Bristol-UK, February 8, 2007– IT equipment and furniture which was until recently used in local council offices is now on its way to a new life in a secondary school in Somaliland.
Bristol City Council staff have joined forces with the John Kelly Boys Technology College in London to fill a container with IT equipment, desks and books for dispatch to the school in Somaliland's capital of Hargeisa.
Ethiopians parade captured Islamist cleric in Somalia
KISMAYU, Somalia, Feb 6 2007 - Ethiopian soldiers paraded on Tuesday a wounded senior cleric captured in south Somalia during the pursuit of remnants of an Islamist movement ousted from Mogadishu in a war over the New Year.
Bearded cleric Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed Madobe -- former Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC) chairman for the southern town of Kismayu -- told reporters he suffered more than a dozen bullet wounds after U.S. planes fired on his forest hideout
The US airforce has recently been in action in Somalia
Washington DC, February 7, 2007 – The US president has approved plans to create a US military command for Africa, a move that reflects increasing US strategic interests in the continent.
George Bush said in a statement on Tuesday that he had asked Robert Gates, his defense secretary, to get the new "Africom" unit up and running by the end of September 2008.
Paris, February 7, 2007 – After being sought by police for five days, Houssein Ahmed Farah was arrested today and taken to the criminal investigation department, Reporters Without Borders has learned from his brother, Daher Ahmed Farah, managing editor of the privately-owned weekly Le Renouveau and head of the Movement for Democratic Renewal (MRD), an opposition party.
One of his cousins, Daoud Farah Iyeh, was arrested yesterday for unknown reasons, the same source said. As the police have seized its printing material, the newspaper can no longer be produced.
Message of Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director, UNFPA
06 February 2007 -Today, UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, joins people around the world in calling for an end to female genital mutilation or cutting.
An estimated 120 to 140 million women have been subjected to the practice and 3 million girls continue to be at risk each year. The practice violates the basic rights of women and girls and seriously compromises their health, posing risks during childbirth, and leaving lasting physical and psychological scars.
NAIROBI, February 4, 2007 – Human rights groups said on Sunday that Kenyan authorities had wrongly detained and denied at least eight suspects accused of supporting Somali Islamists access to lawyers and medicine, including an American and four Britons.
Representatives of the local Kenyan Human Rights Network said Kenyan police were holding the foreign suspects at a police station in Nairobi, including a pregnant Tunisian woman.
They were unclear on the total number of detainees but said they knew of at least eight people being held.
HARGEISA, Feb 08, 2007 – A Somaliland citizen working as a senior official for the Hormuud Telecommunications in Mogadishu was kidnapped yesterday, Wednesday 07 Feb. 2007, according to Honorable Mohmoud Ahmed Barre (Garaad).
In a telephone call to Awdalnews Network, Garaad, member of Somaliland’s Upper House from Awdal region, has appealed to the elders of the Suleiman clan of the Hawiye to secure the release of Abdirashid Ali Aynashe, who hails from the Awdal region. Aynashe was the Public Relations Manager of the Hormuud Telecommunications, and a respected and well-known person in Mogadishu.
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Mogadishu, February 08, 2007 - Assailants fired a rocket-propelled grenade in Mogadishu on Thursday, wounding four people in a pick-up truck, police said, in the latest guerrilla-style attack in post-war Somalia.
"We don't know what hit us, we only heard a big explosion and there was blood everywhere," said one witness on the truck, who declined to be named.
A wave of such strikes since Islamists were ousted from Mogadishu at the New Year have underscored the massive challenge facing President Abdillahi Yusuf's government to tame one of the world's most anarchic cities.
Paris, February 7, 2007 – Reporters Without Borders today reiterated its appeal to the authorities in the northern breakaway state of Somaliland to release three newspaper journalists who have been held for several weeks and have just been moved from the Somaliland capital of Hargeisa to a provincial prison.
