March 9, 2016 | Morning Headlines
Somali President Appeals For Unity Amid Security Challenges
8 March – Source: Hiiraan Online – 307 Words
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has appealed for unity among Members of Parliament amid increased security challenges as the government struggles to contain deadly attacks by the Al Shabaab militant group. The group has lately carried out numerous attacks across the country since the beginning of this year, killing scores of people, mostly civilians.
Speaking in Parliament on the last day before MPs embarked for a month-long recess, the President observed that despite making progress in various fields, his government needed support and unity by lawmakers to deal with security challenges posed by the Al Shabaab militants.
“We can only take care of the security issue when we have collective efforts to contain the situation. We, therefore have to act sooner than later. Besides, we also need to impose tough security measures,” he said. In his speech, President Mohamud underlined challenges facing his government to change the negative perception that the country was still in chaos.
Somalia is recovering from decades of war after the ouster of militants from the capital and surrounding regions in recent years. However, security remains a major threat to the horn of Africa nation, especially within the capital Mogadishu which has lately seen an increase in the number of attacks by members of the Al Shabaab group.
Key Headlines
- Somali President Appeals For Unity Amid Security Challenges (Hiiraan Online)
- Defence Minister In Talks With Leaders In Kismayo (Shabelle News)
- Somali Premier Opens New Station For The Official News Agency (Goobjoog News)
- Somalia Joins The World In Celebrating International Women’s Day (AMISOM)
- Analysts See Long Fight Ahead Against Al-Shabaab (Voice of America)
- Somali Prayer Dispute Reshapes US Town (The Telegraph)
- Somalia On Steady Path To Realisation Of Gender Equality (Daily Nation)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Defence Minister In Talks With Leaders In Kismayo
08 March – Source: Shabelle News – 110 Words
The Defence minister of Somalia Gen Abdulkadir Sheikh Ali Dini hasheld talks with Gedo politicians opposed to the leader of the Interim Jubba administration, Ahmed Madobe. The minister is in Kismayo for days on a peace mission to defuse the deadlock over the Jubbaland power-sharing dispute. He intends to end the long-standing political feud among the leaders. Shire Abdi Mohamed, a member of Jubbaland Parliament said the talks are proceeding smoothly and the rival sides have promised compromises in support of the minister’s efforts to resolve the political conflict. The minister is trying to bring an end to the row between the Jubbaland leader and several politicians from Gedo region.
Somali Premier Opens New Station For The Official News Agency
08 March – Source: Goobjoog News – 204 Words
Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Somalia, Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharma’arke has opened a new building in which the government’s official news agency, SONNA, will operate from. The colorful ceremony and the unveiling of the new outfit, Somali National News Agency (SONNA) was presided over in the presence of the Minister of Information, culture and Tourism, Mohamed Abdi Hayer, State Minister, Mohamed Hassan Bekos, Director General, Abdirisak Ali Yusuf, Director of SONNA, Abdirahman Yusuf Sheikh, among other guests.
Director Of SONNA, Abdirahman Yusuf said: “The official news agency will release facts on the ground from all regions of the Somali territory. SONNA will process thousands of news pieces sent from Somalia to the rest of world, which are based on reality.” He explained that SONNA will process and disseminate news in three languages — Somali, Arabic and English.
The Information minister thanked the Somali Premier for presiding over the function. The Premier, on his part, praised officials of the Ministry of Information and urged them to do their best in portraying the country positively: Somali National News Agency played a vital role in projecting the image of Somalia. SONNA should bring this back to the country.”
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somalia Joins The World In Celebrating International Women’s Day
08 March – Source: AMISOM – 531 Words
Somali women have called for greater political participation and power sharing, as the country marks International Women’s Day. The women issued a communique at the end of International Women’s Day celebrations, held in Mogadishu, urging for better representation of women in politics.
European Union (EU) Ambassador to Somalia Michele Cervone d’Urso; the Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission to Somalia (SRCC), Francisco Madeira; Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Hon. Mahad Abdalla Awad; First Lady Sahra Omar Hassan and the Minister of Women and Human Rights Zahra Samantar attended the celebrations, held in Mogadishu.
Under the theme Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step It Up for Gender Equality, the day is aimed at encouraging governments to step up efforts in empowering women and eradicating cultural practices, laws and regulations that hinder the realization of their full potential in society.
“The government should come up with a fair formula that spells out women’s equitable representation of the 2016 electoral selections in line with the general principle of the provisional constitution of Somalia and article 22 of the Istanbul Communique of February 2016,” the women said in the communiqué read by Deqa Yasin, the Operations Manager of IIDA Women’s Development Organization.
In his speech, Ambassador d’Urso observed that positive steps had been made in Somalia with regard to rights of women but acknowledged that more should to be done in areas of partnerships, gender mainstreaming and advocacy: “We need to continue with advocacy and make available real space for women in this process and this also touches on the core development processes, particularly the New Deal. Women have to be involved in all levels.”
The Minister of Women and Human Rights, Zahra Samantar, called for empowerment of Somali women through education and economic opportunities. The Minister observed that gains had so far been made in the country on issues of women’s rights, adding that there was need for Somali women to identify with global developments.
The African Union Representative for Somalia Francisco Madeira saluted Somali women for their role in state-building, noting that gains had been made with the support of AMISOM on women rights. He stressed the Mission’s commitment to ensure gender equity.
Analysts See Long Fight Ahead Against Al-Shabaab
08 March – Source: Voice of America – 447 Words
The Pentagon says a U.S. airstrike against Al-Shabaab in Somalia last Saturday killed more than 150 militants. Analysts say the strike was a major coup but that African Union troops in Somalia still have a long fight ahead of them. In an interview with VOA, Somali presidential spokesman Daud Aweys applauded the airstrike. He said Somalia was aware of the operation and contributed intelligence: “We think that this was a significant victory not only for Somalia but also for the entire region as we face the same challenges on the war against terror. This was a coordinated attack in which Somali forces shared (intelligence) with their U.S. counterpart. These areas have been under a close surveillance.”
