August 30, 2016 | Daily Monitoring Report
Gunmen Attack Hotel Near Presidential Palace
30 August – Source: Newsweek – 145 Words
Gunmen have attacked a hotel close to the presidential palace in the Somali capital Mogadishu, according to local reporters. A loud explosion was heard in the capital on Tuesday near the popular Somali Youth League (SYL) hotel. Gunfire is reportedly continuing at the scene of the attack and smoke is rising from the site of the explosion.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but Al-Shabaab, a militant group affiliated with Al-Qaeda, is likely to be suspected. The militants have run a campaign of suicide bombings and armed attacks in 2016, including a previous assault on the SYL hotel in February in which at least nine people were killed.Al-Shabaab is waging an insurgency against the Western-backed government in Mogadishu. Somalia is due to hold presidential and parliamentary elections in September and October, with tribal elders selecting MPs rather than a popular vote.
Key Headlines
- Gunmen Attack Hotel Near Presidential Palace (Newsweek)
- Amid Controversy Somalia Names New Member To Elders Picking MPs (Hiiraan Online)
- Al-Shabaab’s Education Leader Surrenders To Government In Mogadishu (Goobjoog News)
- Walls Hinder Somalis’ Fight Against Al-Shabab (VOA News)
- Somalia Blocks Returnees Cites Inadequate Humanitarian Support (VOA News)
- The Fragile Balance Between Life And Death During Somali Drought (ICRC)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Amid Controversy, Somalia Names New Member To Elders Picking MPs
29 August – Source: Hiiraan Online – 216 Word
Somalia’s parliament added a new member into the 135-member elders who would have to elect new legislators for the upcoming parliament, a move many say went beyond the standard figure sanctioned by the country’s stakeholders. Mohamed Ahmed Hussein (Shukri), a traditional elder from Reer Aw-Hassan clan was appointed to members of Hiiraan and Middle Shabelle elders by Mohamed Sheikh Osman (Jawari), Somali parliament’s speaker on Monday.
According to a memo obtained by Hiiraan Online from the Office of the Speaker of Parliament to the Electoral Commission, the addition was made in a bid to end a dispute within the clan. The memo revealed an internal conflict emerged within the new elder’s clan when some demanded the removal of their current representative, Suldan Mohamed Abdi Omar while others opposed the challenge.
It remains unclear whether the National Consultative Forum which is tasked with the selection of the traditional elders that willselect legislators would vote in favor of the new appointment.The forum, made up of the President, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud; the Prime Minister, Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke; leaders of federal regions and clan elders have been working on the upcoming polls’ arrangements, and review the budget for elections.On early September, elders are expecting to elect the 275 MPs who will take part in electing the president.
Al-Shabaab’s Education Leader Surrenders To Government In Mogadishu
30 August – Source: Goobjoog News – 213 Words
A senior member of the Somali militant group Al-Shabaab has defected to the government, officials have said. Ibrahim Adan Ibrahim, a leading figure in the militant group’s education department surrendered to the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) in Mogadishu before he was presented to the media by the officials.
He has been reportedly operating from Bay and Bakool region before he crossed over to government side. Somali Minister for Internal Security, Abdirisak Omar Mohamed said the government facilitated his defection and welcomed Ibrahim who surrendered to the intelligence agency.
Ibrahim who briefly spoke to the media in Mogadishu said that he defected to the Somali government after he saw the group’s brutal attacks against Somali people which had nothing to do with Islam.“ I hereby denounce the group’s ideology and I am no longer a member of Al-Shabaab,” he said, adding ” I want to live a peaceful life which is clear from violence and extremism.”
The number of Al-Shabaab members defecting to the government including senior officials have continued to increase while the group has lost major strategic towns it once controlled. In 2014 former Al-Shabaab intelligence commander Zakariye Hersi also surrendered to government forces claiming he had left the group a year before. He had a $3 million bounty on his head from the US government.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Walls Hinder Somalis’ Fight Against Al-Shabab
30 August – Source: VOA News – 568 Words
Leading security experts in Somalia are calling for a review of strategy and security policy against terror group al-Shabab after three major attacks in the past week.”It takes a network to defeat a network,” Abdi Hassan Hussein, former director of the Puntland Intelligence Agency, told VOA’s Somali service. “We need to build the network from district level to connect security agents with police, investigations, community police and local government. Then we will transfer that into the regional and federal level.”
