December 19, 2012 | Daily Monitoring Report.
UNHCR opposes Kenya move to push refugees out of towns
19 Dec- Source: Business Daily Africa -290 words
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has opposed the decision by the government of Kenya to stop registration of refugees in urban areas.
The UNHCR said the government made a hurried decision without considering the rights of the refugees in Kenya.
“We feel that the decision reached by the government was rushed, we are still negotiating with them to take steps that will both ensure security but also protect the rights of refugees,” said Emmanuel Nyabera , the UNHCR spokesman on refugees.
Key Headlines
- Somalia embassy in Nairobi condemns mass arrest of refugees (Bar-kulan/Jowhar Online/Radio Mogadishu)
- New AMISOM Head Visits Mogadishu Meets with Somali President (AMISOM
- UN relief team visits Merka town (Shabelle)
- Somali parliament receives copy of 2013 Budget (Radio Kulmiye)
- AU and Norway hold talks on Somalia (Shabelle)
- Somalia: 20 bodies wash up on shore after boat sinks off Puntland coast (Garowe Online)
- UNHCR opposes Kenya move to push refugees out of towns (Business Daily Africa)
- Al Shabaab forms new brigade (Daily Nation)
- Turkey hands over command of Somalia anti-piracy force (Hurriyet daily news)
- Somali Army: military courts to try uniformed officers (Presstv)
PRESS STATEMENT
New AMISOM Head Visits Mogadishu, Meets with Somali President
18 Dec- Source: AMISOM- 226 words
The newly appointed Special Representative of the Chairperson African Union Commission on Somalia, Amb. Mahamat Saleh Annadif, today met with Somali President H.E. Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud and senior Somali officials at the culmination of a two-day visit to Mogadishu, his second visit to the Somali capital within the last month.
“I am very happy to be once again in Mogadishu and look forward to deploying here on a more permanent basis in the coming weeks,” said Amb. Annadif. “I had a very fruitful discussion with President Mahmoud and assured him of the AU’s and AMISOM’s continued support for the stabilization efforts of his government,” he said.
“AMISOM has played a crucial role in helping Somalia overcome decades of strife and we will continue to support our Somali brothers and sisters as they move towards a new era of peace and stability,” he added.
Yesterday, he briefly met with the Deputy Prime Minister, Fowziya Adam and received briefings from senior AMISOM military, police and civilian staff, before touring the newly built Mission Headquarters, where he will be based, as well as the AMISOM Level II Hospital and Out-Patient Department.
Amb. Annadif also met with UN special envoy, Amb. Augustine Mahiga, the head of the League of Arab States mission in Somalia, Amb. Mohamed Abdalla Idris and the Counselor from the Sudanese embassy in Somalia, Dr. Abdelmunaim Hussein.
SOMALI MEDIA
Somalia embassy in Nairobi condemns mass arrest of refugees
19 Dec- Source: Radio Bar-kulan/Jowhar Online/Radio Mogadishu- 90 words
Somalia embassy in Kenya has condemned the mass arrest of refugees in Nairobi. Speaking to Radio Mogadishu, Somalia’s ambassador to Nairobi Mohamed Ali Nur called the action of Kenyan police against refugees as unjust and misguided.
He said more than 200 innocent Somalis were arrested in the Nairobi security sweep. “In collaboration with UNHCR we are trying to release those arrested.” Amb. Nur said.
Acting Kenyan commissioner for refugees’ affairs Badu Katelo said Tuesday that close to thirty thousand Somalis in Nairobi are refugees and must go back to Dadaab camp.
UN relief team visits Merka town
19 Dec- Source: Shabelle- 137 words
A delegation from the UN agencies of WFP, UNHCR and WHO have flown to visit the city of Merka in Lower Shabelle region to assess the situation. Before entering Merca, the delegates are reported to have visited Shalanbod, a trading outpost outside Merka.
A local government official confirmed that the delegation visited the hospital of the city and promised that they would try to help the people in the region which was recently freed from the grip of al Shabaab.
Merka is the regional capital of Lower Shabelle region and it was a stronghold of al Shabaab until recently when it was taken over by Somali forces backed by the African union forces.
Al Shabaab banned all UN relief agencies in all areas it was controlling in south and central but the group has lost much of the territory to Somali government.
Somali aid worker killed in Mogadishu
19 Dec- Source: Radio Bar-kulan- 94 words
A local aid worker was overnight killed in Dharkeynley neighbourhood of Mogadishu, witnesses said. The late Adan Mohamed Saman was working with a local aid agency in the Somali capital. Witnesses told Bar-kulan that two men armed with pistols shot dead Saman as he was leaving a parking lot.
