May 10, 2018 | Daily Monitoring Report
Inauguration Of The New Parliament Speaker To Be Held In Mogadishu Today.
10 May – Source: Jowhar.com – 106 Words
The formal inauguration of the new Speaker of the Lower House, Mohamed Mursal Sheikh Abdirahman, is expected to be held in Mogadishu today. The inauguration will take place in the General Kahiye Police Training, under tight security. Representatives of the international community are among those who have been invited to the event.
The country’s top leadership, including the President and the Prime Minister will grace the event. The inauguration comes a couple of days after the Speaker chaired his first session and also met with the parliamentary standing committee. On April 30, Mursal was elected as Speaker after the resignation of Mohamed Sheikh Osman Jawari.
Key Headlines
- Inauguration Of The New Parliament Speaker To Be Held In Mogadishu Today (Jowhar.com)
- Somalia To Qualify For Pre-arrears Clearance By July-PM (Goobjoog News)
- Fighter Jets Hit Al-shabaab Controlled Village In Lower Shabelle Region (Halbeeg News)
- Gedo Region Security Officials Receive Al-Shabaab Defector (Dhacdo.com)
- Flash Floods Affect Close To 700000 In Somalia: WHO (Xinhua)
- EU’s Pledge Of Direct Budgetary Support To Somalia Is Another Sign Of Good Governance (Hiiraan Online)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Somalia To Qualify For Pre-arrears Clearance By July-PM
09 May – Source: Goobjoog News – 415 Words
Somalia will be eligible for pre-arrears clearance by July this year, Prime Minister Hassan Khayre said Wednesday signaling a major step towards debt relief. But the Premier called for sustained international and local support to realise this benchmark. Speaking during the EU Day celebrations in Mogadishu, Khayre said his government was committed to a reform agenda aimed at creating favourable environment for debt relief. “It is our hope that with the support the international community is providing and the hard work and dedication of our people that we will be eligible for pre-arrears clearance funding by July 2018 in addition to the direct budget support recently announced by the European Union when I was in Brussels.
Pre-arrears clearance is a key step towards qualification for the HIPC Initiative Decision Point. The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative is a multi-year process through which countries have to meet stringent reform benchmarks to qualify for debt relief. To qualify for step one (Decision Point), countries must be eligible for grants and loans from the World Bank’s International Development Agency. This can only happen if they have cleared arrears with this agency. Somalia is estimated to have over $5 billion in external debt. The country is eligible for the HIPC Initiative together with Eritrea and Sudan.
Our finance teams are currently negotiating the terms of a third Staff monitored programme with higher conditionality, the PM added. “As I have mentioned to you before, these painful reforms are a necessity for us to rebuild our institutions as we aims towards full re-engagement with international financial institutions.” He called on the international community to once again take a leap of faith in supporting Somalia to realise its reform agenda and subsequently normalize its relations with international financial institutions. We call all of our partners to join, take risks, have more faith in the Somali people and continue helping us rebuild this nation piece by piece, block by block, the PM said.
Speaking during the same event, EU Special Representative for the Horn of Africa Alexander Rondos echoed the Prime Minister’s remarks noting that Somalia was on the path towards economic stability thanks to endorsement from International Financial Institutions.
Fighter Jets Hit Al-shabaab Controlled Village In Lower Shabelle Region
10 May – Source: Halbeeg News – 212 Words
A U.S. drone airstrike reportedly killed several people including Al-Shabaab fighters and locals near Bariire town, 55 kilometres Southwest of Mogadishu. The attack which targeted an Al-Shabaab controlled village took place in the wee hours of Wednesday night. Reports indicate that the missiles destroyed Al-Shabaab training camp and houses of local residents in the village. The Al-Shabaab group has several training camps near Bariire town which is an Al-Shabaab stronghold town in the Lower Shabelle region.
Local sources said the latest attack caused damage in the area which last year witnessed a deadly attack jointly executed by Somali government forces and US elite troops. Among those killed in last night’s attack is a local man identified as Mohamed Noor Hashi who was reportedly a farmer. Authorities in Lower Shabelle region did not comment on the latest air raid in Bariire town.
The attack is reminiscent of Tuesday’s aerial raid against Al-Shabaab fighters in Hiraan region. According to military officials who spoke to Halbeeg News, the raid which took place at Jiljilay Village which lies just 4km South of El-Ali town killed dozens of Al-Shabaab fighters and destroyed the group’s training base in the area. The U.S. government has intensified its military attacks against Al-Shabaab and ISIS in recent months after the Somali government called for intensive operations against the groups.
Gedo Region Security Officials Receive Al-Shabaab Defector
10 May – Source: Dhacdo.com – 110 Words
Reports from Gedo region indicate that an Al-Shabaab fighter has surrendered to Government forces in Balad Hawo. The defector, who has been fighting for Al-Shabaab for more than 12 years, was identified as Abdullahi Ahmed Nor. He also surrendered his AK47 rifle to the government forces.
