Fighting Between Somalia’s Al Shabaab and Clan Militias Leave 17 Dead
By Reuters
MOGADISHU — At least 17 people have been killed in fighting between militants from Somalia’s al Shabaab group and clan militias in the country’s central semi-autonomous region of Galmudug, residents and the group told Reuters on Thursday.
Somali state-run Radio Muqdisho reported on its website on Thursday that the fighting in the Haradheere area, which started on Wednesday, had been triggered by alleged al Shabaab conscription of teenagers into their ranks.
Al Shabaab has controlled the port district for years but has repeatedly clashed with local clan militias over a range of disputes.
“Al Shabaab asked for teenagers to be recruited,” the radio reported. A tax called zakat being imposed by al Shabaab had also stoked anger among the residents and militias, it added.
Residents in the area told Reuters a total of nine militia members and al Shabaab fighters had been killed in the fighting.
“We attacked al Shabaab and … then, al Shabaab got many militants as reinforcement from various regions. We fought and fought till we ran out of bullets,” a local elder, Farah Ahmed, told Reuters by phone from the Haradheere area on Thursday.
Somalia has been convulsed by lawlessness and violence since 1991 when dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled.
Al Shabaab is fighting to dislodge the western-backed central government and African Union-mandated peace-keeping force AMISOM which, defends it, and install its own government based on its strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law.
Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab’s military operations spokesman told Reuters they had fought the militias because they were armed by neighboring Ethiopia. They had killed 15 members of the militias, he said.
“Ethiopia wants Hobyo port and so it is using clan militias to capture the road to Hobyo port town,” he said.
Hobyo port is about 260 kilometers northeast of Haradheere. Musab said al Shabaab had taken all weapons from the militias during the attack.
(Reporting by Abdi Sheikh and Feisal Omar; Writing by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Catherine Evans)
Somaliland’s HASI Consulting Attends Africa Trade & Investment Global Summit in Washington DC
Abdirahman Hersi is the dynamic and energetic CEO of Horn of Africa Strategic Consulting Initiatives or HASI consulting Consulting is key regional player consulting services related to strategic management, leadership, marketing, HR, and other organizational development for business, NGOs and government institutions. HASI also provides services related to project management, proposal & concept note development, drafting polices & procedures.
Mr Hersi has attended the Africa Trade & Investment Global Summit in Washington DC and been kind enough to give us an exclusive interview on the summit and how it affects Somaliland and the region in general.
Tell us about the ATIGS summit and who was in attendance?
The 2018 Africa Trade & Investment Global Summit (ATIGS), was held on June 24 to 26, 2018 at the World Trade Center Washington D.C, under the main theme “Driving Trade, Unleashing Investment and Enhancing Economic Development: the Gateway to African Markets”. ATIGS is a prestigious biennial business conference and exhibition designed specifically to promote and facilitate international trade between Americas, Asia, Caribbean, Europe, UAE, with Africa; to facilitate foreign direct investment in Africa, and to provide a platform for businesses to expand into new markets.
The original idea of the ATIGS was conceived by a Cameroonian businessman and the owner of LaboCorp Group of Companies who has worked with many business and industry leaders to make this dream summit a reality. The US Chamber of Commerce has been a tremendous help in facilitating visas for the delegations, and since the last ATIGS held in San Francisco did not have a single participant from Africa due to visa issues.
There were more than 70 countries in attendance including government delegations from ministers, governors, heads of chambers of commerce, high-profile African business leaders, project developers and international investors.The event covered 16 economic sectors, particularly manufacturing, agribusiness, power, construction, transportation, IT, health, financial technology or cryptocurrency, tourism, telecoms, and natural resources sectors.
There were both government and private sector investors seeking to get in the ground level of African development and with varied interests in many economic sectors. This was the basic idea of the summit, to bring together investors and Africa.
What were the main topics of discussion in the summit?
Because of the main purpose of either attracting investment or finding the right investment opportunity with the right country or the right business in attendance, this was everyone’s singular focus. The more prepared countries had presentations to showcase their natural resources, their economic There were different keynote speeches about countries highlighting their natural resources, farm and factor production. I was amazed by how different countries were organized, government officials, business leaders, investment consulting firms and that each countries team had a unified plan to attract the most investment to their country.
The most discussed topics were investment in natural resource such as fishing, agriculture, minerals an oil exploration. Other areas that are pertinent to African development such telecommunication and technology, clean and sustainable energy, industrialization, raising the standard of healthcare were discussed in great detail.
