October 20, 2016 | Daily Monitoring Report
Heavy Fighting Erupts In Galkayo Town
20 October – Source: Shabelle News – 96 Words
A heavy fighting between Galmudug and Puntland forces has erupted again in Galkayo, the regional capital of Mudug, according to eyewitnesses. The battle broke out when Galmudug State Security Minister Osman Nur Tardhuled paid a surprise visit to the front-lines in the west of Galkayo on Thursday morning. Latest reports from sources in Galkayo indicate that both sides are using heavy change of artillery and gunfire that could be heard across the town. There was no immediate reports of casualties as a result of the ongoing fighting in Galkayo.
Key Headlines
- Heavy Fighting Erupts In Galkayo Town (Shabelle News)
- Puntland Parliament To Vote For Upper House Representatives (Jowhar.com)
- Somaliland Group Protests Morgan’s Candidature In Puntland Senate Polls (Goobjoog News)
- Italy Releases Somali Man After 18 Years In Prison (Shabelle News)
- Al Jazeera Journalist Hamza Mohamed Freed In Somalia (Al Jazeera)
- Kenya Accused Of ‘Dumping’ Somali Refugees Back Over The Border With No Support (The Guardian)
- Somaliland Hopes Brexit Will Pave Way For UK To Grant International Recognition (The Guardian)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Puntland Parliament To Vote For Upper House Representatives
20 October – Source: Jowhar.com- 100 Words
The Puntland regional parliament is today expected to hold elections for members of their Upper House representatives. This follows yesterday’s occasion in which the MPs listened to the speeches by the aspirant for seats in the Upper House. The Prime Minister, Omar Abdirashid who arrived in Garowe yesterday is expected to give his speech today. The outgoing Prime Minister is seeking to become a member of the Upper House. He is also in the presidential race. Other aspirants include the former Puntland President, Abdirahman Faroole and Gen Mohamed Said Morgan who are expected to win seats in the Upper House.
Somaliland Group Protests Morgan’s Candidature In Puntland Senate Polls
20 October – Source: Goobjoog News – 222 Words
A group representing victims of the 1988 massacre in Somaliland’s capital Hargeisa during Mohamed Siad Barre’s regime have called for the removal of Mohamed Said Hersi Morgan’s name from list of senators. Ahmed Abdi Like, the chairman of the group Thursday said the candidature and election of Morgan opens up wounds of hatred given his participation in killings which historical records put at between 50,000 and 60,000 people. “We are telling the international community to intervene in the inclusion of warlords with violent history. They have escaped justice but they should not be allowed to perpetrate impunity,” said Like. Morgan’s inclusion revives a memory of killings, Like added. The call comes up as Puntland elections kicked off Thursday with Morgan expected to participate in the polls. Goobjoog News correspondent has confirmed Morgan is in the state assembly and will participate in the polls. The International Community last week called on Puntland to drop Morgan’s name terming his inclusion a return to ‘dark days of warlordism’. Morgan was singled out by the International Community alongside former Islamic Courts Union deputy leader Abdifitah Mohamed Ali and Abdi Hasan Awale Qeybdiid for ‘a history of violence and criminality’. Qeybdiid has since been elected senator by Galmudug state while Jubbaland bowed to pressure and replaced Abdifitah Mohamed Ali with a female candidate in Wednesday’s senate polls.
Italy Releases Somali Man After 18 Years In prison
20 October – Source: Shabelle News – 120 Words
A court in Italy has on Wednesday released a Somali national Hashi Omar Hassan from jail after 18 years of confinement. Hassan has been convicted of killing two Italian journalists in Mogadishu in 1994. Speaking to Radio Shabelle over the phone after his release, Mr Hashi Omar Hassan said he was extremely happy to regain his freedom and freed from jail. During the interview with Radio Shabelle, Hashi Omar Hassan has accused Somali federal government of neglecting him during his 18-years-term in prison. Hashi was among thousands of Somali citizens held in jails across the globe with no help from their Somali government embassies in the areas they are being held.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Al Jazeera Journalist Hamza Mohamed Freed In Somalia
20 October – Source: Al Jazeera – 107 Words
Al Jazeera journalist Hamza Mohamed has been released from detention by Somali security agents in the capital Mogadishu. Mohamed, a British national, was detained on Tuesday afternoon along with a driver, fixer and cameraman. He had been in Somalia for a week on a reporting assignment. Mohamed has frequently travelled to the country over the past few years to cover politics, economics and culture for Al Jazeera “with accuracy and integrity”, according to a statement released by Al Jazeera Media Network on Wednesday. The Federal Republic of Somalia had earlier informed the network that Mohamed was being held for questioning and there were no charges against him.
