KAMPALA, Dec 7 2006 – Uganda is ready to send a battalion of peacekeeping troops to Somalia in line with a U.N. Security Council resolution as soon as parliament gives its approval, the state defense minister said on Thursday.
The Security Council approved a plan by the east African regional body IGAD on Wednesday to deploy peacekeepers to Somalia in a bid to avert a regional war and secure President Abdillahi Yusuf's Transitional Federal Government (TFG).
Somalia Official Issues Beheading Threat
MOGADISHU, Somalia, December 06, 2006 – Residents of a southern Somalia town who do not pray five times a day will be beheaded, an Islamic courts official said Wednesday, adding the edict will be implemented in three days.
Public places such as shops and tea houses in Bulo Burto, about 124 miles northeast of the capital, Mogadishu, should be closed during prayer time and no one should be on the streets, said Sheik Hussein Barre Rage, the chairman of the town's Islamic court.
Hargeysa, Somaliland, December 9, 2006 (SL Times) – Some of Somaliland’s top artists were concerned enough about the subversive activities of some people in Somaliland, it prompted the artists to issue a statement in which they made clear their strong opposition to anyone who tries to harm Somaliland’s peace, progress and sovereignty.
Somali Government Appeals For Help To Fight Islamist 'Terror' 
Armed and veiled Somali women point their rifles during a rally in Mogadishu, November 2006. |
MOGADISHU, December 6, 2006 – Somalia's weak government has pleaded for international help to fight alleged Islamist terrorism that it warned would have dire global consequences.
Baidoa, December 03, 2006 – Several suspects were being held on Saturday in suspected connection with recent suicide attack in Baidoa where the Somali government is based.
Officials of the Somali transitional government said security has been tightened and they have arrested more than six people suspected of being involved in Thursday's suicide attack.
Kampala, Uganda, December 8, 2006 – With the UN Security Council yesterday approving a plan to deploy peacekeepers to Somalia, Uganda is preparing to send a battalion of peacekeeping troops to Somalia as soon as approval is granted by its Parliament. The international community is extremely concerned that that tension between the President Yusuf's Transitional Federal Government and the Union of Islamic Courts could spark regional war.
NAIROBI, Dec 6, 2006 – Somalia's HIV prevalence of about one percent is low, but the cross-border movement of people is causing an increase in infection rates, according to Dr Fernando Morales of the UN Children's Fund's Somalia office. Northwestern Somalia, which shares a frontier with Ethiopia, is particularly at risk.
Leo Kenny, UNAIDS country coordinator for Somalia, told PlusNews: "The prevalence rate is very high for a Muslim society and it is heading towards a generalized epidemic. Somalia is at the same stage that South Africa was 10 years ago."
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Revamped Djibouti Port Poses Threat To Mombassa
Djibouti, December 5, 2006 – Djibouti has embarked on an ambitious programme that may see Mombassa knocked off its perch as the eastern seaboard’s main port, with multimillion-dollar investments lined up to expand the small Red Sea nation’s container and oil terminal capacities.
MOGADISHU, Somalia, December 4, 2006 – Officials of Somalia's Islamic movement stressed in an informal meeting with an Ethiopian minister that the group would only hold substantive talks with Ethiopia once it withdraws its troops from Somalia, the group's foreign affairs chief said Monday.
Top Islamic leader Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed led the delegation that met over the weekend with Ethiopia's State Minister for Foreign Affairs Tekeda Alemu in Djibouti, said Ibrahim Hassan Adow, the Islamic group's foreign affairs chief. They met on the sidelines of a meeting between Ahmed's group and staff of the seven-nation Intergovernmental Authority on Development.
Kenyan Muslim heads have refuted that registration of young people going to take part in Somalia's jihad war against foreign troops in the country was going on.
Al-Haji Yusuf Morigow, a senior head for Kenyan Muslims, said there were no recruiting operations of Kenyan young Muslims in Kenya, calling the claim false and baseless.
12/06/2006
Thousands of Somalis chanted anti-US slogans at an Islamist protest against a Washington-backed plan to send foreign peacekeepers to prop up the country's weak interim government Dec. 4. In a decrepit Mogadishu football stadium, Somalis shouted "Down with the USA!" as speakers accused the US and Ethiopia of planning to invade Somalia. (Reuters, Dec. 4) Meanwhile, an overview of reports from the region's press picked up by BBC Monitoring indicates this intervention may already be in the works.
