January 11, 2016 | Daily Monitoring Report.
UK Says ISIL Is Threat To Somalia
11 January – Source: Somali Current – 205 Words
The United Kingdom has assured Somalia of its support of militancy in the wake of possible ISIS take-over of Al-Shabaab in the country. Chief of Joint Operations, Lieutenant General John Lorimer, while speaking in Mogadishu after he was received by the Somali Defense Minister, Abdikadir Sh. Ali Diini said his country was committed in fighting the Islamic State group who are feared to be gaining ground in the country. He said the UK will increase its military support.
Somali defense minister thanked the UK for its continued support of his government, adding that UK was part of the countries that supported in the defense sector. Addressing the press after he left the meeting, Abdikadir noted the importance of the visit, saying ISIS was now a threat to Somalia. “We discussed the threat of ISIS to Somalia and how the UK can help us defend our nation against militancy and terrorism,” he said, describing UK as a long time partner. The UK general was accompanied by top officers from the British defense department. Also present at the meeting was UK ambassador to Kenya and other foreign diplomats.
Key Headlines
- UK Says ISIL Is Threat To Somalia (Somali Current)
- Hiiraan Elders Say They Will Participate At Jowhar Conference (Shabelle News)
- Somalia’s Intel Agency Celebrates 46th Anniversary (Hiiraan Online)
- Somali President Finally Explains Why They Cut Diplomatic Ties With Iran (Somali Current)
- Eastleigh Assistant Chief Arrested For Posing As Policeman Extortion (The Star Kenya)
- Duale Says Sossion’s Call To Non-local Teachers To Leave NE Over Attacks Was Betrayal (Daily Nation)
- Young Innovator From Somalia’s Puntland Builds Vehicles Of Hope (Global Voices)
- My Positive Experience In Mogadishu (Geeska Africa)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Hiiraan Elders Say They Will Participate At Jowhar Conference
11 January – Source: Shabelle News – 92 Words
The Deputy Governor of Hiiraan Sheikh Hussein Osman Ali has announced that they will send delegates to Jowhar, to attend the upcoming federal state formation conference. “Our delegates will soon departure from Beledweyne city and reach Jowhar for the conference aimed at forming a federal interim administration made up of Hiiraan and Middle Shabelle regions,” said Ali. He stated that the traditional elders in Beledweyne are holding a caucus to make a decision on their representatives to attend Jowhar conference. Hiiraan region’s elders have previously expressed their support to the meeting.
Somalia’s Intel Agency Celebrates 46th Anniversary
11 January – Source: Hiiraan Online – 326 Words
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud attended a festive celebration marking the 46th anniversary of the founding of the country’s national intelligence, NISA. Flanked by the intelligence chief Abdirahman Turyare and the Minister of Security Abdirizak Omar, President Mohamud has termed the agency’s work ‘outstanding’ with’ valiant’ operatives, evolving right along with the changing threats facing the horn of Africa nation.
“I salute the National Security and Intelligence Agency for its impeccable work and its struggle to save our people from security threats,” he said at the event held at the agency’s headquarters on Saturday. Mr. Mohamud said that his government had succeeded in ending ‘misperception’ of the agency which suffered under Siad Barre’s regime, thanks to a ‘positive’ transformation the government made to change people’s perceptions towards it.
“Its primary guiding principles are protecting human rights and serving the nation,” he said. He also credited the agency with the improving security in areas under the government’s control across the country, saying that the country has suffered during the two decade civil war as result of a political mayhem. The president has also criticized his government’s critics who he said merely see things through negative lens.
“It saddens me to see those who are there to deny the progress we have made, and we have to underline that what bothers them most is having a stable Somalia that makes progress for the better.”As the horn of Africa nation which is recovering from decades of war struggles to contain a deadly insurgency by the Al-Qaeda linked Al-Shabaab group, western government that had invested heavily in creating a strong spy service see NISA as key to efforts aimed at eliminating militants in the country. The agency which remains the strongest force in the country’s army reports directly to the president. The service also shares intelligence information with western partners in a bid to weaken militants that continue to carry out attacks across the country and beyond.
Somali President Finally Explains Why They Cut Diplomatic Ties With Iran
11 January – Source: Somali Current – 231 Words
Somalia President, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has finally commented on last week’s decision to suspend Iranian diplomats from the country after the federal government severed ties with the Shiite-majority nation. The decision to cut diplomatic ties with the Iranians has divided opinion in Somalia as it is seen as being too ambitious considering the state of the country’s political and economic factors.
He defended the decision to suspend the Iranian diplomats from his country and recall his interim ambassador from Tehran, saying the Iranian were engaged in activities that could jeopardize the unity and unity of the country. “The Iranian government, while taking advantage of the state of our nation, have begun planted seed of discord in our country by introducing ideologies that could jeopardize our security and unity,” President Hassan said.
“When we realised that they have tasted the stretch of our patient was when we decided to cut ties with them,” he added. He denied reports that Somalia had severed ties with the Iranian due to the Saudi-Iranian diplomatic fall-out following the storming of the Saudi embassy in Tehran, the capital of Iran. The fall-out followed reports of the execution of the Shiite cleric, Nimr al Nimr alongside 45 others at the beginning of the year. President Hassan said the Iranians have caused chaos in different countries across the world when they planted their form of Islam, thus causing disunity.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Eastleigh Assistant Chief Arrested For Posing As Policeman, Extortion
11 January – Source: The Star – 78 Words
An administrator has been arrested for impersonating a police officer and demanding bribes from Kenyan Somalis with the threat of arresting and charging them with terrorism. Starehe police arrested Wilson Irungu, the assistant chief for Eastleigh North in Nairobi, on Saturday night after residents alerted them. His accomplice fled. A resident who sought anonymity said police recovered handcuffs from Irungu. Starehe DCIO Kiberenge Seroney told The Star he will be arraigned at a Makadara court on Monday morning.
