September 17, 2013 | Daily Monitoring Report.

Main Story

Somali president takes off from Brussels to Roma-Italy

17 Sept – Source: Radio Mustaqbal/Radio Bar-kulan – 216 words

High delegation led by the president of Somali federal government Hassan Sheikh Mohamud reportedly took off Brussels international Airport to Roma, Italy on Tuesday.

The Spokesman of the President Palace and Adviser of the president of Somali federal government Eng. Abdirahman Omar Osman Yarisow confirmed that the president went to Italy for two day visit.

The Spokesman of Somali president added that the president will meet Italian government officials and Somali community in Italy during the visit.

Sources close to the president also hinted after Italy, the president of Somalia will proceed to Washington DC, USA where he is expected to address at Woodrow Center. Somali president will also go to Ohio province where he will meet Somali community as to discuss the restoring hope and stability in Somalia.

Key Headlines

Somali president takes off from Brussels to Roma-Italy (Radio Mogadishu/Bar-kulan)
Al Shabaab allied group denounce violence in Somalia (Raxanreeb/Somali Channel TV)
Grenade attacks on gov’t military base in Jowhar (Shabelle)
EU hails ‘new deal’ for Somalia (European Voice)
Beledweyne residents watch in fear as river waters rise (Radio Ergo)
Somali Elders urge Kuwait to organise conference on Somalia (Kuwait News Agency)
South Africa’s $10m boost for Somalia reconstruction (Africa Review)
Somali Parliament sessions restart with new motion (Garowe Online/Somali Channel TV)
UN chief reaffirms support to Somali ‘New Deal’ approved at international conference (UN News Center)
Somalia seeks Ethiopia’s continued support in peace efforts (Sudan Trbune)
UK will help Somalia plan a safe and prosperous future (Wired News)

SOMALI MEDIA

Somali president takes off from Brussels to Roma-Italy

17 Sept – Source: Radio Mustaqbal/Radio Bar-kulan – 216 words

High delegation led by the president of Somali federal government Hassan Sheikh Mohamud reportedly took off Brussels international Airport to Roma, Italy on Tuesday.

The Spokesman of the President Palace and Adviser of the president of Somali federal government Eng. Abdirahman Omar Osman Yarisow confirmed that the president went to Italy for two day visit.

The Spokesman of Somali president added that the president will meet Italian government officials and Somali community in Italy during the visit.

Al Shabaab allied group denounce violence in Somalia

17 Sept – Source: Raxanreeb/Somali Channel TV – 132 words

Hizbul Islam, a former hardline function which merged with al Shabaab and al Qaeda in 2010 said it has officially pulled out from al Shabaab and that it has stopped using violence as means for its politician vision, RBC reports.

Sheikh Mohamed Mo’alim, the group’s spokesperson said the disbanded Hizbul Islam group chooses to support the peace of Somalia and achieve its vision through reconciliation.

“After long discussions within our organization, Hizbul Islam declares to stop the fighting and take a peaceful way.” Sheikh Mohamed Mo’alim said in a press conference in Mogadishu on Monday.

He said the group is committed to oppose the extremism in Somalia which he said it does not hold any position in the religion. “We will be a political group instead of violent group.” he added.

Grenade attacks on gov’t military base in Jowhar

17 Sept – Source: Shabelle – 97 words

Residents of Jowhar town confirmed to Shabelle radio station in Mogadishu that a grenade was thrown onto a government military base located at the outskirts of Jowhar the headquarter town of the middle Shabelle region.

The hand grenade was hurled by unknown men who caused several casualties to the military personnel who were at the base. Government soldiers opened heavy gunfire after the explosion occurred.

Government officials in Jowhar town did not comment on Monday night attacks as they conducted security operations in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Beledweyne residents watch in fear as river waters rise

17 Sept – Source: Radio Ergo – 246 words

Ruqiya Mohamed Hassan can see from her house, on the edges of the Shabelle river, the dangerously rising level of the water. She is sure the river is going to overflow and fears for the safety of her five children and herself. “We don’t know where to go and what to do!” Hassan told Radio Ergo’s local reporter. “We can’t go to bed because we fear that the river might overflow while are sleeping at night.”

