MOGADISHU , November 10, 2006 – Somalis caught smoking or selling cigarettes risk punishment in the south-central town of Jilib, residents said on Friday of the latest strict application of sharia law by Islamists who control much of the region.
Speaking at a public rally in Jilib, 365 km (227 miles) south of the capital Mogadishu, senior Islamist official Sheikh Mohamed Hassan issued the decree, which also banned the sale and use of leafy stimulant khat chewed by Somali men.
ICRA – A New School For Orphaned And Underprivileged Girls
Hargeysa, Somaliland, November 11, 2006 (SL Times) – A new school to provide non-formal education to orphaned and underprivileged children was inaugurated in Hargeysa on Wednesday.
The school is to target girls who missed their formal education as a result of the past civil unrest loss of one or both parent or gender discrimination.
UN Envoy Warns Neighbors Against Using Somalia As Theatre For Proxy War
Press Release
United Nation, Nov 7 2006 – Postponed peace talks for solving the crisis in Somalia, now scheduled to be held in mid-December, offer the best hope for the war-torn country, and neighboring States must avoid interfering in its affairs and using it for a "proxy war," a United Nations envoy said today.
"We will continue to prepare the ground for the success of this round in mid-December with all the key actors," Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative for Somalia, François Lonsény Fall, told reporters after briefing the Security Council, noting that the third round of talks in Khartoum on 30 October were postponed because the two parties came with some preconditions.
France Urges Dialogue To Avert All-Out War In Somalia
ADDIS ABABA, November 09, 2006 – France called for dialogue between all parties to disputes in lawless Somalia that have brought the country to the edge of a war many fear could engulf the Horn of Africa region.
Amid growing concern that tension between Somalia's weak government and powerful Islamist movement may soon erupt into conflict, a senior French official said it was in nobody's interest for the situation to deteriorate.
Nairobi, Kenya, November 09, 2006 – Kenya is lobbying the United Nations Security Council to lift an arms embargo on Somalia.
This would allow countries in the region to intervene and restore order in the lawless country, Foreign assistant minister Moses Wetang'ula said.
KAMPALA, November 8, 2006 – Armed conflict in Uganda's lawless northeast has escalated beyond traditional, tit-for-tat killing and cattle rustling, to a war against government soldiers, the minister of state for defense said on Wednesday.
The northeastern Karamoja region has long suffered banditry and inter-clan fighting fuelled by cheap, semi-automatic weapons flooding in from Somalia and other Horn of Africa countries.
NAIROBI , November 10, 2006 – Militant groups and 11 countries are funneling the military aid needed for a full-scale war into Somalia, widening the threat of conflict into the Horn of Africa and beyond, sources said a United Nations report will say.
Several security experts familiar with the content of an arms embargo violations report to the U.N. Security Council, due out next week, said the build-up of military supplies and personnel was aggressive even by Somali standards.
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Thousands displace as river bursts banks in Somalia
No casualties were immediately reported in the town of about 40,000 people, 170 km (105 miles) northwest of the capital Mogadishu after the Shabelle river burst its banks late on Friday.
Thousands fled a Somali town near the border with Ethiopia on Saturday as floodwaters submerged buildings, witnesses said.
No casualties were immediately reported in the town of about 40,000 people, 170 km (105 miles) northwest of the capital Mogadishu after the Shabelle river burst its banks late on Friday.
NAIROBI , Kenya, November 10, 2006 — A senior American military official today painted a dire picture of the escalating tensions in Somalia, but said the United States was at a loss about what to do.
“We do not have a plan to solve the Somalia problem,” acknowledged the official, who spoke to reporters in Nairobi only on condition of anonymity.
The Islamic Courts have captured much of southern Somalia |
Mogadishu, Somalia, November 06, 2006 – Heavy fighting has been reported between forces of Union of Islamic Courts and Puntland, the semi-autonomous region of Somalia.
If confirmed, Monday's fighting will be the first time the Islamic Courts' fighters have clashed with forces from either of the country's two autonomous regions.
