December 22, 2016 | Daily Monitoring Report
Somali Leaders To Wrap Up National Leadership Forum In Mogadishu
22 December – Source: Shabelle News – 160 Words
Somali leaders are expected to wrap up National Leadership Forum that was going on for days in Mogadishu in the coming hours on Thursday, sources revealed. The leaders from the federal government and presidents of regional administrations will release a joint communiqué on the upcoming presidential election which is reported to have been pushed to January. International community urged Somali leaders at high-level National leadership Forum to fix the alleged electoral malpractices in the parliamentary polls before holding the much-awaited presidential ballot.
Radio Shabelle has learnt that the presidential election will be postponed to 22 January, 2017. The election has been delayed for 3 times and was expected to be held 28 December. Sources at NLF said there is a growing stalemate between Somali leaders and international community on 24 nullified parliamentary seats which has been reduced to 11 by the country’s electoral disputes body. At the same time the NLF is alleged to have but dismissed the nullification of seats all together.
Key Headlines
- Somali Leaders To Wrap Up National Leadership Forum In Mogadishu ( Shabelle News)
- Foreign Envoys Say Failure To Fix Somali Poll Malpractices Will Implicate Legitimacy Of The Upcoming Government (Goobjoog News)
- Somaliland Upper House Election To Take Place On Saturday (Goobjoog News)
- Somali Clerics Condemn Somali Female Basketball Tournament (Hiiraan)
- Two Hundred Youths Recruited To Undergo Police Training In Jubbaland State (AMISOM)
- An Empowering Force For Somali Women (South West Journal)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Foreign Envoys Say Failure To Fix Somali Poll Malpractices Will Implicate Legitimacy Of The Upcoming Government
22 December – Source: Goobjoog News – 236Words
Foreign ambassadors in Mogadishu have said failure by Somalia’s leaders to take action against serious electoral abuses will have implications for the legitimacy of the government that will emerge from this process and, consequently, its relationship with the international community. In a joint statement issued on Wednesday, envoys from the United Nations, the African Union, the European Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Ethiopia, Italy, Sweden, Britain and the United States warned against allowing impunity to prevail reflects badly on all Somali Leadership Forum (NLF) members and would set a negative precedent for the 2020 elections.
They also called on the NLF, the highest authority that created the IEDRM and that is responsible for safeguarding the legitimacy of the electoral process, to work with the IEDRM to ensure accountability for the electoral abuse. They maintained that the electoral process must now be concluded swiftly and in a successful and credible manner. Michael Keating, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Somalia, said the NLF should reach a decision on the disputed seats in the House of the People in a prompt and fair manner that is broadly acceptable to the people of Somalia and the international community. This comes barely two days after reports circulated by local media who spoke to close sources to NLF, highlighted that Somali leaders are dragging themselves on the acceptance of the nullification of the eleven parliamentary seats by IEDRM.
Somaliland Upper House Election To Take Place On Saturday
22 December – Source: Goobjoog News – 65 Words
The Federal Indirect Electoral Implementation Team (FIEIT) has expressed confidence in the electoral preparations of the Upper House Somaliland. On Thursday FIEIT confirmed that Somaliland Upper House election will take place in Mogadishu on Saturday. The spokesperson of the Team Abdirisak Ismael Abdi told reporters that 6 MP’s will be elected on Saturday. Somaliland and northern regions were allocated 11 seats in the Upper House.
Somali Clerics Condemn Somali Female Basketball Tournament
22 December – Source: Hiiraan Online – 167 Words
A group of Somali clerics has publicly criticized a female basketball tournament that’s scheduled to begin in Garowe, Puntland today. The inaugural tournament will see female teams from all over Somalia battle it out on the court for the honour of being the nation’s top team. Sheikh Bashir Ahmed Salaad, the chairman of the Somali cleric’s organization denounced the tournament and warned that the tournament is disobedience against Allah’s will. “We issue warning against the female sports. It is not something permissible by the Islamic religion. It can lead to negative consequences religiously and culturally. To watch hopping ladies wearing sports clothes or to be watched by foreign men is not something tolerable by the Islamic religion. It is something that contradicts our values, Sheikh Bashir said. The Sheikh reiterated that the tournament can lead to destruction and moral decay. He dismissed the event as nothing more than a gathering for disobedience. Female basketball teams from Hirshabelle and Banadir region are playing in the first match this afternoon.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Two Hundred Youths Recruited To Undergo Police Training In Jubbaland State
22 December – Source: AMISOM – 453 Words
Hundreds of youths yesterday turned up for police recruitment exercise conducted by AMISOM and Somali Police in Kismayo. The exercise targets to recruit 200 young men and women to undergo a three-month police training before deployment to various parts of the federal state to boost security and maintain law and order. The recruitment is part of an elaborate programme funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) and is aimed at improving security in the federal states. The first and second phases have already been completed and 400 new officers deployed to various stations in Jubbaland. The completion of the third phase will bring the total number of youths trained as police officers, in Jubbaland, to 600. Speaking during the vetting exercise, AMISOM Police team leader, Superintendent Opara Augustus, noted that the exercise is meant to shore up the capacity of the police force in the state to effectively enforce law and order.
