DJIBOUTI, March 23, 2007 – With hook and bait in his calloused hands, Ali Mohamed casts his line as fishermen in these warm waters have done for centuries.
As antiquated as Mohamed's methods may be, he and other Djiboutian fisherman could this year begin exporting to Europe and the U.S., their catch marketed as sustainable and environmentally friendly.
Al-Amin Kimathi gestures during a news conference in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa |
Nairobi, March 23, 2007 – Human rights groups in Kenya have condemned the Kenyan government for secretly deporting nearly 90 people, including Kenyans, to Somalia and Ethiopia as terrorism suspects. The suspects were arrested at the Kenyan-Somali border, following an Ethiopian-led invasion of Somalia in late December that toppled Somalia's powerful Islamist movement. VOA Correspondent Alisha Ryu reports from Nairobi.
MOGADISHU, March 23, 2007 – Somalia's powerful Hawiye clan said Friday it had reached a ceasefire agreement with the Ethiopian army, even as heavy fighting erupted for a third straight day in the capital Mogadishu.
Ethiopian military officials confirmed that a ceasefire meeting took place in the Mogadishu residence of warlord Abdi Hassan Awale Qeybdid, but fell short of confirming the truce.
MOGADISHU, Somalia, March 23, 2007 – A cargo plane that had delivered equipment for Ugandan peacekeepers in Mogadishu was shot down Friday by a missile during takeoff at the Somali capital's airport and crashed in flames, witnesses said.
The airport worker, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the Russian-built plane was shot down by a missile.
Mogadishu residents gather around body of Somali soldier killed during heavy fighting |
MOGADISHU, Somalia, March 21, 2007 – Masked men believed to be Islamic militants dragged the corpses of two soldiers through the streets of the Somali capital and set their bodies on fire Wednesday during fierce battles with government forces trying to consolidate their control of Mogadishu.
Medical officials at Mogadishu's three hospitals said they had recorded at least seven dead and 36 wounded by early afternoon in some of the heaviest fighting in Mogadishu since the Islamic forces were driven out in December. Dahir Mohamed Mohamud Dhere of Medina Hospital said doctors there were treating 36 wounded government soldiers.
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia , March 23, 2007 — The U.S. government will let Ethiopian authorities decide the fate of a 24-year-old American who was held here incommunicado for more than five weeks, the State Department said Thursday.
The Ethiopians haven't told American officials what charges, if any, they plan to bring against Amir Mohamed Meshal of Tinton Falls, N.J., at a hearing to determine whether he can be held as a prisoner of war — or when the hearing will occur.
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Kampala, Uganda, March 20, 2007 – The East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders’ Network (EHAHRD-Net) is dismayed by the conviction of Mr. Jean-Paul Noel Abdi, President of the Djibouti League for Human Rights ( Ligue Djiboutienne des Droits Humains, LDDH ). Noel Abdi was on 18th March 2007 sentenced to six (6) months in prison, and fined 100.000 Djiboutian francs, accused of “libelous statements”, and “slandering”, in connection with a communication released by his organization on February 14th 2007, concerning the discovery of a mass grave in the village of Day, Tadjourah district. The mass grave reportedly was of seven civilians allegedly killed by government forces in 1994.
Mogadishu, Somalia, March 20, 2007 – Ugandan troops working under the African Union peacekeeping command have taken over security posts in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.
The Daily Monitor reports Deputy Defense Minister Ruth Nankabirwa said the takeover was necessary ahead of the arrival of a second contingent of peacekeepers from another African country.
Mogadishu, 23 March 2007 - Officials in the regional government of Puntland in northeast Somalia admitted Thursday that they had lost several soldiers and war vehicles in heavy gun battle that erupted in Adado district of Galgadud region in central Somalia.
Over 12 soldiers from Puntland have been killed armed confrontation which took place in the town of Adado in which they engaged with local militiamen.
