December 12, 2016 | Morning Headlines
Suicide Bomb Kills At Least 29 At Somalia’s Main Port: Police
11 December – Source: Reuters – 264 Words
A suicide truck bomb hit the entrance of Somalia’s biggest port on Sunday, killing at least 29 people, police said; an attack claimed by Islamist Al-Shabaab militants.The fighters said they were trying to disrupt protracted parliamentary elections – part of efforts to rebuild the fractured nation after decades of war. The three-month vote is due to end on Dec. 29. Gunfire rang out after the blast at Mogadishu Port, Mohamed Hussein, a worker there, told Reuters. Two others said work had been halted and staff sent home.
The bodies of victims lay strewn outside the capital’s terminal in a street filled with rubble from damaged tea shops.”At least 29 civilians died and 50 others have been injured in the blast. We believe it was a suicide truck bomb,” police officer Colonel Abdikadir Farah told Reuters. Al Shabaab’s military operation spokesman, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, told Reuters the blast was aimed at police officers stationed close to the port.”We killed 30 security forces and injured 50. We targeted them because they had been trained to provide security at so-called elections,’ he said.
PRESS STATEMENT
AU Special Representative Condemns Attack On Innocent Civilians In Mogadishu
11 December – Source: AMISOM – 220 Words
The Special Representative of the African Union Commission Chairperson (SRCC) for Somalia, Ambassador Francisco Madeira, condemns this morning’s terrorist attack in Mogadishu that killed more than 20 civilians. A vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated a few meters away from the entrance of the seaport, where civilians normally gather. “A deliberate attack on civilians going about their lives is not only heinous but also attests to Al-Shabaab’s lack of consideration for human life. “By disrupting and taking the lives of innocent Somali citizens and denying them the right to go about their daily life freely, peacefully and in confidence, Al-Shabaab is desperately struggling to remain relevant after AMISOM and Somali National Security Forces have effectively prevented them from making true their decision to disrupt the electoral process which is now nearing completion,” Amb. Madeira stated.
Ambassador Madeira condoles with the bereaved families and wishes those injured in the attack quick recovery. He calls for vigilance and urges members of the public to work closely with the Somali Security Forces and AMISOM to identify, unmask and stop these agents of evil, as they will use all means at their disposal to continue to maim, cause panic and kill, discredit and disrupt the remaining stages of the electoral process which represents a landmark in the unity and reconciliation effort of the Somali people.
Key Headlines
- Suicide Bomb Kills At Least 29 At Somalia’s Main Port: Police (Reuters)
- AU Special Representative Condemns Attack On Innocent Civilians In Mogadishu (AMISOM)
- Measles Has Infected 64 People In Southern Somalia (Goobjoog News)
- Parliamentary Elections Resumed In Puntland 6 MPs Elected (Garowe Online)
- Fighting Erupts In Northern Galkayo Town (Shabelle News)
- Somalia Explorer Loses Partnership Deal (The Telegraph)
- Diaspora: Make A Mark Where You Are (Hiiraan Online)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Measles Has Infected 64 People In Southern Somalia
11 December – Source: Goobjoog News – 218 Words
Fifteen new measles cases have been reported in the outskirt of administrative capital of Jubaland, Kismayo in the last two days, taking the outbreak to 64 with 42 hospitalised. Elder Mohamed Ali Osman in Bulu-Gadud village said that 15 children were taken to hospital and the epidemic was showing no sign of subsiding.
Osman said that the village did not have any health facility or health workers to help contain the diseases for which some other children are sick with. “The children who had been attacked by the disease are under the age of five as some more children are infected with measles in the village,” Osman said. He warned if urgent help is not delivered to those people, many more children will die of the outbreak of the disease which he said “was spreading like a wildfire.” Mohamed Mursal, a medical officer in Kismayo said lack of funding for vaccines was a major problem. “Eliminating the disease might remain a pipe dream unless a lot of emphasis is put on routine immunisation, vaccination and surveillance,” he said. Mursal urged parents to work with the health workers and outreach programmes to reach to people living far from towns and villages. Somali health infrastructure has collapsed with the overthrow of the former Somali ruler Mohamed Siyad Barre in 1991.
