The brother of Abdirahim Hassan, who was murdered on Wednesday in Somalia, told Swedish press that the young politician had died for his “belief in a peaceful world” in the shooting that also wounded his Swedish colleague.
“My brother stood up for justice and believed in a peaceful world,” Elias Hassan, 21, told media at a press conference in the Stockholm neighbourhood of Husby on Thursday.
“Unfortunately he died for what he stood up for.”
The Hassan family explained that Abdirahim had been working in the Somali capital Mogadishu since June on a democracy projected managed by the Swedish Left Party. The attack, in which a second person also died, has shocked the family deeply. His senior party colleague, Ann-Margarethe Livh, was wounded in the attack but is receiving medical attention in Kenya.
“We were worried about him, of course, but we never thought he would die,” Elias told the assembled press corps.
The family chose to bury Abdirahim in Somalia on Thursday.
“He loved his home country, so we decided to bury him there. But we will hold a memorial service for him (in Husby),” Elias said.
Recently elected government in Mogadishu, has managed less than a year reduce to high hopes to hopelessness, suppress dissent voices, turn optimism to despair, trust to abuse , division among fallow Somalis, as it escalated civil war to new heights. One have to find antidote of existence in midst chaos whatever it takes, to fight faceless enemy the Somali nations faces today. Recent activities of newly western formed government of Mogadishu, points that their loyalty belong to powers that elected, financed and neighbouring forces that continually undermine the integrity, sovereignty and interest of Somali nation.
Expedience manner that this government was deposited by bankrupted western powers brought to mind of many an alarming thoughts; immediately they saw seeds of distraction, division, and looting of nation’s wealth. Re drafting the constitution in such hastily approach should have sent warning flags. From the swearing ceremony to daily events in streets of Mogadishu, strongly point out whose interest is being served and from what we are witnessing it certainly not for our nation purpose nor has ever been intended for. From the start we have witnessed disturbing images taking place in swearing ceremony, where newly elected members of the parliament in queue, holding their hands up, standing in front then official Somali president Augustine Mahiga with Quran. Called combination of poor judgment, ignorance and its simply repugnant, yet this has become our faith. Pledging oath of loyalty to the masters who financing destruction of your sovereignty, in the name of democracy.
It is miserable dilemma when Somali politicians and members of the parliament are really confused about the their role, duty, obligation and luck basic understanding governance function which is ludicrous and gets worse as they start to compete with each other outselling national wealth, as usual they rewarded with more media coverage, photo up with yet hungry entities that are disguised as donor while we poses the actual wealth.
In less than a year these imported stooges had managed to create unprecedented systematic looting on nation’s wealth, their quest for burglarising the nation is shameless and nothing less than a treason. Only way they know exhibiting their nationalism is wearing flag emblem in their hideous suits instead of wearing in their hearts. Here are the highlights of their accomplishment and destructive path they vision for the nation:
Host to thousands of private mercenary working alongside with UN and UNISOM forces to counter Al Shabaab, really why bother to have genuine military forces we you can ask Britain to send more of their South African mercenaries, and that is the country that hosted July conference, which outcome was disastrous and disingenuous. As for the UN it become outdated, out touch, irrelevant and downright abusive power, corrupt, and enabler, complaint, and a tool of corrupt, bankrupt western audiology. In essence an abusive state of union. As for UNISOM a tool to tame our national identity and an illegal entity operating sovereign nation. Why with all this help young Somali men are not recruited to work with UNISOM, sent to Uganda, Kenya and other war torn African countries so they can be part of the peace keepers while earning living? We simply can’t continue this path.
Build illegal compounds with CIA to torture young Somali men, potential terrorist in the name of Al Shabaab or counterterrorism. The fact that sovereign state is used as Prison Island for the CIA to torture kidnaped young men, defies logic and barrier to security, nation building and obstacle of our sovereignty. Thanks to folks like Snowden a high school dropout government contractor to release illegal surveillance activities. They created The National Security Agency Surveillance Program, which legitimizes breaking international laws, and persecute indiscriminately certain nationals that our young men fit. Naturally what were bombarded daily is atrocity committed against Somali young men and open season to hunt them whether they are North America, Europe, Africa or Asia. They over emphasis our differences, internal conflict in order to legitimize their agenda, and won’t rest until they reduce Somali state to another Congo.
