January 23, 2017 | Morning Headlines
Somalia Upper House Elects New Speaker
22 January – Source : VOA – 209 Words
Somalia’s Upper House of parliament has elected its speaker on Sunday, the last major step toward holding the presidential election that has been delayed several times already. The 54-member Upper House elected senator Abdi Hashi Abdullahi with 43 out of 51 votes. His opponent, Mustaf Mohamed Qodah, got only nine votes. Former CEO of Goobjoog Media Abshir Mohamed Ahmed was elected as the first deputy speaker, and Mowlid Hussein Guhad became the second speaker of the upper house. Speaking to VOA after the election, the first deputy speaker said he was delighted to be elected and vowed to serve the people. “To get people’s confidence who trust you with their future is not an easy thing, but we will do what we can to serve them” Ahmed added.
The Lower House elected it speaker on January 11, and Sunday’s upper house leadership election paves the way for the long-awaited presidential election delayed four times amid allegation of vote-buying and intimidation. Somalia’s current president and prime minister are among dozens of candidates vying for the post of president. The presidential vote is set for Tuesday (January 24) but an electoral official who spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity said the date will be pushed again possibly into next month.
Key Headlines
- Somalia Upper House Elects New Speaker (VOA)
- Elders Refuse To Transfer Gang-rape Case To Galkayo Court Accused Of Shielding Rapists (Hiiraan Online)
- Heavy Inter-clan Clashes Near Mahaday Kills Two (Shabelle News)
- Ali Ameriko Hails Election Of Upper House Speaker (Shabelle News)
- Police Commander Killed In Attack In Somalia’s Middle Shabelle Region (VOA)
- What President Trump’s Policies Mean For Somalia And Security In Greater East Africa (The EastAfrican)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Elders Refuse To Transfer Gang-rape Case To Galkayo Court, Accused Of Shielding Rapists
22 January – Source : Hiiraan Online – 215 Words
Elders from Puntland’s Galdogob town have overwhelmingly rejected the transfer of a controversial gang-rape case to a Mudug regional court in Galkayo, insisting that the case be heard in a Goldogob court. A local official who spoke with Hiiraan Online on condition of anonymity has said that there have been several meetings in recent weeks between elders, scholars and the criminal’s families that have not yielded any resolution. He also added that the members of perpetrators’ clan fear that they will receive harsh punishment if the case is moved to a Galkayo court, which is the main reason why the elders refuse to extradite the six men.
Local clerics have proposed that the men be flogged and compensate the victim but many say the severity of the case, as well as the international condemnation, warrant a much more serious punishment than a lashing. The victim was hospitalized for a month for treatment to serious injuries following the violent attack. The men are currently incarcerated in a Galdogob jail as their case is being discussed. Locals report that police have heightened security around the jail to thwart any attempts to forcibly free the men. The brutal attack which was caught on tape and shared online shocked the Somali and international community and has drawn international condemnation.
Heavy Inter-clan Clashes Near Mahaday Kills Two
22 January – Source : Shabelle News – 105 Words
A according to reports by resident, at least two people have been killed in a deadly inter-clan fighting in the rural areas near Mahaday district in Middle Shabelle region on Sunday. The fighting which started in Mir-Tugo and El baraf villages in the early hours of Sunday has intensified after the two sides received reinforcements which spanned out the standoff. The warring sides are reportedly clashed over land dispute. Previous heavy intra-clan fighting between the two militia groups has left dozens of people dead and many others injured. Local elders are yet to begin mediation efforts to bring an end to the ongoing clan fighting.
