October 20, 2015 | Daily Monitoring Report
Two Siblings Washed Away By Raging Floods Following Heavy Downpour In Jubbaland
20 October – Source: Wacaal Media -84 Words
Two siblings were yesterday washed away by raging floods after heavy downpours hit Gedo and Midddle Jubba regions of Jubbaland. The incident happened in Jawaarey location of Saakow district in Middle Jubba region. Mother to the deceased children said the raging floods washed away their makeshift Somali house together with the children. Efforts to recover the bodies were still ongoing at the time of going to press. Ilbeeto and Jawaarey in Gedo and Middle Jubba respectively were the most hit by the raging floods.
Key Headlines
- Two Siblings Washed Away By Raging Floods Following Heavy Downpour In Jubbaland(Wacaal Media)
- Rains Affect IDP Families In And Around Mogadishu (Goobjoog News)
- Hiiraan Governor Calls For An Acceleration Of Regional State Formation (Shabelle News)
- Somaliland Govt Privatizes Berbera Fuel Depots (Garowe Online)
- Five Kenyans Wanted Over Al-Shabaab Link ( Daily Nation)
- Reintegrating Ex-Terrorists In Somalia ( Deutsche Welle News)
- Lifeline For AMISOM As Europe Says It Will Give Cash For Somalia Anti-Terror Battle (Mail&Guardian)
- A life In Afghanistan Somalia Gave Him Zeal To Change Lives (Daily Monitor)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Rains Affect IDP Families In And Around Mogadishu
20 October – Source: Goobjoog News – 162 Words
Heavy rains have pounded in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu for about seven hours, sparking worries among the Internally Displaced persons (IDPs) camping in and around Mogadishu. The major roads of the city were flooded as vehicles were forced to use narrower paths in the villages.Thousands of internally displaced persons in the capital and its suburb living in small huts made of cardboard and old rugs, that could withstand the heavy downpour, were affected.The rains have exacerbated the plight of the IDPs, many of whom had been doing odd jobs such as collecting firewood, cleaning houses, washing cloth & begging on the streets of Mogadishu.
Heavy rains with wind, poor shelter and lack of adequate food have combined to aggravate the already poor health situation of the IDPs. Sanitation has also deteriorated in the IDP camps. There were too many people using too few latrines and now the rains have destroyed some of the latrines and just made the situation worse.
Hiiraan Governor Calls For An Acceleration Of Regional State Formation
20 October – Source: Shabelle News – 123 Words
The governor of Hiiraan region Abdifitah Hassan Afrah has called for the speeding up of the formation process of Hiiraan and Middle Shabelle administration.While speaking to reporters in Mogadishu, Mr Afrah urged the top officials of the Federal Government to the burn the midnight oil on both sides to create the new interim regional administration of the two regions in central Somalia.“People in Hiiraan and Middle Shabelle regions are enthusiastic to see a change,” said the Hiiraan governor. A disagreement among the technical committee of the state formation has led to the postponement of the opening of the conference to build the much hyped regional administration.
Somaliland Govt Privatizes Berbera Fuel Depots
19 October – Source: Garowe Online – 127 Words
Somaliland Commerce Minister, Musse Qasim on Monday announced the privatization of fuel depots in Berbera port city despite objection by the Opposition, Garowe Online reports. On September 12, Somaliland Parliament Speaker, who also serves as Wadani Opposition party leader, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, was engaged in a scuffle with his deputy, Bashe Mohamed Farah, over a controversial motion regarding the storage facilities. Qasim said that the government will be responsible for the quality regulation. Six private companies have been given green-light to store fuel imports in Berbera depots, further irritating the Opposition ahead of parliamentary and presidential elections in early 2017. Somaliland, located in northwestern Somalia declared its independence from the rest of the country as de facto sovereign state in 1991. However, it has not been recognized by the international community yet.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Five Kenyans Wanted Over Al-Shabaab Link
20 October – Daily Nation – 228 Words
Security agencies have released the photographs of five Kenyans, among them a suspected female suicide bomber and her husband, who are wanted for links to Al-Shabaab. The five are believed to be in Al-Shabaab camps in Somalia, but intelligence reports have revealed they are planning to sneak into Kenya to carry out attacks. A report seen by the Nation says Ms Shamim Wanjiru Hussein “was recruited for a possible suicide bombing mission”.
“While the target and timing is unknown, it is likely that Shamim will reach out to her friends and family, some of whom live in Nairobi. Kenyan Police request the public to provide any information regarding Shamim to avert Al-Shabaab attack plans,” the report states. Her husband, Omar Patroba Juma, whose photograph was also circulated, was among the terrorists who attacked the Baure military camp in Lamu County in June.
