NATIONAL MEDIA
30 October – Source: Goobjoog – 127 Words
The Prime Minister of the Federal Government has called on the international community to immediately participate in the rescue efforts in the flood-hit areas of the country. PM Hassan Ali Khaire sent a letter to all the States friendly to Somalia and the international community that the government of Somalia had provided an immediate response to prevent further deterioration in the situation but the situation is more critical over a huge problem which needs collaboration and works together. The Prime Minister stated that floods affected areas of Jubaland, South West and Hirshabelle, specifically Beledweyne city, causing widespread deaths with displacement and destruction of infrastructure. The levels of the Shabelle River are said to be rising, which can cause further flooding and loss of lives in the country.
30 October – Source: Goobjoog – 165 Words
Puntland government is seeking to prosecute a member of its regional assembly over what it terms as the use of offensive language against the president during the opening of the 45th session of parliament last week. In a letter addressed to the Speaker of State parliament, Deputy Attorney General Dr. Mohamed Harred Farah said he is pursuing charges against Awil Hassan Daad over his remarks last week. “The office of the Attorney General requests the leadership of the House to lift the immunity of the MP Awil Hassan in order to charge him,” the deputy AG said. The MP took to task President Abdullahi Deni last week during the opening of the new session accusing him of failures during the time he has been in office. He also claimed President Deni and his deputy were at loggerheads and called for them to resign. In his response, Deni enumerated his government’s achievements including regular payments and training of the military before walking out in a huff.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
30 October – Source: UNSOM – 520 Words
The Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) has renewed its commitment to end the recruitment and use of child soldiers by signing a roadmap detailing measures and practical actions to prevent violations against children, release children associated with armed forces, and reintegrate them into communities. The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba, witnessed the signature of the roadmap. “The whole United Nations body and the civil society of good faith will support this plan so that across Somalia in all regions, all law enforcement officials, all members of any armed forces will be the first to protect children from violations,” said Ms. Gamba. “And for this, we will support the possibility of vetting, of screening, of capacity building and of ensuring that children that are captured, or that escape, or children that are in any way released, will also receive the rehabilitation and reintegration needs that they deserve,” Ms. Gamba added.
The UN official was speaking in the wake of signing of the roadmap, which is in line with action plans signed by Somalia and the UN in 2012 to protect children from recruitment and use by the army and protection of children from being killed and injured. According to the UN Secretary-General’s Report on Children and Armed Conflict, released in June 2019, armed groups in Somalia forcefully recruited and used in conflict 2,228 boys and 72 girls in 2018. Al-Shabaab recruited 1,865 children, accounting for the highest number of child recruits. Somalia’s Federal Minister of Defence, Hassan Ali Mohamed, represented the FGS at the signing of the agreement. In his remarks, he emphasized the FGS’s commitment to ending children’s rights violations, including forceful recruitment. While in Somalia this past week, the UN official also visited Baidoa, the capital of the South West State (SWS), where she announced the launch of a $2 million Peace Building Fund project supporting the prevention of child recruitment and reintegration of children formerly associated with armed forces and groups. The project aims to reinforce prevention, screening Somali security forces including regional forces to ensure that there are no children in their ranks, release those identified, rehabilitate and reintegrate them…..
30 October – Source: Daily Nation – 409 Words
Somalia-based rag-tag militia Al-Shabaab on Tuesday evening staged an attack on Dadajabula Police Station in Wajir, some 683 kilometres from the capital Nairobi. A local administrator told the Nation that the gunmen attacked the station located 13 kilometres from the Somalia border with heavy artillery, including rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs). The government official who sought anonymity because he is not authorised to issue media statements said the attackers stormed the station after two members of the terrorist group were arrested and locked up. A police source said the station was holding two terror suspects and they suspect the attackers were on a rescue mission. “The attack was about rescuing two Al-Shabaab suspects we were holding at the station,” he said. A police brief sent to Vigilance House, the police headquarters in Nairobi, and seen by the Nation says the attackers, who were chanting in Somali, struck at 8 pm as it rained heavily. “It was dark and the officers dispersed in different directions from the camp and exchange of fire ensued,” the statement reads in part. Locals say heavy gunfire rent the air for more than 20 minutes as the officers and Kenya Defence Forces attempted to stop the gunmen. “Heavy gunfire reported in Dadajabula, Wajir South… a heavy barrage of artillery and RPGs reportedly being fired as security forces including the military battle with attackers,” Ali Awdoll tweeted.
