August 6, 2015 | Daily Monitoring Report
Up To 100 Suspected Members Of Al-Shabaab Arrested In Mogadishu Security Operations
06 August – Source: Wacaal Media – 104 Words
Security officials in Mogadishu in collaboration with AMISOM earlier today arrested many people from Mogadishu city’s Hodan neighbourhood. Up to 100 youth were picked from their homesteads after intelligence reports emerged indicating attacks being planned in the area by members of Al-Shabaab. A local resident told Wacaal Media that the officers were carrying out door to door searches in the area hand picking youth. The operation is still underway with those arrested being transferred to the local CID station. NISA officials said the operation was launched after the militants allegedly shipped in explosives to a house in Zoona K area of Hodan district.
Key Headlines
- Up To 100 Suspected Members Of Al-Shabaab Arrested In Mogadishu Security Operations (Wacaal Media)
- Dozens Hospitalised After Drinking Contaminated Milk (Horseed Media)
- An International Conference To Raise Money For Somali Refugees In Kenya To Be Held In Nairobi(Radio Mogdisho)
- Mogadishu Residents Raise Complaints On The Closure Of Important Roads
- Mogadishu And Nairobi Mayors Discuss Cooperation (Horseed Media)
- Police Starts Conscription Of New Officers (Goobjoog News)
- IOM Global Solar Lantern Initiatives Targets Displaced Families (Newshour.com)
- UN Body Urges Somalia To Probe British Oil Contract (France 24/AFP )
- Somalis Go Home To Fragile Security In First-Phase Repatriation (Bloomberg)
- Ethiopia Bombed Somalia’s Shabaab Stronghold (Diplomat News Network)
- Mission Accomplished (RBC Radio)
- A Letter From Mogadishu: The Birth And Burial Of Somali Nationalism (Wardheer News)
UPDATE: Dozens Hospitalised After Drinking Contaminated Milk
06 August – Source: Horseed Media – 130 Words
At least 35 people have fallen ill after consuming milk that may have been contaminated in a Southern Somalia district, residents and an official have said. According to an official in Mahaday district of the Middle Shebelle region, the people have been hospitalized with some of them in a critical condition. He added that the milk may have been contaminated with the animal vaccination medicines. This is not the first time many people have fallen ill in Somalia after consuming contaminated milk or water. Officials are now investigating the cause of the contamination. Milk is the staple food for Somali pastoral communities, which rely on its direct consumption throughout the year as well as on its increasing relevance as an income generator.
Mogadishu And Nairobi Mayors Discuss Cooperation
06 August – Source: Horseed Media – 153 Words
The mayor of Somalia’s capital city of Mogadishu, Hassan Mohamed Mungab who is on a visit to Kenya met with his counterpart Evans Kidero. Talks concerned ways of developing cooperation between the two cities, with officers from both administrations attending the meeting. Addressing the media after the meeting, Nairobi county governor Evans Kidero said that both sides extensively discussed issues related city policies, land management, collection of taxes, and fire prevention and preparedness. He added that his city was looking forward to developing closer relations with Mogadishu. On his side, Mogadishu mayor said that the discussions mainly concerned areas where concrete experiences can be exchanged. “We also discussed about how Mogadishu administration can come through election rather than selection,” said Mr. Mungab. Mogadishu, which had been reduced to a rubble during 21 years of civil war is making a remarkable comeback since Al-Shabaab was pushed out of the capital.
An International Conference To Raise Money For Somali Refugees In Kenya To Be Held In Nairobi
06 August – Source: Radio Muqdisho – 162 Words
According to the National Chairman for the Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons Ahmed Cabdikariim Nur (Ahmed Daahir), an international conference on Somali refugees in Kenya will be held later this month in Nairobi. Attending the conference will be donors and members of the international community. The focus of the conference will the resettlement of refugees from Kenya back to Somalia. Among the issues discussed will be the implementation of dignified and human return of thousands of Somali refugees in Kenya who have fled the civil war. On August 5, over a 100 refugees were flown to Mogadishu from Kenya under the voluntary repatriation plan during which further 3,600 Somalis still living in Dadaab Refugee Camp are expected to voluntarily return to their homeland. The repatriation plan came out of a tripartite agreement between the governments of Somalia, Kenya and the UN refugee agency.
