January 14, 2013 | Daily Monitoring Report.

Main Story

AMISOM needs more time in Somalia – Katumba

14 Jan – Source: New Vision – 253 words

The mandate that authorizes AMISOM forces to stay in Somalia should be extended to enable the young country recover from over 20 years of war, General Katumba Wamala, the Uganda Chief of Land Forces (CLF) has said.

The current mandate by both the United Nations and the African Union (AU) is set to end in March 2013, barely two months from now. “Somalia is like a baby that is still suckling. She needs all the support from the rest of the world,” Katumba said recently in Somalia, where he is currently on the on-spot assessment of the peace operations. Uganda is the leading contributor to the military and police components of the mission.

The AMISOM mission is supported by mainly the United Nations, the European Union and the African Union. “The capacity for Somalia to stand on its own and survive as a country are not yet in place, irrespective of the efforts the world has been putting in,” Katumba said. He explained that in the last few years, tremendous steps have been taken in trying to revive the country, but more support is still needed.

Since 1991, there have been over 10 efforts to bring peace to Somalia. However, the current effort seems to be the most promising so far. “You can see humanity returning across Somalia. The airport now receives over 40 flights a day, most of which are bringing in people to permanently settle back here. The seaport has over 15 ships lining up to dock every day,” Katumba observed.

Key Headlines

AMISOM needs more time in Somalia – Katumba (New Vision)
Somali premier says 7m dollars spent in two months “to fight terrorism” (Radio Shabelle)
15 newly trained midwives receive certificates in Burao (Bar-kulan)
US played ‘limited’ role in botched French rescue bid (Capital News/AFP/CNN)
Mogadishu Airport gets new immigration facility (Bar-kulan)
Somali official tells RFI he knew of French hostage rescue attempt (RFI News)
Second French soldier ‘dies after Somalia raid’ (BBC)
Somalia ready to try piracy suspects (Standard)

SOMALI MEDIA

Mogadishu Airport gets new immigration facility

14 Jan – Source: Bar-kulan – 116 words

Somalia’s Interior and National Security Minister Abdikarin Hussein Guled Sunday officially commissioned the opening of newly constructed immigration department offices in Aden Adde International Airport in Mogadishu. The offices were established by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and were funded by the government of Japan.

Guled thanked the Japanese government and the IOM for their supporting the country, adding that the new offices will boost the activities of the immigration department.

Head of Immigration Department Gen. Abdullahi Gafow Mohamud said the new facility will help them provide services needed in the airport. He said the IOM has already provided two immigration experts to train department employees on how to conduct their work and use modern equipments.

Al Shabaab: “We already knew the French attack”

14 Jan – Source: Radio Kulmiye – 185 words

A senior official from the militant group, al Shabab fighters who is currently in Bulo-Marer district of Lower Shabelle region has said that they had a prior information of the French Commandos rescue mission. Sheikh Mohamed Ibrahim, who spoke to AFP said that they were prepared to counter such attack.”We had the information of the attack,” he said.

“We are praying and thanking Allah for what has happened to the France’s best trained soldiers. We are always ready for such tactics” said the al Shabaab official. French government revealed that the mission have been executed by 50 special trained soldiers and five helicopters .

Meanwhile, news of civilian casualties are emerging with the numbers indicating 8, including women and children. France have not mentioned whether civilian casualties occurred at the scene or not, but 17 al Shabaab militants are confirmed dead.

Somali premier says 7m dollars spent in two months “to fight terrorism”

13 – Jan – Source: Radio Shabelle – 128 words

Somali Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon announced Friday that his government had spent over 7m US dollars in the last two months “to fight terrorism and improve security” in the country, privately-owned Radio Shabeelle reported on 12 January.

Shirdon told reporters in the capital, Mogadishu, that his government was “committed to fighting armed terrorism and maintaining general security” in the war-torn Horn of Africa nation.

He said the security of the ordinary people was his government’s top priority”, the radio reported. The prime minister said the country has seen improved security in recent months. He was briefing the media on his achievements in his first 55 days in office.

15 newly trained midwives receive certificates in Burao

14 Jan – Source: Bar-kulan – 90 words

Fifteen midwives in northern Somali town of Burao on Sunday received certificates after completing the midwifery training in the area medical training college.

The area Regional Health Assistant Minister Nimo Hussein Qowdan handed out the certificates to the newly graduated midwives in a ceremony attended by top regional officials in Burao.

Qowdan urged the students to help their people though the knowledge they acquired during their training. Burao Medical Training College principal Fatumo Osman praised the graduating midwives, saying that they will be helpful of the society especially expectant mothers.

Somalia Stadium carpet installation completed

12 Jan – Source: Somaliweyn – 143 words

The completion of the artificial Turf installation process marks the end of the first phase of Somalia’s old soccer facility construction, according to a press statement issued at the Somali Football Federation (SFF) headquarters in Mogadishu on Friday.

