November 11, 2019 | Morning Headlines

AMISOM Daily Monitoring Report

November 11, 2019 | Morning Headlines.
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Daily Media Monitoring
Main Story

Former Somali Leaders Fly To Beledweyne Town

10 November – Source: Radio Shabelle – 183 Words

Former Somali presidents, Hassan Sheikh and Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed left Mogadishu on Sunday for the flood-stricken Beledweyne, where thousands are in dire need of humanitarian aid. The plane carrying the leaders was briefly stopped at Mogadishu’s Aden Abdulle International Airport after rains pounded Beledweyne airstrip early in the morning. The leaders, along with lawmakers and other officials, were set to deliver aid to the flood victims in the town who have been left homeless by the flash floods from the river.

The UN humanitarian agency said on Wednesday that heavy rains have affected 547,000 people in Somalia and displaced 370,000 people. Schools have been forced to shut their doors due to flooding, while the rising waters also caused damage to buildings and widespread disruption. Education officials said students and teachers have been forced to flee to higher ground where aid agencies are providing life-saving assistance, including shelter, to a quarter of a million people.

Key Headlines

  • Former Somali Leaders Fly To Beledweyne Town (Radio Shabelle)
  • Somali Prime Minister Visits Berdale Town After Floods (Somali Affairs)
  • Turkish Qatari Ambassadors Visit Beledweyne Pledge More Support (Hiiraan Online)
  • Mogadishu Mayor Meets His Durban Counterpart (Halbeeg)
  • Ex-Somali Education Minister Dies (Halbeeg)
  • Somali Government Praises Qatari Aid To Flood-affected People (The Penisula)
  • Urgent Climate Emergency Needs In Somalia Must Be Addressed By All – Over Half A Million People Affected (Somalia NGO Consortium)
  • US Somali Election Winners Urge Women Back Home To Take Up Politics (VOA News)

NATIONAL MEDIA 

Somali Prime Minister Visits Berdale Town After Floods

10 November – Source: Somali Affairs – 104 Words

Somali Prime Minister, Hassan Ali Khaire Saturday paid a visit to Berdale town in Bay region to assess the situation of flood victims and the ongoing emergency response services there. PM Khaire said his government was committed to supporting those affected by the floods. President of the South West State of Somalia, Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed, briefed the Prime Minister on the situation in the region. The Prime Minister thanked local aid agencies, the flood emergency committee and everyone involved in efforts to mitigate the effects of the floods. The national flood emergency relief committee sent five planes carrying humanitarian support for victims to Berdale district.


Turkish, Qatari Ambassadors Visit Beledweyne, Pledge More Support

9 November – Source: Hiiraan Online – 162 Words

Turkish and Qatari Ambassadors arrived in the flood-hit town of Beledweyne on Saturday where they pledged support to alleviate suffering as the floods continue to force many out of their homes. Qatari Ambassador, Hassan Bin Hamza Hashem and his Turkish counterpart, Mehmet Yilmaz arrived in the town where they saw the scale of the damage caused by the floods and the ongoing relief efforts.

The two diplomats later held a meeting with HirShabelle leaders and discussed the coordination of the ongoing efforts to aid the affected people. The two ambassadors pledged to send in more relief supplies to bolster the humanitarian efforts by the government and humanitarian agencies led by the UN. Qatar delivered up to 100 metric tons of humanitarian supplies on Thursday. The UN now estimates about 270,000 people were displaced by the floods in various regions in the country. Beledweyne is the most affected with 85% of the town submerged in water, according to the UN OCHA.


Mogadishu Mayor Meets His Durban Counterpart

9 November – Source: Halbeeg – 109 Words

Mogadishu Mayor, Omar Mohamed Mohamud met his Durban counterpart, Mr Mxoli Kaunda on Friday. Mr. Filish presented Somali cultural attire to Mr. Kauda during meeting in his office. “We received a warm welcome from the Mayor of Durban, Mxoli Kaunda in his office and we discussed cooperation,” Mogadishu Mayor said. The two officials discussed ways to establish close cooperation between the two African cities. Mogadishu Mayor, Omar Mohamud has traveled to South Africa to attend the Global Parliament of Mayors. He arrived in Durban, South African capital on Friday where the summit started on Saturday. Mohamud and dozens of others from continents are participating in the event.


Ex-Somali Education Minister Dies

9 November – Source: Halbeeg – 132 Words

A former Somali Education Minister, Mohamed Ali Kalay has died in South West’s Baidoa town following a short illness. According to reports, Mohamed was among the intellectual leaders in the South West state. The late Kalay was known for his vibrant role in improving education in Somalia, especially in South West state, where he helped establish several higher education institutes. He was the founder of the first university in Baidoa town.

