August 9, 2016 | Daily Monitoring Report
Mogadishu Port Remains Closed Over Tariff Dispute
09 August 2016 – Jowhar.com – 167 words
Mogadishu Port remains closed for the second day running owing to a continuing business dispute between the port authority and local merchants over tariff regimes.The latest row broke out after PGM, a Turkish firm contracted to inspect the quality of the imported commercial goods, imposed hefty tariffs on the local traders over and above the normal taxation.
According to one of the local businessmen, activity at the Mogadishu has ceased after local traders found it unacceptable to bow to the new PGM tariff demands. PGM proposes to charge $100,000 levy on every other ship that docks on the port on top of the $70 tax per container.The traders further argued they could not afford to pay parallel authorities, including Albayrak, another Turkish company in charge of the port management. The Somali government is yet to comment on the current dispute between the quality control company and the local business community, which could bring the daily operations of one the busiest Somali ports to standstill.
Key Headlines
- Mogadishu Port Remains Closed Over Tariff Dispute (Jowhar.com)
- Galmudug Plans To Impose Ban On Cutting Trees (Goobjoog News)
- Puntland Says It Doesn’t Recognize Ali Khalif As Khatumo President (Shabelle News)
- KNCCI And Somalia Trade Lobby Sign Deal (The Star Kenya)
- AMISOM And Aid Agencies Resolve To Work Together In Somalia (AMISOM)
- This Somali Chef Shows the Potential in Toronto’s Food Scene (Torontoist)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Galmudug Plans To Impose Ban On Cutting Trees
09 August – Source: Goobjoog News – 185 Words
The government of Galmudug is planning to impose a ban on tree felling in an effort to slow down the rate at which the country’s trees are being decimated for firewood and charcoal. Galmudug Minister for Forestry, Mohamed Hussein Mohamed, sent a stern warning to those cutting down trees saying his ministry would no longer tolerate the practise and would take legal action against those breaking the law.
He stressed that Galmudug was giving first priority to the fight against deforestation and burning of charcoal:“The increased deforestation and overexploitation of trees has put them at risk of extinction” Mohamed said.Somalia’s once-vast acacia forests now cover only nine percent of the nation and the ambitious reforestation campaigns of the previous administrations of Siad Barre and Gen. Mohammad Farah Aided are now history.
Tree felling is denuding the Savannah and making portions of southern and central Somalia unsuitable for human habitation by accelerating soil erosion, reducing the arability of the land, depriving cattle and goats of shade in the Savannah’s intense heat, reducing foliage for grazing camels and killing tree root systems once capable of retaining moisture in the soil.
Puntland Says It Doesn’t Recognize Ali Khalif As Khatumo President
09 August – Source: Shabelle News – 126 Words
Puntland state of Somalia has announced it doesn’t formally recognize Prof Ali Khalif Galayr as the legitimate President of the strife-torn Khatumo state in northern Somalia.
Col Abdirahman Abdulle Ahmed, who is a senior official in the Puntland administration, said Khalif Galayr has failed to fulfill his responsibility to the people of Khatumo state.“Categorically, Ali Khalif is a failed leader, who has lost the confidence of his people in Khatumo state. So Puntland considers him as an ‘unsuccessful and unlawful’ leader,” Ahmed claimed. He alleged the Khatumo state had been misled by Ali Khalif who had plunged it into chaos. According to Ahmed, Somaliland administration has reclaimed large grounds from Khatumo since Khalif’s election as the state’s President in early 2014.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
KNCCI And Somalia Trade Lobby Sign Deal
09 August – Source: The Star, Kenya – 171 Words
The Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Jubaland Chamber of Commerce and Industry – a business lobby group in Somalia – in a bid to enhance inter-regional business and boost job creation. The MoU will also enhance trade between the two countries to boost economic growth.The JCCI chairman Shaafi Raabi Kaahin assured the KNCCI that in spite of insecurity, collapsed government systems and terrorism that have affected the country over the years, Somalia is ready to enhance inter-regional business. “Jubaland state of Somalia is blessed with major economic drivers and we are ready to revitalise our economy through partnership with our neighbours,” Kaahin said.
The KNCCI chairman Kiprono Kittony said the move will create a closer cooperation between the port of Kismayu and the Port of Mombasa. “We are appreciative of one factor that Kenya can only be safe if Somali is peaceful and one of the ways of realising a more peaceful Somali is by doing business together,” he said.