GAROWE, Somalia Nov 6, 2006 – A motion against the BBC Somali Service radio was introduced in the Puntland Parliament on Monday in Garowe, the Puntland capital.
Some 8 Puntland legislators introduced the bill to ban the BBC Somali Service from operating in Puntland regions. Sources said another 22 lawmakers supported the motion and a debate opened.
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SANA’A, 11 November, 2006 - Somalia's interim President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed said on Saturday that he and his government were ready to hold talks with the Islamic Courts movement, which controls much of southern Somalia, if it stopped attacking government forces. "We are ready for negotiations with the Islamic Courts," Ahmed told reporters after talks with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sana'a but added: "That would not be possible before the fighting on the ground is halted."
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Mogadishu, 10 November 2006 - Hundreds of Somali women took to the streets on Friday to express their support for the weak transitional government, urging the international community not to neglect the administration challenged by a powerful Islamic movement.
The peaceful rally, organised by female members of the transitional parliament, was held in Baidoa, the only city controlled by Somalia's internationally backed government.
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Doraleh , Djibouti. November 11 2006 - The tiny but strategic Red Sea state of Djibouti on Saturday unveiled a multi-million-dollar project to expand its port and make it the Horn of Africa's main regional shipping terminal.
President Ismael Omar Guelleh laid the foundation stone of the second-phase of the $400-million facility upgrade, expected to be complete and operational by late 2008.
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Kinshasa - Heavy gunfire and blasts rang out in Congo's capital on Saturday in new clashes between the forces of contenders in historic elections meant to end a decade of war, and the government threatened to send in the army.
"If this continues the army will have to intervene to restore order," Interior Minister Denis Kalume said.
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Singapore , November 6, 2006 – The president of Somalia is making a working visit to Singapore from Tuesday to Thursday at the invitation of President SR Nathan. President Abdillahi Yusuf Ahmed is accompanied by Finance Minister Hassan Mohamed Nur; Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Ahmed Jama and other officials, said Singapore's foreign ministry.
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Two Female Employees Sacked Over Islamic Dress
Zaynab Yusuf (right) and Hoodo Imaan who were sacked for wearing Islamic dress |
Hargeysa, Somaliland, November 11, 2006 (SL Times) – The Somaliland minister of Information Ahmed Haji Dahir had sacked last week two female employees for wearing Islamic dress to work.
Zaynab Yusuf, a secretary in the minister’s office and Hoodo Imaan, a computer operator lost their jobs at the ministry of Information after they refused to comply with a demand by the minister that they stop coming to work in Hijab, the obligatory Islamic dress that covers the head and the rest of the woman’s body with the exception of the face and hands.
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Mahmoud Abdi Shide Remembered
Mahmoud Abdi Shide (photofile) |
Hargeysa, Somaliland, November 11, 2006 (SL Times) - Mahmoud Abdi Shide, a Somaliland freedom fighter, entrepreneur and Journalist who died on November a day in 1998 was remembered on Thursday, at a gathering held in Haraf restaurant.
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Analysis
By Garrett Johnson
"It was totally the law of unintended consequences in the extreme." - John Prendergast
6,000-8,000 Ethiopians and 2,000 fully equipped Eritrean troops are inside Somalia prepared to face off in a violent regional conflict, the UN recently warned.
Ethiopia is backing the weak Somali Transitional Government near Baidoa that holds no real power in Somalia. Uganda and Yemen are throwing in resources to Ethiopia's side. Eritrea is backing the Supreme Islamic Courts Council which controls most of southern Somalia. Libya, Saudi Arabia and Gulf states are supporting the Islamic movement. Clashes have already erupted between the autonomous region of Puntland and the Islamic Courts.
How did this approaching disaster happen?
