NATIONAL MEDIA
15 October – Source: Halbeeg – 148 Words
Somalia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ahmed Isse Awad, received the Regional Director of International Organization for Migration (IOM) Regional Office for the East and Horn of Africa, Mr. Mohammed Abdiker, in Mogadishu on Monday. The two discussed a wide range of issues of common interest, including providing the necessary support to Somali migrants in several African, Asian and European countries where they face a difficult living situation in camps. The meeting also discussed cooperation between the two sides towards the support of Somali diaspora meetings, forums, and seminars that promote sound awareness among the diaspora and citizens at home to address migration challenges and its risky adventure, as well as capacity building programs. Somali government and International Organization for Migration (IOM) mainly cooperate on the support to citizens by facilitating their return back home especially those caught up in the conflict in Libya and Yemen.
14 October – Source: Halbeeg – 89 Words
Former al-Shabaab fighters who reportedly renounced group’s violence has been killed in Kismayo of Lower Juba region. The victim who was identified as Omar Yaqinudin was said to have been attacked by men armed with pistols. According to witnesses, the assassins hit the man in the head, resulting in him to die on the spot. Jubbaland administration has not yet commented on the incident. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. There is no information about when the victim defected from al-Shabaab and if he underwent rehabilitation.
14 October – Source: Somali Affairs – 399 Words
Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) strongly condemns the arbitrary detention and demands the immediate release of freelance TV journalist and member of Somali Journalists Syndicate, Abdiaziz Hassan Moalim (also known as Abdiaziz Folyarey) who is detained in Jowhar, the Hirshabelle State of Somalia for covering a violent public protest on Monday 14 October 2019. Early on Monday police launched a security swoop arresting hundreds of people including children in Jowhar following a reported hand grenade attack on Sunday night where the deputy governor and his son were killed. Angry residents then took to the streets to demand the release of those arrested in the security swoop.
Armed police officers raided the journalist’s home under the orders of Jowhar Police Commissioner, Capt. Mohamed Ali Siyad (better known as Anjeh). The journalist was taken into custody at Jowhar police station where he is detained. “Journalist Abdiaziz was covering the public protest and took photos of tires burnt on the streets. When he went back home, the police followed him and raided his home. They took him to the police station,” a colleague told Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS). SJS contacted officials at Hirshabelle’s Ministry of Information who confirmed the journalist’s arrest was instructed by Jowhar Police Commissioner Capt. Anjeh. The Police Commissioner has also instructed his officers to shoot any journalist seen taking images from the protest site…….
13 October – Ministry of Women and Human Rights Development – 220 Words
At a launching ceremony held in Mogadishu held in Mogadishu on Sunday, Somalia’s Federal Ministry of Women and Human Rights Development, H. E. Deqa Yasin announced the initiation of the National Disability Bill’s development and drafting process. It is envisioned that this legislation will be fully in line with the country’s commitment under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Speaking at the launch the Minister stated that the CRPD and its ratification by Somali was a critical milestone for the rights of people with disabilities. “Our commitment to promote and protect the rights of persons with disabilities is unwavering; today we start a new chapter in protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.” Moreover, Minister Deqa Yasin guaranteed that persons with disabilities will be fully included in the entire development process of the bill to ensure full ownership and respect for the fundamental principles of “nothing about us, without us.” The development of the National Disability Bill comes at a time when Somalia is undergoing domestication process of the CRPD. Somalia has signed the CRPD on 2 October 2018; the Federal parliament passed it on the 18 May 2019, while H.E. President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo signed on 21 June 2019. The launching ceremony was attended by a large number of stakeholders from across Somalia.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
14 October – Source: ACTED – 554 Words
Settlements for internally displaced people (IDPs) are often overcrowded with limited sanitation facilities. Diseases are known to spread easily. IDP families lack both access to water and knowledge of proper hygiene practices like faecal waste handling and proper use of latrines. These poor hygiene and sanitation conditions, combined with the high concentration of people living in camps, increases exposure to diarrheal diseases.