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DUBAI, Mar 23, 2007 – Somali authorities have ordered Al Jazeera television to stop reporting from the African country, the Arab satellite broadcaster said on Thursday.
The television showed what it said was a letter from a Somali security body ordering the broadcaster to cease its activity immediately. The letter gave no reason for the measure.
London, March 22, 2007 – Heavy fighting is currently taking place in Mogadishu as forces of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the large Ethiopian army force supporting it have been attacked by armed opposition groups. Several captured TFG or Ethiopian soldiers were dragged through the streets by their feet, stoned and set on fire. Dozens of civilians have been killed or wounded in cross-fire.
23 March - Eritrea, Sudan and Somaliland are strongly advised to carefully monitor "a developing and potentially dangerous situation" arising from second-generation locust infestations that are now developing, according to the latest UN update on of the crop-devouring insects.
"There have been several new developments in the past few days in three key areas," UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said, noting that the second-generation infestations from an outbreak in Eritrea in December are now concentrating in a 60 kilometres by 60 kilometres area on the Red Sea coast straddling the Sudanese-Eritrean border.
Main Developments
This week saw the heaviest fighting in Mogadishu since the ICU was ousted by TFG/Ethiopian forces at the end of December. Gun battles and mortar attacks – on the seaport, various neighbourhoods in Mogadishu, Hamar Jajab market and other locations – took place and civilian casualties were reported. Fighting between TFG/Ethiopian forces and opposing militia seriously escalated Wednesday (21 March)
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Kampala, 24 March 2007 - Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said here Friday there is no need for the United Nations to send troops to Somalia, according to a statement from State House.
Museveni made this comment while meeting Tuliamen Kalomoh, the Assistant Secretary General in charge of the UN technical assistance mission.
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DOHA, Qatar, 23 March 2007 - The leader of a group of Somali legislators opposed to their government’s pro-Ethiopia policy is visiting Qatar, according to a member of ex-Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan’s delegation.
MP Abdirahman Haji Ibbi said they were invited by Qatari government officials to hold talks over the Somali conflict, which has been worsening in recent weeks.
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Editorial: Kenya Times 23 March 2007
A NEW vicious cycle of violence and blood letting is going on in that godforsaken Horn of Africa country called Somalia. It is amazing that humanity has the capacity for the depth and scope of brutality currently on display in that country.
When the rest of the world was about to come to terms with the heart -wrenching scenes which followed the downing of US Black Hawk in 1994
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Headlines |
"the media climate in Somaliland, which I raised with the president"
Swedish ambassador Jens Odlander and Abdillahi M Duale, Somaliland minister for Foreign Affairs during last Thursday's press conference in Hargeysa |
Hargeysa, Somaliland, March 24, 2007 (SL Times) – The Swedish Ambassador for Somali Peace Conciliation, Jens Odlander, based in Nairobi, Kenya, said that his government will treat Somaliland as a self governing region when it comes to development Aid, and the institutions of the current Baidoa-based administration of Somalia, will have nothing to do with Sweden’s relationship with Somaliland.
Ambassador Odlander, made these comments in a press conference held at Maansoor hotel in Hargeysa before flying out to Nairobi last Thursday. Somaliland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdillahi Muhammad Duale, was present at the conference.
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UK Prime Minister Tony Blair |
London, 22 March 2997 - Early this year the UK Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street accepted a petition to be opened in its official internet website under titled `Somaliland e-petition' and is where any citizen of UK can sign in petition for the Prime Minister Tony Blair to `officially give Somaliland a full recognition status'. The petition had a date of expiration, which was 21 March 2007.
All those who successfully registered their signatures were sent emails from the Prime Minister's Office informing them of the Prime Minister's reply to the petition. The text below is such email sent to Somaliland Times from UK signatory of the petition.
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Hargeysa, March 24, 2007 (SL. Times) Local human rights activists’ umbrella Somaliland National Human Rights Network" accused the Government of Somaliland of violating citizens’ rights.
