December 10, 2014 | Daily Monitoring Report.

Main Story

Armed men kill senior official of Simad University in Mogadishu

10 Dec – Source: Radio Goobjoog/Keydmedia- 60 Words

Armed assailants have killed one of senior officials of Simad University in Mogadishu earlier today. The murdered man Ibrahim Mohamud Humud was the acting rector of Simad University in Mogadishu and vice chancellor of the University. The armed men attacked and killed the officer between the conjunction of Bakaraha and Kaso Balbalan neibourhood. The assasins immediately escaped from the scene.

Key Headlines

UNHCR announces the No. of Somali refugees that will return to Somalia in December 2014 (Radio Dalsan)
Armed men kill senior official of Simad University in Mogadishu (Radio Goobjoog/Keydmedia)
AMISOM trains Somali troops in former extremist stronghold (Radio Mustaqbal)
Galmudug president urges Mudug residents to support the creation of Central Somalia state (Radio Goobjoog)
President Hassan: Somalia will soon have a world class airport (Radio Muqdisho/Radio Goobjoog)
Refugees turn to fishing in Kismayo (Radio Ergo)
UK Envoy to Somalia visits Kismayo town (Somalicurrent.com)
UN-OCHA says 3 million Somalis need urgent aid (Radio Bar-kulan)
Garissa warns on illegal foreigners (Star Kenya)
Galhareri residents wary as al-Shabaab fighters increase pressure (Sabahi Online)
UN refugee agency to repatriate 10000 Somalis from Kenya (Xinhua.net)
Is the US overseeing torture in Somalia? (Channel 4 News)
Young Somali women find experience community in startup boutique (Minnpost.com)
‘Hate crime’: taxi driver recounts brutal attack (Komo News)
Somalia tries to lure back oil giants (Relocate Magazine)

SOMALI MEDIA

UNHCR announces the No. of Somali Refugees that will return to Somalia in December 2014

10 Dec – Source: Dalsan Radio – 188 Words

UNHCR announced the number of Somali refugees that will be repatriated to Somalia. The office of UNHCR said that in December, 400 families will be returning to Somalia. UNHCR’s Raouf Mazou said refugees numbering 400 families will be assisted to smoothly return to their home country and rebuild their lives there. “This initiative aims at supporting the spontaneous return movement we have observed since 2012 and at better targeting the assistance needed by those opting to return to their places of origin to rebuild their lives”, says Raouf Mazou, Representative of UNHCR Kenya. Two days ago, UNHCR returned to Somalia about 100 people who are the first group of refugees who opted to return to Somalia. They were returned to Luuq, Baidoa and Kismayo.

Galmudug president urges Mudug residents to support the creation of Central Somalia state

10 Dec – Source: Radio Goobjoog – 141 Words

The President of Gal-Mudug regional state in Central Somalia Abdi Hassan Awale held a meeting with traditional elders and intellectuals in Galkayo, the headquarters of Mudug region. Sources in Galkayo state that president Qeybdiid and the elders discussed wide range issues comprising of the establishment of the proposed administration of Central Somalia and the easiest ways of solving the tribal clashes that claimed the lives of many people in the region.

He called the residents in Mudug region to fully support and welcome the establishment Central Somalia state.On Tuesday president Abdi Hassan Awale Qeybdiid visited Adado, the seat of Himan and Heb administration, he took meetings with the elders in the area. His remarks come a time when the technical committee facilitating the establishment of the administration are in the Adado to start the creation of the state.

President Hassan: Somalia will soon have a world class airport

10 Dec – Source: Radio Muqdisho/Radio Goobjoog – 192 Words

The president of the republic of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has touredAdan Adde international airport which is under construction. During the tour president Hassan was accompanied by assistant minister for air transportation and civil aviation and other officials.The assistant minister said that the construction of the airport terminal is in its final stages. On their side, the engineers working at the site briefed president Hassan and the other officials on the on-going activities and the progress on the construction of the airport terminal.

Speaking to the media after the tour president Hassan praised the developmental projects in the country including the construction of the airport terminal.“The on-going developmental projects in the country is a clear example of the progress made by the federal government” president Hassan said. “Once the construction is over, Somalia will soon have a world class airport in terms of beauty, security and services” he said. “This will change the face of the country” he added. The federal government Somalia is taking advantage of relative calm and rebuilding the country’s major source of revenues including the airport and seaport with major assistance from the government of Turkey.

