October 19, 2018 | Morning Headlines
Kenyan Warplanes hit Al-Shabaab Bases In Southern Somalia
18 October – Source: Halbeeg News – 174 Words
Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) fighter jets have bombed a town in Somalia’s southern region, Gedo, officials said. The bombardment reportedly took place in Geriley town which is near Somalia’s border with Kenya. Jubbaland officials who spoke to the local media said the warplanes targeted Al-Shabaab bases. The aerial bombardment comes hours after Somali forces clashed with Al-Shabaab fighters. Neither Somali military nor Al-Shabaab fighters have commented on the casualties of the fighting.
Early this week, Kenyan security agencies warned against imminent Al-Shabaab attacks on areas near Kenya’s border with Somalia. The Intelligence reports noted that Al-Shabaab fighters have set up a plan to attack KDF and police camps in Mandera county.
Kenyan Police spokesman Charles Owino said the agencies operating at the border areas were put on standby due to reports that the terrorists were gathering in the El-Adde area of Somalia’s southern region, Gedo. “Security agencies are also on alert for any possible attack by Al-Shabaab fighters targeting security installations and any other soft targets along the border between Mandera and Elwak,” he said.
Key Headlines
- Kenyan Warplanes hit Al-Shabaab Bases In Southern Somalia (Halbeeg News)
- Somali Finance Minister Meets With British Government Officials In London (Goobjoog News)
- Farmaajo Chairs Cabinet Meeting In Mogadishu (Garowe Online)
- 11 Mothers From One Village In Somalia Die Giving Birth In One Week (UNFPA)
- UNHCR Special Envoy For The Horn Of Africa Motivates Youth Desperate For Higher Education In Dadaab (UNHCR)
- Somalia’s E-commerce Businesses Are Rising Against All Odds (Quartz Africa)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Somali Finance Minister Meets With British Government Officials In London
18 October – Source: Goobjoog News – 143 Words
Dr Abdirahman Duale Beyle, the Finance Minister of the Federal Government of Somalia has today met British government officials in London. Mr Beyle said he met with Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt and other UK officials and discussed the development of the financial system in the Federal Republic of Somalia. “I met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and other senior officials of the UK and discussed with them about the development of the financial system in our country,” said Finance Minister Beyle
Minister Beyle also had a meeting with the Somali community in the UK and discussed their role in the development of Somalia. Last month Somalia qualified for the first time in 30 years for the World Bank’s International Development Assistance (IDA) opening financing for the Horn of Africa country to boost economic growth, reduce poverty and improve livelihoods.
Farmaajo Chairs Cabinet Meeting In Mogadishu
18 October – Source: Garowe Online – 156 Words
Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo has chaired a plenary cabinet meeting at the Presidential Palace in Mogadishu on Thursday. The meeting attended by the PM, Hassan Ali Khaire, the ministers, deputy ministers focused on several important agendas, including the achievements and challenges of the cabinet since it was formed in March 2017. “Under the leadership of Farmajo, we are pleased to showcase roadmaps for the 4 central pillars of our governance. Through these ambitious roadmaps we will continue to transform our nation,” said the Prime Minister’s office in a Twitter post.
President Farmajo urged the Ministers to be competitive with their foreign counterparts around the world and burn the midnight oil to move the country ahead and achieve sustainable development. During the meeting, the President has praised his Prime Minister for doing “remarkable work” and his tireless efforts in helping Somalia stand on its feet again after the decades-long bloody conflict, clan rivalry, and chaos.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
11 Mothers From One Village In Somalia Die Giving Birth In One Week
17 October – Source: UNFPA – 658 Words
Jamila Garad Ali, 23, is devastated; 11 women from just one rural Somali village, Tulo Ano, died of pregnancy-related causes during the first week of October alone. As a professional midwife who works in the closest facility in Guri’el, they came to her for help but it was too late. “I have faced a real maternal mortality crisis. All the 11 mothers came seeking care from me but I couldn’t save them. They all died as a result of their complications, having reached professional care too late,” said Jamila, who works voluntarily for her community without pay.
Somalia already has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, with one in every 22 mothers dying from pregnancy related causes. This had never been so apparent in Guri’el, in the Galgaduud region of Galmudug state until this month, according to Jamila.
The young midwife only graduated in December 2017 as one of the first qualified midwives working in the area from Dhusamareb, a school run by the Ministry of Health funded by the People of Japan through UNFPA. She is a focal person of the Somali Midwifery Association in Guri’el and leads a group of other midwives. “Each of the 11 mothers had arrived after prolonged labour as they tried to manage the births themselves at home with unskilled traditional birth attendants. The warning signs and opportunities to manage the labour effectively were missed, and each mother was in a very bad state before the family brought them to seek professional care,” explained Jamila.
