July 8, 2016 | Daily Monitoring Report
Somali Government Forces Recapture Villages Near Qansah Dheere
08 July – Source: Goobjoog News – 107 Words
Somali government forces backed by the African Union Peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM) troops have recaptured villages near Qansah Dheere town from Al-Shabab fighters on Tuesday, according to military officials. SNA soldiers have taken control of the villages without resistance after Al-Shabab fighters left.
The SNA officer who declined to mention his name said that the villages were seized successfully and Al-Shabab left before the army reached the areas. “Our soldiers took control of areas around it without fighting. Our plan is to annihilate Al-Shabaab from these areas,” he said. He added “ we will keep on moving until our soldiers seize control of remaining areas.”
Key Headlines
- Somali Government Forces Recapture Villages Near Qansah Dheere (Goobjoog News)
- Galkayo Council Dissolution Stirs Protest Amid Lax Security (Garowe Online)
- Somali Police Nab Several People In Operation In Adado (Goobjoog News)
- Israel To Help Kenya Build Border Wall To Prevent Al-Shabaab Threats (The Algemeiner)
- AU asks Kenya Uganda and Ethiopia To Honour Aircraft Pledges (The Star)
- Drought-hit Kenyan Herders Turn To New Money-maker: Hay (Reuters)
- A Rise That Is Visible To Only A Few (The Africa Report)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Galkayo Council Dissolution Stirs Protest Amid Lax Security
08 July – Source: Garowe Online – 298 Words
Fresh questions have been raised after Puntland President Abdiweli Mohamed Ali dissolved Galkayo district council by decree on July 4 amid surging outrage at a series of security failures in the city. Local clans have objected to a plan by President to meddle in the traditional distribution of council seats, with some constituents already calling their representation in the district council into question.
Under fire for lavish foreign trips and more focus on federal matters, Puntland President is trying to fault flawed intelligences and rampant insecurity on a handful of incapable regional security commanders. Puntland failed to transition into multi-party system of governance in 2013 due to a deliberate sabotage posed by what government at the time called “spoilers” to democratization programme and state security.
The northeastern state still continues with clan-based political system, and it is struggling to achieve a more visible viability in local governance. Ali picked Mohamud Yasin Ahmed as an interim mayor, ordering the formation of new city council in seven days. The President postponed nomination of Mudug governor and regional accountant to gauge the outcome of mayoral vote.
The 27-member city council is selected by traditional leaders on the basis of complex tribal structure. Shortly after his election, Puntland President paid a month-long working visit to Galkayo to form a new district council and asked local clans to bury their hatchets. The dissolution of councilors compelled for clans to forge ahead with a debate on how democratization could be the right alternative for better representation.
Traditional leaders of most major clans in Galkayo became furious at the disbanding of local council and called the president’s move “illegal”. It remains to be seen whether the date for a new Galkayo city council will have to be extended as Puntland President prepares for a Mogadishu trip on July 17.
Somali Police Nab Several People In Operation In Adado
08 July – Source: Goobjoog News – 108 Words
Somali police on Thursday arrested several Al-Shabaab suspects in a security sweep in Adado town in Galgaduud region of central Somalia. Adado police commissioner, Omar Moalim told reporters that the operation was conducted following an occurrence of insecurity incidents in the town the past days.
“Police forces carried out an operation in the town this morning, they arrested several people suspected to be fighters of the militant group of Al-Shabaab. We will further investigate them and release the innocent,” Ahmed said. “This is very productive and successful operation against anti-peace elements here in Adado,” he added. For the past weeks, Somali forces have been conducting a search and cordon operations in areas located in Galgaduud region, in an attempt to dislodge Al-Shabaab fighters.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Israel To Help Kenya Build Border Wall To Prevent Al-Shabaab Threats
08 July – Source: The Algemeiner – 409 Words
Israel will lend its counter-terrorism expertise to Kenya by helping the African country build a security wall along its border with Somalia, the UK’s The Times reported on Thursday. Nairobi is seeking assistance from the Jewish state to construct a 440-mile barricade to prevent Somali terrorists from infiltrating the country. Israel itself is in the process of building a security fence along its southern border with Jordan — expanding the fence located alongside the Sinai peninsula — and has plans to build a massive concrete wall that extends underground, to prevent terrorists from the Gaza Strip from infiltrating the country through tunnels.
The news comes amid Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s diplomatic flurry in Africa this week, which included a stop in Kenya on Tuesday. Following a meeting with Netanyahu, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta stated, “Kenya and Israel, just like other nations in the world, are facing the challenges of terrorism and today was a great opportunity to discuss ways of dealing with the issues.” Both leaders agreed to strengthen their intelligence cooperation, with Israel offering to share tactics it has developed to detect terror attacks in the early stages of their planning.
“If you know in advance that an attack is going to happen and can preempt it, it saves lives,” Netanyahu said. “Israel is doing this and we will share intelligence with Kenya and Africa.” The Israeli prime minister warned that terror groups across Africa — such as ISIS and its Nigerian affiliate, Boko Haram — are gaining strength and pose a major threat not only to Africa, but to the entire world. “There is a raging crisis of terrorism,” he said. “Where Israel can help, we will.”
