June 4, 2015 | Daily Monitoring Report
Nearly A Dozen Dead In Hiiraan Fighting
04 June – Source: Garowe Online – 93 Words
At least 10 people have been reported killed in a fighting between two clans in Hiiraan region of central Somalia on Wednesday, Garowe Online reports. The recurrent deadly clashes raged between the two clan militias in the village of Deefow according to witnesses. There are wounded fighters from the opposing sides in critical condition. They were reportedly admitted to Beledweyne General Hospital. The battle follows a series of deadly confrontations over the ownership of agricultural land. The situation had since been calm, with clan elders seeking solution to end of long-running feud.
Key Headlines
- Nearly A Dozen Dead In Hiiraan Fighting (Garowe Online)
- Fuel Price Rises In Puntland (Radio Ergo)
- President Hassan Is Back To Home After Visit To Nigeria & Sudan (Goobjoog News)
- Five Kenyan Somalis Languish In Kismaayo Prisons As Suspected Members Of Al-Shabaab (Wacaal Media)
- Six Killed As Rival Clans Fight In Southern Somalia (Radio Danan)
- Children Die In Measles Outbreak In Middle Shabelle (Radio Ergo)
- Al-Shabaab Expands In Kenya Begins “Taxing” Population (Breitbart.com)
- United Nations Assistance Mission In Somalia Marks Its 2nd Year (UNSOM)
- Kenya: We’ll Flush Out Hostile And Violent Somali Herders Says Kitui Official (The Star)
- Somali Health Project Aims To Build Trust (Mankato Free Press)
- From Somalian Refugee Camp To College: Desert Pines Senior Runs To Success (Las Vegas Sun)
- Education In Kenya Suffers at Hands Of Al-Shabaab Extremists (The New York Times)
- Silencing A Political Critic: Let Ali Yare Go Free (Wardheer News)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Fuel Price Rises In Puntland
04 June – Source: Radio Ergo – 252 Words
Petrol prices have risen sharply in Puntland over the past few days due to a shortage of fuel apparently caused indirectly by the crisis in Yemen. A barrel of petrol is now sold in Puntland at $200 compared to $160 a few days ago. Abdi Hassan Hussein, manager of Puntland Petroleum Company, told Radio Ergo that businessmen from Yemen were buying up fuel supplies in Puntland. This was creating a local shortage which led to increased prices. “Yemeni boats are arriving at Bosasso port looking for fuel to buy. The fuel imported [to Puntland] is then exported to Yemen and sold there, where there are severe fuel shortages because of the conflict,” he said.
Public transport in Puntland has also been affected. Saddam Hassan Salad, a public vehicle driver, explained to Radio Ergo about the impact of fuel shortages. “I bought 20 litres of petrol today at $23 compared to $16 three days ago…We are now forced to raise the fare for passengers so we can afford the fuel and continue working,” he said. Public transport vehicles along the Garowe, Bosasso and Galkayo route have raised fares from $25 per passenger to $30. Ismail Mohamed Haydaro, a businessman in Garowe, said prices of food and other supplies were certain to go up. “We buy commodities at the port in Bosaso port and transport them to Garowe by road, if fuel prices continue to rise then we have no choice but to increase the prices for consumers,” he said.
President Mohamoud Is Back Home After Visit To Nigeria & Sudan
03 June – Source: Goobjoog News – 177 Words
Somali federal President Hassan Sheik Mohamoud is back from his overseas trip to Nigeria and Sudan where he attended the inauguration ceremonies of the respective newly elected presidents. In Nigeria the president attended the swearing ceremony of President Mohammadu Buhari , while in Sudan he attended that of President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir. In Nigeria, the two presidents discussed boosting diplomatic ties between their countries as well the security challenges faced by the two most active armed groups in Africa Boko-haram and Al-Shabaab.
Some 70 Police trainers from the elite Nigerian Police is stationed in Somalia as part of African Union Mission known as AMISOM to train Somali Police Force. It’s understood that the Nigerian new President is due to visit Somalia sometime in the near future. After leaving Nigeria, President Mohamoud attended the inauguration ceremony of Sudanese President who is going to start his fifth term in Office since 1989 when he took the power through bloodless coup d’état. Sudan is credited for hosting the largest Somali Student’s body outside the country.
