October 24, 2014 | Morning Headlines.

Main Story

Puntland President: Our natural resources will remain private

23 Oct – Source: Radio Danan – 153 Words

The President of Semi Autonomous regional State of Puntland Abdi-Wali Gaas has boycotted the recently concluded summit of Somalia’s Oil and Gas at London. During his official visit in UK, the president stated that Puntland state was not invited to the meeting.

“Every body knows what it means if you ignore one of the main regional stakeholders, we are not accepting its results” Prof Abdi told media. “We have the right to run our natural resource and it will remain private for Puntland.

Somali federal government is planning to start new schemes on assessing and producing oil with in six years following years of turmoil and devastating civil war. The horn of African nation has its own ambition to execute the scheduled process.

Abdi-wali Gaas has, however, attended the global African investment summit in London, which is closed yesterday after two days of high level panels and roundtables to explore investment opportunities in Africa.

Key Headlines

Somali president meets elders in Beledweyne (Radio Danan/Radio Muqdisho/Star FM)
Garbaharey consultation conference due to conclude (Radio Muqdisho/Radio Goobjoog)
Community policing launched in Mogadishu (Radio Goobjoog)
Puntland President: our natural resources will remain private (Radio Danan)
Five Somalis arrested along Kenyan-Ugandan border (Radio Bar-kulan)
Terror suspects linked to Al Shabaab further remanded (New Vision)
Danes insist on refugees for cash (Daily Nation)
Denver Somalis fear fallout from trio’s apparent bid to join militants (Los Angeles Times)
Somali port poised for facelift with Turkish help (Worldbulletin.net)

SOMALI MEDIA

Somali president meets elders in Beledweyne

23 Oct – Source: Radio Goobjoog/Radio Muqdisho/Radio Danan/Star FM – 128 Words

High level delegation led by Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mahamud arrived in Beledweyne district, the headquarters of Hiran region.
The delegates from the federal government who accompany president Hassan are the minister for information Mustaf Dhuhulow, the assistant minister for interior, Jabutian ambassador to Somalia and military commanders.

Hassan Sheihk Mahamud’s trip to Beledweyne is aimed at assessing the current situation of the region and how to end clan clashes in Defow locality in Hiran region.
He is also meeting with Hiran administration, traditional elders and religious leaders in the region.

Somali president addressed hundreds of people who gathered at the center Baladweyne district, he said that the government is committed to restoring social service such as clean water, education, hospitals and infrastructure to the people in the area.

Garbaharey consultation conference due to conclude

23 Oct – Source: Radio Goobjoog/Radio Muqdisho – 127 Words

The first phase of the consultation conference in Garbaharey, the headquarters of Gedo is due to be concluded today. Mohamed Adan Ali, the spokesman of the conference confirmed that senior government officials will attend the conclusion of the conference.

The spokesman added that they hope the second phase of the conference to start after the participants confirm the support to the outcome of the first conference.
Garbaharey conference was started a time when the second phase of Juba reconciliation conference opened by Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was going on in Kismayo.

The organizers of Garbaharey conference including top officials who boycotted Juba conference say the aim of meeting is to unify the people of Gedo region so as to achieve self reliance and gain political momentum.

Community policing launched in Mogadishu

23 Oct – Source: Alshahid.net – 525 Words

Somalia’s police forces have launched a community policing program in Mogadishu, the latest in a series of initiatives to improve security in the seaside capital. The event was hosted by the Ministry of Information and involved women, youth groups and senior citizens who were invited to give their views and insight to the police.

“This meeting is very encouraging because it brings together many different parties of Somalis such as religious leaders, civil society and the youth. It also shows the great role that AMISOM and Somali police play when they work together. As the Ministry of Information, particularly the Department of Public Policy, are ready to support this programme that is aimed at the public as a whole.

It is very important that we work very closely with the Somali police, army and AMISOM,” said Mustaf Ali Dhuhulow, Somalia’s Minister of Information,Posts, Telecommunications and Tourism. The initiative – which promotes closer interaction between police and community leaders – is already operational in other parts of Somalia like Baidoa, Kismayo and Beletweyne.

“The reality is that our people and country need AMISOM to restore peace and stability and AMISOM has that mandate. AMISOM did not come by itself but we the Somalis requested for them. AMISOM provides training and their experience to our army as well,” said Col. Yusuf Mohammed Farah, the Somali Police Force’s Public Information Officer. The Somali police and their AMISOM partners also announced plans to recruit volunteers in neighborhoods across the country to serve as liaisons between their officers and the communities they serve.

