Preparations underway in Garowe for inauguration of Puntland president

24 Jan- Source: Radio RBC/Radio Bar-kulan/Radio Garowe/Halgan Online/Hiiraan Online- 158 words

A delegation from different parts of Somalia and representatives from international community are in Garowe, the administrative capital of Puntland for the inauguration ceremony of the new president of Puntland Abdiweli Mohamed Ali Gaas. Among the delegates are UN envoy for Somalia Nicholas Kay and 9 ambassadors from foreign countries. Also present are Leaders of Jubaland, Himin and Heeb and Galmudug States. Representatives from regional entities and countries are also present.

Aisha Gelle Dirie, the head of the inauguration preparations committee told local media that Puntland officials, security forces and the locals are actively working together for the preparations of the inauguration ceremony. Abdiweli Mohamed Ali Gaas, former Prime Minister of Somalia was elected to become the fourth Puntland president early this month to replace former president Abdirahman Mohamed Farole.

Key Headlines

• Preparations underway in Garowe for inauguration of Puntland president (Radio RBC/Radio Bar-kulan/Radio Garowe/Halgan Online/Hiiraan Online)
• Lack of water medical services reported in El-waq district (Radio Bar-kulan)
• Himan and Heeb administration severs relationship with federal government (Somalia Today)
• Somaliland: Locust plague infest pastureland in west and east regions (Radio Ergo)
• Somaliland national registration of persons start’s within week (Somaliland Informer)
• Embassies foreign firms issue terror security alert (Star-Kenya)
• Police dismiss man claiming links with al Shabaab (Standard Media)
• Kenya jails 24 Somalis for attacking ship (Arab Times)

SOMALI MEDIA

Preparations underway in Garowe for inauguration of Puntland president

24 Jan- Source: Radio RBC/Radio Bar-kulan/Radio Garowe/Halgan Online/Hiiraan Online- 158 words

A delegation from different parts of Somalia and representatives from international community are in Garowe, the administrative capital of Puntland for the inauguration ceremony of the new president of Puntland Abdiweli Mohamed Ali Gaas. Among the delegates are UN envoy for Somalia Nicholas Kay and 9 ambassadors from foreign countries. Also present are Leaders of Jubaland, Himin and Heeb and Galmudug States. Representatives from regional entities and countries are also present.

Aisha Gelle Dirie, the head of the inauguration preparations committee told local media that Puntland officials, security forces and the locals are actively working together for the preparations of the inauguration ceremony. Abdiweli Mohamed Ali Gaas, former Prime Minister of Somalia was elected to become the fourth Puntland president early this month to replace former president Abdirahman Mohamed Farole.

Lack of water, medical services reported in El-waq district

24 Jan- Source: Radio Bar-kulan- 143 words

Lack of potable water and essential healthcare services in El-waq district of Gedo region have left at least one person dead in recent weeks, according to the district officials. In an interview with Bar-kulan, the mayor of El-waq, Ibrahim Aden Bulle lamented severe water shortages and lack of adequate medical services in the district and its surrounding villages.

He added that there have been some reports indicating cases of cholera outbreak in some far remote villages in the region. Bulle said that many families have no other option but to take their patients to Kenya for treatments due to the lack of medical services in the area. He noted that a number of relief agencies have toured the region in recent weeks but little has been done to tackle the issue so far.

Himan and Heeb administration severs relationship with federal government

24 Jan- Source: Somalia Today- 91 words

Leader of Himan and Heeb administration Abdullahi Ali Mohammed Barleh said that his administration severed its relationship with the federal government.

Barleh said after consultations within the administration decided to cut the relationship with the federal government, because the heads of the federal state refused to protect the rights of residents of Himan and Heeb in the central state.

Barleh added that they are ready to deal with the federal government to strengthen the unity of the Somali nation, if the federal government resolve complaints from residents of Himan and Heeb.

Somaliland national registration of persons start’s within week

24 Jan- Source: Somaliland Informer- 164 words

Somaliland Minister of Interior Hon. Ali Mohammed Waran'adde has announced that the registration of persons for identification national indexes will kick off as from the 1st of February this year.

The minister made the announcements at a conference held for the administration department at Hotel Ambassador on Wednesday attended by regional governors and administrators, a cross section of mayors of major municipalities, members from both houses of Parliament and scores of other officials.

