March 6, 2013 | Daily Monitoring Report.
Special message from the President of the Federal Government of Somalia to the people of Somalia
05 Mar – Source: Office of the Somali President – 282 words
I am reaching out to the Somali people with a special message. The Somali people have today a great opportunity. The world’s perspective of Somalia has dramatically changed for the better. On their part, the Somali people have unwavering optimism and hope. I urge them to stay positive and optimistic. It is only when we do something for ourselves that we can expect the help and support of the International Community.
We should not entirely depend on the aid and help from the International Community. It should not hamper us from working hard and believing in our own selves. We should cooperate and work together. The more we do for ourselves, the more we would receive the support and help of the International Community. In order to get the help of the International Community and move forward, we should emphasize doing for ourselves first and start our own initiatives.
We should keep away from gossiping, nonsense talks and inconsequential debates. We should move forward. We should indulge in issues that we are in agreement with. We do not disagree in bringing unity and peace; we do not disagree on establishing legitimate government and we do not disagree on federalism. We should emphasize on these issues we agree with one another and try hard to make them fruitful.
Whatever we do disagree; we should try to come to common ground and discuss about them without intimidation, without killing each other, without going back to the dark days of our history.
Thank you so much.
Key Headlines
- AU Special Representative Pays Tribute on AMISOM’s 6th Anniversary (AMISOM)
- Prime minister tours Abudwak district Galgadud region (SNTV)
- Sierra Leone Vice President Hosts Somalia Delegation to Sierra Leone ( Awareness Times)
- Hundreds in Baidoa demand removal of new governor (Garowe Online)
- Armed Gunmen Abduct Governor Regional Police Commander & Other Officials(Qaran News)
- Lessons learnt at Sharjah forum being implemented in Somalia says official (Gulf Today)
- 3 arrested over Baidoa radio station attack (Sabahi Online)
PRESS RELEASE
AU Special Representative Pays Tribute on AMISOM’s 6th Anniversary
06 Mar – Source: AMISOM – 405 words
As the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) marks its 6 the year anniversary, the Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (SRCC) for Somalia, Ambassador Mahamat Saleh Annadif, has paid tribute to the men and women of AMISOM and thanked the Somali people for their support for the Mission. He also extended his appreciation to the Troop Contributing Countries of Uganda, Burundi, Kenya and Djibouti as well as Ethiopia.
“Today marks the 6th anniversary of AMISOM’s deployment to Somalia. Much has been achieved since that fateful day in 2007 and I pay tribute to the brave men and women who have helped put Somalia on the path to peace and security. I would also like to thank the people of Somalia who welcomed us with open arms. We continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with them as they work to rebuild their country and its institutions,” he said.
Ambassador Annadif noted that with the aid of AMISOM, the Somali National Security Forces have driven the al Qaeda-affiliated terror group, al Shabaab, from Somalia’s major urban centres including the capital Mogadishu. He said that the objective of the mission is to get rid of all al Shabaab cells so that Somalia can be a stable and peaceful country with a professional army.
“The resulting improvements in security have enabled the people of Somalia to successfully conclude the 8-year transition to a more representative and legitimate political order,” he said. He added that AMISOM was helping to train the core of a rejuvenated Somali National Army as well as a Somali Police Force to help secure these gains in the long term. Last year, it deployed two Formed Police Units to Mogadishu, the first ever deployed by the AU.
“The Mission is helping to build governance capacity within the Federal Government of Somalia by training civil servants and working with local officials and civil society to enhance linkages to the central government and strengthen connections between citizens and the state,” he said. “We are also helping the government implement Quick Impact Projects such as rebuilding schools, roads, bridges, and medical facilities, as well as provide clean, potable water and temporary shelter for the internally displaced,” he added.
He said that the AU had completed a comprehensive review of AMISOM, the results of which had been transmitted to the UN Security Council, which is scheduled to vote on the re- authorization of the AMISOM mandate later today or tomorrow.
SOMALI MEDIA
Special message from the President of the Federal Government of Somalia to the people of Somalia
05 Mar – Source: Office of the Somali President – 282 words
I am reaching out to the Somalia people with a special message. The Somali people have today a great opportunity. The world’s perspective of Somalia has dramatically changed for the better. On their part, the Somali people have unwavering optimism and hope.
I urge them to stay positive and optimistic. It is only when we do something for ourselves that we can expect the help and support of the International Community. We should not entirely depend on the aid and help from the International Community. It should not hamper us from working hard and believing in our own selves. We should cooperate and work together. The more we do for ourselves, the more we would receive the support and help of
the International Community. In order to get the help of the International Community and move forward, we should emphasize doing for ourselves first and start our own initiatives.
