May 22, 2018 | Daily Monitoring Report
Mogadishu’s Mayor Estimates Flooding Caused $35 Million In Damages
22 May – Source: Hiiraan Online – 284 Words
The Mayor of Mogadishu and Governor of Banadir, Abdirahman Omar Osman (Eng. Yarisow) has said the heavy rains that have pounded the Capital over the past two days have resulted in a financial loss estimated at $35 million US dollars. The Mayor anticipates that the dollar value may rise as city officials continue to assess the situation in and around Mogadishu.
In addition to the damage to infrastructure and homes, Eng. Yarisow added there was a growing humanitarian crisis as crestfallen residents in some of the worst-hit district continue to search for food and medical supplies. He said his administration was struggling to cope with the heavy rains and subsequent flooding that has led to the deaths of at least 6 people – three of them being children under the age of 12. Mogadishu officials have counted at least 301 houses which have collapsed or been destroyed and many of the capital’s main roads remain severely flooded.
The Mayor warned that heavy rains had severely worsened the situation for residents living in IDP camps in Mogadishu, adding that some people had been evacuated. People living in IDP camps often have limited access to proper hygiene facilities, and therefore risks of cholera outbreak and other water-borne diseases are bound to be on the increase. The Mayor called on aid agencies and Mogadishu residents to lend a helping hand to those in dire need assistance.
“I call upon aid agencies and the general public who have access to food and medical supplies to assist those affected. “ The Mayor thanked the people of the Capital and the army for their role in emergency response efforts. Light showers and thunderstorms are in the weatherman’s forecast through to Tuesday night.
Key Headlines
- Mogadishu’s Mayor Estimates Flooding Caused $35 Million In Damages (Hiiraan Online)
- 25 Dead And 27 Missing In Somaliland As Cyclone Hammers The Region (Goobjoog News)
- Jubbaland Leader Orders Probe On NGOs (Halbeeg News)
- Piracy Incidents Double Off Coast Of East Africa In 2017: Study (Xinhua)
- Soldiers Commemorate The 25th anniversary Of Australia’s Somalia Mission (Singletonargus.com)
- Mogadishu Minnesota (City Journal)
NATIONAL MEDIA
25 Dead And 27 Missing In Somaliland As Cyclone Hammers The Region
22 May – Source: Goobjoog News – 219 Words
Heavy rains and flooding have claimed 25 lives and another 27 people are still missing in Somaliland, authorities have said. A further 12 people were injured. Somaliland presidency released the figures on Monday adding that 167,250 families living along the coastal strip had been affected by the floods. Cyclone Sagar was first experienced in Somaliland and Puntland on Friday and stretched into Djibouti causing major flooding, mass displacement of populations and even death.
Hundreds of livestock have also been killed in the floods as humanitarian agencies and governments work round the clock to avert further human suffering and destruction of property. At least 700 farms have been been destroyed with an estimated 80 percent of the livestock dying as a result, a statement from Somaliland presidency added.
Areas mainly affected in Somaliland are Saahil, Salel, Awdal and Sanag. Somaliland deputy president Abdirahman Saylihi visited the affected families in the regions on Monday. Somaliland’s two main ports, Hargeisa Airport and Berbera Seaport, which are vital to the delivery of aid to the region, remain closed because of damage caused by the floods. As a result, agencies are warning of food shortages for the next few weeks, potentially putting thousands of children’s lives at risk, particularly those who are already food insecure, said the “Save the Children” charity on Monday.
Jubbaland Leader Orders Probe On NGOs
22 May – Source: Halbeeg News – 315 Words
The leader of Jubbaland state, Ahmed Mohamed Madoobe, has directed thorough investigations into humanitarian agencies operating in the state following reports of alleged ghost projects. Madoobe sent a stern warning to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and their partners to halt ghost projects. The leaders did not mention the names of the agencies despite circulating reports claiming that the authorities seized documents of non-existing projects submitted by a number of NGO partners in Kismayo town. “We tell those NGOs to drop the idea of benefiting from non-existent projects,” said Madoobe.
He ordered the security agencies to launch investigations into the aid and development agencies operating in the state. “We are calling upon the security agencies to start probing the projects implemented earlier, and operations of NGOs in Jubbaland,” he ordered. He noted that his administration will collaborate with aid agencies and other organisations to help people in Jubbaland state in a more transparent way. “We are here to work with NGOs with a view to help our people. We will provide them whatever they need but we will not tolerate the agencies to implement dubious projects in our state,” he said.
