October 29, 2013 | Daily Monitoring Report.
Gunmen kill senior Somali military officer in Jowhar
29 Oct- Source: Radio Dalsan/Jowhar Online/Kulmiye/Hiiraan Online/Raxanreeb – 150 Words
Reports from the town of Jowhar, 90km from Somalia capital Mogadishu say that armed men assassinated senior Somali government military officer in front of his home on Monday afternoon.
Col Omar Hilowle was shot and killed as he was coming out of his home in the town of Jowhar.
The armed assassins reportedly escaped from the area before the security forces reached the scene. According to relatives, the body of Col. Hilowle was taken to the local hospital and will be buried on Tuesday.
The security forces launched heavy search operation to find the perpetrators but nobody was arrested yet. The assassination was soon claimed by al Shabaab militant group. Late Col. Hilowle becomes the highest ranking officer of the Somali military officers killed in Jowhar since the government forces backed by the African Union Forces took the town from al Shabaab late last year.
Key Headlines
- Gunmen kill senior Somali military officer in Jowhar (Radio Dalsan/Jowhar Online/Kulmiye/Hiiraan Online/Raxanreeb)
- Somali President Hassan jets off to Turkey (RadioMustaqbal/Dalsan/Radio Muqdisho/Kulmiye/Garowe Online)
- Drone strike kills senior al Shabaab commander in Somalia (Raxanreeb/Bar-kulan/Dalsan Radio)
- Somaliland supports New Deal Compact (Somali Current)
- Floods force residents in Elhur to flee (Radio Ergo)
- Al Shabaab bans watching of Somali language broadcasting TVs in Barawe (Al Shahid)
- Military strike possibly by drone reportedly kills 2 senior al Shabaab figures in Somalia (AP)
- Pentagon Says al Shabaab Bomb Specialist Killed in Missile Strike in Somalia (New York Times)
PRESS STATEMENT
Somalia’s New Deal establishes Strategic Oversight and Guidance Joint Committee
28 Oct – Source: Office of the Prime Minister – 22 words
The Somali Government and the international community today established a joint steering committee to manage the Somalia Development and Reconstruction Facility (SDRF). The joint committee will provide strategic oversight and guidance for the development and the reconstruction of Somalia through the New Deal.
His Excellency Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon today launched the SDRF based in Mogadishu. The committee will be made up of members from the Somali Federal Government, multilateral and bilateral partners as well as international organizations.
“We are firmly committed to collaborative and effective engagement with the international partners and country-level stakeholders in the implementation of the New Deal for Somalia. And we will continue this inclusive, pragmatic, and consultative process during the three-year life of the Somalia Compact,” Prime Minister said at the SDRF launching event in Mogadishu.
The committee will meet monthly and will provide direction on significant issues of coordination, implementation and financing of the New Deal Compact that was agreed at Brussels Conference onSeptember 16. It will develop and monitor a single strategic framework to insure (a) alignment of external aid to the national budget (b) provision of external support through the national treasury system, and (c) transparent reporting of external funding in the line with the public financial management reform.
The Prime Minister explained the task of the joint committee and emphasised the importance of the committee’s work and program. “The SDRF will enhance coordination and alignment of external assistance in a transparent manner that would increasingly use in-country systems overtime. Also, the Compact explicitly assumes the Somali government and the international partners to adhere to certain critical donor code of conducts to maintain the mutual commitments envisioned under the New Deal principles”.
SOMALI MEDIA
Gunmen kill senior Somali military officer in Jowhar
29 Oct- Source: Radio Dalsan/Jowhar Online/Kulmiye/Hiiraan Online/Raxanreeb – 150 Words
Reports from the town of Jowhar, 90km from Somalia capital Mogadishu say that armed men assassinated senior Somali government military officer in front of his home on Monday afternoon.
Col Omar Hilowle was shot and killed as he was coming out of his home in the town of Jowhar.
The armed assassins reportedly escaped from the area before the security forces reached the scene. According to relatives, the body of Col. Hilowle was taken to the local hospital and will be buried on Tuesday.
The security forces launched heavy search operation to find the perpetrators but nobody was arrested yet. The assassination was soon claimed by al Shabaab militant group. Late Col. Hilowle becomes the highest ranking officer of the Somali military officers killed in Jowhar since the government forces backed by the African Union Forces took the town from al Shabaab late last year.
Somali President Hassan jets off to Turkey
29 Oct – Source: RadioMustaqbal/Dalsan/Radio Muqdisho/Kulmiye/Garowe Online – 202 Words
Federal Government of Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has jetted off to the Turkish city of Istanbul after he received an official invitation from Turkey government on Monday evening.
