Reporters Without Borders
Press release, 17 October 2006
Reporters Without Borders voiced concern today that an angry crowd in Buroa, the second largest city in the northern breakaway territory of Somaliland, burned more than a thousand copies of the independent daily Haatuf on 13 October on the grounds that it criticizes the Mogadishu-based Islamic courts.
A gunman of the Islamic Courts Union crosses a street in central Mogadishu, where the Islamist group has imposed rigid, Taliban-like order. |
TORONTO , October 14, 2006 - A number of young Somali-Canadians have returned to their homeland and joined a hardline Islamic militia that some call Africa's Taliban, sources have told the National Post.
The Shabbab, a Somali youth militia whose leader is believed to have been trained by al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, includes several Canadians in its ranks, the sources said.
MOGADISHU , Somalia , September 24, 2006 – As the sun begins to sink over this broken city, work crews swing their axes over their shoulders and head home.
Young couples take to the waterfront, mingling openly in the salty breeze. Thousands of children flock to soccer fields in the city center, with a backdrop of beautifully crumbled ruins from battles now over.
Press Statement
Adam Ereli, Deputy Spokesman
Washington, DC, June 3, 2004 – Secretary of State Colin L. Powell designated, effective today, Hassan Abdullah Hersi al-Turki, leader of a faction of the Somali terrorist organization al-Itihaad al-Islamiya, under Executive Order 13224 on terrorism financing. This action effectively blocks his assets in the United States held by U.S. persons and bars most transactions with him. Executive Order 13224 authorizes the Secretary to designate foreign entities and individuals he determines -- in consultation with the Attorney General, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Secretary of Homeland Security -- to have committed, or to pose significant risk of committing, acts of terror that threaten the security of U.S. nationals or the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States.
HARGEYSA, October 17, 2006 – Somalia ’s new Islamist rulers decided to send suicide bombers to Somaliland in an attempt to assassinate what they called the apostate leadership of the breakaway region.
In a decision signed by Sheikh Dahir Aways, the most radical leader of the Islamists, and a copy of which has been received by Awdalnews Network, the Shura Council of the UIC decided to send 30 young assassins to Hargeysa as suicide bombers to kill what they called the Jewish and American collaborators.
IFJ Condemns Latest Press Freedom Violations in Somaliland and Somalia
Brussels , Belgium, October 19, 2006 – The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today condemned the latest attacks on media in Somalia, which included the closure of a radio station, the burning of newspapers and barring journalists from entering Somaliland.
On Sunday 15 October, the Islamic Courts Council (ICC) shut down the radio station East Africa Radio in Mogadishu. According to the head of the ICC information office, Sheik Abdirahim Ali Mudey, the station was closed because of "misinformation and faults." He added that the ICC will appoint a new administration and workers for the radio station.
Read full text...
Somalia: Religious People In Puntland Clamor For Islamists
Mogadishu , October 18, 2006 – Islamic clerics from semi-autonomous of Puntland in northeast Somalia are in Mogadishu for talks with top officials of Islamic Courts about plans to implement the Sharia law in Puntland regions. Sources say on Wednesday.
Sheik Abdulkani Qorane, the leading figure of the religious men who had been in Mogadishu city for the last few days, told the local media that their arrival in Mogadishu was relating to witness the changes in the capital done by the Islamic Courts and to consult with the Islamists over setting up an Islamic administration.
NAIROBI, October 19, 2006 – The United States accused Eritrea on Thursday of opening another front against its foe Ethiopia by shipping arms to Somali Islamists who are rivals to a Western-backed interim government.
"I think Eritrea is quite clearly attacking Ethiopia on another front. We have pretty clear evidence that's a fact and (they are) shipping arms into Somalia," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer said on Thursday.
Eritrea Denies Arming Somali Islamists
Asmara , October 20 2006 – Eritrea dismissed as a "pure fabrication" a US diplomat's charge that it was opening a new front against arch-foe Ethiopia by arming Somalia's Islamists.
US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer said in Kenya on Thursday Washington had "pretty clear evidence" Eritrea was supplying weapons to the Islamists, who seized Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia in June.
Addis Ababa , October 20, 2006 – Meles told parliament in Addis Ababa the Somali fighters were now within 15 km (9 miles) of the remote Ethiopian border. Somalia 's Islamist fighters -- backed by foreign troops -- have neared Ethiopia's border, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said on Thursday, vowing to attack the "jihadists" if they crossed the frontier.
