February 19, 2015 | Morning Headlines.

Main Story

Somalia President Meets Ethiopian PM

18 Feb – Source: Garowe Online – 113 Words

Federal Government of Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn in Addis Ababa on Wednesday, to discuss the ongoing stabilization efforts, Garowe Online reports. The two leaders exchanged views on the role of Ethiopia in the AU peacekeeping mission in Somalia and bilateral relations between the neighboring countries. Ethiopian troops were officially integrated into the 22, 0000-strong peacekeeping force battling Al Qaeda linked Al Shabaab militants in central and southern Somalia in January 2014. Mohamud arrived in Ethiopia on Wednesday at official invitation on the 40th anniversary of TPLF, an armed wing that toppled the country’s long standing Derg regime.

Key Headlines

Security Sweep In Beledweyne Nets 50 Suspects (Garowe Online)
Khat Import Resumes After Temporary Halt Over Increased Cost (Radio Dalsan)
Ministry For Security Details The Security Operations in Mogadishu (Radio Goobjoog)
FAO Establishes New Butchery In Galkayo (Radio Bar-Kulan)
Somalia President Meets Ethiopian PM (Garowe Online)
Mixed Reactions As Kenya Farmers Suspend Somalia ‘Miraa’ Export (Coastweek)
Somalia Lauds Kuwait’s Leading Humanitarian Role (Kuwait News Agency)
Donor-Backed Body Questions Somali State Contract Awards (Reuters Africa)
La Brezza Owner Marco Abdi Dead At 59 (Calgary Herald)
Terror Groups Take Advantage Of Power Vacuums Insecurity To Thrive at Home (CNN.com)

SOMALI MEDIA

Security Sweep In Beledweyne Nets 50 Suspects

18 Feb – Source: Garowe Online – 124 Words

Somali security forces aided by African Union peacekeepers captured 50 people suspected to be involved in the killing of a renowned businessman in a massive sweep in Beledweyne, the regional capital of Hiiraan, Garowe Online reports. Beledweyne Mayor Mohamed Osman told reporters on Wednesday morning that the 50 suspects are being interrogated at the police station. Residents of Beledweyne’s Hawlwadag neighbourhood said that the sweep was the most intense door-by-door operation in months. The security operation comes after unknown assailants gunned down prominent businessman Omar Muhumad Nur on Tuesday morning. Hiran region, located in central Somalia has been a spot for inter-clan clashes and hit-and-run attacks by Al Qaeda linked Al Shabaab militants.

Khat Import Resumes After Temporary Halt Over Increased Cost

18 Feb – Source: Radio Dalsan – 147 Words

More than 16 flights carrying the stimulant plant khat have resumed their operation after disputes between Kenyan producers and Somali customers was resolved. Somali traders transporting khat into the country protested the decision by Kenyan khat producers to increase prices leading to a pause in the booming business for the last three days. Sources have confirmed to Radio Dalsan that the two sides have reached consensus which has resulted in the resumption of the multimillion dollar trade. Kenyan khat producers are experiencing pressure after several European countries including the United Kingdom banned the use of the plant in their countries. Somalia is one main consumers of khat from the Kenyan highlands. Somali anti khat activist, Abukar Awale is leading a campaign to ban the import and use of khat in Somalia.

Ministry For Security Details The Security Operations In Mogadishu

18 Feb – Source: Radio Goobjoog – 190 Words

The Ministry for National Security detailed operations conducted by special forces from the Somali National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) in Mogadishu on Wednesday. The spokesman for the ministry, Mohamed Yussuf, speaking to Goobjoog FM said that the operation was meant to inspect and hunt down the vehicles carrying security guards with illegal guns and to enhance safety in Mogadishu. “We have been planning to carry out an operation like this one for about three months. We deployed special forces from NISA to different junctions of the city at midnight so as to commence their operation at dawn,” Mr. Yussuf said. Mr. Yussuf noted that the commander of NISA warned the security forces conducting the search to respect the rights of civilians and to observe moral conduct while on their duty. He added that they will expand the operation to the outskirts in order to restore peace and stability in the city and in all of Somalia. Finally, he called upon Mogadishu citizens to work with the security forces to wipe out those elements against peace and stability.

