October 15, 2015 | Daily Monitoring Report
New Air Traffic Control Tower Angers Somaliland Ahead Of Turkey Talks
15 October – Source: Garowe Online – 215 Words
New air traffic control tower, whose foundation stone was laid by the Federal Government of Somalia’s Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, has angered Somaliland’s separatist administration as another round of dialogue draws closer, Garowe Online reports. Before leaving for the Turkish city of Istanbul, Somaliland Civil Aviation Minister, Mohamud Hashi unveiled on VOA Somali Service that they will focus more on the management of national airspace at Istanbul talks, in what seems to be a move prompted by the construction of the control tower.
On October 11, Prime Minister Sharmarke cut the ribbon of aviation structure built by Turkish company that now handles services at Mogadishu’s Adan Adde International Airport. “A delegation consisting of me and four other members will be attending Turkey-brokered dialogue. [Agendas] will mainly focus on the future of Somalia national airspace control,” said Hashi, adding that representatives from International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) were invited.
He took a swipe at Somalia’s Federal Government for unilaterally installing air traffic control tower in Mogadishu. “A new tower won’t become a solution to the standing difference. On our side, we would not compromise our nationhood,” he added. In mid-2013, Mogadishu-based federal government and Somaliland agreed to establish bilateral control body, to be based in Hargeisa. Previous rounds deflected sensitive issues including Somaliland’s bid for independence. Delegations representing the two sides are slated to meet in Turkey for another round of dialogue this week.
Key Headlines
- New Air Traffic Control Tower Angers Somaliland Ahead Of Turkey Talks (Garowe Online)
- General Hamud Urges Somali Police To Collaborate To Combat Insecurity (Shabelle News)
- Violence At School Draws Ire In Puntland (Garowe Online)
- Egypt Launches Investigations Into Arbiska Plane Crash (Wacaal Media)
- Former AMISOM Commander Jailed For Swindling Fuel (New Vision)
- More Students Join Al-Shabaab Says KDF (Daily Nation)
- Expanded Role Means UN Support Office In Somalia Will Require Increased Investment Security Council Told (UN News Centre)
- Soma Oil And Gas Corruption Allegation Is Nothing New In Africa (Wardheer News)
NATIONAL MEDIA
General Hamud Urges Somali Police To Collaborate To Combat Insecurity
15 October – Source: Shabelle News – 123 Words
Somali Police Chief General Mohamed Sheikh Hassan Hamud has called on the regional and central Government police forces to collaborate to combat the insecurity and crimes in the country. Speaking at a press conference in Galkayo city, Mr Hamud stressed the importance of the cooperation among the police forces, citing that the ‘teamwork’ would lead to the prevention of latent and visible crimes in every inch of the country effectively. “The Somali police has to ignore the conflicting political parts in the country. They should only focus on securing the nation as a whole,” said Somali Police Chief. The Somali police chief has been paying visit to the police in the country’s regional administrations, an attempt to bring together and unite the police components.
Violence At School Draws Ire In Puntland
15 October – Source: Garowe Online – 191 Words
Violence at a school in Bossaso port city has drawn the ire of residents after Bari Regional Police Commander Abdihakim Yusuf Hussein called management and students ‘enemy’, Garowe Online reports. On Wednesday, a meeting between the Governor of Bari, Yusuf Mohamed Waeys (Dhedo) and clan elders has led to the release of Al Najah School principal. Heavily armed security forces broke into the school without judicial writ, putting headmaster and undisclosed number of students behind bars following trivial quarrel on Tuesday.
Witnesses and sources who asked to remain anonymous told Garowe Online that police fired live bullets at protesting students after Al Najah principal asked police whether they were holding arrest warrant from the court. Parents complained of police mistreatment and the slander perpetrated against innocent schoolboys and schoolgirls by an official serving in the government, referring to Hussein, who landed himself in hot water. Until today, there had been plans of mass protests against malice remarks made by Bari regional police commander. Social media users reacted furiously, urging Hussein to resign over irresponsible comments. The school violence comes as Puntland government ceased anti-militant pushes in the rugged hideouts along Golis Mountain Range.
