By Somalilandtimes network
Nairobi, Kenya, Feb. 27, 2006 – It is not without justification that the breakaway republic of Somaliland is seeking international recognition and refusing to rejoin the Transitional National Government in Somalia.
While the government of Abdillahi Yusuf is still looking for a suitable capital, Somaliland has been holding regular parliamentary and presidential elections, albeit without the international community paying much attention.
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By Somalilandtimes network
Sydney, Australia, February 28, 2006 - RANGE Resources deployed two field exploration teams into troubled Somalia yesterday, undeterred by threats it could "jeopardize the peace and stability of the entire Horn of Africa".
By Somalilandtimes network
Press release
On the 1st of March, Mr. Abdirahman M Abdillahi, the Speaker of the Somaliland’s democratically elected parliament, has been a guest of the Queen on the official opening of the Walsh Assembly in Cardiff. On the 4th of March, the speaker joins, on a rare occasion, the leaders of Somaliland’s three political parties in addressing Somaliland Diaspora in UK at the Shoreditch Town Hall in London.
Militia Attack On Puntland's Mps
Bossaso, Somalia, Feb. 27, 2006 – At least three people have died after an exchange of gunfire near the parliament of Somalia's autonomous province of Puntland.
Gunmen loyal to Planning Minister Abdurrahman Farole entered the building on Sunday, before being forced out by security forces on Monday.
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By Somalilandtimes network
MOGADISHU, Somalia, February 28, 2006 -- Warlords controlling the Somali capital on Tuesday urged the UN Security Council to refuse calls by President Abdillahi Yusuf Ahmed to lift an arms embargo, warning that such a move would shatter any hopes of peace in the country.
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By Somalilandtimes network
Denmark has asked the EU to contact Djibouti to stop the country's official boycott of Danish goods, Boersen [Danish daily financial newspaper] reports.
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By Somalilandtimes network
Over three million children, including 600,000 under 5-year olds, are suffering from severe food and water shortages in Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya.
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By Somalilandtimes network
London, UK, March 3, 2006 – Africa's rivers face dramatic disruption that will leave a quarter of the continent severely short of water by the end of the century, according to a global warming study published today.
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Somali Parliament's Peace Bid Bad For Gun Business
By Somalilandtimes network
BAIDOA, Somalia, Mar 1, 2006 – Not every trader in Baidoa is making a killing from the legislators, bodyguards and monitors who have swarmed its streets for a historic meeting of Somalia's interim parliament.
Traders at Eltogte gun market say the government's effort to broker peace in its ranks is bad for business, especially now that their best customers -- the 1,000 or so militiamen who usually prowl Baidoa's streets -- have been forced out of town.
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New Oil Concession Secretly Signed With An Indian Businessman
By Somalilandtimes network
Hargeysa, Somaliland, March 4, 2006 – The Somaliland Times can disclose that the Somaliland minister of Minerals and Water, Qassim Sheikh Yusuf has recently awarded an oil exploration and drilling concession to an Indian businessman by the name of Sood.
The deal which took place last month has so far been kept secret from other government officials with the exception of president Rayale and minister of Planning Ahmed Haji Dahir.
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Unknown Flying Object Witnessed In Somaliland Night Sky
By Somalilandtimes network
An unknown flying object has been reported seen flying over Somaliland night skyline on Tuesday night (28/02/06). Somaliland Times received a number of witnessed reports by residents living in the Capitol city Hargeysa and in Berbera, the city port of Sahil region.
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By Somalilandtimes network
Hargeysa, Somaliland, March 4, 2006 – The House of Representatives is likely to introduce drastic amendments to the government’s budget bill when it come the floor for debate next Monday.
Most of House members have already voiced criticism against the bill as containing fundamental flaws that must be addressed.
In a last week report to the House, the select committee on Financial Affairs had expressed concerns over a number of flaws in the budget such as the lack of a breakdown of government revenues to regional, district and ministerial levels, the lack of public account statements corresponding to the financial information submitted to the legislature and the unavailability of verifiable figures on the numbers of government employees and members of the security forces as well.
