August 24, 2018 | Morning Headlines.

Deputy Defense Minister Unhurt After Mogadishu Blast

23 August – Source: Garowe Online – 208 Words

Somalia’s Deputy Defence Minister, Abdullahi Olad Rooble has escaped a brazen assassination attempt on Thursday, when a bomb exploded near his convoy in Mogadishu. At least one passer-by civilian was reported to have been killed in the blast which resulted from an Improvised Explosive Device  planted near the heavily fortified Defense Ministry headquarters.

The minister was not hurt in the explosion. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Thursday’s IED blast. The city has witnessed car bombings and rampant killings in the past few months; some claimed by Al-Shabaab, the Somalia-based Al-Qaeda-linked group,  amidst tight security and heavy presence of police on the main streets.

The attack came barely a week after President, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo carried out a major reshuffle in the security sector in an  efforts to boost security. The president reinstated former SNA chief, General Dahir Aden Elmi, replacing General Abdiweli Jama Gorod, who has been the head of the Somali National Army for months. The changes come as the government backed by AMISOM intensified operations to flush out militants from key locations under their control.

Key Headlines

• Deputy Defense Minister Unhurt After Mogadishu Blast (Garowe Online)
• Newly Appointed SNA Chief Takes Office (Halbeeg News)
• Two Brothers Shot Dead In Mogadishu (Jowhar.com)
• Somalia’s First FGM Prosecution ‘Hampered’ By Victim’s Parents (Thomson Reuters Foundation)
• The Trials And Tribulations Of Disintegration  (Hiiraan Online)

NATIONAL MEDIA

Newly Appointed SNA Chief Takes Office

23 August – Source: Halbeeg News – 223 Words

Newly appointed Somali national army chief, Dahir Adan Elmi assumed office during handing over ceremony held on Thursday in Mogadishu. Mid this month, Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo, named new military chief, a deputy for Intelligence Agency and SNA Force commander, as a move to revamp the security forces.

The hand over took place at a ceremony held at the Defence Ministry and was attended by Somali Defence Minister, Hassan Ali Mohamed, Chiefs of Police and Custodial Corps, the SNA Force Commanders and other officials.  The new military chief took office from his predecessor, Abdiweli Jama Gorod who was sacked this month.

Speaking at the ceremony, Mr. Elmi commended the  outgoing Army Chief for his tremendous achievements in the fight against Al-Shabaab. Mr. Elmi vowed to intensify SNA operations to defeat Al-Shabaab fighters in south and central Somalia. For his part, the former SNA chief pledged to work with the new supreme commander saying he will cooperate with the new commander on his efforts to defeat Al-Shabaab.

Somali Defence Minister, Hassan Ali Mohamed said his ministry is committed to equip the army and to work hand in hand with the new army chief. Somali military backed by AMISOM forces has been fighting Al-Shabaab fighters since 2007. The forces successfully drove Al-Shabaab fighters out of many towns including the capital city.

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Two Brothers Shot Dead In Mogadishu

23 August – Source: Jowhar.com – 103 Words

Unknown gangs have last night shot dead a government soldier and his brother in Mogadishu’s Hoosh neighbourhood during Eid celebrations. The victims were identified as Saney Farah, who was a member of the National Army and Hussein Farah. The late soldier was off duty and was spending Eid vacation with members of his family.

The gangs immediately fled the scene of the incident. Government soldiers who arrived at the scene, conducted search operations to nab the assailants but no arrests were so far made in connection with the incident. The police collected the dead bodies and took them to the Criminal Investigation Department.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Somalia’s First FGM Prosecution ‘Hampered’ By Victim’s Parents

23 August – Source: Thomson  Reuters Foundations – 413 Words

Somalia’s first prosecution for female genital mutilation (FGM) following the death of a 10-year-old girl has run into problems because her parents will not help investigators locate the cutter, an activist said on Thursday. The case highlights the difficulties of ending the ancient tradition in Somalia, which has the world’s highest rate of FGM, with 98 percent of women and girls having been cut, according to U.N. data.