In a press release issued by the network's Executive Director, Mubarik Ibrahim Aar, yesterday, the network condemned the arrest of at least 21 of Hargeysa meat traders. The arrests were made by heavily armed police officers on March 15, 2007, after the meat traders demonstrated against the city’s doubling of abattoir fees.
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MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, March 20, 2007 – Awdal community women in Minnesota have raised US$8000 for the construction of the first Fistula Hospital in Borama, Awdal region of Somaliland. It will be the second of its kind in Africa after the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital.
In a statement sent to Awdalnews Network, Ibado Geelle expressed the hope that the hospital would help reduce the death rate of obstetric fistula and would alleviate the suffering and stigma associated with the condition.
"Our gratitude and appreciation goes to all the women who contributed to this noble effort both morally and materially," she said.
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Mogadishu insurgent fighters |
Mogadishu, 24 March 2007 – A cargo plane taking off from Mogadishu was shot down Friday, after delivering equipment to Ugandan peacekeepers in Somalia's capitol.
Witnesses reported the plane burst into flames and one of its wings fell off before the aircraft crashed. The fate of the 11 people on board is not yet known.
Government and AU sources said the plane was an Ilyushin, one of the largest cargo planes in the world, and was carrying technicians who had been working on another aircraft used by the peacekeepers.
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New York, March 23, 2007 — The bureau of satellite television Al-Jazeera in the capital Mogadishu was indefinitely shuttered on Thursday following an order from intelligence officials of Somalia's Ethiopian-backed transitional government, according to news reports.
The bureau of the Qatar-based broadcaster was “effectively closed” today after the station received a letter from the transitional government’s National Security Agency (NSA) ordering the termination of its operations, correspondent Mohammed Adow told CPJ.
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Kampala, March 24, 2007 – The Head of the European Commission in Uganda has said it is only through dialogue between the Islamic Courts Union and the Somali Interim government that peace will prevail in the war-stricken country.
Vicent DeVisscher said external efforts to bring peace may work as a temporary measure but will not bring peace for Somalis if the nationals don't reconcile.
Somali women throw stones at the smoldering body of a Somali government soldier in Mogadishu |
Nairobi, March 21, 2007 – In Somalia, at least seven people were killed and dozens wounded when Somali and Ethiopian troops entered a section of the capital, Mogadishu. Meanwhile, in southern Somalia, people are suffering from a suspected cholera outbreak. Cathy Majtenyi reports for VOA from Nairobi.
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Somaliland :Millennium Development Goals
Written answers on March 21, 2007
Lord Avebury (Liberal Democrat) | asked Her Majesty's Government:
What assessment they have made of the capacity of the Somaliland authorities to measure their attainment of the millennium development goals.
Baroness Amos (President of the Council, Privy Council Office) | The UN has carried out a number of household surveys in Somalia (including Somaliland) and collated data on its progress against the MDGs (table below).
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Asmara, March 20, 2007 – HOURS after foreign affairs minister Sam Kuteesa held talks with Eritrean President Issaias Afeworki, Asmara once again warned foreigners not to meddle in Somali affairs.
“The parties who want to help the Somali people and preserve the unity of Somalia should let them decide their own affairs,” a statement from the Eritrea information ministry warned, according to the AFP news agency.
Kutesa was in Asmara on Monday in what was widely seen as an effort to appease Eritrea, which is accused of arming Somalia’s now-vanquished Islamist movement, and to seek its support for the peacekeeping operation.
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A Somali Bantu girl waves from a bus in this 2003 file photo. |
London , Mar 20, 2007 – Somalia is the world's most dangerous country to be part of a minority community. That's the finding of a new global survey by British advocacy group Minority Rights Group International (MRG), which says fierce fighting and the specter of state persecution have propelled Somalia to the top its annual threat list. |
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MINNEAPOLIS, March 17, 2007 – The Awdal Development Agency (ADA) officially invites members of the Awdal Community in North America to the 2007 Awdal Convention to be held in Minneapolis, Minnesota from June 15-17, 2007.