Following the allegations, the President held discussions with officials from several NGOs based in Kismayo on a wide range issues including transparency, collaboration as well as security. Speaking at the meeting, Madoobe told the officials that their organizations have not been operating actively in the state. “I am not against your work nor do I hate the NGOs but it is clear that there is no work done,” said Madoobe.
He urged the heads of the aid agencies in the state to help flood victims and Internally Displaced Persons in the state. “Jubbaland appeals support for those IDPs in major towns and the victims of the recent floods,” he urged. Dozens of local and international aid organizations operate in Kismayo and other towns of Jubbaland state.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Piracy Incidents Double Off Coast Of East Africa In 2017: Study
22 May – Source: Xinhua – 400 Words
The number of piracy incidents doubled off the coast of East Africa in 2017 compared to 2016, an international maritime body said in its latest report released on Monday. This indicates that Somali criminal networks are still capable of sophisticated attacks, according to the report by One Earth Future (OEF)’s Oceans Beyond Piracy program.
The report calls for new approach to combat maritime threats as the total number of piracy/armed robbery attacks against foreign vessels increased to 54 in 2017 compared to 27 in 2016. “Pirate activity in 2017 clearly demonstrates that pirate groups retain their ability to organize and implement attacks against ships transiting the region,” said Maisie Pigeon, the report’s lead author.
The organization said the total cost of Somali piracy remains within the historical norm of the past three years, noting that there was a 13 percent decrease in the use of privately contracted armed security personnel between January 2015 and December 2017. The study says crew members of the FV Siraj still remain in captivity after three years of hijack, noting that a total of 1,102 seafarers were affected by piracy and armed robbery in the Western Indian Ocean region in 2017. “Additional threats complicate the maritime security picture in the Western Indian Ocean region, including spillover into the maritime space from the political conflict in Yemen,” says the report.
According to maritime experts, Somali pirates tend to be well armed with automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenade (RPG) and sometimes use skiffs launched from mother vessels, which may be hijacked fishing vessels or dhows, to conduct attacks far from the Somali coast. The experts said lack of economic opportunities and the prevalence of illegal fishing are pushing more Somalis to turn to piracy – partly as a form of protest and partly because they see no other options. “There are now a wide range of threats to shipping near the Horn of Africa that have been complicated by the conflict and instability in Yemen,” said Phil Belcher, Marine Director of Intertanko.
“We are advising our members to consider a more comprehensive security assessment to take into account other threats beyond traditional piracy emanating from the regional conflict in Yemen,” Belcher said. The report analyzes the human and economic impacts of maritime piracy and robbery at sea in the Western Indian Ocean Region, the Gulf of Guinea, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean.
Soldiers Commemorate The 25th anniversary Of Australia’s Somalia Mission
21 May – Source: Singletonargus.com – 231 Words
In a bush setting at Lone Park Barracks soldiers gathered on May 14 to mark the 25th anniversary of Australia’s involvement in what was known as the Somalia Mission. Delivering the address to mark the commemoration was the School of Infantry’s Regimental Sergeant Major, Warrant Officer Class 1 (WO1), Adrian Hodges who served in the Somalia Mission as a member of the 1 RAR Battalion commanded by Lieutenant Colonel David Hurley.
WO1 Hodges told the assembled soldiers that Australia provided 990 personnel for the Mission that concluded on May 13, 1993. At the time the soldiers were sent into Somalia, the country had descended into virtual anarchy, with violent gangs operating at will preventing international aid being delivered to the population at a time of famine. “The food shortage became a famine in which about 300,000 people died,” said WO1 Hodges. The Australians were part of the United Nations – Unified Task Force – Somalia who were given a mandate to use all necessary means to enable aid agencies to distribute humanitarian relief and they achieved this aim. “The experience of being exposed to the waste of human life, murder of innocents, the lack of water and sewerage facilities and the total decay of human values was a shock to many, it was however an experience most will never forget. To this day Somalia remains a failed state,” said WO1 Hodges.