"This is the first time that a comprehensive personal identification national index that would determine real citizens from foreigners would register the populace," said the minister.

Saying that the past twenty years had been hectic and "real and meaningful means of registration of national person's identities is to start now", hence added, "Therefore an identity that underscores our sovereignty will be now realized."

While elaborating on the registration, the minister underpinned the fact that those who will be identified as real citizens will be above the age of 15 years.

Somaliland: Locust plague infest pastureland in west and east regions

24 Jan- Source: Radio Ergo- 297 words

The Locusts are ravenously eating the pasture land and the crops in these regions where most of the residents are pastoralist community.

“There is nothing else other than the locusts. It is everywhere you could turn around, eating the pasture and destroying the environment. The livestock were terrorised by the locusts and they could get no pasture on the land,” Aden told Radio Ergo’s local reporter on the phone.

The governor of Sayla district Hussein Idle Barkhadle said the locusts are even invading residential estates in his district. “It is huge problem and the locusts are even in the town. I don’t think that anything other than airplanes spraying from the sky will stop them,” he said.

However, the director of The Desert Locust Control Organization for Eastern Africa (DLCO-EA) office in Somaliland Abdirahman Hussein Ismail said the impact of the locust is not as huge as people said, according to an assessment they carried out three weeks ago.

“We are planning to conduct a new assessment in the newly infested areas, and then we will come with ways to handle it,” Ismail told Radio Ergo in Hargeisa, Somaliland’s capital. He linked the locust plague in Somaliland to the recent tropical cyclone that hit in the neighbouring region of Puntland.

Moderate Somali Islamists welcome Ethiopia’s inclusion into AMISOM

23 Jan- Source: Hiiraan Online- 268 words

Somalia’s Moderate Islamists known here as ‘Ahlu Sunna Waljama’a have today lauded for the arrival of Ethiopian forces in the country as part of the African Union peace keeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM).

The moderate Islamists, themselves fighting with Al Shabaab have made the announcement during a congregation in the south western town of Baidoa to show their support for the Ethiopian forces integration into AU Mission in the country.

The group’s secretary General in charge of the coordination of Ahlu Sunna’s operations south of the country, Sheik Ali Nur Mohamed Idiris told the meeting in Baidoa today that his moderate group was lauding for the move which he said will help the sudden oust of Al Shabaab out of the country.

Bumpy ride from Mogadishu to Jowhar

23 Jan- Source: Radio Ergo-532 Words

Radio Ergo’s local correspondent Maryam Abdi describes her road journey from Mogadishu to Jowhar.

I set off from Mogadishu’s main Bakara market, where the bus stations are situated, around 1:30 pm. I was heading for Middle Shabelle’s regional capital Jowhar, about 90 km north of Mogadishu. Most of the vehicles operating between these two cities are locally known as “Homeys.” Each “Homey” fits about 20 passengers, and each person pays about $20. That may seem cheap to an outsider, but it is not easy money to earn here in Somalia, where more than half the population lives on less than a dollar a day.

There are two roads that you could take to Jowhar from Mogadishu. First there is the Balad road that connects the capital direct to Middle Shabelle region; and then there is the Afgoye road that connects first to Lower Shabelle region and then on to Middle Shabelle. The more direct Balad road is has been badly damaged by the recent river floods in the region and is closed. Therefore, we travelled on the Afgoye road, and in the latter part of the journey took a rough road that goes to Jowhar.

We passed through Tihsile, Damerale, Mange, Dondhere and Dibi Arab villages. I could see pastoralist people and farmers along the sides of the road as we passed through. The dry season is just beginning for them and they seemed weak, tired and looking unable to wait until the next rainy season. If the rains fail, their life can get worse.

Then we turned into Warabeye village, which is close to Balad, the second largest town in Middle Shabelle. There was a huge presence of government soldiers in this district. I could see young children herding livestock from the vehicle window. There were also a few people who seemed to have been harvesting their farms. Between Balad and Jowhar, there were dozens of pastoralist people on the move, going towards the villages on the edge of the river. They were in search of grazing for the livestock, hoping the edge of the river would provide some. The adults were on foot and the children and their belongings were being carried on donkey cars.

The farmers are just trying to plant farmlands where the floods left recently. I am now in Congo village, some 5 km away from Jowhar. The last time I travelled from Congo to Jowhar I used a boat because the area was totally underwater after the heavy rains. But it is now getting drier and the road is now accessible again. But the neighbouring village of Garash is still flooded and the residents there are yet to come back because it is still under water.