The western African participants both public and private sector participants from Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and others were the best prepared teams. From east Africa, Ethiopia had the most visible presence with their Washington DC Embassy staff, Chamber of Commerce as well as many business leaders in their private sector were present.
What about Somaliland, was there a delegation from Somaliland attending the Summit?
Actually, I was the only one person from Somaliland representing my firm HASI Consulting. The thing that surprised me the most was the Ethiopian delegations presentation which talked about their stake acquisitions from Djibouti, Kenya and Sudan and the glaring omission of any mention of Somaliland, Berbera Port or the Corridor project, not even a word about Somaliland was uttered by the Ethiopian team. A western businessman in attendance asked the Ethiopian delegation why they have not pursued Berbera and their response was that it is possible in the future!
I have talked to many investment firms from around the world and I was always shocked that most have not heard of Somaliland. Even some Ethiopian companies have not heard of us!!
The UAE delegation did mention Berbera Port deal with DP World.
What is your suggestions to our Government on how to raise Somaliland’s profile in summits like these?
Preparation is everything to be successful in these important gatherings, the Government, business leaders from Somaliland need to be prepared to be able to present the investment opportunities in our country. And the first step is to actually attend!
At a minimum, exposure to international investment firms will get us known, how long we have been a country, the stability and our untapped natural resources in Somaliland.
Its important that relevant government agencies collect and present investor information and publish it on regional and international magazines and social media to make sure people know what kind of investment opportunities are available in Somaliland.
It is also important to get the business community involved and educate them on how to connect and be able to effectively present and possibly attract investment into their business but equally important, we need to focus on attracting investment from within Somaliland to jump start robust manufacturing that can lead to more exports and show case our natural resources.
I Was Kidnapped, Tortured, Stripped Naked and Photographed In the Name of Farmaajo and Khaire.
The Spokesman for the Galmudug Regional Administration of Somalia and social media activist, Mr. Abdillahi Hashi Roob da’ay, in a stunning statement to Goobjoob media outlet said he was “kidnapped, tortured, stripped naked and photographed” by troops from the National Intelligence and Security Agency.
Mr. Roob da’ay, who was visibly upset and choking back tears recounted the terrifying ordeal of how he was kidnapped by troops from the NISA in front of the parliament building, blindfolded thrown in the back of a vehicle and taken to a place where he was asked “So you are the one who keeps bringing up Qalbi-dhagah who is going after the President and the Prime Minister? Aren’t you the one who is always talking about the Security Services has murdered someone? Today is your day, what do you think of that?”
He continued “I told them that I am a government official who is a Spokesman of an Administration, you can check my identification if you want, if I am being accused of a crime I am willing to go to court but if this is a kidnaping you can do what you ever you want”.
After that exchange, according to Mr. Roob da’ay, his captors administered a severe beating and tortured him with electric shock, he added “after all that, at gun point, I was told if you value your life, you will strip naked, I tried to fight them off but in the end I took my clothes off as ordered. They grab their cameras and began to take naked photos of me and I was told if you post [on facebook] anything about President Farmajo or Prime Minister Khaire or about Qalbi-dhagax, we will post one of these photos of you”.
“I was told if you post anything, we will post a picture, guard your life and your reputation and if you don’t stay out of the government’s business or ours you will lose your life. I was blindfolded again and I was thrown in my car and driven to a deserted area” Mr Roob da’ay added.
“Today, I was visited with this terrible ordeal in the name of the government, the name of the President and in the name of the Prime Minister and I honestly never expected it, when I was being abducted I thought they were Al-Shabaab at first, it was only after I saw them and the government places they took me when I realized that the Somali government is abusing and suffocating its people. I am certain that this is the first time the government used this tactic and I am sure there were many youths before me who may not have the courage to come forward. I am not hiding anything; this is the abuse I faced” Mr Roob da’ay said seemingly talking directly to his captors “You can post my naked pictures tonight if you so wish, I am not hiding the violence against me and you will answer for it in the afterlife and in this life, if there is a lawful government I will go to the courts and I will not let it go. From this point on I truly believe that you are prepared to assassinate or imprison me and anything that happens to me from now on, the public and the world is my witness”
Qalbi-dhagax is the OLNF leader who was handed to Ethiopia by Farmaajo’s administration that caused an uproar and some called a treasonous and unlawful act by Farmaajo and was recently pardoned by Prime Minister Ahmed Abiy of Ethiopia as part of his reconciliation of warring factions in his country.
