European Union Training Mission Somalia PRESS SUMMARY 22nd November 2018 “In ‘Media’ stat virtus” EUTM - SOMALIA 22/11/2018 SUMMARY TITLE PAGE US airstrike in Somalia against al-Shabab kills 7 extremists 2 Somali military says 13 militants killed in Marka fighting 3 Regional Economic Integration Not Good For Somalia, Claims 4 Former President BRA lacks budget plan, can’t account for $16.6m-parliamentary 5 report ICRC Staff, German Citizen Abducted In Somalia Rescued Last Night 7 Two employees of Somali telecom giant killed in Somali capital 8 Somali' gunmen abduct Italian aid worker during shootout in Kenya 9 Leadership Crisis Caused Freeze of Statebuilding Efforts in Somalia 10 We Can’t Talk Unity Till Mogadishu Changes Cause, President Bihi 14 UN police officer recognized for protecting vulnerable Somali 15 women from abuse Terrorism in East Africa 17 Siyaad Barre was a Nationalist, regardless of his shortcomings 25 Djibouti’s Mysterious Absence from Horn of Africa Reintegration: 29 Who is to blame? EUTM - SOMALIA 1 EUTM - SOMALIA 22/11/2018 US airstrike in Somalia against al-Shabab kills 7 extremists 21 November 2018 The U.S. military says it has carried out an airstrike in central Somalia targeting al-Shabab that killed seven extremists. The U.S. Africa Command statement says Tuesday's airstrike occurred in Quy Cad in the Mudug region. The strike was carried out a day after two other U.S. airstrikes killed 37 extremists with the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab. Like the previous statement, this one says it believes no civilians were killed or injured. The U.S. has carried out 33 airstrikes this year against al-Shabab, the deadliest Islamic extremist group in Africa. The military says the airstrikes are aimed at reducing al-Shabab's ability to plan attacks, disrupting its leadership networks and limiting its freedom of movement in the Horn of Africa nation. Al-Shabab often targets the capital, Mogadishu, and other cities with deadly bombings. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-6414149/US-airstrike-Somalia-against-al- Shabab-kills-7-extremists.html EUTM - SOMALIA 2 EUTM - SOMALIA 22/11/2018 Somali military says 13 militants killed in Marka fighting 21st November 2018 MOGADISHU – Somali military says its forces clashed with armed militants belonging to Al Qaeda linked Al Shabaab in Marka town, some 91km southwest of Mogadishu. The fighting broke out at Marka Jilib in the coastal town of Marka,after Somali army forces launched joint military offensive against small villages held by Al Shabaab, said in a Twitter post by the country’s military. The military claimed to have killed 13 Al Shabaab militants during the fighting Meanwhile, the armed group Al Shabaab denies claims made by Somali military. The group said its fighters had seized an armored vehicle during the clash. Last month, Somali army forces backed by African Union peacekeeping forces re-captured the coastal town from Al Shabaab. https://mareeg.com/somali-military-says-13-militants-killed-in-marka-fighting/ EUTM - SOMALIA 3 EUTM - SOMALIA 22/11/2018 Regional Economic Integration Not Good For Somalia, Claims Former President 21 November 2018 The immediate former President of the Federal Republic of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, has strongly criticized the ongoing regional economic and political integration process involving Mogadishu, Asmara and Addis Ababa. He warned that President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo’s government against the move claiming it was not in best interest of the nation: “We cannot talk about political and economic integration with Ethiopia at the moment because our institutions are still weak. Let us first wait until we have strong government before committing ourselves to such an undertaking,” he said, The former President advised the government to rethink the regional economic cooperation agreement adding that opening the borders in the name of business was imprudent: “We can talk about how we can do business together but opening the borders and free movement need caution,” he said. Sheikh Mohamud is currently in Kismayo, in the Jubbaland state, to market his new political outfit, Union for Peace and Development (UPD) ahead of the 2020 presidential elections. He urged the Farmaajo administration government not to exaggerate the country’s economic growth saying the economic progress started in 2013 during his tenure as President. Sheikh Mohamud is currently on a tour of the regions across Somalia. http://somaliamediamonitoring.org/november-21-2018-daily-monitoring-report/ EUTM - SOMALIA 4 EUTM - SOMALIA 22/11/2018 BRA lacks budget plan, can’t account for $16.6m-parliamentary report November 21, 2018 Sixteen million dollars allocated to Banaadir Regional Administration cannot be clearly accounted for since there is no documentation to demonstrate how the funds were utilized, the Lower House Budget Committee has said noting the city administration operates without a budget plan. According to the Ali Abdi Osman led committee, Banadir