Read full text...
NAIROBI , Oct 19, 2006 – Somalia's interim president appealed Thursday for international help in dealing with a powerful Islamist movement he accused of operating under the "black flag" of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
Read full text...
NAIROBI , Oct 19, 2006 – Scrambling to save Somalia from deeper turmoil, a US-backed international panel on Thursday opened talks aimed at convincing the weak government and powerful Islamists to participate in faltering peace talks aimed at restoring peace in the shattered African nation.
Read full text...
MOGADISHU , October 20, 2006 – Two Ethiopians arrested in Mogadishu and accused of spying on Somalia's newly powerful Islamist movement will be charged with espionage soon and could be put to death, Islamist officials said on Friday.
Read full text...
MOGADISHU , October 20, 2006 – Two Ethiopians arrested in Mogadishu and accused of spying on Somalia's newly powerful Islamist movement will be charged with espionage soon and could be put to death, Islamist officials said on Friday.
The Islamists have declared holy war against Ethiopia, which it accuses of having invaded Somalia to prop up the interim government based in the provincial town Baidoa.
Read full text...
MOGADISHU October 15, 2006 – Somalia's parliamentary speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan has given up his role as the government's chief negotiator at talks with rival Islamists, a Somali legislator said on Sunday.
Read full text...
|
|
| Headlines |
Leader Of Kulmiye Party Back At Home After Long Trip Abroad
Chairman of Kulmiye party, Ahmed Sillanyo arrives at Hargeysa Egal international airport (centre) flanked by the vice-deputy chairman of the lower house of parliament, Bashe M Farah (right) and the vice-chair of Kulmiye party, Mohamed S Fagade (left). |
Hargeysa, Somaliland, October 21, 2006 (SL Times) – Chairman of Kulmiye party, Ahmed Sillanyo was given a warm welcome at Hargeysa Egal international airport on Thursday by Kulmiye party officials and supporters on his return home from the UK.
Ahmed Sillanyo, chairman of Kulmiye left the country back in early September for a private visit to the UK. Stepping out onto the airport tarmac at Hargeysa Egal international airport high ranking Kulmiye party officials and supporters lined themselves ready to greet and welcome back home their leader who has been out of the country for over a month.
|
Consider Diplomatic Recognition To Somaliland: Washington Post To US Administration
Editorial: Somalia Simmers
Al-Qaeda terrorists find haven under an Islamic regime, and a regional war threatens.
October 18, 2006
FOUR MONTHS ago an Islamic fundamentalist movement gained control of Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, after defeating an alliance of local warlords backed by the United States. Since then the Islamic Courts Union, as the alliance is called, has expanded its control over much of southern Somalia, including the port city of Kismayo. It has alternatively negotiated and skirmished with a rival, internationally backed government that clings to a base in the western town of Baidoa. It has come to the brink of war with neighboring Ethiopia, which reportedly has sent troops into Somalia, and has won the support of Ethiopia's hostile neighbor, Eritrea.
Read full text...
|
Analysis
Hargeysa, Somaliland, October 21, 2006 (SL Times) – Although it is tempting to assume that the burning of issues of Haatuf Newspaper (Somaliland Times’s sister newspaper) is an isolated incident, it is not really an isolated incident. The reason is that the individuals who burned Haatuf Newspaper were some of the same people who organized the demonstration in Buroa on behalf of Mohammed Ismail who has been charged with terrorism and is now in Hargeysa’s jail. The individuals who burned Haatuf newspaper are some of the few Somalilanders who flaunt their opposition to Somaliland’s independence.
|
Hargeysa, Somaliland October 21, 2006 – An internal document shows that Somalia's new Islamist rulers have decided to send suicide bombers to the neighboring peaceful self-proclaimed state of Somaliland. Their aim is to topple the elected Hargeysa government. The Islamists have already staged violent demonstrations in Somaliland to destabilize the government.
In a decision signed by Sheikh Dahir Aways, the most radical leader of the Mogadishu Islamists, and a copy of which has been received by 'Awdalnews Network', the Shura Council of the Union of Islamic Coutrs (UIC) decided to send 30 young assassins to Hargeysa as suicide bombers to kill what they called the Jewish and American collaborators.
|
|
WASHINGTON needs to learn to talk, listen, and engage more and condemn less.
