May 26, 2017 | Morning Headlines
Talks Between Emir & Somalia President Fruitful
26 May – Source: The Peninsula – 388 words
Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani described the talks held here yesterday between Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and the President of the Republic of Somalia, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmajo as ‘successful’ and ‘fruitful.’ During a joint press conference with the Somali Foreign Minister, Yussef Jarad Omar Ahmed following their meeting yesterday, Sheikh Mohammed said the discussions between the two leaders dealt with a number of issues of mutual interest, especially the development of bilateral relations and the support for the new Somali government in its efforts to enhance security and stability.
The Foreign Minister stressed Qatar’s support for the Somali government in its efforts to combat terrorism and extremism, and our condemnation of the recent criminal acts that threatened the security and stability of Somalia.” The Somali Foreign Minister said the two leaders have agreed to continue communication and there will be bilateral cooperation programmes. The meeting agreed upon Qatar’s support for the budget of the Somali government, which will begin this month, in addition to supporting the development of the Somali security capabilities along with programme of economic empowerment and job creation for Somali youth, he added, referring to the agreement on the support of Qatar for the efforts of the Somali government to achieve a comprehensive national reconciliation.
The Somali government requested the support of Qatar to facilitate and conduct dialogues to end the crisis, he said, adding that Qatar has expressed its keenness to provide this support in cooperation with some friendly countries. Sheikh Mohammed stressed the historical relations between Qatar and Somalia, calling on Arab and Islamic countries to support the new Somali government. For his part, the Somali Foreign Minister paid tribute to the efforts being exerted by Qatar in support of his country in various circumstances, expressing gratitude over Qatar’s support to Somalia over the past years.
Key Headlines
- Talks Between Emir & Somalia President Fruitful (The Peninsula)
- Somaliland: Journalist Oldon Freed On Presidential Pardon (Somali Update)
- Puntland Ministers Slam Mogadishu’s Claims Of Sabotaging Talks In Seychelles (Garowe Online)
- Somalia Military Court Executes Militant Over Attacks (Xinhua)
- Turkey To Send 15000 Tons Of Aid To Somalia In Ramadan (Anadolu Agency)
- The Sex Slaves Of Al-Shabaab (BBC)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Somaliland: Journalist Oldon Freed On Presidential Pardon
25 May – Source: Somali Update – 273 words
Somaliland authorities on Thursday freed journalist and social activist Abdimalik Muse Oldon after the breakaway region’s President Ahmed Mohamud Silanyo pardoned him. He was sentenced to two-year jail term on April 8th, 2017, for accusations related to violating the sovereignty of Somaliland and offending the prestige of Somaliland leaders but he was first jailed by police in the capital of Somaliland, Hargeisa upon return from Mogadishu on 15 February 2017, where he attended celebrations to welcome the election of President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo.
Shortly after he was released from Hargeisa Prison on Thursday morning, Journalist Oldon said he was glad to regain his freedom. “I am planning to hold a press conference shortly in which I shall detail several issues relating to my arrest and the release today but I would like to confirm first of all that I was treated well in the last 3 months and 10 days I spent in prison,” Oldon noted. Meanwhile the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) immediately hailed Oldon’s release urging Somaliland to improve the freedom of the press. “We are glad that our colleague Abdimalik Muse Oldon finally got his freedom back and welcome his release,” Mr. Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimuu, the Secretary General of the NUSOJ said on Thursday.
“We hope and urge the Somaliland authority improve the freedom of the press,” Moalimuu added. The arrest of Journalist Oldon attracted both local and international condemnation as it marked the deteriorating situation of the press freedom in Somaliland. Somaliland declared its independence from the rest of Somalia in 1992 following the collapse of Somalia’s military government but the region has not yet been recognized internationally.
Puntland Ministers Slam Mogadishu’s Claims Of Sabotaging Talks In Seychelles
25 May – Source: Garowe Online – 326 words
The Ministry of Fishery and Marine Resources of Puntland has slammed recent accusation made by Federal Minister of Fishery claiming that Puntland had role in failing conference aimed to reach agreement on marine fishing revenues. The talks, which were held in Victoria city, the capital of Seychelles early this month, saw the participation of delegates from the ministries of fisheries from regional administrations and representatives from the Federal government to ink a deal on sharing Tuna fishing revenues off the coast of Somalia but ended without agreement.
Last week, Federal Minister of Fishery Abdirahman Mohamed Hashi, blamed the collapse of talks on Puntland delegation for demanding share revenue equal to the Federal government and accused them of acting like a sovereign nation. According to the draft agreement, the Federal Government is set to receive 30-percent from the revenue generated, whereas the 70-percent will be equally distributed among regional states. However, during the press conference held today, top officials from Puntland Ministry of Fishery said that Mogadishu’s accusation are baseless as they described talks in Victoria city to be successful contrary to statements by the Federal official.