“The Somaliland government’s inflexibility is dangerous,” the press freedom organization said. “It shows that the authorities are ready to commit any kind of abuse when journalists criticize the president and his associates. This aggressive use of the police and judicial system is liable to undermine the credibility of all the efforts since 1991 to turn Somaliland into a democratic enclave within Somalia.”
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, February 9, 2007 – European, African, Arab and U.S. diplomats on Friday emphasized the need for all-inclusive talks on Somalia's future to ensure stability in the nation and support its transitional government.
Those talks should include prominent Somali warlords, leaders of the breakaway Somaliland region and leaders of the ousted Islamic movement, Tanzania's Foreign Minister Bernard Membe said during a one-day meeting in Tanzania's capital of the International Contact Group on Somalia.
MOGADISHU, Feb 9, 2007 – Hundreds of protesters in Mogadishu threatened to attack African peacekeepers and burned flags of nations supporting the idea on Friday even as international diplomats urged speedy deployment of such a force.
Underscoring the volatility in the Horn of Africa nation, a rocket slammed into a Mogadishu hotel after dark, shattering the reception area and terrifying occupants including top officials.
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Rays Hotel; a Model Example
By Ahmed Abib Hayir
Awdal; my home region is inclusively one of those other Somali parts effected by many of the same forces that have shaped the history of our country. For one thing, Somaliland, my country fell in the hands of the former regime of Mohamed Siyad Bare. The leaders of this regime, without sacrifice or risk on their part, corrupted the country’s resources, divided their people into hostile clan groupings, and against the law though took bribes for mismanagement. It was like they tied stones on their wings now that people turned against them. Clan-based armed forces declared war on the regime.
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Washington, February 07, 2007 – The United States will take strong measures to strike against Islamic terrorists' activities inside and outside Somalia, Jendayi Frazer, assistant secretary of state for African affairs said on Tuesday.
" Somalia's continued exploitation by terrorist elements threatens the stability of the entire Horn of Africa region," Frazer told a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee.
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Nairobi, Kenya, February 5, 2007 –– Forces involved in the Somalia conflict must engage in dialogue to avoid deaths of children and innocent civilians as happened last week when three children were killed in Mogadishu, UNICEF Somalia Representative, Christian Balslev-Olesen said today.
The security situation in Mogadishu has witnessed deterioration as unknown attackers have staged hit-and-run attacks on Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and Ethiopian forces and they, in turn, have retaliated. Civilians are caught in the cross-fire. According to reports, mortars launched into a settlement for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Talex village, Mogadishu, last Thursday night (1 February) left seven dead, including three children.
10 Feb 2007
The families of four Britons held in Somalia for fighting with Islamic militants say they fear for their lives.
The foreign office has told Channel 4 News four Britons detained in Kenya for fighting alongside a Somali Islamic militia group have been deported back to Somalia
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Headlines |
Kulmiye party chairman, Ahmed Muhammed Sillanyo shortly after arriving at Egal international airport VIP suite |
Hargeysa, Somaliland, February 10, 2007 (SL Times) – The main opposition party chairman Ahmed Mohamed Mohamud (Sillanyo) returned home after spending six months in Britain.
In a press conference he held at the VIP room of the Egal international airport, he appealed to the International Community to recognize Somaliland Republic and to play a role in resolving the conflict between Somaliland and Somalia.
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Editor of Somaliland Times, Yusuf Gabobe (in white shirt), pictured inside Hargeysa CID headquarter compound and is about to be transported to Mandera prison by Somaliland police on 4 Feb 2007 |
Hargeysa, Somaliland, February 10, 2007 (SL Times) – The detained Haatuf journalists who have been held in detention since 2 January 2007 by the CID in Hargeysa have been transferred to the Mandera High Security prison in Sahil region. Yusuf Abdi Gabobe Somaliland Times editor who is also the chairman of Haatuf Media Network ( HMN) and Ali Abdi Dini the editor of Haatuf daily newspaper were taken along with Mohamed Omar (Haatuf reporter for Awdal region who has been confined to solitary detention for the past 3 weeks in Koodbuur police station) to Mandera prison last Sunday (4 Feb), situated 92 km north east of Hargeysa in Sahil region.
