European Union Training Mission Somalia

PRESS SUMMARY 4th August 2018

“In ‘Media’ stat virtus”

EUTM - SOMALIA 04/08/2018

SUMMARY TITLE PAGE US military airstrike in Somalia kills 4 l Shabab fighters 2 ISIL claims killing of 3 soldiers near 3 MPs call off meeting over security fears 4 Federal Council of Ministers Holds Meeting With Puntland 5 Counterparts Race To Fill Top Post Of CBS At The Corner As Governor Bashir’s First 6 Term Ends In Somalia, Schools Are a Bulwark Against Recruitment: Study 7 Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia to carry out polio vaccination exercise 9 concurrently African Union Works to Tackle Corruption in Africa 10 So, why is Somaliland Africa's most successful non-country? 13 Battle Of The Ports: Emirates Sea Power Spreads From Persian Gulf 16 To Africa

EUTM - SOMALIA 1 EUTM - SOMALIA 04/08/2018

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-6023295/US-military-airstrike-Somalia-kills-4- al-Shabab-fighters.html

EUTM - SOMALIA 2 EUTM - SOMALIA 04/08/2018

ISIL claims killing of 3 soldiers near Mogadishu

3rd August 2018

MOGADISHU, Somalia – The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group has claimed to have shot and killed at least 3 government soldiers near Somali capital Mogadishu.

In an online statement by the group says its fighters shot dead 3 soldiers late on Thursday at Elasha area, some 15km west of Mogadishu.

The group’s attackers fled from the crime scene as security forces reached at spot and launched an operation.

No arrests were made over the operation, according to local residents.

The ISIL group carried similar attacks in Somali capital for the past months. https://mareeg.com/isil-claims-killing-of-3-soldiers-near-mogadishu/

EUTM - SOMALIA 3 EUTM - SOMALIA 04/08/2018

MPs call off meeting over security fears

August 3rd 2018

Parliament’s committee on Regional Integration failed to meet on Friday due to security concerns in Lamu County. The committee was to meet residents of Kiunga and Ishakani yesterday, but due to insecurity, local security officials asked them not to hold it.

Instead, the committee led by its vice chair and Lamu Woman Representative Ruweida Mohamed had to hold the meeting at the island. “We were to meet residents of Kiunga and Ishakani at the border but due to security reasons, we were told not to get there,” said Ruweida. Last week, suspected Al Shabaab militants killed a policeman in a rocket attack at Milihoi outside Mpeketoni Township.

The MP said insecurity is affecting the region’s development prospects. She regretted that the committee could not tour Kiunga and Ishakani as they retreat to write a report. Kiunga and Ishakani borders Somalia. The government has banned trade between locals and businessmen from Raskiamboni in Somalia.

“We used to buy fish from Raskiamboni but had to stop after the government’s ban,” said Ruweida. Kiunga Ward Member of the County Assembly Babaad Aboud said the committee should visit and meet the people to get views if it is to write a comprehensive report.

“If the House committee doesn’t go to Kiunga and Ishakani, then the report will be half- baked. The committee must visit the area as planned,” said Babaad. https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001290605/mps-call-off-meeting-over- security-fears

EUTM - SOMALIA 4 EUTM - SOMALIA 04/08/2018

Federal Council of Ministers Holds Meeting With Puntland Counterparts

02 August 2018

The Federal Council of Ministers’ meeting with Puntland Council of Ministers was held in the Puntland regional capital of Garowe on Thursday. Chaired by Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire and attended by Federal Government ministers and Puntland officials including President Mohamed Abdiweli Gaas, his Deputy, Abdihakin Haji Omar Ammey, the meeting focused on a wide range of issues including enhancing cooperation between the Federal State of Puntland and the Federal Government, strengthening of governance and the federal system, among other issues.

Briefing the press after the meeting, Puntland Presidency Spokesman, Abdullahi Mohamed Jama “Quran Je’el”, said other issues discussed in the meeting included the release of about 600 pirates serving jail terms in Garowe’s main prison. The prisoners were convicted and sentenced in foreign countries.

