June 29, 2017 | Morning Headlines
World Bank Supports Somalia On Its New Currency Plan
28 June – Source : Goobjoog News – 239 Words
The World Bank expressed its support for Somalia’s plans to print new currency to replace its current money in circulation. The Director of International Monetary Fund,Samba Thiam said the new currency will hit the local market before the end of the year 2017. The current money in circulation in Somalia is 98% counterfeit and the 2% remaining is the remnants of the currency printed between 1990 and 1991 according the IMF Director. The country ran into turmoil after the overthrow of Said Barre’s government in 1991 and the political system, the economy and civil societies came under large scale destruction. This prompted the near zero income for the citizens, rampant unemployment and widespread poverty that qualified the country to be labeled as a poorest state in the continent.
The Director of International Monetary Fund, Samba Thiam added that the World Bank alone can afford to invest implementing this program but the contribution of the donor countries is highly needed which is now in vital stages to be realized. An external debt of US$ 5.3 billion Somalia expected to repay in order for the country to meet the criteria of getting new financial aid or international investment. This huge external credit belongs to the World Bank, IMF and African Development Bank. The pardoning of this massive debt from Somalia depends on how the government fights corruption in order to get access to investments and rebuilding of the nation.
Key Headlines
- World Bank Supports Somalia On Its New Currency Plan (Goobjoog News)
- First Local Council Election To Be Held In Southwest State (Garowe Online)
- Calm Returns To Middle Shabelle After Heavy Fighting (Jowhar.com)
- Cholera Outbreak Kills 795 In Somalia Since January (Xinhua)
- Smuggler Who ‘Revelled In’ Torturing Migrants Arrested In Italy (The Independent UK)
- Breaking The Silence Around Female Genital Mutilation (Refinery29.com)
NATIONAL MEDIA
First Local Council Election To Be Held In Southwest State
28 June – Source : Garowe Online – 144 Words
The Interior Ministry of Somalia’s Southwest State has announced that local council elections for various districts will be held in the region next month. The residents of Barawe, Eel Bade, Bardaale, Hudur and Baydhabo of Lower Shabelle along with districts in Bakol and Bay regions will elect district commissioners and their deputies in ballots on July 10. This comes after the lawmakers of Southwest’s Parliament endorsed a bill drafted by the Interior Ministry allowing residents to elect head of districts.
Reports said many local aspirants have already announced candidacy in the upcoming elections scheduled on July amid concerns of insecurity. The local election is expected to draw many local and international observers who will monitor the way the election will be handled. This is the first time local residents in Southwest state will elect candidates in official posts since the formation of the state.
Calm Returns To Middle Shabelle After Heavy Fighting
28 June – Source: Jowhar.com – 151 Words
Reports from the Middle Shabelle region indicate that calm has returned to the areas Al-Shabaab and government forces fought over yesterday. It is reported that government forces are in control of the locations where the heavy clashes took place. The government forces departed from Jowhar on three fronts and arrived in the districts of Ali Fooldhere , Qurac Madoobe, Agadbuco and other villages nears Biyo Adde.
News reports reaching us indicate that the government forces are now planning to depart to the eastern parts of Middle Shabelle region. The commander leading the Somali National Army operations last night spent in the Biyo Adde location which was last week attacked by Al-Shabaab. It is reported the operation was only conducted by the Somali National Army without the backing of the AMISOM troops.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Cholera Outbreak Kills 795 In Somalia Since January
28 June – Source : Xinhua – 306 Words
An outbreak of cholera/acute watery diarrhoea (AWD) in Somalia has killed 795 people since January, the UN humanitarian agency said on Wednesday. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its latest bulletin that there was a 19-percent decrease in the number of new cases in the first week of June, which can be attributed to timely and effective intervention efforts over the past months.The UN which also cites figures from the ministry of health of Somalia reported 1979 AWD/cholera cases and 13 deaths between June 12-18. Of these, 337 cases were reported from Wadajir district in Banadir region.”A cumulative total of 53,015 cases including 795 deaths have been reported since the cholera outbreak started in January 2017.
The case-fatality rate of 1.5 percent remains above the emergency threshold of 1 percent,” the UN said.Of the reported cases, 53 percent affected children under five with most of the cases being reported in Wadajir in Banadir region, Harfo in Mudug, Dusamareb in Galgadud and Markka in Lower Shebelle region.The report said the health cluster, led by World Health Organization (WHO), is working collaboratively with the ministry of health, partners and health authorities to respond to the outbreak.
