October 18, 2018 | Daily Monitoring Report.
Somali PM Suspends Deputy Minister For Trade
18 October – Source: Halbeeg News – 159 Words
Somali Prime Minister, Hassan Ali Khaire suspended the country’s Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, amid the government’s fight against graft. In a statement released on Wednesday, Prime Minister Khaire directed the minister, Mohamed Khalif Diriye to step down, following the recommendations of the Attorney General.
“After recommendations from the Attorney General, the Prime Minister suspends the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry,” the statement reads in part. No reason was given for the deputy minister’s suspension. The suspension of the deputy minister who was also a lawmaker comes in barely a week after, fake money printing syndicate was unearthed.
Somali National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) arrested two individuals suspected to have been part of the group laundering fake US dollars notes. Investigators from the National Intelligence Security Agency, were trying to piece together a case linking a federal lawmaker to a counterfeit currency syndicate stating that the federal lawmaker is helping the syndicate to run their operations.
Key Headlines
- Somali PM Suspends Deputy Minister For Trade (Halbeeg News)
- Hiiraan Governor Sends Warning To Humanitarian Agencies Operating In The Region (Radio Dalsan)
- Security Forces Shot Dead Suspected Robber In Mogadishu (Goobjoog News)
- Somali E-commerce Takes Off Despite Few Internet Users (Africa News)
- Somali Victims Recount Africa’s Deadliest Terrorist Attack (Voice of America)
- Somalia Airstrike Shines Spotlight On America’s Secret Wars (Washington Examiner)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Hiiraan Governor Sends Warning To Humanitarian Agencies Operating In The Region
18 October – Source: Radio Dalsan – 97 Words
Hiiraan Governor Yusuf Ahmed Hagar (Dabaged) has sent a warning to aid agencies operating in the region that do not consult with his administration over their activities in the region. He said some of the aid agencies are operating in the region without the administration’s consultation, accusing them of carrying out their operations in some parts of the region and avoiding others.
He said that will not be accepted and called on humanitarian agencies to equally operate in all districts. He made the warning following his meeting with some of the local humanitarian agencies operating in the region.
Security Forces Shot Dead Suspected Robber In Mogadishu
18 October – Source: Goobjoog News – 85 Words
Security forces this morning gunned down an armed man clad in military uniform in the Black Sea area of the capital Mogadishu. Witnesses said the man was shot dead after residents reported he had forcefully robbed some people in the area on Wednesday night. The security forces shot the man after he failed to surrender and instead engaged them in gunfire, sources said. A police constable was last week sentenced to eight years in prison by a military court in Mogadishu for robbery with violence.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somali E-commerce Takes Off, Despite Few Internet Users
18 October – Source: Africa News – 369 Words
Despite low numbers of internet users and sluggish speeds, e-commerce businesses are popping up in Somalia, hoping to tap in as measures to increase access in the Horn of Africa country come online. University worker Safiya Ahmed In her office in Mogadishu buys a blender with just a few clicks of a mouse. Somalia has one of the lowest internet penetration rates globally, But developments in recent years, such as the launch of fibre-optic services in 2014, have given rise to new online customers and businesses.
“Today people know how to order goods through online markets and they even shop online overseas. As you know, the internet (use) in Somalia used to be very low because not everyone could get access. But now everyone can get internet via mobile, at home and elsewhere, so Somali online businesses will be successful in the near future,” said Ahmed, a financial officer at Mogadishu’s Golden University.
A study by M-Lab, a global consortium that measures internet speeds, found in July that Somalia has an average download speed of 0.60 megabytes per second. a mere three places from the bottom of 200 countries whose speeds were tested. In comparison, Singapore, which is ranked number 1, has an average speed of 60.39 megabytes per second.
But that has not deterred firms like Soomar, which offers all sorts of goods from electronics to food on its website. It was the first e-commerce business established in Somalia, in 2016, and remains one of the biggest – though it does have competitors such as Sami-Online and Hubaal. Soomar makes more than 25,000 sales transactions every month, and growing, said its chief executive, Mohamed Mohamud. He said customers can also book tickets for travel and doctors’ appointments.
“There are many challenges we face. The infrastructure of the main cities of Somalia and most of the roads were broken in the war and our delivery cars and motorbikes struggle to get to a place. In some cases there is no home or postal address for you to follow when someone orders goods online,” Mohamud said. According to Somalia’s Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Technology, just 1.88 percent of Somalis used the internet as of 2016.
Somali Victims Recount Africa’s Deadliest Terrorist Attack
18 October – Source: Voice of America – Video 2:28 Minutes
Somalia on Sunday marked the one year anniversary of the deadliest terrorist attack in Africa’s history: a car bomb that ripped through the capital, Mogadishu, killing nearly 600 people. No one claimed responsibility for the bombing, but it had the hallmarks of the terrorist group Al-Shabab. As Mohamed Sheik Nor reports from Mogadishu, some victims are still suffering from the effects of the blast.
