February 16, 2018 | Daily Monitoring Report.
Security Forces Arrest Three Suspects For Soldier’s Murder In Mogadishu
16 February – Source: Hiiraan Online – 180 Words
Somali security forces arrested three suspects on Friday in connection with the killing of a soldier in the Somali capital Mogadishu. The spokesman for Security Ministry, Abdiasis Hildhiban said three of the five suspected killers were apprehended by the security forces in a successful target operation. “As you know, the security agencies succeeded to arrested three of five men who killed Somali soldier near Arwo Iidle, the forces were not far away from the crime scene,” said Hildhiban. He lauded the locals for their collaborations with the security forces saying strong cooperation between the forces and the public improves the security of the capital.
“The forces arrested these men after they (security forces) get tips off from the public. This collaboration indicates the interaction between our forces and the public improvement and that will also improve the security of the capital,” the spokesman commented.
Al-Shabaab’s assassins had previously carried out killings against soldiers, government officials and aid workers. The group lost the control of Somali capital, Mogadishu in 2011 after engaging in deadly battle with Somali troops supported AMISOM forces.
Key Headlines
- Security Forces Arrest Three Suspects For Soldier’s Murder In Mogadishu (Hiiraan Online)
- Banadir Regional Administration Lays Foundation Stone Of A New MCH In Wadajir District (Halbeeg News)
- Militant Fighters Surrender To Jubbaland (Hiiraan Online)
- Turkish Government Donates Medical Aid To Beledweyne Hospital (VOA Somali)
- Three Teachers Killed In Wajir Shabaab Attack (Daily Nation)
- Qatar Charity Provides Drinking Water To 350000 Somalis (The Peninsula)
- Hunted And Hated Somali Tax Collectors Gird For Battle (Reuters)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Banadir Regional Administration Lays Foundation Stone Of A New MCH In Wadajir District
15 February – Source: Halbeeg News – 218 Words
Banadir administration on Thursday laid the foundation stone of a new Mother and Child Healthcare centre to be constructed in Wadajir district of Mogadishu. The construction of the facility will be implemented by Qatar Charity.
The ground-breaking ceremony for the new centre was attended by officials from Mogadishu local government, Wadajir district and representatives from the agency. Speaking at the ceremony, the Deputy Governor Mohamed Abdullahi Tuluh commended Qatar Charity for its role to help Somali people. “We thank Qatar Charity and its officials who are attending this ceremony with us, for their tireless efforts to stand with Somali people,” Mr. Tuluh noted. Wadajir district commissioner, Omar Abdullahi Hassan who also spoke at the event said the facility will provide health services to the mothers and children in the district.
“Today, we have laid the foundation stone for the construction of Mother and Child Healthcare (MCH) centre, Qatar Charity is supporting us to build this facility. This centre is very important for us,” Hassan said. For his part, the head of Qatar Charity Projects, Abdifatah Adan pointed out the agency’s commitment to implement projects which are useful for the locals. Qatar Charity has been operating in Somalia for last one decade. According it annual report, the agency implemented 290 projects including drilling wells, building education and health facilities.
Militant Fighters Surrender To Jubbaland
16 February – Source: Hiiraan Online – 148 Words
Two Al-Shabaab militants surrendered to Jubbaland’s Gedo authorities in the past few days. Gedo chief of security, Mr. Bile Ibrahim said that one of the defectors surrendered to authorities in the town of Bardhere on February 12, while the second militant surrendered to authorities in Beled Hawo town two days later.
Mr. Ibrahim said the militant who surrendered to authorities in Bardhere was a senior military officer, who was armed with one AK-47 rifle, four pistols and mobile phones belonging to the militants. He was the leader when he gave himself up to authorities. He said he deserted when they were preparing to carry out a raid and collected all the telephones from his unit.
He will be handed over to the federal Ministry of Security, said Mr. Ibrahim. He added that several other high ranking officers, are in negotiation with the Gedo administration over their expected defection.
