July 16, 2013 | Daily Monitoring Report.
AMISOM announces its quest to achieve security of Kismayo
16 Jul – Source: Radio Mogadishu/al Shahid/Hiiraan Online – 160 words
Spokesman for the African Union forces, Colonel Ali Adam Hamoud said that the African Union forces in the city of Kismayo will work to protect the security of the people in Kismayo, about 500 kilometers from the capital, Mogadishu.
Hamoud said in a statement to Radio Mogadishu, the goal of the African Union forces is to support the Somali people, adding that the aim of AMISOM mission in Somalia is to achieve security and to maintain peace in the country.
He pointed out that the African Union troops will continue to help the Somali government to cover the needs of the Somali people, stressing that the African troops are accountable to their madate.
Key Headlines
- AMISOM announces its quest to achieve security of Kismayo (Radio Mogadishu/al Shahid/Hiiraan Online)
- Ethiopian troops withdrawn from Bay region (Radio Mustaqbal/Bar-kulan/Garowe Online)
- First immigration and naturalization office in Beledweyne town (Radio Dalsan)
- Global Navies Curb Piracy off Coast Of Somalia (Bernama/Agencies)
- Somali refugees to go home says Kenyan Deputy President (Star News/Citizen TV)
- Tension mounts between two al Shabaab groups in Sakow (Bar-kulan)
- UN food relief agency starts first cash distributions to Somali refugees in Ethiopia (UN News Center)
- Somalis want more places at South African universities (Radio Ergo)
- Somali MPs want KDF to remain in Somalia (NTV Kenya)
- Mogadishu authority spokesperson denounces blast targeted on solar lights (Radio Dalsan/Radio Mogadishu/Hiiraan Online)
- Confidentiality of sources would end under proposed new law (Reporters Without Borders)
SOMALI MEDIA
AMISOM announces its quest to achieve security of Kismayo
16 Jul – Source: Radio Mogadishu/al Shahid/Hiiraan Online – 160 words
Spokesman for the African Union forces, Colonel Ali Adam Hamoud said that the African Union forces in the city of Kismayo will work to protect the security of the people in Kismayo, about 500 kilometers from the capital, Mogadishu.
Hamoud said in a statement to Radio Mogadishu, the goal of the African Union forces is to support the Somali people, adding that the aim of AMISOM mission in Somalia is to achieve security and to maintain peace in the country.
He pointed out that the African Union troops will continue to help the Somali government to cover the needs of the Somali people, stressing that the African troops are accountable to their madate.
Ethiopian troops withdrawn from Bay region
16 Jul- Source: Radio Mustaqbal/Bar-kulan/Garowe Online – 150 words
The Ethiopian troops retreated from military bases in Baidoa, capital of Bay region, such as Hasey factory station and the outskirts of the airport. Speaking to the Media, Bardale district commissioner Mohamed Isack said that the Ethiopian troops have withdrawn from their bases in Baidoa, making new bases in the outskirts of Bardale district of Bay region.
He added that the troops are in a bid to capture rebel-held towns and villages in the area. “I held talks with officials of the Ethiopian troops, discussing the security in the areas and the war on al Shabaab,” said the commissioner. African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) has reportedly taken over bases vacated by Ethiopian troops in the region.
It’s unclear if this is Ethiopia’s plan to pull its troops out of Somalia since Ethiopian government has reiterated several times that it will withdraw its troops from Somali regions which it liberated from al Qaeda-affiliated al Shabaab militants.
First immigration and naturalization office in Beledweyne town
16 Jul – Source: Radio Dalsan – 142 words
Residents in Beledweyne town, the capital of Somalia’s central region of Hiiraan can now apply for their passports in their town, the district commissioner Abdi Bishar told Dalsan Radio.
The naturalization and immigration directorate with the help of the Hiiraan regional administration have successfully opened the first immigration and naturalization office in Beledweyne, a town which is home to more than 250,000 people in central Somalia. “It is successful step forward. The people can now obtain passports and other legal documents,” the commissioner said during an interview with Radio Dalsan.
The residents of Beledweyne have never been able to receive any important social services in their town unless they travel to the capital city, where the central government was based during the former military regime in Somalia.
