May 3, 2012 | Daily Monitoring Report.
EU says expanding AMISOM stretches its support budget
02 May – Source: Xinhua – 900 words
The European Union is spending additional 100 million euros to support the payment of salaries for the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia, an EU senior official said on Wednesday. The European Union’s Commissioner for Development Andris Pielbalgs announced in Nairobi that the new money is in addition to the 300 million euros the organization has given to AMISOM for the payment of salaries.
“The EU has been paying and will continue to pay all the salaries of the AMISOM troops,” Pielbalgs told a news conference in Nairobi at the end of his two-day visit to the region. The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) now comprises of at least 17,000 troops drawn from Kenya, Uganda, Burundi and Djibouti.
The increase from the previous 12,000 troops last year was because of additional 5,000 troops from Kenya that were absorbed into the mission after successful discussions of change of Kenya’s role in the country from defense of it shared border to that of peacekeeping. Kenya had invaded Somalia last year after a series of abductions of tourists from inside the Kenyan territory to Somalia by suspected Somalia criminal gangs.
Key Headlines
- Al Shabaab Ahlu Sunna fight in parts of Hiiraan region (Source: Shabelle)
- Somalia is the most dangerous place for journalists says Amnesty (Source: Radio Bar-Kulan)
- Somali president appoints new deputy premier (Source: Jowhar Online)
- Kenyan army targets al Shabaab training bases in southern Somalia (Source: Shabelle)
- Gunmen kill Puntland journalist in Galkayo (Source: Garowe Online)
- IPU condemns killings of Somali MPs (Source: Kuwait News Agency)
- Somalia police force faces challenges from terrorist groups (Source: CNTV)
PRESS RELEASE
Labor Day observed in Somalia
02 May – Source: TFG – 181 words
Government officials observed the Labor Day at multiple ceremonies yesterday in Mogadishu, praising government employees and civilians for the vital contribution in reconstructing the homeland.
Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali spoke to the media and expressed appreciation to the work that government workers provide under the current circumstances. Prime Minister Ali emphasized that the welfare of employees remains a priority for the government and that issues of capacity will be addressed by providing training’s to increase productivity.
At another ceremony, the Minister of Labor, Mr. Mohamud Jirde Hussein said, “We are honored to thank and congratulate the workforce of our government that we rely for all the services we provide.” Mr. Hussein pointed that his Ministry is proposing new reforms in the labor laws to develop the skills of employees which directly relates to the issue of salary. He also stated that an adequate salary is a fundamental right for workers.
“Workers in Somalia have contributed more than their share to rebuild this country. Now, it is our turn to pay them decent salaries, including pensions, trainings and increased salaries,” remarked Minister Hussein.
SOMALI MEDIA
Somalia PM plans constitutional government by August
03 May – Source: Horseed Media/VOA – 234 words
Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government is making preparations to hand over power to an elected government in August. The surprising development is being engineered by a Somali-American technocrat intent on ending his native country’s reputation as a failed state. Somalia’s Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali is a man with a mission.
The Harvard-educated Ali could easily go back to his wife and four children and his career as an academic in the United States. A month ago, he narrowly escaped an assassination attempt that killed two of Somalia’s top sports officials. Instead he has chosen to take on what some might call “mission impossible,” returning stability to Somalia after more than 20 years of lawlessness and conflict.
Just a few months ago, southern Somalia was in the grip of drought and famine. Much of the countryside was controlled by al Shabaab, an Islamic extremist group that refused to allow Western aid agencies to provide life-saving food aid. As a result, thousands of Somalis died.
Today, al Shabaab’s grip is broken, due partly to public anger at their callousness and partly to a African Union-led military force that hit them when they were at their weakest. A few weeks ago, al Shabaab fighters were forced to pull out of their last few positions in Mogadishu. Prime Minister Ali sees the political vacuum created by al Shabaab’s departure as an opportunity for his U.N.-backed government, which until recently was seen as weak, corrupt and incompetent.