Turkish Government Donates Medical Aid To Beledweyne Hospital
16 February – Source: VOA Somali – 106 Words
The Turkish government has donated assorted medical aid to the main hospital of Beledweyne town in Hirshabelle. The hospital was affected by a severe shortage of medical supplies that have forced patients to buy medicine from pharmacies in the town. The donation was handed over to the management of the hospital who thanked the Turkish doctors for the timely donation as the town was in dire need of medical supplies. Dr. Hassan Omar Siyad, head of health services said there is a real need for medical supplies in the hospital and called on the federal government and the Hirshabelle administration to address the plight in the town.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Three Teachers Killed In Wajir Shabaab Attack
16 February – Source: Daily Nation – 307 Words
Three non-local teachers were on Friday morning killed while another was injured when suspected Al-Shabaab militants attacked Qarsa Primary School in Wajir County. The injured teacher escaped with a bullet wound in his hand in the 1am attack. The injured teacher was treated at Wajir Referral hospital and discharged. Among the dead is a man and his wife. Wajir County Police Commander Stephen Ng’etich confirmed the incident, adding that they had sent security officers to the area to assess the situation. “Early this morning we received reports that there was an attack in Qarsa Primary School where three teachers lost their lives,” he said.
Wajir AP commandant Mohamed Sheikh added that the militants also set up an improvised explosive device along the route to the school. One security vehicle responding to the attack ran over the explosive but no officer was injured, he said. “I can confirm that one of our vehicles that was responding to the attack was partly hit by an IED that had been buried along the route by the group but all our officers are in good condition,” he said.
The attack comes a week after suspected Shabaab militants tried to attack a special forces camp in Kutulo but were repulsed by the officers. Further reports indicated that several bodies belonging to the militants were later found. Three attacks have been carried out by the Somalia-based militant group in Wajir since the beginning of the year. The first attack was carried in January in which they destroyed a Safaricom communication mast in Kutulo.
Qatar Charity Provides Drinking Water To 350,000 Somalis
16 February – Source: The Peninsula – 394 Words
Qatar Charity has drilled and rehabilitated 316 artesian and surface wells last year to provide safe drinking water to as many as 350,000 people in Somalia, which made 2017 the most abundant year yet in the field of water and sanitation. Qatar Charity implemented these projects in needy and poor areas of Somalia to help those affected and underprivileged people cope with chronic and widespread drought and lessen the effects.
Qatar Charity pays great attention towards providing safe drinkable water, as it is one of the main areas of its work, where it very actively works, especially in countries that have major problems in this vital aspect of life, such as Somalia where only a small percentage of the population has access to clean water, due to drought and drying up of springs, rivers and old wells, and fluctuation in rainfall seasons in general.
Drilling of these wells and the efforts of health awareness about sanitation carried out and made by Qatar Charity in Somalia, coincided with its ongoing relief operations in Somalia, which included the distribution of dry foodstuffs and potable water through tanks transporting water to remote areas. Qatar Charity signed a cooperation and partnership agreement with the Government of the Federal Republic of Somalia at the end of last year in the capital Mogadishu, to organise the cooperation in the humanitarian and development fields.
OPINION, ANALYSIS & CULTURE
“We pay various taxes by force. There is no beneficial return from the government. We do not even have roads and I have been paying these taxes at gunpoint for the last ten years,” 40-year-old minibus driver Hashi Abdulle said, referring to money extorted at government-controlled roadblocks.”
Hunted And Hated, Somali Tax Collectors Gird For Battle
16 February – Source: Reuters – 815 Words
Ahmed Nur moves through the Somali capital of Mogadishu with a bodyguard of six men, a pistol in the waistband of his baggy trousers. He speaks of his work in whispers; seven of his colleagues have been killed in the last three years. But Nur is no intelligence operative. He’s a tax collector. Now the central government’s imposition of a five percent sales tax last month, part of its efforts to win billions of dollars in international debt relief, have put him at the heart of a showdown with the country’s most powerful businessmen.
