May 3, 2016 | Daily Monitoring Report
UN Security Council To Visit Somalia Ahead Of Vote
03 May – Source: The East African – 201 Words
The UN Security Council will travel to Somalia this month to show support for elections scheduled in August, Egypt’s UN Ambassador and this month’s council president, Amr Aboulatta, said Monday. The 15 envoys will also travel to Nairobi during May 17-21 and hold meetings in Cairo with the Arab League, Aboulatta said, presenting the program of work for the month.
“The council will be going to Somalia to push for the elections,” he said. “The election is supposed to be held in the month of August and we will try to give the support of the council.” The vote will be Somalia’s second since 1991, when warlords ousted President Mohamed Siad Barre, plunging the country into years of war and chaos. The last elections took place in 2012.
Last month, the Security Council heard a report on the situation in Somalia during a special meeting in New York attended by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. Voting for the upcoming general elections will take place through electoral colleges, but the council has said it should be a stepping stone to one-person, one-vote elections in 2020. Under the electoral model, 30 per cent of seats in parliament will be reserved for women.
Key Headlines
- UN Security Council To Visit Somalia Ahead Of Vote (The East African)
- Two People Killed In Checkpoint Clash In Galkayo (Goobjoog News)
- Spectrum ASA Complete Acquisition Of 2D Seismic Data Offshore South Somalia (Shabelle News)
- Kenya Set To Increase Consulates In Somalia (The Star)
- Minneapolis Somali-American And Muslim Leaders Speak Out Against Racial Profiling (Star Tribune)
- Interview: Scared. Silenced. Shot. The Life Of A Somali Journalist (Human Rights Watch)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Two People Killed In Checkpoint Clash In Galkayo
03 May – Source: Goobjoog News – 179 Words
At least two people have been killed and five others injured as Galmudug forces clashed with gunmen over illegal checkpoints near Galkayo town. The gunbattle broke out when Galmudug forces attacked gunmen who were collecting illegal money from the public transport at a checkpoint in the outskirt of Galkayo town which lies 722 km North of Somalia’s capital city, Mogadishu. “The fighting is still ongoing and I can only hear heavy gunfire from the area where the fighting is taking place now,” resident told Goobjoog News via telephone.
Galmudug government has issued a stern warning to militia men who are setting up illegal roadblocks in Galgaduud region. In recent months, ‘illegal roadblocks’ have been on increase in Mudug region. Goobjoog News Correspondent, Ali Noor Eyn in the region says the roadblocks interrupted people’s daily lives because the armed groups imposed huge levies on public service vehicles and would harass passengers if drivers did not pay the money quickly. Analysts see that removing the illegal roadblocks was an urgent requirement because it affected residents’ security and stability in the country.
Spectrum ASA Complete Acquisition Of 2D Seismic Data Offshore South Somalia
03 May – Source: Goobjoog News – 193 Words
Spectrum ASA has successfully completed the acquisition of 2D seismic data from offshore south Somalia. It was the 5th September, 2015 when Spectrum ASA and the Federal Government of Somalia entered into a Multi Client master cooperation agreement during a signing ceremony at the SYL Hotel in Mogadishu. The survey has been completed without any incident.
The total number of sail line acquired equates to 20,582.75 Km. The new acquisition will complement 20,000 km of existing seismic data that was acquired in 2014. The two surveys will allow the in depth study of hydrocarbon prospectivity in the offshores of Somalia. Spectrum have started to process the data, following which interpretation will begin in the third quarter of 2016 and its findings will be announced by the Federal Government.
This effort will reveal the resources, whether oil or gas, hidden beneath the seafloor of the Indian Ocean. Furthermore, seven of the Ministry of Oil and Gas geoscientists participated on the acquisition of the data and trained on the ship executing the seismic shooting. These trainees will go to Cairo, Egypt where they will further learn more on data processing and geologic interpretation at Spectrum’s centre there.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Kenya Set To Increase Consulates In Somalia
03 May – Source: The Star – 293 Words
The government of Kenya through its embassy in Somalia will open consulates in different parts of the country. This, according to Kenya Ambassador to Somalia Lucas Tumbo, will help the government keep track of all Kenyans living there. “On arrival here last year, we embarked on a registration exercise of all Kenyans and we now have a database. So far, we have registered 20,000 Kenyans, with 3,500 of them working in formal sectors,” said Tumbo during an interview in his office in Mogadishu.
He added they are currently working on a website where all the details will be uploaded He said liaison offices will be opened starting July, with areas like Kismayu, Hergesa, Baidoa and Garowe given priority. “These offices will provide consular services to Kenyans living within those regions,” he said. He also confirmed that they have managed to resolve cases where some Kenyans’ contracts had been breached by employers.