Beletweyne, capital of Hiran region, has four heavily populated residential quarters clustered along the edges of the river: Howl-wadaag, Koshin, Hawo tako and Buundo-weyn. “In the case of any floods, the water will overflow across all these estates,” warned traditional local elder Omar Hassan Ali. The farmers in this agricultural area are worried that the imminent floods might also sweep away their farms and crops.

“We have been cultivating the farms for weeks and months, expecting to earn some money, but we fear the floods might wash it all away,” Mohamud Abdi Moalim, a local farmer, told Radio Ergo. In April, floods forced hundreds of families to abandon their homes in Beletweyne, AMISOM forces came in to assist with an evacuation of affected families. Significant areas of farm land planted with maize, sesame, beans and a variety of vegetables were also destroyed.

Somali Parliament sessions restart with new motion

16 Sept – Source: Garowe Online/Somali Channel TV – 133 words

Somali parliament resumed its session on Monday at parliament hall with Deputy Parliament Speaker Jaylani Nur Ikar present as the chair, Federal members of Parliament arrived in Mogadishu to attend the anticipated deliberations, Garowe Online reports.

After a month-long holiday, lawmakers initially listened reports from some MPs who had been on visit to their constituencies. Among those who addressed the MPs was Abdi Barre Yusuf Jibril who mainly discussed relation between Federal Government of Somalia and Puntland.

Jibril stressed the need for continued cooperation on various areas and told the MPs that Puntland government in northern Somalia wants a new policies aimed to resolve the standing differences including to revise clauses and articles in the Provisional Federal Constitution (PFC) that have been tampered with and to correct the country’s education policy.

Gedo herds affected by unknown diseases

16 Sept – Source: Radio Ergo – 179 words

Pastoralists in Gedo region are expressing concern over the outbreaks of unidentified diseases threatening goat and sheep. They report the deaths of more than 100 goats and sheeps in the districts of Bardhere iyo and Garbaharey in the past week.

Kabow Abdi, a goatherd, said the worst affected rural areas were Qotiley, Dagmarer, Sharawe, Matano and Qorijab. There are no veterinary centres there to diagnose the diseases observed by the local herders.

Mohamed Ahmed, a veterinarian working for VSF (Vets without Borders) told Radio Ergo’s local reporter they were investigating. “We are in the process of trying to identify these diseases, but what we have seen so far indicates that the region has not experienced these particular diseases before,” Ahmed said.

He said VSF had received reports indicating that a number of goats, sheep and cattle had died of unknown causes during the past couple of months. Another local goatherd, Mohamed Mohamud, told Radio Ergo that local people had stopped eating goat meat for fear of possible human infection by these unknown diseases.

Puntland beefs up Galkayo security

16 Sept – Source: Garowe Online – 128 words

Puntland security forces have been conducting massive security operations for the past two years in Mudug provincial capital Galkayo in an effort to combat recurrent crimes, Garowe Online reports.

Puntland Deputy Police Chief Gen. Muhyadin Ahmed Muse who held a press conference in Galkayo on Mondaysaid there is a visible decline in insecurity incidents after a mammoth task of ensuring the stability.

Gen. Musse noted that police sweep netted many people who were suspected of involving criminal activities including apparently coordinated assassinations targeting both important civilians and government officials.

“We call on the locals to closely work with the security forces so that we can further improve the security situation,” said Gen. Musse. “Tremendous work was undertaken to properly capacitate our security agencies based in Mudug region”.

60 IDP girls and boys win scholarships in Garowe

16 Sept – Source: Radio Ergo – 202 words

Sixty primary school children from poor displaced families living in Garowe have been awarded scholarships to continue their education in intermediate schools. The children, 34 girls and 26 boys, graduated from Kulan Primary School, which gives free schooling to children in the IDP camps.

The director of Kulan Primary School, Samsam Mohamed, said she was proud that the majority of the students were female, and that it showed that girls in the camps were very determined to study. The children come from displaced families mostly n south-central Somalia. As their families are among the poorest, the children often don’t dare to dream of school. “Most are incapable in terms of money, and they often feel inferior,” Ms Mohamed said.

The scholarships, awarded by the Ministry of Education with UNICEF funding, give these IDP children the chance to integrate with local children at prestigious schools in Puntland. Ahmed Jama, 11, told Radio Ergo’s local he was very happy to win a scholarship and that he would study hard so that he could take his family out of poverty.