BREAKING: newly released #ONLF commander AbdiKarim Muse #QalbiDhagax, spoke to the media in #AddisAbaba today for his first speech after releasing Ethiopian Jail, thanking to all Somali people by standing with him and strongly condemned his deportation from #Mogadishu. #Somalia pic.twitter.com/Q34UQTxRbp
— Mogadishu Update (@Magdashi3) July 1, 2018
Additionally, there was a massive campaign to discredit Mr. Abdillahi Hashi Roob da’ay’s claim on social media, where some accused him of working on an asylum claim in the Netherland and link him opposition politicial Abdirahman Abdishakur whose house was attacked in December 2017 by the same National Intelligence and Security Agency killing five of his bodyguards and injuring him while serving a warrant for his arrest for what the Somali government called “treason” charges.
Anti Govt propaganda has reached a new record high. Guy claiming to be #Galmudug spokesman said he was abducted, assaulted and blackmailed by #NISA. Turns out it’s a BIG LIE & he’s laying down foundations for asylum app in #Nertherlands —produced and directed by @AAbdishakur pic.twitter.com/dABS7rjKDH
— Sharmarke (@Sh_Garjeex) July 3, 2018
Others on social media expressed shock at the allegation and accused the NISA of behaving like terrorists.
NISA behave like terrorists, they torture, blackmail and murder with no evidence, they think good governance can be achieved with these bullshit actions.
Good govenance is to simply "call the individual and defend him/herself infront of the court". #NabadIyoNolol failed! https://t.co/4GkyWpF4kW
— Sharmaarke Hassan (@SharmakeHassan2) July 3, 2018
Somaliland’s Inadequate Mission in the United States of America.
Rashid Nur Absiye or Rashid Garuf as he is known in social media circles, is Somaliland’s Ambassador to the United States of America and was appointed by HE President Ahmed Mohamoud Siilaanyo. He continues on to stay on as an Ambassador for Somaliland during Muse Bihi’s new administration.
Mr Absiye is described as a charismatic and highly educated with advance degrees from Howard and Harvard Universities. He is a true son and patriot of Somaliland who regularly hits back hard against Somalia on social media especially on twitter.
This story, however, is not about Mr. Absiye although he is a central to understand the failure of Somaliland’s foreign policy in the United States.
We have talked to more than a dozen people in the United States who are active members of Somaliland community in the Greater Washington DC area and beyond. And most are either long term acquaintances or friends of Mr. Absiye.
While most have described Mr. Absiye as well mannered, polite and very patriotic, others have complained about his strong support for Kulmiye and felt that he was too polarizing of a figure in the lead up to and during the bitter election campaign.
Mr. Absiye represents the Republic of Somaliland in what’s arguably the most important country in the world – The United States of America, the most influential country in the world in our lifetime, though one may disagree with its policy on many fronts or cringe at the thought of Mr Trump as its President, it’s unrealistic to ignore that many many countries around the globe would easily follow their lead of any number of policy issues.
Somaliland’s Mission in the United States is 10 miles from the White House and 10.5 miles from the United States Capitol and while the Somaliland Mission has organized 18 May celebrations every year it has never thought of organizing a march of any kind on behalf of Somaliland.
The United States Congress and Senate is the one place where Somaliland needs to desperately lobby and court congressmen and senators who are sick of the million of their tax payers money being spent on Somalia on daily basis. Offering Somaliland as a cheaper alternative is an effort that by all accounts has not been pursued by our Mission in the US.
Mr. Absiye knows his adapted country very well and understands exactly what needs to be done, so why has he not done it?
For starters, Mr. Absiye is not a dedicated resource whose sole business is to represent Somaliland; instead he has a full time high paying job in the private sector, a job he has held for the past 18 years. There is nothing wrong with this and judging from the stipend Somaliland pays him, he has every right to hold a job to be able to afford a living in one of the most expensive areas of the United States.
According to Somalilander’s from the area, you will need to call and have an appointment to be able to meet anyone from the Mission, if you make the mistake of just showing up, you will be disappointed med with a shuttered building. And they all point to the fact that Mr. Absiye has a full time job that he rightfully needs to attend to.
Besides the office, the Somaliland Mission has an outdated website which despite Somaliland having a new President for seven months, still lists HE Ahmed Mohamoud Siilaanyo as the President of Somaliland.