It started in the mostly unlikely of ways - a fight over a worthless patch of scrub land just outside of Mogadishu by two clan warlords on January 13. It required the complete incompetence of the Bush Administration to turn this nonevent into a war that could kill tens of thousands and destabilize the entire region
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(From the right), Osman Ahmed, Somaliland UK office representative, Speaker of Somaliland House of Representatives Abdirahman Mohamed Abdillahi “Erro”, Ms Kerry McCarthy MP, Secretary, UK Parliament All Party Group for Somaliland, Allun Michael MP, Chairman All Party Group and Abdul-Aziz Samale, 1st Deputy Speaker, Somaliland House of Representatives shortly after holding a meeting at the House of Commons, London. |
PRESS RELEASE
London, UK, November 06, 2006 – The future of Somaliland was put firmly on the agenda of the UK Parliament last week during the visit of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Somaliland House of Representatives.
The Chair of the new All-Party Group for Somaliland, Rt Hon Alun Michael MP, welcomed the Somaliland Speaker Rt Hon Abdirahman Mohamed Abdillahi and the First Deputy Speaker Rt Hon Abdi-Aziz Mohamed Samaleh accompanied by Mr. Osman Ahmed Hassan, Head of Somaliland Mission (UK) and Mr. Abdikarim Abdi Adan, Somaliland Mission (UK) to a special meeting arranged to hear about developments in Somaliland.
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A few weeks ago, we drew attention to the trend of international experts, academics and policymakers being impressed with the peace, stability and progress in Somaliland. We also noted that more and more of these international experts are calling for Somaliland to be internationally recognized because they see such a move as a necessary step for helping establish democracy and the rule of law in a difficult and unstable part of the world. That trend is continuing.
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Shariif Hassan and Sheikh Sharif |
Mogadishu, Somalia, 11 November 2006 - The powerful Union of Islamic Courts in Somalia and the government’s parliamentary delegations, who have had peace talks going on in the capital Mogadishu last week, have finally signed a peace accord.
A communiqué issued at the Union of Islamic Courts center in Mogadishu read to the press by the Courts foreign affairs secretary, Ibrahim Addow, said they have agreed up on seven items in the peace deal. |
MOGADISHU, Nov 11, 2006 - The interim Somali government on Saturday rejected a last-ditch deal brokered by their parliament speaker to restart talks to avert war with a powerful Islamist movement threatening their slim authority.
The decision came after a cabinet meeting about the agreement reached by parliament Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan and the Islamists on Friday, seen as a last best hope at avoiding a conflict that could engulf the Horn of Africa.
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WIO Press release 
Nairobi, Kenya, November 2, 2006 – The Islamists say they cannot talk while Ethiopian troops are on Somali soil to help President Abdillahi Yusuf's government and have called for an international fact-finding mission.
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By C. Bryson Hull
NAIROBI , November 10, 2006 – Militant groups and 11 countries are funneling the military aid needed for a full-scale war into Somalia, widening the threat of conflict into the Horn of Africa and beyond, sources said a United Nations report will say.
Several security experts familiar with the content of an arms embargo violations report to the U.N. Security Council, due out next week, said the build-up of military supplies and personnel was aggressive even by Somali standards.
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Grassroots Community Leaders To Receive $25,000 Cash Awards for Violence Prevention Work
Sahra Abdi - one of three winners of the 2006 California Peace Prize |
Los Angeles , November 09, 2006 — Sahra Abdi teaches Somali and African refugees and immigrants who have fled their violent homelands how to control anger and manage stress. Margaret Diaz, a former victim of domestic violence, established a shelter and a pioneering transitional housing program for women and children. Anthony Thigpenn helps train people in African-American and Latino communities to understand and participate in public policy decision-making to prevent violence.
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International News
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Elected: Keith Ellison. Photo: AP |
Minneapolis, November 9, 2006 – VOTERS elected a Democrat as the first Muslim in Congress after a race in which he advocated US withdrawal from Iraq. Keith Ellison, a 43-year-old lawyer and state representative, defeated two rivals, television networks said, to succeed the retiring Martin Sabo in a seat held by Democrats since 1963. |
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Somali Vote May See First Muslim In Congress
Minneapolis, MN. November 6, 2006 – An African-American is expected to win election on November 7 as the first Muslim member of the US Congress.
