September 10, 2014 | Daily Monitoring Report.
Somalia: UN’s Emergency Fund provides a life-line, for now
10 Sept- Source: Reliefweb- 606 words
A US$20 million boost from the UN’s Central Emergency Fund (CERF) will help in providing life-saving aid in Somalia, but it won’t be enough to halt a deepening crisis, aid agencies warn.
“These badly needed funds are critical to our humanitarian response and will go a long way towards addressing some of the most critical needs”, said Foroogh Foyouzat, Acting Representative for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Somalia. “Action is needed now and without further support, Somalia risks sliding back into crisis.”
Somalia, beset by a severe shortfall in emergency funding, is home to one of the world’s largest and most complex emergencies. According to the UN, almost 3 million people there are in need of humanitarian assistance such as food, health and nutrition support.
Humanitarian partners warn that the country is at the precipice of another emergency – only three years after a devastating famine that left an estimated 258,000 people dead, many of them women and children under five.
Key Headlines
- Jowhar administration bans cars with tinted windows (Radio Mogadishu)
- Forged Somali passports seized in Mogadishu (Radio RBC)
- Ugandan Embassy in Mogadishu starts issuing visas (Radio Dalsan)
- Federal Government to deploy police in liberated areas (Radio Garowe)
- UN’s Emergency Fund provides a life-line for now (Reliefweb)
- Woman dies in Dhoobley hospital due to lack of medical care (Radio Goobjoog)
- Somalis in Kenya urged to contribute to Somalia’s rebuilding process (Radio Bar-kulan)
- Al Shabaab threaten to attack east African countries and US to avenge leaders death (Standard Media)
- Kurtunwaarey administration arrests over 30 people in an operation (Radio Goobjoog)
- New al Shabaab boss plans to hit Uganda – Gen Katumba (Observer-Uganda)
- Somalia refugees to return home in weeks says UN (Citizen TZ)
- Religious education only way to battle al Shabaab’s un-Islamic ideology scholars say (Sabahi Online)
- How I Forgave My Daughter’s Killer (Star-Kenya)
- Somalia to probe rape charges against African Union troops (Reuters)
SOMALI MEDIA
Jowhar administration bans cars with tinted windows
10 Sept- Source: Radio Goobjoog/Radio Mogadishu/Jowhar Online- 134 words
Jowhar police command and national security in the district have joint issued an order that prohibits the vehicles with tinted windows. The residents in the town were urged to follow the orders as it is which the authority say it is preventing the suicide attacks of al Shabaab in the region.
Our reporter in Middle shabelle region Adan Hussein Daud says police officers enforcing the ban are seen patrolling the main streets of the town conducting security checks.
Federal government believe that the cars with tinted windows pose security threats as al Shabaab use to hide explosive devices and carry out planned assassinations and attacks.
The last few days over 18 people died after car filled with explosive rammed with AMISOM convoy in Afgoye-Mogadishu highway, al Shabaab claimed the responsibility.
Forged Somali passports seized in Mogadishu
10 Sept- Source: Radio Mogadishu/Radio RBC- 301 words
The head of Somali Immigration Department, General Abdullahi Gafow Mohamud, warned against the use of the discontinued, green Somali passport “by terrorists and those who want to damage the reputation of the Somali Federal Government”. Mr Gafow’s statement came after Somali security forces have paraded two men who had tried to smuggle forged Somali passports into Hargeisa. One of the men said he was born in Hargeisa, a subtle way to disclose the identity of his clan.
“The Green passport is no longer in use. A new passport has been issued. The two men were carrying a bag full of 42 old, green passports and 52 new , passports when they were arrested at Aden Adde International Airport. It is crime to use the green passport for visas. All passports we seized are bearing Sudanese visas. Sudanese Embassy in Mogadishu knows the green passport has been discontinued. I think those visas were forged” said General Gafow.
One of the men arrested, Abduqani Omar Osman, said passports “ belong to students in Hargeisa. I am Somali, born in Hargeisa. I came to Mogadishu to collect visas for students in Hargeisa. I have a visa and am going to Sudan. Students are in Sudanese-sponsored schools in Hargeisa” he said.
General Gafow said a Tanzanian man carrying the discontinued, green Somali passport forged in Tel Aviv was arrested at Mogadishu International airport 29 August. “I can’t understand why our passport has been forged in Israel. We have made it clear that the green passport is used to commit acts of terrorism and drug smuggling,” General Gafow said.
