March 20, 2015 | Daily Monitoring Report.
SNA Forces And AMISOM Advance To Bar-Dere Town
20 March – Source: Radio Goobjoog – 153 Words
Officials of the Somali National Army confirmed that SNA forces backed by AMISOM troops are heading to Bar-Dere town, a stronghold of Al-Shabab in the region. The commander of SNA in Bur-Dubo town, Osman Noah Haji, stated that forces are in their final preparations to wage a large-scale war against Al-shabab. Mr. Haji said that Al-Shabab fighters ambushed the joint forces on their way to Bar-Dere town. “The group attacked the troops but were driven away, and I think that there would be no strong resistance as the group was weakened in battles and the elimination of its leaders by US drones,” he said. “The aim of the operation is to capture Al-shabab controlled areas as soon as possible.” Somali government forces backed by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) troops have captured several towns and villages from Al-Shabab since their latest offensive.
Key Headlines
- SNA Forces And AMISOM Advance To Bar-Dere Town (Radio Goobjoog)
- African Union Peacekeepers Arrive In Adado Town (Garsoor Online)
- EFASOM Conducted An Education Forum on National Priorities in Hiiraan Region (Radio Danan)
- Kismayo Revives Justice System (Radio Ergo)
- Turkish Delegation Visits Jowhar (Radio Bar-Kulan)
- Lari Police Arrest Seven Somalis From Kakuma (The Star Kenya)
- Obama Hails Uganda Anti-Terror Efforts (Chimp Reports)
- East African Teachers Connect With Younger Versions Of Themselves (MPR News)
- Conflict Resolution On Minds Of Somalis Administrators (SC Times)
- Is Al-Shabaab Merging Forces With ISIS? (Fox 9/KMSP-TV)
- Information Is Critical For People With Disabilities (Internews)
- Don’t Blame The Banks (Foreign Affairs)
- 20 March: International Day of Happiness (Somali Update)
SOMALI MEDIA
African Union Peacekeepers Arrive In Adado Town
20 March – Source: Garsoor Online – 89 Words
Hundreds of African Union peacekeepers have arrived in Adado town on Friday morning ahead of central state formation conference which is expected to start next week, officials said. The Garsoor Online correspondent in the region reported that columns of armored vehicles carrying Djiboutian soldiers from the AMISOM contingent who left Beledweyne city on Thursday have reached in Adado city on Friday. The Djiboutian peacekeepers will provide security at the conference, which aims to establish a new federal state in Mudug and Galgaduud regions.
EFASOM Conducted an Education Forum on National Priorities In Hiiraan Region
20 March – Source: Radio Danan – 342 Words
Education For All Somalia (EFASOM) concluded a 2-day education forum in Beledweyne city, Hiiraan Region of Somalia, for the period between 15-16 March 2015. The purpose of the discussion forum was to identify education priorities of the region and ways to improve its quality. A total of 25 participants mainly from education stakeholders in the region including the Regional Education Officer (REO), primary and secondary school headmasters, teachers, universities, CECs, civil society, women groups, and some universities in the region such as Plasma University, Hiiraan University, Central University and Western University attended the forum. Discussions were focused on identifying education priorities and ways to improve the quality of education in order to tackle educational disadvantage and close the attainment gaps. The participants also discussed the desirable achievements by schools and universities and the many challenges facing them.
The Regional Education Officer, Mr. Mohamed Ma’alin Osman said the forum was a platform and opportunity for the education stakeholders in the region to assess educational needs and priorities. “I show my appreciation to all the participants for the efforts in identifying education priorities in the region and their recommendations to improve its quality in the region” he added. On behalf of the participants, the board member of the Central University, Mr. Mohamed Ibrahim Abdi pointed out that Hiiraan Region is in need of an educational system with quality controlling. “We need to get teacher training and motivation; mobile schools for nomadic communities, the farmland and pastoralists; and establishing programs in urban areas to assist low-income families with education costs, especially targeting female students”, he said.
