November 21, 2016 | Daily Monitoring Report
Al-Shabaab Executes Alleged Tanzanian Spy In Southern Somalia
21 November – Source: Garowe Online – 210 Words
A man said to be a Tanzanian fighting for the Al-Shabaab militant group has been executed in Jilib district in middle Jubba region by the Somali militant group for alleged espionage. Issa James Mwaisige, the Tanzanian who was one of the foreign jihadists in Somalia has been convicted of spying for the United States and Rwandan Intelligence agencies on the militants’ activities.
Mwaisige was executed by a firing squad in Jilib town, about 410 km south of Mogadishu city, according to a new video released by Al-Shabaab. Reports said hundreds of local residents, including women and young children were forcefully called to witness the execution event in Jilib, the main Al-Shabaab stronghold area in Middle Shabelle.
Al-Shabaab court judge said that the Tanzanian pleaded guilty of all charges against him during the court hearing and was subsequently sentenced to death. The executed Tanzanian said in the Video that he has received $4,000 from US central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Rwanda’s intelligence to orchestrate plots to kill senior jihadist leaders. The International Rights groups have slammed the courts of the Somalia-based Al Qaeda-linked group of Al-Shabaab for lacking legitimacy and imposing harsh sentences.
Key Headlines
- Al-Shabaab Executes Alleged Tanzanian Spy In Southern Somalia (Garowe Online)
- Newly Elected MP Dies Of Heart Attack In Garowe (Puntlandi.com)
- HirShabelle State To Resume Voting For Lower House Representatives Following Temporary Suspension Of Polls (AMISOM)
- 20 Suspected Al-Shabaab Members Arrested In Somali Capital (Xinhua)
- Vote Buying Takes Center Stage In Somalia Parliamentary Elections (Africa News)
- Do Amina A Favour Forget About Dadaab For Now (The East African)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Newly Elected MP Dies Of Heart Attack In Garowe
21 November – Source: Putlandi.com – 96 Words
A newly elected member of Somalia’s Lower House has died in Puntland city of Garowe Sunday night. Dahir Haji Gelle’s sudden death in his hotel room was received with shock with those who were with him saying he complained of chest pains before his death raising fears he died of a heart attack. Gelle is a long serving Somali federal MP. He was first selected an MP in 2009 and was among the few who would made a come back to the house after his clansmen gave him the nod again in the ongoing Lower House elections.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
HirShabelle State To Resume Voting For Lower House Representatives Following Temporary Suspension Of Polls
21 November – Source: AMISOM – 542 Words
A deadlock in an electoral dispute in HirShabelle state was resolved on Sunday, following the intervention of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) for Somalia Michael Keating and the Special Representative of the AU Commission Chairperson (SRCC) Ambassador Francisco Caetano Madeira. SRSG Keating and Ambassador Madeira negotiated a settlement in a dispute between two clans, which had resulted in a temporary suspension of the electoral process in the state.
“We recognize that there would be political challenges, but we believe despite those challenges, having the rules respected will bring great benefits to a new state and will send a signal to the rest of Somalia and to the international community,” SRSG Keating said, shortly after meeting the State-level Indirect Electoral Implementation Team (SIEIT) and HirShabelle President Ali Abdullahi Osoble.
“Our message to the president and to the SIEIT and to everyone, is that the rules of the process as set down by the National Leadership Forum need to be respected including the quota for women, which means in HirShabelle 11 women will be elected to the Lower House,” SRSG Keating emphasized.
20 Suspected Al-Shabaab Members Arrested In Somali Capital
21 November – Source: Xinhua – 155 Words
At least 20 people suspected to be members of Islamist group Al-Shabaab were arrested in an operation in the Somali capital of Mogadishu on Saturday night, police said. Banadir region police chief, Bashir Abshir Gedi, told journalists troops from the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and Somali soldiers carried out the operation in Hamar Jajab and Waberi districts in Mogadishu to hunt down Al-Shabaab suspects.
