December 22, 2014 | Daily Monitoring Report.
Somalia turns to Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in war against terror
22 Dec – Source: Arab News – 473 Words
As a country working hard to counter terrorism, Saudi Arabia has an important experience to share with the world. Somalia has been suffering from the influence of terror groups, and has subsequently turned to Saudi Arabia for help. One Somali official recently noted that his country has signed a contract with a Saudi company to help release 40 percent of the country’s population from the hands of terror groups. Ambassador Abdul Razak Said Abdi, the permanent representative of the permanent delegation of the Republic of Somalia at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, said that his country has serious security and political concerns. Abdi said that the country believes that education can be a strong method for combatting terrorism, and for generating job opportunities for Somali youth to relieve the unemployment problem that often drives many of them to join extremist cells. “We have inked an agreement with the Saudi Education and Training Company, represented by its CEO Zuhair bin Ali Azhar, to help 5 percent of the people currently involved in terror groups to leave them within the next 10 years,” he said, adding that the process will take years, not months. Project implementation will begin at the start of the new year, after the Somali president, known for his role in developing education, inaugurates the project in a formal ceremony.
Key Headlines
- Diarrhoea outbreak in Barire and surrounding areas (Radio Goobjoog)
- Somali president: the talks between Somalia and Somaliland will produce fruitful results (Radio Goobjoog)
- An extra police force on their way to Galgaduud region (Radio Mogadisho)
- Puntland President invites more investors (Horseed Media)
- Journalist jailed for reporting local youth organization’s elections freed (Mareeg Media/Radio Bar-Kulan)
- Somalia turns to Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in war against terror (Arab News)
- Militants attack bus on Kenyan coast no injuries (AFP/Capital FM)
- Migration in Malta: Abbas’s Story (BBC Radio)
- Outrage over £1 million legal aid bill for terror suspects (Express UK)
- Unlikely duo works to grow transportation company (SC Times)
- Somali teenager yet to be buried after tragic death (Malta Today)
SOMALI MEDIA
Diarrhoea outbreak in Barire and surrounding areas
22 Dec – Source: Radio Goobjoog – 97 Words
An outbreak of diarrheal disease and malaria in Barire, lower Shabelle region and surrounding areas has left local health centers overcrowded. One of the residents of Barire locality, Ali Abdow Shueb, told Goobgoog FM that the number of the affected people, mostly children, increase day after day. The locals said that the outbreak of the disease is attributed to supply of contaminated water. Our correspondent in Lower Shabelle region reports that many patients from Barire and the nearby areas have gone to Afgoye hospitals for treatment.
An extra police force on their way to Galgaduud region
22 Dec – Source: Radio Mogadisho – 120 words
Galgaduud Police Commissioner Farah Warsame said an extra police force will be placed in that region to strengthen the already operating force. The commissioner said that the police commandants will arrive in the district to strengthen the existing police force which are currently operating in the region. Warsame said the police force will be operating fully in all districts of the region, adding that the preparation for this scheme is in its final stages. He pointed out that the police force will be enough to maintain security in the region, based on their knowledge and experience. He added that they have the necessary weapons and equipment needed for their operation.
Somali president: the talks between Somalia and Somaliland will produce fruitful results
22 Dec – Source: Radio Goobjoog – 134 Words
The President of the Republic of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, has expressed hope that the talks between Somalia and the breakaway state of Somaliland in Northern Somalia will produce fruitful results in 2015. The president made a statement upon his arrival at Adan Adde International Airport in Mogadishu on Sunday, shedding light on the agreements reached in Djibouti. President Hassan said they expect to see tangible changes at the start of the new year when the talks resume. “We hope the upcoming talks in Turkey next year restore the unity of Somali people,” President Hassan said. After talks between Somalia and Somaliland concluded in Djibouti on Sunday, both sides issued a six-point communiqué which included talks at the start of next year.
Puntland President invites more investors
21 Dec – Horseed Media – 187 Words
Puntland President Abdiweli Mohamed Ali Gaas has called for more investors to come and open businesses in the stable semi-autonomous region of Somalia. Dr. Gaas made these remarks upon arrival from Ethiopia on Sunday, where he held talks with Ethiopian government officials. Both sides discussed ties in trade and security. “Puntland is open for any company to come and invest, the first group of investors will come very soon,” he said.
In an exclusive interview with Horseed Media in October, while attending the African summit held in London, the president said that his government is looking for investors to finance projects in key industries including infrastructure, agriculture and natural resources. “We have a number of important projects that will help the Puntland economy grow substantially…Finding the best investors for the projects and knowing that the projects will be undertaken in a way that creates shared value and promotes long-term sustainability is crucial,” he said. Analysts say Puntland has substantial potential in natural resources, including agriculture, livestock, fishing and hydrocarbons. Its telecommunications sector is also expected to attract future investors.
