August 21, 2015 | Morning Headlines
US Planning To Hone Somalia Drone Attacks
20 August – Source: Garowe Online – 193 Word
As part of East Africa counterterrorism efforts, United States is planning to intensify drone strikes on Al Shabaab controlled territories in war-torn Somalia. Top Pentagon officials hinted at boost in anti-terror activities by the unmanned aircraft that left key Al-Shabaab leaders including its Chief Ahmed Abdi Godane dead. Former Somali Defense Minister Abdihakin Fiqi welcomed increase in drone attacks, acknowledging that US military and Somalia have shared intelligence and monitoring activities in the past.
In September, 2014 Al-Shabaab suffered operational loss following the killing of its Chief Ahmed Abdi Godane in US airstrike on encampment in southern Somalia. Fiqi told VOA Somali Service that drones minimized civilian casualties and operated with high precision over the course of known air raids inside Somalia. United States remains strategic security partner, helping UN-backed national government weaken militants grip on very few areas in central and southern Somalia. Somali government forces alongside African Union peacekeepers have secured victories against Al-Shabaab militants and took back control of key towns in southwestern Somalia. On Sunday, Ethiopian attack helicopters targeted four Al-Shabaab vehicles with missiles in Gadon village, 4km off Masagaway in Galgadud region.
Key Headlines
- US Planning To Hone Somalia Drone Attacks (Garowe Online)
- Garowe Council Elects A New Mayor (Villa Puntland)
- Buulamareer Administrator Killed (Wacaal Media)
- Soldier Executed For Murder Of His Colleague (Horseed Media)
- High Level UN Delegation Visits Bardhere (Wacaal Media)
- Somali Regional Leader Wants States Not Elders To Choose Parliament (Reuters)
- Somali Man Dies After Falling Off Condo Unit (The Rakyat Post)
- UN Warns El Nino May Reverse Humanitarian Gains In Somalia (Xinhua)
- Michael Howard Must Have Chance To Clear Up Soma’s Somalia Oil Row (Evening Standard)
- The Politics Behind the Khat Ban (Hiiraan Online)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Garowe Council Elects A New Mayor
20 August – Source: Villa Puntland – 107 Words
Ending weeks-long campaign, a new mayor for Garowe was elected in highly contested election which kicked off earlier today. In tough ballot polling which commenced Thursday morning in Garowe, the administrative capital of Puntland, Hassan Mohamed Isse “Godir” has won after he received 15 votes, defeating Awil Shiekh Hamud who has managed to secure 12 votes. The twenty-seven council members of Puntland’s administrative capital elected Godir, salient businessman as the new mayor of Garowe. Shortly after the announcement of the election, The electoral commission chairman Ahmed Elmi Osman “Karash” welcomed the outcome, applauding the fair, free and transparent manner in which the election was conducted.
Buulamareer Administrator Killed
20 August – Source: Wacaal Media – 79 Words
Unknown gunmen killed Haji Abdikadir Sheikh Hussein, the Deputy Administrator of Bulamarer town in lower Shabelle region. Confirming the incident, a local official Abdifatah Haji Abdulle said that they were shocked by the incident. The slain officer was known to be humble and hardworking individual. He said the killing could be linked to tribal animosity and revenge adding that the local administration will make sure those behind the killing will be apprehended and brought to justice.
Soldier Executed For Murder Of His Colleague
20 August – Source: Horseed Media – 154 Words
Somalia authorities hanged a soldier on Thursday who was convicted of killing another soldier, a senior court official has said. Mohamed Ali Aden, 30, was condemned for killing his colleague in the port town of Barawe in May this year, according to an official from the military court, Hassan Abdirahman. He was sentenced to death on the 18th of this month after the court found evidences of his case, adds the official. The execution took place in a police base located in Mogadishu. Somalia uses its military court to punish members of Al-Shabaab militant group. However the court has also prosecuted civilians who have been accused of minor cases and later on went to face harsh punishments.There was a decrease in the number of executions in Somalia in 2014 compared to the previous years, Amnesty International said in a recent report.
