May 3, 2013 | Morning Headlines.
UN Security Council establishes assistance mission in Somalia for one year
02 May- Source: Kuwait News Agency- 230 words
The Security Council on Thursday voted unanimously to establish the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) which will be deployed starting June 3 and for an initial period of 12 months.
The mission will support peace and reconciliation efforts, assist the government and the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) with advice on peace-building and state-building, assist the federal government in coordinating international support, and help build government capacity in human rights and the rule of law.
Key Headlines
- Presidents Hassan gives his speech at parliament (Shabelle)
- UN Security Council establishes assistance mission in Somalia for one year (Kuwait News Agency)
- IGAD foreign ministers to meet in Addis to discuss Somalia’s stabilization plan (Radio Bar-kulan/)
- Somalia’s Cabinet endorses new national security and police chiefs (Radio Mogadishu/)
- Somali famine toll worse than feared: UN (CBN News)
- Government forces overran illegal checkpoints in Middle Shabelle region (Radio Bar-kulan)
SOMALI MEDIA
IGAD foreign ministers to meet in Addis to discuss Somalia’s stabilization plan
02 May- Source: Radio Bar-kulan/Radio Mogadishu/Shabelle/Kulmiye/
Foreign affairs ministers from IGAD member states are expected to meet Friday in Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababab, to discuss Somalia’s grand stabilization plan.
Somalia’s foreign minister Fowzia Adan has traveled to Addis Ababa on Wednesday to attend the summit.
Speaking at Mogadishu airport, Aan said the summit on Somalia’s stabilization plan will kick off in Addis Ababa on May 3rd.
“The stabilization plan is for laying foundations for functional and effective local governance structure, and I am hopeful that my government would succeed in reaching its planned national agendas, she said.
The ministers’ resolution will be submitted to IGAD’s head of states for further deliberations.
Somalia’s Cabinet endorses new national security and police chiefs
02 May- Source: Raxanreeb/Radio Mogadishu/Shabelle/Radio Kulmiye- 157 words
Somalia cabinet on Thursday endorsed two officials appointed as the new national security and police chiefs during its weekly meeting on Thursday, RBC Radio reports.
Gen Bashir Mohamed Jama was appointed as the new national security chief and Gen Abdihakim Dahir Sa’id “Saacid”, who is the former deputy police commander was appointed as the new police chief, according to a press statement from the office of Somalia Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon.
The former head of the national security agency Ahmed Mo’alim has resigned late March, following heavy questions on killing of four prisoners held by the national security agency and created rift with the president. The former police chief Gen Sharif Sheikhuna Maye was also fired.
Presidents Hassan gives his speech at parliament
02 Apr- Shabelle-278 words
The president of the federal republic of Somalia Prof Hassan Sheikh on Thursday attended a parliament session in Mogadishu Somalia. Mr. Hassan read along speech in parliament addressing the general situation of the country. the president elaborated Wednesday’s meeting between him and a parliamentarian committee. He said that the agenda discussed was on ways of implementing federalism and how to extend the government plans to other regions in the country.
Government forces overran illegal checkpoints in Middle Shabelle region
02 May- Source: Radio Bar-kulan- 147 words
Somali government troops in Middle Shabelle region have scrapped off several illegal checkpoints manned by other government soldiers between Bal’ad and Jowhar towns.
Government military commander, Abdullahi Ali Anod who led the operation confirmed to Bar-kulan the scrapping off the illegal checkpoints, adding that several gangs manning the checkpoints were arrest during the crackdown.
He said the soldiers will be arraigned court for banditry. He caution armed gangs running similar illegal checkpoints in the region that they too will never be spared.
Locals welcomed government’s move to overrun the illegal checkpoints in the area, saying the gangs have been terrorizing them for the last a couple of weeks.
Gangs manned more than 50 illegal checkpoints between the road that links Jowhar to Bal’ad since allied government and AMISOM troops took over both cities from al Shabaab late last year.
REGIONAL MEDIA
UN Security Council establishes assistance mission in Somalia for one year
02 May- Source: Kuwait News Agency- 230 words
The Security Council on Thursday voted unanimously to establish the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) which will be deployed starting June 3 and for an initial period of 12 months.
The mission will support peace and reconciliation efforts, assist the government and the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) with advice on peace-building and state-building, assist the federal government in coordinating international support, and help build government capacity in human rights and the rule of law.
President Uhuru assures UK envoy of partnership
02 May- Source: Star (Kenya)- 356 words
Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta has said that the government will continue to partner with the United Kingdom in development agendas.
He told the British High Commissioner to Kenya, Christian Turner, who paid him a courtesy call at State House on Tuesday evening that “he looks forward to deepening the relations for the mutual benefit of the two countries”.
On security in the country and the region, Turner reiterated his government’s commitment to continued cooperation on stabilising Somalia in order to ensure peace and security in the region.
The High Commissioner assured the President that the UK will continue to work with IGAD and other stakeholders in the Somali peace process and looked forward to a positive outcome in the forthcoming Somali conference in London.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somali famine toll worse than feared: UN
02 May- Source: abs-cbnnews- 545 words
Almost 260,000 people, half of them young children, died of hunger during the last famine in Somalia, according to a UN report Thursday, with the world body admitting it should have done more to prevent the tragedy.
The toll is much higher than was feared at the time of the 2010-2012 food crisis in the troubled Horn of Africa country and also exceeds the 220,000 who starved to death in the 1992 famine.
“The report confirms we should have done more before the famine was declared,” said Philippe Lazzarini, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“The report does not explicitly attempt to explain why Somaliland has achieved its political success of the last 2 decades, but rather to illustrate the thinking, from Somalilanders, that has underpinned this success.”
After Borama: consensus, representation and parliament in Somaliland – new report from Africa Research Institute
02 May- Source: African Arguments-327 Words
“Elections matter in Somaliland. They are not mere formalities, conferring a thin veneer of legitimacy on a permanent incumbent; nor are they conducted solely as a sop to foreign donors insisting on greater democracy; nor is the prime motivation to further the pursuit of international recognition of Somaliland as a sovereign state. For most Somalilanders, elections are above all an essential component of internal peace and security…” Edward Paice and Hannah Gibson, Africa Research Institute (May 2013).
Twenty years since the historic Borama conference in Somaliland, Africa Research Institute has produced a remarkable report on the development of democratic politics in the country. It features interviews with a range of key Somalilanders who played a part in the historic moments of Somaliland’s politics over the last 20 years and continue to do so today.