Another suspect wanted by authorities is a former football player with Mathare United, Anwar Yogan Mwok, who joined Jaysh Ayman, a group of largely Kenyan Al-Shabaab fighters, in 2013. The other two are Omar Owiti and Ramadhan Kioko. The former joined Jaysh Ayman in 2013 and has been identified as one of the survivors of the attack at Baure, while the latter joined the terrorist group in 2008 and also took part in the June raid. The Baure attack left 18 terrorists and three soldiers dead.
Reintegrating Ex-Terrorists In Somalia
20 October – Source: Deutsche Welle News – Video: 3:40 Minutes
Lifeline For AMISOM As Europe Says It Will Give Cash For Somalia Anti-Terror Battle
09 October – Source: Mail & Guardian Africa – 356 Words
The European Union will give the African Union 165 million euros ($187 million) to fund its mission against Somalia’s Al-Shabaab militants. The cash will be used to pay the salaries of troops, police and civilians as well as for the Somalia mission’s operational costs for the seven months through year-end, the African Union saidMonday in an e-mailed statement. Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Burundi and Djibouti contribute troops to the AMISOM mission that was created in 2007. Al-Shabaab is trying to overthrow the Western-backed government in Somalia and establish a strict version of Islamic law. The group still carries out frequent gun and grenade attacks even after losing control of large chunks of territory to government troops backed by the African forces.The mission has in recent months had to contend with allegations of malpractice, including theft of supplies and non-payment of soldiers. In September Uganda media reported the country’s soldiers had not been paid for nine months, following a deadly militant attack on Ugandan peacekeepers. Army spokesmen said the arrears were less—at five months. The Somali government, whose soldiers support AMISOM, has also struggled to pay its soldiers, fuelling concern that disgruntled soldiers were were hurting the counterterrorism fight, with a potential to set frontline countries such as Kenya and Uganda on edge.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“We went there and called all the Somali national partner organisations we were working with to do ‘contingency planning’. In the discussions, the teams agreed that it was no longer time for planning but humanitarian response because there were needs. We had to design a response with seven national organisations providing food relief and emergency water services and all that.”
A Life In Afghanistan, Somalia Gave Him Zeal To Change Lives
19 October – Source: Daily Monitor – 1,844 Words
Many people list United Nations (UN) as their dream employer but for Peter Kamalingin, working with the international body meant having to worry too. Every day he waited for reports from the war fields, and as he did so, he worried about his safety and that of colleagues. This was at the height of the war in Afghanistan where many lives were lost.At the tail end of Kamalingin’s study in Austria, where he pursued a Master’s degree in peace and conflict, someone from Geneva came looking for people to work with the UN in Afghanistan. He raised his hand to be listed: “He was basically mobilising people for United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Afghanistan. I thought Afghanistan was exciting so I expressed interest and went and worked there,” he recounts.
He was first deployed in Kabul and later in Kandahar. “To be honest, it was a frustrating job because we were kept in a bunker and worked with the nationals. For every expat, you were given a national counterpart, someone who goes to the field to communicate in Afghan languages. So you are basically working out of the bunker,” Kamalingin recollects. He was happy with the salary but felt frustrated that he was not in touch with what was on ground.“They were difficult circumstances because you never knew whether you would see your colleague again or not. There were always ambushes,” he narrates. Kamalingin thinks the whole philosophy of international interventions in Afghanistan was completely flawed because they were imposed: “They (UN) were trying to do something that was going to fail and I decided at that point, to cut my engagement barely after eight months and returned home,” he recalls.
He says he did not see himself continue participating in UNDP work for the sake of earning money. On his way back, he needed to attend his young sister’s wedding in Nairobi. With his masters degree done and experience with UN, he had planned to stay in Nairobi for two weeks to take a break and rest as he planned his next career step. Well, as luck or fate would have it, he received an online invitation to apply for a job as the head of economics rights programme with Care International in Uganda. He applied and went for the wedding that evening. While at the wedding, he was called and asked if he was available for an interview the following day.
TOP TWEETS
@TheVillaSomalia:#NCFSomalia in an integral part of the process that will support #Somalia to reach agreement on the 2016 electoral process.
@Somaliadev:Ahmed Hussen becomes the 1st Somali to be elected to Canadian parliament. #canadavotes #Somali#diaspora #Somalia
@HarrietLMathews:Thanks to @UNSomalia and #SomaliaTechnical Support teams for delivering such as important event#NCFSomalia
@WorldBank:How are poverty data collected in your country? How its done in #Somalia: http://wrld.bg/TrRSa #endpoverty
@Daudoo:#Kenya Police release names & pictures of 5 Kenyans, incl a woman & a former football player, wanted over links with #AlShabaab. #Somalia
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Members of Baidoa Women’s Group after a community meeting that was attended by AMISOM Ethiopian female peacekeepers.
Photo: AMISOM