NATIONAL MEDIA
Puntland Forces Clash With Sanaag Forces
20 August – Source: Radio Dalsan – 98 Words
Reports from the disputed Sanaag region indicate that Puntland and Somaliland forces have briefly fought. The fighting broke out after Puntland security forces attacked a convoy carrying the Somaliland governor of Sanaag while on the outskirts of Hadaaftimo. Residents said they heard heavy gunfire between the Somaliland and Puntland forces, and the fighting lasted for a while. Official information about casualties are unknown, but some reports indicate that both sides suffered casualties. Authorities in Puntland and Somaliland have clashed over the Sanaag region, and the two governments have clashed several times in recent battles with casualties and injuries.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
20 August – Source: UNSOM – 626 Words
Greater alignment and coordination of communications efforts in Somalia, and the benefits of such cooperation, were among the main points of discussion at a gathering of Somali and international communicators today. “We would like our international partners to follow the set policies and guidelines of the Ministry of Information, [which is] responsible for guiding and setting policies of public awareness activities in Somalia,” the Federal Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Mohamed Abdi Hayir ‘Maareeye,’ said at the gathering. Mr. Hayir noted that some international agencies working on public awareness activities in Somalia had not been following established government policies and strategies. The minister was speaking in the capital, Mogadishu, at a consultative meeting with representatives of international organizations and firms that are working on media and public awareness programmes in Somalia. Those attending included representatives from the United Nations system, the African Union, foreign embassies and private companies.
Today’s meeting is part of a four-day long consultation organized by the Federal Government of Somalia’s Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism (MOICT), and attended by the information ministers from several of the country’s Federal Member States, including the Ministers of Information from Puntland, South West State, Galmadug, Hirshabelle – Ali Hassan Ahmed, Hassan Mohamed, Mohamed Aden Osman and Abdiweli Mohamed Abdi – in addition to various officials these states and Jubaland.
Support for public awareness plan
In his remarks to the gathering, the federal minister appealed to international partners to support the implementation of the country’s media and public awareness strategy, which seeks, among other goals, to counter negative narratives and aid efforts to restore peace and stability. In February this year, the MOICT launched the three-year plan – known as the ‘National Strategy for Public Awareness 2018-2021’ – which is centred on coordinated and aligned public awareness campaigns by Somali authorities, media houses, civil society groups and international partners.
A senior MOICT advisor, Abdirahman Mohamed Aden ‘Koronto,’ outlined to the gathering the ministry’s policies, strategy and guidelines. “These are all meant to promote transparency,” he noted. “If you are doing something in Somalia, let’s see what you are doing. As authorities at the federal and member state levels, we have to know what you are doing, how are you doing it, and how you achieve what you are doing.”“There must be a mirror where we can see that everything is in line with what you are doing,” he added. “The Ministry of Information is not interfering, but it needs to have oversight.”
Partners welcome meeting
Speaking on behalf of the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), the Chief of its Strategic Communications and Public Affairs Group, Carlos Araujo, welcomed the meeting and its aims. “Without coordination and collaboration, unity of messaging, accountability, and knowledge of the local context, national public awareness campaigns are bound to fail – this is why this meeting is so crucial,” Mr. Araujo said, adding that strategic communication can play a vital role in promoting broader public understanding and endorsement of government policies……..
20 August – Source: Daily Nation – 620 Words
Senior Private Edwin Wekoba enjoyed leading soldiers to battle. He was thrilled by the frontline, driving a Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) armoured personnel carrier as he took orders from his commander. Everything was fine until one morning in 2017, when his battalion from Gilgil was pursuing militants at Taraka, Somalia. As usual, he was driving the point car — a term used to refer to the foremost armoured personnel carrier (APC). As he drove to take position while under attack by gunmen, the APC ran over an explosive. The impact was loud; the aftermath heart-wrenching. That is the backstory of the soldier in KDF uniform, who last week led delegations to Kasarani Stadium during the start of the East African Military Games. Holding the East African Community flag high as he drove his electric wheelchair, Mr Wekoba cut the figure of a man at the pinnacle.
