Somalia's government has accused the United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP) of coinciding its food aid distributions to the country's harvest period; a scenario which it says discourages farmers from producing crops and degrades local crops' value. Despite earlier similar accusations by Al-Shabaab, it's the first time that Somalia's government has publicly criticized the UN agency's aid operation which supports refugees and poor people in the horn of Africa nation.
Somalia’s deputy minister of agriculture said that WFP’s current operation setting continues to undercut Somalia’s farming industry and ‘depressed’ farmers. "They are making serious mistakes – we don’t want to see them coinciding their food distributions to the time our farmers are harvesting crops to sell them.” He told Voice of America’s Somali service Tuesday. He called for the agency to purchase the food aid meant for Somalia from the local farmers rather than importing it from other countries, mainly North America to boost the local production.

Agriculture is the most important economic sector for Somalia as it accounts for about 65% of the GDP and employs 65% of the workforce while livestock contributes about 40% to GDP and more than 50% of export earnings. No comment could be reached from WFP on the allegations. The development comes despite a recent report by, the World Food Programme that the situation in Somalia has improved since the crisis of 2011, when four million people experienced extreme food insecurity and famine occurred in some regions of the south. However, the gradual recovery and gains made are being threatened as below average rains, conflict and trade disruptions combined with limited humanitarian access and resources have left thousands of people in need of lifesaving food and nutrition assistance, according to the agency.
Key Headlines

Somali Government Accuses WFP Of Undermining Country's Agriculture Industry (Hiiraan Online)
Somali National Army Chief Vows To Defeat Al-Shabaab Within 2016 (Goobjoog News)
UAE To Commission Development Projects In Kismayo Jubbaland (Wacaal Media)
Puntland President Opens New Presidential Palace In Qardo Karkaar (Villa Puntland)
Police Nab Mombasa Terror Suspect Recover Guns (Daily Nation)
Moving Drones From Africa A ‘New Jihadi John’ And Cutting Ties With Iran (Washington Post)
Ghanaian Footballer Playing In War-torn Somalia Top-flight League (Ghana Soccer Net)
The Conditions Of Gabar Xishood Leh An Idealized Somali Womanhood (The Maandeeq)

NATIONAL MEDIA
Somali National Army Chief Vows To Defeat Al-Shabaab Within 2016

06 January - Source: Goobjoog News - 213 Words

SNA Chief of Defence Forces, Major General Mohamed Adan Ahmed vowed that his soldiers will defeat Al-Shabaab fighters in the country and the recapture the remaining areas within 2016. "We have overpowered Al-Shabaab in Somalia, they are weak and now melting away, therefore the remaining minor issues will be completed with this year,” he said.

He said the troops are fully prepared to carry out final assault against all Al-Shabaab controlled areas. "The aim of SNA soldiers is to recapture all Al-Shabaab controlled areas. We will annihilate Al-Shabaab from Somalia’s regions,” he said. He also underlined that he would take steps to crack down on those who planned and financed attacks.

"Our working relations with AMISOM are very good. From the time operations started, we found that AMISOM are very keen. In the major operations that we have conducted, we have worked together with AU troops and we are grateful,” said Maj. Gen. Mohamed.

He reiterated his commitment to strengthening the partnership between the SNA and AMISOM, as both have a common goal of ensuring peace in Somalia. "We promise that we will cooperate, we will sit and plan together. We are willing to work together and review together the concept of operations because we are all undertaking the same mission,” said the general.
UAE To Commission Development Projects In Kismayo, Jubbaland

06 January - Source: Wacaal Media - 105 Words

The United Arab Emirates has announced plans to commission development projects in Kismayo, headquarters of the Jubaland administration. Speaking at a joint press conference with Jubaland President Ahmed Madobe which was held in Kismayo yesterday, UAE’s envoy to Somalia Mohamed Ahmed Othman Al Hammadi said his government will build schools, hospitals, a local government center as well as a prison in Kismayo. President Madoobe thanked the UAE for its development initiatives in Jubaland including donation of military gear to the Jubaland forces. This comes at a time when UAE companies are competing with their Turkish counterparts to land the tender for the construction of the Kismayo port.
Puntland President Opens New Presidential Palace In Qardo, Karkaar

06 January - Source: Villa Puntland - 104 Words

President Abdiweli Mohamed Ali Gaas opened a new presidential palace that was constructed by the government in Qardo, Karkaar region. Addressing the opening ceremony of this palace, H:E Abdiweli commended the move, emphasizing the government’s forefront strategies to build modern buildings for the public services.The government also laid a foundation stone for a modern full-facility new presidential palace in Galkayo. President Abdiweli who reached Qardho yesterday for a one-day visit proceeded to Bossaso to open the first international airport in the region on 8th February.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Police Nab Mombasa Terror Suspect, Recover Guns

06 January - Source: Daily Nation - 595 Words

Two guns stolen in separate attacks were among weapons police say they recovered when they raided a house in Majengo, Mombasa, on Monday night. The M4 rifle was stolen during an attack on Nyali army barracks in 2014 while a G3 rifle was snatched from a officer who was guarding the Gulf African Bank, Bondeni branch, last year.