Sudanese Embassy in Mogadishu has not issued any statement on the visas and the report that seized passports were for students in Sudan-sponsored schools in Hargeisa, the seat of Somaliland administration.
Ugandan Embassy in Mogadishu starts issuing visas
10 Sept- Source: Radio Dalsan- 199 words
The Ugandan embassy in Mogadishu has just started the issuance of the visas to Uganda. In the past people in Somalia who wanted to travel to Uganda used to face challenges in getting visas to Uganda.
Therefore, the embassy started the processing of the visas for students, families, business people and patients who want to travel to Uganda for different purposes. According to Dalsan reporter who visited the embassy, the embassy has already started the consulate services. The Ugandan embassy in Mogadishu issues visas to at least 30 people per day. In the past, people traveled all the way to Entebbe airport where they were given the visas on arrival!Most of the people who travel to Uganda are students who want to study at the universities of Uganda and people who get resettlement in European countries, USA, Canada and Australia. Those who get the resettlement processes go to Uganda to wait their flights to those countries while inside Uganda.
On the other hand, there are many other Somalis who go to Uganda so that they can live there. Since the onset of the civil war in Somalia, thousands of Somalis went to live in Uganda for security purposes.
Federal Government to deploy police in liberated areas
10 Sept- Source: Radio Garowe- 139 words
Federal Government of Somalia’s Police Force Chief Mohamed Sheikh Hassan Ismael boasted of improved security situation in volatile Mogadishu despite wave of terror attacks by beleaguered al Shabaab militants on Tuesday.
Ismael disclosed at media briefings that Federal Government will set up police units in areas vacated by militants:”“The distant goal is to increase the outreach and dispatch police regiments to the newly liberated areas,” he declared.
“After terrorists were defeated in direct clashes with the army they infiltrated into the civilian components,” said Police Boss.”The ability of Al Shabaab in Mogadishu dwindled gradually and the recent raid on [Godka Jilicow] intelligence base was testament to their weakness”.
Mogadishu-based security agencies confirmed to Garowe Online that police stepped up anti-terror operations by foiling 11 plots and apprehending 18 perpetrators who involved in 23 killings.
Woman dies in Dhoobley hospital due to lack of medical care
10 Sept- Source: Radio Goobjoog- 195 words
The administration of Dhoobley district in Lower Juba region stated that one of the patients, a woman in Dhoobley general hospital died due to lack of medical care.
Dhoobley district commissioner Mohamed Abdullahi speaking to Radio Goobjoog said the hospital the death of the patient came a time when the general hospital is faced with acute shortage of drugs.
Mr. Mohamed said the essential services of the hospital was crippled and the hospital is on the verge of closure if the hospital does not receive medical supplies immediately.
The commissioner said that Save the children now manages the hospital adding that it has not tackled the need of the people properly.
He called the federal government of Somalia and humanitarian aid agencies to deliver medical supplies to the hospitals in the region.
Dhoobley General Hospital is a Community based Hospital, which has been built to tackle the health problems and give an adequate healthcare service to the community living in Lower Juba, Middle Juba and Gedo provinces as well as the internally displaced population in Dhoobley and the surrounding areas of the region.
Somalis in Kenya urged to contribute to Somalia’s rebuilding process
10 Sept- Source: Radio Bar-kulan- 139 words
Somalia’s Minister for Women and Human Rights Khadija Mohamed Dirie on Tuesday met with Somali community members in the Kenyan capital, Mogadishu.
She presented her ministry’s plans and achievements in her meeting with the community members which lasted for several hours late on Tuesday.
She noted the positive role that Somali diaspora community in many parts of the world can play in the recovery and the rebuilding process of the country after more than two decades of war and chaos.
The minister also urged diaspora communities to return home and contribute to the development and rebuilding process of their home country.
She finally called on Somali women to engage in politics which, she said, in turn will enable them to contribute to the country’s ongoing recovery and development progress.
Kurtunwaarey administration arrests over 30 people in an operation
10 Sept- Source: Radio Goobjoog- 109 words
Over thirty people mostly youth were arrested in a massive security operations federal government forces and AMISOM troops have been conducting in Kurtunwaarey district and the surrounding areas. The apprehended individuals during the crackdown were taken to Kurtunwaarey police stations for investigations.
