January 28, 2015 | Morning Headlines.

Main Story

PM Sharmarke gives new faces portfolios

27 Jan – Source: Garowe Online/Radio Goobjoog – 163 Words

Federal Government of Somalia’s Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke has on Tuesday evening announced new cabinet lineup for the second time in two weeks, calling for parliamentary approval, Garowe Online reports. Three women secured portfolios in Sharmarke’s cabinet as Education, Health and Women and Human Rights Development Ministers. Abdisalan Omar Hadliye, former head of Central Bank who resigned over graft allegations in 2013 also appeared in the list as Foreign Affairs Minister. Among the cabinet are two allies of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, Al Jazeera Journalist Fahad Yasin who became Minister for Ports and Marine Transport and Interior Minister and former President of SIMAD University Abdirahman Mohamed Hussein. Former Chairman of Puntland Chamber of Commerce and the recent Health Minister-designate Saed Hussein Eid was assigned to the Ministry of Animal Husbandry. In a statement from his office, prior to the announcement the prime minister said he held robust consultations with President Mohamud, Parliament Speaker, MPs and Civil Society. For complete list of appointed ministers click on the link .

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Key Headlines

PM Sharmarke gives new faces portfolios (Garowe Online/Radio Goobjoog)
Irish-UN mission hosts Somali women political participation panel (Hiiraan Online)
New Deal conference on Somalia opens in Garowe – Somali Current/Radio Bar-Kulan
Kismayo police ban unauthorized weapons (Radio Bar-Kulan)
Eleven referees promoted to B Level (Somali Current)
Solar light installation project to kick off in Baidoa (Radio Bar-Kulan)
Somali ex-Shabaab chief tells others to surrender (Capital FM News)
Family police identify 13-year-old boy killed in Eagan (CBS)
Bristol MP Stephen Williams under fire over claims Somali immigrants have contributed to pub closures(Bristol Post)

SOMALI MEDIA

PM Sharmarke gives new faces portfolios

27 Jan – Source: Garowe Online/Radio Goobjoog – 163 Words

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Irish-UN mission hosts Somali women political participation panel

27 Jan – Source: Hiiraan Online – 152 Words

In Somalia, women’s political participation remains a complex issue in Somalia’s male-dominated political circle, where women’s roles are often classified as house managers. Despite these challenges, Somali human rights activist Ilwad Elman has called to resolve this issue. She has taken the issue beyond borders to Ireland’s permanent mission at the United Nations. Human Rights Watch and Oxfam will host a human rights assembly in New York; Ms. Ilwad Elman, the Director of Elman Human Rights Organization is amongst the distinguished speakers at the meeting. At the meeting, she’ll address women’s political participation and leadership in her impoverished nation as well as the role of women in peace and security. During the convention, she’ll make a presentation to the UN Security Council which will be streamed live on http://webtv.un.org. Due to the storm, the date has changed from Tuesday to Friday.

New Deal conference on Somalia opens in Garowe

27 Jan – Source: Somali Current/Radio Bar-Kulan – 145 Words

Puntland President Abdiweli Mohamed Ali Gas on Tuesday launched a high level conference on Somalia’s New Deal. The two-day conference will focus on Somalia’s political stability and security. Members from the federal government, regional administrations, civil society, and officials representing international partners were in attendance at the meeting in Garowe. In his opening remarks, Puntland president Abdiweli Mohamed Ali Gaas said that Somalia has already embarked on the path of peace and reconstruction. “I am very grateful to welcome you all here, this conference was held to focus [on] Somali progress,” Abdiweli Gaas said. Somalia’s economic development is expected to be discussed during the conference, according to the Puntland president. He asked international partners to continue their support to stabilize and build a sustainable Somalia.

Kismayo police ban unauthorized weapons

27 Jan – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan – 196 Words

Interim Jubba Administration police on Tuesday announced crackdown on people carrying illegal firearms in Kismayo, the administrative capital of the IJA administration. Kismayo police commander Colonel Gabobe Hassan Barre told Bar-Kulan there are people carrying unauthorized weapons in the town who commit acts of robbery, and threaten the stability of the town. He urged such people to hand over their guns to the administration, and threatened to take decisive measures against anyone found breaching the order. He also called on locals to support the police in their operation aimed at bolstering security of the seaport town.

Eleven referees promoted to B Level

27 Jan – Source: Somali Current – 329 Words

Eleven young Somali football referees have been promoted to B Level after they successfully practiced the laws of the game during Division 3 competitions over the past two years. The referees, who have been officiating the country’s 3rd division football league since 2013 were awarded with 2nd level certificates for professionally adopting laws of the game since they joined the field. Somali Football Federation Secretary General Hassan Mohamed Mohamud, who spoke at the promotion ceremony of the young referees organized at Somali FA headquarters on the 21st of January 2015, said the federation was fully satisfied with how the promoted referees implemented laws of the game during matches they officiated over a period of two years. The head of the Somali FA competitions department and executive committee member, Mustaf Elmi Afrah, told the ceremony that referees had done well over the years and earned such a promotion.

Somali Football Federation Vice President Ali Abdi Mohamed urged the young referees to redouble their efforts to be able to ensure the ambitions they are pursuing. “I know every one of you would like to reach international level and you can only realise that dream when you have done extreme efforts that can put you on the way to success,”” the Vice President told the young referees. “On behalf of SFF, I promise to you that we will do every possible step to upgrade your knowledge and I am very happy that you did the right things in the very beginning of your career from the day you joined this field.”

