June 27, 2017 | Daily Monitoring
Explosion Heard From Ship Off The Coast Of Somalia, Official Says
27 June – Source : Reuters – 241 Words
A huge explosion was heard from a ship off the coast of Somalia’s Puntland region late on Monday and flame was seen rising from what was possibly a foreign naval vessel, an official told Reuters. “We heard (a) huge explosion and flame rising from the ship. I believe that the ship is foreign,” Ali Shire, mayor of Puntland’s port town of Alula, a pirate haven, told Reuters on Tuesday. He said he believed the ship was likely a naval vessel because two foreign navy ships had helped rescue the crew. It was not immediately clear whether the explosion was caused by an accident onboard the vessel or was triggered by pirate attackers.
It was also not clear whether the vessel had sunk after the blast. Abdi Jama, a resident of Muranyo village near Alula, told Reuters the vessel had been in the area for two days before the explosion occurred and that he had seen a helicopter land on and take off from the vessel some time before the blast.
He said the explosion turned the vessel “into flames and huge clouds of smoke”. Somali pirates often prowl waters around Alula. In March, pirates hijacked an oil tanker, Aris 13, with eight Sri Lankan crew on board, the first time a commercial ship was commandeered in the region since 2012. Several foreign navies, including from the European Union, China and others, often operate in the area as part of anti-piracy missions.
Key Headlines
- Explosion Heard From Ship Off The Coast Of Somalia Official Says (Reuters)
- NISA Boss Praises Mogadishu Stabilization Force (Jowhar.com)
- President Of Somalia Pardons 13 Prisoners (Dayniile.com)
- Kenya Police Vehicles Feature As Al-Shabaab Show ‘Military Might’ During Eid (Africa News)
- Somali Accused Of Torture Rape Detained In Lampedusa (ANSA English Edition)
- Somali Refugees Regret Returning Home From Kenya (Daily Mail)
NATIONAL MEDIA
NISA Boss Praises Mogadishu Stabilization Force
26 June – Source : Jowhar.com – 109 Words
The Commander of the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA), Abdullahi Mohamed Ali Sanbalooshe has praised the efforts of the Mogadishu Stabilization Force saying they have prevented almost 90 percent of attacks. He said as compared to the previous years, this Ramadhan has only seen three attacks that targeted soft spots mainly civilian areas. “We have made a comparison between the attacks that happened in 2016 and the killing that have happened in this years Ramadhan. During this month three blasts took place which targeted civilians, 12 assassinations, 28 deaths resulting from the blast while 62 were injured,” said Sanbalooshe.
President Of Somalia Pardons 13 Prisoners
27 June – Source : Daynille.com – 103 Words
President of Somalia, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo yesterday pardoned 13 inmates in the central prison to commemorate the Eid Al-Fitri celebrations. The pardoned prisoners committed minor crimes, the intention of the pardon is for them to participate in the Eid and the independence celebration with their families and friends, a statement from the presidency said. Speaking to the media the president’s legal advisor said the pardon will continue during this week of independence. More inmates with minor crimes are expected to be released from custody during this period in order the to reintegrate with the society as part of the presidential pardon system.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Kenya Police Vehicles Feature As Al-Shabaab Show ‘Military Might’ During Eid
27 June – Source : Africa News – 152 Words
Somalia’s insurgent group Al-Shabaab released photos of its fighters on display during this year’s Eid celebrations.The photos have, however, got Kenyans talking, seeing that Kenyan Police cars had been turned into the machine gun carrier of Al-Shabaab. The military display according to media sources took place in Jilib. It is located on the main road from Mogadishu south to Kismayo and is the most populous town in the Middle Juba Region.
Jilib is a town with an estimated population of approximately 125,000 Bantu ethnic group. Al-Shabaab holds large swathes of land in rural areas in Somalia have also launched attacks on Kenya. The Garissa and West Gate mall attacks are the most notable ones.They are also engaged in active combat with Kenyan soldiers who are helping the Mogadishu government to fight them. They have often times released videos that show them taking over logistics of Kenyan forces after attacks.