The worst actions Somali government under the command of President Hassan Sheik enacted was paving the way for IMF, after twenty two year-interval, and nation will be paying the price many year to come for his short sight ness and ignorance. He surrounded himself with men of shady background, dubious characters, lucking experience, loyal to foreign entities, whose references are questionable to held responsible positions. The stooges that were cultivated streets of Nairobi are doing exactly what their masters installed for them, paving way for foreign interests to raid the nation’s wealth, while managing to destabilize federal unity and creating new pathways for newly emerging war lords in the name of Regional Presidents. Sadly they divide their loyalty between Kenyan government and Ethiopian government, these owned men show their national identity by wearing small flags in their shirts instead of their hearts. Emblem doesn’t replace nationalism, and in less than one year has certainly managed to commit worse than seven deadly sins. Reward for his compliance came early when Time (western propaganda magazine) earlier this year put him list of the person of the year nominated by President Paul Kagame, not bad year for unproven leader. Last Somali person who was nominated for same standard was Ayan Hersi.
Under strict orders from President Hassan, with guidance former Prime minster Geedi, the Minster of Somali National Resources has revitalized Somali Petroleum Company, under two foreign entity and also managed to sign first oil contract to a British company that didn’t exist a month ago nor has experience in oil expedition. Sadly enough that was the outcome of London conference and off course closing on thriving remittance business the south part of Somali, they didn’t bother to wait for permission so they hastily stored a puppet regional government under Ras Kamboni Brigade Leader, Amed Mohamed Madoobe, for offshore oil permits granted to western companies. The consequence of London conference sewed seeds of destruction of nation’s wealth and to reintroduce colonial dogma in name building democratic institutions, and by closing thriving remittance business that thrived without western assistance for the past two decade. Freedom movement of money is privilege granted only for western nations and strong nations who can stand their own. The disastrous London conference also supports the creation of the largest correctional facility for Somali youth, instead of jobs, vocational training and schools.
Finally the gloves came off, Kenya and Ethiopia have cleared their intentions within two weeks we had a plain loaded with ammunition owned by Ethiopians crashed and no one is even asking who were the ammunition for forget the death Ethiopians. And Kenyan minister is an apologetic for her army illegal entering autonomous state. After the thirty years was European countries finally signed peace in 1648, and agreed to respect the principle of territorial integrity. Kenya justification of illegally entering/operating Somalia is unjustifiable and seeking to influence the Somali affairs and forcing intervention on our domestic matters is nothing less than declaration of war, and Somali has right to defend itself from foreign aggression and occupation however it takes. No matter what even our weakest moments and midst of recovering from two decade of civil war, Kenyan and Ethiopians are not match for Somali warrior so what is holding us back.
Ali Khaliif Galeydh who is the member of the parliament of Somalia accused the president of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud having link with the outlawed organization of Somalia, Alshabaab.
Mr Galeydh who have had a long political rift with the president of Somalia held repeated press conferences and interviews tarnishing the political reputation of the president stated that the Somali president of Hassan Sheikh was denied to attend or participate international meeting held in Europe, for the reason of suspicious sources unveiled clearly that the president have link with that terrorist organization illegally operates in Somalia for certain period of time in the past, Mr Ali Galeydh claimed that president have contacted the leaders of Alshabaab over the phone and Somali intelligence Agency will have interview with the parliamenterian when he goes back home and also will face imprisonment if unable to prove his accusations against the honourable leader of the country who definitely deserve respect and space of leadership to carry out his duties freely and finely.
The question is? Why Ali Khaliif Galeydh making this kind of very serious comments against the president of the nation who has been elected by his own people of being the right man for the right job, when Ali Khaliif Galeydh was also running to be the president of Somalia at that time with empty hands and unsuccessful and also he campaigned for to be the chairman of the Somali parliament later on, which again Somalis refused him to occupy for that position either. But, unfortunately mr Galeydh failed to be the president of Somalia, because he was not very competent and uncommitted to fulfill the obligations needed for the war-ravaged nation, in which international communities tried all they can to restore the law and order in Somalia and also rebuild the nation on the scratch thorough out infrastructures and governmental capacity, as every thing completely destroyed that makes warlords and outlawed organizations to be the only institutions and rulers exist there previously.
The parliamentarian Ali Khalif Galeydh campaigns for Jubaland state where vendetta against President of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud started, as the president attempts to avoid any division occurrence that will disperse the Somali Italian republic of Puntland, Jubaland, Baydhaboland and Hiraanland. However, the hostility and serious accusations Ali Galeydh made against the president are only envious and jealous politics war that damages the whole credibility and reputations of Somali nation, when such comments and baseless and unfounded allegations thorough out only power challenge launches carelessly to kill off or remove only, of course Ali has made huge mistake and disgrace against not only the president, but the complete Somali nation for making such comments and allegations as politician who expects exteme future of the country and the people, even though Ali Khaliif Galeydh considered to be Somalilander rather than Somali, because of root from the former British Protectorate of Somaliland who have direct talks with Somali Italian republic nowadays over business between the two.
