February 10, 2017 | Daily Monitoring Report
Unprecedented Display Of Public Support For President Farmajo
09 February – Source : Hiiraan Online – 320 Words
Residents of Somalia’s capital celebrated Farmajo’s election for the second straight day with throngs of cheerful Somalis descending on one of Mogadishu’s most famous locations. Daljirka Dahsoon, the tomb of the unknown soldier, is arguably Mogadishu’s best-known landmark. The giant obelisk is dedicated to the countless soldiers who died in defense of the Republic. Somalis come to Daljirka Dahsoon in protest, and in celebration; a place Abdisalan Nur said that is “one of the few places that have always belonged to the people of Mogadishu.”
You don’t have to look far to feel the optimism in Mogadishu’s streets. We took a bajaj or tuk-tuk as its known in other parts of East Africa to Daljirka Dahsoon to see the impromptu celebration for ourselves. On our way there, our bajaj driver, Osman Mohamud Farah, a gangly 23-year old student told us that this is the first time in four years that he’s driven his bajaj streets on this route. “Even though Farmajo was elected President yesterday, I can feel the change already.” As we drove to the destination, we listened to local radio program describing celebratory scenes across Somalia. It’s official, Somalia’s people have been gripped with Farmajo-fever.
As we neared our destination, a military vehicle pulled up beside us to give civilians who were walking to the demonstration a lift. Passerbys filmed the soldiers as they helped children on to the back of their technicals, pick-up trucks fitted with an anti-aircraft gun. This friendly gesture may seem ordinary in most places, but in battle-fatigued Mogadishu, soldiers and civilians fear one another. We arrived at Daljirka Dahsoon and saw thousands of Mogadishu residents singing and dancing all over the public square as they snapped photos to share with their friends. They greeted soldiers passing by, begging them to fire in the air; most happily obliged despite a call from the government asking soldiers to stop firing live ammunition into the air.
Key Headlines
- Unprecedented Display Of Public Support For President Farmajo (Hiiraan Online)
- President Farmajo Speaks To VOA Somali (VOA Somali)
- Somali Shilling Gains Against The Dollar In Mogadishu After The Election of President Farmajo (BBC Somali)
- President Farmajo Hosts Dinner For His Competitors In The Presidential Election (Jowhar.com)
- ISWA President Sharif Hassan Urges The Public And International Partners To Work With The New President (Hiiraan Online)
- UN Chief Urges Somalia’s New President To Form Inclusive Government (Belfast Telegraph)
- New President Of Somalia Inspires Optimism Among Somali Community In Minnesota (Star Tribune)
- The Big Cheese: Why President Farmaajo Holds So Much Hope For Somalia (African Arguments)
NATIONAL MEDIA
President Farmajo Speaks To VOA Somali
09 February – Source: Jowhar.com – 241 Words
Somalia’s newly elected president Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo has given his first interview to the VOA Somali Service. In the first part of the interview, he talked about a range of issues including his government’s plan for the first 100 days, bringing back justice and reaching out to the drought-affected people.
Farmajo sent his condolences to the family and friends of Puntland’s former president Adde Muse Hirsi who died in the United Arab Emirate the same day Farmajo was elected as president of Somalia.He expressed his happiness over the conclusion of the electoral process saying that he is pleased with the smooth transfer of power.He called on the people to stop the demonstrations in support of his election noting that campaigning time has ended and it was time for action.
Commenting on what his plan for the first 100 days of his government will be, he said that his first assignment will be to name a prime minister who will design the plans for the government. But he said that some of the core values of his government will include the protection of public trust, bringing back justice to the country and reaching out to the drought-affected people. He further said that he will do his best to avoid political wrangles between him and his incoming Prime Minister , a tendency that was popular in previous governments. He thanked the armed forces for their role in keeping the security during the electoral process.
Somali Shilling Gains Against The Dollar In Mogadishu After The Election of President Farmajo
09 February – Source: BBC Somali – 180 Words
The Somali shilling has slightly gained against the globally stronger dollar on Thursday and money exchangers in the capital said they expect it to gain strength further. Speaking to BBC Somali, a local money exchanger Adan Bakar Ali said the Somali shilling hit 23,000 to the dollar, slightly stronger than Wednesday’s close of 24,200 per dollar.
Ali attributed the increase of Somali shillings value to huge amount of dollars that entered the market and the election results since the incoming president pledged to pay the armed forces and civil servants. “Previously there was not enough dollars in the market, but huge amount of dollars entered the market in the past few days, thus the depreciation of the dollar,” he said. He hoped that this might reduce the inflation in the city and affect the price of basic food.The dollar is the major trading currency in Mogadishu market after Somali shilling lost value due to the more than two decades old conflict in the country, with most locals receiving money from the relatives abroad in form of dollars.
President Farmajo Hosts Dinner For His Competitors In The Presidential Election
09 February – Source: Jowhar.comi – 131 Words
Newly elected Somali President hosted a dinner for the presidential candidates who vied for the country’s top seat along him. Majority of them supported him in the second round of the elections seeing the defeat of the incumbent president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.The presidential candidates welcomed Farmajo’s success and said that their commitment to vote for change has come true.
Though the media was not invited into the meeting, the president thanked them for their support and said he still needed their support to lead the country in the right direction.Some of the presidential candidates reportedly urged him to include some of them in the new government. With the premiership position slated for Hawiye clan, various meetings have been reported in the capital lobbying for specific individuals for the position.
