SOMALIA / CONFLICT UPDATE

Lt Col. Paddy Ankunda, AMISOM Force spokesman and Mohamoud Ahmed Nur, Mayor of Mogadishu comment on the current situation on the ground in Mogadishu and highlight areas of improving municipal government, business life, and reconstruction. AMISON

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:32
• Production Date: 30 June 2011
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: AFRICAN UNION MISSION IN SOMALIA – AMISOM
• Subject Topical: PEACE AND SECURITY
• Geographic Subject: SOMALIA
• MAMS Id: U110630c

Description

STORY: SOMALIA / CONFLICT UPDATE
TRT: 2.32
SOURCE: AMISOM
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: RECENT, MOGADISHU, SOMALIA

Shotlist

1.Pan right, view of Mogadishu
2.Wide shot, Isbahaysiga Mosque
3.SOUNDBITE (English) Lt Col. Paddy Ankunda, AMISOM Force Spokesman:
“We are now talking of over 80 percent of the population in Mogadishu in AMISOM controlled areas. I think it’s an indicator of returning normalcy, people are going about their businesses in AMISOM controlled areas and we encourage the population that is still in the areas under the Al-Shabbab to come over to the Government side.”
4.Various shots, Kilometre Four roundabout as the TFG Police control the traffic
5.SOUNDBITE (English) Lt Col. Paddy Ankunda, AMISOM Force Spokesman:
“There is a lot of change. People can now go to a hotel, to a restaurant, a coffee shop, and they comfortably take their coffee aware that the security out there; and this is more so in the areas controlled by AMISOM.”
6.Various Shots, people in the streets
7.SOUNDBITE (English) Lt Col. Paddy Ankunda, AMISOM Force Spokesman:
“Change is coming. What we need now is for the people themselves to rise up completely against the insurgents, and tell them that enough is enough, that they would want to live in peace and go about their normal lives uninterrupted. This is the time.”
8.Various shots, Kilometre Four roundabout as the TFG Police control the traffic
9.SOUNDBITE (English) Mahamud Ahmed Nur, Mayor of Mogadishu:
“Any Somali that wants to build a factory, or a hospital, or anything that creates more than 500 jobs, I am ready to give them land, freely, to build it. So, this is the chance before they become too late, come and invest in your country.”
10.Various shots, proposed hotel building under construction
11.SOUNDBITE (English) Mahamud Ahmed Nur, Mayor of Mogadishu:
“UN agencies that are in Nairobi, I would say that it is the time to move and relocate to Mogadishu. No more justification to be stationed in Nairobi. I think there are a lot of quarters in Mogadishu that are very safe, 100 percent more than Nairobi. So come and relocate your offices and your staff here in Mogadishu.”
12.Pan right, view of Mogadishu

Storyline

Lt Col. Paddy Ankunda, spokesman for the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) commenting on the current situation on the ground in Mogadishu said that “over 80 percent” of the population in the country’s capital are now in AMISOM controlled areas.

He encouraged the population “still in the areas under the Al-Shabbab to come over to the Government side.”

The AMISOM spokesman said that “there is a lot of change” and people can now “go to a hotel, to a restaurant, a coffee shop”. He added that what is needed now is “for the people themselves to rise up completely against the insurgents, and tell them that enough is enough, that they would want to live in peace and go about their normal lives uninterrupted.”

Mogadishu Mayor Mahamud Ahmed Nur said that Somali citizens who want to invest in building “a factory, or a hospital, or anything that creates more than 500 jobs” will get land free of charge from the Government.

He also called on UN agencies and NGOs stationed in Nairobi “to move and relocate to Mogadishu” as there are “a lot of quarters in Mogadishu that are very safe, 100 percent more than Nairobi.”

The United Nations is striving to help Somalia restore peace and stability after more two decades of lawlessness and factional warfare that has dogged the country since the collapse in 1991 of the administration led by the late Muhammad Siad Barre.
Political divisions between Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and interim Parliament have undermined the momentum of the country’s peace process.
According to the World Food Programme (WFP) nearly 10 million people facing severe food shortages as a result of a prolonged drought in the Horn of Africa, and resources for the relief effort in the region are dwindling at a time when assistance needs to be stepped up.