The security did not seem bad and there was no problem. But all of us passengers found it hard to endure the rough and damaged roads. It took us five hours to travel the 90 km between Mogadishu and Jowhar. The passengers were also bothered by the checkpoints manned by government soldiers. Money was extorted from all the passengers as well as from the vehicle drivers. No vehicles were allowed to continue their journey until the money had been paid.

REGIONAL MEDIA

Embassies, foreign firms issue terror security alert

24 Jan- Source: Star- Kenya- 411 words

Several European countries and foreign organisations operating in the country have cautioned their citizens and staff about impending terror attacks in Kenya. This follows the killing of senior al Shabaab leaders in Somalia last week by the Kenya Defence Forces.

The British High Commission, International Rescue Committee and Finlays Horticulture Kenya have cautioned their nationals and employees through circulars titled Security Advisory dated January 21 and 22. Other embassies and companies have also issued security alerts warning their staff.

“Kenyan police have now publicly confirmed that Thursday's blast at JKIA was caused by an improvised explosive device. They have arrested three men in connection with this attempted attack. Yesterday, we heard, and the media are today reporting, an earlier discovery of smoke grenades in the toilets at the airport. These are only the latest, and most ambitious, in a series of IED and grenade attacks over the last month both in Nairobi and down at the Coast. Such attacks, whilst not explicitly directed at the UK or our staff, only serve to underline the potential for any of us to be caught up in a terrorist incidents. Such attacks are very hard to predict and it is therefore very unlikely we will be able to issue specific warnings,” reads the letter from the British High Commission.

Police dismiss man claiming links with al Shabaab

24 Jan- Source: Standard Media-398 Words

Anti-terror police in Nairobi have dismissed as a liar and paranoid, the man from Nyahururu who claims to be linked to al Shabaab terror cell. The officers said they had on two occasions arrested and released Peter Wang’ondu, 35, from Kinamba in Laikipia West after he claimed to have been to Somalia.

“He has a mental problem and we had even taken him to Mathari hospital in Nairobi over several other claims. His claims are not true, he has mental problems,” said anti-terror police bioss Boniface Mwaniki.

Mwaniki too said Wang’ondu has a problem and is lying. He said his officers had talked to him in the past and when they were informed he had been arrested they again talked to him and asked him to seek medical attention.

“It is true he has been to Somalia but he is not in al Shabaab. He was a teacher in Somalia in 2004 and 2005 but he never joined the terror group. He is paranoid,” said Mwaniki. He said the man had been released. al Shabaab is believed to have started in 2006.

Kenya jails 24 Somalis for attacking ship

23 Jan- Source: Arab Times-183 Words

A Kenyan court sentenced 24 Somalis to seven years each in prison on Thursday for attempting to hijack an Iranian merchant vessel, FV Ariya, in the Gulf of Oman in October 2010. The men, who were arrested by the Dutch navy working under NATO command, were handed over to Kenyan authorities because Somalia, which is struggling to rebuild after two decades of civil war, was not seen as stable enough to try them properly.

Although the number of hijackings has fallen markedly since 2011 due to tighter security aboard ships and increased Western naval patrols, piracy emanating from the Horn of Africa nation may still cost the world economy about $18 billion a year, the World Bank said in 2013. Kenya is one of a few countries that are prosecuting pirates, alongside Seychelles and Mauritius. But the cases are difficult to prosecute and take a long time to complete. Presiding magistrate Richard Odenyo said in his ruling that there was enough evidence to prove that the 24 men attacked the ship armed with AK-47 rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, rocket launchers and other crude weapons.

Turkish-born German jailed over al Qaeda connection

24 Jan- Source: Oman tribune- 316 words

A German court on Thursday jailed for seven years a man who joined militants in Pakistan and Somalia and once phoned in a terror threat against the parliament in Berlin.

The Turkish-born German, Emrah Erdogan, 25, had claimed in the phone call to federal police that al Qaeda militants would stage a bloodbath and hostage siege in the German Bundestag.

The Frankfurt regional court found the married father-of-two guilty of “membership in two foreign terrorist organisations” — al Qaeda in Pakistan’s Waziristan region and their al Shabaab allies in Somalia.

