May 27, 2013 | Daily Monitoring Report.

Main Story

Somali President says Kenyan Peacekeepers ‘Misbehaved’

27 May – Source: VOA – 159 words

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamed has expressed concern about Kenyan peacekeepers in the Somali port city of Kismayo, as the government seeks to regain control of the region. The Somali president addressed the issue at the African Union summit in Addis Ababa.

“For us we have no complaint against Kenya, but part of the AMISOM contingent on the ground have misbehaved and they operated outside their mandate,” he said. Kenyan troops who helped to liberate Kismayo from al Shabaab militants last year have since integrated into the AU peacekeeping force known as AMISOM.

Despite the grievance, Hassan said he has regional support for his government’s efforts to reestablish its authority in Somalia, as the country recovers from two decades of civil war.

Key Headlines

Somali president strongly condemns Garissa attacks (Raxanreeb/Bar-kulan)
Somalia stands shoulder to shoulder with Kenya in the fight against terrorism (Prime Minister’s Media Office)
Somali President says Kenyan Peacekeepers ‘Misbehaved’ (VOA)
Somalia urged to resume contribution to AU in 2014 (Afrique Jet)
Kenya police kill Muslim cleric in Mombasa (Radio Bar-kulan/Star FM/Radio Risaala)
Somalia joins international community with support of AU (Walta Information Centre/ENA)
Federal Government supports repatriation of Somali refugees (Garowe Online)
Iraq sets designs for 3 projects in Somalia valued at $ 15 million (Iraq News)

PRESS STATEMENT

Somalia stands shoulder to shoulder with Kenya in the fight against terrorism

26 May – Source: Prime Minister’s Media Office – 289 words

Somalia stands shoulder to shoulder with Kenya in the fight against terrorism, Prime Minister says, expressing gratitude for Kenyan role in Somalia. His Excellency Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon said Somalia was completely resolute in its partnership with Kenya against terrorism on either side of the two countries’ shared border.

The Prime Minister was speaking in the aftermath of an attack on Kenyan police posts in the border area at Damajale on Saturday night. “We completely condemn this action against innocent civilians and police officers and send our condolences to the families of those killed,” the Prime Minister said.

“We are deeply grateful to the Kenyan government and the Kenyan people for the support they have provided Somalia in the fight against terrorism. They have paid a high price for their support and we are determined that this will not be in vain. Kenya has also played an extremely valuable political role in supporting the expansion of AMISOM and for this we are also very thankful. Regional governments are united in their support to build a stable and secure Horn of Africa.”

The Prime Minister stated that Kenya had been the victim of repeated terrorist attacks and reiterated his government’s support for its neighbour and partner. “What we see from the attack against Kenyan police is the same thing we see in all the actions of al Shabaab.

Death and destruction are the only things on their agenda. It is not much of an offering to the Somali or Kenyan public. Our partnership with Kenya remains strong and unflinching in the face of such action. Be in no doubt: it is the public’s desire for peace and greater prosperity, not the tyranny of the terrorists, that ultimately will prevail.”

SOMALI MEDIA

Somali president strongly condemns Garissa attacks

27 May – Source: Raxanreeb/Bar-kulan – 179 words

The President of the Federal Republic of Somalia, H.E. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud strongly condemns the recent attacks in Garissa, near the border of Somalia on Saturday night where Gunmen have killed five people including two police officers. Al Shabaab claimed the responsibility of these attacks which shows that they are still alive and ready to kill innocent people by the name of Islam.

The President of Somalia said “I must express my horror and outright condemnation of the killing of 5 people including two police officers in Garissa near the border of Somalia. These perpetrators, murderers claim to do this in the name of Islam is simply wrong.

They have violated the doctrine of our Quran and I stand together with all Muslim brothers in our determination to distance our genuine faith from those who preach extremism and hatred. And we must stand together in the global community to defeat this madness. “ The President sends his condolences to the people and the President of Kenya and more importantly to those families and friends who have lost their loved ones.

