July 3, 2015 | Daily Monitoring Report
Somalia Is Home To Two Secret US Drone Bases – Report
03 July – Source: RT – 550 Words
Up to 120 US military personnel are operating out of two secret drone bases in Somalia, carrying out attacks on Al-Shabaab militants and working with African Union peacekeepers, a new report has revealed. Somali officials have confirmed a secretive US presence in the southern port city of Kismaayo, according to Foreign Policy correspondent Ty McCormick. Another base, at the airfield of Baledogle near Mogadishu, is being used for both drone strikes and for contractors training Somali security forces. Regional administration official, Abdighani Abdi Jama told McCormick that as many as 40 US personnel conduct “intelligence” and “counterterrorism” operations and operate drones from their base at Kismaayo airport, about 300 miles south of Mogadishu. Somali officials and sources within the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) also indicated a similar presence at Baledogle, in the Lower Shebelle region.
Washington has not officially admitted to operating drones from Somali territory, with drone flights said to originate from US bases in the neighboring Djibouti, and outposts in Kenya and Ethiopia. The US also has an outpost in the Seychelles, an archipelago some 800 miles off the Somali coast. US Africa Command (AFRICOM) spokesman Chuck Prichard declined to comment on the size or location of their units, saying only that the “small number” of US Special Forces deployed the region was “not tasked with directly engaging enemy forces.” “The exact nature of this support, weapons systems or number of personnel involved in these operations cannot be disclosed in order to protect the integrity of these operations and the safety of units in the region,” Prichard wrote in an email to Foreign Policy. US forces have conducted drone and helicopter attacks against Al-Shabaab since 2007. An American drone killed the group’s leader Ahmed Abdi Godane in 2014.
Key Headlines
- Somalia Is Home To Two Secret US Drone Bases – Report (RT)
- UN Hails China’s Humanitarian Role In Somalia (Somali Current)
- Jubbaland Deploys Troops In Buula-Gaduud Ahead Of Major Offensive On Al-Shabaab (Wacaal Media)
- Guri-El District Commissioner Blames Ahlu-Sunna For Disrupting The Future Of Central Regions(Goobjoog News)
- EU Training Mission To Provide Somali Army Only With Basic Equipment (Shabelle News)
- Ship With Yemen Refugees Docks At The Port City Of Bosaaso (Radio Bar-Kulan)
- Four Women Charged Over Al-Shabaab Links (The Star)
- Counterfeit Medicine Endangering Somali Lives (Al Jazeera)
- UN Official: Donor Fatigue Insecurity Threaten Somalia’s Progress (VOA)
- No Visa – No Entry As Kenya Launches New Rules (Global Travel Industry News)
- Call To Tell A Different Story About Somalia (BBC)
- Somali Economy Would Crumble Without Remittances (Hiiraan Online)
- Somalia Rising And The Single Story Of Progress (themandeeq.com)
NATIONAL MEDIA
UN Hails China´s Humanitarian Role In Somalia
03 July – Source: Somali Current – 130 Words
United Nation department of Humanitarian has hailed china’s humanitarian role in the reconstruction of the war torn nation. The outgoing UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Philipe Lazzarini , said his department appreciates China’s contribution to the advancement of peace and stability in Somalia. “China is definitely engaged in Somalia and has reopened an embassy in Mogadishu. The Chinese ambassador speaks fluent Somali and this is a testimony to blossoming cooperation,”said Lazzarini. Mr. Lazzarini also said China’s government showed exemplary to the rest of the world , adding Beijing won acclaim from the international community. For the first in 23 years, China opened its embassy in Mogadishu in late 2014. The two sides in April signed an agreement in which China promised donations to socio-economic development in the Horn of Africa nation.