Kenya Accused Of ‘Dumping’ Somali Refugees Back Over The Border With No Support
20 October – Source: The Guardian – 762 Words
Authorities in Somalia have denounced the way refugees are being repatriated from neighbouring Kenya, after the Kenyan government announced it would close Dadaab, the world’s largest refugee camp, by the end of 2016. Over the past five months, makeshift camps in Somalia’s southernmost border state have been swelling with families as thousands of refugees are repatriated as part of a UN scheme. But Jubaland state authorities have now suspended the returns process, saying local services are overwhelmed and the repatriation process amounts to the “dumping of human beings in an undignified way”. With Kenyan elections approaching and anti-refugee rhetoric spurred on by the fear of the Somali Islamist group Al-Shabaab, the government announced in May that it would permanently close Dadaab – home to more than 320,000 Somalis spanning several generations – and send all Somali refugees home by the end of the year. In May the Kenyan interior minister, Joseph Nkaissery, claimed Al-Shabaab fighters were using the camp as a base for smuggling weapons. “For reasons of pressing national security that speak to the safety of Kenyans in a context of terrorist and criminal activities, the government of the Republic of Kenya has commenced the exercise of closing Dadaab refugee complex,” he said.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“Ethiopia, Somaliland’s landlocked neighbour and one of the world’s fastest growing economies, is particularly likely to feel the benefit. The deal gives Ethiopia and DP World a potential alternative to the dominant Red Sea port in Djibouti.”
Somaliland Hopes Brexit Will Pave Way For UK To Grant International Recognition
19 October – Source: The Guardian – 631 Words
Britain’s looming departure from the EU may be a fraught issue at home, yet in one corner of the Horn of Africa hopes are harboured of a very definite Brexit dividend. The government of Somaliland believes the impending split marks a pivotal moment, one that will free the UK to grant the self-declared state the international recognition it has been seeking for more than 25 years. “I think Brexit will make it much easier for the British government to make up its mind,” said Somaliland’s foreign minister, Dr Saad Ali Shire. “Under the EU, all the members have to abide by the EU policy regarding Somaliland. Britain did not have much leeway to make up its own mind. Being out of the EU [means] they can do whatever they want. I think it’s good for us. I think they will have the flexibility in their foreign policy.”
Shire’s comments come at a potentially transformative moment not just for the former British protectorate but also for the wider east African region, after one of the world’s largest port operators announced a 30-year concession to manage and develop Somaliland’s Berbera port. The $442m (£360m) deal between DP World and Somaliland – which has long sought deep-pocketed investors to modernise the port and exploit its offer of a free trade zone around Berbera – heralds a new gateway for trade between east Africa and the rest of the world. Ethiopia, Somaliland’s landlocked neighbour and one of the world’s fastest growing economies, is particularly likely to feel the benefit. The deal gives Ethiopia and DP World a potential alternative to the dominant Red Sea port in Djibouti, the government of which has been engaged in a legal wrangle with the Dubai-based firm in relation to its concessions there.
TOP TWEETS
@Harar24Editor : Just-in: #AlJazeera journalist @Hamza_Africadetained in #Mogadishu by #Somalia security agencies two days ago now freed. #FreeHamza
@Aadandaahir1 : #BREAKING :Hashi Omar #Somalia citizen freed #Italia jail after 18 years
@Abdifatah09 : Breaking: Former president of #Puntland has just been elected a member of #Somalia Senate, the Upper House, won 59 out of 66 p. members vote
@Aadandaahir1 : breaking:#heavy fighting begins #galkacyo#town in central #Somalia
@shiinetown : #Somalia sitting Prime Minister Sharmarke become the first elected Puntland State representative in the Upper House.
@UNSomalia : #Somalia’s 2016 electoral process has a built-in mechanism to make it more transparent and credible than in 2012. #Doorashada2016
@UNdeClercq : #Somalia continues to adapt global #SDGsagenda in compliance with its national priorities
IMAGE OF THE DAY
AMISOM’s Head of Mission, the Special Representative of the African Union Commission Chairperson (SRCC) for Somalia, Ambassador Francisco Caetano Madeira met with the newly appointed Head of the United Nations Support Office in Somalia (UNSOS), Mr. Hubert Price at the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Photo: AMISOM