March 24, 2017 | Daily Monitoring Report
Kenya, Somalia Agree To Open Two New Border Posts, Relaunch Direct Flights
24 March – Source: Bernama – 476 Words
Kenya and Somalia have announced plans to open two border posts and to re-launch direct flights between Nairobi and Mogadishu as part of an overall agreement between Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and Somalia’s President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed to revitalise their engagement in all areas of mutual interests within the context of a re-activated Joint Commission of Co-operation (JCC).
“In particular, we agreed to take the following actions: Within the shortest possible time, open two border posts in Dobley-Liboi, and Mandera-Bulahawa and to facilitate the movement of people, goods and services, and directed the security teams from both countries to meet immediately and agree on modalities of re-launching direct flights between Nairobi and Mogadishu within two weeks,” President Kenyatta said here Thursday after talks between the two sides at State House Nairobi.
Deputy President William Ruto, Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary (Minister) Amina Mohamed, and pother Cabinet members attended the bilateral talks. President Kenyatta said the two neighbouring countries had resolved that there would be no visa requirement for diplomatic and service passport holders from both countries. “We also agreed to meet regularly to monitor the progress of our bilateral relations,” said the president, who described the visit by President Mohamed as marking a fresh start to close ties between the two countries.
Key Headlines
- Kenya Somalia Agree To Open Two New Border Posts Relaunch Direct Flights (Bernama)
- ISWA Parliament Drops Impeachment Motion Against President Sharif Hassan (Hiiraan Online)
- A Court In Puntland Upholds Sentence Of Seven Al-Shabaab Suspects (VOA Somali)
- Security Council Adopts Resolution 2346 Authorising Mandate Extension For UNSOM (Emirates News Agency)
- Costa Rica Detains Somali With Alleged Terrorism Links (Reuters)
- Eastleigh: What’s In A Name? (The Star)
NATIONAL MEDIA
ISWA Parliament Drops Impeachment Motion Against President Sharif Hassan
23 March – Source: Hiiraan Online – 188 Words
Southwest regional assembly has withdrawn an impeachment motion brought against President Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan. A section of the regional assembly members filed the motion against the regional president accusing him of incompetence. MP Abdikarin Mohamed Iftin, one of the vocal MPs who supported the impeachment motion, said they dropped the motion after the dispute was resolved through dialogue following a meeting with the president. “We have withdrawn the motion after considering the tough circumstances the region is facing, especially the devastating drought in the region, which needs a unified intervention to deal with it,” he said.
He added that the president assured them of serving the people in the most transparent manner possible. “From this moment there is no motion against the president at the parliament,” he added. On his side, President Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan thanked the MPs for their decision to drop the motion and called for a concerted effort aimed at helping the drought-affected people whom he said need ‘urgent aid’. ISWA regional assembly Abdulkadir Sheekhunaa Maye said he will soon reconvene the parliament sessions which have not been held for a long time.
A Court In Puntland Upholds Sentence Of Seven Al-Shabaab Suspects
23 March – Source: VOA Somali – 110 Words
Puntland’s high court has upheld the death sentence of five Al-Shabaab suspects and the life imprisonment of two others. The seven were sentenced to death by the Puntland military court on February 13, but took an appeal from the sentence.
Their relatives and lawyers confirmed the new sentence to VOA Somali Service. The seven defendants were accused of carrying out high-profile killings in Bosaso. Their lawyers previously termed the sentence as unfair and no credible evidences were brought before the court. Meanwhile, a military court in Mogadishu on Thursdaysentenced two soldiers to death after they have been found guilty of raiding a police station in the capital.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Security Council Adopts Resolution 2346, Authorising Mandate Extension For UNSOM
24 March – Source: Emirates News Agency – 312 Words
Unanimously adopting resolution 2346 (2017) today, the Security Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) until 16 June. By other terms of the resolution, the 15-member Council noted that a review of the United Nations presence in the East African country had been deferred until the end of the electoral process.
Further by the text, the Council recalled all its previous resolutions and statements of its President concerning the situation in Somalia, in particular resolution 2275 (2016), by which it had requested the Secretary-General to conduct the review.