We should keep away from gossiping one another, nonsense talks and inconsequential debates. We should move forward. We should indulge in issues that we are in agreement with. We do not disagree in bringing unity and peace; we do not disagree on establishing legitimate government and we do not disagree on federalism. We should emphasize on these issues we agree with one another and try hard to make them fruitful.
Whatever we do disagree; we should try to come to common ground and discuss about them without intimidating one another, without killing one another, without going back to the dark days of our history.
Thank you so much.
Prime minister tours Abudwak district, Galgadud region
06 Mar – Source: Radio Kulmiye/SNTV/Bar-kulan – 138 words
Somali Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon is still in Galgadud province, central Somalia where he is evaluating the situations of the people living the province.
Abdi Farah Shirdon and his delegation earlier toured Dhusamareb, the provincial headquaters of the region before heading to Abudwak where he held meetings with authorities and elites there. Minister of Internal Affairs and the National Security Abdi Karim Hussein Guled said that the government has a plan for the development of the provinces.
Hundreds in Baidoa demand removal of new governor
05 Mar – Source: Garowe Online – 127 words
Hundreds gathered to protest the new regional administration that was named by the Somali Federal Government (SFG) early last month, adding another dramatic scene in the Bay region saga.
The rally was against newly named Governor Adan Abdi Hasow who replaced Abdifatah Ibrahim Geesey. The demonstrators chanted slogans against Hasow, demanding he step down. Protesters chanted that Baidoa residents had no input in the new administration.
Sources told GO, that some traditional elders also have refused to work with Governor Hasow who held a publicized meeting with traditional elders on Monday. Some reports say that the traditional elders are upset because their clans are not represented in the local council.
Suspected militants arrested in Beled-Hawo
06 Mar – Source: Bar-kulan – 104 words
Security forces in Beled-Hawo Tuesday night arrested six people on suspicion of being members of the outlawed Al-Shabaab militant groups. The suspects, all youth, were arrested in an operation aimed at strengthening security after reports emerged that the suspects were planning to commit crime in the town.
Speaking to Bar-kulan on the phone from Beled-Hawo, the area security chief Abey John confirmed the arrest of the suspects saying they are now being held at area central police station where they are undergoing interrogations. He said security officers are now pursuing other suspects who managed to escape arrest after they sneaked out of their hideouts.
Armed Gunmen Abduct Governor, Regional Police Commander & Other Officials
05 Mar – Source: Qaran News – 135 words
Unknown Armed gunmen abducted the governor of Selel region Abdillahi Qulujed, the regional Police commander Mohamed Omar and deputy mayor of Zeyla Sa’ad Dahir at an ambush on the way to Hariirad.
The abduction which took place after the convoy of cars carrying the governor and his delegation come under weapons fire at an ambush. The officials were on their way to take part in the inauguration of the new Hariirad mayor replacing former mayor Gesh Aden Bile who is the spokesperson for the Ise community, with a new official appointed by Somaliland’s Home minister,Mohamed Nur Arraale “Duur”, but, never made it to ceremony which was subsequently postponed.
Fortunately, there were no casualties as the result of the ambush, and after after negotiations between community elders and the armed gunmen, the delegations were released.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Lessons learnt at Sharjah forum being implemented in Somalia, says official
06 Mar – Source: Gulf Today – 310 Words
We are implementing in Somalia what we learnt from the Sharjah Government Communication Forum 2013 to strengthen communication between parliamentarians and citizens throughout the country.
This was stated by Dr Mohamed Nureni Bakar, member of parliament in Somalia, who is also a member of the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs and international relations, in an exclusive interview with The Gulf Today recently.
He was one of the participants from around the world at the two-day forum that concluded last week. “Since August 2012, Somalia is no longer a transitional state, but a politically operational government and has been recognised by a large number of countries as well as the USA.
“After the closure of international embassies in Mogadishu for two decades, the revival of many foreign missions started and the work on the UAE embassy is under way and soon it will be operational,” he added.
3 arrested over Baidoa radio station attack
05 Mar – Source: Sabahi Online – 154 Words
Somali police in Baidoa have arrested three people in connection with a hand grenade thrown into the Radio Baidoa building last Friday. No one was hurt in the attack, but the building sustained damages.
“We were in the middle of our work and every journalist was busy preparing his or her programmes when we heard the shocking sound of the horrible explosion inside the premises,” Baidoa Radio director Mohamoud Mohamed Kheyre told the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ).
In a separate incident, local militias loyal to the Himan and Heeb administration forced the closure of privately-owned Radio al-Ihsaan in Adado on Saturday. The station resumed operations Monday evening, according to radio director Sharmarke Mohamed Mohamoud.
