October 19, 2015 | Daily Monitoring Report
Somali National Consultative Forum Convenes To Discuss 2016 Electoral Process
19 October – Source: AMISOM – 386 Words
Somali representatives from across the country will convene on 19 and 20 October to begin consultations on what electoral process will be most appropriate and feasible to enable a transfer of power in 2016, when the mandates of the Somali legislative and executive end. Somalia’s Provisional Federal Constitution, adopted in 2012, envisages that the mandates of the Somali Federal Parliament and of the Government come to an end in August and September 2016, respectively. However, as these institutions declared jointly at the end of July, conditions in Somalia are not yet conducive to the conduct of one-person one-vote elections in 2016.
In order to allow for an inclusive and transparent electoral process, Somalis have now initiated a wide-ranging consultation process that involves representatives from the Federal Government, the Federal Parliament, regional administrations, and civil society. Their discussions will be based on a Facilitation Guide, which reiterates the “Guiding Principles” presented and endorsed at the High-Level Partnership Forum held in Mogadishu on 29-30 July this year and which outlines basic elements of possible approaches to the electoral process.
The National Consultative Forum (NCF), which gathers on 19 and 20 October, will begin the review of these options before further consultations take place involving each of Somalia’s regions and communities as well as Somalis in the diaspora. The National Consultative Forum will then reconvene in December to reach a consensual decision on the most appropriate electoral process for 2016, ensuring transparency, inclusivity and adequate representation of women, youth and minority groups, who are all part of the consultative process as well.
Key Headlines
- Somali National Consultative Forum Convenes To Discuss 2016 Electoral Process (AMISOM)
- Armed Men From Puntland Abduct Somaliland Officials In Eastern Sanaag (Somaliland Informer)
- Calm Returns To Normal In Garbaharey Suburbs After Al-Shabaab Attack (Shabelle News)
- Premier Sharmarke Of Somalia Due In Brussels (Radio Dalsan)
- UN Eases Kenya’s Cash Crunch With $15 Million Somalia War Refund (Business Daily)
- Refugees Shun Europe For Southern Africa (Al Jazeera)
- The Role Of Health Care In State-Building For Somalia (International Policy Digest)
- Will Obama Lose Somalia Too? (Commentary Magazine)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Armed Men From Puntland Abduct Somaliland Officials In Eastern Sanaag
19 October – Source: Somaliland Informer – 186 Words
Somaliland officials including Erigavo councilors, Sanaag regional members of Somaliland national election commission and an awareness organization have been abducted near Yubbe and Hadaaftimo by armed men from the semi-autonomous region of Puntland today. The abductees include chairman of national election commission for Sanaag province, Ahmed Ali Bihi, head of Taakulo organization, Omar Jama Farah and Ms. Qamar Mohamed Salah, Erigavo councilor have been kidnapped while en route to Badhan after having left from Erigavo this morning.
They were about to conduct awareness raising project which was aimed at the registration which national election commission is conducting in all regions of Somalland. Armed men from the semi-autonomous region of Puntland ambushed the delegation. Mayor of Badhan who was contacted by phone has confirmed the abduction carried out by armed men from Puntland. Mr. Abdale Mohamud Abdi told that it is not yet known where they have taken the hostages. It is reported that the kidnapped officials are in detention at Badhan. Further reports indicate that battle wagons from Puntland arrived in Badhan. Somaliland authority has not spoken of the abduction nor did it deny its existance.
Calm Returns To Garbaharey Suburbs After Al-Shabaab Attack
19 October – Source: Shabelle News – 121 Words
A calm has returned to the villages in the outskirts of Garbaharey city following a deadly attack on Sunday by Al-Shabaab that left six people, including four military officers dead. Reliable sources in War-ad village told Radio Shabelle that Govt troops have carried out an operation to secure the areas near Garbaharey city where the militants used to organize the hit and run attacks. On the other hand, Nur Mohamed Burale, who is Garbaharey administrator has claimed great victory over Sunday’s fighting against Al-Shabaab at Warta-ad area, saying the army killed at least six militants. Since 2014, Al shabaab has lost several towns in Gedo region, including Bardere and Burdhubo to Somali, and AMISOM troops in the ongoing battle.
Premier Sharmarke Of Somalia Due In Brussels
18 October – Source: Radio Dalsan – 154 Words
A Somali delegation led by the Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke will be soon jetting off to Brussels to attend a conference which will discuss about the status of the Somali refugees. There will be also delegates from Kenya, Uganda, Yemen and Ethiopia who will be part of the conference at Brussels the headquarters of the European Union and one of the prime discussions and will be on top of the agenda will be the pledges made by the European Union for the Somali refugees.United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has verified that the donations from the European Union has dramatically reduced and could not cover the basic needs of the refugees. More than 2 million Somalis are displaced and out of these 2 million 1.1 million are internally displaced while 967,000 are refugees in the neighboring African countries such as Kenya which is currently hosting over 420,000.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
UN Eases Kenya’s Cash Crunch With $15 Million Somalia War Refund
19 October – Source: Business Daily – 270 Words
The United Nations (UN) eased Kenya’s cash crunch after it refunded the country Sh1.5 billion for money spent by its troops fighting Al-Shabaab militants in Somalia. Treasury documents show that the reimbursement was done last month, and accounts for a quarter of this year’s total refunds of Sh6 billion. This marks one of the few quarters that the UN has made a timely refund. In the past, delay in reimbursement of the money has been linked to the UN’s insistence on proper verification of Kenya’s claims.
The refund is expected to ease budgetary constraints for a government reeling from a shortfall in revenues, stalling payment of essential services. Some flagship projects have also had to be frozen. In October 2011, the country formally sent 4,660 soldiers to Somalia after incessant attacks and kidnapping by Shabaab militants within its territory. A year later, the UN Security Council gave Kenya the green light to join the African Union Mission to Somalia (Amisom), a decision that meant the Treasury would not bear the full costs of the incursion.
