August 8, 2017 | Morning Headlines
Khat Traders In Mogadishu Express Fears Of Trade Halt As Kenya Heads For Polls
07 August – Source: Goobjoog News – 251 Words
Khat traders in Mogadishu have expressed concerns over possible disruption of their business as Kenya which is the main source of the product heads to the polls Tuesday. The traders said they feared the elections might lead to cancellation of flights or delays in delivering the perishable product which is transported from Kenya to Mogadishu every morning. At least ten flights land in Mogadishu from Nairobi every day transporting the leafy stimulant.
Speaking to Goobjoog News, some of the traders warned of an economic downturn in the coming days as a result of the elections. ‘It will have an adverse effect because we usually support our families with income from miraa (khat) business. There is no other work in town. Missing stock for one day is a big loss to us” said a woman dealer.
Khat imports from Kenya have in the past suffered interruptions ranging from state sanctioned restrictions to differences over pricing. The government banned imports of the product for a week in September last year without disclosing reasons adversely affecting traders and consumers in Mogadishu and other parts of the country. However some traders managed to circumvent the aviation decree and transported from Kismayo to Mogadishu.
“It creates a lot unwanted economic fall and makes the business atmosphere stagnant especially our daily bread is affected. The whole town will look closed down” said Hassan, an underhand dealer. At least 19 million Kenyans will be casting their vote in presidential, parliamentary and state level seats in a hotly contested election.
Key Headlines
- Khat Traders In Mogadishu Express Fears Of Trade Halt As Kenya Heads For Polls (Goobjoog News)
- Female Lawmakers Protest Against Male Dominated Parliamentary Committees (Horn Observer)
- Former Deputy Bari Governor Shot Dead In Bosaso (Garowe Online)
- Somali Children Flee Al-Shabaab Recruitment (VOA)
- Zayed Giving Volunteers Begin Humanitarian Medical Mission In Somalia (Emirates News Agency)
- Turkey’s Military To Move Into Somalia After Backing Qatar In Gulf Crisis (Newsweek)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Female Lawmakers Protest Against Male Dominated Parliamentary Committees
07 August – Source: Horn Observer – 141 Words
Female Lawmakers in Somalia walked out for the second day during the parliamentary session in protest against what they called apparent exclusion from the parliamentary committees. The Federal Parliament of Somalia have been forming various parliamentary committees, which the female parliamentarians say they have been excluded and thus constitutes violation against the constitution. “Female MPs walked out of the second day’s session of the parliament protesting the constant violations against the constitution excluding them from the committee” tweeted lawmaker Sagal Issak Biihi on Monday.
On Monday, Senator Abdi Hasan Awale (Qeybdiid) was elected as the chair of the Constitutional committee of the two chambers of the parliament. Mr. Awale won after he contested Abdirahman Farole. Despite being distributed to the required quota for both chambers of the parliament, women MPs still say they are excluded from the important parliamentary committees.
Former Deputy Bari Governor Shot Dead In Bosaso
07 August – Source: Garowe Online – 179 Words
Unidentified assailants have shot and killed former deputy Bari Governor Khalar Ismail Abdulle also known as (Buncun) in the port town of Bosaso on Monday morning. Late Abdulle was killed in the heart of the city by armed men, who managed to immediately escape from the crime scene, before the arrival of Puntland state security forces. No group has claimed responsibility for the murder.
Conflicting reports are emerging following investigations into the murder of the official who served as the deputy governor of Bari region during the former administration of Abdisamad Mohamed Gallan, who was sacked by State President Abdiweli Mohamed Ali “Gaas” in May, 2015. Monday’s assassination happens amid a tension over territorial dispute which is simmering near Bosaso town, the commercial hub of Somalia’s northeastern semi-autonomous government of Puntland. The authorities of Bari region and Bosaso administrations are yet to comment on the killing of Abdulle. The coastal city has been relatively calm in recent times after several assassinations against high-ranking officials in 2016 and early months of this year by the Al-Qaeda affiliated militant group, Al-Shabaab.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somali Children Flee Al-Shabaab Recruitment
07 August – Source: VOA – 360 Words
More than 100 children fleeing areas controlled by Al-Shabaab militants in central Somalia have arrived in the coastal town of Adale, seeking the government’s protection, officials said. Adale is a key trading town in the Middle Shabelle region, 220 kilometers northeast of Mogadishu. In an interview with VOA Somali, the town’s district commissioner, Muse Mohamed Ahmed, said the fleeing children are resisting new Al-Shabaab recruitment campaigns.
