February 18, 2015 | Morning Headlines.
Somali President Returns From Medical Checkups In Germany
17 Feb – Source: Al-Shahid – 91 Words
Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has returned home after a six-day medical trip to Germany. Parliamentary speaker Mohamed Sheikh Osman Jawari, cabinet members and MPs received the President at Adan Adde International Airport. In a recent interview with the BBC Somali service, Mr. Mohamud said he was in good health, but visited Germany for routine medical checkups. During his stay in Germany, he said he held meetings with top German officials where they discussed issues of mutual concern for both nations.
Key Headlines
- Somali president returns from medical checkups in Germany (Al-Shahid)
- From Zero to 20 – Galgadud Targets Women Teachers (Radio Ergo)
- Puntland President to Visit Jubaland Next Week (Gaorwe Online)
- Two Warring Clans Reach Peace Agreement in Dhusamareeb Town (Radio Goobjoog)
- Banadir Regional Admin May Impose Huge Fines on Car Washes (Radio Danan)
- First Somali-American To Serve On Metropolitan Airports Commission (Somali Current)
- Mandera Suspects Held 15 More Days (The Star)
- Regional Airlines Merge As Somali Airspace Draws Competition (Reuters Africa)
- Government’s Anti-Extremism Initiative Divides Twin Cities’ Somali Community (Minnpost.com)
SOMALI MEDIA
From Zero to 20 – Galgadud Targets Women Teachers
17 Feb – Source: Radio Ergo – 213 Words
Twenty young women from Galgadud region have been awarded two-year teacher training scholarships to bring women into the education sector. Currently, there is not a single female teacher in the region. The 20 women will soon travel to Mogadishu to start their courses, as Adado has no higher education institute. Anisa Mohamud, one of the teacher trainees, said she did not get the chance to go to university so this was a huge opportunity. “This is a significant step that will improve life for girls in school, as they need mentoring and special support from female teachers,” said Anisa, who finished high school two years ago.
Once qualified, it is expected that the 20 women will take up jobs as teachers in their homes areas. The scheme was organized by Himan and Heb administration’s education office and the umbrella of education institutes in the region. Ahmed Hussein Khayre, Himan and Heb secretary for education and youth affairs, said the initiative would attract women into the teaching profession and improve girls enrollment and retention in schools. He said girls often dropped out of school because of the lack of female teachers. Few girls finishing high school were given the opportunity to go on to university.
Puntland President to Visit Jubaland Next Week
17 Feb – Source: Garowe Online – 144 Words
The President of Puntland, Dr.Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, will travel to the southern port city of Kismayo next week according to presidency sources, Garowe Online reports. The visit follows an official invitation by Jubaland President Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed Islam (Madobe) who has visited Puntland twice. Both Jubaland and Puntland officials did not publicly comment on the regional tour, nevertheless insiders have disclosed that the forthcoming trip to Kismayo will happen. The visit by President Ali would mark the first since being elected to the office on January 8, 2014. Puntland and Jubaland leaders participated in a conference on the speeding up of the country’s timetable towards election by 2016 in Mogadishu. Jubaland on Saturday announced that it will launch military offensives in a bid to liberate Al Shabaab-held areas.
Two Warring Clans Reach Peace Agreement in Dhusamareeb Town
Source: Radio Goobjoog – 104 Words
Reports from Galgaduud say that the reconciliation conference held for two clans fighting in the region has led to a peace agreement. The representatives from Murusade and Wa’aysle clans signed a peace agreement at a ceremony in Dhusamareeb town. The ceremony was attended by the administration of Dhusamareeb district, traditional elders, politicians and local members of civil society to witness the treaty. The Dhusamareeb district commissioner, speaking at the ceremony, welcomed the agreement and applauded representatives of the two clans for their commitment to overcome their differences.
Banadir Regional Administration May Impose Huge Fines on Car Washes
17 Feb – Source: Radio Danan – 151 Words
The Sanitation Department of the Banadir Regional Administration warned that they will impose fine on the car washes alongside the main roads in Mogadishu because they discharge dirty water on to the roads. The regional administration was not pleased to see water from those car washes running down the roads and then forming puddles of dirty stagnant waters. The deputy director of the regional sanitation department told the media that from now onwards, heavy fines will be imposed on the car washes and their clients if they fail to contain the dirty running water, and tarnish the beauty of the city. Banadir Regional Administration repeatedly calls on residents of Mogadishu to contribute to the beautification of the city. The regional administration also calls on business people, especially those who do business alongside the roads, not to litter.
