September 19, 2017 | Morning Headlines
Somali Prime Minister Heads To New York To Attend UN General Assembly
18 September – Source: Somali National News Agency (SONNA) – 94 Words
Prime Minister of the Somali Federal Government, H.E. Hassan Ali Kheyre on Monday flew to New York, United States to attend the United Nations General Assembly where world leaders will gather and focus on global issues according to reports. Mr. Kheyre is expected to deliver a speech at the 72nd-session of the United Nations General Assembly, and he will also have other meetings with world leaders during his stay at the UN headquarters in the United States of America. Some government officials are accompanying the Prime Minister’s trip to New York according to SONNA.
Key Headlines
- Somali Prime Minister Heads To New York To Attend UN General Assembly (SONNA)
- Parliament Assigns 15 Member Committee Task To Probe Qalbi Dhagah Extradition (Goobjoog News)
- Somalia Regional State Sides With Saudi Arabia Over Qatar (Associated Press)
- New Pipeline Extension to Bring Water to Thousands in Bosasso (Somali Update)
- iRise Hub: A Co-Working Space Aims To Rise With Mogadishu (Progrss)
- US Forces Increase Somalia Airstrikes Amid Uncertainty Over Future (Stripes Online)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Parliament Assigns 15 Member Committee Task To Probe Qalbi Dhagah Extradition
18 September – Source: Goobjoog News – 207 Words
Parliament has appointed 15 member committee to investigate the circumstances under which ONLF senior leader Abdikarim Muse (Qalbi-dhagah) was handed over to Ethiopians following a heated debate over the matter last week in the House. House speaker Mohamed Jawaari said the 15 lawmakers will be expected to present a report to the House by October 10.
The formation of the committee follows a heated debate by the House last week in which some lawmakers questioned the reasons by the Cabinet to extradite Qalbi-dhagah, while others said lawmakers should first acquaint themselves with the Cabinet ruling ahead of the debate. Public uproar has been raging over the extradition and subsequent move by the government to declare the embattled leader a terrorist with the same rankings like Al-Shabaab.
The Cabinet, in a majority decision early this month cited two agreements between Somalia and Ethiopia in 2015 and 2016, to transfer Qalbi Dhagah to Ethiopia. However those who signed the documents- former Galmudug President, Abdikarim Guled and former Minister in the office of the President, Mahad Salad have since dismissed the documents, referring it to ease conflicts between communities in Somalia and Ethiopia. The Senate voted last week to defer debate on the matter pending conclusion of the Lower House.
New Pipeline Extension to Bring Water to Thousands in Bosasso
18 September – Source: Somali Update – 299 Words
A partnership between UNICEF, the Puntland authorities, and partners is bringing piped water to thousands of people in the town of Bosasso for the first time. Currently much of the population in Bosasso – a major seaport and a fast-growing city in northeastern Bari region of Puntland State – gets their water from hand-dug shallow wells. The water is often contaminated and can lead to deadly waterborne diseases such as cholera. Those who can afford, buy better quality water from private sellers at high prices. Only 40 per cent of the population are connected to the city’s pipeline, which was built nearly 20 years ago.
Under a public private partnership, UNICEF; the Puntland Authority for Water, Energy and Natural Resources; and Golden Utilities Management Company (GUMCO) rehabilitated the town’s water tank and laid more than 10,000 metres of pipeline to overhaul the deteriorating water system in Bosasso. The newly-rehabilitated water system has the capacity to connect the entire population of Bosasso to safe water. By the end of 2017, some 9,000 residents will be connected under the first phase of the project.
The partners are also taking the project into camps for internally displaced people. Some 1200 people in Bari Bosasso camp have already been connected and are now receiving piped water, thanks to the pro bono work done by GUMCO. “This is a great step forward in ensuring as many people as possible have access to safe water, especially now with the crisis caused by the drought,” said UNICEF Somalia Representative Steven Lauwerier. “Water is a basic right, all children and their families should have easy access to it. We will continue to work through the Public private partnership model to ensure this basic right is met for every child, household in Bosasso and elsewhere in Somalia.”
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somalia Regional State Sides With Saudi Arabia Over Qatar
18 September – Source: Associated Press – 120 Words
A Somali regional state has declared its support for Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries that have cut ties with Qatar, in a new challenge to Somalia’s efforts to stay neutral in the dispute. In a statement issued Monday, Somalia’s Southwestern state criticized the Somali government’s recent stand to stay neutral in the Gulf crisis which it said was made “without much consideration and consultation” with the regional states. The statement also said that the United Arab Emirates and Somalia have centuries of historical, cultural and commercial relationships.The development is a new challenge for Somalia’s central government which has rejected multiple attempts by Gulf states to support one side or the other. Somali officials were not available for comment.
iRise Hub: A Co-Working Space Aims To Rise With Mogadishu
18 September- Source: Progrss – 478 Words
Mogadishu, Somalia, is a vibrant city rich in both industry and conflict, with a population of 1.4 million that is predominantly young. Due to the increasing number of graduates, rising access to technology products and services, a growing culture of entrepreneurship, and an influx of Somali diaspora, the only ingredient missing from the Somali capital has been co-working spaces. Until iRise came along in July of this year. “There is no support network and institutions that help wantrepreneurs and entrepreneurs with space, networks, skills and the resources they need,” says Awil Osman, founder and CEO of iRise Hub, Somalia’s first co-working space that is yet to launch. In addition to acting as a coworking space, iRise will provide research, incubation and acceleration services for new start-ups in the city.