The assailants escaped the scene before police arrived.
The motive of the killing is still unclear and no group claimed responsibility of the assassination. Since the ousting of al Shabaab militants a year ago, Mogadishu has seen rise in assassinations mainly against journalists and government workers.
Somali parliament receives copy of 2013 Budget
19 Dec- Source: Radio Kulmiye- 231 words
The members of the parliament of Somalia who met in the general assembly in Mogadishu received copies of the Budget of the 2013. The Budget is expected to be discussed and debated by the parliamentarians before it is approved.
The meeting of the members of the parliament was chaired by the first vice-chairman Jailani Nur Iikar, and the members who were present were 170 members.
Mohamoud Hassan Suleiman, Minister of finance and federal planning tabled his ministry’s schedules as well as the budget of the year 2013 in front of the parliament.
The vice chairman then instructed the members to go through the budget report of 2013 and give their recommendation within three days.
Somalia: 20 bodies wash up on shore after boat sinks off Puntland coast
19 Dec- Source: Garowe Online- 234 words
Bossaso residents woke on Tuesday to a gruesome site of 20 bodies that washed up on the port city’s shore after a vessel carrying illegal migrants sank in the Red Sea, Garowe Online reports.
Puntland authorities told media that there were at least 60 Somali and Ethiopian migrants on the vessel, 20 bodies washed up on shore. Only 5 survivors have been found, and are being treated at Bossaso Public Hospital.
According to the Puntland authorities, the migrants traveled 10 KMs from the Bossaso shore sometime Monday morning.
The bodies of the 20 people were taken to Bossaso hospital for identification
18 Dec- Source: Radio Shabelle/Radio Kulmiye- 116 words
A government court judge has been assassinated in Baidoa, the capital of Bay region, according to reports from there. The judge, only identified as Zakariye was shot dead by unknown gunmen. After the murder, security forces were seen cordoning off the area and the commander of the local police force said that they conducted searches in the area where the judge was shot dead. It is not the first time that government officials were targeted and assassinated in Baidoa which was once one of the biggest bastions of al Shabaab before it was booted out by Somali forces backed by Ethiopian allies.
Puntland security forces hold event in Bossaso
18 Dec- Source: Garowe Online- 180 words
An event commemorating Puntland’s armed forces was held in the commercial capital of Puntland, Bossaso, Garowe Online reports. The event’s special speaker was Chief Puntland’s defense forces, Gen. Saeed Mohamed Hersi Dheere, and was attended by many Puntland security officials and armed forces including police, military and custodial forces.
The event held at the Presidential palace in Bossaso included entertainment from the Waberi band. Gen. Dheere who closed the event which lasted late into Monday night, gave a receptive speech to the security forces reminding them they are the defenders of Puntland.
AU and Norway hold talks on Somalia
19 Dec- Source: Shabelle- 131 words
The AU commissioner for security and peace, Ramtane Lamamra has held talks on Somalia at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa with the Norwegian foreign minister Espen Barth Eide.
The two officials discussed about the security situation in Somalia and how the international community can help the reconstructions efforts of Somalia, which has been ravaged by civil war for more than two decades.
The AU commissioner for security and peace has commended the improving security situation in Somalia and he also welcomed the joint efforts by the AU forces and those of the Somali army to get rid of al Shabaab from the whole country.
The two sides have agreed that it is important to aid Somalia and help its people to secure and rebuild their nation.
Journalists in Mogadishu dedicated a welcoming ceremony for journalists who are nominated for top government positions
19 Dec- Source: Radio Kulmiye/Universal TV- 330 words
In Mogadishu, journalists have celebrated the appointment of Abdi-Shakur Ali Mire as the new deputy minister of information and and Jamal Barrow, as the deputy minister of foreign affairs.
A colourful event was organised by the National Union of Somali Journalists “NUSOJ” to welcome the two deputy ministers who have recently been nominated for important top positions in the government of Somalia. The event was also a remembrance for a prominent Somali journalist, Abdisalam Sheikh Hassan “Hiis” who was killed in Mogadishu on 18 December 2011.
During the ceremony, the difficulties facing Somali media has been mentioned. Those who spoke at the ceremony expressed their worries about the killings, abductions, and the constant threats against journalists.
The new deputy ministers who were invited to the event were both of them former journalists and they promised to help Somali media in this difficult times.
