October 22, 2015 | Morning Headlines
Somalia Takes Stock Of Public Finance To Address Corruption
21 October – Source: Hiiraan Online – 334 Words
As part of efforts aimed at fighting corruption and stealing of public funds, Somalia’s government has taken an unusual ambitious plan designed to improve management of public finances. Somalia’s Accountant-General Ahmed Yusuf Mumin (Siraj) has summoned officials from public finance sectors for accounting purposes to review their leadership and public funds administration formula. The move comes in the wake of the latest Transparency International index, which lists Somalia as the most corrupt country in the world.
During Tuesday’s meeting, which was attended by 70 officials, the Accountant-General also took note of how the public finance administrators used the new Financial Management Information Systems (FMIS), which supports the automation and integration of public financial management processes including budget formulation.With the help of the World Bank, the new FMIS scheme was launched following reports of corruption by officials within the government. The United Nations Monitoring group has issued several reports implicating top officials in corruption allegations over the past few years.
Mr. Yusuf told reporters after the meeting that the assessment is aimed at enhancing public finances’ management to enable the implementation of good governance in Somalia: “During the meeting we have also exchanged ideas on how we can prepare the 2016 budget for the government.” The development comes after the Somali and international stakeholders agreed to establish a joint financial management board in order to ensure transparent dispensation of government and donor funds in 2012. The public sector was later completely reformed in mid-2012, following the end of the transitional period and the establishment of the Federal Government of Somalia.
Key Headlines
- Somalia Takes Stock Of Public Finance To Address Corruption (Hiiraan Online)
- EU Pledges €165 Euros For AU Force In Somalia (Hiiraan Online)
- Angry Gunmen Open Fire On Tank Trailer In Somaliland (Goobjoog News )
- Regional Administration Expresses Concern Over Flooding Of Shabelle region (Wacaal Media)
- National Football Federation & Jubaland Agree To Revamp Sport Sector (Garowe Online)
- UNHCR Seeks 500 Million USD For Return Of Somalia Refugees In Kenya (Xinhua)
- Mother Of Acton Murder Victim Usaama Ali Says She Wants To Leave ‘Violent’ London (The Standard)
- US Lifts Travel Warning On Kenyan Coast (Daily Nation)
- When City Centres Turn Into Battlefields (Agenda WEF)
NATIONAL MEDIA
EU Pledges €165 Euros For AU Force In Somalia
21 October – Source: Hiiraan Online – 315 Words
The European Union has pledged €165 Euros for the African Union force in Somalia to strengthen its military capability to fight against the Al-Qaeda linked Al-Shabaab group which continues a guerrilla war against the troops and Somali government. The pledge was made in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa after an agreement signed by AU and EU leaders that would provide funding under the Africa Peace Facility (APF). Under the agreement the new fund would cover a period of seven months from 1 June to 31 Dec. 2015, according an AU statement on Tuesday.
The budget would also cover troop and police allowances, death and disability compensation for military and police personnel, international and local civilian staff salaries, operational costs of AMISOM, maintenance, running costs and equipment for the AMISOM Al-Jazeera training camp in Mogadishu and Quick Impact Projects (QIPs), said to the statement.
Klaus Rudischhauser, the European Union’s Deputy Director-General for Development and Cooperation said that the new financial support is meant to enable AMISOM contribute to the stabilization of the security situation in Somalia.” Unlike the irregularly paid Somali army, the African Union forces enjoys a flowing support from the international community, an inequality experts say continues to undermine the building of the Somali army.
A recent report by the U.N. Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group, which oversees compliance with U.N. sanctions, alleges that Somali army commanders “hierarchy has systematically inflated their troop numbers in order to secure greater funding for salaries and rations”.”Few cases illustrate the threat posed by financial mismanagement and misappropriation to peace, security and stability in Somalia more than corruption within the Federal Government security institutions,” said the U.N. monitoring group.
Angry Gunmen Open Fire On Tank Trailer In Somaliland
21 October – Source: Goobjoog News – 120 Words
Irate young men armed with rifles opened fire on tank trailer on Hargeisa-Barbera road following the privatization of fuel depots in Berbera port city by Somaliland administration. The governor Sahil, Fahmi Abdi Bidaar speaking to BBC Somali service said that Somaliland administration sent soldiers to areas where angry gunmen attacked the tanker which was transporting petrol from Berbera port.
