June 8, 2015 | Daily Monitoring Report
Hundreds Of Somali Passengers Stranded In Nairobi As Kenya Suspends Flights To Somalia
08 June – Source: Somali Current – 126 Words
Hundreds of Somali passengers are stranded at Jomo Kenyatta airport in Nairobi after the Kenyan government suspended daily flights to Mogadishu as Obama’s visit to the country fast approaches. President Obama is expected in the country in July to take part at an entrepreneur conference that will be held at the capital Nairobi. “We have our tickets, but we were told that the flights have been suspended indefinitely,” Abdisamad Said told Somali Current on phone. He said hundreds of Somali nationals who wanted to travel to Somalia are camped at the airport. But the suspension has not affected the cargo planes that carry Khat to Mogadishu on daily basis. Neither the government of Somalia nor its Kenyan counterpart is yet to react to the new development.
Key Headlines
- Hundreds Of Somali Passengers Stranded In Nairobi As Kenya Suspends Flights To Somalia (Somali Current)
- Somalia UAE Sign Bilateral Aviation Agreement (Hiiraan Online)
- Jubbaland Head Of State Jets Back In Kismaayo (Wacaal Media)
- Anti-Federal Government Demonstrations Kick Off In Kismaayo (Wacaal Media)
- Somali Government Vows To Take Stern Action Against Ahlu Sunna (Somali Current)
- Ahlu Sunni Forces Tightens Grip On Dhusamareeb After Surprising Take-Over (Goobjoog News)
- Somali-Led Shebab Militants Are Bringing Their Attacks To Northeastern Kenya (AFP/Atlanta Black Star)
- Key Somali State Cuts Ties With Federal Government (Xinhua)
- Mayo Clinic’s Somali Health Project Aims To Build Trust (The Washington Times)
- Fighting The Stigma: Resident Wins Award For Raising Autism Awareness (Savagepacer.com)
- ‘Drained’ Farah Withdraws From Diamond League Meet (AFP/Times of India)
- Three Simple Tricks President Mohamud Must Learn (RBC Radio)
- Somalia Is Tired Of Conflict And Distruction (Fair Observer)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Somalia, UAE Sign Bilateral Aviation Agreement
08 June – Source: Hiiraan Online – 249 Words
Somalia’s government and the United Arab Emirates signed a preliminary aviation agreement on Sunday, a move that many expect would ease restrictions on air travels between the two countries. The memorandum of understanding by the UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullahi Bin Zayid who arrived in the Somali capital and his Somali counterpart Abdasalan Hadliye is parts of negotiations between the two countries as the UAE plans to undertake more development projects including hospitals and police stations across the horn of Africa nation. “This is a very encouraging step that would help Somalia on the recovery of the infrastructure, peace restoration, political stability and economic development,” said Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud after the signing the agreement. Under the new agreement, UAE-owned airlines would start flying to Somalia after more than two decades of war in Somalia.
United Arab Emirates often imposes restriction of Somali passport holders travelling to their country as it is not on the list of visa-free countries that allow travels for Somali citizens. Mr. Zayid on his part vowed his country would boost support for Somalia, urging other Gulf countries to follow suit. The development comes one year after Somalia re-gained its airspace control after a long period of management by the Civil Aviation Caretaker Authority for Somalia (CACAS). SCAMA in conjunction with the International Civil Aviation Organizations also finalized a process in 2014 to transfer control of Somalia’s airspace to the new Air Space Management Centre in the capital.
Jubbaland Head Of State Jets Back In Kismaayo
08 June – Source: Wacaal Media – 85 Words
Jubbaland head of state Ahmed Madoobe and a delegation he was heading have arrived back in Kismaayo earlier today after spending the last few days in Nairobi on official visit. Madoobe and his delegation held talks with European envoys in Nairobi as well as Kenyan officials. Sources told Wacaal.com Kenya and Jubbaland discussed several key issues touching on the two countries among them Kenya’s proposed construction of a wall along the border and grievances by residents of Baladhawo regarding alleged harassment by Kenyan forces.
Anti-Federal Government Demonstrations Kick Off In Kismaayo
08 June – Source: Wacaal Media – 61 Words
Some Kismayu residents this morning converged at Freedom Park in the city to voice their displeasure with the Federal Parliament’s decision to pass a motion against the newly formed assembly of the state of Jubbaland. Top officials of the Jubbaland administration are also in attendance to join the demonstrations and are expected to address the crowd shortly.