Five Kenyan Somalis Languish In Kismaayo Prisons As Suspected Members Of Al-Shabaab
04 June – Source: Wacaal Media – 131 Words
Up to five Kenyan nationals of Somali origin are being held in a Kismaayo prison after they were arrested on suspicion of being members of Al-Shabaab. Sources told Wacaal Media that the five were reportedly abducted from Raskambooni on October 11, 2014 by hooded gunmen but were later released in Kismaayo only to be arrested by Jubbaland forces. According to our source, elders from the men’s clan tried to secure their release by even having an audience with Jubbaland head of State Ahmed Madoobe who allegedly told them that the matter was beyond Jubbaland as the men were being held on instruction from America’s FBI and Kenyan intelligence. The men were identified as Anwar Abdi, Ali Omar, Abdirahman Mohamed, Deeq Mohamed and Shukri Noor and reportedly hail from the Kenyan coastal region.
Six Killed As Rival Clans Fight In Southern Somalia
04 June – Source: Radio Danan – 126 Words
Six people were killed and several others wounded on Monday in fighting between rival Somali clans in a southern Somali town, official and an elder said. The two clans are reported to be fighting over graze-lands in Raga-Elle town in Middle Shabelle region. “I saw six dead bodies in Raga-elle and I believe the toll could be higher because there are a lot of wounded people who have not yet been brought to nearby towns,” said Yusuf Haji Mohamed, the commissioner of the town by phone. Mohamed said villagers had brought four wounded people to Jowhar town, about 90km north of Mogadishu. He urged warring sides to cease hostility and talk rather than resort to violence. “Peace is a precious thing,” he said.
Children Die In Measles Outbreak In Middle Shabelle
04 June – Source: Radio Ergo – 260 Words
At least 20 people, mostly children, are reported to have died in a measles outbreak in parts of Middle Shabelle region. The outbreak has been reported in Jowhar, Jalalaqsi and Mahaday districts and several settlements including Shaam, Daymo-same, Jarirow, Bulo-Ahmed Igow and Kongo. Many of the patients were treated at Jowhar’s main hospital, run by Intersos. Ibrahim Musse Mahad, a medical officer at the hospital, said: “Since May, when the disease broke out, five children have died from complications related to the disease. Currently there are 14 sick children being treated here in the hospital. Altogether we have treated 73 people, children and adults. The spread of measles cases in the region is alarming as we continue to receive more infected people day by day.”
Some of the worst affected areas have been cut off after flash floods from the River Shabelle made roads impassable, preventing many sick people from being transported to seek medical treatment. Villagers unable to reach the nearest health centre in Jowhar treat their patients with traditional herbal medicines. Surin Hajji Issa, chief of Daymo-same village, 10 km south of Jowhar, said 12 children between aged two to three years had died in the village and another 35 were sick. He said they had no access to medicine apart from traditional cures. Hassan Aways, chief of Shaam village, five km southeast of Mahaday, told Radio Ergo’s local reporter that three girls had died there since May. He said as many as 100 more people were infected with measles.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Al-Shabaab Expands In Kenya, Begins “Taxing” Population
04 June – Breitbart.com – 473 Words
Al-Shabaab, a Somali terror group, has been making waves in a big way in Kenya over the last several days.On Tuesday, the Islamist organization took control of a village only nine miles from a military base, and today leaders from Isiolo County, in the northwest of the country, have asked the Kenyan government to investigate armed men, believed to be linked to al-Shabaab, who have erected roadblocks and are collecting “taxes” from locals. Residents of Warankara, the village al-Shabaab is occupying, say that militants are patrolling the streets, occasionally preaching their form of Islam and hatred of the West.
They have yet to kill any civilians, but the villagers are living in constant fear of violence. Al-Shabaab, which means “The Youth” in Arabic, is headquartered in Somalia, but after Kenyan troops invaded the failed state, the militants swore to “take the holy war to Kenya.” Tuesday’s invasion is another in a series of intense activity in the last few weeks for al-Shabaab. On May 26, al-Shabaab militants engaged in a firefight with police, although no police were injured. They also stormed a mosque and held a congregation hostage last month. These acts are only a small part of a wider terror campaign in Kenya, however. In April, al-Shabaab brutally murdered 147 Christian students at Garissa College. In 2013, al-Shabaab stormed the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, killing 67.