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There is also bewilderment at the reluctance of the international community to officially recognize these [Somaliland] successes. Indeed, it is an anomaly that Somaliland is still denied recognition by the international community."
Cardiff, Wales, January 29, 2007 – EURO-MP Glenys Kinnock today called for Somalilanders to have the right to determine their country's future.
At a high-level meeting in Brussels, organized by Somaliland Societies in Europe (SSE) and Somaliland Community in Belgium (SBC), the Labor MEP said Somalilanders' pleas for international recognition for their country must be heard.
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"I had the opportunity to meet with representatives of Somaliland government. I also met with President Yusuf. On Somaliland, the US would follow the lead taken by the AU. We would encourage dialogue between them but I said we would take the lead by AU.
U.S. Assistant-Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer |
Addis Ababa, February 5, 2007 – U.S. Assistant-Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer was in Addis Ababa for the eighth AU summit of heads of state and held talks with several African leaders.
On Tuesday she held a press conference with journalists and shed some light on what has transpired during the discussions on Somalia, Darfur, Guinea, etc.
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Poet Mohammad Hashi Dhamac (Gaariye) being welcomed in Washington. D.C. |
By Jamal Gabobe
The program took place on Sat, Feb.3, 2007 at the Simpson Center for the Humanities.
It started at 7:15 p.m. Professor Lynn Thomas, the chair of African Studies at the University of Washington opened the program. Lynn Thomas started by thanking the various departments that co-sponsored the event (the African Studies Program, Comparative History of Ideas,
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The Horn of African Journalists Association (HAJA) Declare Haatuf Journalists As “Prisoners Of Conscience and crime against freedom and regional stability”.
Hargeisa, February 9, 2007 – The Horn of African Journalist Association (HAJA) and Reporters Without Borders jointly releases an appeal about the horrible conditions of the journalist jailed in a secret prisons.
The Horn of African Journalist Association (HAJA) based In Canada, declare Haatuf Journalists As “Prisoners Of Conscience and crime against freedom and regional stability”. The leaders SNM (Somalia National Movement) veterans in Somaliland called on the government to release the detained Haatuf journalists on Thursday
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Addis Ababa, February 5, 2007 – The African Union (AU) has several goals and plans. These range from achieving the objectives of the MDGs and NEPAD to passportless travel within African and developing African football.
Lofty as its goals may be, it is facing difficulties in overcoming the challenges it encounters. The crises in Darfur and Somalia are its major challenges. As much has been said about Darfur, we will be focusing on Somalia.
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7 February 2007
Credible Eritrean sources in Asmara and abroad have told Reporters Without Borders that poet and playwright Fessehaye “Joshua” Yohannes, who was a journalist with the now-banned weekly Setit, died in detention on 11 January.
“The death of Fessehaye Yohannes would be an appalling tragedy, one made all the more unbearable by the accommodating attitude of European governments towards Eritrea.” Reporters Without Borders said. “This regime cannot be treated in a normal way as it is responsible for the disappearance and imprisonment of the best of its citizens. Firm demands are now needed.”
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Rageh travels to the Republic of Somaliland to visit relatives and finds puritanical interpretations of Islam have an increasing influence
05 February 2007
At the end of last year, as the lynch-mob execution of Saddam Hussein held the world's attention, Ethiopian forces invaded Somalia and captured the capital, Mogadishu. The stated aim was to overthrow an alliance of Islamist groups that had come to power with popular support, and had driven out a gang of warlords who had been hated by Mogadishu's civilian population for nearly 13 years.
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January 24, 2007
Strategic Cultural Foundation ( Russia)
by General Leonid Ivashov
In the overall flow of information coming from the Middle East, there are increasingly frequent reports indicating that within several months from now the US will deliver nuclear strikes on Iran. For example, citing well-informed but undisclosed sources, the Kuwaiti Arab Times wrote that the US plans to launch a missile and bomb attack on the territory of Iran before the end of April, 2007. The campaign will start from the sea and will be supported by the Patriot missile defense systems in order to let the US forces avoid a ground operation and to reduce the efficiency of the return strike by “any Persian Gulf country”.