The primary objective of the Convention is to bring together members of the North American Awdal community for the first time to create a framework to develop action plans for issues relating to community development, health, education, economic & social welfare. This convention will focus on the development of Awdal region and will refrain from politics.
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Journalists working for Haatuf Media Network, among them Mr. Muhamad Rashid Farha (2nd left upper row) with Mr. Hassan Shire Sheikh, head of the EHAHRD-Net delegation (3rd left, upper row) |
Objectives of the mission
It is the denial of a fair trial to Yusuf Gabobe and his fellow accused that has made this mission necessary. It was believed that a direct assessment of the situation on spot as well as proactive cooperation with the civil society in Somaliland was necessary to actively reinforce local and international efforts to lobby the authorities for affording a fair trial to the detained journalists. The objectives of the mission therefore were:
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International News
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United Nations, March 21, 2007 – The U.S.-led war on terror has triggered a strong backlash against some of the world's minorities, including ethnic and religious groups, according to a study released here Tuesday.
"The debate continues to rage about whether the 'war on terror' has made the world a safer place for the West," noted Mark Lattimer, director of the London-based Minority Rights Group (MRG) International. "But it has certainly made it a much more dangerous place for minorities."
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| Kuwait, 24 March 2007 - Kuwait has decided to refuse the shipment and ban sheep imports from Somalia, the Kuwait's official KUNA news agency reported on Friday.
The decision was made upon a newly detected foot and mouth disease infection in a shipment of live sheep from the eastern African country, said KUNA. |
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New York, March 24, 2007 - As fighting flared in Somalia, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and steps towards an inclusive political process that can lead to genuine national reconciliation.
"I am greatly concerned at the conflict that has ravaged Somalia in the past few days, especially in Mogadishu," Mr. Ban said in a statement released in Cairo, where he is on an official visit. "This has resulted in the death of innocent civilians and the displacement of a large number of people from their homes.
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Addis Ababa, 24 March 2007 - “I can’t say the Horn of Africa is very stable and safe, but I cannot say that it is deteriorating either,” Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said in an inverview with Al Jazeera TV Thursday.
The Prime Minister said the Horn of Africa is much safer now than it was in December. “... In spite of the conflict in Somalia and the tension in Eritrea, the Horn of Africa is doing very well economically.”
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WASHINGTON, March 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is a transcript of remarks by Vice President Cheney to the Republican Jewish Coalition Leadership:
Manalapan, Florida
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. (Applause.) Well, it's great to be with you. And, Mel, I appreciate that kind introduction. A little short. (Laughter.) A warm reception like that almost makes me want to run for office again. (Applause.) Almost, almost. (Applause.)
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BEIJING, China, 23 March 2007 - China on Thursday defended its position on the Darfur crisis after a French presidential candidate called for a boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympics unless more is done to pressure the Sudanese government.
Francois Bayrou, a center-right candidate for France’s presidency, proposed this week that his country’s athletes stay away from the Beijing Games in an effort to make China lean on Sudan’s government to help end the bloodshed in the region.
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Editorial
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The sentencing of 18 butchers (10 of whom are women) to 6 months in prison for demonstrating against the city’s doubling of Hargeysa abattoir fees is just one more example that shows the intolerable condition of Somaliland’s justice system. By taking one draconian action after another, it is as if the government wants to convince the people that there is no such thing as justice in Somaliland. Strong words, you might say, but not really, when you consider that the sentences were handed by the Hargeysa Region’s Security Committee, a body that both Somaliland’s current and previous parliaments have said is an illegal entity. But what makes the absurdity of the situation stark clear is that Mayor Hussein Mohammed Jir’ir whom the protestors were demonstrating against, actually serves on this committee. So, we have a situation where the mayor in his capacity as a member of the security committee, acted as a judge, and sent to jail people that he had conflict with in his work as a mayor.