Armed men kill senior official of Simad University in Mogadishu

10 Dec – Source: Radio Goobjoog/Keydmedia- 60 Words

ICAO officially transfer control of Somali airspace

10 Dec – Source: Hiraan Online – 184 Words

The Federal Government of Somalia and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) signed an agreement officially commencing the implementation of the transition program that will transfer full control of Somali airspace to the Government of Somalia. The agreement was signed on December 4, 2014 and was attended by the Minister of Air Transportation and Civil Aviation Said Jama Mohamed (Qorshel) and Secretary General of ICAO Raymond Benjamin.

Speaking during the signing ceremony that took place at the ICAO Headquarters in Montreal, the Secretary General of ICAO, Raymond Benjamin, expressed his gratitude to the Somali Government and the Somali Civil Aviation Authority for their cooperation during the negotiation process. The agreement will strengthen relationship between the ICAO and the Somali Civil Aviation Authority, and provide assistance in capacity building to bring Somalia’s civil aviation regulations in line with international standards.

The United Nations took over responsibility for managing Somalia’s airspace 21 years ago following the collapse of the central government, and in May 1996, ICAO launched a Civil Aviation Caretaker Authority for Somalia (CACAS) to manage the country’s airspace and collect over-flight revenues for Somalia.

AMISOM trains Somali troops in former extremist stronghold

09 Dec – Source: Radio Mustaqbal – 251 Words

As part of its mandate to prepare Somali National Army (SNA) soldiers to take charge of securing their country, AMISOM peacekeepers from Ethiopia have trained 362 SNA soldiers in the Bakol region.The two-month training course took place in the strategic town of Tiyeeglow that was jointly liberated by the SNA and AMISOM peacekeepers under Operation Indian Ocean on August 25, 2014. Somalia’s acting Minister of Defence, Mohamed Sheikh Hassan, was the guest of honour.Before its liberation, Tiyeeglow, located approximately 503 km northwest of Mogadishu, was an important Al-Shabaab logistical hub that also acted as the biggest transit point for its fighters from the south to the north of the country and vice versa.

These young men, and nine women, were selected to join the SNA by the local community after a vetting process that all who wanted to enlist had to undergo. The successful candidates have now received training in combat and more importantly on compliance with international humanitarian law. Speaking during a graduation ceremony held for them, AMISOM Sector 3 commander Brigadier-General Gebremedhin Fikadu congratulated the soldiers, applauded the community for their cooperation and reiterated AMISOM’s commitment to supporting stabilisation efforts in Somalia. “I thank the people of Tiyeglow for voluntarily bringing their youth to be part of this formidable force that will protect their people and country. We wish to reassure the Somali people that AMISOM is here to support them and work with them to bring back peace and stability in Somalia,” Brig. Gen. Gebremedhin tol

Refugees turn to fishing in Kismayo

09 Dec – Source: Radio Ergo – 252 Words

Recent returnees from the Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya have been given equipment to start up in the fishing industry in Kismayo.Thirteen fishing boats were distributed among 104 local men in a project jointly implemented by the local authority, the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC), and the UN’s refugee agency UNHCR.The fishing boats will be shared by teams of eight men, who also received fishing tackle and skills training. The expectation is that they will be able to earn a living for themselves and families from fishing.

Adan Abdi Mayow is one of the new fishermen who participated in the three week training on fishing jointly conducted by the Juba fisheries ministry and ICRC. Adan was recently displaced by river floods near Kismayo, after returning from an 11-year stay in the Dadaab refugee camps. He said he was hopeful the new skills would change his life for the better.

The deputy minister of fisheries in the Interim Juba Administration (IJA), Abdullahi Sheikh Shafi’I, told Radio Ergo the project would create job opportunities for repatriated refugees from Dadaab refugee camps and other low income families in the region.The head of Lower Juba’s fishermen’s association said the project would help to encourage thousands of Somali refugees in Dadaab to return home and take advantage of the region’s resources and rebuild the fishing industry. The project is the first of its kind in the port city of Kismayo, since the establishment of the IJA one and a half years ago.