And if Keith Ellison, a 43-year-old criminal defense attorney, does secure a seat in the House of Representatives, his district’s many Somali immigrants will have proven to be a crucial factor.
A victory by Mr. Ellison could also help ensure that the Democratic Party recaptures control of the House. The end of 12 years of Republican Party rule might in turn lead Congress to focus more closely on Africa issues. The chairmanship of the chamber’s Africa subcommittee would shift, for example, to an African-American who has long urged stronger US efforts to promote Africa’s development.
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Nairobi , Kenya, November 05, 2006 – Kenyan Muslims on Saturday accused the United States of lying about plans by Somali Islamists to carry out suicide attacks in Kenya and Ethiopia, calling it part of a larger plot to attack Somalia.
The Supreme Council of Kenyan Muslims said Washington is using the alleged threats as a ploy to attack and destroy Somalia's powerful Islamist movement, which is now girding for war with the weak government.
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BERLIN , November 7, 2006 – Nearly three-quarters of 163 countries ranked in a new survey suffer from a perception of serious corruption, while in nearly half it is seen as rampant, a watchdog group reported Monday.
Transparency International's 2006 Corruption Perceptions Index gives the worst scores to many of the world's poorest countries, including almost all African nations, indicating a strong correlation between corruption and poverty.
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| Dubai, November 07, 2006 – A court acquitted a visitor of circulating 150 billion Somali shillings (about Dh37.5 million) in counterfeit currency yesterday.
The Dubai Court of Cassation cleared suspect S.A., a 39-year-old Canadian of Somali origin, for lack of evidence. The Dubai Public Prosecution charged S.A. of possessing and circulating fake money. |
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London , Ont. Canada, November 10, 2006 – Ahmed Moalin-Mohamed's court date in London, Ont., came and went yesterday with no sign of the 23-year-old fugitive, who jumped bail in Toronto this week while awaiting trial on an array of gun-related charges, including attempted murder.
Two arrest warrants have been issued for Mr. Moalin-Mohamed -- one for breaching his bail conditions, the other for failing to show up yesterday in court, where prosecutors had planned to try to get his bail revoked.
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The U.S. Dollar is kaput. Confidence in the currency is eroding by the day.
By Mike Whitney
The U.S. Dollar is kaput. Confidence in the currency is eroding by the day.
A report in The Sydney Morning Herald stated, “Australia’s Treasurer Peter Costello has called on East Asia’s central bankers to ‘telegraph’ their intentions to diversify out of American investments and ensure an ‘orderly adjustment’….Central banks in China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and Hong Kong have channeled immense foreign reserves into American government bonds, helping to prop up the US dollar and hold down interest rates,’ said Costello, but ‘the strategy has changed.’”
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Nairobi, Kenya, November 05, 2006 – A security warning issued by America that Kenya could be under threat from Somali suicide bombers will not affect an international conference on climatic change set to begin in Nairobi on Monday.
The Government yesterday said security had been beefed up ahead of the meeting to be attended by 6,000 delegates – including presidents, ministers, and UN officials.
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Washington DC, November 05, 2006 – Herman Cohen, former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, says that in the post-Cold War era, Africa has made impressive democratic progress and that more countries, such as Mali and Tanzania, are holding free and fair elections. Ambassador Cohen is president of the consulting firm, Cohen and Woods International, a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University, and author of the book Intervening in Africa: Super-Power Peacemaking in a Troubled Continent. Speaking with host Carol Castiel of VOA News Now's Press Conference USA, he says the major issues now are good governance and poverty reduction.
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Editorial
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The latest episode in the long list of scandals committed by Somaliland’s minister of Information, Ahmed Haji Dahir, is his dismissal earlier this week of two women employees for wearing Islamic dress to work.
Zaynab Yusuf who worked as a secretary in the minister’s office wore Hijab (an Islamic dress for women that is designed to cover the head and flow across both shoulders), while her colleague Hoodo Imaan, a computer operator, put on Hijab as well as a Niqaab (piece of clothing for covering the face).
