Category: Legal Matters

ABU DHABI, The minister if Defence of the Federal Government of Somalia, H.E Abdikadir Mohamed Nur was received by Minister of State for Defence Affairs of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), H.E Mohammed bin Ahmed Al Bowardi, at the Ministry’s headquarters in Abu Dhabi.

During the meeting, which was attended by Mattar Salem Ali Al Dhaheri, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Defence, the two ministers reviewed cooperation ties and joint coordination between the two countries in the defence and military fields, and ways of developing them to achieve their common interests.

They also exchanged views on a number of regional and international issues of mutual concern.

The two sides signed an agreement for “military and security cooperation and combatting terrorism”, as part of their commitment to the principles of equality and sovereignty, and in response to the desire of the two parties for mutual cooperation to serve the interests of the two countries and their peoples, as well as an affirmation of the importance that the two parties attach to maintaining security, peace and stability in Somalia.

The agreement comes in accordance with international agreements, norms, principles and decisions of international law in the fields of combatting terrorism and security cooperation.

Source: Somali National News Agency

Mogadishu Al-Shabaab militants on Wednesday morning carried out twin deadly terrorist attacks in Mahas town in Hiiraan region

Mahas District Commissioner, Mumin Mohamed Halane told Somali National News Agency that the attacks caused heavy casualties including deaths, injuries and destructions, but didi not identify the number.

He said they are still gathering the details of the casualties, and would brief the media later.

Source: Somali National News Agency

Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, in his New Year’s Day speech Sunday, declared the country will eliminate al-Shabab Islamist militants this year.

Mohamud’s all-out war against the group, declared last year, has succeeded in pushing the militants out of some areas under their control. The president also said Somalia would also take over security operations from African Union peacekeepers in Somalia by the end of 2024.

The Somali National Army’s recent success against al-Shabab, achieved with the help of allied local militia in central Somalia, has attracted regional and international attention due to its homegrown approach in fighting terrorism.

Mohamud has been trying to rally Somalis behind the government, and in his speech he referred to al-Shabab as Khawaarji, a term referring to a person who deviates from the path of Islam.

Mohamud said that Somalis have taken a stand against Khawaarij regardless of where they live, and that this battle is in progress and is nearing completion. He said it was his hope that Somalia will be prosperous and peaceful in 2023.

Ahmed Abdisalam, former deputy prime minister and current director of HornCenter, a Somali-based research and policy center, applauded the president’s promise for the government to take over all security duties from African Union peacekeepers.

Abdisalam said the president’s annual address should be welcomed, as security is the country’s greatest concern. He said it was great for the president to provide a timeline for when he will take responsibility for security.

However, Abdullahi Gafow, a Mogadishu based political analyst, is skeptical about Mohamud’s pledges.

Gafow said that, after listening to the speech given by the president, he found there was no difference between this speech and the previous speeches that had been given by previous presidents, in that they all stated they would plan to assume responsibility for security from the African Union. He said that therefore, nothing has changed.”

Gafow added that the withdrawal of African Union forces is complicated by the fact that Somalia is still under a U.N. arms embargo, an obstacle that limits the capacity of Somalia’s security forces.

AU peacekeeping forces have been serving in Somalia since 2007 and have been crucial in protecting government strongholds.

Source: Voice of America

Mogadishu, The Ministry of Petroleum & Minerals of the Federal Government of Somalia said that it is closely monitoring the illegal operation to explore oil in the Northern Regions of Somalia, known as Somaliland, which is being carried out by a company called Genel Energy PLC. and claiming that it has permission to explore and taking advantage of Somalia’s resources.

A press release issued by the Ministry said that the Federal Government of Somalia has clearly rejected the claim of Genel Energy PLC that it has the right to explore for petroleum or fuel in the northern regions of Somalia, and called on the company Genel Energy PLC to stop claiming the right. It’s a violation of the petroleum rights to carry out an oil operation that violates the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and unity of Somalia.

Source: Somali National News Agency

Ten people died and around 40 others were injured when a fuel tanker exploded in Boksburg, a South African city east of Johannesburg, emergency services said Saturday.

The tanker, transporting liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), was caught beneath a bridge close to a hospital and houses on Saturday morning.

“We received a call at 0750 telling us a gas tanker was stuck under a bridge. Firefighters were called to extinguish the flames. Unfortunately, the tanker exploded,” William Ntladi, spokesperson for the emergency services in the region, told AFP.

One of those injured was the driver, who was taken to a hospital, he added.

The injured were in serious condition, Ntladi said. Six firefighters also suffered minor injuries.

Videos on social media showed a huge fireball under the bridge, which the tanker appeared to have been too tall to fit under.

It was carrying 60,000 liters of LPG, which is used in cooking and gas stoves and had come from the southeast of the country.

Witness Jean Marie Booysen described a “huge jolt” shortly after 6:30 a.m. local time.

“Today is indeed a very sad day in our little suburb,” she said, standing near a forensics team combing the scene.

“I went upstairs to have my cup of tea and I saw immense flames. I thought a house was on fire,” she said.

She said she later learned young neighbors had died from “here across the road, 16, the girl, and 25, the boy, who came and did my lawn every weekend for me.”

Another witness named William, who did not give his surname, described a series of explosions and said people nearby had felt the blast.

