Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi pledged on Thursday not to let differences over a dam Ethiopia is building on the Nile river ruin relations with Addis Ababa. Ethiopia hopes the hydroelectric Grand Renaissance Dam will make it Africa’s largest power exporter. Egypt says it threatens its water supply which relies almost exclusively on the Nile that runs from Ethiopia through Sudan and Egypt to the Mediterranean Sea. Addis Ababa says it will have no impact. Sisi said negotiations with its two African neighbors were progressing and said a deadlock over a disputed, ongoing study on the dam’s impact must end. “The Nile basin enjoys great resources and capabilities that makes it a source of interconnection, building and development, not a source of conflict,” Sisi told reporters after meeting Ethiopia’s prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, in Cairo. Hailemariam echoed his comments: “We must make sure that this great river never becomes an object of competition, mistrust or conflict.” Source: – Reuters The post Egypt, Ethiopia Leaders Say Nile Dam Must Not Ruin Relations appeared first on Caasimada Online.

A judge on Wednesday said no to three Kansas residents who requested to have Trump voters on their jury as they’re tried for attempting to bomb a mosque and a Somali refugee community. Gavin Wright, Patrick Stein and Curtis Allen were denied their request to include voters from a Trump-voting region in Kansas in their jury pool. The three men will be tried in the city of Wichita for plotting to use truck bombs in an apartment complex with a Somali refugee population and a mosque on the day after the 2016 presidential election, in Garden City, Kansas. The jury pool will draw from Wichita and Hutchinson, more urban areas than Garden City, but Wright, Stein and Allen wanted people who “live in rural areas and are more politically conservative,” according to High Plains Public Radio. They asked to draw from 28 counties in Dodge City, located in western Kansas. District Judge Eric Melgren said that their request did not have a legal basis, and they did not show that the current jury pool areas would discriminate against Republicans. The men are charged with conspiracy against civil rights and conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, and they have pleaded not guilty. Their defense lawyers allege the men were exercising their free speech rights and right to bear arms. The thinking behind the request, according to the lawyer, was that one area’s residents have different beliefs and would be able to understand the men’s motives. In one area, two-thirds of residents voted for Trump, and in the other area the men wanted to pool from, three-fourths of residents voted for the Republican, according to Mercury News. The men were part of a group connected to the “Kansas Security Force,” a local militia group, prosecutors said. According to prosecutors and a wiretap transcript they obtained, Wright said he wanted the attack on Somalis in Kansas to “wake people up,” the publication added. At the time, the government said that setting that precedent for the jury pool would “wreak havoc” and open a “dangerous door” to similar jury pool requests. The trial, which was scheduled to start in February, is set to begin on March 19 in Wichita, according to the Associated Press. Source: Newsweek The post White men in bomb plot won’t get more Trump voters on jury, after judge denies request appeared first on Caasimada Online.

Mogadishu (HOL) - The Central Bank of Somalia (CBS) and Somali Financial Institutions (SFIs) have announced that they will begin strengthening the inter-bank payment, clearing and settlement systems in Somalia in a bid to modernize the banking sector. Source: Hiiraan Online

MOGADISHU/NAIROBI, Jan 18 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - S omalia’s Islamist militant group al Shabaab on Thursday denied that it was threatening and abducting civilians to hand over their children for indoctrination and military training. Source: Hiiraan Online