The recent attacks include separate suicide attacks in Mogadishu and the north-central city of Galkayo, plus a car bombing in Baardheere town. In all, 36 people were killed and more than 100 injured.Experts say these attacks reflect increased capabilities with explosives.The Galkayo bomb’s weight “was estimated to be 150 kilograms,” Hussein said. “In Mogadishu, they have detonated a 260-kilogram bomb, but we know they started it with less than 10 kilograms” of explosives.
The Galkayo Medical Center’s director, Dr. Abdulkadir Mohamud Jama, said most of the victims had at least five pieces of shrapnel in their bodies.”These shrapnel are unlike anything we have seen before,” Jama said. “These are big [pieces of] metal shrapnel, with about 10 sharp edges that pierced in body. It’s even harder to remove them.”
Somalia Blocks Returnees, Cites Inadequate Humanitarian Support
29 August – Source: VOA News – 425 Words
Authorities in southern Somalia say they have blocked Somali refugees returning from Kenya because the refugees do not get the humanitarian support they need once they reach major cities.
A Tripartite Agreement signed by the U.N. refugee agency and the governments of Kenya and Somalia in November 2013, establishes a legal framework and other support for Somali refugees in Kenya who are willing to return home.But authorities in Jubbaland, a Somali Federal member state, say the agreement does not help the vulnerable refugees once they return.
In an interview with VOA’s Somali service, Jubbaland’s interior and security minister, Gen. Mohamed Warsmae Darwish, said security forces are preventing the returnees from moving out of the transition center in Dobley town.”We have decided to suspend the returnees’ movement because thousands, who are already in the cities like Kismayo port town, the region’s main city, are facing severe humanitarian challenges,” he said.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“Somalia’s Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit reports that 38 per cent of the population is currently severely food insecure, with more than 300,000 children under five suffering from acute malnutrition,”
The Fragile Balance Between Life And Death During Somali Drought
29 August – Source: ICRC – 416 Words
In a dimly lit, stone-walled hut in the drought stricken Somali village of Dhob, women with colourful shawls and infants in their laps wait patiently for a rare opportunity to access medical care.
In this bleak sandy village in the arid Sanaag region of Somaliland, more than 1,000 kilometres from the regional capital, health care is virtually non-existent. The visit of a team of health workers from the Somali Red Crescent Society is, therefore, a major event.“Three years ago the land was green and livestock was healthy,” says 35-year-old Kinsi Abdi Farah who has been making a meagre living selling tea since losing her livestock to the ongoing drought. “We had a lot of meat and milk. Now we sometimes only eat once a day. I can’t afford nutritious food so we eat dry rice.”
She has brought her nephew, one-year-old Saed, to the mobile health clinic for treatment for a persistent cough, diarrhoea and a nasty skin rash, as well as getting up to date with his immunizations.Inconsistent rainfall since 2015, attributed in part to the El Niño climatic phenomenon, has resulted in limited pasture for livestock, upon which these pastoralist families depend, not only for food, but for income generation.
TOP TWEETS
@UKinSomalia:The UK Ambassador to #Somalia@HarrietLMathews held a roundtable discussion with journalists from #Somaliland
@HarunMaruf:Resident: Several homes burn down after Al-Shabab bazookas struck civilian homes in K-50 (south of Mogadishu) in overnight attack. #Somalia
@RikDelhaas:About 6,500 #Eritrea #Somalia migrants rescued in large operation off the coast of #Libya, Italian coast guard says.
@ahmedvision1:Cadale Beach, Middle Shabelle,#Somalia Stabilization opens up the beauty of Somali Land
@RedTimesNews:#IbrahimAden, Senior #Somalia #AlShabaabcommander surrenders to @HSNQ_NISA –@TheVillaSomalia
@Daudoo:#Somalia blocks #refugees returning from #Kenya, cites inadequate humanitarian support http://bit.ly/2bOdPiw
IMAGE OF THE DAY
The UK Ambassador to Somalia, Harriet L Mathews held a roundtable discussion with journalists from Somaliland.
Photo : @UKinSomalia