“Al-Shabaab has a large number of old fighters, so they want to recruit children to bolster its ranks. They have started abducting children from local schools, and those who do not want to join them have decided to flee to the government-controlled areas,” Ahmed said. He estimated that more than 500 children have fled villages and towns in central Somalia, mainly in the Galguduud, Hiran and Middle Shabelle areas. “We do not have the exact number, but our estimation is that more than 500 children, mainly between the ages of 10 to 15, have arrived in the town in the last couple of months,” Ahmed said. “Most of them pass to other government-controlled areas to join relatives, but 100 of them who did not know where to go stay with us here.”
He said each of the families in the town has offered to have two or three children stay with them until Somali government and regional authorities decide their fate. Other sources in the town have confirmed the presence of the youngsters. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who made an emergency visit to Somalia in March, said more than half of the fighters in the militant group may be children.
Zayed Giving Volunteers Begin Humanitarian Medical Mission In Somalia
07 August – Source: Emirates News Agency -161 Words
The UAE Zayed Giving Initiative volunteer medical team has inaugurated phase one of its humanitarian, diagnostic and preventative campaign that will see hundreds of underprivileged children and elderly patients receive health treatment in Somalia under the slogan, “Giving is Happiness”.The humanitarian mission is currently stationed in Hargeisa as part of the Zayed Giving Convoy programme, which aims to reach thousands of children and the elderly in various Somali villages, reflecting the deep ties the two brotherly countries share and promoting the joint volunteer work between UAE and Somali medical staff.
Fifty Emirati and Somali doctors, led by UAE cardiac surgeon Dr. Adel Al Shameri, CEO of the Zayed Giving Initiative, are taking part in the campaign, joined by doctors and surgeons from countries including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Sudan. Officials from the Ministry of Health in Somalia expressed their thanks and appreciation to the UAE Government for the humanitarian initiatives it undertakes to treat needy patients all around the world.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“With international support, Somalia has managed to regain control of major cities, and Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmaajo vowed the new base would help restore the country’s beleaguered armed forces. “The largest Turkish military base in the world is almost ready and the Somali army will soon be strong once again,”
Turkey’s Military To Move Into Somalia After Backing Qatar In Gulf Crisis
07 August – Source: Newsweek – 572 Words
Turkey is set to open the largest military camp in Somalia, where locals are battling an Islamist militant group in addition to drought and disease. Somali Defense Minister Abdirashid Abdullahi Mohamed said the camp would open next month after two years of construction and would be equipped to host up to 1,500 troops at once, making it the largest such facility in the East African nation. The site would be Turkey’s second overseas military installation, following the establishment of a base in Qatar in 2015. Turkey has already offered humanitarian support to Somalia, in which up to six million people are reportedly suffering from the effects of drought and an outbreak of cholera, and Ankara has further committed up to 200 soldiers to train and assist local security forces in the battle against Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab, an affiliate of Al-Qaeda. “We will begin deploying soldiers at the facility. Our army and other forces will receive training at the camp,” Mohamed said in a statement, according to Turkey’s official Anadolu Agency.
The base spans one and a half square miles and cost about $40 million to build over the last two years, according to the Mogadishu Center for Research and Studies, which reported a visit to the site by former Defense Minister Abdulkadir Sheikh Dini in March. The base’s opening comes as Somalia struggles with an insurgency by Al-Shabab. Somalia was chaos after the fall of Somali President Siad Biarre’s communist government in 1991, and Al-Shabab in 2006 emerged out of the multiple factions contending for power in his absence.
With international support, Somalia has managed to regain control of major cities, and Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmaajo vowed the new base would help restore the country’s beleaguered armed forces. “The largest Turkish military base in the world is almost ready and the Somali army will soon be strong once again,” he said in March, according to Turkey’s the Daily Sabah.
Turkish ambassador to Somalia, Olgan Bekar, clarified that the site was “not a military base like the one Turkey has in Qatar,” but “a military training camp,” according to a May interview with TRT World. He stressed that Turkey had “no colonialist policy in Somalia,” and that Ankara’s intentions were to rebuild the country’s public institutions ruined during its civil war, especially its armed forces.
The U.S. also stepped up its involvement in Somalia, with President Donald Trump in March giving the military wider clearance to coordinate with Somali forces and conduct operations. Thursday’s announcement of the camp’s opening coincided with reports that Africa Command had killed top Al-Shabab leader Ali Muhammad Hussein, known as Ali Jabal, in a “successful kinetic strike” Sunday in southern Somalia. After the news broke, at least two people were killed Friday in what appeared to be a car bombing in Mogadishu, according to the Associated Press.