“Soldier dispatched from both Berebera and Hargeisa towns have reached the area and handle the situation successfully” he said. Six private companies have been granted to store fuel imports in Berbera depots. Somaliland, located in northwestern Somalia declared its independence from the rest of the country as de facto sovereign state in 1991 but it has not been recognized internationally yet.
Regional Administration Expresses Concern Over Flooding Of Shabelle region
21 October – Source: Wacaal Media – 105 Words
The regional administration of Lower Shabeele has expressed fears over flooding of River Shabeele following the onset of the heavy rains. Kurtunwarey and surrounding areas, which are still under Al-Shabaab control, have been identified as areas that are likely to experience a huge impact should the river overflow.
Local farmers, most of whom were about to harvest, have also expressed fears as the raging floods could destroy their food crops. Recently, the Federal Government announced the formation of a task force that will oversee measures to mitigate effects of the expected huge rains but reaching areas under militant control will be an uphill task for them.
National Football Federation & Jubaland Agree To Revamp Sport Sector
21 October – Source: Garowe Online – 135 Words
As Somalia’s sport industry continues to attract international partners, National Football Federation and Jubaland administration signed an agreement in southern port city of Kismayo, Garowe Online reports. The President of Somali Football Federation (SFF) Abdikani Saed Arab has discussed ways of rebuilding the battered sport sector with fraternity, agreeing to implementation of four demands suggested during Kismayo meetings.
In remarks to reporters, Arab indicated that he had signed a four-point deal with Jubaland football fraternity as part of efforts to revamp the sport sector. Among the points of the agreement are immediate support for the development of Jubaland football games, formation of football principals and guidelines for Jubaland sport industry, deployment of sport gears and materials and participation by Jubaland players in national football games. Somali football federation will embark on activities in Jubaland in November.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
UNHCR Seeks 500 Million USD For Return Of Somalia Refugees In Kenya
21 October – Source: Xinhua News – 474 Words
The UN refugee agency said Wednesday it’s seeking 500 million U.S. dollars from donors for the voluntary return of Somali refugees from camps in Kenya. Since December 2014, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has helped 5,300 refugees return to Somalia from Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camps and another 4,500 have signed up at a help desk at the camps to go back.
UNHCR said in a statement received in Nairobi that senior officials from Kenya, Somalia and EU are in Geneva to mobilize more international support for creation of conditions for voluntary return and sustainable reintegration in Somalia as well as the security and resilience of refugees and host communities in Kenya.:”The initial plan of action, which is aligned with the Somalia New Deal Compact framework, requires a total of 500 million dollars and will run for two years until the end of 2017,” the statement said.
The statement said the UN High Commissioner Antonio Guterres will open a pledging conference on Wednesdayto help galvanize financial support for the return: “Delegates from more than over 40 countries and organizations will discuss how to concretely prepare for voluntary returns of Somali refugees from the region and enhance absorption capacity in areas of return in Somalia by strengthening humanitarian and development actions,” it said.
Over 2 million Somalis remain displaced in the region, including some 1.1 million in their own country and 967,000 as refugees in the neighboring countries.Kenya, which hosted protracted negotiations that culminated in the formation of the transitional federal government of Somalia, says the refugee situation continues to pose security threats to Nairobi and the region apart from the humanitarian crisis.Kenya believes Somalia militants, Al-Shabaab, who killed 148 people at Garissa University early in April are behind a spate of insecurity that has hit several parts of northern, Nairobi and coastal regions.
Mother Of Acton Murder Victim Usaama Ali Says She Wants To Leave ‘Violent’ London
21 October – Source: Evening Standard – 548 Words
The mother of a teenager stabbed to death on a west London street today said that he had packed his bags and was just days from a “fresh start” studying his A-levels overseas. Usaama Ali, 17, was knifed in the heart in Acton on Friday. He collapsed near a GP surgery and café, dying despite efforts to save him by shopkeepers and paramedics.
