July 12, 2012 | Daily Monitoring Report.
Dadaab refugee camp faces funding crisis
12 Jul – Source: Capital News/AFP – 240 words
Aid agencies warned on Thursday that a critical shortage of funds is threatening lives in Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camp complex, the world’s largest, risking worsening an already volatile security situation. “Tens of thousands of lives (are) at risk with money for vital services set to run out in two to three months,” said the group of eight aid agencies, including CARE, International Rescue Committee, Oxfam and Save the Children. A $25 million “critical funding shortage” will affect at least 200,000 mainly Somali refugees fleeing war and hunger, they warned.
Key Headlines
- Somali prime minister meets UK ambassador to Somalia (Radio Risaala/RBC/Hiiraan Online)
- Two Kenyan aid workers Somali doctor kidnapped (AFP/Radio Netherlands)
- AMISOM Police opens induction course for Sierra Leonean officers in Mogadishu (AMISOM)
- Communiqué of the 45th ordinary session of the IGAD council of ministers (IGAD)
- Al Shabaab suspect rescued from lynch mob in Busia Western Kenya (Star/Kenya)
- Somalia’s Army chief vows to capture Lower Shabelle region (Shabelle)
- Dadaab refugee camp faces funding crisis (Capital News/AFP)
- Eng Mahboub Maalim to head IGAD 4 more years (Hiiraan Online/Afrique en Ligue)
- Residents urged to take part in bolstering security in Bal’ad district (Bar-kulan)
PRESS STATEMENT
AMISOM Police opens induction course for Sierra Leonean officers in Mogadishu
12 Jul – Source: AMISOM – 223 words
The Police Component of the African Union Mission for Somalia (AMISOM) is conducting a week†long induction course for thirty†one Individual Police Officers (IPO) from Sierra Leone who arrived in Mogadishu last Friday. The course covers Somali culture, Somali Legal Systems, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA) among others. Speaking during the official opening ceremony in Mogadishu, AMISOM Police Commissioner, Dr. Charles Makono welcomed the thirty†one officers who include six female officers for their commitment to assisting in the rebuilding of the Somali Police Force (SPF) after two decades of civil war.
“The thirty†one individual Police Officers from Sierra Leone have arrived at a time when the AMISOM military component has made substantive gains to liberate key areas from al Shabaab terrorists. The police component is now tasked as part of its mandate to continue training and mentoring of the SPF to maintain law and order in the liberated areas.” Said Dr. Makono.
The Police Commissioner reminded the police contingent from Sierra Leone and the entire AMISOM Police Component of team work, discipline and building healthy synergies to work towards one goal of developing the Somali Police Force (SPF). After completing the induction course, the officers will be posted to all the four sectors including; Mogadishu, Baidoa, Baladweyne and Kismayo. Apart from Sierra Leone, AMISOM Police has officers from Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Gambia, Burundi and Zimbabwe.
Communiqué of the 45th ordinary session of the IGAD council of ministers
11 Jul – Source: IGAD – 942 words
The 45th Ordinary Meeting of the IGAD Council of Ministers was held in Addis Ababa on 11 July 2012. The Council was chaired by H.E. Hailemariam Dessalegn, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the current Chairperson of the IGAD Council of Ministers. Present at the Council meeting were H.E. Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Djibouti; Hon. Richard Onyonka, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kenya; H.E Abdullahi Haji Hassan Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia; Hon. Grace Grace Datiro, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of South Sudan, H.E Dr. Hassan Eisa El Talib Ambassador of the Republic of Sudan to Djibouti and Permanent Representative to IGAD; H.E. Asuman Kiynigi, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Regional Cooperation of the Republic of Uganda and H.E. Mahboub M. Maalim, Executive Secretary of IGAD. Invited guests to the Council meeting were H.E Mr. Jean Ping, Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC); H.E Amb. Renzo Rosso CoChairman of the Joint IGAD Partners Forum and Mr. Nick Wescott, European Union Managing Director for Africa-European External Action Service (EEAS). We, members of the IGAD Council of Ministers attending the 45th Ordinary session:
ON SOMALIA
1. Welcomed the announcement by the Republic of Djibouti on the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the African Union and on the deployment of its troops. It also noted that the troops will be in post by 20 July 2012.
2. Expressed concern on the possible proliferation of reports on Somalia and called upon all entities to hold in abeyance any action/ report/meeting or utterances until the finalization of the current political process.
3. Commended the achievements made in the operationalization of the grand stabilization plan for Somalia and called for the expeditious conclusion of pending issues. It also encouraged the consultation process to be more inclusive.
