May 11, 2016 | Daily Monitoring Report
US, Somali Forces Target Al-Shabaab in Joint Helicopter Raid
11 May – Source: Voice of America – 333 Words
U.S. and Somali special forces conducted a joint raid early Tuesday on an Al-Shabaab base, killing or capturing an unknown number of the extremist group’s militants. Somali security official Mohamed Nur Gabow told VOA Somali that U.S. forces played a “lead role” in the operation targeting Al-Shabaab officials. Residents in the village of Toratorow, about 100 kilometers southwest of the East African country’s capital of Mogadishu, said soldiers dropped from helicopters on the village’s outskirts and then went to their target on foot.
Gabow said the operation lasted for two hours and the troops met no resistance. He declined to identify the targets of the raid or specify how many militants had been killed or taken into custody. But the command center of the Somali national army told VOA that the raid had targeted an Al-Shabaab office that collects taxes. It said Al-Shabaab officers who were at the office were killed in the raid. A U.S. official confirmed that a joint operation took place but gave no specifics on the role of U.S. forces or any “battle damage assessment.”
Key Headlines
- US Somali Forces Target Al-Shabaab in Joint Helicopter Raid (Voice of America)
- MOCC Ends Its Meeting To View Situation In Somalia (Shabelle News)
- Despite Warnings Somalia Set To Send Domestic Workers To Saudi Arabia (Hiiraan Online)
- Al-Shabaab Suffers Casualty In Commando Raid (Shabelle News)
- US Faults Kenya’s Plan To Repatriate Refugees (Daily Nation)
- Finland Contributes EUR 4 Million Towards New Deal Implementation In Somalia (World Bank/Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
- These Three Somali American Mothers Insist Their Sons Didn’t Conspire To Help ISIS (PRI)
- The Migrants Taking On A Warzone (IRIN)
NATIONAL MEDIA
MOCC Ends Its Meeting To View Situation In Somalia
11 May – Source: Shabelle News – 339 Words
The Military Operations Coordination Committee (MOCC) for the African Union (AU) peace support operations convened its 18th meeting in Addis Ababa. The meeting, chaired by the AU Commissioner for Peace Security, Ambassador Smaïl Chergui, was attended by Chiefs of Defense Staff (CDS) of AMISOM Troop Contributing Countries (Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda). Representatives of partner countries and institutions (the United Kingdom, the United States of America, the European Union and the United Nations) also participated in the meeting.
The meeting took place in the wake of the AMISOM Troops and Police Contributing Countries Summit which took place on 28 February in Djibouti. The meeting provided an opportunity to exchange view on the situation in Somalia, as well as to provide an update on progress made on the implementation of the Outcomes of the Djibouti Summit. The MOCC stressed the need for better and coordinated efforts in support of the upcoming elections in Somalia and further acknowledged the electoral model adopted by Somalia.
The MOCC appreciated the role played by the Troops and Police contributing Countries in support of the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) towards the achievement of the political process in Somalia as well as the support provided to AMISOM by the UN and other partners. They stressed the need for concerted effort in mobilizing financial support to address the financing gap faced by AMISOM.
The meeting unanimously agreed to revise the AMISOM Concept of Operations (CONOPs) paving way for the redistribution of AMISOM force and the implementation of the next phase of offensive operations to neutralize Al Shabaab and also called for the full participation and cooperation of the Somali National Army (SNA) and the Somali Police Force (SPF) in the renewed efforts leading to the exit strategy. The MOCC noted the progress made in generation of Air Assets for AMISOM and reiterated the urgency of finalizing the process. While expressing appreciation to the international partners for the assistance extended so far to AMISOM and the Somalia, the MOCC called for an enhanced and coordinated support.
Despite Warnings, Somalia Set To Send Domestic Workers To Saudi Arabia
11 May – Source: Hiiraan Online – 306 Words
Somalia’s government says it would go ahead with a plan to send domestic workers to Saudi Arabia in spite of new reports of abuses against Somali workers lured by the promise of well-paid jobs in the Middle Eastern country. In January, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Labour announced the opening of recruiting operations of domestic workers from Somalia as parts of a new push for a new mass recruitment drive following the ban by some African and Asian countries to allow their citizens in Saudi Arabia.
Osman Liban, Somalia Deputy Minister of Labour told reporters that the government was planning to send 2000 Somali workers to Saudi Arabia in advance. “The plan is to send domestic workers, laborers, engineers, drivers and nurses.” He said on Tuesday. Despite calls to ban Somali domestic workers from working in the kingdom slammed by human rights organizations for its treatment of domestic workers, largely from Africa and Asia, Mr. Libah hinted plans to send regular 50,000 Somali workers to Saudi Arabia each year.