Ten men said to be members of the Mombasa Republican Council attacked the army camp on November 2. On October 3, last year, three masked men attacked the police officer and shot him in the head before escaping with his gun. On Tuesday, the county security committee said the raid targeted four terror suspects, two of whom are said to be on the list of the most-wanted criminals. They are Hussein Omar Said alias Babli and Mohamed Ismael Shosi. Others are Kassim Mohamed Abdallah and Mohamed Salim Mohamed.

County DCI boss Henry Ondiek said the men were hiding in the house where the weapons were found but managed to escape police dragnet. "A fifth man, Abdifatah Fatah Twahir who was arrested in Malindi with a grenade was taken to court Tuesday,” Mr Ondiek said. Police have asked the court to detain him for 30 days to allow them complete their investigations.
Moving Drones From Africa, A ‘New Jihadi John’ And Cutting Ties With Iran

06 January - Source: Washington Post - 313 Words

The Pentagon shut down a base in Ethiopia that has been a key hub for staging Reaper drone flights over al-Qaeda affiliates in neighboring Somalia. But officials are being tight-lipped about why they decided to shutter the operation.

The base had been operating since 2011, and its closure was unexpected – just months ago, the United States signed a three-year lodging contract to keep drone operators in the area. The military has had trouble keeping up with expanding demands for more drone activity – offering up to $125,000 in bonuses to keep drone pilots in the Air Force as it opens up new hubs for the drone fleet in Turkey and the Persian Gulf.

A new execution video from the Islamic State is featuring what appears to be a new British militant as executioner – as intelligence officials scramble to figure out his identity. They are reasonably sure that the person in the video is distinct from Mohammed Emwazi, whom U.S. military officials reported they killed during a strike last year. The video in question also features a young British boy, identified by his grandfather, proclaiming that the militants will kill the non-believers.
Ghanaian Footballer Playing In War-torn Somalia Top-flight League

06 January - Source: Ghana Soccer Net - 145 Words

The craze of Ghanaian footballers plying their trade across the globe continues to exceed expectations with one citizen of the country shockingly found playing in the Somali top-flight. The Somali Premier League, which is also known as Serie A, is one of Africa’s fast growing domestic football leagues with only ten teams participating in the championship. A country which has had its fair share of wars in the past, football looks to be the uniting tool with over 20 foreigners having been registered for the 2015/2016 Somali Premier League.

Surprisingly out of the 20 foreigners playing in the country which has been ravaged by decades of war a one Ghanaian footballer plies his trade in the country. This shows the desperate lengths Ghanaian footballers would go just to play abroad regardless of the possible dangers to be posed by the militant group Al-Shabaab.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE

"However, by focusing solely on this outward production of Somali womanhood effaces all other articulations. There have been female poets and singers throughout the 20th century, from the pastoral lands and urban centres in Somalia to the Somali diaspora, who expressed female sexual desire in their work. These women socialized within the gabar xishood leh discourse do not consider themselves outside the framework. Rather, I consider them and their undermined voices central to this narrative of Somali womanhood.”

The Conditions Of Gabar Xishood Leh, An Idealized Somali Womanhood

05 January - Source: The Maadeeq - 806 Words

Years ago, on a bleak winter afternoon, I had my tongue professionally pierced in Toronto. I had numerous piercings beforehand so my family should have been accustomed to my piercing tendencies. Unfortunately, judging from their reactions—ranging from bemused to horrified—that was not the case. The most vocal critics were my parents: my mother bemoaned at what she considered a desecration of a God-given body and my father, more secular, dismissed it as a sign of immaturity and a passing phase of rebellion.

Despite the superficial differences in responses however, both were vehement in their views of my piercing as an act: first classified as ‘un-Somali-like’ and second, relatedly, considered a betrayal of the privileged values my parents readily invested in, where decorum mattered. The rhetoric surrounding my parents’ dismay revolved around their concept of an ideal Somali female particularly in terms of dress and behaviour. Words such as ‘modesty’ and ‘shame’ were tossed around, reinforcing the seemingly connected notions of Somali gendered identification, femininity, and modesty.

This idealized Somali womanhood is what I refer to as‘gabar xishood leh’, a modest girl. The Somali word gabar contained within the phrase ‘gabar xishood leh’ means maiden in English. Therefore, regardless of the age of the girl or woman as long as she is of a marriageable age but not married, she would be considered a gabar.Xishood in Somali is defined primarily as modesty—a socio-religious norms dictating decency and propriety. Implicit in the definition of the term xishood is the idea of ‘sexual modesty’.

Within the dominant discourse of gabar xishood leh, there is a categorical disjuncture between female modesty and female sexuality in such a way that the condition of modesty becomes synonymous with an asexualized womanhood. What this means is that this demarcation which props gabar xishood leh as the hallmark of modesty further brackets any expression of Somali female sexual desire outside the gabar xishood leh paradigm, resulting in the overt silencing and denial of women’s sexual desire and agency.