4. Recalling its earlier bid on action against spoilers, the Council welcomed the recent call on spoilers where five individuals from the region have been named. The Council also expressed hope that similar action will continue.
5. Welcomed the progress made on political and security aspects of the peace process, and reaffirmed its full support towards the successful conclusion of the transition period on 20th August 2012.
6. Expressed its appreciation to the troop-contributing countries – Burundi, Djibouti, Kenya, Uganda as well as AMISOM and its allies including Ethiopia.
SOMALI MEDIA
Somalia’s Army chief vows to capture Lower Shabelle region
12 Jul – Source: Shabelle – 94 words
The Chief of the Somali armed Forces General Abdikarin Yusuf “Dhega-badan” who is commanding the military operations against al Shabaab militants, vowed on Wednesday to take over rebel-held areas in Lower Shabelle region, South of Somalia.
In an interview with Shabelle radio, General Abdikarin Yusuf, said his forces are expanding their operations against al Shabaab in Lower Shabelle region, a day after Somali troops with the support of the African Union Mission (AMISOM) forces seized Lanta-Buur and Km50, 40-50 Kilometers west of Mogadishu, a training camp by the al Qaeda-affiliated al Shabaab.
Eng Mahboub Maalim to head IGAD 4 more years
12 Jul – Source: Hiiraan Online/Afrique en Ligue – 174 words
Eng Mahboub Maalim has been reappointed as the Executive Secretary of the Regional Organization. The council commended Maalim for his exemplary performance at the helm and awarded him by renewing his four year term for a second time. The decision was made at the 45th session of the IGAD council of Ministers in Addis Ababa on Wednesday.
The meeting chaired by Hailemariam Desalegn, the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia in conjunction with the current Chairperson of the IGAD Council of Ministers discussed pressing political and social issues affecting the region. Namely the ongoing ground operations in Somalia by troop-contributing countries – Burundi, Djibouti, Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia; and the peace process between Sudan and South Sudan.
Somali prime minister meets UK ambassador to Somalia
12 Jul – Source: Radio Risaala/RBC/Hiiraan Online – 168 words
A delegation from UK led by the British ambassador to Somalia reached Mogadishu yesterday to hold talks with the prime minister of the transitional federal government of Somalia Dr Abdu Wali Mohamed Ali.
At a conference after concluding talks, Dr. Abdu Wali Mohamed Gaas said that he discussed with the delegation about the upcoming Olympic games in London and Somalia’s participation and other issues concerning Somalia. The prime minister expressed his pleasure to see Somalia participate in the Olympic Games that will be held in London later this month.
Mark Bott, British Ambassador to Somalia said that he was very pleased to meet the Somali athletes who will be part of the Olympic game. He further added that he has successfully handed over the visas to the players. The Olympic Games are about to kick off in London soon and Somalia will be represented by two athletes.
Beheaded body discovered in Galka’yo town
12 Jul – Source: Shabelle – 176 words
A decapitated body of a young Somali boy was discovered on Thursday in Galka’yo town, the capital of Mudug province in central Somalia, witnesses said. The body of the victim, who was estimated to be 10 years of age, was found Thursday morning in an area near Galka’yo town, after he was beheaded overnight. Parents of the victim confirmed to Shabelle Media by phone about the incident, saying the boy went missing their son on Wednesday night, adding that they are not yet sure who murdered their son.
CRD commemorates death of late activist
11 Jul – Source: Radio Kulmiye – 96 words
It is just 7 years ago when Somali prominent peace activist Abdikadir Yahya was assassinated by an armed militia at his home in Mogadishu in 11-July 2005. The co-founder of non governmental organization Center for research and development (CRD) has been a leading activist in peace and the reconciliation efforts in Somalia. On Wednesday, the center commemorated the death of late Abdikadir Yahya who died for the cause of peace and prosperous for Somalia. Somalia has been wracked by bloody conflict and insurgency violence after former government led by Bare was ousted in 1991.
Residents urged to take part in bolstering security in Bal’ad district
11 Jul – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 164 words
Locals in Bal’ad town of Middle Shabelle were urged to play a key role in maintaining the prevailing security situation in the district. Speaking at a security meeting held in the town, area district commissioner Osman Mohamed Mohamoud said locals ought to take part in bolstering security situation for their common good. The meeting was attended by government’s district authorities, traditional elders and local religious leaders.
Participants emphasized the need to beef up security in the area and prevent all forms of activities that may jeopardize the prevailing security in the district. Locals were urged to harmoniously work with security agents in the area in order to enable secure their lives and properties.