Officials are alarmed that al-Shabaab may be becoming more and more difficult to uproot from Kenya, as well. In addition to acts of terrorism, armed men, suspected to be al-Shabaab operatives, have also apparently set up roadblocks and are extorting “taxes” from local citizens. “Those who have erected the barriers are not the so-called bandits. This is very strange and we fear the money may be going to fund terrorism,” regional politician Nura Bila said. If indeed the roadblocks have been set-up by al-Shabaab, the tactics they are using to raise funds are similar to some of the tactics used by ISIS. Experts believe one of the reasons ISIS has been so successful at amassing wealth and territory is that they have been able to extricate resources through taxing the population. Al-Shabaab seems to be beginning to pursue a similar strategy in Kenya.
United Nations Assistance Mission In Somalia Marks Its 2nd Year
04 June – Source: UNSOM – 705 Words
The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Somalia Nicholas Kay has described the horn of Africa country as one experiencing growth and transformation each new day, unrivaled across the East African region. Mr. Kay spoke as he recounted the journey of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), which marks its second anniversary on 3rd June 2015. Formed by unanimous resolution 2102 of 2013 of the UN Security Council, UNSOM kick started its mission in Somalia against a backdrop of hope and optimism and with a mandate to support the Federal Government’s peace and reconciliation process. The mandate includes support to state and peace-building with focus on good governance, security sector reform, rule of law, human rights, mediation and political reconciliation as well as coordination of international assistance.
In an address to the UN Security Council days to the mission’s second anniversary, Mr. Kay was highly optimistic, even as he acknowledged the challenges that still abound. “Somalia’s federal, regional and local leaders, parliamentarians, and people from all walks of life are building a federal state, step by step, through dialogue and reconciliation. The prevailing environment of mistrust accumulated over 25 years makes the task difficult and painstaking; but it must continue, and deserves our sustained support,” he stated. The support to the Federal government has been fruitful in different aspects including state formation with significant progress notable with the Interim South-West Administration (ISWA), the Interim Juba Administration, reconciliations efforts and cooperation between these states, as well as the semi-autonomous state of Puntland and the Central government.
“UNSOM was instrumental in the formation of ISWA and facilitated the conference which saw the establishment of ISWA and contributed valuable advice every step of the way, not to mention the capacity building to cabinet ministers in order to build a solid foundation for the budding administration,” says Hon. Ugaas Hassan Abdi Mohamed Minister of Information and Community Outreach, of the ISWA. The constitution of the regional administrations is still ongoing while key political activities such as the constitutional review process, the constitution of the National Independent Electoral Commission and the Boundaries and Federation Commission is expected to be completed in the near future. Kay is hopeful that the ongoing process in line with Vision 2016 will be a success.
Kenya: We’ll Flush Out Hostile and Violent Somali Herders, Says Kitui Official
03 June – Source: The Star – 144 Words
Kitui county commissioner Moffat Kangi has bowed to pressure local leaders to evict armed herders occupying some parts of the county. He said members of the Somali community occupy parts of Mutomo, Ikutha and Mutito. Kangi said they have abused the hospitality of Kitui people by “frequently attacking and killing them”. He spoke on Monday during the Madaraka Day rally at Ithookwe Showground. Kangi said a “firm decision” has been reached to flush out the herders. “A recent leaders’ meeting attended by MCAs resolved that the only way to uphold security and peace in Kitui is to ask the herders to leave or we will force them out,” he said. Kangi said it has become impossible for residents to coexist with the herders “due to their hostile, violent and intolerant ways”. He said their frequent and unprovoked killing of residents is now unbearable.
Somali Health Project Aims To Build Trust
03 June – Source: Mankato Free Press – 770 Words
When Fardousa Jama and her father, Hussein, surveyed 400 Somalis last year in Mankato, they found many misunderstood and mistrusted the American health-care system. Some weren’t taking their prescribed medicine, they found, and some with diabetes were testing their blood sugar too frequently. Others faced language barriers and didn’t know how to access prescription medication. “There is a huge gap and mistrust that happens with doctors and Somalis,” Fardousa Jama said. “We just want to help bridge the gap.” That desire led to the Somali Health Literacy Project through Mayo Clinic Health System, which kicks off Friday at the St. Peter Community Center. The project will consist of 18 classes during the next 18 months on health topics ranging from defining health to diabetes and depression.