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December 6, 2006
The United Nations today launched an appeal for $18 million to help hundreds of thousands of Somalis affected by the worst floods in the impoverished Horn of Africa country's recent history.
The Somalia Flood Response Plan needs $28.6 million in funds, but $10 million has already been provided through the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced as it launched the appeal in Geneva.
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Mogadishu 07, Dec.06 – Fighting between the Islamic Courts fighters in Bandiradley and Abdi Qeybdid’s militias backed by Ethiopian and the autonomous regional government of Puntland troops has occurred in Sadeh Higle, a settlement that lies between Bandiradley and Galkayo where both troops exchanged motor shells and small fire.
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PRESS RELEASE
December 7, 2006
Permanent Mission of Eritrea to the UN
Asmara
Some news agencies covering the situation in Somalia are recently compromising their credibility by spreading groundless accusations against Eritrea. Without checking and verifying the validity of the reports, they are echoing baseless allegations that had been propagated by the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia and the million dollar paid Ethiopian lobbyists. The alleged presence of "2000 Eritrean troops in Somalia" and the possibility of "a proxy war between Eritrea and Ethiopia" is nothing but a cover up by major powers for Ethiopia's invasion of Somalia under the pretext of combating the spread of terrorism.
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Security Council Approves African Protection Force To Be Deployed In TFG Stronghold
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 9, 2006 (SL Times) - THE UN Security Council on Wednesday approved a resolution to send a regional African peace-keeping force to protect the weak transitional government of Abdillahi Yusuf in Somalia against an increasingly strong Union of Islamic Courts movement. The 15 nation Security Council authorized the Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD) and African Union member States to establish a protection and training mission in Somalia (IGADSOM), which will be reviewed after an initial period of six months.
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UK Ambassador To Ethiopia Visits Somaliland
President Dahir Rayale with British ambassador, Mr Bob Dewar
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Hargeysa, December 09, 2006 (SL. Times) UK Ambassador to Ethiopia, Mr Bob Dewar arrived on Wednesday in Hargeysa for a two-day visit, also a number of his embassy staff traveled with him.
Ambassador Bob Dewar returned to Addis Ababa on Thursday after they had talks with the Somaliland president, Dahir Rayale and other senior officials from the Somaliland Government.
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Hargeysa, December 09, 2006 (SL. Times) – A delegation of Somaliland Government ministers, heads of departments and agencies completed a three day seminar and workshop organized by the World Bank on Wednesday (06/12/06) in Sheraton Hotel Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The Somaliland delegation was led by the Minister of National Planning of Somaliland Mr Ali Ibrahim Mohamed.
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Hassan Dahir Aweys leader of Union Islamic Courts |
Hargeysa, December 09, 2006 (SL. Times) - The regional court of Hargeysa concluded today (09/12/06) its long awaited court verdict for the trial of fifteen suspects accused of committing terrorism related crimes against the State of Somaliland. Among the accused is Hassan Dahir Aweys founder and leader of Mogadishu Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) and many other top ranking UIC leaders.
Six of the accused were in absentia, of these two were acquitted Hassan Dahir Aweys and Aden Hashi Ayro and four were given 25 years prison sentence.
Only eight suspects were brought before, Justice Abdirahman Jama Hayaan the presiding judge sitting in the trial. One suspect of the accused was acquitted by the regional court judge for insufficient incriminating evidence, while the rest were all given a prison sentence of 20 – 25 years each.
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Mogadishu, Somalia, 8 December 2006 – Somali government fighters, backed up by Ethiopian troops, have attacked Islamist positions sparking heavy fighting, an Islamist leader says.
The clashes have occurred in Dinsoor, 110 kilometers (70 miles) south-west of government base Baidoa.
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The UN has approved a regional force to protect Somalia's interim government |
Mogadishu, Somalia, December 7, 2006 – The Union of Islamic Courts executive council in Somalia has rejected a UN resolution that authorizes a regional force to support the interim Somali government.
Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, head of the Union of Islamic Courts, said in an interview with Al Jazeera that the decision was "not made by the UN but by the US".