Somalia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Mahdi Mohamed Guled and Minister of Justice, Hassan Hussein Hajji, were tasked to take the lead in start legal proceedings for the release of the inmates. The Cabinet also held its weekly meeting in Garowe after its meeting with Puntland authorities. The Federal Cabinet will today attend celebrations commemorating the 20th Puntland anniversary. Prime Minister Khaire and his delegation lauded the people and leaders of Puntland for the warm reception accorded to them http://somaliamediamonitoring.org/august-3-2018-daily-monitoring-report/

EUTM - SOMALIA 5 EUTM - SOMALIA 04/08/2018

Race To Fill Top Post Of CBS At The Corner As Governor Bashir’s First Term Ends

02 August 2018

The battle for the post of Governor of the is expected to take shape as the incumbent’s contract comes to an end in November this year. In 2009, the Somali government revived the Central Bank as part of its campaign to restore national institutions. In an advertisement posted in the influential “The Economist” magazine, the Central Bank states, “it is seeking a competent candidate to fill the position in the cash-rich agency”. The current head’s contract expires in November after serving the mandatory terms of 4 years.

“Somalia is emerging from conflict and rebuilding its economy, including its key economic institutions. The position of Governor of the Central Bank of Somalia (CBS) will fall vacant on November 1, 2018,” the Bank says, “The new Governor will lead the CBS through major ongoing reforms, including the issuance of a new national currency, rebuilding the CBS’s institutional capacity, developing monetary instruments, and implementing the CBS’s mandate, which includes the development of financial intermediation and regulation of the financial system.”

According to the advert, the Governor, who is the chief executive officer of the CBS, will be responsible for the management of the Bank under the general direction of the Board of Directors. The Governor also serves as the Chair of the Board and is the principal representative of the CBS in its relations with the Federal Government of Somalia, other public entities, and bodies and international financial institutions. Bashir Isse http://somaliamediamonitoring.org/august-3-2018-daily-monitoring-report/

EUTM - SOMALIA 6 EUTM - SOMALIA 04/08/2018

In Somalia, Schools Are a Bulwark Against Recruitment: Study

03 August 2018 - Conflict and crisis disrupt the education of more than 80 million children worldwide. But access to high school education in war zones could help diminish support for armed groups, according to a recent study by Mercy Corps. Somalia has been engaged in a civil war for almost 30 years, and with over 70 percent of its population under 30 years of age, youth and youth education appear to be the key to a peaceful future in the country.

Now, a new study has revealed that increasing access to high school education in war zones could help diminish support for armed groups. Research from the global organization Mercy Corps showed that young people in conflict-affected areas of Somalia who have access to secondary education are almost half as likely to support violent groups than those not in school.

“We found in general that the provision of secondary education by itself reduced the likelihood of young people supporting political violence by roughly 48 percent,” said Mercy Corps senior researcher Beza Tesfaye. The study also found that coupling education with civic engagement opportunities meant that young people were nearly 65 percent less likely to support violence.

More than 1,200 youth ages 15 to 24 years old were interviewed for the study in Somalia’s South Central and Puntland regions. “We didn’t want to bias the findings by focusing on areas that were safe, you know, just staying in one part of the country, so it was challenging to be able to go out especially to rural areas,” said Tesfaye. “We were able to go out to a few communities that had previously been under the control of Al-Shabaab a few years earlier.”

EUTM - SOMALIA 7 EUTM - SOMALIA 04/08/2018

Mercy Corps’ report measured the impact of a Somali Youth Learners Initiative, a multi-year program funded USAID that improved access and quality of education for more than 100,000 young people through construction and rehabilitation of schools and improved teacher training. The program also created community-engagement opportunities through student clubs and youth-led community-improvement initiatives.

Crisis and conflict negatively affects the education of upwards of 80 million children worldwide, according to USAID. “We also know that the longer they’re out of school the less likely they are to go back,” said Nina Papadopoulos, team lead for Education in Crisis and Conflict in USAID’s Bureau for Economic Growth, Education and Environment.

“So not only is school necessary for these kids’ continued education,” said Papadopoulos, “but it also provides them with important emotional, physical and cognitive protection while their world and family are in chaos.”

The impact of education in conflict zones has also been noticed by NGOs in South Sudan. We spoke with organizers at the Global Partnership for Education who say they’ve witnessed first-hand what education can do to diminish armed groups.

“School symbolizes hope for communities,” said GPE’s country lead for South Sudan, Fazle Rabbani. “Parents want children to go to school, when children are going to schools they want to stay in that community and contribute to that community.”