Solar light installation project to kick off in Baidoa

27 Jan – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan – 117 Words

The Bay regional administration on Tuesday said it is planning to install solar-powered streetlights on some of the main roads of Baidoa, the provincial capital of Bay region. The solar-light installation project is being funded by the Norwegian non-governmental organization – NIS Foundation. Bay region deputy commissioner, Mustaf Ibrahim Ali, told Bar-kulan that the solar lights would be installed on all major roads of the town to restore the town’s streetlights. He said the project would also give the town a major facelift, and boost security in the town. Baidoa residents have welcomed the project which is expected to be launched soon. Ali said there were other development projects to be started in other parts of the region shortly.

REGIONAL MEDIA

Somali ex-Shabaab chief tells others to surrender

27 Jan – Source: Capital FM News – 343 Words

A former top commander from Somalia’s Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shabaab rebels, Zakariya Ismail Ahmed Hersi, called on his former comrades Tuesday to follow his lead and surrender to the country’s internationally-backed government. “I call on and encourage all my friends to seek out a peaceful way of resolving all conflicts and towards reconciliation, as…Al-Shabaab is now in total collapse,” Hersi said in his first public appearance since his surrender last month. Hersi, who was the subject of a $3 million bounty under the US State Department’s “Rewards for Justice” programme, spoke to reporters from the information ministry in Mogadishu, where he appeared without guards. It is not clear if Hersi – described as a former Shabaab intelligence chief – will face trial, but Somalia’s government said in a statement that it had offered surrendering militants the “opportunity to reintegrate with Somali society, and guarantees their safety”. It added that it hoped Hersi’s surrender would “inspire others to follow his example and join the peace process.”

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Family, police identify 13-year-old boy killed in Eagan

27 Jan – Source: CBS – 202 Words

Family members and police have identified the 13-year-old boy whose death investigators have termed “suspicious.”Paramedics and police were called to a home on Silver Bell Circle just after 11 a.m. on Sunday. Officers say the victim had been home with his 15-year-old brother and 11-year-old sister.They say the older brother called police and said his little brother was bleeding and couldn’t talk or move. The older brother first told police his brother was running with a knife and fell, accidentally stabbing himself. But when police arrived, the boy’s older brother admitted that he had lied to dispatchers, and had in fact accidentally shot his brother.

First responders tried to save the boy but were unable to revive him.On Monday, family members confirmed to WCCO that the boy who was killed was Suhayb Hassan. He was a student at Black Hawk Middle School in Eagan.Police said that Hassan’s brother said they were playing “Cops and Robbers” with their father’s 9mm handgun, and didn’t think that it was loaded.Police said that the incident “appears to be a horrible accident.”“Only one round was fired, and it hit the victim in the chest,” Eagan Police spokesperson Desiree Schroepher said.

Bristol MP Stephen Williams under fire over claims Somali immigrants have contributed to pub closures

27 Jan – Source: Bristol Post – 317 Words

MP for Bristol West Stephen Williams has been forced to defend himself over claims that an influx of Somali immigrants has led to pub closures. The Lib Dem minister for communities made his comments during a House of Commons debate as the government unveiled new plans to protect pubs valuable to local communities. He said immigrants replacing “white working” class people in his constituency had contributed to a downturn in trade.

But today he said the comments were “taken out of context” as he faced criticism from Somali community groups in Bristol. In his speech in parliament he argued against blanket protection for every pub in the country as some new communities do not drink alcohol. He said: “In my own constituency, lots of pubs have closed but it is usually because of demographic change. “Particularly in some parts of my constituency, which used to have … ‘a white working class community’ 20 or 30 years ago are now populated primarily by recently-arrived Somalis and other people. “Obviously the pubs in that area have closed. “Some have been converted to other uses, some of them actually are still derelict.” Today Mr Williams called the comments, which originally appeared in the Telegraph, a “total misrepresentation of my words”.

SOCIAL MEDIA

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

“In a similar positive vein, the Somali National Army is finally being stood up as a 22,000-strong force, with funding and assistance for half this number from a variety of donors. On paper at least there is, too, a 7,500-strong Somali Police Force.”

Somalia: A case for (very) cautious optimism

27 Jan – Source: Daily Maverick – 2, 232 Words

In large part the country’s transformation is down to the fighting role over the past seven years of the African Union Mission, AMISOM. With 23,000 troops from Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, Djibouti and Ethiopia, AMISOM has demonstrated real staying power in the face of the Islamist enemy Al-Shabaab’s fight – losing perhaps over 4,000 troops in the process.Mogadishu’s relative prosperity is also down to a combination of $1 billion in annual international aid and investment by returning Somali diaspora – in addition to the estimated $1.2 billion in yearly remittances from the 1.5 million Somalis living abroad.

But Mogadishu’s airport also illustrates how much remains to be done before Somalia has escaped the reality of being a failed state.The Bad News On the far side of the apron one of the morning Khat flights was being unloaded, the brown hessian bags brimming with the leafy green twigs laid out neatly in rows for dispensing and sale in Mogadishu’s markets. The annual trade in the stimulant is worth over $200 million. Chewing is a way of life for many, and its effects cost the economy.Somalia’s exports centre on the livestock and charcoal trade. With a GDP of around $1.6 billion, the country has every sort of poverty imaginable and few of the tools to address it.