The Information minister’s firing of the two female employees for no other reason than their strict adherence to the Islamic dress code, has naturally shocked and angered the public in Somaliland, a country whose population is 100% Muslim. |
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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. |
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Opinions
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Adopt Villages, Not Pet Children
By Bashir Goth
THE current celebrity craze for child adoption took me down memory lane. I happened to be in hospital in Hargeysa, today’s Somaliland, at a very young age for injuries I sustained after an air raid on our border village.
Being very young, around seven and due to the lack of a vacant bed in the male wards, I was admitted to the female ward. One day, an American woman, a Peace Corps teacher, visited me. She was walking outside and she saw me from the window. She stopped and looked at me for a while. Then she entered the ward and asked permission from the staff nurse to talk to me. She sat next to me on the bed, held my right hand in both her hands and looked at me with eyes full of kindness, motherhood and inquisitiveness. |
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By Ahmed Ali Ibrahim
This is to bring the suffering of Ms. Hawa Hussein Handule to the attention of international human rights organizations. It is urgently incumbent upon all international human rights organizations to take the lead role in securing the freedom of this innocent woman. Contrary to the United Nations Charter on Human Rights, the European Union Charter on Human Rights, the People's and Human Rights Charter of the African Union, and all other international conventions that guarantee the rights and the freedoms of the individual the governor of Majertenia region of Somalia Gen. Mohamoud Mousa Hersi, has defied all interventions on behalf of the incarcerated woman. |
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By Rashid Nur, Metro-Washington
The proxy war between Ethiopia and Eritrea in Somalia has started months ago and is at full swing right now. Ethiopian forces are present in Baidoa to support TFG and they have supported Abdillahi Yusuf to capture the town of Burhakaba recently, until the Islamic Courts from Mogadishu have recaptured the town with the logistical equipment and weapons provided by Eritrea. The Islamic Courts declared Jihad against Ethiopia, and intensively started recruiting efforts in all the areas it currently controls to prepare for long conflict with Ethiopia forces. Ethiopia on the hand increased the troops in Baidoa and has committed to protecting Abdillahi Yusuf’s TFG in Baidoa and defeating the Islamic Court; hence the stage is set for new and potentially long conflict in Somalia despite the well intentioned efforts of the international community in Khartoum. |
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By Abdulkadir J. Dualeh
In 1938, Hitler insisted upon Anschulus of Austria into a greater German Third Reich. His simplistic justification for demanding such a merger was that Austria and Germany inhabitants had a common language (German) and a common religion (Christianity).
Austria was a democratic nation and Hitler’s third Reich was totalitarian, but according to Hitler and his gangsters, that consideration was irrelevant – they new what was best for German people everywhere. The people of Austria rejected voluntary union with Hitler, so he opted to the use of subversion and intimidation.
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By Abukar Sanei
Debate on veiling has recently been sparked by Jack Straw, the former Foreign Secretary, but now the Leader of the House of Commons, after he commented negatively on it. In addition, Tony Blair has followed Mr. Straw's comments and described veils as "a mark of separation." However, the leaders from the British Muslim community reacted against Mr. Straw's remarks, and issued a joint statement. The joint statement was published on the website of Muslim Council of Britain [MCB].
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By Dr. Mohamed A Omar, London, UK
The leaders of the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) have stepped up their threats to Somaliland, accusing it of being politically un-Islamic. However, these threats lack substance, lean on weak assumptions and don’t take into account of the realities on the ground in Somaliland.
Here are some inescapable facts, which the UIC leaders and their supporters must face up to. Firstly, they will need to understand that Somaliland has peacefully reconciled religion with the state administration.