Jubbaland Deploys Troops In Buula-Gaduud Ahead Of Major Offensive On Al-Shabaab
03 July – Source: Wacaal Media – 143 Words
There is heavy presence of Jubbaland forces in Buula – Gaduud and surrounding areas as reports indicate that the state was in the process of launching a major offensive against Al-Shabaab in Gedo region. Speaking to the local press, Commander in Chief of the Interim Administration armed forces Aadan Goojar said that they will not rest on their laurels until they drove the militants from the state,with the latest operation seeking to liberate up to Jilib town in Middle Jubba region. Additional reports indicate that Kenyan forces who were part of the AMISOM mission were also in the mission in order to assist their Jubbaland colleagues. Since President Madoobe returned to Kismaayo, the state has been preparing for major offensives that sources say were aimed at liberating Jilib and Baardheere town which are two major towns still under the control of Al-Shabaab.
Guri-El District Commissioner Blames Ahlu-Sunna For Disrupting The Future Of Central Regions
03 July – Source: Goobjoog News – 234 Words
The administration of Guri-El has pointed fingers of blame at the Somali moderate sufis, Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama’a leaders who declared new regional state which is intended to break apart people of Somali central regions. Guri-El District Commissioner, Abdullahi Warsame Farah who gave exclusive interview to Goobjoog News said the presidential elections held by the group is “ day dreaming” and added the group intended to create disruption in the region. He highlighted that the group’s state formation conference spearheaded by Ahlu Sunna leaders is not de jure and that there were no delegates that reached Dhusamareeb town to participate in the meeting. Finally he urged the federal government of Somalia to take legal action against what has happened in Dhusamareeb town. The group publicised that it has nominated a president for areas under its rule whereby Somali central state formation conference was being spearheaded by the federal government which is now progressing towards its final stages. On the 10th of June, Somali moderate sufi group, Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama’a, declared that its delegates would vacate the conference within 24 hours. Speaking to Goobjoog News, its leader Sheikh Ibrahim Gurre, who was among the signatories to Somali central state formation conference put blame on Somali Minister for Internal Affairs, Abdirahman Odawaa. “The internal minister is a naive young boy who is new in the political arena so i have no answer for him” he said. He added that they do not recognize the government “this government is not representing us.”
EU Training Mission To Provide Somali Army Only With Basic Equipment
03 July – Source: Shabelle News – 126 Words
The European Union Training Mission in Somalia (EUTM Somalia) is now prioritising ways to provide Somalia’s soldiers with basic supplies and equipment, the mission’s commander told reporters in Brussels on 1 July.“We are now exploring the possibility to boost concrete support to the Somali army via the EU’s train-and-equip initiative,” said Italy’s Brigadier General Antonio Maggi. The five-year-old mission has trained roughly 4,000 Somali recruits and will instruct another 1,200 for the remainder of its mandate, which ends in December 2016. Noting that the EU’s train-and-equip initiative “is still only a concept at this stage” he said it would allow his mission “to properly equip the units we are training” and to refurbish the Somali military’s infrastructure such as its hospital in Mogadishu
Ship With Yemen Refugees Docks At The Port City Of Bosaaso
03 July – Source: Radio Bar- Kulan – 88 Words
A ship with more than 3,450 people fleeing the violence in Yemen has docked at the port of Boosaaso. Abdullahi Hashi, Deputy Minister for Interior Affairs of Puntland said, Puntland welcomes the people fleeing the violence in Yemen, and he added the people will be transferred to the areas they come fro. ,The International Organisation for Migration with support from Puntland agencies have already given aid to the people displaced by the violence in Yemen. Thousands of Somalis fleeing the war in Yemen have arrived in port cities.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Four Women Charged Over Al-Shabaab Links
03 July – Source: The Star – 280 Words
Four women were yesterday charged in court with being members of Al-Shabaab after 30 days of investigations. The four, who are said to have connections with people in Syria, denied the charges before Mombasa senior principal magistrate Richard Odenyo. Khadija Abdulkadir, Maryam Aboud and Umulkhayr Abdulla are accused of committing a crime as Al-Shabaab members on March 27 at Elwak, Kenya-Somalia border in Mandera county. Halima Ali denied committing a crime as an Al-Shabaab member on April 3 on the Kyumvi-Nairobi road, Machakos county. Defence lawyers Hamisi Mwadzozo and Chacha Mwita urged the court to release their clients on bail, pending the hearing of the case. They said it is their clients’ right to be released on bail. Mwadzozo and Mwita said the constitution provides that any accused person has a right to freedom as any other Kenyan.
