September 25, 2018 | Daily Monitoring Report

Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Silatech’s Board of Trustees, and Ahmed Eissa Awad, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation of Somalia, witnessed yesterday in New York the signing of three agreements to economically empower Somali youth by securing more than 75,000 jobs in Somalia. A collaboration between Silatech, the American Refugee Committee (ARC) and UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), aims to provide housing and energy solutions for 1,000 families and develop local youth owned enterprises; creating around 3,000 jobs for returning refugees and IDPs in the Kismayo district.

Silatech’s second agreement is to support Al Amal bank in financing youth enterprises to create 63,414 jobs around Somalia. The third agreement is in partnership with the Somali Institute for Development and Research Analysis (SIDRA) to train 9,000 graduates with the required skills for job placement. These agreements are part of Silatech’s continuous effort in Somalia to empower youth and women to play an active role in developing their own communities and promoting peace and security in a time of crises and frequent disasters affecting the social and economic stability of the Somali people.

Key Headlines

• Her Highness Sheikha Moza Witnesses Signing Of Key Agreements With Silatech (Gulf Times)
• RADIO: SNA Opens Up Mogadishu-Marka Road (Dalsan Radio)
• ISIS Claims Responsibility For Killing Puntland Presidential Guard (puntlandmirror.net)
• SOMTEL Staffer Shot Dead In Bakara Market (Goobjoog News )
• Somalis Raise Money For Family Of Man Killed Over Love Match (starfm.co.ke)
• The Deteriorating Relations Between The FGS And Regional Leaders (Wardheer News )

NATIONAL NEWS

RADIO: SNA Opens Up Mogadishu-Marka Road

25 September 08:07:04 – Source : Dalsan Radio – 99 Words

Somali National Army (SNA) has conducted operations to secure the main road that connects Mogadishu and Lower Shabelle region, especially through areas controlled by Al-Shabaab in the outskirts of Marka. Chief Defense of SNA, Gen. Odawa Yusuf Raage, who led forcesin the operation, expressed pleasure at finally succeeding in removing members of the militia group off the road.

Speaking to the media, he declared that transport between Marka and Mogadishu was now safe. SNA’s mission, he said, was to liberate all areas from the Al-Shabaab threat and stop the group from harming innocent civilians.

---

ISIS Claims Responsibility For Killing Puntland Presidential Guard

24 September – Source : puntlandmirror.net – 118 Words

The Islamic State has, through the group’s Amaq News Agency, claimed responsibility for killing a Puntland soldier on Monday in Bosaso town. One soldier of the Puntland Presidential Guard, identified as Ahmed Mohamed Jama Hurfe was killed and another one wounded in the attack in Bosaso, security source told Puntland Mirror.

The attack came as Puntland President Abdiweli Mohamed Ali iwas touring Bosaso. The security officials said several suspects have been arrested in connection with Monday’s attack against the regional state’s soldiers. The ISIS militant group emerged as an insurgent group in Puntland in late 2015 after it split from the Al-Shabaab faction in Galgala Mountains in Bari region.

---

SOMTEL Staffer Shot Dead In Bakara Market

25 September – Source : Goobjoog News – 168 Words

Armed men shot dead a staffer of the local telecommunications company, SOMTEL in Bakara market on Tuesday morning before escaping from the scene. Eye witnesses told Goobjoog News that the staffer, identified as Mohamed Maadhin, was gunned down near Hareed Mosque in the busy Bakara market before the assailants fled from the scene. The motive of Maadhin’s killing could not immediately be established.

The killing adds to increasing incidents of gun attacks in the city, especially in Bakara market. A manager from Amal Bank was shot dead last week a day after a wheelbarrow loaded with explosives blew up at the entrance of the bank’s headquarters in Bakara market. Two days later, a bus conductor was shot dead and another person killed in a blast at a junction in Bakara market. Three police officers and a civilian were injured after the gunmen, who are thought to have remained within the vicinity, hurled a hand grenade at them as they responded.

---

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Somalis Raise Money For Family Of Man Killed Over Love Match

24 September – Source : starfm.co.ke – 193 Words

Somalis have taken to crowdfunding platform GoFundMe to raise money for the family of a man murdered in Mogadishu over his nephew’s marriage. Ahmed Mukhtar Salah, a Somali Bantu, was beaten, stabbed and burnt alive over his nephew’s plans to marry a woman from a “superior” clan, according to local media reports. Somali police arrested the mother of the young woman and several other people in connection with the killing. Salah, survived by a family of 12, ran a garage in the Somali capital.