When you are politician that tremendous character assassination is absolutely childish and unacceptable at all, if the president of the nation accused of terrorism related issues, there is no rays of hope from Somalia and international communities truly disappointed quite enormously for immature politics of Somali politicians like Ali khalif Galeydh, who totally does not understand the consequences of his accusations against his fellow countryman or politician.
What Ali Galeydh is not aware of is, that universe is only one village now, in which world intelligence organizations share very crucial channels of communications to keep the stability of every angle of the world with open eyes in all times, in order to save the precious lives of human beings and also common interest of the those particular world nations.
If the president of Somalia makes a leadership error towards his decision making that is an other case which Somalis resolve democratically and constitutionally, but unreliable sources of accusing the highest personnel of the nation, is just only act of traitor and puppet conducts of the likes of Ali Khaliif Galeydh who does not see the wider picture of politics and human relations that came to the platform unprepared and unequipped with the right tools needed to lead such nation and country.
NAIROBI – Abducted, drugged and gang raped in Somalia: a young mother details the most brutal of allegations against African Union troops and Somali soldiers in a case causing widespread anger.
“The soldiers raped me… I tried to defend myself but they beat me badly and I passed out,” she said, speaking to the Somali Channel television about the attack earlier this month.
She alleged she was stopped on the streets of Mogadishu by three soldiers from the national army, blindfolded and forced into a car, before being handed over to African Union troops, where she says she was repeatedly raped.
She has needle marks on her arms from where she says drugs were injected during the several hours long assault in the Maslah compound, a Ugandan troop base on the outskirts of Mogadishu.
“There were other women in the room… one of the them badly bleeding,” she added, speaking from a hospital bed.
The woman, in her late 20s with a young baby, was unconscious during the attack and says she does not know how many men raped her. She was later thrown back onto the streets.
AMISOM, the 17,700-strong United Nations-mandated force that supports the government in its fight against Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents, said it has launched an investigation together with the Somali army.
“Appropriate action will be taken once the facts of the case have been established,” AMISOM said in a statement.
Somalia’s Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon said in a statement that the government was “deeply troubled by the alleged rape… involving a number of personnel from AMISOM.”
AMISOM, fighting since 2007 in Somalia and funded by the UN and European Union, insists it “strongly condemns … sexual abuse or exploitation”.
The force is mainly made up of troops from Uganda, Burundi and Kenya, with smaller numbers from Djibouti and Sierra Leone.
The case threatens to badly dent the reputation of the force, and play into the hands of the Shebab.
Shebab fighters are themselves accused of horrific attacks and rape, but the extremists’ spokesman Ali Mohamed Rage gloated at the rape reports.
“Somali soldiers first abduct the girls and rape them, they also share them with AMISOM troops,” Rage said.
“The Somali troops are the remnants of the former warlords, they are killing their people and raping our daughters and mothers… the African Union troops are brutal.”
Rape is pervasive in Mogadishu, but the extreme nature of the woman’s allegations and the accusations of AMISOM involvement have shocked many.
In the first six months of 2012, some 800 cases of sexual violence were reported in Mogadishu alone, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which refers to the rapists as “unknown armed men and men wearing military uniform”.
Many more cases are believed to have gone unreported.
“Sexual violence in Somalia is one of the most serious and urgent human rights challenges facing the government and people of Somalia,” said Nicholas Kay, UN special representative for the country.
Kay, who expressed his “grave concern” at the rape allegations, has demanded investigations be “rigorous and prompt”.
“If there is a case to answer, any perpetrator should be prosecuted,” Kay said in a statement.
But Maryan Qasim, Somalia’s minister for human development, insisted there was “major exaggeration and inflation of the number of attacks”. She also said alleged victims who speak out in the media should be “shot”.
Somalia’s army, an often rag-tag force incorporating militia fighters, has repeatedly been accused by rights groups of a string of abuses against women, including rape.
In March, Human Rights Watch (HRW) detailed the “enormous problem” of the rape and sexual abuse of women and girls in Mogadishu, including by government soldiers and militia fighters.
But HRW said that many of those attacked are too frightened of reprisals to tell the authorities.
Even reporting on rape in Mogadishu carries its own risks: a Somali journalist and a rape victim he interviewed were both sentenced to a year in prison in February, but they were released after two months in jail after the case sparked widespread international criticism.
Barclays Bank recently decided to withdraw its banking services from 250 UK money transfer companies including my local Dahabshiil – severing the remittance lifeline for millions of Somalis.
This sent shock waves through my local east London Somali community because the Dubai-based International money transfer company was our most effective and reliable method to send money regularly to support our relatives and friends. Remittances amount to an estimated US$2 billion or one-third of the country’s GDP, according to Somali authorities.
