February 28, 2017 | Daily Monitoring Report
Drought Response High Level Meeting Opens In Mogadishu
28 February – Source: Goobjoog News – 140 Words
President Mohamed Farmaajo is today convening a high level meeting on the drought crisis in the country bringing together the country’s leadership and members of the international community. The meeting is expected to draw up and mobilise coordinated response to the drought which the UN has warned is fast deteriorating into a famine. This is the first high level response from the new administration.
Drought response committee members and delegates from civil society are also attending the meeting. The President also sought Saudi Arabia’s support in stemming the famine following his three days visit to the Kingdom last week. According to the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia (OCHA), over 6.2 million are now in need of humanitarian assistance and of these, nearly 3 million need urgent life-saving assistance.
Key Headlines
- Drought Response High Level Meeting Opens In Mogadishu (Goobjoog News)
- Puntland MPs Preparing A Vote Of No Confidence Against Puntland President (Radio Mustaqbal)
- Mudug Regional Court Chief Injured In Galkayo City (Garowe Online)
- Galmudug Plans To Hold Presidential Election Soon (Goobjoog News)
- Top AMISOM Officials Meet To Review Budget And Future Plans (AMISOM)
- US To Boost Somali Military Operation Against Al-Shabaab (The Star Kenya)
- Why You Should Invest In Somalia (Rising Powers)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Puntland MPs Preparing A Vote Of No Confidence Against Puntland President
28 February – Source: Radio Mustaqbal – 90 Words
A section of the Puntland parliament are working on a vote of no confidence motion against Puntland President, Abdiweli Mohamed accusing him of failing to address the issues affecting the Puntland administration.The MPs have cited insecurity in key Puntland cities like Galkayo, Garowe and Bossaso as the reason for tabling a motion of no confidence. While speaking to the media, President Abdiweli said an organised group is trying to destabilise the region. The president also added that his administration will hold to account those behind the insecurity in Puntland.
Mudug Regional Court Chief Injured In Galkayo City
28 February – Source : Garowe Online – 201 Words
Unidentified gunman have wounded Abdirahman Kilwe, the chief of Mudug regional court in northern Galkayo on Monday evening. An official has confirmed to Garowe Online that the court chief has sustained injures in the attempted assassination that occurred at a restaurant in northern Galkayo city. “I was near the restaurant when the shooting took place. The court official was shot and wounded by a pistol-wielding man, who escaped from the scene shortly,” said the official who declined to be named.
The perpetrator has fled the scene before the arrival of the Police authorities. The reason behind the attack of Kilwe is unclear, as no group has claimed responsibility for the attack against the official. The victim has been taken to a nearby hospital, where he is currently being treated. His wounds are not a life-threatening, according to medical officials. The incident is the latest in series of organised attacks targeting high-ranking Puntland government officials in Galkayo and the commercial coastal city of Bossaso in the past few months.
Galmudug Plans To Hold Presidential Election Soon
28 February – Source: Goobjoog News – 133 Words
The Interim Administration of Galmudug is planning to hold presidential elections soon following the resignation of President Abdikarim Guled. Salad Ahmed Aynte, a member of Galmudug assembly said the state would hold the election to pick a new leader. “The assembly will soon elect new president. The election process is underway,” said Aynte.
Early this year, Galmudug Assembly passed an impeachment motion to unseat president Guled but he declared the vote unconstitutional. Guled on Sunday announced his resignation; citing health reasons prompted his sudden decision. Guled who has been the president of the state since July 2015 underwent a heart treatment in India last year.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Top AMISOM Officials Meet To Review Budget And Future Plans
28 February – Source: AMISOM – 1,011 Words
The top leadership of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) is meeting in the Kenyan capital Nairobi to plan its activities and draw up an austere budget that will guide the operations of the Mission this year. The five-day conference, which concludes on Friday, is hinged on the theme “Doing much with less”, and has drawn participants from the African Union (AU), whose flagship Mission is AMISOM. The conference will come up with a detailed plan and budget that will guide AMISOM’s activities and operations this year.
Present at the conference in which the participants will also take stock of the Mission’s operations since it began ten years ago is the Special Representative of the African Union Commission Chairperson (SRCC) for Somalia, Ambassador Francisco Madeira; the Acting Director Administration and Human Resources Management Department, Rekia Mahamoudou, and the Special Advisor to Deputy Chairperson, African Union Commission, Patrick Kankya. Mahamoudou and Kankya are heading the delegation from the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa.
