Bossaso, July 5, 2006 – The president of the Puntland regional government [northeastern Somalia], Mahmud Muse Hirsi [aka Adde Muse], has convened a news conference at the presidency in Boosaaso to speak about his visit abroad which took him to several countries.
Adde Muse said his trip was mainly to Germany for medical reasons. He later visited several European countries.
TEHRAN, July 3, 2006 – Djibouti's President Ismail Omar Gurlleh voiced his country's support for Iran's stances on its legal rights and praised the Iranian nation's struggle, saying that Iran's exalted standing in the world is indebted to that nation's self-confidence and relentless efforts.
ADDIS ABABA, July 07, 2006 – Around 300 livestock farmers from the Horn of Africa countries will meet 11-18 July in a bush camp in southeastern Ethiopia to discuss, among other issues, trade, governance and innovation in livestock products, organizers of the gathering disclosed here Thursday.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the traditional livestock keepers would pitch camp in the remote Yabello district of Oromiya Region for the meeting that would also be attended by senior government and UN officials.
Somali Islamic Cleric Eyes Fight With Ethiopian Army
Mogadishu, Somaliland, June 29, 2006 – One of the leaders of the Islamist group that controls much of southern Somalia has accused Ethiopia of "occupying" Somali territory.
Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys called for talks on Ethiopia's Ogaden region, inhabited by ethnic Somalis.
His accusation comes after Ethiopia tightened security along the Somali border, following the advance of the Supreme Islamic Courts' Council.
Mr. Aweys fought in the two countries' war for the region in the 1970s.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, July 4, 2006 – Members of a group listed by the United States as a terrorist band are now running the capital of neighboring Somalia, days after Islamic fighters wrested control of the city from warlords, Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said on Tuesday.
"The renowned extremist and terrorist organization, al-Ittihad, is at the helm of the current leadership in Mogadishu," Meles told lawmakers during a review of the situation in Ethiopian relations with neighboring countries.
Read full text...
Washington, DC, July 03,2006 – On July 1st, Somalia celebrated its 40th year of independence and the formation of the present-day republic through the unification of British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland. The day was marked by low-key celebrations in Mogadishu, which is controlled by the Union of Islamic Courts. The Islamic Courts, who seek to spread their control throughout Somalia, have promised to expand their governing council to include members of civil society.
Read full text...
AU Leaders Suspend Recognition Of New Recs
Banjul, Gambia, July 2, 2006 – African leaders rounded off their 7 th bi-annual summit in Banjul, the Gambia, Sunday with a decision to suspend, until further notice, the recognition of new Regional Economic Commissions (RECs).
The decision, which is key to the achievement of Africa's full integration, follows the recommendations of African Integration Ministers, who met in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 30-31 March 2006 on the rationalization of the RECs.
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Entebbe, Uganda, July 6, 2006 – Human rights defenders from East Africa and the Horn of Africa have often put their lives or liberty at grave risk in their efforts to expose human rights violations. In October 2005 they came together for the first time at a conference in Uganda, and formed a Human Rights Defenders Network to support each other. Today, a 34-page report of the human rights defenders’ first conference will be released.
Read full text...
Annan's Envoy Discusses UN Role With Islamic Courts Leader
New York, June 28, 2006 – Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative to Somalia today discussed the world body's role in promoting peace and security in the country with the Chairman of the Union of Islamic Courts based in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.
During their telephone conversation, UN envoy Francois Lonsény Fall also briefed Somali leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed on UN efforts to encourage dialogue between the Transitional Federal Government and the Union of Islamic Courts, according to a UN spokesman.
Somalia Soccer Shooting Arrests
The Islamists made rapid advances last month
Mogadishu, Somalia, July 6, 2006 – The Somali gunmen who shot dead two people watching a World Cup match have been arrested and will face Islamic justice, an Islamist leader has said.
Hardliner Sheikh Dahir Aweys says the killing of a cinema owner and a young girl was an accident. The gunmen could face the death penalty.
Islamic gunmen in Mogadishu, Somalia.
CAIRO, Egypt Jul. 1, 2006 – Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden issued a message on the Internet Saturday addressing Islamist operatives in Iraq and Somalia.
Speaking to Iraqi fighters, he said in his fifth statement this year and his second in two days, that the Islamic community was depending on them.
"Your Muslim nation is looking for you and praying for your victory. You are their hope after God. You are God's trusted soldiers who will liberate the ummah (the nation) from the serfdom of the crusaders in our countries."
Read full text...
