March 29, 2017 | Morning Headlines
Somaliland Sets A Date For Presidential Poll
28 March – Source : Goobjoog News – 140 Words
Somaliland will hold its presidential election on 13th November 2017 following months of delays, its electoral commission said Tuesday. The electoral body has announced that it concluded the registration of the voters. About 870,000 voters have been so far registered in the process that has been running for months. The poll was support take place on 28th March 2017 but the date has been extended, according to the body.
Somaliland electoral commission said that the body will start issuing tenders for ballot papers on 29th April this year. Early this year, Somaliland postponed the elections following low rain seasons and extreme climate conditions that have significantly affected hundreds families. Somaliland located in the northwestern of Somalia, has declared its independence from the rest of Somalia as de facto sovereign state in 1991 but it has not been recognized internationally.
Key Headlines
- Somaliland Sets A Date For Presidential Poll (Goobjoog News)
- Four Southwest Soldiers killed In Al-Shabaab Attack (Shabelle News)
- Djibouti Shipping Lines Set To Launch Djibouti- Somaliland Container Shuttle Service (Goobjoog News)
- Famine In Somalia: Twice In Six Years? (IRIN)
- Somalis Return To Kenya To Escape Drought At Home (Al Jazeera)
- Stability Is Key To Somalia’s Public Finance Management Progress (Public Finance International)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Four Southwest Soldiers killed In Al-Shabaab Attack
28 March – Source : Shabelle News – 136 Words
At least four Southwest State soldiers were killed, and several others wounded in Al shabaab attack near Baidoa city on Monday afternoon, officials and residents said Tuesday. Confirming the incident, the Minister of Disarmament and Reintegration of Southwest Hassan Hussein Mohamed said the regional soldiers repelled Al-Shabaab after attack on aid convoy. The attack took place at Bulo-Bakaro area, located on the highway linking Baidoa to Qansah-dheere district. The Minister confirmed two soldiers were killed in the ambush by Al Shabaab.
The military escorting convoy was attacked as it was ferrying food aid and water supplies to drought-affected families in Bulo-Bakaro locality, according to Mohamed. Al-Shabaab militants intensified its attacks on Somali, and their allied AU forces in the country after being flashed out of their main strongholds in South and Central regions since 2011.
Djibouti Shipping Lines Set To Launch Djibouti- Somaliland Container Shuttle Service
28 March – Source : Goobjoog News – 191 Words
New carrier Djibouti Shipping Lines (DSL) is planning to launch a container shuttle service in April connecting Djibouti to Berbera, according to reports. The new service will act as a feeder for cargoes destined to or originating from Berbera, which are transhipped to and from international long-haul services calling at Djibouti. It will be operated with one chartered vessel of 1,000 TEU, whose name has not yet been announced, Alphaliner said in its weekly report.
The report said that DSL wants to build on the importance of Djibouti as a strategic hub port in the Gulf of Aden, and plans to expand its network to other ports in the Red Sea and Horn of Africa areas, among which Port Sudan and Mogadishu. Should these services be launched, the new carrier will require additional container tonnage to maintain them, it added. The weekly report also noted, “A new container and mpp terminal (DMP) is scheduled to come on stream in Djibouti soon. It will add to DP World Doraleh Container Terminal where most container services are handled, and to the ‘old’ container, mpp and general cargo piers in the city port.”
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Famine In Somalia: Twice In Six Years?
28 March – Source : IRIN – 1637 Words
Six years after a famine killed a quarter of a million people in Somalia, the country is threatened with another. Famines only occur if political decision-makers allow them to; it is imperative that the right decisions are made now. But have we learnt enough from the mistakes of 2011? The context has changed since 2011. Somalia now has a functioning – if limited and fragile – state apparatus. Some of the areas worst affected by the last crisis have since received considerable resilience investment (although how far such programming has helped people prepare for or cope with the current crisis is not yet known).
On the other hand, the current drought is more widespread than that of 2011. Global competition for humanitarian resources is fiercer. Parts of South Sudan have already been declared to be experiencing famine, and the situation there is likely to worsen substantially over the next four to five months, while Nigeria and Yemen also face the imminent threat of famine. Across the world, a record 70 million people are estimated to need emergency food aid in 2017. Yet there are fears some donors, notably the US, will significantly cut their aid budget this year, including for humanitarian assistance.
Worsening conditions; Food security, nutrition and health are rapidly deteriorating in affected areas of the Sool Plateau in the north of Somalia and in the “sorghum belt” in the south. In late 2016, the deyr rains failed in the south and the earlier gu rains were well below average, bringing national grain yields to their lowest in a decade. Predictions for the coming gu season in the affected areas are not optimistic
Somalis Return To Kenya To Escape Drought At Home
27 March – Source : Al Jazeera – Video : 2:33 Minutes
As the Kenyan government moves to close the world’s biggest refugee camp in Dadaab, refugees are returning home to Somalia. But the drought in the country is also forcing others to flee back to camps in Kenya. Dozens of families have already made it to the Dadaab camp. Al Jazeera’s Catherine Soi reports from Dhobley, in southern Somalia.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“After a more than two-decade long civil war, Somalia has set off on the long path towards peace and prosperity. While the government has won praise for its public financial management reforms, it will need to tackle ongoing insecurity before substantial revenue gains can be made.”
Stability Is Key To Somalia’s Public Finance Management Progress
28 March – Source : Public Finance International – 613 Words
As it emerges from a civil war that raged for over two and a half decades, Somalia is finally inching towards stability. But it remains fragile and there is plenty more to be done; insecurity, extreme poverty and perceived corruption are rife. The government, which came to power in 2012 with the help of the international community, has been applauded for its achievements so far. Last month, and without incident, we elected a new president, which was hailed as an “historic milestone” for our country.
In May 2016, the government embarked on a reform programme with the International Monetary Fund. This has no financial element – the fund remains unable to lend to Somalia because of the country’s high debt arrears, which it estimates were worth 74% of GDP ($4.7bn) as of October 2016. But it’s a key step towards ending Somalia’s perception as a financial pariah. Already, we have made substantial strides in improving public financial management (PFM), with high awareness of the need for reform at both the national and local level. In 2013, a self-assessment of the country’s shortcomings definitively spelled out what needed to change.
Until then, cash advances, doled out with little transparency or accountability, had been commonplace, and the civil service payroll was a mess. Today, no payments can be made without first being logged in a real-time financial database that records all government transactions, year-end accounts are produced for payments to vendors and civil servants are paid electronically. Two decades of civil war completely destroyed Somalia’s institutions. As the government works to rebuild them, it is also trying to tackle the traditional and old-fashioned procurement practices that have taken root again since. Significant changes are needed to ensure payment transparency and adherence to proper processes, which will involve transforming the behaviour of hundreds of staff, vendors and rules and regulations alike. Financial aid as part of a World Bank project, which helps Somalia cover civil service salaries, has been tied to reforms, helping to ensure they are realised.