Somalia Information minister‏ responds to a hoax letter

16 Sept – Source: Kismaayo news/ Radio Dalsan/Dhanaan Online – 266 words

Referring to a hoax letter circulating some of the Somali websites and allegedly written by me, I categorically deny the existence of such a letter. I confirm that I did not have any communication orally or in writing with Somalia and Eritrea monitoring group. Furthermore, it is imperative to mention that all actions taken against SKA are in line with the government duties and what is beneficial to our country. To that end, the Federal Government of Somalia is not backtracking & apologizing its actions.

On the other hand, those who fabricated the letter have tried to blemish our head of state Mr. Hassan Sh. Mohamud, who is the leader of our government’s fight against corruption. We are well aware president Hassan Sh. Mohamud, has zero tolerance in corruption and abuse of power.

REGIONAL MEDIA

Somali Elders urge Kuwait to organise conference on Somalia

17 Sept – Source: Kuwait News Agency – 210 words

Sharif Omar Ahmed, Chairman of Somali Elders based in the UK, has urged Kuwait to organise a conference to restore peace and stability in Somalia. Ahmed told the Kuwait news agency, KUNA, in Brussels that he visited Kuwait in February to ask the Kuwait government to organise such a conference.

“Kuwait is an Arab brotherly country. And Kuwait is a very close friend to Somalia and the Somali people. Many Somalis live in Kuwait,” he said.

“HH the Amir of Kuwait was also in Somalia and he likes very much the Somali people. We thank very much the Amir of Kuwait and now we are asking to arrange for some conference in Kuwait for Somali people,” said Ahmed who was in Brussels to attend an international conference on Somalia held on Monday.

Somalia seeks Ethiopia’s continued support in peace efforts

17 Sept – Source: Sudan Tribune – 131 words

War ravaged Somalia has sought continued support from neighbouring Ethiopia as part of ongoing efforts to maintain sustainable peace and security. Somalia, which is seeing a relative revival from decades of war, made the request after Somalia president, Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud, paid a visit to Addis Ababa and held talks with Ethiopian Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr Tedros Adhanom on Sunday.

While commending Ethiopia’s significant role in bringing peace and stability in Somalia, president Mahmoud said Addis Ababa’s continued support remains key to achieving national reconciliation and bringing about durable peace and security in Somalia.

According to the office of Ethiopia’s foreign affairs spokesperson, the Somalia president also lauded Ethiopia’s role in regional peace building as well as “fostering economic integration through developing regional infrastructure, trade and other social and economic activities”.

South Africa’s $10m boost for Somalia reconstruction

16 Sept – Source: Africa Review – 263 words

South Africa is joining on-going efforts to promote the Somalia peace and reconstruction, Pretoria announced on Monday. Bringing together the important members of the international community and the senior representatives of the federal government of Somalia, the conference in on-going efforts has put emphasis on Somali political vision, security mechanism, social and economic reconstruction, said South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) in a statement.

Somalia has been torn by its factional fighting since 1991, leaving hundreds of civilians dead, wounded and displaced in large numbers.

NATO chief discusses anti-piracy cooperation with Djibouti leader

16 Sept – Source: Kuwait News Agency – 202 words

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen met Monday the President of Djibouti Ismail Omar Guelleh and discussed counter-piracy efforts off the Horn of Africa and the situation in Somalia during the presidents visit to NATO headquarters.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Rasmussen thanked Omar Guelleh for his countrys leadership role in fighting piracy. “Djiboutis strong commitment to counter-piracy and your support for our efforts are greatly appreciated,” he stressed.

Somalia has been the base for most pirate activity off Africas east coast, he noted. “We agree on the importance of continued efforts to help stabilise the country, both from a political and security perspective. Because ultimately, the roots of piracy are not at sea, but on land,” said the NATO chief.

Kuwait underlines continued support to reconstruction of Somalia

16 Sept – Source: Kuwait News Agency – 395 words

Kuwait Monday pledged at an international conference in Brussels on Somalia to continue its help and support to promote economic development and combat poverty in the African country.

“We eagerly look forward to further cooperation with the Government of Somalia and take this opportunity to re-affirm our commitment to assist Somalia in its efforts aimed at re-construction and economic development,” Abdullah Sulaiman Al-Saqer, assistant regional manager for Arab countries at the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, told the conference titled ‘A new deal for Somalia.’