Experts warn though that education itself is not enough to reduce conflict, and that youth could become disenchanted if education increases hopes only to be met with a lack of employment opportunities.

“Education is important but it’s not sufficient by itself, it also needs to be coupled with real meaningful opportunities for youth to engage both politically and economically,” Tesfaye said. “Youth have to be at the center of these initiatives because they are not just the beneficiaries, they’re also going to be the leaders and the key actors in their communities.” https://www.newsdeeply.com/peacebuilding/articles/2018/08/03/in-somalia-schools-are- a-bulwark-against-recruitment-study

EUTM - SOMALIA 8 EUTM - SOMALIA 04/08/2018

Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia to carry out polio vaccination exercise concurrently

The county of Garissa has launched the second phase of a massive polio vaccination campaign that is set to start on 4 to 8 of July. Addressing stakeholders who included, chiefs, elders, and clerics during an awareness meeting ahead of the exercise on Thursday, Garissa sub-county deputy Commissioner, Samuel Njuguna said the aim of the program is to ensure that all children are vaccinated in a bid to make the county polio-free.

The program through the support of world health organization [WHO] will be also be conducted in Somalia and Ethiopia. Garissa county child Health coordinator Hashim Noor said his officers will dispatch across the vast county.

He said the fact that Kenya borders Somalia coupled with the porous borders and the presence of refugees makes the county vulnerable to polio hence the need for the exercise to also be carried in the country. “We need to all join hands to support this exercise that urge all of you to go out there and create the awareness through all the available avenues including the media so that so no child is left out,” said Noor.

Njuguna said failure to have even one child not vaccinated will have far-reaching effects to the entire county hence the need to take the exercise very seriously. The administrator further dispelled the myth that some parents especially those in the remote parts who believe that the vaccination is not good for their children and has some effects.

He said his office will close the chiefs and their assistants to make sure that all children below the age of 5 are vaccinated adding that action will be taken against those who fail to avail their children. https://hivisasa.com/posts/1052-kenya-somalia-and-ethiopia-to-carry-out-polio- vaccination-exercise-concurrently

EUTM - SOMALIA 9 EUTM - SOMALIA 04/08/2018

African Union Works to Tackle Corruption in Africa

ON AUGUST 3, 2018

SEATTLE — On July 2, the 31st Ordinary Session of the African Union Summit wrapped up, where all 54 countries officially part of the agreement were represented. While the African Union (AU) may not get as much international attention as the similarly structured European Union, it is an important political force in Africa. The focus of this year’s summit was a commitment to fighting corruption and building sustainability. In order for countries to develop and lift their people out of poverty, they will need to combat corruption. By working with the EU and USAID, the AU is working to tackle corruption in Africa.

The main political body the AU has for fighting corruption is the African Union Advisory Board on Corruption. The board’s mission is, among other things, to “promote and encourage adoption and application of anti-corruption measures on the continent”. With a task so large, it is no surprise that the board works closely with countries in both the AU and abroad to achieve its goals and stop corruption. These are a few examples of the progress in the fight against corruption in Africa.

Programs in Somalia Work to Curtail Bribes and Improve Rule of Law

Somalia has long been a poster child for corruption and insecurity. With a police force that regularly accepts bribes, there is little or no enforcement of the law. Trace International and the World Bank both rank Somalia as the worst scoring country in their 2017 Bribery Risk Indexes. Somalia is also one of the poorest countries in the world, with UNICEF estimating that one in two live in poverty and nearly one third live in extreme poverty.

The first step to tackling the nearly universal and eliminating poverty is to enact some sort of rule of law. The AU is currently attempting to do this through the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), which is a peacekeeping mission aimed at bringing security to one of the least secure areas of the world. One of its methods is to help the local police force in various ways, such as providing a new clinic in the city of Baidoa.

EUTM - SOMALIA 10 EUTM - SOMALIA 04/08/2018

The AU worked closely with the EU on this project, and in other cases AMISOM has collaborated with USAID to provide aid and resources. Together, these political bodies are better able to fight corruption in Africa and bring lasting peace to Somalia.

Rwanda a Success Story in the Fight Against Corruption in Africa

In 2016, it was estimated by the Executive Director of Transparency International Rwanda, Apollinaire Mupiganyi, that Rwandans paid out a little over $40 million in bribes. Despite this, Rwanda remains a country where anti-corruption efforts have begun to make a noticeable difference in how the country is governed. While the situation in Somalia is focused on fighting corruption through law enforcement, Rwanda’s anti-corruption effort is spearheaded by policy and oversight.

