Hargeysa, Somaliland, November 29, 2006 – A two-day planning session between the Somaliland Administration and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was concluded today in Hargeysa. The deliberations led to joint identification of the following development priorities for the partnership between Somaliland and UNDP for 2007: democratic governance, rule of law and security and poverty reduction and sustainable livelihoods; with HIV and AIDS, gender and human rights as cross-cutting themes.
Uganda : Journalists Call for Respect of Media Freedom
Entebbe, Uganda, December 2, 2006 – A three day sub-regional journalists' conference ended recently in Entebbe with a call from journalists to their governments to respect and uphold media freedom.
The conference attracted 40 journalists from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Somaliland, Sudan including South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. It was organized by the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project.
Kenya Denies US Troops Claim
Nairobi, November 27, 2006 – The Government yesterday denied the presence of Ethiopian and American troops in northern Kenya.
Internal Security permanent secretary Cyrus Gituai and Foreign Affairs assistant minister Moses Wetang'ula described the allegations as "alarmist and far-fetched."
"There are no foreign troops in this country and there has never been at any time even during the shifta aggression between Kenya and Somalia," Mr. Wetang'ula said.
Ethiopia's Meles Says Won't Wait For Green Light To Attack Somali Islamists
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, November 25, 2006 – Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has said his country would not wait for foreign approval to attack powerful Islamists in neighboring Somalia that many fear could lead to a regional war.
As the powerful Islamist movement poured troops into frontline positions outside the Ethiopian-backed weak Somali government's seat, Meles called for international understanding but said he needed no "green light" to attack.
Nairobi (1 December 2006) – Significant progress is being made among Somali communities in the response to HIV and AIDS, the United Nations said today, World AIDS Day. The threat of HIV and AIDS has galvanized a united front against the disease with administrations and civil society - including religious leaders - building partnerships across regions and countries to avert a major epidemic.
Baidoa, Somalia, December 1, 2006 – The Islamist group which controls much of southern Somalia has rejected accusations that it was behind the car bomb on the government base, Baidoa.
Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) leader Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys has condemned the attack, in which at least nine people died.
Mogadishu, Somalia, November 28, 2006 – Somalia's powerful Islamist movement said on Tuesday it would summon Muslim fighters from around the world to join its fight if the United Nations authorizes a proposed peacekeeping mission.
The warning came as the United States, which accuses the Islamists of links to al-Qaeda, prepares to introduce a UN Security Council resolution that would approve the force and ease a 1992 arms embargo on Somalia to support it.
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Ethiopia Votes To "Stave Off" Somali Islamist Threat
ADDIS ABABA, November 30, 2006 – Ethiopia's parliament voted on Thursday to let the government take "all necessary" steps to rebuff any invasion by Somalia's Islamists amid reports Ethiopian troops on Somali soil had died in a landmine blast.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi urged lawmakers last week to back his plans to fight the Islamists, who have declared jihad on Ethiopia accusing it of sending troops into Somalia to prop up the chaotic country's fragile interim government.
Columbus, November 27, 2006 – For generations of eastern Africans, chewing the leaf of an indigenous plant was considered much like drinking a couple of cups of coffee.
When they immigrated to Columbus, some brought with them a taste for the stimulant that the plant provided. The only problem is that the plant, known as khat, is illegal in the U.S.
Police seizure of the plant has increased nationwide, and Somali leaders in central Ohio are now spreading the word to avoid khat. There’s a sense of urgency, because an Ohio legislator wants to make it easier to prosecute those who possess or use the plant.
Nairobi, November 27, 2006 – Muslim leaders in Kenya are warning the government against allowing foreign militaries to use Kenya as a staging ground for war against Islamists in neighboring Somalia. VOA Correspondent Alisha Ryu has details from our East Africa Bureau in Nairobi.
Kenyan Islamic leaders meeting in Nairobi say they believe the country is in danger of being dragged into the brewing conflict in neighboring Somalia and becoming another front in the U.S.-led war on terror.
Michael Essien of Chelsea surges away from Ryan Giggs of Manchester United during the Barclays Premiership match between Manchester United and Chelsea at Old Trafford on November 26, 2006 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
Mogadishu, November 27, 2006 – Islamic rulers in Somalia arrested a group of football fans, some as young as ten years old, for watching yesterday's English premiership league game between Chelsea and Manchester United in a cinema.
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Nairobi, Nov 28, 2006 – Humanitarian operations continue in the Horn of Africa, where heavy rains and floods have hit parts of Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia.
