February 9, 2017 | Daily Monitoring Report
Inauguration Committee Set To Be Announced Today
09 February – Source: Jowhar.com – 120 Words
A committee that will oversee the inauguration of the newly elected president will be named today. According to news reports, the committee will comprise of ministers, officials from the presidency and members of the new president’s close aides.
The exact date of the inauguration ceremony will also be revealed today. President Farmajo on Thursday spent the night at the heavily secured Jazeera hotel, the same venue where the president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud resided four years ago after he won the presidential election.The hotel’s security was taken over by specially trained Somali forces drawn from the intelligence the police, and the Danab commando unit.The Somali public has welcomed the election of Farmajo saying that their aspirations have been answered.
Key Headlines
- Inauguration Committee Set To Be Announced Today (Jowhar)
- Streets Of Mogadishu Bursting With Optimism Hope After Historic Election (Hiiraan Online)
- Five Big Challenges Newly Elected President Farmajo Should Address Immediately BBC Somali Analyses (BBC Somali)
- Mogadishu Transport Restrictions Lifted Following President Farmajo’s Election (Jowhar.com)
- UN Mission Pledges Support As New President Will Face ‘daunting challenges’ (UN News Centre)
- Somalia’s GDP Growth Seen Slowing To 2.5 pct In 2017 – IMF (Reuters)
- Somalia’s New Leader Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo Vows To Rebuild Failed State (Daily Nation)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Streets Of Mogadishu Bursting With Optimism, Hope After Historic Election
08 February – Source : Hiiraan Online – Words
Thousands of residents lined on the streets of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu and lit up its skies with celebratory gunfire on Wednesday evening, rejoicing in Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo’s historic rise to the Presidency. President Farmajo, the former Prime Minister, was propelled into Somalia’s highest high office after a sweeping victory at Mogadishu’s airport. Millions of Somali’s watched the nationally televised election. After the second round of voting, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud made his humble exit and received a roaring ovation from Parliamentarians.
Within minutes of official announcement, thousands of supporters took to the streets as soldiers saluted their president with volleys of gunfire. “Farmajo will change Somalia” Yusuf Ahmed, 10, told us as he gathered with his friends “We are celebrating because we won.” The constant passing military vehicles zipping through the busy roundabout, shooting as they drive, did not seem to phase him. We spoke to dozens of people on the streets who shared similar sentiments.
In Beled Weyne, Kismayo and other parts of Somalia, a similar tune was sung as residents, worn and exasperated over broken promises from past governments welcomed a leader who enjoyed broad support from different regions in Somalia. Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo was controversially sacked by former President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed from his role as Prime Minister in 2011. Even then, residents took to the streets contesting the government’s decision to remove him. President Farmajo is widely lauded for his consistency in paying soldiers their monthly stipend on time making it a focus of his cabinet when he was in office.Today, nearly six years laterhe’s back in Somalia politics in a decisive victory over his old boss.
Five Big Challenges Newly Elected President Farmajo Should Address Immediately, BBC Somali Analyses
09 February – Source: BBC Somali – 198 Words
The BBC Somali Service has posted an analysis report on what are the main pressing challenges the newly elected president Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo faces. The report narrowed down security, corruption, good governance and drought as the main critical issues that his government needs to tackle.After he is officially inaugurated in the coming days, he is expected to name a prime minister who in turn forms a cabinet that must seek the endorsement of the parliament before they can start the work. During his political campaign trail, Farmajo said one of his urgent priorities would be to help the drought-affected people.
In dealing with corruption, he said he will fight corruption. in terms of security, he sees the lack of payment for the Somali soldiers as a main challenge for building the army and winning the fight against Al-Shabaab. “This country is in a state of war, but the government is not serious about the war against Al-Shabaab. Al-Shabaab carries out attacks, and the government’s response is not more than issuing condemnation and condolence press statements, “ he said. He promised to address the plight of Somali soldiers in order to win their hearts and accelerate the fight against Al-Shabaab.
Mogadishu Transport Restrictions Lifted Following President Farmajo’s Election
09 February – Source: Jowhar.com – 94 Words
Movement restrictions on vehicles and people have been lifted following the elections of President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo. A two-day curfew on the capital was broken on Wednesday night by joyous people celebrating the election of the new president.Public transport have resumed plying at key roads in the town with shops and business centres reopened and people began to carry out their day to day activities. However police roadblocks still remain at key areas in the town. The city was brought to a standstill during the past two days because of the presidential elections.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
UN Mission Pledges Support As New President Will Face ‘daunting challenges’
09 February – Source: UN News Centre – 501 Words
Congratulating former Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi ‘Farmajo’ on his election as Somalia’s new President, the United Nations Assistance Mission in the country (UNSOM) said the UN and the wider international community are ready to assist him in addressing the myriad challenges that await his Government.“We […] look forward to working with him and his Government in tackling the many economic, political, security and humanitarian challenges facing Somalia,” UNSOM Spokesperson Joseph Contreras told UN News after the presidential polling, which followed a nearly 18 month exercise that included an extended parliamentary electoral process.“It’s an historic milestone in the country’s emergence from years of chaos and civil war. We feel the process, though flawed in some respects by allegations of corruption and manipulation of some of the parliamentary voting, overall, produced some very positive results,” he said, noting that the new Federal Parliament that was elected is the most representative and legitimate national legislature in the history of the country.