Muqdisho (PP) ─ Madaxweynaha Somalia, Maxamed C/llaahi Farmaajo ayaa wareegto uu soo saaray ku sheegay inuu ka walaacsan yahay jiritaanka warar sheegaya ku xadgudub dhulalka danta guud ee Magaalada Muqdisho. Farmaajo ayaa wareegtadiisa ku yiri. “Sida uu tilmaamayo Qodobka 43-aad ee Dastuurka Jamhuuriyadda Federaalka Somalia- Dhulku waa khayraadka koowaad iyo saldhigga nolosha dadka. Illaa inta laga soo saarayo hab-raacyada sharci ee waafaqsan Qodobka 43-aad ee Dastuurka, dhulka dowladda lama hibeyn karo, bixin karo, lamana wareejin karo.” “Iyadoo la ilaalinayo hantida qaranka ee dhul, cir iyo bad waxaan u sheegayaa shacabka Soomaaliyeed in wixii dhul ah ee la iibiyay ama la hibeeyay ama la kireeyay keddib 8-dii Febraayo, 2017 uusan haysan ogolaansho sharci ah. Haddii uu jiro muwaadiniin iibsaday ama kireystay dhul danta guud, waxaan u sheegayaa in iibsigaas uu yahay mid sharci darro ah,” ayuu Madaxweynuhu ku yiri wareegtadiisa. Isagoo sii hadlaya ayuu intaas ku daray. “Markii la I doortay, waxaan ballan-qaaday inaan ilaalinayo ammaanada la ii dhiibay, dhulka dowladdana wuxuu kamid yahay ammaanadaas. Waxaan u xaqiijinayaa shacabka Soomaaliyeed in guddi heer qaran ah aan u saari doono arrimaha la xiriira dhulka si baaritaan dhab ah loogu sameeyo, loona hubiyo inaan dhul dan guud loo adeegsan dan shakhsiyadeed.” Ugu dambeyn, Madaxweynuhu wuxuu farayaa dhammaan hay’adaha ay khuseyso arrintan inaan la bixin karin dhul dowladeed oo aan kusoo bixin wareegto Madaxweyne, lana soo marin habraac waafaqsan shuruucda u yaalla dalka. PUNTLAND POST The post Madaxweyne Farmaajo oo hakiyay bixinta Dhulalka Dowladda ee ku yaalla Muqdisho appeared first on Puntland Post.

Dhuusamareeb (Caasimada Online)-Salaad Cali Jeelle oo kamid ah siyaasiyiinta Somalia isla markana kamid ah wafdiga Madaxweyne Farmaajo ee magaalada Dhuusamareeb ayaa ka hadlay ahmiyada ay leedahay midnimada Galmudug iyo Ahlusuna. Salaad Cali ayaa sheegay in midowga labada dhinac uu yahay mid ku imaaday is fahanka labada Hogaamiye, waxa uuna lama huraan ku sheegay in dowlada Somalia ay isgarabtaagto Galmudug. Salaad Cali, waxa uu tilmaamay in Ahlusunna ay taariikh ku leedahay dagaalka lala galay al-Shabaab, waxa uuna cadeeyay inay dhabar jabiyeen al-Shabaab. Waxa uu Salaad Cali sheegay in mudadii uu ku guda jiray safarka dhulka ay indhahooda kusoo arkeen amni iyo shacab kuwanaagsan marti soorka. Waxa uu Salaad Cali sheegay in socdaalkood dhulka uu hordhac u yahay rajada laga qabi karo dowladnimada Somalia oo gaarta heerkii laga sugaayay. HOOS KA DAAWO HADDALKA UU DHUUSAMAREEB KA JEEDIYAY SALAAD CALI JEELE The post Daawo: Salaad Cali Jeelle oo Khudbad ka qosolsiisay dadbadan ka jeediyay Dhuusamareeb appeared first on Caasimada Online.

Voice actors gather in a radio studio in Mogadishu to create a public service announcement to help fight outbreaks of diarrhea and cholera. Source: Hiiraan Online

MOGADISHU,(HOL)-Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo on Friday halted selling, leasing and allocation of public land amid grabbing of public properties is increasing. Source: Hiiraan Online

Zimbabwe will hold elections in four to five months, the country’s new president has said, pointing to an earlier date than expected following the ousting of long-time ruler Robert Mugabe. Source: Hiiraan Online

The US State Department has suggested that President Donald Trump's recent vulgar comments will not hinder US efforts to persuade African countries to sever ties with North Korea. Source: Hiiraan Online

A decapitated doll was left in front of a mosque with an Islamophobic banner in the Dutch capital Amsterdam by a group of far-right extremists, head of the mosque said on Thursday. Source: Hiiraan Online

Kenya has joined the African Union in demanding an apology from Donald Trump following reports that he termed some countries shitholes. Source: Hiiraan Online

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi pledged on Thursday not to let differences over a dam Ethiopia is building on the Nile river ruin relations with Addis Ababa. Source: Hiiraan Online

