NATIONAL MEDIA
16 October – Source: Goobjoog – 123 Words
Reports from Gedo region in southern Somalia indicates that Somali government forces backed by Ethiopian troops have taken operation in Bardhere district. The commander of the 49th Infantry Division, 43-year-old Mohamed Ali Abdullahi, told reporters that the operation took place in a 50-kilometre area of Bardhere district, killing al-Shabaab fighters and returning livestock. “The operation was planned; we killed men who were al-Shabaab as we recovered goats and camels which the people had lost in the past,” he said. Adding that, “they will continue to pursue al-Shabaab until they are driven out of the country,” according to the statement. Al- Shabaab has been fighting with the government forces based in Gedo region which resulted in the displacement of civilians living in the area.
16 October – Source: SONNA – 151 Words
Somalia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ahmed Isse Awad, received on Monday the Director of the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) Regional Office for the East and Horn of Africa, Mr. Mohammed Abdiker in the capital Mogadishu. 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 regarding 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 programmes. The 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.
16 October – Source: Radio Dalsan – 79 Words
The Government of the semi-autonomous Puntland is set to send more security forces on its waters to avert illegal fishing. Puntland’s Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Farah Aisha Beeldaaje, said that the rate at which the waters were being encroached on by foreign vessels was alarming. He said that the culprits nabbed in the act are set to face prosecution. The Puntland Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources said the vessels are owned by Iran, India and Pakistan
15 October – Source: Somali Affairs – 505 Words
Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) calls for Puntland State authorities to immediately stop threats targeted to journalists working for the privately-owned independent RTN TV in Garowe and investigate the police officers who raided the TV station’s office on Tuesday 15 October, 2019. On 9.30am on Tuesday, officers from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) led by officer Ahmed Adawe raided the TV station’s office and harassed journalists on duty, according to two journalists at the station who spoke to SJS. The officers searched the premises as they looked for the television’s Garowe reporter Abdiqani Ahmed Mohamed who filed a vox-pop news report featuring interviews allegedly criticizing Puntland State president’s attendance at the controversial inauguration of Jubaland president in Kismayo in the weekend.
According to RTN TV’s Garowe-based news editor, Abdiqani Osman Farah, the CID officers left the TV office without further action after they were asked to bring a written letter of warrant from the court justifying the search. “After searching the TV premises and could not find the reporter, we have demanded an official warrant letter and they had not one so they left,” editor Abdiqani Osman Farah adds “At around 11:00am the officer Ahmed Adawe phoned me and asked me to report to the police station for questioning to which I refused.” Abdulaziz Ahmed Barrow, a Nairobi-based RTN TV producer told SJS that their Garowe reporter went in hiding after the raid on the TV office. “We are worried by the level of threats targeted to our journalists in Garowe and especially against journalist Abdiqani Ahmed Mohamed for conducting the vox-pop interviews,” adds Abdulaziz Ahmed Barrow………
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
16 October – Source: Standard Media – 590 Words
Anne Muthoni was tending to her vegetable garden when an army truck drove into her home in Kirinyaga in 2012. Muthoni was immediately swept by a feeling of dread that something had happened to her husband Ephraim Gachoki. In the three years that Gachoki had been a soldier with the Kenya Defence Forces, no army official had ever paid her a visit.
Muthoni, who was aged 27 at the time, said three days earlier, there had been news of Kenyan soldiers being ambushed and killed by al-Shabaab militants in Fafadum, Somalia. “It never occurred to me that my husband could be among those killed,” she narrated, adding: “Just before the Fafadum ambush, we had talked on the phone and he had informed me that they were headed to an area without good network, and therefore communication would be difficult.” So, after the news of the ambush filtered, Muthoni tried to call Gachoki, who was a tank driver, without success. As she stood rooted in her farm, mind racing, a relative came for her and led her into the house, where army officers, who were accompanied by the area chief, delivered the devastating news. At first she could not believe what she heard. Everything felt like a bad dream. But when the truth finally sank in, she cried uncontrollably, for hours. “I asked “why me?” I was young and three years into my marriage. We had many plans to execute in our future life. How was l going to handle them alone?” she recalled.