First Somali-American To Serve On Metropolitan Airports Commission
16 Feb – Source: Somali Current – 517 Words
On Monday, February 9th, Governor Dayton announced his latest appointments to the 14 member Metropolitan Airports Commission. One of the two new Commissioners selected was Ibrahim Mohamed from Rosemount, a cart driver who works for Delta sub-contractor AirServ and has been employed at the airport for 11 years. Mohamed will be the first Somali-American to serve on the MAC and will be the only current airport employee. In his 11 years at the Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) Airport, Mohamed has served many roles, including Baggage Runner, Ticket Verifier and Lavatory and Water Services. He said that his range of experience, on both sides of security, will allow him to serve the residents of his district and be a voice for the workers on the front lines.
“I am excited to bring the voices of the people that I speak to on a daily basis to the MAC. In my current position as a cart driver, I speak with hundreds of elderly and disabled passengers each day. I hear about their time in MSP and am the first line of response to help,” said Mohamed. “I am excited about this opportunity to serve and to be a leader in connecting new communities to the important work of the Metropolitan Airports Commission.” Mohamed and hundreds of other employees of AirServ at MSP have been advocating for improved working conditions over the last few years. “There are hundreds of workers like myself who are paid minimum wage, with no benefits. I’ve made up to $12.50 at various positions, but currently make minimum wage, which just went up in August to $8.00 per hour. I will work to make sure that workers at the airport are part of the conversations at the MAC, because when workers have fair pay, decent benefits and a reliable schedule, we are able to provide world-class service to passengers,” said Mohamed. “I will continue to stand together with my fellow co-workers as we fight for dignity and respect for all workers at MSP, and will always fight to make sure the needs and concerns of workers and passengers are part of all decisions made by the MAC.”
AirServ workers like Mohamed have been fighting for years to have the right to form a union with SEIU Local 26. They have taken direct action with disability rights activists to highlight the need for sub-contractors like Air Serv to value seniors and people with disabilities by paying the workers who serve them a fair wage with decent benefits and a stable schedule. SEIU Local 26 President Javier Morillo praised Ibrahim’s work to improve conditions at the airport and his new role as MAC commissioner. “We applaud Governor Dayton for insisting that a worker be represented on the MAC, and appointing a great candidate like Ibrahim Mohamed,” Morillo stated. “I am excited to see Ibrahim continue the work he has always done fighting to make the MSP airport the best airport it can possibly be for both employees and passengers.” Mohamed’s first MAC hearing will be this Tuesday, February 17th.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Mandera Suspects Held 15 More Days
17 Feb – Source: The Star – 127 Words
The Anti-Terror Police Unit was given 15 more days to continue holding the alleged Mandera massacre mastermind and his accomplices. The ATPU, which had been given until yesterday to charge the Mandera terror attack key suspect Salim Kitonga, told Nairobi magistrate Leonard Nderitu they require 15 more days to conclude investigations. Kitonga is being investigated alongside Somali nationals Musa Hassan, Maslah Hassan and Shukri Sadat over last year’s twin attacks that left 64 people dead. Twenty-eight people were killed in a bus on November 22 while 36 quarry workers butchered on December 2. Other suspects linked to the killings include Abdirizak Ali and Mohamud Jamal. The suspects have been arraigned in court but they have not pleaded to any charges.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Regional Airlines Merge As Somali Airspace Draws Competition
17 Feb – Source: Reuters Africa – 702 Words
Regional carriers Daallo Airlines and Jubba Airways profited independently for years in one of the world’s toughest markets, competing on routes to war-torn Somalia that most avoided. Yet as the guns fall silent, the rivals face a new battle that has pushed them to merge: competition from big international carriers such as Turkish Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines and flydubai, muscling into Somali airspace. “The odds are against us, but that is the reason we are making a merger,” Mohamed Yassin, chief executive officer of Daallo, told Reuters. “We are not sitting back. We are trying to put our forces together … to face the new challenges.”
Hardy entrepreneurs running airlines, money transfer firms and mobile phone companies innovated and thrived in Somalia for more than two decades, keeping Somalis connected to the world as the state was torn apart by warlords and Islamist militants. Now Mogadishu’s Western-backed federal government is slowly extending its control and imposing a semblance of political order, which is also changing the commercial landscape for firms such as Daallo and Jubba that once had the market to themselves. Turkish Airlines now offers a daily service to Mogadishu, while Ethiopian Airlines flies to Hargeisa in the self-declared state of Somaliland in the north, a destination flydubai plans to serve from March. Kenya-based African Express also serves Mogadishu and other Somali cities. Turkish Airlines said it had increased flights to Mogadishu in January to seven a week from four but said it had “no near future plans” to add other destinations in Somalia. “We are trying to attract other carriers to join the alliance to scale the business, to help growth and sustainability,” said Yassin in an interview in Nairobi with one-time rival and now partner, Jubba Chairman Said Qailie.