Mayo doctors said they hope the project can improve trust between providers and the Somali community and decrease emergency-room and urgent-care visits. “When people come into the doctor, we assume a certain understanding of health,” said Dr. Erin Westfall, who led the effort to coordinate the project. “Those assumptions aren’t accurate, and it leads to a lot of safety issues.” Minnesota is home to about 45,000 Somalis and their children, according to state demographer Susan Brower. There isn’t an exact count of the greater Mankato Somali population, she said, though 327 kids in the Mankato Area school district reported speaking Somali at home in 2014-15, according to the state Department of Education.
Despite the relatively small numbers, Somalis have the poorest health-care outcome rates among all Minnesota minorities, according to a 2014 MN Community Measurement report. In colon cancer screening, for example, patients born in Somalia were screened at a rate of 22 percent compared to the 70 percent state average. Somalis also had the lowest health-care outcome rates in diabetes, vascular and asthma care. The report doesn’t say why Somalis have such poor outcome rates, but Anne Snowden, who directed the report, said it sometimes can take foreign-born populations time to learn the U.S. health-care system.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“Earlier this year, Mohamed broke a state record in the 800-meter dash and helped break another in a relay event. He also landed a track and field scholarship to Southern University in Baton Rouge, La., where he will study biology starting this fall. He chose the college because it also has a medical school.”
From Somalian Refugee Camp To College: Desert Pines Senior Runs To Success
03 June – Source: Las Vegas Sun – 801 Words
In the summer of 2006, 9-year-old Abdirahman Mohamed spent most of his days in a refugee camp in Somalia with his grandmother, her 12 children and his three siblings. Now 19, Mohamed will graduate from Desert Pines High School Friday. But the events of that summer are still vivid in his mind. They were crowded into a small tent surrounded by hundreds of other tents, each holding another family whose lives had been fractured by a state of constant civil war and starvation. Years earlier, Mohamed’s father had died while fighting armed rebels in the army. His mother, who worked for the police, was killed as well. It was in the refugee camp that his twin brother, Abdiaziz, fell ill with meningitis and died after months in a coma. “It was one of the scariest times of my life,” he said. “Nobody knew what was going on.”
With no hope of returning home, Mohamed and his family sat in the camp every day, waiting to hear United Nations relief workers call their names. Those lucky enough to be chosen were put on a plane to whatever country would take them. “It was like winning the lottery,” Mohamed said. “You got sent wherever the dot landed.” Mohamed’s dot landed on Las Vegas. On July 24, 2006, he and his family boarded a plane to Nairobi, Kenya, where they caught a long flight to Denmark and eventually Las Vegas. When they arrived, Mohamed was in a deep depression. His first year attending third grade at John Park Elementary was horrible, he said, in part because he didn’t know English. One teacher, who he called Mrs. G, helped him by teaching him to send her an email whenever he had a question. Soon, Mohamed was on the honor roll, where he stayed throughout the rest of elementary and middle school.
“Public schools in Mandera have been hit the hardest. Schoolteachers are supposed to stay five years in a post before transferring, a requirement many now reject.Since 2012, more than 600 people have been killed in Kenya by the Shabab, an extremist group based in Somalia and affiliated with Al Qaeda. The group claimed responsibility for an April 2 attack on Garissa University College that killed 147 people.”
Education In Kenya Suffers at Hands Of Al-Shabaab Extremists
04 June – Source: The New York Times – 1,176 Words
In a small classroom at Mandera Academy, a private school, posters with numbers, Swahili and English letters, and geometric shapes hung on the walls as dozens of students crammed together on small wooden desks. Bilan Abdi, 9, stood up and spoke about her teacher, Violet Muranga, who was shot dead last year as she was dragged out of a bus with other victims while traveling to visit her family. “We learned a lot from her,” Bilan said softly. “Songs like ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” Kenya has suffered mightily at the hands of the Al-Shabaab, a Somali Islamist extremist group whose deadly attacks have left a painful void in this region’s schools. Many of the 28 people killed on the bus, including Ms. Muranga, were teachers in the area heading home for Christmas break. Their deaths came around the same time as an attack at a mine in this northern corner of the country, where dozens of workers were separated by religion, forced to lie face down and shot dead.