The training camp targeted is located 190 kilometers north of Mogadishu. Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said the U.S. had learned the fighters were set to depart the camp, and “posed an imminent threat” to African Union forces and U.S. military advisers in Somalia. An Al-Shabaab spokesman, Abu Musab, confirmed the aerial attack but said the death toll was exaggerated. He said al-Shabab doesn’t gather more than 100 fighters in one place for security reasons. Analyst Yan St. Pierre, who runs the Berlin-based security firm MOSECON, said the opportunity for such a large strike may not come again: “Usually, al-Shabab, historically speaking, they have always spread [their] troops very well, so if this was indeed the case [that] they had so many people in one location, it’s a strategic mistake that definitely they are bound not to repeat.”
Al-Shabaab has kept up a steady string of bombings against civilians in Mogadishu while also going after African Union troops with renewed vigor since the middle of last year. On January 15, Al-Shabaab fighters stormed a Kenyan army camp in El-Adde. In February, the Somali president said 200 soldiers lost their lives in that attack, a claim denied by the Kenyan government. Security observers say heavy losses in these and other recent raids are damaging the effectiveness and reputation of the African Union force, AMISOM. Analyst St. Pierre said airstrikes won’t necessarily ease that pressure on ground troops.
Somali Prayer Dispute Reshapes US Town
08 March – Source: The Telegraph – 666 Words
The work is far from glamorous: the thermostat for much of the slaughterhouse is set near freezing, the clatter of machinery is almost deafening, and there is the matter of slicing cattle carcasses every day, eight hours a day.
But for the Somali refugees who settled in this community on Colorado’s eastern plains, jobs at Cargill Meat Solutions had become a path to the American dream. The positions started at $14 an hour, required little English and, for the most part, allowed time for prayer, in accordance with workers’ Muslim faith.
“If I can pray, I will do whatever they need,” said Abdukadir Ali, 28, who used to cut fat five days a week, wearing a metal protective vest and gloves three layers thick. In mid-December, a dispute erupted between Muslim employees and Cargill managers over the role of prayer in the workplace. Employees say top managers told them that their religious breaks – previously allowed once or twice per shift, in 10-minute segments, after explicit permission from a supervisor – would be severely curtailed.
The company said no such change had been announced. But dozens of workers walked out in protest and, days later, Cargill fired 150 of them for abandoning their jobs. The conflict has thrust livelihoods and the fate of a business into limbo, offering a case study of what happens when matters of religious accommodation knock heads with the demands of the American assembly line.
Fort Morgan had only recently adjusted to Muslim refugees in its midst. Now, it is watching them pack up and move out. The Cargill plant is struggling to find workers, and a green sign sags from an outer fence: “Hiring now.” A decade ago, there were almost no Muslim families in Fort Morgan, an agricultural community about 90 minutes northeast of Denver.
In the early 1990s, beef plant employees were Vietnamese, Mexican and Central American. But immigration raids in the mid-2000s pushed many Latinos out, and the Somalis replaced them, along with Eritreans, Moroccans and others.
Longtime residents adapted with each demographic change, bringing new interpreters to the schools and watching as shops offering quinceañera dresses became Somali grocery stores selling pastries called sambusas and a spongy teff-flour bread called injera. Today, there are about a thousand African refugees living in a city of fewer than 12,000 people. About two dozen languages are spoken in the schools.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“Amisom has been in the forefront in creating a conducive environment for women to thrive. Securing the country has brought relative peace, enabling women to realise their full potential, something that was almost impossible when militants enjoyed a free reign.”
Somalia On Steady Path To Realisation Of Gender Equality
08 March – Source: Daily Nation – 639 Words
Somalia plans to hold its election in 2016, an exercise that will see the horn of Africa country elect a new president and parliament. However, unlike many African countries going through challenging times, the citizens have entrusted the mammoth task of ensuring the plebiscite is free and fair to one of its daughters, Dr Halima Ismail Ibrahim, a former lecturer at Somali National University.
Dr Halima, also a human rights activist, is the chairperson of the National Independent Electoral Commission, which will organise the forthcoming election, one of the critical events in the country’s calendar in 2016. The appointment of Dr Halima to head such a sensitive organisation is proof that Somali women are now entering previously perceived male precincts and are succeeding. It also shows that Somalia is ready to move on and put behind it years of unequal opportunities for women.
Dr Halima has already promised to serve her fellow citizens with dedication and ensure the political process momentum, critical for a country coming out of a prolonged civil war, is maintained. As the country joins the world in celebrating the International Women’s Day, Dr Halima will be one of the personalities that Somalia and the international community will be looking up to this year, to steer Somalia towards peace and stability.
According to the Federal Government of Somalia, this year’s International Women’s Day theme; ‘A pledge for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment’ resonates well with its efforts to empower its women, who suffered the most during the times of civil war. Ms Maryan Mohammed Hussein, one of the gender affairs coordinators says the administration is already working towards ensuring that 30 per cent of all government appointments go to women. She adds that the agenda is expected to continue even after the election. Currently, there are three women cabinet ministers out of 25, but Ms Maryan believes it is just the beginning of better things to come for women of Somalia.
Currently, Somalia has 40 women MPs out of a total of 275, meaning that 14.5 per cent of the parliamentarians are women. However, the number is expected to increase in the next Parliament, thanks to the recently agreed electoral model which stipulates that 30 per cent of the electoral seats both in the Lower and Upper Houses of parliament will be reserved for women.