March 21, 2017 | Daily Monitoring Report
Somalia’s Prime Minister Names His New Cabinet, Reinstates Former Ministers
21 March – Source: Garowe Online – 126 Words
Somalia’s Prime Minister Hassan Ali Kheyre has nominated on Tuesday his new cabinet that saw reinstating certain ministers from his predecessor’s cabinet. At a news conference at the presidential palace “Villa Somalia” today, Kheyre has picked a 27-member cabinet, including former BBC Somali Service head and current Somali Envoy to UN Yususf Garad Omar and Somali Ambassador to Kenya, Gamal Hassan.
The cabinet included more than 15 Federal MPs who were nominated as ministers, deputy ministers and state ministers. Women received 6 ministerial posts, an increase for women in the executive branch, compared to the previous administrations. However, the nominated cabinet is subject to approval from Somalia’s Federal Parliament before assuming executive mandate which is slated for March 30th.
Key Headlines
- Somalia’s Prime Minister Names His New Cabinet Reinstates Former Ministers (Garowe Online)
- President Farmaajo Appoints New Communication Director For Villa Somalia (Jowhar.com)
- Hunger Kills At Least 26 In Somalia’s Jubbaland Region (Reuters)
- Somali Community Denounces Saudi Criminal Airstrike On Somali Refugees (Saba News)
- Somali Regional Anti-piracy Chief Says Sacked Over Illegal Fishing Comments (Reuters)
- No African Citizens Granted Visas For African Trade Summit In California (The Guardian)
NATIONAL MEDIA
President Farmaajo Appoints New Communication Director For Villa Somalia
21 March – Source: Jowhar.com – 128 Words
President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo has appointed a new communication director for his office. Abdinur Mohamed Ahmed is going to replace Shador Haji Mohamed who has worked with the previous administration of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. The incoming director was one of Farmaajo’s leading campaign team members handling all social media related campaign trails. Still in transition, more appointments are expected to be made in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, the interim Chief Protocol Siyad Shire left his position and was succeeded by Abdullahi Yusuf.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Hunger Kills At Least 26 In Somalia’s Jubbaland Region
21 March – Source: Reuters – 289 Words
At least 26 people died from hunger in the semi-autonomous Jubbaland region of southern Somalia in just a day an a half, federal government radio said on its website. Somalia, like other countries in the region, is facing a devastating drought that has killed livestock, cut harvests and left 6.2 million people, about half its population, in need of food aid.
The acute hunger gripping Jubbaland caused an exodus of hundreds of families into the capital Mogadishu seeking help. The website quoted Mohamed Hussein, the Jubbaland assistant minister of interior, as saying severe drought had killed the people over a span of 36 hours to Monday, all in various towns in middle Jubba and Gedo areas.
“The people in those areas need emergency assistance,” Hussein said in the report. Residents said most of the affected towns were controlled by al Shabaab militants, who have been waging a violent campaign to topple the Western-backed federal government in Mogadishu. Among a group of nine families arriving in the capital from Jubbaland on Tuesday was Ibrahim Abdow, 62, who said he rode on a donkey and a bus to get there.
Somali Community Denounces Saudi Criminal Airstrike On Somali Refugees
21 March – Source: Saba News – 97 Words
The Somali community in Yemen denounced the Saudi aggression coalition’s airstrike against the Somali refugees off the Yemeni Red Sea port city of Hodeida. In a statement obtained by Saba, the Somali community denounced the aggression coalition targeting the boat carrying Somali refugees in the Red Sea, near Hodeidah coast last Friday that killed more than 42 refugees and wounded 120 others. Somali community demanded the international community to conduct an investigation into the incident and prosecute the perpetrators of killing the civilian Somali refugees as war criminals.