Somali Accused Of Torture, Rape Detained In Lampedusa
27 July – Source: ANSA English Edition – 78 Words
A 23-year-old Somali national has been detained at the hotspot on the southern Italian island of Lampedusa over accusations he raped and tortured asylum seekers in Libya before they embarked on their journeys across the Mediterranean, sources said Tuesday. The alleged violence took place at a site in an agricultural area called Hudeyfà, in the Kufra district. The related probe features statements from migrants who said the suspect hit them with rubber tubes and threatened them with weapons.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“No education no future: Madina Abdinoor Osman has seven children, five of whom attended school when they lived in Kenya but since returning to Somalia in January none has been in class. “We need our children to be getting an education,” she said. “A person who learns and a person who does not learn, they are not in the same category.”
Somali Refugees Regret Returning Home From Kenya
27 June – Source : Daily Mail – 820 Words
As a teenager, Aden Hussein chose to become a refugee to get an education. With Somalia in collapse, he left his family for neighbouring Kenya where Dadaab, one of the largest and oldest refugee camps in the world, offered a de-facto city served by the UN and dozens of aid agencies. “There I had free education,” he said. Last August, six years after arriving, Hussein, now 21, took advantage of a repatriation package offered to Somali refugees when the Kenyan government said it would close the camp. Hussein said he was given $400 and promised healthcare, shelter and schooling the same benefits he enjoyed in Dadaab. Human rights organisations have protested that refugees are being coerced into returning to a war zone where none of these services are available and, in the end, Hussein only received the cash. He is bitterly disappointed that he has not been able to finish high-school since his return to Baidoa in southwestern Somalia.
Casualties of chaos: In the past 18 months more than 50,000 refugees have left Dadaab for Somalia, a country that has been a byword for “failed state” since civil war felled the government in 1991. One of the countless casualties of the chaos is the national education system which successive fragile governments have failed to rebuild. The only schools outside the major cities are Islamic madrases and the ones that are functioning lack properly trained teachers or a standardised curriculum. Patrick Mbugua, the Somalia Researcher for Amnesty International, who recently returned from a fact-finding mission in Baidoa said that the majority of refugees he spoke to said their children were not in schools. Those who were, found a school system in shambles.
Public schools: Of the 29 schools in Baidoa, some are privately-run and follow the Ethiopian, Kenyan, Ugandan or even Qatari curriculums while public schools adhere to a Somali curriculum dating back to the pre-war era and unchanged in more than 20 years. By contrast, all schools in Dadaab follow the “very modern” Kenyan curriculum. “[The] education system in Somalia is not fully functional and continues to face challenges,” Julien Navier, a UNHCR Senior External Relations Officer said. Navier said that returnee parents can opt to keep their children in the academies that follow the Kenyan program.
No education no future: Madina Abdinoor Osman has seven children, five of whom attended school when they lived in Kenya but since returning to Somalia in January none has been in class. “We need our children to be getting an education,” she said. “A person who learns and a person who does not learn, they are not in the same category.”
A recently “enhanced” repatriation package provides funding to some but not all children in each returnee family to go to school. The deal covers education for nine months. After that, parents are on their own. “I am very much worried,” said Hadija Issak Ali. Two of her five school-aged children are in class now but Ali’s husband is elderly, and she’s not sure how she will continue to pay school fees. “Our future only depends on our children’s education,” said Ali.
TOP TWEETS
@mpfsomalia: Helping #Somalia attract private investment will require realism, rigor and reforms
@UNHCR_Kenya: #Somalia is my my home.It’s my choice to go back.I am going to Sallagle which is safe for us~This is Bishar’s story http://bit.ly/2teh7EA
@ACF_UK: “We had nothing to take with us. The children have no food or milk.” Hawo’s story of survival in #Somalia. http://ow.ly/F67z30cVf1v
@Anisa_Hajimumin: 1. People with mental illness in #Somalia face many obstacles including not being respected, isolation, lack of psychiatry service
@AfricaIntellig:Hargeisa and Mogadishu choose their sides in Qatar crisis#Qatar #QatarCrisis #Somalia #Somaliland
@arabeeyjr: Everything was halted because of the disconnection. How long will this continue; we really need a backup plan #Somalia #Mogadishu
@OurManontheHorn: #Somalia has been without #tinternet for 3 (THREE!) days – imagine how much work they must be getting done
@geekinthejungle: vessels off the coast of Somalia only means one thing: illegal activities. probably why no country/company is yet to be identified as owner.
IMAGE OF THE DAY
President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo lays a wreath at the statue of unknown soldier in Mogadishu
Photo: Radio Muqdisho