Mohamoud who was chairing the meeting also appealed to aid agencies to immediately come to the aid of locals in the district. This is the first security meeting of its kind since the Somali and African Union force toppled militant rule in the area late last month.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Dadaab refugee camp faces funding crisis
12 Jul – Source: Capital News/AFP – 240 words
Aid agencies warned on Thursday that a critical shortage of funds is threatening lives in Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camp complex, the world’s largest, risking worsening an already volatile security situation.
“Tens of thousands of lives (are) at risk with money for vital services set to run out in two to three months,” said the group of eight aid agencies, including CARE, International Rescue Committee, Oxfam and Save the Children.
A $25 million “critical funding shortage” will affect at least 200,000 mainly Somali refugees fleeing war and hunger, they warned.
Al Shabaab suspect rescued from lynch mob in Busia, Western Kenya
11 Jul – Source: Star (Kenya) – 273 words
Busia police were last night forced to fire shots in the air to scare away a mob that wanted to lynch a man suspected to be a member of al Shabaab. The man, Yahya Khalif Hassan, a Somali national, was on his way to an undisclosed destination from Uganda. Community policing committee chairman Benedict Ojiambo said Hassan was sneaking into Kenya from Uganda on a motorbike through an illegal entry point at Bwamani village at around 11.30 pm.
The vigilante group spotted him and alerted the police at a nearby AP camp. “The vigilante group raised an alarm that attracted villagers who rushed to the scene and attacked the man,” said Ojiambo. One of the vigilante group members sustained serious to the leg from a stray bullet. The injured vigilante, Kizito Barasa Wanyama was rushed to Busia District Hospital for treatment. “I fail to understand as to why the officer had decided to turn his gun on me yet we were together and they knew us well,” said Wanyama.
This is my story, by former refugee
12 Jul – Source: The Citizen (Tanzania) – 1045 Words
Zanzibari refugees who returned from the Somali capital at the weekend have been telling stories of despair—and hope. Thirty two-year-old Rahid Abdallah Said, a resident of Mchingini at Chake Chake on Pemba Island, said yesterday the life of a refugee was a nightmare and he was happy to be home.
He added: “While in Mogadishu, I worked as a waiter before seeking employment in a milk processing plant. I later worked as a barber. As a refugee, you cannot choose what to do.”
Said was among tens of people who fled the Zanzibar 11 years ago, fearing for their lives during the 2001 post-election violence that ravaged the clove Islands. He said he was now settling down with his wife and working out what they could do for a living.
Somalia militants lose strategic Lanta Bur
11 Jul – Source: Africa Review – 166 words
Peacekeepers serving in the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and Somali forces have captured Lanta Buur, a strategic militia training ground for radical Islamist group al Shabaab, officials said.
The Governor of Lower Shabelle region, Mr. Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur Sidee, told the media that the pro-government troops were moving into more territory including Muri, a settlement next to the road linking the Somali capital Mogadishu and Marka town, 110km to the south.
“Our forces made a strategic move this morning (Wednesday),” stated Mr Sidee. He added that the pro-government forces would not halt advances until Marka town, the capital of Lower Shabelle region was seized.
“In late June, some fighting between the pro-government forces and the terrorist militias took place around Lanta Buur,” stated Mr. Sidee. “But, fortunately we have succeeded to capture it today,” he added. A former high security prison for the military regime in the 1970s and 1980s, Lanta Buur has in recent years been used by al Shabaab militant as a training centre.
‘Bomb suspects work with Iran intelligence’
11 Jul – Source: Star (Kenya) – 787 words
The two Iranian men being tried for possession of explosives allegedly came to Kenya as intermediaries. They arrived as tourists on June 12 and were arrested on June 19 on Uhuru Highway as they were driving to the airport. Sayed Mansour Mousavi, 50 years, and Ahmad Abolfathhi Mohammed, 49 years, have reportedly told the Anti Terrorism Police that they were sent by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IGRC) to receive the consignment at Mombasa port on June 14.
However the ATPU believes that the two are both intelligence officers holding the rank of colonel. Yesterday, their lawyer David Kirimi told a Nairobi court that the two men are civil servants in Iran. The two individuals were denied bail by magistrate Paul Biwott at Milimani law court. Their bail application will be determined on July 16. The bomb making explosive called Cyclotrimethylene Trinitramine (RDX) arrived in Kenya on board MV Padriz.