“These people (suspects) were planning attacks on the city but our intelligence helped us arrest them before they could do anything,” Gedi said. Al-Shabaab has been fighting against the Somali government for years, staging frequent attacks in the country.
The operation comes as Mogadishu prepares for presidential election scheduled for Nov. 30. Parliamentary elections are ongoing in various parts of the country. AMISOM and Somali forces have beefed up security in Mogadishu ahead of the election, erecting security barriers and putting up checks on vehicles during day and night.
Vote Buying Takes Center Stage In Somalia Parliamentary Elections
21 November – Source: Africa News – 197 Words
Somalia’s ongoing parliamentary election ahead of the presidential elections on November 30 is characterized by vote buying, fraud and violence by candidates. The country’s auditor general Nur Jimale Farah told Voice of America (VOA) that the over 14,000 Electoral College delegates are voting for the highest bidder.
“Some votes were bought with $5,000, some with $10,000, and some with $20,000 or $30,000. But not all seats are equal. Some are influential seats and have a lot of candidates competing for them,” he said. He also alleged that two seats in Galmudug and the other in Hirshabelle cost the winners $1.3 million each.
Farah also told VOA that some delegates and candidates were prevented from entering the election halls while polling was ongoing to secure a win for the opponents. He explained that some of the candidates are desperate to get into parliament to get immunity and protection after a history of violence. About half of the 275-member Lower House of parliament have been elected and more than half of the 54-member Upper House have been elected by the regional parliaments.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“Strategically, if Ms Mohamed were to be elected AU chief, for Kenya that would be most beneficial in the area of Somalia, where Amisom is struggling in the face of donor financial aid cutbacks to its operations. She could dramatically change the standing of the mission by making it a more mainstream matter in the AU.”
Do Amina A Favour, Forget About Dadaab For Now
21 November – Source: The East African – 550 Words
Kenya said on Wednesday it was delaying the closure of Dadaab, the world’s largest refugee camp, which houses nearly 300,000 Somali refugees. Kenya, which holds that Islamist militants from neighbouring Somalia use the camp as a cover for their incursions into the country, has been under intense international pressure to give the residents more time to find new homes.
Human-rights and refugee-rights groups had slammed Kenya for the decision, arguing its unilateral decision violated international law. For now, however, let’s accept the Kenya government is right to close Dadaab, and that there is therefore no legal — or moral — problem there. The only issue is that it is bad politics and timing. President Uhuru Kenyatta recently threw Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed’s name in the ring to contest in the upcoming second attempt to elect a new chairperson of the African Union Commission to replace Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
One of Nkosazana’s more uncomfortable moments must have been in early 2015, during the bout of xenophobic violence against African immigrants in South Africa. To make matters worse, many of the victims that time were Ethiopians, and there she was, sitting at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa. Because she is a political leader in her own right back home, and is seen as one of the potential successors to her ex-husband President Jacob Zuma, it must have undermined her pan-African credentials.
TOP TWEETS
@Somaliwirednews : Ex-Somali Defense Minister Salad Jelle exposed how #Somalia‘s DamuJadid President Hassan Sheikh corrupted everything
@RadioMogadishu : Which countries arming and #funding#terrorists in #Somalia? Why are such countries doing illegal business in Somalia?
@Tarrahson : Rising numbers of teens in #Somalia are battling highly #addictive painkillers over the counter. Isolated & With no DrugAbuseCentre to call
@AfricaTopStory : #Somalia:20 people suspected #AlShabaabmembers arrested in #Mogadishu http://www.horndiplomat.com/
@hiiraan : Vote buying takes center stage in #Somaliaparliamentary #elections
http://www.hiiraan.com/news4/
@EspMaliStrategy: UN, international partners underline need to ensure legitimacy and credibility of elections in #Somalia
@digitaldjeli : #Kenya Police say they killed four #AlShabaabmilitants during an ambush of troops on the Kenyan border with#Somalia
IMAGE OF THE DAY
AMISOM Police and Military components together with the Somali National Security Forces have committed to the electoral process and will work towards ensuring Somalia has adequate security during the electoral process.
Photo: AMISOM