December 28, 2016 | Daily Monitoring Report
Jubbaland Security Forces Set To Launch Major Offensive On Al-Shabaab In The Regions
28 December – Source: Goobjoog News – 196 Words
The commander of Jubbaland State Forces (JSF), Adan Kojaar has said that Jubbaland would launch a military offensive aimed at wiping Al-Shabaab out of major districts in Somalia’s Lower and Middle Jubba regions. Kojaar pointed out that regional forces supported by AMISOM are preparing to wage deadly offensives on pointed strongholds used by Al-Shabaab fighters.
He said that his regional state was committed to consolidating the war against Al-Shabaab fighters in Middle Jubba region. “We were able to eliminate military bases in the region which Al-Shabaab carried out its subversive operations against the government in the capital and other regions,” he said. Kojaar also said that the troops were deployed in response to a request from the public to assist the administration in restoring peace and stability in the region.
The Jubbaland regional government is facing security challenges from Al-Shabaab despite the group recent loss of key towns in southern Somalia. Al-Shabaab, which is believed to have thousands of fighters in its ranks, controls much of Middle and Lower Jubba in southern Somalia and regularly launches attacks in the capital Mogadishu. Al-Shabaab has since resorted to tactics that include suicide bombings and assassinations of government officials.
Key Headlines
- Jubbaland Security Forces Set To Launch Major Offensive On Al-Shabaab In The Regions (Goobjoog News)
- New Parliament Assumes Legislative Authority Says Federal MP (Garowe Online)
- Somalia’s Presidential Candidates Express Concern Over NLF Decision To Increase The Senatorial Seats(Goobjoog News)
- Somalia’s First Female Presidential Aspirant Assumes Watchdog Role After Pullout (Africanews)
- Women’s Workshop In Somalia Lifeline To Community (Daily Sabah)
- After Decades Of Violence Can Somalia Ever Hold A Free Democratic Election? (Los Angeles Times)
NATIONAL MEDIA
New Parliament Assumes Legislative Authority, Says Federal MP
28 December – Source: Garowe Online – 275 Words
Former Second Deputy Speaker and a current Member of Parliament in the 10th Federal Parliament of Somalia, Mahad Abdulle Awad, stated the new Parliament has assumed legislative mandate following inauguration event in the capital Mogadishu on Tuesday. The 282 legislators sworn in comprised of 242 MPs of the Lower House and 41 Senators of the Upper House. The ceremony took place at the General Kahiye Police Academy in Mogadishu. Awad said the Federal Parliament has assumed the legislative responsibility of the country, and in the coming days it will convene its first parliamentary sessions.
However, he commended the National Leadership Forum (NLF) for their role to ensure political transition in the country, but revealed the Federal Parliament is the sole institution mandated to oversee the upcoming presidential election. Earlier, NLF has imposed conditional fee of $30,000 and endorsement from 20 Federal MPs on the candidates who are willing to compete for the top office of the country.
Awad noted that during the presidential election in 2012 candidates paid $10,000, however, the new Parliament will decide on the set of conditions for the presidential hopefuls. He said that Somali leaders have no authority over the forthcoming Somali election scheduled in January 2017, as the new parliamentarians have been sworn in.
The conditional colossal fee was opposed by opposition presidential aspirants, who accused Somali leaders of abuse of office and public funds misappropriation to favor their presidential campaign at the detriment of other presidential hopefuls. The new lawmakers are set to elect the new Speakers of Lower and Upper Houses in a secret ballot, which will be followed by a similar process for the new Somali President.
Somalia’s Presidential Candidates Express Concern Over NLF Decision To Increase The Senatorial Seats
28 December – Source: Goobjoog News – 282 Word
Somalia’s presidential candidates have expressed concerned over the decision of Somali National Leadership Forum (NLF) to increase the number of Upper House seats to seventy two. In a statement jointly issued by six presidential candidates, they said the expansion of the number is gross violation of Somalia’s provisional constitution. “According to the provisional constitution article 72, the number of the Upper House shall not be more than fifty four based on the eighteen regions that existed before 1991. Therefore, this violated the constitution,” said the statement.