Amisom is an eight-year-old operation with nearly 20,000 troops from Uganda, Burundi, Djibouti, Sierra Leone and Kenya. Amisom refunded Kenya the monies spent from the date of the UN resolution until June 2012 when Amisom began catering for the soldiers directly. Under the deal, Kenyan soldiers were to receive a monthly allowance of Sh88,408 ($1,028) each besides their salaries as well as comprehensive medical cover and access to advanced equipment. Kenya has in the past used its ambassador to the UN, Macharia Kamau, to demand the reimbursement of the money.
Refugees Shun Europe For Southern Africa
18 October – Source: Al-Jazeera – Video: 2:38 Minutes
The Role Of Health Care In State-Building For Somalia
18 October – Source: International Policy Digest – 1,100 Words
Somalia is a very poor country and the per capita income is one of the lowest in the world. The people have been trapped in the midst of protracted civil strife and chaos which has inevitably threatened to overwhelm the already precarious health care condition. Over the last two decades the ongoing civil war has destroyed all of the health-care and economic infrastructures in the country. Many community clinics and hospitals established by the government were completely shattered and pillaged. As a result of the widespread food shortage crises, many people moved from the countryside into cities and towns.
There was a mass exodus of people fleeing especially from the countryside due to famine to Mogadishu which had a pitiable impact on health and sanitation. Most troubling, Somali healthcare underperforms relative to other countries. Our infant and child mortality rates are among the highest in the world even among the post conflict African countries. There are many causes: lack of adequate immunization, poor sanitation, malnutrition, diarrhea, acute respiratory diseases, malaria, etc.
Consequently, the federal government through the Ministry of health (MOH) speedily fostered mother and child care (MCH) centers with free of charge healthcare especially for nutrition supplements and immunizations. Despite these little improvements undernutrition is still the cause of death of one-third of children under five years of age. Acute treatment such as oral rehydration for diarrhea and case management with antibiotics for acute respiratory disease is inadequate across the country. In fact, we are still suffering from the human tragedy effects caused by the civil war.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“In recent years, however, Somalia has begun to turn around. The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) has largely forced Al-Shabaab, the on-again, off-again, on-again al-Qaeda affiliate in Somalia out of the cities and away from some of Somalia’s most lucrative ports. In 2012, Somalia inaugurated a new president, a new government, and adopted a new constitution”
Will Obama Lose Somalia Too?
18 October – Source: Commentary Magazine – 836 Words
When President Barack Obama laid out his strategy to combat the Islamic State (ISIL, ISIS, Daesh), he cited both Yemen and Somalia as examples where the United States had succeeded. “This strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us, while supporting partners on the front lines, is one that we have successfully pursued in Yemen and Somalia for years,” he declared.Even at the time of his statement, Yemen was a poor choice for a model.
As my American Enterprise Institute colleague Katie Zimmerman wrote presciently two months before Obama’s speech:President Obama says the United States is looking to its Yemen policy as a model for what to do in Iraq and Syria. But what the president labels the “Yemen model” has not been as successful as the White House claims; indeed, it is in danger of collapse. Attempting to replicate it in much more challenging conditions in Iraq and Syria will almost certainly fail.
She continues to outline the logic behind the president’s strategy:The Obama administration defines its objectives in Yemen narrowly as preventing an AQAP [Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula] attack on U.S. interests abroad and at home. These objectives have shaped a counterterrorism strategy that relies on a partnership with President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to fight AQAP in Yemen without using U.S. combat troops. The model is one of limited U.S. training and advisory support to help a local partner keep a terror threat in check.
Even defined narrowly, however, Zimmerman shows that the Yemen strategy had fallen short of its objectives, and that was before Hadi’s government largely collapsed in the face of separate Houthi- and AQAP onslaughts.But what about Somalia? Most Americans know Somalia for two things: “Blackhawk Down” and piracy. In 1992, President George H.W. Bush launched “Operation Restore Hope” in order to provide Somalis the relief from famine. The intervention was well intentioned, even if conducted largely in response to pressure from television images of young Somalis suffering. Somalia’s problems were deeper.
TOP TWEETS
@UNSomalia: #Somali National Consultative Forum convenes to discuss 2016 electoral process http://on.fb.me/1Mxo8iE #NCF
@Dahirkulane : SRSG Amb Nick Kay stressed that the #NCFwill be critically important to #Somalia’s #peace & #state-building efforts
@HIPSINSTITUTE : #Federal and #Regional leaders of#Somalia gather in Mogadishu to discuss the country’s#2016Vision.
@4DialogSK: Yes, so long as #Ethiopia continues its arsonist in firefighter gear role in #Somalia! https://www.
@AsokoNews: #UN eases #Kenya cash crunch with $15 million #Somalia war refund http://asokoinsight.com/news/
@somaligov: Somali Cyber Teams will soon expose who are#Damu_Jadid Group? How they failed to lead #Somalia? Which countries funds Shabab #terrorists?
@NovaRoma1 : #OTD Oct 18 – 1977 #German #SpecialForcesstorm #Hijacked airliner in #Somalia 4 #Hijackers die 86#Hostages freed
@Eye_on_Somalia : #goobjoog 5,000 refugees have gone back to Somalia: Nearly 5,000 Somali refugees from Kenya’s Dadaab … http://bit.ly/1LYZWVG #somalia
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Somali representatives from across the country will convene on 19 and 20 Octoberto begin consultations on what electoral process will be most appropriate and feasible to enable a transfer of power in 2016, when the mandates of the Somali legislative and executive end.
Photo: UNSOM