Hawa, a 70-year-old grandmother, has been living in Gumar IDP camp for over three years now after fleeing from recurrent droughts that took a toll on her livestock. She lives in the camp with four of her children and four grandchildren. Before the drought began, Hawa’s family had herds of goats and camels, enough to sustain her large family. In the face of unforgiving weather conditions, Hawa narrates how she endeavoured to save her herds of livestock from the jaws of the drought – moving them from one place to another in search of greener pasture and water. She had used what savings she had and even borrowed money to buy medicine and fodder for her animals.
In an effort to reduce water, sanitation and hygiene-related diseases in IDP sites, ACTED with funding from the Somalia Humanitarian Fund (SHF) supported 700 IDP families with highly needed hygiene kits which consisted of two bars of soap, jerricans, aqua tabs, blankets, mosquito nets, solar lanterns and plastic sheets. In addition to the hygiene kits distribution, ACTED trained community hygiene promoters from the IDP camps to raise awareness on proper hygiene practices. ACTED also organised hygiene promotion sessions to help communities understand faecal-oral bacteria transmission routes and modes of interrupting the spread. The community hygiene promoters used role-plays, demonstrations, group discussions and IEC materials to disseminate the message to communities.
“Before we lost our animals to the drought, we had 50 camels, 300 goats and sheep and four donkeys. We depended on our livestock for food and lived happily. We used to sell some of the animals to the local livestock traders and buy food, clothing and medicine. First, water sources dried up and there was no pasture at all. We fled to Gumar IDP site and now we depend on donations from well-wishers and organisations”……..
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“I have been living in this camp for more than two years now. After I lost my livestock to the drought in the rural areas of Fafahdhun, it wasn’t possible for me and my children to return to the countryside. Though life in the camp is hard, I am happy that by God’s grace we now have water, because we used to go to the river in search of water,” said Rukiya.
14 October – Source: Radio Ergo – 455 Words
“I have been drinking clean water for 18 days!” a delighted Rukiya Hussein told Radio Ergo, after a new water collection and storage system was installed in three camps for internally displaced families in a rural part of Bardhere district in southern Somalia’s Gedo region. Since 15 September, 1,270 displaced families in these camps, where access to water has been a perennial problem, have been appreciating the provision of water in a project by International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
Most families in the camps were displaced from their homes by drought and have been relying on water from the river Juba, three km away from the camps. “I have been living in this camp for more than two years now. After I lost my livestock to the drought in the rural areas of Fafahdhun, it wasn’t possible for me and my children to return to the countryside. Though life in the camp is hard, I am happy that by God’s grace we now have water, because we used to go to the river in search of water,” said Rukiya.
A committee tasked with distributing the water allocates 40 litres to each household per day. Rukiya, living in Kaam-jirih camp, said she uses the 40 litres only for drinking and cooking and gets water for laundry and washing utensils from the river. She gets by on proceeds from a shop in the camp, where she sells enough vegetables to afford to prepare one or two meals a day for the family.
Mohamud Salad, director of water, sanitation and hygiene for IOM, said the system aims to improve access to clean water and sanitation. He said when river water levels were very low, people had been reduced to drinking contaminated water. Saynab Abdi Aden, living in Horsed camp, was displaced five years ago from Busar village in Elwaq district. The 49-year-old said the loss of about 100 goats, 30 camels and 10 cows forced her and her family of 14 to migrate to the camp. Her family depends on $2 a day, which she earns from carrying vegetables to the market to be sold by others.
The system includes six shallow wells (berkeds) and three water tanks. The shallow wells receive water from the tanks that are filled by river water pumped by a generator. Each camp has one water tank with rows of taps and two shallow wells for water storage. Osman Muse, Horsed camp chairman, said the challenge they are facing now is managing the long queues so that all 500 families can get water at the taps. Local and regional authorities have tried and failed several times to drill usable boreholes in Bardhere, but the water produced was not fit for human consumption. |