Kurtunwaarey district commissioner Abdirahman Sabdow Dahir said his administration is determined to maintain the security of the district and nearby areas which was recently captured from al Shabaab. Mr. Sabdow stated that intensive investigation is underway.
Federal government forces and African Union peace-keeping troops have taken over the district from Al-shabab after operation Indian Ocean launched in Southern Somalia.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Al Shabaab threaten to attack east African countries and US to avenge leaders death
10 Sept- Source: Standard Media/Reuters- 220 words
Somali Islamist militants have threatened attacks in east Africa and the United States, warning President Barack Obama he would hear “shocking news” as punishment for a U.S. missile strike that killed the rebel group’s leader last week. Al Shabaab made the threats late on Monday, hours after launching twin attacks inside Somalia against African peacekeepers and a government convoy. The death toll from those bombings rose to at least 18on Tuesday, police said.
“Let our mujahideen (fighters) wait for good news. And let Obama wait for shocking news,” senior al Shabaab official, Fuad Mohamed Khalaf Shongole, said in a recorded message, promising to avenge the death of Ahmed Godane in a U.S. raid on Sept. 1. Al Shabaab demonstrated its ability to strike abroad on Sept. 21, 2013, when the group launched an attack on the upscale Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, that killed 67 people.
New al Shabaab boss plans to hit Uganda – Gen Katumba
10 Sept- Source: Observer-Uganda-377 Words
The army has warned that the new leader of the Islamist militant group al-Shabab plans to hit Ugandans.The warning comes a week after al Shabaab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane was killed in a US airstrike in Somalia. He was replaced by Sheikh Ahmad Umar. Godane, 37, who had a passion for poetry, seized world attention a year ago with the Westgate mall attack in Nairobi, which left at least 67 dead. He warned Kenya that it would suffer further atrocities unless it withdrew its troops from the AU force in Somalia.
Sheikh Umar alias Abu Ubaidah, who was announced the new leader on September 6, is now intent on retaliatory attacks on Americans, Ugandans and all countries with troops in Somalia.
In an interview yesterday, Gen Katumba Wamala, the chief of defence forces, said: “The terrorist attack [threats] on us both in Mogadishu and at home are real because al Shabaab knows that we are the leading nation that recently captured their operational areas, which include Kartunwaary, Marinrangwaayi, Katoniwaari, Baromali and Beradi Amin whose last point is about 120km.”
Somalia refugees to return home in weeks, says UN
09 Sept – Source: Citizen TZ/Star-Kenya- 138 words
About 2,500 refugees living in the Dadaab camp are set to be relocated to Somalia by the end of October. The repatriation is part of an agreement signed last year between Kenya, Somalia and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
According to the Department of Refugee Affairs (DRA), this first batch of refugees will be voluntarily returned but will also be used to test the viability of returning all the 339,606 Somali refugees registered at the camp.
“We want to ensure that things go smoothly so that the refugees do not keep coming back to Kenya,” Commissioner for Refugees Haron Komen told the Nation last week.
“There are two groups; those people who are going back to their homes and others that need to be settled because they lost everything in the 2010-2011 drought,” the commissioner added.
Religious education only way to battle al Shabaab’s un-Islamic ideology, scholars say
09 Sept- Source: Sabahi Online-1250 words
Even though the Somali people are now beginning to fully recognize the crookedness of al Shabaab’s ideology, it is only through proper religious education that Somalis can win the battle against the militant group and similar extremists, according to the Somali Association of Islamic Scholars, an organisation formed in 2009 to combat extremism and safeguard Islamic moderation.
In an interview with Sabahi, Sheikh Nur Barud Gurhan, the organisation’s deputy chairman, discusses the causes of extremism, how it spread in Somalia and how to successfully overcome it.
Sabahi: What have Somali religious leaders done so far to combat extremism?
Sheikh Nur Barud Gurhan: When the Somali religious scholars saw [al Shabaab’s] extremist actions, they decided to fight against this ideology using local media and mosques, broadcasting programs that were against extremism directly.
In 2009, [scholars] established the Somali Association of Islamic Scholars that proved to the Somali people that al Shabaab is an extremist group and is un-Islamic. That led to public to withdraw their support from al Shabaab, and [now] the group rules the areas under its control by force without public support.