UK Envoy to Somalia visits Kismaayo town

09 Dec – Source: Somalicurrent.com – 167 Words

A high level delegation led by the UK envoy to Somalia Neil Wigan reached to Kismaayo town in a landmark visit to the provincial capital of lower juba region. Senior interim juba administration officials welcomed the delegation at Kismayo airport. The UK delegation have met with the Juba administration officials especially second deputy IJA president Abdulkadir Haji Mohamed as they addressed latest security improvements achieved by the region forces and AMISOM troops. Addressing media shortly after the meeting, IJA minister for social affairs Moalin Mohamed said that both sides discussed ways of helping drought affected areas in the region and increasing the UK’s support to Somalia. Neil Wigan was appointed UK ambassador to Somalia in 2013.

UN-OCHA says 3 million Somalis need urgent aid

09 Dec – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 120 Words

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said three million Somalis are facing difficulties in the war torn country. A statement released from UN-OCHA office on Monday has said there is continuous humanitarian condition experienced by Somalis inside their country.

The statement said more 3.2 million people need urgent humanitarian aid, the first time since 2011 devastating famine in the country that claimed thousands of lives. The statement added that more than 319,000 children who are under five years mainly in the capital and surrounding towns treated from malnutrition related diseases. UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon who visited Mogadishu on October has warned against the return of emergency humanitarian crisis in Somalia.

REGIONAL MEDIA

Garissa warns on illegal foreigners

10 Dec – Source: Star Kenya – 114 Words

Bus owners and operators should not facilitate movement of illegal immigrants, Garissa county commissioner Rashid Khator has said. Khator addressed the press yesterday at the Garissa police station, shortly after the arrest of 22 foreigners believed to be from Somalia.

He said the group was arrested at the Modika police barrier and lacked documents.The group was travelling to Nairobi from the border town of Liboi and had passed through several police roadblocks before the arrest.Searches of buses in Garissa have increased after the terrorist attacks in Mandera claimed 64 lives.“We do not want our security compromised by a few selfish individuals who are only interested in furthering selfish agenda,” Khator said.

Galhareri residents wary as al-Shabaab fighters increase pressure

09 Dec – Source: Sabahi Online – 919 Words

About 300 al-Shabaab fighters have been trickling into Galhareri town in Somalia’s Galgadud region since the group suffered a series of crushing defeats in the Galgala Mountains and southern Somalia, residents told Sabahi.Since the new fighters started arriving in Galhareri in late October, they have been subjecting locals to increasingly repressive rules as they seek to tighten their grip on the area, which has been under their control since 2007, and establish it as the group’s next main base.

Galhareri, about 200 kilometres east of Dhusamareb, is a strategic location for the group because it is surrounded by tall sand dunes which make it difficult to capture and because it is a safe distance from the government’s closest military base in El Bur, located about 90 kilometres southwest, said Somali National Army Colonel Mohamed Kariye Arale.”The town is also serviced by a major road that connects it to Harardhere,” Arale told Sabahi. “Al-Shabaab militia fleeing Puntland easily escape to Harardhere and then move on to Galhareri.” After the loss of Barawe, one of al-Shabaab’s last strongholds, the group is trying to establish a new main base that is nestled inland so that it cannot be easily attacked and captured from the sea, he said.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

UN refugee agency to repatriate 10,000 Somalis from Kenya

10 Dec – Source: Xinhua.net – 437 Words

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said Tuesday it plans to repatriate 10,000 Somali refugees in Kenya who wish to return to Somalia in a pilot project, starting with the immediate support to around 400 persons in December.UNHCR Kenya Representative Raouf Mazou said the first returns, which kicked off on Monday, marked the beginning of a six-month pilot project, during which returning refugees will be provided support by the UN agency to safely return and re-establish their livelihoods in the areas they originated from.

“This initiative aims at supporting the spontaneous return movement we have observed since 2012, and at better targeting the assistance needed by those opting to return to their places of origin to rebuild their lives,” Mazou said in a statement received in Nairobi.According to UNHCR, with the first Somali refugees crossing the border from Kenya to return home, new and significant steps are taken towards pioneering durable solutions. Three areas are identified for returns, namely Luuq, Baidoa and Kismayo in South Central Somalia.