Doha Conference Deliberates Solutions To Somali Crisis
Doha, Qatar, July 5, 2006 – AS the people of Somalia share a common religion, ethnicity and language, they have the necessary fundamental elements for unity, a Doha conference on the current crisis in the north-eastern African nation has concurred.
Organized by the Al Jazeera Centre for Studies, the seminar was held under the title: ‘The Current Status of the Somali Situation: Dialogue, Reconciliation and Future Perspectives.’
Among the delegates were a number of researchers and experts on the political situation in Somalia, as well as members of the Somali Islamic Courts, the Transitional Somali Government, the Somali Land Government, and participants from Kenya.
|
|
| Headlines |
An Irish Student Writes Her Thesis On Somaliland’s Right For Self Determination
|
Somaliland Times editor in chief,Yusuf Abdi Gabobe and Ms Fiona Mangan having morning coffee in Hargeysa
|
"I was struck by the friendliness of the people and their dedication to ensure that the prevalent peace in Somaliland endures."
Hargeysa, Somaliland, July 8, 2006 (SL Times) – Ms Fiona Mangan, a student at London’s Kings College, left Hargeysa on Mondays after spending about 3 weeks in Somaliland for research work concerning her MA degree.
Mr. Mangan who is from the Republic of Ireland has chosen the right of Somaliland for self-determination as the thesis of her MA degree in international law.
|
Video Shows Arabs Fighting In Somalia
|
Video image showing an Arab fighter preparing for battle in Mogadishu and is putting on a head band with Holy Quranic scripture written across it
|
NAIROBI, Kenya, July 5, 2006 – A recruiting video issued by members of the fundamentalist Islamic movement in Somalia shows Arab radicals fighting alongside the local extremists in Mogadishu, and invites Muslims from around the world to join in their "holy jihad."
The video, obtained by The Associated Press, provides the first hard evidence that non-Somalis have joined with Islamic extremists in Somalia.
The Supreme Islamic Courts Council, which defeated U.S.-backed warlords in Mogadishu last month and is now the country's most powerful force, has repeatedly denied links to extremists such as al-Qaida.
Read full text...
|
In 1991, Somaliland declared independence from Somalia. Since then, the Republic of Somaliland, as it calls itself, has received no international recognition. Iqbal Jhazbhay is a Horn of Africa expert at the University of South Africa. He tells English to Africa reporter James Butty the issue of Somaliland was discussed by AU foreign ministers prior to the just concluded AU summit in Banjul, the Gambia. From South Africa, Professor Jhazbhay explains to reporter James Butty how the discussions came about and why.
Read full text...
|
|
|
Pretoria, July 4, 2006 – (SL Times) – South African Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad, who is a close ally of President Thabo Mbeki, gave a press briefing on Tuesday on South Africa's foreign policy to journalists at the Union Buildings, which houses the President's office.
Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad re-iterated that the case of Somaliland is special and not a case of secession. Equally highlighted in Deputy Minister's response on Somaliland was the African Union's high-level Fact-Finding report and its findings of 2005.
|
Hargeysa, Somaliland, July 8, 2006 – The president of the Republic of Somaliland, Dahir Rayale Kahin, issued on Tuesday a decree relieving Judge Faysal Haji Jama from the post of chairman of the Supreme Court after becoming convinced the judge could not perform his judicial duties owing to ill health and having realized that the judge needed a period of full rest.
Sydney, Australia, July 3, 2006 – RANGE Resources insists it still has a multimillion-dollar joint venture deal with Korean National Oil Corp even though a 45-day due diligence period has expired and the company has not updated the market.
Investors have been waiting impatiently for news from Range, the tiny Australian company with exclusive mineral and exploration rights in Somalia's semi-autonomous state of Puntland, since it first signed the deal with KNOC in late April.
Somali Islamists Renew Rejection Of Foreign Peacekeepers
|
|
Officials from the Supreme Islamic Courts, from left to right, Sheikh Abdirahman Janagow, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Abdulkadi Ali, during their meeting with officials from AU and Arab League
|
Mogadishu, Somalia, July 6, 2006 – Islamic authorities in Somalia have renewed their objections to a proposed foreign peacekeeping force.
Members of Somalia's Supreme Islamic Courts Council emphasized their position during a meeting with Arab and African officials in the capital, Mogadishu Thursday.
The court leaders described foreign peacekeepers as "alien forces" and said their presence would be both unnecessary and counter-productive.
Read full text...
|
During the last few months, UNDP has been reengaging in the Bay region of southern Somalia, an area that has been inaccessible to the UN due to insecurity after factional and intra-clan fighting that erupted in 2002. This support has been across three fronts – support to the Transitional Federal Government and Institutions, judiciary and law enforcement institutions and reconciliation.