How I Forgave My Daughter’s Killer
09 Sept- Source: Star-Kenya-212 Words
Somalia Ambassador to Kenya Mohammed Nur has forgiven the man who killed his daughter 22 years ago. On his Facebook timeline on Monday, Nur narrated details of his one-year-old daughter’s murder in 1992.
While at Lido beach, Mogadishu, a man approached him and narrated how he, among other assailants, killed his daughter at the start of Somalia internal war.
“I was drinking tea at a restaurant at Lido Beach when a man told me how he has been looking for me for some time,” Nur said, in the Somali language. He narrated how some Somalis are facing their darkest past.
“I was part of a gang that invaded your dad’s home, we stole a lot of money and shared the loot,” the man told Nur. “Your one-year-old daughter was at home at the time and was killed in the attack. May God have mercy on her,” the man added.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
UN’s Emergency Fund provides a life-line, for now
10 Sept- Source: Reliefweb- 606 words
A US$20 million boost from the UN’s Central Emergency Fund (CERF) will help in providing life-saving aid in Somalia, but it won’t be enough to halt a deepening crisis, aid agencies warn.
“These badly needed funds are critical to our humanitarian response and will go a long way towards addressing some of the most critical needs”, said Foroogh Foyouzat, Acting Representative for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Somalia. “Action is needed now and without further support, Somalia risks sliding back into crisis.”
Somalia, beset by a severe shortfall in emergency funding, is home to one of the world’s largest and most complex emergencies. According to the UN, almost 3 million people there are in need of humanitarian assistance such as food, health and nutrition support.
Humanitarian partners warn that the country is at the precipice of another emergency – only three years after a devastating famine that left an estimated 258,000 people dead, many of them women and children under five.
Somalia to probe rape charges against African Union troops
09 Sept- Source: Reuters-320 Words
Somali authorities said on Tuesday they would investigate charges that women and girls in the capital Mogadishu had been raped by African peacekeepers, a principal source of security in the war-torn country.
A report released on Monday by the group Human Rights Watch documented the rape or sexual exploitation of 21 women and girls, all of them displaced from their homes, at peacekeeping bases run by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).
In some cases, the females entered the bases through official gates to request medicine and water, and were taken to areas where they were then abused by a Somali intermediary, according to the New York-based rights group.Just two of the women and girls interviewed by the rights group had filed a complaint.
“The government condemns all forms of abuse against the Somali people and remains committed to ensuring perpetrators of any crime against its civilians are brought to justice,” Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed said in a statement.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“It’s easy to take pot shots at the African Union – and frankly, these can be well-deserved. But it’s a mistake to write the organisation off entirely. In fact, it does plenty to justify its standing as Africa’s only continental institution. For all its faults, Africa is better with the AU than without it.”
In defence of the African Union
10 Sept- Source: Daily Maverick/ISS Africa-1313 Words
The African Union (AU) gets a lot of flak. Critics often argue that it is slow to respond to security threats; that it prioritises power over justice; and that it fails to adequately represent the needs of this continent’s 1,11 billion citizens. The continental organisation is often dismissed as a talk shop for tyrants, or depicted as an ineffectual, lumbering bureaucracy that worries more about per diems than it does about Africa’s most pressing political problems.
There is merit to some of these critiques. But they don’t tell the whole story, and they leave out the good bits. It is time to give credit where credit is due, and to recognise that – as imperfect as it may be – Africa is in much better shape with the AU than without it. First we must acknowledge that the AU operates under several massive constraints, which greatly limit the scope of its ability (if not its ambition, so often couched in the lofty rhetoric of pan-Africanism).
“Can a book festival mend wounds created by war and perhaps even counter religious extremism in an isolated corner of the Horn of Africa?”
Brain Food in the Land of Khat-Chewers
09 Sept- Source: Foreign Police Blog-3178 Words
The literary festival opened with a bang. Nuruddin Farah, a spry, 68-year-old writer whose permanent expression seems to be one of quizzical amusement, delivered a speech in which he chided Somali society for its harshness, from the violence men routinely inflict on women to the blows parents casually rain down upon children.
“Because there is no loving communication, Somalis live in secret, separate universes where they do not share what is bothering them, and therefore no one can offer them solutions,” said Farah, whose novels often have a strong feminist message. Other societies have already gone through similar stages in their histories, he said, and education had changed them. It is time Somalis did likewise. “I love Somalia; I’m proud to be a Somali,” said Farah, who fled his home country in the 1960s and now divides his time between South Africa and the United States, “but let us unlearn the things that make us cruel.”