Journalist jailed for reporting local youth organization’s elections freed
21 Dec – Source: Mareeg Media/Radio Bar-Kulan – 115 Words
A television journalist in the town of Beletweyn, in Hiiraan region, was released after being arrested and jailed for two days. According to witnesses and local journalists, the Somali Channel TV correspondent, Osman Adan Areys, was arrested on orders from the regional governor, Abdifatah Hassan Ahmed, reports Mareeg Media. Mr. Areys allegedly aired a television report of the youth organization elections, and the organization chairman’s defeat, and was arrested shortly after. Other reports say the journalist was arrested for undisclosed reasons.The National Union of Somali Journalists condemned the arrest of the journalist, called for his immediate release, and demanded respect for the rights of journalists.
New Kenya security law could harass Somali refugees
21 Dec – Source: Somali Current – 244 Words
Somali refugees living in Kenya have expressed their concern over the newly passed anti terrorism law by the Kenyan parliament recently. Fear among the Somali refugees have been raised when the lawmakers passed the act according to Ahmed Farah, who is living in Easlieght village. Kenya security forces severally carried out security sweeps and raided Somali refugee neighborhoods. The new Kenya security law is allowing Kenyan security authorities to hold suspected individuals without any evidence and also limits freedom of speech.
Human rights Watch deputy director for Africa Laslie Lakfow said that Kenya’s security law is undermining fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed in the 2010 Kenyan constitution and international human rights law. “Laws that violate fundamental rights and are open to abuse by security forces aren’t the right solution to Kenya’s security crisis. Protecting security and human rights at the same time is not contradictory, and Kenya’s leaders should reconsider their course” Leslie Lefkow said. Al-Qaeda affiliated group of Al-shabaab killed hundreds in the recent months as Kenya government declined to withdraw its troops from Somalia. Kenyan opposition parts accused President Uhuru for not addressing the nation’s security last month.
Nicholas Kay – a referendum on Somalia’s constitution will be held
21 Dec – Source: Dalsan Radio – 164 Words
The UN Special Representative for Somalia, Nicholas Kay said the temporary constitution for Somalia will be voted for in a referendum in 2015. Addressing journalists, Kay said the referendum will pave the way for the one man one vote elections anticipated to be held in the country in the year 2016. He added that he was excited about the progress made regarding the federal system and the formation of more regional state governments. He said he hopes that Somalia will get an effective governance system come 2016.
Mr. Kay also acknowledged that AMISOM has made a great stride in the last one year. He said 2014 has been a busy year for AMISOM. He added that there are areas abandoned by Al-Shabaab which face apparent risks. He said UNSOM opened many centers in different parts of the country, a matter which he perceived as an achievement. Finally, Kay said the UN and AMISOM will support a wonderful progress in Somalia regarding politics and security.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Somalia turns to Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in war against terror
22 Dec – Source: Arab News – 473 Words
As a country working hard to counter terrorism, Saudi Arabia has an important experience to share with the world. Somalia has been suffering from the influence of terror groups, and has subsequently turned to Saudi Arabia for help. One Somali official recently noted that his country has signed a contract with a Saudi company to help release 40 percent of the country’s population from the hands of terror groups. Ambassador Abdul Razak Said Abdi, the permanent representative of the permanent delegation of the Republic of Somalia at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, said that his country has serious security and political concerns. Abdi said that the country believes that education can be a strong method for combatting terrorism, and for generating job opportunities for Somali youth to relieve the unemployment problem that often drives many of them to join extremist cells. “We have inked an agreement with the Saudi Education and Training Company, represented by its CEO Zuhair bin Ali Azhar, to help 5 percent of the people currently involved in terror groups to leave them within the next 10 years,” he said, adding that the process will take years, not months. Project implementation will begin at the start of the new year, after the Somali president, known for his role in developing education, inaugurates the project in a formal ceremony.