According to Osman, the name “iRise” was inspired by the #SomaliaRising hashtag, which emerged in 2013 to highlight the stabilization and recovery of the country, which had long been deemed a “failed state.” The hashtag aimed to show the world the resilience of the Somali people and attract tourism and international investors to the country. “Somalia is an emerging success story, but momentum needs to be sustained,” says Nicholas Kay, former UN special representative to Somalia. The IMF’s Somalia mission chief, Rogerio Zandamela agrees: “If improvement in security continues, the entrepreneurial private sector will continue to be the most dynamic contributor to economic growth,” he says.
Once considered unsafe for commercial airlines, Mogadishu’s Aden Abdulle International Airport now receives flights everyday. The impact of renewed economic activity is visible in the capital, where attractive office buildings and residential apartments are replacing bullet-riddled, dilapidated structures. The acceleration of Mogadishu’s economic growth continues to grow thanks to the country’s reliance on livestock, fisheries and a resurgent private sector, which includes telecommunications, construction and money transfer. “We are [one] of the players that are trying to map Somalia and show that we are no longer a failed state but a promising and beautiful country with human resources; 75 percent of the population is under 35 years old,” Osman tells progress. “It will create job opportunities and help create local solutions for local problems.”
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“Besides airstrikes, the stepped-up operations include U.S. commandos on the front lines with Somali forces. Regular U.S. troops give lessons in building defense institutions, with added support from other nations. There is some doubt about the likely success of the airstrike campaign and the surge in land operations”
US Forces Increase Somalia Airstrikes Amid Uncertainty Over Future
18 September – Source: Stripes Online – 736 Words
An intensifying U.S. airstrike campaign against Somalia is unlikely by itself to defeat a resilient band of Al-Qaida-aligned militants, a fact that could tempt the U.S. to wade deeper into a country faced with the departure of an African force that has offered protection for a decade. The uptick in U.S. strikes against Al-Shabaab targets — 13 different attacks since June — is part of a hurried effort to degrade the long-running insurgency and buy time for Somalia’s fledgling military. The vexing questions now are the country’s fate after the withdrawal of the African Union Mission to Somalia, set to begin next year and conclude by 2020: How much territory could be lost to al-Shabab, and how fast?
“The group (Al-Shabaab) would most likely retake some lost territory should AMISOM forces withdraw before the (Somalia National Army) is capable of effective independent operations against the group,” said Robyn Mack, a spokeswoman for U.S. Africa Command. “That being said, at this time it’s too early to determine what, if any, additional support will be required from the international community when AMISOM departs.” Besides airstrikes, the stepped-up operations include U.S. commandos on the front lines with Somali forces. Regular U.S. troops give lessons in building defense institutions, with added support from other nations.
Besides airstrikes, the stepped-up operations include U.S. commandos on the front lines with Somali forces. Regular U.S. troops give lessons in building defense institutions, with added support from other nations. There is some doubt about the likely success of the airstrike campaign and the surge in land operations. “No clear indication yet, but when pressured previously there has been a temporary degradation in both the group’s command and control and morale of the rank-and-file members,” Mack said. “However, this degradation has likely been temporary. The group has maintained the ability to resurge when pressure against them on the ground by allied/partner forces has lessened.”
When the African Union intervened in Somalia in 2007, Al-Shabaab was on the brink of overtaking Mogadishu and controlled large areas of territory where it enforced its rule with beheadings and mass killings. The African Union eventually pushed the militants out of most former strongholds, but as its mission began to slow in 2016, al-Shabab made gains. Recently, there also have been flickers of Islamic State presence in the country. J. Peter Pham, who is under consideration by the Trump administration to serve as assistant secretary of state for Africa, said airstrikes are unlikely to defeat Shabab, which “has shown itself to be a remarkably resilient group, adapting to the shifting strategic landscape of Somalia and its neighborhood. “Thus there is no reason to believe that it will not also survive in some fashion the recent setbacks it has suffered in terms of strikes and defections,” Pham said.
African Union and AFRICOM officials also acknowledged that Somalia’s military is unable to fight on its own against Al-Shabaab, which seeks to impose a strict form of Sharia law. Somalia’s capital of Mogadishu wouldn’t fall immediately upon the AU’s departure, but it could be eventually at risk as Al-Shabaab chips at surrounding territory, said Vanda Felbab-Brown, an expert on Somalia with the Washington-based Brookings Institution think tank. “Clearly, al-Shabab understands the reality that everyone else understands as well — the writing is on the wall with the respect to the AU leaving,” Felbab-Brown said. During the next two years, the U.S. and other Western partners are tasked with reading Somalia’s military to lead the fight, but so far the training effort lacks cohesion, analysts said. The NATO mission in Afghanistan, where the U.S. has spent billions of dollars to build up security forces, shows the limits of “building partner capacity” in nations with governments that wield little control over their territory. “All the problems you have in Afghanistan are all bigger in Somalia,” Felbab-Brown said. “There are massive challenges to overcome.”