Counselling support
Despite receiving counselling from the army, and support from family and friends, Muthoni felt that life for her and her one-year-old daughter had lost meaning. In 2013, Muthoni was hired to work at the Defence Forces Canteen Organisation (Defco) as a shopkeeper. She became one of the beneficiaries of welfare and compensation centres the Government set up to help families of soldiers killed in the line of duty to access their benefits and other services. During the official launch of the centres last year, Defence Cabinet Secretary Raychelle Omamo said the State had intervened to assist grieving relatives. “Families of the departed heroes who include widows, widowers and children were suffering and needed our help. However, the problem was the package to use in helping all of them, for instance, how to differently deal with young and elderly widows,” Ms Omamo said…….
16 October – Source: Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs – 1860 Words
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China is a builder of world peace, advocates “peaceful cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning, mutual benefit and win-win”, and safeguard world peace, stability and development through its own development and prosperity. China adheres to an independent foreign policy of peace, actively pursues peaceful and common development, upholds the multilateral trading system. China will unswervingly work with the international community to build a community with a shared future for mankind, and make greater contributions to the cause of mankind’s progress.
China and Somalia enjoy a long friendship. China and Somalia uphold the principles of mutual respect, equality, mutual trust and mutual benefit. We are pleased to see that under the leadership of the Somali government, remarkable results have been achieved in the political, economic and security fields. We hope that all Somali people will work together for the revitalization and development of the country, make full use of Somalia’s great development potential in agriculture, fisheries, tourism, telecommunications, wind and solar energy, including Somalia’s unique culture, longest coastline and geographical advantages, and so on. China firmly supports Somalia’s peace, reconstruction and development; China actively encourages Chinese enterprises to invest in Somalia, and now Chinese enterprises have invested in Somalia; China is willing to transfer technology with superior production capacity to help Somalia enhance its ability to self-develop its economy. China will continue to work hard to strengthen cooperation with Somalia, and raise the current trade volume of $450 million of the two countries to a new height. China will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to Somalia and help Somalia develop its human resources. China is ready to work with the international community to push Somalia forward.
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15 October – Source: Parliament of Uganda – 320 Words
The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Jacob Oulanyah, has said that although Uganda has a law that provides for protection of witnesses or whistleblowers, the country lacks a conducive environment for witnesses with confidential information to aid investigations. Because of the weak witness protection policy, Oulanyah said, Parliament’s accountability committees encounter stumbling blocks while carrying out investigations. “In other countries, witnesses with confidential information are given new homes, new identity and even security but here even giving you a police officer for a month is not that easy,” said Oulanyah.
The Deputy Speaker made the remarks while presenting a paper during a workshop for Members of Parliament from the Republic of Somalia on Tuesday, 15 October 2019 at SKYZ Hotel Naguru. Somali legislators are on a three-day study tour where they hope to learn from Uganda’s best legislative practices in oversight and representation. Oulanyah asked Somali MPs to refrain from what he termed as ‘a common temptation’ by Parliamentary Committees on accountability turning themselves into arbitrators and thus harassing witnesses. “We do oversight on behalf of our people and for their sake, so If you are working on behalf of people to establish how money was spent, do you have to harass witnesses, do you have to be rude to anybody?” asked Oulanyah.