Somaliland: resumption of dialogue with Somali talks anticipated
19 Dec- Source: Somaliland Press- 524 words
The presidents of Somaliland and Somalia have met for the first in Djibouti where impromptu discussions were held. Somaliland president Ahmed Mahmud Silanyo is back in the country after a two days visit to Djibouti where he participated in activities commemorating the 40th Anniversary of Somali-speaking Pen organization.
The head of state was received at the Egal international airport in Hargeisa by his deputy Abdirahman Abdilahi Ismail ‘Sayli’ and multitude of citizens who included ministers, Members of both houses of parliament, Traditional and Religious leaders as well as senior officials of the ruling Kulmiye party.
REGIONAL MEDIA
UNHCR opposes Kenya move to push refugees out of towns
19 Dec- Source: businessdailyafrica -290 words
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has opposed the decision by the government of Kenya to stop registration of refugees in urban areas.
The UNHCR said the government made a hurried decision without considering the rights of the refugees in Kenya.
“We feel that the decision reached by the government was rushed, we are still negotiating with them to take steps that will both ensure security but also protect the rights of refugees,” said Emmanuel Nyabera , the UNHCR spokesman on refugees.
Al Shabaab forms new brigade
19 Dec- Source: Daily Nation- 118 words
Al Shabaab has trained hundreds of militants in Bulo Burte town in Central Somalia, 200 km north of Mogadishu. At the graduation ceremony on the outskirts of the town on Monday, al Shabaab officials named the brigade after the deputy leader of al Qaeda, Abu Yahya al- Libi, reportedly killed in September.
The occasion was marked with military manoeuvres and Show of strength. An official from Khalid bin Waleed militants, a Special fighting Unit, who spoke at the occasion saying, “This Brigade is going to join the struggle between justice and injustice with the mandate to hit hard at the enemy that invaded our land” in reference to the troops from the neighboring countries assisting the Somali government.
Book review: Deadly waters of Somalia
19 Dec- Source: Observer- 492 words
Jay Bahadur’s account of the Somali pirates smacks of the real thing. He went to Puntland and the self-declared autonomous region of Galmudug and spoke with pirates and their bosses, and local fishermen, chewed khat and sipped sweet tea with them, to get their story.
The result is a very interesting book. Somalia, he says, is like a country out of a twisted fairytale. Everything known by the outside world has been constructed from news reports spilling out of the country over the past twenty years: warlords, famine, Black Hawks, jihads, and pirates. Together with bananas and livestock, international news is one of the few items that Somalia can still claim to export.
In fact, to even speak of Somalia as a uniform entity is inaccurate, because after the civil war the country broke up into a number of autonomous enclaves. Puntland, for example, founded in 1998 as a sanctuary for the thousands of Darod clans – people fleeing massacres in the south – comprises about 1.3 million people, and almost half its coastline.
Domestic flights return to areas liberated from al Shabaab
18 Dec- Source: Sabahi Online- 585 words
African Airlines, an airline owned by Somali businessmen, has started offering domestic flights to areas liberated from al Shabaab, the first such company to take advantage of improving security conditions.
“African Airlines’ internal flights will allow people to reach areas that were difficult to get to by land due to lack of security, poor road conditions or long distances,” said Mohamed Jama of the African Airlines board of directors.
“The airlines started these domestic flights on December 4th after obtaining the necessary permits and approvals from the Somali government and the African Union Mission in Somalia, which is responsible for airport security in the liberated cities,” he told Sabahi.
Jama said that African Airlines, which previously offered service to just Somaliland and Puntland, now has three domestic flights per week from Aden Ade International Airport to the recently liberated cities of Kismayo, Baidoa and Beledweyne. “Soon, there will be scheduled flights to all the other Somali cities that have airports where airplanes can land,” he said.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Turkey hands over command of Somalia anti-piracy force
19 Dec- Source: hurriyet daily news- 201 words
Turkey has handed over the command of the counter-piracy international naval force CTF 151 to the Pakistani navy, Turkish Naval Forces announced on Dec. 18.
Since 2009, Turkey has assumed command of the CTF 151 three times, most recently Sept. 19 to Dec. 13, 2012, the statement by the Naval Forces said. A handover ceremony was conducted on board a Turkish frigate, TCG Gemlik, which is currently in Bahrain, the statement said.
Along the latest period of time under its command and as a result of operations conducted within the area of responsibility, no ship was hijacked, Turkish Naval Forces said, noting that it had been in close cooperation with naval forces elements of U.S., Australia, India, U.K., Japan, Korea, Pakistan, Romania, Singapore and Yemen during this time. CTF 151 was established in January 2009 to fight piracy in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean after a wave of hijackings off the coast of Somalia. It was launched by the U.S. as an international effort “specifically for counter-piracy operations.”