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ADDIS ABABA, Dec 5, 2006 — Somalia’s prime minister told The AP war in the Horn of Africa is unavoidable because radicals control the Islamic movement that in recent months has taken over much of his country.
Somali Prime Minister Ali Gedi indicated war was imminent, but said his government will continue to take part in all peace efforts. In the interview late Monday, he added his government was preparing to defend itself against attacks by the Council of Islamic Courts, as the movement that has taken over most of southern Somalia is known.
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Hargeysa, December 09, 2006 (SL. Times) – According to Somaliland’s Police Commissioner Col. Mohamed Saqadi Dubad, Sheikh Abdillahi Makawi was arrested when a crowd of residents of Xero Awr area of Kodbur District, Hargeysa, surrounded Al-Furqan Mosque after the Juma Prayer.
The people were angered by the Sheikh’s Juma prayer speech in which he talked about fund raising efforts by himself and other Hargeisa sheikhs for people affected by floods in southern Somalia
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Ucid party charman Faisal Ali Warabe |
Hargeysa, December 9, 2006 (SL Times) – The Justice and Welfare party (UCID) leader, Mr Faisal Ali Warabe warned the Somaliland government that its enemies are planning to destabilize Somaliland by means of terrorist attacks and tribal conflict. UCID party leader, in a press conference held on Wednesday (06/12/06) in UCID party headquarters in Hargeysa said that he has ‘credible evidence that forces in Mogadishu are planning to carryout terrorist attacks in Somaliland’.
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London, December 9, 2006 (SL Times) – 14 delegates from the Somaliland Policy and Reconstruction Institute (SOPRI) who are part of the Goodwill Mission delegation to Somaliland are expected to arrive today in Hargeysa from London.
The delegates will be in the country for 3-4 weeks and plan to visit all the regions. |
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International News
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WASHINGTON, December 06, 2006 – Returning from a trip to Africa, Sen. Russ Feingold faulted the Bush administration for what he called a failure to develop a policy on Somalia, even as the Wisconsin Democrat praised U.S. efforts to combat AIDS on the continent.
Feingold, who will chair the Senate Foreign Relations African Affairs subcommittee next year, visited Ethiopia and Kenya, two countries that neighbor Somalia, during his weeklong trip. An Islamic militia has taken over much of Somalia, including the capital, and the country's prime minister said this week his troops were bracing for war.
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Democracy Promotion: The European Way
Brussels, Belgium, December 8, 2006 – In response to increasing concerns about the viability of present means of democracy promotion, leading Members of the European Parliament Marco Pannella MEP, Marco Cappato MEP, and Annemie Neyts-Uytterbroeck MEP, from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), and in partnership with UNPO, the Transnational Radical Party and No Peace Without Justice, have organized a conference on “Democracy Promotion: The European Way” held at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium from 6 - 7 December 2006.
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Washington, Dec 4, 2006 – As children and families in Uganda and Sudan's Darfur region wait for peace, and as civilians in Somalia brace for intensified war, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs, Jendayi Frazer, is making mistakes and enemies.
The result, said numerous government officials and private-sector sources familiar with Africa, is bobbled opportunities for the United States to help end some of the world's worst humanitarian catastrophes.
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Electronic tagging should have been considered, the judge said |
London, UK, December 7, 2006 – A failed asylum seeker convicted of raping a 13-year-old girl is to be awarded damages after a judge ruled he was unlawfully detained in prison. The 31-year-old, known as "A" for legal reasons, was held for 20 months after serving his sentence while authorities tried to deport him to Somalia. A High Court judge ruled his detention became unlawful because of its length, and he was entitled to compensation. |
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Veiled Somali women holding AK 47's in Mogadishu, Somalia, Monday, Dec 4, 2006. |
UNITED NATIONS, December 7, 2006 – The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday authorized an African force to protect Somalia's government against an increasingly powerful Islamic militia, hoping to restore peace and avert a broader conflict in the region.
The U.S. resolution, co-sponsored by the council's African members, also partially lifts an arms embargo on Somalia so the regional force can be supplied with weapons and military equipment and train the government's security forces. |
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Washington, December 07, 2006 – Professor David Shinn of George Washington University in Washington says the new UN resolution endorsing a peacekeeping force on Somalia has positives and negatives. But he says negatives outweigh the positives.