Sierra Leone Vice President Hosts Somalia Delegation to Sierra Leone
05 Mar – Source: Awareness Times – 507 Words
Vice President, Chief Alhaji Samuel Sam Sumana has welcomed a six-man delegation from the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and the Somalia Police Force to Sierra Leone. Welcoming the delegation, VP Sam Sumana said he and President Koroma were very proud of their country being chosen as a case study by the AMISOM and Somalia Police Force.
Sierra Leone, he said, shares a similar history of conflict with Somalia, noting that after the ten year rebel war in Sierra Leone, he felt so proud that Sierra Leoneans had put behind them the past and has endeavoured to see that peace prevails in the country.
“We are our brothers’ keepers;” he emphasized, adding that the presence of the Sierra Leone Police Force in Somalia is to enforce peace, law and order to their African brothers and that the police force has demonstrated such gallantry.
Vice President Sumana also explained to the delegation the challenges the country faced during the restructuring process of the various organs of the police force after the civil conflict, adding that despite the achievement gained in that process, the force is still not complacent as they are still yearning to learn and gain more knowledge in order to be at the apex in the international arena.
Sierra Leone, the VP went on was aware of the problems Somalia police force was facing and that, as Africans, “we should learn to put our country first before self.” He advised that in order to reach the peak where Sierra Leone has attained, they should ensure that the three arms of government – Legislature, Executive and Judiciary, remain independent and are free from political meddling.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Two blasts in Somali area of Nairobi: Red Cross
05 Mar – Source: AFP – 206 Words
Two blasts struck the Somali district of the Kenyan capital on Tuesday, leaving at least one person wounded, the Red Cross said on its Twitter feed. “One casualty has been evacuated,” the Red Cross said.
The blasts came as results were trickling in from Kenya’s presidential polls, although the predominantly Somali district of Eastleigh has in recent months been the target of several attacks attributed to sympathisers of Somalia’s Shebab insurgents.
Nairobi police chief Benson Kibui confirmed only one explosion, saying it happened when a homemade explosive device was thrown at a kiosk, wounding a woman who was inside.
“She sustained injuries and was rushed to hospital,” he told AFP. “The device landed near a bar where people had been watching the election results on television,” he said, adding police did not know what the bomber was targeting. The explosion occurred near a mosque where a Kenyan MP was wounded in a grenade blast late last year.
UN to lift Somalia arms embargo
06 Mar – Source: The News International – 263 words
The UN Security Council is considering lifting an arms embargo on Somalia’s government for one year so that it can beef up its army to combat fighters. A draft resolution is due to be voted on by the divided council on Wednesday. The Somali government has asked for the arms embargo to be lifted and the United States has been pushing the council to agree, but Britain and France have been wary of removing the ban in a country already awash with weapons, diplomats say.
The draft resolution, drawn up by Britain and obtained by Reuters, appears to propose a compromise: lifting the arms embargo for one year but keeping restrictions in place on heavy weapons such as surface to air missiles, howitzers and cannons. The draft resolution says the arms embargo shall not apply to the deliveries of other “weapons or military equipment or the provision of advice, assistance or training, intended solely for the development of the security forces of the federal government of Somalia and to provide security for the Somali people.”
It says that these weapons and equipment “may not be resold to, transferred to, or made available for use by, any individual or entity not in the service of the security forces of the federal government of Somalia.” The 15-member council imposed the arms embargo in 1992 to cut the flow of arms to feuding warlords, who a year earlier ousted dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and plunged Somalia into civil war. Somalia held its first national vote since 1991 last year to elect a president and prime minister.
UN chief ‘regrets’ Somalia reporter sentence
05 Mar – Source: Al Jazeera – 153 words
Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, has welcomed Somalia’s release from jail of a woman who told a journalist she was raped by security forces, but expressed regret the journalist she spoke to would remain behind bars. A Somali appeals court dropped charges on Sunday against the woman, who had been sentenced to a year in jail for “offending state institutions”.
The sentence for Abdiaziz Abdinuur, the reporter, was cut in half to six months. Abdinuur had also been found guilty of offending state institutions, as well making a false interview and entering the house of a woman whose husband was not present.
In a statement issued on Monday, the UN secretary-general’s spokesperson said that Ban was “gratified” by the appeals court overturning of the conviction of the alleged rape victim. “He regrets, however, that the sentence against a journalist charged in connection with the case, while shortened, has been upheld,” the spokesperson said.
Al Shabaab suspects kill police reservist in N. Kenya
06 Mar – Source: NZWeek/Xinhua – 375 Words
Suspected al Shabaab militia on Wednesday killed a police reservist at the world’s largest refugee camp in northern Kenya, authorities have confirmed.