Al Shabaab, Ahlu Sunna fight in parts of Hiiraan region
03 May – Source: Shabelle – 192 words
Heavy fighting between al Shabaab fighters and the Islamist clerics of Ahlu Sunna Waljama’a has broken out in parts of Hiiraan region in central Somalia, witnesses told Shabelle Media on Thursday. Locals said that the clash between the two sides started at Goobo village around Mahas district of Hiran region adding that there were tense between the two sides.
Both Ahlu Sunna Waljama’a (ASWJ) and al Shabaab militants had exchanged gunfire in parts of the areas and residents said that there were some casualties. The figures on the casualties on both sides is not yet established.
Reports indicate that the fighters of al Shabaab had taken over the control of the zones where both sides fought on Wednesday night and the residents had expressed concern over the fighting between the two sides as military movements were still reported.
Somalia is the most dangerous place for journalists, says Amnesty
03 May – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 185 words
Somalia is one of the worst countries for practicing journalists, according to Human Rights Watchdog, Amnesty International. In its reports, Amnesty says the situation for journalists in this chaotic Horn of African country is so dangerous that many go into exile, in fear for their lives while others face arrest preventing independent reporting in the country.
It also said that at least 27 journalists were killed in Somalia since 2007, of which three of them were killed in targeted attacks in the capital Mogadishu in the past six months. Amnesty cited the death of Ali Ahmed Abdi, a journalist for a news website and Radio Galkayo who was shot dead by three gunmen on 4th of March in the central Somalia town of Galkayo.
It also mentions the death of Mahad Salad Adan, Radio Shabelle journalist, who was shot dead by three attackers on 5 April in Beledweyne town near the border with Ethiopia, saying that no one has ever been brought to justice for such killings. The report comes a time the press is celebrating World’s Press freedom Day which is marked on 3rd of May every year.
Somali president appoints new deputy premier
02 May – Source: Jowhar Online/Radio Mogadishu – 118 words
Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has appointed Hussein Sheikh Mohammad Husein as a new Deputy Prime Minister, who will double as Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Development, a circular from the president’s office indicates.
The new Deputy Premier had served as minister in previous regimes. The appointment follows the sacking of Muhammad Mahmud Haji Ibrahim from the same portfolio. The circular said the appointment would take effect immediately.
The president recently appointed Mahmud Jirde Hussein as Labour, Youth and Sports Minister, replacing Muhammad Sheikh Muhidin Mursal. There have been mini cabinet reshuffles for the last three months that affected a number of ministers such as the Foreign Affairs Minister. The reshuffles also saw the appointments of state and deputy ministers.
Kenyan army targets al Shabaab training bases in southern Somalia
03 May – Source: Shabelle – 146 words
Kenyan forces have reportedly bombarded several Shabaab military training bases at a town in Somalia’s southern region of Lower Jubba region, according to the local residents. Reports confirm that Kenyan military opened mortar fire on rebel bases at Qoqani town, an insurgent stronghold in Lower Jubba region, causing an unconfirmed casualty on the militants.
Locals told Shabelle Media station that they saw this morning a number of victims of the bombardment who were being rushed to the hospitals for medical treatment. Al Shabaab has not made any comments about the barrage on its stronghold town of Qoqani by Kenyan army so far.
Saudi Arabia inaugurate a project to drill 150 borehole wells in Somalia
02 May – Source: Radio Mogadishu, Somalia Report – 75 words
The kingdom of Saudi Arabia is implementing a development project that will dig 150 borehole wells in Somalia. A large opening ceremony for the project attended by the TFG and Saudi Arabia officials was held in Mogadishu on Wednesday. The Saudi project manager stated that his government is interested in providing the Somali people with access to enough drinking water. The Somali information minister showed his happiness about the project and thanked the Saudi government.
Gunmen kill Puntland journalist in Galkayo
02 May – Source: Garowe Online/Mareeg Online/Risaala – 162 words
A journalist was gunned down Wednesday evening as he was walking in a neighborhood in Galkayo’s North side, marking the second journalist killed in Puntland in less than two months, Garowe reports. Witnesses said the victim, Farhan Abdulle, was approached by unknown gunmen while he was walking in Garsoor neighborhood. Witnesses who found the dead body said the victim ran towards the center of town and the main tarmac road. The victim suffered 4 bullet wounds to the back and one bullet wound in the hand.