Kismayo Revives Justice System
19 March – Source: Radio Ergo – 404 Words
Kismayo’s new court system is starting to bring confidence to local people and to address some of the challenges involved in ending lawlessness and bringing stability. District, regional and appeals courts were re-opened in January this year, for the first time since 1991. Sheikh Hassan Isak Ali, head of the district court, told Radio Ergo the biggest challenge they were facing now was a shortage of judges. He said people were willing to bring forward their cases to court. Most cases were connected to disputes over land and family matters. Abdinur Ali, head of the regional court, said since opening on 1 January the courts had been handling civil and criminal cases, with a large amount of time spent on land cases. “Land dispute cases are the biggest challenge facing the Somali judiciary. When the central government of Somalia collapsed, people grabbed a lot of public and private land. In most cases, both parties fail to prove ownership for lack of the necessary documents to use in the legal proceedings,” he said.
Hodan Hassan Gasle, a local resident, said women had high expectations of the new courts. “Actually, for us as women, the lack of a functional judicial system was the biggest challenge we faced. There are women who have been married for 30 years and given no rights, women and children have been neglected. Women did not even receive their share of inheritance when their husbands died. Therefore, the advent of a fully functional judicial system is a new dawn for women. We now hope to get our rights!” she said. Ahmed Takhal, a young resident, said that he had never experienced a functional judicial system but was hopeful. “I have never seen a court and a legal system, but I think it is a good practice if wronged people can have somewhere to take cases. This is a new system and will not be perfect, so we will have to ask our people to bear with it and have confidence in law and order. This way, we will make a lot of development strides and get lasting peace,” he said. Crimes of violence, including killings, are currently being settled by communities using traditional ways of solving disputes. The heads of the new courts say they hope to bring such crimes into the domain of the courts, to avoid the problem of criminals being released because compensation was paid.
Turkish Delegation Visits Jowhar
19 March – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan – 116 words
A delegation from the Turkish development agency TIKA has arrived in Jowhar, the headquarters of Middle Shabelle. The delegation which is being led by the coordinator of Turkish government affairs in Somalia, Qalid Yamas, said their objective was to examine the general conditions in Jowhar. The delegation met leaders in the town. Yamas said they have plans to extend their development programmes to the middle Shabelle region. The governor of Middle Shabelle Ali Gudlawe Hussein said they welcome the visit of the Turkish delegation and their efforts to help the Somali people. He said a number of developments projects are being undertaken in other districts like Warsheik and Balcaad by friendly countries.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Lari Police Arrest Seven Somalis From Kakuma
20 March – Source: The Star – 299 Words
Police in Lari constituency on Wednesday night arrested seven Somalis suspected of being in the country illegally. They were arrested at Kwa Mathore on the Nairobi-Nakuru highway. During the arrest, the driver of the car ferrying the Somalis, Gerald Ochieng, tried to escape into the bush, but police caught up with him. Six of the suspects could neither speak Kiswahili nor English. Only one could speak English. Lari police boss Alfred Makoma yesterday said he suspects the four women and three men entered Kenya illegally and were being taken to Eastleigh in Nairobi. “They had personal belongings such as clothes, but didn’t have identification documents,” Makoma said.
He said officers patrolling the highway stopped the vehicle for inspection, but the driver tried to speed off. Ochieng was, however, blocked by other vehicles ahead of him, leading to their arrest. Makoma identified the Somalis as Abubakar Farah, Hussein Ali, Hassan Gail, Najima Farah, Nashen Abdbulahi, Nurro Adow and Habibo Jillo. Ochieng told the police boss he is a car hire driver and did not know that the suspects had no identification and travel documents. He said he was hired to collect them from Kakuma and take them to Eastleigh. Makoma said they are looking for the car owner so that they can establish the truth. “We feel the driver is hiding some important information. We have written to the registrar of motor vehicles to tell us who the owner of that vehicle is so he or she can tell us who had hired it that day,” he said. Makoma said the suspects will be charged in court with being in the country illegally. Lari MP Mburu Kahangara praised police for being alert at a time when the country is faced with terror attacks.
