July 4, 2016 | Daily Monitoring Report
Somali President To Name New Intelligence Chief Soon
03 July – Source: Goobjooge.com – 194 Words
Somali President, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has principly named a new director for the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA), Goobjooge Online understands. According to reliable sources privy to the State House business, Ismail Osman, a close ally of President Mohamud’s political camp, is expected to land this highly scrutinized hot seat, which saw 5 different directors during the tenure of the incumbent president.
The sources, who spoke to Goobjooge website on condition of anonymity, because of the sensitivity surrounding the issue, said the appointment of the new head of the state intelligence and security agency is expected to be circulated through the official state gazette within the course of the day. Mr. Osman succeeds Gen. Abdirahman Mohamed (Tuuryare), who was sacked last month after failing to effectively address escalating wave of insecurity in the Somali capital, which witnessed spate of daring Al-Shabaab attacks during the Holy month of Ramadan.
Little is known about the intelligence background of the new director, whose appointment comes at crucial period in the country’s political transition, and raises few eyebrows. However, the Federal Government has been under mounting public criticism over its alleged indifference to the deteriorating security situation in the country ahead of the forthcoming general elections.
Key Headlines
- Somali President To Name New Intelligence Chief Soon (Goobjooge)
- Puntland Leader In Galkayo Amid Worsening Insecurity (Shabelle News)
- Gas Replacing Charcoal For Cooking In Northeastern Somalia (Radio Ergo)
- A Civilian Shot Dead In Clan Revenge Attack In Somalia (Shabelle News)
- Jitters Over Somalia’s Proposed Law To Protect Women (Daily Nation)
- Provincial Funding In Limbo As Edmonton’s Somali Community Identifies Root Causes Of Violence(Edmonton Sun)
- Some Refugees Returning Home To Help Rebuild Somalia (WAMC)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Puntland Leader In Galkayo Amid Worsening Insecurity
04 July – Source: Shabelle News – 150 Words
The leader of Puntland Abdiwali Mohamed Ali Gaas paid a visit to the central town of Galkayo amid the city facing assassinations and security challenges. Mr Gaas is reportedly scheduled to have talks with local authority to focus on security and shape new measures to tackle the growing insecurity and targeted killings. “The president is in Galkayo for some days to make improvements about the security measures of the town and to meet the community to discuss ways to secure the city,” said the Deputy Governor of Mudug region Ahmed Muse Nur.
However, President Gaas’ Galkayo trip comes as the security situation in of the town is continuing to worsen day after day as several top government officials and a female peace activist were assassinated in the town recently by gunmen. Since the start of the holy month of Ramadan, at least three government officials were killed in the town, and no group has claimed responsibility for the assassinations.
Gas Replacing Charcoal For Cooking In Northeastern Somalia
04 July – Source: Radio Ergo – 365 Words
Cooking gas is becoming more popular in towns in Puntland, northeastern Somalia, and is reducing reliance on charcoal, according to environmental activists. Amina Ali, an environmentalist, said their campaigns encouraging the use of gas as a more environmentally friendly fuel have led to more consumers opting for cooking gas in towns such as Garowe, Bosaso, Lasanod and Galkayo.
Many important indigenous trees that were being cut down in large quantities for charcoal burning are now returning to the area. “You can now find many young trees growing in the valleys that were very commonly used in charcoal burning. These include acacia tortilis, boscia mimosifolia and acacia bussei which are now spared and have begun growing in many areas,” she said.
Mohamed Jama Issa, manager of Punt-Gas Company, one of the largest gas cylinder suppliers, told Radio Ergo they receive three or two new customers daily. The company sells more than 1,000 cylinders each month, double the amount a year ago. To purchase a gas cylinder and connection appliances for the first time costs around $120. Refilling a 13 kg propane gas bottle costs $25 and lasts longer than three sacks of charcoal.
“Previously, people were afraid of using gas to cook. But we demonstrate how it works and show them the best way to cook with gas, so they handle it safely and avoid danger. Those who have learnt how to use it have stopped cooking with charcoal,” Mohamed said. Charcoal traders, who are mostly women, are complaining of poor sales. Hawo Khalif told Radio Ergo she currently sells around 100 bags of charcoal a month in Garowe market, which is down from 320 bags three years ago.
Local people have organized themselves in many places to protest against cutting trees and charcoal making. Charcoal burners have consequently been forced to move to more remote places requiring vehicles to transport the charcoal to town. This has resulted in higher prices and reduced profit margins for traders like Hawo. She said she has to pay $19 a sack to the charcoal burners, up from $12 two years ago. She has incurred debts and is planning to leave the trade if she can.
A Civilian Shot Dead In Clan Revenge Attack In Somalia
04 July – Source: Shabelle News – 105 Words
Unidentified Gunman has killed at least one person and injured another after he attacked a small village near Adado town, the seat of Galmudug State of Somalia. Confirming the incident to Radio Shabelle, Gadon village administrator Abdi Ahmed said the gunman has escaped the area after shooting the civilian.
Ahmed added that local security forces kicked off a combing operation at the village and its nearby areas in search for the killer who is armed with an AK-47 rifle. The tragic incident happened at Hog-dugaag, a rural area which is located approximately 40 kilometers away from Adado town of Galgaduud region. Despite the underway investigation, residents say, the people might have been targeted in revenge for bloody animosity between two fraternal clans in the area.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Jitters Over Somalia’s Proposed Law To Protect Women
04 July – Source: Daily Nation – 290 Words
A law recently approved by the Somali Cabinet is raising questions for allegedly going against Islamic principles. The law emphasises gender equality in the entire Somali socio-economic and political spectrum. Religious personalities have issued a statement condemning the new national gender policy. The chairman of Somali Religious Council (SRC), Sheikh Bashir Ahmed Salad, said the law had numerous faults, including clauses that may allow same sex marriage.