Abdirahman Abdishakur, Abdikadir Osoble, Jibril Ibrahim Abdulle, Saed Abdulahi Deni, Mohamed Ahmed Tarsan and Mohamed Ali Americo said in the statement that the number of senatorial seats which increased from 54 to 72 is politically inconceivable to undertake in midst of electoral process that is already shrouded in corruption, manipulation and secrecy. “Worst yet, The NLF agreed the additional member to be handpicked by the regional presidents provided by the final approval the federal president,” said the presidential aspirants.
The candidates warned that the move might potentially lead a new political crisis that could likely precipitate distrust among Somali clan. The sentiment comes barely a day after International community said it gravely concerned over a number of decisions announced by the National Leadership Forum (NLF) in its communiqué dated 24 December 2016.
The community said it wishes to see the electoral process go forward with the existing 54 seats in the Upper House as stipulated under Somalia’s Provisional Constitution. “Any further expansion of the Upper House should only be contemplated after the presidential vote has been held in the new federal parliament and implemented through a proper constitutional process,” said the statement issued by international community.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somalia’s First Female Presidential Aspirant Assumes Watchdog Role After Pullout
28 December – Source: Africanews – 411 Words
The first woman to express interest in becoming the next president of Somalia has now decided to serve the country as an anti-corruption watchdog following her pullout from the contest. 44-year-old Fadumo Dayib announced her pull out to Africa News which she blamed on the “unparalleled corruption and rigging” taking place in Somalia. “I do not want to legitimize something that is unconstitutional. First of all, the 4.5 apartheid clan-based system is unconstitutional,” she said on Tuesday citing an unequal level field and disregard of rule of law. I do not want to legitimize something that is unconstitutional. First of all, the 4.5 apartheid clan-based system is unconstitutional.
Fadumo accused the “heavily funded” incumbent president and prime minister of being busy rigging the system using state resources and apparatus to fund their own campaigns. She condemned the additional 18 seats added to the Upper House of Parliament as unconstitutional. “What this will call for is that the MPs and Senators will be paid a salary of 1 million dollars every month. This is a country where over 73% of the population lives on less that 2 dollars a day. How are we going to afford 1 million dollars every month for our Upper and Lower house,” she said.
She explained that her attempt to contest despite the clan-based system which has been in place since 1990 was due to a compromise on her part to see if it can lead to a democratic election in 2020. “But what I have seen on the ground is inconsistent with the constitution. The means doesn’t justify the end and this can lead to fresh conflict,” she warned, adding “people are buying senatorial seats for $1.3 million and others are willing to pay half a million to enter politics”.
Women’s Workshop In Somalia Lifeline To Community
28 December – Source: Daily Sabah – 416 Words
Women living in Adalet Refugee Camp, located in rural parts of the Somali capital Mogadishu, are fighting against unemployment by weaving straws and making pottery to contribute to their family budget.Somali women are beginning to take up traditional handcrafts that they inherited from their ancestors because of the cut down in humanitarian aid sent to refugee camps as well as tough living conditions, depreciation of local currency, inflation and the country’s economic difficulties.
The camp mostly hosts refugees originating from Lower Shebelle, where al-Shabaab militants and state forces regularly clash and drought rules over the terrain. Having escaped the conflict, however, people living in the refugee camp face economic problems as soon as they arrive.
Nearly 100 women, sick and tired of waiting for humanitarian aid to arrive, have began to work early in the morning at a humble workshop they erected with donations, singing their songs. The workshop, where Somali women make pots, hand fans, baskets and brooms in every model, quality and price range, offers employment to women who have to provide for their families.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA) correspondent, Fatima Muhammed, one of the workers at the workshop, said she is racing against time to make hand woven baskets despite her advanced age. “We are coming here to earn our bread and to take care of our children,” Muhammad said, as she was taking her seat and choosing colors for her next basket.Zehra Ali, the manager of workshop said, “Women are the backbone of Somali society. Usually, women struggle with life all by themselves and provide for their families.” Ali who spearheaded the foundation of the workshop in the refugee camp said the workshop is a good option for women to earn money and provide security for themselves. “Thank God, we have been successful in a many things,” she added.
http://www.dailysabah.com/
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“Somalia is still seen by many international observers as too fragile and unstable to risk a one-person, one-vote election, because of ever-present clan rivalry and persistent insecurity due to an Islamist insurgency by militias loyal to Al-Qaeda and Islamic State.”
