February 21, 2014 | Daily Monitoring Report.
Somalia: UK MP visits Mogadishu
21 Feb – Source: Horseed Media/Radio Mogadishu/SNTV – 180 words
UK MP Tony Baldry paid a visit to the Somali Capital on Thursday a week after Britain warned its Citizens to travel to the war-ravaged country. The MP who was accompanied by the British Ambassador to Somalia Neil Wigan and other several colleagues were received at the airport by Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.
Both had a meeting at the British Embassy in Mogadishu which is located besides the airport, an area which is heavily guarded by the African Union troops. Somali President told reporters after the meeting that they discussed on enhancing the two countries’ relations. He thanked Britain for its support and humanitarian assist it’s providing to the nation.
Last week, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office warned all Britons to travel to Somalia, including separatists region Somaliland urging any British nationals in Somalia to leave. The office said that there is a high threat from terrorism, including kidnapping, throughout Somalia, including Somaliland. In April 2013, Britain reopened its embassy in Mogadishu after more than two decades of closure becoming the first European union country to re-open its embassy.
Key Headlines
- Somalia: UK MP visits Mogadishu (Horseed Media/Radio Mogadishu)
- Somaliland Somalia Airspace Conflict Discussed at UN Headquarters in New York (Somaliland Informer)
- Somali piracy profits go to investors (eNCA)
- Refugees not harassed says Lenku (Daily Nation)
- Jowhar farmers plant again after last year’s floods (Radio Ergo)
- UNHCR announces safe and stable regions for the returning Somali Refugees in Kenya (RBC)
- Meeting of Eastern Africa Defense Security Council in Nairobi (Walta Information Centre)
- Lawmaker welcome Ethiopian forces’ operations to oust al Shabaab in Bay and Bakool (Radio Shabelle)
- French army donates vehicles equipment to Djiboutian forces (Sabahi Online)
SOMALI MEDIA
Somalia: UK MP visits Mogadishu
21 Feb – Source: Horseed Media/Radio Mogadishu – 180 words
UK MP Tony Baldry paid a visit to the Somali Capital on Thursday a week after Britain warned its Citizens to travel to the war-ravaged country. The MP who was accompanied by the British Ambassador to Somalia Neil Wigan and other several colleagues were received at the airport by Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.
Both had a meeting at the British Embassy in Mogadishu which is located besides the airport, an area which is heavily guarded by the African Union troops. Somali President told reporters after the meeting that they discussed on enhancing the two countries’ relations. He thanked Britain for its support and humanitarian assist it’s providing to the nation.
Last week, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office warned all Britons to travel to Somalia, including separatists region Somaliland urging any British nationals in Somalia to leave. The office said that there is a high threat from terrorism, including kidnapping, throughout Somalia, including Somaliland. In April 2013, Britain reopened its embassy in Mogadishu after more than two decades of closure becoming the first European union country to re-open its embassy.
Jowhar farmers plant again after last year’s floods
21 Feb – Source: Radio Ergo – 326 words
Farmers in Middle Shabelle’s regional capital Jowhar have begun to plant again, nearly a year after river floods washed away their fields and last harvest. However, most are complaining that they lack enough seeds for planting.
Abdi Mohamed Qadin, who normally grows white rice, said they have suffered major soil erosion in the area and most seeds for his normal crop have been spoilt or damaged. “The floods left us without seeds and paralyzed the whole farming industry in the region,” Qadin told Radio Ergo’s local reporter.
“We don’t have seeds for white rice, therefore most of the farmers are planting maize and beans, these are the seeds available,” Qadin said. White rice is usually the most common crop grown in the region. More than 2,500 hectares of land are expected to be sewn with maize and beans this season, according to Radio Ergo’s reporter in Jowhar. The Barwaqo canal, the district’s major water supply for irrigation in the north, will be enough to feed water to farmlands across the town.
The revival of Middle Shabelle’s farming industry will create jobs for many young people idling in town due to lack of jobs. Ibrahim Mohamed Ali, who has been jobless for months, is among dozens of young men now earning from working at farms. “I come to work at 6am and after evening hours I go back home with some money!” Ali told Radio Ergo.