However, the Somali remittance crisis does not end there, as Somalis also send money to Somali refugees in neighbouring countries such as Kenya, Ethiopia and Yemen.
UNHCR’s 2012 survey reported Somalia has produced 1.136 million refugees – the second largest number of refugees in the world after Afghanistan. They can be found everywhere from United States to South Africa, Nepal and Australia. The UN reported “In 2009, Somalis applied for asylum in at least 34 countries.”
The majority of them – 942,619 according to the UNHCR – can be found in Kenya, Ethiopia and Yemen. Refugee camps are home to most refugees; over 500,000 reside in the worlds’ largest refugee camp ‘Dadaab’ where theft, murder and rape are commonplace.
Refugees living in the Horn of Africa region are without citizenship. They face difficulty securing housing, welfare or employment. Our remittances enable our relatives to establish businesses and support themselves. Nairobi’s Eastleigh district, for example, is not formally integrated into the Kenyan economy but provides income opportunities for thousands of Somalis because of the money the diaspora send to them.
Ultimately, Somalis living in the UK and other countries outside the region support their refugee relatives financially through the process of them seeking and being granted asylum, establishing themselves, and ultimately (if possible) gaining citizenship. It may take years or even decades for refugees to gain full economic independence.
On many occasions I have witnessed a friend receive 5am phone calls from her refugee relatives in Kenya pleading for urgent funds often for medical care. Through one quick fifteen-minute money transfer operation funds are sent to her relatives and confirmed by text message. This simple money transfer acts as a crucial financial safety net for Somali refugees.
I asked Laura Hammond Development Studies lecturer at the School of Oriental African Studies, University of London why the media have focused solely on the remittance crisis effect on people living inside Somalia and not on Somali refugees? She answered, “it is assumed that refugees are wholly dependent upon international aid for support, but clearly this is not the case. If Somali refugees had to rely only on such aid many would perish. The role that remittances play in sustaining refugee communities has been largely overlooked in the current discussion about the impact of the account closures.”
Economic opportunities in Dadaab are scarce as international assistance is focused on care of refugees and far less on providing opportunities to become self-sufficient. Plus, they are not allowed to leave the camps without the rare acquisition of movement passes. This approach is related to that fact that the Kenyan government assumes refugees both in the camps and city will return to Somalia very soon.
The idea of large-scale return is largely impractical given camps now host three generations of refugees. Returnees would face immense difficulty re-establishing themselves without government or aid assistance, and many are prevented from returning due to continuing security risks in the south and central regions of the country.
For over fifty years, Somalis have migrated and sought asylum around the world for many reasons including civil war, drought and famine, economic hardship, breakdown of law and order and to find better living conditions.
My grandfather is one of these migrants. He settled in the UK in the 1950’s. Most Somalis fled following the civil war and famine in 1991 and the subsequent collapse of the country. For two decades Somalia has been without a central government and it has endured famines and droughts, on-going violence and terrorist attacks.
It is against this backdrop of economic uncertainty that Somali refugees rely on money transfer companies, such as Dahabshiil, to act as the bridge between them and their relatives abroad. They use remittances from relatives abroad to buy food, shelter, and clothes, to pay for education and health care, and to build shops in the camps; ultimately remittances are crucial to helping them regain their dignity.
At least once a month my mother visits her local Dahabshiil branch in east London to send money to relatives and friends in Somalia and Kenya. This is a tradition I thought I would continue but Barclay’s decision has put the lives of my relatives and those of my friends at tremendous risk.
Somalia’s money transfer companies such as Dahabshiil, which grew in the midst of anarchy, food insecurity, conflict and displacement, have to a large extent upheld the Somali economy. The consequences of Barclays’ decision can only spell disaster. Somalia is just getting back on it’s feet after 20 years of devastation, so this decision will truly undermine the efforts of millions of Somalis not just in Somalia but worldwide who have put billions of dollars into rebuilding the Somali economy.
With Barclays out of the picture we wait with bated breath to hear how we can best move forward. Will other banks step forward and offer accounts? Can we use alternative remittance companies?
Using alternative companies would be not currently work, as they do not have the same reach and are not used as much by international agencies and charities – over 95% of international agencies and charities use Dahabshiil. Our only alternative would be unofficial channels a route which we do not want and cannot follow.
Annisa Omar is a British-Somali who works in International development, specialising in communications.
Nairobi, August 19, 2013–Three assailants killed veteran radio technician Ahmed Sharif Hussein outside of his home in the Shibis neighborhood of Mogadishu on Saturday, according to news reports and local journalists.