ISWA President Sharif Hassan Urges The Public And International Partners To Work With The New President
09 February – Source: Hiiraan Online – 82 Words
President of Southwest President Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan has expressed optimism that the leadership transition witnessed in the country might lead to development, and restoration of the rule of law.He said the need for a leadership change was imperative, and hoped that the new president will work to unify the people and restore peace and development.He called on the Somali public and the international community to work with the new president in his bid to tackle the many problems the country faces.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
UN Chief Urges Somalia’s New President To Form Inclusive Government
10 February – Source: Belfast Telegraph – 130 Words
United Nations secretary general Antonio Guterres is calling on Somalia’s new president to quickly form an inclusive cabinet.UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the top priority for the government led by Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo, who was elected on Wednesday, must be tackling the current drought and “the imperative of averting a famine”
Mr Dujarric said Mr Guterres hoped the new government would also work with the states to “tackle urgent national priorities immediately, including finalising the constitution and establishing effective national security forces”.Mr Guterres expressed appreciation to international partners “for their vital support to the electoral process and continuing humanitarian assistance” and praised former president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and prime minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke both for their work and for allowing a smooth handover to the new president.
New President Of Somalia Inspires Optimism Among Somali Community In Minnesota
09 February- Source: Star Tribune -546 Words
Guled Ibrahim checked Facebook constantly in the early morning hours Wednesday, anxious for news of Somalia’s presidential election half a world away.Ibrahim finally saw what he wanted: After two rounds of voting, incumbent President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud conceded defeat and Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, a former prime minister who holds dual Somali-U.S. citizenship, emerged as the winner. His victory prompted an outpouring of support from the Somali community in Minnesota, where many shared a sense of optimism and relief.”I never met this guy, but I am so excited,” said Ibrahim, of St. Louis Park.
Mohamed, known by his nickname “Farmajo,” was born in Mogadishu but came to the United States in the 1980s. He did not live in Minnesota, but he has visited, and local residents campaigned for him through social media, noting his efforts to root out Al-Shabab and government corruption. They held a party “to show the president Minnesota supports him” Thursday in Minneapolis.”Victory, victory, victory!” said Ayan Isse, executive director of the nonprofit Women Child Safe Center in Minneapolis. “A new dawn has begun for us.”
Mohamed was sworn in immediately Wednesday, and many Somalis in Minnesota said the peaceful transition showed an end of tribal division and a move toward democracy in a country that has struggled for more than a quarter-century.They also said they felt a personal connection as a fellow Somali-American was elected to lead the country at a time when ties between the United States and Somalia need mending.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order — stayed by an appeals court Thursday — pausing refugee resettlement and barring travelers from Somalia and six other majority-Muslim countries from entering the United States. And during the presidential campaign, Trump suggested Somali refugees put a strain on Minnesota.But Abdirizak Bihi, a Somali community activist, said he has high hopes Mohamed can build a relationship between Somalia and the United States.”It’s very important that he has a connection to the United States,” Bihi said. “America is a leader in the international community and Somalia needs the international community more than ever to rebuild.”
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“Farmaajo’s popularity amongst the people combined with his mandate – the biggest since 1967 – gives the new president a tremendous opportunity to move Somalia towards stability, democracy and prosperity,”
The Big Cheese: Why President Farmaajo Holds So Much Hope For Somalia
09 February – Source: African Arguments – 865 Words
On 8 February, the protracted Somalia elections finally came to an end to widespread celebrations and surprise as Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo was appointed as the new president.The former prime minister was one of 21 candidates vying to be Somalia’s 9th president in a process involving 329 newly-elected lawmakers. The decision went to a second round of voting in which Farmaajo received 184 votes to the incumbent Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s 97, prompting to the latter to concede peacefully.This outcome came as a huge but largely welcome shock to most.
The new president – known as Farmaajo, Italian for “cheese”, because of his reported love of the food – first became a well-known figure in Somalia in November 2010. At that time, he had been living and working in the US, where he holds dual citizenship, for 25 years. But he was suddenly plucked out of obscurity in the diaspora by then President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed to become prime minister.It is what happened in the following seven months that made him perhaps Somalia’s most popular politician in recent times.Unlike so many of Somalia’s politicians, Farmaajo made an immediate and tangible difference on coming into office.
For the first time since 1991, he reduced the cabinet from the customary 31 members down to a core of just 18, dropping redundant departments such as the Ministry of Tourism and Wild Animals. He fought corruption, establishing an Anti-Corruption Commission and increasing transparency around government spending and ministers’ assets. And he ensured salaries were disbursed to government workers and soldiers who hadn’t been paid for months, an accomplishment for which he is still fondly remembered.
Under Farmaajo, large swaths of territory were also recaptured from al-Shabaab. The momentum achieved in this period is believed to have been the cause of the Islamist militants’ withdrawal from the capital Mogadishu, for the first time since their inception, just a month and half after Farmaajo left office.In 2011, however, the prime minister’s term came to an abrupt end. The president and then Speaker of Parliament Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden had been embroiled in a bitter power struggle for months, and it was only resolved when the two struck a deal that included an agreement that Farmaajo would step down.
TOP TWEETS
@loulouandgoat: I hope @Farmaajo2017 brings peace & prosperity to #Somalia
I look forward to return & met the wonderful people of #Mogadishu
#somaliadecides
@ActForSomalia: Next PM must be able to drive an agreed agenda for development forward within govt & promote partnership with the Somali ppl& inter community.
@Cidilibaax: Big win for refugees as court overturns plan to close Dadaab http://www.the-star.co.ke/
@JoeFreedomLove: ISIS has claimed responsibility for a hotel attack in Somalia http://www.businessinsider.
@ahmedvision1: Celebrating people frm th 2 long divided parts of Galkacyo removed all barriers & road blocks in th city #TheMomentumOfPeace #SomaliaDecided
IMAGE OF THE DAY
President, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo hosts dinner for former presidential candidates. Photo: Facebook.