The new president, known as ‘Farmajo,’ was declared the winner after two rounds of voting by the Somali Parliament in the capital, Mogadishu. The runner-up, the incumbent, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, chose to withdraw from a third and final round of voting and congratulated the former Prime Minister on his victory.Mr. Contreras said that the voting today, held under “very, very tight security,” was conducted in a peaceful, orderly and transparent manner according to the rules stipulated by Somalia’s provisional Federal Constitution. “Voting was held at the airport and there had been some questions raised about security, but I take it everything went smoothly,” he said, stressing that had been no attempted attacks on the venue whatsoever.
Somalia’s GDP Growth Seen Slowing To 2.5 pct In 2017 – IMF
09 February – Source: Reuters – 192 Words
Somalia’s economy is expected to slow sharply this year as a drought knocks production in farming, although the impact will be partially offset by a boost from construction and telecommunications, the International Monetary Fund said.
In a statement late on Wednesday, the IMF projected the Horn of Africa nation’s gross domestic product would expand 2.5 percent this year down from estimated 3.4 percent in 2016.”The Somali economy is expected to continue to be sustained by donors’ grants, remittances, and foreign direct investment, mostly by the Somali diaspora,” it said.”The deceleration in growth mainly reflects the impact of the drought on the agriculture sector, which will be partially offset by activities in the construction, telecommunications, and service sectors.”
The IMF expects inflation to reach 2.7 percent this year, up from 1.5 percent in 2016.Somalia has been in turmoil since 1991, hit by decades of conflict at the hands of clan militias. Over the past several years it has also been plagued by an insurgency by al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab, famine and maritime piracy.On Wednesday, its parliament elected Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed as the country’s new president.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“Farmajo was born in Mogadishu to activist parents from the southern Gedo region.He has lived off and on for years in the United States, where he studied history and political science.He worked at the foreign ministry before the overthrow of Siad Barre’s regime in 1991 ushered in decades of anarchy. He also worked at the Somali embassy in Washington.,”
Somalia’s New Leader Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo Vows To Rebuild Failed State
09 February – Source: Daily Nation – 494 Words
Supporters of Somalia’s new President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, a veteran diplomat and former prime minister, hope he can be the answer to corruption and extremism in the world’s most notorious failed state.The 55-year-old father of four, better known as Farmajo, holds both American and Somali citizenship, and was elected after a six-month voting process marred by widespread allegations of vote-buying and corruption.Nevertheless, Farmajo, from the Darod clan, was welcomed with celebration by many Somalis who had looked forward to change after a series of Hawiye presidents.
In a country where clan divisions dominate politics, the administration of his predecessor, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, was widely seen as more corrupt than any that came before him.As president, Farmajo inherits a country where Al-Shabaab extremists hold swathes of countryside and attack Mogadishu at will.And after decades of unrest, hundreds of thousands of Somalis have been displaced internally, or else have fled the country.”This is the beginning of unity for the Somali nation, the beginning of the fight against Shabaab and corruption,” a triumphant Farmajo said after being declared president.
Many Somalis fondly remember the eight months when Farmajo – whose nickname means “cheese” – was prime minister in 2010-11.On his Facebook page, Farmajo says that while premier, he implemented the first monthly stipends for soldiers, worked on the country’s new constitution and sent delegations to defuse clan-related tensions in several regions.The soldiers firing celebratory gunfire in the streets of Mogadishu on Wednesdayhave not been paid for months.
And in a report this week, the Somali anti-corruption NGO Marqaati said civil servants had gone unpaid so the government could pay for lobbying during the elections.In his time as prime minister, Farmajo also established an anti-corruption commission, prohibited unnecessary trips abroad by members of government and put in place an audit of government property and vehicles.
TOP TWEETS
@laurgardner8: NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) – Kenyan court rules that government must not close world’s largest refugee camp and send 200,000 back to Somalia
@NicholasK111: Congratulations to President elect Mohammed Abdullahi “Farmajo”, to Somali people & institutions and Hassan Sheikh Mohamud for handing over
@US2SOMALIA: U.S Mission to Somalia, praises former Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud for graciously conceding defeat.
@USAIDSomalia: @USAID empowering and investing in future leaders of #Somalia, leadership training #Galkacyo #Puntland @US2SOMALIA
@UNSomalia: Int’l community congratulates @Farmaajo2017 on election as fed. president & #Somalia for orderly transfer of power
http://bit.ly/2kpd0OL
@fqdayib: History in the making. Lawmakers have clearly chosen the choice of the people. They’ve saved #Somalia!! It is a new dawn, a new beginning!
IMAGE OF THE DAY
The new President of Somalia Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo is sworn in after he was declared the winner of the presidential election held at the Mogadishu Airport hangar in Mogadishu on February 8, 2017.
Photo: UN Photo/ Ilyas Ahmed.