Nairobi, Kenya, May 22, 2006 – People smuggling from Somalia to Yemen increased significantly in the first four months of this year with more that 10,500 Somalis and Ethiopians making the perilous boat journey, with hundreds hurled overboard to drown by the gun-toting traffickers, according to the latest United Nations update.
The total number of Somalis registered in 2005 in Yemen reached 13,400, as they sought to escape a region stricken by conflict, poverty and recurrent drought, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.
NAIROBI, Kenya, May 23, 2006 – The United States helps Somalia through aid and has encouraged groups to fight terrorism, but is not responsible for the worst fighting in Mogadishu in years, the U.S. ambassador to Kenya said on Tuesday.
In a letter to Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper, U.S. Ambassador William Bellamy said some reports had "wrongly blamed" three recent bouts of fighting in the Somali capital on his country.
Baidoa, Somalia, May 23, 2006 – Somalia's transitional government has renewed a call for foreign peacekeepers in the lawless nation, setting the stage for a new fight in parliament where members physically attacked each other during debate on the matter last year.
The step taken at the weekend by prime minister Ali Mohamed Gedi's fledging and largely powerless administration endorses the deployment of troops from Sudan and Uganda as part of a new National Security Plan, officials said.
China To Host African Development Bank Meeting
Shangai, China, May 22, 2006 – The 2007 annual general meeting of the African Development Bank is to be hosted by the Peoples Republic of China.
The president of the African Development Bank (ADB), Dr Donald Kaberuka, said at the end of the meeting in Oaugadougou at the weekend that the boards of governors of the bank had approved the invitation of the Peoples Republic of China to hold the 2007 annual meetings in Shangai.
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Reporters Without Borders Press release on 23 May 2006
On the eve of the 13th anniversary tomorrow of Eritrea's independence, Reporters Without Borders appealed to President Issaias Afeworki today to release all of his government's prisoners of conscience including 13 journalists being held incommunicado whose newspapers were shut down in a September 2001 crackdown.
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Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, May 20, 2006 – While the structure of export is not expected to show significant change over a period of a year, the volume and value of export can experience tremendous change from one year to another. This is exactly the case with Ethiopia's export during the fiscal year 2004/05. The total reached 6.86 billion birr, which is 1.7 billion birr more than the total amount for the preceding 2003/04 Ethiopian fiscal year. This shows that the country's export had grown by 33.3 percent during the fiscal year.
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NAIROBI, May 24, 2006 – Somaliland's 15-year quest for independence may turn violent if the African Union fails to address the breakaway Somali enclave's case, including granting it observer status, a think-tank said on Wednesday.
A former British protectorate with semi-desert terrain roughly the size of England, Somaliland declared independence in 1991 after warlords toppled Somali dictator Mohamed Siyad Barre.
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SANAA, Yemen, May 25, 2006 – Yemen has been active in combating terrorism. But of late, this country on the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula has a new concern, Somalia, where al-Qaida is reported to have established a new foothold in the region. Separated from Yemen by a narrow waterway, the Yemenis fear Somalia’s instability could spill over into other countries in the region.
Somalia 'is a source of concern,' Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu-Bakr Abdallah al-Qurbi, told United Press International during an interview in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a. Al-Qurbi said other countries in the region, such as Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti were also concerned.
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Kenya: Govt Dismisses UN Claims On Somalia Arms Ban
Washington/Nairobi, May 23, 2006 – Kenya has dismissed criticisms by a UN panel responsible for overseeing enforcement of an arms embargo in Somalia that it was ignoring its requests for help.
The UN Security Council's embargo monitoring committee had noted in its latest report that it made "numerous attempts to solicit the co-operation and assistance of the government of Kenya," without much success.
The attempts included separate letters sent in February to Kenya's Foreign Minister and its UN ambassador. In addition, "personal attempts were made by monitoring group members, both in Nairobi and Mombasa, to establish meaningful and productive contacts with the government."
Mogadishu Battle Threatens Somali Peace
Baidoa, May 26, 2006 – Baidoa, where Somalia's transitional government is based, may be out of earshot of the gunfire in the capital, Mogadishu, but the effects of the escalating violence are being intensely felt.
Roadblocks along the main road which link Baidoa to Mogadishu, 200km to the south, have been strengthened in the past few days in a bid to limit the passage of weapons, while families fleeing the bloodshed in the capital are seeking refuge in the town.
Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa
The Sultan of Tadjoura Abdoulaker Moumat Houmed (center) hosted U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Richard W. Hunt (left), commander of Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, at his home near Tadjoura, Djibouti, May 18, 2006, for a ceremonial exchange of gifts, marking the first formal interaction between Americans and the tribal leader of the Afar people, a nomadic group of tribes who live in Djibouti, Eritrea and Ethiopia. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Roger S. Duncan
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Somali Joint Needs Assessment Communiqué
Nairobi, Kenya, May 26, 2006 – On 25 May 2006 the United Nations and the World Bank provided a brief to the Somali Transitional Federal Parliament in Baidoa on the Somali Joint Needs Assessment.
The Somali Joint Needs Assessment (JNA) is an assessment that analyzes the rehabilitation and transitional recovery needs of the Somali people and produces a 5-year Reconstruction and Development Programme. It is coordinated jointly by the United Nations and World Bank, undertaken with Somali authorities and supported by the European Commission, Italy, DFID, Norway and Sweden.
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Islamic Courts Fighters In Control Of Central Mogadishu
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Somalia Islamic militia guard Sahafi Hotel after it was captured from those of the counter terrorism alliance in Somalia capital Mogadishu, May 25, 2006
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Mogadishu, May 27, 2006 – Fighters loyal to the Islamic Courts battled the fighters of a coalition of warlords on Friday with thousands fleeing Mogadishu to escape the violence.
At least 30 people were reported killed in the fighting.
A similar number of people were also believed to have been killed on Thursday when Islamic Courts militia pushed fighters of the anti-terrorist coalition out of the center of the city.
The deaths in the last 2 days have raised the toll to 200 including 140 people killed before the sides agreed on a truce 10 days ago.
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17th Anniversary Of The SNM’s Glorious May Offensive
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Placards and posters erected at main road junctions in Hargeysa for this Saturday's 27 May 2006 anniversary of the May 1988 offensive launched by SNM
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, May 27, 2006 – The War Veterans Association “SOOYAAL” will observe today the 17th anniversary of the May 1988 offensive launched by the fighters of the SNM against Siyad Barre’s forces in Buroa and Hargeysa.
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Hargeysa/Addis Ababa/Brussels, May 23, 2006 – The African Union (AU) is urged by international security experts to look into the situation of Somaliland, which last week celebrated its 15th anniversary as an independent but still non-recognized republic. There are rising concerns about "an ever-increasing source of friction, and possibly violence" between Somaliland and Somalia, which will not recognize the breakaway state's existence. The AU is called to prevent a new war, preferably by recognizing Somaliland.
The Brussels-based think-tank International Crisis Group (ICG) today published a new report - "Somaliland: Time for African Union Leadership" - which reads as an open letter to the AU. The analysis examines the self-declared Republic of Somaliland as it on 18 May marked fifteen years since it proclaimed independence from Somalia. The north-western Somali territory, which was a British colony, has managed to establish a stable, democratic and developing state in these 15 years, while southern Somalia remains ravaged by clans and warfare.
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Somaliland Minnesota community inaugorating 18 May Somaliland independence day in Minnesota, USA.
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The Somaliland Day of May 18, was celebrated in Minnesota on 21st of May 2006.
The foreign participant is Mr. Mike Hatch, the Minnesota Attorney General. The Somaliland Representative in USA, DR Sa'ad Sheikh Osman Nur was also there.
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The multitude of forces that make up the tangled and knotted web of politics in the stateless country of Somalia were pulled taut in mid-May as violent clashes broke out in the constitutional capital Mogadishu between militias associated with the Islamic Court Union (I.C.U.) and the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-terrorism (A.R.P.C.T.), an umbrella group of warlords and businessmen who have dominated the city since Somalia lost an effective central government in 1991.
Escape From Somalia
May 18, 2006 – A FORMER Euro MP from Tongland, Kirkcudbright, had a narrow escape from war-torn Somalia last week.
John Corrie, who is involved in international development, was working in the African country, in which 130 people have recently been killed, to help them set up a new democratic parliament.
He and his colleagues left Somalia at the height of the latest spate of violence after a few close encounters with the local militia.