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| President Abdullahi Yusuf |
Mogadishu, February 5, 2007 – The Somali government has repeated its refusal to reconcile with Somalia's routed Islamists leaders.
According to Yemen news agency, President Abdullahi Yusuf said his government would never negotiate with either hardline or moderate Islamists. |
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International News
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Russia's President Vladimir Putin addresses the delegates during the Security Conference in Munich, southern Germany,...
MUNICH, Germany, 10 Febuary 2007 - Russian President Vladimir Putin blasted the United States Saturday for the "almost uncontained" use of force in the world, and for encouraging other countries to acquire nuclear weapons.
In what his spokesman acknowledged were his harshest attacks on the U.S. since taking office in 2000, Putin also criticized U.S. plans for missile defense systems and Bottom of Form
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| Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) & Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) |
Press Release
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Washington, D.C. - Citing the necessity for a substantive and sustained U.S. response to Somalia’s political and humanitarian crisis, Senator Norm Coleman today joined Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) in introducing legislation that would require a comprehensive U.S. strategy to aid the war-torn country. The legislation also includes a provision continuously advocated by Senator Coleman that calls for the appointment of a special envoy to the area to increase the diplomatic presence of the United States. |
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NEW YORK, Feb. 6 2007 - Somalia, wracked by conflict for 16 years, is the subject of the latest scholarly bibliography from the Association of American University Presses. The world's spotlight turned to Somalia as government forces, backed by the Ethiopian military, regained control of the capital Mogadishu;
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Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair attends a reception at 10 Downing street in London January 31, 2007. British police have questioned Blair for a second time in an investigation into political party funding that has cast a shadow over his final months in office.
London, UK, February 2, 2007 – British police have questioned Prime Minister Tony Blair for a second time in an investigation into political party funding that has cast a shadow over his final months in office.
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Sheffield, February 05, 2007 – AN African official met dignitaries in Sheffield to discuss the plight of his homeland.
Mohammed Issa, chairman of Democracy Network for Somaliland, met Sheffield MP Richard Caborn and Burngreave ward Labor councilor Ibrar Hussain at the MP's office in the city.
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London, February 03, 2007 – England is fast becoming but simple a plot of land floating in the sea instead of a nation of culture guided by a rich legal tradition. It is a tail of warning for the USA, the moral of which is don't allow minorities to set up a parallel culture or you will cease to be a nation of laws. You will, in fact, cease to be a nation at all.
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Washington, DC., February 08, 2007 - The United States is prepared to provide immediate support for the deployment of an African stabilization force in Somalia following the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops who helped Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) wrest control of the country from radical Islamists, says U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer.
On February 6, Frazer told the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs that Somalia was facing some "decisive moments" in a turbulent history beset by 16 years of internal conflict.
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Editorial
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The Haatuf saga has revealed serious weaknesses within Somaliland’s government system. We can see this from the casual ease in which citizens are being arrested and charged with bogus crimes. First came the illegal detention of the Chairman of Haatuf Media Network, Yusuf Gabobe, and the editor of Haatuf, Ali Dini. After that Somaliland’s CID jailed Mr. Kayse Ahmed Osman a friend of the journalists who came to visit them in jail. When citizens and youth protested the unlawful incarceration of the journalists, they too were detained, and five under-aged children were quickly sentenced to imprisonment by Hargeysa’s Security Committee.
A few days later, Haatuf Newspaper’s correspondent in Borama, Mr. Mohammed Omar Sheikh was arrested. Last week, two war veterans Mohamed Ahmed Gahnug (Ba'ood) and Ahmed Omar Abdillahi (Hamarji) were seized only a few hours after they had attended a veterans meeting that called on Somaliland President Dahir Rayale to immediately and unconditionally release from prison the three Haatuf journalists.
