February 8, 2017 | Morning Headlines
Explosions, Mortar Attacks Rock Mogadishu Ahead Of Elections
07 February – Source: Hiiraan Online – 101 Words
Explosions rang out across Mogadishu on Tuesday evening, just hours ahead of elections. Two mortar rounds hit near the Aden Abdulle International Airport followed by a third that reportedly hit the Hamar Weyne neighborhood.The airport is where the presidential elections will be held
20 minutes later, a loud explosion was heard near KM4 roundabout, one of the main road junctions in the capital, Mogadishu.The attack comes during a complete 48-hour lockdown from until the conclusion of the Somali presidential elections on tomorrow.Thousands of soldiers, officers, and other security personnel have been deployed to patrol the streets and enforce the curfew.
Key Headlines
- Explosions Mortar Attacks Rock Mogadishu Ahead Of Elections (Hiiraan Online)
- President Mohamud Is Not Kenyan Aide Says (Radio Dalsan)
- Faroole Bows Out As Candidates Work Out The Numbers Less Than 24 Hours To Poll (Goobjoog News)
- Graft Threats As Somalia Faces Historic Presidential Vote (Associated Press)
- AU Forces Kill 4 Al-Shabaab Militants In Central Somalia (Xinhua)
- Failed State Fame Haunts Somalia’s Steps Toward Democracy (Bloomberg)
NATIONAL MEDIA
President Mohamud Is Not Kenyan, Aide Says
07 February – Source: Radio Dalsan – 132 Words
Villa Somalia has rubbished recent reports in the media and polls that claim the incumbent President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud holds dual citizenship. Chief of Staff , Ali Omar tweeted on Tuesday denying the head of state had no any other citizenship beside Somali. Recent profiles of the presidential candidates appearing in a section of the media have widely indicated that Mohamud holds both Kenya and Somalia passports. “Hassan Sheikh Mohamud is not Kenyan passport holder as mentioned in the article please correct” Ali Balad reacted to an article appearing online that two thirds of Somali Parliamentarians hold foreign passports. A poll recently released by Wakiilorg.com a local NGO based in Mogadishu and covered in an analysis by Radio Dalsan indicated that Somali MPs with Kenyan passports came third after the UK and US.
Faroole Bows Out As Candidates, Work Out The Numbers Less Than 24 Hours To Poll
07 February – Source: Goobjoog News – 202 Words
Presidential candidate and senator Abdirahman Faroole has dropped from the presidential race barely 24 hours into the vote adding to two the number of hopefuls to bolt out as candidates’ balancing of the numbers hit a homestretch. Faroole who had to wrestle with among them Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke and Abdullahi Farmaajo at the home front-Puntland before angling for the national vote bowed out Tuesday afternoon in a veiled move at throwing his weight behind incumbent Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.“After consulting with the Mogadishu administration and candidates among them Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, I have decided to drop out of the race,” said Faroole.
The former president of Puntland also called on other presidential candidates to consider dropping out of the race over what he termed as need for change in the country. He accused regional presidents for their outright support of certain candidates while cautioning MPs against taking bribes during tomorrow’s vote. Faroole’s exit now leaves 22 candidates in the ballot after another candidate Abdullahi Ali Hassan announced his withdrawal Saturday.A winning candidate in the first round will require at least 219 votes which will largely be a tall order since the vote will be split among several key candidates.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Graft, Threats As Somalia Faces Historic Presidential Vote
07 February – Source: Associated Press – 879 Words
Colorful campaign posters in this seaside capital give the impression that Somalia’s presidential election on Wednesday will be like any other. That’s far from true.Mogadishu is in lockdown because of violence by homegrown Islamic extremist group al-Shabab. The airport will be closed, and the vote will be confined to a heavily protected former air force base. Fears of attacks already have delayed the vote several times.
But suicide bombings aren’t the biggest threat as this Horn of Africa country, after a quarter-century, tries to put a fully functioning government in place under strong international pressure. Graft, vote-buying, fraud, intimidation – is the top concern in a nation that Transparency International now rates as the most corrupt in the world.After decades of chaos and warlord-led conflict, the vote will be historic in this country of about 12 million. But some observers worry whether it will be credible.