Unidentified gunmen, disguised as school students, shot Ahmed four times in the chest and stomach as he was leaving his home to go to work, Radio Mogadishu Director Abdirahim Isse Addow said, according to news reports. Ahmed was pronounced dead at Keysaney Hospital in the capital. No one has taken responsibility for the attack, according to local reports.
Ahmed, 40, was a technician for the state-run Radio Mogadishu and had previously worked for several leading stations, such as the now-defunct HornAfrik and Radio Banadir.
“Somalia remains one of the most deadly places in the world to practice journalism, with the capital proving especially dangerous,” said CPJ East Africa Consultant Tom Rhodes. “Authorities must do their utmost to identify the killers of Ahmed Sharif Hussein and ensure that they are brought to justice.”
Seven of the eight journalists killed in relation to their work in the past 12 months in Somalia were targeted in Mogadishu.
Earlier on Saturday, a man convicted in March of the 2012 murder of Radio Maanta journalist Hassan Yusuf Absuge was executed by firing squad in a Mogadishu square, according to news reports. Adan Sheikh Abdi, 24, had been accused of belonging to the Islamic extremist group Al-Shabaab and was tried as a combatant. Adan appealed his conviction, but a military court rejected it in July and upheld the death penalty, according to news reports.
While several local journalists supported the court’s decision, some noted concern about whether the accused received due process of law. The military trial was closed to the public and was based on laws dating from the authoritarian regime of former President Siad Barre.
Aid groups are leaving because of violent attacks. But the biggest problem is that the West is undermining any progress. By Michael Shank
Despite the news that Doctors Without Borders is quitting Somalia after 20-plus years in the country, due to an increase in violent attacks, the biggest war waged in Somalia right now is not between the rebel group al-Shabaab, the fledging government of Somalia, and the African Union’s military mission. It is the war between the Western world and the Somali people.
This may be hard to imagine but it is true. Last week, during meetings in Mogadishu, it became painfully apparent that the real victims in the “war on terrorism”—and specifically how the West is choosing to combat it on the Horn of Africa—are the Somali people.
After meeting with the prime minister, the ministers of Defense, Foreign Affairs, Interior and National Security, and Natural Resources, members of Parliament, the speaker of the Parliament, and civil society leaders, the path toward rebuilding Somalia became clear.
As the recently installed Somali executive and parliamentary branches of government are scrambling to prove their mettle to a very skeptical populace, what the West is doing is actively undermining potential for this poor country’s political, economic, and social progress. If Western actors—whether in the U.S., the EU, or elsewhere—care about the future stability of Somalia, they had better change their approach, and fast.
This country hangs in a very delicate balance. While Mogadishu is bustling with business like any normal city, and nothing like the bomb-riddled war zone the world prefers to present in the press, if the international community does not change its approach, we will soon see a resurgence of instability.
First and foremost, America’s counter-terrorism approach to Somalia must be rethought completely. Government officials here know that al-Shabaab recruits heavily from the poor and unemployed sectors of Somali society and from clans who are marginalized from the political process. They know that the way to undermine al-Shabaab’s power and presence is through economic development and job creation, political participation, and inclusion, and by building the security infrastructure necessary for Somali self-governance. They know that the way to ensure that former fighters do not return to al-Shabaab is through an aggressive rehabilitation and reintegration strategy on par with what Saudi Arabia is doing with its former fighters. And yet, what most of America’s Defense and State departments are doing here is antithetical to this goal.
The U.S. and international community’s preferred approach is to pump billions into security assistance and next to nothing on economic development and job creation in Somalia. This is not an exaggeration. There is no money for transportation, power and energy grids, hospitals, and schools—all the stuff this necessary for a stable society. Witness this in Baghdad, Kabul, Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province, and now in Mogadishu. Additionally, there is little to no effort to support and train a national Somali security sector. Instead, paramilitaries and private security companies like U.S.-based Bancroft are pervasive and the African Union Mission in Somalia continues to get fully funded (with no exit strategy) and with clear economic self-interest in the continuation of violence, paying its soldiers 15 times what Somali soldiers get paid.
What is needed, as one Somali businessman put it, is a “godfather”
Second, the difficulty of doing business in Somalia must be addressed. In meeting with the Chamber of Commerce in Mogadishu last week it became clear that one of the main obstacles to economic development is the lack of a financial system, internationally accredited banks and legal mechanisms for ensuring accountability.
The U.N. Somalia Monitoring Group, a Western-led oversight group that is categorically dismissed by Somali government and nongovernment leaders for doing much to undermine progress and potential in Somalia, is now singlehandedly dismantling Somalia’s sole financial effort: their Central Bank. One wonders if the current chair of the Monitoring Group, a former World Bank official based in Nairobi, is following in the footsteps of his Bank predecessors and working to undermine financial self-sufficiency that would make Somalia less dependent on international financial institutions. This has happened before by the Bank—throughout the developing world—so the suspicion has merit.