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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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It looks like the Imbagathi crowd also known as the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia ( TFG) are still playing games. Instead of attending to the serious problems they are facing in Mogadishu, they have been talking lately about Somali unity and starting talks with Somaliland. News reports have mentioned that the President of the TFG,
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No Special Treatment For You, Mr. President
By Mohamud Tani
I defended the president for so long against people who are against him in a pathological way. I believe anybody who has got ' the me first' syndrome must be stopped right on his tracks. In Somaliland we have no time for people who claim special status and the right of entitlement for leadership or respect. I never respect those who call themselves Mujahiddin and thus believe that they should get the people's vote because they once fought against the Faqash. So what?.
Do you call Ismael Buubaa and many others with Abdillahi Yussuf the Mujahidiin? Well why not? They were also great SNM veterans. |
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The Corruptions And Current Somaliland Government
Khadar Ali Mohamed, Cardiff, UK
I am Student in the University of Wales Institute based in Cardiff. I would like to comment about the corruption allegations against the first lady Mrs Huda Barkhad. First day I heard this news I thought that these allegations are false but. When I saw the evidence and proofs on the Haatuf news paper,
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By Ibrahim Hassan Gagale
The procedural system of selecting parliaments and forming governments for Somalia (In this article, Somalia is referred only to the South) since the fall of Siyad’s dictatorship in 1991 is solely responsible and to blame for the failure of all peace talks and prolongation of civil strife and political turmoil in the country. The agendas for peace talks and national reconciliation conferences held for Somalia between
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By Sharmarke Ali, Virginia - USA
The inveterate feud between the president’s family and Haatuf has become an unnecessary distraction, and a trifle hard to construe at this junction, which needs our unity and undivided attention to the more important issues. Yet the manifesto, as its preamble judgment, evinced draconian, making it seemingly predicated on a reflex that rides on the wave of our doctor’s friendship with Haatuf chief-editor. Narrow interest and visceral opposition, along with no confidence in our judiciary system, greatly complicated the feud, often making justice seem like a pawn on other Chessboards rather than a player in its adjudication of the case in our court.
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By Abeeb H.Dukseyeh
The views expressed by Abdi Jowhar in the "Gadabuursi Manifesto" are not all shared by the majority of the said clan - I included. Hence, the title of his article is misleading and misrepresenting the clan opinion. I am not a fan of President Daahir Rayale nor do I applaud the jailing of Haatuf News Editors. Nevertheless, I believe, President Rayale has improved on what the late President Egal had achieved before him. Under difficult circumstances - lack of international recognition, lack of international government to government development aid and occasional Arab boycott of Somali livestock, the main source of hard currency earner, Somaliland has continued to enjoy peace and stability. Mr. Rayale has presided over successful clan based democratic elections and a thriving private sector economy - these are achievements of sorts.
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By Abdi Goud Musa, Connecticut, USA
I can not agree more with this title, and one does not have to be Gadabursi to commend and thank Abdishakur Sheikh Ali Jowhar for thought provoking and deep piece.
Personally, I am persuaded to put my two cents here by Dr. Abdisalan Yasin Mohamed's piece titled " A jewel from A Jewel", and the harsh comments some responds of Dr. Abdishakur's piece.
As some one who is not Gadabuursi by birth but happen to love many Gadabuursi persons through friendship and because of how my life was enriched by going to Amoud Intermediate school when I was teenager, I gave myself a free pass to get into this tribal debate among Gadabuursi elite.
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By Abdirahman Yusuf Artan (MP), Hargeisa, Somaliland
Why the issue of nomination is important and controversial, when the commission should have been a neutral and non-partisan body? When it should have been enough for the Head of the State to nominate NEC members and seek for a parliamentary approval. What is wrong here? What is the worry?
Perhaps, the President who should have been charged with task of appointing a neutral non-partisan commission is behaving in a partisan manner, merely acting as the chairman of UDUB and future runner of the upcoming presidential election.