Tension mounts between two al Shabaab groups in Sakow
15 Jul – Source: Radio bar-kulan – 119 words
High tension is reported in Sakow district of middle Juba in southern Somalia between two al Shabaab groups, Somalia’s al Qaeda-affiliated militant, on Sunday.
Speaking to Bar-kulan, a local resident said on condition of anonymity that fighters loyal to the insurgent’s top leader Ahmed Abdi Godane arrived in the area, arresting some officials of Rabow Abu-Mansur and Fuad Shangole’s wing.
The local added that tension remained high till late on Sunday afternoon in the outskirts of Sakow, as heavy reinforcement is seen in the area. The fresh tension worries locals in the area. Al Shabaab seems to fight among its own forces after conflicts between the officials of the outlawed al Shabaab militant group emerged.
Somalis want more places at South African universities
16 Jul – Source: Radio Ergo – 303 words
There are over 60,000 Somali refugees in South Africa, most of them young, but only around 60 Somalis have won places in South African universities. Somali youth often take huge risks to reach South Africa. Many come with secondary school education and dream of studying further at university. But few can afford the fees or find the level of financial support needed for tertiary studies.
Abdurrahman Mustapha Mohamed is one of the lucky ones, and is studying medicine at the University of Forte Hare. He said many of his age mates with decent secondary school grades had been disappointed not to get a university place. He said the Somali community was partly to blame for being unsupportive to these ambitious youngsters.
“The community does not encourage and support,” he told Radio Ergo’s correspondent. “Whenever you show some ambition to join a university here, everybody reminds you what we are all here for: to work for wages, to earn money!”
A small number of Somalis have won scholarships from Islamic NGOs or the UNHCR. Ahmed Adnan has a scholarship to study engineering at the University of Johannesburg. He said the criteria required by the scholarships are very hard to meet and most Somalis fail because of their inability to speak English.
Somaliland: religious leaders urged to take part in youth awareness
16 Jul – Source: Radio bar-kulan/Radio Hargeysa/ SLTV – 106 words
The president of Somaliland administration Ahmed Mohamed Mohamud (Silanyo) has asked religious in the region to inter to help the administration on youth awareness from migrating.
The breakaway region leader said that the religious leaders have significant part in the society and can play a great role on youth awareness. However, the northern administration has repeatedly held several conferences on Somaliland youth awareness from migration.
A high unemployment rate in the self-declared independent Republic of Somaliland, especially among school-leavers and university graduates, has fuelled an increase in migration, with hundreds of young people embarking every month on a perilous journey to Europe through the Sahara Desert.
Fighting rocks Shalambood district in Lower Shabelle region
15 Jul – Source: Radio Mustaqbal – 105 words
Reports from Shalambod district in Lower Shabelle region in Southern of Somalia say that fighting took place in the district on Monday night. Residents said the fighting was between clan militia and Somali federal government forces.
The different weapons were exchanged by both sides as the clash went for hours. The casualties from the fighting were not yet known and no comment also came out from the officials of government troops in Shalambod.
Mogadishu authority spokesperson denounces blast targeted on solar lights
15 Jul – Source: Radio Dalsan/Radio Mogadishu/Hiiraan Online – 134 words
The spokesperson of the office of Mogadishu mayor as well the Benadir regional administration has strongly denounced the blast that was targeted on one of the city’s solar lights on Sunday night.
“The security forces are now investigating the criminals targeting the solar lights,” said Mohamed Yusuf. The spokesperson also vowed that the security forces will capture the gangs and the extremist group aimed to darken the city and oppose the emerging peace in Mogadishu.
“We will not stop lightening project in Mogadishu,” added Mohamed, noting that Somali citizens in the capital deserved to receive such services and that the gangs will not succeed to derail the efforts to regaining the lost glory of Mogadishu.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Somali refugees to go home, says Kenyan Deputy President
16 Jul – Source: Star News/Citizen TV – 135 words
Kenya Deputy President William Ruto has said the Kenyan governments want all Somali refugees back in their country. Ruto said since relative peace has been achieved in Somalia, it is time the more than one Million Somali refugees returned to the country.
