October 31, 2014 | Morning Headlines.

Main Story

Police Chief dies following sudden illness

30 Oct – Source: Radio Mogadishu/Radio RBC- 134 words

Somalia top Police Boss General Mohamed Hassan Ismail has died in a hospital in Mogadishu on Thursday afternoon following a sudden heart attack, doctors and police officials confirmed. General Ismail was hospitalized several days ago after he complained of heart attack.

He died in the hospital on Thursday afternoon in the hospital, Colonel Mohamed Ali said. Somalia’s State-run radio announced the death of General Ismail and extended a national funeral to the public. A doctor at Ummah hospital where General Ismail deceased says, there has been growing pain and the General Ismail’s blood circulation was not functioning well.

The Late General Mohamed Hassan Ismail took the position as the police chief on late 2012 when President Mohamud was elected. He has died in his 50s and has left a wife and children living in Canada.

Key Headlines

AMISOM conducts Gender Audit Workshop (AMISOM)
Police Chief dies following sudden illness (Radio Mogadishu/Radio RBC)
Four Al Shabaab militants killed in Hiran (Radio Bar-kulan)
50 children offered free education in Adado (Radio Ergo)
Bomb explodes near Afrata Darjiino in Mogadishu (Radio Goobjoog)
PM Rugunda lauds Canada for antiterrorism support (Daily Monitor)
African Union hits back at Somalia rape allegations (Globalpost/AFP)
Somali pirates release 7 Indian sailors (VOA News)
Rebuilding Somalia (Aljazeera)

PRESS STATEMENT

AMISOM conducts Gender Audit Workshop

30 Oct – Source: AMISOM – 139 words

The Gender Unit of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) is conveying a four-day Gender audit workshop in Naivasha, Kenya.

The workshop is part of the implementation plan of the mission Gender Mainstreaming strategy and the objective is to enhance the collective capacity of the organization to examine its activities from a gender perspective and identify strengths and weaknesses in promoting gender issues.

In her opening remarks, the Deputy Special Representative for Somalia (DSRCC) Honorable Lydia Wanyoto emphasized the importance of auditing the mission on how it is integrating gender into its daily operations and adapts its approach to target the needs and expectations of the Somali people.

She also underlined that this activity is crucial with the renewed mandate given to the Mission by the United Nations Security Council and the African Union Peace and Security Council.

SOMALI MEDIA

Police Chief dies following sudden illness

30 Oct – Source: Radio Mogadishu/Radio RBC – 134 words

Somalia top Police Boss General Mohamed Hassan Ismail has died in a hospital in Mogadishu on Thursdayafternoon following a sudden heart attack, doctors and police officials confirmed. General Ismail was hospitalized several days ago after he complained of heart attack.

The Late General Mohamed Hassan Ismail took the position as the police chief on late 2012 when President Mohamud was elected. He has died in his 50s and has left a wife and children living in Canada.

Four Al Shabaab militants killed in Hiran

30 Oct – Source: Radio Bar-kulan- 79 words

Somali government forces have shot down and killed four suspected Al Shabaab members in Jalalaqsi in Hiran province. Jalalaqsi district commissioner Mohamed Abdulle Fidow has confirmed to Bar-Kulan that Al Shabaab official in the area Hassan Fiqi was among those killed by the security forces.

He said the government forces are currently in Iji village near Jalalaqsi where the incident happened. Al Shabaab militant group were pushed out of the area by Somali military and AMISOM troops last month.

50 children offered free education in Adado

30 Oct – Source: Radio Ergo – 134 words

Fifty children from marginalized minority clans in Adado district in Galgadud region have been awarded free school places by local benefactors. Halima Mohamed, 15, comes from a poor marginalized family. She is among the children enrolled and said she was very happy to get an opportunity to go to school. “I have never been to school before because my impoverished family was not able to send me and my other four siblings to school,” she said.

She previously attended Koranic madarassa classes and then returned home to help her mother with household chores. Mohamed Tahlil, one of the teachers at the primary school where the children were enrolled, hailed the project as crucial for developing social interactivity and equality in education. “This project will also combat marginalization in the longer term,” he said.

Bomb explodes near Afrata Darjiino in Mogadishu

30 Oct – Source: Radio Goobjoog – 55 words

At least one person killed and several wounded by blast near Afrata Darjiino in the Capital Mogadishu. Goobjoog reporter at the scene of a suicide car bomb attack confirms a suicide car bomb kills at least one person several wounded, Police forces are patrolling the area but no one claimed responsibility so far he added.

REGIONAL MEDIA

PM Rugunda lauds Canada for antiterrorism support

30 Oct – Source: Daily Monitor – 354 words

Prime Minister Dr Ruhakana Rugunda has commended the government of Canada for their support and partnership in fight against terrorism in Uganda and the region as a whole. Dr Rugunda said international coordination by all stakeholders could break the backbone of terrorism across the world.

He made the remarks on Tuesday while receiving the Canadian High Commissioner to Uganda, David Angell who is based in Nairobi, Kenya. During the meeting at his office, the premier also hailed Canada for its cordial relationship with Uganda since 1962.

Canada, which has a consulate in Kampala, is focused on laying a firm foundation for lasting peace in Uganda and the broader region. It also offers military training opportunities for the Uganda People’s Defense Forces, and both countries signed a memorandum of understanding on the deployment of formed Police Units to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

African Union hits back at Somalia rape allegations

30 Oct – Source: Globalpost/AFP – 419 words

The African Union has hit back against claims its internationally-funded troops in Somalia have gang raped women and girls, accusing the rights group behind the report of being unfair and inaccurate.

In a letter of response to Human Rights Watch released by the AU on Thursday, the pan-African bloc also said the rights group had undermined peace efforts in war-torn Somalia.

The AU said, however, that it was still investigating the AU mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in the wake of last month’s damning report into the conduct of its troops.

Somali pirates release 7 Indian sailors

30 Oct – Source: VOA News – 586 words

Seven Indian sailors kidnapped by Somali pirates more than four years ago have been released. A pirate in the town of Harardhere, the pirate hub where the sailors were held, tells VOA’s Somali service that the men were freed in exchange for a $3 million ransom.

The statement could not be verified. The sailors were handed over to Somali officials on Thursday. The governor of Somalia’s Galgudud region, Hussein Ali Weheliye, said the hostages appeared to be in “bad health” but were able to walk unaided.

SOCIAL MEDIA

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

“Can Somalia’s embattled president unite his country against the armed group al-Shabab?”

Rebuilding Somalia

30 Oct – Source: Aljazeera – Video – 25 Minutes

In September 2014, we were invited by the president’s office to come and film in Somalia. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud is heading up the latest in a series of short-lived administrations since the country’s descent into chaos that followed the fall of the Siad Barre dictatorship in 1989.

In order to build peace MP’s were selected by elders to represent the different clans and when the government came to power two years ago, it was greeted by a wave of euphoria. It was a recognition of realpolitik: after two decades of conflict, order and a new administration could only be build by compromise. Now it is high time for the central government to build the federal state and to extend its reach outside Mogadishu.

Both, the president and the prime minister have been travelling across the country to speed up the creation of new, regional states. Without a national army and with African Union peacekeeping forces limited in scope the federal state can only be created by building alliances with local power brokers, even if that means brokering a compromise between national and regional clan interests.

People & Power’s Juliana Ruhfus investigates whether Somalia’s government is succeeding in building a nation state or whether its political alliances are compromising its credibility.