May 19, 2015 | Daily Monitoring Report
South-West State President Escapes Assassination Attempt
19 May – Source: Goobjoog News – 128 Words
The president of Interim South-West State, Shariif Hassan Sheikh Adan has survived an assassination attempt when a landmine blast targeted his motorcade. The convoy was attacked on the road between Afgooye and Arbiska localities and no casualties were reported. The spokesman for the South-west State, Abdikadir Mohamed Ashara (Nadarta) speaking to reporters in the administrative capital Baidoa said that the blast has occurred but the regional leader is save. “The leader’s vehicle had already passed the area and he was safe. He was on his way to Mogadishu for a function” he said. No group has yet claimed the responsibility but Al-Shabaab normally attacks the federal government officials and whoever they think, is having relations with it.
Key Headlines
- South-West State President Escapes Assassination Attempt (Goobjoog News)
- Residents Of Lower Jubba Take To The Streets Protesting Against Motion Tabled In Federal Parliament On Jubbaland (Wacaal Media)
- Mogadishu Mayor Pledges Resettlement For Returning Refugees (Goobjoog News)
- Minister of Defense Visits Kismaayo (Radio Muqdisho)
- Ban Ki-Moon: Yemen Crisis Could Open Jihadist Path Through Somalia (Economic Times)
- Somalia Evacuates 95 Nationals From Yemen: Official (Xinhua)
- Muslim Preacher Charged In Nairobi Court With Incitement To Kill ( Daily Nation)
- Where there is oil and gas there is Schlumberger (The Guardian)
- Meeting Maternal And Child Health Needs In A Complex Operating Environment (IFRC)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Residents Of Lower Jubba Take To The Streets Protesting Against Motion Tabled In Federal Parliament On Jubbaland
19 May – Source: Wacaal Media- 128 Words
Residents of Kismaayo and several major towns in Lower Jubba region which fall under the interim Jubbaland state have held protests following a decision by more than 40 Federal MPs to table a motion against their administration. The processions were held in Afmadoow, Badhaadhe and Dhobley bringing together the youth, women, professionals and traditional elders as well as business people among others. Local administrators were also present to voice their displeasure with the move by the federal MPs. The protest comes even as senior officials of the administration led by Vice presidents Abdullahi Sheikh and Suldan Abdullahi have already raised their voice against the motion.
Mogadishu Mayor Pledges Resettlement For Returning Refugees
19 May – Source:Goobjoog News – 76 Words
The mayor of Mogadishu Hassan Hussein Mungab who called in a live fundraising radio programme on Goobjoog has pledged to help resettle the returning Somali refugees from Yemen.The mayor has also donated his salary of two months which amounts for $12,000 US Dollars and urged the municipal employees to follow suit. He was speaking at a time when hundreds of Somali refugees are returning to Somalia as they fled from violence in Yemen.
Minister Of Defense Visits Kismaayo
19 May – Source: Radio Muqdisho- 104 Words
Minister of Defense of the Somali Federal Government, H.E. Abdukadir Sh. Ali Diini has reached Kismaayo, the administrative capital of Jubaland Interim Administration today.
Officials of Jubba welcomed the Minister of Defense, Ali Dini at the airport and had meeting over the integration of National Army.Mr. Diini, the Minister of Defense said he was pleased to pay visit to the coast town of Kismayo and hold talks with regional leader, Ahmed Madobe. The Federal Government of Somalia is doing its best to build National Army and set a commission working how to join militias together recently.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Ban Ki-moon: Yemen Crisis Could Open Jihadist Path Through Somalia
19 May – Source: Economic Times – 403 Words
UNITED NATIONS : Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned in a new report that the crisis in Yemen could open a corridor for jihadist movements through Somalia, which is located just across the Gulf of Aden. Ban said in a report to the U.N. Security Council circulated Monday that security in Somalia and the region is threatened by the Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab. He pointed to continuing Al-Shabaab attacks in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu and the country’ central and southern regions as well as increased activities in Somalia’s semi-autonomous region of Puntland and the massacre of 147 students at Garissa University College in neighboring Kenya in April.
“At the same time, the crisis in Yemen has the potential to further destabilise the region and open a corridor for jihadist movements through Somalia,” Ban warned.Yemen had long suffered from desperate poverty, political dysfunction and Al-Qaida’s most dangerous offshoot. It became more unstable in recent months as Houthi rebels, who are Shiite, seized much of the country and chased Yemen’s internationally recognized president into exile. That prompted the Saudis and other Gulf Arab states to intervene.
The U.N. chief said he remains “greatly concerned” about security in Somalia, the increased Al-Shabaab activity in Puntland, “and the security implications of developments in Yemen.”
Somalia Evacuates 95 Nationals From Yemen: Official
18 May – Source: Xinhua – 269 Words
Somalia on Monday evacuated 95 nationals from the war-ravaged Yemen as part of the government’s effort to evacuate its citizens from the Arabian Peninsula nation.State Minister of Interior Abdi Rashid Hidig told Xinhua that a joint mission by Somali government and international aid agencies in Yemen had managed to repatriate several Somalis in the capital, Sana’a, and many others are still waiting to be rescued.
“There are still thousands of Somalis trapped in Yemen and we are doing our best to ensure they are all safely rescued and transported home. We will still continue with this exercise in the coming days until we are sure all Somalis are back home safely,” Hidig said. Mohamed Hussein, who was among the returnees landed in Mogadishu Monday, told Xinhua his arrival at Aden Ade Airport was a great relief.