Somali Government Vows To Take Stern Action Against Ahlu Sunna
08 June – Source: Somali Current – 163 Words
The Somali government today condemned the takeover of Dusamareb town by Ahlu Sunna Waljameca in the wee hours of Sunday morning, saying the government would not entertain such moves in the future. Somali Interior Minister Abdirahman Mohamed Hussein Odowaa termed the takeover of the town as “insult to the country’s development,” adding that the group broke a ceasefire deal they reached with the government March this year. “The move by the group is an effort to derail the formation of the central regional government,” he said, adding that the takeover would scuttle the security in the central regions. The minister similarly vowed to take stern action against the group, saying they were against the peaceful atmosphere enjoyed in the country.On Sunday morning, armed men affiliated to Ahlu Sunna Wal Jame’a took control over Dhusamareeb town after fierce fighting with government forces. The minister’s statement comes hours after Ahlu Sunna Wal Jame’a vowed to launch attacks on other districts in Central region.
Ahlu Sunni Forces Tightens Grip On Dhusamareeb After A Surprise Takeover
07 June – Source: Goobjoog News – 237 Words
In the early hours of this morning Ahlusuna Forces took over the control of Dhusamareeb without resistance. Somali federal army fled the city to Adado without making any effort to stop the advance of Ahlusuna forces. The Governor of the region and several of his senior aides were in Jigjiga for negotiation with Somali regional state of Ethiopia known as (Zone Five) to defuse border tension between Liyu Police and Somali nomads across the borderline. The timing of attack by Ahlusuna forces raises concerns over the prospects of peace in the region. A report from Adado town where a state formation conference is in progress indicates that government soldiers dislodged from Dhusamereb arrived there in droves and were stationed in army barracks there.
The Interior minister for the local administration in Adado Mr. Mohamed has told Goobjoog that they were wounded soldiers that they admitted to hospital. “Their fate is with the federal government, for us we played our role” he said. Ethiopian troops from AMISOM based in Dhusamreeb did not interfered with the situation making some political analysts to suggest the prior knowledge of the Ethiopian command in the city. Dhusameeb was officially recognized to be the capital city for the upcoming Central State in a presidential decree. The takeover might be a game changer in the run-up to the elections in Adado conference in which several candidates are vying for the position.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somali-Led Shebab Militants Are Bringing Their Attacks To Northeastern Kenya
08 June – Source: AFP/Atlanta Black Star – 210 Words
From hit and run attacks and massacres to a shopping trip, Somali-led Shebab militants are on the march in northeastern Kenya. With large numbers of troops in southern Somalia but seemingly unable to effectively police its own outer regions, Kenya must react quickly to stop the al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamists from gaining significant ground and finding a new generation of recruits, Western security officials say. “The Somalia theatre is no longer of interest to the Shebab,” a Western security source told AFP. “They’ve been defeated there. They are losing momentum, and their rare operations there don’t get much media attention. It’s the opposite in Kenya, where they have found a new playground for their jihad, a new source of recruits and a very strong potential to destabilize.” The upsurge in cross-border attacks and the emergence of Kenya-based Shebab cells is now Kenya’s number-one security headache, and a strategic blow given that it deployed troops into southern Somalia in 2011 in the hope they would serve as a buffer and protect the long, porous border. Instead, Shebab units — hunted by African Union troops and US drones inside Somalia — have flanked the Kenyan contingent to mount a string of gruesome cross-border raids.
Key Somali State Cuts Ties With Federal Government
08 June – Source: Xinhua – 239 Words
The State of Jubbaland in southern Somalia has severed ties with the federal government of Somalia following a vote of no confidence on the State Assembly late on Saturday. Jubbaland administration said in a statementSunday it was officially cutting off ties with the federal government over what it termed as illegal action against the provisions of the conflict resolution between the Federal and State governments. Jubbaland also accused the federal government of failing to adhere to the provisions of the provisional constitution, which sets dialogue as the formal conflict resolution mechanism. On Saturday, the parliament in Mogadishu voted in favor of a motion, declaring the constituting of the Jubbaland assembly illegal. 132 out of 150 members endorsed the declaration of the state assembly illegal.
“After parliament, whose quorum did not meet the minimum threshold falsely voted the Jubbaland Assembly illegal, today (Sunday) Jubbaland hereby ceases cooperation with the central government,” read the statement. The severance of ties between the Mogadishu-based Federal Government and Jubbaland could deal a blow to peace process in southern Somalia, which has battled with the militant group Al- Shabaab for a long time. The Jubbaland administration, which oversees the region in the southern part of the country, in August 2013, signed the agreement in the Ethiopian capital, officially allying itself with Somalia’s Federal Government. Among its main points, the agreement established the terms of governance in the Lower Jubba, Middle Jubba and Gedo regions.
Mayo Clinic’s Somali Health Project Aims To Build Trust
08 June – Source: The Washington Times – 617 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.
Fighting The Stigma: Resident Wins Award For Raising Autism Awareness
07 June – Source: Savagepacer.com – 908 Words
Raising children comes with a wide range of challenges. But raising four children — two of which have autism can come with a whole different set of challenges that could become overbearing especially if you weren’t able to speak to anyone about what you were going through. Savage resident Marian Ahmed is no stranger to the feeling. Married in 2003, Marian had her first child in 2006 and now has four children: Asmaa (9), Ayub (7) , Anas (5) and Adna (3). They’re happy children in a home with a loving mother. The only difference between them and seemingly any other family is that Ayub and Anas also have autism.
