November 25, 2015 | Daily Monitoring Report
Seized Boat Not Here, Eyl Administration Says
25 November – Source: Goobjoog News – 234 Words
Eyl administration has refuted claims that the hijacked Iranian fishing vessel with 15 crew members was taken to one of its coastal villages. The pirates had seized an Iranian-flagged vessel on Monday after an attack in northern Somalia, according Puntland Counter-piracy Agency. Speaking to Goobjoog News, Eyl District Commissioner, Muse Osman Yussuf has refuted the statement issued by the Puntland government which said Somali pirates seized the vessel from the coastal villages of Nugaal region.
“As far as we are concerned, there are no failed or successful hijack attempts in his area. The report of the seized vessel, reached us from Garowe and the coastal villages of this district have seen no hijacked vessel therefore it is upon Puntland administration to prove the report” said Osman. The Somali pirates have Sunday carried out attacks on two fishing boats but captured one from Iran as a Thai trawler managed to escape.
The number of attacks by Somali pirates dropped sharply since 2012, largely after foreign navies – including those from the US and China – began patrolling the East African coast and private firms put armed guards on their ships. Somali fishermen have continuously complained of illegal fishing trawlers, leading them to lose their economic opportunities and opted to quit their jobs for safety reasons.
Key Headlines
- Seized Boat Not Here Eyl Administration Says (Goobjoog News)
- Mogadishu Gangs Devise New Tricks To Lure Victims (Wacaal Media)
- Former Galmudug State Leader Voices Concern Over Galkayo Fighting (Shabelle News)
- Puntland Traffic Commandant Reports Major Changes In The Traffic Department (Villa Puntland)
- Parliamentary Committee Oks Extension Of Troop Deployment In UAE Somalia (Yonhap News Agency)
- UN Envoy For Somalia Concerned About Continuous Detention Of Puntland Journalist (UNSOM)
- Somalia’s Premier Appoints New Ministers Of Industry Energy (Bloomberg)
- All Return Is Not The Same Return (Maandeeq)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Mogadishu Gangs Devise New Tricks To Lure Victims
25 November – Source: Wacaal Media – 166 Words
Armed groups in Mogadishu have recently devised new ways to trap unsuspecting people. Using three wheeler vehicles, locally known as Bajaaj, the gangs who are normally armed with AK 47 rifles and pistols attack people in the neighborhoods where they operate then drive off immediately. The gang members sometimes pose as taxi drivers since the Bajaaj is normally used as a form of taxi services in most parts of the city.
For anonymity purposes, a young man who identified himself as only Omar told Wacaal Media that he encountered the gang members on more than one occasion, including an incident where they robbed his brother. He expressed fears as the gangs increase by the day. Wardhigley and Yaaqshid have been identified as most affected with locals complaining of no assistance from police stations located in these areas. While incidences of insecurity are normal in parts of Mogadishu, gang members seem to be outsmarting security agencies by posing as passengers or passenger vehicle services operators.
Former Galmudug State Leader Voices Concern Over Galkayo Fighting
25 November – Source: Shabelle News – 156 Words
Former Galmudug State Leader Abdi Hasan Awale Qeybdiid has voiced alarming concerns over the escalating fight that broke out between Galmudug and Puntland forces in the central Somali town of Galkayo. Speaking in an interview with Radio Shabelle, Mr Qeybdiid said: “It was unfortunate to shed the blood of Somali people at a time the country is coming out of the civil war and heading towards peace and development.”
The recent fighting in southern Galkayo city has forced hundreds of local residents to flee their houses. More than 10 people have been killed and 30 sustained injures. Mr Qeybdiid called for an immediate end to the fighting in Galkayo, urging both sides to do everything it can to protect the population and safeguard peace and stability. Qeybdiid’s call comes as the officials from Galmudug and Puntland states have traded accusations each claiming innocence over the recent deadly battle at Garsoor area in Galkayo town.
Puntland Traffic Commandant Reports Major Changes In The Traffic Department
25 November – Source: Villa Puntland – 178 Words
Speaking to a section of the local press, Col. Ali said the traffic forces are now larger in number and have more capacity to carry out their duties following intensive trainings at Armo Police training academy. “Traffic officers are ready to manage and facilitate free flow of traffic as well as reducing accidents in our roads which were caused by irresponsible driving as well as poor capacity on the side of traffic officers” he said.
The commandant disclosed his department has currently intensified crackdown on road users who break traffic rules adding that enough and well trained traffic officers have been deployed along major roads in all the major cities of Puntland. Col. Ali thanked Head of State Dr. Abdiweli Ali Gas as well as the commissioner of police for taking the lead in efforts to improve capacity of the traffic department.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Parliamentary Committee Oks Extension Of Troop Deployment In UAE, Somalia
25 November – Source: Yonhap News Agency – 129 Words
A South Korean parliamentary committee approved a bill Wednesday to extend the nation’s troop deployment in the United Arab Emirates and Somalia for another year to the end of 2016. The National Assembly’s defense committee passed the bill to extend the deployment of the military contingents in the two countries from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31. The bill needs to be passed by the National Assembly’s plenary session slated for Thursday. About 150 South Korean soldiers have been stationed in the eastern region of the UAE, tasked with training the Middle Eastern nation’s special operations forces. South Korea has also deployed a naval unit aboard a 4,500-ton destroyer in the Gulf of Aden since 2009 as part of global efforts to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia.
