NATIONAL MEDIA
22 August – Source: Garowe Online – 155 Words
Somalia’s northeastern Puntland State has extended warm congratulations to President Ahmed Madobe on his reelection as the President of Jubaland on Thursday, August 22, 2019, Garowe Online reports. According to a statement released by the Presidency, Puntland state president Said Abdullahi Deni sent a congratulatory message to Madobe on behalf of the Government, its people and himself. Puntland called on the president-elect to take the lead in solving political row in Jubaland state through peaceful dialogue as well as end differences with the Federal Government of Somalia in the elections.
On the other hand, the 1st Deputy Speaker of Somali Senate Abshir Ahmed sent congratulations and best wishes to President-elect Ahmed Madobe for his decisive election as President of Jubaland state. Ahmed becomes the highest-ranking official in Somali Government to support the election of Madobe, who won 65 votes out of 74 MPs cast their votes in a parliamentary ballot held in Kismayo on Thursday.
22 August – Source: Garowe Online – 187 Words
The High Court of Puntland State of Somalia on Thursday reaffirmed its verdict upholding the death sentence to three convicts who gang-raped and murdered a 12-year-old girl, Garowe Online reports. Abdishakur Mohamed, Abdifitah Abdirahman, and Abdisalan Abdirahman were found guilty of raping and killing Aisha Ilyes Aden, a teenager in the divided Galkayo city, in the central Somali region of Mudug on 25th February 2019. The convicts appealed to the high court to review their sentence last May. Aden was abducted at a market in the town and her body was found the next morning, February 26th dumped on a street near her home. An autopsy revealed she had been gang-raped and subsequently strangled to death.
Aisha’s case sparked outrage, with demonstrations and protesters’ calls for authorities to use the country’s landmark 2016 Sexual Offenses Law, which criminalizes rape, sexual harassment, and online sexual offences. The ruling Thursday was not only a test for Puntland state’s new sexual violence law, the Sexual Offense Act but also a powerful signal of support for the rule of law in general in Somalia’s most stable and oldest Federal Member State.
22 August – Source: Radio Ergo – 441 Words
Abdilaahi Ali Hassan, an agro-pastoralist in Somaliland, supplies free water to pastoralist communities stricken by drought from the reservoir he built on his land four years ago. It is located on his land in the rural area 53 km east of Bura’o town. He began his humanitarian mission when he realised the drastic toll the drought emerging in 2016 was taking on pastoralists, as many livestock were dying. To mark International Humanitarian Day, Radio Ergo spoke to him about his efforts to help others in need. The interview is transcribed below.
Ergo: What is your most distinct memory of the [2016-17] drought?
Abdilaahi: It was when one large extended family lost all their livestock, just two or three animals survived, and they had nothing to sell. The camels and goats all perished and there was barely any water anywhere. The drought was the worst, the condition of those people was getting worse, and in addition to that, there was also disease ravaging the community. I started giving them water. Sometimes I gave them maize from my stores to feed their livestock. I used to get fruits from the farm to support those among them who were malnourished.
Ergo: How many desperate families did you help?
Abdilaahi:: I could not tell you the exact figure, but there were many people.
Ergo:Did you sell the water to them?
Abdilaahi: No, I was supplying them for free.
Ergo:: What is the capacity of your reservoir?
Abdilaahi: It is 300 metres long, 250 metres wide and 2.5 metres deep. It is not cemented or floored with waterproofing, we just dug it with bulldozers and left it that way. It was filled up by the rain last gu’ rain and we are still using it both for domestic use and for irrigation. We fetch water from the reservoir using water tankers and deliver to the pastoralists in remote areas. We also inform the pastoralists to get water from the reservoir for their livestock.
Ergo: How does it make you feel to help needy people who lost their livestock and have no money to buy water?
Abdilaahi: I feel like I am carrying out my responsibility by helping my neighbours and the needy people nearby for as long as I can. I have never sold any of this water. Apart from what I use for my own purposes, I give the rest to the people for free. My main aim in building the reservoir was for irrigation.
Ergo: How many families would you say you serve with water every day now?
Abdilaahi: It varies, but per day about 20 families get water from this reservoir.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
22 August – Source: Kuwait News Agency – 221 Words
Kuwait welcomed the reconciliation efforts of the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) and the Federal Member States of Somalia despite the challenges. The remarks were made by Kuwait’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Mansour Al-Otaibi, during the United Nations Security Council’s (UNSC) session on Somalia late Wednesday. The ambassador called on all parties to put aside their differences and focus on Somalia’s future, especially with the 2020-2021 elections coming up. Achieving reconciliation will play a big role in completing the work of the constitution revision committee, the comprehensive security plan and approving the elections’ draft law, Al-Otaibi said……
22 August – Source: BBC – Video: 2:22
Hafza Yusuf is a British-Somali textile designer who has started to volunteer her time to give back to her community. She runs a weekly textile and art workshop with a number of elderly women living in sheltered homes. For most women, it’s the first time they get to experience artwork and many find it very therapeutic and socially engaging activity. It also allows them to get break language barriers and become involved in London society.