Ali Hassan Deeq, who is a NISA commander of Gedo region, sent a message to the other senior Al-Shabaab officials and their fighters encouraging them to take advantage of the presidential pardon and leave the group. The defector narrated to the press his experiences of hardship and the suffering he endured during his stay in Al-Shabaab camp. He asked for forgiveness from the public.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Flash Floods Affect Close To 700,000 In Somalia: WHO
09 May – Source: Xinhua – 449 Words
More than 695,000 people have been affected by flash floods and river floods caused by ongoing heavy rainfall in Somalia, the World Health Organization (WHO) said. According to WHO, out of the figure, nearly 215,000 people have been displaced in the last few days as most flooding occurred in the regions of Bakool, Banadir, Bay, Hiiraan, Lower Juba, Middle Juba and Middle Shabelle. “Urgent needs of the afflicted communities include shelter, food, health, nutritional supplies, access to water and sanitation, latrines, mosquito nets and tents,” WHO said in a statement released on Tuesday evening.
The UN agency warned that flooding can trigger the transmission of water-borne and vector-borne diseases, such as cholera, malaria and dengue fever, and contaminate water sources. It said health authorities and WHO have alerted the Early Warning System in Somalia and agency’s communicable disease surveillance officers to look out for the emergence of any waterborne or vector-borne diseases to respond to and manage any resulting disease outbreaks in a timely manner.
WHO said in its close collaboration with the ministry of health said it has airlifted and prepositioned 30.1 tonnes of emergency medical supplies to Belet Weyne, Baidoa and Kismayo to treat illnesses commonly spread during emergencies as part of an immediate response. “These provisions include basic, essential, medical drugs, oral rehydration supplies (ORS), water-testing kits and cholera treatment supplies. Similar medical supplies will soon be sent to the South West and Jubaland States,” it said.
OPINION, ANALYSIS & CULTURE
“The reason why donors were so reluctant to use Somali government system was that widespread corruption and mismanagement were rampant in the country in addition to the weak finance system. However, as the World Bank Report (2018) points out donors’ claim was based on outdated figures and guesswork analysis thus, their actions and believe do not reflect the reality on the ground and the progress that the Somali government has made recently.”
EU’s Pledge Of Direct Budgetary Support To Somalia Is Another Sign Of Good Governance
08 May – Source: Hiiraan Online – 707 Words
In a press conference, shortly after the conference, Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khayre stated that the European Union agreed to contribute 100 million Euros to Somalia’s budget. This is an overdue step taken in the right direction. The international community spends over a billion dollar of humanitarian and developmental aid in Somalia every year. Almost all this money is managed and dispersed by UN agencies and other NGOs. For a long time, the somali government has been requesting some of this money to be channelled through its treasury.
In 2014, donors and Somali government agreed 15% of the Official Development Aid (ODA) being infused into the government budget. The implementation of that agreement was steady but slow. Only 4% and 8% of ODA, for instance, was managed by the treasury in 2015 and 2016 respectively. This is well below the agreed target of 15%. Somalia is the only country where this kind of full control of aid by donors takes place. Other low-income fragile states such as Afghanistan and Central African Republic (CAR) are allowed to manage and disburse substantial amount of ODA. For example, Afghanistan, which is comparable to Somalia in every aspect of governance, 74% of development-focused aid is channelled through Afghan national budget.
It may be assumed that the strong political interest of donors is the main reason they comply with Afghan government’s request. However, other countries such as CAR, Mali and Liberia which have less geopolitical interests of donor governments are doing far better than Somalia when it comes to control of aid and its management. For example, 28% of development-focused aid is channelled through CAR’s national budget while the figure is 44% in Mali. This clearly demonstrates that Somalia has been marginalised and unfairly treated when it comes to using country systems.
TOP TWEETS
@JMwanjisi: I will not send my children to work again! A story of hope after a disaster | Somalia/Somaliland | Save the Childrenhttps://somalia.
@DalsanFM:Analysis: Islamic State Ramps Up Attack Claims In Somalia https://www.radiodalsan.com/
@HarunMaruf: #Somalia: ‘Unidentified’ Special Forces using helipcopters conducted an operation in Ma’alinka village, 16km SW of Afgoye, killing 5 injured 4 early Thurs. An official said helicopters dropped the troops in a banana farm, and killed “banana workers” in the operation, per official
@AweisGaani:The completion of the 1st part of de road connecting #Hobyo to #Galgacyo is a good step taken forward. Huge thnks to Prof Abdukadir Shirwac & the community in total for standing tall & doing the job without even getting the needed support from de #Somalia Government or #Galmudugpic.twitter.com/j7j3GLEMFf
@i_dossier: Inaugurations, luncheons, cutting ribbons, visiting renovated offices of own department, attending seminars, conferences, appearing at airports to welcome or say goodbyes, motions, condemning anything that moves, blaming everything that don’t work on media and social media, etc.
@OCHASom: Available resources are insufficient to support on-going operations and a robust #SomGu2018 flood response. Read the Somalia Humanitarian Funding Overview (10 May 2018)https://reliefweb.int/
@puntforensics: We @puntforensics are very delighted to have hosted today (May 10, 2018) at the forensic center@UNFPA_Arab Regional Director @ShabanehLuay &@UNFPASomalia. Thrilled to have also given a demo experiment on DNA to the delegate. Not to mention, the superb & fruitful discussion.
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Prime Minister, Hassan Ali Khaire officiates EU day celebrations in Mogadishu.
Photo: @EU_in_Somalia