In an Interview at Citizen`s Sunday live, Ruto said the state will better manage security in Northern Kenya with the refugees back in their home. Ruto said some of the refugees who fled the 20 –year- old civil war in Somalia are idle, which forces some of them to engage in criminal activities in Garissa and Mandera.
“Some have brought their clan rivalry in Kenya causing unnecessary chaos. Kenya Defence Forces have restored peace in their country, we want them to go back” Ruto said.
Somali MPs want KDF to remain in Somalia
15 Jul – Source: NTV Kenya – 0:45 mins
Somali MPs together with their Kenyan counterparts have thrown their weight behind the Kenya Defence Forces currently on a peacekeeping mission in Kismayo. The leaders have denounced calls by the Somali government to have the KDF withdrawn from Somalia. There have been unrelenting calls to have the KDF pulled out of Kismayo for allegedly taking sides in the ongoing power struggles in Somalia. Speaking to the press today, a section of Somali legislators said removing KDF would create instability in Kismayo.
Mogadishu residents, troops to safeguard peace during Ramadan
15 Jul – Source: Sabahi Online – 709 Words
Mogadishu residents have condemned al Shabaab’s continued call to violence during Ramadan after attacks at the weekend resulted in at least six civilian deaths. Al Shabaab claimed responsibility for an attack Friday(July 12th) involving a suicide bomber who drove his explosive laden sedan into an African Union convoy travelling along the busy Maka al-Mukarama Road near Aden Adde International Airport.
Four people died and 14 were injured, and dozens of privately owned businesses along the road were also severely damaged by the explosion, Benadir administration spokesperson Mohamed Yusuf told Sabahi. Soon after the car bombing, unknown insurgents threw a grenade into the Barwaqo hotel in central Mogadishu, killing two people and wounding at least ten.
“Most of the people who were injured or lost their lives on Friday were Somalis who were trying to make an honest living and who were fasting to observe the holy month of Ramadan,” said Ali Mohamed, 28, of Wadajir district. “Al Shabaab tell us they are carrying out jihad against the infidels fighting us, but the truth is that people they are killing are innocent people,” he said, calling on the group to stop causing chaos and allow Somalis to fast in peace.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Global Navies Curb Piracy off Coast Of Somalia
16 Jul – Source: Bernama/Agencies – 979 words
Piracy off the coast of Somalia has dropped significantly for the first time since 2006 due to preventive measures deployed by the foreign warships to thwart such attacks, a global maritime body said.
The report by International Chamber Commerce (ICC) International Maritime Bureau (IMB)’s global piracy report attributes the fall in piracy to actions by the international navies as well as preventive measures by merchant vessels including deployment of privately contracted armed security personnel off the coast of Somalia.
“The navies continue to play a vital role in ensuring this threat is kept under control,” IMB Director Pottengal Mukundan. According to the report, as at June 30, Somali pirates were holding 57 crew members for ransom on four vessels. They were also holding 11 kidnapped crew members on land in unknown conditions and locations.
The report says four of these crew have been held since April 2010 and seven since September 2010. In East Africa’s Gulf of Aden and Somalia, eight piracy incidents including two hijackings were recorded in the first six months of 2013, with 34 seafarers taken hostage.
Confidentiality of sources would end under proposed new law
15 Jul – Source: Reporters Without Borders – 336 words
Reporters Without Borders is very worried by the grave threat to media freedom and media pluralism posed by a bill that the Somali cabinet approved on 11 July and, if adopted by parliament, would replace the 2007 media law. Its provisions include giving the courts the power to order journalists to reveal their sources – a flagrant violation of freedom of information.
“By approving this bill, the cabinet has betrayed its contempt for journalists and the basic principles of media freedom,” Reporters Without Borders said. “In what is already one of the world’s most dangerous countries for the media, the self-censorship resulting from a lack of protection for sources would reduce reporters to near silence.
Reporters Without Borders added: “We urge Somalia’s parliament to defend freedom of information by rejecting this draconian legislation without delay.”