So far, the government’s efforts have been slowly working; domestic revenue was up to $141 million in 2017 from $110 million in 2016, said Finance Minister Abdirahman Duale Beileh. But much more is needed before the government is self-sufficient, a key step toward accessing about $4.6 billion in international debt relief. The final amount is still being assessed.
Somalia has been wracked by civil war since 1991, and the cash-starved, U.N.-backed government in Mogadishu is desperate to claw in the revenue it needs to pay staff and provide services like security. The military, which is supposed to fight al-Qaeda linked insurgents, is in tatters and a combination of corruption and cash shortages mean soldiers rarely receive their $100 per month paychecks. “People ask for security services prior to paying tax. But the government cannot deliver the required services to the public unless tax is collected,” Nur confided to Reuters in a restaurant, glancing over his shoulder. “It is like the egg and chicken puzzle.”
Some progress was made last year: tax agreements have been reached with airlines and telecoms companies, and an income tax exemption for parliamentarians has been reversed. “These are important measures and show the strong commitment of the authorities to reform,” said Mohamad Elhage, who leads the International Monetary Fund’s Somalia work. Debt forgiveness would give the government access to credit that could be used to fund services, binding Somalia’s often quarrelling federal states closer together.
It could also wean the government off cash from donors such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which often have diverging agendas that can destabilize Somalia’s fragile politics. “Increasing our revenue is a very important benchmark for the road map to clear the (debt) arrears,” said Beileh. “Our objective to cover our expenses is very important.” Achieving that will depend, in part, on men like Nur. Somalia’s Al-Shabaab rebels are known for their ruthless efficiency at collecting tax and spy networks that track profits. Businessmen misstating their profits are likely to get a terse reminder to pay the difference or face a bullet; tax collectors who cheat the movement could be executed, a former al Shabaab enforcer told Reuters.
Al-Shabaab were not available for comment. As an agent of the U.N.-backed government, Nur cannot dole out amputations or executions. If a businessman refuses to pay up he can theoretically be arrested, if he has no powerful friends to protect him. But often, they will simply prevaricate, said Nur. That’s what many businessmen are doing in the face of Somalia’s new tax. Mogadishu port has not unloaded a commercial vessel for nine days, port authorities told Reuters on Wednesday, as businessmen refuse to pay the new levy.
Trader Aden Abdullahi complained that he was already paying for port services and customs, and paying the Islamic tax of zakat to the poor. He can’t afford another five percent, he said. “We see this idea as intentionally or unintentionally direct economic war on Mogadishu traders,” he said, shaking his head in disapproval in his wholesale grocery shop. “The other problem is that the rebels tax us and I am sure they will also raise tax if the government raises tax.”
TOP TWEETS
@DalsanFM: 3 Teachers Killed In Wajir AlShabaab Attack –http://radiodalsan.com/en/3-
@engyarisow: We launched mini football tournament for schools in Hodan District. We must promote Youth & sports in#Mogadishu
@sepan_earth: The #Somalicharcoal export to the Middle East has been banned by the U.N. & the U.S. but the shipping labels have been changed to Product of Kenya. This is a flagrant violation of the ban.
@AbdulBillowAli: Congratulations Hon. Mohamud Siraj on your election as Member Of Parliament from #Kismayo, #Jubbaland,#Somalia. You have big shoes to fill. May Allah keep you safe and grant our brother & friend Abbas, Janatul Firdows.
@Goobjoognews: #SHABELLE RIVER, one of the two rivers which provide livelihoods to millions of #Somalis is drying up for the third time in three years. Somalis who rely on the river for irrigation and domestic use are now staring at both water and health crisis. WATCH THE
@UKinSomalia: #UKaid and @EU_in_Somalia are supporting@PremisPFM to help public sector institutions in the Federal Member States of Somalia fulfil their core state functions.
@Tarey_A: For those of you concerned about the Shabelle River issue, here is an excellent article that covers multiple dimensions of the issue & what’s needed (food for thought)@AbdullahiHamud #Somalia @AbdirizakOm
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Mogadishu Mayor Abdirahman Omar Osman (Eng.Yarisow) launched a tournament for Hodan district schools.
Photo: @engyarisow