December 27, 2017 | Daily Monitoring Report
We Can Hold Elections In 2020 In Somalia Emphasizes IEC Chairperson
27 December – Source: Goobjoog News – 291 Words
Somali Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) yesterday conducted an awareness conference in Kismayo, the interim state capital of Jubbaland emphasizing the possibility of holding elections in Somalia in the year 2020. The event held in the Jubbaland state guest house was aimed at consultative and awareness drive organized by the independent electoral commission regarding the election exercise in 2020. The meeting was initially opened by the State Deputy President of Jubbland Mohamud Sayid Adan.
Speaking at the event, IEC chairperson Haima Ibrahim Ismail stressed on their optimism of holding the elections process brushing aside negative comments portrayed by the state MPs during their interaction on the conference. “As an electoral body, we have informed you that we are capable of holding the elections of 2020 in Somalia. In 2000, we went to Arta, Djibouti due to widespread insecurity in Somalia. You elected the current state administration in a tent located inside Kismayo University. We achieved all these through consultation” chairperson Ismail said.
The above response follows when several state MPs who attended the event questioned the electoral body on the matters relating to security which is a prerequisite of holding free and fair elections in the country through “the possibility of being the country a safe place to hold one vote one person during the election in 2020.”
Present in the venue were officials from the national electoral body and several top officials from the state including state ministers, politicians, military officers and some members of the public among others. Early December, Somalia has registered 7 political parties embracing multi-party politics in more than 50 years. The registered parties include Justice Party, United Democratic Party, Somali People’s Party, National Democratic Party, United Somali Republican Party, Development Party and Somali Society Unity Party.
Key Headlines
- We Can Hold Elections In 2020 In Somalia Emphasizes IEC Chairperson (Goobjoog News)
- Al-Shabaab Kills Security Official In Galkayo (Garowe Online)
- Somaliland Foreign Affairs Minister Rebukes Huthi Threats (Jowhar.com)
- New US Airstrike In Somalia Kills 13 Al-Shabaab Members (Washington Post)
- 1000 AMISOM Troops Leave Somalia In Gradual Pullout (Daily Nation)
- Somali Refugee Passes Bar Exam Runs For Ohio House (The Columbus Dispatch )
NATIONAL MEDIA
Al-Shabaab Kills Security Official In Galkayo
27 December – Source: Garowe Online – 142 Words
Al-Shabaab said it has killed a senior Puntland security official in the volatile Galkayo city, the regional capital of Mudug province. A witness told Garowe Online that unknown assailants armed with pistols assassinated Mohamed Aden Yusuf Qaley on his way home after returning from Inji military base. Qaley was Puntland’s Darwish force’s weapons reserve commander in Galkayo. He was shot in the head and chest several times and died on the spot.
The killers, Al-Shabaab assassins, immediately escaped the scene before the arrival of Police authorities who launched an investigation and a manhunt but no arrest was reported. However, the reason behind the murder of the security official is unclear. The incident is the latest attack by the militant group in series of targeted killings in the divided town of Galkayo.
Somaliland Foreign Affairs Minister Rebukes Huthi Threats
27 December – Source: Jowhar.com – 107 Words
The Somaliland Minister for Foreign Affairs, Saad Ali Shire has commented on a threat from the Huthi rebels in Yemen which threatened to launch rockets in to Berbera if the Emirates goes ahead with plans to establish a military based in the port town of Berbera. The Minister said they have seen the video on social media but received no formal communication from the Huthi rebels saying that by entering the agreement Somaliland knew about the risks. He explained that the deal for a UAE military base in Berbera was approved by the Council of Ministers and the Council of Representatives and subsequently signed by the President.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
New US Airstrike In Somalia Kills 13 Al-Shabaab Members
27 December- Source: Washington Post – 126 Words
The U.S. military says it has killed 13 members of the al-Shabab extremist group with a new airstrike in southern Somalia. The statement from the U.S. Africa Command says the strike was carried out Sunday morning. A spokeswoman says it occurred about 50 kilometers (31 miles) northwest of Kismayo and that no civilians were killed.
The United States has carried out 34 drone strikes in Somalia this year after the Trump administration expanded military efforts against Africa’s deadliest Islamic extremist group. Al-Shabaab was blamed for the October truck bombing in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, that killed 512 people. Only a few attacks since 9/11 have left a higher death toll.
1,000 AMISOM Troops Leave Somalia In Gradual Pullout
26 December – Source: Daily Nation – 274 Words
The first batch of 1,000 troops operating under the African Union Mission in Somalia have left Mogadishu but the country still faces challenges in transitioning from the multinational force to the local one. Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission Francisco Madeira said the transitional government of Somalia has been progressively taking over AMISOM’s roles in a gradual exit plan to end in 2020.
Mr Madeira said the new government has been ensuring its national security forces are trained to protect the country as another 1,000 troops get ready to leave next year. Somalia’s soldiers are being trained by the European Union (EU), Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. But Mr Madeira pointed that the training is uncoordinated and needs harmonisation.