The 15th Anniversary Of The Independence Day Of The Republic Of Somaliland 18 May 2006
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Palais du Luxembourg, Paris
Somaliland Heritage in partnership with the Association of Somalilanders of France has welcomed at the French Senate for the celebration of the Independence day of Somaliland, media, scholars, politicians thanks to the Senator Piras.
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Africa Report N°110
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Hargeysa/Addis Ababa/Brussels, May 23, 2006 – On 18 May 2006, the self-declared Republic of Somaliland marked fifteen years since it proclaimed independence from Somalia. Although its sovereignty is still unrecognized by any country, the fact that it is a functioning constitutional democracy distinguishes it from the majority of entities with secessionist claims, and a small but growing number of governments in Africa and the West have shown sympathy for its cause. The territory’s peace and stability stands in stark contrast to much of southern Somalia, especially the anarchic capital, Mogadishu, where clashes between rival militias have recently claimed scores of lives.
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MARKA, Somalia, May 27, 2006 — A baby with its leg blown off by shrapnel. Corpses in the streets. The wounded writhing in pain inside wheelbarrows, the only ambulances around.
Horrible memories have followed those who fled the war-ravaged Somali capital, Mogadishu, this week for the relative safety of this town about 50 miles down the coast. At night, the evacuees still dream of the artillery shells that exploded around them. They cannot get the rat-a-tat of automatic weapon fire out of their heads.
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International News
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Minneapolis, MN, May 25, 2006 – The Body of a missing Somali woman surfaced in the Mississippi River on Monday, authorities said.
26-year-old Su'di Bashir Abdi went missing from her family's apartment in the Riverside high rises on the night of May eight. Several hours later, Minneapolis Police received a call from a man at Washington Bridge who reported a woman nose diving into the river.
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Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, May 24, 2006 – An Ethiopian court today postponed a verdict in the 12-year genocide trial of former ruler Mengistu Haile Mariam until January, saying it needed more time to assess new defense evidence.
Former Marxist ruler Mengistu, who has lived a lavish but reclusive life in exile in Zimbabwe since being overthrown in 1991, has been tried in absentia along with his officials in Addis Ababa since 1994.
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WASHINGTON DC, May 24, 2006 -- The United States is "wrongly blamed" for recent fighting between warlords and Islamic militants in Somalia, although it does support efforts to counter the militants because they protect terrorists, a senior U.S. diplomat said yesterday.
William Bellamy, the ambassador to Kenya who also manages relations with Somalia owing to the absence of a U.S. embassy there, neither confirmed nor denied reports that Washington is funding a coalition of warlords calling itself an anti-terrorist alliance.
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Guled Kassimis - a Democratic candidate for the Maryland House of Delegates for District 19 (Montgomery County, Maryland, USA).
Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, May 24, 2006 – Political rumors are nothing new, but one about a Muslim candidate’s chances among Jewish voters in District 19 is drawing fire from all sides.
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Growth Of Al-Qaeda Feared In Somalia
NAIROBI, Kenya, May 25, 2006 – A surge in the power of Islamic fundamentalist warlords in Somalia is raising fears that the Horn of Africa nation could follow the path of Taliban Afghanistan into the hands of al-Qaeda, despite Western efforts to stop it.
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For Somali Student, 'English Is Fun' Now
(Janet Knott/ Globe Staff)
BROCKTON, May 21, 2006 – Her first day of kindergarten last fall, Hamdi Abdi hardly spoke a word. No one spoke Somali, her native language.
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Editorial
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Ayan Hersi has made a name for herself in the west by her constant attacks against Islam as a religion. The western media not only reported these attacks but also praised Ayan Hersi as a morally courageous person fighting for the emancipation of Muslim women.
In spite of the fact that she knew little about the religion herself, however her slanderously distorted statements on Islam were aired by the western media in an uncritical fashion. By renouncing religion and culture, Ayan Hersi became a celebrity who makes a lot of money and was also elected as member of the Dutch Parliament.
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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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A New Wind Of Change Blows Over Africa
By Bashir Goth
Many people write off Africa as a hopeless place where rampant civil wars use children as gun fodder, military coups keep peoples' aspirations for freedom at bay, diseases rob the continent's most productive workforce, and poverty forces thousands of youth to risk their lives in the high seas in a desperate attempt to go somewhere where they could at least find decent food and shelter if not education and wealth. Africa in the eyes of these people, is a continent where corrupt governments siphon nation's' coffers and stash international aid money in foreign banks while the continent's best brains wait tables in affluent industrial countries to earn a few bucks to feed infirm mothers and malnourished children back home.