OPINION, ANALYSIS & CULTURE
“The strategy is designed to keep U.S. troops out of the line of fire, because recent history has shown that the support of the American people declines as American casualties increase. Still, as deaths in all the current operations underscore, there is no totally safe place in an active war zone.”
Somalia Airstrike Shines Spotlight On America’s Secret Wars
18 October – Source: Washington Examiner – 641 Words
America’s wars in Yemen, Somalia, and Niger are not secret, but they manage to fly under the radar for months at a time, unless something goes dramatically well, or terribly wrong. Last year when U.S. Africa Command revealed that four U.S. special operations soldiers were killed in a fierce firefight after being ambushed in Niger, most Americans had no idea the U.S. had roughly 800 troops in the North African nation, more than were in Syria at the time.
This week, Africa Command issued a routine news release noting a previously announced U.S. airstrike was believed to have killed 60 al-Shabaab militants on Oct. 12, the largest body count in a single strike since last November, which killed an estimated 100 enemy fighters. So far this year, the U.S. has conducted 27 strikes against Shabaab in Somalia, on pace to eclipse last year’s total of 31, according to a tally by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ “Long War Journal.”
In Yemen, a small number of U.S. special operations commandos are hunting members of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, called AQAP, who continue to plot attacks against the U.S. from ungoverned parts of the country. The commandos operate separately from a Saudi-led war aimed at defeating Iranian-backed Houthi rebels and installing a legitimate government.
The three “lesser” wars are rarely talked about by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis or other senior Pentagon leaders, and often the only official reminder that hundreds of U.S. troops are engaged in dangerous combat is when an official causalty notice is released. One of those came in June when it was announced Army Staff Sgt. Alexander Conrad was killed by enemy indirect fire in Somalia.
“Certainly in terms of public attention, they receive much less,” said Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fellow with Foundation for Defense of Democracies. These days, America’s counter-terrorism missions are pretty much fought the same way, whether they are against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or the Taliban in Afghanistan, or against other groups in Yemen, Somalia, and Niger.
Small numbers of highly-trained U.S. special operations troops provide arms and advice to local forces, accompany them to their targets, and call in U.S. air power if necessary. Technically the American forces are not on the front lines. Instead they hang back while “partner forces” do the actual fighting.
It’s a strategy that started under President Barack Obama and has greatly expanded under President Trump. “From 2006 onward there’s been a devolution of responsibility to local partners with the U.S. playing a more of a surgical role in terms of its strikes,” Gartenstein-Ross said. “So I think that it’s the model of the future, but it’s also the model I would say of at least the past 12 years.”
TOP TWEETS
@TheVillaSomalia: H.E President @M_Farmaajo receives Foreign Ministers of Ethiopia and Eritrea at the Villa. Ministers Gebeyehu of Ethiopia and Saleh of Eritrea had both carried messages for the president from their respective leaders. Regional economic integration is a top priority for the Horn.
@BitheMoxamed: UNFPA Somalia | 11 mothers from one village in Somalia die giving birth in one week. Very sad indeed. https://shar.es/a1KCSU @UNFPA_SOMALIA @bathassan
@HassanIstiila: #BREAKING: Government soldiers shot dead a man in army uniform and armed with AK-47 in Mogadishu’s Hodan district. #Somalia
@HarunMaruf: The former Mayor of Mogadishu speaks on Somalia’s worst ever terror attackhttps://youtu.be/bO4LNIHlPXA via @YouTube
@ChismaioCity: #Jubaland forces along with SNA troops patrolling Arare bridge which is about 10km away from Jamame district, in lower jubba region of #Somalia. The military forces supported by US drones stepped up operations in the area, an increase in combat operations against the insurgents.
@UNFPA_SOMALIA: We organized a training on “Communication for Impact” for youth in #Mogadishu as we support efforts to enable #Somali young people to meaningfully engage in governance, peace building & reconciliation efforts under the UN Peacebuilding Fund — in…https://www.facebook.com/
@SaidRubani: During the tenure of President Mohammed Farmajo, Somalia has developed a comprehensive transition plan for its security, undertaken reforms of the Somali National Army, and strengthened ties with regional and international security partners.
@omabha: Somalia to develop a national communication strategy on preventing and countering violent extremismhttp://dlvr.it/QnhTph #Somalia
IMAGE OF THE DAY
President, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo received Foreign Ministers of Eritrea and Ethiopia, Osman Salah and Workneh Gebeyehu at Villa Somalia Yesterday.
Photo: @TheVillaSomalia