In early February 2006, the Speaker of the Transitional Federal Parliament announced that the first session of the Parliament to be held on Somali soil would take place on 26 February in Baidoa, the war-ravaged city in central Bay region. Eight days before that date, UNDP was requested to help make this happen by donors that financed the peace process for Somalia.
Read full text...
Mogadishu, July 7, 2006 – Somali Muslims who fail to perform daily prayers will be killed in accordance with Koranic law under an edict issued by a leading cleric.
The requirement for Muslims to pray five times a day under penalty of death appears to confirm the hard-line nature of the increasingly powerful Sharia courts in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.
|
Read full text...
|
|
International News
|
Flowers were laid at King's Cross station at 0850 BST
London, UK, July 7, 2006 – The UK has been paying tribute to the victims of the 7 July London attacks, one year after suicide bombers killed 52 people and injured nearly 800.
Cathedral bells have tolled, flowers have been laid near the blast scenes and at noon the country fell silent for two minutes to remember the victims.
The day culminated in a service of remembrance at London's Regent's Park.
Prime Minister Tony Blair said the anniversary was an opportunity for "the whole nation to come together".
|
|
by J. Peter Pham, Ph.D.
World Defense Review columnist
Regular readers of this column know that I have long warned of the against giving Africa the short shift in the war on terrorism, pointing to the militant Islamism's rise in Sub-Saharan poorly-governed countries and singling out the case of the former Somalia. It gives me little comfort to be vindicated by events. On June 5, amid heavy fighting, a well-armed Islamist group calling itself the "Union of Islamic Courts" defeated an ad hoc coalition of "warlords" purportedly financed by the United States Central Intelligence Agency and belatedly cobbled together as the "Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism," seizing control of Mogadishu, the former Somalia's largest city and sometime capital.
|
Read full text... |
7 July 2006 PINR
Somalia's fluid political situation underwent yet another shift during the weeks of June 26 and July 3, as the conflict spilled over into neighboring states and became regionalized, and Osama bin Laden weighed in with his take on the struggle between the Islamic Courts Council (I.C.C.), which controls most of the country's south, and the internationally-backed but weak Transitional Federal Government (T.F.G.) based in the town of Baidoa. Meanwhile, the I.C.C. consolidated its gains on the ground, Washington's intentions remained unclear -- even after a congressional hearing on its Somalia policy -- and regional and international organizations proved unable to respond to the conflict effectively.
|
|
PORTLAND, Maine, July 4, 2006 -- Immigrants whose homelands are wracked by violence and lawlessness are learning that police in their adopted countries are supposed to be friends, not enemies.
Leaders of the city's refugee communities recently completed a 10-week civilian police academy led by the Portland Police Department to help new residents understand the benefits and obligations of a law-and-order society.
Sgt. James Sweatt led 11 Sudanese and Somali men through the civilian police academy course that finished last week.
|
|
|
Darfur’s Fragile Peace
The collapse of the Darfur peace agreement designed to resolve the conflict in western Sudan could be averted by a fresh approach to the key issue of disarmament, says Alex de Waal.
The implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) signed on 5 May 2006 is stalling, amid new insecurity across the western Sudanese region. In these circumstances, more calls are being made for armed intervention by Nato or other western forces. A quick examination of the record of military intervention and of the problems that would await an intervention force in Darfur, counsels caution – and also suggests that the DPA's security-arrangements chapter can provide a blueprint for progress.
|
Read full text... |
|
The Somali Blogosphere
Washington Post
Confused by events in Somalia? We certainly were, so we checked out the website of Somalia's leading blogger, Bashir Goth, and then gave him a call. The bottom line, says Goth, is that the Islamic coalition (known as the Islamic Courts Union) that has taken control of Mogadishu from the warlords isn't all bad. They have brought order to a lawless city and even outspoken anti-Islamists like Goth are holding their fire for the moment.
Bashir Goth was the first Somali blogger and is now at the forefront of a growing Somali blogosphere that often challenges Western opinion. To get a sense of this Somali view, I collaborated with my colleague Tom Isherwood to check out Somali cyberspace. While foreign press largely condemned the rise of the ICU labeling them a new Taliban, these Somalis see some potential.
|
Read full text... |
Kenyan Writer Warns Government Against "Entangling" In Somalia
Nairobi, Kenya, July 6, 2006 – Text of report by Peter C Thatia entitled "Kenya not part of US global war in Somalia" published by Kenyan newspaper The Standard website on 6 July
Did Kenya have to wait until 5 June when the Islamic Courts Union ousted the warlords' confederate, to issue a ban on the warmongers?
