May 21, 2015 | Daily Monitoring Report
Somalia Outrage At Remittance Bans
21 May – Source: BBC – 625 Words
Somalia’s president has lashed out at the government of neighbouring Kenya – accusing it of a “heavy-handed” approach to regional security, and specifically criticizing Kenya’s recent decision to clamp down on money transfer companies allegedly linked to the militant group, Al-Shabaab. In an interview with BBC News, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud described the remittance industry as “a lifeline” for millions of Somalis and for others across the region, and said “the massive closing of accounts, the closing of remittances” was counter-productive. Following the massacre of 148 students at Kenya’s Garissa University in April, the authorities shut down 13 Somali money transfer agencies, arguing that they were channelling funds to terrorists.
Asked if Kenya was mishandling the security threat posed by Al-Shabaab, President Hassan Sheikh said: “I would not say [they’re doing it] the wrong way. But I would say there are better ways to do it. I would have suggested that the Kenyan government change their strategy.” It is estimated that an astonishing $1.3bn (£840m) is sent to families in Somalia every year by relatives who fled the country during two decades of conflict, to join the diaspora.That is roughly half of Somalia’s gross national income – and 80% of total investment – easily eclipsing all international aid to the country. The World Bank estimates that 40% of all Somalis depend on remittances for their basic needs.
Key Headlines
- South West State To Reopen KM50 Airport (Goobjoog News)
- AMISOM To Receive Fighter Jets (Somali Current)
- Somali Minister For Internal Security Jets Off to Djibouti (Goobjoog News)
- Puntland Lashes Out At Galmudug Over Ownership Of Mudug Region (Wacaal News)
- AMISOM Police Commences Refresher Training In Belet Weyne (Goobjoog News)
- Somalia Denies Deal Over Deportees From Denmark (Horseed Media)
- 5 Suspected Al-Shabaab Militants Nabbed In Somalia (Xinhua)
- White Widow Samantha Lewthwaite ‘Commands Army Of 200 Female Jihadis And Is Called Mother of Holy War (Mirror)
- A Onetime Refugee Aims High (Harvard Gazette)
NATIONAL MEDIA
South West State To Reopen KM50 Airport
21 May – Source: Goobjoog News – 126 Words
The administration of South West State of Somalia has declared that the once operational KM50 airstrip would be reopened. This is after the president of South West Sharif Hassan Sheik Adan concluded 9 days visit to Lower Shabelle region and has issued a statement about decisions taken while there. After having a wide range of consultations with local elders, religious leaders and civil society, the administration has also decided to remove and ban illegal road blocks. To mobilize the masses towards self reliance and encouraging development. The president has toured and identified potential army barracks and training grounds for police force. The integration of army also featured the decisions of Sharif Hassan who has to harmonize working relationship between Somali National Army and his local forces.
AMISOM To Receive Fighter Jets
21 May – Source: Somali Current – 106 Words
UN special envoy to Somalia Nicholas Kay said African Union forces in Somalia are to receive fighter jets, engineers, and military equipment to help the fight against Al-Shabaab. Addressing the UN Security Council on Somalia progress, the ambassador said the military equipment including battle wagons and helicopters will increase the offensive against Al-Shabaab. “These military supplies will help fight Somalia National Army and African Union to get more capacity to push Al-Shabaab out of Somalia” he said. Early this year, US Defence Department donated Uganda Defence Forces who are part of AMISOM two aircrafts to facilitate the transportation of its soldiers to Somalia.
Somali Minister For Internal Security Jets Off to Djibouti
21 May – Source: Goobjoog News – 84 Words
Somali minister for internal security, Abdikadir Omar Mohamed accompanied by Somali police chief, Mohamed Sheikh Hassan Hamud have headed for the capital city of Djibouti on Wednesday. The minister is expected to conclude the ceremony of mentorship training for some of Somali Police Force (SPF) officers in Djibouti. Somali police chief has confirmed that they will attend conclusion ceremony of police training as he expressed confidence that the training will bear fruit as the Somali Police Force continues to improve on their skills and professionalism.
Puntland Lashes Out At Galmudug Over Ownership Of Mudug Region
21 May – Source: Wacaal News – 127 Words
Officials of the Puntland side of Mudug region have blasted their colleagues of Galmudug for claiming total ownership of the entire region. Speaking to the local media in Galkayo, Deputy Commissioner of the Puntland side of the region Ahmed Muse Nur accused Galmudug of fueling tension by issuing provocative statements. He warned them against claiming territories that belonged to Puntland especially at this time when a new state is in the offing for the other side of the region. It is not the first time the two sides exchanged heated arguments over ownership of the region which is currently shared by the two sides. Galmudug and Galgaduud regions are currently in the process of forming a semi-autonomous state in a conference that is going on in Adaado.
AMISOM Police Commences Refresher Training In Belet Weyne
21 May – Source: Goobjoog News – 173 Words
33 Mid-Level Management Officers of the Somali Police Force have begun a two-week refresher training course which is meant to equip the officers with the skills necessary to ensure vigilance and ability to detect as well as address any security threats across Somalia, in Belet Weyne town , as the provincial headquarter of Hiraan region continues to recover from the insecurity of the past years.
The training was launched in a colourful ceremony on Wednesday in Belet Weyne town in attendance with Hiraan administration, some of Somali police commanders, federal MPs and AMISOM officers. Belet Weyne Police commissioner Ali Dooh Mahad-Alle said that this training course will be one step forward and it will play important role in maintenance of law and order. I am very happy to witness this event and It will be conducted by AMISOM police trainers with the help of other AMISOM troops mentors at facilities in Belet Weyne district. Finally the commissioner noted that he has confidence in the officers are going under the training that they will make use of the chance.
