Press release-London -UK
19.05.2006
On the occasion of the commemoration of the 15th anniversary of the rebirth of the state of Somaliland, the Somaliland community in the United Kingdom calls on the British government to support the newly formed democratic institutions in Somaliland and recognize the state of Somaliland to promote democracy, peace and stability in the region.
Somaliland, a former British Protectorate, became independent on June 26, 1960, and was the first Somali country to become a member of the United Nations. A week later, Somaliland and the former Somalia Italiana united to form the Somali Republic – a union that was never ratified by the respective parliaments. A 31-year partnership with no legal binding ended in disaster and culminated in a brutal civil war between Somali government led by the Somali dictator, General Mohamed Siyad Barre and the people of Somaliland until they separated on 18 May 1991.
NAIROBI, May 17, 2006 -- Several African governments on Wednesday appealed to the United Nations Security Council to partially lift the arms embargo on Somalia to enable them deploy a peacekeeping mission in the warlord-infested country.
Barely a day after the UN Security Council condemned violations of the 14-year-embargo, the seven-nation Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) said lifting it would assist Somalia's fledgling government to enhance national security.
Baidoa, May 18, 2006 – Somalia's transitional government is preparing to sack two cabinet ministers over their ties to a United States-backed warlord alliance that has been battling Islamic militia.
On Wednesday, Somali officials said national security minister Mohamed Qanyare Afrah and commerce minister Musa Sudi Yalahow - both powerful Mogadishu warlords who are members of the alliance - would be fired from their posts "as soon as possible".
Fisherman Catches Fish With Islamic Inscription
Fishmonger Omar Mohamed Awadh (left), and friends display a tuna fish that was caught in the Indian Ocean near Vanga. The fish’s sides were inscribed with writings from Muslim’s holy book, the Quran, saying Wa LLahu Khairu Razikin (All blessings come from the Almighty God).
Mombassa, Kenya, May 13, 2006 – A fisherman in South Coast’s Vanga area early yesterday morning caught a unique fish with patterns on one side that resembled Islamic calligraphic inscriptions.
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In an exclusive interview with The EastAfrican in Nairobi during the Inter-parliamentary Union (IPU) congress, Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden, the speaker of the Somali transitional parliament argued that the government – currently holed up in Baidoa – could move to Mogadishu within two months if it got support from the international community towards restoring peace and stability in the capital.
Given that the Somali par-liament is yet to become fully functional owing to previous internal power struggles, Mr Aden was invited to the Nairobi congress as a mere observer.
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Nairobi, Kenya, May 13, 2006 – Somalia, Paraguay and Qatar have been admitted to the Inter-Parliamentary Union which ended its 114th Assembly in Nairobi yesterday.
IPU secretary-general Anders Johnsson, executive committee vice-president Margareth Mensah-Williams and National Assembly Speaker Francis Ole Kaparo announced the three admissions, bringing IPU membership to 147.
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A cafe worker clears debris from blood-stained steps at the Amica Cafe, in busy Merkato market area of Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, May 12, 2006. Four explosions tore through the Ethiopian capital on Friday, killing two people and injuring at least 21 in the latest of a series of blasts to strike Addis Ababa this year. Reuters/ANDREW HEAVENS
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Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, May 13, 2006 – At least four people have been killed and 40 injured in a series of explosions in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, police say.
Two of the deaths occurred in a blast at a cafe in the Mercato, the city's largest market. A BBC reporter says blood and broken glass litter the site.
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DUBAI, May 15, 2006 -- The Somalian Business Association in Dubai has decided to deploy its own armed security to protect the crew of cargo vessels sent from the UAE to different ports in Somalia, your favorite No. 1 newspaper Khaleej Times has learnt.
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Crisis And Opportunity
March 27, 2006 – Ten days ago, relations between Yemen and the unrecognized republic of Somaliland were at a crisis point after several Yemeni fishermen were seized by the Somaliland coast guard and charged with illegal entry into territorial waters. The two countries still aren't out of the woods, but the incident seems to have turned into a catalyst for unprecedented cooperation. Bilateral negotiations to release the fishermen are proceeding well, and have evidently expanded to include a full-blown fisheries treaty:
The agreement includes deals on fishery cooperation, particularly in the exchange of information, investment, organizing the fishing processes, and offering training opportunities to Somali workers. The Yemeni Minister of Fisheries Mahmoud Ibrahim Saghiri signed the agreement with the Minister of Fisheries and Ports for Somaliland, Saeed Mohammad Raji.