“The integration of the Somali National Army needs to happen with urgency. The training of the army must be synchronised and centred upon a common doctrine and ideology. “Amisom and the federal government continue with deliberations on the drawdown of troops. “During the transition period, the two will cooperate in joint operations by degrading Al-Shabaab to allow the opening of the main supply routes and movement of persons,” he said. He spoke at a briefing in Nairobi last week.
Last year, the African Union’s Peace and Security Council announced an exit strategy that would see some 22,000 troops withdraw and hand over control of security to the national army. Previously, Amisom trained 10,900 Somali soldiers, with an additional 20,000 troops coming as the mission prepares to exit. The troops were deployed to Somalia in 2007 to defend the government against the Al-Qaeda-affiliated insurgent group Al-Shabaab.
OPINION, ANALYSIS & CULTURE
“Ismail’s road to the Ohio Bar was not an easy one.Violence first pushed his family out of the Somali capital of Mogadishu, and then, as civil war spread, his mother decided the country was no longer safe. The family fled to neighboring Ethiopia in late 1997, where they lived about four years before going to Kenya,”
Somali Refugee Passes Bar Exam, Runs For Ohio House
26 December – Source: The Columbus Dispatch – 1132 Words
Before Ismail Mohamad could become possibly the first Somali-born attorney licensed to practice in Ohio, he first had to convince his family that he was pursuing the right profession. They knew he was tough, having escaped the violence of civil war in Somalia with his mother and seven older siblings when he was 5. They fled to Ethiopia, and later to Kenya, keeping up his education while facing challenges as refugees in an unstable region. They knew he was smart, earning mostly A’s at Northland High School after arriving with his family in Columbus in early 2005 at age 12. Pushed by his mother, who stressed education to all of her children, he took college classes while at Northland and helped mediate disputes at the school.
But becoming a lawyer? “There is a stigma with Somali parents, where almost all of them want their children to be doctors for some reason,” said Hodan Mohamad, one of Ismail’s five older sisters. “Mom wanted him to be a doctor.” That was a problem, however. “I don’t like blood,” Ismail said. Ismail’s decision to enter Ohio State University for a career in law, rather than medicine, troubled his family. But that anxiety faded away on Nov. 13, when Ismail raised his right hand and was sworn into the Ohio Bar.
Listen to the latest Buckeye Forum politics podcast “There is a big push for immigrant families to want to be doctors and engineers,” Ismail, 25, said. But he knew coming out of high school those were not areas he wanted to pursue. “Civil rights is a big issue of mine, making sure people’s rights are being protected, especially the immigrant community, the black community and really any under-represented communities.” Ismail believes he is the first Somali-born lawyer licensed in Ohio, but confirming that is difficult. Neither the state nor local bar associations track such information. If he’s not No. 1, he’s definitely among the first.
Omar Hassan, director of the Somali Community Association of Ohio, said the Somali community is proud of Ismail, but he doesn’t think he’s the first in Ohio. There have been others, Hassan said, specifically mentioning Hodan Siad, a Somali-American from Columbus who graduated from the University of Cincinnati College of Law in 2008. Contacted by The Dispatch, Siad said she moved to Washington, D.C., to pursue government work and was never licensed in Ohio. She is licensed in Maryland and Washington.
The ability to affect lives drove Ismail to law, and, he said, also has him exploring politics. He is running for the Ohio House in the 25th District, challenging Rep. Bernadine Kennedy Kent, D-Columbus. If elected, Ismail would become the nation’s second Somali-American state lawmaker, following 34-year-old Ilhan Omar of Minneapolis, who took office in January.
TOP TWEETS
@FAOstatistics: #DYK The donor community, lead by #UNFAO,@UNICEF & @WFP, has raised more than €1 billion to provide 2.5 million food-insecure people in #Somalia with life-saving assistance http://bit.ly/2BVNqNs #socialprotection
@DalsanFM: BREAKING Wadajir Party leader @AAbdishakurfails to appear before the Court Of Appeal for day 1 of hearing of treason case against him.The hearing was to commence today a week after the Banaadir Regional Court dismissed the case and the AG moving to the Court of Appeal #Somalia
@Somaliupdate: First batch of 1,000 troops operating under the African Union Mission in #Somalia have left Mogadishu but the country still faces challenges in transitioning from the multinational force to the local one. http://somaliupdate.com/
@RadioDanan: BREAKING:Hirshabelle regional state lawmakers approve the newly named ministers by president Waare in #Jawhar, the capital city of the state -Officials#Somalia
@Somaliupdate: Work Environment in #Somalia is Between Kiss up and Kick Down – Clan-based Interest, Exploitation and Corrupt Behavior http://somaliupdate.
IMAGE OF THE DAY
New Hirshabelle Cabinet Ministers take oath of office after they were approved by the regional assembly today.
Photo: Jowhar.com