Matthew Olins is the deputy UN humanitarian coordinator for Somalia. From Nairobi, he spoke to VOA English to Africa Service reporter Joe De Capua that an emergency appeal will be made soon.
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MOGADISHU, Nov 30, 2006 – Somali Islamists blew up an Ethiopian army truck with a landmine, killing several soldiers traveling from the town of Baidoa to a military camp nearby, residents said on Thursday.
If confirmed, the attack would be the latest in a series of small clashes reported in the Horn of Africa nation that diplomats fear could escalate into all-out war at any time.
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MOGADISHU Nov 20, 2006 – Fighters loyal to Somali Islamists attacked an Ethiopian military convoy on Sunday, an Islamist source said, in what may be the first skirmish between the sides in the tense Horn of Africa nation.
Islamists seized the capital Mogadishu in June and now control much of the south of the country, leaving the interim administration marooned in Baidoa where residents say Ethiopian troops are protecting the Western-backed government.
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Headlines |
Buroa Police Arrest Prominent Clan Leader
Sultan Osman Sultan Ali Madar |
Buroa, Somaliland, December 2, 2006 (SL Times) – Police in Buroa, the regional capitol of Togdheer arrested Sultan Osman Sultan Ali Madar and Mohammed Farah Adan on early Friday morning for organizing a clan meeting conference that named a religious committee for the implementation of Sharia law for the clan of Habar Yonis, the meeting took place in Buroa on Thursday (30/11/06).
Somaliland Times, was told by the governor of Togdheer region, Mr Abdi Hussein Dheere that he ordered for the arrest of Sultan Osman Sultan Ali Madar and Mohammed Farah Adan because they did not have the permit to hold a clan gathering which the law requires and for attempting to sow dissent and discord among the nation at such critical time when the whole region is in the brink of a major conflict and catastrophe as a result of the Islamic Courts expansion.
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“Kenya Is Lobbying Igad, For Somaliland Be Given Observer Status”
Visiting Kenyan MP Peter Arigu talk's to Sl/times at Mansoor hotel, Hargeysa |
Hargeysa, Somaliland, December 2, 2006 (SL Times) – Kenyan Member of Parliament, Mr. Peter Arigu who came to Hargeysa for a two day visit from Kenya on Wednesday (29/11/06) on the invitation of the International Republican Institute, an American organization which promotes democracy in developing countries to hold a two day lecture and seminar for Somaliland members of parliament.
Somaliland Times interviewed Mr. Peter Arigu at his hotel in Hargeysa.
SL/Times: Honorable Peter Arigu can you tell us the purpose of your visit to Somaliland?
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Hargeysa, December 2, 2006 (SL Times) – Veteran SNM commander Hassan Yonis Habane passed away last Sunday 26 November at Edna Aadan Maternity Hospital in Hargeysa. He was admitted to the hospital last Thursday 23 November.
Mr. Habane who was one of the leading commanders of the military wing of SNM in the Eighties died of long illness.
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UNITED NATIONS, Dec 1, 2006 (Reuters) - The United States asked the U.N. Security Council on Friday to help prop up Somalia's shaky government with an African peacekeeping force that would exclude troops from bordering states such as Ethiopia.
A U.S. draft resolution obtained by Reuters would also ease a widely ignored 14-year-old U.N. arms embargo on Somalia to enable the peacekeepers to legally bring in arms and train and equip local security forces.
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Hargeysa, December 2, 2006 (SL Times) – Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Youth and Sports, UNAIDS, Somaliland National HIV/AIDS (SOLNAC), ururka Bisha Cas (SRCS) and SAHAN Network has hosted this Year’s World Aids day Somaliland.
World Vision Project, Home based care for orphans, Vulnerable Children (OVC) and HIV/AIDS prevention and Empowerment (H.O.P.E projects) has helped spearhead initiatives to prevent and control the spread of HIV/AIDS in Somaliland.
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Erigavo, December 2, 2006 (SL Times) – A training program on leadership, peace and governance based on justice was held at Erigavo, capital of Sanag region. As reported by our correspondent for Sanag region, 60 students who were part of the Boy-Scouts took part in the training. The Boy Scouts organization was formed in 2005 by the Sanag administration.
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MOGADISHU, Nov 30, 2006 – At least 12 people were killed when two suicide car bomb blasts rocked the Somali town of Baidoa, seat of Somalia's weak government, police commander General Ali Hussein has told AFP.
"There were two suicide cars full of explosives," he said Thursday, adding the blasts had killed one of his officers, several people inside the two vehicles and the occupants of a third vehicle near the Boynunay checkpoint in eastern Baidoa.
