarified their position towards the move to impeach President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud by members of the Federal Parliament. In a Press statement released on Wednesday, the envoys of the United Nations, the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the European Union (EU), the United States of America and the United Kingdom said they were concerned on the impacts of the motion.“While we fully respect the right of the Federal Parliament to hold institutions to account and to fulfill its constitutional duties, the submission of any such motion requires a high standard of transparency and integrity in the process and will consume extremely valuable time, not least in the absence of essential legal bodies.’’
Last week, more than 90 parliamentarians tabled an impeachment motion, accusing the president of exceeding his constitutional powers. The MPs said it had been under process for the last six months, condemning the president of rampant corruption, political nepotism and incompetence since he came to power in 2012. Analysts have criticized all the government’s institutions for failing to achieve the goals they had pledged when they came into power three years ago
Key Headlines
- Somalia: International Community ‘Concerned’ On President Impeachment Motion (Horseed Media)
- More Ugandan Police Officers Join Colleagues In Mogadishu (Wacaal Media)
- Policing In Newly Liberated Areas Kickstarts (Goobjoog News)
- Somalia Soldiers To Be Equipped For War On Al-Shabaab (Shabelle News)
- Afgoye District Commissioner Orders IDPs To Vacate Government Buildings (Goobjoog News)
- Soma Oil & Gas Requests Meeting With UN Over Somalia Allegations (Bloomberg)
- Doing It Themselves: The Rebuilding Of Somalia’s Higher Education Sector (Time Higher Education)
- Anti-radicalisation Day Held For Parents Worried About Children Going To Syria (Bristol Post)
- Youth Unemployment In Somalia (Hiiraan Online)
NATIONAL MEDIA
More Ugandan Police Officers Join Colleagues In Mogadishu
20 August – Source: Wacaal Media – 182 Words
Up to 140 additional police officers from Uganda have been deployed to Mogadishu joining their colleagues already serving under AMISOM. Head of the AU mission in Somalia Maman Sidikou said that the additional forces will play an integral part in the initiative to bring Somalia back to Sanity. “The police will play a key role in the country as we prepare for the 2016 elections. They will complement the AMISOM military to beef up security in the city and the country at large” said Sidikou.
The AU head told the officers before they left their country on Monday that the AMISOM mission was set to conclude next year but expressed hope that the task at hand will be completed by then. He urged the police officers to safeguard the interests of the Somali public and don’t infringe on their rights especially women and children. Sidikou further urged the officers to steer away from anything that can dent their reputation such as rape cases and extra judicial activities. The officers will also train the Somali police during their stay in the country.
Policing In Newly Liberated Areas Kickstarts
20 August – Source: Goobjoog News – 382 Words
A total of 138 station commanders from the Somali Police Force have concluded a two week refresher course undertaken jointly by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and the United Nations.The officers will be deployed to new districts recently liberated from Al-Shabaab. Somali Federal Minister of State for Internal Security Da’ud Abdikarim Omar says expectations are high in these recovered areas thus the need to maintain law and order. “Workshops and trainings have completions but learning does not have an end. I hope you know that the areas assigned to you are recently liberated districts from Al-Shabaab insurgents. The people in those areas were subjected to severe cruelty and pressure from Al-Shabaab. The Somali people in those districts need help. The most important support is to maintain peace and security in those areas,” he said.
The training was extensive and factored in human rights law, rules, systems and regulations required in a professional police force. In his remarks at the conclusion of the training, the representative of the Somali Police Commissioner Mukhtar Hussein Afrah said, “While taking an advantage of this opportunity, I would like to remind the police officers assigned to work in those districts that they have a huge responsibility; they are expected to execute their duties within the confines of the law and at the same time observe human rights. Police station commanders cannot deliver without the help of the local people, they must work together to fulfill their responsibilities well.”
AMISOM Police Contingent Commander Amadu Mannah who represented the Police Commissioner said, “We have been able to get these trainers from the thirteen recovered areas, 138 officers that are going to serve as both commanders and field training officers who shall recruit and mentor thirty-five police officers in each of those recovered areas. We are happy that they will be able to establish effective policing in these areas.” Also present was the UN Police. The UN Superintendent of Police Prince Cobbinoh said “We believe that with the knowledge and skills that they have been imparted with, they will introduce proper policing to the people. They have been trained on human rights observance, they have been trained on mentorship, traffic control, how to investigate cases and how to manage police stations.”