Egypt Launches Investigations Into Arbiska Plane Crash
14 October – Source: Wacaal Media – 129 Words
The Egyptian government has sent investigators to Somalia to find out circumstances that led to the Tristar plane that crash landed in Arbiska near Mogadishu a fortnight ago. Head of the Country’s Aviation Authority Mohamoud Al-Zanati said that the team will visit Arbiska where the plane crash landed on Monday night to ascertain the possible causes of the accident. The plane was carrying a cargo that belonged to AMISOM forces in Somalia when it developed hitches failing to land in Mogadishu’s Aden Adde International Airport. Al-Zanati confirmed the plane’s crew escaped albeit with minor injuries after the Airbus-300 crash landed in Arbiska near Mogadishu city. AMISOM forces who are still providing security at the scene of accident did not give further details on the cargo the plane was carrying.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Former AMISOM Commander Jailed For Swindling Fuel
15 October – Source: New Vision – 263 Words
Lt. Col Eugene Ssebugwawo, the ex-commander of the Uganda Peoples’ Defense Forces (UPDF) under the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for diverting fuel meant for peace keeping operations. Ssebugwawo, the former in charge of logistics and administration under Battle Group Nine plus (BGIX+) in Somalia, will serve his sentence at the Military Police headquarters in Makindye, a Kampala suburb.
Delivering the sentence, the court chairman, Maj. Gen. Levy Karuhanga, said the court’s decision is reflective of the pleas of the defense and prosecution made after the accused was convicted of personal interest endangering operation efficiency on Tuesday. The court, he explained took into consideration the fact that Ssebugwawo was a first time offender without a criminal record. The accused had so-far spent three years on remand at Makindye. He said the court also took into account pleas from the state to hand down a deterrent sentence because such crimes are rampant among UPDF officers and that the convict’s actions were injurious to the image of the Ugandan army on the international stage.
“You are hereby sentenced to 18 months in detention. It is your constitutional right to appeal against the decision of this court in 14 days if you are not satisfied,” Karuhanga ruled. Ssebugwawo was found guilty of diverting 7000– 8000 liters of diesel fuel in Somalia where Uganda has peace keepers under the auspices of the African Union, between April 2012 and May 2013. Prosecution led by Fredrick Kangwamu stated that Ssebugwawo sold fuel for his personal gains in exchange for money.
More Students Join Al-Shabaab, Says KDF
15 October – Source: Daily Nation – 268 Words
Chief of Kenya Defence Forces Samson Mwathethe has warned of an increase in the number of Kenyan students joining Al-Shabaab in Somalia. “This means that all of us, especially parents, must take an active role and work with school administrators to ensure that our children are not radicalised and recruited into the group,” Gen Mwathethe said. He said youth were easy prey because Al-Shabaab was using popular social media sites to lure them.
“As we fight terror, let us not forget that the evolution of social media as a result of technological advancements has posed new challenges,” the general added. “Our children are exposed to messages loaded with extremist ideologies meant to radicalise their minds.” Gen Mwathethe spoke during celebrations to mark the KDF Day at Kahawa Garrison in Nairobi on Wednesday. The day is observed across the country in remembrance of those who have died in the war against Al-Shabaab in Somalia. Gen Mwathethe led the celebrations in Nairobi, where he unveiled a monument inscribed with the names of the fallen soldiers.
He said: “Today, we remember colleagues who have paid the ultimate price for our motherland. We also promise Kenyans that before their lives are threatened, we shall put our lives on the line first.” This marks the fourth anniversary since Kenya sent troops into Somalia to pursue the terrorist group. The day is marked by all troops across the country. Kenyan forces entered Somalia in October 2011, the first combat deployment to a foreign country since independence. There are over 4,000 KDF troops, who have since joined the African Union Mission in Somalia.
Expanded Role Means UN Support Office In Somalia Will Require Increased Investment, Security Council Told
14 October – Source: UN News Centre – 587 Words
The United Nations Support Office for the African Union Mission in Somalia (UNSOA) will need to be “significantly” strengthened, the Under-Secretary-General for Field Support told the UN Security Council today, with its efforts reprioritized around strategic objectives set by the 15 member body and within areas of African Union operations with the Somali National Army. Laying out a series of proposals, Atul Khare said such changes meant redefining the Support Office’s clients as the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) and the Somalia National Army.