The death of Deeqa Nuur made international headlines last month and prompted the attorney-general to announce the country’s first prosecution. “The investigation has been hampered,” said Ifrah Ahmed, a campaigner against FGM. She met investigators while making a film about Deeqa’s death, which is due to air on six Somali TV channels on Thursday.
Ahmed said the girl’s family had paid a traditional circumciser $20 to cut their daughter and three cousins.

“The mother said she didn’t know where the cutter was. The truth is they are hiding her,” Ahmed told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from Mogadishu. “They are not telling me or the government team where the cutter is. They are scared.” Somalia’s Attorney General Ahmed Ali Dahir could not be reached for comment. Ahmed, who was cut herself as a child, described her trip to meet Deeqa’s family in a remote region in central Somalia’s Galmudug state as “very emotional”.

“The father refused to speak to us, but you could feel the sadness and anger. The mother said she had thrown away all her daughter’s clothes because she couldn’t take the pain.” Despite Deeqa’s death, Ahmed said many villagers still believed deeply that FGM was an important ritual. Ahmed, who runs an anti-FGM charity and is an adviser to Somalia’s government on gender issues, said she hoped her film would change mindsets. “I want Somali people to understand that this is a terrible practice and should not be happening,” she added.

Ahmed said it was not clear whether the authorities were considering bringing charges against the parents. Somalia does not have a law against FGM, but a senior CID officer interviewed in the film warned parents that it was still illegal. Legal experts say prosecutions could be brought under the Penal Code, which makes it an offence to cause hurt to another. Deeqa’s death has prompted campaigners to renew calls for Somalia to pass a law on FGM. Efforts to pass legislation have been stalled by parliamentarians afraid of losing votes. FGM affects around 200 million girls and women worldwide.

OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE

“How can Somalia heal and start taking care of mothers and their children? Society evolves when out of these lived pains it gives birth to enlightened men and women who are capable to turn the wheels of their painful history into wheels of growth and cooperation. Cooperation needs trust and trust needs readiness with open heart in order to start social and political reconciliation.”

The Trials And Tribulations Of Disintegration

23 August – Source: Hiiraan Online – 1071 Words

How can a nation heal its myriad of wounded individuals? Somalia is a nation that suffered a lot,  suffered in the times of colonialism, dictatorship, civil war, displacement,  being refugees, and extremisms. A lot has been written about the suffering of the Somali people in each of these periods. We, Somalis understand very well our history and its painful junctions. Gurey, the mad mullah, 77’ commandos, black hawk down, the pirates, and the Al-Shabaab are not what defines us.

We are not warriors, poets, lions of Africa, refugees, pirates, and terrorists. We are fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers and as such we demand nationhood cemented in cooperation and trust among Somalis.

Most of our youth are unemployed whether they live in or outside of Somalia. Large numbers of Somali boys are in jail in Europe and North America. Many others willing and coerced joined extremist groups in Somalia.  Women and girls suffer from unbearable human rights violation and sexual and gender based violence, many young girls and women have become single mothers raising children by themselves in the country and in other parts of the World.

I have recently visited Somalia for two weeks. While I was there I had the chance to visit, with my sister, to a support centre for women who experienced sexual and gender based violence (SGBV) and other human rights abuses. As we walked in, there was a group of seven women sitting on the floor with the staff of the support centre.  We were told they were brought here an hour ago and that they were survivors/victims of rape.

The women were between the age of 20 to 40 years old, some with very young children and one was with few months old baby. Three of the women were raped just the night before on their way to an outside latrine in a internally displaced people’s camp just outside Mogadishu. The other four were victims of attempted rape. They said the camp in which they live in has only two toilets built for a camp of hundreds of families.

These toilets are built on the edge of the camp “They are over flowing and disgusting to even use them”,  the women told us. They are forced to go in groups to walk to the toilets and even then risk attack.  Most IDP camps in and around Mogadishu do not have adequate sanitation provision and women are vulnerable to attacks when they leave to use latrines outside their shelters or go to isolated areas around the camp for toilet use.