October 23, 2018 | Morning Headlines.
Military Operations In Middle Shabelle Cause Families To Flee
22 October – Source: Radio Ergo – 370 Words
Over 1,000 families displaced by fighting in southern Somalia’s Middle Shabelle region are in need of food and other emergency supplies, according to local officials. The families from villages of Garas-weyn, Kullanta, Bulo-Banan, and Basra, all located west of Bal’ad, were displaced by clashes between Somali forces and Al-Shabaab militants and are now camping in Bala’d town. Bal’ad assistant district commissioner in charge of social affairs, Hassan Sheikh Ahmed, told Radio Ergo that the town is still facing an influx of displaced people as military operations continue in the region.
With no established camps for the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Bala’ad town, some of the families have been forced to depend on relatives in the town while others spend the night outside. Arfon Mohamed Malabow, a widow, transported her five children from Danig-Balow, 10 km away, but could not raise the money to pay the auto-rickshaw owner. She told Radio Ergo her relatives had to pay. “The neighbours have provided the children with something to eat. We have no food and money. We have nothing here,” she said.
The displaced have no means of earning a living, having been forced from their farms. Arfon, 45, worked as a casual farm labourer in her village. Before fleeing, she described three consecutive days of clashes between the military and Al-Shabaab that kept them sheltering in fear inside their house. “I had no farm or livestock. I did casual work on farms but after the clashes broke out, I could not go to work and my children were at a risk of starving,” she said.
Abdirahman Abdullahi Salah, a herder, was among the families that fled Garasweyn, 15 km from Bal’ad. He arrived with his family in town on Monday. He left his 40 head of cattle with his brother who remained in the village, despite the ongoing fighting between Somali forces and Al-Shabaab. “We were dependent on our livestock. Milk from our livestock was sufficient for my family. But now, my children have no milk to drink. I urge our brothers to help us,” he said. Bal’ad authorities say they do not have the capacity to provide emergency needs for the families and called for assistance to the people displaced.
Key Headlines
- Military Operations In Middle Shabelle Cause Families To Flee (Radio Ergo)
- Benadir Governor Cuts Ribbon Of New Wadajir Headquarters Building (Halbeeg News)
- Four Prison Wardens Acquitted Of Robbery Charges In Mogadishu (Goobjoog News)
- Strengthening Somalia’s Health Systems To Boost Immunization With Support From GAVI (Reliefweb)
- UN Expert Highlights Need For Solutions To Challenges From Somalia’s Rapid Urbanisation (UNSOM)
- Higher Education Sub-sector In Somalia Cries Out For Reforms (The Standard)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Benadir Governor Cuts Ribbon Of New Wadajir Headquarters Building
22 October – Source: Halbeeg News – 170 Words
Newly built Wadajir District offices have been reopened today barely a year after a car bomb destroyed the premises. Benadir Governor Abdirahman Omar Osman, who attended the official re-opening ceremony of the offices, commended the local authorities and residents of the district for their role in building the district headquarters.
Mr. Osman urged the locals to work with security agencies to thwart attacks by Al-Shabaab: “To improve the security of this district needs cooperation between the law enforcement agencies and the residents. If you work together you can overcome the challenges,” he said. He said his administration will support the local authorities to deliver on social services and secure the district.
“My administration is committed to working closely with you but we need you to play the major role because your commitment will lead to success,” he said. Late June last year, a suicide car bomber posing as a fruit delivery van driver detonated explosives at the district headquarters. The powerful blast destroyed the offices and compound of the building.
Four Prison Wardens Acquitted Of Robbery Charges In Mogadishu
22 October – Source: Goobjoog News – 194 Words
A military court in Mogadishu has today acquitted four prison wardens after finding them innocent of robbery charges. The court ruled there was not sufficient evidence against the four wardens- Ali Mohamud Ahmed, Abdi Haji Bashir, Ahmed Abdirisaq Ahmed and Abdifatah Abdulkadir Ahmed.
The four had been charged with robbing residents in Garasbaley in Deynile district in the outskirts of the capital of Mogadishu. But the courts martial judge Hassan Ali Shuute tore into the prosecution’s evidence noting it was not sufficient to pin down the four suspects for the alleged crimes. “After the judges heard the case on two separate occasions, the court has finally decided to grant freedom to the four officers as there is no criminal case against them,” the judge said in his ruling on Monday.