Somalia Soldiers To Be Equipped For War On Al-Shabaab
20 August – Source: Shabelle News – 76 Words
The commander of government soldiers’ sector 21st, Abdullahi Ali Anood said that Somalia National Army is going to be equipped with military vehicles, weapons and uniforms. Col. Ali told Shabelle Media that Somalia army continuing military offensive against Al-Shabaab in Hiran, Galgaduud and Mudug provinces would be given military supplies. The commander’s word came after anti Al-Shabaab military operation has been curbed up by Somalia National Army backed by African Union (AMISOM) peacekeepers.
Afgoye District Commissioner Orders IDPs To Vacate Government Buildings
20 August – Source: Goobjoog News – 198 Words
The administration of Afgoye district has given stern warning to the inhabitants of some of IDPs in the town to leave the former premises of the Somali government. Speaking to Goobjoog News, Afgooye district commissioner, Abdikani Yussuf Ahmed said that the administration is carrying out efforts to rebuild the government buildings which are currently occupied by internally displaced people. “Nobody owns government buildings, I am hereby telling the inhabitants of those places to leaves compound as soon as possible, the administration of Afgooye has placed a caveat emptor on those places and if anyone spent their money on those areas they have to admitted losses at their own risk” he said.
Specifying the occupied areas Abdikani said that their administration wants the district’s stadium, house for the government’s civil servants and the slaughterhouse of the town to be vacated. Somali government has earlier forcefully evacuated hundreds of families living in government buildings from their houses in many town including the capital city, Mogadishu after the families turn deaf ears to the orders. After the fall of Somali central government in 1990, the government institutions were looted and many important documentaries were distorted. Many IDP families use the buildings for housing.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Soma Oil & Gas Requests Meeting With UN Over Somalia Allegations
20 August – Source: Bloomberg – 145 Words
Soma Oil & Gas Holdings Ltd., the U.K.-based explorer chaired by former Conservative Party leader Michael Howard, requested a meeting with the United Nations to discuss allegations about its dealings in Somalia.The company asked for talks with UN Security Council Committee Chairman Rafael Dario Ramirez Carreno in a letter published on its website that expressed concern about the UN Monitoring Group’s “fundamental misunderstanding of the oil and gas industry.”
Soma also wants to make clear “the necessity for and positive impact of our capacity building arrangement with the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources” in Somalia, it said. The U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office announced on July 31 it’s probing London-based Soma, along with Soma Oil & Gas Exploration Ltd., Soma Management Ltd. and others in “relation to allegations of corruption in Somalia.” Soma denied the allegations and is cooperating with the investigation.
Doing It Themselves: The Rebuilding Of Somalia’s Higher Education Sector
20 August – Source: Time Higher Education – 739 Words
With no permanent government and militant groups controlling large expanses of territory, Somalia was the ultimate “failed state” for more than two decades. Higher education all but collapsed: classes at the Somali National University were indefinitely suspended in the early 1990s and just a handful of institutions continued to operate. Now, stability is returning and reconstruction is under way. The national university reopened last year and the potential for higher education is huge: three-quarters of the East African country’s population is younger than 30, while 46 per cent is below the age of 15.With a government that remains fragile and ineffective and with the Islamist militant group known as Al-Shabaab yet to be defeated, significant obstacles to the development of universities remain.
This was highlighted in April by the attack on Garissa University College in Kenya, which was launched by Al-Shabaab from within Somalia and left 147 people dead. But Abdulkareem Jama, the executive vice-president of Mogadishu’s City University, argues that developing higher education in Somalia is “easier than [in] most places”. “I cannot imagine a country where one can have an impact that is so fundamental as regulating higher education or putting in place steps that will improve it,” he said. “Because the political class is small and knows each other, it is easier for us to come up with something, sell it to the minister or president and put it into place.”
Mr Jama, who returned to Somalia in 2009 from a successful career in the US that spanned three decades, is certainly well connected: he served as a senior adviser to the Somali President and then as the country’s Minister of Information before joining City University, a private, not-for-profit institution. Mr Jama told Times Higher Education that regulation was the key challenge facing Somalia’s emerging higher education sector. Following the return of peace to much of the country, there has been a proliferation of for-profit universities, with about 40 now operating in the capital alone.