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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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By A. A. Dheeg, Abu Dhabi, UAE
It is a necessary to act accordingly to the law when a real threat and fervent situation arose in any country like the present one in Somaliland. There are crimes which send a shoulder down your spine and remind you of the evils which surround us. The outstanding and unanswered question is how we dare to elect Rayale and handover the fate of the country? Rayale and his companion scandalous are coming up day after day.
They are indigent, Zyphers in every aspect. The swindling and theft was prevailing since Rayale’s ascension to the chair. The former transport officer and Haatuf’s case is entirely documented and exhibited, the evidence was divulged; however, Udub Ministers use invective language and accuse others as retaliation, behaving like a street corner boys. This Is One Of The Many Unfortunates For Somaliland To Be Fortunate.
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Mr. President, Back Off From Your Self-Defeating Mission: And Reform Your Leadership and Administration
Part Two
By Farah Ali Jama, Ottawa. Canada
Mr. President, your clandestine activities and subversive strategy are out there in the open for all to see. And the citizenry of Somaliland are an intelligent; politically conscious, and visionary people that cannot be fooled by a despotic tin pot dictator in sheep’s coating or by anyone else and have a free reign over the people and their motherland. Note: It is this intrepid people who destroyed the fascist Seyid Mohamed Abdulla Hassan, the Italian invasion of Somaliland in the 1940s, one of the most powerful in sub-Sahara of the deposed fascist and tyrannical military regime of Dictator Siyad Barre, and it is this gallant and vigilant people who are in guard to defend their just cause and existence of Somaliland by any means possible. So put these brief facts into account.
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Challenge In The Red Sea
By Ali Mohamed Nour
So long as the Republic of Somaliland withdrew from the rest of Somalia and remained a peaceful and stable democratic State, it is shameful and regretful for the International Community to neglect the wishes of the people of Somaliland for self-determination and also expect to join willingly with their brothers in the south to reform a “Greater Somalia”.
Definitely, political analyst can’t over look that the Union can be only endorsed by the will of the two populations as in the case of former two Yemenis and Germanys. It is clear that Somalilanders were the founders of the Union into which they had voluntarily entered as an independent and sovereign State on July 1, 1960, with the former Italian Somaliland.
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By Abukar Armen
Modern day Somalia became a nation of profound paradox and a web of political conundrum- a country where perception is always reality; where the “mundane” is a cherished deadly thrill; where “new” political dynamics are nothing but old, and, where potential “solutions” are problems. But, that is not all.
Once again, Somalia became a magnetic political rink that lures powerful entities with incompatible strategic interests into a potentially deadly competition that causes more suffering for that dying state. In the past it was between the super powers of the Cold War who armed Somalia to the danger zone and paved the way to its ongoing demise. Today, it is between partners on the “global war on terror” with dichotomous interests: Ethiopia - a country lately became known as ‘the Hegemon of the Horn’-- and Washington.
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By Ahmed Kheyre London, UK
23 March, 2007
Sir/Madam,
Many thanks for taking the time to inform me of The PMO's response to the petition "Recognise Somaliland as a sovereign state".
I am sure that the Prime Minister and Her Majesty's government is aware of Somaliland's history and also its close links with the United Kingdom. I am also sure that Her Majesty's government is also aware of the desire of the people of Somaliland to re-assert their independence gained from the United Kingdom on June 26th 1960, at which time Somaliland's sovereignty was recognised by the our friends in the United Kingdom along with many other nations.
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By Mahdi A Abdi Washington, USA
EAST AFRICA POLICY INSTITUTE
Analysts in the West have tended to interpret the current crisis in Somalia primarily as a conflict between Islamist extremists and the Ethiopian supported Transitional Federal Government (TFG.). However, it is important to realize that the Somali crisis is fundamentally rooted in clan rivalries and sub-clan conflicts, and this is the main reason why a functioning government has proven so elusive.