Somaliland, Somalia Airspace Conflict Discussed at UN Headquarters in New York
21 Feb – Source: Somaliland Informer – 205 words
The United Nations Commission for Human Rights (UNCHR) explored the differences between Somalia and Somaliland with respect to manning each country’s airspace. The UN commissioner Mr. John Ging while speaking at UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday
on violations of human rights in Somalia & Somaliland appealed for international community’s urgent humanitarian measures in supporting the Somali population in dire needs.
Responding to a question asked by a journalist with New York inner city about the airspace conflict between the two nations and the reasons why Somaliland has banned UN flight at a time when the UN has fully vested the responsibility of administering Hargeisa’s airspace to the Government of Somaliland, Mr. Ging hinted that there were several peace talks between the two nations and one such talk was brokered by Turkish Government in Istanbul where it was unanimously resolved that the whole of Somalia’s airspace to be in operation.
With respect to the ban on UN flight on the part of Somaliland, Mr. Ging disclosed that the Turkish peace moderator had indeed boarded a UN aircraft that landed in Hargeisa last year and further rubbished it as unfounded rumors based on hearsays as opposed to real facts on the ground meant to tarnish Somaliland’s image.
UNHCR announces safe and stable regions for the returning Somali Refugees in Kenya
21 Feb – Source: RBC – 177 words
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees announced the regions in southern Somalia that are safe for the returning Somali refugees in Kenya’s refugee camps. Head of UNHCR Kenya Raouf Mazou at press conference he held on Friday in Nairobi said that after a wide consultations with different stakeholders they found out Kismayo, Luuq and Baidoa are safe to shield the Somali refugee in Kenya refugee camps who are willing to return home.
Mazou stated that these three regions are relatively peaceful compared to the other south and central regions of Somalia. UNHCR assured that there would be no refugee who will be forced to return home unless he/she decides, adding that they would only help those who want to return to these three regions.
This official approximated the duration of which the repatriation of Somali refugee process will be two years. He also noted the visible increasing number of willing refugee who are returning back to Somalia. Somalia government, Kenya and UNHCR have agreed to repatriate Somali refugee in Kenya in November 2013.
Ministry of Sports Gets New Offices as President Silanyo Lays Foundation Stone for SONYO H.Q
20 Feb – Source: Somaliland Press – 137 words
Somaliland President Ahmed Mohamed Mahmoud Silanyo on Thursday officially opened the new headquarters of the Ministry of Sports and Youth building at the same time laying the foundation to a new building which will house the headquarters of Somaliland Youth organization during a well-attended ceremony.
President Silanyo presided over the twin ceremonies in the presence chairman of the national youth umbrella Hon Mubarik Ismael Taani, the Minister of Sports and Youth Hon Ali Said Raygal, executive director of SONYO Said Mohamed Ahmed and other top officials.
The Chairman of SONYO Hon Mubarik Ismail Taani on behalf of Somaliland youth thanked President Silanyo for his support towards the needs and priorities of the youth in form of the support the government offers and which are vital in mobilizing young people in Somaliland in order to engage with development issues.
Lawmaker welcome Ethiopian forces’ operations to oust al Shabaab in Bay and Bakool
20 Feb – Source: Radio Shabelle – 204 words
Mustaf Mukhtar Gudow, who is a Members of the Somali Parliament, welcomed the security operations that the Ethiopian troops have began in Bay and Bakool regions.
The lawmaker said that al Shabaab continuously oppresses the civilians residing in Bay and Bakool, adding that the regions will welcome anyone that helping the government and citizens to wage a fight against al Shabaab.
He said the recovery of the areas under control al Shabaab will allow the officials to help and offer services to the citizens.
Meanwhile, Gudow spoke about the creation of the new state for the three regions; Bay, Bakool & Lower Shabelle, which will take place in Baidoa where the new administration will be governed by leaders. He urged the residents of these regions to take part in the process of formation of the regional state.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Refugees not harassed, says Lenku
21 Feb – Source: Daily Nation – 179 words
The government on Wednesday tore into a report by a global human rights body on Somali refugees in Kenya, claiming the organisation was keen on slowing down the repatriation programme. Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Ole Lenku told the Nation organisations accusing the country of mistreating refugees are destructors with an “interest” in ensuring refugees do not leave at all.