Ali Ameriko Hails Election Of Upper House Speaker
22 January – Source : Shabelle News – 132 Words
Presidential candidate Ambassador Mohamed Ali Nur Ameriko congratulated the elected Upper House speaker HE Abdi Hashi Abdullah and his deputies on Sunday. “Praise goes to the MPs who displayed remarkable integrity and accountability during the election of the new leadership of the Upper House,” said Ambassador Mohamed Ali. He added that the new speaker of the senate has a national responsibility to save the horn of Africa country which is now recovering from two decades of conflict. The Upper House chamber of the 10th parliament of the Federal Republic of Somalia has voted for its new leadership before the country goes to the election of the president. Ali becomes the first presidential candidate to send his congratulatory message to the elected Senate speaker and his deputies in Mogadishu on Sunday, 22nd January.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Police Commander Killed In Attack In Somalia’s Middle Shebelle Region
21 January – Source : VOA – 159 Words
The commander of police forces in Somalia’s Middle Shebelle region was killed in a grenade attack at police headquarters in Jowhar town, officials told VOA. Major Khalif Abdulle Arfaye was fatally wounded in the blast, which left two other people wounded. Police station chief Mohamed Siyad Ali told VOA’s Somali service that the commander had succumbed to his injuries after arriving at the town’s hospital. “Just before 7 p.m. a grenade was hurled at the station.
The commander sustained serious injuries. I took him to the hospital, where he died,” Ali told VOA Somali. No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but Ali said he suspected Al-Shabaab militants had carried out the attack. “He was targeted and attacked because of the responsibility he had, it’s clear,” Ali said. Ali said the assailant or assailants had fled the scene, and that a manhunt was underway. Johwar is 90 kilometers north of Mogadishu and is a town surrounded by farmland.
OPINION, CULTURE & ANALYSIS
“Over the past three years, President Obama’s support for the 22,000-strong Africa Union Mission to Somalia, Amisom, has been crucial in the fight against Al Shabaab, the Al Qaeda-affiliates trying to oust the Federal Government of Somalia. By providing intelligence, deploying Special Forces, airstrikes and drones, the US has degraded Al-Shabaab’s fighting capabilities and decapitated its leadership.”
What President Trump’s Policies Mean For Somalia And Security In Greater East Africa
21 January – Source : The EastAfrican – 2460 Words
News last week that President Donald Trump had asked for a review of the US role in Somalia should worry frontline states like Kenya and Ethiopia. Over the past three years, President Obama’s support for the 22,000-strong African Union Mission to Somalia, Amisom, has been crucial in the fight against Al-Shabaab, the Al Qaeda-affiliates trying to oust the Federal Government of Somalia. By providing intelligence, deploying Special Forces, airstrikes and drones, the US has degraded Al-Shabaab’s fighting capabilities and decapitated its leadership.
In May last year, a US airstrike killed Abdullahi Haji Da’ud, a key military commander. He was one of many Al-Shabaab leaders taken out by US drones and Special Forces in early 2016 among them Mohamed Dulyadin, architect of the 2015 Garissa University shootings; Yusuf Ali Ugas, an Al Shabaab recruiter; Mohamed Mire, the Al Shabaab governor for the Hiran region and Hassan Ali Dhoore, architect of both the 2014 Christmas Day attack on Mogadishu airport and the 2015 attack on Maka Al-Mukarramah hotel, also in Mogadishu.
If Al-Shabaab seems less fleet-footed and lethal today than it did a year and a half ago, part of the credit must go to the US. It now looks like President Trump who is breathtakingly naïve about the threat that Al-Shabaab-like groups pose wants the review in order to cut back US involvement in Somalia. This would be a strategic and costly long-run mistake for US policy in the Horn of Africa. The Red Sea: It also means that Kenya and Ethiopia, both allies of the US against Al-Shabaab, could also soon bail out of Somalia. Should they do so, Al-Shabaab will flourish, at least in the short-run. The silver lining, though, is that in the medium-term, the retreat by the US, Ethiopia and Kenya would give the African Union an excellent chance to redesign Amisom, its otherwise doomed mission in Somalia. Here is why:
To begin with, it is baffling that President Trump cannot see the strategic argument. The Red Sea and so the Suez Canal is vital to global commerce, a route not only for oil from the Gulf states to Europe but also for goods from Europe and North America to India, the Arabian Peninsula and China. The Red Sea shortcut which carries about 8 per cent of global trade eliminates 10 days and 8,900 kilometres (or 43 per cent) from the alternative route round the Cape of Good Hope. True, some oil tankers are now taking the long route but that is temporary, explained by low oil prices that offset the higher transport costs.