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By Somalilandtimes network
Baidoa, Somalia, March 4, 2006 – Finally, enough members of Somalia’s “parliament” showed up in Baidoa to meet for the first time in over a year. But in order to avoid the mayhem that took place the last time they met in Nairobi, it was decided that the meeting should be immediately postponed for a week so that the participants would have a cooling off period before they started facing each other. Although, as usual, there has been much talk about reconciliation, Abdillahi Yusuf “the president” appealed to the UN to lift the arms embargo on Somalia.
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By Somalilandtimes network
Cardiff, Wales, March 3, 2006 – WALES may not be an independent nation - but it has just recognized a breakaway country that, according to the UK Government, does not exist.
One of the officially invited guests at Wednesday's opening of the National Assembly's Senedd building by the Queen was Abdirahman Mohamed Abdillahi, the Speaker of the Parliament of Somaliland. Yet few maps show anywhere called Somaliland, instead indicating a larger country called Somalia, to the east of Ethiopia and Kenya.
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By Somalilandtimes network
Robert McCarthy, employed by the UNICEF
NAIROBI, March 3, 2006 – Gunmen abducted an American working for the United Nations in southern Somalia on Wednesday, U.N. officials said.
Robert McCarthy, employed by the U.N. Children's Fund, or UNICEF, was kidnapped on the outskirts of Afmadow, 70 miles northwest of the southern port of Kismayo, according to Sandra Macharia, a U.N. spokeswoman in Somalia.
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By FRED OLUOCH, Special Correspondent, By Somalilandtimes network
Evanston, Illinois, February 18, 2006 – On Monday, Feb.13, 2006 a roundtable discussion entitled “The Politics of Somaliland’s Self-Determination” took place at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA. The Somaliland Times is pleased to share with its readers some of the insights of the distinguished participants.
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International News
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Battle For Hearts In Bandit Country
By Somalilandtimes network
London, UK, March 3, 2006 – Somalia could become the next "war on terror" battleground as the US zeroes in on al-Qaida and Islamist groups reportedly trying to exploit a power vacuum in the world's most anarchic state. Looking on helplessly are two million Somalis facing drought and famine, and aid agencies hampered by warlords, kidnappings and piracy.
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By Somalilandtimes network
SANA, Yemen, March 2, 2006 – The government has called on the international community to help stop smugglers from bringing Somali and Ethiopian migrants and asylum seekers, often under hazardous sea conditions, into Yemen, an official said on Wednesday.
"The question of migrants and asylum seekers from Horn of Africa countries is one of our priorities, and concerns us because they're brought into the country illegally," said Minister of Human Rights Dr Khadija al-Haisami. "We call on the international community to put an end to the smuggling which puts the lives of these people at risk."
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Agreement Is Reached for Students From Somalia
By Somalilandtimes network
Springfield, Mass. March 2, 2006 – An agreement intended to improve educational opportunities for Somali children enrolled in schools in Springfield, Mass., was reached by the federal Education Department and Springfield Public Schools late last month, representatives of both entities said.
Under the agreement, the school district said it would hire more tutors who speak both English and Somali and provide after-school programs to help Somali high school students improve their English, among other things.
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UK Government Invests US$1 Million In Initiative To Fight Pirate Fishing
By Somalilandtimes network
London, UK, March 03, 2006 – THE fight against illegal fishing moved one step further today as the UK Government announced new funding of about US$1 million to help support an international initiative to deal with pirate fishing activities that cost more than US$9 billion in lost fish stocks globally.
Ben Bradshaw, UK Fisheries Minister and Gareth Thomas, International Development Minister urged the world’s governments to tackle the problem of illegal fishing on the high seas today in Paris at the launch of the High Seas Task Force report.
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Editorial
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The government of president Rayale is eager to have its budget bill approved by the House of Representatives as soon as possible.
Undeterred by revelations that it has been misleading the public and the parliament about the true size of its revenues, the government wants to escape being held accountable to its long trail of gross financial mismanagement practices. Claiming that the government will be shut if the budget is not released by the House, the executive has been urging the public to pressure the lawmakers into an early passage of its bill. However the public has so far remained unsympathetic toward the government’s unenviable position.
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Special Report
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REPORT ON FAMILIARISATION TOUR TO SOMALILAND
In November 2005, the Centre for Human Rights began investigating the possibility of a third destination for the LLM field trip. The reasons for increasing the number of field trip destinations to include Somaliland include the following:
Somaliland is a state in the making; it would be ideal for students on the programme to have a first hand experience of this.
