October 26, 2018 | Morning Headlines
People Return To Rebuild Lives In Marka, Lower Shabelle, After Peace Deal Ends Clashes
25 October – Source: Radio Ergo – 398 Words
Residents of Marka in Somalia’s Lower Shabelle region are trickling home to rebuild their shattered lives after a peace deal brought an end to deadly clan clashes killing and displacing many last year. However, the returnees face huge challenges due to the extent of destruction to property. The existing social services such as schools and medical facilities do not have the capacity to cater for the new population.
Elders from both sides and authorities struck a peace agreement which ended fighting that broke out in February 2017. The clashes between the two communities in Marka, 100 km southwest of Mogadishu, have persisted for years. According to the district commissioner Hassan Omar, in the past week 378 families have returned to the town. He said they were struggling to cope.
“The general hospital which is operating currently is under-staffed as the nurses and doctors fled when fighting broke out in the town. The hospital is also lacking medical supplies. Out of the 16 primary schools only four have reopened since the peace agreement was signed,” the commission explained. Marka’s two universities and four secondary schools have not yet reopened. People also have to trek long distances outside the town to get water, as water points and market places were damaged or destroyed and must be repaired.
Mohamed Mohamud Osoble, who fled in 2016, has returned to the town to face numerous problems in restoring his home and livelihood. “I welcome the peace agreement reached by the clans. When I came back, part of my four- bedroom house had collapsed, the other part was hosting a colony of bats and it was not fit for living. But since I had no other alternative, I tried to clean it up and now I am living here,” he said. “I would have restarted my shop business if I had some capital. Currently, I manage the monthly consumption of the family with $100 I get from a relative abroad.”
According to Osoble, about 50 of his neighbours have returned home. Gashan Mahdi Idishas come back to Bulo-Jan. He was fortunate that his house was some distance away from the fighting. “I did not flee my home because my house was just far from the battlefield. But still, the clashes had an impact on my family because the clothing shop I had before the conflict has closed down due lack of customers,” he explained.
Key Headlines
- People Return To Rebuild Lives In Marka Lower Shabelle After Peace Deal Ends Clashes (Radio Ergo)
- Somali Government Cancels Licences Of Somali Flagged Ships And Boats (Halbeeg News)
- Local NGO Embarks On Rehabilitation Of Shabelle River Banks Ahead Of Expected Floods (Radio Ergo)
- African Union Force Says Key Al-Shabaab Commander Killed (Washington Post)
- Yes Mobile Money Has Taken Root In Somalia But Not Without Some Risk (East African)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Somali Government Cancels Licences Of Somali Flagged Ships And Boats
25 October – Source: Halbeeg News – Words 162 Words
Somali Federal Government has terminated all the certificates issued to commercial and fishing boats with the nation’s flag, in a move aimed at improving safety of the country’s waters. In a statement, the Ministry of Ports and Maritime Transport said it had revoked all licences for commercial and fishing ships with the Somali flag, in a move geared at ensuring safety of the mariners.
The ministry directed the owners of the vessels to refer the licences to its headquarters in the Somali capital. “All commercial and fishing boats and ships previously registered with the Ministry of Ports and Maritime Transport should return the licences as soon as possible,” the statement reads in part.
The ministry vowed it would take legal action against those securing licences illegally to operate in Somalia waters. “The ships and boats with Somali flags which would not have secured the licences in accordance with the international maritime law and Somali constitution will face legal action,” the ministry warned.
Local NGO Embarks On Rehabilitation Of Shabelle River Banks Ahead Of Expected Floods
25 October – Source: Radio Ergo – 326 Words
With the onset of the Deyr rains expected to last through November, humanitarian actors in flood-prone Middle Shabelle region are acting to shore up the damaged river banks that often lead to flooding. A World Food Programme (WFP)-funded project implemented by a local non-governmental organisation, INTERSOM, is working to rehabilitate several canals damaged during flooding mid this year.
The project, which started in July, comprises building an embankment and reconstruction of damaged canals in four villages near Jowhar town in Middle Shabelle. An official from INTERSOM, who spoke to Radio Ergo on condition of anonymity owing to security reasons, said the project aims to reconstruct sections of two dykes and maintain two canals to guard against flooding that has caused significant damage during heavy rains.
The official said the work extends along a distance of four kilometres. Over 750,000 people were affected by flash floods countrywide this year. Riverine regions stretching along the Juba and Shabelle rivers were worst affected. Over 200,000 people were displaced from their homes.
The Somali Water and Land Information Management (SWALIM), a project of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), warned in its August briefing of the likelihood of flooding with heavy rains expected in the highlands of Ethiopia where both rivers Juba and Shabelle originate. The Shabelle River is worst affected owing to the topography of the area, uncontrolled irrigation activities, and poor river basin management following the collapse of pre-war flood control infrastructure, SWALIM noted.