Speaking at the family home in West Acton, his mother Sadia Barre, 40, said her son had been booked to fly to Cairo tomorrow to pursue his studies, but instead he lay in a morgue. “Usaama was very excited about his fresh start studying in Cairo, where I have a friend,” she said. “He was ready to go and had high hopes of getting his A-levels and then going on to university to study sociology.
“He had been excluded from school and had done home schooling and got some GCSEs. This was his big chance and he was ready to take it. He has been robbed of this opportunity and his life and I have been robbed of a son.”Usaama was born in Oslo after his family moved there from Somalia. Mrs Barre said they relocated to London in 2007 because she believed the educational opportunities for her three children would be better in Britain.
“Looking back this has obviously been a terrible decision and now I just want to get out of London,” she said. “These boys carrying knives — something more has to be done. As a mother I do not want to live here any more. “When a friend called and said he had been stabbed my world fell apart. He was killed outside the doctor’s surgery our family uses. London is too dangerous. I do not know where we will go but we cannot stay here with this level of violence.” Usaama is the 15th teenager to die in a homicide in the capital this year, and the 11th to be fatally stabbed.
US Lifts Travel Warning On Kenyan Coast
20 October – Source: Daily Nation – 225 Words
The United States government has lifted travel restrictions it issued to its citizens on visits to most parts of Kenya’s coastal region. The US Embassy stated travel restrictions to Malindi through Mombasa and Kwale counties to the Tanzanian border, issued owing to the threat caused by Al-Shabaab militants, had been lifted.
“There are no longer general restrictions on travel to Malindi city in Kilifi County through Mombasa and Kwale counties to the Tanzanian border,” an email sent to its citizens and staff stated. The US, however, restricted its staff from traveling to towns near the border with Somalia and cautioned them against using the Likoni ferry in Mombasa.
The US also cautioned those visiting Old Town in Mombasa, saying they should do so during the day.The Barack Obama administration asked its citizens in Kenya to be vigilant and be aware of their own personal security.The US issued a travel advisory in May this year and restricted its personnel from visiting Eastleigh in Nairobi and the coastal counties of Mombasa, Kwale, Kilifi and Lamu.
The travel restrictions also covered Tana River County, north of Pate Island, Kiwavu and Kiunga on the Kenya-Somalia border, and northeastern Kenya towns, including El Wak, Wajir, Garissa, Mandera and Liboi. Any travel to the restricted areas by any US Embassy personnel had to be pre-approved by appropriate embassy offices.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“The fragility created by protracted conflicts, resulting in destroyed cities and dramatically insufficient services is not something that humanitarian organizations can address comprehensively. Only political solutions can end armed conflicts.”
When City Centres Turn Into Battlefields
21 October – Source: Agenda WEF – 844 Words
For centuries, wars were predominantly fought across vast battlefields, pitting thousands of men, large army corps and heavy weaponry against each other in open fields. Today’s armed conflicts look quite different: city centres and residential areas have become the battlefields of our time: from Aleppo to Donetsk, from Gaza to Mogadishu, from Aden to Tripoli, wars have moved into the lives, cities and homes of ordinary people more dominantly than ever before. An estimated 50 million people live in urban areas, where conflict affects their daily lives.
Logic dictates that where there are more people and more lethal weapons, there are more victims. Recent data shows that an overwhelming 92% of people killed or injured by explosive weapons in populated areas are civilians. Beyond killing and maiming, warfare in cities destroys infrastructure and paralyzes essential services with much more impact, making life even harder for those who do survive. Electricity and water supply systems are frequently affected. Direct attacks or the indirect impact of war on hospitals and schools, despite their specific protection under international law, contribute to the implosion of basic infrastructure. Decades of development, construction and investment are lost this way in no time.
Cities tend to be representations of societies: diversity and inequality find their extremes in urban settings. Yet, when war is added onto pre-existing inequalities, high levels of poverty or even disaster, urban fragility increases exponentially, making it harder to absorb the shocks of warfare. Investment into such settings is therefore crucial, to create minimum stability and support lives and livelihoods of people. Such efforts can facilitate peace agreements and the re-building of infrastructure.