The UN said lack of rains for consecutive seasons and poor rainfall in Somalia have led to a severe drought that has killed livestock and crops and displaced hundreds of thousands of Somalis, leaving around 6.7 out of 12.3 million people in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. According to the report, nearly 5.5 million people are at risk of contracting water-borne diseases like cholera. Cholera is a gastrointestinal disease, usually spread by contaminated water and food, and can cause severe diarrhea that, in extreme cases, can lead to fatal dehydration and kidney failure within hours.
Smuggler Who ‘Revelled In’ Torturing Migrants Arrested In Italy
28 June – Source: The Independent, UK – 788 Words
A Somali man who colluded with Libyan smugglers to torture and extort fellow migrants in squalid prisons has been arrested in Italy as the refugee crisis continues to worsen.Police on the island of Lampedusa said the 23-year-old suspect, Mohamed Ahmed Taher, “revelled” in beating asylum seekers and may have killed at least two people. Giovanni Minardi, who led the team which detained Taher, told the Ansa news agency that Taher was part of a transnational armed criminal organisation dedicated to human trafficking, kidnapping, sexual assault, murder and illegal immigration.
Migrants who identified Taher as a torturer employed at a detention centre in Libya’s south-eastern region, Kufra, told prosecutors that after making the boat journey across the Mediterranean Sea on 27 May he attempted to threaten them into silence.“On my arrival, Mohamed the Somali was already in the [centre’s] structure,” said one victim.“He beat the migrants. He revelled in humiliating us and throwing his weight around. “I remember once the Libyan man, who owned the camp, had to tell him off because he was beating us so badly that it was killing people.” Taher is accused of beating migrants with rubber hose, burning them with petrol and threatening with them with weapons.As in similar past cases, police said asylum seekers were sometimes tortured while traffickers spoke to their relatives on the phone to pressure them into paying for their freedom and safety.At least two people who attempted to escape the camp were reportedly beaten to death, while those fleeing other Libyan detention centres have been shot and killed.
Taher is the sixth person detained in Italy since March on suspicion of torturing migrants in Libya, where smuggling gangs have set up a ruthless trade amid the chaos of the country’s ongoing civil war. The UN has warned of migrants being bought and sold at “slave markets” and being detained in official and unofficial prisons where they are raped, tortured, starved and held to ransom by armed gangs. Survivors have told The Independent of being sold from one “owner” to another while being forced into manual labour, with those asking for wages or struggling with the work killed.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“The Somali government has promised to ban FGM for several years, but has yet to follow through on doing so. Since 2014, however, the most severe form of infibulation has been illegal in the Puntland region, thanks to a presidential decree. This is part of a recent wave of bans across the African continent,”
Breaking The Silence Around Female Genital Mutilation
28 June – Source : Refinery29.com – 1039 Words
Over half a million women and girls in America are affected by female genital mutilation (FGM), and thankfully, people here are finally starting to talk about it and take action the first-ever U.S. trial against doctors who perform these procedures is about to take place in Detroit. But much more needs to be done to end FGM in the U.S. and worldwide.
Currently, more than 200 million people around the world have undergone FGM, and where I live in rural Somalia almost every single woman and girl has undergone the procedure. In fact, 98% of Somali women and girls have been affected, which is the highest prevalence rate of anywhere in the world. Over 80% are cut between the ages of five and nine old enough to remember what happened, but not “too old” that they have already experienced much independence.
Almost two thirds of Somali women undergo infibulation, the most extreme form of FGM, which leaves girls with their labia stitched together following the excision of the clitoris. This makes urinating and menstruating almost impossible, as a girl is forced to do so through a hole the size of a matchstick. Of course, that’s not to say that any form of FGM is more acceptable than others; it is always a human rights violation.
Last year, I met a 15-year-old named Istar, who had been married off to a 70-year-old man in Eastern Somalia. He paid 10 camels and a gun for her. Istar had been subjected to infibulation. Like many girls who have undergone this type of FGM, her new husband was unable to penetrate her during sex. So he used a dagger to cut her open. But he did it with so much force that the dagger went deep, affecting the vaginal walls and cutting into her cervix. Istar started bleeding profusely, forcing her family to seek medical help and counseling for her. Although she is now out of immediate danger, Istar is deeply traumatized and, unsurprisingly, does not want to go back to her husband.
Although religion is sometimes used as an excuse, there is no religious obligation for girls to undergo FGM. And unfortunately, it doesn’t happen in a vacuum: FGM is directly related to other forms of violence against women and girls. Domestic violence is also prevalent in Somalia, and over three quarters of married women aged 15 to 49 think that a beating can be justified in certain circumstances. So-called “child marriage” is highly prevalent, too, and is often seen as a driver for FGM occurring in the first place.
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