“We are here in Kismayo to continue with the vetting process in Jubbaland and this is the third phase. We have done phase one and phase two. We are building the capacity of the Somali Police Force in the states and we are targeting 600 police officers to undergo the training sponsored by DFID. We already have 400 of which 200 were trained under phase one and another 200 under phase two. We are targeting another 200 in this vetting process,” Dr. Opara said. Jubbaland police officer, Lieutenant Colonel Jama Ahmed Hassan, spoke of the readiness of the state to conduct the training and thanked AMISOM for the continuous support. “I am grateful to AMISOM police who have worked tirelessly to ensure that this phase of the vetting exercise takes place.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“Connecting Somali women with resources to help them become self-reliant is the underlying goal of Isuroon, said Weli, not offering handouts. She chafes at the stereotype that Somali immigrants are, as she put it, “leeches attached to the system,”
An Empowering Force For Somali Women
21 December – Source: South West Journal – 843 Words
During her struggles to conceive a child, Fartun Weli tried with difficulty to find infertility resources in the Twin Cities that reflected her perspective as a Somali woman. So in 2010, Weli started the Isuroon infertility and health issues project to examine the effects of infertility on mental health and stress levels in Somali women.“Somali culture highly values a woman’s ability to have children,” Weli said. “Women who are unable to bear children face high levels of social and emotional stress. I wanted to empower these women and to help them understand their worth beyond childbearing.” The Isuroon project evolved into a nonprofit dedicated to giving Somali women in Minnesota the tools and resources they need to thrive. In less than seven years, Isuroon a Somali word meaning “woman taking care of herself” has created a health support network, developed an informational website and partnered with dozens of community groups, catering to the specific needs of female Somali immigrants.
The organization also offers individual health counseling, food distribution, legal aid, education and job placement resources and referrals. The need for resources in the Somali community in Minnesota is substantial. Census numbers put the state’s Somali population at about 40,000, although community activists have said it’s higher and growing. And since men and older boys take longer to go through immigration screening processes, a majority of Somali households in the Twin Cities are female-led.‘The bottom line is health care access.’ While its direct services such as health care counseling and food distribution are integral to the organization, Weli an activist and public health graduate student with two decades of experience in the medical field considers Isuroon’s work in public-health research and legislative lobbying two of its most important aspects.
TOP TWEETS
@FGSspokesman” @SomaliaDeputyPM met with his counterpart of Jordan, discussed the bilateral relations b/w the 2 countries & investment chances in Somalia.
@HarunMaruf: BREAKING: Alleged electoral malpractices in Somalia could be referred to the UN Security Council if Somali leaders fail to act: source
@RuqiaBotan: #SomaliYouth crave genuine partnership. They are the key vehicle for #stability and #Peace in #somalia @EU_in_Somalia @heybadcenter
@HarunMaruf: Pres Hassan Sh Mohamud meets Jordan’s Deputy PM for Economic Affairs and Minister of State for Investment Affairs Jawad Anani in Mogadishu.
@hiiraan: UN Peacebuilding Fund approves Kenya-Somalia Cross-Border Project for Somali Refugees
http://www.hiiraan.com/news4/
@wakiilorg: Statement:The International community calls for accountability,transparency &credibility in the ongoing #Somaliaelections#Doorashada2016
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud welcomes Deputy Prime Minister of Jordan Dr Jawaad Al-Anaani who is on official visit, in Villa Somalia
Photo: Radio Muqdisho