Regional Administration (BRA) received $15.2 million between January and June 2018 in addition to $1.9 million it already had adding to $16.6 million the city administration had at disposal for the 2018 financial. But revelations by the parliamentary committee indicates the manner in which these funds were spent and for what purposes cannot be clearly established since there is no documentation to support the expenditure. “Banadir administration received $ 8,575,343.24 within the period mentioned above (January-June 2018) which was expended during the same period but there is no clear evidence on how the money mentioned above was used and this indicates widespread financial mismanagement in Banadir Regional Administration,” the report says. BRA launched a Public Finance Management programme August 2017 supported by Financial Management Information System (FMIS) ‘to automate financial management and ensure efficiency and transparency.’ However the Committee report says BRA which oversees 17 districts including the capital Mogadishu does not a budget plan. In addition, the report notes individuals and companies ‘regularly earn money from the local government without any written or agreement owned by the local authority of Banadir administration.’ EUTM - SOMALIA 5 EUTM - SOMALIA 22/11/2018 The city administration deducts 30% from its employees to pay ‘consultants’ who have not contractual obligations with the regional government, the report notes adding contracting of projects is not open to competitive bidding ‘encouraging corruption, nepotism, poor management and theft of public goods contravention of state laws’. Between January and June 2018, the Budget Committee says, close to $6 million was withdrawn from the BRA treasury but it is not clear how the money was used. The Committee has asked the Auditor General and Accountant General to investigate how the BRA utilized its share from the 2018 national budget and report its findings to Parliament. http://goobjoog.com/english/bra-lacks-budget-plan-cant-account-for-16-6m- parliamentary-report/ EUTM - SOMALIA 6 EUTM - SOMALIA 22/11/2018 ICRC Staff, German Citizen Abducted In Somalia Rescued Last Night 21 November 2018 Reports from Galgudug region in Galmudug state, claim Somalia’s Special Forces have rescued Sonja Nientiet, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) staff and German nurse, who was abducted in the Mogadishu capital on May 2nd 2018. Sources told Mustaqbal Radio that Ms. Nientiet’s abductors held her in a secret location in Galgudud region all this while. Sources in the Special Forces confirmed to Mustaqbal Radio, that they had finally rescued the German nurse and will return her back to Mogadishu in the next few hours. Ms. Nientiet was abducted on a Wednesday 2nd May 2018, in what local security officials believe was an inside job involving at least one of the personnel guarding the ICRC compound. Police and the ICRC said in a statement, that the abduction occurred around 8 pm (1700 GMT). The German has worked for the ICRC since 2014 in conflict zones, including Syria and the Democratic Republic of Congo. http://somaliamediamonitoring.org/november-21-2018-daily-monitoring-report/ EUTM - SOMALIA 7 EUTM - SOMALIA 22/11/2018 Two employees of Somali telecom giant killed in Somali capital November 21, 2018 MOGADISHU (HOL) – Two employees with Somalia’s largest telecom company, Hormuud have been shot dead in the Somali capital Wednesday in string of attacks by suspected ISIS- linked militants that killed over ten employees with the company in recent weeks, officials said. According to witnesses, gunmen have fatally shot the two employees who were heading to a mosque in Mogadishu’s main Bakara market in which the company’s headquarters is located. The attackers have reportedly escaped the scene after the attack, parts of several attacks targeting the company’s employees in recent months. Hormuud officials were not immediately available for comments. However, officials suspect that the deadly new attacks against the telecommunication company is linked to extortion demands by the so-called Islamic State that the company’s managers have allegedly refused to agree to. Somalia’s main businesses continue to face pressure by different groups including al-Shabab and ISIS trying to extract extortion fees in the form of levy taxes and protection money to fund their deadly insurgency across the long-chaotic horn of Africa nation. https://www.hiiraan.com/news4/2018/Nov/161211/two_employees_of_somali_telecom_ giant_killed_in_somali_capital.aspx EUTM - SOMALIA 8 EUTM - SOMALIA 22/11/2018 ' Somali' gunmen abduct Italian aid worker during shootout in Kenya Gunmen kidnapped an Italian volunteer in southeast Kenya and shot five people late on Tuesday, police said, in the first abduction of a foreigner since a series of raids blamed on Somali Islamist militants six years ago. Men armed with AK-47 rifles attacked the town of Chakama and seized the 23-year-old woman who was working for the small Italian charity Africa Milele Onlus, the National Police Service added.