“AMISOM police, Somali police and the community must work together. We need to have good relations between Somali people and AMISOM police. We are happy to have community policing in Somalia,” said Fatima Abdi Wasame,the chairperson of the Somali National Youth Council.

“When you see people coming together like this, that’s the first major step you see, the first major indicator that the conflict is over and the process of rebuilding has started. People begin to engage with the government, people begin to engage agencies and international bodies and people begin to express themselves and express their opinions on what they think is right and what they think is wrong, how the society should be rebuilt and how they think that gaps should be refilled,” said Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Akin Fakorede, AMISOM’s Police Reformed Unit Adviser.

The event ended with extended discussions between community representatives and police officials about security in the city and the other issues affecting

Puntland President: Our natural resources will remain private

23 Oct – Source: Radio Danan – 153 Words

Five Somalis arrested along Kenyan-Ugandan border

23 Oct – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 121 Words

Five Somali nationals who traveling by bus from Uganda border to Kenyan capital Nairobi through the Malaba border have been arrested by police in Bungoma town near Uganda -Kenyan border on Wednesday.

Three others managed to escape from the police and are at large. Police said the three who are in custody will be arraigned in court for being in the country illegally as they continue to search for others who escaped.

Eyewitness said they alerted police when they saw eight Somalis boarding the bus to Nairobi. Right groups have accused Kenyan police of harassing Somali refugees through extortion of money and threat of arrest during strongly criticized security operation in predominantly Somali suburb of Eastleigh in Nairobi earlier this year.

Jubaland business men deny UN monitoring report allegations

23 Oct – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 109 Words

Businessmen from the Juba land federal state of Somalia have strongly denied UN Monitoring group for Somalia and Eritrea report linking them to illegal charcoal trade.
The chairman of the Jubaland business association Shafi Rabi Kahin has termed the report as baseless.

He told Bar-Kulan that the sources of the report have interest in Somalia and thus cannot be trusted. Shafi however acknowledged that there are some businessmen who he said are involved in the charcoal to fuel the conflict in Somalia without giving further details. He said his business association will try its best to cap illegal business which is responsible for massive deforestation in the area.

REGIONAL MEDIA

Terror suspects linked to Al Shabaab further remanded

24 Oct – Source: New Vision – 314 Words

Police are yet to conclude investigations in a case involving 10 terror suspects linked to Al Shabaab arrested last month from Kisenyi in Kampala. State prosecutor, Edward Muhumuza, on Thursday told Buganda Road Court that Police were yet to conclude investigations.

Grade One Magistrate Simon Zirintuusa remanded the suspects to Luzira Prison until November 7. They are battling charges of aiding and abetting terrorism contrary to Section 8 of the Anti-Terrorism Act. On conviction, the penalty is death. Additionally, they are charged with the offence of belonging to a terrorist organisation contrary to Section 11(1) of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Danes insist on refugees for cash

22 Oct – Source: Daily Nation – 365 Words

A Danish opposition party insists that Somali refugees arriving in Denmark could be sent to Kenya at a fee. In an article in the Politiken, one of the leading newspapers in Denmark, the party, which might ascend to power next year, suggested that Sh15 million should be set aside yearly to fund a refugee camp on Kenyan soil.

“It is no big surprise that the Kenyan Government is rejecting the proposal. Kenya has previously accepted Somali pirates arrested by the Danish Naval Forces, even though the government initially did not like the idea. So it would not be the first time for us to negotiate an arrangement with Kenya,” Mr Martin Henriksen, Danish People’s Party’s spokesperson on alien affairs told Politiken.

Yesterday, the government, through the Interior ministry, took exception to the remarks and maintained that such a request would be turned down. “We are in the middle of repatriating willing refugees to their countries. So, how would the government explain to Kenyans that we are taking new refugees from another country?” asked Mr Mwenda Njoka, the Interior ministry spokesman.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Denver Somalis fear fallout from trio’s apparent bid to join militants

22 Oct – Source: Los Angeles Times – 894 Words

Abi Mohammed was dashing about his small kitchen early Wednesday preparing rice and goat for the lunchtime rush when he paused to get something off his chest. “I don’t care if they are young, they should be prosecuted,” said Mohammed, owner of Kin Restaurant in a south Denver strip mall jammed with East African businesses. “They need to charge them or we are all going to pay for it.”

