August 28, 2017 | Daily Monitoring Report
Somalia To Have Full Control Of Airspace By End Of October
28 August – Source: Goobjoog News – 216 Words
The government will have full control of its airspace by the end of October 2017 ending over 25 years of foreign control, Aviation Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Salad has said. Salad said the government was finalizing the installation of airspace control equipment in Mogadishu to facilitate the transfer of the control systems from Nairobi. “We expect for the first time [since early 1990s] Somali air space to be controlled from Mogadishu. Now what we need is get trained personnel who can take part in controlling Somali air space. As we are planning, we expect end of October 2017 to start this issue but a delay of some days can be possible because of installations of large amount of equipment” said Minister Salad.
Speaking during an Aviation Management for Africa meeting in Sharma Sheikh, Egypt, Salad said Somalia had made significant progress towards restoring full control of its airspace. In addition the minister pointed out that night travel services had been restored after installation of the required equipment in Aden Abdulle International Airport for both civilian and military planes.
The United Nations Development Program and the International Civil Aviation Organization established the Civil Aviation Caretaker Authority for Somalia (CACAS) in the 1990s to take charge of the Somali airspace from Nairobi following the collapse of government in Mogadishu.
Key Headlines
- Somalia To Have Full Control Of Airspace By End Of October (Goobjoog News)
- Government Ministers To Visit Barire For A Fact Finding Mission (Hiiraan Online)
- At Least 18 People Perish In Water Poisoning In Puntland (Goobjoog News)
- 10 Civilians Killed During U.S. Special Forces Raid In Somalia: Reports (UPI Website)
- Ayan Abdi Was Stuck In A Kenyan Refugee Camp. A Scholarship Competition Was Her Only Way Out (The Washington Post)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Government Ministers To Visit Barire For A Fact Finding Mission
28 August – Source: Hiiraan Online – 100 Words
A committee of government Ministers is today set to visit the district of Barire in Lower Shabelle region where 10 civilians including three children were killed last Friday. The committee is led by Internal Security Minister, Abukar Islow. The Deputy PM, Mahdi Guled named the committee to assess the alleged civilian killings in Barire.
The committee has five days to submit a report on the issue explaining how the situation unfolded.“This committee led by the Minister of Internal Security is awaited to bring a response on the Barire incident in a period of five days,” said the Deputy PM.
At Least 18 People Perish In Water Poisoning In Puntland
28 August – Source: Goobjoog News – 158 Words
At least 18 people have died in the last 48 hours in Timiro location in Puntland following water poisoning, a government official has confirmed. Abdullahi Shire Aw-Yusuf, the administrator of Timiro location told Goobjoog News the deceased died after consuming water from a borehole which is suspected to have been poisoned. “The waterhole these people used to draw water from has been poisoned. As a result 18 people died while 150 others are sick and some of them taken to nearby locations” said Aw-Yussuf.
The official added at least 150 other people have been taken to Iskushuban and Armo locations for medical treatment but noted transporting the sick was a major challenge owing to the rough terrain which make it difficult for vehicles to access. “Our main challenge is inaccessibility by small cars to the area. We used big trucks and camels to transport the people.” The circumstances under which the water could have been poisoned remain unclear.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
10 Civilians Killed During U.S. Special Forces Raid In Somalia: Reports
28 August – Source: UPI Website – 461 Words
At least ten civilians, including three children, were killed when U.S. Special Forces raided a village in Somalia last week in search of Al-Shabaab fighters, according to reports. U.S. Africa Command has not confirmed the death toll but said it is investigating the incident. “We are aware of the civilian casualty allegations near Bariire, Somalia. We take any allegations of civilian casualties seriously, and per standard, we are conducting an assessment into the situation to determine the facts on the ground.”
U.S. Africa Command said in a statement.”We can confirm that the Somali National Army was conducting an operation in the area with U.S. forces in a supporting role. U.S. forces are in Somalia at the request of the Federal Government of Somalia and are committed to helping Somali forces neutralize al-Shabaab and bring stability to the region.”
The U.S. Special Forces team was accompanied with Somalia forces during the raid. The Somalia government initially said no civilians were killed during the raid, but later issued a second statement to say that there had been civilian deaths.”It appears that there were different security operations that took place in the same area,” the Somalian information ministry said. “We also understand that there are civilian casualties in which the federal government is investigating to find out the truth about this.”
Regional Deputy Governor Ali Nur Mohamed told reporters that “local farmers were attacked by foreign troops while looking after their crops,” according to Al Jazeera. “The troops could have arrested them because they were unarmed, but instead shot them one by one mercilessly,” he said.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“For years, Ayan and Maryan had watched their friends disappear, dropping out of school as they were forced to marry older men, in accordance with old Somali cultural traditions. Fatima left when Ayan was 11. Mahado when she was 13. Farhiya when she was 14. They would reemerge, sometimes years later, balancing babies in their arms, sullen and tired.”