Oulanyah said he was afraid that if witnesses are not assured of utmost protection, Parliament’s oversight function will be frustrated. He cautioned legislators against turning the process of oversight into a tool of harassment and victimization, citing instances where a witness was intimidated during a Public Accounts Committee meeting and ran away. “Now, if witnesses run away, what evidence will you have got? Somebody is preparing to give you evidence and you are telling him that we can send you to jail, will that person give you evidence?” Oulanyah asked. He urged Somali legislators to aim at peaceful investigation rather than aiming at attaining popularity by intimidating witnesses.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“Turkey’s official humanitarian institutions, such as TİKA, the Turkish Red Crescent Kızılay and Diyanet Foundation along with civil initiatives such as the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) and Helping Hands, have implemented many development aid projects relating to infrastructure, education, health and related fields. For instance, TİKA financed projects in Mogadishu that included rehabilitating the Digfer Hospital, constructing 33 kilometers of roads and building the Somalian Statehouse.”
16 October – Source: Daily Sabah – 1198 Words
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited Somalia with his family in 2011, when he was the prime minister, and took important steps eight years ago to ensure lasting peace in the region. Following that visit, relations between Turkey and Somalia improved dramatically in every respect. After the Cold War, Turkey’s new political elites developed close relations with Africa. Somalia drew Turkey’s attention through its business diplomacy, due to such factors as export markets, geopolitical interests, geographic proximity and shared cultural, religious and historical links. From this perspective, Somalia has gained exclusive status in Turkey’s humanitarian diplomacy toward Africa. The main reason is that Turkey is seen as a “human power” in Africa, specifically in Somalia, and the international community has appreciated its activities. As a matter of fact, the International Crisis Group stated, “Turkey is a foreign actor which is to be imitated, rather than to be feared” due to its humanitarian diplomacy. This article will look into Turkey’s gains in Somalia from past to present, specifically those arising from President Erdoğan’s 2011 visit.
Historical ties
Relations between Turkey and Somalia date back to the 16th century. At the time, the Ottoman Empire sought to prevent Somalia from becoming a Portuguese colony. In the wake of the 16th century, Somalia was ruled by local elements of the Ottoman Empire, following the empire’s demise, by Western colonial powers. During this period, the Ottoman presence in Berbera, just like the presence of the military training center in Somalia today, was the guarantee of peace in the region. Contemporary Turkish and Somalian relations began with the opening of embassies in 1979, although Turkey’s embassy was closed in 1992 due to the civil war in Somalia. In the following years, Turkey was not indifferent to Somalia’s internal problems and joined the United Nations Operation in Somalia with an army under the control of Gen. Çevik Bir. During the civil war, some Turkish civil initiatives also provided assistance through their local partners. During the transitional government in Somalia, official bilateral relations remained limited. Following this period, Prime Minister Erdoğan and the late President Abdullahi Yusuf met on the Jan. 29-30, 2012, at the African Union summit meeting in Addis Ababa. At this meeting, Prime Minister Erdoğan asked the Somali president to send a delegation to Ankara to present Somalia’s needs.
Humanitarian diplomacy
In this context, as a result of conflicts and instabilities, many international organizations, especially the United Nations, provided humanitarian aid to eliminate the suffering experienced in the region. However, this aid did not contribute significantly to peace and stability in Somalia. The Republic of Turkey led the initiative for a summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Aug. 17, 2011, which was ostensibly a summit to solve the humanitarian crisis caused by instability and famine in Somalia. Forty member states decided to give Somali $350 million in development aid to address the problems. However, President Erdoğan’s historic visit in 2011 triggered the visit of delegations from other international actors such as the United Nations, the African Union, Iran and Saudi Arabia. With the request and approval of Somali parties (i.e. Somalia and Somaliland), Turkey hosted conferences on Somalia in Istanbul in 2010 and 2011, attended by representatives of international organizations in order to consider the country’s development and reconstruction needs. As a result of these conferences, Turkey’s role turned from mediation to facilitation. Bilateral relations increased dramatically after President Erdoğan’s official visit in 2011, although Turkish civil initiatives had been responding to Somali’s needs since the middle of the 1990s. However, post-2011, Turkey’s humanitarian diplomacy in Somalia has been better coordinated through the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA)…….. |