Our foreign policy stalwarts have done their best to avoid this question, instead choosing to concentrate on what everyone knew all along: That the warlords were never good for us, for the Somali, or anyone else.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Editorial
|
|
The Intergovernmental Government Authority for Development, the regional organization for northeastern African countries, has been pushing for some time for the deployment of peacekeeping forces in Somalia. The idea of deploying peacekeeping forces in Somalia was first floated by Abdillahi Yusuf himself during the final deliberations of the last peace conference on Somalia which was held at Mbegathi, Kenya, and concluded with the formation of the TFG on October 2004.
In spite of being rejected by most Somalis as unnecessary and dangerously provocative, the proposal however received the enthusiastic support of IGAD countries such as Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda. The African Union which initially showed resistance against authorizing the deployment of regional troops, had to eventually relent after Mohamed Afay, Kenya’s envoy to Somalia and a kinsman of Abdillahi Yusuf, threatened that IGAD would unilaterally go ahead with the plan with or without AU approval. However, the first thing to fall victim to this controversy over “peacekeeping forces” had been the TFG itself. It soon became divided along clan lines and marked by brawls and ineffectiveness.
|
Read full text...
|
|
Special Report
|
|
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.
Read full text.
|
|
Opinions
|
|
Book Review On Part 1:
The Bedrock Of The
Family By Mohammed Bashe H. Hassan
By Rhoda A. Rageh
When I read the first part of the Bedrock of Family marked ‘qeybta 1aad’ I became quite confused about its main idea or purpose. The writer says at the beginning that he intends to bring out the strength of the Somali women but I can surely rename it as the condemnation of modern women.
There are two stark attitudes that hit the reader in the face: women were trained as young girls to take care of the male family in a setting rural and primitive (as if women were solely created for that purpose or as if that kind of living was predestined) and that anything ancient is better than anything modern.
|
|
|
By Bashir Goth
A Somali anecdote says that the elders of a clan had agreed to call for a council meeting.
"Call all the elders," one of them said, to which a little boy who was up in the tree under which the meeting was to be held responded:
“Don’t call only the elders; call the intelligent people of the clan?” Realizing the sagacity of his words, the elders decided to include him in the meeting.
|
Read full text... |
|
By Ahmed Kheyre, London, UK
Somaliland is a fully functioning democracy, but in our part of the world, it is a case of the survival of the fittest. So, how fit are the Somaliland armed forces?
The first objective of any government, democratic or not, is the defense of the nation. With this in mind, I have to ask the question, are the Somaliland government, members of both houses of parliament and the people of Somaliland doing enough for the defense of the nation?
It is no secret that the armed forces in Somaliland receive the lion’s share of the national budget, and so they should, after all, without the manpower or equipment, would there further budgets? Nevertheless, even a well-fed and well-equipped army could be toothless. An army doesn’t only march and fight on a full stomach or a brand new uniform; it requires leadership, direction and motivation.
|
|
|
Change in Foreign Policy May Ease Our Isolative Situation
By Abdifatah Ismail, University of Cape Town
The African Union’s exclusion of Somaliland from the agenda is a clear indication of the present administration’s failure in foreign policy. Early this year, Hargeysa lodged an application for membership with the AU following a visit by the AU’s second in command.
In spite of strong recommendations by the secretariat, the African foreign ministers setting the agenda for the AU summit held in Banjul, the capital of Gambia, on Monday decided to put Somaliland’s case in the dustbin, denying disgracefully ministers Awil and Dhoolayare even an observer’s status.
|
|
By Faysal Diriye, Ottawa, Canada
This short is aimed at dwelling on and expanding the smart analysis of Nuradin Hassan (Arab Vs Somaliland) following the Banjul summit where the dispute between Somaliland and Arab countries took on a new dimension. It is true that Somalilanders have long been accustomed to Arab countries unabated misguided policies towards them, and were by and large forewarned about any Arab diplomatic offensive to contain, if not eliminate, the growing political stature of Somaliland.
Blinded by the ridiculous attempt of safeguarding their hegemonic Egyptian surrogate when it comes to the use of Nile water resources, Arab countries have never been able refrain from taking sides and to preserve a neutral stance on Somaliland-Somalia relations even on the face of the dismal failure of the unitary Somalia and in total disregard of the interests and aspirations Somaliland people
|
Read full text... |
By Soleimon Egel
"Quotes"
"Freem is not worth having if it doesn't connote freedom to err. It passes my comprehension how human beings, be they ever so experienced and able, can delight in depriving other human beings of that precious right" Mahatma Gandhi.