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| FEATURES & COMMENTARY |
London, UK, February 2nd, 2007 - For the last two weeks, a number of trucks transporting legitimate and taxed goods to the Somali State of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia have been terrorized, ambushed, robbed, and burnt by the Al-Itihad/ONLF terrorists operating in the Somali zone state. As a result of this terrorism, Somaliland traders have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property, and millions of dollars worth of trade and taxes between the two neighboring states (Ethiopia and Somaliland).
Moreover, the operation and provocation of these Al-itihad/ONLF terrorists in the region has undoubtedly retarded progress and development of the Somali zone State, disrupted the border trade between the two countries, and may eventually endanger the Somaliland and Ethiopia border security arrangements if nothing is done to reverse this dangerous development in the region
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Dr. Jendayi Frazer, Assistant Secretary for African Affairs |
Testimony Before the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee Hearing on Somalia
Washington DC, February 6, 2007 – Good morning, and thank you, Chairman Feingold and Ranking Member Sununu. At this first hearing of the Africa Subcommittee, I congratulate you both on your new positions. I look forward to working closely with you and the other members of this Subcommittee during the 110 th Congress. Thank you, for calling a hearing on this timely and important issue. I am pleased to have this opportunity to publicly discuss U.S. policy and engagement with Somalia and the Horn of Africa. Mr. Chairman, given your longstanding interest in Somalia, I am not at all surprised that this is the subject of the Subcommittee's first hearing.
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30 January, 2007
Part I
Introduction
The many theatrical mineral exploration developments that took place during the 1980s did not deter the Puntland administration from committing itself to arrange agreements with foreign firms. The exploration plans of just one Australian mining company, Range Resources Ltd, have overwhelmingly dominated the activities of Puntland administration, led by Mohamud Muse Hersi. From the outset, these activities do resemble of the numerous contractual arrangements that have been made by a couple of foreign investors during the 1980s.
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Ibrahim Hashi Jama
20/01/2007
The raid of Haatuf newspaper premises
The Republic of Somaliland has a free and thriving press, but this is often marred by the occasional detention of journalists 1 on the orders of the government or its regional representatives. As nothing happens to the public officials who order these, often short, detentions, the impression has been given that the freedoms of the press guaranteed under the Somaliland Constitution are some what circumscribed by the whims of public officials. The latest detention, this time of the veteran journalist and Chairman of Haatuf Media Network, Mr Yusuf Abdi Gabobe, and, the editor of the Somali language Hargeisa daily, Haatuf, Mr Ali Abdi Dini, on 2 January 2007 raises considerable constitutional and legal issues, which are explored in this article.
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Part I
Introduction to law
Law and its important:
One of the many ways in which human societies can be distinguished from animal groups is by reference to social rules. We eat and sleep at certain intervals: we work on certain days for certain periods: our behavior towards others is controlled directly and indirectly, through moral standards, religious doctrines, social traditional and legal rules.
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By Ibrahim Adam Ghalib, Borama, Awdal
Demography is the study of statistics birth-deaths and disease etc in order to show the state of a community. In other words studying the population of a country or community is a frame work in which to plan and assess for all political socio-economic development activities of any community or country. Census (tirakoob) is the bases for any power sharing such as parliament and cabinet etc.
In this respect an electoral voter’s registration is also required in order to regulate a fair share for our community and to get an accurate data. The electoral college of America is based on the population of the regions or cities and this was assessed from the beginning.
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By ANIIS A .ESSA...DIRECTOR
SOMALILAND ADVOCACY GROUP
WASHINGTON DC
TO: UN. SECURITY COUNCIL
SECRETARY-GENERAL
US. SENATE COMMITTEE ON
FOREIGN RELATIONS
ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE
FOR AFRICAN AFFAIRS
The People of the Republic of Somaliland find itself compelled by circumstances deliberately created by actions of the UN. Security Council and Secretary-General of the United Nations. To publish this statement both as a plea to the International community against injustices which are being perpetrated in their name and as an indictment against the pending of international laws to the will of the strong and powerful? Whilst the whole of humanity rejoiced at the ending of the cold war and the end dreaded the future of a single superpower world.
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