The Dutch government has told the highest representative of Eritrea in the Netherlands to leave the country, minister of Foreign Affairs Halbe Zijlstra said on Wednesday. Source: Hiiraan Online

The Somalia national army killed at least seven al-Shabab militants Thursday and destroyed their base during an operation in southern Somalia, officials and residents said. Source: Hiiraan Online

Throughout 2017, extreme weather events reached epic proportions: In January, the Arctic and Australia suffered serious heat waves that melted ice caps and cut power to 40,000 homes. By February, droughts dried out Somalia and lasted the full year. Source: Hiiraan Online

A judge on Wednesday said no to three Kansas residents who requested to have Trump voters on their jury as they’re tried for attempting to bomb a mosque and a Somali refugee community. Source: Hiiraan Online

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el Sisi says the Nile should serve as a source of cohesion and development, not of conflict with Ethiopia. Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el Sisi and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said on Thursday at talks in Cairo they were opposed to any “conflict” over the sharing of Nile waters. Sisi said that Desalegn’s visit was “a clear sign for our peoples and the entire world of our political will and determination to overcome all obstacles” between the two countries. The Nile should serve as “a source of cohesion and development, not of conflict” with Ethiopia, which is building a controversial dam that has raised Egyptian concerns over water supplies, he said. “We agreed that we must make sure that this great river never becomes an object of competition, mistrust and conflict,” Desalegn told a joint news conference. Sisi said Ethiopia was not aiming “to harm the interests of Egypt”, while reiterating Cairo’s call for the World Bank to serve as a neutral interlocutor between the two countries on technical issues related to the Nile. Egypt relies almost totally on the Nile for irrigation and drinking water, and says it has “historic rights” to the river, guaranteed by treaties from 1929 and 1959. Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance Dam project on the Blue Nile, launched in 2012, is designed to feed a hydroelectric project to produce 6,000 megawatts of power, equal to six nuclear-powered plants. The Blue and the White Nile tributaries converge in Sudan’s capital Khartoum and from there run north through Egypt to the Mediterranean. AFP

A UPDF soldier at Base Camp, the headquarters of the UPDF in Mogadishu on Dec. 17, 2017. In the background are the army’s Armoured Personnel Carriers. ALL PHOTOS INDEPENDENT/ IAN KATUSIIME How a clan system and external players are complicating the country’s reconstruction When I flew to Mogadishu, Somalia’s sandy capital, on December 16, 2017; I was filled with a heady mix of anxiety and excitement because of the image we all have of Somalia; bomb wreckages, lone wolf assassins, and Al Shabaab Muslim militants lurking in the shadows everywhere. Mogadishu is still reeling from the shock and awe of a truck bomb that killed over 500 people last October. Even though the attack, for which Al Shabaab claimed responsibility, was the deadliest Somalia has seen in decades, the country has long witnessed such acts of terror since Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted from power in 1991. He had been president since he captured power in a coup in 1969. His ouster led to the birth of Islamic Courts Union (ICU), a ragtag Islamist group which alongside other armed factions in the country battled for the control of the Horn of Africa nation- perpetrating mayhem and anarchy until relative stability was established in the late 2000s, first by the Ugandan army forces -Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) and later by joint forces of the African Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) that include UPDF. On my trip, and after interviews with the President of Somalia, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, some AMISOM commanders, and officials of the African Union (AU) based in Mogadishu, I witnessed not only a sense of accomplishment but a puzzle over the next move. The question of whether UPDF stays is no longer debated. Instead, the question is what happens when it leaves. Part of the reason is that nothing inside Somalia is what it appears to be to those outside the country. The UPDF, under AMISOM, has accomplished a lot; from pushing Al Shabaab out of Mogadishu, securing the country’s airport and State House, and providing some social services to ordinary Somalis in a country that has barely had a working government for years. Yet commanders on the ground, including Brig. Kayanja Muhanga, who until recently has been the UPDF contingent commander in Somalia, remain apprehensive about the future. When we sat down with Muhanga in his office at Base Camp, the expansive AMISOM base controlled by UPDF, he was preparing to hand over in three days to Brig. Paul Lokech. So he was in reflective mode and spoke expansively about what has made UPDF so successful in Somalia. He also revealed a few things that most external players do not know about, downplay, or totally miss about Somalia; including that the Muslim fighting group; al Shabaab, might not, in fact, be the enemy of the people one imagines. The tall, broad shouldered, and thick mustached Muhanga had just completed a year as UPDF contingent commander in December and it was his second tour of duty in Somalia. Having served as commander of Battle Group Eight and deputy contingent commander in 2011/2012, he has garnered a rare understanding of Somalia and Somali clan members now call him ‘Ugasi’ which is Somali for elder. He is sometimes called upon to mediate in conflicts among the clans, even when he is back in Uganda. “Counter insurgency in Somalia is about winning the hearts and minds of the people. “Any force that comes here needs to first understand the clan dynamics in Somalia,” he says, “You have to be a friend to all clans because there is heavy rivalry between them.” Clan system “Once you are in Somalia, you realise Al Shabaab is not exactly the problem,” Muhanga told our group of journalists, “There are times when a clan can unite with Al Shabaab say when a force is simply intent on capturing local territories without anything it is offering to the local population, they will say ‘we have a common enemy.” The clan system is Somalia’s model of democracy and, depending on whom you speak to, it either works well for the country or harms it. Members of Parliament are elected to represent their clans. The clans are involved in lobbying for positions in government, hold negotiations for economic power, and are routinely defending their territory from intruders- with guns.