Duale Says Sossion’s Call To Non-local Teachers To Leave NE Over Attacks Was Betrayal
11 January – Source: Daily Nation – 400 Words
National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale has accused the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) Secretary-General Wilson Sossion of betraying residents of north-eastern Kenya by urging non-local teachers to leave when they needed them most. Speaking when he met with school heads from his Garissa Township Constituency, Mr Duale, however, commended local school administrators for posting sterling performance despite mass exodus of teachers from other parts of the country as a result of increased terror attacks witnessed in the region from 2014.
Garissa Township posted a mean score of 289.1 in the 2015 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exam. This was an improvement from the 2014 results in which the constituency had a mean score of 261.15 while in 2013 the mean score stood at 244.4. Mr Duale said it was unfortunate that Mr Sossion “provoked” teachers from other parts of the country to leave the region with little regard for the thousands of children and their parents from the region.
He said after the country’s worst terrorist attack on Garissa University College that claimed the lives of 148 Kenyans, the Knut boss proposed that the institution be turned into a military training camp, a thing he said was not expected from Sossion who leads the giant teachers’ union.
Young Innovator From Somalia’s Puntland Builds Vehicles Of Hope
11 January – Source: Global Voices – 334 Words
Gulled Adan Abdi, 13, was born in Buuhoodle region in Puntland, an autonomous state inside Somalia. He came from a deprived community. Gulled’s father died when Gulled was still a baby and as a result he had to care for two of his siblings. He is now in the third grade. Despite the hardship Gulled and his family are going through, Gulled assembles toy airplanes, armored cars and fans using spare materials and powered by scrap automotive batteries.
Gulled comes from a country that was absorbed by civil war for almost two-and-a-half decade. The President of Somalia’s Puntland Government Abdiweli Mohamed is among those who have praised Gulled for his extraordinary inventions. Gulled met with President Ali, Vice President Abdihakin Abdullahi Haji Omar and Parliament Speaker at Puntland State House on Monday 4th, January 2015.
Unlike Somaliland to its west, Puntland does not seek outright independence from Somalia. Having declared its autonomy in 1998, the territory’s leadership have repeatedly stated their wishes for a federal Somalia. In an exclusive interview with Global Voices Gulled was asked how he began his hobby.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“By in large my positive experience here is testimony to people I have met, the warm welcome I received and current status of play in Mogadishu City and long may that continue. As our return plane to Europe leaves Somali airspace, I could not help thinking, Mogadishu City can hardly be blamed for anything that happens to us from now on.”
My Positive Experience In Mogadishu
10 January – Source: Geeska Africa – 1,836 Words
Due to the commitment of my legal advisory office I receive many calls for legal advice. Not all, but there are times when I receive calls from British Somali citizens in Somalia who require legal advice before they return to the UK. On one occasion there was a lady who I have given a legal advice and at the end of the conversation she wished me all the best and in return I said ” keep save in Mogadishu” in a nationalistic wadani tone, to my surprise, she replied “Mogadishu is safe aboowe” (brother) yeah right, I replied to myself silently.
The jury was out on her reply until I received a warm invite from the Somali Federal Government to attend Mogadishu City for the successful National Youth Conference between18-19 December 2015. This was a watershed moment for me as this was my first time I have ever been to Xamar having left Somalia as a seven-year-old boy after the civil war. In my experience, I found a city buzzing with development, bravery, hope and desire not to be defeated by enemy of peace and sanctity of life.
I found pleasant Somali people with a smile and welcoming. A very jokey people, a tradition I am glad to see has not been lost amid the challenges the nation has experienced. As you hit the Tarmac of Aden Abdulle International Airport, you begin to sense and feel a new, re- invigorated busy city. I have found an economy growing, money and deals being exchanged. I always knew the test of a growing city and economy is to observe the number of hotels built or are under construction. I was not disappointed here.
There are hotels everywhere, decent and modern in form and service. Although I have not had time to assess the statistics, I would not be mistaken if there are more dollar millionaires in assets and in money in one city (Xamar) than the whole of Somali/diaspora citizens in Europe and North America put together. The fact that I am feeling this phenomenon says a lot about the City.
TOP TWEETS
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@MOALIMUU : A prominant teacher is killed in Baidoa#Somalia
@engyarisow : National Conference for Somali Media Development Strategy is underway in #Mogadishu, #Somalia
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@ksnavarra: #Italy @guardiacostiera searching for dispersed#Somalia migrants at sea off #Lecce as traffickers reportedly dumped them far from coast
@Daudoo : #Somalia president signs controversial media billhttp://www.hiiraan.com/news4/
@SomaliaDirect: #Somalia – Heavy Gunfire Wounds Police Chief in Mogadishu http://goo.gl/ZpQUcR
IMAGE OF THE DAY
A motorcyclist stops at a petrol station in K4 to fill up his bike in Mogadishu, Somalia.
Photo: AMISOM