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Dear Cabdale Faarah Sigad,
was touched in the deepest of places by your heart-felt yet un-objective report regarding the situation in Somaliland and the detained Haatuf Journalists. However, I'd like you to verify your claims in order to help me wholly understand not only the sources that provided you with information in your report, but what your political agenda is-as it is crystal clear that you apparently have one.
So firstly, just to recap on a few things-
Your argument is contradictory highlighting your lack of journalist professionalism which is most evident in your style of reporting.
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By Faisal M. Aideed, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
To: Somaliland Parliament Sincerely,
This is a petition that will be submitted to the Somaliland parliament to start the impeachment process for the president, Dahir Rayale Kahin.
Due to severe complications of financial wrong doings by the president and his unconstitutional roles in over throwing or couping the National Election Commission (NEC) and confiscating their properties such as personnel mobile phones and vehicles in front of the public instead of recognizing and prizing their well-done job. This person has proved more than once that he has betrayed the laws of Somaliland constitution and has violated the trust of the citizens who brought him to the power.
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| FEATURES & COMMENTARY |
Sheikh Dahir Aweys heyday's of United Islamic Courts rule in Somalia |
Going along with its promisingly successful East African destruction Foreign Policy, the Eritrean government has created, harbored & armed yet another non-Eritrean institution in its capital - Asmara. As expected and as feared by many regional analysts, a fresh political faction was formed by the Asmara government once again, adding to the several Ethiopian, Somali, Sudanese and other nations’ political groups that the Eritrean government has already financed, formed or armed in attempt to destabilize the entire region.
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By Medea Benjamin
March 20, 2007
This weekend, in hundreds of cities throughout the country, Americans commemorated the fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq by participating in marches, rallies and vigils.
And it wasn't long ago, in November 2006, that Americans expressed their anti-war sentiment at the ballot box. So what have our elected officials done to comply with the cry of the American people to end this war?
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By Steve Kibble, Progressio, lecture at Kings College
13 th February 2007
Clan/ Religion/ patriarchy + Democracy/ equality/ State
Introduction
I should perhaps begin by stating that my take on the relationship between territoriality, state and nation is not that of a political geographer, but (some time back at least) a political scientist, but of late what might be termed a practitioner in development and human rights. My organization works on the ground in Somaliland and is also involved in international advocacy on behalf of its people.
In this sense I am not coming with any particular pre-ordained theory, but rather trying to use an example of a region I have some knowledge of (the Horn of Africa) to see how it sheds light on the relationship between the key terms above. It is a complex region with different and contradictory dynamics as illustrated in the cross-axes in my outline (above), and now with the War On Terror as an ominous backdrop.
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Rageh Omaar tries to discover the realities about child slavery |
By Rageh Omaar, Presenter of BBC Two documentary Slave Children
London, March 18, 2007 – Slavery is a word which immediately conjures up very specific images in our minds.
When it is mentioned we tend to think of people, almost always black people; degraded, abused and bound in chains, and we tend to think of such images, and the word slavery itself, as belonging to another era.
We do not see slavery as belonging to our world, not as something which is still happening today.
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Wounded Somali man arrives at Medina hospital in Mogadishu |
By Alisha Ryu Nairobi, 22 March 2007 - Following a day of heavy fighting in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, the Ugandan commander of the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia is urging several African countries, who have pledged to contribute troops to the mission, to speed up their deployment. VOA Correspondent Alisha Ryu has that story and more from our East Africa Bureau in Nairobi. |
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UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
Mogadishu, 22 March 2007 - The Somali capital of Mogadishu has witnessed daily mortar attacks over the past few months but serious efforts are being made to improve its fragile security, according to the mayor.
"Stabilising the city is the number-one priority," Mahmud Hassan Ali, mayor of Mogadishu, said on Tuesday. "First, I want to establish security in the city and second, I will focus on health and education."
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