January 21, 2013 | Morning Headlines.
Somali Prime Minister pays tribute to the recently slain journalist of Shabelle media network
20 Jan – Source: Shabelle – 99 words
Somali Prime Minister Abdi farah Shirdon Saa’id has visited the compound of Shabelle Media Network in a tribute to the network’s important media work and particularly to the bravery of its staff including, Abdihared Osman Adan who was murdered last week in the capital. The Premier was accompanied by members of his cabinet namely the interior minister, deputy minister of defence, deputy minister of information and commanders of Somali security including both the police chief and chief of the intelligence agency.
Key Headlines
- 1000-strong force earmarked for Mogadishu security says president Mohamud (Bar-kulan)
- Puntland welcomes U.S. recognition of Somalia’s new government (Garowe Online)
- PM Shirdon warns criminal groups of tough actions (Bar-kulan)
- Somalia’s president asks Somalis living in Minnesota to help rebuild their war-torn homeland (AP)
- UN official urges African Union troops to minimize child casualties (UN News Centre)
- UNHCR says over 1 Mln Somali Refugees in Horn of Africa (English News)
SOMALI MEDIA
1000-strong force earmarked for Mogadishu security, says president Mohamud
20 Jan – Source: Bar-kulan – 124 words
The government has set up Special Forces to deal with insecurity in the capital in an effort to safeguard the lives and property of its citizens, president Mohamud has said. Speaking to the Somali community in Minneapolis, US, the president said his government has already mobilized a strong force of one thousand soldiers to strengthen security in Mogadishu. He said these forces are now active in the city and their mandate will be extended after evaluating their achievements for the first quarter of the year.
The president expressed confidence that the force will bolster security and manage to meet their expectations in securing the city.
Puntland welcomes U.S. recognition of Somalia’s new government
20 Jan – Source: Garowe Online/Bar-kulan – 127 words
Somalia ‘s Puntland government says it welcomes the U.S. government ‘s official diplomatic recognition of the Somali Federal Government..A press statement published today states that the U.S. has not recognized any national government in Somalia since 1991, while noting U.S. recognition as “a courageous and historic step in advancing U.S.-Somalia relations “. Continuing, the statement said that Puntland shares its “recommendations with the U.S. Government, the Somali President [Hassan Sheikh Mohamud], and the people of Somalia as a whole”.
PM Shirdon warns criminal groups of tough actions
20 Jan – Source: Bar-kulan – 98 words
Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon has issued a strong warning to criminal groups trying to destabilise the country, saying that his government will deal with them. Shirdon said his government will not allow these groups to continue to cause insecurity and disturb the well-being of ordinary citizens. He said they will give propriety to security in the country and make sure that all citizens are safe in every part of the country.
Somali Prime Minister pays tribute to the recently slain journalist of Shabelle media network
20 Jan – Source: Shabelle – 99 words
Somali Prime Minister Abdi farah Shirdon Saa’id has visited the compound of Shabelle Media Network in a tribute to the network’s important media work and particularly to the bravery of its staff including, Abdihared Osman Adan who was murdered last week in the capital. The Premier was accompanied by members of his cabinet namely the interior minister, deputy minister of defence, deputy minister of information and commanders of Somali security including both the police chief and chief of the intelligence agency.
Defence minister Fiqi jets back to Mogadishu
20 Jan – Source: Bar-kulan – 106 words
Defence minister Abdikarin Hajji Mohamud Fiqi on Sunday returned home after attending the Turkish-organised Somalia Core Group meeting in Ankara, where participants discussed the rebuilding of the Somali army. The meeting which took place on Jan. 18 in the Turkish capital, Ankara, was attended by the US, EU countries, African Union, some participants from Gulf countries and all the countries in AMISOM. The event focused on the needs of the Somali government and rebuilding the Somali army.
Interior Minister promises investigation into the killings of Somali journalists
19 Jan – Source: Mareeg Online – 87 words
Abdikarin Hussien Guled, Somali Interior and Security Minister has said that the government has demanded security to find those who are responsible for the targeted killings against Somali journalists in the capital. Mr. Guled stated that there would be a government-led investigation; journalists working for Shabelle media network are particularly targeted. The interior minister also mentioned there are unanswered questions about why most of the killings are confined to Wadajir district.
Muslim Women Parliamentarians Conference held in Khartoum
20 Jan – Source: Bar-kulan – 73 words
A conference for Muslim Women Parliamentarians of the Inter-Parliamentary Union of Member States of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation has been held in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum. Female MPs from 29 countries including Somalia’s Amina Mohamed Abdi attended the conference which opened last Thursday. The participants of the conference discussed the challenges facing Muslim women and ways forward in strengthening their education and political participation in their respective countries, according to Abdi.
