June 5, 2015 | Daily Monitoring Report
Somali Cabinet Names New Head Of Constitutional Review Commission
05 June – Source: Wacaal Media – 104 Words
Somalia’s constitution review commission has a new boss following the appointment yesterday of Mohamed Dahir Afrax. The cabinet approved constitutional affairs minister’s nomination of Mr. Dahir to take the place of Mrs. Asho Gelle who resigned from the post earlier. Asho left the office citing lack of cooperation and interference by the Federal Government as well as budgetary constraints that made difficult the commission’s work. The commission’s time is running out as they are expected to compile the interim constitution before 2016 when it is expected to be subjected to a referendum.
Key Headlines
- Somali Cabinet Names New Head Of Constitutional Review Commission (Wacaal Media)
- Sultan Madoobe: I Shall Desert Somali State Formation Conference If The Government Does Not Come With Clear Plan (Goobjoog News)
- US Upbeat On Somalia’s ‘Fragile’ Progress (Hiiraan Online)
- The AMISOM Police Training Unit Has Concluded A Two Week Close Protection Course For 30 Officers Of The Somali Police Force in Baidoa (Radio Dalsan)
- Startups Are Bringing Mobile Banking To Remote Villages (The Guardian)
- Arab League Calls For Providing Aid To Somalia Djibouti (Kuwait News Agency)
- In Minnesota ISIS Offers A Different Allure (U.S. News)
- Kenyans Take Out Anger At Al-Shabaab On Somali Residents (France 24)
- UNSOM 2nd Year Anniversary (UNSOM)
- Somaliland: Suleiman Gaal Is Still Adamant On His Illegal Decision But The Law Will Prevail (Somaliland Sun)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Sultan Madoobe: I Shall Desert Somali State Formation Conference, If The Government Does Not Come With Clear Plan
05 June – Source: Goobjoog News – 275 Words
Sultan Abdi Madoobe, one of the traditional elders participating Somali central state formation conference in Adado, has vowed that he and other elders will desert the conference if the government does not come with solution that can guide the gathering to run smoothly. Sultan Madoobe underlined that the elders are dissatisfied with the procedure of the conference. “The guidelines of meeting are not followed exactly as they are and rights of some of the representative of Somali central region clans were violated” he said. He added “if Somali federal government does not immediately address the complaints about Somali central state formation process, the conference will face blatant impede.”
“People of these regions are the ones who have the right to form their own regional government, we have to be given the freedom to discuss on our future, we call upon the government to stop misleading people”. The words of the Sultan comes after clan elders from Mudug and Galgadud regions accused government of interfering for the conference. Last month, Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdi Rashid Ali Sharmake launched the second phase of conference to select an interim regional assembly and ratify its regional charter. The agreement on the central regions was signed in Mogadishu on 30 July 2014, with all parties committing themselves to form an inclusive administration. Since then, the communities of the central regions have worked towards reconciliation and the political process of establishing an interim administration.
US Upbeat On Somalia’s ‘Fragile’ Progress
05 June – Source: Hiiraan Online – 332 Words
As the United States government has recently ramped up its involvement in Somalia since it appointed an ambassador for the horn of Africa nation after more than two decades of war, the security gains seem to be more encouraging than before for the Obama administration which supports the war on terror in Somalia. Tina Kaidanow, the US anti-terrorism coordinator who arrived in the Somali capital on Thursday to hold talks with Somali leaders said her government was fully committed to supporting Somalia to restore its economic and development infrastructure, saying things are going ‘well’ in contrast to the previous situation in Somalia.
She suggested that Somalia has a good chance to turn around to make a state-building plan, calling Somali leaders to work towards the country’s political stability. Speaking to the reporters after meeting with the US official, Somalia’s president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud commended his country’s security gains, urging a closer collaboration with the US to restore peace and order in the country. The United States has been a key ally for Somalia since the collapse of the central government in 1991 and maintained its ties with Somalia. As a gesture of the deepening relations between Washington and Mogadishu and faith in Somalia’s stabilization efforts, the United States has last year announced it would reopen its diplomatic mission in Mogadishu at an unspecified future date.