Mogadishu Residents Raise Complaints On The Closure Of Important Roads
06 – August – Source: Wacaal Media – 147 Words
In recent times complaints from the public over road closures in Mogadishu have increased. Some of the roads have been closed by hotels, governments agencies and foreign bodies in the country. The roads closures that have largely affected the lives of residents and is being requested by the public to be re-opened include the road that connects KM4 and the Aden Adde International airport, as well as the other connecting KM4 and the Hodon neighbourhood of Mogadishu. The roads connecting KM4 and the airport have been closed by UNDP and Hotel Jazeera. The road closure have led to heavy traffic congestion in the city. In the meantime, Bisharo who is an MP has called on the government to open the roads and listen to the complaints of the public. It is also reported that some senior government officials have closed roads near the neighbourhood in which they stay.
Police Starts Conscription Of New Officers
05 August – Source: Goobjoog News – 130 Words
Somali national police has today commenced the recruitment of 130 new officers who would be deployed to newly recovered former Al-Shabaab strongholds. The ceremony held at the General Kahiye Police Academy in Mogadishu was attended by Internal Security Minister Abdirizak Omar Mohamed. National Police Chief General Mohamed Hassan Hamud, his newly appointed deputies and AU police commanders. The new recruits consisting of male and female officers have staged marching exercises at the ceremony to showcase their readiness and fitness to start the training. Somali government is trying to bring law and order back into country and slowly spreading its authority to other parts of the country. When they finish their training they are expected to be deployed to the newly recovered areas from Al-Shabaab.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
IOM Global Solar Lantern Initiatives Targets Displaced Families
06 August – Source: Newshour.com – 399 Words
IOM has distributed solar lanterns to some 347 internally displaced people living in camps in Bossaso, Galkayo and Garowe, Somalia. The lanterns provide essential light at night in “off-the-grid” locations with little or no access to electricity. To date, IOM Somalia has distributed over 7,000 solar lanterns mostly in IDP settlements. The programme, which helps some 42,000 people, has been supported by individuals, corporate partners and the Government of Japan. IOM’s Solar Lantern Initiative eventually aims to help over 57,000 vulnerable families in camps and communities across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The lanterns will improve their health and safety, and support their children’s education.
“This is a small, but important step as we seek to help young people to study, eliminate the hazards associated with toxic kerosene lamp fumes, and make women who are vulnerable to attack at night feel safer,” says IOM Somalia health programme coordinator Dr. Chaiki Ito. In Garowe, Galkayo and Bossaso families also often live in makeshift shelters constructed from worn out clothing, boxes, straw, tree trunks and vegetable oil tins. Many of these materials are flammable, putting IDPs at risk when they use fire as their main source of light. People are also at risk of gender-based violence, particularly at night. The country’s gender-based violence prevalence is one of the highest in the world and often goes under-reported. IDP settlements have limited security, poor living conditions, and limited clan protection. Women and girls from minority clans and female headed households are at particular risk.
UPDATE: UN Body Urges Somalia To Probe British Oil Contract
05 August – Source: France 24/AFP – 347 Words
United Nations – A UN sanctions committee wants Somalia to open a corruption investigation after uncovering evidence that British oil firm Soma may have paid off several Somali civil servants under a 2013 contract. The evidence came in a 28-page report by the UN’s Somalia and Eritrea monitoring group and listed 14 employees of Somalia’s petroleum and mineral resources ministry who allegedly received payments ranging from $1,600 to $36,000 from Soma. It also said six officials on Soma’s payroll drew civil servant salaries and that nearly $500,000 was paid to Canadian lawyer J. Jay Park as an independent legal advisor to the ministry.
A letter drafted on Monday by the chairman of the UN’s Somalia-Eritrea Sanctions Committee, Venezuelan Ambassador to the UN Rafael Ramirez, called on Somalia to investigate. In 2013, Soma, chaired by former British Conservative Party leader Michael Howard, won a lucrative contract to survey Somalia’s southern and central coast, and it later secured the rights to explore 12 offshore oil and gas blocks. The deal raised hopes of reviving Somalia’s oil and gas industry, on hold for decades during civil war and years of Islamic insurgency.