Already the country’s auditor general, Nur Jimale Farah, has said two of the seats for parliament members who will elect the president have gone for $1.3 million each. Unlike in elections elsewhere, Somalia’s next leader will not be chosen by popular vote but by legislators, who were selected by the country’s powerful, intricate network of clans.”Some votes were bought with $5,000, some with $10,000, and some with $20,000 or $30,000,” Farah recently told Voice of America.”This is probably the most expensive election, per vote, in history,” the Mogadishu-based anti-corruption group Marqaati said in a report released Tuesday.
AU Forces Kill 4 Al-Shabaab Militants In Central Somalia
07 February – Source:Xinhua – 192 Words
The African Union forces killed four Al-Shabaab fighters who had attempted to plant an explosive device along the road in Middle Shabelle of central Somalia on Tuesday. The AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) said the AU troops who were on early morning patrol between Miirtugo and Biyo Cadde engaged the militants in the fight that saw other militants flee the scene.”Four militants who were attempting to plant an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) on the road were killed while others fled the scene,” it said in a statement.
The pan-African body’s mission said its troops and Somali National Army forces are working hand in hand to eliminate the militants and restore peace and security in Somalia.”Al-Shabaab continues to lose heavily as AMISOM and Somalia National Security Forces continue to pursue them for a peaceful Somalia,” it said.The fight came amid tight security in and around Mogadishu as the Horn of Africa nation prepares to conduct presidential elections on Wednesday.Traffic within the restive city has been affected as the authorities declared two days of holiday to enable Somalis to avoid any strain and ensure the presidential elections are held peacefully.
OPINION, CULTURE & ANALYSIS
“The airport is Mogadishu’s safest location for Wednesday’s meeting due to the presence of foreign troops, but there’s still a high risk that Al-Shabaab will try and disrupt the vote, said Emma Gordon, an analyst with Bath, England-based Verisk Maplecroft.In the longer term, the inclusion of Somalia’s federal member states in the elections, giving them influence in both upper and lower houses of parliament, may help the battle against the militants, according to Matt Bryden, executive chairman of Sahan Research, a Nairobi, Kenya-based institute.”
Failed State Fame Haunts Somalia’s Steps Toward Democracy
07 February- Source: Bloomberg – 741 Words
Choosing a new president was supposed to showcase Somalia’s gradual success in moving from a perennial failed state to a fledgling democracy. Attacks by al-Qaeda-backed militants, months of vote delays and claims of cash for ballots show how far the Horn of Africa nation has to go. The country’s 329 lawmakers are set to elect a new head of state Wednesday at the heavily secured airport in the capital, Mogadishu. Incumbent Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud is among more than 20 candidates looking to lead the nation that descended into a civil war among a myriad of clan militias in the late 1980s, has gradually regained territory from the Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab, and is now seeking investors to exploit its potential oil and gas reserves. The last election was in 2012.
Originally set for Oct. 30, the vote has been delayed four times as clan elders jockeyed for lawmaker posts and the auditor-general alleged that as much as $1.3 million changed hands for some individual seats, the securing of which could sway the presidential election. At the same time, Al-Shabaab continues to stage deadly assaults, including a Jan. 25 attack on a Mogadishu hotel that claimed more than a dozen lives.“It’s not really an election it’s really a political process involving negotiations between clans and sub-clans,” said Michael Keating, the United Nations special representative for Somalia. “The process reveals how weak Somalia institutions are there is no constitutional court, no independent electoral body, there is no voter registry because of all that it’s very difficult to track what is going on and how you police it.”
Somalia’s civil war and subsequent Islamist-militant insurgency have destroyed much of the country’s political and economic institutions, according to the World Bank, with income per capita of $435 making it the world’s fifth-poorest country. The International Monetary Fund has said the country may be eligible for financing if it improves its management of the $6-billion economy, which ships camels to Gulf Arab nations.
Oil and gas output may begin by 2020 after exploration work showed the potential for large offshore deposits, with companies including Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Exxon Mobil Corp. and BP Plc in talks about returning, according to the presidency.Economics, too, have played a part in Somalia’s vote. During a political process that started in September to choose lawmakers and then the nation’s leader, there’s “definitely been money changing hands,” Keating said by phone from Mogadishu. That’s “a reflection of the way Somalia works.”