Obama Hails Uganda Anti-Terror Efforts
20 March – Source: Chimp Reports – 271 Words
Prime Minister Dr Ruhakana Rugunda yesterday met the US Undersecretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights Ms Sarah Sewall to discuss ways of preventing terrorism in the region. The meeting took place at the Office of the Prime Minister in Kampala. Ms Sewall said she was on her last leg of visiting East Africa on a trip that also took her to Kenya and Tanzania. “I am here to express President Obama’s heartfelt appreciation for the critical role Uganda is playing in the region to prevent and deal with various form of insurgencies, particularly, in Somalia,” Ms Sewall said. She said her visit to the region was a follow up on the White House Counter terrorism Summits that took place at the beginning of the year.
Ms Sewall said that while military approach in dealing with terrorism had registered progress, it was important to address other factors that drive radical behavior, particularly among young people. She said the US was committed to working with countries in the region to boost their capacity to address the factors that drive people into violence. Prime Ministers Dr Rugunda noted in response, noted; ” We have always been convinced that we need to deal with the underlying causes, especially the youth who are fairly well educated, but are jobless and have no meaningful sources of livelihoods.” “That is the biggest challenge we face today. Jobs are part of the answer. There is need for close national, regional and international collaboration to deny terrorists a ground for recruitment. The US has a key role to play in the endeavor.”
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
East African Teachers Connect With Younger Versions Of Themselves
20 March – Source: MPR News – 863 Words
The 14 students in Abdiasis Hirsi’s writing class at Roosevelt High School in south Minneapolis haven’t lived in the United States very long. Most have been in Minnesota a few months, and some arrived a few weeks ago. Half of the students speak Somali as their first language. They’re learning English from Hirsi, a native of Somalia who came to the United States seven years ago. Hirsi wants his students to succeed, but because their surroundings and the language are new to them, he’s starting with modest aims. “By the end of this year, a goal for me is that my students are able to write a decent paragraph,” he said. Hirsi, a student teacher from Augsburg College, is part of a special program to recruit and train teachers who came to the United States from East Africa, particularly from Somali and Ethiopian communities.
The Twin Cities college is making an extra effort to recruit and train teachers of East African descent as the need for those teachers and other teachers of color is growing increasingly important. According to state Department of Education data, there are 252,574 students of color in Minnesota, or 29.5 percent of all students. The department doesn’t have projections for minority students in coming years, but the largest population growth by 2030 in Minnesota will be among the state’s black, Latino and Asian populations, state demographers say. With that in mind, leaders of the East African Student to Teacher program say there is a critical need to quickly place its teachers into classrooms. At Augsburg, scholarships cover the student teachers’ tuition. They meet twice a month to discuss teaching, and offer each other support. The need for teachers who connect with students is something Asma Ibrahim, who was born in Pakistan to Somali refugee parents, understands well. When Ibrahim moved to Owatonna at age seven, she found it difficult to adjust to school where no one was prepared to help her.
Conflict Resolution On Minds Of Somalis, Administrators
20 March – Source: SC Times – 528 Words
Even before students left Technical High School to protest racially charged incidents, conflict resolution was on the minds of school administrators and Somali elders. The satellite office of the Conflict Resolution Center at St. Cloud State University helped create two pilot programs where local people are learning to resolve conflicts in new ways. One involves junior high students; another is tied to the court system. The CRC expanded to St. Cloud in 2013, Executive Director Karmit Bulman said. Services include mediation, which could solve conflicts like those at Tech High School before they escalate. Bulman said Thursday the CRC would like to work with Tech High School to resolve conflict. It would like to make sure the students are being heard and the administrators feel they can work to address students’ needs.
The first mediation session between students at South Junior High took place just two days before the protests. The sessions grew out of discussions last summer between CRC and South Junior High administrators.The CRC has 32 years working with young people, many of which involve cross cultural issues, she said. That includes a robust middle and high school mediation program in the Twin Cities, with good outcomes, Bulman said. The program uses trained mediators to work through issues with students. Many mediators have gone through conflict resolution training at St. Cloud State University. In those sessions, students participate voluntarily to come up with the solution. The mediator guides them in the process. “All we do is promote and create an atmosphere where both parties can feel equally heard,” said Roseanna Ross, communication studies professor, mediator and coordinator of the SCSU Employee Mediation Program.