AU asks Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia To Honour Aircraft Pledges
08 July – Source: The Star – 356 Words
The African Union on its 608th meeting asked Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia to honour their pledged air assets and deployment of additional force enablers. Through a statement by the Peace and Security Council seen by the Star on Wednesday, the AU said prolonged negotiations between the UN and the Troop and Police Contributing Countries (T/PCCs) should be finalised to facilitate the deployment of these air assets.
Accordingly, the council reiterated its call for the urgent finalisation of the negotiations on the LOAs, without further delay, taking into account that “reimbursement rates for these assets should be commensurate with the context of Amisom asymmetrical operations.” During the PSC’s 595th meeting held in Addis Ababa, on April 28, the council had raised a red flag over the delay in delivery of the assets especially at the current critical period for the mission and upcoming elections in Somalia.
In February, Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia offered to supply helicopters for troops fighting under the Amisom in the fight against Al-Shabaab. Troop-contributing countries to the AU’s mission in Somalia were required to deploy their own equipment, while a lack of air support has been highlighted as one of the mission’s major weaknesses in recent years in the operation.
Drought-hit Kenyan Herders Turn To New Money-maker: Hay
08 July – Source: Reuters – 827 Words
As a boy, Abdirahman Hillole Musa would spend long hours roaming the scrubland of Kenya’s northeast with his father’s cows and goats, often venturing into neighbouring Ethiopia and Somalia in search of fodder for the animals. At the best of times, grazing land is in short supply in this arid corner of Kenya dotted with thorny bushes, but in times of drought it is even scarcer – with devastating consequences for pastoralists.
“In those days, we could lose a lot of livestock since some died on the way due to the long distance and lack of pasture,” Musa recalled. Last month, the 50-year-old was among a group of men arranged on the verandah of the area chief’s office, away from the burning glare of the sun. Engrossed in discussion, they discussed not lack of pasture for their livestock, but a more pressing matter: lack of storage for the hay they’d baled.
More than a decade ago, Musa, now 50, and other farmers in Bula Haji, in Mandera County, attended a government training course on crop irrigation where they learned how to plant, harvest, dry, bale and store hay. They now plant grass to feed their animals during long dry seasons and during droughts, which are more frequent and harsher due to climate change. Some now make a living selling their surplus hay to the government and other farmers.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“The IMF has not been alone in helping Somalia—the African Development Bank, the World Bank and bilateral donors such as the European Union, and countries like Kenya, Norway, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States are extremely active.”
A Rise That Is Visible To Only A Few
08 July – Source: The Africa Report – 1,317 Words
The horrors that defined the Horn of Africa country during the civil war are slowly giving way to a new Somalia, one that is becoming relatively peaceful and is making slow but steady socioeconomic and political progress. The problem is that few people are noticing this change. These days Somalis reminisce about life before the war. With a sense of nostalgia they reflect on the carefree days of swimming, picnics and cinema; when children were in school, the economy was growing and business was booming, providing jobs for thousands of Somali citizens
That golden period was to end abruptly in 1991 with the onset of a debilitating war that ruined the economy and obliterated the banking system. Today the mention of Somalia invokes chilling images of the deadly activities of Al-Shabaab militants, suicide bombers or pirates. “Somalia is an emerging success story, but momentum needs to be sustained,” said Nicholas Kay, the former UN special representative to Somalia, at the turn of the year.
And the Somali foreign affairs minister, Abdusalam Omer, concurs: “Major progress has been made. Somalia is coming out of its dark past.” The International Monetary Fund (IMF), which resumed relations with the country in April 2013, is lending credence to the new Somalia narrative. Its review of the Somali economy, the first by the IMF in over two decades, noted that between 2012 and 2014, Somalia’s real GDP grew by 3.7%.
Although Somalia cannot yet seek financial assistance from the IMF due to long-standing arrears — amounting to US$328 million in late 2015 — renewed recognition by the IMF is a critical first step and demonstrates the country is putting its administrative house in order. Somalia’s economic growth has been fueled in part by an increase in agricultural production. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in 2014, Somalia exported over five million livestock to markets in the Gulf States—its highest annual number of live animal exports in the past 20 years.
TOP TWEETS
@AU_Chergui: Looking forward to #27thAUSummit – Peace/Security on Agenda #Burundi #SouthSudan #Terrorism#Somalia #Mali/#Sahel…
@mrthomaswatkins: #Somalia – #AfricanUnion says that troops will be withdrawn from the #EastAfrican country by 2020http://allafrica.com/stories/
@OnadaExpansiva: #Somalia UNSC Extends Mandate of#AMISOM, Unanimously Adopting Resolution 2297http://www.un.org/press/en/
@4Faisel: #Germany jails five men for fighting with #Somalia‘s Shabaab.
@Eye_on_Somalia : #goobjoog Al-Shabaab executes two men for killing journalist: Somalia’s Al-Shabaab group said late T…http://bit.ly/29pwvkG #somalia
@bieggon2: #Somalia AU asks Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia to honour aircraft pledges http://www.the-star.co.ke/
@omabha: Somalia: Govt Denies Secret Meeting Between Sheikh Mohamud and Netanyahu – http://AllAfrica.com http://dlvr.it/LlKMHs #Somalia
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Pres. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud celebrates Eid Al-Fitr with Mogadishu residents, urges them to promote peace.
Photo: @TheVillaSomalia