Parliamentary Elections Resumed In Puntland, 6 MPs Elected
11 December – Source: Garowe Online – 218 Words
The Lower House elections in northeastern region of Puntland, has resumed following weeks break, and witnessed the election of 6 MPs in the first phase of polling on Sunday. Puntland state is scheduled to wrap up the parliamentary ballots this week, before the new legislators are sworn-in mid December. Last week, state-level electoral body (SIEIT) has called the candidates and delegates for the remaining 16 seats to prepare for the voting session that will take place in Garowe city. However, today’s ballots saw the election of Sadiq Warfa as a lawmaker after defeating his rival candidate Abdirazak Omar in the second round of polling, receiving 29 votes, according to the polls results. On the other hand, Sadiya Samatar has secured a seat after receiving majority 49 votes against her rival opponent Fadumo Mohamed Salad. Other candidates who secured seats included Mohamed Haji Geele, Dahir Mohamed Muse, Abdirashid Gaboobe and Sharmarke Garad Saleman. So far 27 MPs were elected out of 37 seats set for Puntland state in the upcoming Lower House chamber of Federal Parliament but the state lagged behind other regional states which concluded the parliamentary election last week, despite been the first state to start the process. Additional 4 MPs are expected to be voted for in the second phase of election on the same day.
Fighting Erupts In Northern Galkayo Town
11 December – Source: Shabelle News – 102 Words
A heavy combat between Galmudug and Puntland forces is reported to have erupted in northern Galkayo city, the regional capital of Mudug province on Sunday. The clashes erupted after troops of the rival regional administrations began digging defensive positions in the area for a sign of preparation of new war in the conflict-riddled divided town. The officials of the two federal member states have signed a peace agreement in November to end the recurrent clashes that forced thousands to flee their houses as hundreds lost their lives. The rival states clashed over the control of the city, 750Km north of Somali capital.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somalia Explorer Loses Partnership Deal
10 December – Source: The Telegraph – 198 Words
The embattled energy explorer Soma Oil has failed to seal a deal with the Italian giant ENI to fund the next phase of its effort to open up Somali oil fields.Talks between the two for a “farm-in” partnership to share the risk of expensive exploration in deep water off the coast of Africa have hit the rocks because the company is engulfed in a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation. ENI executives were forced to scrap a potential contract because of compliance rules that forbid them to do business with a firm under criminal investigation, according to oil sources. It is another blow to Soma, which is running on a dwindling cash pile, unable to make progress under the shadow of the investigation. The company, backed by the Russian oligarch Alexander Djaparidze among others, faces corruption claims. The investigation of initial allegations by a UN group was dropped after a year.Lord Howard of Lympne, the former Tory leader, Soma’s chairman, said: “The SFO have indicated that they do not intend to proceed on the basis of the original allegations that were falsely made against us.”The company had just $700,000 remaining at the end of September
OPINION , CULTURE & ANALYSIS
“While it is the right of every Somali to return to participate in the nation’s reconstruction and transformation, it is important to ensure that those returning add value to what already exists on the ground.”
Diaspora: Make A Mark Where You Are
10 December – Source: Hiiraan Online – 783 Words
The Somali Diaspora has proven itself to be one of the most dynamic and reliable support sources for their families and countrymen back home since the collapse of the State in 1991. In fact, the total sum of remittances sent home by the estimated 2 million Somali Diaspora over shadows all aid spending in the country. In all policy forums globally, Diaspora engagement, participation and contribution is not just highly valued but directly courted and encouraged by the Somali Government, its foreign partners and international actors. The Somali Diaspora’s contribution to Somalia’s progress is ongoing and far more diverse than just sending remittances. Many Somalis from the Diaspora have returned to Somalia to serve in public institutions, establish businesses and even retire in the sunshine in Somalia’s various regions.
In this year’s ongoing national elections, more Diaspora candidates than ever have competed for Parliamentary seats. Clearly, this is a sign of the slow but steady national progress that is allowing the Diaspora to return and contribute. While it is the right of every Somali to return to participate in the nation’s reconstruction and transformation, it is important to ensure that those returning add value to what already exists on the ground. Somalia, like every nation in the world today, needs to compete for and attract entrepreneurs and innovative qualified professionals with the required experience in key sectors of human resource shortages as well as investors.Many of these will most likely be the Diaspora in Somalia’s immediate case given the current security situation.