“It’s a very carefully written resolution. It tries to strictly limit the force that would be sent into Somalia to do two things -- to protect the transitional federal government at its headquarters in Baidoa and to train transitional federal government (TFG) security forces. The most positive aspect of it is the goal seems to be to bring the Islamic Courts ( Union) to the negotiating table,” he says.
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Editorial
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The presence of the British Ambassador to Ethiopia, Mr. Bob Dewar, in Somaliland, just as the Security Council’s decision to send troops to Somalia was announced is a sign of great diplomatic skills on the part of both Somaliland and the British government. Obviously, many Somalilanders are concerned by the prospective injection of foreign troops into Somalia, particularly when the purpose of the troops is to help prop up the so-called government of Abdillahi Yusuf, a sworn enemy of Somaliland. The presence of the ambassador in Somaliland sends a signal to Somalilanders that Great Britain is aware of their concerns about any support for Abdillahi Yusuf, and to that extent, should help in reducing some of the Somalilanders’ anxiety. That is why we think the ambassador’s visit is good diplomacy on the part of both the British and Somaliland’s governments.
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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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Support Democracy & Reject Political Form Of Islamic Sharia Law In Somaliland
By Rashid Nur, USA
To support democracy is straight forward message and does not need further explanation. What does it meant to reject political form of Islamic Sharia Law? It means you are simply rejecting to give the religious leaders an opportunity to deny the rights of the people to elect their own leaders. You reject to give exclusive authority to religious leaders to decide the future of the country and to define the rights of the people; instead of the people collectively exercising their right to choose their own leaders. |
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| Is Somaliland The Sacrificial Lamb?
By Mohamed Hussein “Dr. KHAN”
The second part of the title of this article is alarming. It is very much a calculated move on my part to sound alarming. Being alarmist has never been my character but today I will play the devil’s advocate.
Less than 1 hour ago, I read the English version of resolution of the UN Security Council on Somalia which has been unanimously passed by ALL council members. In addition to other things, the resolution reaffirms the respect for the ….. territorial integrity …… and unity of Somalia. The words in italics are not mine. These are the exact words in the UN resolution. It is a bombshell vis-à-vis the Somaliland cause. |
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THE DYNAMICS OF THE FLUX
By Ahmed Ali Ibrahim
The Apology and Compensation
The apology of the chief of the tribal militias of Somalia for the 1980's atrocities against the civilian population of Somaliland is unacceptable; and the admission of liability for the damages is not a sure ticket to gain a new foothold in Somaliland. Available video footage of the destruction of Somaliland cities shows Col. Ahmed Omer Jees, Col. Abdulaziz, and Col. Aweys, and others, directing the heavy artillery guns[madaafiicda goobta] towards the masses huddled at Geed-deeble. This is the same man who engineered and supervised the assassination of the Italian nun in Borama; the execution of the British couple at Sheikh; and the ambush of the head of the German NGO on Berbera-Hargeysa road in which a Kenyan citizen lost her life.
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By Ahmed Kheyre, London, UK
When will the people realize that the Islamic courts are just a ruse by crafty southern politicians for hegemony of both Somaliland and Somalia? Sadly, our people are politically naive, they were in 1960 and are once again showing the same trait. Are we not Muslim in Somaliland? Ever since Allahu subxaanu wa tacaala created the world we have been Muslim in Somaliland. If the people of Somaliland are apathetic enough to throw away their sovereignty, peace, democracy and development by allowing the Islamic courts to come through the backdoor, then everything has been in vain.
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By Mohamed Hussein “Dr. KHAN”
Hargeysa, Somaliland
This morning I woke up to a report by the BBC on a gathering being held in Virginia (USA) on the Somaliland issue. The only aim of the conference is to discredit Somaliland in its quest for a legitimate and a well deserved membership in the family of nations.
As a preamble, I must admit that I do respect the views of others even though we might be diabolically opposed. We all have a God-given right to speak our minds since humans are born free. Furthermore, it is incumbent upon Homo sapiens to use their intellect and stay rational.
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By Jamal Madar, London, UK
The old adage that says, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me” does not seem to apply to the Somaliland people who are repeatedly and consistently fooled day-in day-out by a grossly incompetent and prolific liar president who spends most of his time thinking about ways and means of weaving a web of lies for his hapless subjects rather than running the country for which he was elected.