Saudi employers have a history of abusing foreign domestic workers working in the world’s largest oil exporter in what former workers described as an exploitation of desperate Africans facing grim choices, forcing many countries to ban their citizens from going to Saudi Arabia for work. Among the countries that recently banned its citizens from working in Saudi Arabia is Indonesia after two maids from the country were beheaded for murder in Saudi Arabia. Ethiopia, Kenya, Philippine and Uganda also joined the ban drive.
The development left domestic workers from Somalia the only alternative left for Saudi employers after most of African and Asians rejected their recruitment request. Some of the former domestic workers described their work conditions as grim, with employers forcing them to work extra hours even depriving them of sleep time sometimes.
Al-Shabaab Suffers Casualty In Commando Raid
11 May – Source: Shabelle News – 105 Words
The deputy governor of Lower Shabelle administration said they are currently figuring out the exact casualties inflicted on Al-Shabaab in a raid carried out by Somali commandos and U.S. forces. Omar Mohamud Elmi, the Deputy Governor said Al-Shabaab has suffered heavy casualties including deaths and injuries in the militant-controlled Toratorow raid. Speaking in an interview with VOA, unnamed senior U.S. official said American forces have helped Somali commandos in the raid against Al-Shabaab base. However, he did not disclose the casualties.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
US Faults Kenya’s Plan To Repatriate Refugees
11 May – Source: Daily Nation – 297 Words
The United States has raised concern over the Kenyan government’s declaration last week that it will close the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps. The Barack Obama administration joined the United Nations and other human rights groups in urging Kenya to rescind its decision to shut down the refugee the camps “within the shortest time possible.” “We call on Kenya to uphold its international obligations and not forcibly repatriate refugees,” State Department Press Relations Director Elizabeth Trudeau said in a statement emailed to the Nation.
The US also called on Kenya to continue cooperating with the UN and the Somalia government in carrying out a 2013 agreement on voluntary return of refugees. “The United States strongly supports the voluntary return of refugees in safety and dignity, when and where conditions are appropriate in their countries of origin, including in Somalia and South Sudan,” the State Department added. The US also said it “remains committed to working with Kenya and international partners to find durable solutions for refugees.”
Fewer than 10,000 of roughly 420,000 Somalis living in Dadaab and Kakuma have so far returned to their homeland in accordance with the tri-partite agreement. On Monday, the UN refugee agency said conditions in Somalia and South Sudan remain unsuitable for large-scale return of refugees. In the May 6 announcement, Interior Ministry Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho cited “Kenya’s national security interest” as the reason behind the decision to close the two camps.
Finland Contributes EUR 4 Million Towards New Deal Implementation In Somalia
11 May – Source: World Bank / Finland Ministry of Foreign Affairs – 344 Words
The Finland Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the World Bank signed an agreement today for Finland to provide EUR 4 million to the World Bank-administered Multi Partner Fund (MPF), a multi-donor trust established for New Deal implementation in Somalia.
Commenting on the Finnish contribution, H.E. Tarja Fernández, Ambassador of Finland to Somalia said that “Finland’s development co-operation is focused on least developed countries and fragile states. Finland lays particular emphasis on the strengthening of the developing countries’ own economies to promote employment, livelihoods and well-being. The MPF is an important tool to foster Somali economic recovery and governance reforms, including federalism, and it suits well Finland’s comprehensive approach to peace and development.”
The MPF provides a platform for coordinated financing for sustainable reconstruction and development in Somalia with a focus on core state functions and socio-economic recovery. The three key areas of thematic focus include: effective and accountable government, core economic infrastructure, and enabling economic growth.
“Finland joins the MPF at an exciting time. We are starting to see the roll out of the portfolio on the ground and a new level of sophistication in our engagement with the Somali authorities. The MPF is proving that the country systems are a viable means of delivering development programs in Somalia,” said Bella Bird, World Bank Country Director for Somalia.
These Three Somali American Mothers Insist Their Sons Didn’t Conspire To Help ISIS
11 May – Source: PRI – 414 Words
The mothers of the three young defendants file into the courtroom daily, in bright head scarves One clutches a pink and white cell phone. To the prosecution, they are the parents of ISIS terrorists. But the women insist on the innocence of their Somali American sons, who are standing trial in a federal court in Minneapolis on charges that include conspiracy to provide support to a terrorist group and to commit murder abroad.