“Life was extremely difficult in Yemen. When the Saudi airstrikes started, everything changed and it was a struggle to live. We have been waiting for our government to come for us and finally today we are home safely,” said Hussein.
Muslim Preacher Charged In Nairobi Court With Incitement To Kill
19 May – Source: Daily Nation – 452 Words
An Islamic preacher who police linked to the Garissa University College attack was on Monday charged in Nairobi with inciting Muslims to kill non-Muslims.Hassan Mahat Omar faces a 30-year jail term if convicted.The prosecution said he committed the offence on or before March 6, 2015 at Al-Hidaya Mosque in Nairobi’s Eastleigh estate.The offensive utterances — although not included in the particulars of the charge sheet which was read out in court — are allegedly contained in a compact disk titled Sheikh Hassan and which the police say the preacher personally published.
Mr Omar is facing another case in which he is charged alongside his wife Fordosa Mohammed with being found in possession of two hand grenades.
The case is pending judgment at the Milimani Law Courts. On Monday, prosecutor Daniel Karori opposed his release on bail, saying he was a terror suspect.“He faces a serious charge of inciting Muslims to kill non-Muslims and another case of being found in possession of explosives, of which point to the involvement of the accused person in offences against the public.“We also ask the court to take judicial notice of the numerous terrorist attacks that target non-Muslims and deny him bail,” Mr Karuri submitted.
OPINION, ANALYSIS & CULTURE
“Somalia could be one of the great untapped sources of offshore oil, if someone can secure a deal to find and extract it, and if anyone can, it’s the company these men work for. The African nation is one of the most politically unstable, unsafe, and corrupt countries in the world, one of the toughest places for any business to think of operating.as there is Schlumberger”
Where There Is Oil and Gas There Is Schlumberger
18 May – Source: The Guardian – 2,911 Words
In the dying hours of a high-level conference on the banks of the Thames late in April, two oil executives are sitting patiently waiting on faded leather chairs in the lobby of a five-star Tower Bridge hotel, briefcases, architects’ plans and a folded flipchart pad at their feet.The two bespectacled executives, looking much like soberly-suited bank managers, soon disappear into a private room to meet with Dr Abdullahi Haider, a senior adviser to the Somalian government, and a Canadian middleman, emerging an hour or so later.
Somalia could be one of the great untapped sources of offshore oil, if someone can secure a deal to find and extract it, and if anyone can, it’s the company these men work for. The African nation is one of the most politically unstable, unsafe, and corrupt countries in the world, one of the toughest places for any business to think of operating.
But that is what Schlumberger – the biggest company you’ve never heard of – do, if the rewards are great enough. Schlumberger were the “gold” sponsors of the conference, a two-day event attracting around a 100 delegates to discuss how to unlock Somalia’s potentially vast, and so far untapped, oil and gas reserves.
The contents of the four men’s discussions as the conference organisers packed up around them, and of their tubes of plans, remain confidential. The executives, characteristically of the secretive oil giant, declined to tell The Guardian what they had discussed.
“The cooperation between the Somali Red Crescent Society and the local health authorities has enabled hard-to-reach communities to access healthcare, bridging the gap between the formal and community health systems. By the end of 2014, the National Society was operating 68 static and 29 mobile clinics across all the 19 regions of the country, enabling communities to access healthcare services. Overall, 154,546 pregnant women sought antenatal care. A total of 10,715 babies were delivered in clinics with 70,181 women accessing postnatal care services during the same period,”
Meeting Maternal And Child Health Needs In A Complex Operating Environment
18 May – IFRC Health Communications- 796 Words
“About two months ago a teenage girl committed suicide. She was pregnant. Pregnancy before marriage is not acceptable in this society. Even if the girl was to go to a clinic, she would have been turned away. She simply would not have been able to access the required care. Talking about sexual and reproductive health is still regarded as a taboo in my society, young people need increased access to education in reproductive health”, says Mahmuud Suleiman Mohamed, a volunteer with the Somali Red Crescent Society. “Not letting adolescent girls have access to reproductive health is a human rights violation. This must end”, he adds.
The maternal and child mortality rates for Somalia are amongst the highest in the world. In terms of under-five mortality, Somalia ranks four (UNICEF). “Some of the major challenges Somali mothers face are linked to lack of access to emergency obstetric care for timely treatment of childbirth-related complications such as haemorrhage, obstructed labour and infection”, says Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed, Deputy National Health Officer with the Somali Red Crescent Society in Mogadishu.
Since 1991, the Somali Red Crescent Society has been delivering integrated healthcare programmes to the communities initially with a network of static maternal and child health outpatient clinics and later, mobile health units across the three zones, i.e. Somaliland, Puntland and central and south Somalia.
TOP TWEETS
@Hamza_Africa :New #Somali police chief, Gen. Mohamed Sh. Hassan, bans officers from chewing khat while on duty.#Somalia
@SomaliaNewsroom:UNSOM’s mandate in #Somalia is expected to be renewed on May 26 http://www.whatsinblue.org/
@RadioErgo:Dadaab refugees mostly not ready to go home yet#Somalia @UNHCRSom http://bit.ly/1FqtfBP
@Zahraqoranne :We Somalis, need to learn from our country’s history both the good times and the bad times.#Somalia
@UNSomalia Briefing to the #AU Peace & Security Council by@UN Special Representative for #Somalia, Nicholas Kay (@Somalia111): http://bit.ly/1cL3y3x
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Waberi District Commissioner and AMISOM Police officers pose for a group photo after a community policing meeting convened by AMISOM Police at Wadajir district offices.
Photo: AMISOM