Kenya police kill Muslim cleric in Mombasa

27 May – Source: Radio Bar-kulan/Star FM/Radio Risaala – 154

A Muslim cleric accused of possessing explosives and radicalizing Kenyan youths into joining the Somali Islamist rebel group al Shabaab was killed in a shootout with police on Sunday.

Speaking in a news conference in Mombasa, senior police official Thomas Sangut said Khalid Ahmed was killed in an exchange of gunfire with police at his family home in the Indian Ocean port city of Mombasa. Sangut added that two policemen were wounded, and a hand grenade, two gun magazines and 68 rounds of ammunition were recovered during the operation.

Police said Khalid Ahmed, a Somali with a Kenyan passport, had been a close friend of Aboud Rogo, a slain Muslim cleric whom the Kenyan government and the United States accused of helping al Qaeda-linked Islamist militants in Somalia. Aboud Rogo was killed in September last year when his car was sprayed with gunfire in Kenya’s port city of Mombasa.

Federal Government supports repatriation of Somali refugees

26 May – Source: Garowe Online – 132 words

African leaders agreed at IGAD’s 22nd extraordinary summit in Addis Ababa on Friday that hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees living in Kenya and Ethiopia will be repatriated to Somalia, Garowe Online reports.

Leaders at IGAD’s 22nd extraordinary summit in Addis Ababa agreed that the international community support “the initiative by the governments of Somalia and Kenya and UNHCR to convene an international conference on repatriation of Somali refugees to be held later this year”.

According to Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta – who attended the summit – the conference will be co-chaired on Somalia and Kenya will consult with Somali stakeholders on how to resettle Somali refugees safely and orderly. After returning from Addis Ababa, President Uhuru said in statement that the Somali people needed to take part in reconstruction of Somalia.

Village near Jowhar reduced to ashes

25 May – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 81 words

Reports suggest that Omar Osman, a village that locates 20kms on eastern side of Jowhar town, the capital of middle Shabelle region has been set on fire and reduced to ashes on Friday night as locals confirm to Bar-kulan.

Furthermore, reports add that the village was extremely destroyed as the men who set the village on fire also tortured a woman in the village. This is believed to have connection with tribal clashes between clans in the outskirts of Jowhar town.

REGIONAL MEDIA

Somalia urged to resume contribution to AU in 2014

27 May – Source : Afrique Jet – 93 words

Somalia has been urged to resume its financial contribution to the African Union (AU). According to a resolution submitted to Heads of State and Government of the pan-African bloc meeting here on Sunday, Somalia has been given a deadline of 31 December 2013 to pay its contribution to the AU, estimated at some US$230,000 per year.

Somalia has been plagued for several years by a civil war, which made it impossible for the Horn of Africa nation to pay its due to the AU.

Somalia joins international community with support of AU

27 May – Source: Walta Information Centre/ENA – 122 words

Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said strengthened efforts of the African Union (AU) helped Somalia to join the international community after 22 years. The President told journalists here Sunday that the AU supported Somalia to maintain peace and stability.

The AU significantly contributed to enable Somalia build a permanent federal government, which is evidence that proves success of the continental organization. He said his government will focus on finding solution to basic problems of the people of Somalia and to wipe Alshabab out of the country.

Iraq sets designs for 3 projects in Somalia valued at $ 15 million

26 May – Source: Iraq News – 143 words

The Ministry of Construction and Housing announced initiating a project to design three architectural projects for Republic of Somalia valued at $ 15 million.

The senior Undersecretary for the Ministry, Istabraq Ibrahim, mentioned according to a statement received by IraqiNews.com on Sunday “These projects came in compliance with a resolution by the Council of Ministers over allocating $ 15 million to implement a number of projects for favor of Somalia.”