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, December 2, 2006 – A two day conference between 15 United Nations Agencies working in Somaliland and thirteen ministries, in which the two sides discussed issues related to cooperation, aid, refugee status was concluded with what the minister of Planning and the UN Agencies delegation described as success.
The two sides during their two day conference discussed increase in cooperation between the agencies and the government of Somaliland, the enlargement of UN agencies functions, the increase in aid and the status of refugees from Somalia in Somaliland.
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Anton Breeve form Medecins Sans Frontieres in the Netherlands, centre,, rows a boat together with a Somali gunman as they bring two children with cholera to the Medecins Sans Frontieres hospital near the village of Marere in southern Somalia, Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2006 after the Juba river burst its banks. Fears of a looming war in Somalia are hampering relief efforts for up to one million people hit by severe flooding, a senior U.N. official said Friday. Eric Laroche, the U.N.'s humanitarian chief for Somalia, said a "corridor of peace" is needed so aid can reach 400,000 people who have fled their homes to escape the worst flooding in a decade. (AP Photo/Karel Prinsloo)
Nairobi, December 01. 2006 – About 250 people have been killed and 100,000 have lost their homes as catastrophic floods ravaged East Africa, aid workers said Friday as rains continued to pound the impoverished region.
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Information minister says there are indications attack was carried out by Islamists in Mogadishu
BAIDOA, Somalia, December 1, 2006 - Somali authorities were questioning two suspects Friday over a suicide attack in Baidoa, where the country's weak government is based, as war fears grew in the shattered African nation.
Nine people, including two policemen, were killed in Thursday's car-bombing, which the security forces suggested was the work of a powerful Islamist movement that controls most of south and central Somalia including the capital Mogadishu.
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International News
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Washington , November 30, 2006 - The United States said Wednesday it is backing an East African peacekeeping force for Somalia to help stabilize the country, rather than fuel ongoing warfare. A U.S.-backed draft resolution in the U.N. Security Council that would clear the way for the force is expected to come up for action within the next few days. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.
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Religious fanaticism not the main cause of political violence and terrorism
Number of victims and attacks has risen 200 percent in 5 years -- Key causes are poverty, economic mismanagement and oppression
Worldwide, the number of terrorist attacks and the number of victims from such attacks have more than tripled in recent years. Yet contrary to what is generally believed, religion is the motivating factor in only a minority of cases. In terms of location, moreover, most violence-prone conflicts and most instances of political militancy can be found not in the Middle East, but in Asia. These are some of the findings from a global study carried out by the Bertelsmann Stiftung on the nature of politically motivated violence and extremism
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Nairobi/Brussels, November 27, 2006 – The draft resolution the U.S. intends to present to the UN Security Council on 29 November could trigger all-out war in Somalia and destabilize the entire Horn of Africa region by escalating the proxy conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea to dangerous new levels.
Instead of siding with one party in the civil conflict – the weak and fragmented Ethiopia-backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG) – the Council should apply maximum pressure on both it and the Eritrea-backed Council of Somali Islamic Courts (CSIC) to resume negotiations without preconditions.
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Washington DC, November 29, 2006 – The United States said on Tuesday a regional peacekeeping force was needed to protect Somalia's weak transitional government from the powerful Islamist movement controlling the capital.
One day before the UN Security Council was expected to debate the proposed peacekeepers, the US State Department said the force was needed to help restore dialogue between the interim government, the Transitional Federal Institutions (TFIs), and the Islamic movement, the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC).
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Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki and Irain President Ahmedinajad |
By now, anyone with a lick of sense can see that the war in Iraq has been a dead-loss. Still, few people understand how it has disrupted the region’s strategic balance and is quickening America’s decline as a world power.
The US is already facing fierce headwinds in the near future with the deflating housing market, the falling dollar, and the growing prospects of a deep recession. A sudden realignment in the Middle East would be a major hit to the American economy. Even so, it’s looking more and more like big changes are on the way. |
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UNITED NATIONS, November 29, 2006 – The United Nations Security Council today condemned the spike in Somalia’s weapons trade and extended the mandate of a group of experts monitoring the flow of arms for an additional six months.
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By Charley Reese
Al-Jazeera, the Arab television network that the Bush administration hates so passionately, has launched its English-language service but is, of course, having trouble finding an American cable or satellite system willing to carry it.
The British Broadcasting Corp. had a man watch the first day's broadcast (it's being distributed in Europe) and gave it a rave review: accurate, but grim.