After Decades Of Violence, Can Somalia Ever Hold A Free Democratic Election?
28 December – Source: Los Angeles Times – 793 Words
In Somalia, a decades-long struggle for stability and peace was supposed to culminate this year in the country’s first democratic elections in nearly 50 years. Instead, a clan-based election system shut out ordinary voters, while electoral abuses undermined the credibility of the vote. That’s the conclusion of the United Nations and other international bodies, which on Tuesday cast grave doubt on the credibility of the elections. The assessment came the same day new lawmakers were sworn in, a moment that should have marked momentous progress in Somalia’s hoped-for transition from failed state to stable democracy.
The election of a president, originally due in August, has been repeatedly delayed amid corruption, electoral fraud, vote buying, violence and intimidation in elections for parliament. The parliament will vote in the president, likely next month. Members of parliament are elected by clan elders and leaders, not the general public. The U.N. and other international bodies, including the African Union and European Union, on Tuesday issued their gravest warning yet on the credibility of the electoral system, after the National Leadership Forum — a group of Somali federal and state leaders — abruptly breached Somalia’s Constitution by increasing the number of upper house seats from 54 to 75.
The NLF also sparked outrage by refusing to allow fresh votes in many districts where severe abuses had been reported. Such abuses were alleged in contests for 24 parliamentary seats, and the Somali electoral disputes panel, the Independent Electoral Disputes Resolution Mechanism, this month nullified the results for 11 seats and called for fresh votes. But on Saturday, the NLF dismissed that decision, enabling new elections for just five seats. A joint statement Tuesday by the U.N., the African Union, the EU and others expressed “grave concern” about the NLF’s action, saying that this “represents a blanket amnesty for some of the most blatant irregularities witnessed during this electoral process.”
The statement warned that unless Somalia takes action against electoral abuses, the international community may not be willing to work with the future Somali government. Six presidential candidates also condemned the electoral abuses in a joint statement Tuesday. “While this is a gross violation of the constitution, it’s also politically inconceivable to undertake in [the] midst of [an] electoral process that is already shrouded in corruption, manipulation and secrecy,” the statement said, referring to the increase in upper house seats.
TOP TWEETS
@AbdidahirAbdi: @VPMohamedHashi @UNSomalia-indeed, rigid interpretation of the Somali Constitution must be observed-with that Somalia can only move forward!
@Fatumaabdulahi:#Somalia has a more competitive electoral process and political landscape than many countries in the Horn of Africa.
@SalahOsman0:If this leaked #Somalia government’s budget is real, We have a big problem. PM’s office has more budget than Health & Education ministries
@RadioErgo:#Somalia:School becomes a luxury for pastoralist families hit by drought in Mudug http://bit.ly/2i6gpDA @unicefsomalia @SavetheChildren
@AmbassadorPower:2006: women in #Somalia were banned from sports. 2016: they compete in the country’s 1st natl women’s basketball tournament in > 25 years.
@HelenClarkUNDP:Future of #Somalia also depends on investment in & opportunities for #youth: 43% under 14.@UNDPSomalia @declerqun
@FionaBlyth:Landmark moment as people of #Somaliainaugurate their 10th Parliament. These lawmakers will build foundations for #onepersononevote in 2020
@wakiilorg:Candidates will contest again for the five annulled seats in #Somalia national assembly 10th parliament#Doorashada2016.
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Somalia’s Prime Minister, Omar Abdirashid and his Deputy follow the proceedings of yesterday’s swearing -in ceremony.
Photo: Radio Muqdisho.