October 20, 2017 | Daily Monitoring Report
President Farmaajo Calls For A Joint Session Of The Two Houses Of Parliament
20 October – Source: Hiiraan Online – 147 Words
President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed ‘Farmaajo’ is expected to meet with members of the two Houses of the Parliament on Saturday following Saturday’s deadly terror attack in the capital Mogadishu. The announcement was made by Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khayre at a meeting with youth volunteers in Mogadishu. He said that the president will be meeting with MPs from both houses to discuss important issues including a new state of war to be declared by the president.
While addressing protesters in Mogadishu after the attack, President Farmaajo said they will establish a civil defense force calling on the people to join it and participate in the fight against Al-Shabaab. It is not the first time that President Farmaajo announced a state of war. On April, he made a similar declaration but the militant group only increased its terror attacks in the capital causing significant casualty and property destruction.
Key Headlines
- President Farmaajo Calls For A Joint Session Of The Two Houses Of Parliament (Hiiraan Online)
- Western Governments Suspend Release Of Saturday’s Attack Investigation Results (Dhacdo.com)
- Televised Debate Held For Somaliland’s Three Presidential Candidates (Hiiraan Online)
- Mogadishu Shows Resilience Starts Rebuilding Site Of Deadly Bombing (VOA)
- Little Mogadishu’ Mourns A Massacre (News Deeply)
- Can Somalia Ever Win Against Al-Shabaab? (Foreign Policy)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Western Governments Suspend Release Of Saturday’s Attack Investigation Results
20 October – Source: Dhacdo.com – 140 Words
Somali Federal Government has once again postponed its plan to present to the public the initial results of investigations into the deadly Saturday attack in Mogadishu. Information Minister Abdirahman Omar Osman Yarisow, who was expected to make the announcement on Thursday has not made any announcement as of now. Reliable reports say that intelligence agencies from Western countries have asked the government to adjourn the announcement.
They stated they are also conducting investigations that are now in final stages, calling on the government to postpone any announcement regarding the blast. Top security officials, who spoke to Dhacdo.com, said the target of the blast was the heavily fortified Halane Base where the UN, AMISOM and western embassies are based. Al-Shabaab intended to attack Halane in retaliation for increased drone attacks that killed many of its leaders and terrorized its militias. It is not known when the government would release the result of the investigations into Somalia’s ever deadliest attack.
Televised Debate Held For Somaliland’s Three Presidential Candidates
20 October – Source: Hiiraan Online – 122 Words
Somaliland presidential candidates rounded off their campaign trail with a televised presidential debate attended by the three presidential aspirants namely, Muse Bihi Abdi from Kulmiye Party, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi Irro from Waddani Party and Faysal Ali Waraabe from the UCID Party ahead of the presidential election on November 13.The debate was highly anticipated by the public because they saw it as an opportunity to assess the candidates’ various political programs. It was wrapped up late in the night with moderators bombarding the candidates with dozens of questions about education, politics, social affairs and economic development. Some of the pressing questions asked included how they would tackle and faces complex issues like strengthening of democracy, talks with Somalia and airspace control management.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Mogadishu Shows Resilience, Starts Rebuilding Site Of Deadly Bombing
19 October – Source: VOA – 652 Words
Residents of Somalia’s capital have developed an exceptional state of resilience over the years. They had to, given how often Mogadishu sees deadly warfare involving Islamist militants, troops from five African countries, and assorted government forces. That resilience was on display again this week, just three days after a massive truck bomb that killed nearly 300 people and wounded more than 400 others on Saturday. By Tuesday, hundreds of young volunteers who had helped rescue survivors from the debris of demolished cars and buildings, cleaned up the rubble.
On Thursday, the city began construction at the blast site to defy what authorities have described as a terrorist message meant to demoralize the city’s recent revival. “You see we are rebuilding the road at the blast site. Since it is a very important for the city’s movement, we are making it ready for the traffic to begin soon,” said Mogadishu Mayor Tabit Abdu Mohamed.
The road construction began as the charred buildings around the scene of the blast were sealed off with corrugated iron sheets to prepare them for immediate rebuilding. “We have to show that the city would never be dead because of a brutal terrorist attack,” Mohamed said. “I hope this would be the terrorists’ last outrageous attack against our city.” Among Mogadishu officials and diplomats who visited the site on Thursday was EU Ambassador to Somalia Veronique Lorenzo, who said the extent of the destruction caused by Saturday’s blast left her speechless.
Little Mogadishu’ Mourns A Massacre
19 October – Source: News Deeply – 841 Words
When Aisha Omar heard about a massive explosion in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, she was at home in Eastleigh, a suburb of the Kenyan capital Nairobi. The 23-year-old, who left Somalia aged 11, still has family back in Mogadishu, like many other Eastleigh residents. More than 200,000 of the 330,000 people who live there are Somali, hence its nickname, “Little Mogadishu.”