Is Al-Shabaab Merging Forces With ISIS?
20 March – Source: Fox 9/KMSP-TV – 278 Words
Going back to 2007, Al-Shabaab has always been considered an Al Qaeda affiliate, a kind of franchise operation in East Africa, but it’s ISIS that’s been grabbing the headlines, and the money. For Al-Shabaab, it’s a merger that may make a lot of sense. The first sign of Al-Shabaab’s broader aspirations came last month, with a masked jihadist threatening Mall of America, right down to the GPS coordinates. Now a leading radical religious figure in Somalia, Sheikh Hassan Hussein Abu Salman, is reportedly telling followers Al-Shabaab should merge forces with ISIS. “He’s a top leader. He’s a top leader. He speaks for many,” Somali community organizer Omar Jamal said.
Jamal says the rebranding of Al-Shabaab has implications in Minnesota, where some 24 men have traveled to fight for Al-Shabaab, another dozen to Syria to fight for ISIS. Does a merger of Al-Shabaab and ISIS mean more likely to strike the U.S.? Jamal says yes. “Yes, it increases their motivation and intention to do harm, to be taken very seriously,” he said. Al-Shabaab has lost 80 percent of the territory it once controlled in Somalia. It’s nearly broke, and there’s a power vacuum after several key leaders, like Ahmed Godane, have been killed. The current leader, Ahmed Diriye is still loyal to Al Qaeda, but some 1,700 Al-Shabaab fighters are reportedly ready to swear allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. Jamal worries we could soon see young Minnesota men heading to ISIS training camps in Libya, where the attackers in the Tunisia museum massacre were trained. He says right now, it’s clear that it’s ISIS that’s dominating the propaganda war.
Information Is Critical For People With Disabilities
19 March – Source: Internews – 918 Words
Emerging from two decades of civil war and lawlessness, Somalia’s people are struggling with poverty and continuing violence. And, as in many societies, people with disabilities are the hardest hit. “People with disabilities, particularly women and children, are the most vulnerable and discriminated against people in Somalia,” says Mohamed Ali Farah, director and co-founder of Somali Disability Empowerment Network (SODEN). “For example, less than 1% of disabled children are enrolled in school here.” Mohamed Ali Farah, director of a disability rights organization in Somalia, had to fight to get an education. Mohamed speaks from direct experience. The thirty-one year old contracted polio at the age of three. His family, like many with disabled children in Somalia, didn’t send him to school. Through his own initiative, he started attending school at the age of 14 but, without a wheelchair, had to crawl through the streets to get there. The temperature in Somalia often reaches 95 degrees F and the ground was scorching.
Discrimination against people with disabilities is a global issue. The World report on disability, co-produced by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank, estimates that there are more than a billion people with disabilities worldwide. They are generally the least educated and poorest members of society. UN figures indicate that children with disabilities are often the last to receive food or medical care and the first to die. Girls with disabilities are three times more likely to be sexually abused than girls without disabilities. “More than two decades of conflict, inadequate health services and discrimination have left people with disabilities in Somalia at risk of forced marriage, violence, rape and repeated forced evictions,” according to a briefing published by Amnesty International on March 12, 2015. (Listen to an interview on BBC Somali with Mohamed’s response to the report — in the Somali language.)
Two decades of civil war, as well as continuing conflict has left disabled Somalians struggling with access to education, health services and employment. The difficult situation for disabled people in Somalia and Mohamed’s own struggle to get an education inspired him to start SODEN in 2011. His disability rights organization, based in Mogadishu, focuses on education for disabled children, as well as other issues. “Last year, I was able to convince five families to send their children to school.” Mohamed wants to use media to change negative social attitudes about disability and to reach more families with his message about education. But getting access to media is difficult. “In Somalia, you can’t use the mass media unless you bribe them and most disability organizations don’t have enough money to bribe the media.”