The four officers were arrested on September 25 in Garasbaley and later transferred to the central jail in Mogadishu as investigations continued. The case was first heard on 11th of this month when the prosecution requested for more time to build their case against the four. The case came up on the 18th and concluded today with a no-case to answer verdict.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Strengthening Somalia’s Health Systems To Boost Immunization, With Support From GAVI
22 October – Source: Reliefweb – 482 Words
One of the best gifts a caregiver can give their child is a full and healthy life. In Somalia, this is difficult for families to provide as a significant number of children lack access to health services. Just under half of children under one year of age – the target for routine immunization – receive adequate immunizations. Additionally, one out of every 8 Somali children dies before the age of 5, which can be attributed to a number of reasons, including poor health.
Somalia’s Ministry of Health is working with WHO and UNICEF, with support from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance to change this situation. In September, they joined forces to launch a new, updated version of the health system strengthening (HSS) programme in Mogadishu, with various groups of the community in attendance, including elders, women’s groups, religious leaders, and Somali health authorities. The event aimed to raise awareness of the benefits of immunization, increase demand for immunization, and inform Somalis about the kinds of vaccines available in the country.
With extensive support from Gavi, routine immunization services to children and women are being offered through Somali authorities, WHO, UNICEF and partners. Vaccinations offered include pentavalent vaccine, Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG), measles vaccines, oral polio vaccine (OPV) and inactivated polio vaccine (IPV). However, challenges such as inaccessibility, insecurity, limited numbers of health facilities, low awareness of the benefits of immunization, and low engagement of local communities in immunization activities result in immunization rates that are below expected standards.
UN Expert Highlights Need For Solutions To Challenges From Somalia’s Rapid Urbanisation
21 October – Source: UNSOM – 518 Words
At a gathering with Somali local government officials, a senior United Nations expert highlighted the need for long-lasting and local solutions to the challenges brought about by Somalia’s rapid urbanisation.
The Horn of Africa country is among the fastest urbanising countries in the world, with the return of refugees and internal displacement key drivers of the movement of people from rural to urban areas. “2.6 million Somalis are internally displaced – that’s an amazing number in absolute terms but also in terms of the overall population. This is a huge humanitarian challenge but it’s also affecting the development of the country and ultimately the security, the state-building,” said Walter Kaelin, a UN Special Advisor on Internal Displacement.
“And unless we find durable solutions for these people I think it will be very difficult for Somalia to advance,” he added. The UN expert was speaking on the sidelines of the ‘Exchange on Local Solutions to Urban Displacement,’ a gathering of local government officials, civil society representatives and UN experts to discuss the role of local authorities in finding solutions to the country’s urbanisation.
Held in the capital, Mogadishu, those attending included that city’s mayor, as well as those of regional centres such as Baidoa and Bosssaso. In Somalia, more than a million men, women and children live in protracted displacement in the wake of the country’s conflict, and hundreds of thousands are believed to have been displaced due to drought.
The country’s large population movement has posed new challenges to Somali society, not only to the landscape and social fabric of many towns and cities, but also by putting increased pressure on host communities that themselves struggle with limited available resources.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“For Somalia to unlock its vast potential after two decades of political instability, it must not allow its education system to become an unregulated open-air market where degree certificates are sold to the highest bidder.”
Higher Education Sub-sector In Somalia Cries Out For Reforms
22 October – Source: The Standard – 389 Words
A university should be an idyllic space where top-level academic brains leverage on cutting-edge research technology to advanced knowledge for a better universe. A good university should be the cauldron in which hitherto unknown ideas are boiled through scientific inquiry to provide solutions to seemingly intractable problems that humanity has grappled with for ages.
But when commercial considerations start taking precedence over rigorous academic inquiry, an institution of higher learning ceases to be a citadel of knowledge. It cedes its claim to academic excellence to become just another business venture whose sole goal is to line the owners’ pockets.
Sadly, this aptly sums up the case of higher learning in Somalia for the past two decades. From one State university in Mogadishu in 1991, Somalia has seen a proliferation of institutions at a geometric pace in utter disregard for quality. These universities, strewn across the country in patterns that follow the country’s peace map, paint a bleak picture of the higher education scene in the country.
It is unconscionable that at a time when the world is increasingly raising the threshold for university teaching staff qualifications, in Somalia there are no qualms about allowing a holder of an undergraduate degree to teach at university level. It is also tragic that most institutions of learning in the country have not had to contend with any quality specifications for more than two decades. While the education system should progressively have fewer learners as one goes up the ladder, the Somalia edifice operates in stark contrast to this time-honoured trend.
Universities in Somalia do not see the need to improve systems to be able to train more doctors, engineers and other personnel who are crucial to the country’s reconstruction after decades of civil war. Instead of aligning educational curricular with reconstruction needs, the institutions are fixated on churning out more Sharia, law and business graduates.