August 23, 2018 | Morning Headlines
President Farmaajo Calls On SNA To Intensify The Fight Against Al-Shabaab And Other Terrorist Organizations
22 August – Source: Hiiraan Online – 141 Words
President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed ‘Farmaajo’ has urged the Somali National Army to intensify the fight against Al-Shabaab, and other terrorist groups fighting in the country. Addressing dozens of Somali security forces, President Farmaajo said, Al-Shabaab and the other terrorist elements in the country are foreign-invested terrorist groups, who are determined to humiliate and terrorise the Somali public, thus we need to unite against them.
President Farmaajo congratulated the SNA on the occasion of Eid-ul Adha, one of the important Islamic celebrations. The president also attended the funeral prayer of one of the SNA soldiers killed in the recent clearing operations in Lower Shabelle. Meanwhile, outgoing SNA Chief Abdiweli Jama Gorod, who is yet to hand over office, said there is an ongoing plan to revamp the quality of SNA to succeed and are able to take over security responsibilities from AMISOM.
Key Headlines
- President Farmaajo Calls On SNA To Intensify The Fight Against Al-Shabaab And Other Terrorist Organizations (Hiiraan Online)
- Somali MP Calls Corruption Case For Paying ‘US Lobbyists’ (Caasimada Online)
- PM Khaire Urged The Public To Shun Away From Clannism And Corruption (Jowhar.com)
- Center Focuses On Somali Youth Disabled And Business Community (Midcounty Memo)
- Puntland Threatens War With Somaliland Over Border Lands (The East African)
- Fadumo Dayib: What Vying For President Of Somalia Taught Me (Daily Nation)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Somali MP Calls Corruption Case For Paying ‘US Lobbyists’
22 August – Source: Caasimada Online – 218 Words
Somali MP Abdirizak Mohamed has strongly protested against the country’s plan to pay a US lobbying firm $400,000. MP Mohamed called paying Sonoran Policy Group (SPG) amounts to corruption. SPG based in Arizona signed a lobbying contract with Somali government to help renewed funding for the country’s army, and lifting ban on Somalis’ travel to America imposed by US president.
“This is corruption at its ugliest form by our government. We can not afford to pay such egregious amount to US lobbying firm, while our government relies on foreign aid to sustain itself and feed its people. This is outrageous and unacceptable” he said. MP Mohamed added “ mismanaging aid and donor support constitutes corruption, and affects economic development as well as aid effectiveness”.
He stressed there has been a growing consensus that these activities threaten development and may reverse hard gained progress. He called for increased efforts from International partners to help fight corruption, and other illicit activities that derail economic development and affect accountability and public transparency.
The US lobbying firm agreement was signed jointly by Somalia’s UN envoy Abukar Osman and Christian Bourge, executive director of the SPG earlier this month. The SPG firm commits to arrange talks with White House officials and lawmakers to end US suspension on funding Somali National Army forces.
PM Khaire Urged The Public To Shun Away From Clannism And Corruption
22 August – Source: Jowhar.com – 104 Words
Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire urged the Somali public to stay away from clannism, corruption, nepotism and other malpractices that contributed to the collapse of the nation. Speaking to worshippers at Isbahaysiga Mosque following Eid prayers, PM Khaire said it was time for the public to stay away from all practices that are detrimental to the country’s progress.
He said all citizens have a responsibility to take part in the construction of the country. “We must learn lessons from our past mistakes. We are also expected to lead the reconstruction efforts of this nation and create future and hope for our youth,” he noted.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Center Focuses On Somali Youth, Disabled And Business Community
21 August – Source: Midcounty Memo – 995 Words
Since 2006, the Africa House has spent a lot of time helping immigrants from African countries as they settle in Portland. A division of the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization (IRCO), the group primarily focuses on increasing the visibility of Portland’s African community in a variety of different ways.
Now the Somali community of Oregon, by which some estimates is more than 12,000, has its own core representative cultural group, the Somali American Council of Oregon (SACOO). This past June 23, the group opened their new headquarters at 1505 S.E. 122nd Ave. with a party featuring speeches by Executive Director Musse Olol and Portland City Commissioner Chloe Eudaly, among others.