FAO Establishes New Butchery In Galkayo

17 Feb – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan – 102 Words

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has constructed a new butchery in southern Galkayo that will be used by local meat sellers. The agency handed over the facility to Galmudug’s local government in a ceremony. Dr. Cyprien Biaou, the head of the livestock sector in FAO’s Somalia office said the construction of the facility was part of the agency’s efforts to help improve the basic social services in the region. He said they will continue such projects in the region. Galmudug’s Galkayo mayor Bile Dini Ali thanked the agency for the construction of the facility.

REGIONAL MEDIA

Mixed Reactions As Kenya Farmers Suspend Somalia ‘Miraa’ Export

18 Feb – Source: Coastweek – 636 Words

News that Kenyan farmers were suspending the export of the stimulant leaf ‘khat’ (locally know as ‘miraa’) to Somalia has been received with mixed reactions in Mogadishu with concerns over economic hurt and family relations topping the agenda. Three days ago, Kenyan farmers stopped the export of ‘miraa’ to Somalia, citing the move by the Somalia government to increase taxation on the commodity as unfair to the business. The Somali government has imposed a 100 per cent tax increase, an equivalent of 200 U.S. dollars per kilogram. An average of 16 flights depart to and from Mogadishu everyday carrying ‘miraa’ which is sold mainly in Mogadishu and retailed in various parts of the country. The economic repercussions of the suspension has hit many traders in Mogadishu whose livelihoods depend on sales of ‘miraa’. Most of them have been out of business for three days now, and will be forced to look for alternative source of income to sustain their families if the suspension continues.

Hawa Ali, a mother of five, said she has not been able to feed her children and meet daily bills because her source of income has been cut off. “I have been doing this business for years and all my children have been able to pursue their studies from this business. “So if this business stops today then I don’t know where else I will get income from,” Hawa told Xinhua in Mogadishu on Tuesday.Somali men have a tradition of sitting in restaurants mainly on the roadside taking tea then break into a long story session into the evening chewing ‘miraa’. But now that there’s no ‘miraa’ from Kenya, even the bar owners are complaining. “The last two days have been sad for me, because no one is coming for tea here. Most men come here to take tea and chew ‘miraa’ but since there is no ‘miraa’, my place remains empty,” said Rahmo Dahir who sells tea in a small restaurant in Mogadishu.

Somalia Lauds Kuwait’s Leading Humanitarian Role

18 Feb – Source: Kuwait News Agency – 288 Words

Visiting Somali Minister of Education Ali Haji has commended Kuwait’s effort exerted in humanitarian action and the Kuwait Red Crescent Society’s (KRCS) role in offering aid to needy and vulnerable people in different countries, especially in Somalia. After meeting with KRCS Deputy Chairman Anwar Al-Hassawi here on Wednesday, Haji said that Kuwait’s humanitarian aid has been offered to Somalia, thanks to the initiatives launched by His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. He added the KRCS has been contributing to humanitarian action for many years at regional and international levels, stressing that Somali people are highly appreciating the society’s humanitarian role.

He said that the meeting tackled the KRCS’s support for Somalia in the domains of health and education as well as further humanitarian action for orphans, inviting the society to visit his country. On his part, Al-Hassawi said that the State of Kuwait under the leadership of His Highness the Amir has been a leading country in offering aid to peoples, including the Somali people. Al-Assawi added that offering aid to Somalia comes in line with His Highness the Amir’s interest in alleviating sufferings of Somalis, noting it also affirms KRCS’s humanitarian role in helping needy people in all countries across the globe.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Donor-Backed Body Questions Somali State Contract Awards

18 Feb – Source: Reuters Africa – 657 Words

Most of the major contracts signed by Somalia’s government in the past two years were not tendered competitively and should be renegotiated or scrapped, according to a confidential report by a donor-backed committee that reviewed the deals. Somalia has awarded foreign firms management contracts ranging from port and airport operations to fishing rights, but donors have voiced frustration at the handling of public funds, prompting the creation of a committee to analyse the deals. The Finance Governance Committee (FGC) report, dated January 2015 and obtained by Reuters, said the FGC had completed a review of nine of the 11 contracts. “None of the 11 contracts were tendered competitively, nor do they respond to any pre-defined terms of reference or scope of services,” the FGC report said.The FGC, set up after donors criticised the government over management of public funds, has six members, three picked by the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the African Development Bank and three chosen by the government. It said advice offered to the government in “confidential assessments ranges from recommending the federal government negotiate an improvement in terms, to proposing the cancellation of those contracts that are of dubious benefit to the country.”