According to INTERSOM, over 250 people from Gambe, Bananey, Kalundi and Barey villages of Middle Shabelle are working on the project under the WFP Food-for-Assets initiative, which sees community members work on an assigned project in exchange for food rations for them and their families. Mohamud Ismail, deputy chairperson of Bananey farmers’ association, told Radio Ergo every individual working on the project is required to dig two metres deep and is paid $75 per month for a duration of four months.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
African Union Force Says Key Al-Shabaab Commander Killed
25 October – Source: Washington Post – 194 Words
A “chief finance controller” for the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group has been killed after an ambush on a meeting of its fighters in southern Somalia, the African Union peacekeeping mission announced Thursday. The unnamed commander, the head of tax collection in Lower Shabelle region, was killed on Monday in the town of Bariire, the AU mission said.
The extremist group funds its deadly activities by taxing the communities under its control. It also collects taxes on millions of bags of charcoal that make their way out of the country despite a ban on the exports, according to the latest report by U.N. sanctions monitors. Another seven al-Shabab fighters were killed on Sunday when their attack on a forward operating base was “botched,” the AU mission said.
The multinational AU force in the coming few years is expected to draw down and hand over responsibility for Somalia’s security to the country’s military, though United States military officials and others have warned that Somali forces are not yet ready. Al-Shabab, which seeks to establish an Islamic state, holds rural parts of southern and central Somalia and continues to target the capital, Mogadishu, with high-profile attacks.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“Another risk is that there is no assurance that the funds will always be available, as they would be in a normal bank account. That is because there is no guaranteed parity between the mobile money balances held by mobile operators and those held in individual and business accounts.”
Yes, Mobile Money Has Taken Root In Somalia, But Not Without Some Risk
25 October – Source: East African – 822 Words
Mobile money initially started as a simple exchange of airtime credit between users. Over 10 years ago, mobile network operators formalised this by offering mobile money services. It was quickly perceived as a convenient and safe way of making transactions and storing money. Unlike Kenya’s M-Pesa, Somalia’s transfers are available in dollars. Though the companies offering mobile money services are mobile network operators, as in Kenya, they are increasingly forming part of large conglomerates that also offer banking and money transfer services.
In Somalia, mobile money transactions are worth about $2.7 billion a month. Several factors have encouraged the impressive uptake of mobile money considering that nine out of 10 Somalis, above the age of 16 own a mobile phone. Second, nearly 60 percent of the population move around a great deal to find adequate pasture and water for their livestock. So mobile money suits their lifestyle and is also used to facilitate trade.
Third, concerns over the high prevalence of fake money, the absence of monetary regulation, capacity and limited access to traditional banking services also make mobile money an effective substitute for cash. Today, mobile money also facilitates vast remittance flows which are critical to most Somali households due to a lack of opportunities in the Somali labour market.
Taking advantage of this trend, remittance companies are increasingly partnering with mobile telephony operators to transfer funds directly to recipients’ mobile money accounts. Our household survey data suggests that about 73 percent of Somalis above the age of 16 use mobile money services at least once a month, and that high income earners use it a lot more. Together, some 155 million mobile money transactions take place every month.
It is used for a wide range of things. The most common is to pay bills, for purchases between $2 and $300. Mobile money is thus far more widely used than cash. Two-thirds of those surveyed use it to pay for items like water, electricity and charcoal. The other one-third claims to use it to buy groceries, durable goods and livestock. Close to 40 percent use mobile money to pay their children’s school fees. It is also frequently used to send money to friends and family.
We also found that it is being used a a savings mechanism. Currently, transactions are mainly person-to-person payments, but there is growing uptake among businesses. We have seen that receiving salaries through mobile money has, for example, been an important factor encouraging further uptake. Somalia lacks a strong formal banking system. Only about 15 percent of the population has a bank account, but now, mobile money has helped to expand financial inclusion.
For vulnerable groups, it is a convenient and fast way to access money. And because it is faster and safer than cash handouts, many aid agencies use it to reach remote villages. Also, as most shops accept mobile money, it now offers beneficiaries more flexibility and avoids a requirement to travel long distances with cash and thereby minimises the risk of security incidents. These notwithstanding, there are considerable risks in the mobile money system.
The biggest is a lack of regulation which renders the system fragile and fragmented. It is also vulnerable to money laundering and terrorism financing. This is because there is a weak “know-your-customer” compliance, in line with global banking standards, meaning that few SIM cards and mobile money accounts are registered using a valid form of identification. Ultimately, this results in limited accountability and tractability.