It understood those wise nostrums in the first phase of Afghan intervention in 2001, when it worked hand-in-glove with the Northern Alliance and discreetly and astutely let Afghans organize their own loya jirga and the interim government that followed. But it has stiffed an initially cooperative Syria, missed opportunities when a mildly reformist leader was president of Iran, and rebuffed President Kim Jong-Il of North Korea at a time when, arguably, he was hungering for reassurance and discussion.
|
Editorial: Awdalnews Network
True to the superstition of the day, Friday the 13th of October 2006 was a day of bad luck for Somaliland press freedom. On this day, mobs of people, led by religious fanatics assembled in a public square in the second Somaliland city of Buroa, and burned editions of Haatuf newspaper, Somaliland's leading paper. This was the first time in Somaliland's living memory that forces of darkness tried to kill enlightenment.
The newspaper burners also threatened that the paper 's offices will be their next target if it did not stop its critical reporting on Islamists. But what they did not say out loud is that it will be the reporters themselves that would be burning next time. They don't have to say it because we know they are capable of doing it. We have seen it in Iraq, in Sudan, in Pakistan, in Lebanon, in Somalia and in other places.
|
Ethiopia Admits To Sending Army 'Trainers' To Somalia
Somalia President Abdillahi Yusef Ahmad (second from right) is escorted to the meeting room of the International Contact Group for Somalia in Kenya's capital Nairobi. |
Addis Ababa , October 20, 2006 – Ethiopia's prime minister told parliament yesterday that he has sent military trainers to help Somalia's struggling government, the first official acknowledgment that Ethiopian troops are inside the neighboring country.
However, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Ethiopia has not deployed a fighting force.
|
Read full text...
President Dahir Rayale Kahin of the republic of Somaliland |
HARGEYSA, Oct 21, 2006 – President Dahir Rayale Kahin of the republic of Somaliland has pardoned 600 prisoners to coincide with the end of Ramadan, the prosecutor-general said on Tuesday.
Detainees to be freed include 44 women and 12 men jailed for protesting last month against the alleged torture of Sheikh Mohamed Sheikh Ismail, arrested last year on suspicion of being involved in terrorist activities.
|
Attempted assassination of President ‘Abdillahi Yusuf on September 18 in Baidoa |
Nairobi, Kenya, October 15, 2006 – Somalia’s collapse has been dramatic over the past one and a half decades, but the political and diplomatic developments in the Horn of Africa nation since June this year reveal an intricate battle shaping up in Mogadishu and its surrounding areas.
Read full text...
|
October 16, 2006
During the first two weeks of October, conflict in the stateless country of Somalia entered a new phase as opponents to the Islamic Courts Council's (I.C.C.) bid to establish an Islamic state in Somalia mobilized for armed resistance throughout the country, raising the probability of civil and regional war.
The event that triggered the increased militarization of the conflict was the I.C.C.'s peaceful takeover on September 24 of the key seaport of Kismayo in Somalia's deep south and its inroads into the southern regions of Middle and Lower Jubba.
|
Read full text...
|
|
International News
|
NAIROBI , October 20, 2006 — The U.S. top diplomat for Africa Thursday accused Eritrea of attacking its neighbor Ethiopia through proxies in Somalia, echoing a statement the Ethiopian prime minister made to his parliament.
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi E. Frazer, however, said both Ethiopia and Eritrea should show restraint to avoid taking Somalia’s conflict regional.
|
|
|
Americans Question Bush on 9/11 Intelligence
Washington DC, October 14, 2006 – Many adults in the United States believe the current federal government has not been completely forthcoming on the issue of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, according to a poll by the New York Times and CBS News. 53 per cent of respondents think the Bush administration is hiding something, and 28 per cent believe it is lying.
|
Read full text... |
The report's full findings will be published next year
London , October 11, 2006 – Muslim pupils are more liberal and tolerant than non-Muslim pupils, a Home Office-funded study has found.
The research, involving 400 15-year-olds, was carried out by Lancaster University in a two-year project after the 2001 Burnley riots.
|
Read full text... |
| Nairobi , October 19, 2006 – A senior U.S. diplomat says Somalia must not further become a safe haven for terrorists. The president of Somalia’s interim government alleges that radicals inside the Islamic courts movement that controls much of the country are becoming increasingly powerful.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer says that Somali interim President Abdillahi Yusuf is expressing what she termed “valid concerns” about the radical wing of the Islamic courts trying to establish a permanent sanctuary for Muslim terrorists in Somalia.
|
|
CAIRO, Egypt, Oct. 15, 2006 – A sharp rise in oil prices has led the gross domestic product of Arab states last year to increase to more than $1 trillion for the first time, the chairman of a pan-Arab economic council said Sunday.
