September 14, 2016 | Morning Headlines
IGAD Heads of State Summit Concludes In Mogadishu With Member Countries’ Renewed Commitment To Support Somalia
13 September – Source: AMISOM – 456 Words
The 28th extra-ordinary session of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Assembly of Heads of State and Government concluded in Mogadishu, Somalia, this evening, with a declaration of renewed commitment by its member countries to continue support towards stabilizing the nation and endorsement of an upcoming electoral process.
The high-profile meeting was represented by Ethiopia’s Prime Minister H.E Hailemariam Desalegn, who is also the chairperson of the IGAD Assembly, Kenya’s President H.E Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, Uganda’s President H.E Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Djibouti, H.E Mohamed Yousif Abdelmannan and Sudan’s ambassador to Somalia H.E Mahboub Mohamed Maalim.
In a communique released at the end of the one-day summit, IGAD Heads of State and governments welcomed the Somali government’s commitment to a credible and inclusive electoral process. “(We) encouraged all Somalis to participate in the 2016 electoral process and hope that free and fair elections are conducted within the timelines,” the communique stated.
The IGAD heads requested the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) to provide “all necessary security” for the electoral process, which will culminate in a presidential vote on30th October 2016. The summit condemned continued attacks against the civilian population by the terrorist group Al-Shabaab and urged Somali security forces and AMISOM, to expand their operations, to enable them deal with the group’s “evolving terror threats”.
Degrading Al-Shabaab is a key mandate of AMISOM, which together with the Somali security forces have pushed out the militants from all the country’s major towns. The joint forces continue with military operations to flush Al-Shabaab from pockets of territory it still occupies in Gedo, lower Juba and middle Shabelle regions.
Key Headlines
- IGAD Heads of State Summit Concludes In Mogadishu With Member Countries’ Renewed Commitment To Support Somalia (AMISOM)
- Renowned Somali Journalist Wounded In A Friendly Fire In Mogadishu (SONNA)
- Khat Flights To Somalia Resume Wednesday After Uhuru Mohamud Talks (The Star)
- Somalia Hosts Regional Summit For First Time In 40 Years (VOA)
- Five Wrongfully Detained In Somalia Now Free (HRW)
- Kenya Is Abandoning Somali Refugees (International Business Times)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Renowned Somali Journalist Wounded In A Friendly Fire In Mogadishu
13 September – Source: SONNA – 140 Words
A renowned Somali journalist named Abdiazzi Mohamoud Gulled who works with the national press was on Tuesday day evening wounded in a friendly fire between Somali national army and the Somali police force. The incident occurred at Bondhere district in Mogadishu.
The wounded journalist was rushed to the hospital and admitted to Madina Hospital where he received treatment after his sustained injuries. The said journalist who spoke to the Somali National News Agency from his bed in the hospital said, “Thanks to God, I am really doing well, although the medics in the hospital say that my right leg is broken and my left leg has sustained injuries i am welll,” Gulled said. The journalist urged the Somali government to take strong measures on reprimanding the Somali military personnel who opened the fire on him.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Khat Flights To Somalia Resume Wednesday After Uhuru, Mohamud Talks
13 September – Source: The Star – 282 Words
Planes transporting Miraa from Kenya to Somalia will resume their flights on Wednesday, September 14. This is following an agreement reached between President Uhuru Kenyatta and Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud after a meeting in Mogadishu on Tuesday. Flights to Somalia were suspended last week after purported controversial remarks by Meru Governor Peter Munya.
But Mogadishu said the decision was taken for security reasons owing to the planned IGAD summit. President Kenyatta, the first Head of State to visit Mogadishu in 30 years, also secured an agreement for Kenya Commercial Bank to open a branch in Mogadishu before the end of the year.
The development has been hailed as a major boost to Meru people, especially small-scale miraa farmers who solely depend on the crop for their livelihood. “This is a significant progress and we thank the leadership of Somalia,” Uhuru said after talks with President Mohamoud.
The two leaders also held bilateral talks on matters of mutual interest to the two countries. The leaders also agreed that the two countries will continue their cooperation on matters security, while Kenya will help Somalia strengthen its public service.
President Kenyatta also joined Uganda President Yoweri Museveni and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn for a special IGAD Summit in Mogadishu that discussed the progress Somalia has made towards peace and stability.
