June 9, 2017 | Morning Headlines
Somali Ministers Arrive In Saudi Arabia To Discuss Development Projects
08 June – Source: Hiiraan Online – 249 Words
A large delegation of Somali government ministers travelled to Saudi Arabia to discuss development and investment projects with Saudi counterparts. The ministers were lead by Gamal Hassan, the Minister for Planning, Investment and Economic Development and was joined by the Minister of Finance, Minister of Ports and Marine Transport, Minister of Defence and the Minister of Agriculture. Sources say that among the ambitious development plans to be discussed is the construction of an international airport.
Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo met with King Salman at his Al-Yamamah palace on Feb. 23, his first foreign trip since his election just two weeks prior. During the meeting the two leaders were said to discuss bilateral cooperation between the two Arab League countries as well as investment and key infrastructure development projects. Oil rich Saudi Arabia promised a major cash injection into the Somali economy to the tune of USD $4 billion.
The visit comes on the heels of a major diplomatic crisis in the gulf as Saudi Arabia and it’s allies cut ties with Qatar. Somalia, which maintains strong relations with the two gulf countries, has officially maintained a neutral position on the issue according to a Wednesdaypress release from the Ministry of Foreign affairs . “The Federal Republic of Somalia deeply concerned about the diplomatic row between the brotherly Arab countries” the statement goes on to say that “Somalia calls on all countries involved to settle their differences through dialogue within the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation” .
Key Headlines
- Somali Ministers Arrive In Saudi Arabia To Discuss Development Projects (Hiiraan Online)
- Federal Interior Ministry And Its Regional Counterparts Converge In Jowhar Town (Goobjoog News)
- Diinsoor Women Association Chairperson Shot And Killed At Her Home (Dhacdo.com)
- Five Killed For Revenge in Hawadley Middle Shabelle (Goobjoog News)
- India Somalia Agree To Prisoner Exchange Arrangement (First Post)
- The Hard Life Of A Somali Shepherd (The Economist)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Federal Interior Ministry And Its Regional Counterparts Converge In Jowhar Town
08 June – Source: Goobjoog News – 118 Words
Meeting between the Federal Interior Ministry and its counterparts in the Regional States entered its second day in Jowhar town, the capital of Hirshabelle State. The meeting organized by the Somalia Federal Interior Ministry will discuss extensively on how to work together between the Federal Interior Ministry and Regional Interior Ministries. The Interior Ministry of Puntland State is absent from the meeting and the reason for this action is not yet known.
The agenda of the meeting include among others on the ways reconciliation can be undertaken by the regional administrations. Security has been beefed up in Jowhar town and operations are being carried by Hirshabelle security officials to ensure maximum safety during the duration of the meeting.
Diinsoor Women Association Chairperson Shot And Killed At Her Home
08 June – Source: Dhacdo.com – 128 words
The chairwoman of the women association of Diinsoor district in Bay region, has been killed on Wednesdayevening at her home. Assailants attacked her inside her home moments after Iftar time. Yarey Mohamed Garweyne was the area women association chairlady, according to Diinsoor District Commissioner, Ibrahim Mohamed Nur (Shigshigow).
Shigshigow accused the militant group Al-Shabaab of being behind the merciless killing of Yarey. “Two young assailants knocked on her door asking for her, and when the door was opened, they began to attack her shooting her to death,” said the area commissioner. “The two killers managed to escape, but we are pursuing them and we will apprehend them to bring them before justice.” Shigshigow accused Al-Shabaab of waging unjustified wave of assassination against innocent civilians in the region.
Five Killed For Revenge in Hawadley, Middle Shabelle
09 June – Source: Goobjoog News – 151 words
Five people lost their lives in Hawadley location in the outskirts of Balad town in the Middle Shabelle region. Armed men ambushed a car ferrying five young men who were on their way to Mogadishu and sprayed bullets on them killing all the occupants on the spot. Speaking to the media, the Commissioner of Hawadley location Abdullahi Ma’ane said the victims were killed for clan-related revenge. He expressed his shock on the killings of such number of people at once.
The Commissioner pointed out his local administration is carrying out extensive operation to capture the assailants and has already rounded up some of their relatives to help in the investigation. For some the atmosphere was tense in Hawadley location in Middle Shabelle due to expected fight between two clans living in the area even though the local administration was engaged to mediate in order to get a solution for the matter.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
India, Somalia Agree To Prisoner Exchange Arrangement
07 June – Source: First Post – 114 Words
India and Somalia have agreed to transfer each other’s prisoners to jails in their own country. “The agreement will facilitate Indian prisoners in Somalia and vice-versa to be near their families for serving the remaining part of their sentences,” an official statement said on Wednesday. The Union Cabinet gave its approval for the ratification of the agreement on transfer of sentenced persons between India and Somalia. The Cabinet meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. India has similar bilateral agreements with several countries including the United Kingdom, Mauritius, France, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Bangladesh, the UAE and Australia. The transfer of such prisoners shall facilitate their social rehabilitation, Indian officials said.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“In Somaliland less than a tenth of the land is reckoned to be suited to agriculture. So the choice is between carrying on as nomads, or getting educated and doing something completely different. Of his children’s future, Mr Abokor says he hopes “their life will change”.
The Hard Life Of A Somali Shepherd
08 June – Source: The Economist – 671 Words
Baruud Abokor has lived in Baligubadle for the past four decades. Before settling in this remote Somali town abutting the border with Ethiopia, he roamed widely. “I was master of myself,” he says. “The economy was good and I had many animals.” But over the years successive droughts, and war between the breakaway region of Somaliland that he inhabits and the central government down south in Mogadishu, have taken their toll. His herd of more than 100 sheep has shrunk to a dozen. Somaliland, like elsewhere in the Horn of Africa, has this year suffered from the worst drought in living memory. But Mr Abokor is staying put. This makes sense. Since Baligubadle is only a couple of hours’ drive south of Somaliland’s capital, Hargeisa, food aid reaches the town without too much difficulty. His herd was too weak to travel elsewhere in search of grazing when, earlier this year, the drought was most severe. Baligubadle has man-made boreholes, which keep them alive even as the sun beats the dusty, parched streets.
The town is a blessing for once-nomadic pastoralists like Mr Abokor. But its existence also helps to explain why pastoralism here is in the grip of a crisis that runs much deeper than drought. Pastoral nomads the animal herders who dwell in large numbers in the Horn of Africa are hardy in times of water shortage. Being able to pack up and move livestock to fresh pastures gives them an advantage over sedentary farmers. But that mobility has shrunk. Two decades ago a nomadic pastoralist like Mr Abokor might have travelled as far as 500km (300 miles) each season, sometimes deep into neighbouring Ethiopia, says Ahmed Ibrahim of Candlelight, a local NGO. Today most rarely move farther than 50km, except perhaps in times of emergency.
The spread of small towns like Baligubadle, with a school and a health clinic, is one important factor. So is restricted access to land. The vast rangelands stretching across Somalia are governed by a communal system of ownership known as the xeer. But the xeer was weakened in the 1990s with the collapse of the state during the country’s civil war. Tracts of land which were once open for roaming have been fenced off by unscrupulous town-dwellers and wealthier herders. The remaining land has been degraded by overgrazing. Somaliland now has almost no seasonal reserves, which are crucial for allowing pastures to lie fallow and recover, and which in the past were protected by guards. Vegetation is in desperate condition: the land that surrounds Baligubadle is all thorn bush and acacia trees. Much of the vitamin-rich grass that once covered it disappeared years ago.