“This meeting comes at an important juncture as Somalia progresses towards peace and stability which must be underpinned by efforts to promote economic development and combat poverty which usually lies at the root of civil strife and conflict,” he tod the one-day event which ended this evening. Al-Saqer noted that the cooperation of The Kuwait Fund with Somalia dates back nearly 40 years, before the eruption of conflict in the country.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

EU hails ‘new deal’ for Somalia

17 Sept – Source: European Voice – 246 words

Somalia’s plans for its reconstruction win the backing of the international community and an additional €650 in EU funding. The international community, led by the European Union, today endorsed a three-year plan to establish Somalia as a functioning state and pledged to invest over €1.8 billion into helping the Somali government’s efforts to establish order in the country after a 21-year civil war.

EU officials said before the conference, entitled a ‘New Deal for Somalia’, that anything above €1 billion would be “a significant success”. The money will be spent according to a plan drawn up by the year-old Somali government, with international assistance.

UN chief reaffirms support to Somali ‘New Deal’ approved at international conference

16 Sept – Source: UN News Center – 204 words

The international community and Somalia begin a new partnership today, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said urging parties to align their political and financial support begin a ‘New Deal’ to drive the country’s economic and political recovery.

“Today we take forward that commitment by endorsing the Somalia New Deal Compact and aligning international support to implement its principles and priorities,” the Secretary-General said in his message to the High-Level Conference on a New Deal for Somalia delivered in Brussels by his Special Representative Nicholas Kay.

Finalized today, the New Deal is seen as a roadmap for promoting statebuilding and peacebuilding over the next three years by focusing on the Somali political processes, security, legal system and economic foundation.

During the one-day meeting, hosted jointly by the European Union and the Somali Federal Government, the Somali leadership set out its priorities and plans on a course to deliver on them, while the international community laid out future support for those priorities.

UK will help Somalia plan a safe and prosperous future

16 Sept – Source: Wired-gov – 653 words

Justine Greening announces new support to boost Somalia’s economy and create jobs at the New Deal for Somalia conference in Brussels. Britain has pledged further support to boost Somalia’s economy and create jobs as the country recovers from 20 years of civil war, International Development Secretary Justine Greening announced today.

The new package of support comes as Somalia’s government is set to agree its first strategy to coordinate its development and plan a more peaceful future at the New Deal for Somalia conference in Brussels.

The UK’s support will ensure 8,400 children are treated for malnutrition and 5,300 babies receive life-saving immunisations. The UK will also pledge new support to boost Somalia’s economic development by encouraging more investment and generating thousands of new jobs across the country.

SOCIAL MEDIA

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

“Turning the page on the War on Terror demands a more thoroughly diplomatic, more Somali-centered approach. Undoubtedly, the approach to debating Somalia’s constitution will need to be as patient as it is imaginative, especially when the idea of discussing territorial limits and federalism attracts so much hostility.”

Building Consensus For A New Somalia

16 Sept – Source: Huffingpost Blog – 839 Words

Mogadishu has witnessed the arrival of new development, returning diaspora and foreign investment at a pace unseen for decades, creating a powerful constituency invested in peace and generating hope that the new era of stability in Somalia will last.

Events, however, this summer reflect a fundamental yet unresolved challenge — how to convert military success into political stability. Last week’s bombings in the capital, including an attempt on the President’s life, follow hard on the tail of fighting in Kismayo, a horrific attack on the UN and al Shabaab’s unopposed re-occupation of areas vacated by Ethiopian troops. They speak of more than just a fragile peace, serious cracks in the strategy are emerging.

While Somalia remains entirely reliant on outside support, the international community has the opportunity to reconsider more fundamental issues before it heaps funds on institutions and reinforces a system with under-developed popular legitimacy.

“The E.U. has already poured $1.2 billion in aid into Somalia between 2008 and 2013 with almost nothing to show for it. The goals of the funding push — including hiking student enrollment rates — are praiseworthy. But a “paradigm shift” — as Mohamud has called it, borrowing the vapid vocabulary of U.S. corporation-speak — this is not.”

Is the E.U. throwing good money after bad in Somalia?

16 Sept – Source: Blouin News Blog – 480 Words

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud marked one year in office on Monday amid a pronounced deterioration of the security situation in Mogadishu. Thanks to the European Union, however, the leader has at least one thing to be grateful for a year into his term.