It was a characteristically challenging opener to a thought-provoking event. The effect on the audience was galvanizing. One young woman politely queried whether Farah wasn’t indulging in a bit of gratuitous Somalia-bashing. A veteran local journalist took issue with the list of derogatory terms Farah had cited as examples of contemptuous male attitudes to the opposite sex, reading out a list of alternative, affectionate terms — “my darling,” “my sister,” “my love” — to loud clapping.
“Taken together, the United States and its allies should remember that the only way to definitively achieve its goals in Somalia is to remove the economic and societal conditions that allow extremism, and groups like al Shabaab, to survive. Godane’s death is significant and it is important to continue to disrupt al Shabaab activities with direct U.S. action. But for lasting solutions, the United States will have to do more than intervene militarily.”
Reactions to the U.S. Strike in Somalia
09 Sept- Source: Council on Foreign Relations Blog-461 Words
Last week, the United States conducted an airstrike on an al Shabaab target in the Lower Shabelle region of Somalia. Al Shabaab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane was killed in the attack. This is certainly good news for Somalia and the rest of East Africa. Godane was the mastermind of the Westgate Mall Attack and numerous other bloody operations.
Some will use Godane’s death to support the narrative of a waning al Shabaab. The argument is that as the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) continues to deny al Shabaab territorial control, the group will weaken. Mogadishu is more secure than it has been in years. Now is the time for the economy to blossom and for the central government to take full control.
But while al Shabaab’s capabilities have certainly degraded, attacks continue and illustrate the group’s resolve to destabilize the country. The loss of geographic control does not necessarily mean the group has been defeated. In truth, this shift may make al Shabaab more dangerous and less predictable. This group, in its various forms since the 1990s, has absorbed setbacks and leadership losses before. It will likely survive the loss of Godane.
“The death by drone of al Shabaab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane was “a delightful victory” for Somalia’s struggling transitional government, and a major boost for a new anti-al Shabaab military offensive. But as African Union troops push further in south-central Somalia, Human Rights Watch has reported horrific sexual abuse and exploitation at the Amisom base in Mogadishu. So much for the moral high ground.”
Somalia: AMISOM failures show that Godane’s death is no quick fix
08 Sept- Source: Daily Maverick-903 Words
So the Americans got him after all. On Saturday, al Shabaab confirmed that leader Ahmed Abdi Godane had been killed in a US drone strike earlier last week. With a $7 million bounty on his head, and tight control over one of Africa’s most feared terrorist organizations, Godane’s scalp is one of the most significant in the Global War on Terror since the assassination of Osama Bin Laden. A US spokesperson said it was a “major symbolic and operational loss” for the Somali militant group. Somalia’s national security minister was blunter, describing it as “a delightful victory”.
The government wasted no time in taking advantage of the sudden instability within the ranks of its main enemy, striking an unusually conciliatory note as it appealed to al Shabaab fighters to lay down their arms. “While an extreme hardcore may fight over the leadership of al Shabaab, this is a chance for the majority of members to change course and reject Godane’s decision to make them the pawns of an international terror campaign,” said President Hassan Sheikh Mahamud. He added that he was “willing to offer amnesty to al Shabaab members who reject violence and renounce their links to al Shabaab and al Qaeda – but for the next 45 days only.”
Top tweets
@DavidThomsonWV #Somalia on precipice of another emergency only 3 yrs after last famine that left >250k people dead http://bit.ly/1nKEQzy via @reliefweb
@reliefweb #Somalia: @UN’s #Emergency Fund provides a life-line, but it won’t be enough to halt a deepening crisishttp://bit.ly/1pO2fQ6 @Unocha
@amisomsomalia An SNA soldier shares a moment with an AMISOM Burundian soldier. #AMISOM committed to strong relations with the FGS. pic.twitter.com/ncwpk1P0cE
@africarenewal “The momentum of #Somalia’s state-building process must not be interrupted,” says #UNSOM headhttp://goo.gl/gwDdhB @Somalia111 @UNSomalia
@Somalia2016 First year of #Somalia’s Go 2 School Campaign sees thousands of children in class. So happy!http://www.unicef.org/somalia/
Image of the day
Dr. Jeylani Abukar Omar speaks at the Somali Religious Council Peace Day event held in Mogadishu with UNSOM support on 9 September 2014. Photo: UNSOM