“Those doing business with refugees have no business masquerading around the issue of refugees’ welfare. “Their interest is to keep refugees here and ours is to facilitate their safe return home,” he said.
Amnesty International on Tuesday charged that Somali refugees in Kenya are unwillingly returning home because they are being harassed.
In its latest report on Somali refugees, the organisation claimed that authorities are making life “unbearable” for refugees by either denying them registration or disregarding their identification passes.
“In recent years, there have been increasingly restrictive measures on the ability of asylum-seekers to register as refugees, and today it is almost impossible…Lack of registration is in itself a reason asylum-seekers consider returning to Somalia,” the report says in part.
Meeting of Eastern Africa Defense, Security Council in Nairobi
20 Feb – Source: Walta Information Centre – 348 words
The 15th Session of the Committee of the Defense and Security Council of Eastern Africa held in Nairobi last week (February 13-15) ended on Saturday. The meeting agreed to prioritize investment in modern methods of intelligence gathering to help forestall the eruptions of conflict in the region. The Defense Chiefs agreed that poor early warning systems were partly to blame for conflict and general insecurity, and that some of the recent conflicts might have been avoided if they had acted more promptly.
“We need to invest in early warning to forestall chaos” said General Wamala, Uganda’s Chief of Defense Forces. Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary of Defense, Ambassador Raychelle Omamo, the guest of honor, expressed her appreciation to the commitment of the defense chiefs and reiterated the need for the East African Standby Forces to become a credible tool for regional peace and security.
The current Chair of the Committee of Eastern Africa Chiefs of Defense, General Julius Karangi, Chief Kenya’s Defense Forces, emphasized the responsibility of the Chiefs of Defense to oversee the programs and activities of the EASF, and encouraged them to address all challenges that might slow down the EASF’s preparations for Full Operational Capability, due next year.
He noted that the EASF Technical team sent to Somalia under AMISOM in early 2010 so far remained the only action taken by EASF in support of peace support operations, and said much more needed to be done before EASF could realistically deploy in any more demanding situation.
French army donates vehicles, equipment to Djiboutian forces
20 Feb – Source: Sabahi Online – 90 Words
French forces in Djibouti on Wednesday (February 19th) donated military vehicles and equipment to the Djiboutian contingent expected to join the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), the Djiboutian Information Agency reported.
Djibouti’s Minister of Defence Hassan Darar Houffaneh presided over the donation to the Hill 2 contingent, with French Ambassador to Djibouti René Forceville in attendance.
Houffaneh thanked the French forces for their support to Djibouti’s efforts to maintain peace and security in the Horn of Africa. Forceville praised Djibouti’s role in promoting security in Somalia and the region.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somali piracy profits go to investors
21 Feb – Source: eNCA – 599 Words
Somali piracy has become a big business that profits large criminal kingpins as well as small investors in the diaspora, even as international efforts have cut back on their earnings, according to European Union and US officials.
Overall, however, Somali piracy has dropped to the lowest rte in more than six years as merchant ships carry better protection on board, and as military vessels from NATO, the European Union, Russia, China and dozens of other countries patrol the Indian Ocean waters.
In addition, 1,435 suspected Somali pirates or their financiers are now in custody or jail in 21 countries, sending an additional negative message to would-be pirates, said Donna Hopkins, coordinator for counter piracy and maritime security at the US Department of State, on Thursday.
She joined Francois Rivasseau, deputy head of the European Union delegation to the US, in briefing reporters at the State Department’s Foreign Press Center. The EU recently took over the chairmanship of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia from the United States.
Dispatches: Meet 1 of the 12,000 Somalis Expelled from Saudi Arabia
20 Feb – Source: Human Rights Watch – 382 words
Last week, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that Saudi Arabia had rounded up 12,000 Somalis and expelled them to their war-torn and lawless homeland, without giving them any opportunity to ask for asylum. IOM said that the Saudis would deport another 30,000 during the next few weeks.
