December 4, 2018 | Daily Monitoring Report
Speaker Mursal In Collision With Farmaajo & Khaire Over Mukhtar Robow Stance & Finance Committee Disband
04 December – Source: Radio Dalsan – 255 Words
Somalia’s National Assembly Speaker Mohamed Mursal Abdirahman, failed to reach an understanding with President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo and Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire, over Southwest State elections. Radio Dalsan has learnt that the Speaker, held separate meetings with the President and Prime Minister on Monday night to discuss the issues.
Mr. Abdirahman also met with his Deputy Mahad Awad. The Speaker is said to have tabled three issues of concern to the President and Prime Minister, and has demanded that the federal government play a neutral role in the upcoming Southwest State elections. He pointed out that the government had publicly shown to favour two candidates running over, former Al-Shabaab deputy Mukhtar Robow, the hopeful regional presidential.
The federal government had earlier protested over Robow’s candidature. Mr. Abdirahman has asked the government not to send back the 100 federal police officers deployed last week to Baidoa, to maintain law and order. There have been concern that Al-Shabaab may try to disrupt the polls.
The Speaker also called for the reinstallment of the “disbanded” House Finance and Budget committee. His Deputy Mahad Salad had disbanded the committee over a controversial report on alleged fraud of $40 million, at the Ministry of Finance and the Banadir Regional Administration. The report threatened to divide the House, with analyst pointing fingers at possible machinations of the Prime Minister’s Office and the Villa Somalia. This is the first time Speaker Abdirahman finds himself in a collision course, with the President and Prime Minister since he took office in April 2018.
Key Headlines
- Speaker Mursal In Collision With Farmaajo & Khaire Over Mukhtar Robow Stance & Finance Committee Disband (Radio Dalsan)
- Puntland Vice President Breaks Rank With President Over Vetting Committee (Goobjoog News)
- AMISOM Delegation Meets Jubbaland President In Kismayo (Halbeeg News)
- Self-exiled Somali Opposition Leader Wants To Go Home (Standard Digital)
- Turkish NGO Builds Educational Complex In Somalia (Anadolu Agency)
- In Somalia Businesses Face ‘Taxation’ by Militants (VOA)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Puntland Vice President Breaks Rank With President Over Vetting Committee
04 December – Source: Goobjoog News – 180 Words
Puntland Vice President Abdihakim Haji Omar Amey, has disagreed with President Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, over the appointment of Vetting and Dispute Resolution Committee, to oversee the upcoming parliamentary selection process.
Mr. Amey said in a statement that the appointment of the eight-member committee was a unilateral decision by the president, which he noted ran counter to the state laws. “The selection of the members of the Vetting and Dispute Resolution Committee by the president, is not in line with the procedures, which has been used by all former governments,” said Mr. Amey.
Mr. Amey said, the president did not consult anyone regarding the appointment of the committee, adding the committee could not stand the neutrality test of vetting candidates. The president announced on Monday the formation of an eight member committee, which will be crucial in determining the fate of candidates for various slots allotted to respective clans and sub clans.
Under the Puntland parliamentary electoral system, clan elders propose names of candidates for MPs positions to the Vetting Committee, which declare them MPs elect after meeting the vetting criteria.
AMISOM Delegation Meets Jubbaland President In Kismayo
03 December – Source: Halbeeg News – 189 Words
AU delegation led by the head of AMISOM, Ambassador Francisco Madeira arrived in Kismayu, the administrative capital of Jubbaland state. Jubbaland and AMISOM officials have received the AU officials at Kismayu Airport. Officials held talks with Jubbaland authorities on security of the city.
The sides focused on the liberation of areas under the control of Al-Shabaab. Both Jubbaland state and AU officials have agreed on Somali military and AMISOM, to launch joint operations against Al-Shabaab. Ambassador Madeira who spoke to the media has commended Jubbaland state for its commitment to stabilise the region. “We appreciate Jubbaland for its efforts to achieve last peace. The leaders of Jubbaland have put more efforts to step up the security,” said Ambassador Madeira. President of Jubbaland has praised AMISOM forces for their commitment to help the state to defeat Al-Shabaab fighters.
After the meeting, the two leaders accompanied by Mohamed Siyad Adan, the deputy president of Jubbaland and Hassan Guleid Hassan, Jubbaland Police commissioner attended a ceremony, to opened a newly built police station in Farjano suburb. Among other AU officials who attended the ceremony is AMISOM acting Police Commissioner Ms. Christine Alalo.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Self-exiled Somali Opposition Leader Wants To Go Home
04 December – Source: Standard Digital – 286 Words
Self-exiled Somali opposition leader Abdirahman Abdishakur Warsame has said he plans to return to Mogadishu this month to mark the first anniversary of his arrest. Mr Abdishakur said he intended to hold a big rally in the Somali capital, which will also be used to honour five of his bodyguards who were killed as security agencies arrested him on December 19 last year.
The politician was arrested after a fierce fight between his guards and government security officers who were acting under a search warrant order on his home that led to the death of the politician’s four guards and driver. “I am a leader of the party that opposed the federal government. I was attacked by more than 20 security officers who killed my five bodyguards. We are going to hold a peace rally to commemorate this day and pay honour to the fallen men,” he said.
In an exclusive interview with The Standard in Nairobi, the former presidential candidate – who was released after spending a few days in prison – said he would not relent. “(Intelligence officers) didn’t produce one single evidence in court. They just wanted to malign my name but the court ordered that I be released,” Abdishakur said about his alleged treason.