Is the US overseeing torture in Somalia? – video

09 Dec – Source: Channel 4 News – 7:44 Minutes
An exclusive report on allegations the CIA has been working closely with Somali forces in the interrogation and torture of suspected al-Shabaab members – the militant group linked to al-Qaeda.

Young Somali women find experience, community in startup boutique

09 Dec – Source: Minnpost.com – 1, 049 Words

At first glance, the new Sisterhood Boutique on Riverside Avenue next door to Augsburg College and the University of Minnesota’s West Bank campus looks like many other spunky startups around town….But there’s more to the Sisterhood story, which defies all the usual expectations.

It was started by group of young Somali women who noticed how much fun their brothers and male classmates had running a coffee shop at the Brian Coyle Community Center in the Cedar Riverside neighborhood. “We felt like there were not a lot of activities for girls in the community,” remembers Khadra Fiqi, an assistant at the store who was a Minneapolis South High School student at the time. “So we had a meeting of girls to talk about what we wanted to do.

There’s a strength in girls and we wanted to do something for our community to create more opportunity.” They agreed to start a women’s clothing store, and quickly came up with the name Sisterhood of the Traveling Scarf, based partly on the movie and novel “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.” And based partly on the fact that, as Fiqi says, “scarves are something that unite all women, and we are a sisterhood of women.”

‘Hate crime’: Taxi driver recounts brutal attack

09 Dec – Source: Komo News – 392 Words

Officers arrested a 26-year-old man early Sunday after he called a taxi driver a “terrorist” and beat him unconscious, causing the cab to drift out of control and strike several parked cars before slamming into an apartment building in Seattle’s Magnolia neighborhood, police said. Investigators labeled the attack a “hate crime.”

Adam Gaal, the 34-year-old cab driver, told police the incident began when he picked up three men and a woman in Belltown just before 2 a.m. Sunday and drove them to the 4200 block of 27th Avenue West. The suspect then gave Gaal his credit card to pay for the trip and apparently became angry at how long the transaction was taking, said Andrew Garber of the Seattle police. “He says, ‘You know where you are? You’re in America, this is not where you come from. You are an immigrant this is not your country. You are terrorist. You are ISIS,” Gaal said.

The passenger, later identified as Jesse Fleming, then leaned across the seat and repeatedly punched Gaal in the face, Garber said. Gaal lost consciousness and his foot slipped off the brake, causing the cab to roll downhill, strike several cars and eventually come to a stop after crashing into the stairs of an apartment building. “He just jump on me and punching me, beating me, punching me and I become unconscious,” Gaal said.

Somalia tries to lure back oil giants

09 Dec – Source: Relocate Magazine – 404 Words

Some of the world’s oil giants are cautiously eyeing proposals that they reactivate exploration drilling contracts in Somalia. A $37 million seismic survey of onshore and offshore potential reserves has been conducted by London-based Soma Oil and Gas and the results are said to be encouraging. Although the potential of the Horn of Africa is acknowledged in the industry and has already been tentatively explored by BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Exxon Mobil and Chevron, the security situation in the country, widespread corruption and UN allegations that weapons are being supplied to Islamist extremists have made caution the watchword.

The Somali government claims the nation will be producing oil within six years and is trying to convince foreign investors that, with the assistance of African Union troops, it is making progress against the Islamist insurgents of al-Shabab despite continuing attacks, both in the capital and elsewhere. “You would have to be very brave or very mad to attempt onshore drilling,” one oil industry security analyst said on Tuesday. “However, offshore might be a different proposition, though support facilities could still be a problem. And the threat from Somali pirates has not completely disappeared.

SOCIAL MEDIA

CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS

“Somalia’s banking sector is going to grow. More banks are coming, there will be more regulations and actors coming into the scene. There will be good news coming, for example the stock market, an association of banks will also be in play.”

Somali Banking Goes International

10 Dec – AMISOM – 4:25 Minutes

For residents of Mogadishu, Somalia’s seaside capital, it must feel like a new building has been added to their cityscape every time they turn their heads. But this one is special. It’s the spanking new premises of the International Bank of Somalia (IBS), the first financial institution of its kind here, in over two decades. Just like most other institutions in Somalia, the financial sector collapsed when the government imploded in 1991. A plethora of money transfer companies – known as hawalas – sprang up to cater to the millions of Diaspora who had fled the country, but needed to regularly send funds back to the friends and families they had left behind.