The Rwanda Public Procurement Authority is an oversight committee that reviews and either approves or rejects public transactions based on whether or not they were legitimate. Transactions that have been approved hold much more value than transactions that are unapproved. This speaks to the authority of the organization, since its approval has a significant economic impact. In addition, there have also been greater efforts made in tandem with USAID. This means training journalists to be fair and accurate, informing female voters of their rights and working together to ensure legitimate elections.

All of these policies have had a considerable impact. In 1996, Transparency International ranked Rwanda as one of the most corrupt countries in the world, with a dismal score of 20 out of 100. As of 2017, that score has jumped to 55, placing it above the global average of 43. While it is easy to get discouraged when talking about a problem as endemic as corruption in Africa, Rwanda stands as an example that progress can be made.

Ghana Improving Transparency and Fairness in Election Process

Ghana is currently in a state of upheaval. In 2016, the Ghanaian people were so fed up with the rampant corruption in their state that they voted out an incumbent president for the first time in the nation’s history. However, Ghana still faces widespread corruption in the form of police bribes, misuses of power and failures to hold offenders accountable. For example, the former CEO of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (a government

EUTM - SOMALIA 11 EUTM - SOMALIA 04/08/2018 institution that gives loans to citizens), Sedina Tamakloe Attionu, has been charged with committing fraud by giving desperate Ghanaians unfavorable loans.

USAID is assisting by implementing their Ghana Strengthening Accountability Mechanisms policy. This sets up accountability services in all 50 of Ghana’s districts, enforcing the rule of law. It also runs campaigns with the government to educate the public to hold politicians accountable with their votes. This is done in part by working with the Ghana Electoral Commision to ensure elections are fair and transparent. USAID credits part of the landmark 2016 election to this initiative.

By working together with the African Union to tackle corruption, USAID, the EU and other governing bodies can get the most out of their resources and see results. Corruption in Africa breeds systemic inequality, and anyone who wants to fight poverty on the continent needs to address corruption as well. While there is still progress to be made, these examples show that there is hope for the future of fighting corruption in Africa. http://www.borgenmagazine.com/corruption-in-africa/

EUTM - SOMALIA 12 EUTM - SOMALIA 04/08/2018

So, why is Somaliland Africa's most successful non-country?

August 3 2018

When I told a friend recently that I was going to Hargeisa, he looked at me in a way that told me immediately that he had no clue what I was talking about. He eventually asked: “Where is that?”

Many asked me this same question in 2014 when I first went to Hargeisa. So in many ways, here in East Africa, as elsewhere in the world, I suppose, Hargeisa remains an unknown quantity nearly 30 years since Somaliland, the country whose capital city it is, broke away from the rest of Somalia and declared itself independent.

There must be many reasons for this. The principal one, however, is that, even as Somalilanders are fiercely emphatic that theirs is an independent country, the rest of the world insists on not recognising the territory as such.

Funny; isn’t it? Millions of people living in a defined territory, with a keen sense of their own history as a state, see themselves as a country.

The territory has a government that is popularly elected in the kind of competitive multiparty elections that are so loved by the “international community” of democracy enthusiasts and advocates, and are used as a yardstick for judging whether governments are legitimate or not.

Somaliland even has passports that its citizens use to travel to many parts of the world, except to the territory that still calls itself Somalia. Some of the world’s better-known airlines fly there on a regular basis.

EUTM - SOMALIA 13 EUTM - SOMALIA 04/08/2018

A number of UN agencies have offices there, not to provide emergency aid as they do in many places in the world, thanks to dysfunctional governments in most cases, but to support local efforts in pursuit of development and wellbeing.

Unknown to many, including those that use it on a regular basis across the world, the money transfer and banking giant Dahabshil that gives older competitors a good run for their money, is headquartered there, having been founded by a Somalilander.

Somaliland also has a vibrant private sector driven by the culture of enterprise for which Somali-speaking peoples here in East Africa and elsewhere are well known. Yet we, the rest of the world, insist on denying it recognition as a sovereign country.