Dadaab District Commissioner Albert Kimathi said Billow Ali was shot dead at the Ifo Refugee Camp market by suspected al Shabaab while doing patrols in the sprawling camp.
“It is unfortunate that we have lost a very dedicated officer who was really assisting us in combating crime. He was at the forefront in identifying these criminal people,” Kimathi told Xinhua by telephone.The government administrator said the reservist was shot at close range by the attackers whom the administrator said had trailed him.
Sources told Xinhua that the three attackers who were clad in balaclavas ambushed the reservist from behind before proceeding to shoot him several times on the head, they are then said to have fled on foot. By the time police officers arrived 30 minutes later the attackers had already fled but were later arrested about 2 km from the scene of the incident.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“The crisis in Somalia has undergone a series of metamorphoses in the last three decades and although periods of progress have occurred it seems that Somalia is as far away from peace and development as they were after the collapse of the central government in the early 1990s.”
The Mutating Crisis in Somalia
05 Mar – Source: Humanitarian Intervention Institute – 1231 Words
The nature of the crisis in Somalia is ever changing; Somalia experienced a civil war in the 1980s and state collapse, clan factionalism and warlordism in the 1990s. Over the last ten years the conflict has changed focus from clan rivalry to a conflict between Islamic insurgents and the Transitional Federal Government.
Conflicts have also arisen between the two autonomous regions of Somaliland and Puntland over border issues. It has been a complicated and mutating crisis involving various external actors and therefore in order for any peacemaking attempt to be fruitful, unlike some of the interventions thus far, it is imperative to understand this complex history and the present state of affairs.
State collapse in the early 1990’s was a result of various internal and external factors. Internally, a civil war was instigated in 1988 by the attacks of the Somali National Movement which resulted in the death of tens of thousands and the displacement of over six-hundred-thousand Somalis. Moreover, the central government was fractioned and weak. Externally, the European colonial powers had left a state divided into five regions and wars with neighbouring countries left damaging effects on Somalia.
Additionally, Somalia’s collapse was accelerated with the closing stages of the Cold War because as Somalia’s importance to the West lessened, so did the foreign aid which was sustaining the country. Due to the culmination of these multiple factors state collapse was imminent, however, it was the removal of Siad Barre, the long standing leader of Somalia, by the United Somali Congress (USC) in 1991, that ensued state collapse and its consequential anarchy and violence.
“The Union’s greatest strength is the financial assistance it can offer, reinforced with experience and a growing diplomatic cadre, key ingredients for Somalia’s future and for increasingly for foreign policy in the twenty-first century.”
Actions speak louder than words
06 Mar – Source: ESharp Magazine – 721 Words
In the last few months, two very different events in Somalia have happened marking important milestones in the country’s journey from the poster child of failed states to developing nation. The first event, the announcement by Hillary Clinton that the US would formally recognise the Government of Somalia, was greeted with certain weariness in Washington.
Somalia, after all, is best known as the home of al Shabaab, the al Qaeda affiliated terrorist group, and as the backdrop to Ridley Scott’s film Black Hawk Down. The second event went largely unnoticed. The European Union Training Mission for Somalia (based in Uganda) helped repatriate 551 newly trained Somali soldiers to their home country. The mission has trained about 3,000 troops, who will form the core of a new Somali National Security Force.
The events are worth highlighting because of what they tell us about the EU and the conduct of foreign policy in the twenty-first century. Somalia is one of an increasingly long list of states where the EU, the US and China (The Chinese energy giant CNOOC has been busy forging oil deals with the government) regularly bump into each other.
Somali officials mutter about the feasibility of co-ordinating the trio. For the time being, says one – ‘the US is focused on al Shabaab, China on building roads and rebuilding runways and the EU… well the EU seems to do everything else.’ A touch simplistic yes, but there is some truth in the statement.
Top tweets
@SomaliPM Hambalyo! Congratulations to Fartuun Adan for winning International Women of Courage Award http://www.state.gov/s/gwi/
@UNOCHA #Somalia: food insecurity expected to increase slightly, with rains forecast to be average to below average – http://buzz.mw/-mPz_Z.
@abdu “We agree with the #Somali Prime Minister’s statement that journalists should not be sent to prison for doing their job” (via @StateDept).
@Paradigmcase This is why i love #Somali culture!! Tribute to the great history and city of #Saylac and the great Sultan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
@esharpmag The EU’s unsung role in helping to create the #Somali National Security Force by @CDC_Edwards @RUSI_org http://bit.ly/Yvsu3m #EEAS.
Image of the day
Attendance listening to the Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud talk on the country’s challenges at Al Jazeera centre for studies in Doha, Qatar on March 5, 2013. Photo: @Daudoo .