Somalia enjoys peaceful Ramadan
15 Jul – Source: CCTV Africa – 2:25mins
Somali Muslims are observing the holy month of Ramadan this year in a new kind of dispensation characterised by relative peace and stability.Some two years ago, the holy month meant that Somalis observing Ramadan would have to brace for fierce battles and increased attacks by Islamic extremists al Shabaab. Kofa Mrenje Reports.
UN food relief agency starts first cash distributions to Somali refugees in Ethiopia
15 Jul – Source: UN News Centre – 298 words
More than 12,000 Somali refugees in Ethiopia are receiving monthly cash entitlements in addition to food rations, the United Nations food relief agency today said, detailing its pilot project at the Sheddar refugee camp.
“The cash allows refugees to have more control in diversifying their diets, and they can buy milk, vegetables or pasta directly from the local market,” said Abdou Dieng, Country Director for the UN World Food Programme (WFP) in Ethiopia.
Refugees at Sheddar, located outside of Jijiga, the regional capital of the Somali area of Ethiopia, are now receiving a monthly ration of 13.9 kilograms of food – including wheat, rice, pulses, corn-soya blend, oil, sugar and salt – as well as a cash allocation of 100 Ethiopian Birr or the equivalent of $5 per person.
An additional 13,000 refugees will start to receive cash in the same region in October. The moves are part of a pilot initiative that will last until December.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“The Abedo’s crew come from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Iran. The ship is Iranian-owned and registered in Malaysia. The smaller Nahem 3 is crewed by men from China, Vietnam and range of other Asian nations. It is Taiwan-owned and registered in Oman. Normally, the owners of captured ships, or their insurers, hire a consultant to negotiate a ransom. But that has not happened in this case.”
The plight of forgotten Somali pirate hostages
15 Jul – Source: BBC Blog – 660 Words
Picture the scene. You are being held hostage by pirates on a ship just off the coast of one of the most lawless corners of Somalia. You have been there for more than two years in the grimmest conditions. Now your ship has sunk in stormy seas, and some of your colleagues are missing.
You have been transferred to a smaller fishing boat tethered, precariously, to the wreckage. The owner of your ship has shown no interest in paying a ransom or negotiating your release. You and your crewmates come from impoverished families with no hope of raising any cash to buy your freedom. Welcome to the impossibly bleak situation in which 11 members of the Abedo container ship now find themselves.
“Enough is enough. These guys have suffered terribly. It’s time to let them go on humanitarian grounds,” said John Steed, a British man who now appears to be the only point of contact between the pirates and the outside world.
Col Steed, formerly head of the UN’s counter-piracy unit, runs a small organisation called the Secretariat for Regional Maritime Security.It is partly funded by the UN and other non-governmental organisations and tries to link all the main regional administrations inside Somalia and other outside interest in their anti-piracy efforts.
“Money transfer agents are vital for people trying to help those struggling in countries such as Somalia and Bangladesh”.
Please, Barclays – reconsider cutting off a lifeline to the world’s poorest families
15 Jul – Source: The Guardian – 711 Words
For 30 years, one of my constituents has been sending money to his family in Bangladesh and their neighbours. He also supports his widowed niece and her three children by paying their school fees and health costs.
They live in a remote part of the country, so he uses the local Bengali-speaking money transfer agent, based in Brick Lane in London, which has a network of agents and is able to reach towns and villages throughout the country, and at affordable rates.
Other local agencies help those who originate from Somalia, Nigeria, Pakistan or India. I’ve heard countless stories of the invaluable help agencies have given when they’ve needed to send money to loved ones quickly on important occasions such as burials, weddings and for emergency hospital treatment. The support they provide really is a lifeline.
Barclays Bank has, however, recently decided to terminate its banking facilities for these agencies. This will badly hit an estimated 70% of such companies, which will have a devastating impact on thousands of families.
“There is simply no other legal way of sending money to remote areas in Somalia,” community activist Ayan Mahamoud told me. “We’re not just talking about families helping each other, we’re also talking about humanitarian aid organisations like Oxfam who use these services.”
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Image of the day
Ballot boxes burned in Qardho, Puntland in clashes that led to delayed local elections. Photo: @SomaliaNewsroom.