June 22, 2018 | Morning Headlines.
AU Keen On Resolving Logistical Challenges Facing Its Mission In Somalia
21 June – Source: AMISOM – 424 Words
A delegation from the Addis Ababa based African Union Peace Support Operations Division (AUPSOD), is in Somalia to assess the nature of logistical support given to the AU Mission by its partners. The team will hold deliberations in the capital Mogadishu, to flesh out issues regarding logistics support to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), and propose recommendations, that will boost the Mission’s activities in the Horn of Africa country.
“We want to look into key challenges and key issues and clearly indicate what stakeholders need to do to help enhance the support package to AMISOM,” Col. (Rtd) Mor Mbow, the Chief of Mission Support at the African Union Commission, and leader of the AU delegation said in his opening remarks earlier today. Mbor emphasized that the aim of the deliberations was to come up with ways of enhancing logistical support to AMISOM, to enable the Mission better secure Somalia.
“This support to AMISOM is not only an UNSOS responsibility. Troop Contributing Countries have responsibilities; the contingents that have been deployed have responsibilities. AU as strategic headquarters have responsibilities and UN of course, being a major partner has responsibilities,” Col. Mbow stated.
The two-day high-level consultative talks is expected to come up with detailed recommendations that will address critical logistical support issues in the short, medium and long term. “The primary objective of this workshop is to identify AMISOM mission support challenges across the strategic, operational and tactical levels,” explained Ambassador Francisco Caetano Jose Madeira, the AU Special Representative for Somalia and Head of AMISOM.
The meeting, Madeira noted, will also come up with recommendations on how the AU and UN can harmonize and enhance joint planning, improve on provision and delivery of logistics and generate service support to AMISOM.
Key Headlines
- AU Keen On Resolving Logistical Challenges Facing Its Mission In Somalia (AMISOM)
- Somali Prime Minister Says No Deal Reached With Ethiopia On Seaports (Shabelle News)
- Military Court Sentences Soldier To Death Over Murder (Hiiraan Online)
- Somali Justice Minister Urges Al-Shabaab Defectors To Make Use Of Rehab Programmes (Halbeeg News)
- Italian Government Contributes 2.4 million Euro To Somalia To Support National Governance
- Youth Employment And Aid Delivery (Relief Web)
- Teenage Somali Refugee Recounts Her Treacherous Journey To The UK (The Guardian)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Somali Prime Minister Says No Deal Reached With Ethiopia On Seaports
21 June – Source: Shabelle News – 137 Words
Somali Prime Minister, Hassan Ali Khaire rejected reports that President Farmaajo has inked an official trade agreement with its neighbouring Ethiopia government last Saturday. Speaking to the Somali community in Oslo, Norway, Prime Minister Khaire said that, President Farmaajo and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, have reached a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on trade cooperation.
The PM’s remarks comes amid speculations that the Somali president handed over four main ports to Ethiopia, a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. “We did not sign a deal with Ethiopia, the two leaders signed and issued jointly a communiqué on trade cooperation between the two countries,” said Prime Minister Khaire. Somalis took to the social media to condemn the MoU, between President Farmaajo and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia, on the investment in of the four seaports in Somalia.
Military Court Sentences Soldier To Death Over Murder
21 June – Source: Hiiraan Online – 111 Words
The Somali military court has sentenced a government soldier to death over the murder of a colleague in Mogadishu. In giving his verdict, the chairman of the military court Hassan Ali Noor Shuute said, after thorough investigations into the case, the court has found the accused Mawlid Ali Abdi, to have deliberately shot and killed his junior colleague, Ahmed Nur Hussein who was also a member of the Somali National Armed Forces.
The defendant was also stripped of his military rank during the court session. Somalia’s military court has for in the recent many time past conducted similar death penalties to members of the Somali armed forces found guilty of murder.
Somali Justice Minister Urges Al-Shabaab Defectors To Make Use Of Rehab Programmes
21 June – Source: Halbeeg News – 195 Words
Somali Minister for Justice, Hassan Hussein Haji on Thursday, urged Al-Shabaab defectors to make use of the opportunity extended to them by the government, saying that the vocational training given to the defectors will help them rebuild their lives. Minister Haji who visited Serendi Rehabilitation Center for Al-Shabaab defectors in Mogadishu, said the government will dedicate more resources for rehabilitation centres.