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| FEATURES & COMMENTARY |
A U.S. Security Agenda In Africa – Part I
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World Defense Review columnist
Published 09 Nov 06 One of the frustrations that foreign nations and individuals have with the United States is Americans' biennial self-absorption in electoral campaigns during which pressing international concerns – which, of course, neither go away nor can be put on hold – are nonetheless virtually ignored in slavish obedience to the late House Speaker Thomas "Tip" O'Neill's dictum (and subsequent title of his memoirs): "All politics is local." |
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Jawaahir Sheikh Madar with the First President of Zambia, H.E. Dr. Kenneth Kaunda |
On 17th October 2006, I was invited as a Somaliland Representative to the Rwandese Community meeting with H. E. the President of Rwanda, Dr. Paul Kagami. It gave me an excellent opportunity to meet with the Rwandese Business Leaders, some of whom are keen to invest in Somaliland [a few of them will be visiting Somaliland in the very near future] as well as with H. E. President Kagami. I sought his support to our cause and he asked that we carry this forward in the near future. |
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By: Ndirangu wa Maina
Next time you take a matatu and find everybody nodding to themselves with iPods on their laps, don't sneer. Just walk to the next empty seat and flip to the entertainment section of your daily newspaper and make a date with your favorite TV soap. The latest research by Consumer Insight Africa shows that majority of Kenyans, 53% to be specific, spend their free time either listening to music or watching TV.
But before you cringe in anger and curse the liberalization of the airwaves for turning Kenyans into music and TV addicts, take heart that this is not a Kenyan-only peculiarity.
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Raul Merly, right, reads his sample ballot as he waits with others to cast their early vote for Tuesday's election at an early voting place in downtown Denver, Thursday, Nov. 2, 2006. Confronted by a lengthy list of proposed laws, candidates and other questions, thousands have voted early for November 7th election. For those who have waited there could be long lines on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski) |
WASHINGTON, November 05, 2006 – Government of the people, by the people, will be missing a lot of people Election Day.
It's a persistent riddle in a country that thinks of itself as the beacon of democracy. Why do so few vote?
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According to a recent study, France is Africa’s leading weapons supplier. This dubious milestone and increased French military presence in Africa signals a reversal of the 1998 French strategy that led to French troop reductions and less interference in Africa.
Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations, 1998-2005 (23 October 2006 US Congressional Research Service) revealed that France beat the United States, Russia, and China in terms of Arms Transfer Agreements (ATA) to Africa for the years 2002 to 2005. France’s $900 million in arms sales dwarfed the United States with only $157 million.
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A JOINT REPORT
Nairobi/Washington, November 06, 2006 – The United States has dramatically increased its involvement and arms sales to the Horn of Africa and East Africa in the last three years and plans to consolidate its focus on sub-Saharan Africa by unifying its military command structure.
Senior officials at the Pentagon are said to be in the final stages of work on a proposal to create an Africa Command within the US military, and were expected to present a plan to US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld by the end of this month.
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Washington, November 6, 2006 – There is nothing like a celebrity stepping forward as a do-gooder to bring out the skeptics. (Google: Madonna and Malawi.) After all, it can be difficult to separate a publicity stunt from a heartfelt desire to help alleviate suffering.
The fashion industry and its stars are especially suspect. That's because theirs is a business that places so much emphasis on image. There is a tendency to believe all things are in service to the fantasy.
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A troubling report from Somalia with a gruesome warning of the regional conflagration to come
Channel 4 exclusive report.
1 Nov 2006 - It's the Jihad's next front - celebrated in a new Islamist video produced inside Somalia - now obtained by Channel 4 News.
Since radical Islamists took over the Somali capital in May - they've been condemned around the world for links to Al Qaida and terrorism.
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Lagos, November 06, 2006 – Beginning from yesterday, about 50 African leaders gathered in Beijing, China for the third China-African summit under the auspices of the Forum on China-African Cooperation (FOAC). What are the implications of this latest development for Africa?, ask Oma Djebah and Davidson Iriekpen
They arrived in long convoys, well spruced up in national and continental attires. That itself, was a sufficient indication that the two-day summit was of prime importance to African leaders and their Chinese counterpart, President Hu Jintao. Tagged Forum on China-African Co-operation (FOAC), the Beijing Summit, which is the third, in the last six years, is significant in many respect.
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