Sitting at my desk in Washington, DC, I was immediately struck by the large numbers being forcibly returned to a place where their lives or freedom would almost certainly be at risk. Doing so is refoulement, a violation of international law. We knew the numbers were in the tens of thousands, important for understanding the scale of a violation, but we knew little about the people behind those numbers.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
What works well in Pirate Hunter, besides the riveting action told in first person by Mason, is his deft telling the backstory of the Somali pirates origins. How did poor, ordinary fishermen become extraordinary pirates? How did the wealth of the world in the 20,000 ships that pass through the Gulf of Aden annually play a role in that evolution?”
1% Somalia Pirates, 99% Somali People: Captured by British Ex-Marine in Pirate Hunter
20 Feb – Source: Huffington Post Blog – 1309 Words
As Americans queued in the early hours of November 28, 2008, in anticipation of Black Friday shopping, the chemical tanker MV Biscaglia was under attack in the Gulf of Aden.
With a security detail of just two unarmed men and a ship laden with tons of highly flammable palm oil, Somali pirates boarded the ship and took command. If the palm oil had been ignited, the explosion would have acted more like a napalm bomb in cooking the sea than the ingredient found in supermarket products, from cereals and baked goods to soaps and cosmetics.
That year, the MV Biscaglia became the 97th hijacked ship off the Horn of Africa.
For Carl “Rocky” Mason, one of the two security guards tasked with protecting the tanker and crew and author of the mini book Pirate Hunter, he had seen that action before. And it often began with violence.
Some crew member would be stabbed or shot with the pirates setting the tone by instilling terror. So as Mason fast-forwarded the outcome of the attack in his mind — being squeezed by teenage Somali pirates armed with AK-47 assault rifles and RPG launchers — he knew he had to abandon ship to survive.
It was either that or as Mason writes, “There was no way I wanted to come quietly, to spend the next few months being tortured in some Somalia hellhole.”
“The vast majority of Somalis are law abiding citizens, including the refugees who have sought sanctuary in Kenya. Yet Somalis, including citizens, have been victimised in security crackdowns over the last six months. All Somalis, not just refugees, should be treated with respect. The solution to terrorism attacks in Kenya is better preventative intelligence, not indiscriminate harassment of one community.”
Respect Somalis, both refugees and citizens
19 Feb – Source: The Star-Kenya – 226 Words
MNESTY International has published a report that widespread intimidation is being used to force Somali refugees out of Kenya (see Page 7). The report ‘No Place Like Home’ says Somali refugees are denied access to registration and and are indiscriminately arrested by the police.
In November, the governments of Somalia and Kenya met with the UNHCR and agreed a framework for the return of 1.1 million refugees to Somalia. But it was stipulated that any repatriation should be voluntary.
Kenya is duty-bound by its international obligations to accept refugees and treat them with respect.
The Westgate attack in September and to some extent the violence at the Coast is linked to the Somali militia group al Shabaab.
Top tweets
@UNLazzarini #UN Member States briefing on #Somalia in Nairobi today. Good dialogue on challenges, risks, resources & way ahead. pic.twitter.com/JvzIsZdN0Y.
@SomaliPM Happening now,The Somalia Pm is meeting with president Musseveni of Uganda. Discussing the issues of common interest. pic.twitter.com/gF3hvp8lc2.
@amisomsomalia With the relative peace hospitals have been able to turn their focus onto more routine forms of medical care#Somalia http://on.fb.me/QqTSeN.
@kemenkhaus Detailed new study on internet filters used by#Somalia ‘s major providers. Footnotes alone worth the read.https://citizenlab.org/2014/
@FCONeilWigan Delighted to welcome President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud to British Embassy #Mogadishu today@TheVillaSomalia pic.twitter.com/jIpoaxpKtJ.
Image of the day
A nurse at Madina Hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia, puts on a face mask before attending to a patient in the hospital’s ER on February 20. Photo: AMISOM.