February 22, 2013 | Morning Headlines.

Main Story

USAID chief visits Mogadishu, says US is committed

21 Feb – Source: AP – 200 words

The administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development is in Mogadishu for talks with top Somali officials.
The visit on Thursday by Rajiv Shah, the administrator of USAID, makes him the highest ranking U.S. administration official to visit Mogadishu in years.
The U.S. is embracing the new government in Mogadishu, a formerly war-torn city that has seen about 18 months of relative peace. Last month the U.S. formally recognized Somalia’s government for the first time in two decades.
Shah, standing beside Somalia’s president, announced $20 million in new funding to support health and education programs. Shah said the U.S. also wants to help Somalia fight corruption.

Key Headlines

Turkish deputy premier to visit Somalia (Radio Mustaqbal)
Meet Mama Habiba; the first woman public bus driver in Mogadishu (Africa Review)
Somali troops newly trained by EUTM to be reintegrated into the Somali National Armed Forces (Hiiraan Online)
Somalis to return to Mogadishu from South Africa (Radio Bar-kulan)
Regional Court Denies Journalist’s Lawyer (Raxanreeb)
The Netherlands: Halt Plan to Deport Somalis (Human Rights Watch)

SOMALI MEDIA

Turkish deputy premier to visit Somalia

21 Feb- Source: Radio Mustaqbal/Radio Bar-kulan- 110 words

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag and Development Minister Cevdet Yilmaz will pay visits to Somalia and Sudan between February 22 and 24.
Within the scope of the Somalia visit, Bozdag and Yilmaz will meet the president and prime minister in Mogadishu as well as attend ground-breaking ceremonies of a mosque, school and orphanage.
On the second day of their visit, ministers Bozdag and Yilmaz will proceed to Khartoum, capital of Sudan, and visit a laboratory built by Turkey, and inaugurate a professional and technical training center.

Somali troops newly trained by EUTM to be reintegrated into the Somali National Armed Forces

21 Feb- Source: Hiiraan Online- 339 words

The European Union Training Mission for Somalia (EUTM Somalia) has this week helped repatriate 551 newly trained Somali soldiers to their home country. Before being incorporated into the Somali army, these troops will undergo a specific re-integration module.

During the past six months the former trainees have successfully completed an intensive military training, including modules on gender issues, human rights, the law of armed conflict and international humanitarian law.

Somalis to return to Mogadishu from South Africa

21 Feb- Source: Radio Mustaqbal/Radio Bar-kulan/RBC-107 words

More than a hundred Somali nationals who have been stranded in South Africa have been allowed to return home after immigration cleared them following consultations with the Somali embassy.
Somali envoy to South Africa Sayid Hassan Sharif said following series of talks with immigration department officials, the stranded Somalis were cleared to fly home.
Hundreds of Somalis in South Africa are said to be facing challenges in travelling back to their home country.

Regional court denies journalist’s lawyer

21 Feb- Source: Raxanreeb- 346 words

The appeals court in Mogadishu started the hearing of the appeal of the Somali journalist, Abdiasis Abdinur Ibrahim who was sentenced to 1 year for interviewing a woman who was that she was raped.
The hearing which started around 11:10am on Wednesday morning started in an atmosphere which the Somali journalists allegedly felt “was properly handled and conducted.”

REGIONAL MEDIA

A nation weeps for jailed ‘rape victim’

22 Feb- Source: Daily Nation- 507 words

On a sweltering day in Somalia’s war-ravaged capital Mogadishu, a tall, skinny, bespectacled radio broadcaster whiling away the time at his house in Wadajir district recently got a call from Lul Ali Osman, an alleged rape victim and mother of five children whom he had interviewed four days earlier, on January 10.
The broadcaster, Abdiaziz Abdinur Ibrahim, eagerly put the receiver to his ear, hoping that the caller would put him in touch with other rape victims.

Meet Mama Habiba: the first woman public bus driver in Mogadishu

21 Feb- Source: Africa Review- 336 words

Somalia has got its first woman public bus service driver and the woman taking the Mogadishu streets by storm is Ms Habiba Beljam or Mama Habiba.

Ms Beljam started driving the public minibus recently and shuttles between Hamarweyne District in the old town and Isgoyska Banaadir (Banadir junction) in South Mogadishu.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

USAID chief visits Mogadishu, says US is committed

21 Feb – Source: AP 200 words

Seven shot dead in Kenyan frontier town near Somalia

21 Feb – Source: Reuters – 200 words

Gunmen killed at least seven people who were going for prayers at a mosque in the remote town of Malele near the world’s largest refugee camp close to Kenya’s border with Somalia, a local administrator said on Thursday.
“The bandits opened fire at the villagers at Malele area which is near the Dadaab refugee camp in Liboi district and killed five men and two women,” Maalim Mohamed, Garissa County Commissioner told Reuters.

The Netherlands: Halt plan to deport Somalis

21 Feb- Source: Human Rights Watch- 1338 words

The Dutch government should not deport Somalis to any part of south-central Somalia, including Mogadishu, until security improves substantially, and the UN refugee agency has issued new guidelines. In mid-February 2013, Dutch authorities said they planned to deport two rejected Somali asylum seekers, originally from Mogadishu, back to Somalia on February 20 and 23.

SOCIAL MEDIA

CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“I met several good friends in the foyer, and after some lively chats, I was invited up to the president’s room. He was generous with his time, so I did quite a long interview with him. I also gave him a copy of my book on Somalia.”

Interviewing the president of Somalia

21 Feb- Source: Mary Harper Blog-169 Words

On Sunday February 3, I was invited to The Dorchester Hotel in London to interview the Somali president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.
I could tell an important Somali was staying in the hotel way before I entered its doors. The nearby streets were full of Somalis, and this was a part of London not normally frequented by large crowds of Somalis. Inside the hotel, guests seemed somewhat bewildered by the fact that all the seats in the foyer were occupied by Somalis. The security guards also looked a bit perplexed.