Bakaraaha Arms Market, The Opposition And The Militant Fundamentalists
Letter dated 5 April 2006 from the members of the Monitoring Group on Somalia addressed to the Chairman of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 751 (1992)
A. Bakaraaha Arms Market, the opposition and the militant fundamentalists
10. As reported by the Monitoring Group in the past in great detail, large quantities of arms are provided through the Bakaraaha Arms Market (BAM) in Mogadishu, where they are purchased chiefly by the opposition alliance and militant fundamentalists. The arms experts of the Monitoring Group have gathered details concerning some large deliveries of arms to BAM and subsequent purchases (see annex I).
Recent media reports that divorce in Zanzibar is on the rise according to the island’s Ministry of Youth, is one of the few cases of the rising rate of divorce in Islamic states.
Because divorce is permitted in Islam as a last resort when all other avenues of dispute resolution have been exhausted makes it very difficult for the ministry to interven
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The 54th State?
“The AU To Appoint A Special Envoy On Somaliland”
This monument serves as a reminder of the bombings that occurred when Somaliland was part of a united Somalia. (Photograph: Nordic Relief)
By Jean-Jacques Cornish
Pretoria, South Africa, May 19, 2006 – Somaliland’s president Dahir Rayale Kahin was on a working visit to Ethiopia this week when he celebrated the 15th anniversary of his country’s unilateral declaration of independence, four months after the fall of the dictator Siyad Barre in January 1991.
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Somaliland Celebrates 15th Anniversary of Independence
Hargeysa, Somaliland, May 20, 2006 (SL Times) – The Republic of Somaliland celebrated the 15 th anniversary of its reclamation of independence on Thursday.
In a major speech for commemoration of the occasion on day Somaliland declared independence on May 18, 1991, Somaliland president Dahir Rayale Kahin described the two most important priorities of his government as the pursuit of the issue of recognition and securing investments for the creation of jobs for Somaliland youth.
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Performers entertained the audience with musical songs and a play in commemoration of the Somaliland May 18 independence day.
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Mogadishu, Somalia, May 20, 2006 – About 1200 people gathered in northern Mogadishu on Thursday evening to celebrate the Somaliland independence day of May 18.
The commemoration of May 18 was held in the ex-police transport headquarters in Mogadishu and the keynote speakers at the occasion were Bashir Rage, head of Camel Company and Prof. Ahmed Siyad, the chairman of the Samaale Council.
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Ainabo, Somaliland, May 20, 2006 – 11 people were killed while 42 got injured by hyenas roaming the district of Einabo in Somaliland.
According to local villagers the hyenas started leaving their traditional habitat areas due to lack of water.
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The United States embassy in Kenya has denied knowledge of the alleged visit by the former Central Intelligence Agency director Porter Goss to Somalia in February over terrorism links in the country.
Two weeks ago, Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf publicly criticised the US over claims that it was funding warlords in the country.
However, sources well versed in Somalia affairs told The EastAfrican that the former CIA chief was indeed in the country, during which time strategies for fighting al-Qaeda in Somalia were formulated.
Editorial: A Salute To Somaliland, Africa's First Homegrown Democracy
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To be in Africa is to live in turmoil. It is a continent known to be short of peace, stability and respect for the rule of law. But Somaliland, Africa's Best Kept Secret as described by Dr. Iqbal Jhazbhay, a South African academic, has broken the rules in an unprecedented way. It is peaceful, where war is the norm; stable where chaos prevails; democratic where tyranny rules; has safe seas in a region where piracy caused international alarm on marine terrorism, and self-helping where reliance on foreign aid made the local economies stagnant. Maintaining peace and stability for 15 years and establishing a unique system of state based on African-western amalgam of democracy is an admirable achievement that can hardly be ignored.
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NAIROBI, Kenya, May 18, 2006 -- A secular alliance of warlords battling fundamentalist Islamic militias in Somalia said Wednesday that the militias were being strengthened by fighters from the Middle East, Pakistan and elsewhere, and said it had the bodies to prove it.
"Foreigners were fighting alongside the local terrorists and were killed," said Hussein Gutale Ragheh, a spokesman for the alliance. No one was caught alive, he said, but among the dead were Arabs and others who looked like Pakistanis, Sudanese and Oromo fighters from neighboring Ethiopia.
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UK Development Secretary Hilary Benn.
NAIROBI, May 18, 2006 – The Somali government has described a surprise visit on Wednesday by British international development minister Hilary Benn to the town of Baidoa as a sign of the UK's support to the fledging government.
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International News
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WASHINGTON, May 12, 2006 -- The top U.S. diplomat in Africa said on Friday Washington would work with any group in Somalia committed to rooting out al Qaeda but she did not know if anti-terrorism warlords battling for control of the Somali capital Mogadishu got U.S. backing.
Fighting has raged in Mogadishu this week between militant Islamic fundamentalists and an anti-terrorism alliance of warlords that Somalia's interim President Abdillahi Yusuf accuses Washington of backing. At least 133 people have died in six days of fighting.
