November 15, 2012 | Daily Monitoring Report.
Somali president in u-turn over U.N. charcoal ban
15 Nov – Source: Reuters – 126 words
Somalia’s president has reversed course on what to do about millions of sacks of charcoal stockpiled in former rebel strongholds and now says they can be exported despite a U.N. embargo on the trade.
Hassan Sheikh Mohamud three weeks ago fully backed a U.N. ban imposed in February aimed at cutting off funds to Islamist militants, but said he changed his mind after hearing from local Somalis.
“The U.N. and the Somali government banned the export of charcoal. But we considered the logical requests of the Somalis,” Mohamud told reporters in Mogadishu late on Wednesday. “It is impossible to reverse charcoal to trees. Somalis have invested cash and sacrificed time with this charcoal. However, no trees can be burned for charcoal,” he said.
Key Headlines
- Somali president in u-turn over U.N. charcoal ban (Reuters)
- Somalia’s Foreign Affairs Woman minister attends OIC meeting in Djibouti (Bar-kulan/Radio Mogadishu/RBC)
- Turks to give Mogadishu major facelift (Africa Review)
- Somali President makes first major speech since election (Garowe Online /Hiiraan Online/Radio Mogadishu)
- Police arrest Nairobi blast suspect (Standard Media)
- Somali President receives delegation from China (Radio Mogadishu/SONNA)
- UPDFs Success In Somalia Hinged On Discipline (Uganda Media Center)
SOMALI MEDIA
Somali President Mohamud calls for formation of inclusive admin for Juba regions
15 Nov – Source: Radio Bar-kulan /Radio Mogadishu/Radio Mustaqbal/Jowhar Online – 136 words
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has urged local clans in Lower Juba to keep aside their differences and work on ways to establish an all inclusive local administration for the region.
He said his government will support and facilitate efforts towards creation of inclusive administration in the region for the common good of the local residents. The president said the government reserves all the rights to form an administration for the region but that does not mean appointing individuals from Mogadishu.
He stated that the region is part of the larger federal republic of Somalia, admitting that the region has been badly hit by the two decades old conflict that ravaged the country since early 1990s. The president however said his government will use all possible avenues to safeguard the property of the locals in the region.
Somali President makes first major speech since election
15 Nov – Source: Garowe Online /Hiiraan Online/Radio Mogadishu – 148 words
President of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud gave a speech in Mogadishu, his first since being elected in September, discussing corruption, federal state formation and security, Garowe Online reports. Reiterating a policy in his inaugural speech in September, the Somali president spoke about battling corruption which has plagued previous governments in the past.
The President spoke about building supervisory organizations independent of the Ministry of Finance to account for money given to Somalia. The UN’s Monitoring Group accused the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia of over $150 million dollars that were unaccounted for.
President Hassan moved on to the hot topic of Jubaland state, that has been an ardent issue for the Somali President. The Jubaland formation has been an ongoing process backed by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and Kenya which has deployed troops in Somalia under the mandate of AMISOM.
Somalia’s Foreign Affairs Woman minister attends OIC meeting in Djibouti
15 Nov – Source: Bar-kulan/Radio Mogadishu/RBC – 138 words
Somalia’s Foreign Affairs Woman Minister Fauzia Yusuf Haji Adan will be representing her country during the 39th Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of OIC scheduled to kick off on Thursday in Djibouti.
The three day meeting will focus on decisions taken at earlier meetings issues concerning Muslim world including the plight of Palestine people, situation in Syria, violence in Myanmar, Mali and Somalia.
On the sidelines‚ Fowzia is expected to hold bilateral meetings with the participating Foreign Ministers. During the meeting, political progress in Somalia and the need for OIC to support in rebuilding the horn of African nation is also expected to dominate talks. This is the first foreign meeting that Fowzia who was recently appointed as the first woman foreign affairs minister in Somalia is attending.
Somali President receives delegation from China
15 Nov – Source: Radio Mogadishu/SONNA – 94 words
President of the Somali federal government, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has received on Wednesday delegation from China republic in Mogadishu. Chinese diplomats were headed by Lee Wo, representative of construction companies for Africa and promised they would bring 49 construction companies that implementing different projects and development programs in Somalia.
The streaming of foreign diplomats to the Somali capital Mogadishu from Tukey, Iran and China Wednesday alone comes a day after the Somali lawmakers passed the executive council of the Somali government and a time Somalia moved from transition to a permanent government.
