November 29, 2017 | Morning Headlines
Qatar Development Fund Supports Somali Economy
29 November – Source: The Peninsula – 347 Words
The Qatar Development Fund (QFD) has pledged to support the Somali economy through a package of $200m worth of projects in the fields of infrastructure, education, economic empowerment, By signing a partnership agreement with the Somali Government aimed at strengthening its efforts in the area of stability and economic development. The agreement was signed by H. E. Khalifa bin Jassem Al-Kuwari, Director General of the Qatar Development Fund and H.E. Jamal Mohammed Hassan, Minister of Planning, Investment and Economic Development, representing the Somali government.
The project includes the implementation of several developmental projects including the construction of the Mogadishu-Jawhar road for 90 km, the Mogadishu-Afgoy road with a length of 30 km, the rehabilitation of the prime minister’s building, the rehabilitation of the Ministry of Planning, Investment and Economic Development, the rehabilitation of the Mogadishu municipality building, And building the building of the Diplomatic Institute in addition to supporting the Silatech Foundation to empower unemployed youth through vocational and technical training projects in the various Somali government and states. The projects will also include the signing of a memorandum of understanding to support education programs in Somalia between the Qatar Development Fund and the Education Foundation above all.
H. E. Khalifa bin Jassim Al-Kuwari, Director General of the Qatar Development Fund (QFD) said that this commitment is part of the commitment of the State of Qatar to the brothers in the Somali government and people. It is an extension of a number of development projects between the two countries. Economic empowerment and job creation for youth and empowerment of women. He added that the State of Qatar is keen to strengthen the efforts of the Somali government to achieve its national interests. “We are grateful for the support of the State of Qatar over the past years,” said HE Jamal Mohammed Hassanouser, Minister of Planning, Investment and Economic Development of Somalia. He also stressed that the bilateral relationship between the two countries has been outstanding. He also praised the support provided by the State of Qatar in other fields, Humanity, education and health to restore Somalia’s health.
Key Headlines
- Qatar Development Funds Supports Somali Economy (The Peninsula)
- Somalia: Suspected Militants IEDs Seized In Mogadishu (Garowe Online)
- Gunmen Kill Female Army Officer Near Mogadishu (Goobjoog News)
- U.S. Military Says It Conducted Airstrike Against Islamic State In Somalia Killing One (Japan Times)
- Somaliland’s Hollow Elections (Wardheere News)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Somalia: Suspected Militants, IEDs Seized In Mogadishu
28 November – Source: Garowe Online – 174 Words
The security forces of Somalia’s Federal Government have conducted an overnight operation in parts of northern Mogadishu, Garowe Online reports. Somali police officials said they are holding suspects linked to the Al-Shabaab militant group and seized explosives during the covert operation in Mogadishu’s Karaan district. Residents said the militants were arrested following a tip-off from the public that a number of Al-Shabaab fighters were hiding in suspected houses in the district, north of the conflict-recovering capital.
The authorities did not give further details on the sweep but, said the suspects are being at custody and being interrogated. They are accused of preparing attacks against government targets and civilians in Mogadishu. This came in after Al-Shabaab bombings and assassinations are foiled, due to the tight security measures and routine night-time operations by Somali special forces dubbed “Mogadishu Stabilization Mission unit.” Despite being ejected out of the capital in 2011, and most of its main strongholds in the south and central regions, Al-Shabaab militants are still capable of carrying out attacks against government and AU forces.
Gunmen Kill Female Army Officer Near Mogadishu
28 November – Source: Goobjoog News – 132 Words
Assailants though to be Al-Shabaab assassins have gunned down a female Somali Army Officer on the outskirts of Mogadishu, the country’s capital on Monday evening, witnesses said. Mr. Ali Hassan Ali, the Deputy Administrator of Garasbaley district confirmed to Radio Shabelle that the army officer woman shot dead inside her residence in the area by pistol-wielding men. Ms. Sitey Mohamed Aden, 65, was a member of the armed forces of the country.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for Ms. Aden’s assassination which is a rare killing against women in the military. Al-Shabaab, the militant group linked with Al Qaeda often targets security force members. Garasbaley district has been beset by insecurity problems in the past few months, as local administration pledges to deal with the recurrent incidents in the vicinity.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
U.S. Military Says It Conducted Airstrike Against Islamic State In Somalia, Killing One
28 November – Source: Japan Times – 293 Words
The U.S. military said on Monday it had carried out an airstrike against Islamic State militants in northeast Somalia, killing one person. Islamic State has been gathering recruits in the region, although experts say the scale of its force is unclear and it remains a small player compared to the al-Shabab group. “In coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia, U.S. forces conducted an airstrike against ISIS, in northeastern Somalia on Nov. 27, killing one terrorist,” the U.S. Africa Command said in a statement.