21 August – Source: K24 – 341 Words
The Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) and other Amison forces now face a new challenge over the use of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) after the fighting capability of the militants were significantly reduced.
The Special Representative of the Chairperson of the AU for Somalia Amb. Francisco Madiera said the militants are now drawn from different locations and are fighting from unknown locations, with the attacks mostly aimed at soft targets. “Though we have reduced the threat posed by al Shabaab and other armed opposition groups in Somalia, we now face a new challenge of continued use of IEDs as a weapon of choice by the terrorists,” Madiera said “We need to find a solution to reduce the availability of materials for making these explosives in Somalia.”
Reports indicate that since the terrorists do not have access to state munitions, they resort to IEDs which are cheaper and easier to manufacture. Brigadier Dickson Ruto, who commands the Sector 2 covering Jubbaland told People Daily that a number of IED-producing factories in Somalia have been identified and demolished. Ruto said the terrorists were initially fighting from set or known locations before they transformed to an insurgency. “We initially faced challenges since they had the local advantage over our forces whose troops are largely foreigners,” he said……
21 August – Source: EU NAVFOR – 175 Words
This week, EU NAVFOR Somalia Operation Atalanta Force Commander Rear Admiral Armando Paolo Simi met with various key leaders in Bossasso. Among the authorities with whom R. Adm. Simi met were representatives from the Puntland Ministry of Maritime Transport, Ports and Maritime Crime Prevention, EU NAVFOR sister mission EUCAP Somalia, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (UN FAO), the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), the Puntland Maritime Police Forces (PMPF) and the Bossasso Port Maritime Police Unit (BP-MPU). The aim of the meetings was to get the new Force Commander acquainted with The Minister of Maritime Transport, Ports and Maritime Crime Prevention, Mohamed Abdi Osman, and to continue the existing relationship between EU NAVFOR and Puntland authorities. Meanwhile, the crew onboard the ITS Marceglia provided local maritime capacity building training to the BP-MPU. R. Adm. Simi expressed appreciation for the close cooperation EU NAVFOR and its sister missions share with Puntland authorities and acknowledged the essential role that they play in the fight against piracy and other forms of maritime crime
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“In 2018, a young female poet, Nacima Qorane, was sentenced to three years in jail for writing a poem calling for the reunification of Somaliland with Somalia. Mr Jama says that while conditions are becoming increasingly difficult for the media, there have been some improvements when it comes to culture as people challenge the authority of conservative Muslim clerics who believe that Islam forbids the playing of music.”
22 August – Source: BBC – 776 Words
Circus boys in leopard skin print soar through the air, twisting their bodies into unimaginable contortions as the children in the audience clap and shriek in delight. The acrobatic display is part of the entertainment at the annual Hargeisa International Book Fair where by day literature lovers, young and old, male and female, throw difficult questions at each other, fiercely debating delicate issues. By night, hundreds crowd into the Hargeisa Cultural Centre for a concert by one of the self-declared republic of Somaliland’s most popular singers, BK, the music booming out into the surrounding neighbourhood. But all this activity is hard-won. “There are often calls in both traditional and social media for us to shut down,” says Jama Musse Jama, Founder, Hargeisa International Book Fair
Although Somaliland is relatively peaceful and democratic compared with many other parts of the Horn of Africa, freedom of expression is under threat. “We face a lot of hostility from some parts of the community,” says the director of the cultural centre and creator of the book fair, Jama Musse Jama. “There are often calls in both traditional and social media for us to shut down. Some religious leaders attack us in their Friday sermons in the mosques.”
In mainly-Muslim Somaliland, some subjects are almost completely out of bounds. Many people are afraid to speak openly about the violent Islamist movement, al-Shabab, which has spread terror in the region for the past 13 years. Although the group has not struck Somaliland for more than a decade, members of the security services say it is a real and present threat to the territory, which broke away from Somalia in 1991 after a lengthy civil war which led to the overthrow of the Siad Barre regime.
People speak about the group in whispers, often referring to it as the English Premier League club “Arsenal” to avoid drawing attention to themselves. One area where freedom of expression is particularly at risk is the media, where the authorities are becoming increasingly repressive. “Media freedom is not going in the right direction,” says Yahye Xanas, the executive director of the Somaliland Journalists’ Association. “Journalists who report independently face the constant threat of illegal detention. In 2019 alone, 19 journalists have been detained and three media houses shut down. I was even summoned to the presidential palace for writing about the shortage of water in Hargeisa,” he adds…… |