Former Somali envoy to Sudan dies
15 Nov – Source: Bar-kulan/Caasimada Online/Somaliweyn/Raxanreeb – 96 words
The former Somali ambassador to Sudan Prof. Mahdi Abubakar Mohamud has died in Khartoum, reports say. Mohamud who for three years headed the Somali mission in Khartoum during the time of the later former TFG president Abdullahi Yussuf Ahmed was found dead in his house in the Sudanese capital.
Reports say the ex-diplomat has been suffering unspecified heart problem and has been dead in his house for the last three days before his lifeless body was found last night. Mohamud has also previously served as Somali envoy in several countries including the Islamic Republic of Iran.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Police arrest Nairobi blast suspect
15 Nov – Source: Standard Media – 239 words
Police are holding a suspected terrorist after an explosion he had planned to detonate inside a supermarket exploded and injured him in Nairobi’s Eastleigh area. Witnesses told police the suspect was in the company of two others and had arrived outside the Joster supermarket aboard a motorbike when the incident happened. Nairobi Area police boss Moses Ombati says the explosion went off before the suspects walked into the supermarket.
“It was then that a crowd charged at the suspects and arrested one whom they beat with his injuries before police arrived and saved him. He is in custody and under interrogation,” said Ombati of the 7pm incident. It is believed many people were injured following the incident and they escaped. Some have been rushed to hospital.
Ombati says bomb experts have rushed there to establish the cause of the explosion. “We believe they were targeting the supermarket but the suspect will tell us more,” said Ombati on the phone. Police say preliminary findings show it was a grenade and that the suspect is in a stable condition in hospital.
The incident happened in Biafra area, few kilometers away from where another one occurred on a bridge injuring two, a week ago. No arrest has been made so far following the bridge blast. Kenya has experienced a series of explosions after troops rolled into Somalia last year to hunt down al Shabaab militants who had been blamed for several insecurity incidents.
UPDFs Success In Somalia Hinged On Discipline
14 Nov – Source: Uganda Media Center – 187 words
President Yoweri Museveni has attributed the success of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) in Somalia to the discipline on which the force was formed. Mr. Museveni, on his third day visit to Sri Lanka at the invitation of his counterpart, President Mahinda Rajapakasa, was talking to the top brass of the Sri Lankan army, including the Army Commander, General Jagath Jayasooriya.
President Museveni is in Sri Lanka together with his wife, Mrs. Janet Museveni, who is also Karamoja Affairs Minister and MP for Ruhama. The First Lady had a parallel program which included meeting several senior government officials on matters related to her Ministry.
President Museveni told the officers, after watching the recorded video of the defeat of the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) forces, which terrorized the people of Sri Lanka for decades that discipline is very important in wars.
Turks to give Mogadishu major facelift
14 Nov – Source: Africa Review – 244 words
Turkey has promised to rebuild the Somali parliament building in the heart of Mogadishu. Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, on a visit to Somalia, assured the work would start soon.
“The Turkish Government is going to demolish the old building of the parliament and completely rebuild it,” said Mr Davutoglu, amid cheers from Somali legislators.
The minister arrived in Mogadishu and immediately proceeded to the Peoples’ Hall, the building hosting the Somali Federal Parliament, where he joined a session being held by the MPs. Turkish companies are meanwhile set to undertake the rebuilding of the dilapidated infrastructure of the Somali capital city.
Pirates are getting ‘more sophisticated’
14 Nov – Source: Star – 305 words
Though piracy has significantly reduced off the Somali coast, pirates have become more organised and sophisticated, Indian Navy officers l have said.
Commanding officer of Indian naval ship Deepak, Balbir Munjal, said on Monday that this has made the fight more complicated. He said the pirates use more sophisticated weapons and are more tactical than before.
Speaking aboard the INS Delhi after it docked at the Mombasa port together with INS Deepak, Munjal said the pirates have back-up on land who provide them with information they require.
“Piracy is still there but has been reduced considerably. In the last three weeks we have been at sea, we have not encountered any piracy activity,” he said.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somali president in u-turn over U.N. charcoal ban
15 Nov – Source: Reuters – 126 words
Somalia’s president has reversed course on what to do about millions of sacks of charcoal stockpiled in former rebel strongholds and now says they can be exported despite a U.N. embargo on the trade.
Hassan Sheikh Mohamud three weeks ago fully backed a U.N. ban imposed in February aimed at cutting off funds to Islamist militants, but said he changed his mind after hearing from local Somalis.