While they facilitated the transfer of over 1 billion US dollars annually, the hawalas were confined solely to incoming transactions after receiving the remittance deposits, due to the absence of a central governing body and fiscal legislation. Somali’s security forces assisted by African Union peacekeepers have driven off extremist group Al-Shabaab from most urban centres in the country, thereby creating an enabling environment for Somalia’s government to focus on the country’s political, social and economic revival.

“Neighbouring Uganda, Ethiopia and Burundi – all of whom have their boots in Somalia as part of African Union forces, of which Kenya is also a part – have not suffered from as many terrorist attacks as Kenya.”

Corruption is costing Kenyans their lives – no one is safe

10 Dec – Source: The Guardian – 879 Words

Since the horrific Westgate mall terrorist attack in Nairobi in September 2013, Kenyans have been bracing themselves for similar attacks elsewhere. Kenya has been waging a war against the terrorist group al-Shabaab in southern Somalia since 2011, and fears have been exacerbated by the realisation that its security forces are simply not up to the task of securing the country and its borders. Kenyans are beginning to believe that they are pretty much on their own – a sentiment reinforced by President Uhuru Kenyatta himself, who advised citizens to take more responsibility for their own security rather than blame the police or the government.

Last week’s terrorist attack in Mandera, an arid border town in Kenya’s north-eastern corner, laid bare the faultlines in the country’s security and intelligence apparatus like never before. The killing of 36 quarry workers just days after the shooting of 28 bus passengers outside the town indicated that not only were terrorists freely roaming the country, but also that Kenya’s security forces may actually have helped them cross the border. It is no secret that Mandera, a dusty outpost dominated by ethnic Somalis, has for years served as a conduit for smugglers, human traffickers and now terrorists, who cross through Kenya’s porous border by paying corrupt border police officers and administrators, quite often with the full knowledge of some of Kenya’s political elite, who are believed to benefit from it.

“Over the last few years, you’ve seen Ethiopia devolve a lot of security to a locally recruited police force called Liyu police, who are basically local Somalis who are police, but they are also counter-insurgency.”

How is Somalia navigating the healing vacuum?

09 Dec – Source: Warya Post – 850 Words

As part of my Wisdom Hackers dispatch, I spent 8-weeks navigating the healing vacuum in Somalia through the prism of my own experience. Outlined below are some of my feelings and ‘findings’ on the intersections between war, healing and identity. The original long-form essay can be found here. “Life has come back to Mogadishu,” people say, as if it ever left. I know what they mean, and I am not trying to be dense, but driving through the streets of Somalia’s capital is an exercise in wonder and humility.

Cruising along Mogadishu’s wide, bougainvillea-lined streets, with the Indian Ocean breeze kissing your face like an aunt who hasn’t seen you since you were an infant, you find yourself marveling at the sheer resilience of a country that is still standing, despite an eviscerating, twenty-four-year war. The remnants of majestic mosques and Italian cathedrals gaze down at you, the ruins of buildings pockmarked with mortar shells still trying to stand tall, and lone walls that hint at what might have once stood along the roadside, all stark reminders of the rage and vengeance that engulfed a nation. All that is left of the old parliament is a stairwell, exposed for all to see.

Top tweets

@nycreitz @HarunMaruf: #Somalia: Local university lecturer Ibrahim Mohamud Hamud shot dead in #Mogadishu in a drive-by shooting

@MamanSidikou1 will brief the seminar on developments in Somalia as well as engage the seminar participants with recommendations.

@dailynation First UN-backed return from Kenya of Somali refugees in 23 years /bit.ly/12Jlpm0

@SOPresident #Somalia: President H.E. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud sends condolence to the family of the assissinated SIMAD University Deputy Ibraahim M. Hamud.

@HLooyaan “I am glad to see men,women & children go back voluntarily in dignified manner to rebuild their country,” said IOM Somalia Chief of Mission.

@JamalMOsman It’s widely believed in #Somalia – confirmed to me by officials – that the CIA use underground prisons to interrogate al-Shabaab suspects.

@AbdikarimThe new & improved Aden Abdulle International Airport getting its finishing touches. #Mogadishu #Somalia

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Image of the day

AMISOM trains Somali troops in former extremist stronghold town of Tiyeeglow of Bakool region.

Photo: AMISOM