May 24, 2013 | Daily Monitoring Report.
Somali President participates in celebrations to mark 50th anniversary of AU in Addis Ababa
24 May – Source: Radio Kulmiye/Risaala/Hiiraan Online/Shabelle/ al Shahid – 145 words
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud and his delegation arrived Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa to attend celebration of the 50 anniversary of the founding of the African Union. And participate in the occasion, held at the headquarters of the African Union in Addis Ababa, the African heads of states and other countries in the world.
The spokesman for the Somali president Abdirahman Yarisow said in a statement to reporters that the Somali president will meet on the sidelines world leaders to discuss relations and cooperation.
According to sources in Federal Government, the Somali president will also meet with the heads of IGAD countries in Addis Ababa to discuss the issue of Jubaland state of Somalia.
Key Headlines
- Somali President participates in celebrations to mark 50th anniversary of AU in Addis Ababa (Radio Kulmiye/Risaala/Hiiraan Online/Shabelle/ al Shahid)
- Doctors warn parents not to refuse polio vaccine for their children (Radio Ergo)
- Man killed in clan affiliated revenge near Jowhar town (Bar-kulan)
- East African Stand by Force exercises in Uganda (Walta Information Centre)
- Kenya reopens registration of asylum seekers (People’s Daily/Capital FM)
- Mogadishu culture shock for diaspora Somalis (BBC)
PRESS STATEMENT
Prime Minister welcomes progress in parliament and outlines road ahead on Jubaland and Somaliland
24 May – Source: Prime Minister’s Media Office – 427 words
His Excellency Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon praised parliament’s decision to withdraw a planned no-confidence vote in the government and updated ministers on recent progress on Jubaland and ongoing discussions with Somaliland at the weekly Cabinet meeting. Commenting on recent events in parliament, the Prime Minister praised the lawmakers’ responsiveness to public concerns.
“First of all, parliament has an absolute democratic right to hold our government to account and it is quite right for it to do so in this manner. I welcome the decision lawmakers have taken to withdraw the no-confidence vote because they listened to the people’s concerns, they heard the public outcry, and the demand that the vote be stopped. They recognized that this would be a step backwards towards the chaos of the past, at the same time as providing a negative image for Somalia. They came to the right decision.”
The Prime Minister congratulated Somalis for making their voice heard during recent days and convincing parliament to change its mind. He said it demonstrated a welcome and newfound political maturity and showed the world that Somalis could resolve their own problems without relying on foreign intervention.
“This experience gives us a new momentum. It has been an important education for the government, providing an invaluable lesson about how to deal with a crisis by working closely with parliament to resolve it. I pay tribute to our political colleagues on all sides who came together to resolve their differences, and reached a Somali solution for a Somali problem, without the customary international intervention. It is a really encouraging sign of political maturity. And we know we need to deliver.”
Updating the Cabinet on the situation with Jubaland, the Prime Minister said he completely shared the region’s desires to build a federal state and reiterated the government position that this process needs to evolve within the constitutional framework. He had sent a delegation of parliamentarians and a government minister to Kismayo to discuss reconciliation and a way forward on state formation.
“Let me be quite clear about this. As a government we want a united, federal, stable Somalia. We support reconciliation, we support the fight against al Shabaab, we want Jubaland to become a federal state but this must happen in a legal way according to the constitution. This is what must be our guiding principle at all times. Look at what we are doing with regard to Somaliland. Negotiations are ongoing and we are looking forward to more progress at the talks in Turkey month. It is all happening in the proper manner.”
SOMALI MEDIA
Somali President participates in celebrations to mark 50th anniversary of AU in Addis Ababa
24 May – Source: Radio Kulmiye/Risaala/Hiiraan Online/Shabelle/ al Shahid – 145 words
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud and his delegation arrived Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa to attend celebration of the 50 anniversary of the founding of the African Union. And participate in the occasion, held at the headquarters of the African Union in Addis Ababa, the African heads of states and other countries in the world.
The spokesman for the Somali president Abdirahman Yarisow said in a statement to reporters that the Somali president will meet on the sidelines world leaders to discuss relations and cooperation.
According to sources in Federal Government, the Somali president will also meet with the heads of IGAD countries in Addis Ababa to discuss the issue of Jubaland state of Somalia.
Doctors warn parents not to refuse polio vaccine for their children
24 May – Source: Radio Ergo – 193 words
Health workers conducting an emergency child immunization exercise following the detection of the polio virus in Mogadishu are facing resistance from some communities. UNICEF coordinator of the immunization project in Mogadishu, Mohamed Hussein Omar, told Radio Ergo that some sections of the community were refusing to allow their children to be vaccinated because of fears that the vaccine contained the HIV virus leading to AIDS or could render children sterile.
“These are pure misconceptions that point to the low levels of awareness in the community,” he said. “Such widespread ignorance can only help to heighten the spread of the diseases we’re fighting in the community.” The start of the immunization campaign followed the Ministry of Public Service’s announcement last week that the polio virus had resurfaced in Mogadishu. Polio was declared to have been eradicated from Somalia six years ago.