However, state prosecutor Eugene Wangila objected to the bond application, saying the four will abscond. Wangila urged the court to consider that some of the women were arrested on their way to Somalia. He said they were sneaking out of the country since they had no proper travel documents. “Kenya has got laws regarding crossing borders and the accused persons had not adhered to them as stipulated by the country,” Wangila said. The four had no documents showing they were leaving Kenya for Somalia. Wangila said the accused’s accomplices are still at large and if released, the four will work together to commit other offences.“The accused persons have links as far as Syria and Sudan and if released might not appear in court for the proceedings,” he said. The ruling on the bond application will be made today.
Counterfeit Medicine Endangering Somali Lives
03 July – Source: Al Jazeera English – 1,069 Words
Unlicensed clinics and pharmacies with unqualified staff have been dispensing counterfeit and expired medicines that are making people sick and endangering the lives of Somalis. The sick can be seen walking towards the hospital at dawn, before any other souls venture out onto the streets of Mogadishu. They move slowly, placing one shaky limb before the other, accompanied by the cool ocean breeze and the sound of crowing roosters. Those with a dollar to spare take a tuk-tuk. They are all heading to a high-walled guarded compound in the relatively well-off neighbourhood in Mogadishu’s Hodan district. These latest victims of Mogadishu’s thriving counterfeit and expired medication industry hope to get treatment at one of the few licensed hospitals in the city. They are also the lucky ones. Many people who are sickened by the dubious medication do not make it this far.
Damaged organs
Every morning more than 50 patients gather at Doctor Osman Mohamud Dufle’s specialist hospital. Several among them are usually people who have suffered complications caused by the expired or counterfeit medication prescribed to them by unqualified health workers. Osman Mohamud Muhumed was one of them and had come to this private hospital to seek treatment. The 52-year-old had sought treatment for what appeared to be malaria, but ended up bedridden for six months after taking medication given to him by doctors at a clinic near his home just outside the city. He could barely stand without assistance. Saggy skin with hardly any flesh shrouded his body, his breathing heavy and laboured as he recounted his story. “I went to a clinic near my home. They gave me what they said was medicine,” he told Al Jazeera. “At first the medicines did not work and then as I continued taking them as they advised me, it made my situation worse. They kept on telling me to continue taking them. It got so bad; the drugs almost killed me,” Muhumed said, his skeletal body looking lost on the hospital stretcher. No one really knows how many patients fall victim to expired or counterfeit medication in Somalia. In this seaside city of more than a million people, there is a clinic or pharmacy on almost every street corner. Most are unregistered and employ unqualified staff. Colourful murals on their walls and offers of cheap medicine help maintain a steady stream of customers. Muhumed’s liver now barely functions – his body had to be cleansed of the toxic concoction he had ingested; his kidneys are not in much better shape.
UN Official: Donor Fatigue, Insecurity Threaten Somalia’s Progress
02 July – Source: VOA – 358 Words
Philippe Lazzarini, outgoing United Nations humanitarian chief for Somalia, said the country is on the right development trajectory following years of chaos but worries donor fatigue and insecurity continue to threaten its fragile progress. For the past two years as humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, Lazzarini helped guide aid efforts to the country as it recovered from famine, and solidified the shape and function of a new government.The Swiss diplomat, who concluded his second tenure in the position Thursday, said he sees positive signs all around. “Mogadishu, for example, you couldn’t recognize. You have traffic jams, traffic lights. You have a new airport. You have one of the most modern hospitals of eastern Africa. You hear the hammer quite a lot and you have a number of people of the diaspora who have come back and are looking at investment possibilities,” Lazzarini said.