AMISOM And Aid Agencies Resolve To Work Together In Somalia
09 August – Source: AMISOM – 365 Words
AMISOM and humanitarian organizations in Kismaayo have resolved to work together to help speed up the stabilization process in Somalia.At a Regional Civil-Military Working Group meeting held in Kismaayo, on Sunday, officials from the African Union Mission in Somalia(AMISOM) and humanitarian agencies emphasized the need for stronger relations, saying cooperation was critical not only in restoring peace and stability but also ensuring the rights of residents living in conflict areas are protected.The meeting was also attended by members of the civil society organizations operating in various parts of Somalia.“The aim of the meeting was to improve relations between AMISOM and humanitarian actors to help bridge the gap in Somalia and ensure objectives of securing Somalia are met,” said AMISOM Humanitarian Officer, Jackson Basoronga.
Mr Basoronga described the meeting as fruitful, expressing confidence that the discussions will go a long way in improving relations.AMISOM has launched a series of programmes aimed at improving relations between the military and civilians to help prevent radicalization and recruitment of youths by Al-Shabaab militants.The meeting also discussed ways of aiding returning refugees settle in safe areas pacified and stabilized by AMISOM and Somali security forces.“The other issues discussed in the meeting was how to help returnees and internally displaced persons coming back home. We also tackled the issue of disease outbreaks and how they can be prevented,” Mr Basoronga said.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“One is that the stature of African food in Canada, as with most of the world, is indelibly associated with an unrelenting series of drought- and war-induced famines since the 1970s: all dramatized by photojournalists’ displays of mothers and children dying from starvation, ”
This Somali Chef Shows the Potential in Toronto’s Food Scene
08 August- Source: The Torontoist – 924 Words
Born in Somalia—where it’s unsafe to return—raised in Italy, and trained as a chef at Toronto’s George Brown College, Bashir Munye has become well known in the farmers’ market scene over the last four years for his offering of “my little dumplings.”Munye considers his dumplings—sometimes made in the Ukrainian or Polish style, sometimes in the Chinese style, sometimes in the Italian style—to be Toronto-inspired, a tribute to his adopted city’s wide-ranging multiculturalism.Dumplings are what multiculturalism is about—humble, filling, low-cost people’s food, made and beloved in one form or another in almost every cuisine in the world.We are all the same under the skin and under the pastry.
But now, Munye wants to explore his own very different roots and become an African-inspired chef.“Dumplings are part of a dialogue about the similarities we share in our diversity,” he says. “But I want to go beyond being the African guy who makes dumplings. I need to cook what’s authentic to my own experience.”
He’s still in the thick of discovering his own identity and opening his first-ever very own kitchen, successfully crowdfunded thanks to farmers’ market fans and well-wishers.Munye was still in the process of moving in to his own digs in Toronto’s east end, at the corner of Queen and Greenwood, when I met him for dumplings and an interview last week.I parked myself on a stool behind the kitchen counter and nibbled on a plate of chicken dumplings with a generous overlay of Harissa hot sauce (this popular hot sauce hails from Tunisia), while Munye answered my questions and started working on over 600 dumplings he had to prepare for a wedding party of 220 people later that day.
TOP TWEETS
@TheVillaSomalia :Pres. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud briefs Arab ambassadors to #Somalia on electoral process and progress made so far.
@MOALIMUU:1st #US Ambassador to #Somalia since 1991 Stephen M Schwartz presented a letter of credenence to Minister of Foreign .Affairs Mr Hadliye
@TheVillaSomalia:Foreign Minister, Abdisalam Hadliyeh receives a copy of Letter of Credence from newly appointed US Amb. to #Somalia Stephen M. Schwartz.
@UKinSomalia:Met President Madoobe to discuss remaining electoral issues and ensuring a timely and credible process#Somalia
@SalahOsman0:Good Morning! Most of #Mogadishu ‘s roads have been rebuilt. Because of this businesses are booming#Somalia
IMAGE OF THE DAY
The Jubaland Chamber of Commerce and Industry chairman, Shaafi Raabi Kahin with his Kenyan counterpart Kiprono Kittony after signing a trade deal.
Photo: The Star.