Medical support infrastructure would be extended on a limited basis to provide medical evacuation assistance to the Somali National Police in areas where AMISOM operated. While the Secretariat would do its part, critical support would need to come from the Council, the General Assembly, Member States and the African Union. A three-month strategic review of the Support Office, from July to September, had found that its resources had not kept pace with the “dramatic expansion of its tasks,” which now included support to both high-intensity military operations, as well as highly mobile political engagement in Somalia and beyond.
The clients had grown from one to five, and the number of personnel it supported from 8,000 to 33,000 – all in an area that had expanded from 100 square kilometres to more than 400,000. “UNSOA is working in a significantly non-permissive environment with the backdrop of the scourge of Al Shabaab, and a continuing humanitarian crisis,” he explained, recalling that fatalities in AMISOM last year exceeded the combined fatalities from malicious acts in all UN peacekeeping operations combined. In the last 18 months, UN personnel and facilities had been attacked an average of once every 10 weeks.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“It’s beyond a shadow of a doubt that Somalia needs Foreign Direct Investment- FDI, but the terms of any deals between the Federal Government of Somalia and foreign investors must be approved by the Federal Parliament in conjunction with Regional States if the deal/deals fall under the jurisdiction of/ or area administered by a regional entity.”
Soma Oil And Gas Corruption Allegation Is Nothing New In Africa
14 October – Source: Wardheer News – 797 Words
When I first read the terms of the deal between Soma Oil and Gas and the Federal Government of Somalia I didn’t know what to say except to raise my eyebrows, because I knew Soma Oil and Gas was formed in 2013 without much track record or enough funds at the time of signing the deal. Africa is experiencing an economic boom, due to its natural resources and the prices of gold and copper being relatively high, although the oil prices have plummeted. Africa is blessed also with rare metals used in various high tech gadgets and tools such as mobile phones and cruise missiles to name a few, hence, attracting predatory companies.
Paradoxically most African countries that are rich in oil and other minerals still live in abject poverty coupled with civil wars. The corrupt leaders of African, who do not have the stop or shame mechanism in their brain and body keep on squandering and stealing from the poor masses. Most African leaders live under luxurious habits and are seen as the main culprits but the West is also responsible and play a key role in this culture. According to an article published in Politikken a Danish news paper Equatorial Guinea with a population of less than 700,000 people ought be “Africa’s Kuwait.” Its people should be healthy and live in a prosperous society but the opposite is true.
President Obiang’s shameless corruption has maintained and kept the majority of his people in abject poverty. Africa is littered with dozens of resource rich countries with citizens not benefiting from their natural resources, other examples are South Sudan, Liberia, and Nigeria. Besides, its well documented that Africa’s oil and mineral wealth has failed to ameliorate prospects for the poor. Corrupt and undemocratic regimes routinely collaborate with predatory investors to fleece the needy and the poor alike.
TOP TWEETS
@SomaliaNewsroom : The troops in Galmudug were fitted with uniforms brought by the Somali gov’t from Turkish company ORS-EL. #Somalia
@Bogorad_Olga: #Somalia leaked report claims top#alShabaab commander Kahale Famau Kahale was behind the kidnapping of British tourist in 2011 @dailynation
@saisamoj: Somali refugees leave Kenya and head home@CNNI http://cnn.it/1K8L6uE #Somalia
@garsoornews: #BREAKING: Pres Hassan Sheikh has reached #Baidoa, on mission to defuse the deadlock over the Southwest state Parliament formation. #Somalia
@AbdihakimAinte : A good policy brief by @diisdk on the steep challenges facing Somalia govt ahead of 2016 expiry mandatehttp://pure.diis.dk/ws/files/
@gcmcSomalia : #Somalia Nauru: Nauru ponders charging Somali rape complainant http://bit.ly/1QvVxOj #crisismanagement
@Saudi_Gazette: 31% Somali pilgrims reluctant to return home — http://goo.gl/iRV2tf #SaudiArabia #Somalia #Hajj2015
@KelvinNews: More signs support for #ISIS is growing in#Somalia’s #AlShabaab.
IMAGE OF THE DAY
A team of officers from the African Union Mission in Somalia Police unit have completed four days’ training on sexual and gender based violence.
Photo: AMISOM