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Police investigating possible links to Ottawa street gangs
Ottawa, Canada, May 13, 2006 – A convicted drug dealer now charged with first-degree murder in the drive-by slaying of an Ottawa man was spared from going to jail 10 months ago when a judge sentenced him to house arrest.
Gatineau police said Roberson Mondesir, 37, was arrested at about 5:20 p.m. Thursday in a McArthur Avenue parking lot as he was about to climb into a Range Rover, less than 15 hours after 26-year-old Mohamoud Mohamed was shot in the head as he drove along Aylmer Road after leaving the Cabaret Le Pink strip club.
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Leaders of the VVD party - which wants tough immigration restrictions - have used Ayaan Hirsi Ali's membership to deny racism claims.
Amsterdam, Netherlands, May 16, 2006 – A Somali-born Dutch MP who came to symbolize the Netherlands' troubled relations with Islam is planning to leave her adopted country and settle in the United States.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali is expected to announce today that she will resign as an MP, days after a television programme accused her of lying in 1992 in order to secure Dutch nationality.
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Sudi Bashir Abdi, a 26-year-old medical student at Hofstra University in New York was last seen on the Washington Avenue bridge around 3:00 a.m. Tuesday morning when someone called the police about a woman going into the river.
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By: Abdirahman Aynte
Minneapolis police are searching a Somali woman, whose disappearance circumstances raised more questions than answers, in and around the Mississippi river for several days.
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Scandinavian Countries Best For Mothers, Rankings Suggest
What's the best country in which to be a mother?
The U.S.-based global humanitarian organization Save the Children ranks Scandinavian countries the best and puts sub-Saharan African countries at the bottom of the list.
The United States ties for tenth with the United Kingdom.
The rankings are part of Save the Children's "State of the World's Mothers 2006," which evaluates the status of mothers and children in 125 countries. The ratings are based on ten indicators pertaining to health and education.
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Sailor Was Beaten To Death On Captain’s Orders’
FUJAIRAH, UAE, May 15, 2006 -- The Fujairah Criminal Court yesterday looked into the case of the 31-year-old sailor Sudheer Nonia Jaganathan, who was killed on board the Norwegian oil tanker Champion Pioneer on February 6.
The captain of the ship identified as Naresh Malhotra and six other sailors are charged with murdering the sailor, a mechanic hailing from India five days after he joined the ship.
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White House Dodges Somalia Questions
Washington DC, USA, May 18, 2006 – White House press secretary Tony Snow said yesterday the United States is working with "regional and international partners" to keep al-Qaida from establishing itself in northeastern Africa but would not say whether that included warlords in Somalia.
Snow cited Somalia's lack of a functioning government and said Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network uses such chaotic situations to establish terrorist training centers and bases. Somalia is just across the Gulf of Aden from Yemen and the Saudi Peninsula.
Two weeks ago, Somalia's transitional president said in Sweden that he believed the United States was bankrolling an alliance of warlords, the same people whose armed gangs are keeping Somalia ungovernable.
Asked yesterday whether the United States was working with warlords, Snow said he had to speak carefully.
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Editorial
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In January 1991, Somaliland’s decade-long war of liberation against Somalia culminated in total victory. On May 18 th in the same year Somaliland officially withdrew from its 1960 union with Somalia. The declaration of independence came on the heels of liberation from tyranny was not an unexpected development.
15 years later, following those events, Somaliland still remains an unrecognized country by the international community. But Somalilanders’ support for independence has not slackened the least. In fact since May 18, 1991, the confidence and commitment to retain independence has constantly grown in strength among Somalilanders.
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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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Somaliland Budget 2006
The Blind Leading The Blind
Reference is made to an article written by Abdillahi Hussein Daud on Somaliland Times on April 15, 2006
As Matter Of Fact, I appreciate and agree with your article concerned the Blind Leading The Blind. Simultaneously, I am not Economist as you emphasized in your article but I am patriotic.
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By Mohamud Tani
1-If the Prof agrees that Somaliland did very good after disassociating itself with Somalia, why is he warning against total break-up?
2-If the medicine called Somaliland Republic, self prescribed by the people of Somaliland for themselves after a long ailment, produced favorable results for everybody concerned, and the Doctor of Politics was himself confessing to that , why would he advise the discontinuation of that medicine?
3- Does not that make him some what a strange Doctor who does not want the political process to get well?
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By Abdulkadir Idan, London, England
Somaliland’s international quest for statehood is a solid foundation, which has no turning back. Somaliland’s international legal right to be a sovereign state has no question about it, some feel it is necessary to debate about the issue however such debates are pointless. I say this because one can debate until the cows come home however the reality on the ground is what determines the eventual end of any situation.