Mohammed, like so many Muslims in Denver, was struggling to make sense of the news that three local teenage girls had been stopped in Germany apparently on their way to Syria to join the militant group Islamic State. Although he couldn’t specify what sort of punishment, he felt some sanction was required to prevent further incidents.

The news has caused widespread shock and anxiety among Denver’s Somali community, whose members say they fear the case will cast suspicion on all of them. A handful of Somalis from Minneapolis and Columbus, Ohio, have joined Islamic militant groups such as the Shabab in Somalia, and major efforts are underway in those cities to preempt the further radicalization of Somali youths.

Somali port poised for facelift with Turkish help

23 Oct – Source: Worldbulletin.net – 1, 033

The Somali government’s grand vision for Mogadishu port under its new Turkish managers sees modern container ships replacing wooden dhows, new cranes easing the back-breaking work of porters and a surge in state revenue as traffic rises.

Outsourcing port operations to Turkey’s Albayrak Group is one more sign of Somalia’s slow rehabilitation, a dramatic shift from more than two decades of war when clans battled for control of Somalia’s most valuable asset and let its facilities decay.

Yet the award of the 20-year contract has highlighted other challenges facing the government, which has been struggling to build public confidence after years of chaos and has been trying to reassure donors worried about corruption. In the wake of the deal, members of parliament have accused the government of making the award without proper oversight, while labourers, fearing they will lose their jobs, have staged frequent protests.

SOCIAL MEDIA

CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS

“Each and every one of these allegations is completely and categorically false. These claims are reckless, malicious, and grossly defamatory. I have never assisted Al-Shabaab in any way, shape, or form. I have never had any dealings whatsoever in the arms trade. I have never set up or operated an armed security company in Mogadishu or anywhere else.”

In response to Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea

Oct 23 – Hiiraan Online – 2, 225 Words

My name is Musa Haji Mohamed “Ganjab”. I am a Somali businessman and an active member of the Somali Diaspora community. I have spent all of my adult life working tirelessly to help Somalis prosper and succeed. Since 2001, I have been actively engaged as a concerned private citizen to help organize and rebuild a functioning central government in Somalia, as well as the related political and civic institutions that are vital to bringing our country out of its prolonged period of anarchy.
I have a long and proud track record of supporting charitable organizations within Somalia and throughout the Diaspora. I have personally organized and funded the construction of schools, water systems, and places of worship.

Unfortunately, the task of addressing these problems is made exponentially more difficult by spoilers both inside and outside of Somalia who have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo which cripples us as a nation. In my opinion, one such spoiler is Jarat Chopra of the United Nations Monitoring Group. Chopra leads a cabal of international meddlers in Somalia, a powerful force that seeks to keep Somalia and Somalis dependent on the financial largesse of the international community, much of which passes directly into the hands of Chopra, his compatriots, and their organizations and never reaches the intended recipients in Somalia.

“For some Somalis, being returned to al-Shabaab-controlled areas is akin to being handed a death sentence…By sending Somalis to volatile areas where their lives are in danger, the Dutch government is also responsible for the human rights abuses they face on their return.”

Forced returns to south and central Somalia, including to al-Shabaab areas: a blatant violation of international law

23 Oct – Source: Reliefweb – 611 Words

Forced returns of Somalis to al-Shabaab areas can amount to ‘death sentences’. The Netherlands’ repeated attempts to forcibly return Somalis to areas controlled by the Islamist armed group al-Shabaab exposes them to grave risks of human rights abuses and would be a blatant violation of international law, Amnesty International said in a new briefing published today.

International law requires that states do not return people to areas where their lives or freedoms are at real risk, such as certain situations of armed conflict. Amnesty International has called on other governments including Denmark, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Norway and Saudi Arabia to end their policy of returning Somalis to south and central Somalia.

“It’s a story, in part, about how and why soccer has survived in Somalia even while the country has been at war.”

How soccer survived war in Somalia

22 Oct – Source: MPR News – 9:23 Minutes

Filmmaker J.R. Biersmith spent a year following two friends who played for the national soccer team in Somalia. He’s working on a documentary that will tell the story of their dream to one day play professionally – in the face of some steep odds.

It’s a story, in part, about how and why soccer has survived in Somalia even while the country has been at war. Biersmith is just wrapping up a Kickstarter campaign to fund the project. Biersmith joins The Daily Circuit to talk about the Somali national team, the process of filming the documentary and what he learned along the way.