Puntland police arrived at the scene shortly afterwards and told media that they are investigating the killing. Farhan Abdullahi was a reporter for independent Radio Daljir for over 6 years and was married with three children, the journalist’s friends said.
The victim died a day before the annual commemoration of World Press Freedom Day. An event to honor this day was held in Galkayo by the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) and its chairman, Mr. Burhan Dahir.
REGIONAL MEDIA
IPU condemns killings of Somali MPs
03 May – Source: Kuwait News Agency – 198 words
The Inter-parliamentary union (IPU) condemned on Thursday the killing and injuring of Somali parliamentarians and others in a suicide bomb in the central town of Dusamareb on Tuesday May 1. “The IPU is deeply saddened by the direct targeting of parliamentarians committed to putting in place a functioning representational system to help the population as a whole in Somalia” said IPU president Abdelwahid Radi in a press release.
Foreigners seized over suspected terror links
02 May – Source: Daily Nation – 198 words
Kenyan Police in Lamu have arrested two foreigners suspected to be members of the Al-Shabaab terror group. Lamu East police boss Samuel Obara on Wednesday said the Tunisian born men were Belgian and German citizens. He said the suspects were arrested on Tuesday night at Basuba in Kiunga, about 20 kilometres from the Kenya-Somalia border. “We arrested the two shortly after they entered the country from Somalia,” said Mr Obara.
The German, Mr. Derbati Mohammed and the Belgian, Mr. Kafi Hassan, were on Wednesday moved from Kiunga police station under tight security to Mombasa. Sources close to the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit said the two denied having been in Somalia to fight for Al-Shabaab.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somalia police force faces challenges from terrorist groups
03 May – Source: CNTV – 389 words
A police post is the latest target of Islamic terrorist group operating on Somali. A car bomb exploded near a police training camp in Mogadishu Somali’s capital in one of the several attacks carried out by terrorist groups operating in a country described as Africa’s most failed state.
This incident coming weeks after a suicide bomber carried out an attack in the capital. And now their concerns that the terror groups are working to undermine the setting up of a police force in Somalia. CCTV Reporter Ken Mijungu was in the capital Mogadishu where he spoke to a police man about the challenges of policing a war torn country.
It’s the beginning of another busy day. This has been the routine for the last six months. Late last year the government forces together with the African Union Mission in Somalia managed to seize control of Somali’s capital Mogadishu driving out the Al Shabaab militia who had been terrorizing the residents for years.
EU says expanding AMISOM stretches its support budget
02 May – Source: Xinhua – 900 words
The European Union is spending additional 100 million euros to support the payment of salaries for the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia, an EU senior official said on Wednesday. The European Union’s Commissioner for Development Andris Pielbalgs announced in Nairobi that the new money is in addition to the 300 million euros the organization has given to AMISOM for the payment of salaries.
“The EU has been paying and will continue to pay all the salaries of the AMISOM troops,” Pielbalgs told a news conference in Nairobi at the end of his two-day visit to the region. The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) now comprises of at least 17,000 troops drawn from Kenya, Uganda, Burundi and Djibouti.
The increase from the previous 12,000 troops last year was because of additional 5,000 troops from Kenya that were absorbed into the mission after successful discussions of change of Kenya’s role in the country from defense of it shared border to that of peacekeeping. Kenya had invaded Somalia last year after a series of abductions of tourists from inside the Kenyan territory to Somalia by suspected Somalia criminal gangs.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“The UPDF clearly has fast mover advantage in the AMISOM operation, so it is deeply entrenched and provides security to the most strategic installations – the airport, the Mogadishu seaport, the prime minister’s and President’s offices, and so on. Even Somalia Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali’s ADC is a UPDF officer”.