VIDEO: UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Peter de Clercq, outlines the priorities in the 2018 Humanitarian Response Plan for the country. 17 January 2018 – While Somalia, with the international community’s help, averted famine last year, long-term solutions for drought, conflict and displacement must still be found, the United Nations office in the country said Wednesday, launching the 2018 humanitarian response plan, which calls for $1.6 billion to protect the lives of 5.4 million people. “I am proud that we averted a possible famine last year. Lasting solutions […], however, out of our reach, and much more must be done to eliminate the looming threat of famine in this country,” said the Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Peter de Clercq, in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. With that in mind, he called for tackling humanitarian needs while simultaneously looking at longer-term solutions. “If we do not continue to save lives and in parallel build resilience, then we have only delayed a famine, not prevented one,” warned Mr. de Clercq. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the plan prioritizes immediate relief operations in areas with significant numbers of people living in crisis and emergency situations, and now includes a strategy to address protection gaps for those most vulnerable, such as the internally displaced, women and children. In 2017, displacement reached unprecedented levels, with food security needs nearly doubling the five-year average. The number of Somalis on the brink of famine has grown tenfold since this time last year. An estimated 1.2 million children are projected to be malnourished in 2018, 232,000 of whom will face life-threatening severe acute malnutrition. To mitigate future crises, humanitarians are working with development partners and Somali authorities to address the underlying causes of recurring crises, including food insecurity and mass displacement. “With important progress made on the political and governance fronts, Somalia is on a positive trajectory, despite ongoing crises. The country has more effective institutions than it has for decades,” said Mr. de Clercq. However, he noted that these gains are reversible and must be protected. “With continued international support, we can break the cycle of recurrent crises that undermine the peacebuilding and State-building process in Somalia,” he concluded.

TORONTO — Former Somali child refugee Abdoul Abdi has been released from custody as he continues his fight against deportation to a country he has no connection to. Benjamin Perryman, Abdi’s lawyer, says he was released Wednesday morning from the Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay, Ont., to a halfway house in the greater Toronto area. Abdi grew up in foster care in Nova Scotia, but never got Canadian citizenship, and was held by the Canada Border Services Agency after spending five years in prison for multiple offences, including aggravated assault. Abdi’s case has become a rallying point for advocates who say it was wrong for the province to fail to apply for citizenship on his behalf. Perryman said Abdi told him Wednesday it felt “unreal” to be free after five years, and thanked his supporters and wanted “to say thank you for being given a chance.” No deportation hearing has been scheduled yet. The lawyer continues to fight Abdi’s deportation in Federal Court. “The Minister also has the power to settle the court case and provide Mr. Abdi with the relief he is seeking, but that has not occurred,” Perryman said in an email. “We are hopeful that the government will stop its efforts to deport Mr. Abdi and that his case can be resolved without having to go to court.” Perryman has said Abdi was given grossly inadequate care by the province as a foster child. He said deporting him to Somalia — a country to which he has no ties and where he would be unable to care for his Canadian-born daughter — would be unfair. Abdi was six years old when he arrived in Nova Scotia as a refugee. He went to live with his aunt, who didn’t speak English, and was soon apprehended by the Nova Scotia government. Between the ages of eight and 19, Abdi was moved 31 times, separated from his sister and was never granted citizenship. His aunt’s efforts to regain custody were rejected, and attempts to file a citizenship application for the children was blocked. Canadian Press