“We have had more than 20 such cases between Kenyans and employers here which we have already solved,” he said, encouraging others who have issues to contact the embassy. “Full consular services are currently being offered here,” he added. Tumbo encouraged Kenyans to go work in Somalia since there are opportunities and the security situation has improved.
The Kenya Embassy in Somalia was operating from Nairobi until July last year, when it was relocated to Mogadishu. The embassy is currently hosted within a camp in the vicinity of Aden Abdulle Airport in Mogadishu town. Tumbo confirmed that they are in the process of building an embassy which they expect to be complete by August. “It is already under construction across the airport runway,” he said. The building which initially hosted the Kenyan Embassy was bombed by al Shabaab last year.
Minneapolis Somali-American And Muslim Leaders Speak Out Against Racial Profiling
03 May – Source: Star Tribune – 496 Words
Twin Cities Somali-American and Muslim leaders condemned racial profiling Monday after allegations by a Minneapolis Transportation Security Administration official that he had been told to target the community. Leaders praised Andrew Rhoades, an assistant federal security director for the TSA in Minnesota, for coming forward last week to describe how he was ordered to provide names of Somali-Americans visiting his TSA office so they could be screened for terrorist ties.
“We are proud of his courage and his faithfulness, and we hope that he is a model for law enforcement officials,” Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Minnesota, said at a news conference at the Abubakar Islamic Center in Minneapolis. “We cannot allow our own government to engage and fuel Islamophobia by treating and targeting Somali-Americans as a community of suspect.”
Leaders addressed the media while community members stood behind them in solidarity. Hussein requested an independent investigation by the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general to run parallel with the investigation by the department’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties into the allegations. Hussein also thanked elected officials, including U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison for his swift response in sending out a letter demanding an investigation by Homeland Security.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“The biggest issue is its fight against Al-Shabaab. A journalist in Puntland said every time he tried to report on a government offensive against Al-Shabaab, he got warnings from local police hinting at “consequences.” But the government also doesn’t want the media to report when Al-Shabaab attacks their troops. Journalists can’t say how many soldiers have been killed or the extent of the attacks. Censorship is so bad that some editors have started telling their reporters to drop the story altogether, because they can’t tell it fairly.”
Interview: Scared. Silenced. Shot. The Life Of A Somali Journalist.
03 May – Source: Human Rights Watch – 1,355 words
Journalists in Somalia are increasingly coming under attack. For many years, the main threat to the media has come from Al-Shabaab, the Islamist armed group that controls large parts of the country. But, as a new report by Human Rights Watch has found, journalists are also now being threatened, harassed, and attacked by Somalia’s government and state security forces. With elections set to take place later this year, it’s an important period for ensuring access to information. And as Laetitia Bader told Stephanie Hancock, the media crackdown makes for a chilling climate of censorship, manipulation, and fear.
Somalia is already really dangerous for journalists, so what’s changed?
Somalia has long been one of the most deadly countries for journalists. But over the past two years, Somalia’s new government, with the support of its partners, has been trying to establish federal states. The whole map of Somalia is currently being re-drawn, with new boundaries and states, and that is creating friction between Al-Shabaab, the government, and regional clan members and militia all vying for power. Time and time again, journalists told us they’re being targeted from all sides.
So they’re stuck between a rock and a hard place?
Journalists say it’s more like being stuck between the government’s jails and Al-Shabaab’s guns. Superficially Somalia has an incredibly vibrant media scene. There are more than 50 radio stations, but the reality is that the restrictions on the media and the danger reporters face massively reduces what the media can report on. And 2016 is an election year in Somalia, so there are some really key issues that the media needs to be reporting on, but cannot without fear of reprisals.
TOP TWEETS
@Daudoo : Mortar shells targeted Halane military camp in#Mogadishu last night, the largest #AMISOM base in #Somalia. 5 massive explosions heard.
@SomaliNationalN: Is #Somalia‘s politically failing #PresidentH.E.Hassan Sheikh crazy 2 lie that Somalia gained independence in 1991?
@itayron5 : Interesting #AlShabaab mortars on #Halane Base#Mogadishu came the same day #UK soldiers were reportedly deployed. “Welcome party”? #Somalia
@OpenNetAfrica: “Media freedom shouldn’t be yet another fatality in #Somalia,” See: https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/
@Adan_Seed : No free Press in #Somalia as shown in freedom of the press 2016 table scores & today marks#WorldPressFreedomDay “It takes courage to be a journalist in Somalia” #WPFDay2016 #Somalia
@Abdi_AlSheikh : Somalia: UK Troops Arrive to Beef Up AU Operation – http://AllAfrica.com http://dlvr.it/LClSGF #Somalia
@Hassan_shire : …and Somali people appreciate your support & looking forward to see SNA taking responsibility to secure#Somalia
IMAGE OF THE DAY
This #WPFDay2016, AMISOM salutes the Somali media who have continually ensured that there is access to information.
Photo: AMISOM