Somalia is recovering from more than two decades of war and relies on Western and other donor funding to keep it afloat. Its security also depends heavily on a 22,000-strong African Union peacekeeping force fighting Islamist militant group al Shabaab. While the FGC findings will not surprise Western donors who acknowledge Somalia lacks institutional capacity to engage in complex contract negotiations, it will reinforce concerns about poor transparency and worries that vested interests trump national priorities in President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s government. The government said the FGC findings were welcome and Mogadishu would act on recommendations. “It’s in the interests of the Somali people to do these kinds of amendments,” Abdullahi Mohamed Noor, state minister for finance, told Reuters. One contract previously reviewed by the FGC, but not one of the 11, has already been scrapped. It had been awarded to U.S. law firm Shulman Rogers to recover Somali state assets that were frozen after war erupted in 1991.

La Brezza Owner Marco Abdi Dead At 59

17 Feb – Source: Calgary Herald – 848 Words

Calgary has lost a legendary business man, restaurant owner and personality. Marco Abdi, owner of Italian restaurant La Brezza in Bridgeland for about 30 years, died of lung cancer on Sunday in a Calgary hospital. He was 59. A public memorial service and celebration of his life is being planned. “My father’s kind, compassionate, and strong legacy perseveres within the countless lives he touched each day he lived on this earth. His million-dollar smile and amazing personality will be greatly missed. My family and I could not have imagined a greater father, husband, friend and role model even if we tried,” said his daughter Madina.

Over the years, the restaurant has hosted luminaries including movie and rock stars, top business executive, as well as top political leaders. Abdi came from humble beginnings. He left his home in Somalia in the late 1970s to work in Rome as a caretaker in a restaurant. He came to Calgary in 1980 and worked as a janitor in a professional medical building across the street from where his Italian restaurant now resides. At that time, he was making $800 a month and thought “it was a big deal,” he told the Herald years ago. His big smile, which always greeted customers to his restaurant, was infectious. No matter what day it was, you were bound to hear Marco say “Merry Christmas” in a conversation with him. You could say it was his mantra. “People wait untilDec. 25 to call you and say ‘Merry Christmas,’ ” Abdi told the Herald several years ago. “For me, every day is Merry Christmas. My father told me that you are born with nothing and you die with nothing and every day between is Christmas. When you die you’re not going to take anything with you. My gift to you is happiness.”

SOCIAL MEDIA

CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS

“One thing that Somalia has going for it — compared to, say, Yemen or Libya — is a strong central government that’s not only taking the fight to terrorists, but doing it with the help of powerful allies such as the United States, the African Union and the United Nations.”

Terror Groups Take Advantage Of Power Vacuums, Insecurity To Thrive At Home

18 Feb – Source: CNN.com – 2, 469 Words

As leaders around the world say, terrorism can be anywhere. But some places have it worse than others. For all the well-founded worries in the West and elsewhere around the developed world, these kinds of locales are more likely stopping points than long-term homes for terror groups. Such violent, extremist organizations tend to gravitate toward less stable, more turbulent areas where they can operate more freely, recruit from a desperate populace and build up resources and momentum. If there’s a power vacuum, in other words, militant groups can more easily amass power. And that creates big problems for those trying to root them out at the source. Below is a look at some places where terrorists are operating — oftentimes in the absence of a central government with the resources to stop them — and what is being done about them.

SOMALIA

What’s the threat? Al-Shabaab emerged in the mid-2000s, and despite a concerted international effort since then, it’s still a threat to East Africa and Somalia, in particular. According to the U.S. government, Somalia’s gross domestic product per person ranks 226th out of 228 countries. Such rampant poverty can be fodder for extremists to recruit people who don’t see a better future elsewhere. And for many years, a weak central government didn’t give them much reason for hope. Taking control of Somalia was long Al-Shabaab’s main focus, as illustrated by its repeated targeting of soldiers, officials and institutions in the country. Yet, especially since the group’s then-leader, Ahmed Godane, in 2012 announced that his followers “will march with (al Qaeda) as loyal soldiers,” al-Shabaab has broadened its scope.

What is Al-Shabaab, and what does it want?

The Islamist extremist group’s international attacks include twin suicide bombings at a 2010 World Cup final watch party in Kampala, Uganda. But the most glaring, by far, came in September 2013, when its militants walked into the upscale Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, and began gunning down shoppers — allegedly torturing some hostages before killing them. The four-day long siege ended with as many as 67 dead and parts of the mall destroyed.