Since American politicians have involved us so deeply in the Middle East, the American public is entitled to see the truth of what's going on over there. The public can't get that from American television, which sanitizes its reports. Al-Jazeera shows you the grim reality. When the Israelis kill children, they show you the bodies and the weeping mothers. They show you all the ugly truth about Israeli and American policies and actions in the Middle East. They show you what war looks like.
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Editorial
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Because of the urgency of the situation, right after September 11, the United States entered into anti-terrorism agreements with some countries of dubious record. There is increasing evidence, however, that some of those agreements which seemed reasonably justified at the time have produced some negative and dangerous results. A case in point is the tiny country of Djibouti which is literally getting away with murder. How so? Consider this: Djibouti receives 30 million dollars annually from the United States for allowing the US to base anti-terrorism military forces on Djibouti’s soil. But at the same time that Djibouti takes US money and weapons, it also provides money and weapons to the terrorist courts of Mogadishu.
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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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More Warning Signs Of Islamic Courts Influence In Somaliland & Desperate Need For Somaliland Response And Message
By Rashid Nur, Virginia, USA
 I have used this article to warn Somaliland people about the imminent threat from those who sympathize with the Islamic Courts from Mogadishu and who are prominent members of their community in Somaliland. I wrote an article when the conservative religious group demonstrated in Buroa and Hargeysa, I warned when the conservative religious community leaders have burned the daily newspaper Haatuf in Buroa, and I have written about the founder of Al-Itahad Sheikh Ali Warsame who lives in Buroa and have recently came back from extended visit to Mogadishu where he publicly admitted to have met with the leaders of the Islamic Courts.
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By Abdirahman Ahmed Ali
My last journey to Hargeysa, I spoke with different Somalilanders in different cities and states, subsequently I discovered that Somaliland Diaspora are more informative in local news than those in home. This clearly shows that current TV and Radio in Somaliland are under-performing.
Government of Somaliland should know the media including press, radio, screen, and the far-spread magazines rule the countries internationally and government should be prepared to face the challenge. The average citizens of Somaliland follow the news through view and audio media only due to rate of illiteracy. The main question is what will happen if your citizens listen and follow up the media of your enemies, will they turn against their own government or will they support their enemies!!!!!!!!! |
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The Imminence Of A Proxy War In Somalia And Its Ramifications – From A Somalilander’s Viewpoint
By Ahmed Nur Amin – Assad, ( UK)
It was June this year when the Union of Islamic Courts defeated the warlords and took control of Mogadishu. Since then their military advances have been extraordinarily swift and they managed to establish their reign in a number of regions extending as far afield as Kismayo. In less than 5 months they now control more than two third of Somalia ( Somaliland aside).
One major factor of their rapid success could be attributed to the disenchantment of the average local people who had to endure for years of anarchy and insecurity under ruthless warlords who cared only their unrelenting grip of power. If you look at how the conflict first started when the American backed warlords provoked the attack and how their downfall was almost instantaneous, it wasn’t hard to understand that the locals saw it as an opportunity to topple a system which was the source of their misery for over a decade. That’s why the people sided with the UIC to bring about a much longed change.
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By Bashir Goth,
Goth is a veteran journalist, freelance writer, the first Somali blogger and editor of a leading news website . He is also a regular contributor to major Middle Eastern and African newspapers and online journals.
The Muslim world heeded Washington's call for democratic change, and ushered Islamists in. This may be leaving a bitter taste in Bush's mouth.
It all started with Egypt where the Muslim Brotherhood won a record number of seats in the Egyptian parliament, followed by the landslide victory of Hamas in the first Palestinian free and fair elections.
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By Abdulakdir J. Dualeh
Elusive peace is finally at hand in both Hargeysa and Mogadishu, two cities that are home to a quarter of all ethnic Somalis. Euphoria about the upcoming good future has replaced recent despair.
Instead of 20 petty warlords, there are now two real authorities in old Somalia – Somaliland with 3.5 million people and the ICU with 4.3 million people out the 10 million estimated Somali population.
The stuff-suits in Baidoa are pretenders and frauds with no meaningful real support and we better ignore them and allow them to decay in the trenches and bomb shelters Ethiopian forces dug for them in Baidoa. A government that needs protection from the people it claims to represent is an absurdity.
