July 4, 2013 | Daily Monitoring Report.
Relief support from Turkey distributed in Jowhar
04 Jul- Source: Radio Kulmiye- 146 words
A relief aid from Turkey was on Wednesday distributed to the communities in Jowhar town, Middle Shabelle region. The relief aid was accepted from the aid organisations from Turkey and it was a food aid composed of some rice and sugar.
Kulmiye reporter in Jowhar says that the food distribution coincides with a time when the people in these environs were very eager for such relief because of the month of Ramadan which is coming in the days ahead.
Turkey government has several times distributed different types of relief donation to the Somali vulnerable communities, Turkey is remembered for its assistance when a mass famine broke out in Somalia.
Key Headlines
- Relief support from Turkey distributed in Jowhar (Radio Kulmiye)
- Somaliland: Journalists demand release of jailed journalists and lifting of ban on Hubaal newspaper(Somaliland Press/Universal TV)
- Banadir administration opens Waaberi District headquarters (Radio Kulmiye)
- Al Shabaab fighters target UN chopper in Baidoa airport (Qalin News Online)
- Al Shabaab vows to enforce obedience as dissension spreads (Sabhi Online)
- AMISOM chief vows to help end Kismayo rift (China Daily/Xinhua)
- Somalia’s al Shabaab fighters: divided but still deadly (Global Post/AFP)
SOMALI MEDIA
Relief support from Turkey distributed in Jowhar
04 Jul- Source: Radio Kulmiye- 146 words
A relief aid from Turkey was on Wednesday distributed to the communities in Jowhar town, Middle Shabelle region. The relief aid was accepted from the aid organisations from Turkey and it was a food aid composed of some rice and sugar.
Kulmiye reporter in Jowhar says that the food distribution coincides with a time when the people in these environs were very eager for such relief because of the month of Ramadan which is coming in the days ahead.
Turkey government has several times distributed different types of relief donation to the Somali vulnerable communities, Turkey is remembered for its assistance when a mass famine broke out in Somalia.
Somaliland: Journalists demand release of jailed journalists and lifting of ban on Hubaal newspaper
04 Jul- Source: Somaliland press/Universal TV- 331 words
Members of Somaliland media fraternity in Somaliland today converged at hotel Mansoor whereby they jointly condemned the jailing of the chairman of Hubaal Mr. Mohamed Ahmed Jama and chief editor Mr. Hassan Hussein Abdullah (Kef kef) by a regional court in Hargeisa. The Joint Press Statement read as follows:-
We condemn in the strongest terms the unconstitutional detention and the illegal indefinite closure of the independent newspaper (Hubaal) by the government of Somaliland. The Journalists body also calls on the government to immediately and unconditionally release the detain journalists citing the inconsistencies in the law (Somali Penal Code), used in the case contrary to Somaliland constitution Press law Cab No: 24/2004 which stipulates no restraints can be imposed on the Press and Article 32 which states the freedom of the press is recognized and enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of Somaliland and must be respected and valued in Somaliland in accordance with the Constitution which guarantees the freedom of expression.
Banadir administration opens Waaberi District headquarters
04 Jul- Source: Radio Kulmiye- 99 words
The headquarters of the Waaberi district, in Mogadishu was opened by the Benadir regional administration. Speaking at the opening ceremony, Ahmed Meera Makaraan Waaberi district chairman asked Somali people especially those living in the Waaberi district to preserve the sanitation as well as the peace in their district. The chairman has also called on that the administration of the Benadir to renovate the rest of the Waaberi district headquarters.
Al Shabaab fighters target UN chopper in Baidoa airport
03 Jul- Source: Qalin News Online- 73 words
Al Shabaab fighters launched anti aircraft machine gun at a UN chartered chopper trying to land in Baidoa airport Wednesday morning in a bid to distrupt the services of the airport, witnesses confirmed to Qalin News Online. There is no comment from the government officials in Baidoa. Al Shabaab fighters launched several hit and run attacks on TFG and AMISOM forces in Bay region.
No medicines for wounded civilians crowding Kismayo hospital
03 Jul- Source: Radio Ergo- 223 words
Civilians are continuing to suffer as gun battles between rival militias have dominated the Somali port city of Kismayo in the past week. Ten civilians have been reported killed and many homes and property destroyed by the heavy artillery used by the two sides.
A missile which hit a house in Sinai neighbourhood of the city killed a couple and left three of their children badly injured, Radio Ergo’s correspondent in Kismayo reported.
Dr Abdisamad Abukar Haji, Kismayo general hospital medical director, confirmed that eight people brought to the hospital died of their injuries. He said more than 60 people, mostly women and children, had been brought to the hospital in the past three days of fierce fighting.
The medical director said the hospital does not have enough space to accommodate the influx of wounded people and most have to be attended to on beds under the trees outside. Also, the hospital does not have enough medicine and supplies to cope with the needs. Kismayo hospital is an old government facility and has not had any improvements or upgrading for the past two decades.