“On the behalf of Somali Football Federation I kindly thank FIFA for implementing this huge development program in Somalia despite of the hard conditions we are experiencing—this was part of the efforts by FIFA president Blatter and his committee who are committed to helping the promotion of football in Somalia,” SFF secretary General Abdi Qani Said Arab said in his press statement Friday.

The statement added that the SFF was very grateful to the Dutch construction company Greenfields for accepting to start such program in Somalia in 2007 which was one of the most difficult times Somalia experienced yet.

Puntland dismisses newly elected National Olympic Committee officials

13 Jan – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 102 words

Puntland’s Labour, Youth and Sports minister Abdulweli Hirsi Abdulle has rejected the list of recently elected Somali National Olympic Committee, saying they are all from one region of the country.

He said the more than ten-member committee officials hail from one region of the country and cannot represent the entire country. Abdulle said his ministry took the decision after receiving complaints from the regional Olympic Committee saying that they were not consulted or given chance to participate in the alleged election. The regional minister however urged the central government in Mogadishu to immediately intervene and probe the legality of the alleged election.

Government “condemns” failed French raid to free hostage in Somalia

13 – Jan – Source: Radio Galkacyo – 213 words

Somalia’s Federal Government “has condemned the French military operation to rescue a hostage in Buulo Mareer locality of Lower Shabelle Region”, southern Somalia, privately-owned Radio Galkacyo reported.

The Foreign Affairs Minister, Fowziya Yusuf Haji Aden, who held a news conference in Mogadishu, has said “the federal government is condemning the French military attack inside Somalia without informing the government”, saying “they are very disappointed” about the incident. The minister has called on the international community “to be a witness to the French attack against Somalia”, adds the source.

The foreign affairs minister “has sent her condolence to those who lost their lives in that attack”. The government’s statement comes as the French Defence Ministry yesterday said that two of its soldiers and 17 al Shabaab fighters were killed in a botched attempt to free a hostage in Somalia.

Somaliland Delegation Attends Funeral Of Deceased Djiboutian Banker

12 Jan – Source: Somaliland Press – 97 words

A high level delegation representing Somaliland led by the Minister of Finance Abdiaziz Mohamed Samaale and consisting of five ministers included the First Lady left for neighbouring Djibouti to attend a state funeral of the former governor of the Central Bank of Djibouti late Jama Mahmoud Hayd.

The Somaliland delegation will also deliver a message of Condolences to the President of Djibouti Ismael Omer Gelluh from Somaliland President Ahmed Mohamed Mahmoud (Silanyo). The late Jama Mahmoud Hayd died in a Nairobi Hospital yesterday morning where he was admitted for unspecified illness.

Lex Vander urges FIFA to give Somalia more priority than ever before

12 Jan – Source: Radio Risaala – 450 words

The Green Fields construction expert Lex Vander who spent six weeks in Mogadishu where he fixed the country’s old soccer facility ‘Stadium Banadir’ with an artificial football Turf has called on the international football governing body FIFA to give much priority to Somalia which he said was fully committed to football more than any other country he visited before.

Mr. Lext Vander who returned to his country over night on Friday after the successful completion of the first phase of the construction of Somalia’s old soccer facility spoke at his farewell ceremony at the Lido Sea Food restaurant in the Lido beach resort of Mogadishu Thursday, where he said that he had experienced very lovely days in Somalia where football authorities were very committed to the beautiful game.

“I hereby want to thank FIFA for its full commitment to help the development of football in Somalia, secondly I praise the Somali Football Federation authorities particularly secretary General Abdi Qani Said Arab and executive committee member Ali Abdi Mohamed who stayed with me through all day since my arrival and worked with me as much as they could” Green Filed expert Lex Vander told the farewell ceremony Thursday.

REGIONAL MEDIA

AMISOM needs more time in Somalia – Katumba

14 Jan – Source: New Vision – 253 words

The next big mission in Kismayo

14 Jan – Source: Standard – 609 words

The head of the interim administration in the Somali port town of Kismayo has called for urgent establishment of a permanent local administration to consolidate security gains that Kenyan Defence Force and its Somali allies have won dearly in the last few months after driving al Shabaab fighters out of the port city.

In an interview with The Standard On Sunday, Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed Islam said residents now badly need an administration to work towards solving the myriad problems facing their city that for years was ruled by predatory warlords whose interests were only to rob residents and loot resources. “The security of the city is good. The biggest problem is how to solve the city’s politics,” said Islam, who is best known as Ahmed Madobe.

He urged clan representatives from the region to urgently convene a meeting to elect leaders capable of tackling security, social, economic and political problems in the city because the interim administration was “willing to hand over power when needed”.