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“The role of the clearinghouses in Dubai is critical, yet insufficient attention is paid by those seeking to develop safer corridors to Somalia, to the risks these clearinghouses present. The use of the funds in Dubai by both the clearinghouse and the trader lacks transparency and are therefore difficult to trace. International banks and regulators also question whether there is appropriate regulation in Dubai to monitor these type of exchanges.”
Don’t Blame The Banks
18 March – Source: Foreign Affairs – 1,075 Words
Roughly $1.3 billion in remittances flow to Somalia every year, at least a quarter of the country’s GDP. But harsh regulations in the West are making it ever more difficult for banks to work with money service businesses to send remittances to fragile, high-risk states, thus threatening to cut off this vital flow of money. The latest blow came in late January, when Merchants Bank of California sent letters to Somali remittance companies that said, “We regret to inform you that the bank has decided to exit its relationship with you at this time.” Somali money service businesses were hit particularly hard since Merchants was the last bank in the United States that allowed U.S.-based Somalis to transfer funds to their families back home. Similar shutdowns have occurred in other countries. The British bank, Barclays, deeply angered the UK Somali community in 2013 when it decided to close over 200 money service accounts, an action that was likewise predicted to have a drastic effect on the UK Somali community’s ability to remit funds home.
A recent report by Oxfam and African Development Solutions (Adeso) reiterated the importance of diaspora remittances to the Somali population, noting that annual remittances significantly dwarf international aid. There is no question that this flow of funds is vital, but the path that remittances travel is complicated and opaque. It is this lack of transparency that concerns banks, which risk being slapped with hefty fines for transferring funds to countries such as Somalia, where designated terrorist organizations such as al Shabaab operate. The post 9/11 financial regulatory environment holds banks accountable for determining the origins and the destinations of the money flows they facilitate. Tracking the exact movement of these funds to Somalia is difficult, if not impossible to do.
The lack of a formal financial system in Somalia means that remittances cannot be transferred directly. Instead, an ingenious, trade-based system is used to channel money. The process begins when a customer, say from the United States, visits a local money service business to send funds to someone in Somalia. An agent then notifies his counterpart in Somalia, who in turn uses funds on hand to complete the transfer, since no infrastructure exists for sending money directly between the two countries. As a result, the agent in the United States now owes his Somali counterpart the cost of the remittance. To meet this debt, the U.S. agent instructs his bank, such as Merchants Bank of California, to wire funds to the bank account of its partner clearinghouse in Dubai. The clearinghouse provides loans to traders who use them to finance the imports of goods into Somalia. When the trader sells his goods, he reimburses the Somali remittance agent. The system works well, but, for a banker in London or New York, the circuitous route sounds an alarm on money laundering and terrorist financing.
International Day of Happiness
20 March – Source: Somali Update – Video – 36 Seconds
“I wish everyone around the world a very happy International Day of Happiness! The pursuit of happiness is serious business. Happiness for the entire human family is one of the main goals of the United Nations.” UN Chief Ban Ki-moon says. You can participate in the International Day of Happiness by sharing your happiest song on the HappySoundsLike website and also through Twitter at #HappySoundsLike.
Top tweets
@calestous: #Goats and #sheep in #Somalia carry owners’ mobile numbers for identification | Photo credit @lattif
@4DialogSK: #Somalia is going through a period that is far more challenging and dangerous than the colonial period!
@Dahirkulane: @usmissionuganda has donated 2 @Cessna208B #Aircraft to the #UPDF #AirWing. for its #Ops in #Somalia#CVE #Shabaab
@thehassanabdi: #Somalia The African forces are deliberately overstaying in the Country, the UN should cut the funding.
@Saferworld: Our latest briefing on making Turkish aid to#Somalia promote #peace makes several recommendations:http://bit.ly/1H3eWks
@Cidilibaax: #food price in #Somalia are on the higher side even after inter’n fuel price is falling down #Puntland#Mogadishu
@1AlfredoZamudio: Map, #Somalia: How many people were displaced due forced evictions in #Mogadishu? http://internal-displacement.
Image of the day
A man counts Somali shilling notes having just exchanged US Dollars with a money changer on the streets of the Somali capital Mogadishu. #SomaliaRising
Photo: AMISOM