Third, the West’s penchant for resource exploitation on the African continent has no place on the Horn. Take, for example, the oil and gas exploration deal signed last week between Britain’s newly formed Soma Oil and Gas Exploration, chaired by U.K. conservative leader Lord Michael Howard, and the Somali’s Minister of Natural Resources, with whom I also met to discuss the country’s national environmental policy (the draft of which seems very forward-looking and progressive).
Skeptics in Mogadishu wondered what Britain’s recent interest was all about and now it’s clear. Estimates of Somali offshore oil stand at 110 billion barrels. In a seemingly asymmetrical negotiated process, the spoils—Somalia gets 12 percent of royalties, minimum of 50 percent of profits, rents for leasing, and a $200,000 community development fund—may have some financial face value for Somalia but the real test is in the capacity and infrastructure built in the country.
Oil and cash will come and go but what is Soma leaving behind other than unlimited exploration? Very little in capacity and infrastructure it turns out. To Soma’s credit, they’ll at least be hiring Somalis for basic, low-level service jobs, a practice that is not followed by the myriad international defense and development contractors operating in the mini-“green zone” adjacent to Mogadishu’s airport, nor followed by the African Union Mission in Somalia. What a lost opportunity to employ and train Somalis and build out a skilled labor sector.
What is needed, as one Somali businessman put it, is a “godfather”—a country that looks out for the best interests of the Somali people. Currently, Somalis feel there is none, but rather a set of self-interested countries near and far that have a financial stake in a perpetually dis-unified Somalia: from regional meddlers like Kenya and Ethiopia to international “lions,” to quote a member of Parliament, like America and the U.K. Every one of them—said one government minister—has their interest. For America and the U.K., it’s either counter-terrorism or oil (American oil companies also bought up blocks decades ago). But in both cases, it is clear that the Somali people are not the beneficiaries.
This self-interest by companies and countries is fickle and dangerous and unless economic development is prioritized, instability and insecurity will return. There are plenty of opportunities to pursue, whether it’s growing Somali’s livestock industry, which currently exports 5 million goats and sheep to the Gulf, reviving Somalia’s nascent banana and mango industries, creating a lucrative solar-power energy market, or developing a sustainable fishing industry, there are jobs to be created and Somalis to be trained and hired.
If the world cares at all about the stability and security of a country that has seen more war than most nations, this is the only path to pursue and the most humanitarian one as well. Anything else is mere war profiteering.
NAIROBI, Kenya — Somalia is suffering an “explosive” outbreak of polio and now has more cases than the rest of the world combined, an official said Friday.
Vaccine-wielding health workers face a daunting challenge: accessing areas of Somalia controlled by al-Qaida-linked militants, where 7 of 10 children aren’t fully immunized.
Polio is mostly considered eliminated globally except mainly in three countries where it is considered endemic: Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan. India marked a major success in February 2012 by being removed from the World Health Organization’s list of countries plagued by the disease.
Somalia now has 105 cases, figures released Friday show, and another 10 cases have been confirmed across the border in a Kenyan refugee camp filled with Somalis. Globally there have been 181 cases of polio this year, including those in Somalia and Kenya.
Vaccination campaigns in Somalia have reached 4 million people since the outbreak began in May, but those health officials have limited access to about 600,000 children who live in areas of Somalia controlled by the armed Islamist group al-Shabab.
“It’s very worrying because it’s an explosive outbreak and of course polio is a disease that is slated for eradication,” said Oliver Rosenbauer, a spokesman for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative at the World Health Organization in Geneva. “In fact we’re seeing more cases in this area this year than in the three endemic countries worldwide.”
In a bit of good news, Rosenbauer said in a phone interview with The Associated Press that polio numbers are down in the three remaining endemic countries.
“The only way to get rid of this risk is to eradicate in the endemic countries, and there the news is actually paradoxically very good,” he said.
Somalia was removed from the list of endemic polio countries in 2001, and this year’s outbreak is the second since then.
It began one month after Bill Gates helped unveil a six-year plan to eradicate polio at the Global Vaccine Summit. That effort will cost $5.5 billion, three-quarters of which has already been pledged, including $1.8 billion from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The outbreak in Somalia does not set back the six-year plan, said Rosenbauer, because unpredictable and intermittent outbreaks were programmed into the timeline.
In al-Shabab controlled south-central Somalia, disease surveillance is functioning, but health officials are likely not able to detect all polio cases.
