November 22, 2016 | Morning Headlines

Main Story

Somali President Cuts The Ribbon At Newly Rebuild Road In Mogadishu.

21 November – Source: Radio Dalsan – 185 Words

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has on Monday officially cut the ribbon of reconstructed road of “ Workers road” in Mogadishu’s Hodan district. The “ Workers road” has been without renovation since the turmoil of Somalia started in 1991. But the residents of the road wouldn’t rebuild because of lack of finance. “Success has been done, the project build your country with one dollar has won, I would like to tell the Somali people to rebuild their country” Somali president Hassan says. The governor of Mogadishu, top officials and MPs attended the events. The government of Qatar is set to begin infrastructure development in Somalia, mainly on roads which has been badly damaged in the last two decades of civil war. Qatar is one of the countries supporting the Somali people and their government, and its assistance will pave the way for other emerging economies to make a significant contribution to Somalia’s economy and society. Up to know Turkey continues to lead the efforts in rebuilding Somalia. There are new roads, schools, hospitals, hotels and banks – all a sign that Somalis are optimistic about the future.

Key Headlines

Somali President Cuts The Ribbon At Newly Rebuild Road In Mogadishu (Radio Dalsan)
Puntland’s TPEC Chairman Quits Post (Garowe Online)
Three More MPs Voted To The Lower House In Elections Held In Somalia’s South West State (Goobjoog News)
Somali President Seeks Mediation Amid Charges Of Violence During Vote (Reuters)
Somali Politicians Report Violence During Vote (eNews Channel Africa)
US Forces In Somalia Take On More Risk As Advisory Mission Expands (Stars and Stripes)
How Trump Can Help In Fight To Curb Terrorism (Star Tribune)

NATIONAL MEDIA

Puntland’s TPEC Chairman Quits Post

21 November – Source: Garowe Online – 259 Words

The chairman of Transitional Puntland Electoral Commission (TPEC) has formally resigned from his post on Monday after handing over the resignation letter to Puntland President. Ahmed Mohamed Ali “Kismayo”, who was appointed last February, cited “personal reasons” that prompted his sudden decision to step down from the post. “It’s a personal decision due to private circumstances and neither influenced by anyone nor have I encountered a problem with anyone that led me to take this decision,” read the letter obtained by Garowe Online. Kismayo also expressed gratitude for Puntland President Abdiweli Mohamed Ali “Gaas” for nominating him, who later accepted the resignation.

In February, Ali has been nominated in a presidential decree, to lead a 9-members committee set to oversee democratization process and state’s direct vote in 2019 election. The announcement comes amidst lack of support from Puntland government to move forward with democratization process to ensure transition from clan-based form of governance to democracy in Puntland. Since the official launch of TPEC in last March, the electoral body didn’t take any concrete actions to effectively introduce the multiparty system in Puntland. Ali who pledged during his presidential campaign to implement multiparty system in his first year and ensure one-person-one-vote in 2019 Puntland election, is seemingly reluctant to honor his previous promises to Puntland people. The previous government led by former President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole, spearheaded efforts to hold first direct and local council elections across Puntland region, but oppositions led by then presidential candidate Ali, have fiercely opposed the process who saw the democratization process in Puntland not favoring their political interests.

Three More MPs Voted To The Lower House In Elections Held In Somalia’s South West State

21 November – Source: Goobjoog News – 187 Words

Voting for Lower House representatives continued in South West state, where three candidates were elected MPs. Abdirashid Mohamed Ahmed, the federal minister of Industry and Trade was among the three candidates who emerged victorious in the balloting exercise. Mohamed Abdullahi Mursal, South West state SIEIT chairman announced that delegates from Lower Shabelle region would start registering for the voting exercise tomorrow. “This was one of the few challenges we had and which we have now overcome,” he said. Elections in South West state have been smooth, without incidents. Somali security forces working jointly with AMISOM military and police have provided adequate security to all electoral centers. “The committee (for security coordination) has done a wonderful job right from the time we started registration up to the time where we are, we have not had any serious incidents as far security is concerned,” said SSP Ambayo John Gray, a member of the election security coordinating team. South West state has so far elected 30 members of the Lower House, out of an allocation of 69 seats. The SIEIT hopes to conclude the elections in the next ten days.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Somali President Seeks Mediation Amid Charges Of Violence During Vote

21 November – Source: Reuters – 384 Words

Somali politicians and clan elders have reported violence and irregularities in voting for a new parliament, limited to just 14,000 citizens due to an Islamist insurgency, and the president urged all parties to embrace mediation if disputes arise. The election of the 275-seat parliament is due to end this month after voters including elders and prominent figures spent several weeks electing lawmakers for each region. The lawmakers will then pick the next president. Islamist militant attacks meant authorities could enfranchise only a tiny fraction of Somalia’s 11 million people, who have endured more than two decades of conflict and chaos.
Diplomats said the limited franchise is still a step forward from 2012, when just 135 elders elected parliament’s lawmakers. Several participants and senior officials in federal regions taking part in the vote have lodged complaints about the voting process, which began in late October and is due to end this week. However, experts say it could now last until Nov. 30. “The list of legal voters from my clan was rejected and the government brought a fake list and voters from Mogadishu,” Mohamed Mohamud Gure, the public works minister for the semi-autonomous Galmudug region, told Reuters.