He was accused of receiving money from foreign countries to destabilise Somalia, which has been characterised by sectarian wars since the fall of dictator Siad Barre in the 1990s. The opposition leader has accused the government of President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed of seeking to return the country to the dark old days. “It is a new phenomenon in Somali since 1991. It is a totally new approach by the current government which brings back memories of Siad Barre,” he said.
Turkish NGO Builds Educational Complex In Somalia
04 December – Source: Anadolu Agency – 134 Words
A Turkish-based aid agency built an educational complex for orphans in Somalia, according to a statement on Tuesday. The Deniz Feneri Association said the complex — which includes a cafeteria, dormitory, library and masjid — was built in the town of Buuhoodle, north of Somalia, has a capacity of 720 people.
A primary, middle and high school is in the 2 million lira-worth (nearly $380,000) complex, which was built with the help of a benefactor, said Mehmet Cengiz, head of the association at the opening ceremony of the complex.
“We hope that this facility will make a very significant contribution to the development of the brotherhood between Somalia and Turkey,” Cengiz said. During the ceremony, Sheikh Mahmud Yussuf, mufti of Buuhoodle, said his prayers for the Islamic world, Turkish people and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“Until recently, IS was active only in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region.But the recent wave of attacks suggests they are expanding their reach. Somali intelligence sources say IS set off a bomb outside Mogadishu’s Salama bank on September 14 after the bank defied the group’s extortion demand.”
In Somalia, Businesses Face ‘Taxation’ by Militants
03 December – Source: VOA – 1233 Words
Al-Shabab and pro-Islamic State militants in Somalia are engaged in an economic war, and it is the country’s business sector that is getting cut down in the crossfire. Somali businessmen and analysts say the rival Islamist groups are targeting companies to an unprecedented degree with demands for so-called taxes.
Al-Shabab has already strong-armed business owners for years to finance its war against the Somali government and African peacekeepers who protect it. Now, al-Shabab is stepping up its demands, and pro-IS groups are apparently trying to fund its own activities by copying Shabab’s tactics of pay up-or-pay the consequences.
The groups are leaving a trail of bodies as a warning to those who don’t cooperate. Somali intelligence sources say IS militants killed telecommunications official Abdullahi Ali Omar in Bosaso on August 7 for not paying up, and that they’re also behind the more recent shootings of at least eight employees of Hormuud, the country’s largest telecommunications company.
Meanwhile, Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the shooting of businessman Nur Khayre Gutale on October 29 in Mogadishu, although it said Gutale was targeted because he was involved in the selection of Somalia’s parliament in early 2017. Abdirahman Mohamed Turyare, former director of Somalia’s National Intelligence Agency, says the extortion demands are strangling merchants who have managed to function, even thrive, in Somalia’s perpetual state of war and chaos.
“Businesses are paying three taxes today, al-Shabab taxes, Daesh [IS] taxes and the normal government taxes,” he said.”The businessman who is paying these three taxes, who started his business with a small amount, is going to be forced to flee to neighboring countries because the business won’t pay for itself.”
But not paying hardly qualifies as an option, says Hussein Sheikh Ali, who directs the Hiraal Institute, a Mogadishu-based research firm focused on security in the Horn of Africa. “If they don’t pay, they will be targeted, as well as their children and wealth,” he said.”The punishment is death.They have to choose between the two.” Al-Shabab is the dominant militant group in Somalia and the main threat to the business community. The Hiraal Institute outlined al-Shabab’s funding system in a report issued in July.
Over the past decade, the group’s finance department has “become the most ruthless collection entity in Somalia,” the Institute said. The report and Somali businessmen say al-Shabab agents collect “taxes” on many types of commerce in Somalia, including the sales of farm produce and livestock, and also demand money for general support and for zakat, or alms for the poor.
TOP TWEETS
@DalsanFM: Speaker Mursal In Collision With Farmaajo & Khaire Over Mukhtar Robow Stance & Finance Committee Disbandhttps://www.radiodalsan.com/
@taakulosom: Sahra Ahmed lives in remote and small village in Sanag region, Somaliland. Interested to go to school but she doesn’t have means. She is looking for sponsor for her education@ISRA_UK @WVSomalia @MartinaRubeska @MWLOrg_en@MWLOrg @SC_Somalia @CommunityScheme @HHShkMohd.
@Jihaan_jj: Amid this beautiful history of architectural bliss in the heart of Xamar Weyne. #Mogadishu.
@radiogarowe: A self-exiled fierce @M_Farmaajo admin critic,@AAbdishakur says he wants to return home & hold big rally in#Mogadishu. https://www.garoweonline.com/
@HarunMaruf: Somalia: Regional villagers known as Ma’awisley who are putting up resistance against Al-Shabab have clashed w/ the militant group in Guulane village near Adan Yabaal district on Monday, killing 8 militants including zakat and another finance official, according to local sources.
@Halbeeg_News: AMISOM delegation meets Jubbaland president in Kismayo https://en.halbeeg.com/2018/
@DrBeileh: Enjoyed a good discussion with @EU_in_Somaliacolleagues on #Somalia‘s fiscal & economic progress on the sidelines of the IMF SMP review meeting. The EU is a great supporter of our reforms & we are glad for this enabling cooperation & commitment. Partnership & progress.
@TheVillaSomalia: Message from H.E President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed on the International Day for Persons with Disabilities.
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Deputy Prime Minister Mahdi Mohamed Gulaid met with Peter de Clercq, the UN Deputy Special Representative and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, in Mogadishu.
Photo: @KhadarGulaid