December 3, 2015 | Morning Headlines
Two Warring Somali Regions Sign Peace Accord After Fighting
02 December – Source: Hiiraan Online – 240 Words
Leaders from two rival Somali regions, whose troops have been engaged in a battle for control of a central Somali town, signed a peace agreement on Wednesday raising hopes for an end to the violent clashes that have left more than 20 people dead. Presidents of Puntland Abdiweli Mohamed Ali Gas and Abdikarim Hussein Guled of Galmudug, as well as regional administrators in central Somalia, agreed to a ceasefire of the two-week long battle. They will accordingly withdraw their troops from the troubled area.
Somalia’s Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke, who brokered the peace deal, described it as ‘turning point’, calling on the two sides to abide by the peace agreement and end the violence, which displaced thousands of people from their homes. Under the deal, the two sides have signed to avoid further violence and incitement. The two sides are also expected to form a combined task force that will report to the central government, in the event of violations of the ceasefire.
Clashes in Galkayo town, which involved heavy trucks mounted with machine guns and anti-aircraft rockets, erupted following an argument over construction of a new road by the Puntland state. The move was resisted by Galmudug forces leading to the two-week long battle. The latest development is a major breakthrough with officials from both sides expressing optimism that it will finally end the clashes, which many feared would degenerate into a clannish warfare across the country. Somalia is just recovering from decades of civil war. Galkayo town is divided into two zones, where the northern portion forms part of Puntland state, while its southern part is governed by the Galmudug administration.
Key Headlines
- Two Warring Somali Regions Sign Peace Accord After Fighting (Hiiraan Online)
- Police Carry Out Security Swoops In Mogadishu Estates (Wacaal Media)
- Armed Clashes And Explosions Hit Marko Town (Mareeg Media)
- Fears High Amid Attacks On Somali MPs (Daily Nation)
- Somaliland’s Herders Devastated By Drought (Al Jazeera)
- Kenya Police Blame University For Failed ‘Terror Drill’ (Al Jazeera)
- AMISOM Senior Officers Train On Mediation Negotiation And Humanitarian Intervention (AMISOM)
- Somalia Fuels Child Slavery Through The Use Of Young Soldiers (Thomson Reuters Foundation)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Police Carry Out Security Swoops In Mogadishu Estates
02 December – Source: Wacaal Media – 79 Words
A contingent of police officers last night carried out security operations in several estates within the capital city of Mogadishu. They mounted house to house searches in several targeted houses in Heliwa. Banaadir Regional Police Commander, Gen. Ali Hersi Bare, explained that the operation targeted suspected members of the Al-Shabaab militant group, who plot and execute attacks in Mogadishu. He termed the operation a success and thanked the city residents for cooperating with security agencies. Ali said the officers conducted the exercise with decorum.
Armed Clashes And Explosions Hit Marko Town
02 December – Source: Mareeg Media – 90 Words
Heavy clashes between members of the Somali National Army (SNA) and armed groups took place in the Somali port city of Marko, the capital of Lower Shabelle region in the country’s southern region on Tuesday night. According to eyewitnesses, confrontation began when unknown gunmen attacked a government military base within the town resulting in a gunfight. In a separate attack, assailants hurled a grenade that exploded at the same army base in Marko. The number and extent of casualties, from both attacks, remains unclear. The attackers are yet to be identified.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Fears High Amid Attacks On Somali MPs
03 December – Source: Daily Nation – 502 Words
Early last month, the Deputy Chairman of the sub-committee of the Federal Parliament of Somalia on Security and Internal Affairs, Mr Dahir Amin Jesow, announced that steps would be taken to improve the safety of lawmakers.Mr Jesow reiterated that his sub-committee would discuss with the Internal Security minister, Mr Abdirizak Omar Mohamed, how to shield the MPs from constant dangers.The visibly shaken outspoken legislator was reacting to the attacks that claimed the lives of two of his colleagues in Mogadishu.
Mr Jesow said the unsafe MPs could no longer bury their heads in the sand.Indeed November started with the shocking news of two MPs being killed in Mogadishu.City residents woke up to the disturbing sound of two consecutive blasts that hit the upmarket Shafi Hotel International in the city in the early hours of November 1.Just about an hour later, it was established that an MP, Mr Mohamed Abdi Abtidoon, was among those killed in the blast.
A prominent hotelier and a senior army officer also lost their lives.As if that was not bad enough, another MP, Mr Mohamed Ahmed Gurhan, was ambushed while driving to Parliament.Mr Gurhan must have been alive to the fact that the current House has a lot of pending Bills to clear before the end of its term in August 2016.Gunmen in a vehicle cut short his life by blocking his way and opening fire.
Somaliland’s Herders Devastated By Drought
02 December – Source: Al Jazeera -193 Words
Vast regions of Somaliland, the autonomous territory that declared independence from Somalia in 1991, but has not been internationally recognised, are enduring one of their harshest droughts in two decades.As the wet seasons have grown increasingly erratic and the rainfall more sporadic over recent years, thousands of herding families across the remote coastal Awdal and Galbeed territories have been pushed into crisis.These are communities for whom livestock provide the only source of income, but the parched earth means that they are no longer able to feed and hydrate their animals. As a result, their herds are starving to death.The onset of powerful El Nino weather patterns in November have only exacerbated the current drought. And the forecast for December predicts even more devastation.