“The three projects included building of the Public works, Technical Training Institute and Mogadishu hospital for psychiatric and mental diseases where the architectural and engineering designs were set by the Iraqi MoCH according to latest technical specifications,” he added.

Saudi Arabia sends 340 metric tons of dates to refugees in Yemen

26 May – Source: Yemen News Agency – 399 words

The United Nations World Food Programme welcomed on Sunday a 340 metric ton donation of dates, worth more than US$680,000, from Saudi Arabia to refugees in southern Yemen.

The dates, destined for distribution among refugees from the Horn of African southern Yemen, were officially handed over to WFP in a ceremony at the agency’s headquarters in Sana’a attended by officials from the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Finance in Riyadh and the Saudi Embassy in Sana’a.

In previous years, most refugees were from Somalia. But recent trends have seen heavy increases of refugees from Eritrea and, especially, Ethiopia. Since the beginning of 2013, almost 30,000 people have landed on Yemen’s coast, 25,000 of them from Ethiopia.

Al Shabaab depicts its own leaders as ‘cowards’

24 May – Source: Sabahi Online – 737 words

Al-Shabaab on May 18th released an open letter via its Twitter account that paints “troublemakers of our religion” — a term used to describe senior al-Shabaab leaders critical of top commander Ahmed Abdi Godane — as “cowards” trying to mislead the organisation’s lower-ranking members into questioning his leadership.

The letter, titled “Warning Muslims of the Deceptions of Infidels”, was authored by al Shabaab’s media arm al Kataib, which like its Twitter account, is a propaganda tool of Godane, who commonly is referred to as Mukhtar Abu Zubayr.

“There have appeared among us those who want to tear the unity of Muslims in general and mujahedeen in particular apart,” the letter said. “They want to strike the mujahedeen and their leaders and to question their qualifications and way of thinking. They also want to shake their confidence in their plots and policies and doubting their Islam and jihad.”

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Somali President says Kenyan Peacekeepers ‘Misbehaved’

27 May – Source: VOA – 159 words

Speaking on the sidelines of the summit Sunday, Hassan said his government is in discussions with the African Union after peacekeepers from Kenya allegedly declined to provide security for a group of ministers visiting Kismayo earlier this month. “For us we have no complaint against Kenya, but part of the AMISOM contingent on the ground have misbehaved and they operated outside their mandate,” he said.

Kenyan troops who helped to liberate Kismayo from al Shabaab militants last year have since integrated into the AU peacekeeping force known as AMISOM. Despite the grievance, Hassan said he has regional support for his government’s efforts to reestablish its authority in Somalia, as the country recovers from two decades of civil war.

SOCIAL MEDIA

CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS

“Since Jubaland officials accepted all the recommendation by the EGAD committees, Somali government officials should likewise accept all the recommendation as indicated in the statement presented in the Adis Ababa meeting instead of misleading the public by presenting their own interpretation of the statement.”

Somali government officials misread IGAD’s recommendation over the Jubaland conflict

27 May – Source: Somaliland Press – 1093 Words

Since Somali government opposed the result of the process in which Jubaland people elected the president and vice-president on May 15, 2013, Somali people interested peaceful solution of the impasse were waiting the recommendation by the IGAD technical committees who met both the government representatives in Mogadishu and Jubaland official and the opposition group in Kismayo.

Immediately after IGAD committees presented their finding and recommendation in Adis Ababa meeting, Somali Federal Government spokesman, Eng. Abdirahman Omar Osman reported in press conference his own interpretation of the recommendation by IGAD committees.

Instead of presenting the facts on the recommendation statement, he restated the Somali Government’s position that the election of the president of Jubaland was not constitutional, inclusive and government officials did not participate and take its leadership role of forming regional administration as indicated in the provisional constitution.

“A picture was posted in the front page of the Toronto Star of Mayor Rob Ford flanked by young black males whose identities were concealed. The Toronto Star went with a damning story – with little evidence – that these young black males were “Somali drug dealers”. The story not only tarnished the reputations of an entire community in Canada, but revealed how the court of public opinion sat and condemned Somali not citizen of Canada – NEVER!”