The bald faced lies concocted by Rayale for the Somaliland people during his term in office are simply too many to count:
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By Rhoda A. Rageh
The author imagines the life of the speaker to be that of a man from Somaliland’s deepest rural environment taken suddenly to England as a refugee where he travels through life and time suspiciously among a society that does not understand him. Like James Baldwin’s essay, “No Body Knows My Name” this sojourner hides his feelings and his disgust with the food around him until he meets an old friend from home. Only then does he pour his sadness and alienation of eight years in London on his friend. Up until this moment of intense emotional outpour, he hides the disgust he felt when he had mistakenly eaten pork as the fat meat he had known at home.
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BY AHMED ARWO
by Shaikh Muhammad As-Salih Al-Uthaimeen, may Allah have mercy on him
"In The Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful"
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Universe. May peace and blessings be upon Muhammad, the last of the prophets and messengers, and upon his family and esteemed companions.
Hajj is one of the best forms of worship and is one of the most sublime deeds. It is one of the greatest pillars of Islam that Allah sent Muhammad with (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). A servant’s religion is incomplete without it
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| FEATURES & COMMENTARY |
Somalia: The Ethiopia Factor in the Rise of the Union of Islamic Courts
By John Mbaria
Nairobi , December 5, 2006 – As the US and Britain spearhead a campaign to have Somalia declared a haven for terrorists linked to al Qaeda, a profile of the Union of Islamic Courts prepared by the International Crisis Group gives a humane face to the organization.
The Profile of the Council of Somali Islamic Courts, by Matt Bryden, a consultant with the ICG on Somalia, portrays the Islamic Courts as well organized outfits that, contrary to popular opinion, have a well thought out military strategy for taking control of and restoring order in a country characterized by 15 years of anarchy.
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By J. Peter Pham, Ph.D.
World Defense Review columnist
07 Dec 06
The last major overhaul of the United States military – the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986 (PL 99-433) – created nine unified combatant commands – five regional and four functional – with the goal of providing effective control of American forces in war and peace. It would accomplish that goal by charging a single commander with a broad continuing mission; endowing him with adequate authority and resources to be applied to tasks, missions, or personnel.
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Full-scale war in Somalia is not yet inevitable: there is still time for both sides to step back from the brink, says Matt Bryden
Nairobi , December 8, 2006 – Across the Horn of Africa people have been praying for a change in the weather. Unseasonably heavy rains have flooded low-lying areas, washing hundreds of thousands of people from their homes. Dozens have died, most drowned, some were eaten by crocodiles. Now, as the skies begin to clear and the flood waters recede, Somalia faces the prospect of an even greater calamity: war – on an unprecedented scale.
Outside the shabby town of Baidoa in south central Somalia, a few kilometers of muddy soil are all that separates the forces of Somalia’s weak Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and their Ethiopian allies from the fighters of the Council of Somali Islamic Courts, which now controls most of south-central Somalia. After months of preparations and posturing, both sides are now poised for a decisive battle. The only thing keeping the peace has been the rain.
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unanimously adopting resolution 1725 (2006)
6 December 2006
The Security Council today, emphasizing the need for continued credible dialogue between the Transitional Federal Institutions and the Union of Islamic Courts, authorized the Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD) and African Union member States to establish a protection and training mission in Somalia, to be reviewed after an initial period of six months.
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Nisma Gabobe (sitting in the middle) during the Seattle Islamic Quiz that took place at the University of Washington. |
Seattle, USA, December 9, 2006 (SL Times) – The annual Seattle Islamic Quiz for this year took place on Nov.18 at the University of Washington, Seattle. It covered levels 1-6 for ages 7 to 18 years. According to the organizers, the purpose of the quiz is “to encourage the youth of the Northwest to learn more about Islam”. About three hundred people attended from all over the Pacific Northwest. Although it involved stiff competition, the event had a distinctly family atmosphere.
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Overview Of Humanitarian Environment In Somaliland
Over the past ten years, the degree of peace and stability obtained in Somaliland and the presence of viable government counterparts has allowed a large number of UN agencies, international NGOs and local partners to work in a coordinated manner on both humanitarian and recovery development programmes, as the area moves closer to political, economic and social recovery and reconstruction.
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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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