The women all fled civil war in the Horn of Africa. Now the dream that America would provide a new life for their children has all but vanished. “All the allegations that are against my son are untrue. We are not terrorists. Never been and never will be,” Fadumo Hussein, mother of defendant Guled Omar, tells Minnesota Public Radio’s Doualy Xaykaothao. “We love this country more than you guys. We live here, we left a civil war, we know what it means.”
The women’s three sons are part of a group of nine Minnesota men arrested on charges of conspiring to travel to Syria to join ISIS. Six of the friends have pleaded guilty to lesser charges. Xaykaothao says the atmosphere in the Minneapolis courtroom is tense. Ayan Farah, the mother of defendant Mohamed Farah, told reporters she wasn’t permitted to return to the proceedings after she took a younger son to the restroom.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“The majority of migrants from the Horn of Africa now depart from Somaliland rather than braving the four-day walk through barren desert to reach Obock from the Ethiopian-Djiboutian border. The Djibouti route via Obock and the Red Sea has also gained a reputation for being more dangerous, with smugglers routinely assaulting, robbing and abducting their charges and holding them for ransom once they reach Yemen.”
The Migrants Taking On A Warzone
10 May – Source: IRIN – 1,293 Words
Newcomers don’t want to stay long in Obock. In the summer, 50°C temperatures and ferocious sandstorms sear this dusty port in Djibouti’s underdeveloped north. And yet this small town has become a haven for two very different groups. Travelling south are refugees fleeing the war in Yemen, 25 kilometres away across the Bab-el-Mandeb strait. Heading in the opposite direction: Ethiopian migrants taking smugglers’ vessels towards the very same conflict.
Nearly 35,000 people have made the journey southwards across the strait (which translates as ‘Gate of Tears’) to the tiny authoritarian state of Djibouti since March 2015, when Houthi Shia rebels overthrew the Yemeni government and Saudi Arabia responded with a relentless bombing campaign. Just over half are Yemeni. According to the Regional Mixed Migration Secretariat, which monitors movements between the Horn of Africa and Yemen, the rest are Somali refugees, Djiboutian returnees and other nationalities.
The Somalis and a small number of Eritreans are transferred to two camps in the south of the country and most of the Yemenis move on to Djibouti City, the capital. But not all have the resources to do so. Many of the 3,000 refugees stuck at Markazi camp, a few miles outside Obock, have already endured one summer of the hot, dusty winds known locally as the khamsin. The winds are so strong they can uproot tents and the refugees are dreading their arrival again this summer.
“We are scared [of] staying for another one, [but] what can we do about it?” asks Fawaz, who worked for an oil company in Aden before moving his wife and their four young children to Yemen’s capital Sana’a and then to Djibouti as the civil war spread. His tone is injured, close to anger. “We cannot move. So we have to suffer again.” The well-educated Fawaz, who teaches English to 55 students in the makeshift secondary school, is something of an oddity in the camp. Most of Markazi’s residents are from poor, fishing villages on Yemen’s Red Sea coast.
Abdullah, a 50-year-old father of six, thought he and his family would only be in Djibouti for a few days when they boarded his boat in September 2015 to avoid the Saudi bombs raining down on the village of Bab-el-Mandeb. “Prison in Saudi Arabia is better than this place,” he says dryly, sparking knowing laughter amongst the other refugees sheltering from the burning sun in a tent furnished with thin sleeping mats.
TOP TWEETS
@AMB_A_Mohammed : The Forum has attracted delegates from across Africa and beyond who will discuss business in the continent.
@SomaliPM : Had a informative and productive meeting with the#Somalia Youth discussed the upcoming election and their role
@HassanIstiila : #UPDATE Somali #commandos Forces claimed to have killed 15 fighters from #AlShabab during a raid in central #Somalia
@AfricaAtLSE : Don’t miss the @MinisterMOFA speak at LSE on 20/5 about #Somalia‘s Foreign Policy Prioritieshttp://bit.ly/1SNagEA
@MohamedAl_fatih : Good news! Issue 1 from the first Somali studies journal in #Somalia is out. http://isos.so/index.php/
@Eye_on_Somalia : #voa In Africa, Examining ‘Critical Vulnerabilities’ to Terrorism: U.S. lawmakers examining the thre… http://bit.ly/24MsRf6 #somalia
@aysanei : UPDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Paddy Ankunda has rejected the claim of #Ugandan forces to withdraw from#Somalia.
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Deputy Prime Minister Mohamed Omar Arteh and Peter de Clercq, the Deputy Special Representative for the UN Secretary-General (DSRSG , during a high-level roundtable meeting in Mogadishu that discussed durable solutions for IDPs.
Photo: UNSOM