“The people are suffering. There is little or no farming or fishing going on in the city. There is no humanitarian assistance from the international community,” said Islam, noting that the city has unreliable electricity and water supply.

US played ‘limited’ role in botched French rescue bid

14 Jan – Source: Capital News/AFP/CNN – 146 words

The United States said Sunday it played a limited support role in France’s botched bid to rescue a kidnapped secret agent in Somalia. “United States forces provided limited technical support to the French forces in that operation, but took no direct part in the assault on the compound where it was believed the French citizen was being held hostage,” President Barack Obama said in a letter to Congress.

Saturday’s failed attempt to free the French hostage from the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group killed at least eight civilians, as well as 17 guerrillas. One French soldier died while another went missing.

“United States combat aircraft briefly entered Somali airspace to support the rescue operation, if needed,” Obama wrote, adding that “these aircraft did not employ weapons during the operation.” “I directed U.S. forces to support this rescue operation in furtherance of U.S. national security interests,” he wrote.

Somalia ready to try piracy suspects

14 Jan – Source: Standard – 349 words

Somalia’s Ambassador to Kenya Mohamed Ali Nur wants Somali nationals facing sea piracy charges in Mombasa to be transferred to Somalia to be tried there.

Mr Nur said it was time to transfer these suspects to Somalia, claiming the war-torn country’s judiciary was now functional. The envoy said this on Sunday at Shimo La Tewa prison in Mombasa while addressing 64 suspected and 43 convicted pirates in the place. “It is time now the pirates being tried in Kenya be taken back to Somalia instead of giving Kenya the burden of looking after these people,” said Nur.

Oldest UAE illegal’s dismay at having to leave his home of 50 years

14 Jan – Source: National – 643 words

Mohamed Jama Yusuf was a young man when he left his home in Somalia and travelled to Ajman to make a new life for himself. Now, more than half a century later, he could soon be leaving forever.

The 74-year-old arrived in the emirate in the 1950s but has been without a residency visa since 1992. For more than 20 years he has been living illegally, in constant fear of being jailed or deported.

Now, the two-month amnesty for illegal residents has presented the former soldier with the chance to return to his native country without facing hefty fines or fees, but at a cost of leaving his home in the UAE.

“This has been an important opportunity, especially for people like me who don’t have the money to pay fines for staying illegally. But I am worried there is no one to take care of me back in Somalia and my health is not good,” he said.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Second French soldier ‘dies after Somalia raid’

14 Jan – Source: BBC – 176 words

Islamist rebels in Somalia say a second French soldier has died of his wounds after a failed rescue attempt. A spokesman for al- Shabaab militants said the commando had died of gunshot wounds and that both bodies would be shown later.

The French military sent a force into southern Somalia late on Friday to try to free intelligence agent Denis Allex, held hostage since 2009. Militants say he is still alive, with his fate still to be decided. Al Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab told Reuters news agency: “The second commando died from his bullet wounds. We shall display the bodies of the two Frenchmen.”

On Saturday French President Francois Hollande said two soldiers had been “sacrificed” in the operation and Mr. Alex had been killed by his captors. The battle erupted with al Shabaab militants after commandos swooped on the town of Bulo Marer on Friday night and Saturday morning.

Somali official tells RFI he knew of French hostage rescue attempt

14 Jan – Source: RFI News – 194 words

An attempt by French forces early on Saturday morning to free an intelligence agent in Somalia early on Saturday morning come to a bloody end. The agent, and a number of civilians, have been killed.

According to Abdulkadir Mohamed Siidi, the governor of Lower Shabelle region where the attack took place, Four French helicopters conducted an air raid on a house in the town of Bulomarer. In an exclusive interview with RFI , he explained how the attack was conducted .

“The attack happened almost 2 o’clock in the morning and it was carried out by French commandos who wanted to release a French hostage who was held by the terrorists for the last three years” The governor also added that his administration was well aware of the attack .

“We knew about the attack, French forces always used to contact us about the whereabouts of that agent held by the terrorists and last night did so. Almost 27 al Shabaab fighters were killed in the attack and two family members of the fighters were caught in the crossfire during the operation”. The French military failed in its attempt to free the hostage from the Islamic militants’ base.

SOCIAL MEDIA

CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS

“While global attention is focused on Somalia, the self-declared republic of Somaliland has been independent for 20 years without recognition by the international community.

This lack of recognition is an injustice to Somalilanders”

12 Jan – Source: Pampazuka/IndepthAfrica/SomalilandPress – 652 Words

Hanna, not her real name, born in 1992 in New Hargaysa the Somaliland capital celebrated her 20th birthday last 18 May, the Independence Day. Twenty years after independence, little has changed in her life. Because her country, Somaliland, neither has real independence nor unity with Somalia, nor effective administration to deliver basic necessities let alone guaranteeing better life for her. Fleeing from the abject poverty and President Silanyo’s government’s indifference towards the painful suffering of the people as well as the international blockade in the form of denial of recognition by the international community, Hanna perished in the Mediterranean Sea unnoticed trying to reach to Europe.