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Opinions
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Well Done Mohamed
By Mohamud Tani
I can not possibly finish here the record level of anecdotal imaginations of the Kulmiye leadership and rank and file. The literary richness of their fantasies are so amusing, so entertaining and so humorous that it became the feeding frenzy of at least two popular radio stations and several blogs and websites. I can honestly say one thing for them... With Kulmiye, it is never boring.
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By Adan H Iman, Los Angeles, USA
Governments everywhere in the world are vulnerable to abuse and waste of public funds. In an effort to prevent this, and to strengthen public confidence in the operation of government, internal accounting controls and administrative controls are used to safeguard public assets. An important tool in this accounting and administrative controls is the segregation of duties.
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By Mohammed Hatem Al-Qadhi
Recently, President Ali Abdullah Saleh has made a cabinet reshuffle which he described as a need for renewal. Change is always a healthy sign of renovation and breathing a new life into the society. Some people welcomed the cabinet reshuffle, at least for removing the long-aged ministers.
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Who Shelved The Role Of Attorney General’s Office In The Case Of Joint Needs Assessment Program?
We all know that the Office of the Attorney General has the overall responsibility of providing LEGAL ADVICE to the Government and its Agencies and is required to ascertains that Somaliland legal system operations both Private & Public Sector is carried out in accordance with approved laws. As PRINCIPAL ADVISOR to the government and its agencies on Commercial Contracts, Agreement, International Treaties and Conventions of all Government Bodies should include in their negotiations teams with a Legal Expert, who specialized on Corporate Law / Constitutional Law, when discussing conditionality of LOANS or GRANTS with 3 rd Parties (i.e. UNDP/W.BANK). GRANT conditionality of these organizations change from one Country to the other depending on the prevailing standard of GOVERANCE of the receiving Country.
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Case Study Report
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The Ticking Bomb: The Educational Underachievement of Somali Children in the British Schools
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By Abdul Diriye
Despite constant attention from educational practitioners and policy makers, the underachievement of many ethnic minority pupils in British schools persists. There are countless studies relating to the academic achievement of ethnic minority students in general, however, it seems that the pupils of Somali origin have received less attention. This piece of writing examines the validity of the purported underachievement of Somali pupils in British schools. It also tries to explore the barriers facing the Somali pupils and the possible solutions.
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| FEATURES & COMMENTARY |
Somali Book Launch
By Somalilandtimes network
Somali people in Bristol are set to get a better library service from the city council, thanks to a new initiative, which will see hundreds of new Somali language books on the library shelves at St Paul's Family and Learning Centre in Grosvenor Road.
Bristol's Lord Mayor, Councillor Abraham will officially open the new collection at 11am on Saturday, March 4. The Lord Mayor will be joined by guest speaker, Martin Orwin, head of Somali Studies at the University of London. The launch will also include a drama performance by Amana students at 12 noon, followed by storytelling from the Bristol Somali Youth and Cultural Society.
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Book Reviews: Desert Children
Author: Waris Dirie with Connie Millborn. Translated by Sheelagh Alabaster. Publisher: Virago—published in New Zealand by Penguin. Price: $29.95
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By Somalilandtimes network
Nairobi, Kenya, February 27- March 5, 2006 (The East African) – East Africa could be the site of lightning strikes by US special forces and aerial drone weapons in coming years as part of what the Pentagon is terming "the long war" against Islamist militants.
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Viva World Cup
 Suzan NUR İ
WITH the FIFA World Cup competition in Germany just months away now, football fans everywhere are looking forward to this festival of the greatest sport in the world. As usual, Turkish Cypriots will not have a team to cheer on as they are banned from playing any FIFA registered team in the world. Which means, nearly everyone.
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Bossaso Port In Somalia Unlikely El Dorado For The Displaced
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By Somalilandtimes network
 Bossaso's bustling commercial port is a magnet for men from all over Somalia and Ethiopia who hope to pick up work for US$1 a day.
SOUTH OF BOSSASO, Somalia, March 1. As dawn breaks over the desert at the start of what will be another merciless, scorching day, an overloaded truck slows to a stop and a small band of five men and two women hop down and head for a small rocky hill not far from the road.
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