Despite allegations of rampant corruption, European nations have pledged $860 million to the fragile nation as part of a “New Deal” intended to usher Somalia out of conflict. As much as Mohamud might appreciate the funding pledge and the vote of confidence it conveys, whether this “New Deal” will actually enable progress in the war-ravaged country is another matter.

The compact hinges on the overly optimistic idea that Somalia is a nation in transition. E.U. Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso made this clear by heralding a “new phase in the life of Somalia”. However, progress has been glacial under Mohamud and renewed violence in the capital in recent months, including the brazen attack on a U.N. compound in June, suggests Barroso’s take is premature.

“My strange, frustrating relationship with an American terrorist.”

Omar and Me

16 Sept – Source: Foreign Policy – 5758 Words

I don’t know exactly when I began to worry I had become friends with a terrorist. Believe it or not, this kind of thing happens to people relatively often. For instance, after the Boston Marathon bombing, dozens of friends of the surviving suspect, college student Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, lined up in front of cameras to express horror that their friend had been so different from the person they thought they knew.

But they hadn’t known.

From the moment I first saw him in a video in April 2009, I knew Omar Hammami was a terrorist who had embraced al Qaeda’s global campaign. And when he first became aware of me, he knew I was on the other side of the apocalyptic conflict he imagined, an unabashedly Western writer and analyst working to shine a light on terrorist operations and violent ideologies.

Hammami grew up in a Muslim-Christian family in Daphne, Alabama. His upbringing was not particularly religious, but he gravitated toward Islam in his teenage years, seizing it with the zealot of a convert. Never one to do things halfway, he threw himself into religion and became militant. He traveled to Somalia in 2006 and joined al Shabaab, the violent insurgent group that more recently declared its affiliation to al Qaeda.

“Rapid projects that attempt to make a transition towards democracy in fragile situations like Somalia are perilous and very expensive. More modest, fully developed, short-term projects like stabilization or building a coherent framework for this are what is needed.”

Somalia: government must downsize its vision over democracy project and Vision 2016

16 Sept – Source: African Arguments – 1187 Words

This week the Somali government and its international donors are coming together in Brussels under the rubric of ‘The New Deal’ vision. This will set in motion a massive amount of money and machinery required for reconstructing and rebuilding the country. In case you are unfamiliar with The New Deal, it is a new global framework that allows fragile countries (a list which Somalia tops) to decide ‘own’ their fate, build confidence and prepare for a responsible transition to democracy.

Last week, the Somali Federal Government, for its part, organized a preliminarily conference in Mogadishu in which it gathered legislators, civil society organizations, diaspora representatives, academics, and regional authorities. The goal of the conference was to debate the future of the country beyond 2016 under the title of the Transition to Democracy Vision. In the absence of a framework on transition to democracy, delegates offered sketchy and rather casual recommendations to ‘transform’ Somalia.

At the end of the conference, delegates agreed on a national vision, dubbed ‘Vision 2016: Transitioning towards Democracy.’ At the heart of this is a vision is to transform Somalia into a functional democracy based on an independent one man-one-vote election – a sort of Jeffersonian representative democracy – to take place in 2016

Top tweets

@UNDPSomalia Strong international support for#SomaliaNewDeal with pledges of € 1.8 billion to set #Somalia on a pathway to peace.

‏@amisomsomalia An AMISOM medic tries to cheer up a child at a medical outreach centre in #Mogadishu #Somalia http://on.fb.me/QqTSeN pic.twitter.com/UAzOz9QIgi.

@UKinSomalia Read this remarkable story of how @DFID_UKsupport is making childbirth safer in #Somalia http://tinyurl.com/n6fkojd.

@cewarn “In the absence of violence ppl switch off their Radio thinking there is no news” Somali Media Rep #peace #Somalia pic.twitter.com/sBKderUY4S.

‏@USAforSOMALIA Congratulations to #Somalia #PresidentHassan Sheikh on one year in office since his inauguration@TheVillaSomalia @SomaliPM.

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Image of the day

Image of the day (L-R) European Council Pres Jose Manuel Barroso, European Union foreign affairs head Catherine Ashton, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Somali Deputy Prime Minister Fawzia Yusuf Adam during the International conference on Somalia held in Brussels, Belgium, September 16, 2013. Photo: European Union.