The exodus of youngsters aged 18-29 years, of both genders, in attempted escape from hellish conditions back home often turns their journey more or less into mass suicide. But due to inherent uncertainty, many of Hanna’s peers worry more about the future and the risky voyage to Europe is the pnly option that always comes to mind.

Somalilanders are law-abiding citizens who think the international laws are based on a concrete basis of conviction and justice. They prevented terror from ithe region and eliminated piracy from their seashore. According to an Aljazeera program , “pirates set up some sort of stock exchange for their companies that has drawn investment from Somali diaspora and other nations. They started 15 maritime companies and now are hosting 75, not in the capital of Mogadishu but Harardhere Stock Exchange making piracy a community activities.

One piracy investor contributed a rocket propelled grenade from her ex-husband’s alimony and has made $75,000 in only 38 days. The growing demand and mounting risks pushed ransom from $2 million to $4 million to satisfy the rising number of shareholders. In the process, the piracy stock exchange has transformed the once small fishing village into a bustling town that earns a percentage of every ransom to be used on infrastructure including hospitals and public schools”. Somalis are doing everything they can to survive or to make money. Why not we? But we uphold the national and international laws and yet there is no appreciation.

“It is an open secret that elements tainted by links with piracy want to whip up discontent with a view to high jacking genuine and peaceful expression of public dissatisfaction with the current administration. Extremists are also in pole position with significant infrastructure of front businesses and safe houses and can take advantage of any public disorder.”

Somalia: Puntland – Beyond The Pale

13 Jan – Source: Horseed Media/Raxanreeb – 1135 Words

The countdown is over and that magic date in the calendar came and went but the sun is still rising from the East. The predicted turmoil that was to happen the day after hasn’t materialized.

But is it the lull before the storm or there are factors that need to be examined to explain why the much talked about upheavals turned out to be a damp squib.

Either way there seems to be an air of surrealism in Puntland. People are expecting that something would happen but don’t know what. There is a sense of foreboding; apprehension that something untoward might occur that will change everyone’s life for good.

This crisis is just beginning and has a year to run. It is early days and it is foolish to make any predictions about what will happen in the coming weeks and months.

“This is an astonishing moment for a country long dubbed the “world’s most failed state”: the first chance in a generation for genuine change, and what the UN Special Envoy Augustine Mahiga called “an unprecedented opportunity for peace.”

Somalia: A failed state is back from the dead

13 Jan – Source: The Independent – 1568 Words

Eighteen months ago, central Mogadishu was like an African Stalingrad. The heat may have been equatorial but everything else seemed strangely familiar: a dirty cat-and-mouse war, often fought hand to hand among the spectacularly bombed-out ruins of a once-thriving city centre.

On one side were the forces of the Western-backed government, supported by thousands of Ugandan and Burundian troops of AMISOM, the African Union Mission in Somalia. On the other was al Shabaab, a virulent militant Islamist organisation aligned with al Qaeda. The two sides had been fighting for control of the capital for three years.

Between offensives it was possible to take a tour of the battlefield, courtesy of AMISOM, whose troops commuted there from their base by the oceanfront airport, shuttling back and forth in convoys of Casspirs, hulking armoured personnel carriers with bullet-cracked windows and V-shaped hulls designed to deflect mine blast.

Top tweets

@OCHASom 1,000 Somalis displaced so far in January. Get all the latest updates on displacement in #Somalia herehttp://bit.ly/QjQ6Bd v @UNHCRSom.

@FreelanceJRNLST Sources inside Alshabab suggest they will release later today images of dead #French Commandos.#Somalia.

@CispSom Non-somali speakers can finally enjoy#SomaliPoetry thanks to the publication of #HADRAAWI‘s selected poems! http://bit.ly/10txOIK #Somalia.

@EUTMSomalia FIBUA training on-going at #BTC. #EUTM #Somali recruits are working hard getting ready for the#finalparade. pic.twitter.com/TVapXvTF.

‏@amisomsomalia PHOTOs of the DAY: #AMISOM‘s #Nigerian #police unit backs up #Somalia police in #Mogadishu http://on.fb.me/10tryRg @NigeriaNewsdesk #Africa.

@AU_PSD #JCM meeting to review the preliminary outcome of the #AU Strategic Review of #AMISOM mandate and operationspic.twitter.com/7pEZbzej.

Follow the conversation →

Image of the day

Image of the day Traders salvage properties after their stalls demolished to allow expansion of the road inside the Hamar Weyn Market, in Mogadishu on January 13, 2013. Photo: Shingani News.