The shock, fear and continued sense of insecurity have caused dozens of schools to close. More than 1,000 teachers from other parts of Kenya have refused to return to teach in areas where they fear terrorist attacks, according to the Kenyan National Union of Teachers, igniting an education crisis in those regions. “Yes, I am concerned,” the cabinet secretary for education, Jacob Kaimenyi, recently told reporters in Nairobi, the capital. “Why are the children in those areas not learning? It is because of conflict. It is because of insecurity.” Many of the qualified teachers, especially for secondary schools, come from other parts of Kenya, or “down country” as it is known here. They teach math, Swahili, English and science. “We have advised teachers not to go back,” said Wilson Sossion, secretary general of the Kenyan National Union of Teachers. “They are subject to attacks.”
At the Mandera Secondary School for Boys, almost half of the 32 nonlocal teachers refused to come back. Ibrahim Hassan, the head teacher, explained that the school was able to fill the gap by bringing back “some of the bright boys from last year” to teach. But he added, “We are worried.” Keeping school doors open can be hard enough, but there is a bigger challenge as well: preparing students for the national exam that determines a student’s eligibility for a university education. “I want the teachers to come back,” said Mohamed Kala, 20, a nervous, final-year student at the school. Many worry that the number of teachers who refuse to return to Kenya’s northeastern region will only increase. Here in Mandera County alone, there is a shortage of 600 teachers, in a region that already historically suffered from neglect and poor educational facilities. Only 10 percent to 15 percent of secondary students in this area score high enough on the national exam to qualify for a spot at a public university, according to local officials.
“If what had been imposed on Ali Yare is a precursor to what is in store for political activists at this juncture in the history of the country, it is all the more troubling. To be more precise, in light of the expected 2016 elections, such an arbitrary arrest and intimidation of a mainstream political activist could be foretelling of messier days ahead. Villa Somalia’s venom has yet to be unleashed against all activists.”
Silencing A Political Critic: Let Ali Yare Go Free
03 June – Source: Wardheer News – 1, 014 Words
Not long ago, I learned that Ali Abdi Wardheere, a friend and a man I have known until recently only as Ali Yare, or Ali the junior, was arrested and questioned by the CID in Mogadishu. Upon hearing such a bad news, I instantly had a memory jog back to the early 1972. As a young boy growing up in a revolutionary period at the time, one of my reading materials, among other things, included Angela Davis’ IF THEY COME IN THE MORNING: VOICES Of RESISTANCE. Since then, I always imagine how frightening it could be when “they,” the security that is, come and get someone I know. Although thousands of miles away from Mogadishu, I can imagine how fearful and intimidating it was for Ali Yare when they finally came and got him. In my life time, my own father, friends and colleagues in the Horn of Africa have all been victims of injustice. Worse, interrogating someone like Ali Yare in dark dungeons similar to the cells I had read about Angela Davis’ Soledad Brothers’ cells, or the Alambakay (or “end of life”) where my late father spent 7 of his last years in life, must be depressingly fearful to Ali Yare and to his loved ones.
Here is the timeline for an orchestrated harassment and intimidation: On May 25, 2015, Ali was first picked up and questioned by Security forces. Initially accused of criticizing the government, he was kept incommunicado for hours; the arresting authorities denied him the liberty to call an attorney, his family or friends. After being subjected to systemic intimidation, he was handed sinister, damaging, and false charges. Only told verbally, his alleged charges included “his support for piracy, terrorism and treason.” Ali Yare a terrorist!! HMMM! On May 28, 2015, a high ranking officer who is travelling with President Hassan apparently ordered security forces in Mogadishu from afar once again that Ali be “called to attend the CID investigation unit in Villa Somalia in a close proximity to the office of the President.” After intensive questioning, the purpose of which was to break and wreak psychological damages on him, Ali was released without any explanations.
TOP TWEETS
@Somalia111 #AskSRSG my thanks for the questions. A great session – made me think hard! Sorry not 2 b able to answer all. Thank you #UNSomTwoYears
@Aynte New bank in #Somalia issues 1st debit cards in the country w/help of @MasterCard. See why that’s good for the economy http://www.bloomberg.com/news/
@ActForSomalia A simple but breathtaking image of Murcanyo town in Somali’s Bari Region.#Somalia
@MoulidHujale Look at all the tasks #Somali women undertake alongside their male counterparts.Is this empowerment or “patriarchal”?
@FCONeilWigan “The first female President of #Somalia ?”http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/
@AmbAmerico I was thrilled to meet world acclaimed prominent #Somalia novelist Nuradin Farah in Oslo.
IMAGE OF THE DAY
African Union Ambassador to Somalia Maman Sidikou shares a moment with an AMISOM Troop Commander in Beletweyne.