In Ahmed’s Somali culture, intellectual and developmental disabilities are often viewed as a stigma, or as a curse. “My first child [with autism, Ayub], I kind of hid. I thought I could manage on my own, and that’s when I started hiding myself from everybody else. I didn’t want anybody to come to my house,” Ahmed said. “It was difficult for me in our community. I try to talk about it and everybody thinks ‘That’s weird.’ For our culture, having children with disabilities is like you’ve been banished by God, you have done something bad. It’s scary to let anybody know that you have a child with autism because you’re scared of so many things.” The toll of keeping her secret began to mount on Ahmed — not only emotionally, but physically as well.
“It was hard for me. I was depressed. I had a headache all the time. I was not eating,” Ahmed said. “I lost 60 pounds. I was so little. “I hated being asked ‘What’s wrong with your kid?’ It was very hard to sit down and express that my son has autism in our community,” Ahmed added. “I’ve seen a lot of mom and dads who don’t even want to get help because of it.” After the birth of her third child, Anas, Ahmed once again found out that she had birthed a child who would have autism. Finally Ahmed contacted family back home and told them about what was going on, and how she was struggling. They told her that she was not alone, and that she needed to let other people know. “When I had my third child and I found out again that he had autism, I first tried to hide it,” Ahmed said. “But then I decided I cannot hide anymore.”
‘Drained’ Farah Withdraws From Diamond League Meet
07 June – Source: AFP/Times of India – 510 Words
A “drained” Mo Farah withdrew from Sunday’s Diamond League meeting in Birmingham just a day after he insisted he would not be leaving his coach Alberto Salazar despite a BBC documentary alleging the latter had encouraged his athletes to use illegal substances. The 32-year-old Somalia-born Farah, the double Olympic, world and European champion over the 5,000 and 10,000 metres, said he was “emotionally and physically drained”. “This week has been very stressful and taken a lot out of me,” he said. “I have not been able to focus properly on today’s race and after the events of the last few days I feel emotionally and physically drained. “I want to run well in the World Championships in Beijing and have decided it is better for me to go back to the US, seek answers to my questions and get back into training. “I apologise to the people who bought tickets to come and watch me race and ask for your understanding at this time.”
Farah had said at a press conference on Saturday he was “angry” his name had “been dragged through the mud” and he had seen no evidence linking Salazar to doping. “I’m not leaving Alberto, for the reason I’ve not seen any clear evidence,” said Farah. There was no suggestion Farah had done anything wrong and Salazar strongly denied all claims Wednesday’s BBC documentary made, namely that he had encouraged athletes including America’s Olympic 10,000 metres silver medallist Galen Rupp, a training partner of Farah, to use illegal substances. Farah said: “I spoke to Alberto (on Friday), I got on the phone and said to him, ‘Alberto, what’s going on?’ and he said, ‘Mo, I can prove this to you – it’s just allegations – I’ll show you some evidence’, and I said, ‘Okay’. “I’m really angry at this situation. It’s not fair, it’s not right. I haven’t done anything but my name’s getting dragged through the mud,” added Farah, who joined Salazar in 2011 and went on a year later to do the double in the 5,000 and 10,000 metres at the Olympics, and then went on to rubber stamp his dominance in the events with doubles at the 2013 World Championships and last year’s European Championships. “I’m a clean athlete. I’m against drugs 100 percent and believe anyone caught should be banned for life.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“The more we miss him, the more demand his sight. This is so because, according to the law of supply and demand, scarcity increases the price. However, the more he is in plenty of supply, the lower his price and the lesser the respect. The lesson is simple: the President has to deprive us of his appearance. In fact, each time my daughter sees him on TV, she switches channels to avoid his government small talk.”
Three Simple Tricks President Mohamud Must Learn
08 June – Source: RBC Radio – 1,009 Words
This week I want to give a suggestion to President Hassan Mohamud: He should learn some of the oldest and most amazing tricks of the trade of politics that work all the time. These tricks alone can lend him power and influence and rejuvenate him to [become] a new man. If we lived in a ”banana republic,” these tricks would have actually been incorporated into political science class 101. The President cannot remain ignorant of these valuable tricks if he wants to beat his enemies come 2016. But before I lecture the President on those tricks, I would want to revisit the current situation and [pain] the scene for the unaware reader. For starters, the present leadership vacuum in Somalia has nothing to do with the neighboring countries; nor has it anything to do with the perished Osama Bin Laden. It has everything to do with Somali elites’ lack of political skills and definiteness of purpose. Anyone who casts blame on others are, therefore, just plain wrong.