Hundreds of former Al-Shabaab fighters are currently undergoing rehabilitation process, aimed at guiding them to stay away from Al-Shabaab’s extremist ideology. The minister toured the different departments and dormitories of the rehabilitation centre. He held lengthy discussions with officials at the centre, on wide range issues including the welfare of the defectors.
The minister pledged that his ministry will reform the justice system to make it more effective. Mr. Haji commended the officials managing the centre for their commitment, to help the defectors to re-enter society. Somali government with support of U.N. agencies had set up several rehab centres in several towns including Beledweyne, Kismayo, Baidoa and Mogadishu. The number of Al-Shabaab fighters defecting to the government have been increasing, after the surrender of for Al-Shabaab deputy leader, Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Abu Mansoor.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Italian Government Contributes 2.4 Million Euro To Somalia To Support National Governance, Youth Employment And Aid Delivery
21 June – Source: Relief Web – 479 Words
The Italian Government has this week contributed 2.4 million Euro to Somalia under a United Nations (UN) Multi-Partner Trust Fund (MPTF) agreement. The funding will support national governance and youth employment programmes which are led by the Somali Government with the support of the United Nations, as well as a UN supported programme which builds the capacity of the Government to deliver aid to Somali people.
The agreement was signed during an event to celebrate Italy’s Republic day in Mogadishu. The document was signed by the Italian Ambassador to Somalia, Mr. Carlo Campanile, the Deputy Prime Minister of Somalia, Mr. Mahdi Mohamed Guled and acting United Nations Resident Coordinator for Somalia and United Nations Development Programme Country Director, Mr. George Conway.
The Italian contribution is part of the Italian Government’s strategy of empowering national Somali infrastructure and governance programmes, under the development and reconstruction plan for Somalia. Under this a further contribution of 3.3 million Euro to increase access to justice and rule of law in the East African country will be signed in the near future with Somali authorities.
The Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Mahdi Guled, thanked the Italian Government for their continued support of Somalia. “This is clearly a manifestation of the Italian commitment to supporting the Somali people. Italy has been a longstanding friend of Somalia. The support will help important areas for development in this country, in infrastructure, youth employment, job creation, and in justice,” he said.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“Recounting the journey, she said: ‘There were 90 people. And we were in the sea seven days. ‘Some people they died with hunger, some people they died with needing drinking water. ‘Between Italy and Egypt, the boat is broken. I am in the middle of the sea. I can’t see any house or trees.’ “
Teenage Somali Refugee Recounts Her Treacherous Journey To The UK
21 June – Source: The Guardian – 768 Words
A teenage girl forced to leave her family behind and flee Somalia aged just 14 after being threatened by terrorists recounted her treacherous journey to the UK in a heartbreaking documentary. Fearing for her life after she was accused by the Islamic terrorist group Al-Shabaab of touching a man’s hand out of wedlock, Mariam, 18, who spoke to Channel 4 cameras for the documentary Britain’s Refugee Children, told how she escaped to Egypt, where she remained for four years. At 18, she paid traffickers to help her make the treacherous trip across the Mediterranean to Europe by boat, as one of 90 people crammed onto the vessel, which capsized after seven days at sea.
Mariam, who was finally rescued off the coast of Italy, told how she had watched her best friend drown as the exhausted refugees attempted to swim for shore – prompting tearful viewers to praise her courage on Twitter. The programme Britain’s Refugee Children sought to highlight the plight of the young who are fleeing war-torn countries like Syria, some of whom make the journey with their families, many of whom arrive alone.
The show followed children arriving in Wales, which has been at the vanguard of British efforts to help the refugee crisis, with every local authority volunteering to take in asylum seekers. Mariam is still traumatised after witnessing the death of her best friend, who struggled to swim in choppy waters when their boat capsized.
Mariam was rescued after being spotted in Italian seas by a passing helicopter, and she was picked up by a boat and taken to a hospital by a local couple where she recovered. There she met another trafficker who helped her to make it to the UK, where she immediately applied for refugee status – but faced a near year-long wait before she was granted permission to remain.