Government’s Anti-Extremism Initiative Divides Twin Cities’ Somali Community
17 Feb – Source: Minnpost.com – 489 Words
The Twin Cities’ Somali-American community and religious leaders are divided over an anti-terrorism initiative that aims to deter young Muslims from enlisting with the Islamic State and other violent extremist groups. Even while a delegation of local officials heads to the White House for a Wednesday conference about the Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) program, other local leaders plan to hold a press conference Tuesdayafternoon to raise concerns about the same program. At the Tuesday news conference in Minneapolis, representatives from various mosques and Muslim organizations in the state will outline several recommendations on how they think the CVE pilot program would best serve the community. One of their key recommendations: that the program be independent from the influences of all law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, the Department of Justice and the National Counterterrorism Center.
Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the program stigmatizes the Muslim community. “The Department of Homeland Security is not known to be providing funds to do after-school programs,” Hussein, who is organizing the press conference, told MinnPost last month. “There are other organizations that do that.” “We don’t want police, especially law enforcement agencies — we don’t want them to be doing after-school programs because their job is to investigate, their job is not to run after-school programs or to monitor after-school programs,” he continued. Speculation about the program and consequences for those who participate in it have dominated the conversations within Minneapolis’ Somali community for weeks. Though the program expands social services for Somali-American youth, there are also fears that information collected from youth participants will be used for surveillance and investigation purposes.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“If the UN desires stability in Somalia, it should help the Somali Federal government and regional administration to introduce programs that discourage the Somali people from consuming and trading Khat. Just like it is willing to spend millions on fighting FGM, it should also consider funding programs to fight a more serious enemy that contributes to the instability of Somalia.”
Abukar Awale and his Relentless Campaign Against a Drug of Abuse: Khat
16 Feb – Source: Wardheer News – 1,182 Words
Khat or Qaad is one of the three main enemies of the Somali people: the other two being politicized tribal affiliations and religious extremism. It influences the behavior of its consumers and contributes to the under-development and backwardness of Somalia. It may be safely argued that one of the factors that led to the weakening and eventual collapse of the Somali government might have been its attempt to ban Khat against the wishes of powerful traders who exerted undue influence on a drugged nation. There are powerful cartels that include countries and individuals behind its cultivation and distribution. It is one of the tools used by some regional countries to perpetuate their divide and rule tactics against the Somali people who although being the most homogeneous people in the Horn, can at the same time be classified as the most divided.
Most Somalis, including those in power, are high on Khat most of the time. They organize Khat gatherings that can extend from lunch time until the wee hours of the night. Most of the topics discussed in these unproductive sittings revolve around divisive clan politics that destroyed Somalia in the first place and continues to hold it down at the bottom rung of human development. When others are landing probes on fast moving objects in space, Somalis continue to languish in illiteracy and ignorance. The people who some credit with starting the ancient Egyptian civilizations, by virtue of their advanced knowledge of the stars, survive on the largesse of foreign nations. According to Wikipedia, “Khat contains a monoamine alkaloid called cathinone, an amphetamine-like stimulant, which is said to cause excitement, loss of appetite and euphoria. In 1980, the World Health Organization (WHO) classified it as a drug of abuse that can produce mild-to-moderate psychological dependence (less than tobacco or alcohol), although WHO does not consider khat to be seriously addictive. The plant has been targeted by anti-drug organizations such as the DEA. It is a controlled substance in some countries, such as Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States, while its production, sale, and consumption are legal in other nations, including Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Yemen.”
The United Kingdom banned khat after a long and painful campaign spearheaded by Mr. Abukar Awale, a Somali resident of London. They call him “Qaad Diid”, the one who rejects Khat. Awale managed to highlight the destructive nature of Khat in the Somali society in the UK. Apart from being a drug of abuse, Khat destroys family cohesion and plays a major role in the high divorce rate prevalent among Somali immigrants in Europe. Men hardly spend quality time with their families and prefer to chew the green and bitter leaf in crowded rooms filled with cigarette smoke, sipping numerous cups of over sweetened tea, and guzzling numerous pints of carbonated beverages. This eventually destroys their health and increases the likelihood of clashing with their spouses and ending up in the street after being kicked out of their homes. Many a wife was grateful for Awale’s successful campaign in the hope of reclaiming their men from the clutches of a powerful adversary, Khat.