More than 100kg was delivered by an Iranian man believed to be a security officer working on the ship but police only managed to recover 15kg. RDX has been widely used by terrorists in India, Russia and elsewhere. The two men entered Kenya as tourists and were supposed to receive the explosive from the contact on MV Padriz. They were then supposed to deliver it to the Mombasa Club golf course where another contact would collect it and take it to an unknown destination.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Two Kenyan aid workers, Somali doctor kidnapped
11 Jul – Source: AFP/Radio Netherlands – 366 words
Two Kenyan aid workers and a Somali doctor were kidnapped in lawless northern Somalia on Wednesday, probably by pirates, police said. The kidnapping occurred near the city of Galkayo, which straddles the border separating the semi-autonomous state of Puntland and the separate region of Galmudug to the south.
“Two Kenyans and a local Somali doctor were kidnapped and the initial reports indicate the kidnappers were pirates, but we are still investigating the incident,” Galkayo police official Adan Warsame told AFP.
A second Galkayo police official, Mohammed Ise Hassan, said the kidnapping took place on Wednesday afternoon near the village of Baadweyn, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of the city.
A talk with former Somali al Shabaab fighters: Cruelty, death, betrayal, and little food
11 Jul – Source: Washington Post – 746 words
Mogadishu, Somalia — Defections from al Qaeda-linked militant group al Shabaab are accelerating as Somali and African Union troops take new territory around the capital Mogadishu, according to officials in Somalia. Militants who abandon al Shabaab risk retaliatory assassinations from fighters still loyal to the militia, but a government-run program in Mogadishu houses several hundred former fighters, many of them teenagers. It provides them with meals, housing and courses on patriotism, anti-violence and religion. Reliable figures on the number of defectors, however, are hard to come by.
Somali government spokesman Abdirahman Omar Osman says there have been at least 500 in recent months. African Union military spokesman Lt. Col. Paddy Ankunda also said their numbers were rising. Two fighters who defected from al Shabaab about four months ago and now live at the government-run program spoke to The Associated Press about their old and new lives. Mohamed Saeed, 18, said that militants didn’t dare share plans about defecting with even their closest battlefield friends. Trust, he said, could get you killed. “The plan was to keep secrets to yourself,” he said.
As al Shabaab has lost its profit centers — the markets in Mogadishu the militants once taxed, for example — life on the battlefield became harder, Saeed said. Fighters often ate only one meal a day. “Food was scarce,” he said. “Worse, mortars were raining down over us. You can’t retreat. Other armed fighters were deployed behind us to kill us if we tried to move back from the tanks shelling us.” Al Shabaab is estimated to have several thousand fighters. It is Somalia’s most dangerous militant group, espousing an ultra-conservative brand of Islam. It has imposed harsh social rules in areas it controls, much like the Taliban did during the 1990s in Afghanistan.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“Dr Kwizera says, “We are not yet ready to deal with any casualty of that magnitude.” He adds, “A few things are being done especially regarding training of the nurses but the most important thing which is equipping all the beds in ICU has not been done yet. “Without equipment, we can only do almost as much as we did previously, (though) the new hospital administration is trying to address this issue.”
7/11 terror attacks: How prepared are our (Ugandan) hospitals to deal with another calamity?
12 Jul – Source: Daily Monitor – 1089 Words
When life offers you lemons, the best thing to do is to make lemonade. And when a tragedy with a magnitude of July 11 terrorist attacks at Kyadondo Rugby Grounds and Ethiopian Restaurant in Kabalagala occurs, we should pick lessons from it.
Because of the nature of casualties of this kind, avoiding its re-occurrence should be the ideal situation. But that alone may be t idealistic which is why as a country we need to ensure that, in case there is a repeat of 7/11, we are able to handle the situation better.
Top tweets
@GlobalGoodTweet Emergency Funds dry in #Dadaab, World’s Largest #Refugee Camp.130K Lives at Risk. RT@Oxfam http://oxf.am/Jnx #Kenya #Somalia.
@amisomsomalia #AMISOM Police opens induction course for Sierra Leonean officers in #Mogadishu, #Somaliahttp://bit.ly/OzgF4Q.
@ahmedsas20 In #Somalia, Impunity and unaccountability remain the most serious human rights concerns.
@mary_harper #British #Somali author Nadifa Mohamed on the #Olympics on @BBCAfrica. She’s happy to have two teams,#Britain and #Somalia #HIBF.
@andrewclark189 In areas recently recovered from al-Shabaab in #Somalia, no peace dividend as ban on charcoal exports continue http://bit.ly/MjoJf5.
@SomaliThinker Constituent assembly votes for/agst. Constitution will remain provisional until referendum is possible#Somalia.
Image of the day
British Ambassador to Somalia Matt Baugh poses for a photo with Somali Olympic team in Mogadishu after handing them visa to attend the London 2012 Olympic Games. Photo: Hiiraan Online.