Mohamud will hold talks with Turkey leaders to discuss the bolstering bilateral ties between Somalia’s central government and Turkey which recently stepped up its involvement in southern Somalia according to government sources.
Federal Govt handed over the management of Mogadishu’s Adan Adde International Airport and port to two Turkish companies, Favori LLC and Al Bayrak respectively. Turkey-owned development agencies have been building and renovating roads and other public facilities including hospitals and schools in Mogadishu.
Drone strike kills senior al Shabaab commander in Somalia
29 Oct – Source: Raxanreeb/Bar-kulan/Dalsan Radio – 131 words
According to local sources in the town of Jilib, in Middle Jubba region of Somalia, a senior al Shabaab commander was killed after a drone attack targeted his vehicle on Monday noon around 1.45 pm local time
The air strike occurred between Xaramka village and Jilib district where the vehicle carrying at least two people was hit with a missile released from a possible U.S drone, locals said. Al Shabaab fighters reached the scene and took away the dead bodies from the area.
The deceased commander was identified as Sheikh Ibrahim Ali Abdi, who was an expert on making improvised bombs and was an influential man on convincing the young men to go on suicide bombing mission.
Somaliland supports New Deal Compact
28 Oct – Source: Somali Current – 108 words
Somaliland has accepted the outcome of the New Deal for Somalia Conference held in Brussels on September this Year, after talks with Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Chairperson in Hargeisa on Saturday.
Somaliland Trade Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Omar who held a joint press conference with OECD chairperson Erik Solheim said that Somaliland will take its role towards implementing the New Deal Compact.
“We discussed about the country’s [Somaliland] development projects, especially the new project called New-Deal and Somaliland’s role. We agreed the agendas they [OECD delegates] discussed with the president and the rest they will discuss with the agencies in charge of development.” Mohamed Abullahi Omar said.
Floods force residents in Elhur to flee
29 Oct – Source: Radio Ergo – 155 Words
Heavy rains have displaced many residents in Elhur village, 50 km south of Hobyo, in Mudug region.
Radio Ergo’s local reportersaid more than200 families had fled their homes in the village after a water storage dam flooded due to the heavy rains. The residents have now moved to higher ground on the outskirts of the village.
Ahmed Mohamed Geedi, a father of three children, said the village was under water, homes were destroyed and food stores were washed away by the floods. More than 300 animals are believed to have drowned. “There is nothing the floods left behind,” Geedi said.
Getting assistance to the displaced families would be difficult as the floods have also destroyed the roads that connect the village to other nearby villages and towns. “If the roads remain closed by the water, the condition of these people will get worse,” said Fidow Mohamud, a driver who operates between Elhur and other towns.
Somaliland Minister denies releasing suspect involved in MP shooting incident
29 Oct – Source: Somaliland Press – 143 words
The Assistant Minister of Interior and in Charge of Internal Security Hon Abdillahi Abokor has strongly refuted allegations leveled against him by lawmaker Mohamed Farah Qabile who narrowly survived an attempt on his life a week earlier.
The Internal Security Minister speaking during a press conference held in his office on Monday refuted in the strongest terms accusations which had been in the past week dominated a good part of the local media headlines which purported allege the minister ordered the release of a policeman captain who was arrested earlier in the week for being involved in the shooting incident.
“I have no idea why this guy’s (Press) wrote these wild accusations which allege I released the suspect from the custody of the police, this is impossible and also against my principles as a civil servant,” stated the internal security minister.
Mobile schools to take classes to nomadic girls in Puntland
28 Oct – Source: Radio Ergo – 195 Words
More than 16,000 young girls living in Puntland’s rural areas are to get free schooling through a new education project aimed at the nomadic communities. The programme, which is funded by ADRA, Care International and other aid agencies, will set up more than more than 50 mobile schools to travel around nomadic areas in Nugaal, Sool, Bari, Karkar, Sanaag and Mudug.
Jama Mohamed Farah, of ADRA, said the project had recruited more than 120 teachers, including 52 women who will teach girls in the mobile schools in rural areas. “The project will also work with another 59 schools in the districts in these regions in order to encourage more girls to go to schools,”Farah told Radio Ergo’s local reporter in Garowe.
Most of the beneficiaries will be girls who have had no previous opportunity to go to school, and those from poor families. Across Puntland, the number of girls attending primary schools has increased to 49% of all children in school, up from 26% in 2006. The number of girls in secondary schools is now 30% of the total enrolment, up from 11% four years ago. Farah said the project aimed to bring more improvements.