Militants attack bus on Kenyan coast, no injuries
21 December – Source: AFP/Capital FM – 412 Words
Islamist gunmen on Saturday opened fire on a passenger bus along the Kenyan coast but fled without injuring anyone, witnesses and officials said, nearly a month after Al-Shabaab militants executed 28 non-Muslim bus passengers in the country. After stopping the bus by shooting its tyres, three of the attackers climbed on board and identified themselves as “mujahedeen” (holy warriors), but then took off after apparently assuming those on the bus were all Muslims, said passenger Abarufa Kokane. The bus, carrying around 50 passengers, was travelling from the port city of Mombasa to Lamu, some 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of the Somali border. The attack happened near the town of Witu, 50 kilometres from Lamu island. “We thought it is the end of the world,” Kokane said. “(The passengers) were mainly Muslim women citing (the) Shahadah (the profession of the faith) and verses of the Koran which probably made the gunmen assume we were all Muslims,” he added.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but in July Somalia’s Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab claimed an assault on a bus near the same town in which seven people were killed. And on November 22, Shabaab fighters seized a bus near the northeastern border with Somalia and killed 28 of its non-Muslim passengers in what they said was revenge for police raids on mosques in Mombasa. Lamu county deputy commissioner Fredrick Ndambuki told AFP of Saturday’s incident: “Our soldiers are on the ground hunting down the attackers.” The resort island of Lamu, a UNESCO World Heritage site, has been hit by a string of attacks which have left scores dead and frightened off foreign tourists. Al-Shabaab rebels massacred some 100 people in a series of raids in the Lamu region in June and July. The unrest has fuelled divisions on the coast, a region where radical Islam, ethnic tensions and land disputes are an explosive cocktail.
Somalia’s Al-Shabaab rebels have vowed to step up attacks on Kenyan soil in retaliation for Kenya’s military presence in Somalia as part of the African Union force supporting the country’s fragile government. Under pressure to crack down on extremist violence, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday approved a controversial new security bill that critics say violates basic freedoms. The government of the East African nation has faced mounting calls to get tough on terrorism since 67 people were killed last year in a Shabaab attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Migration in Malta: Abbas’s Story
22 Dec – Source: BBC Radio – Audio – 4:03 Minutes
Newsday’s Nuala McGovern returns to Malta, one year on from her last trip, and speaks to migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean. Last year she met Abbas, a young Somali, who was living in a shipping container with seven others. He explains what’s happened to him since.
Outrage over £1 million legal aid bill for terror suspects
21 Dec – Source: Express, UK – 342 Words
Ministry of Justice figures show over the past three years £1.1 million was paid out to cover legal bills for suspects who were subject to Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures. A “Tpim”, which replaced control orders in 2012, includes restrictions on movement, financial activity and communication. The Home Secretary can order a Tpim on a suspect after an MI5 assessment “reasonably believes” he or she is involved in terrorist-related activities.
Mohammed Ahmed Mohamed, whose current whereabouts is unknown, was granted legal aid in January – while still at large – so that he could fight an order, which restricted his movements. The 27-year-old, who went missing in November last year, was linked to the Somali militant group al-Shabab.
The Court of Appeal ruled the men should have been told of the allegations against them. Mohamed is believed to be out of the country and no fresh measures against him have been applied for. Last night Conservative MP Nick de Bois, who sits on the Justice Committee, condemned the legal aid payouts.
Unlikely duo works to grow transportation company
21 Dec – Source: SC Times – 745 Words
Synergy can happen in business when two people work together and the result is greater than if either had the same plans on their own. It happens in many circumstances, but it’s rare — if not unique — in Central Minnesota in the case of Reliant Transportation. The principals in the company include Dool Salat, who came to the United States from Somalia in 2007, and Ben Warne, who grew up in Perham and is working toward an accounting degree at St. Cloud State University.
Their backgrounds are seemingly a world apart. Yet, since the two have joined forces, their enterprise has been growing and they’ve added several contracts for non-emergency medical transportation this year. Their staff has grown to five, and they use 30 independent contractors to deliver clients to various appointments. They can trace the growth back to a chance meeting a couple of years ago when they lived at Grand River Estates. “He knows everything about our culture,” Salat said of Ben Warne. “A lot of time when people come here, they get Americanized. But Ben has really made an effort to get to know my Somali friends and what we’re about. We trust each other and there’s a lot of things we can do together. Maybe we can set an example for more people to do the same.”
Somali teenager yet to be buried after tragic death
21 December – Source: Malta Today – 223 Words
An 18-year-old teenager who died in a five-storey fall in Marsaskala is yet to be buried – more than two weeks after the tragic incident, the African Media Association in Malta has said. Gudon Abdullahi Hassan died on December 6, after falling five storeys from a balcony in Triq il-Hamrija, Wied il-Ghajn. She was initially suffering from critical injuries but succumbed to her injuries in hospital. However, even though Somali refugees living in Malta scrambled for enough money to give the teenager a proper burial, authorities are yet to give the green light for Hassan’s burial. Police investigations are still ongoing to verify the cause of death.