7 killed as al Shabaab attack Afmadow town
19 Jan – Source: Garowe Online – 96 words
Heavy fighting erupted in Afmadow town of southern Somalia between Somali government forces aided by Kenyan-AMISOM troops and al Shabaab militants. Local reports say that al Shabaab militants attacked the town from different directions. “We heard the sound of heavy gunfire in the outskirts of [Afmadow] town. After the fighting, there were 7 reported casualties including civilians,” said a Afmadow resident speaking to Somali media via telephone.
REGIONAL MEDIA
State links Somali gangs to increased wildlife poaching
20 Jan – Source: Daily Nation – 124 words
Gangs from neighbouring Somalia and former game rangers are behind the stepped-up poaching of Kenyan wildlife, a senior government official says. Head of Public Service Francis Kimemia says he has directed the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) top leadership to investigate and furnish the Office of the President with findings into the Somalia link. Just last week, a gang of 10 poachers killed a family of 11 elephants in Tsavo National Park in the illegal hunt for tusks.
Yemeni court jails 3 Somali pirates
20 Jan – Source: Arab News – 166 words
A court in southeast Yemen on Saturday jailed three Somali pirates for 10 years each after convicting them of hijacking boats in the Gulf of Aden, Saba state news agency said. The defendants went on trial in 2011 after being charged with hijacking a Yemeni fishing boat and a foreign yacht with the aim of using the Yemeni vessel to carry out piracy attacks, Saba said.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somalia’s president asks Somalis living in Minnesota to help rebuild their war-torn homeland
20 Jan – Source: Times Colonist/AP – 176 words
A day after the U.S. officially recognized Somalia’s government for the first time in two decades, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud called on Somalis living in Minnesota to help rebuild their war-torn homeland. Mohamud spoke to about 4,000 people late Friday night at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Although most of his speech was in Somalia, he said in English that it was, “the beginning of a new foundation.”
UNHCR says over 1 Mln Somali Refugees in Horn of Africa
20 Jan – Source: English News – 168 words
There are 1.1 million Somali refugees in the Horn of Africa region as of Dec. 31, 2012, a UN refugee agency said on Saturday. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said Somali refugees in the Horn of Africa region included 532,660 in Kenya, 219,057 in Yemen, 214,167 in Ethiopia, and 29,603 in Uganda among other countries, the UNHCR said in its latest Somalia Factsheet released in Nairobi on Saturday.
UN official urges African Union troops to minimize child casualties
19 Jan – Source: UN News Center – 148 words
A senior United Nations official today urged the African Union to strengthen its efforts to minimize child casualties in their operations after several children lost their lives earlier this week in Somalia. In a news release issued by her office, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Leila Zerrougui, voiced her deep concern about the killing that took place during military operations carried out in the Lower Shabelle region by the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM) on Tuesday.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“It’s wrong to portray the Turks as competitors. They are friends who did what we should have done. It’s therefore good to catch up with them and participate in this benefaction. After all, we spearheaded the concept, “The Hajj…and the sale of beads.””
Are Turks in Somalia for the hajj or to sell beads?
20 Jan – Source: Al Arabiya – 958 Words
Next to us, we Saudis, and within our strategic security sphere, lies a country biting the dust for more than two decades. Its collapse began when its last “effective” government, which was neither successful nor popularly elected, fell. Even if that government had survived to this day, it surely would have been swept away by the Arab Spring. Together with our neighbors in the region, we looked after it on one or two occasions, and then moved away.
Even the Americans ran out on it after a solitary attempt to save it in the wake of the war to liberate Kuwait. At the time, George Bush Sr. may have wanted to show his country was also ready to intervene and help a poverty-stricken Muslim country, unlike oil-rich Kuwait. It turned out to be a bitter American experience.
I am referring to Somalia.
“By concentrating economic diplomacy, Somaliland will not only promote trade and investment but will also increase its networking, promote country profile and at last will have a say in those global political organisations including the United Nations.”
The Road to Economic Development; the case for Somaliland
20 Jan – Source: Somaliland Press – 1331 Words
This work tries to pave the way for the achievement of a sustainable economic growth by taking into account the current position of the Somaliland economy and then compiles a set of recommendations for those agents including policy makers who are interested in improving the economy. Currently, Somaliland is in the stage of what Rostow called “the preconditions for take-off”. According to Rostow, the “preconditions for take-off”, the second stage of a five stage process, is characterised by the presence of entrepreneurs in the society and investors who are ready to invest ideas.