In a statement, South west Interior Ministry has extended condolences to the families and friends of Kalay. “Late Mohamed Ali Kalay was one of the heroes who stood up to promote peace and improve education in Somalia, we express our condolences to the families and friends,” the statement reads in part. The late Kalay was buried Friday evening in Baidoa town.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Somali Government Praises Qatari Aid To Flood-affected People

9 November – Source: The Peninsula – 221 Words

The Somali government commended the assistance provided by the State of Qatar to those affected by floods that hit large parts of the country, following the generous directives of Amir H.E. Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to launch an airlift for flood relief in the Federal Republic of Somalia. Somali Federal Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Hamza Said Hamza, praised the repeated relief initiatives undertaken by Qatar for the benefit of Somali citizens.  He expressed his deep thanks and appreciation to Amir H.E. Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. The Somali Federal Minister said that the Qatari aid was timely because citizens in the affected areas of Somalia suffered the most, pointing out that this assistance would ease the suffering.

Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Adam Abdelmoula expressed his thanks to Qatar for its generous contribution to the humanitarian efforts in Somalia. The second batch of humanitarian aid provided by Qatar, through the Qatar Fund for Development in coordination with the Standing Committee for Rescue and Relief Works and Humanitarian Aids for Afflicted Areas in brotherly and friendly countries, arrived on Thursday in Mogadishu, accompanied by a team from the Qatari International Search and Rescue Group (Lekhwiya).  The total assistance reached about 88 tonnes of medical and relief materials.


Urgent Climate Emergency Needs In Somalia Must Be Addressed By All – Over Half A Million People Affected

8 November – Source:  Somalia NGO Consortium – 413 Words

Aid workers in Somalia are struggling to keep pace with immense humanitarian needs across the country in the midst of a worsening complex emergency. In recent weeks, over half a million people have been affected by floods and an estimated 370,000 people have fled homes submerged in floodwater. At the same time, the needs across the country are some of the highest in the world, with the UN reporting that in the absence of sufficient assistance, as many as 6.3 million people face food insecurity. “The crises occurring within Somalia’s borders are a global responsibility. Climatic shocks are not a local phenomenon but a manifestation of the growing environmental emergency,” said Nasra Ismail, Director of Somalia NGO Consortium.

In recent weeks, widespread damage to farmland and infrastructure has occurred against a backdrop of sustained conflict and repeated climate shocks. The interrelated impact of recurrent drought, flooding and armed conflict have displaced more than 300,000 people already this year, adding to more than four million in need of humanitarian aid through 2019. As government officials convene in South Africa next week for the Seventeenth Regular Session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN), national and international organisations in Somalia reinforce the need for support and engagement from governments beyond Africa to address climate-related disasters affecting the continent. “The responsibility to take immediate action to mitigate disaster risks and meet immediate needs, in line with an international instrument like the Paris Agreement, falls on all nations,” said Ismail……

 OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE

US Somali Election Winners Urge Women Back Home To Take Up Politics

8 November – Source: VOA News – 324 Words

Two Somali-American women who won local elections this week are calling for full participation of women in Somalia’s politics, peace and development efforts. Voters on Tuesday elected Nadia Mohamed for an at-large seat in St. Louis Park, a western suburb of Minneapolis, in the Midwestern state of Minnesota, and chose Safiya Khalid to represent a ward in Lewiston, in the northeastern state of Maine. Both ran as Democrats and will be the first Somali immigrants on their respective councils. Both also are 23 and are black, hijab-wearing Muslims. The two new city council members are urging women in Somalia to follow their path. “I was elected with respect being a woman, a young, a Muslim, and hijab-wearing. So that, I would like to see Somalia doing the same because a woman can do sometimes better what a man can do,” said Mohamed.

“I would like to send a call to Somali women in Somalia, saying that they can do whatever they want, regardless of the challenges they face from the men who hold the country’s politics in monopoly,” Khalid told VOA Somali. In Somalia’s conservative society, women’s participation in politics has have traditionally been low, and a controversial topic. Khadiijo Mohamed Dirie, Somalia’s minister of youth and sports, said the success of young Somali politicians in the United States and Europe is a reminder of how women can be empowered in Somali society. Right now, she says, female politicians as young as Mohamed and Khalid would have zero chance of being elected to public office in Somalia. “Women rarely envision a position of a higher political leadership in our male-dominated social system,” Dirie told VOA.  “Those who are successful in the U.S and Europe politics got an opportunity of living with a developed society in a political maturity.” Somalia’s provisional constitution gives women 30 percent quota in both houses of the parliament.  However, women currently make up less than a quarter of parliamentarians.

Additional Somalia news will appear in the Afternoon Report

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The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of AMISOM, and neither does their inclusion in the bulletin/website constitute an endorsement by AMISOM.