There must be a whole range of reasons why sovereign countries that are recognised as such in the international community have withheld recognition. These things are never simple and straightforward.

Still, the complexity behind whatever reasons the world uses to justify its stance of non- recognition does nothing to diminish the feeling visitors get, that they are indeed in a country.

For one thing, assessed alongside some of its recognised peers on the continent in such things as political stability and safety, it puts them to shame.

The UN and other actors rate Hargeisa as safer than many capital cities in Africa and beyond. Funnily enough, when I revealed to the friend I was talking to that Hargeisa was in Somaliland, he heard “Somalia.”

Immediately he asked if I wasn’t afraid of Al Shabaab, the jihadists mainly responsible for Somalia’s reputation as a dangerous place.

He wouldn’t buy the argument that there is anywhere in “Somalia” that is safe from the Islamist militia. And yet when you arrive in Somaliland and ask the local people about Al Shabaab, the response you get tends to be, “They dare not come here.”

Conversations about Al Shabaab help one to understand the connection between the drive to ensure security and Somaliland’s pursuit of recognition as an independent state.

EUTM - SOMALIA 14 EUTM - SOMALIA 04/08/2018

Few things establish the legitimacy of a government in the minds of the people it leads better than the ability to ensure security across its entire territory.

Which takes me to why I went to Hargeisa recently as did dozens of other visitors with whom I spent most of my time there. Each year, this capital of a non-recognised country organises one of the most popular book fairs in Africa.

But in many ways the Hargeisa International Book Fair is far more than simply about books. It is about Somalilanders showcasing their country, its rich culture, the political stability and freedoms they enjoy, the vibrant commercial life, and affirming the de facto status of their country as a an independent state.

Probably nothing would do it better than a cultural event on such a scale. And few things strike one immediately more than the fact that, late in the evening when in most cities across the world commercial activity would have come to a stop, in Hargeisa people are still out on the street, the shops open and trading.

Each year the book fair hosts a guest country. This year it was my other country, Rwanda, to which a special panel was dedicated.

Many Somalilanders see Rwanda as their country’s role model and are therefore keen to learn as much as they can about how it has managed to achieve so much in such a short time. Rwanda and Somaliland share some attributes. For me, the hunger for success is the most striking. http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/oped/comment/Somaliland-country-recognition/434750- 4694868-6a7m4wz/index.html

EUTM - SOMALIA 15 EUTM - SOMALIA 04/08/2018

Battle Of The Ports: Emirates Sea Power Spreads From Persian Gulf To Africa

The past few weeks have been particularly rich in new developments for the UAE’s foreign policy. In Yemen, the UAE is at the forefront of the current struggle for the seizure of the Houthi-held port of Hodeidah, a critical chokepoint for the arms and humanitarian supplies to the Houthis, and an important access to the Red Sea and strait of Bab el Mandeb, where 4.8 million barrels of oil and 8 percent of global trade transit every day.

On the other shore of the Red Sea, the Emiratis have reportedly played a key role at facilitating the rapprochement between 20-year rivals Eritrea and Ethiopia. On July 24, a few weeks after the two countries signed a peace agreement, Abu Dhabi hosted a tripartite summit with the two leaders, where it reaffirmed its support to their peace efforts. For the UAE, the stabilisation of these important partners could have strategic advantages, including for reinforcing its already solid influence on Horn of Africa’s ports. Indeed, Eritrea hosts the UAE’s first foreign military base in its port of Assab since 2015, and reports suggest that landlocked Ethiopia plans to use this port, possibly developed by Dubai Ports World, to diminish its reliance on the port of Djibouti.

Finally, the UAE also received last week the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping, signing agreements in multiple areas, including cooperation on the project of Maritime Silk Road, given both countries growing footprint on regional ports.

These back-to-back developments mark further steps in the UAE’s rapid maritime expansion in the Western Indian Ocean and suggest the shaping of an increasingly sophisticated Emirati diplomacy directed towards the achievement of its regional ambitions. This is playing out against the backdrop of regional competition between Gulf states across both the Gulf itself and the Horn of Africa, a competition also drawing in others such Turkey and China. This competition to control strategic ports and maritime routes represents a new, and potentially destabilizing, arena for intensifying regional rivalries. https://www.newsweek.com/battle-ports-emirates-sea-power-spreads-persian-gulf-africa- 1051959

EUTM - SOMALIA 16