Nearly all of Oregon’s Somali refugees settle in Multnomah County, and they represent as much as 69 percent of the total African immigrant population of Portland. It’s even claimed by some that Somali is the third-most spoken foreign language in Portland public schools. The most recent data on that, from a Portland State University study from 2012, places it fourth, behind Spanish, Vietnamese and Cantonese; however, Somalis are one of Portland’s fastest growing immigrant communities, so it’s entirely possible the third-place estimate is accurate.
Puntland Threatens War With Somaliland Over Border Lands
20 August – Source: The East African -338 Words
Somalia’s semi autonomous Puntland says it will not negotiate with the self-declared republic of Somaliland over their disputed border. Puntland’s defence committee at the weekend threatened war in order to liberate “Puntland territories occupied by Somaliland.” The two regions in northern Somalia have been locked in a standoff over control of Sool and Sanaag areas for nearly three decades.
The land stretches from the Gulf of Aden to the Ethiopian border. “There is no way we will negotiate with an aggressor. We can only talk to Somaliland if its army retreats from territories that belong to Puntland,” said Abdullahi Ali Hersi, Puntland’s Interior minister. “We have received instruction from the president of Puntland (Dr Abdiweli Ali Gaas) to wage liberation war,” he added while addressing the media in the capital Garowe on Sunday.
The territorial dispute escalated in January this year after Somaliland forces took control of Tukarag town in Sool. In the ensuing fight, dozens among them soldiers died on both sides. Backing the call for war, Puntland’s Information minister Abdi Hersi Ali Qarjab said: “Somaliland did not adhere to our warnings to retreat its forces from the lands that do not belong to it.”
A United Nations and Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad)-backed mediation team is reported to have held talks with both sides but no progress seems to have been made as the two states take hardline stances. Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991 but is yet to get global acceptance. A member of the Somaliland parliament, responding to the war threat claimed the disputed areas were part of the former British Somaliland Protectorate.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“Having lost almost everything because of exercising her democratic right, Dayib is quick to point out that it is generally lonely for aspirants who run for office. She regrets that women aspirants do not also enjoy support networks such as safety, funding or moral support as men do.”
Fadumo Dayib: What Vying For President Of Somalia Taught Me
22 August – Source: Daily Nation – 857 Words
Fadumo Dayib’s announcement of her candidacy for president of Somalia in 2016 drew as much admiration as it did ridicule. The 46-year-old was portrayed as the embodiment of change in some quarters. Apart from receiving death threats from al-Shabaab and other quarters, she also lost close friends and family as well as having her sanity challenged.
Although she no longer draws the same attention today, Fadumo Dayib still has a global platform which gives her the avenue to speak on issues close to her heart. She ran for office fully aware of the implications including the post-poll state of affairs. “Everyone wanted to take a photo with me back then, even in the oddest places and circumstances. But after that, my phone went silent.
The people who were not meant to be in my life quietly melted away and their places filled with people who steadfastly still stand beside me.” But what did the experience teach her? “Politics is not for the faint-hearted. I was very proud as a woman to be running against over 20 men. I had come a long way from 2014 when everyone thought I was crazy to being seen as a serious contender in 2016. I had earned my place.
Coming against a backdrop of too much fun fare, was it all worth it? She wanted change for her country and still wants the realisation of that change. But she has realised that she no longer needs to sit on that particular chair to change the mindsets especially of Somali girls and women. “I wanted to challenge the notion of leadership. I wanted to break barriers that dictate that a woman’s place is one place and not the other.”
Having been born in Thika to parents of Somali ethnicity, she lived in Mombasa, Eastleigh and Mogadishu before her family and many other Kenyan-Somalis were deported to Mogadishu in 1989. They would not be safe either in Somalia due to the civil war and when she was almost 18, the family sought asylum from Finland. For this reason, Ms Dayib was determined to find a space to sink her roots.