The cleric also pointed out that it was not right to say that women could hold top national posts, outlaw the Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) or that women could only marry upon attaining the age of 18 years. The Somali Cabinet last Thursday invited the SRC clerics to their weekly meeting, to discuss the law. Consequently a committee comprising ministers and clergymen was formed to probe any faults in the gender law.
However, Women and Human Rights minister Zahra Mohamed Ali Samatar dismissed reports that some articles of the new gender law went against Islamic principles. “I have no idea about the bogus information circulating in the public that the gender policy approved last week is contrary to Islam,” said Ms Samatar, who talked to Shabelle Radio, an independent broadcaster in Mogadishu.
Provincial Funding In Limbo As Edmonton’s Somali Community Identifies Root Causes Of Violence
03 July – Source: Edmonton Sun – 570 Words
A report looking into what caused a spike in violent crime in Edmonton’s Somali community a decade ago suggests a proactive approach could help avoid a repeat. But funding for that approach lies in limbo. “What we are looking for here is action; we don’t want just words,” said Jibril Ibrahim, president of the Somali Cultural Society of Edmonton, a mostly volunteer-run group working out of the Centre for Advancement of African Canadians in Alberta.
Issues in the community extend back to the mid-1990s when the Somali government collapsed, sending refugees around the world. Many spent their formative years in refugee camps — with no access to education — and some even had children of their own. Those who came to Canada found themselves in a holding pattern as the federal government put them on waiting lists for immigration status and unable to access services.
Those who dropped out of school and were kept out of the job market by language barriers were obvious recruits for gangs. Ibrahim, a professional engineer by trade who volunteers with the society, said the result can be seen in the nearly 50 young people in Edmonton who have died as a result of violent crimes since 2004.
“We have taken an interest in figuring out what are the root causes, instead of just burying them and burying them and burying them,” he said. With a grant from Alberta Justice, they began a year-long study in 2014, interviewing people whose loved ones had died, people who were put in prison for some of those crimes and also young people who managed to escape the trend and find success by graduating from college or university.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“So Dadaab is not just a place where refugees get care — they are also giving the care. In the pediatric ward at one of the camp’s hospitals, nine of the ten nurses on duty are refugees.”
Some Refugees Returning Home To Help Rebuild Somalia
04 July – Source: WAMC – 999 Words
Ibrahim Mohamed’s baby boy is almost 4 months old, but Ibrahim and his wife, Amina, still haven’t agreed on his name. “She said, ‘My baby son will be Muntasir,'” Ibrahim says. He prefers Abdelrahman. “Still the competition is going!” But Ibrahim thinks he’ll lose this competition because he hasn’t been around. Ibrahim and Amina are Somali, but they’ve been living in the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya since the early 1990s. (Amina was born here.) The newlyweds were expecting their first child when Ibrahim got what many refugees here dream of: A job. Only not in Kenya.
In November, Ibrahim moved back to Somalia, the country his family fled when he was 3 years old, to work as a women’s protection officer in the central Somali town of Dhusamareb. He’ll help women who report sexual violence and educate communities about gender-based violence. He’s a trailblazer — one of dozens of refugees who are going home to a country still plagued by fighting to use the job skills they’ve learned in the camp.
It’s an opportunity he didn’t have in Kenya. Registered with the U.N. refugee agency, Ibrahim isn’t legally allowed to work because the Kenyan government doesn’t want to encourage him — and the nearly half a million refugees like him — to stay. But he owes the job in part to his refugee experience. During the two decades he lived in the camp, Ibrahim went to school, then joined the International Rescue Committee’s team in Dadaab in a role known as “incentive staff.”
Incentive staff give vaccinations, teach parents about malnutrition and test for various diseases in the lab. Some learn to be managers by shadowing the full-time staff. Jason Philips of the New York-based IRC said this in-camp work has been going on for decades. “Incentive” refers to the way these refugees used to be reimbursed for their work. “In the 1990s and earlier, very often they actually were incentives,” says Philips. “People were paid with salt, with soap, with blankets, with clothing, with forms of food rations.”
TOP TWEETS
@Vatescorp : #Somalia received $2.5 billion in funds from the international community in two years – Jabril Abdullehttp://ow.ly/qaDE301Tq2H
@gcmcSomalia : #Somalia Somalia: Attention to land and women’s rights crucial for Somalia’s stability http://bit.ly/29o0jkX #crisismanagement
@NUSOJofficial : “Hands-off our union” say NUSOJ delegates https://madmimi.com/
@Vatescorp : #Somalia: SNA repulse #AlShabaab ambush in Shalanbod on Sun
@SimretZeru : How A #Somalia/n Entrepreneur Beat The U.N. And Built A $500M Remittance Firmhttp://afkinsider.com/128926/
@Abdi_AlSheikh : The gender bill, a bitter taste for Somalia – Mareeg Media http://dlvr.it/LjgMR4 #Somalia
@AmbAmerico : @fqdayib Let’s empower our #Somalia forces by giving them training and continues excellent salary
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Mr Said Hassan, the Chair of the Police Projects Coordination Cell (PPCC), speaks during the inaugural meeting on Police Projects Coordination Cell (PPCC), held in Mogadishu, Somalia.Photo: UNSOM