When the guns fell silent, the two suspects were lifeless, and left two police officers and a reservist were nursing injuries. According to a follow-up brief sent to Vigilance on Wednesday morning, one of the police officers was shot in the hip, with the bullet exiting, while the other has a bullet lodged in his stomach. An unidentified civilian, a woman, also suffered a gunshot wound and police say her condition was unknown by Wednesday morning. “Now being attended at Dadajabula Dispensary. They need further specialised treatment and arrangements being made,” the brief reads in part. However, it was not immediately clear if the suspects were felled by bullets fired by the Shabaab’s or Kenya Defence Forces. “We suspect the attackers killed the suspect in custody to conceal some information about Al-Shabaab,” said the police source. The Kenyan military has launched a major operation to trace the attackers as the bodies of dead suspects were removed to Dispensary for identification and autopsy. “All the 16 officers have been accounted for… All arms are intact,” local police chiefs told Vigilance House.
25 October – Source: EUCAP – 300 Words
Force Integration Training (FIT) organised and funded by EUCAP Somalia was concluded on Thursday 24 October. For the first time, the FIT brought together the Bosaso and Mogadishu Maritime Police Units in preparation for their participation in the Exercise Cutlass Express in Djibouti next week. Participants from the Bosaso Port Maritime Police Unit (BP-MPU) had travelled to Mogadishu for a joint training with the Somali Police Force Maritime Police Unit (SPF-MPU). The one-week training on tactical maritime police operations was an important step towards harmonization of procedures of the two forces. On 27 October, the trained participants from both units will travel to Djibouti for Cutlass Express, an international maritime law enforcement exercise organised by US AFRICOM in Djibouti.
Somali trainers with mentoring and technical advice from UNODC conducted the course in the training facility recently delivered to the Somali Police Force by EUCAP Somalia. The training facility, also known as a “Ship in a Box” was named after former SPF-MPU Commander, Major Mohamed Botaan, who was killed in line of duty during the terrorist attacks on 14 October 2017. On completion of the training, SPF Police Commissioner, General Abdi Hassan Mohamed “Hijjar” and EUCAP’s Head of Mission Chris Reynolds hosted a closing ceremony for the participants. “This is a day of mixed emotions for me. I met Major Mohamed Botaan shortly after he took command of the SPF-MPU in mid-2016. He told me he had two priorities: better living and working conditions for his personnel and to train and equip them adequately so they can save Somali lives at sea and on Lido,” said Head of Mission Chris Reynolds. “I know that Major Botaan would be particularly proud of this achievement,” Mr. Reynolds said, referring to the first joint training of BP-MPU and SPF-MPU in the new training facility.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“As a mother of six, whose husband died a year ago, she fled the drought in Qansahdhere in Bay region, where they were farmers. “I am now leading a better life than I did before. I eat, drink and save up some money, all without depending on any aid or begging! I now earn my living on my own,” Fadumo told Radio Ergo’s local reporter.”
30 October – Source: Radio Ergo – 583 Words
Abdullahi Ali Abdi sells every kind of food item at his shop in Dugandug market that families living in the sprawling displacement camps outside the southern Somali city of Baidoa could want. The shop saves his customers a journey to the city market and also provides Abdullahi with a reliable, independent living. “I couldn’t just sit around any longer and wait for aid,” Abdullahi told Radio Ergo, who has lived for more than a year with his family in Lawiley IDP camp. “I used to live with uncertainty before I opened this shop, but now I know how much I can get from the sale of my products by the end of the day.” He set up his business eight months ago with $150 borrowed from a relative and now has stock worth $500. He sells daily necessities such as cooking oil, rice, flour, spaghetti and sugar in small amount, with dry goods in packets of between 250 grams to a kilo. Abdullahi makes an average of 300,000 Somali shillings a day that supports his family and has allowed him to enroll his children in school, paying $24 in monthly fees. Like most of the displaced men and women running thriving businesses in Dugandug market, Abdullahi has no current plans to return home to Ufurow in Bay region, where the family abandoned their farm three years ago due to drought.
Dugandug was not planned as a formal market, but over the past year it has grown rapidly to house numerous shops and restaurants serving 12 IDP camps in this area, south of Baidoa. Fadumo Mohamed Nur, 51, sells meat and vegetables. She goes to Baidoa to buy meat and vegetables worth a million shillings from butcheries and traders and sells it at her popular stall in Dugandug. As a mother of six, whose husband died a year ago, she fled the drought in Qansahdhere in Bay region, where they were farmers. “I am now leading a better life than I did before. I eat, drink and save up some money, all without depending on any aid or begging! I now earn my living on my own,” Fadumo told Radio Ergo’s local reporter. Fadumo enrolled three of her children in school this year and pays $18 in monthly fees. She has also bought a plot of land for $2,000 and plans to build a house when she has saved enough to enable the family to move out of the camp…… |