President Barack Obama has also nominated Foreign Service veteran Katherine Simonds Dhanani to become the new Ambassador of the United States to Somalia. Dhanani later withdrew her nomination in May, citing personal reasons. In addition to that, US Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in Mogadishu in May, announcing a preliminary plan to reestablish the US embassy in Mogadishu in recognition of the sociopolitical progress made in Somalia and its return to effective governance. He indicated that although there was no set timetable for the premises’ relaunch, the US government had immediately begun upgrading its diplomatic representation in the country.
UNSOM Chief Answers Questions Via Twitter
05 June – Source: RBC Radio – 74 Words
In a question and answer session conducted via Twitter, the UN Representative for Somalia, Nicholas Kay, took questions from his Twitter followers. Ambassador Kay answered questions about the political situation in Somaliland. He seemed to be reticent about answering this question. He was also asked about the possibility of the withdrawal of AMISOM troops from Somalia which he said needs hard thinking. Another question regarded Somali money transfer services which the UN has expressed serious concerns about the humanitarian impact of the closure as well as the dangers of terrorists using the money transfer services to conduct their operations.
The AMISOM Police Training Unit Has Concluded A Two Week Close Protection Course For 30 Officers Of The Somali Police Force In Baidoa
04 June – Source: Radio Dalsan – 289 Words
The training course which covered both theory and practical aspects was aimed at equipping the participants with the required skills on protective security to prevent and forestall attacks and assassination attempts carried out by terrorists against political office holders, judges, state officials, foreign dignitaries and senior security officers. The topics covered included protective security details, use of force, use of shoulder weapons, tactical radio communication, security detail formation, motorcade formation, protective intelligence, human rights, briefing and debriefing, attacks on motorcade and procedures to evacuate VIPs amongst others.
AMISOM’s lead trainer ASP James Kargbo commended the officers for the zeal with which they undertook the training. “I believe they will be in a better position to protect VIPs since now they have undertaken two weeks of rigorous training,” he said. Bay, Bakool and Gedo Police Commissioner Gen. Jeylani Mohamed Sheikhuna thanked AMISOM for the close cooperation and capacity building for SPF. “I want to thank AMISOM for this training and the numerous trainings they have offered to our police. You are helping us at a much needed time. We hope there will be more training for our police,” said Gen. Jeylani Mohamed Sheikhuna. The ceremony held at the closure of the training was also attended by the ISWA Minister for Rehabilitation and Disarmament Hassan Elay, sector 3 Police Commissioner General Jeylani Mohamed Sheikhuna, Bay region Police Commissioner Col. Mahat Abdirahman and Superintendent of Police Alicia Abbah who represented AMISOM Police Commissioner. The training is expected to help the participants be able to plan protective missions, give adequate protection to VIPs and coordinate their operations better through effective communication.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Startups Are Bringing Mobile Banking To Remote Villages
05 June – Source: The Guardian – 1, 191 Words
When Ismail Ahmed moved from Somalia to England in 1988, he regularly sent money back home. He experienced exorbitant fees, transfer offices with erratic opening hours, and was often worried about how easily his family would be able to retrieve the money. In 2010 Ahmed founded WorldRemit, an online service that allows users to send money internationally via a PC or phone. Today, more than 250,000 transactions flow through the system every month. “We are disrupting this traditional business,” Ahmed said. In many developing countries, significant majorities of residents do not participate in the formal financial system. They have no bank accounts, no credit cards, and no insurance. In sub-Saharan Africa, just 34% of adults have any sort of formal financial account, according to the World Bank’s Global Findex; in south Asia the number is 46%. The numbers are even lower among the poorest residents.
It is not only the unbanked who are affected. Encouraging financial inclusion can boost economic growth, accelerate entrepreneurial activity, and help shrink yawning income gaps, the World Bank report notes. However, with the rise of mobile connectivity in many of these countries – in many African countries, for example, mobile phone ownership hits 80% – digital financial services are becoming an ever more popular approach to the problem of including a broader range of people in the financial system. The grandfather of this movement is M-Pesa, a mobile money system launched in Kenya by mobile phone company Vodafone in 2007. The success of M-Pesa – the system reports nearly 20 million account holders in 10 countries – has paved the way for a new generation of startups. These new companies are looking beyond the basics of mobile wallets, finding ways to make a broader range of services and transactions available from a phone.