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A Fall From Grace: Ayan Hersi
By Mohamed Yabarag, London, UK
The anti-Islamist MP, Ayan Hersi, originally from war-torn Somalia, has finally been shown the door by her adopted country, the Netherlands, after her application for political asylum was found to be littered with lies and inconsistency. Ayan was born, according to her family, as Ayan Hersi Magan to a prominent Somali family, but changed her name to Ayan Hersi Ali upon arrival in Holland. Ayan has also changed her date of birth as well. It was also found that she lied about her journey to Europe and eventually to the Netherlands.
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By Saeed Osman, London, UK
Today people are talking about why the informal group leader Rayaale and his left hand man Saleeban Gaal extended the ‘Guurti’/ or ‘The House of Elders’ mandate for another term without consulting the relevant people.
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By Ahmed I. Hassan
There is a lot of hoopla and celebration in Nairobi over creation of the so-called Federal Government of the Somali Republic. Alas! Isn’t this all premature?
This is not a cynical question. Nor do I mean any malice towards the Southerners assembled in Nairobi. This is a careful and insightful assessment of the outcome of the years-long conference that was supposed to bring back peace and sanity to Somalia. Alas!
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Senator Norm Coleman’s Position On The Republic Of Somaliland
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Dear Senator Coleman,
Your Position on The Republic of Somaliland
I have read your proposed resolution to the Senate seeking United States support for Somalia and was dismayed with the item concerning Somaliland. While I welcome your efforts to pursue the support of the United States Government for Somalia to enable it to find solution to its problems, I find it gross injustice for you to deprive the people of Somaliland of their hopes and aspirations to attain recognition from the world community.
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Somaliland: Where Peace And Democracy Make No Headlines
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By Bashir Goth, Dubai, UAE
Mention Somalia and images of famine, warlords, fratricide and Black Hawk Down will jump to one's mind. The country barely exists on the world map let alone the world agenda. Since the last central government was forced out of power more than 15 years ago, the people have been hijacked by hordes of warlords who prospered by robbing and looting international food aid meant for the millions of internally displaced and famished civilians, mostly women, children and elderly.
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By Abdirahman Ibrahim Abdillahi
A general definition of corruption is the use of public office for private gain. This includes bribery and extortion, which necessarily involve at least two parties, and other types of malfeasance that a public official can carry out alone, including fraud and embezzlement. Appropriation of public assets for private use and embezzlement of public funds by politicians and high-level officials (associated with "grand" corruption in various countries, some of which are beset by kleptocracies) have such clear and direct adverse impacts on a country's economic development that their costs do not warrant sophisticated discussion.
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COUNTING THE COST OF ELECTIONS
How much is too much to pay for elections?
New report says effective budgeting is essential to avoid political expense
United Nations, 18 May 2006 —In an era of political-party finance reform and multi-million-dollar campaigns, understanding what elections cost, and why, is crucial to development, especially for fragile states facing competing demands for scarce resources. The first comprehensive analysis of the cost of elections, launched in New York today, illustrates how to make the voting process more affordable, transparent and legitimate.
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Interview With Head Of Somalia's Islamic Courts Organization Sheikh Sharif Ahmad
Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, head of the Islamic courts organization
Cairo, May 17, 2006 – A few years ago, a local gang in Mogadishu kidnapped a young student and demanded a ransom from his family in return for releasing their son. This incident was one of countless other kidnappings and killings perpetrated by armed groups in the Somali capital who exploited the disintegration of the central government, after president Mohammed Siyad Barre was ousted from power.
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Washington DC, USA, May 17, 2006 – More than a decade after U.S. troops withdrew from Somalia following a disastrous military intervention, officials of Somalia's interim government and some U.S. analysts of Africa policy say the United States has returned to the African country, secretly supporting secular warlords who have been waging fierce battles against Islamic groups for control of the capital, Mogadishu.
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By Hitka Viktoria
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Hitka Viktoria wearing one of her headscarf designs
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I wear this headscarf in my school, cause I think nobody can say what is fashion and what is a religious sign.
If I can wear it as fashion stuff, they can wear it as a religious sign. Why not? What is the difference? Im not in France, but it’s a demonstration against the state of things in Holland too, cause the Islamic women in Holland can’t get jobs, if they wear veils, or if they can work, they earn less money, than others. Why?
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'I Don't Know If I Will See My Children Again'
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Nuura, like this Somali woman, has been displaced by the fighting
Somali widow and mother-of-10 Nuuro Salab Farah, 40, told the BBC News website via mobile phone from the Hamarbile area of Mogadishu how the fighting that is raging in Somalia's capital has left her homeless, destitute and missing five children.
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By Kidada Mutabaruka
Two things happened this week to put into focus what we have been talking about in this column: That far from being only a victim of a bad situation, the African is a willing accomplice in the conspiracy against him.
Ayaan addresses a Press conference after resigning from the Dutch Parliament this week
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