NO CITIZENSHIP FOR MR. SOMALI

26 May – Source: HIiraan Online – 1000 Words

Canada is a land of immigrants. From the viewpoint of our native Indians and Eskimos, even the handful of French settlers lured to Quebec by Samuel de Champlain in the early 17th century were immigrants. For that matter, the Indians themselves were immigrants; they came across the Bering Strait from continental Asia as the glaciers of the last Ice Age slowly crept back to the Arctic.

It has been steady government policy to encourage the growth of the population by immigrants. In the ten-year period before the outbreak of World War I, nearly 3 million European immigrants streamed into Canada. Latter on Canada also provided a haven for a great number of refugees fleeing from religious or political persecution – including notably some 8,000 Czechs who fled their homeland after Russian invasion of 1968. In the 70’s, Asians expelled from Uganda were welcomed and received in Canada. More recently, Somalis fleeing from civil wars in their country of origin in the 1990’s were admitted in the country.

According to the Canada Citizenship Act, there are only two ways in which one can acquire Canadian Citizenship: by birth or by naturalization. Anyone who is born in Canada, or on a Canadian ship or aircraft, and who has not assumed another nationality, automatically becomes a Canadian citizen. This also applies in most cases to someone who is born outside of Canada but whose father is Canadian. All Indians and Eskimos are Canadian citizens if born within Canadian borders. All foundlings (deserted babies) discovered in Canada are regarded in law as having been born in Canada and are citizens.

“Members of Toronto’s Somali community were understandably distressed by the many mentions of “Somali” drug dealers in the Star’s first report of Rob Ford crack video allegations.”

Star overdid ‘Somali’ references in first report of drug dealers peddling Rob Ford crack video: Public Editor

25 May – Source: Toronto Star – 741 Words

As a member of a Toronto District School Board task force aimed at curbing the dropout rate for Somali students, Abdi Aidid well understands the sting of negative perceptions and the role the media can play in creating those perceptions.

Aidid, 21, who begins studies at Yale University law schoolthis fall, aims to make a difference in his community. Last week he sent a thoughtful email to the Star to express his concerns about our explosive May 17 Page 1 story about a cellphone video that appears to show Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine that is being shopped around Toronto “by a group of Somali men involved in the drug trade.”

Aidid and numerous others in his community were distressed greatly by the many references to “Somali” drug dealers in the Star’s first report of the Ford crack video. They believe reporting that fact contributes to negative stereotypes and “criminalizes” the entire community.

“At every stop, they point out that the individuals involved are Somali. ‘Somali’ appears 11 times in the article, exactly as many times as the word ‘crack,’ ” Aidid said. “I am deeply hurt by this. “Is it so salient a fact that it warrants mention as often as the drug in question?”

Top tweets

@SomaliPM We appreciate the support of our partners as we rebuild a federal #Somalia – #IGAD communiquehttp://t.co/mdQ6SDsXSM … #Mogadishu #Kismayo.

@SomaliConf Regional/international trade via Indian Ocean depends on the stability of #Somalia. We all are stakeholders in Somalia’s prosperity #SORIC.

@Hamza_Africa Apparently in #Mogadishu if u walk wit 1 of ur shoulders leaning 2 the side u can b suspected of been#AlShabaab & get arrested! #Somalia.

@GenoWorldview New FM radio station opens in Bossaso. Story: http://ow.ly/lq6rS #Somalia #Puntland.

@reliefweb #Somalia: New funding for teachers’ salaries to expand #education opportunities for all childrenhttp://bit.ly/18lEfAj @UNICEF.

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Image of the day

Image of the day Somali Olympic committee Vice-president Mr. Shamo presents a medal to contestant Mohamed Deq in Alexandria open 2013. Photo: @SomaliTaekwondo .