COUNSELLOR
Photos of Mr Wekoba’s gallant entry to Kasarani were shared on the KDF Facebook page, receiving compliments from far and wide. “Your sacrifices will never be forgotten.” “It’s very encouraging to see such highly-spirited servicemen still serving,” commented Al-Amin. Kamau wrote: “Our heroes of war! We are proud of you, bro Edwin. May the almighty God bless you abundantly.” Given what Mr Wekoba has gone through since the 2017 incident, no praise thrown his way can be too lavish. This is a soldier who bled so profusely that his kidneys failed before they were later revived; stayed in the ICU for three months then went through the emotional roller-coaster that comes with realising you have lost your legs forever. A soldier who, after accepting himself, did not turn his back on the military and is today involved in offering motivation and counselling to other soldiers. In an interview with Nation at the Gilgil base, Mr Wekoba revisited that morning that changed his life……
19 August – Source: dvids – 651 Words
“An increase in women in peacekeeping operations will increase access to the whole population,” said Dr. Jan Hessbruegge, human rights officer with the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and moderator for the panel. “Fifty percent of the population is more accessible by women (forces), improving overall situational awareness.”
The panel included Lt. Col. Christine Nekesa, director of the Civil Military Corporation (CIMIC) for land forces, Uganda People’s Defence Force; Maj. Angeline Kamannzi, staff officer, Rwanda Air Force; Maj. Audrey Malungo Samboko, communications corps, Zambian Defence Force; and Lt. Meron Rugazora Mutese, pilot, Rwanda Air Force.
According to the United Nations, the increased recruitment of women in peacekeeping operations is critical for helping make the peacekeeping force approachable to women in the community, interacting with women in societies where women are prohibited from speaking to men, and interviewing survivors of gender-based violence. “Through female engagement teams, we can get more information or intelligence because the majority of the population are women,” said Nikesa, while speaking of her experience during her service with the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). “If you wanted to talk to the females and the meeting consisted of men, the women were not free to talk. That’s when we learned that the ladies needed to have special meetings only with ladies so that they could open up and tell us their problems.”
Women peacekeepers have also proven that they can perform the same roles, to the same standards and under the same difficult conditions, as their male counterparts. In many cases, women are better-placed to carry out peacekeeping tasks.“Breaking through in a male dominated profession was really a challenge – you have to constantly prove yourself. You have to work extra hard for them to accept that you are capable of doing whatever it is that they are doing,” said Samboko of her experience as a communications officer in the Zambian Defence Force…….
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“One of the things that should be called for is retroactively granting citizenship, not only for Elmi but for any child that was under state care, because the state is supposed to act as a parent of a child,” said Toronto community organizer Naiima Farah. “This is a form of maltreatment,” she said. “The paperwork should have been done for him. He was a minor.”
20 August – Source: CBC News Canada – 928 Words
Abdilahi Elmi, 34, is set to be deported; advocates say the government failed to secure him citizenship The mother of a former child refugee taken into foster care not long after arriving in Canada in the mid-1990s is making an emotional plea to save her son from being deported to Somalia in two days. Speaking through an interpreter, Faduma Isse said sending her 34-year-old son, Abdilahi Elmi, to the country he fled as a child would be a “death sentence.” “They failed him,” she said of the Ontario government, arguing it failed to secure citizenship for Elmi, who was accepted into Canada as a refugee at age 10. “He will die if he goes to Somalia. He doesn’t speak the language, he doesn’t know the culture, he doesn’t know the religion.”
Elmi, who is scheduled for deportation on Aug. 21, is in custody at a remand centre in Nova Scotia. He has a lengthy criminal record that includes various assault charges. A criminal sentence of more than six months makes non-citizens eligible for deportation. ‘They were responsible for him’ Elmi arrived in Canada in 1994 after fleeing Somalia and living in a refugee camp with his grandmother. Not long after, advocates say, he was taken from his mother and placed into state care. By age 16, he was living on the streets, where his contact with the criminal justice system began, fuelled in part by substance abuse issues that advocates say stem from the trauma he experienced as a child living through civil war.
They were responsible for him 100 per cent and I was not allowed to do it on his behalf because he was not under my care,” Isse said of applying for Elmi’s immigration status. If Elmi’s case sounds familiar, it’s because he’s not the first former child refugee to spend time in state care who Canada has attempted to deport. Abdoul Abdi, who came to Nova Scotia as a child in 2000, also faced deportation after various criminal convictions. In his case, too, the care system had not applied for citizenship on his behalf.
Last year, a Federal Court judge set aside the decision to send Abdi to a deportation hearing, arguing the government had not considered that he was “a longtime ward of the state.” Ottawa in turn said it respected the decision and would not push forward with Abdi’s deportation. Speaking to reporters in Toronto on Monday, Elmi’s supporters said they hoped to prevent cases like his and Abdi’s from happening again.”One of the things that should be called for is retroactively granting citizenship, not only for Elmi but for any child that was under state care, because the state is supposed to act as a parent of a child,” said Toronto community organizer Naiima Farah. “This is a form of maltreatment,” she said. “The paperwork should have been done for him. He was a minor.”…… |