A man accused of violently assaulting an elderly volunteer worker with a machete outside a homeless shelter in Vermont earlier this month is the son of a Somali refugee, the Department of Homeland Security told The Daily Caller News Foundation. Abukar Ibrahim, a 32-year-old immigrant, assaulted 73-year-old Meals on Wheels volunteer Johanne LaGrange with a machete outside Harbor Place in Burlington, Vt., in early January after vandalizing vehicles and threatening other individuals nearby. Ibrahim “willfully, deliberately and with premeditation, and with intent to kill” assaulted his victim, Shelburne News reported, citing charges detailed in the court records. He then barricaded himself in a room for hours, reportedly threatening to slit the throats of the responding police officers. Ibrahim, who ultimately surrendered to authorities, has pleaded not guilty to the charge of attempted first-degree murder, which carries a life sentence. A local court judge has ordered that Ibrahim’s sanity be evaluated. The violent incident in Vermont was widely reported by many different media outlets, but the attacker’s country of origin and immigration status were not included in the initial reports. Working with DHS, TheDCNF was able to obtain this information. “DHS can confirm that Abukar Ibrahim is a foreign-born naturalized United States citizen who initially entered the United States as the derivative child of a Somali refugee,” a DHS spokesperson told TheDCNF, “This underscores the importance of enhancing the screening of individuals seeking admission to the U.S. as refugees to improve the safety and security of the American people.” Ibrahim reportedly has a history of violence; he was involved in a domestic assault case late in 2017. A judge prohibited him from possessing any weaponry. Before the attack on LaGrange, Ibrahim was reportedly banging on cars and smashing windows. He also threatened a man sitting in his vehicle. “The suspect walked up to my vehicle asking me to open my window,” Alexander Siegel, a Howard Center case worker, told police, according to the Burlington Free Press.”I opened my window and he asked me ‘Are you scared?’ and other words that I could not understand,’” he added. Ibrahim reportedly shattered Siegel’s back window before moving onto LaGrange’s vehicle. The volunteer worker noticed the suspect beating on her car when she returned to collect pre-packaged meals for the less fortunate, and when she confronted him, he turned violent, slicing open her right calf with the machete. Somalia is one of a handful of countries included in the Trump administration’s highly-contested travel ban for countries with a documented history of exporting violence. Daily Caller

MOGADISHU (Reuters) – A Somali general was shot in the head and killed in the capital Mogadishu on Thursday and a colonel who was his deputy has been arrested for the murder, senior army sources said. The killing of Marine general Saiid Aden Yusuf in what was apparently an internal dispute is a fresh sign of problems facing the army as it battles an insurgency by Islamist militant group al Shabaab with the help of African Union peacekeepers. “Our marine general was killed by his deputy at Mogadishu seaport today. The murderer was seized. It was unfortunate and unexpected. An investigation goes on,” marine officer Ahmed Ali told Reuters. Mogadishu resident Nur Mohamed told Reuters the colonel fired several shots from his pistol and hit the general in the head. “I was chatting with the general shortly before he was killed …. I heard the gunshots and when I ran to the scene I was shocked to see the general lying on the ground, bleeding,” he said, adding that Yusuf died on the scene from bullet wounds. Marine officer Ahmed Ali said the colonel was arrested. Al Shabaab is fighting to oust the government and establish its own rule based on its strict interpretation of Islam’s sharia law. The group has been pushed out of most of its urban strongholds but it is able to mount deadly attacks in Mogadishu and elsewhere. Somalia has faced violence and lacked a strong central government since President Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991.