Col. Ali Abdi, a military officer in an area near the town of Qandala in the semi-autonomous Puntland region, said the strike took place in hills near the town. “We heard a huge crash of airstrike in the hilly areas of Dasaan remote area behind Qandala town this afternoon ” Abdi told Reuters from Dasaan. “After the strike the IS militants ran away from there. We went to the scene and saw pieces of a dead body.” Last month, a group loyal to Islamic State seized a small port town in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region, the first town it has taken since emerging a year ago.
The group, which refers to itself simply as Islamic State, is a rival to the larger al-Shabab force, which is linked to Islamic State’s rival, al-Qaida, and once controlled much of Somalia.Early this month, the U.S. military carried out its first airstrike against Islamic State militants, killing several. Last week, Somalia’s government said it had requested a U.S. airstrike that killed scores of suspected militants to help pave the way for an upcoming ground offensive against al-Shabab. Earlier this year, the White House granted the U.S. military broader authority to carry out strikes in Somalia against al-Shabab.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“From Buuhoodle to Boocame, and all the way to unionist Sanaag, our people are free from Somaliland and remain free and unionists, facts which explain their aversion to be associated with this election in any capacity. Therein lies, we believe, the salvation of a united stable Somalia. And yet, all we had from the rest of Somalia (above all Puntland and the previous federal government), and an international community toeing their line, was one undermining our struggle to defend the union which should have been their duty too.”
Somaliland’s Hollow Elections
27 November – Source: Wardheere News – 2028 words
Somaliland held on 13 November 2017 what they promptly trumpeted as their free, fair and peaceful election, and typically indulged in their usual unrestrained triumphalism and endless self-congratulations. While no one in Somalia is fooled that all that glitters in the enclave is gold -and that goes very much for this election- it was to be expected that some foreign commentators not knowledgeable about the realities in Somalia would be mesmerized by its eye-catching election show and make hasty ill-informed judgments. Some have prematurely hailed the one-clan enclave as a role model to be emulated by the rest of Africa.
All the same, one has to give it to the secessionists that this was unquestionably a well-organized and staged election; but that is not enough to make an election an epitome of democracy which mean much more than voting. Once the polling was over, this exercise amounts deep-down to a hollow outcome. International observers were quick to report on their return of serious and widespread electoral irregularities. The Wadani opposition party listed a litany of complaints, the most serious being stuffed boxes with false ballots. Apart from voting irregularities, the most serious concern as pointed out by the Wadani party is their valid allegation of an unwritten electoral collusion between two leading sub-clans of the ruling Isaaq clan in which the presidency is to rotate between them by pooling their votes for their chosen running presidential candidate from either of these sub-clans (this time Muse Biixi from Kulmiye) and thus outvote the candidate from the third rival Isaaq sub-clan (this time Abdirahman Ciro). This is borne out by the result of the election as announced.
I would like to go beyond this election spectacle and focus on the grim realities behind this facade. Needless to say, the role of non-Isaaq clans in the territory is limited only to voting for presidential candidates from the ruling clan but are otherwise excluded from political power whether they subscribe to the secession or not. As it is, power within the enclave is clearly monopolized by the Isaaq clan and within them duopoly dictates. This is the very practice which drove Professor Samatar mad and made him fulminate against the South when he lost the Presidential election. Duopoly alas is also alive in the north and avidly practiced in Hargeisa.
This was not an election in which one party won and another lost on the merits of issues but the defeat of one sub clan, which expected their man to win, at the hands of two other sub-clans conspiring against it. The deep cracks it leaves in its wake cannot be easily papered over by the incoming president. What prevails is a tinderbox situation with all its risk to ignite until the deprived clan gets its turn to rule which is a moot point. An election, if it has to be free and fair, should be rooted in the overarching principles of democracy, human rights and good governance, all in short supply in the enclave. For the secessionists, their elections is not about upholding these principles but to use it as a cynical show to cast their enclave as a paragon of democracy in order to hoodwink the international community how much different they are from lawless Southern Somalia and how much they deserve recognition That is why they dread nothing more than a stable democratic Somalia once again emerging from its ashes which they see as detrimental to their cause. This election was therefore first and foremost a contest for the presidency among the ruling sub-clans as secondly as a show to impress the international community to solicit the elusive recognition they crave.
Those outsiders, who warm up to the enclave and cheered its election spectacle, should open their eyes to the reality behind this election façade. For a start, they should know there is no “Somaliland” to which its inhabitants all belong. Among the five clans of northern Somalia (former British Somaliland), only the secessionist clan subscribes to the breakup of Somalia. Specially, we, the kindred peoples from Khatumo and Makhir, whose regions Sool, Sanaag and ayn (SSC) constitute close to half of the geographical area of former British Somaliland, are unionists and have nothing to do with Somaliland or its secession and election. Having joined the union on our own free will on first July 1960, no outsiders, least of all a fellow Somali clan, can force us under duress to abandon or surrender our inalienable rights to be part of Somalia.