Ayan Abdi Was Stuck In A Kenyan Refugee Camp. A Scholarship Competition Was Her Only Way Out
26 August – Source: The Washington Post – 2623 Words
It was time to go. Ayan Abdi slipped on a long black headscarf, grabbed her refugee ID and set out for the interview that could save her life. Since she was 2, Ayan had lived in the world’s largest refugee camp, a constellation of tents and huts stretching across the red desert near the Somali border. Now, a few miles from her shack built of sticks and cardboard, three examiners with a Canadian university foundation were sitting at a wooden table, deciding which students were worthy of a way out.
Ayan hurried along the sandy road. Past the piles of burning trash surrounded by giant scavenging birds. Past the girls no older than her, at 20, who balanced firewood on their heads, trailed by barefoot children. Past the group of men who stared at her – a small figure in a flowing black robe and bright red shoes – and hissed in Somali, “Where are you going, girl?” When Ayan finally found a taxi, it was already full. She squeezed in, her whole body tense, dots of sweat on her forehead. “I’m in a rush,” she told the driver, who didn’t ask why but careened a little faster from pothole to pothole.
A year ago, Ayan was one of about 5,000 students who jammed into classrooms across the Dadaab refugee camp for a two-hour exam, the first step in seeking perhaps the most generous scholarship anywhere. The World University Service of Canada, or WUSC, would award 16 of those students not just a college education but a new life, with the Canadian government providing them with citizenship and a chance to sponsor their families. Now Ayan was one of 29 finalists, heading for the interview that would determine whether she won.
Her other options were being snuffed out. Kenyan authorities were trying to close Dadaab, which for a quarter-century had sheltered the victims of Somalia’s endless war and hunger crises. In the United States, which had resettled more than 100,000 Somalis since 2000, President Trump had ordered a temporary ban on accepting refugees. Around the world, countries were shutting their doors to people like Ayan, even as the number of refugees surged past 22 million in 2017, the highest in recorded history.
What was left was the WUSC scholarship – a chance for the bright young refugees of Dadaab to earn their way out. “It’s life or death,” said Joseph Mutua, a program officer with the scholarship foundation in Dadaab. “That’s how it’s seen.”
In the taxi, Ayan was drumming her fingers against her knee. A printed verse from the Quran swung from the rearview mirror. On the bumper, a sticker read, “Succeed.” The cab pulled up to a walled compound. “Is this the right place for the scholarship interview?” Ayan asked a security guard. In her hand, which trembled, was a brown envelope with her documents. The white food-ration card that said “Family size: 1” because Ayan’s parents and siblings had returned to Somalia years ago without her. The report cards she had earned since primary school.
The recommendations from a Dadaab school where she was now teaching biology. She carried the envelope to the cinder-block building where the interviews were taking place and sat under a tree, waiting her turn. “I’m getting a headache,” she told one of the other applicants. She looked down at the cracked screen of her white cell phone, where she had written notes reminding her what to tell the interviewers.
TOP TWEETS
@wakaelin: The #Somalia National Development Plan is the basis for #durablesolutions and achieving collective outcomes. Let’s take the NDP seriously!
@MarkTJones500: Civilian deaths and casualties in #Bariire must not be dismissed as mere @SomPressOnline: Burundi President Calls To Boost Efforts To Stabilize Somaliahttps://www.somalipressonline.
@Snapzu_Earth: One of the ‘worst droughts in living memory’ – two years without rain in Baidoa, Somalia is affecting millions
@Free_Somaliweyn: With ongoing training of staff the Somali govt plans to fully control its own airspace by October In Sha Allah
@MarcoLembo01: As of 25 Aug. 2017 – 71,555 Somali@Refugees have been voluntarily repatriated from Kenya to Somaliahttp://www.unhcr.org/
@SagalAshour:Dear Mayor of Mogadishu @ThabitMhd I urge you to ban the widespread sell of toys guns during #Eid. It promotes violence & death. Thank you.
@mbishaar: Unknown warplanes carried out airstrike on hideouts of Pro-#ISIL militants near #Puntland port city of Alula, NE of#Somalia: Resident
@Free_Somaliweyn: Somaliland administration accuses Villa Somalia & the Puntland administration in meddling in their affairs
IMAGE OF THE DAY
President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo met with Alex Rondos, EU Special Representative for the Horn of Africa at Villa Somalia to discuss progress in the country and seek for more cooperation.
Photo: @Radio Muqdisho