Arab League Calls For Providing Aid To Somalia, Djibouti
05 June – Source: Kuwait News Agency – 138 Words
Arab League Secretary General Nabil AlAraby called Thursday on all governments, Arab and international organizations, to provide immediate humanitarian aid to Somalia and Djibouti, due to the increased burden and influx of local Somali and Yemeni refugees into the two countries. The remarks were made by AlAraby during a meeting with Somalia’s Ambassador to Egypt and Permanent Representative to the League Abdullah Hassan Mahmoud. In a statement by the League, the meeting highlighted developments of the situation in Somalia in light of security developments in Yemen and the resort of thousands of Somalis and Yemenis to different parts of Somalia, including the northern region and Punt Land State. The statement added that League will take all appropriate actions across different ministerial councils to help address this serious humanitarian situation.
In Minnesota, ISIS Offers A Different Allure
04 June – Source: U.S News – 892 Words
Law enforcement and community leaders in Minnesota have seen this before: Young Somalis traveling abroad to fight under the banner of a terrorist organization. But while it can be tempting to compare a recent round of would-be jihadis attempting to join the Islamic State group’s campaign in the Middle East to previous instances of Somalis leaving to fight for al-Shabab in Somalia, key differences have made countering the extremist pull this time around all the more difficult. “Back in 2006 and ’07, 20 young men left here to join al-Shabab. We don’t approve it. It was wrong,” says Sadik Warfa, deputy director of Global Somali Diaspora, a nonprofit with offices in London and Minneapolis that aims to empower Somali communities outside their homeland. “But if you put [it in] context, you could understand why they had left here, because Ethiopia is the archenemy of Somalia. Sometimes you see that nation calling you to defend it.”
Previously, young men who left Minnesota – home to the largest Somali population in the U.S. – to join al-Shabab were largely drawn to the fight in Somalia in response to an invasion by Ethiopia in 2006. They numbered between 20 and 25, says Richard Thornton, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Minneapolis Division. Somalia had been a failed state since civil war ravaged the country in the early 1990s, leading many of its residents to seek asylum in the U.S. The absence of an effective government in the country also allowed terrorist groups to thrive, and made neighboring Ethiopia nervous that the precarious security situation would spill across its borders. When Islamic militants seized the Somali capital of Mogadishu in 2006, Ethiopia – with U.S. support – decided to act. J. Peter Pham, director of the Africa Center at the Atlantic Council, says the Ethiopians felt they couldn’t let the militants continue to gain influence in Somalia, but that it’s a common misconception to link the rise of al-Shabab – which has been linked to al-Qaida and is listed as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. – to the invasion.
Kenyans Take Out Anger At Al-Shabaab On Somali Residents
04 June – Source: France 24 – 833 Words
Emotions are running high in Kenya after a policeman published photos of a group of men humiliating Somali migrants right under the nose of security forces. Our Observer says they shed light on the treatment meted out to millions of Kenyans of Somali descent living in the country, especially since Kenya became the target of Al-Shabaab militants. On May 31, a policeman from the northeastern border state of Garissa uploaded photos to Facebook showing a group of men hitting and flogging Somali migrants lying face-down on the ground. Commenting on the photos, Michael Orita wrote: “These Somali young men came to Garissa for a purpose but little did they know we are smarter than them.” The photos quickly sparked outrage on social media networks. A few hours after uploading them, Orita removed the pictures from his account. But by then they had already been copied and are still circulating online.