Briefing members after the adoption, Michael Keating, Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), said a drought-induced humanitarian crisis was engulfing Somalia with an imminent risk of famine. More than 6 million Somalis were in need of humanitarian assistance.
Costa Rica Detains Somali With Alleged Terrorism Links
24 March – Source: Reuters – 157 Words
Costa Rica detained a Somali citizen suspected of “international terrorism” after he entered the Central American country from neighboring Panama, Costa Rica’s security ministry said on Thursday. U.S. authorities “confirmed that the person is allegedly linked to international terrorist organizations and sought his immediate detention to begin investigating the c
Costa Rican authorities identified the suspect as a 25-year-old with the last names Ibrahim Qoordheen, who entered the country on Monday through the border town of Paso Canoas, 358 kilometers (222 miles) south of the capital. After consulting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Costa Rican officials on Wednesdayarrested the individual, who had been transferred to a migrant shelter. He is currently in police custody in the capital city of San Jose awaiting interrogation by ICE officials who are currently in Panama and while his immigration status is being defined, the ministry said.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“However, the main impact of these Somalis was in commerce, and in some ways Eastleigh took on the economic role for Somali society that Mogadishu itself had before the war – a vibrant trade hub linking East Africa to the markets of the Gulf, Middle East and Asia.”
Eastleigh: What’s In A Name?
24 March – Source: The Star – 1,489 Words
While Nairobi’s Eastleigh estate has been misrepresented over the years as a place of pirates and terrorists, most notably in the recent Hollywood film Eye in the Sky, for most Kenyans it is a place heaving with shopping malls all offering bargain goods such as clothes and electronics. It is one of the most dynamic estates in Africa, drawing goods from Asia, investors from the Somali diaspora in Europe and North America, and shoppers from throughout East Africa.
Of course, Eastleigh was not always a place of commerce, and in fact all its shopping malls are very recent, Garissa Lodge – the first Eastleigh shopping centre – becoming converted into a mall in the early 1990s. Before this, Eastleigh was a very different place, with a fascinating history of settlement by different groups, and much of this history has been inscribed into the street and building names found within the estate. Indeed, you can build a fairly accurate history of the estate using these names as follows.
To begin with, the name Eastleigh itself tells much about the early history of Nairobi as a colonial capital. Indeed, to a British ear ‘Eastleigh’ conjures up a bustling town in the south of England. However, Nairobi’s Eastleigh would only take on this name in 1921, when two earlier estates were amalgamated into one. These estates were the rather blandly named ‘Nairobi East’ and the very colonial-sounding ‘Egerton Estate’.
The land forming them was bought up by European and South African speculators who actually did very little to develop them apart from giving them a spatial blueprint that survives today. Nairobi East in particular was laid out in the grid fashion that survives today of numerically named main avenues criss-crossed by streets. Egerton was more conventionally laid out filled with street names referencing some key European figures in early Nairobi, including Ainsworth Street, named after John Ainsworth, Nairobi’s first administrator.
TOP TWEETS
@warsamejgure : Day 2 in Kenya, Team #Somalia is negotiating durable solutions for neglected Somali refugees to bring them back home.
@unicnairobi : On his visit to #UNON, President of #Somalia, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed #Farmajo planted a tree at the compound.@UnonDg @inaxusein
@justusronaldBO: #Kenya launches direct flights to #Somalia and opens borders –
@joaoscarpelini : This is pretty awesome! Some of the lost songs from #Somalia‘s golden age of #Music are compiled in this new mix –
@ucl : Student @abdulelmi raised £40k for the #SomaliaDrought. Here’s how he is inspiring others to help: http://bit.ly/2nuA2rV #Somalia
@Zoe_Flood: #Somalia president asks world for support in appeal to UNSC, says 1/2 population face hunger, 15% face famine:
IMAGE OF THE DAY
On his visit to UNON in Nairobi, President of Somalia, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmaajo planted a tree at the compound.
Photo: UNON