September 26, 2017 | Daily Monitoring Report
President Farmaajo Set To Make Third Trip To Saudi Arabia
26 September – Source: Jowhar Media – 106 Words
President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo is today expected to travel to Saudi Arabia, as confirmed by sources close to Villa Somalia. News about his visit has hit the media last week albeit the Presidential media has not spoken about the scheduled trip. His visit will become the third to Saudi Arabia and comes amid a political tension in the Gulf and in Somalia as well. President Farmaajo’s government is facing internal and external political pressure from the Saudi-led coalition who cut ties with Qatar. It is not yet clear if his visit would have an impact on his government’s decision to remain neutral in the Arab crisis.
Key Headlines
- President Farmaajo Set To Make Third Trip To Saudi Arabia (Jowhar Media)
- Boost For Amisom As It Receives 19 Combat Vehicles From US (Googjoog News)
- Somali MPs To Table Motion Against UAE Envoy For “Criminal Acts” & “Interference” (Radio Dalsan)
- Somalia AU Forces Seek Solution To Improvised Explosive Devices (Xinhua Net)
- Ethiopia Says Somaliland Displaced Thousands of Oromo People (Bloomberg Politics)
- The Crocodile Tears Of The Extradition of Qalbi-dhagax And The Baseless Greater Somalia Euphoria Beneath it (Wardheere News)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Boost For AMISOM As It Receives 19 Combat Vehicles From US
26 September – Source: Goobjoog News – 203 Words
The African Union force AMISOM on Monday received 19 combat vehicles from the US boosting its capacity to fight against Al-Shabaab and stabilizing Somalia. The vehicles which were delivered to the Ugandan contingent under AMISOM will be instrumental in enhancing the forces’ combat operations, Ugandan Contingent Commander Brig. General Muhanga Kayanja said. Brig. General Miguel A. Castellanos, Commander US Army Deputy Commanding General CJTF-HOA Somalia reiterated the commitment of the United States towards enhancing the fight against terrorism in Somalia. He also added that support in terms of donation of vehicles will be extended to all the Contingents serving under AMISOM.
The AMISOM Ugandan Contingent Commander welcomed the donation which he said is timely. “As a Contingent, we have been operating at 40 percent capacity in terms of the necessary equipment. This donation therefore comes in handy and will greatly boost our technical and operational capability. We however continue to face a big challenge of the Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), which have cost us a lot of equipment. We need an urgent solution to this challenge,” General Muhanga stated. The donations comes with spare parts for the vehicles and a maintenance team is to be assigned to train personnel to ensure timely repairs.
Somali MPs To Table Motion Against UAE Envoy For “Criminal Acts” & “Interference”
26 September – Source: Radio Dalsan – 272 Words
A motion calling for the condemnation of United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ambassador Mr. Mohammed Othman Al Hammadi is in the offing, a source told Radio Dalsan. The motion comes at a time when the political riffles following the Gulf Crisis threatens relationship between the Federal government of Somalia and regional states. Member of Parliaments want the envoy to be held accountable for what they say amounts to “criminal acts”. UAE has recently sealed deals with regional states including the breakaway Somaliland including establishing a military base, and as a result, a section of MPs demands that Al Hammadi be summoned.
UAE is accused of “ugly interference” through deals with regional administrations that have threatened to create conflict between Mogadishu and the states. The Gulf state is also accused of arming and operating private militia on Somali soil. The motion reiterates that UAE is directly violating the unity and sovereignty of Somalia. The development comes a day after Galmudug President Ahmed Haaf and his South West State counterpart Sharif Hassan Adan visited Abu Dhabi in direct negotiation for deals. Galmudug and Puntland have all defied the federal government neutral stance in the Gulf Crisis.
They have publicly declared cutting ties with Qatar in support of the Saudi led coalition. Somalia government on Thursday rebuked the three states and said it was the sole authority mandated to speak on foreign Affairs. The states however allege they were not consulted in the decision making. Meanwhile UAE through its Ambassador is seen to be pulling strings to attract more regional states ever since Turkey took over as the biggest aid provider and development partner for Somalia.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somalia, AU Forces Seek Solution To Improvised Explosive Devices
26 September – Source: Xiuhuanet – 460 Words
Somalia and the African Union peacekeeping mission (AMISOM) forces on Monday kicked off a three-day conference to review threats posed by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and plan mitigating measures. The conference, which also brought together representatives from the UN and the British forces discussed the increasing threats and dangers posed by IEDs in the Horn of Africa country. “I expect actionable recommendations brought forward, so that guidance can be given to all sectors from the Force headquarters and the recommendations to the African Union’s Peace Support Operations Division for action,” Osman Noor Soubagleh, the AMISOM Force Commander, said in a statement issued in Mogadishu.
The conference which is sponsored by the United Nations Mine Assistance Mission (UNMAS) is aimed at developing counter IED capability in Somalia. Soubagleh noted that previous workshops held on IEDs, had led to increased awareness and knowledge, leading to a significant increase in discovered explosives and their safe disposal. Participants at the symposium will share knowledge and information on IEDs to help understand the scope of the threat. Discussions will focus on how to effectively control the widespread use of such explosives by terror organizations such as Al-Shabaab.
The Special Representative of the AU Commission Chairperson (SRCC) for Somalia Francisco Madeira urged international partners to continue support to AMISOM and the SNA to enable them to effectively mitigate the dangers posed by IEDs on civilians and security forces in Somalia. “To reduce the threat of IEDs, a combination of education, training, good reporting, exchange of information, degrading the network of the terrorists and investment in equipment to defeat the IEDs is required,” said Madeira. “It is only then that AMISOM and Somali National Security Forces (SNSF) can undertake the necessary stabilization operations that Somalia needs, to develop a stable and secure state,” he added.
