November 14, 2016 | Daily Monitoring Report
Huge Explosion Heard In Burhakabo Police Station
14 November – Source: Shabelle News – 86 Words
A big explosion was heard in the vicinity of a police station in the city of Burhakabo in the Bay region of southern Somalia on Monday, according to multiple reports. The blast happened after a bomb planted in the police department building went off. It is said the police HQ to have sustained severe damages. Reports also said several policemen and officers have been killed in the police station bombing. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
Key Headlines
- Huge Explosion Heard In Burhakabo Police Station (Shabelle News)
- Key Meeting Convened On Construction Of Garowe Airport (Garowe Online)
- Somali Ambassador To UN Presents His Credentials To Ban Ki-moon (Radio Dalsan)
- EU To Pay Stipends To Frontline Police Officers (CCTV)
- UN Envoy Urges Somalia’s Regional States To Stick To Ceasefire Deal (Xinhua)
- Fight Al-Shabaab But Don’t Terrorise Mandera – Roba (The Star)
- Should The Somalilanders In Mogadishu Parliament Quit? (Wardheer News)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Key Meeting Convened On Construction Of Garowe Airport
14 November – Source: Garowe Online – 137 Words
A strategy meeting to discuss construction of the Garowe airport was yesterday convened to review progress of the upgrading works currently going on at the facility. Officials from the Puntland aviation ministry, Garowe local government officials, businessmen and the Turkish company carrying out the works attended the meeting which was also graced by former Puntland President Abdirahman Farole.
During the meeting, officials raised the need for an international airport that can operate 24 hours a day complete with all the necessary facilities that will enable it to function to international standards. It was estimated more than one million dollars was required to erect modern facilities at the airport. The meeting resolved to convene a bigger meeting in the Puntland headquarter city bringing together all stakeholders in bid to mobilize resources for the construction of a modern international airport.
Somali Ambassador To UN Presents His Credentials To Ban Ki-moon
13 November – Source: Radio Dalsan – 293 Words
The outgoing Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon has received credentials from the new Somali ambassador to the UN Yusuf Garad Omar in New York, Unites State of America on Friday. Yusuf Garad Omar, a former BBC Somali service head was appointed the Somalia’s permanent representative to the United Nations by the country’s president HE Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in June.
Mr Omar will replace Elmi Du’alle, who has been Somalia’s envoy to the United Nations for ten years. Yusuf Garad said UN chief Ban Ki-moon has reaffirmed United Nations commitments to Somalia in security, humanitarian affairs and state building, to help the horn of Africa country back on its feet. Yusuf Garad Omar, who has run for presidency in 2012 is among several diplomats sent to UN, Russia and France by the Federal Government of Somalia, in a bid to re-establish international relations.
French president François Hollande has also received credentials of newly-appointed Somali Ambassador to Paris Ali Sharif Ahmed. Furthermore, Russian president Vladimir Putin has aslo received letters of credential from Somali ambassador to Moscow Abdullahi Mohamed Warsame. Despite security challenges, the term-ended federal government of Somalia has made a remarkable progress in international relations over the past 4 years.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
EU To Pay Stipends To Frontline Police Officers
14 November – Source: CCTV – Video: 03:13 Minutes
UN Envoy Urges Somalia’s Regional States To Stick To Ceasefire Deal
14 November – Source: Xinhua – 433 Words
The top UN envoy in Somalia has called on Somalia’s two warring regional states to stick to a ceasefire agreement to help end fighting which has claimed 45 lives in the past six weeks. Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) in Somalia, Michael Keating said personal commitment of Presidents Abdiweli Mohamed Ali “Gaas” of Puntland and Abdikarim Hussein Guled of Galmudug is encouraging, but must be accompanied by full realization of the agreements
“Violations of the agreement are unacceptable, and indeed those responsible will be held accountable,” Keating said in a statement issued in Mogadishu on Sunday. The statement comes after Somali leaders led by Prime Minister Sharmarke and international partners attended crisis talks on a ceasefire in Galkayo on Saturday where they agreed a way forward to resolve the conflict.
During the meeting, the two regional presidents re-committed to a ceasefire in the disputed city under the leadership of Sharmarke,Keating said the meeting was very significant, noting that the United Nations and international partners will support an agreement and practical arrangements to stop the fighting immediately, ensure sustained dialogue and help local communities as well as Puntland and Galmudug to resolve their differences, and further its swift implementation.