Somali PM meets Yemen's embassy chargé d'affaires

23 Jan- Source: Yemen News Agency-173 Words

Somalia's Prime Minister Abdul-Wali Sheikh Ahmed met on Thursday in Mogadishu with chargé d'affaires at the Yemeni embassy Fouad al-Zurqah.

In the presence branch manager of Cooperative and Agriculture Credit (CAC) International Bank in Djibouti Ahmed al-Dhib, Ahmed and al-Zurqah discussed the economic relations between the two brotherly countries, the potential opportunities the Yemeni capitals could invest in and the facilities Somalia could provide for them.

Ahmed said this is the first formal meeting I have directly after my appointment as a Prime Minister to show how Yemen is important to us, the Somalis, expressing his appreciation of the Yemeni political leadership to all the support it gives in all areas to receive over a million Somali refugees.

He said that his government would provide all facilities and support to Yemen investors and traders, stressing that all regions of Somalia welcome Yemeni investments.

New Somali cabinet faces criticism over size, competency

23 Jan- Source: Sabahi Online- 1155 words

Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed nearly tripled the size of the previous cabinet and retained only two sitting ministers, yet observers say the newly sworn-in ministers may face the same problems that led to the ouster of the previous government.

Ahmed named the nominees for his cabinet of25 ministers, 25 deputy ministers and five state ministers on January 17th. Parliament overwhelmingly approved the nominees on Tuesday and the entire cabinet was sworn into office Wednesday (January 22nd).

Many members of parliament were appointed in the new cabinet, and will serve both their ministerial and parliamentary duties.

Observers wonder, however, whether the new cabinet will be able to stand firm against the accusations of failure levelled against the previous government.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Netherlands: Asylum Policies for Somalis Adjusted

23 Jan- Source: NL Times-147 words

Secretary of State for Justice and Security Fred Teeven has adjusted the policies regarding asylum seekers from Somalia. He said in a letter to the Second Chamber today that people who can prove that they fear for their lives because they belong to a group that is targeted by the terrorist organization Al-Shabab, are eligible for a residence permit. He pointed out that Al-Shabab has been increasing its activities in Mogadishu, targeting government workers, members of the country’s justice department, the international security force AMISOM, people who work for international organizations and people Al-Shabab suspects of being spies for Government.

SOCIAL MEDIA

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

“Last year, Ethiopia wanted to get out of Somalia as quickly as possible. It didn’t. This year, it has renewed its commitment to the beleaguered country – although, as usual, Ethiopia has its own interests at heart.”

Ethiopia changes its tune in Somalia

23 Jan- Source: Daily Maverick-970 Words

In April last year, Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn was unequivocal in his intentions when it came to Somalia. Speaking to his parliament in Addis Ababa, he complained that Ethiopian troops had spent long enough across the border, and that it was time for them to come home. “The main issue now is to accelerate our complete withdrawal towards our border. This is what we are fulfilling,” he said.

This was more than just talk. In March, frustrated that no one was relieving them of their duties, the Ethiopian army withdrew from the town of Hudur, which it had captured from al Shabaab just a few weeks before. Mere hours after the Ethiopian withdrawal, al Shabaab were back in charge in Hudur. The withdrawal was the geopolitical equivalent of going on strike: a pointed warning that Ethiopia’s contributions in Somalia could not be taken for granted.

Despite all this, Ethiopia did not withdraw from other parts of Somalia under its control, and, as the year progressed, Desalegn’s administration began to change its tune. By June, foreign minister Tedros Adhanom was saying that there was no need for a full withdrawal; by November, Desalegn himself was promising to increase Ethiopia’s involvement.

Turkey’s New Humanitarian Approach in Somalia

23 Jan- Source: PRIO Network-113 Words

Turkey has become a prominent humanitarian power, contributing more than $1 billion in aid in 2012. This makes it the fourth-largest government donor. The top three countries receiving Turkish assistance are Syria, Pakistan and Somalia.

​This NOREF policy brief examines Turkey’s engagement with Somalia, a country with which Turkey has not had long-standing foreign relations such as with Pakistan, or a border refugee crisis, as it is presently experiencing with Syria. What is the motivation for Turkey’s involvement in Somalia? How does Turkey engage with the humanitarian project differently from traditional donors and what are some of the challenges it faces in so doing?​​

If you missed previous Round Ups from the Daily Media Monitoring, click here

The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of AMISOM, and neither does their inclusion in the bulletin/website constitute an endorsement by AMISOM.

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