But the sanctions committee letter, seen by AFP on Tuesday, requests that Somali authorities “promptly investigate and undertake prosecutions, where appropriate, of individuals and entities found to have been engaged in misappropriation of public resources in violation of the Somalia sanctions regime.” The report stated that “the (monitoring) group has obtained evidence demonstrating that Soma has been making regular payments since June 2014 to civil servants in the ministry of petroleum and mineral resources, some of whom were instrumental in both securing the company’s initial contract and negotiating subsequent agreements.”
Somalis Go Home To Fragile Security In First-Phase Repatriation
05 August – Source: Bloomberg – 228 Words
The voluntary repatriation of hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees from Kenya has started, even as the security situation in their homeland remains fragile, the United Nations Refugee Agency said. A first group of 116 Somali refugees returned on Wednesday and will be settled in the southwestern towns of Luuq, Baidoa and Kismayo, the UNHCR said in a statement on its website. Kenya has threatened to close the refugee complexes to improve national security. The government said Islamist militants are using the camps to plan local attacks in retaliation for Kenya sending troops to Somalia in 2011 to fight the insurgents.
Al-Shabaab militants carry out regular bombings that target civilians and state officials in Somalia and the group was behind two high-profile assaults in Kenya at a university and shopping mall, which together killed more than 200 people. The militants have lost control of key territory in Somalia to an African Union military coalition over the past few years.The Dadaab complex in northern Kenya was set up to deal with an influx of people fleeing conflict in Somalia following the ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.The UN, Somalia and Kenya have agreed to the phased repatriation of an estimated 425,000 refugees to Somalia over the next five years, according to UNHCR. The Dadaab camps host about 333,000 people, according to the UN.
Ethiopia Bombed Somalia’s Shabaab Stronghold
06 August – Source: Diplomat News Network – 187 Words
Three Ethiopian army helicopters bombed military position belonging to Al-Shabaab militants in Dalandoole village near Burhakaba district in Bay province where dozens of fighters escaped from the village, a senior Somali military official told Diplomat News Network. U.S. and Ethiopian air strikes reinforced by Somali National Army are moving towards the villages and towns of the province of Bay. Commander of 60 Infantry Brigade of Somali National Army Major General Ibraahim Yarow confirmed that his troops have seized over two vehicles, a variety of weapons and ammunition during the operation.
He added “The offensive has succeeded in driving the militants from several towns and districts they previously held”. Military source said , Somali National Army with the support of AMISOM and some Ethiopian military battalions are trying to curb Al shabaab and destroy their strongholds in south-western Somalia before the end of the current year. Somali National Army , AMISOM and Ethiopian soldiers have been fighting the insurgents in a joint operation since 2006, in a bid to end Al shabaab’s nine-year insurgency in southern and north-eastern Somalia that is threatening regional stability.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“Moreover, for the last few years, the international community represented by the heads of UNSOM, IGAD and EU have acted as Somalia’s ceremonial guards. They have attended every gathering and ceremony in order to sign and legitimize decrees, including the recent and highly contentious Mudug and Galgaduud fiasco. As was obvious to any thoughtful and sensible Somali, an agreement where all the right stakeholders did not participate in the discussion would doom to create conflict,”
Mission Accomplished
05 August – Source: RBC Radio – 1338 Words
The international community has been involved in Somalia since 1991, providing both political and humanitarian support to curb widespread famine and assist with the country’s capacity building following the crisis that has engulfed Somalia over the past two decades. It appears, however, that the international community has also come to the sober realization that there is no quick fix and that Somalia’s political problems run much deeper than initially contemplated. Notwithstanding the piecemeal approach to aid and reform, there are currently few opposing clientele: the international donors who are desperate to see a return of their investment and the Somali leaders, business people and neighbouring countries that see potential benefits in the perpetuation of the status-quo.
The principle strategy behind the humanitarian and development interventions led by the international community was to put in place measures to address the country’s unfolding crisis, but, in the end, it did very little to prevent the crisis. After the complete collapse of the Somali state in 1991, all institutions and political system within the country were destroyed by the civil war. This civil strife combined with religious exploitation, drought and famine has secured Somalia as one of the most dangerous countries to live.Despite the countless peace initiatives sponsored by the UN from 1991-2004, which were projected to bring some normalcy to the country, outside interference brought a perpetuation of the political crisis and further enhanced the mistrust between the people.