Puntland officials released a statement indicating the proposed quota on revenue- sharing wasn’t discussed between member states and claimed it doesn’t translate the reality on the ground. The officials were reported have suggested restructuring quota among Federal member states based on coastline length, number of coastal districts and marine revenue income, to ensure fair share distribution among members. The talks in Victoria was organized by consortium of international organizations; FAO, UNODC, Secure Fisheries and USAID to create source revenue for the Federal government from the fishing trade off Somalia’s coast by the International companies.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somalia Military Court Executes Militant Over Attacks
25 May – Source: Xinhua – 160 words
A Somali military court on Thursday executed an Al-Shabaab militant behind the killing of a senior security officer in Middle Shabelle region mid last year. Deputy prosecutor Mumin Hussein Abdullahi said that the court carried out his execution by firing squad in Mogadishu’s Police Academy field. “The court executed Yusuf Hussein Mohamud (24), a security soldier who was found guilty for the killing of Abdiweli Ibrahim, the security chief of Middle Shabelle region on June 21, 2016,” Mumin said.
The latest execution comes after Somali military court on May 18 executed Abdukadir Abdi Hassan, Al-Shabaab militant who was found guilty of carrying out a terror attack in Waberi district in November last year. The car bomb attack, which was carried out on November 26, 2016, left at least 30 civilians dead and injured 43 others.
Al-Shabaab’s insurgency aims to drive out African Union peacekeepers, topple Somalia’s government, and impose its strict version of Islam on the Horn of Africa state.
Turkey To Send 15,000 Tons Of Aid To Somalia In Ramadan
25 May – Source: Anadolu Agency – 194 words
Turkey is set to deliver 15,000 tons of humanitarian aid to Somalia during the holy month of Ramadan. Speaking to Anadolu Agency in southern Mersin province, Kerem Kinik, the president of the Turkish Red Crescent aid organization, or Kizilay, said the humanitarian ship will depart from Mersin port within two days. “This aid will be sent to all the regions in Somalia. There is 1,000 trucks-loaded humanitarian aid in this ship,” Kinik said.
Somalia is one of several African states facing famine due to drought. The drought has hit 11 of Somalia’s 18 regions, including the worst-affected Bay region. The aid includes flour, sugar, medicine and baby food, which Kinik said would benefit 3 million people for the whole Ramadan month.
Kizilay has sent 11 aid ships to Somalia so far. In separate, two more aid ships are getting prepared to help Yemen, another country hit by famine. “There is a cholera outbreak in Somalia, Yemen and South Sudan right now. After Yemen, we will try to reach to Cuba and northern regions in South Sudan. This is a big mobilization,” Kinik said. “We will reach around 9 million people,” he added.
OPINION/ANALYSIS/CULTURE
“Al-Shabaab is fighting to create a fundamentalist Islamic state in Somalia and has launched attacks on neighbouring countries, which have all sent troops to fight them as part of an African Union force.”
The Sex Slaves of Al-Shabaab
25 May – Source: BBC – 969 words
When Salama Ali started investigating the disappearance of two younger brothers last year she made an awful discovery – not only were radicalised young Kenyan men leaving to join the Al-Shabaab militants in neighbouring Somalia, but women were being seized and trafficked by the group as sex slaves. Salama’s search for information about her brothers had to be carried out quietly and confidentially, as any hint of a connection with the al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab can arouse the suspicion of the security forces.So she met discreetly with other women in Mombasa and the surrounding area, sharing stories and seeking information about male relatives who had vanished. “We discovered there were lots of us,” Salama says. But Salama also uncovered something very different – stories of women who had been taken to Somalia against their will.
The women were both young and old, from Christian and Muslim communities, from Mombasa and other parts of Kenya’s coastal region. They were usually promised high-paid work in another town or abroad, and then kidnapped. Last September Salama trained as a counsellor and set up a secret support group for returning women. Word spread and soon women began seeking her out and asking to join the group. Some arrived with babies, she says, some with HIV, and some with mental illness caused by their experiences. All are terrified to speak openly, because of the risk of being mistakenly identified as an Al-Shabaab sympathiser. In a dark room with the curtains drawn, I meet this extraordinary group of women, who have a story that has never been told. “Men used to come and have sex with me – I can’t tell you the number,” says one, shaking her head as she recounts her ordeal. “For those three years, every man was coming to sleep with me.” “They’d bring two or three men for each woman every night,” says another. “We would be raped repeatedly.” Some women were forced to become the “wives” of Al-Shabaab militants, it appears, while others were held as slaves in a brothel.
Al-Shabaab is fighting to create a fundamentalist Islamic state in Somalia and has launched attacks on neighbouring countries, which have all sent troops to fight them as part of an African Union force. Kenya has borne the brunt of Al-Shabaab’s counter-attacks, and the Kenyan army is hunting fighters in the thick Boni Forest that straddles the border with Somalia. Flying over it, you can see lines cut through it – narrow pathways that militants apparently use for transport. The BBC has spoken to more than 20 women and all talk of being held in a thick forest or transported through it. This is most likely to be Boni. One new member of Salama’s group, Faith, has only recently escaped captivity. She was 16 when she was approached by an elderly couple and offered a job in Malindi, further up the coast. Desperate for work, the next day she boarded a bus with 14 other passengers and all were given drugged water to drink. “When we regained consciousness, there were two men inside the room,” Faith says. “They blindfolded us with black scarves. They raped us in that room.” Drugged again, Faith woke up in a small clearing in a dark forest and was told she would be killed if she tried to escape. Terrified, she spent the next three years alone cooking for a group of Somali men “with long long beards”. She had also become pregnant, as a result of being raped, and had to deliver her own child alone in the forest. “My grandmother was a traditional midwife, so I had a little bit of knowledge,” she says. “Everything I was doing in that forest was alone, so I just had to get out this baby alone.”