In Somalia the UPDF finally found its freedom and peace
03 May – Source: Daily Monitor – 734 words
A month before I went to the battered Somali capital Mogadishu, I met over coffee with a senior diplomat who had just been there and visited the African Union peacekeeping mission, AMISOM. Uganda provides the majority of AMISOM troops, in part due to the fact that it was the first to put boots on the ground there in 2007. Burundi followed some months later.
The diplomat told me he was struck by “how different” the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) in AMISOM were from other Third World armies he had seen in peacekeeping. He said they were “very professional”, and by the time he left Mogadishu, he could tell which one was a Ugandan soldier just by looking at the way they held their gardens.
He and his colleagues had also been for a meeting in Ethiopia of the army chiefs of the countries that had troops (including Kenya, which sent its army into south Somalia last October; Ethiopia which followed a few weeks later; and Djibouti). He said that Uganda’s Chief of Defence Forces, Gen. Aronda Nyakairima had “displayed a level of political astuteness rare among these African generals”.
I took him seriously because, from his last remark, he is a chap who doesn’t think much of African armies. His credits, therefore, don’t come easily. Until you get to Mogadishu, there is no description that will prepare you for what you will encounter. The AMISOM headquarters is at the edge of the airport, and is 12 kilometres long, and about 4 kilometres wide. It is so heavily fortified; even the world’s best army would need weeks to kick AMISOM out of it.
“Over the last several weeks, sustained constitutional debates were carried on in the press through online portals and vernacular radios, and in such venues as village meetings and cafes. Both the advocates of the constitution, the self-styled federalists and their anti-federalists critics, are trying to persuade their potential representatives in the expected constituent assembly to support or reject it. To learn more, Somalia Report’s Abduallhi Jamaa analyses the country’s constitutional dilemma”.
Somalia’s constitutional dilemma
03 May – Source: Somalia Report – 1541 words
The next couple of months are exceptionally decisive for Somalia where there will be a miasma of confusion regarding the constitution-making process that is generating heated political undertones, further overshadowing a major element of transition. Analysts say the proposed law is seemingly a milestone, but one that may fracture Somalia further into autonomous and semi-autonomous regions as well as ministates.
And just as the beleaguered administration in Mogadishu tries to get out of the Intensive Care Unit, the dispute has the potential to cut Somalia into pieces like a malevolent knife.
Somalia’s former Planning and International Cooperation Minister and current Member of Parliament (MP) Abdirahman Warsame described the contentious document as a sign of yet a big crash, if things are not to be handled properly and efficiently. “It is going to be a real trouble for Somalia if the debate on the draft document turns into a political blame game. That is why we say it must be handled with great care since the issue is very delicate,” MP Warsame told Somalia Report.
“We need to have extra eyes in the back of our heads to understand what will happen if we don’t exercise extra caution. There is all the danger,” he added.
While hopes to settle the long standing crisis in the Horn of Africa nation are waning, the TFG is in the eye of the storm struggling to put its house in order ahead of the historic debate on the proposed federal draft constitution on May 15th.
The raging row has raised doubts over the credibility of a process designed to set the rules for how Somalia is to be governed, adding a new challenge to the ruling TFG’s transition plans.
Top tweets
@M24NMReporter #LATEST #NEWS: Gunmen kill reporter in central Somalia : Unknown gunmen have killed a local Som… http://bit.ly/KTV9KM #
@datumrecruit #Africa
@omabha Somalia : UN Expert On Human Rights Urges Restoration of Justice System – http://AllAfrica.com: UN News Centre…
@africaforpeace Lieutenant General Andrew Gutti takes command of AU forces in Somalia.
@UN Somalia : latest on transition roadmap & peace process.
@michaelgutierry Somalia: Is Al Shabaab Cracking Under the Pressure?
Image of the day
Outgoing African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) force commander Maj, Gen. Fred Mugisha (left) prepares to hand over command to his successor, Ugandan Lt. Gen Andrew Gutti (right) at a ceremony at the mission’s headquarters in the Somali capital Mogadishu. Photo: AU-UN IST PHOTO / STUART PRICE/AMISOM.