The Director of Mission Support at the United Nations Support Office in Somalia Amadu Kamara said the convention would contribute to the development of effective IED mitigation strategies, as part of the wider comprehensive approach to security in south central Somalia. Allan McDonald, the Director of UNMAS reiterated the importance of passing on the knowledge gained at the conference to the troops on the front line and most especially to the Somali security forces, in line with efforts to support Somali led operations, ahead of the planned drawdown of AU forces. The Commander of the British Forces, Colonel John Wakelin noted that the fight against IEDs required a multi-pronged response, to deal effectively with the challenge. “There is no silver bullet, there is no magic bullet, there is no one solution to solving this IED challenge. There is no one bit of funding, there is no one technique or tactic that is going to fix this. It is a blend,” Wakelin said.
Ethiopia Says Somaliland Displaced Thousands of Oromo People
25 September – Source: Bloomberg Politics – 175 Words
Ethiopia accused a semi-autonomous territory in neighboring Somalia of illegally displacing more than 3,000 long-term Oromo residents in the wake of clashes on the boundary between two of Ethiopia’s regional states. The northern territory of Somaliland displaced the Oromos, who belong to Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group and are now sheltering in Ethiopia’s Oromia and Somali regional states, Information Minister Negeri Lencho told reporters Monday in the capital, Addis Ababa. He said the eastern part of Oromia experienced “bloody conflict” in the border clashes earlier this month and described Oromos as having been “targeted” there, in Ethiopia’s Somali region and in Somaliland, without elaborating.
He said fighting that occurred in the Ethiopian regions of Oromia and Somali this month has left “hundreds” of people dead and resulted in “tens of thousands” fleeing their homes, although the federal government will give exact figures after an investigation. Somaliland Foreign Minister Saad Ali Shire said by email that he has instructed his staff to report to him on the matter and he needed the facts before he could comment.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“If you are not well aware of what ONLF under the leadership of Qalbi-dhagax, et al., did to the very innocent old and young people of his own kinsmen then don’t expect me to tell you what Al-Shabaab has done to Somalis in Somalia”
The Crocodile Tears Of The Extradition of Qalbi-dhagax And The Baseless Greater Somalia Euphoria Beneath it
25 September – Source: Wardheere News – 721 Words
We have listened, read and watched about the story of the extradition of Abdikarim Sheikh Musa (a.k.a Qalbi-dhagax) to Ethiopia and the hue and cry that followed accusing the Somali Government of the hand-over and the damage it brought to what most of the people whose writings appeared on different websites call the Somalinimo. But the Question is if Abdikarim is a Somali National what do you think he has got to do with Ethiopia, and why was he extradited to Ethiopia? There will be different answers to this question but the common answer for this from the greater Somalia diehard writers it is that Ethiopia has got more influence on the Somali Politics, and this is not different from the decades old intervention of Ethiopia into internal Somali politics, is it?
No one will deny that Qalbi-dhagax has committed crimes against his own people in the Ethiopian Somali region and specifically to his own villages around Wardheer. If you are not well aware of what ONLF under the leadership of Qalbi-dhagax, et al., did to the very innocent old and young people of his own kinsmen then don’t expect me to tell you what Al-Shabaab has done to Somalis in Somalia. If some of you believe that Qalbi-dhagax is Somali National, because he was sometime years ago was a soldier in Somalia army, then President Ismail Omer Gelleh of Djibouti is an Ethiopian for the reason that he was born, schooled and grown up in Dire Dawa.
Then here comes the Ethiopian Somali regional state which, I believe most of the Diaspora rotating arm chair writers are ignorant of what it’s all about to be an Ethiopian Somali, and the Ethiopians of the ethnic Somalis in Ethiopia. Ethiopian Somali Regional State is the second largest Regional state under the nine Regional States, and is inhabited mostly by Somalis who are part of the Federal Democratic republic of Ethiopia, as Jubbaland and Galmudug are the Regional States of the Federal Government of Somalia. I am of the generation who grew up, and schooled in the New Ethiopia of the Post Derge Regime, where every Regional State has its own running government system. My generation grew up and went to schools and universities with the same generation of other Ethiopian ethnic groups like Oromos, Amharas and Tigrayans among others, whom we share one country and one flag.
TOP TWEETS
.@DalsanFM: Somali Mps To Table Motion Against UAE Envoy For “Criminal Acts” & “Interference” – http://radiodalsan.com/en/
.@SahraCabdi: #BREAKING: right after Somali P.M arrival the event Virginia, few people protested outside the hotel, while huge number welcomed him in hote
.@HarunMaruf: Ethiopia Says Somaliland Displaced Thousands of Oromo People https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/
.@SomaliPM: Fruitful discussion earlier today with WB Executive Officer @KGeorgieva on number of issues including economic growth & debt relief #Somalia – at World Bank Headquarters
.@engyarisow: As a Minister I am committed and determined to promote the freedom of speech and free press as enshrined in…http://fb.me/2wHzQsnoH
@muusereyna: Breaking: #Mogadishu #Stadium will be reconstructed before #AMISOM move from the #Sport nest of@Somalia Sport Mins Khadija Dirie said
.@IOM_Somalia: With support from @NorwayInSomalia, IOM is building a new land border post in #Dhobley!
.@mpfsomalia: Raising revenue in #Somalia =aid dependency,service delivery, & strengthens contract between citizens & state http://www.worldbank.org/en/
.@BashiirMaxmud: #Breaking: Car blast now reported in#Mogadishu‘s #Ali Kamiin village, area sealed off by the security forces, details to come @SahraCabdi
IMAGE OF THE DAY
President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed with other government officials during consultation meeting to review the provisional constitution
Photo: @engyariow