June 24, 2016 | Morning Headlines
Somali President Says Electoral Process For August ‘critical’
23 June – Source: Garowe Online – 224 Words
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has termed the upcoming August vote as ‘critical’ and “a test” for the country’s nascent institutions. He made the observations as the meeting of National Leadership Forum (NLF) entered into its second day with urgent pressing issues on its agenda.
“The upcoming election is inseparable from the future of new and democratic Somalia,” The President told the forum in southwestern town of Baidoa on Thursday. Mohamud asked political leaders to set aside their “egos” and place national interests ahead of personal goals amid mounting international pressure to implement the electoral process parameters.
The President suggested that politicians will have no sweeping role in Electoral Implementation Teams (EITs) at the federal and regional levels. The move is geared towards winning public confidence in the parliamentary selection process.
Leaders gathered in Baidoa are discussing technical and implementation details of how Somalia can select the next set of lawmakers, including securing 30 percent of the seats in both Upper and Lower houses for women. Leaders also shared views on the financing of the polls as well as security plans for electoral process.
United Nation’s envoy to Somalia envoy, Ambassador Michael Keating, said he was lobbying with key political stakeholders on the realization of women quota. He also praised the National Leadership Forum (NLF) for the progress so far made within a short period.
Key Headlines
- Somali President Says Electoral Process For August ‘critical’ (Garowe Online)
- Puntland Information Minister Threatens Journalists With Bullets And Death (Radio Dalsan)
- KDF Denies Bombing Mandera Killing Three Children (Shabelle News/The Star)
- Somali Military Court Sentences Al-Shabaab Sympathizer To Death (Radio Dalsan)
- Mortar Attack Kills Child Injures 6 Others In Somalia (Xinhua News)
- Uganda To Be Out Of Somalia ‘By 2017’ (New Vision)
- AMISOM Commends Senior Officers For Exemplary Work In Somalia (AMISOM)
- Floods Subside But Impact Continues (Reliefweb)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Puntland Information Minister Threatens Journalists With Bullets And Death
23 June – Source: Radio Dalsan – 179 Words
Puntland regional State Minister for Information, Mohamed Hassan Soo-Cade, has threatened to use bullets to kill journalists operating in the region. He is furious about a news report and interview carried out by local media with former Bari governor, who is allegedly leading an armed struggle against the administration. Of President Abdiweli Mohamed Gas.
The former governor, Abdisamad Mohamed Gallan, has threatened to topple the administration of President Abdiweli in order to create what he terms “an equal social justice”. In a press release to the media, the Information minister has cautioned journalists to avoid coverage of what he described as “pirates and an Islamic state terrorist”
“I swear if you will not respect the law, we will use the barrel of the gun against you to remove your eyes,” he said. Soo-Cade added that they (President Abdiweli’s administration) do not care about local or international media, and anyone who breaks the law will be dealt with accordingly.
National Union for Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) and Somali Independent Media Association (SIMHA) have condemned what they described as “dark statement”. They have jointly vowed that the media in the country will not be silenced.
KDF Denies Bombing Mandera, Killing Three Children
23 June – Source: Shabelle News/The Star – 245 Words
Three children have been reported dead following Kenya Defence Forces airstrikes in El Wak, Mandera county. Residents said the two girls and a boy, aged 6-10, were playing on the outskirts of El Ram village when they were hit.
They said planes flew low and that more than three explosions were heard in the area on Tuesday night. Reports indicated the KDF had targeted Al-Shabaab hideouts in El Wak town. But KDF spokesman Colonel David Obonyo “assured” that none of the military’s aircraft left the grounds for operations.
“It was not KDF,” he told the Star by phone on Wednesday. IG Joseph Boinnet, Mandera county commissioner Fredrick Shisia were not immediately available for comment. This comes a day after five police officers were killed in an attack by Al-Shabaab between Kutulo and Chuma Mrefu area in Mandera Central.
Four officers were injured in the ambush that took place while they escorted Desert Cruiser bus. The passengers were not harmed. Al-Shabaab militants have carried out several attacks in Mandera, two of which were on Makkah bus which plies the Nairobi route.
Gunmen attacked a bus between Kotulo and Dabasiti in December 2015. In 2014, a bus was attacked near Mandera by terrorists who killed 28 non-Muslims traveling to Nairobi for the Christmas holidays. At least 45 Al-Shabaab militiamen were spotted crossing into the country on May 29. Boinnet warned of attacks during Ramadan, over which security agencies have been on high alert.
Somali Military Court Sentences Al-Shabaab Sympathizer To Death
23 June – Source: Radio Dalsan – 89 Words
Somali military court has sentenced a sympathizer of the Al-Shabaab armed group to death. Yussuf Hussein shot dead his boss Abdiweli Ibrahim Nur, who was middle Shabelle Somali National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) chief.
The accused accepted to have carried out the killing before the court. Three other colleagues who were bodyguards of the slain intelligence chief were sentenced to two years and six months in jail respectively. Another guard was released by the military court following insufficient evidence that he was involved in the murder of the senior security official.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Mortar Attack Kills Child, Injures 6 Others In Somalia
23 June – Source: Xinhua News – 134 Words
A child was killed and six others were seriously injured in a mortar attack on Wednesday in a village in Hodan district, a neighborhood in the Somali capital Mogadishu, eyewitnesses and officials have said.