Somalia Denies Deal Over Deportees From Denmark
21 May – Source: Horseed Media – 231 Words
Somalia’s Federal government has denied that it accepted to receive a number of deportees from the Danish government last week, an official has said. Director of Immigration and Citizenship department Mr Abdullahi Gafow dismissed reports claiming that the both sides have reached an agreement on the deportation of four Somali citizens who were forcibly brought back to Mogadishu. “There is no any agreement which we reached with the Denmark concerning that issue and there’s no way we will enter such an arrangement,’’ he said in an interview with the BBC Somali Service.He accused Danish officials of deceiving to the Somali deportees, by not informing them that they will repatriate them back to their home country.
“They lied to them by saying they will be taken to a different location but at the end found themselves deported to Mogadishu,’’ he added. Last year, Somalia’s government clearly refused to receive any forced deportees from the European Countries who had failed to get the asylum they were seeking for. Human rights and advocacy groups have voiced their concerns on deportation of Somalis seeking for asylum, saying that it represents a clear violation of international refugee conventions. Millions of Somalis fled the country after the Central government led by former President Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991. Most went to neighbouring African countries but large numbers sought sanctuary in Europe and America.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
5 Suspected Al-Shabaab Militants Nabbed In Somalia
20 May – Source: Xinhua – 173 Words
Five suspected members of the Somali militant group Al-Shabaab were captured Wednesday in a joint security operation in Mogadishu, officials said. The five, who are believed to have sneaked into the city with the intention of planning and causing terror attacks, were nabbed in hideouts in Hiliwa and Yaqshiid districts of the capital by Somalia National Army and the African Union backed force, AMISOM.
“We have been gathering intelligence about the five suspects and today the joint operation led to their capture. We sealed off the identified areas and a house-to-house search in the morning led us to the five suspects,” security ministry spokesman Mohamed Yusuf told media.
White Widow Samantha Lewthwaite ‘Commands Army Of 200 Female Jihadis And Is Called Mother of Holy War
20 May – Source : Mirror – 649 Words
A British extremist known as the ‘White Widow’ is commanding an army of 200 female jihadis and is known as the “Mother of Holy War”, according to reports coming out of Somalia. Samantha Lewthwaite, the widow of 7/7 bomber Germaine Lindsay, gained notoriety after fleeing the UK in the wake of the attacks and joining the Al-Shabaab terrorist group. Now she is said to be working in the organisation’s Intelligence Unit and is said to have masterminded the deaths of over 400 people in attacks carried out by her network of loyal followers.
One of her proteges was reportedly behind a recent suicide bombing at a hotel in the capital Mogadishu, killing 28 people. She has also been linked to the appalling killings of 148 students at a university in Kenya, and the raid on Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, which killed 67.
OPINION, ANALYSIS & CULTURE
“Reunited with her family, Dayib went to Fiji and Liberia, where she helped set up HIV prevention offices and trained health care providers for the U.N. over the next several years. Seeing Liberia, which had recently emerged from its own long-term strife, brought Dayib’s thoughts once again to her ancestral land. “Why can’t Somalia be like this? I want to be in an environment like this where you don’t hear gunfire, girls are going to school, women are working, people feel happy,” she said. ”
A Onetime Refugee Aims High
20 May – Source: Harvard Gazette- 782 Words
For Fadumo Dayib, the notion of home is a complicated one. A Mason Fellow in the Mid-Career Master in Public Administration program at the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), Dayib was born in Kenya, the daughter of uneducated Somali parents. Her father, a truck driver, and her mother, a “nomad,” had left Somalia to start their new life together in neighboring Kenya. But the history of political and ethnic tensions between the two countries meant she and her family were never accepted by Kenyan society, said Dayib. In 1989, they were arrested and deported amid the spread of civil war in Somalia.
“One of my earliest memories of being a second-class citizen, an unwanted person, a displaced person, was when they handed me a small card that said, ‘Go home,’” Dayib recalled. “And that was the boarding pass that I used to get on Somali Airlines to leave Kenya. ”Finland offered asylum to Dayib’s family, as it did to thousands of Somali refugees. But she felt that the refugee community was largely marginalized, tolerated but never truly wanted. Still, Dayib built a life there. She got married, had children, and found work as a nurse. Although she didn’t learn to read and write until age 14, she went on to get a master’s degree in health care sciences, and later a master’s in public health.
TOP TWEETS
@UNHCRSom:18 MAY: 7044 ppl fleeing #Yemen registered by #UNHCR in #Somaliland #Puntland & South Central#Somalia since 27 March
@amisomsomalia :VIDEO: @MamanSidikou1 & @Somalia111discuss the situation in Somalia at the United Nations Security Council. http://bit.ly/1Bdlmuh #Somalia
@horseed :#Somalia sends ship to evacuate citizens from strife-torn #Yemen http://wp.me/p47TZv-OLD
@Hamza_Africa: #AlShabaab wants to redraw #Somaliaborder, demands all non-Muslims to leave northern #Kenyahttp://bit.ly/1AgLdGx
@Aynte :In #Germany to restart German-Somali Cooperation, one of the most successful development schemes for #Somalia. Strong desire on both sides.
IMAGE OF THE DAY
AU Special Envoy to Somalia Amb. Maman Sidikou and SRSG Nicholas Kay met H.E Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, Foreign Minister of Ethiopia.
Photo: AMISOM