Of course, some of the familiar challenges remain. Al-Shabaab militants continue to attack government and international actors across the country, greatly impeding humanitarian work.The security situation has been his main frustration, Lazzarini said. “During my tenure, we have been directly targeted six times. We had seven international staff who perished. We had 10s of bystanders who have been killed and despite all the measures we are taking, we are still a target of this,” he said. While the country has mostly recovered from the 2011 famine, the U.N. said about 730,000 people – about 10 percent of the population – still face acute food insecurity.Lazzarini said the country needs continued international support to weather future shocks, but acknowledges that with so many other crises around the world, maintaining funding for Somalia is a challenge. “We are aware that there is a competing environment, but we have also to make sure that this positive narrative in the making not be undermined by all of suddenly dropping … the humanitarian agenda,” he said.
No Visa – No Entry As Kenya Launches New Rules
02 July – Source: Global Travel Industry News – 809 Words
Come midnight tonight, July 2, 2015, major changes in Kenya’s visa policy will come into place. Unlike in the past when many nationalities were able to get their visa on arrival in Nairobi or Mombasa, intending visitors will now have to apply for an e-Visa in advance, with processing days taking as much as a week. Upon vehement intervention from tourism stakeholders, a grace period has been extended but only for two months, during which time tourists and business travelers arriving at one of the two international airports can still get their visa on arrival, but effective September 1, this dual modus operandum will be scrapped and only the e-Visa process will be available. The new method was only announced a short while ago and has caught many travelers and in particular tour operators and travel agencies abroad unaware. Many destinations brochures will now need re-printing as in most are European visitors told they can get their Visa on arrival at a cost of US Dollars 50, payable in cash. No more under the new rules when the payment must be made by credit or debit card.
It was not possible in the short period of time available to ascertain if the common East African tourist Visa, which presently allows entry into the three CoW countries of Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya at a reduced cost of just 100 US Dollars, must now also be purchased in advance via e-Channels, as no such information was included in the regulations and guidelines published by the Kenyan immigration department. Tourism stakeholders have sharply condemned the move, saying the week long processing period is excessive and prevents tourists taking a last minute decision to come to Kenya. Last minute bookings, often at a significant rebate, are popular in Europe with passengers at times just turning up at the airport and in a game of potluck choosing from posters hang up by airlines or tour operators where to fly to, paying there and then and checking in for their flight. Either did Kenyan officials not think of this segment of travelers, or perhaps rather not know about it and with the new rules basically sending out the message that last minute travelers are no longer welcome in Kenya will inevitably business be lost to more user friendly destinations for last minute bookers.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“Negative reporting of country needs to change, says historian Safia Aidid”
Call To Tell A Different Story About Somalia
03 July – Source: BBC World Service – Audio – 4:12 Minutes
“While some banks are establishing bases again in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, the problem is that the country has not been able to recover from the banking system collapse during the civil war. Before the civil war in 1991, it was possible to just wire money from one’s account in London, Minneapolis or Melbourne straight to a family member’s account in Mogadishu. However, today to make this simple transaction Somali Money Transfer Operators (MTOs) need a bank account in the country they are sending the money from, the cash is then wired to Dubai and transferred into Somalia.”
Somali Economy Would Crumble Without Remittances
01 July – Source: Hiiraan Online – 913 Words
For the first time in more than two decades Somalia has a government recognised across the world. This is a sure sign of how much the situation has improved in once the most failed State in the world. There is a lot of progress made on the ground for Somalis to be proud of. Somalis, both in the diasporas and at home, are now heavily involved in the reconstruction of their country and there is a glimmer of hope for lasting peace and prosperity to prevail across the country thanks to the stability and resilience of a nation that had endured years of insecurity, famine and the lack of rule of law. In the most difficult periods of the painful Somali civil war, remittances not only helped reduce poverty by enabling people to help their loved ones pay for food, shelter, medicine, education and other basic necessities but it also stimulated the local and regional economies. The evidence of this is that remittance funds, have and continue to be invested in business, agriculture, construction, promoting development and the creation of jobs.
