December 20, 2013 | Daily Monitoring Report.
Somali government to assist displaced families in Hiiran region
20 dec- Source: Radio Bar-kulan/Radio Mogadishu/SNTV- 162 words
Somalia’s Minister of Natural Resources Abdirizak Omar Mohamed has stated that the government of Somalia has issued a decree aimed at preventing further recurrence of the inter-clan warfare in Hiiran region.
The minister pointed out that he had led a delegation to Hiiran region which assessed the damages left behind by the recent clashes in the region.
He added that his delegation has also had consultations with the warring sides over the current situation.
Mohamed said that the government is planning to take measures to send the displaced families back to their homes and to provide aid assistance to the families.
He urged all sides to heed the government’s call, while calling on the Somali, Ethiopian and African peacekeepers in the region to confront anyone suspected of carrying out destabilizing activities.
Meanwhile, AMISOM forces Commander of Hiiran region Col. Osman Dubbad said that African troops will do everything in their capacity to prevent further conflicts in the region.
Key Headlines
- Somali government to assist displaced families in Hiiran (Radio Bar-kulan/Radio Mogadishu)
- Somalia to rebuild national library(BBC)
- Aid agencies worry insecurity and lack of access hampering aid efforts in Jowhar area (Radio RBC)
- Somaliland political parties agree to hold the national debate (Somali Channel/Horn CableTV)
- A Somali national killed in South Sudan (Radio Bar-kulan)
- UNHCR registers Dadaab refugees returning home (Radio Ergo)
- Ambassador Berhane holds talks with US Special Representative to Somalia (Walta Information Centre)
- Kenya’s anti-terror forces under fire (Standard Media)
- Somalia to rebuild national library (Walta Information Centre)
- Ethiopia says arrests five suspects in soccer match bomb plot (Reuters)
SOMALI MEDIA
Somali government to assist displaced families in Hiiran region
20 dec- Source: Radio Bar-kulan/Radio Mogadishu/SNTV- 162 words
Somalia’s Minister of Natural Resources Abdirizak Omar Mohamed has stated that the government of Somalia has issued a decree aimed at preventing further recurrence of the inter-clan warfare in Hiiran region.
The minister pointed out that he had led a delegation to Hiiran region which assessed the damages left behind by the recent clashes in the region.
He added that his delegation has also had consultations with the warring sides over the current situation.
Mohamed said that the government is planning to take measures to send the displaced families back to their homes and to provide aid assistance to the families.
He urged all sides to heed the government’s call, while calling on the Somali, Ethiopian and African peacekeepers in the region to confront anyone suspected of carrying out destabilizing activities.
Meanwhile, AMISOM forces Commander of Hiiran region Col. Osman Dubbad said that African troops will do everything in their capacity to prevent further conflicts in the region.
Hips unveils project to rebuild Somali National Library
20 Dec- Source: SomaliCurrent/Hiiraan Online- 148 words
Heritage Institute of Political Study (Hips) has unveiled on Thursday a project to revive and rebuild Somali National Library, which has been badly damaged by decades of conflict in the Horn of Africa nation.
The reconstruction of a four-story building of the library is expected to be finished in six months’ time and will cost $1m US dollars, according to the project managers. Recently, dozens of internally displaced families were evicted from the building.
Thousands of students who have no access to Library in Mogadishu will benefit from the project, according to its director, Zainab Hassan.
The government of Somalia, business people, civil society and international agencies are funding the project.
Congressman Keith Ellison from Minnesota, who is supporting the plan, said on July that the project has enough donations to pack 22,000 books into a 40 ft shipping container that left for Somalia in late June.
Aid agencies worry insecurity and lack of access hampering aid efforts in Jowhar area
20 Dec- Source: Radio RBC- 225 words
About 66,000 people have been affected by localized flooding in 33 villages in the Jowhar district in Middle Shabelle, according to local authorities’ reports and a multi-cluster rapid assessment carried out from 7-10 November.
Despite challenges, aid organizations have managed to scale up response in recent weeks and continue to reach as many people as possible with emergency supplies such as food, water and shelter.
Thousands of people have received shelter and many others have received medical treatments through mobile health clinics. Further compounding the situation was the outbreak of inter-communal fighting in early Novem-ber, which displaced an estimated 3,000 households and hampered access to those in need.
The large majority of those who fled their homes are staying at the airfield in Jowhar. Humanitarian access to eight villages housing some 2,000 households has been hampered due to flooding or insecurity.
Gaps have been reported in health, shelter and household items, food security, water, sanitation and hygiene, and education.