High Level UN Delegation Visits Bardhere
20 August – Source: Wacaal Media – 149 Words
UN and Aid agencies seem to be returning to Bardhere town which was recently liberated from Al-Shabaab after near a decade absence. This comes after a high level delegation from the WFP, FAO, UNICEF, UNDP and WHO among others led by UN head of Humanitarian activities in Somalia Peter de Clercq arrived in the area today. On arrival, the UN delegation were received by top Jubaland officials led by the Vice President, Abdullahi Sheikh Ismail (Fartaag) and head of the State’s armed forces Col. Abass Ibrahim Gurey. The delegation was in an assessment mission as confirmed by Fartaag who added that they will soon ship in aid comprising of food and non-food items as well as medicine. The visit comes as thousands were yet to return to the town after fleeing in the wake of the offensive to liberate the town for fear of being caught in the cross fires.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somali Regional Leader Wants States, Not Elders, To Choose Parliament
20 August – Source: Reuters – 393 Words
The next Somali parliament should be chosen by regional leaders rather than by elders favoured by the president, the head of state of the strategically important Jubaland State said in an interview. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has vowed to hold elections before his current term ends in August 2016, but he has abandoned the goal of a “one man, one vote” election. Mohamud was chosen by lawmakers in 2012 who themselves were chosen by elders. He is currently facing an impeachment motion by some members of parliament who accuse him of abuse of office and “betraying the country”.
Critics have pushed for a more transparent election in the Horn of Africa country, which is struggling to beat an Islamic insurgency and rebound after more than two decades of chaos and war. They also suggest that a process similar to the one in 2012 would favour the current president. “Somalia is a federal government and regional states should make the selection of parliament. I am not for the idea that clan elders select lawmakers,” Jubaland President Ahmed Madobe told Reuters on Wednesday. While parts of the southern province are still controlled by Al-Shabaab, an al Qaeda-affiliated group that aims to overthrow the Western-backed government, the region’s Kismayo port generates valuable revenues from taxes, charcoal exports and levies on arms and other illegal imports.
Somali Man Dies After Falling Off Condo Unit
20 August – Source: The Rakyat Post – 172 Words
A Somali national died after falling off a building at the Villa Putra Condo along Jalan Tun Ismail late yesterday afternoon. In the 4.55pm incident, a security guard on duty discovered the victim. Dang Wangi district police chief Asst Comm Zainol Samah said the 44-year-old victim was believed to have jumped from the balcony of his unit on the 7th floor of the condominium building. He added that initial investigations revealed that the victim was treated for a mental condition at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital late last year. “He is said to have stopped taking his medication after he ran out of the drugs prescribed by his doctor. “According to statement by a witness, the man was said to have been a victim of black magic, which resulted in him being admitted to HKL,” Zainol said. Zainol added that the victim died at the scene following serious injuries to the head and also broken limbs. His body was sent to HKL for post-mortem and the case was classified as sudden death.
UN Warns El Nino May Reverse Humanitarian Gains In Somalia
20 August – Source:Xinhua – 714 Words
Experts from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on Thursday warned that a looming El Nino climate phenomenon could reverse humanitarian gains in Somalia. Chief Technical Advisor of FAO Water and Land Information Management unit (SWALIM) Hussein Gadain said floods triggered by El Nino could affect up to 900,000 people along Somalia’s rivers.”If El Nino conditions materialize, an estimated population of 900,000 people living in the riverine areas of the Juba and Shabelle rivers inside Somalia are likely to be affected by the floods,” Gadain said in a statement issued in Nairobi.
He said much higher than normal rains in the last third of 2015, resulting from the El-Nino climate phenomenon, could also reverse many of the development gains made in southern parts of Somalia since the Horn of Africa nation was affected by one of the worst famines in 2011.Gadain said while some countries experience depressed rains during El Nino events, Somalia experiences heavier rainfall amounts that usually lead to flooding that may cause diseases, death and destruction of property and infrastructure.