OPINION, ANALYSIS & CULTURE
“Somali Minnesotans occasionally appear in the headlines as “Minnesota men” who have taken up terrorist jihad. In 2015, ten such Minnesota men were charged with seeking to join ISIS in Syria; six pleaded guilty and three were convicted in June 2016 (one is presumed dead in Syria)”
Mogadishu, Minnesota
21 May – Source: City Journal – 930 Words
When it was noted that the carry-on bags of multiple airline passengers traveling from Minneapolis to Somalia contained millions of dollars in cash, on a regular basis, law enforcement was naturally curious to know where the money came from and where it was going. It soon emerged that millions of taxpayer dollars, and possibly much more, had been stolen through a massive scam of Minnesota’s social-services sector, specifically through fraudulent daycare claims. To make matters worse, the money appears to have wound up in areas of Somalia controlled by al-Shabab, the Islamic jihadist group responsible for numerous terrorist outrages.
Starting in the 1990s, the State Department directed thousands of refugees from Somalia’s civil war to Minnesota, which is now home to the largest population of Somalis outside Somalia itself. As the Washington Times noted in 2015, in Minnesota, these refugees “can take advantage of some of America’s most generous welfare and charity programs.” Professor Ahmed Samatar of Macalester College in St. Paul observed, “Minnesota is exceptional in so many ways but it’s the closest thing in the United States to a true social democratic state.” A high-trust, traditionally homogenous community with a deep civil society marked by thrift, industriousness, and openness, Minnesota seemed like the ideal place to locate an indigent Somali population now estimated at 100,000.
Public discussion of the resulting contradictions has been limited, to say the least. Minnesota governor Mark Dayton has sought to stifle public discussion with tired imputations of bigotry and intolerance. Indeed, he advised native Minnesotans with qualms about immigrant resettlement to move out. “If you are that intolerant, if you are that much of a racist or a bigot, then find another state,” he said. “Find a state where the minority population is 1 percent or whatever. It’s not that in Minnesota.” Dayton also made an economic argument that did not exactly fit the case of Third World immigrants who are themselves heavy consumers of welfare benefits. “Our economy cannot expand based on white, B+, Minnesota-born citizens. We don’t have enough,” he said. A trust-fund baby himself, Dayton was engaging in a classic case of projection. It was certainly not an invitation to debate.
A September 2015 report of the House Homeland Security Committee task force on combating terrorist and foreign-fighter travel revealed that Minnesota led all states in contributing foreign fighters to ISIS. Reviewing the public cases of 58 Americans who joined or attempted to join ISIS, the task force found that 26 percent of them came from Minnesota. Somali Minnesotans occasionally appear in the headlines as “Minnesota men” who have taken up terrorist jihad. In 2015, ten such Minnesota men were charged with seeking to join ISIS in Syria; six pleaded guilty and three were convicted in June 2016 (one is presumed dead in Syria).
TOP TWEETS
@sntvnews1: AMISOM, SNA Troops Step Up Efforts To Counter IED Attacks On Convoys
#Somalia
@DalsanFM: #Somaliland calls for swift international assistance after the tropical cyclone Sagar wrecked havoc upon its landfall. Rescue efforts underway after 15+ people died and livestock perished in the Awdal region where @VPsomaliland visited to assess the situation.
@SC_Somalia: Hundreds of thousands of children affected after Tropical Cyclone Sagar sweeps over Somaliland. | Somalia/Somaliland | Save the Children https://somalia.
@mukhtaryare: Inside the Minnesota State Capitol on Monday, Sadia Wasame carried a sign protesting allegations of fraud and funding terrorism made in a Fox 9 story. : @efrostee.https://www.mprnews.org/story/
@USAIDSomalia: Learn how educational programs in #Somaliacan help counter violent extremism. @washingtonposthttp://ow.ly/Z59U30k63PO @USAID @US2SOMALIA@USAIDEducation
@SLMoNPD: #Somaliland Government is working with the humanitarian partners to provide food, shelter, non-food items, hygiene kits, and WASH and health services for the heavily-affected areas in Lughaya district, Awdal region. #Sagar
@GuledWiliq: “The government delegation includes Mr. Abdirahman Ahmed Abdulle who is Puntland’s Minister of Labour who is listed as an advisor and substitute delegate. No other federal member state is included in the government delegation” @ILOSomalia #InclusionMatters
@Free_Somaliweyn: #Update : Two civilians killed & two soldiers wounded in the explosion after a landmine struck a military convoy in Muqdisho #Somalia
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Somaliland Vice President Abdirahman Saylici and other government officials on a tour of the cyclone affected areas in Awdal region.
Photo: @DalsanFM