The GDP of the 22-member Arab League countries reached $1.05 trillion at the end of 2005, a $180 billion increase from the previous year, said Ahmed Gweili, chairman of the Arab Economic Unity Council.
|
|
Ali Gomaa, the Grand Mufti of Egypt, was amongst the scholars |
Cairo, Egypt, October 15, 2006 – A letter written by 38 Muslim scholars from around the world has been delivered to Pope Benedict, criticizing his 'misreading' of the Quran and listing factual errors in his recent speech on Islam that provoked protests across the Muslim world.
The pope's lecture last month at a German university led to violent protests around the world and the killing of an Italian nun in Somalia.
|
Read full text... |
Somalis Under Siege In South Africa
South Africa is believed to have around 5 million illegal immigrants
Cape Town , October 20, 2006 – A spate of murders over the past two months has left Cape Town's Somali community, especially those who run businesses in townships, fearing for their lives.
The Somalis claim 40 traders have been the victims of targeted killings since the attacks started in August.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Editorial
|
|
Last Friday, Somalilanders were shocked when they found out that a few hard-core extremists had publicly burned issues of Haatuf newspaper (Somaliland Times’s sister newspaper). The perpetrators of this dastardly deed gave two main reasons: (a) that Haatuf has written false news in which it said that there were terrorists in Buroa; (b) that Haatuf has deliberately smeared the reputation of Buroa.
Haatuf admits that it has written about the presence, in Buroa, of extremists linked to the Islamic Courts of Mogadishu, but to say that it has engaged in a campaign to tarnish the good name of the city of Buroa is ridiculous. Haatuf wrote about individuals and specific subversive activities. It never wrote or implied that the people of Buroa as a whole were involved in these heinous activities, or that these radical Islamists had a high level of support. Far from it, Haatuf has nothing but respect and admiration for the people and the city of Buroa, the birth place of modern Somaliland. |
Read full text...
|
Special Report |
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
|
|
President Rayale And Puntland State Present The Biggest Threat To Somaliland; Not The UIC
By Dahir A. Jama
The new developments in Somalia, in particular, the demise of the weak TFG and the rapid rise of the UIC present Somaliland with both political opportunities, which are advantageous to its cause, and security risks threats that can impact on its stability. Yet the Somaliland administration has been very slow to react and formulate a policy. In fact in the very short period since June 2006 when the UIC captured Mogadishu and ousted the US backed warlords, the administration has adopted several conflicting and confusing positions in relation to the developments in Somalia and, |
|
|
Dr. Abdishakur Sh. Ali Jowhar
A storm is gathering in Somaliland these days, a terrible storm of instability and disorder. The previously solid political ground has started to shake. It trembles with every sneeze of the Sheikhs down south. People move quicker as if expecting an imminent calamity. There is vigilance in the air. Mothers hold their children a bit tighter. Men are more on edge. |
Read full text... |
|
Silencing The Watchdog
By Bashir Goth
After banning music, concerts, cinemas, home videos, mixed gender singing in wedding ceremonies and even watching international sports on satellite television, the Islamist clerics in Mogadishu have now decided to deprive the Somali people of their last window of freedom, the free press.
In an attempt to create a supine media that applauds their onslaught on the freedoms of the people, the Wahhabist-oriented Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) have proposed draconian regulations aimed at purging the press of telling the truth. The war-weary and famine ravaged Somali people could not help but to turn a blind eye to the Islamists initial encroachments on their personal freedoms. |
|
By Abdulkadir J. Dualeh
An inevitable war between the ICU and Somaliland is a fantastic tale dramatically weaved together by analysts who seem to be good fictional writers than informed sources. The theory that the ICU is encircled by enemies massing in the north, south and west are, at best, ill-informed and ,at worst, a deliberate scheme to incite apprehension and distrust..
It is unlikely any outside force will be able to militarily challenge the preeminence of the religious forces in the south for the short term. Demography, rather than geography is the critical element in the outcome of events in the south and whether ICU continuous to succeed or not. The south has never been more united under one leadership.
|
Read full text... |
By Liban Ahmad, London, UK
Jack Straw’s comments on the veil also known as niqab have reinvigorated the debate about diversity and the role of Muslim community in tackling the threat from terrorism .The reaction to the British Labor politician’s comment were varied. In the eyes of a prominent conservative MP, it underscores how sensitive ‘Muslim community’ has become to criticism.
|
Read full text... |
By Hassan Ahmed, UK
This is not the first time that you publicly display the presentation of your traditional push and pull politics.