Additionally, the facebook page listed on the mission’s outdated and insecure website http://somaliland.us has not been updated since 2014
A community activist who had a falling out with Mr. Absiye during Mr Abdirahman Irro’s visit to the United States, where Mr. Absiye did not attend a ceremony held for the Wadani leader and his delegation, stated that the Ambassador has a knack for shooting down any idea and is not open to farming out some of the work to volunteers who are eager to do the work. “He alone officially represents Somaliland, and he wants to keep it that way” he added.
“He alone officially represents Somaliland, and he wants to keep it that way”
One of the sources we interviewed for this story, was present when the Somaliland Foreign Affairs Minister, Sa’ad Ali Shire was in the United States and was given a tour of the Mission office said “the whole thing was a farce and the office is generally open when there is a Somaliland delegation but is not for serving the community”.
“mission impossible”
Another acquaintance of Mr. Absiye described him as a hardworking guy who was given a “mission impossible” with less than adequate resources and demoralized due to many personal attacks directed towards him during the campaign. “He is dead man walking, I am sure he is just waiting to be replaced but I am not sure anyone wants the job”. When asked why no one may not want the job as head of Somaliland Mission, he said “60k a year is laughable for any mid career professional, let alone someone representing an unrecognized country in America, he will need that much is suits and travel expenses.”
Another whose opinion of Mr. Absiye was unusually low, immediately pointed out that he was appointed not because of qualification but is related to the former First lady and is a first cousin of the current First Lady of Somaliland as to why is staying on. We are unable to substantiate these claims.
It is unclear if there is an official guideline or accountability by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to follow up with Heads of Missions who are charged with representing Somaliland overseas, but in the case of Mr. Absiye, it does not appear that much was done to lobby the US government on behalf of Somaliland.
Hiring a professional lobby firm from K Street is very expensive but if Somaliland is honest about seeking active engagement from the US government, first it must redouble its effort to become more visible than an empty building and an outdated website.
It is also unclear if Somaliland’s ambassadors or head of mission are required to be dedicated solely to represent Somaliland. Or as is the case with Mr Absiye or Garuf, if they should do it when they get around to it.
We have reached out to Mr. Absiye for this story but he was unavailable for at least another week.
Editor’s Note: This is part of a larger story The Somaliland Chronicle is doing to inform the public about the status of Somaliland’s recognition. We are examining our missions across the globe, country by country to give our people an honest assessment of where we are in relation to Somaliland’s recognition and how well we are being represented overseas.
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Modern Medical Facility Opens in Hargeisa
The Vice President of Somaliland HE Abdirahman Saylici has cut the ribbon on the most advanced medical facility to open in Somaliland. The opening ceremony of Haldoor Hospital was attended by high level dignitaries from the government of Somaliland and other community leaders.
This is the largest private medical facility in the country 27 year history. The new medical facility consists of a 7 floor, 50 bed with its own emergency services as well as a 3 floor medical diagnostics facility that has the most advanced equipment including an MRI.
An entire floor of Haldoor Hospital is dedicated to a medical university. Much like the hospital, this will be the first medical university of its kind , where students will be studying in an actual medical setting with access to the most advanced equipment.
The owner of Hardoor Hospital Dr Mohamed Abdi Gaboose speaking at the opening ceremony, said “We are providing a facility to unburden people having to travel in order to seek medical attention and to eliminate all the logistical issues that go with travelling for medical reasons including transportation, lodging and being away from their families”
Mr. President, Your Beautiful Words Must be Put into Action
Once more, I listened to the President’s address to the staff of the Ministry of Finance and I was deeply moved by his view of a report was on Radio Hargeisa that morning which cover the living conditions of the people displaced by droughts their gut wrenching living conditions.
The Government has committed to provide aid and support to the our people displaced by a cyclical droughts and established a commission named “Drought Recovery Commission” headed by the former Minister of The Presidency Mohamed Hashi which met every evening at the Presidential Palace.
Everyone with means has been approached to contribute to the effort and though i am not sure if was enough but about a Million US Dollars and change was and collected. There were also massive corporations including DP World that has contributed funds.
Unfortunately, the only record of any of these funds being spent on the vulnerable and displaced people were reportedly few hundred thousand that were said to be used for drinking water and transportation.
While the condition of the displaced people has not improved by any measure, HE Muse Bihi Government was elected where fortunately has taken over about a million dollars in the drought recovery funds from Mohamoud Hashi.
