MOGADISHU Somalia (Xinhua) --
The Somali government on Sunday
expressed concern over lack of internet services, saying the
country is losing about 10 million U.S. dollars daily as a
result of the outage.
Minister of Posts,
Telecommunication and Technology of Somalia Engineer Abdi
Anshur Hassan said internet hitch disrupted services mainly in
south and central regions.
“The average loss
that lack of internet services is about 10 million U.S dollars
per day. We lost 130 million U.S dollars only in the past two
weeks after missing the services which was the lifeline of our
people,” Hassan said.
He said that they
are trying their best to restore the internet services as soon
as possible. The outage has sparked rage across the Horn of
Africa nation and affected the central and southern parts of
the country including the capital, Mogadishu.
The media,
business community, and some government institutions faced
difficulties on managing their daily work due to lack of
internet in the country.
“I have remained
jobless due to lack of internet service. I have lost 1,300
dollars in the past two weeks due to lack of internet
services,” Abdirashid Moalim Yusuf, a web developer, told
Xinhua in Mogadishu.
Yusuf added that
he made attempts to find an alternative network services, but
failed to get it, expressing deep concern to the current
situation of the internet.
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EARLIER REPORTS:
Somalia seeks to set up independent human rights commission
MOGADISHU Somalia (Xinhua) --
Somalia on Sunday launched the first phase of
the National Independent Human Rights Commission’s selection
process, widely seen as a crucial step towards strengthening
human rights protection and promotion.
Minister for Women
and Human Rights Development Deqa Yasin said despite the many
challenges faced by Somalia such as the ongoing insecurity,
poverty or the severe drought situation, strengthening the
institutional human rights framework is one of Somalia’s key
priorities moving forward.
“All people in
Somalia must take note of this historic day and learn about
the positive influence this independent body can have in their
daily lives,” said Yasin.
The ministry
collaborated closely with the Federal Member States, civil
society organizations and relevant stakeholders to establish a
technical selection panel (TSP) in accordance with the Human
Rights Commission Law (HRC Law).
“This panel will
be working during the coming days on the first phase of the
Commissioners’ selection process,” the minister said.
The TSP is tasked
with developing the architecture of the selection process,
while adhering to the strict rules of the Somali Provisional
Constitution, 2012 and the HRC Law.
In the second and
final phase, the TSP will implement this process through
selection interviews and vetting of the shortlisted
candidates.
Yasin said the key
priority of the ministry is to ensure that this process is
inclusive, fair, transparent, credible and open to the public
and all who wish to apply for the honorable position of Human
Rights Commissioner.
“The Ministry has
put measures in place that will enhance and facilitate an
impartial and transparent environment towards the selection of
the nine Independent Human Rights Commissioners. Moreover,
this will be done with the utmost respect for the privacy of
all involved in this process,” the minister said.
Once in office,
the commissioners are expected to serve the Somali people with
utmost dedication and adhere to the provisions of the
Constitution.
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Somalia convenes conference to establish direct elections
MOGADISHU Somalia (Xinhua) --
Somalia’s poll body plans to hold a
three-day international conference on electoral matters next
week as the country prepares for one-person, one-vote
elections.
The July 10-12
conference to be held in Nairobi is organized by the National
Independent Electoral Commission (NIEC) and the Organization
of Arab Electoral Management Bodies (Arab EMBs) with support
from the UN Integrated Electoral Support Group (IESG).
A statement from
the UNDP Somalia said the delegates will discuss political
parties’ registration process, monitoring and follow-up
mechanisms, and share experiences of African and Arab
countries with similar processes.
“The conference
aims to assist the Somali electoral commission to expedite the
process of political party registration in preparation for
one-person, one-vote elections in 2020/2021,” UNEP said in a
statement issued on Friday evening.
A key step in
creating a stable and democratic political system is the
registration of political parties, in line with the Political
Party Law of the Federal Government of Somalia, which was
passed by the Somali Parliament in June 2016.