“The U.N. and the Somali government banned the export of charcoal. But we considered the logical requests of the Somalis,” Mohamud told reporters in Mogadishu late on Wednesday.
“It is impossible to reverse charcoal to trees. Somalis have invested cash and sacrificed time with this charcoal. However, no trees can be burned for charcoal,” he said.
Turkish doctors give free health care in Somalia
14 Nov – Source: Anatolia News Agency – 137 words
Turkish doctors have been giving free health care to 600 patients a day at the Sahara hospital built by the Turkish Health Ministry in Mogadishu, capital of Somalia. Somali patients are happy to get cured at the only hospital in the city that is free of charge yet has the most modern operating room where 300 patients get operated per month.
Turkish Health Ministry’s Somalia Coordinator Bayram Civelek told AA that they tried to do everything to make Somali patients happy. He said they provided free lunch for the patients, wheelchairs to the disabled, and healthcare to the orphans living in the orphanages.
He said sick children were carried to the hospital by a shuttle and treated. Civelek also said that after the 200-bed hospital constructed by Turkey was completed in June, they would serve Somali patients better.
Armed guards on commercial ships a risky business – expert
14 Nov – Source: Defence Web – 545 words
Despite their widespread use, there are significant risks for shipping operators and owners who embark armed Maritime Security companies for anti-piracy tasks, according to maritime security consultant Jason Marriott-Watson.
Speaking at the Maritime and Coastal Security Africa 2012 conference held in Cape Town last week, he said that despite the recent decline in piracy statistics, piracy off the Horn of Africa is not going away.
Marriott-Watson attributes much of the decline to the proliferation of embarked armed vessel protection teams and the 27-nation Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) applying immense pressure off the Somali coastline and thereby disrupting Pirate Action Groups (PAGs). A PAG typically comprises a mother ship and three to five skiffs which swarm the victim vessel.
‘We Can’t Forget This Machine’: The Letterpress of Mogadishu
14 Nov – Source: The Atlantic – 531 Words
In a tiny, damp, oil-soaked cellar tucked behind one of Mogadishu’s bullet-pocked central streets, fragile remnants of a city’s survival clutter the rickety shelves. Their location, hidden just beneath Mogadishu’s shelled façade, is perhaps their only reason for survival.
For 45 years, Daha Printing Press has accumulated an inked archive of Mogadishu’s intricate, vibrant and violent political and social history. As governments, dictators, warlords, and militias battled for control of the streets above, Daha operated like a well-oiled machine, printing for all who walked in their door. Everybody, it seems, has something to print.
“Even warlords needed to collect taxes,” Liban Egal, the son of Daha’s original owner, asserts. Customs declaration forms for Mogadishu’s bustling port, still written in Italian from early post-colonial days, sit freshly pressed on the table; they are being repurposed for Somalia’s new government.
Tax collection slips and Central Bank account ledgers from the military rule of Mohamed Siad Barre — whose ousting in 1991 launched two decades of civil war — litter the stock room. Business cards, like that of notorious warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid, who was the target of a failed American assassination attempt (which in turn resulted the infamous ‘Black Hawk Down’ incident), fill old wooden drawers.
Even United Nations Development Program reports from the 1980’s hide under crumbling shelves. Originally opened in central Mogadishu in 1967, Daha Printing Press was founded by 25 year-old Abdi Egal Hassan. Hassan took skills he mastered studying printmaking in Germany through a scholarship, and built a thriving enterprise.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“The threat to pull out of Somalia when the mission has not been accomplished, on an issue not directly related, gives credence to those who have argued that Uganda was in Somalia at the behest of Western powers who, however, in recent days have become wary of the avalanche of corruption and impunity in the country and have started cutting off aid.”
Government’s threat to pull out of Somalia is blackmail
15 Nov – Source: Daily Monitor – 664 Words
The Prime Minister, Amama Mbabazi, recently informed Parliament that the government has resolved to withdraw ‘all UPDF troops from Somalia and other peace keeping missions in Africa’ because of the UN report that accuses Uganda of supporting the M23 rebels in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The withdrawal, he said, was to protect Uganda from ‘possible invasion from Congo and UN-sponsored terrorists’. His statement did not categorically say Uganda was withdrawing since a team led by ICT Minister, Ruhakana Rugunda, had flown to New York to deliver Uganda’s protest to the UN over the allegations in the leaked report.