Mohamud Yasin, a retired doctor who has treated polio throughout his career, said: “It’s indeed worrying because this comes at a time when the country is still hugely affected by the raging fighting, which prevents volunteers from accessing people in need of vaccines. It may take time before we can confidently say we have universal coverage of the immunization.”
In a sign of how difficult it is for medical providers to operate in Somalia, the aid group Doctors Without Borders announced this week it was pulling out of the country after 22 years because of attacks on its staff members. MSF, as the group is also known, was not taking part in the polio vaccination campaign.
Somalia shares one significant trait with the three endemic countries: pockets of severe violence where populations can be hostile to health care workers. In February, gunmen believed to belong to a radical Islamic sect known as Boko Haram shot and killed at least nine women taking part in a polio vaccination drive in northern Nigeria.
Polio, for the moment, has been defeated in two areas of Pakistan. But in one region where the disease persists — the dangerous North and South Waziristan region near the Afghanistan border — local authorities have banned immunization campaigns since mid-2012. Vaccination programs, especially those with international links, have come under suspicion since a Pakistani doctor ran a fake vaccination program to help the CIA track down Osama bin Laden.
“So no immunizations are taking place, and sure that’s a challenge and that has to be addressed,” said Rosenbauer. Still, he noted that nine times out of 10 when a child isn’t immunized in Pakistan it’s because of operational issues, not social resistance.
Southern Afghanistan hasn’t recorded any polio cases since November, a story of success after years of failure there. Afghanistan saw 37 polio cases last year but only four so far this year. Polio cases are also down in Nigeria year-over-year, but about the same in Pakistan.
When the Global Polio Eradication Initiative was launched in 1988, the disease was endemic in 125 countries and paralyzed about 1,000 children per day. Since then the incidence of polio has decreased by more than 99 per cent. Five children have been paralyzed in Somalia’s recent outbreak.
At the April summit, Gates talked about the need to vaccinate the hardest-to-reach children in the endemic countries.
Eradicating the last cases has proved difficult. The World Health Organization knows the Somalia outbreak came from West Africa but can’t say exactly where. In 2011, the virus jumped from Pakistan to China, and the year before that to Tajikistan. There have been more than 50 outbreaks in the last decade.
Poliovirus is very contagious. The virus lives in an infected person’s throat and intestines. It spreads through contact with the feces of an infected person and through droplets from a sneeze or cough.
On August 11, 2013, Former Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi was invited to attend a meeting held in Nairobi to welcome the vice president of the Jubaland, Abdullah sheikh Ismail (fartaag), who came to Nairobi for consultation meeting with Jubalanders living in the area. A lot of the people in the meeting were surprised to see the PM Gedi who was not involved in Somali politics since he left his post. When asked why he was not involved in politics until now, he responded that he has been seeing slow progress being made toward the end of transitional government.
However, last year, when the transitional government was ended and new government led by Hassan sheikh Mohamud was elected, he expected, like everyone else, that things will get much better. Almost year later, he stated that it seems that the country is heading backward.
In that meeting, the PM Gedi made it clear that he is not speaking out against government because he is involved in any opposition group which has a motive to be against government, but he is speaking out because of his responsibility as the citizen who could no longer take or sit back when the current government refuse to implement the constitution, improve safety of the capital city Mogadishu and blame Amison for its mishap.
In term of constitution, In his first trip to Hiiraan region, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud gave a memorable speech to the people of that region when he basically told them that the era of a government sending someone from Mogadishu to run their affairs is over and it’s their responsibility to elect someone from the region whom everyone know and whom everyone can hold him or her accountable if fail to fulfill their task. At that point, almost everyone who hears that speech concluded that now it is the time when Somali people would move forward.
However, as soon as Jubaland officials, who started organizing and preparing for meeting to be held inside the Kismayo city after it is liberated from the militia, called on the government officials to attend the meeting in order government to take its leadership role as indicated in the constitution, the president Hassan changed overnight and publicly spoke against the formation of the Jubaland state, accusing that the government did not participate the process which was not based on constitution nor inclusive.
When Jubaland carried on its process and elected the president and vice president, it was reported that the president Hassan sponsored individual from the region to self-declare as president elect in order to confuse the whole process. As result, later on, he blamed the process was not inclusive as he forwarded even though it was widely reported those claimed to be president elected were financed by the government and within weeks, they disappeared.
Instead of sitting down with the current administration of the Jubaland and finding ways out of the impasse, President Hassan decided to bring this issue in front of IGAD meeting in Addis Ababa, where they ( government and Jubaland Administration) were urged to solve this issue in a meeting to be held in Mogadishu where the government participate and take its leadership role. Immediately, government spokesman took credit that government won that case. Up to now, there is no meeting held in Mogadishu to discuss the Jubaland issue.