UN Envoy For Somalia Concerned About Continuous Detention Of Puntland Journalist
24 November – Source: UNSOM – 189 Words
The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) for Somalia, Nicholas Kay, today expressed his deep concern about the arbitrary arrest and detention on 19 November in Garowe of Mr. Jama Deperani, a correspondent for the privately owned Somali Channel TV. “Freedom of expression is essential to guarantee open, free and fair political processes,” said SRSG Kay. SRSG Kay also noted the importance of strong legal frameworks to ensure the enjoyment of freedom of expression, calling for all media legislation to be compliant with human rights standards.
This latest arrest is part of a pattern of arrests and detentions of media workers in Puntland, undermining articles 14 and 22 of the Puntland Constitution, Article 18 of the Provisional Constitution and the International legal framework that protects freedom of expression.
On 10 November, the Puntland Minister of Information suspended Mr. Deperani from operating as a journalist, providing no justification. On 19 November, he was detained at the Garowe Central Police Station before the Garowe Regional Court of First Instance renewed his detention without the legal grounds for his arrest. Mr. Deperani is now being held at the Garowe Central Prison.
Somalia’s Premier Appoints New Ministers Of Industry, Energy
24 November – Source: Bloomberg – 127 Words
Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke named new ministers of industry and energy, hours after the Horn of Africa nation’s legislators approved a law to lure foreign investment. Abdrirashid Mohamed Ahmed was appointed minister of commerce and industry, replacing Abdirahman Abdi Osman, according to a decree read Tuesday on state-run Radio Mogadishu. Mohamed Mursal Sheikh Abdirahman became minister of water and energy, taking over from Mohamed Hassan Aden, it said.
Lawmakers approved a bill giving foreign companies a legal framework to invest in the country, Parliamentary Speaker Mohamed Osman Jawarey said Monday in the capital, Mogadishu. Somalia, which has been mired in civil war for a quarter-century, is using recent military advances against al-Qaeda-linked fighters to try and attract investors to help rebuild the economy.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“As a young Madhibaan-Somali woman, what do I return to? A 4.5 system that gives me limited to no political power? If my family fled because that very Madhibaan identity posed incalculable risk, where do I go when I return? Where do young Somali women who aren’t connected to high ranking political families return to? When Somali male journalists are jailed for highlighting women’s experiences of rape, where are other places of recourse for Somali women? What do we return to? And why must we return?”
All Return Is Not The Same Return
24 November – Source: Maandeeq – 800 Words
I talk about this a lot lately. There’s few things we acknowledge in our ideas of what it means to be Somali and who is often restricted from that category. It is precisely the displacement of Somalis across the globe that places us in the position to have to think about clarifying identity more broadly. Somalis in the diaspora are clamouring to understand themselves the context of diaspora which forces us to begin to think about the stories we have taken as truth for so long. If we have to figure out between us what makes us similar, we begin to have to understand what connects us all across lines of difference, similarity or what it means to operate in these places of tension.
First we have to acknowledge that all return isn’t the same return. More precisely not all people have the ability to return. So when we think about what it means to return we have to also unpack our assumptions that return guarantees that you are welcome in the first place, and that return doesn’t come with years of social stratified baggage.
Im interested in the term diaspora privilege lately: the blanket assumption that returning to Somalia with a Western passport, education and language gives you unprecedented access. Let me be clear I’m not contesting the vast amount of privilege associated with these things. But I am questioning the assumption that returning with all of those things means you are 100% of the time granted a spatial and class based mobility.
I’m disputing diaspora privilege as a universal way to describe Somalis that have returned because of its inherent assumption that to be of the diaspora and to be a local are two separate identities. One of which is more authentic than the other. I reject this because of what it allows to be hidden under fancy jargon and what it refuses to unpack.
TOP TWEETS
@UNSomalia: Representatives from #Somaliland & northern regions meet to discuss 2016 Electoral Process#Soomaaliya2016 https://youtu.be/v2Rvo-1EaDU #Somalia
@JamalMOsman: #Somalia‘s al-Qaeda branch – #al-Shabab warns members against joining the Islamic State:http://news.yahoo.com/
@HassanIstiila: #Somali President says i warmly welcome the#appointment Michael Keating as new UNSG Special Representative #Somalia
@Dahirkulane: Cultivate #Peace at home#EndViolenceAgainstWomen and Girls in #Somalia #16days#orangetheworld #GirlsAreValuable
@US2SOMALIA: 3day Consultative Process on #Somalia Draft Political Parties Law concluded. 200 delegates- political parties, govt, civil society attended
@HarunMaruf : #Somalia:In Wargadudo village,Gedo,herdsmen clash w/ #AlShabab militants over zakat collections on livestock;2 dead,1 on each side:residents
@TerrorFreeSomal: #AlShabaab gunmen invaded Bula-Galol village in NE #Kenya at 6pm,held prayers in mosque, before preaching residents for hrs Source #Somalia
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Abdirahman Mohamed Hussein, the Somali Minister of Interior and Federal Affairs speaks during the closing session of a three-day Consultative Process on Somalia’s Draft Political Parties Law held in Mogadishu on November 23 2015.