POLITICS
All Headline News – Somali Prime Minister Abdullahi Farmajo indefinitely postponed the June Somali conference scheduled to be held in Mogadishu and accused the parliament speaker of working against the interests of the Somali nation. Dr. Farmajo said the speaker "is not sincere on the general interest of the country because he running after his personal ends. We are at state of war against naughty militants, who are committed destroying our beloved nation, and that made impossible elections to be hold at this time.”
Somali Memo – The Islamist website claimed that the former senior leader of Hizbul Islam and currently allied with the TFG, Sheikh Yusuf Indha’ade, was arrested in Kampala, Uganda. The source claimed that the Somali president was behind the arrest because the Sheikh is allied with the parliamentary speaker. The arrest was also attributed to his recent refuting of TFG-AMISOM claims that they captured African Village from al-Shabaab. In fact, Indha’ade emphasized that his militia were the forces that captured the African Village from al-Shabaab and not TFG-AMISOM. Somali Language
Mareeg – The Somali parliament speaker, Sharif Hassan, said he is sticking with the plan for Somali elections in August 2011 and he is not yielding to the mediation efforts of the Ugandan president. Somali Language
SECURITY/AL-SHABAAB
MPR – A 27-year old Somali-American from Minnesota, Farah Mohamed Beledi, was identified as the man behind the suicide bomb in Mogadishu by his own family, especially his mother, Mumina Roba, who lives St. Paul, MN. Ms. Roba said, “I don't know what got inside him. The youth around here are not under control. When he was going to school, sometimes he was gone for three days at a time.”
Bar Kulan – Forces allied with the Somali government captured Lower Juba territories from al-Shabaab, especially Hawinna and Tabta villages. Somali Language
Puntland Post – Over 12 people were murdered and 15 others wounded by armed men in Bali-Busle village of Mudug region in Puntland. The men attacked a public transport truck at Bali-Busle and it is suspected that the clan militia or the armed men hail from southern part of Galkayo City. Somali Language
Hiiraan – The Kenyan government declared that the explosion in downtown Nairobi, Kenya which killed one person and wounded 29 others on Sunday morning was not terror related and there was no evidence of a bomb.
MARITIME
IBN Live – The transitional Somali government appealed to the Somali pirates to release seven Indian sailors onboard of MV Asphalt Venture. Visiting Somali pirates imprisoned in a Mumbai jail, the Somali Ambassador to India, Ebyan Mohamed Salah, reiterated the TFG appeal to the Somali pirate leaders to release the innocent Indian seafarers. (Editor’s Note: The full ransom was paid but pirates kept 8 out the 15 crew members as a bargaining chip to negotiate the release of almost 100 Somali pirates in Indian jails.)
VIDEO
Dalka TV – This is a 5-minute video of actual fighting and a press conference of al-Shabaab Spokesman Sheikh Abu Mus’ad speaking about the Bondhere District fighting and claiming that his soldiers burned three AMISOM tanks. He also calls for the Somali youth including diasporas to join the fight against the Christian armies and their supporters in Somalia. Somali Language
NTV – This is the last part (Part 3) of the NTV’s expose “The Enemy Within” of Kenyan military personnel acting as recruiters of Kenyan nationals for al-Shabaab. The NTV reporters John-Allan Namu and Harith Salim uncovered evidence of recruitment activities in Kenya by Somalia’s radical al Shabaab group.
TODAY’S SPOTLIGHT ARTICLE
"Remittances vs. UN Handouts"
By Ahmed Dahir Abdi
Wardheer News
Ever since the collapse of Somali State in 1991, Somalis have become permanently, (in their homeland) dependent on money generated from foreign countries, mainly from Western Europe and North America. The World Bank estimated that the Somali Diasporas remit $1Billion to $1.2 Billion annually to Somalia. It is also believed that the yearly United Nation Budget for Somali’s Operation hovers $800 million to $950 Million. “The targets for a UN appeal for Somalia this year increased to $984 million” (Reuters, June 23 2009). Both sets of fund, it seems, are intended to mitigate the plight of Somali people in the Horn of Africa.The UN allocates, annually, close to $1billion on humanitarian aid to Somalia primarily from the Development Aid budget. The UN is accused of decoy by paying little to the ever lasting and crippling situation in Somalia. The UN as QUANGO is thought to be paying its staff ‘fat cat’ salaries and other lavish benefits, not to mention the first class pension scheme enjoyed by the employees. What is left from the budget also does not trickle down to the needy, but instead are distributed to regional NGOs who then pass onto sub-NGOs in districts after almost, copycat approach of their masters in Nairobi by recompensing themselves highly for the dangerous work of administering Aid money in Somalia.
The UN should use Xawaala companies to deliver ‘cash’ to IDP in Somalia without having to pay the huge office and staff cost in administering from the Aid budget. In other words cut the middle man. With their vast remittance offices throughout the country, they are in prime positions to deliver the Aid money to the needy and IDP without paying over the odds in administration cost.