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By Scott A. Morgan
On the 27th of November the Foreign and Information Ministers of Kenya held an impromptu Press Conference in Nairobi. The reason for such an event to be held was simple. It was to deny a charge made by the Union of Islamic Courts in Neighboring Somalia. What was the charge? That Kenya was allowing US and Ethiopian Forces to use Kenya as a base to prepare for an assault on Somalia.
For the last few weeks there have been ominous signals from various sources in the region warning of an escalation of the fighting in Somalia. For nine months now the UIC has been trying to unite the warring factions of Somalia under and Islamist Government. However the UIC has in the past stated that it has no plans to install a Taliban style regime there. Recent actions like closing theaters during the World Cup show that the previous statements may not be able to be taken at face value.
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| FEATURES & COMMENTARY |
U.S. Foreign Policy Toward Somaliland Within The Context Of The Bush Administration’s War On Terrorism
Peter J. Schraeder ( pschrae@luc.edu)
Professor, Department Of Political Science
Loyola University Chicago
INTRODUCTION
I wish to thank the conference organizers, and my close friend, Ahmed Jirreh Abdillahi, for having invited me to take part in the 2 nd Annual Somaliland Convention. I remember fondly the night fifteen years ago in 1991, when Ahmed and I met for dinner in the middle of the night at one of our favorite restaurants in Chicago to celebrate the overthrow of the Siyad Barre regime. That evening, we expressed our hopes that Somaliland someday would be recognized as a sovereign state within the global community of nations, and vowed to relive our dinner experience once that had happened.
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By John Prendergast and Colin Thomas-Jensen
Washington, D.C. November 29, 2006 – Already notorious as the world’s only state without a functioning government, Somalia may be about to deteriorate even further. The country is rapidly sliding back toward war. As an Islamist militia, the Council of Somali Islamic Courts, consolidates control over large swathes of southern Somalia, neighboring Ethiopia has sent thousands of troops over the border, and both sides are preparing for a showdown. A return to war could bring about the same horrific famine conditions that precipitated a US military intervention 14 years ago, and damage rather than advance US counter terrorism objectives in a vulnerable region.
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· Thinktank warns of risks in American UN proposal
· Islamic courts would view move as provocative
Xan Rice, east Africa correspondent
Nairobi, November 28, 2006 – A US-backed proposal to send African troops into Somalia to support the weak government raises the risk of triggering an all-out war with the Islamic courts that could destabilize the entire region, a leading thinktank said yesterday. The International Crisis Group warned that approval of the draft US resolution, to be presented to the UN security council tomorrow, would be viewed by the Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia (Sics) as tantamount to a declaration of war.
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Mogadishu, November 28, 2006 – Islamist officials warned against United Nations authorization of a peacekeeping force for Somalia, saying they would invite Islamic fighters from around the world to join in the fight against it.
Islamist officials said the two sides began to exchange fire around 9am (03H00 GMT) when Ethiopian troops fired 12 missiles into the Islamist-held town of Bandiradley, about 630km north of Mogadishu.
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NEW YORK , Dec. 1, 2006 — Iman is marking an anniversary she wishes she didn't have to: the 25th year of AIDS.
She's a celebrity spokeswoman for Keep a Child Alive, which provides drugs for AIDS and HIV patients, and to support World AIDS Day on Friday, the organization is holding a charity auction on the Charity Folks Web site to raise money for HIV/AIDS care in Africa.
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EDITORIAL
Asmara, November 18, 2006 – Ten countries including Eritrea as well as the Hezbollah party of Lebanon are being accused of "breaching the arms embargo and sending armaments to Somalia", according to the accusations released this week by the UN. Nowadays, when the UN organization has been changed into an appendage or extension of the US State Department and being micro administrated by the CIA , it is not hard to imagine from where these views and accusations are being sent. Instead of resolving conflicts prolonging and complicating conflicts has become the main concern of the US Administration so as to implement its sinister agenda. And sadly enough this has become its harbinger to all its failures.
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November 21, 2006 – THE TYPES of conflicts we have been experiencing in Africa since 1990s are very complex. Suffice it to say that there are common trends in these conflicts.
They include poor governance and political instabilities. The proliferation of small weapons in the African continent is a trigger for armed conflicts to linger on even when efforts have been made to achieve some level of peace.
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NAIROBI, Nov 22, 2006 – An explosive U.N. report on how foreign arms supplies are accelerating Somalia's slide to war has exposed splits among Western powers and raised questions about why it was leaked.
Regional analysts and diplomats broadly backed the report's conclusion that a web of Muslim and pro-Western nations are pouring weapons into Somalia to strengthen powerful Islamists on one side and a shaky interim government on the other.
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