Spokesman for the local government, Abdifitah Omar Halane, confirmed the incident, saying “one child was killed and six others wounded by two mortar shells in Mogadishu last evening.” Omar Farah, a local radio journalist, said his sister-in-law lost her son in the attack and she herself was among those injured.
Farah told Xinhua the incident took place near a military hospital. “There are people mostly children who were injured in the attack,” he added. No-one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Somalia’s Islamist group Al-Shabaab is thought to be behind it as it frequently stages attacks in Mogadishu.
Uganda To Be Out Of Somalia ‘By 2017’
23 June – Source: New Vision – 281 Words
Uganda, the largest contributor to an African Union mission fighting jihadists in Somalia, will pull out its troops from next year, the head of the military said Thursday.
Uganda was the first country to send soldiers to Somalia, spearheading the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in March 2007 to fight Shabaab insurgents and protect the internationally-backed government in Mogadishu.Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya have since joined up and the 22,100-strong mission has 6,200 Ugandan soldiers.
“We plan to disengage from Somalia beginning December 2017, It’s a decision Uganda is taking and the key actors are informed on the way forward,” said chief of defence forces General Katumba Wamala. Last month army spokesman Paddy Ankunda said Uganda was “reviewing… involvement in AMISOM”.
Wamala declined to give specific reasons for the planned withdrawal saying only: “There comes a time when a man must come home.” The announcement comes in the wake of European Union funding cuts to AMISOM and amid negotiations ahead of an expected renewal of the AMISOM mandate by the UN Security Council next month.
In January the EU, a major donor to the Somalia mission, cut its funding by 20 percent saying African countries must bear more of the burden of soldier salaries. Soon afterwards Kenya threatened to withdraw its 3,700 troops in protest. In late May the UN approved an extension of the AMISOM mandate until July 8 when a full renewal will be discussed.
AMISOM Commends Senior Officers For Exemplary Work In Somalia
23 June – Source: AMISOM – 275 Words
The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) has commended six senior army officers for their outstanding contribution to the peacekeeping mission in Somalia as their tour of duty comes to an end.
The Deputy Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (DSRCC) for Somalia, Lydia Wanyoto, commended the officers at a farewell dinner hosted in Mogadishu on Wednesday. The ceremony was also attended by the Acting AMISOM Force Commander Maj. Gen. Nakibus Lakara and AMISOM Military Chief of Staff, Brig. Gen. Cyprien Ndikuriye.
Three of the six officers – Col. Stephen Mulenga, the Chief of Civil Military Cooperation (CIMIC) from Zambia; Col. Venant Bibonimana, the Sector Five Commander from Burundi and Squadron Leader, Isaac Oppong, from Ghana, were present at the farewell dinner. Three other officers were honored in absentia, having already rotated out. They are: Lt. Col. Richard Ndiwimana (Burundi); Maj. Sunday Egga Akbavan (Nigeria) and Captain Wario Godana Galgalloh (Kenya).
Wanyoto said the officers had served selflessly and had helped the mission deliver on its mandate: “May you go back home full of pride that you have served Africa and Somalia well.” Thanking the officers for their contribution, AMISOM’s Acting Force Commander Maj. Gen. Nakibus Lakara noted that despite hardships, the officers had shown the spirit of pan-Africanism and made their mark in helping the mission deliver its mandate.
AMISOM has been in Somalia since 2007 to assist the Federal Government of Somalia to establish institutions necessary for stability and the rule of law. The Mission has also trained hundreds of Somali police officers and military personnel as part of its mandate to stabilize Somalia.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“In addition, 50 communal latrines have been dug in areas where people have been displaced to in order to promote hygiene and minimize the risk of waterborne diseases including cholera. Over 30,000 people received hygiene kits and water purification tablets.”
Floods Subside But Impact Continues
23 June – Source: Reliefweb – 546 Words
Nearly 70 per cent of the 70,000 people affected by flooding along the Shabelle River in Belet Weyne, Hiiraan region have begun to return to their homes according to latest reports from humanitarian partners. However, some remain displaced as their shelters and latrines have been destroyed or remain waterlogged. The return of the displaced to their homes is being driven, in part, by the start of the Hagaa cold season and the delivery of food aid in return areas.
The flood waters along Shabelle River caused extensive damage to crops in Belet Weyne and the surrounding areas and destroyed infrastructure at the local hospital, further worsening the situation at the facility, which has grappled with severe underfunding. There are concerns that the food security situation may worsen in the affected areas in the coming months due to below average rains reported at 82mm by FAO-managed Somalia Water and Land Information Management (SWALIM) and crops destroyed by flooding.
The next harvest is expected in August 2016. The cost of cereal has doubled in the last few weeks up from US$0.7 to $1.5, according to the Food Security cluster. Flooding also occurred in Balcaad and Jowhar leading to displacement and destruction of some farmlands and crops. In Jowhar district, 1,140 people were temporarily displaced in Brimo Asento village.
As displaced families begin to return in the Belet Weyne area, partners are rehabilitating damaged infrastructure, including improvised repairs to broken river embankments to mitigate the impact of future flooding. Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) partners supplied 50,000 litres of clean water to over 20,000 people.