“Extremists and other rejectionists have an interest in undermining peace. This must not be allowed to happen,” said Keating who was accompanied by the United Nations, the European Union, African Union and the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) officials. Fighting in and around Galkayo has resulted in at least 45 deaths in the last six weeks with an estimated 90,000 people having been displaced by fighting.
Fight Al-Shabaab But Don’t Terrorise Mandera – Roba
14 November – Source: The Star – 255 Words
Mandera Governor Ali Roba has urged residents to help the government fight radicalisation that has led to increased terror activities in the region. Speaking at a public gathering in Mandera town on Saturday, he said terrorism has hurt development. “It is time locals welcomed people from the rest of the country to improve the economy. No county can work in isolation. Al-Shabaab wreak havoc. If the trend continues, we will be isolated from the rest of the people from other counties,” Roba said.
He warned security agents against torturing innocent residents in the name of curbing terror attacks. Last Tuesday, a body of a man in handcuffs was retrieved from River Daua. Some leaders blamed security agents for the death. Banisa MP Mohamed Haji asked residents to cooperate with the government to fight terror. “Al-Shabaab militants have killed more than 100 innocent people since 2014. This has made people from the rest of the country scared to visit the region,” he said.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“For several weeks now, they have been holding meetings to take a stance unanimously against this blatant inequality. They failed to agree on anything.”
Should The Somalilanders In Mogadishu Parliament Quit?
13 November – Source: Wardheer News – 1,038 Words
The verdict is out! It is growing increasingly evident, day by day, that our gut-level understanding is right; that this Mogadishu family affair project, the so-called federal government, is coming to an end. And it should, for all practical purposes. In fact, southern intellectuals precisely disproved the dreams once held by some; that Somalis will soon shrink from tribal conflicts and from the never ending wars.
To the contrary, today’s leaders in the South destroyed that dream by employing corruption, cheating, and being driven by unimaginable lust for uncontrollable power prose that excited deep hatred of anti-state’s sentiment among the public. Furthermore, there is an unabashed tendency on the part of these leaders for creating overlapping multiple interest groups all working for the regional Masters, the president’s.
It begs the question, then: how do you build federalism with equitable distribution of wealth and power, where everyone has a say in how they want to govern their own states? It cannot happen; we all see how things intentionally started the wrong way. The purveyors of such corrupt system are behaving beyond the conventional wisdom, and their actions defied logic to make sense of what it is they are doing.
Legend has it that Hamlet’s actions were motivated by the ghost of Hamlet—his call for the Prince to avenge his murder. I think the southern elites are obsessed by the ghost of the criminal elements who died before them in the region, and they are carrying out revenge against innocent people to appease the ghosts. To the extent that this may be true, we may be dealing more with underlying dynamic. And given the myriad of antagonism these people have created already in the region, it is conceivable they lost the control for their instinct to war, the only thing their ghosts tell them.
TOP TWEETS
@Daudoo : Fierce fighting reported in #Somalia‘s Hosingow village, around 40km from #Kenya border, after #AlShabaabattacked #KDF bases overnight.
@hiiraan : #UN envoy urges #Somalia‘s regional states to stick to ceasefire deal http://www.hiiraan.com/news4/
@Gobanimodoon: #UN report accuses #Somali telecom firm of running unregulated mobile banking service #Somalia#Mogadishu http://www.alleastafrica.com/
@DrumChronicles: #Somalia #Mogadishu Drive by shooting Tawfiiq junction government troops targeted 2nd such attack in the capital in past few hours
@amisomsomalia : #Somalia‘s electoral process continues peacefully & successfully. #Puntland and #Jubbaland states elect 12 more MPs: http://goo.gl/WvvKGK
@APO_source : Outcome of the 21st #Military Operations Coordination Meeting on the #AfricanUnion Mission in #Somalia@AU_PSD http://www.APO.af/lxFWw4
@healix_security : Somalia – Travel Alert – Breaking reports of explosion targeted at police station in Burhakaba, Bay region#travelawareness #Somalia
IMAGE OF THE DAY
The second phase of Lower House elections kicked off in Garowe, Puntland yesterday.
Photo: AMISOM