Dr Abdisamad appealed to aid agencies and the Somali people to help with the urgent provision of medicines and equipment to save the lives of the wounded people in the hospital.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Al Shabaab vows to enforce obedience as dissension spreads
04 July- Source: Sabahi Online-579 Words
The faction loyal to top al Shabaab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane has vowed to use “all legitimate means” necessary to enforce unity within the splintering militant group.
“Those who wish to plant the destructive seeds of disunity among the Mujahideen will be strongly dealt with should they fail to desist,” Godane’s faction warned Sunday (June 30th) on al Shabaab’s official Twitter account.
Godane and his faction continue to blame “kuffar” (infidels) and “hypocrites” (dissenters) for the growing defections from the top leader.
“The Kuffar and the hypocrites have long been persistent in their attempts to dismember the single Jama’ah [congregation] and the unity of the Mujahideen,” al-Shabaab said via Twitter. “Their aim was to weaken the Mujahideen by keeping them preoccupied with internal strife whilst receiving a much-needed respite from battles.”
“As such, the leadership of HSM [Harakat al Shabaab al Mujahideen] is determined to take all legitimate measures to safeguard the Mujahideen against such divisions and disputes.”
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
AMISOM chief vows to help end Kismayo rift
03 July- Source: China Daily/Xinhua-302 Words
The African Union special representative for Somalia, Mahamt Saleh Annadif, on Wednesday said AU forces in the Horn of Africa country will work with the government and its national forces to end a rift over Kismayo.
Annadif met with Somali top leaders after the government asked the AU to deploy multi-national African force instead of the Kenya- led force in the volatile city of Kismayo, where Kenyan forces were alleged to side with one of the warring clans.
Kenyan troops in Kismayo are part of the 17,000-strong African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), which also comprises Uganda, Burundi, Djibouti and Sierra Leone.
“AMISOM takes its mandate very seriously and will continue working with the Federal Government of Somalia and its Security Forces in securing and stabilizing Somalia in all four sectors of operation,” said Annadif after meeting with Somali President Hassan sheikh Mohamoud and Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon.
Somalia’s al Shabaab fighters: divided but still deadly
03 July- Source: Global Post/AFP-748 Words
For the past year, many celebrated that Somalia’s al Shabaab fighters were on the back foot, as African Union and government forces wrested town after town from the al Qaeda-linked gunmen. But despite recent infighting — including the recent killing of top leaders in a bloody purge — analysts warn the extremist group are far from defeated.
A brazen daylight attack last month on a fortified United Nations compound in Mogadishu, with a seven-man suicide commando blasting into the complex and killing 11 in a gun battle to the death, followed similar tactics used in an attack on a courthouse in April.
“Despite significant in-fighting, al Shabaab stepped up attacks… shaking the fragile sense of security in the capital by launching attacks,” the International Crisis Group (ICG) notes. The complex attacks came even as top al Shabaab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane moved against fellow commanders who had criticised his leadership, killing two co-founders of the Islamist group.
In Somaliland, Hubaal journalists sentenced to jail
03 Jul- Source: CPJ- 413 words
A court in the capital of the semi-autonomous republic of Somaliland today convicted the manager and editor of the independent daily Hubaal of defamation and sentenced them to prison.
Hubaal’s editor, Hussein Hassan Abdullahi, received two years, while the paper’s manager, Mohamed Ahmed Jama, was sentenced to one year in jail on charges of defamation and false publication of news capable of disturbing public order, local journalists told CPJ. The court issued a fine of 2,000,000 Somaliland shillings (US$300) to Hussein and 1,000,000 shillings (US$150) to Mohamed, according to news reports.
Defense lawyer Adburahaman Mohamoud said the journalists will appeal. He told CPJ that the conviction contravenes the Somaliland media law and constitution, which require civil as opposed to criminal procedures for alleged press offenses.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“The fate of Mr Aweys is unclear. He could be charged with war crimes or he could end up joining a peace process, focusing on winning over youth from al Shabaab.”
Will Somali Islamist purge strengthen al Shabaab?
04 July- Source: BBC-1078 Words
The surrender of Somalia’s veteran militant Islamist, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, signals that his faction has lost the battle for control of the al Shabaab group to hardliners determined to step up their military campaign to establish an Islamic state in the East African country.
The 78 year old – whose trademark is a goatish beard, coloured with red henna – was forced to give himself up to government forces last weekend, fuelling speculation that his life was under threat from the young Islamists who once revered him as their elder statesman, but have now rallied behind his bitter rival, Afghan-trained Ahmed Abdi Godane.
Somali analyst Hassan Abukar, writing in the African Arguments blog of the UK-based Royal African Society, said Mr Aweys’ surrender came after Mr Godane’s fighters had staged a “coup” in al Shabaab, killing the group’s co-founder Ibrahim al-Afghani, who also fought in Afghanistan and was a close ally of late al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Al Shabaab’s former spokesman Mukhtar Robow has also been forced to flee, reportedly to the southern Bay and Bakol region where his Rahanweyn clan is based.