As if to muddle up the waters more, the government following Ruganda’s visit issued an ultimatum to the UN for the report to be withdrawn! There have been worse UN reports on Uganda’s involvement and exploitation of DRC, so why the overreaction on this one?
“At the head of the long table, sporting a bright pink shirt and neatly cropped grey goatee, sits Mohammed Nur, the mayor of Mogadishu – known to all by his childhood nickname, Tarzan. It is two years since I first met Tarzan, soon after his return from years in exile in London. He was one of several prominent members of the diaspora to come home to join a fragile transitional government.”
Meeting the mayor of Mogadishu: Somalia’s Tarzan
15 Nov – Source: BBC – 1081 Words
In a cluttered office in the centre of Mogadishu, a dozen men in suits squeeze round a table to haggle politely over the price of business licenses. An elderly air conditioner wheezes quietly in the background.
In a ruined city famous for its warlords and anarchy, this modest, humdrum meeting of Mogadishu’s new Chamber of Commerce feels like a milestone – proof that Somalia’s capital is slowly returning to a loose approximation of normality after two decades of spectacular self-destruction.
But is this progress irreversible? Or is Somalia destined to slide back into clan warfare and chaos? And can a man called Tarzan make a difference?Time is running out – We have to do something to build the confidence of the people otherwise they will give up”.
“As Al-Shabaab decreases the number of its fighters and the big towns and cities it rules, it reduces its expenditure, increases efficiency of its reduced fighters who will mostly be the core reliable fighters, and be more of a pain in the ass to Somalia’s Federal government and its foreign muscle for many years to come.”
Al Shabaab Prepared for Decade of War
14 Nov – Source: Inside Insurgency Blog – 788 Words
On Friday, al Shabaab spokesman, Ali Dhere, spoke to the Islamic Radio Al-Furqan about the group’s long-term strategy in dealing with the onslaught from the 5 African militaries bolstering Somalia’s weak military.
As already apparent from the group’s actions – and as I have pointed out earlier in this blog and elsewhere – al Shabaab have time as their best friend and do intend to stay alive until the foreign invaders get tired and leave. However, al Shabaab have kind of undermined their position in my opinion by announcing their expected timeframe for the withdrawal of AMISOM.
Ali Dhere started his announcement by claiming that al Shabaab destroy up to 30 allied vehicles per month and kill an average of 3 enemy troops daily, therefore “90 soldiers are killed per month… And they are not sand we are digging up [that have no end]… these are human beings [that will eventually be finished].”
“…Amriki’s previously proud social media postings have recently given way to more anxious videos in which he appears to fear death at the hands of his fellow jihadists. Security officials say he is no longer in favor within the militia, although he still has support from some leaders, and African Union officers still see him as a key commander.”
A rapping Alabaman is now one of the most wanted terrorists
14 Nov – Source: Washington Post Blog – 448 Words
A rapping, 28-year-old American from Alabama has been added to the FBI’s list of Most Wanted Terrorists. Omar Shafik Hammami, otherwise known as al Amriki, or “the American,” is believed to be in Somalia, where he has become a senior leader of the Islamist al Shabaab militia.
As The Washington Post’s Sudarsan Raghavan reported, Amriki, who has a Syrian father and an Irish-American mother, discovered ultraconservative Islam while a student at the University of South Alabama. He traveled to Somalia in 2006 and joined al Shabaab to fight U.S.-backed African Union forces.
For the past three years, the Daphne, Ala., native has been living in the coastal town of Marka, Somalia, with his three wives and five children. He soon became a commander in the militia, training fighters and leading operations in Somalia.
Top tweets
@AbukarArman #Somalia: U know things R getting better when the biggest problem in #Mogadishu is real estate bubble caused by returnees from diaspora!
@loughrichard Here’s an interesting u-turn: Somali president now says OK to export stockpiled charcoal despite U.N. ban http://reut.rs/XHQdPB #Somalia.
@Mrenda Mobile phones offer innovative ways of educating communities in #Somalia with lifesaving information #Oxfam #Innovation http://www.oxfamblogs.org/
@Calestous #Diaspora and Development (PDF) http://bit.ly/W6BQUy by Fawzia Yusuf Adam, #Somalia‘s first female foreign minister.
@MinisterHashi #Somalia #President‘s speech to #Parliament on #accountability and on the inviolability of #Public Property. Very well received by the MPs.
Image of the day
Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (R) and Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi pose for photographs before addressing a joint news conference in Mogadishu November 14, 2012. Photo: Reuters.