Mr. Hashi, according to your recent press conference, you have stressed hugely on how the government is handling the foreign investments in the country, such as the cement factory, gypsum factory and, Coal Powered Electricity Plant, simply they are all your favorite subjects.
|
Read full text... |
Legendary Somali Cartoonist Amin Amir - Cursed and intimidated by UIC |
Criticizing Islamic courts in Somalia! Can you dare it? In case you are courageous enough, be aware! You may receive numerous lashes if you do so in areas controlled by the courts. Otherwise, in the Diaspora or other regions of Somalia, you may receive “cursing” as happened to the legendary Somali cartoonist Amiin Amir. As a matter of fact, every objective individual is expected to be reluctant in criticizing Union of the Islamic Courts (UIC) that claim adherence to the Islamic principles. |
Read full text... |
| FEATURES & COMMENTARY |
From T.O. to Mogadishu
|
Abdillahi Afrah, or Asparo as he’s known, left Toronto in 1997 to return to his birthplace. Somalis in Canada don’t remember him for his religious or political views.
MOGADISHU , Oct. 20, 2006 — In this dusty, broken city, past the pockmarked walls bearing the scars of countless battles, through the guarded gates of the Al Furqan University and inside a sunny office, sits a former Toronto grocery store owner who is now a leader in an Islamic regime that has been likened to the Taliban.
|
Read full text... |
Forget about the pop star in the tabloids; focus on the children in need
LONDON - OCTOBER 18: Madonna leaves a gym session on October 18, 2006 in London, England. The Malawi High court have granted the singer and her husband Guy Ritchie preliminary custody of an African child, thirteen month old David Banda. Madonna and Ritchie also have two other children Rocco, six and Lourdes, nine.
|
|
By Charles Onyango-Obbo, Nairobi
A crisis that could turn out to be bigger than the Congo imbroglio and do greater damage to the wider Eastern African region, is brewing in Somalia.
The war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which at one point sucked in Uganda, Rwanda, Angola, and Zimbabwe, was, in real terms, small and primitive.
|
|
A Somaliland woman counts her money after selling some goats. Women began earning money in large part by doing small tasks such as selling fruit, tailoring clothes or running beauty salons. |
HARGEYSA, Somaliland, October 15, 2006 — Amina Jama was through answering questions about the textile shop she runs with five other women — how much money it brings in, when she started working, whether selling the colorful bolts of cloth helps support her seven children.
|
|
Encamped Mooryaans at the Hiilweyne camp. MOGADISHU , 17 Oct 2006 – At Hiilweyne military training camp, north of the capital, Mogadishu, Ali Mohamed Abdi recants his sins. Until a few months ago, he was one of Somalia’s notorious young gunmen, looting, raping and killing, living on 'khat' – a narcotic leaf - cigarettes and amphetamines. Now he finds direction and discipline in the Koran.
|
|
Somali pirates photographed by a passenger on the luxury cruise liner Seabourn Spirit last November. |
Nairobi , October 16, 2006 – SOMALIA'S new Islamic rulers have rid the country of the pirates who terrorized cruise ships and freighters off its shores.
|
|
Somalia is in a somber mood as Ramadan draws to a close and peace talks in Khartoum between the interim government and militant Islamists are scheduled to resume, writes Gamal Nkrumah
It was the style of the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) that caught the eye of Somalis, Somalia's neighbors, and the international community at large. Somali politics is like a pendulum. It swung too far in the direction of chaos under the tenure of secular warlords and now is swinging in the direction of law and order -- albeit Taliban-style.
|
|
By Birgit Michaelis
Peace talks between the Somalian government and the Islamic courts are scheduled to resume at the end of the month, 30 October 2006. Birgit Michaelis argues that the ordinary Somalis have suffered enough, and says that Islamic courts should bring their judicial procedures into conformity with recognized international and African human rights treaties and standards.
|
Read full text... |
|
|
Rules differ among local governing groups
By Edmund Sanders
MOGADISHU , Somalia , October 15, 2006 – The public execution was set for 9 a.m., and thousands of men, women and children raced toward a sandy dune where the previous government killed its political enemies.
|
Read full text...
|
|
