January 3, 2018 | Morning Headlines
Upper House: Resolution On Violations Carried Out By Government Security Forces On Citizens And Senators
02 January- Source: Goobjoog News – 121 Words
Somalia’s Upper House on Tuesday released resolutions against the raid on the house of Senator Abdi Qaybdid in Mogadishu.The resolution is made up of two articles. First, the Upper House resolution on Senator Qaybdid’d house attack read “Defense ministry and military command to immediately present in the court the soldiers who attacked the house of Senator Abdi Qaybdid in contrary to the constitution of the country.”
Secondly “Ministries of Defense and internal security and military command are ordered to train the soldiers who are under their command on the basic military matters stipulated in the article 127 of the constitution to avoid violating the law and the constitution.”On 30th December 2017, government soldiers attacked the Senator’s house in Mogadishu.
Key Headlines
- Upper House: Resolution On Violations Carried Out By Government Security Forces On Citizens And Senators (Goobjoog News)
- Galmudug Administration Imposes Strict Guidelines On Miraa Business People (Radio Dalsan)
- Somali Government Soldier Shot Dead In Mogadishu (Shabelle Media)
- Federal Government Minister Visits Sanaag Region (Goobjoog News)
- Four Security Officers Killed In Mandera Shabaab Attack (Daily Nation)
- How A Rapid Response Helped To Avert Famine In Somalia Last Year (Concern Worldwide)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Galmudug Administration Imposes Strict Guidelines On Miraa Business People
02 January – Source: Radio Dalsan – 141 Words
The Galmudug state administration has today imposed an order on the Khat business people and the airlines companies that deliver the product in the area. On issuing the order, the Minister of Finance Mr Said Siyad Shirwac said that all the airlines and the businessmen who import miraa cannot do so without an official permit from the regional authority.
Mr Shirwac ordered all miraa business dealers to register themselves with the authority within seven days as they are required to pay $2.5 tax per kilo. The move is part of a plan to collect revenue from all over the region so that it can manage the administration needs and those of its people. “This is an issue we have been planning for quite some time and I am requesting the business people to register themselves within a week,” he said.
Somali Government Soldier Shot Dead In Mogadishu
02 January – Source: Shabelle Media – 88 Words
Unidentified gunmen have carried out a yet another targeted assassination in Mogadishu, Somali capital. Witnesses said men armed with pistols have gunned down a Somali government soldier near the administrative headquarters of Waberi district and fled the scene.
The security forces arrived at the scene in the aftermath of the murder and detained at least 10 people in connection with the soldier’s killing. No group has yet claimed credit for the assassination, which was the latest in a surge of attacks in Mogadishu over the past few months.
Federal Government Minister Visits Sanaag Region
02 January – Source: Goobjoog News – 88 Words
A federal government delegation headed by the minister of planning and international corporation Jamal Hassan Ismail has today visited Sanaag region. The visit in Badhan town is allegedly aimed at how federal government services can be extended to the region and getting first hand information on the situation of the local people.
Minister Jamal becomes the highest federal government official to visit the town in Sanaag province since the collapse of the Somali central government in 1991. Sool and Sanag regions are contested regions between Somaliland and Puntland.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Four Security Officers Killed In Mandera Shabaab Attack
02 January – Source: Daily Nation – 169 Words
Four security officers have been killed in an attack by suspected Al-Shabaab militants on the Elwak-Kotulo road in Mandera. Mandera South Deputy County Commissioner Daniel Bundotich told the Nation on phone that the three casualties include two police reservists and an Administration Police officer. “We lost three security officers in the attack. They were on patrol on Elwak-Kotulo road,” he said.
A third police reservist died while being taken to hospital. He said there was a gunfight and the attackers retreated. Mr Bundotich said a second contingent of GSU officers that was responding to the first attack was also ambushed. It has not been established if their lorry was burnt. Locals reported seeing a burning vehicle in the area but Mr Bundotich said he is yet to confirm. This is not the first attack in the area. In November, two police vehicles were burnt to ashes in the same area forcing officers to boycott escorting buses. Buses plying Mandera-Nairobi route have since switched to Marsabit-Moyale road which is safer.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“With millions of people still affected by food crisis in Somalia, it remains imperative to learn the lessons of the past two years and continue to respond to emerging needs early and effectively, in order to continue to keep famine at bay,”
How A Rapid Response Helped To Avert Famine In Somalia Last Year
02 January – Source: Concern Worldwide – 687 Words
When Somalia was cited as one of four countries on the brink of famine in early 2017, it brought on a grim sense of déjà vu. Between 2010 and 2012, a combination of drought and conflict led to a devastating famine, in which an estimated 260,000 people lost their lives. Five years on, there were fears that a similar situation was unfolding all over again.
A year later however, and the picture is not as bleak as had been feared. The humanitarian response, with aid targeted at some of the worst affected areas, has so far succeeded in staving off widespread famine. The situation remains severe and, following four consecutive poor rainy seasons, there is a huge and ongoing demand for humanitarian assistance with an estimated 6.2 million people in need. But the predictions that were made at the start of the year of a disaster on the scale of the last famine have not yet materialised.
This is thanks in part to a more rapid reaction by the humanitarian community than in 2012, and Concern has been one of the agencies focusing particularly on ensuring a timely response. Early Warning Early Action (EWEA) – identifying and responding more quickly to the signs of coming crisis – is a central part of the DFID-funded Building Resilient Communities in Somalia (BRCiS) programme which Concern is implementing together with Norwegian Refugee Council, International Rescue Committee (IRC), Save the Children and CESVI. It systematically monitors conditions in its programme areas and includes a mechanism to trigger a rapid localised response when signs of a potential crisis emerge.
Most of Somalia depends on two annual rainy seasons for agriculture and livestock production, and when, as early as June 2016, there were signs that the April to June Gu rains were not performing well, BRCiS began responding with cash transfers of $30 per month to 803 of the poorest households in Gedo. In November, as the subsequent Deyr rains appeared to be failing and the probability of disaster had therefore increased, Concern increased the amount to $50 per month and doubled the number of recipient households to 1606, now including the poorest 20 percent of households.
By January 2017, with the failure of the rains confirmed, Concern was able to increase the cash transfers to $60 per month with newly accessed emergency funds from DFID and ECHO. Despite the crisis, markets continued to function and food remained available for purchase, minimising displacement to urban centres. Our approach to EWEA meant that by the time the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU) – the leading source of food security and nutrition surveillance in Somalia – indicated the possibility of famine in Somalia for the first time in a report published on 16 January, 2017 Concern’s BRCiS Programme staff had already been responding to that possibility in half of its target communities for seven months.
Ongoing discussions with the BRCiS target communities and observations by Concern field staff, suggest that as a result of this early action, the villages in which BRCiS operates are faring considerably better than might have been expected. While over 900,000 households have been displaced across the country since November 2016, none of the BRCiS villages have experienced significant numbers of people leaving due to the drought. In fact, even though BRCiS communities were originally targeted as the most vulnerable in their respective areas, most have since become hosts to displaced people from nearby and previously “better off” villages.