Anti-radicalisation Day Held For Parents Worried About Children Going To Syria
20 August – Source: Bristol Post – 496 Words
An anti-radicalisation conference is being held for the Somali community in Bristol. Hundreds of people are expected to gather at the Trinity Centre this weekend, to discuss how to prevent children from being radicalised by online extremists. Parents and community members in Bristol are becoming increasingly concerned that young people are left exposed online, and could be groomed by terrorists unless action is taken. Families have become even more worried since the disappearance of Yusra Hussien last year, a teenage girl who it is thought travelled to Syria to join jihadis.In an effort to raise awareness, the Somali community, the police and Bristol City Council are holding a conference which anyone can attend.
Organiser Kayse Maxamed said: “There is a growing danger and threat to our UK communities due to the radicalisation amongst some of our Somalian community. “We have seen a number of Somali youths from cities across the UK travel out to join extremist groups and terrorists in Iraq, Syria and Somalia. “The conference is to discuss ways to collectively respond to the problems facing the young members of the community, who are at risk from radicalisation and terrorism, whether it is at a local or at an international level.” Kayse, who has edited Somali Voice, said the day will be a good opportunity for the community to share and discuss their views on those people who travel to Syria to commit acts of terrorism.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“Al Shabab have their pitch, look while these officials and NGO managers are enjoying life of luxury and safety of high walls, they are wasting your future, we have a better future for you and if you join us, we will fight them and liberate you from these evil creatures that put you in this situation, you are going to get a job, get married and above all, you are one of us working for the betterment of your religion and land.”
Youth Unemployment In Somalia
19 August – Source: Hiiraan Online – 998 Words
Somalia’s long civil war has decimated the wealth, production infrastructure, government institutions and economy. In developing countries many of the new graduates find their first jobs at the state sector but in Somalia there are no state sectors that can hire new graduates. In fact, most of the government ministries have not paid their current employees’ salaries for almost six months let alone hire new ones. The private sector is still fragile and cannot absorb high number of new graduates and even if that was possible, there is the usual nepotistic mindset of hiring family members rather than qualified young candidates. The entrepreneur minded graduates face the inevitable fact of not having a bank loan, investment houses and crowdsource funding that are ubiquitous in more stable countries. Furthermore, electricity, internet and transportations are unavailable or expensive.
Market access and local buying power are weak because of the lack of viable employment prevalent in the country. The result is thousands of youths who are unable to find jobs are lounging around foreign embassies, cafes, and city centers. They are escaping from crushing unemployment, poverty and uncertain future. These youth are under pressure from two fronts, one from their parents who are eager for them to find a job and want them to create future for themselves. Secondly, the youth want to accomplish something meaningful such as creating family and to contribute society. Sadly, these bright young people after waiting years for job opportunities that never arrive are bored and finally are detached from the world they live in. They see their live meaningless and are willing to gamble it all. They are choosing between two equally perilous alternatives (1) Put their lives at risk as they go on a boat journey in search of better life in Europe (2) Join the criminal underworld such as Al-Shabaab and Piracy.
TOP TWEETS
@MikaelLindvall:Sweden fully behind yday’s statement by#Somalia int’l partners: http://www.un.org/apps/news/
@SalahOsman0 :More than 8 hundred Students graduated today from various different faculties of #Somalia University in#Mogadishu
@UN_News_Centre :UN urges resolution to crisis after#Somalia legislators approve motion to impeach Presidenthttp://bit.ly/1E6s4Zz
@alykhansatchu:Soma Oil & Gas Requests Meeting With UN Over Somalia Allegations http://bloom.bg/1gY6WKw via@business #Somalia http://rich.co.ke
@HarrietLMathews:Looking forward to first ever #Somalia ‘eat and tweet’ event with journalist and bloggers #media4somalia@UKinSomalia
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Newly trained Somali police officers at the closing ceremony of a two week course at Gen. Kaahiye Police Academy in Mogadishu. The police officers will be deployed in newly liberated districts in Somalia.
Photo: AMISOM