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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 Ahmed Egal
Bashir Raghe Chirar is an action-oriented and result-oriented person. He is a doer and a daunting pioneer.
Mr. Bashir is a very successful businessman in Somalia who has risen to the top by his vision, sheer dynamism, and superb organizational skills. He is a self-made man, and today his creations provide employment to over 2500 people from East Africa to the Middle East and Somalia. The birth and growth of his business took place because of his vision, dynamism, and his ability to put people in the proper places in the business.
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The Blood That Was Shed
By Rhoda Rageh
The flag of Somaliland was hoisted with the dream and quest for justice of millions of Somalilanders and the blood of a few. It has come with the will of the people and will remain insha Allah with the will of the people. However, never have I imagined that it will be threatened to evaporate in the hands of a mindless president like the ‘Tin Man’ in the ´Wizard of Oz` – a man who is a remnant of the brutal Siyad Barre, one whose worldview is limited to few runs between Godka and the Headquarters of the NSS.
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By Ali H. Abdulla
While surfing the net aimlessly on a rainy day, dispirited by the carnage and bloodshed in Mogadishu, I came across an old song by our late national treasure, Magool that brought tears to my eyes and transported me to another time and place. A place unlike the Somalia of today where many Somali patriots gathered under a blue flag fluttering in the sky and singing in unison “Maanta Maanta Maanta,, Waa Maalin weyne Maanta”.
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By Soleiman Egeh
May 21, 2006
I would like to start my Somaliland Independence commemorations with Mohamed Suleiman's 1960 Master Piece-song.
Waa Mahad Alee Malalootigii Meesha Daran Ka kimid Maantaba Haday Ina Magan Sadeen, Wa Mahad Alee Madaxeen Banaan, Wa Mahad Alee Madaxeen Banaan.
"Quotes"
"Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed-else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots., it will wither and die" Dwight D. (Eisenhower-president of the United States).
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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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Somalia's Terrorist Infestation
Author: Eben Kaplan, Research Associate
New York, May 26, 2006
Introduction
Ever since the deaths of eighteen U.S. soldiers in a UN-backed intervention in 1993, Somalia has weighed on the minds of U.S. officials. Without a functioning government since 1991, the country has been home to a lawless society dominated by violence. Beyond the humanitarian concerns caused by such prolonged instability, there is evidence to suggest that international terrorist organizations are using the fractured state on the tip of Africa's Horn as a safe haven and base of operations. According to the U.S. State Department's most recent Country Reports on Terrorism, terrorist activities in Somalia are "threatening the security of the whole region."
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Sweating It Out On The Somaliland Coast
By John Drysdale
AT NIGHTFALL, a long way south of the Bab-al-Mandab Straits - that narrow, dangerous, shipping lane at the southern end of the Red Sea – a group of Somali surveyors and I were within walking distance of our new workstation by the sea. We were on Somali soil. The year was 2003. We bivouacked around an old rest house. It had a dilapidated veranda facing a shallow lagoon. Beyond the lagoon, far away in the direction of Mecca, the waters of Bab-al-Mandab connected the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.
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International Herald Tribune
FRIDAY, MAY 26, 2006
In the period film "Master and Commander," Russell Crowe plays a naval captain possessed of the qualities of an archetypal Napoleonic-era leader: fearlessness, compassion, daring and intelligence.
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Supporting warlords against Islamists won't stop terror.
May 25, 2006
IN SOMALIA, IT'S NOT MERELY STUPID to assume that the enemy of your enemy is your friend. It's liable to get you killed. Yet the United States appears to be supporting one group of Somali warlords, who have repackaged themselves as secular anti-terrorists, to fight another group of equally brutal Islamist Somali warlords.
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Rageh Omaar: The Scud Stud Aims For Truth
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Doha, Qatar, – The Somali-born journalist Rageh Omaar became a celebrity during the Iraq conflict, but he has no regrets after walking out on the BBC.
He tells Ian Burrell why he has joined Al Jazeera's new English language TV channel
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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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