I can attest to the fact that the drought recovery commission that was later headed by Vice President Abdirahman Saylici has done a good job and unlike when the commission was headed by Mr Mahamoud Hashi, there was minimal accusation of graft.
To those that would assume that I am against the former Minister Mohamoud Hashi, I want to remind people that it was actually Mr Saylici that at one point fired me from my post as Governor of Awdal. I do not begrudge him for doing what he thought was right, in fact I commend him for a good job but will also point out any shortcomings.
Finally, I would suggest to the President to translate his beautiful words into action and add more funds to the million dollars the Drought Commission currently on hand and help the displaced people whose plight and living conditions have visibly shaken you. I swear that you will succeed if you make it your first priority to take care of our most vulnerable and less banquets for those with means.
Mr. President, we can see that you genuinely feel your people’s pain and suffering but I want to remind you, that you alone are in the driver’s seat and can actually do something to improve our displaced people’s living conditions, you can also correct the wrongs as you are the highest authority in the land. Use the powers that are entrusted in you and make a lasting change.
About the Author
Mustafe Isse is the Former Governor of Awdal, Sool and Maroodijeex regions and currently a high ranking member of the Opposition Party Wadani. Mr. Isse is a veteran journalist who has been writing since 1991 for such newspapers as Codka Hargeysa.
Justice Minister Hands Over Control of Somaliland Prisons to UNSOM.
Somaliland’s Minister of Justice, Mr. Abdiqani Mohammud A’ateye (Farid) has implemented a Prison Management System that is part of a larger network managed from Mogadishu. Currently, the Prison Management system is installed in Hargeisa’s Main Prison as well as Mandhera and its purpose is to track and manage the inmate life cycle through the system.
While an ambitious project of this scale falls in the President Muse Bihi Abdi’s mandate to overhaul and modernize Somaliland’s justice system.
In a Justice Symposium held by the Ministry of Justice in February, attended by the Vice President as well as heads of UNODC, EU, SIDA, UKAID and many other donor agencies, implementation of a digital platform to manage prison population was identified by one of five top priorities for Justice reform in Somaliland. Additionally, the Minister invited Somaliland local as well as international IT companies to the meeting.
In February 26 this year, the Minister tweeted “As part of the digitization of our prison services this morning we received from our partners @UNODC Phase 1 of the Prison Data Management Information System. Digitalisation of prison service & Education for prisoners is #Somaliland gov top priority @SRSGKeating @musebiihi“. Mr. A’ateye even included Michael Keating and President Muse Bihi Abdi in his tweet.
As part of the digitalisation of our prison services this morning we received from our partners @UNODC Phase 1 of the Prison Data Management Information System. Digitalisation of prison service & Education for prisoners is #Somaliland gov top priority @SRSGKeating @musebiihi pic.twitter.com/gykpuhxy3T
— Abdiqani Mahamoud (@AbdiqaniMin) February 26, 2018
“We were left stunned!” said a partner of an IT company that was engaged in active negotiation with the Minister on implementing a system that was custom designed for Somaliland. He added “Unfortunately, he does not own the system, they gave him two desktop computers that no one knows what is in the source code”.
According to people with intimate knowledge of this issue, in a particularly difficult meeting, the Minister was strongly advised against accepting this system from UNDOC by an IT advisor to President Bihi who was guiding him in selecting the most appropriate system. The President’s IT adviser made it clear to the Minister that unless UNODC submits the source code and reference architecture for close inspection he should not accept it.
At this point, the Minister gave back to two computers to the UNODC consultants and told them he was going a different route.
Somaliland Chronicle has learned that the Minister of Justice has proceeded with implementation the same system he had rejected back in February on grounds on national security.
According to sources in the Justice Ministry, one major factor in why the Minister has accepted this system is due to lack funding and perceived pressure deliver and show a tangible progress in his justice portfolio.
The implementation of a critical system with sensitive national security information, where control of its core functionality and actual data is mixed in with Somalia’s and managed from Mogadishu seems counter intuitive in Somaliland’s current efforts to extricate itself from any dealing with Somalia.
According to IT experts, this system puts the entire control of Somaliland Prisons under the control of the United Nations and UNSOM and the data could be accessed by Somalia’s Federal Government.
It was only this month when Somalia declared to have taken control of Somaliland’s skies and has been trying to exert more pressure on many fronts including cutting off aid to Somaliland.