“I think I was 50 meters away from the scene and when the third one exploded, I was about 400 meters away,” he said. “We did burn behind our backs.”

Source: Voice of America

Mogadishu Minister of Defense of the Federal Republic of Somalia, Abdukadir Mohamed Nur on Wednesday revealed that the first batch of the Somali soldiers trained in Eritrea returned back to the country, SONNA reported.

The Minister said in press conference in Mogadishu that these forces arrived today while the rest of the soldiers would come in the days ahead, saying their arrival would be a backlash to the militant group of Al-Shabaab.

” The first batch of Somali soldiers trained in Eritrea returned back to the country today and others will come following days. Arrival of these forces will be a backlash to Al-Shabaab militants”, He said.

This comes a day after President Hassan Sh. Mohamud said in Minnesota, U.S that around 5,000 soldiers trained in Eritrea will return home back later this month and early next month of January, 2023.

Source: Somali National News Agency

Mogadishu The Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism of the Federal Government of Somalia, H.E Mr. Abdirahman Yusuf Sheikh Al-Adalah, gave details of the operations made in the Juhay area under Gulane city in the Middle Shabelle region, where the terrorists were gathering in the last 48 hours.

Minister Al-Adalah said that in this planned operation, 88 terrorists were killed, including leaders and the army is still collecting their bodies from the forest, and he noted that there are many injuries to the enemy.

Minister Al-Adalah said that the Army has seized weapons and equipments, which the terrorists used to harass the people.

Juhay is a strategic area that is important for operations in the Middle Shabelle and Hiran regions, and has been completely taken over by the Armed Forces, and now they are carrying out clean-up operations.

Source: Somali National News Agency

This Platform for Action is a sister document to the Call to Action to Ensure the Rights and Wellbeing of Children Born of Sexual Violence in Conflict (CtA). While the CtA represents a pledge to work with and for children born of conflict-related sexual violence, this Platform outlines how we will do this. It provides context for understanding the challenges faced by children born of conflict-related sexual violence and outlines a set of urgent priorities for addressing these challenges, providing a framework for coordinated action.

Governments, UN entities and civil society organisations are encouraged to concurrently endorse the CtA and make commitments under this Platform. Commitments are being compiled by the PSVI Team in the UK Foreign,

Commonwealth and Development Office, as coordinators of this initiative.

Overview

Sexual violence is too often a reality for all people living in conflict zones around the world, particularly women and children. The circumstances in which sexual violence is committed can vary. For instance, it may be used by military forces as a tactic of war and/or may amount to torture. As outlined in the Secretary-General’s 2022 report Women and girls who become pregnant as a result of sexual violence in conflict and children born of sexual violence in conflict, one of the ways armed actors have used sexual violence as a tactic of war and ‘ethnic cleansing,’ including forcibly impregnating women and girls. Military personnel, peacekeepers and humanitarian workers may also opportunistically commit sexual violence amidst a breakdown in rule of law during and following conflict. Crimes involving sexual violence have been documented in Colombia, Rwanda, Uganda and the former Yugoslavia, and are being reported in Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Iraq, Mali, Myanmar, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic and elsewhere.

The root causes of sexual violence, as with all forms of gender-based violence, lie in structural gender inequalities and patriarchalnorms. These are further compounded and intensified by the widespread societal acceptance of men’s use of violence against women, girls and boys with impunity. Women and girls then face further barriers with a lack of access to appropriate sexual and reproductive health services particularly in fragile and conflict affected states to ensure immediate and longer-term medical care.

Furthermore, a society’s understanding of ‘childhood,’ including at what age childhood ends, what agency or vulnerabilities are inherent at different ages and stages, and what role communities have in protecting children, can also increase the risk of violence against them. Sexual violence is used as a tactic to terrorise and demoralise communities and so children may be specifically targeted to maximise fear in the community.

In such situations, child survivors’ and children born of conflict-related sexual violence’s vulnerability “to abduction, recruitment and use by armed groups and forces and to conflict-driven trafficking and sexual exploitation” is increased.

While there is no comprehensive data on the exact number of survivors of conflict-related sexual violence who give birth to children as a result, it is estimated that 20,000 children were born from conflict-related sexual violence during the civil war in Sierra Leone alone. Given the perpetration of sexual violence has been and continues to be witnessed in conflicts the world over, the true global figure is likely to be significantly higher, with children born of conflict-related sexual violence in every region of the world. While no two contexts are the same, the mental, physical, emotional, social, economic, political and security costs of sexual violence can be devastating. These consequences deeply affect survivors, including those who become pregnant as a result and their children, who are often marginalised, their needs ignored, and their rights violated and abused.

Some children born of conflict-related sexual violence have expressed feeling ‘invisible’ and ‘unrecognised,’ and of remaining ‘in the shadow of war’ even after the war has ended.7 The barriers they face have lifelong impacts on their ability to live life in all its fullness, in turn impacting their futures and those of their communities and nations. Furthermore, for every child born of sexual violence, there is a woman or girl whose life chances may have been dramatically affected and whose relationship (or absence of any relationship) with the child can lead to mental health impacts for years to come. Some adolescents face stigma and discrimination when pregnant which may be further compounded by a pregnancy from sexual violence. And yet, survivors and children born of conflict-related sexual violence demonstrate great strength and resilience, which must be supported through active engagement and further empowerment.

Source: Government of the United Kingdom