The Humanitarian Coordinator visited the still flooded area on 3-4 December and the Common Humanitarian Fund (CHF) has since allocated nearly $1.2 million to support emergency health activities and access to clean water and sanitation in the area. For the long term, investing in river management is key to avoid recurrence of large scale floods and the cycle of emergency and response.
Somaliland political parties agree to hold the national debate
20 Dec- Source: Somaliland Informer/Somali Channel/Horn CableTV- 199 words
Somaliland’s three national political parties have come to an agreement on Thursday and decided that they have to jointly take part in the national debate suggested by the two main opposition political national parties.
The three parties have also agreed that the responsibility of moderating the debate has to be handed over to the Academy for peace and development. The issues expected to be debated in the national debate include the forthcoming presidential and parliamentary elections to be held at agreed date.
Other issues high in the agenda of the national debate include the long standing quest of an international recognition.
Somaliland government was adamant that they will not allow the holding of national debate proposed by the opposition parties which it claimed was unconstitutional.
The current chairman of the ruling party has accused his Wadani counterpart of announcing tribal conference in the country which will pave the way for the country to slide back into ethic war.
The agreement bring to an end long standing row pertaining to holding national debate suggested by the opposition parties but later the government opposed it.
The agreement reached by the three parties took place at the Academy for Peace and Development.
A Somali national killed in South Sudan
19 Dec- Source: Radio Bar-kulan- 121 words
A Somali national and two Kenyans have been killed in Bor, the capital of Jonglei region in South Sudan on Thursday.
Abdiweli Hassan Hussein Fadilatuhu, a Somali national in South Sudan has told Bar-kulan that the three have been working for Trojan Petroleum Company which operates in many South Sudanese regions. He stated that the victims were traveling with an oil tank vehicle when they were attacked.
Fadilatuhu added that two other Somalis have also been killed in Gudele neighborhood in South Sudanese capital Juba two days ago.
Political tensions have led to an escalation of armed conflicts between rival army factions in South Sudan. South Sudan President Salva Kiir has previously accused former vice president loyalists of an attempted coup.
UNHCR registers Dadaab refugees returning home
19 Dec- Source: Radio Ergo- 300 words
More than 78 families have registered at the office for the voluntary repatriation of Somali refugees opened last week in Dadaab by UNHCR. The office, set up to help repatriate Somalis from Kenya under a tripartite agreement signed between Somalia, Kenya and the UNHCR, is currently registering refugees going back to Luq, Baidoa and Kismayo in Gedo region, and Bay and Lower Juba regions.
Refugees from other areas came to the office in the hope of being registered for voluntary return but were disappointed.
Aden Adow Ismail, a father of eight children, has been living in the refugee camps for about three years after fleeing his hometown of Elwaq in Gedo. He said he is tired of living in the camps and now wants to go back home.
“I sold my house when I was leaving to come here, and there is nothing waiting for me there,” said Ismail, who was among hundreds of people gathered in front of the new office. But he said nothing is better than home. “We don’t get enough food here and there is no job available. But back at home, there are families and friends who might get a job for me.”
Fadumo, a divorced mother of one child, has lived for 20 years in the camps after fleeing from inter-clan war in the port town of Kismayo. She said her hometown is now stable and she is registered to go back. “Kismayo is my home, and I can get a job and better life for my child,” she told Radio Ergo.
Most of the refugees who have registered for voluntary repatriation used to be farmers and pastoralists back home and want to take advantage of the deyr rainy season to harvest their farms, a UNHCR staff at the office of voluntary repatriation said.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Ambassador Berhane holds talks with US Special Representative to Somalia
20 Dec- Source: Walta Information Centre- 206 words
State Minister Ambassador Berhane Gebre-Christos received a US delegation led by James Mc Anulty , US Special Representative to Somalia at his offices yesterday (December 18, 2013).
The Special Envoy expressed his appreciation to Ethiopia’s continued commitment to stability in Somalia and the region as a whole and for its support in hosting huge number of war displaced Somalis.
He also mentioned USA’s interest in further bolstering counter-terrorism cooperation within the region in general and Ethiopia in particular.
Speaking of current security situation in Somalia, he said “defeating Al-Qaeda affiliated Al Shabaab requires not only a military solution but also political solution in the form of better provision of basic pubic basic services which also helps to bring progress in the counter-terrorism narrative.”
Kenya’s anti-terror forces under fire
19 Dec- Source: Standard Media- 346 words
The attack on the Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi in September has drawn attention to tensions in Kenya – and now the country’s security services, funded by the UK and the US, stand accused of carrying out “pre-emptive” killings of suspected radicals, writes the BBC’s Gabriel Gatehouse. Kiunga is Kenya’s final frontier and Superintendent Samuel Obara has one of the toughest jobs in the police force.