Mohamed Hussein Omar emphasized that unvaccinated children in the region were at great risk of being infected with the poliovirus.Well known local doctor Mohamed Ahmed Shire, popularly known as Naturaale, urged stepping up awareness campaigns to help the community understand the importance of immunization in saving the lives of Somali children.
Man killed in clan affiliated revenge near Jowhar town
23 May – Source: Bar-kulan – 97 words
Reports from middle Shabelle region in southern Somalia suggest that gunmen have shot dead an ordinary civilian man on Wednesday night. The incident occurred in an area called Delma, located at the eastern side of Jowhar town, the capital of middle Shabelle region.
Some of the local residents on condition of anonymity told Bar-kulan that the killing was clan affiliated revenge. Residents say that the killing has sparked tension in the area.
A similar incident occurred in Barow, a village in the northern side of Jowhar town where gunmen killed two civilians and fled from the scene
Food runs out for Lasanod TB patients
24 May – Source: Radio Ergo – 252 words
Doctors say TB patients in Lasanod hospital are unable to swallow the powerful medicines prescribed because they are not being fed proper meals. Dr Abdi Mohamed Burale, head of the hospital’s TB ward, said they had sufficient drugs supplied by the World Health Organization, but could not feed the patients on the wards.
“We are in a difficult situation here; we have patients admitted to the wards with no relatives in town [to bring them food]. It is crucial for a TB patient under medication to eat well, for effective recovery,” Dr Abdi said.
There are 185 patients currently admitted to the hospital. Around half of them are not from the local area so have no relatives to visit them and bring food.
Omar Warsame Jama, a TB patient on the ward, said he was desperate. “I can’t even stand up I am so weak…I am starving…I’m praying for someone to help me with food. All we get here is some dry rice at midday, besides that there is nothing.”
Dr Abdi Mohamed called on aid agencies for support to enable the hospital to feed its needy patients. “There are many neglected sick people in this town, many uncared for patients. If we had some support, we would start a therapeutic feeding programme for our inpatients, and we would not be turning away people in need of our services,” he said.
REGIONAL MEDIA
East African Stand by Force exercises in Uganda
24 May – Source: Walta Information Centre – 160 words
Uganda has been hosting Operation “Mashariki Salam” of the East African Stand by Force (ESAF).
“Mashariki Salam” literally means “Peaceful Eastern Africa”; the Standby Force Exercise has drawn participants from 10 African countries: Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan and the host country Uganda.
This exercise which is designed to test the EASF command capability in planning, force generation, deployment, sustainability and recovery of a complex multi-dimensional peace support operation, is building on previous exercises held in Kenya, Djibouti and Sudan to test the readiness of the Eastern African Standby Force (EASF) to deploy.
It is supposed to help provide the Eastern African member states with a robust security mechanism ready to be applied in any conflict prevention or resolution within the region as well as be ready to be part of an AU stand by force. According to ERTA, it is expected to be fully operational by 2015.
Kenya reopens registration of asylum seekers
24 May – Source: People’s Daily/Capital FM – 152 words
The Kenyan government has reopened registration of asylum seekers mainly from Somalia after six months of closure, the UN refugee agency said in its latest update for Somalia on Thursday.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said the Department of Refugee Affairs (DRA) reopened registration of asylum seekers on May 8.
“This means that some 4,000 persons who have arrived to Dadaab since the closure of the latest two-week registration window on November 30, 2012 will now be registered and get access to services,” UNHCR said in its Update released in Nairobi.
In November 2013, the government stopped registration of refugees and asylum seekers mainly from Somalia in urban areas and closed all registration centers with immediate effect due to insecurity incidents across the country.
The government also ordered all Somali refugees and asylum seekers living in urban areas to return to the Dadaab refugee camp, located in northeast Kenya.
Khartoum Pledges to Continue Supporting Somalia
24 May – Source: Walta Information Centre – 104 words
Sudanese President, Omar Hassan Al-Bashir, pledged to continue to support Somali Federal Government. He held talks in Khartoum with a visiting Somali delegation led by Somali Defense Minister Abdihakin Hajji Mohamud Fiqi, according to MoFA.
During the meeting, the Defence Minister presented a message from Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud. The discussions covered the role of Sudan in assisting the people of Somalia.
Sudan signed on Wednesday an agreement to help strengthen the Somali National Armed Forces. The agreement was signed in presence of Sudan’s Minister of Defence, Abdel-Rahim Hussein and Somali’s Defense Minister Abdihakim Hajji Mohamud Fiqi.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Canadian sisters on front lines of rebuilding Somalia
23 May – Source: Star – 1029 words
The Elman sisters are bathed in the honey glow of Somalia’s late afternoon sun, the only sounds coming from an iPhone in a pink case that chirps continuously and the bursts of chatter from women upstairs. A sign in the corner of the office where they sit reads: “Real Men Don’t Rape.”
For those who know the Canadian sisters from Ottawa, it is rare to see them together, just talking, sitting still, not working on Somalia’s front lines.