It became a clear to the former prime minister Mr. Gedi that the government, Somali people expected to facilitate forming administration(States) consisting of at least two regions as it indicated in the constitution, is now planning to centralize all the power into Mogadishu where the government expects to nominate temporary governors to each region until what they called inclusive administration approved by the government is created.
Former PM Gedi warned in that meeting, if the government officials do not follow the constitution as it is written, the people who elected this government should stand up and replace this government. He added that this government is not elected by group or party as the president claimed instead it was elected by the parliament which represents Somali people.
In term of safety, PM Gedi criticized that the safety of the capital city is getting worst not to mention the rest of the country where instead of the government uniting people, they are, as matter of fact, creating conflict among the people.
President Hassan Sheikh declared that as soon as he was elected that his first priority is safety, safety and safety and everyone agreed that after the safety of the city of Mogadishu is secured, then everything else will follow. As of today, like former prime Minster Mr. Gedi stated in that meeting, after he witnessed in the city over 30 days he resided, that at night in Mogadishu, the city’s affair is ran by Al shabab while in the morning, the government forces ran the street of Maka Almukarama connecting the airport and Villa Somalia.
Finally, Former PM Gedi could not understand why the current government is blaming all its mishap to Amison troop especially Kenyan troop and as result, he apologized to Kenyan for all the inconvenience created by the current government. He mentioned just because Kenyan want to follow the mandate of Amison and the constitution in which Somali people agree does not mean that they want to occupy the Jubaland.
It was an embarrassment for the Somali government to ask Kenyan to hand over the airport and seaport to the Somali government when they know the administration of both ports are administered by Jubaland Administration or to ask Kenyans to be replaced to Ugandan troop like Ugandan is related to the President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud or they are a member of his group ( Dam Jadiid).
In the end of that meeting, the Former PM minister Ali Mohamed Gedi asked everyone to stand up and express their concern and he made it clear that despite government’s failing to follow the constitution, improve safety and blaming Amison for everything, his intend is not to create confusion, but to correct the government to take the right path in which it was elected to lead to.
Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has closed all medical programmes in Somalia following a series of attacks and abduction of aid workers.
The humanitarian organisation, which has worked in the country since the start of civil war in the country in 1991, cited “extreme attacks” by armed groups and it accused civilian leaders of condoning, the killing, assaulting, and abducting of humanitarian aid workers.
MSF’s international president Unni Karunakara said the leaders’ actions and tolerance of the environment effectively cut off hundreds of thousands of Somali civilians from humanitarian aid.
“In some cases, the same actors—particularly but not exclusively in south central Somalia—with whom MSF must negotiate minimum guarantees to respect its medical humanitarian mission, have played a role in the abuses against MSF staff, either through direct involvement or tacit approval,” he said while making the announcement.
The most recent incidents include the brutal killing of two MSF staff in Mogadishu in December 2011 and the subsequent early release of the convicted killer; and the violent abduction of two staff in the Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya that ended only last month after a 21-month captivity in south central Somalia.
“These two incidents are just the latest in a series of extreme abuses. Fourteen other MSF staff members have been killed, and the organisation has experienced dozens of attacks on its staff, ambulances, and medical facilities since 1991,” the MSF boss said in his statement.
Besides offering humanitarian assistance over its 22-year history in Somalia, MSF has negotiated with armed actors and authorities.
MSF will be closing its medical programmes across Somalia, including in the capital Mogadishu and the suburbs of Afgooyeand Daynille, as well as in Balad, Dinsor, Galkayo, Jilib, Jowhar, Kismayo, Marere, and Burao.
More than 1,500 staff provided a range of services, including free basic healthcare, malnutrition treatment, maternal health, surgery, epidemic response, immunisation campaigns, water, and relief supplies.
In 2012 alone, MSF teams provided more than 624,000 medical consultations, admitted 41,100 patients to hospitals, cared for 30,090 malnourished children, vaccinated 58,620 people, and delivered 7,300 babies.
“Ultimately, civilians in Somalia will pay the highest cost,” said Dr Karunakara. “Much of the Somali population has never known the country without war or famine. Already receiving far less assistance than is needed, the armed groups’ targeting of humanitarian aid and civilians leaders’ tolerance of these abuses has effectively taken away what little access to medical care is available to the Somali people.”
He added that beyond the killings, abductions, and abuses against its staff operating in Somalia, MSF had to take the exceptional measure of utilising armed guards, which it does not do in any other country.
Also, they were forced to tolerate extreme limits on its ability to independently assess and respond to the needs of the population.
“We are ending our programmes in Somalia because the situation in the country has created an untenable imbalance between the risks and compromises our staff must make, and our ability to provide assistance to the Somali people,” Dr Karunakara said.