Somali Regional Anti-piracy Chief Says Sacked Over Illegal Fishing Comments
21 March – Source: Reuters – 355 Words
The head of anti-piracy operations in the semi-autonomous Puntland region of Somalia said he had been fired for speaking out about illegal fishing, which he claims could trigger a new outbreak of piracy in the Indian Ocean. Pirates hijacked an oil tanker off Somalia last week, the first such attack in the region since 2012 after shipping firms hired private security and international warships started patrolling nearby waters.
Abdirizak Mohamed Dirir, director of anti-piracy operations in Puntland, said the province’s president sacked him after he told journalists that permits had been handed to illegal fishing vessels. “The problem with Puntland is that if you talk about illegal fishing, you are seen as a criminal,” Dirir told Reuters. “But I will not stop talking about illegal fishing because if this is not stopped, piracy will restart again.”
In last week’s hijacking, unlike previous attacks, the ship was freed swiftly and with no ransom paid after the Puntland Maritime Police Force intervened. Puntland officials blamed local anger over illegal fishing by foreign vessels for the attack. They warned that more hijackings might happen unless the problem was tackled. President Abdiweli Mohamed Ali fired Dirir in a decree dated Sunday, saying he had taken into account the “need for a change and redoubling efforts to fight Puntland’s piracy”.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“Rejected participants at the trade summit came from Nigeria, Cameroon, Angola, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Ghana, South Africa and more, according to Flowers. Trump’s travel ban covers Somalia, Sudan and Libya in Africa, and citizens from those countries did not seek visas for the event.”
No African Citizens Granted Visas For African Trade Summit In California
21 March – Source: The Guardian – 780 Words
An annual African trade summit in California had no African attendees this year after at least 60 people were denied visas, according to event leaders. The African Global Economic and Development Summit, a three-day conference at the University of Southern California (USC), typically brings delegations from across Africa to meet with business leaders in the US in an effort to foster partnerships. But this year, every single African citizen who requested a visa was rejected, according to organizer Mary Flowers.
Some are now questioning whether the denials to the Los Angeles event could be tied to the anti-immigration policies of Donald Trump, who is pushing forward with a travel ban against six Muslim-majority countries despite ongoing legal challenges. Flowers said roughly 60 to 100 people from at least a dozen nations were denied entry to the summit, which went on as planned with a much smaller group last Thursday through Saturday.
“I don’t know if it’s Trump or if it’s the fact that the embassies that have been discriminating for a long time see this as an opportunity, because of talk of the travel ban, to blatantly reject everyone,” Flowers said in an interview on Monday. “These trade links create jobs for both America and Africa. It’s unbelievable what’s going on.”
The problems for the trade summit mark the latest example of restricted travel to the US under Trump, whose controversial immigration policies and rhetoric have impacted a wide range of industries and communities. Soccer players, musicians, doctors, tech workers, protesters and others from across the globe have been denied access to the US, which has also experienced a slump in tourism since Trump’s inauguration.
TOP TWEETS
@hamsoabbas : New #Somalia Minsters were appointed now by the PM@@HassanAliKhair 6 Female Ministers are included@@VickyNwogu
@Amal_Shookari : Congrats #Somalia for ur newly elected Cabinet lets pick up our pieces ur #tribe may got you the post but ur leadership will make ur legacy
@DrumChronicles : #Somalia #Puntland regional anti-piracy chief says sacked over illegal fishing comments
@MoulidHujale : Breaking:Remember my #Dadaab mate? MP Abas siraji, now among the newly appointed cabinet ministers of the federal gov. of #Somalia. PROUD!
@fayyDs : cheap medication with absolutely no potency is why there’s so much distrust between patients and local doctors #Somalia #Somaliland #puntlnd
@AhmedKosar1: UPDATE: #Somalia PM annouces his new cabinet. Details of the names of appointees/respective Ministries to follow shortly.
@APO_source : #Nairobi to Host Special IGAD Summit on #Somalia #Refugees, announces @EUinKenya
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khayre announced his nomination for the Cabinet of Ministers in Mogadishu
Photo: Radio Dalsan