For about a day Omar’s family in Eastleigh made calls trying to locate her cousin, Maryan Mohamed, a few years older than her. Eventually they discovered she was among the more than 300 people killed in the twin suicide bombing on Oct. 14, one of the deadliest terror attacks in years. Hundreds of others were injured. Omar swallows hard, remembering hearing news of Mohamed’s death. Her sister also lives in Mogadishu, but was far from the attack. Now she is coming back to Kenya, too traumatized to stay.
Omar relayed her story at a meeting this week in Eastleigh’s Madina Mall, hosted by the Kenya Chapter of the Somali Student Association, to discuss ways for the community to support survivors of the attack. Dozens of men and women, the majority of whom looked under the age of 30, crowded into the room. Extra chairs had to be brought in so everyone could sit. Attempts to divide the room into male and female areas quickly floundered as more bodies packed into the gradually heating room.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“The second dilemma is whether to prioritize political or military action. Bitter experience has shown that the metrics most readily usable by military planners territory captured, body counts, “high-value targets” killed have no traction on the real progress of winning this war. Military strikes are primarily a fireworks display to impress the spectators, rather than a strategy for victory.”
Can Somalia Ever Win Against Al-Shabaab?
19 October – Source: Foreign Policy – 1285 Words
In the battle of wills for Somalia’s future, the terrorist group al-Shabab struck a cruel and potentially lasting blow on Oct. 14. Not only did it kill more than 300 people in the largest terrorist attack in the country’s history; it shook the confidence of the Somali government and its domestic and international backers that they can stay the course in rebuilding the war-torn East African nation.
By committing conspicuous atrocities such as this, al-Shabab’s leaders signal that they have burned all their bridges, that negotiation with them is fruitless, and — most importantly — that they are still a potent threat. Al-Shabab has sustained its decade long insurgency, maintaining control over a significant, albeit diminished territory, because it focuses relentlessly on the essentials — pounding the fragile U.N.-backed government and the international forces that prop it up while positioning itself as a credible alternative by efficiently administering the regions it controls.
It has long been a better-run organization than its adversaries, including the corruption-plagued central government. Licit traders and smugglers alike do business with al-Shabab, because where its writ extends, its licenses and receipts are respected; there isn’t the arbitrary extortion and corruption that characterized warlord rule from the 1990s to the middle 2000s and still impede business in government-controlled areas today.
It is even possible that this cancer of corruption made the Oct. 14 bombing possible: Questions are already being asked about how the truck bomb was able to penetrate Mogadishu’s security cordon and whether al-Shabab had collaborators inside the government. That kind of doubt in the integrity of Somali institutions is exactly what the terrorist group seeks to sow. Ever since the 2012 London Conference that heralded the transition from years of discredited transitional governments to today’s federal government, the new Somali order has been underpinned by a collective effort by international donors to rebuild the country and its institutions.
Critics call it wishful thinking, disbelieving the idea that bickering Somali politicians and businessmen will work together with a diverse group of regional powers, including Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar and that a 22,000-strong mission of African Union troops can defeat al-Shabab on the battlefield. But Somalia’s many international backers are betting that they can outlast the extremist insurgency and that over time people will come to embrace the new government they are helping to stand up.
And indeed there are signs that it is working if slowly and haltingly. Mogadishu is booming, resembling a giant construction site; the famously dynamic business community is investing; diaspora Somalis are returning (at least to visit). Turkey has just opened a vast military academy to help train the Somali army, a facility that early reports suggest may have been the actual target of Saturday’s bombing. (The driver reportedly panicked after being stopped by security forces and detonated his truck bomb in a central square where by tragic coincidence a fuel tanker was parked, causing a fireball that hugely magnified the blast.) Saudi Arabia is contributing cash directly to the national budget, and the United Arab Emirates is investing heavily in port infrastructure, although both countries have recently butted heads with the Somali government over its refusal to take their side in the Gulf dispute with Qatar.
TOP TWEETS
@HarunMaruf: BREAKING: @M_Farmaajo to declare that Somalia will enter a “state of war” effective this Saturday, says@SomaliPM
@HarunMaruf: BREAKING: President of Somalia@M_Farmaajo calls for an emergency joint session of the two Houses of Parliament this Saturday: reports
@EroComfort: Managing the Disruptive Aftermath of #Somalia’s Worst Terror Attack https://www.crisisgroup.org/
@jreberlein: Our @vincentlelei pays tribute to Faiza “the mother of @UNDPSomalia” and details support after#MogadishuTruckBomb
@ThabitMhd: Thank u everyone across Somalia who marched 4 unity. We are united 4 our future. Mogadishu has turned a new page & the power is w the youth
@AFPphoto: What’s it like living in #Somalia? Read@Mo_Abdiwahab‘s account of his last Saturday. #SomaliaAttackhttp://u.afp.com/4KDF
IMAGE OF THE DAY
First ever televised debate held for Somaliland presidential candidates.
Photo: @Mohedhazzan