He said he and another clan elder were fired upon when they went to register a complaint with the electoral authorities, and they were then detained for several hours by the authorities. Hussein Nur, a clan elder in a different district of Galmudug, said an elder from his clan, Abdullahi Arale, was shot dead when he accused some voters of being impostors. “We urge all electoral institutions to investigate the existing complaints,” President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said in a statement issued at the weekend. “If disputes cannot be resolved traditionally, it is important they be transferred to the electoral commissions so that legal solution in accordance with election processes can be agreed upon and reached.”

Somali Politicians Report Violence During Vote

21 November – Source: eNews Channel Africa – 372 Words

Diplomats said the limited franchise is still a step forward from 2012, when just 135 elders elected parliament’s lawmakers. Several participants and senior officials in federal regions taking part in the vote have lodged complaints about the voting process, which began in late October and is due to end this week. However, experts say it could now last until November 30. “The list of legal voters from my clan was rejected and the government brought a fake list and voters from Mogadishu,” Mohamed Mohamud Gure, the public works minister for the semi-autonomous Galmudug region, told Reuters. He said he and another clan elder were fired upon when they went to register a complaint with the electoral authorities, and they were then detained for several hours by the authorities.

US Forces In Somalia Take On More Risk As Advisory Mission Expands

21 November – Source: Stars and Stripes – 466 Words

U.S. special operations forces working with Somali troops are facing increased risk in an advisory mission that has shifted from basic soldiering to complex battlefield missions, U.S. Africa Command’s Gen. Thomas Waldhauser said. “When you get into that phase of (troops) accompanying that should tell you that the units you’re working with are at a point where the military operations they undertake become a little more complex and a little more dangerous,” Waldhauser said in an interview at his Stuttgart headquarters. The forward presence of U.S. forces combined with a spike in airstrikes against the al-Shabab insurgent group is the most significant sign of escalation in the country since 18 American soldiers were killed there in 1993. In 2016, at least 14 strikes or raids have been carried out in the country, compared with only a handful a year earlier.

The intensification of operations raises questions about whether U.S. forces are being sucked deeper into a country that has resisted attempts by outsiders to impose order. “AFRICOM’s attempts to mask direct combat operations against al-Shabab targets such as training camps and IED factories as advise and assist missions whitewashes the more than 10-year-old war that the Somali government, the African Union, and the United States has waged against al-Qaeda’s branch in Somalia,” wrote the Long Wars Journal in a recent analysis after a series of high profile strikes in September.

OPINION , CULTURE & ANALYSIS

“What the criticism of Trump’s inflammatory remarks missed was a serious error of omission. The man who is now president-elect failed to note that Minnesota is also at the leading edge of innovative efforts to prevent terrorist recruiting.”

How Trump Can Help In Fight To Curb Terrorism

20 November – Source: Star Tribune – 490 Words

Donald Trump spent some of his last hours on the campaign trail in Minnesota, holding an airport rally just two days before the election. As thousands cheered him, the billionaire reality TV star harshly spotlighted a critical challenge this state faces: the recruitment of young Somali-Americans by terrorist organizations.
Trump’s remarks that Minnesota has “suffered enough” because of its Somali-American community rightly drew broad condemnation. Thousands of these new Minnesotans — the nation’s largest concentration of Somali-Americans — are entrepreneurs, students, promising political leaders and good neighbors working for a brighter future. That this community’s young people are considered prey by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is a tragedy that should not result in sweeping judgment of all Somalis. What the criticism of Trump’s inflammatory remarks missed was a serious error of omission. The man who is now president-elect failed to note that Minnesota is also at the leading edge of innovative efforts to prevent terrorist recruiting.

These efforts, which are often referred to as Countering Violent Extremism, or CVE, take a preventive-medicine approach to thwart recruiting by helping these new Americans put down roots in their new homeland. It is imperative that the CVE mission move forward and grow under President Trump. It’s too soon to determine CVE’s fate in the new administration, though the sentencing last week of nine ISIL recruits from Minnesota should spur the state’s congressional delegation to publicly press the case for CVE. Whomever Trump appoints in the next few weeks as the new Department of Homeland Security head must champion CVE efforts or the program will wither, a development with troubling consequences for national security. Antiterrorism efforts must include many strategies, not just rely on stopping terrorists at the airport.