Although an investigation has been opened, it isn’t yet known whether the men armed with batons and whips – but dressed as civilians – are indeed policemen. In the background, though, men wearing military uniforms and a Kenyan police vehicle can be seen. Taken alongside Orita’s commentary, these details could indicate that officers bore witness to – or even took part in – violent acts carried out against the migrants. Meanwhile, Garissa County Police Chief Shadarack Maithiay condemned these actions, saying they “go against the ethnics and code of conduct of any security force .” In the same commentary that accompanied the photos, Orita also evoked a so-called ‘scheme’ that he says the migrants were cooking up. But Kenyan authorities have not said anything about whether these migrants posed any kind of threat. Even so, the officer’s original post still earned sympathetic comments from Kenyans applauding and celebrating the migrants’ arrest. According to our Observer, that’s not surprising. “Anyone who passes for a Somali has is now seen as a potential member of Al-Shabaab.”
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“There is a story of an emerging success here in Somalia. This is a country which was mired for decades in conflict which now has more and better governance than ever before, a country where the rule of law is replacing the rule of the gun.”
UNSOM 2nd Year Anniversary
04 June – Source: UNSOM – Video – 3:53 Minutes
The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Somalia (SRSG) Nicholas Kay shares highlights as the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) marks its second year in Somalia.
“According to Somaliland election Laws , it is the duty of the NEC to fix the election date. Due to technical reasons, they have announced that the Presidential and Parliamentary elections will be postponed for a year and will be held on 1st June 2016.”
Somaliland: Suleiman Gaal Is Still Adamant On His Illegal Decision But The Law Will Prevail
04 June – Source: Somaliland Sun – 772 Words
Somaliland’s unelected chamber of Elders ( The Guurti ) has extended the incumbent president’s’ term and that of the house of Representatives for 22 months ( I.E 1 year and 10 months ) . The sitting government and it’s members of Parliament has been tirelessly campaigning for this illegal and unconstitutional extension and has no intention of conducting a free and fair election for the coming five years. The ruling president, Mr Silanyo was elected on 26th June 2010 for a five year term but he is intending to cling on power in any cost. This postponement is illegal and unconstitutional and against the will of Somaliland people and opposition parties.
According to Somaliland election Laws , it is the duty of the NEC to fix the election date. Due to technical reasons, they have announced that the Presidential and Parliamentary elections will be postponed for a year and will be held on 1st June 2016. The Opposition parties accepted this delay with some reluctance and the president sent the Decision of the NEC to the House Of Elders to be sealed and approved . The chairman Of the unelected House of elders ( The Guurti ) has intentionally refused the decision of the National Electoral commission on National and International televisions. He also campaigned on behalf of the government and twisted or lubricated the hands of members of the House Of Elders and came up with almost two years extension , one year and 10 months to be exact for the incumbent government and the House of Representatives.
Sulmieman Mohamud Adan, the chairman of the House of Elders is the main obstacle and spoiler of the democratization process in Somaliland. He urged his fellow elders of Guurti MPS not to listen and ignore Somaliland people, the NEC, International community, democracy Steering committee ( which consist of members of the EU and Norway )and all stakeholders of the Somaliland elections. He is against the consensually reached agreement between the Somaliland’s three political parties and the NEC blessed by the president and Vice President which was to delay the polling day for a year.
TOP TWEETS
@Somalia111 Congratulations to Mohamed Dahir Afrah on becoming commissioner for review of #Somalia constitution. Important work needs his experience
@Hamza_Africa Worth a watch -> Somalia’s lost generation:@JamalMOsman on the battle to make migrants stay.http://bit.ly/1FZ3J5A #Somalia #Somaliland
@OCHASom Funding is still short of needs. Humanitarian appeal for #Somalia is 25% funded. The #CHF lacks US$6 million for critical projects.
@SomaliaNewsroom #Federalism setback in #Somalia: Adaado Conference suspended as participants disagree on key issues http://www.somalicurrent.com/
@AliMohamoud Good start for a rare Somali culture showcase/revival in Garowe, North Eastern Somalia (Puntland)
@MatinaStevis @MasterCard issues 1st cards in #Somaliataps $1.6bn remittances, govt loves it #WEFAfrica15http://www.wsj.com/articles/
IMAGE OF THE DAY
A female Somali Police officer receives a certificate after attending the close-protection course conducted by AMISOM Police.
Photo: AMISOM