Somali Army: military courts to try uniformed officers
19 Dec- Source: Press TV- 349 words
The Somali national army has reestablished its military courts in several of the towns recently captured from the al Shabaab fighters. The military tribunal officially announced plans to hear crimes committed by uniformed officers against the Somali public in these towns.
The military court system in Somalia was established in 1963 when Somali army was one of Africa’s largest militaries, but collapsed with the fall of the Siad Barre regime in 1991.
However, the court was re-established in August 2010 to carry out sentences on the then TFG forces as well others caught in criminal acts. Since then the court has enforced death penalty to dozens of soldiers accused of killing civilians or fellow servicemen.
Kenya: Somali Refugees Are the Target of a Roundup
18 Dec- Source: New York Times- 113 words
The Kenyan government posted a notice in newspapers on Tuesday asking all Somali refugees in the country to report to camps along the Kenya-Somalia border. “The government of Kenya has decided to stop reception, registration and close down all registration centers in the urban areas,” the notice said. Kenyan security forces have blamed ethnic Somalis for a recent spate of fatal grenade attacks and attacks on churches. The attacks began after Kenya sent troops into Somalia last year in the most extensive military operation in Kenya’s history. Hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees live in Kenya, many of them concentrated in forlorn camps along the border, but thousands also live in the capital, Nairobi.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“From my impression of the November 2012 elections, multiple voting did not necessarily violate the integrity of the process in a way that would call into question the democratic nature of the outcome. Although the tenet of one-person one-vote seems a basic principle of the electoral process, the most important observation we made is that the phenomenon of multiple voting appeared to have a completely different meaning and significance in the Somaliland context.”
Democracy Up Close in Somaliland: Reflections of an International Election Observer
18 Dec- Source: Student Pulse-4369 Words
In May 1991, Somaliland emerged as a self-declared independent state in the aftermath of the failure and subsequent collapse of Siyad Barre’s Somalia. Although ethnically and linguistically Somalilanders are undifferentiated from their counterparts in southern Somalia, the northwestern region of Somalia has achieved an important distinction: while Somalia remains fundamentally anarchic, with no substantial national government to speak of, Somaliland is conversely peaceful, democratic, and remarkably safe by comparison. The de facto state held successful national elections in 2003 (presidential), 2005 (parliamentary), and again in 2010 (presidential). International Election Observers (IEOs), along with Domestic Observers (DOs), participated in monitoring each of these processes, concluding that elections were substantially free and fair. Nevertheless, Somaliland remains internationally unrecognized and is considered under international law to be a province of non-functioning Somalia.
On November 28, 2012, Somalilanders once again went to the polls to participate in district level elections. Representing seven political parties, nearly 2,400 candidates – including 140 women – contested 379 positions across the country. In addition to selecting district-level policymakers, the elections carried national significance: of the seven competing parties, the three that received the most votes became the only three political parties legally capable of contesting elections in Somaliland for the next decade.
I participated as a member of the 50-person IEO team deployed in Somaliland to observe the polling process across the country. Observers from 17 countries were assembled in 25 two-person teams and, on election day, visited roughly 20% of Somaliland’s 1,700 polling places. The following is a personal account of my experience on election day, 28 November 2012, deployed around Salaxley, Somaliland.
Top tweets
@amisomsomalia Photos of the New SRCC touring the#AMISOM base during his recent visit to #Mogadishu, #Somalia.http://on.fb.me/VNVuiB
@t_mcconnell Think it’s a good idea to arm teachers? There’s a place where they’ve tried that already: #Somaliapic.twitter.com/n3qnxbsq via @Global_Bearings
@AbukarArman #Somalia cannot accept being confined within that all 2 familiar political paradigm to advance others’ interests before its own!
@FatiKaba Dear Kenya, Somali refugees fled from the very terror they are being accusing them of http://ow.ly/gbVpd Please reconsider #Somalia
@UNPOSomalia #UNPOS hands over technical equipment to the #Ministry of #Information. Watch video http://bit.ly/MfRyFe @UN_DPA @TheVillaSomalia
Image of the day
The newly appointed African Union Special Representative for Somalia, Amb. Mahamat Saleh Annadif greets AMISOM officials after landing at Mogadishu’s Aden Abdulle International Airport, December 18, 2012. Photo: AMISOM