The teenager arrived in Malta in August 2013 together with over 125 migrants. After spending four days at sea, the then 17-year-old was detained at Hal Far, spending four months in detention. After her eighteenth birthday, Hassan applied for asylum, and some time later she was granted subsidiary protection, and was allowed to leave the camp. She subsequently started living in a rented apartment in Marsaskala, but on December 6, Hassan – who was still reeling from the death of her sister a few months before – died in a five-storey fall. Her friends attribute the death to the difficult circumstances that she experienced throughout her life.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“The fact that armed masked men are freely roaming the bush and attacking a PSV in an area that has KDF, police, AP, GSU and Flying Squad officers, to say nothing of tens of CID and NIS informers, surely indicates a lot of security people and their affiliates are fast asleep on the job.”
Lamu bus attack a wake-up call
22 Dec – Source: The Star – 221 Words
A report about how a Lamu-bound bus was on Friday evening ambushed and shot at by suspected militiamen in the Lango la Simba area of Nyongoro-Witu division is deeply disturbing. Four hooded gunmen shot at, stopped, boarded and then left a bus carrying more than 50 people. No one was injured but these passengers and crew have been psychologically scarred for life. The raiders toted very long-barreled rifles, according to one passenger. If it had been a terror attack, it would have been the first under the Security Laws (Amendment) Act. This was a very lucky escape for the bus passengers, but a chilling message was sent by the perpetrators.
The fact that armed masked men are freely roaming the bush and attacking a PSV in an area that has KDF, police, AP, GSU and Flying Squad officers, to say nothing of tens of CID and NIS informers, surely indicates a lot of security people and their affiliates are fast asleep on the job. Kenyans will have to be extra-careful this festive season. Higher than usual alertness and situational self-awareness, including swiftly reporting the location of suspicious characters in the bush, forests, deserts and buildings, should go a long way in waking up and alerting the security forces where they are dozing on the job.
“Specifically troubling is the fact that confidence motions by the Federal Parliament have resulted in the removal of seven prime ministers in the past ten years. Although some experts have called for the abolition of the prime minister position, its continued existence is a necessity. Symbolically it represents the balance of shared power which mitigates the possibility of abuse.”
Federalist paper number one: action plan for the Somali prime minister
22 Dec – Source: Radio RBC – 7, 652 Words
The incoming Prime Minister must work closely with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in the continual implementation of Vision 2016. A central focus is inclusive politics in action. This cooperative approach between the prime minister and the president will serve to reaffirm the government’s desire to create a culture of collaboration. Therefore the incoming prime minister must first acknowledge the missteps of the former Prime Ministers. Journalist Yusuf M. Hassan offered a pointed assessment of such missteps in a recent report. According to Hassan, former Prime Minister Dr. Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed was engaged in a venerable power and positional conflict with the President (Hassan, 2014).
This power struggle highlights the need for the prime minister to clarify President Hassan’s operative vision, for their role. It is assumed that the president will base his interpretation of the functional role, on the articulated constitutional provisions. However, in addition to an operative understanding, the philosophical approach to the role will be vital to long-term sustainability. This is evident in the fact that the two former Prime Ministers, Abdi Farah Shirdon and Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed were only in office for one year respectively. Therefore, the new prime minister must proactively address the concerns of the president at the outset. This requires a sit down with the president to develop consensus on pressing matters such as how to properly mitigate threats of ongoing clan and political rivalries.
Top tweets
@Somalia111 Congratulations to #Somalia parliament and government for passing Boundaries & Federation Commission law. Big step for #Vision2016
@Fatumaabdulahi #Buraanbur: Somali Women’s Praise Poetry And Dance Tradition #Pictureoftheweek #Somaliahttp://www.waryapost.com/
@Abdikarim_Abdi3: Can you believe these are freshly baked in#Mogadishu? Capital Bakery & Cafe. #Somaliafacebook.com/eatinginxamar
@Aynte #Somalia Police: there were 16 suicide attacks in 2014, killing 102 people. Militant group #alShabaab is blamed on all.#Sad
@Rooble2009 Sierra Leone to withdraw Somalia troops over Ebola http://aje.io/9p4b #Somalia
@MogadishuNews #UN envoy for #Somalia Nick Kay @Somalia111 wears traditional Somali hat. #Baraawe#UNSOM #AMISOM https://twitter.com/
Image of the day
A view of Barawe, a former Al-Shabaab stronghold– Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Somalia, Nicholas Kay, met with Interim South West Administration (ISWA) leader Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan, and elders during a visit on 20 December 2014. The city was liberated by the Somali National Army and AMISOM on 6 October 2014. Photo: Ilyas Ahmed/UN