Introduction
This is the time to wake up and be vigilant. It is time not to be intimidated by a two failed dictatorships Egypt and Sudan, who muzzled all political dissent in their countries. Two countries who are bestowed with strategic locations, enviable national resources, human capital and plenty of history. But still most of their people live in abject poverty, undemocratic societies, lack of economical growth, illiteracy and disease.
|
Read full text... |
| FEATURES & COMMENTARY |
Briefing To The Inaugural Meeting Of The All Party Parliamentary Group On Somaliland
Somaliland Focus (UK) and Progressio (formerly CIIR)
Introduction:
Very much welcome the formation of this APPG for a number of reasons:
- Very timely moment:
- Events in Mogadishu – what is really happening, are there genuine hop[es for peace after Khartoum agreement, how much polarity really between warlords on one hand and Islamists on other – clan advantage has also to be taken into account.
- African Union fact-finding mission declared last year that Somaliland's status was "unique and self-justified in African political history," and that "the case should not be linked to the notion of 'opening a Pandora's box.'?
|
|
|
Somali Taliban
Editorial, The wall Street Journal
Monday, July 3, 2006 — Events are going from bad to worse in the Somali capital of Mogadishu. The Islamists now running the country have also seized control in much of southern Somalia, made public their intention to declare Shariah law, and named as their leader a cleric on the U.S. watchlist for suspected links to al Qaeda.
So it goes in the failed state in northern Africa that is beginning to look like Afghanistan under the Taliban. The world can’t afford another radical Islamic state that shelters terrorists. And while it would be nice to think that Somalia’s neighbors or the United Nations or NATO might do something about all this, the reality is the task will be left to the U.S.
|
|
|
By Charlene Smith
Johannesburg, July 04, 2006 – Every richest men, walks into the Mvelaphanda boardroom in Johannesburg and sits down for lunch with his staff. At the head of the table is a driver, opposite Sexwale is a cook, on one side is a public relations consultant and on the other, his operations manager.
Lunch is informal. It is laid out buffet style and people sit and commence eating as they arrive. The boss sits wherever there is an open seat. Today he tucks into a curried lamb shank, he asks after the new babies two staff members have had and praises the young cook.
|
|
“Somaliland Remains To Be A Beacon Of Stability In A Troubled Region"
Addis Ababa, Jul 03, 2006 – Prime Minister Meles Zenawi on Wednesday responded to journalists who raised questions related to various issues; top at the list of questions was the latest developments in Somalia and their implications on Ethiopia and the region as whole. Excerpts:
Sources say that Ethiopian Military is interfering in Somalia, how would you respond to that?
|
|
Kampala, Uganda, July 4, 2006 – Text of commentary entitled "Somali situation is a challenge to the AU" published by Ugandan newspaper The New Vision website on 22 June
When a people have suffered for a long time under a dictatorship the tendency is to declare that nothing could be worse than they were experiencing. It is like the optimism in that song by Yazz: the only way is up.
|
|
How we messed up Somalia – and paved the way for Islamist domination
Mogadishu, July 3, 2006 – July 1 was the 46th anniversary of Somalia's "independence," and it was celebrated in a rather desultory fashion with a ceremony held at the "Peace Hotel" in war-torn Mogadishu. Former army general Mohamed Nor Galal gave a speech in which he averred that these aren't exactly salad days for his country: "We just commemorate the day, but it does not seem like previous occasions." An understatement, to say the least: these days, Somalia has become virtually synonymous with chaos, thuggery, and unrelenting bloodshed. The United States is funding warlords whose chief recommendation is that they are "secular"
|
|
SOMALIA: The Challenges Of Change
|
NAIROBI, Jul 06, 2006 – The takeover of Mogadishu on 4 June by the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) was the most important political event in Somalia in the last 16 years. It removed a political class of clan-based extortionists and dealers in everything from drugs to people, known as 'warlords', which has divided and ruled the country since the collapse of the central state in 1991.
Warlordism created one of the world's most protracted humanitarian crises. In the absence of any significant political, military or humanitarian intervention, Somalia has suffered chronic impoverishment, exodus, displacement and international isolation.
|
|
|
|
They didn't expect this to happen
MOGADISHU, Somalia - They have closed down makeshift cinemas showing World Cup soccer games. They have forcibly cut young men's hair if it is more than an inch long. Even before that, they banned a New Year's celebration on penalty of death.
Read full text...
|
|