Somaliland: 800 Delegates Set to Participate in Upcoming KULMIYE’s 3rd Convention
28 Oct – Source: Somalilandpress – 170 Words
The steering committee of Somaliland’s ruling party KULMIYE held an extraordinary meeting at the residence of the Vice President Abdurrahman Abdillahi Isamel (Saylici), discussing the role of party delegates in the upcoming party’s third general meeting which is due to take place on December 2013.
The meeting which was chaired by the party’s chairman Hon Muse Bihi Abdi centred on the role of the party’s delegates and after heated deliberations members of the party’s steering committee agreed on the number of party’s delegates taking part in the upcoming 3rd general party’s convention should be increased to 801 delegates who will be drawn from all regions of the country and abroad.
On the hand the party’s steering committee has come to the decision to hold a similar meeting tomorrow in a bid to carve out the plans set for the recently elected preparation committee for the 3rd general meeting of the ruling party KULMIYE.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Al Shabaab bans watching of Somali language broadcasting TVs in Barawe
29 Oct – Source: Al Shahid – 137 words
Sheikh Mohamed Abu Abdalla, the governor of lower Shabelle region for al Shabaab militants issued on Monday an order which he banned the watching of Somali language broadcasting TVs in Barawe town, a source who remained unnamed confirmed.
The source said, “Sheikh Mahamed Abu Abdalla who is the Shabab representative in lower Shabelle region announced this order. He warned all the families to stop watching Somali TV channels. But he allowed them to watch others TV channels like Arabic language broadcasting programs and news events,”
He added, “This is an embargo. We have bought the TVs to know more about the world, we mostly don’t know foreign languages. We will be like deaf or blind from the world”. Also the ban which the militants imposed on Somali language broadcasting TVs viewers affects the Barawe surrounding residents.
US drone strike against al Shabaab in Somalia
29 Oct – Source: Capital News/Daily Nation/Africa Review – 144 words
The US military carried out a drone strike targeting al Shabaab in Somalia on Monday, a US official told AFP, as witnesses said a car belonging to the al Qaeda-linked militants was destroyed. Witnesses reported that there were casualties from the strike on the vehicle, which was carrying “at least three” people including senior members of the Islamist group when it was hit.
The strike comes weeks after an audacious attack on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi claimed by Al Shabaab in which at least 67 people were killed. “We are getting that a missile struck one of the Shabaab vehicles near Jilib,” south of the capital Mogadishu, local resident Abdi Moalim told AFP by telephone.
“Some people who stayed near the area told us it was an aerial bombardment targeting a vehicle,” he said, adding that the vehicle was carrying “at least three” people.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Military strike, possibly by drone, reportedly kills 2 senior al Shabaab figures in Somalia
29 Oct – Source: AP – 196 words
A military strike hit a vehicle carrying senior members of an al Qaeda-linked militant group in Somalia on Monday, killing at least two people including the group’s top explosives expert, a militant and a government intelligence official said.
An al Shabaab member who gave his name as Abu Mohamed said one of those killed was al Shabaab’s top explosives expert, known as Anta. He said a drone fired at the car in Somalia’s Middle Juba region. It was not clear how Mohamed would know it was a drone strike, except that he said no attack helicopters were seen.
A Somali intelligence official in Mogadishu said the attack occurred as al Shabaab members went to intervene in a clan dispute. The official insisted on anonymity because he is not authorized to share intelligence.
Earlier this month, United States Navy SEALs raided a coastal Somali town to take down a Kenyan al Shabaab member. The SEALs withdrew before capturing or killing their target. The target of that attack — Abdulkadir Mohamed Abdulkadir, known as Ikrima — was identified as the lead planner of a plot by al Shabaab to attack Kenya’s parliament building and the United Nations office in Nairobi in 2011 and 2012.
Pentagon Says al Shabaab Bomb Specialist Killed in Missile Strike in Somalia
28 Oct – Source: New York Times – 656 Words
The United States military carried out a missile strike against a top al Shabaab operative in Somalia on Monday, according to Defense Department officials, three weeks after a Navy SEAL raid in another part of the country failed to capture a senior leader of the Somali Islamic militant group.
The American strike is the latest evidence that the Obama administration has decided to escalate operations against al Shabaab in the aftermath of the bloody siege at a shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, last month in which more than 60 men, women and children were killed. A White House spokeswoman declined to comment on the strike, referring questions to the Pentagon.
Preliminary evidence collected by the military indicated that the attack killed its intended target, Ibrahim Ali, an explosives specialist for al Shabaab known for his skill in building and using homemade bombs and suicide vests, a Defense Department official said.