“Even the al-Shabab are now escaping from Somalia and trying to penetrate into Kenya,” he says, standing on a strip of no-man’s land between the two countries on the Indian Ocean coast. When Kenya invaded Somalia two years ago, it took the fight to al-Shabab, the Islamist militant group with links to al-Qaeda, which still controls large areas of southern Somalia. The invasion was supposed to make Kenya safer. And to some extent it has. Mr Obara waves his arm over the acres of coast and scrubland he and his men patrol that in the past, he points out, would come under attack.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Ethiopia says arrests five suspects in soccer match bomb plot
20 Dec- Source: Reuters- 336 words
Ethiopian police have arrested five more people suspected of plotting suicide bombings during Ethiopia’s World Cup qualifying match against Nigeria in October, security officials said on Thursday.
The planned attack failed when two Somali suicide bombers accidentally blew themselves up a few kilometers (miles) from Addis Ababa Stadium where soccer fans were gathering.
The men who plotted the attack were all Somali nationals belonging to the militant Islamist group al Shabaab, Ethiopia’s National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) and Federal Police said in a joint statement, read out on state television.
Somalia to rebuild national library
19 Dec- Source: BBC- 235 words
A project has been launched in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, to rebuild the country’s national library. Dozens of displaced families had been sheltering inside the building which has been badly damaged by decades of conflict. The project director, Zainab Hassan, told the BBC that thousands of students currently had no access to books.
Work on the new complex is expected to be finished in six months’ time at a cost of $1m (£600,000). The money is coming from the Somali government as well as business people and civil society.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
Somali cultural event held in Minneapolis
19 Dec- Source: Somali Current- 361 words
Beautiful, Well-Organised Ceremony was held in Minneapolis this week, to exhibit the culture and the tradition of the Somali people and encourage youth born in Diaspora to learn their cultural things and traditional background.
Shanta Link, a non-profit organization run by Somali Students in Minnesota that encourages keeping the Somali culture and tradition alive in Diaspora and develops education, has organized the ceremony.
Hundred of the Somali Community in Minnesota attended the ceremony, students and Shanta Link Members presented poems, during the ceremony.
Osman Ahmed, who collects the cultural stuff and run the first Somali Cultural Center in Minnesota, has exhibited some cultural things to the attendees.
“Surely the Somali innocent population have taken the brunt of what happened in the country and they are the real victims in the disastrous situations. It is time for us to end the history in the making of our own making and set things to rights.”
Escaping from truth and giving falsehood a legitimate footing
19 Dec- Source: Raxanreeb- 436 words
When it comes to politics the country is not about to gain a foothold and move ahead with its contemporaries. The political turmoil between the various political actors in Somalia has become a stumbling block to the way forward and healing the wounds that apparently stemmed from the fall of the former central government. The political entities usually talk of what is neither here nor there about the past or the present but keep turning a blind eye to the status quo and the realities on the ground. They don’t consider the values and the crucial factors that will turn the corner for Somalia to stand on its own legs and develop swiftly from every aspect. The philosophy by the leaders in today’s’ Somalia is basically rooted in clan ideology for one thing and the other is opportunism, power greediness and selfishness.
They entertain people with clan politics to keep them isolated from one another with no integration, solidarity and national harmony. They conceal and never touch that the Somalis are brotherly people in the real sense of the word by religion, language, color, culture, race, and they are flesh and blood. The country is crying out for a sustainable peace and security for twenty three years running as for the Somalis are tired to death and fed up with the violence, insecurity, explosions and would like to see light at the end of the tunnel.
Top tweets
@somaligov#Somalia: Somali Police celebrates its 70th Anniversary, and we congratulate to all Somali Police Personnel for public services.
@UNOCHA Humanitarian orgs must have better access to people impacted by floods & fighting in #Somaliahttp://ow.ly/rTSEl http://ow.ly/i/44cPA
@AnalystSomalia The restoration of #Somalia‘s #national#library (@Maktabadda) is one of the most exciting & most needed project @HIPSINSTITUTE is involved
@somaligov#Somalia: Congratulations to Honorable MP Asha Haji Elmi for winning this award & we congratulate to other winnershttp://bbc.in/1gK79yx
lasoco Ethiopia says arrests five suspects in football match bomb plot http://j.mp/JOaoHB #Somalia
Image of the day
Minister of Social and development affairs Dr Maryan Qasim speaking at Somalia National Library relaunch event in Mogadishu, 19 Dec 2013. Photo: Hiiraan Online