Now, more than two decades later, the international community understands that they have vastly underestimated the depth of the conflicts in Somalia. Furthermore, a kind of “Somalia fatigue” seems to have set in with both internal and external actors. In this context, one can argue that this weariness explains in part the reason with which the international community recognized the current government as Somalia’s official central government in 2013. Thus, the current strategy from the international stakeholders is to find an exit strategy to save face.
“Once you manage to get away from the airport (the old one), still as messy and chaotic as I had known it, one comes face to face with the status of the ordinary Somali people – confined to the outer periphery of the airport security zone, a sight reminiscent of the old colonial days. This is again justified on security grounds. Here and there, one finds skinny and miserable-looking Somali soldiers, once the pride of the nation.”
A Letter From Mogadishu: The Birth And Burial Of Somali Nationalism
04 August – Source: Wardheer News – 862 Words
Mogadishu epitomizes all that is good and bad about the Somali people: it is the pride of Somali history and the cradle of Somali nationalism that ultimately brought the independence and unity of former Italian Somaliland and British Somaliland- an act that was hoped would lead to the fulfilment of Greater Somalia. But Mogadishu is also indelibly associated with the worst of Somalia’s history: those in Mogadishu who ousted President Mohamed Barre and his government wanted to grab power at any cost. And indeed they did but at what cost!! The overthrow of the Somali Government in 1991 led immediately to the collapse of the Somali State with untold dire consequences with almost half the Somali population either killed, starved, ethnic-cleansed, internally displaced or forced to flee the country and seek refuge in foreign countries. And Mogadishu itself has paid the price to the point of total destruction.
Apart from the human and physical damage, no less calamitous is the demise of Somali nationalism, the glue that held together the Somali people from different clans and different region. Its passing has ushered the nation’s fragmentation into clannism, bogus federalism and secession. Revival of the State and nation could only come back with the revival of Somali nationalism. That, however, would only be possible when Somalia has honest patriotic visionary leaders which so far has eluded it. And as long as this remains the case, support from the international community is unlikely to bear much fruit as we have seen over the recent years since this federal government took office. It is against this background that I paid a visit to Mogadishu for the first time after an absence dating back to 1990.
There are many shocks awaiting a Somali diaspora returning to Mogadishu for the first time since the collapse of the State in 1991. Landing at Mogadishu Airport (the old one) is the gateway, the window to Somalia and one’s first eye opener. Even if one is aware that the once proud and independent nation has been brought down from its pedestal and torn apart by years of destruction, turmoil and anarchy at the hands of egregious warlords and their partisans, it is all the same shuttering when one sees with ones own eyes how familiar sites have changed beyond recognition. What immediately strikes one on arrival at Mogadishu Airport is what looks like a country under occupation: the whole seaside overlooking the airport has been siphoned off by foreign interests and out of bounds for Somalis. This might be for security reasons given the fear of attacks from Al Shabaab. It is unlikely this carve-up of the sea side has been sanctioned by due process of law. At best, it might have been grabbed with a nod from the president (an autocrat who constitutionally is a figure head but has usurped the powers of the Prime Minister). And reflecting this foreign domination are the presence of African Union peacekeeping forces known as AMISOM who are conspicuous for their assertive intrusion posing as the new masters of the land.
TOP TWEETS
@amisomsomalia ‘We are focusing our attention on the Somalia National Army and Somalia Police Force to enhance their capacity’ @MamanSidikou1 #Somalia
@alijira #Somalia political priorities before the#V2016 1-political reconciliation & 2-peace,equally,justice & true democracy @HarrietLMathews,Thanks.
@afrilocen Somalian refugees from Kenya land in Mogadishuhttp://ift.tt/1gaiREB
@geekinthejungle always thought that peace was measured by political progress but im learning that a change of narrative can have a bigger effect. #Somalia
@SomaliLeaks @AJEnglish #Somalia‘s Public Telecommunication has been possessed by criminal businessmen since 1991 till now, & they fund Shabab#terrorists
@UNHCRSom Historic event on 5 AUG when 116 now former@refugees returned to #Somalia from years of exile in neighbouring #Kenya
@amisomsomalia ‘Those of you who haven’t been to #Somaliamay have a completely different perspective of the country, owing to media reports’ @MamanSidikou1
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Part of the Female Somali Police Force attend an opening training ceremony at General Kahiye Police Academy in Mogadishu. The police personnel will be deployed to the newly recovered areas.