Aid groups, including the UN’s humanitarian coordination unit (UNOCHA), warn that the number of people in food security crises across the three territories of greater Somalia – Somaliland, Puntland and South Central Somalia – has increased by 17 percent to around 855,000 people over the past six months.As of October, the international humanitarian response plan for the whole of Somalia, including Somaliland, is only 36 percent funded.
Kenya Police Blame University For Failed ‘Terror Drill’
02 December – Source: Al Jazeera – 464 Words
Kenyan police have blamed a Nairobi university for failing to gain the appropriate authorisation from authorities prior to holding a simulated “terror” drill that led to the death of a staff member. Strathmore University apologised “unreservedly” on Tuesday for the incident a day earlier, where local police helped the school test its emergency procedures by staging a mock attack on the school.
The simulated attack, which included the use of gunshots, caused students and staff to panic and attempt to flee from the university campus. A significant number of people jumped from the windows of higher floors in a university building, with many breaking limbs in the process. A 33-year-old staff member died from the severe head injuries she sustained during the incident, while more than 30 others were hospitalised.
Despite local police being involved in the anti-terror exercise, Kenyan Police Inspector General Joseph Boinnet issued a statement on Tuesday, saying that drills like that conducted at Strathmore must “follow protocol on modalities of authorisation”: “Though we know that it was well intentioned, the ordinary drill is aimed at disaster preparedness and not carelessly allowing opportunities for actual disaster, as we have witnessed in this particular case,” Boinnet said.
“The level of alertness is so high in the country following existing terror threats that activities of this nature calling for rapid deployment and mobilisation of specialised security units must only be authorised and be coordinated by the highest security office in the country. “Investigations are under way to establish the circumstances in which the exercise went wrong resulting into death and injuries sustained.”
AMISOM Senior Officers Train On Mediation, Negotiation And Humanitarian Intervention
02 December – Source: AMISOM – 320 Words
Senior military and police officers from the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) are undergoing a three-day course on Mediation, Coordination and Humanitarian intervention. The workshop which opened on Wednesday, 2 December 2015,in Mogadishu, will also teach the officers negotiation skills.
At least 30 senior AMISOM military and police officers drawn from troop contributing countries are attending the workshop, whose trainers are from the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD). Mr. Kwezi Mngqibisa, the coordinator of the Somalia initiative at African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD) explained the aim of the workshop, “The training that we have partnered with AMISOM today will provide the kind of skills that are necessary for various components of the Mission to undertake their duties, when they interact with the local actors. And this is a continuation of the work we have done as part of a memorandum of understanding that exists between ACCORD and AMISOM.”
He added, “It will entail perspectives and skills on negotiation, mediation but perhaps more importantly it will also help the participants fully understand the work that they will be doing, vis a vis the specifics and nuances of this mission. As we all know this mission requires response that covers the humanitarian side and governance. These are the things the training will cover.” Captain Mercy Ruhinda, CIMIC Officer with AMISOM who is one of the participants expects to gain more knowledge on mediation and negotiation. “Usually, people tend to think that negotiating is giving in to the enemy but it is not. So I intend to achieve some skills on how to go about achieving peace,” she said.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“Local NGOs who monitor the recruitment of child soldiers into the army say the number is much higher. They estimate that 20 percent of the government’s soldiers are under the age of 18. And if you visit the frontlines of the fight against insurgents or look at the government’s checkpoints in Mogadishu, you’ll see these young fighters,” – Muhyadin Ahmed Roble
Somalia Fuels Child Slavery Through The Use Of Young Soldiers
01 December – Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation -626 Words
Child slavery comes in a multitude of forms, as I saw and heard at the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s Trust Women Conference, but it’s the thought of Somalia’s child soldiers that most haunts me.Growing up in violent and conflict-ravaged Somalia – a country that’s yet to find a solution to a 23-year-long civil war – the sight of children toting guns was part of my everyday life.
On my way to school in Mogadishu every morning, I would pass other children standing or sitting with loaded, fully automatic Soviet-made AK-47s – and I’d see them on my way home too.Some of them were as young as 11 – thin, malnourished, scary-looking boys with bloodshot eyes in tattered clothes. But these children weren’t fighting for themselves. They worked for the warlords who had turned Somalia’s capital – once a peaceful, civilised and dynamic city – into a ghost town.
Most of them were from rural areas, orphans whose parents had either died from famine or in the war. They were either forced to join armed Somali rebels in the 1980s or they chose to do so, probably because it was the only way to survive. Young and immature, they were easily manipulated into child labour, providing the warlords with an endless supply of fighters.They helped overthrow the country’s central government in 1991, even if they didn’t know why they were doing it. But their lives only got worse. And when the warlords turned their guns on each other, fighting over the control of strategic entities like the airport and seaport, the children fought their battles for them.
The warlords who controlled these young, loyal soldiers did achieve something, however. They seized power and money by becoming presidents, ministers and national army commanders as well as diplomats. Once in power, they let the child soldiers keep their guns, but there was no salary, no job and no rehabilitation.Today, the warlords don’t have the leverage they once had and they have little control over child soldiers but the most disturbing thing is that the government – now run by academics and civil society activists – still recruit children into the army.