“For the past twenty years, Somalia lacked a comprehensive national vision of education from primary to tertiary levels. This is mainly because of the absence of political stability and maturity to keep education out of the political squabble that afflicted Somalia.”
Reversing Negative Trends, Restoring Quality Education
03 July- Source: Hiiraan Online-2690 Words
On June 18-20, 2013 the 1st comprehensive national education conference was held in Mogadishu since the failure of the Somali state twenty two years ago. This highly organized important milestone brought together over hundred fifty high level education policy makers, planners, academics, the private sector, NGO representatives and members of the Somali civil society as well as international partners such as UNESCO and UNICEF who co-sponsored the conference with the Somali Ministry of Human Development and Public Service.
The purpose of the conference was to reverse negative educational trends afflicting Somalia such as growing illiteracy rates with an estimated 4.5 million Somalis unable to read and write, growing gender disparities in education, absence of free public education, cost-prohibitive private schools, fragmented curricula and the deterioration of the quality of teaching and learning in a politically unstable environment.
The aim was to strategize and discuss ways of linking and rebuilding the Somali education system that is participatory, inclusive and responsive to the needs of Somali society. Clearly, this was a unique occasion intended to not only energize the entire education community on the need to create public awareness on the depressing state of education in Somalia but to strategize collective plans to meet the noble aims of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) that include among other things universal primary education for all that is set to expire by the year 2015.
“The unit reflects limited optimism about the development of Somalia’s security capabilities, but the government cannot yet instill this type of professionalism in the majority of the country’s security forces. In the meantime, even if al Shabaab’s tactics shift, the militant threat in Mogadishu will persist.”
In Somali Capital, Security Progress and Persistent Threats
03 July- Source: Stratfor/IRGA-1160 Words
Security operations by the Somali military and international peacekeeping operations in Mogadishu have enabled the country’s young government to expand control of the capital in recent months. The tempo of major attacks by hard-line Islamist militia al Shabaab has slowed considerably since the beginning of 2013, indicating a modest decline in the group’s capabilities, and none of the group’s recent operations have disrupted government activities significantly in Mogadishu or caused a strategic shift in peacekeeping operations.
However, al Shabaab still poses a threat to conduct guerrilla-style hit-and-run assaults in the capital. While the government has established high-security zones around key facilities in the city, the militants have found success with elaborate, manpower-intensive attacks on softer targets in recent months. Thus, al Shabaab will seek to concentrate its limited resources by organizing fewer yet more complicated operations that exploit the security vulnerabilities still widespread in Mogadishu.
In al Shabaab’s most recent attack, on June 19, the group targeted a U.N. Development Program compound near Mogadishu’s international airport. Militants managed to breach security measures on the compound’s perimeter and engage security forces inside in a firefight lasting more than an hour.
“What is urgently needed is a thorough check of the backgrounds of potential cabinet members, bank governors, security chiefs , parliament members and judiciary workers from the Diaspora. It would be unwise to appoint a Diaspora member to top government job without background check.”
Somalia: Background check for diaspora government staff
03 July- Source: Raxanreeb-192 Words
Once again the Somali Federal Government has faced accusations for being a corrupt entity. This time it is the Central Bank where money is withdrawn in “khaki envelopes” for personal use.
The Central bank governor Dr Abdisalam Omer, an Somali-American economist was described as governor under whose watch the Central Bank of Somalia has become a fair game for embezzlers. Dr Abdisalem was former Chief of Staff in the Executive Office of the Mayor (District of Columbia). He was investigated for misusing the public resources for private purposes but he resigned before the report had been published in 2002.
Had the Somali government made appropriate backgrounds checks on Diaspora members who would manage a public office, it would not have been blamed for employing staff with dubious past.
Top tweets
@JamalMOsman By banning Khat, Theresa May, UK’s Home Secretary will become a hero to an unlikely group: #Somalimothers in #Britain.
@MattBryden Barre Hiiraale: We have the same position as Al-Shabaab and we are planning our battles together. #Somaliahttp://goo.gl/W9gXt
@FilmAid Marking #Somalia‘s Independence on Monday at#Kakuma. (Photo © Kakuma Refugee Youth Focus Group)http://ow.ly/i/2vXmc
@petermartell #Somalia‘s Shebab: should not “confuse raising flags…with the harder task of establishing control”http://www.globalpost.com/
@nationtv Somalia back on international eyes for corruption after central bank governor lost 12 million dollar donations…http://fb.me/2tbAM8xno
Image of the day
African Union Special Representative for Somalia (SRCC) Ambassador Mahamat Saleh Annadif, left, meets Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud at Villa Somalia, Mogadishu on July 03, 2013. Photo: AMISOM