At the conference, Ms. Mahamoudou informed the participants that a number of policies have been reviewed and approved by AU Headquarters so as to improve efficiency but urged the participants to be more efficient, in order to be able to do more with less.
US To Boost Somali Military Operation Against Al-Shabaab
28 February – Source: The Star, Kenya – 471 Words
Pentagon wants to expand its military in a bid to fight terror groups linked to al Qaeda, particularly Al-Shabaab which is wreaking havoc in Somalia. The US Department of Defence wants to put its forces closer to the fight against Al-Shabaab to avert attacks that may be planned against America. This follows concerns that many young Americans from Somali communities traveled to training camps in Somalia therefore likely to attack the US.
Thomas Waldhauser, head of US Africa Command, in an interview with the Associated Press described Somalia as ‘the most perplexing challenge’. “The US is trying to take a look at Somalia from a fresh perspective in the way ahead,” he said as reported in the New York Post – a US media outlet. In the recommendations, US special operations forces will increase assistance to the Somali National Army in the struggle against the militants.
It will also allow the US military a greater flexibility to launch airstrikes against the militia in the region. Other officials privy to the plan said there is a proposal to have US troops accompany local soldiers on military operations. The proposal is also to ease restrictions on when the United States can conduct air strikes targeting Al-Shabaab hideouts.
The militant group has been fighting for years to impose its strict interpretation of Islam on Somalia and also wants to topple the Western-backed government in Mogadishu. They also want to drive out soldiers from Kenya, Djibouti, Uganda, Ethiopia among other African states deployed under Amisom
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“Mogadishu the Somali capital has enjoyed a property boom in recent years as normality has returned, demand has outstripped supply as people return looking for bargains and prices for both sales and rentals have spiralled ever higher. New houses and developments have sprung up to help meet demand and you can still buy a modern six bed bedroom villa for around US$115,000 on the outskirts of the city or close to the beach.”
Why You Should Invest In Somalia
27 February – Source : Rising Powers – 1034 Words
Investing in Somalia might seem like a particularly crazy idea, after all the country is a byword for state failure and chaos. Civil war, piracy and terrorism have bedevilled the country for nearly 30 years and over time it has fragmented into several separate de facto states such as Somaliland and Puntland. Somalia has also recently become a base for the Al-Shabaab terrorist group who have launched attacks across Somalia and Kenya in an attempt to strike fear into the local populace.
Tragically the spectre of drought and famine has also returned to the region, threatening already fragile parts of the country with severe hunger. While presence of an African Union peacekeeping force has helped stabilise the country, but there remains the risk it could slide back into full scale civil war. Despite these problems there are good reasons to be optimistic, relative normality has returned too much of the country, overseas businesses are increasingly active and Somalia’s extensive diaspora are returning to do business or resettle as an economic recovery gathers pace.
The Somali economy don’t bother with GDP figures: There are statistics for the Somali economy, but they should be treated with caution, as the ability of the authorities to collect economic information is limited at best, instead it is more instructive to monitor the activities of businesses and watch for signals both positive as indicators of economic health. Inward investment, new housing developments and people voting with their feet to resettle in Somalia are more indicative of progress than GDP growth figures.
TOP TWEETS
@Tuuryare_Africa: #UPDATE: No group claims credit for the blast but #AlShabaab carried out similar bomb attacks and drive-by shootings in #Mogadishu. #Somalia
@UNSomalia : #Humanitarians working throughout #Somalia to save lives. @M_Farmaajo to all actors, including diaspora and business: Help #StopFamine.
@Abdi_AlSheikh : Somalia fears full-blown famine as drought, hunger push residents to flee – Toronto Star http://dlvr.it/NVV7Cs #Somalia
@UNdeClercq : Exactly! That’s why I declared today at #DroughtConference that @UN stands with #Somalia, international community in quest to avert famine.
@jackserle : US wants to put more special forces into #Somalia as Amisom is planning to pull out its 20,000 troops in 2020.
@YahyeYoungM : #BREAKING just minutes A businessman was wounded after explosion fitted his car in ”wabari”district near@unicef gate #Mogadishu #Somalia
IMAGE OF THE DAY
President Farmaajo convenes High-Level Roundtable meeting in Mogadishu to draw up a plan of action that will avert the tragic consequences of a devastating drought for millions of Somalis by stepping-up government and international partners response to the crisis.
Photo: UNSOM