The experts warned that El Nino, a warming of sea-surface temperature in the Pacific Ocean, occurs every few years and is associated with very heavy rainfall in East Africa and drought-like conditions in other parts of the region.The scale of impact varies, but experts from FAO warned that this year’s El Nino could match the intensity of recent severe El Nino weather events, including the 1997-98 weather patterns which left large parts of southern Somalia underwater and killed 2,000 people. Following 2011 famine that killed an estimated 260,000 people, the Horn of Africa nation has seen steady improvement of its food security situation.However, over 731,000 people are still estimated to be severely food insecure, requiring urgent humanitarian assistance and livelihood support, according to FAO’s Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit for Somalia (FSNAU).Another 2.3 million people are classified as Stressed (IPC Phase 2) and require interventions to protect their livelihoods and build their resilience to prevent them from falling back into Crisis or Emergency conditions.
Michael Howard Must Have Chance To Clear Up Soma’s Somalia Oil Row
20 August – Source: Evening Standard – 403 Words
Ask Jeremy Paxman, who famously asked him 12 times if he had threatened to overrule the boss of the prison service. The former leader of the Conservative party was similarly tricky to pin down more recently when questioned by journalists about a letter he wrote to the government minister Michael Fallon in his new guise as a chairman of Somali oil company Soma Oil & Gas. In the letter, he described how the Soma job was “an appointment I accepted with the encouragement of the FCO”. However, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office flatly denied giving any such encouragement.
There followed long verbal jousting between Lord Howard and the media about what the phrase meant. Anyway, since then, a Serious Fraud Office investigation has been launched into alleged bribery of Somali officials by Soma, following an investigation by UN monitors. Soma denies wrongdoing and there is no suggestion Lord Howard was involved. He is not under investigation by the SFO. Today, he wrote to the UN security council criticising the leak and saying the investigators misinterpreted Soma’s actions. In a combative accompanying press release, Soma warns the leak left Somali officials open to attack from militants and could now delay much-needed oil exploration in the cash-strapped country.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“And in many ways, evidence suggests that prohibiting the use and sale of khat in Western countries further marginalizes an already disenfranchised diaspora population. A recent Guardian article describes how the U.K. ban on khat has devastated the economy of a small Kenyan town that prospered mostly on khat exports to diaspora populations,”
The Politics Behind the Khat Ban
20 August – Source : Hiiraan Online – 961 Words
On June 24, 2014, a shrub made headlines. The U.K.’s Home Secretary Theresa May announced that khat, also known as miraa in East Africa, would be made illegal, following other similar bans of the plant in Western nations with large East African diaspora populations. The plant is cultivated predominantly around the Horn of Africa in countries like Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Yemen, and most notably Somalia. Khat, when chewed (or occasionally when brewed into tea), acts as a stimulant that has been described by some as the Arabian/Somali equivalent to coffee or tea, and by others as a harsh amphetamine-like drug that plagues society. Such vastly contrasting opinions of the drug lead many to wonder what the reason behind the khat ban actually is.
Studies have found that consuming the plant causes excitement, euphoria, loss of appetite, and has a mild-to-moderate risk of psychological dependence (less than tobacco or alcohol), but the World Health Organization does not consider khat to be seriously addictive. Mustafa Al-Absi, a Yemenite professor of behavioral medicine at the University of Minnesota, recently conducted a study that found khat use is generally associated with tobacco use, and when both are used together, their effects can be associated with blunted cardiovascular stress response and enhanced negative mood.
Supporters of khat prohibition generally reference khat’s adverse effect on national productivity, and in the case of Yemen, its contribution to the country’s water shortage – a daily bag of chew requires an estimated 500 litersof water. Indeed, Dr. A. A. Gunaid from Sana’a University has warned, “Khat chewers experience euphoria followed by depression, while people who are genetically predisposed are extremely vulnerable to psychosis.” In addition, the Conservative government had also referenced the khat trade’s purported relation to terrorism, specifically the Somali-based Islamist group al-Shabab. Karen Bradley, minister for the Home Office, told the BBC last year “the U.K. was at risk of becoming a base for organized criminals who wanted to smuggle khat to other countries where it was controlled.”