One mother from Tulo Ano bled excessively at the hands of a traditional birth attendant who mishandled the placenta, according to Jamila. “The mother arrived with her family to seek help from me but she was already struggling to breathe. Having lost excessive amounts of blood, she needed a blood transfusion to save her life. One of her relatives who accompanied her was found to be the correct blood type, and was willing to donate blood to save her life, but it was too late to save her by then,” said the midwife.
UNHCR Special Envoy For The Horn Of Africa Motivates Youth Desperate For Higher Education In Dadaab
18 October – Source: UNHCR – 605 Words
In his passionate drive to advocate for quality higher education for Somali refugees, UNHCR Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, Ambassador Mohamed Affey, visited Dadaab Refugee Camps on 9th and 10th October 2018. He met with refugee youth some of who have completed secondary school, but they have had no access to higher education.
In his interactions with the youth, Ambassador Affey listened to their aspirations, dreams, challenges and needs. He encouraged them to remain positive and use their time in the refugee camps to engage in self-education as they aim for a brighter future. “The day you become educated, you take care of yourself and your community. You will forget the pain of being a refugee,” Ambassador Affey told the youth.
He urged the refugees in the Dadaab camps to take advantage of the facilities that UNHCR and partner agencies have provided. He also reiterated the importance of advocacy to address key barriers to higher education for large number of Somali refugee students in Dadaab. “We are here in Dadaab to do advocacy work for the international community and our partners for continued support to refugee education in Dadaab so that many more can get an opportunity to go to school, to transit from high school to university and from university to the job market around the world as responsible members of the global community,” the envoy said.
Ambassador Affey appealed to the international community, private sector, Somali civil society and Somali business people, Somali government and NGO partners to scale up their support to create additional higher education scholarships for Somali refugees. He observed that education is a key driver in finding durable solutions for refugees in protracted refugee situations.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“With a laptop, $25 in capital, and no previous experience managing a company, Gabas started Saami Online, a one-stop shop that sells and delivers everything from books and cosmetics to clothing and home appliances. Since he didn’t have the funds to buy the goods at first, he had to show product owners that he could take their wares and deliver them to customers away from major cities.”
Somalia’s E-commerce Businesses Are Rising Against All Odds
17 October – Source: Quartz Africa – 996 Words
Abdi Addow likes to have oodkac for breakfast, the jerky-style beef cubes that Somalis usually eat with injera flatbread. Addow especially loves his mother’s serving, but since he doesn’t live with her in the Somali capital, he logs online and uses a third-party delivery service to bring it to him from her place. Long beset by civil war, Somalia was among the last African nations to go online. Internet penetration still remains low, high poverty levels persist, there’s lack of a strong central authority, weak regulatory policies, besides the absence of addresses and well-labeled streets, which is bound to create logistical efficiencies for start-ups.
Despite this, or perhaps because of these challenges, the Horn of Africa nation is experiencing a strong rise in digital businesses, with local entrepreneurs building businesses that are disrupting existing trade models and transforming the way people shop.
In Somali cities like Mogadishu, Hargeisa, and Garowe, there’s an emerging e-commerce market, with founders establishing consumer-to-consumer, business-to-business, or business-to-consumer applications that allow for the purchase and dispatch of products or services. Together, these platforms are encouraging a budding tech sector, getting more people online, help to create some much-needed jobs, and are attracting the attention of local angel investors—even if that’s on a smaller scale.
Yet the current upswing is a story born out of need: as people flock back into the country following some semblance of order, many want to enjoy the convenient lifestyle abroad where most necessities were easily available on demand. Young enterprisers also want to capitalize on that and provide the allure of immediate service and instant gratification. The increased ownership of phones as well as a very successful mobile money market is also helping spur this nascent sector.
As a tech entrepreneur previously based in Stockholm, Addow says he uses the delivery apps not just because they are “cheap and faster” but “because it saves time for me since Mogadishu is getting a bigger population and has more cars so it’s hard to get anywhere you want on time.” One of the apps Addow uses is Gullivery, a door-to-door delivery service launched last year. Its founder, Deeq Mohamed, says he got the idea after moving with his wife from London to the northwestern city of Hargeisa and noticed that many of the things they bought for their home couldn’t be delivered. While hanging out with friends, he also noticed their families would ask them to buy foodstuff they would otherwise have ordered themselves.