For remittance firms that operate in Somalia, it is striking how much the country has changed in recent years. Where once the flow was just one way, from the diaspora to Somalia, today locals use remittances to buy goods, services and support their family members in the diaspora too. Another key factor in the improved situation in Somalia today has been the contribution of its dynamic private sector, including the remittance companies, local entrepreneurs and the diaspora. All these without doubt, have benefitted from the remittance system and processes and they in turn have reinvested in the hope that is present across Somalia today. Security in Somalia is in a much better state than it was many years ago thanks to a slowly improving governance, security and inward investment. Ironically, it is at this time of real improvement and hope for Somalia, that it is becoming more difficult to send remittances to the country. Remittances from around the world account for up to 40 percent of Somalia’s Gross Domestic Product. This money keeps families from going hungry, sends their children to school and provides seed capital for entrepreneurs to start businesses. It is evident from all this that the Somali economy would crumble without remittances from its diaspora abroad.
“My saying all of this should not be construed as a rejection of the narrative, but rather a call for more critical reflection and questioning of it. For instance, rather than asking whether Somalia is rising, we should be ask: who is it rising for?”
Somalia Rising And The Single Story Of Progress
01 July – Source: themandeeq.com – 673 Words
Progress, is a term that you now often hear used to describe the current state of affairs in Southern Somalia (especially, Mogadishu). You only need look at the many news outlets, twitter feeds, Facebook posts and statements made by politicians to observe #TheSomaliaYouNeverSee and #SomaliaRising. We are presented with images of, shiny new buildings, amenities we would expect to find in Europe, smiling peoples and idyllic landscapes. The narrative when simplified is such: Somalia, previously devastated by war, is now rising from the ashes. This is music to the ears of anyone, who like me growing up, was often told to “go back to your country!” But despite its seductive allure, and my want to believe it, I can’t help but wonder: are we being sold a dream about progress? In the African context, progress is often understood as the transitioning from underdeveloped to developed; from being backward to civilised. Valentin Mudimbe in his seminal work
‘The Invention of Africa’ highlights how this is based on a set of misleading oppositions’: “traditional versus modern; oral versus written and printed; agrarian and customary communities versus urban and industrialised civilisation; subsistence economies versus highly productive economies”. To progress, is to move from the former to the later i.e. from traditional to modern. Once the course is set, debate need only focus on the speed with which the transition is to be made. However, such an understanding is fundamentally wrong, as it does not reflect the reality of progress. A reality that shows that at any given time there exists multiple different avenues a society can pursue for change. Ultimately, the directions pursued are dictated by those in positions of power and privilege. Southern Somalia (and to a greater extent, the wider Somali inhabited territories) is a place comprised of multiple unfolding realities, and competing conceptualisations of truth. The images and narratives that provide the lifeblood of the Somalia Rising narrative, only capture and present part of this. A multifaceted situation, reduced to a single story of potential finally being realised, and a beauty restored.
TOP TWEETS
@BBCAfrica: Hear why historian @SafiaA wants a change in reporting on #Somalia http://bbc.in/1LLFHzO
@SahanJournal: What do you think is the most pressing problem Somalia is facing today? https://www.facebook.com/
@_maandeeq: #SomaliaRising,#TheSomaliaYouNeverHearAbout & other narratives of progress need critical analysis says @YusufDiriehttp://themaandeeq.com/
@Moehassan1991: #Somalia isn’t a child learning to walk, for we have walked before, but rather an adult recovering from a horrible accident #SomaliaRising
@AJEnglish: Counterfeit drugs and medical malpractice add to death toll in warring Somalia. http://aje.io/6×42
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Somali Police Force (SPF) has embarked on a new phase of vetting and recruitment exercise of police officers. The recruitment aimed at absorbing into the police force at least 200 policemen and women, is expected to boost the numbers of the existing force to a level where police-civilian ratio is manageable.
Photo: AMISOM