Somalia is ruled by the mass, and anyone with a smartphone has a role to play. In other words, social media took over and is quite shockingly shaping the public opinion in the country. If you look at the 8-million Somali Facebookers worldwide and what they are tweeting, politics is their gossip of the day. Each hour I get dozens of tweets about the President and his cronies. Even my 8-year-old daughter tweets more political cartoons than any other kid in her generation does. This does not worry me that much. What worries me most is that the country’s highest ranking boss has become a victim of our eyes. By coming across as the salt for the news of daily social happenings, he became cheap and inferior. The President has somehow conceived the idea of appearing on all news channels, regardless of whether he has something to say or not. And this is where the problem lies: because we see him all the time, we took him for granted. Nobody respects him anymore!
That is why I decided to give the President some basic advice; and it is free. So the first trick the President must learn is the politics of silence and scarcity. This is the oldest trick that almost all kings in the history of mankind used to their advantage. Here, I advise the President to take a seven-days retreat from the daily chores of Villa Somalia. He should have booked a flight to Jowhar and leave everything, including his cellphone, behind for an absolute week. No aid nobody! The cleverly exercise of this tool will give the President the kind of euphoria he is missing. This will give him the advantage of coining something for the country. Ideally, Kenya’s number one prophet Mutahi Ngunyi put it this way: “when looking for balance, silence is a powerful political tool.” The magic is this: the more you talk the more you run the risk of appearing foolish.
“During the Cold War, East and West competed for power and influence over Somalia’s then-military dictatorship. Despite the collapse of the Somali state in 1991, the country retains its strategic geopolitical value today. Famine and security emergencies have led to concerted aid efforts, but many governments involved with Somalia pursue competing foreign policy priorities dictated by their own strategic objectives and economic interests.”
Somalia Is Tired Of Conflict And Destruction
06 June – Source: Fair Observer – 958 Words
A brighter future for Somalia requires a narrative of peace that restores social trust, reinforces government institutions and instills hope. In 2015, Somalia entered its 25th consecutive year of instability, fragmentation and economic decline. The world has witnessed the impact of Somalia’s instability for years—with piracy disrupting maritime trade, and Al-Shabaab insurgents staging heinous cross-border attacks, most recently at Kenya’s Garissa University College, resulting in the death of 147 people. Since 1992, successive international interventions have tried to “solve” the evolving Somali crises through a range of military and political initiatives. The Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) is a by-product of multilateral interventionism. The FGS was established during the 2002-04 Somali peace process in Kenya, hosted by the East Africa-based Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD).
IGAD members contribute the majority of troops to the United Nations-mandated African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). The 22,000-strong peacekeeping force bolsters a weak FGS besieged in Mogadishu by political enemies, and it defends the government’s fickle claim to Somali sovereignty in the face of fragmentation, violent insurgency and economic ruin. During the Cold War, East and West competed for power and influence over Somalia’s then-military dictatorship. Despite the collapse of the Somali state in 1991, the country retains its strategic geopolitical value today. Famine and security emergencies have led to concerted aid efforts, but many governments involved with Somalia pursue competing foreign policy priorities dictated by their own strategic objectives and economic interests. The inescapable fact is that Somalia needs the world, and the world needs a peaceful Somalia. In January, a study warned that 3 million Somalis will require humanitarian assistance in 2015, including 731,000 facing emergency levels of acute food insecurity. In December 2014, the UN’s Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) requested $863 million to fund Somali humanitarian aid programs in 2015, but donor willingness and funding is wearing thin.
TOP TWEETS
@Waryapost Hundreds of Somali passengers stranded in Nairobi as Kenya suspends flights to #Somaliahttp://www.waryapost.com/
@somalianalyst Flights to #Somalia have been banned by the unfriendly Kenyan govt. But Khat flights keep coming.#BanKhat
@SomPundit 70% of #Somalia‘s population is under the age of 30. #252FutureLeaders
@UNDP Young graduates bring new ideas to #Somalia‘s Parliament Secretariat: http://on.undp.org/NnjQw @UNDPSomalia #ROL4Peace
@SalahOsman0 Hope never dies in #Mogadishu During the war youth had dreams. Peace was always dream number one.#Somalia
@amisomsomalia Banadir University invests in the health of#Somalia by producing top doctors, surgeons and nurses#FutureLeaders252
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Mohamed Abdi Hayir (middle) speaks during a three-day training for Security forces on Safety of Journalists, held in Mogadishu, Somalia on June 06 2015. The training aimed to improve the relations between security forces and journalists and to promote freedom of expression, particularly in the context of democratic transitions and post conflict situations. This was organised by UNSOM, UNESCO and the Federal Government of Somalia.
Photo UNSOM