“He’s been identified as someone we’ve been tracking for a long time,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the mission was conducted by the military’s secretive Joint Special Operations Command.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“For the European Union to abate these tragedies at their shores, they could increase aid to Somalia to improve education and create new skills for the youth, which would lower such perilous adventures, in the first place. The EU could finance or promote microloans to help youth start job-generating businesses.”
Debacle at Sea
28 Oct- Source: Hiiraan Online-1074 Words
As clichés go, Somalia has been without a functioning government since 1991 and one of the most dismal collateral damages resulting from the civil war is its desperate youth taking to the dangerous seas in their odyssey to find a safe-haven in Europe and beyond. From the early 1990s to present day, thousands of Somali young men and women have lost their lives in their attempt to flee the civil war, when the boats carrying became capsized en route to European shores. The incessant anguish of Somali asylum seekers is the heart of the problem for a nation in turmoil besieged by war, famine and terrorism.
Desperate to escape from the grim reality in the country and hope for a better future, the Somali young people daringly jump into the “Seas of the Dead.” These tragedies have gone too long and too many live have been lost in vain that the Somali government has to step up its efforts to curb youth unemployment, while the world at large must use this impetus to stabilize Somalia and rein in terrorism and piracy crises in the Horn of Africa.
At the onset of the Somali civil war, I was among the first wave of refugees who braved the dangerous seas on a rickety boat with no engine and crossed the Somali border into Kenya in order to escape the fighting. After two decades of my desperate adventure, it breaks my heart to see most of Somalia’s youth are subjected to such cruel destinies while the rest of the world watches with utter disregard of these tragedies.
“In contrast to south-central Somalia, the violence in Somaliland seems to have established at least a modicum of such common institutions and identities.”
The Wars in the North and the Creation of Somaliland
28 Oct- Source: World Peace Foundation Blog-2729 Words
Having enjoyed relative peace and stability since it unilaterally declared independence in 1991, Somaliland’s state-making project has been accorded the status of ‘Africa’s best kept secret’ (Jhazbhay, 2003). Past attempts to disclose its mystery referenced processes of ‘traditional reconciliation’ (Bryden, 1995; Jhazbhay, 2007; Walls, 2009), ‘grassroots democracy’ (Adam, 1995; Othieno, 2008; Forti, 2011), the combination of ‘traditional’ and ‘modern’ forms of governance into ‘hybrid political orders’ (Böge et al., 2008; Renders & Terlinden, 2010), and its overall peaceful nature (Othieno, 2008).
These narratives of Somaliland’s state-making have not only led to the assertion that the polity’s state development was unique (Hoyle, 2000; Kaplan, 2008; Jhazbhay, 2009), but culminated in the erroneous contention that throughout its process of state-making “[n]o civil war occurred” (Sufi, 2003:285).
Yet, Somaliland’s trajectory was not as benign as has frequently been claimed. Not only did its state-making project witness serious traits of authoritarian governance, but it was also marked by episodes of large-scale violence – both prior and subsequent to its unilateral declaration of independence in 1991. While it has been recognized that the struggle of the Somali National Movement (SNM) against dictator Mohamed Siyad Barre during the 1980s was foundational for Somaliland (Huliaras, 2002; Spears, 2003; Bakonyi, 2009), there is reason to argue that also the ‘war projects’ undertaken by Somaliland President Mohamed Haji Ibrahim Egal in the early to mid-1990s were constitutive of the polity’s state-making endeavor.
Top tweets
@BBCAfrica #Somalia‘s president told @SmithinAfrica that al-Shabab has become the “extended hand of al-Qaeda”#BBCNewsday
@UNSomalia More on yesterday’s launch of the #SomaliaDevelopment & Reconstruction Facility, a major step in the Somali Compact: http://bit.ly/Hndyk5
@Asahaaf #UK #Somalis are the most active Somalis in#Somalia now. They are shaping from politics to policy makers, humanitarian to #education. Bless
@evolvingprimate The general look of #Mogadishu‘s Digfeer Hospital. In the background new mosque inspired by Istanbul’s Blue Mosque pic.twitter.com/esM6KOy5Vr
@amisomsomalia Watch video: The decision by #BarclaysBankto close the accounts of some of the biggest #Somali money transfer firms http://bit.ly/1ak3Jjl
Image of the day
Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud welcomes to his office in Villa Somalia, Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, Lilianne Ploumen, who led a delegation to Mogadishu on October 28, 2013. Photo: Raxanreeb