Iman has just come from work and is still dressed in her military fatigues, a black hijab discreetly tucked beneath the lieutenant’s cap. She turns heads on Mogadishu’s streets: it is rare, if not unheard of, to have a female commander, let alone one who is only 21.
When she joined the military two years ago, women were given two pairs of pants to sew together to make a skirt. Knowing it would be hard to fight in a skirt, Iman told them one pair of pants would do. Now she commands 90 men in her battalion.
Mogadishu culture shock for diaspora Somalis
23 May – Source: BBC – 170 words
I’m sitting in a grimy corner of Villa Somalia – the once rather grand government building in the centre of Mogadishu – waiting to talk to a minister. “Would you like some tea?”It is the minister’s aide – Faiza Hassan – a cheerful woman in her mid twenties.
At first I thought she might be from Birmingham. She laughed at that. No, her accent is Swedish, with a little Dutch, and some Liverpudlian thrown in. “I’ve been back for four months now,” she says. “This city takes some getting used to.” It certainly does.
After two decades of anarchy and misery, Mogadishu is enjoying something of a renaissance. The spectacular ruins are being patched up. Hotels are being built. There are even streetlights in some places. And everywhere, you hear the accents: Texan, Geordie, Minnesotan, south London, Scandinavian. Somalia’s far-flung diaspora is coming back – in big numbers – to visit, to help out, to make money, and to find out if this renaissance has any chance of lasting.
Ten dead in Somalia after al Shabaab clash with Ethiopian troops
23 May – Source: UPI – 87 words
About 10 people are believed to have been killed in clashes between Ethiopian troops and al-Shabaab insurgents in the Somali city of Beledweyn, officials say.
The fighting began after al-Shabaab fighters opened fire on residents of a small town on the outskirts of the city, Shabelle Media Network reported Thursday.
Ethiopian troops quickly arrived, causing the insurgents to retreat, said Isaq Ali Abdulle, commander of government forces in the region. Government forces secured the area, but not before the militants caused more damage to property, Abdulle said.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“Somalia and its inhabitants will undoubtedly encounter many roadblocks as it develops its stability, security, and economic independence, but a journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single foot step and this successful election was more than one lone step.”
Outside View: Somalia’s Jubaland
24 May- Source: UPI-865 Words
Following a quarter-century of civil wars and absentee governance, Jan. 17 of this year saw the United States recognize the modern state of the Federal Republic of Somalia after President Hassan Sheik Mohamud traveled to Washington to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Much ado was made about the recognition of the newly legitimized government but inconsistent coverage of subsequent events has left much of the world in the dark about how the new Somali government is performing.
As news coverage of U.S. defense and security issues in the intervening four months has centered on sequestration, personnel appointments, the Afghan drawdown and the pivot to Asia, there are many formative events transpiring in the Horn of Africa that that have garnered little coverage in Western media.
Recent reporting on events across Somalia has delivered piecemeal information but provides little context for those who haven’t been carefully following the complex developments and relationships taking shape within in the nascent state of Somalia.
“The film opens as (Maano) is learning that he has one last family member remaining that’s alive. He has a sister that’s alive and on the other side of the country and it’s just how it changes him in the process of searching for his sister, how finding such news, what that does to someone’s soul.”
K’naan pens screenplay about war-torn roots
23 May- Source: The Record-785 Words
Somali-Canadian rapper K’naan has long drawn musical inspiration from his troubled homeland. Now he says he’s ready to make a film about his war-torn roots.
The Toronto-bred poet, rapper, singer and songwriter has penned a screenplay he hopes to direct and shoot in Somalia, about an artistic orphan named Maano who joins a mercenary killing squad.
K’naan says he’s excited to fine-tune the script and develop his director’s vision on Monday, when he begins a month-long stint at the Sundance Institute’s annual directors and screenwriters labs in Utah.
“I’m so curious, that’s what it is, more than anything else,” K’naan said in a recent interview from Los Angeles, where he was working on a new album.
Top tweets
@gcmcSomalia #Somalia Somalia: Somaliland Fact Sheet May 2013 http://bit.ly/11hhbjp #crisismanagement
@itsmefatima_ #Somalia. Such a beautiful country back in the days before the war , insha Allah it’ll be that way and better againpic.twitter.com/GMQU7DRHId
@Hamza_Africa Ones again Amin Amir draws another interesting cartoon on the current political climate in #Somalia.#Mogadishu pic.twitter.com/e8TRJfVHvg
@Anisa_Hajimumin We must address #poverty in the region, be aware of how much it effects women and deal with it justly.#Somalia #GlobalChange @jamalo31
@unposomalia: #Somalia: new film illustrates how #UNcontributed to country’s landmark achievements in 2012:http://ow.ly/lgrJH
Image of the day
Soldiers representing several of the troop contributing countries to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) laugh together before the start of an event held in Mogadishu, Somalia, on May 23 to mark the African Union’s 50th anniversary. Photo: AMISOM