Somali Faces, an online platform set up to share stories of Somalis from around the world, set up the GoFundMe page to raise money to help the victim’s family. It said it will “also be raising further awareness on the plight of Somalia’s minority groups by showcasing their personal stories”. Somali social media users and activists are pushing for those behind the attack on Salah to be properly punished. Somali Faces said it had decided to raise funds for Salah’s family to alleviate their suffering. It has already raised $3,211 of a $13,000 goal.

---

OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE

“”Most importantly, the regional leaders felt that the federal government is working against their existence by financing individuals within member states to disrupt the peace and security of the regional government. That seemed to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. However, to be fair, the regional leaders allowed themselves to be put in that position.””

The Deteriorating Relations Between The FGS And Regional Leaders

25 September – Source : Wardheer News – 423 Words

Somali regional leaders held a meeting in Kismayo, the interim capital city of Jubbaland state on September 4-8, 2018, where they issued a statement to suspend all ties with the federal government of Somalia. The meeting was attended by the leaders of all five Somalia’s Federal Member States, Puntland, South west, Jubbaland, Galmudug and Hirshabeelle.

The statement issued by the regional leaders was not something that was expected. This is the first meeting in which the regional leaders issued a statement to suspend their cooperation and relations with the federal government. The most that was expected from the meeting was for the leaders to issue a statement warning the federal government to change its course and asking the international community to intervene.

Social media and Somali national TV were continuously reporting the excellent relationship between the federal government and the member states to the point where the federal government circulated pictures showing the president and/or prime minister meeting with member state leaders. At the last Somali forum held in Brussels, the government emphasized the improved relationship between the federal government and the member states.

Also, the member states seemed to have no other choice but to work with the federal government, which appeared to be working hard to lessen the member state powers enshrined in the constitution. Nevertheless, the federal member states felt their back was against the wall, and they had reasons to be concerned.

The government failed to make any improvement to the safety of the city of Mogadishu, where the security of the capital has deteriorated in recent months. The regional leaders accused the federal government of not fulfilling the agreements reached at the previous conferences between the central government and federal member states, such as the conferences held in Mogadishu and Baidoa .

It is also clear that, despite the federal government and international community insisting that an election based on one-person one-vote should be held, which is almost impossible, given what needs to be accomplished before that vote can take place and the performance of this government over the last year and a half.

Most importantly, the regional leaders felt that the federal government is working against their existence by financing individuals within member states to disrupt the peace and security of the regional government. That seemed to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. However, to be fair, the regional leaders allowed themselves to be put in that position.

---

TOP TWEETS

@Halbeeg_News: Somali Foreign Minister inks deals to secure over 75,000 jobs for youth in Somalia.

@Jacfar4661: BREAKING. Gunmen moments ago killed Bjajaj driver and other person yet not identified his title killed in Hodan & howlwadaag districts #Somalia.

@MediaWatchF: Silatech signs three agreements to provide over 75,000 jobs for youth in Somalia – https://bit.ly/2pwD92h #ARC #UNHCR #YouthEmpowerment #EconomicEmpowerment #Development

@AbdulBillowAli: Congrats #Waberi on your second successive victory. #Shibis played well but Waberi district team will enjoy full bragging rights after winning the 2018 inter district soccer tournament played at the Banadir Stadium in #Mogadishu. #Somalia

@Magdashi3: #AFGOYE: Two Electoral delegates from South West State have been reportedly shot dead by Unknown gunmen in a two separate attacks in #Somalia‘s #Afgoye town, L/Shabelle region. #AlShabaab Takes Credit. https://bit.ly/2zspGhU

@EU_in_Somalia: Good meeting @DeputySomaliPM with Deputy Prime Minister H.E. Mahdi Mohamed and @AUexkull Swedish Ambassador Andreas von Uexkull to take stock of progress made since the Somalia Partnership Forum in Brussels last July. EU Delegation’s Chargé d’affaires Fulgencio Garrido Ruiz.

@mpfsomalia: Today, the @WorldBank Board of Directors will meet to discuss strategic, financial and technical support in #Somalia until 2022. @mpfsomalia will push for #Governance, economic opportunities & #resilience, and placing Somali authorities in the centre of public service delivery.

IMAGE OF THE DAY

President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo addressing soccer fans last night at Konis Stadium in Mogadishu.
Photo : @TheVillaSomalia