Somalia Hosts Regional Summit For First Time In 40 Years
13 September – Source: Voice of America – 425 Words
East African heads of state met in Mogadishu on Tuesday, marking the first time war-torn Somalia has hosted an international summit in more than 40 years. Security was extra tight was for the one-day meeting to prevent attacks by Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab. Authorities put the city on virtual lockdown, with both vehicles and pedestrians blocked from using the major streets of the Somali capital.
Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud hailed the meeting as proof the country is bouncing back from a quarter-century of anarchy. “This summit is a clear sign and evidence that the international community and the regional leaders have realized the real progress Somalia is making on the security, the peacebuilding and good governance,” he said. Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said the progress is a success for regional states and the world.
“We see the progress made and it is a success for all of us in the region and the world in general,” he said. “We must support Somalia in its journey to full stability.” Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, Ethiopian Prime Minister Haliemariam Desalegn, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni attended the summit of the regional bloc IGAD (Intergovernmental Authority on Development) along with high-level officials from Sudan and South Sudan.
Djibouti’s President Ismail Omar Guelleh was expected to attend but his plane turned back mid-flight due to what Djibouti’s ambassador to Somalia described as “technical challenges.” In a communique, IGAD leaders said they hope Somalia conducts free and fair elections on schedule this year. It condemned recent attacks by Al-Shabaab and called on the African Union force in Somalia, AMISOM, to “immediately” recover areas still controlled by the al-Qaida-linked militants.
Five Wrongfully Detained In Somalia Now Free
13 September – Source: Human Rights Watch – 352 Words
Somalia’s intelligence agency held five staff members of a Mogadishu-based policy center for almost a month. Their experiences – including no access to lawyers and no formal charges – show the agency’s complete disregard for basic due process.mThe five were finally released last week, on September 6.
On july 21, agents of the national intellegence and Security Agency (NISA) arrested the men at the offices of the Mogadishu Center for Research and Studies, which focuses on political analysis and commentary primarily for an Arabic-speaking audience. NISA held Abdiwahab Ali Mumin, the center’s chairman, along with employees Abdirahman Ibrahim Abdi, Shafie Abdulaziz, Mohamed Said Mire, and Abdirahim Musa without charge.
Under Somali law, NISA is not legally empowered to detain anyone. Yet they do, often for prolonged periods and without judicial review. Like many people detained by NISA, the five were denied access to legal counsel. On September 4, the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) issued its first-ever public human rights report, which corroborates NISA’s abuses, including repressing the rights to free speech and peaceful assembly.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“If we send 1,000 people home under the voluntary repatriation agreement but we then register 1,000 new arrivals, we would not get the job done.”
Kenya Is Abandoning Somali Refugees
13 September – Source: International Business Times – 926 Words
After 25 years of vicious conflict that has cost countless lives and displaced millions of people, peace has finally broken out in south-central Somalia — at least that’s what Kenya says. And the UN refugee agency, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has joined Kenya to tell the world it should now focus on helping as many refugees as possible to return home.
But I recently spoke with some of the estimated 320,000 Somali refugees in Dadaab, Kenya, the world’s largest refugee camp. And it’s clear that peace is the last thing some of those signing up for UNHCR’s $400 repatriation cash handout are discovering.
A number of refugees told me they had returned destitute to destroyed Somali villages without health care provision and schools, or faced danger as armed groups continue to clash in and around their villages, including towns. After doing their best to survive, they fled back to Kenya, once again as refugees.
One of them is “Amina,” a 38-year-old single mother. After a decade in Dadaab, she decided to try her luck and returned in January 2015 with her five children to her village, Bula Gudud, in the Lower Juba region, hoping to rebuild her life.
She told me: “After two days back home, fighting broke out between government troops and al-Shabab [armed Islamist group]. I could hear the bullets. My children were so scared. They just ran around, trying to get out of the house.” The following day, Amina fled to the closest city, Kismayo. She had no relatives there but hoped she’d find safety and work to feed her children. She found neither.
She and her family barely survived for nine months with other displaced civilians in Kismayo’s appalling internally displaced persons’ camps. After a man in a government uniform raped her, a common occurrence in the unprotected and aid-starved camps across the country, Amina gave up and 10 months ago begged her way back to Dadaab.