DUBAI, APRIL 26, 2007 - India has provided additional funding of 10 million dollar to Djibouti for a cement plant project at Ali Sabieh, raising the total funding to $20 million.
This will be done through a Line of Credit (LOC) by the Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank). The LOC agreement was signed in Delhi recently by the eastern African country Ambassador to India Youssouf Omar Doualeh and Exim Bank Chief General Manager P Dalal.
AFP/Graphic Photo: Graphic locating the area of Jijiga in Ethiopia. Ethiopia has accused arch-foe Eritrea of supporting... |
ADDIS ABABA, 26 April 2007 - Ethiopia on Wednesday accused arch-foe Eritrea of supporting the rebels who attacked a remote Chinese-run oil venture, killing 74 people and abducting up to seven Chinese workers.
Text of report by Radio France Internationale on 20 April
There was this rather unusual event at the Quaid'Orsay in Paris. Judges came to make a search at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in connection with the [Bernard] Borrel affair. The judge was found dead in Djibouti in 1995. Names of individuals in President Ismail Omar Guelleh's entourage appear in the dossier.
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Mogadishu, 23 April.07 - More than 16 people were killed and dozens more were wounded in the port city of Kismayo, 500 km south of the capital Mogadishu, Monday after a heavy gun battle between rival clans, Majegten and Marehan, took place in the town. Shabelle reporter in Kismayo, Mohammed Ahmed, said the fighting stopped around 2:00 PM local time as the town fell into the hands of Marehan militias.
The rival clans fighting in Kismayo have long been challenging over the leadership of the town since contingents of Ethiopian troops deserted the town in mid February.
Jijiga, Ethiopia, April 23, 2007 – The joint security committee formed in bordering woredas of the Somali State and Somaliland in undertaking extensive crime prevention activities, the Jijiga Zone Police Department said.
Commander Mohammed Abdillahi told WIC yesterday that durable peace has been established in the bordering woredas owing to the joint activities carried out by the committee on security matters.
Reporters Without Borders / National Union of Somali Journalists
Press release
22 April 2007
Reporters Without Borders and its partner organization in Somalia, National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), are today outraged by the recent violence in Mogadishu and arbitrary shelling and shooting of civilians, including journalists and news media personnel.
International Republican Institute ( Washington, DC)
PRESS RELEASE
Abuja, Nigeria, 22 April 2007 - The International Republican Institute's (IRI) 59-member international election observation delegation determined that the first three parts of Nigeria's April 14 and April 21 elections process, which is thus far incomplete, fall below the standard set by previous Nigerian elections and international standards witnessed by IRI around the globe.
Mogadishu, 23 April.2007 - Somalia premier, Ali Mohammed Gedi, has held a press conference in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Monday as fighting between government troops backed by Ethiopian forces and Islamic insurgents, along with clan militias intensified.
Mr. Gedi said the fighting in the capital and elsewhere in the country was motivated and organized by what he called terrorists based in Mogadishu.
Mogadishu, Somalia, 23 April 2007 - Somali’s Prime Minister, Ali Mohammed Gedi, said Monday terrorist cells were responsible for the crisis in southern Somalia opposing the peace and stability in the horn of Africa region.
In a news conference held in the Somalia capital Mogadishu, Mr. Gedi said the fighting in Kismayo, was masterminded by Al-Qaeda members based in Mogadishu.
“Al-Qaeda linked groups from Mogadishu have orchestrated the battle in Kismayo ,” said Gedi.
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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Public Statement
24 April 2007
Amnesty International today urgently called on the international community, and particularly the UN Security Council meeting today to discuss Somalia, to make protection of civilians a key objective of their response to the critical situation in the country. The organizations said that there are increasing violations of the human rights of civilians, a dangerous worsening of the security situation, and a severe deterioration in the humanitarian conditions of people displaced by the recent fighting.
Bosaso, Somalia 24 April 2007 - The vice president of the Puntland administration in northern Somalia accused the African nation of Eritrea on Tuesday of fomenting trouble between them and with their Somali neighbors to the west.
Hassan Dahir Afqura, the acting Puntland president, said at a press conference in the Red Sea port city of Bossaso that authorities in the self-declared Republic of Somaliland were planning to forcefully enter peaceful regions contested with Puntland.
Employment Programme in Mogadishu Forced to Close Prematurely
Press Release
ILO, Somalia, 19th April 2007: The ILO Employment for Peace (EFP) in Mogadishu and South and Central Somalia regrets to announce the early termination of its activities in Mogadishu. A total of 25 of the 32 weeks of the programme that entailed engaging communities in employment intensive projects around the city were successfully completed, creating 289,000 work days of employment.
MOGADISHU, Somalia, 27 April 2007 - Somalis who fled the government's offensive against Islamic insurgents in Mogadishu began returning to the shattered capital Friday, following the prime minister's claim of victory in fierce fighting that killed hundreds.
But some began to question the claim when gunmen attacked a hotel housing government officials hours later.
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 24 April 2007 - During our first two months in Jeddah, Faye and I relished our new and luxurious lifestyle: a shiny jeep, two swimming pools, domestic help, and a tax-free salary. The luxury of living in a modern city with a developed infrastructure cocooned me from the frightful reality of life in Saudi Arabia.
My goatee beard and good Arabic ensured that I could pass for an Arab.
New York, April 23, 2007 - Two private broadcast stations were destroyed and several journalists were injured last week as Ethiopian troops backing Somalia’s transitional government attacked suspected strongholds of Islamist fighters and militiamen from the Hawiye clan, according to news reports and local journalists.
HornAfrik television and radio—the first independent broadcaster in Somalia’s history— has been off the air since several mortar shells destroyed its Mogadishu studios on Saturday,
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Mrs. Ellinor Melbye (left), Qassim Sh. Yussuf Minister of Water & Minerals (centre), Ahmed Sultan, from Somaliland’s Ministry of Water & Minerals (right). |
Hargeysa, April 28, 2007 (SL Times) – A three day Petroleum Policy & Resource Management workshop seminar was organized and hosted by Somaliland Ministry of Water & Minerals and facilitated by Petrad, a Norwegian government foundation which facilitates sharing of knowledge and experience on Petroleum Management and Administration for governments and national oil companies. The workshop was held at Maansoor hotel, in Hargeysa from 16 – 19 April 2007.
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Hargeysa, April 28, 2007 (SL Times) – A British woman and a Canadian man are being held in detention in Gabiley, 55km west from Hargeysa, in connection with a land dispute.
Somaliland-born Shun Hersi Gelleh, and her nephew Ibrahim Mohamed Ismail, were arrested on early this month by an order issued by the Hargeysa Security Committee, an extra-legal body, after a businessman called Ibrahim Mohamed Ali (Arab Ha Iswaalin) challenged their ownership of a land that they had inherited from the late Hersi Gelleh.
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Hargeysa, April 28, 2007 (SL Times) – The spring rains of April have damaged a local semi-footpath bridge constructed from the use of an old trailer shell body, which connects residents of Ahmed Guray and Akara neighborhoods of Hargeysa in Ahmed Dhagax district. The semi footpath bridge was originally part of truck’s rear trailer and was used by the residents in the area to cross over a deep trench dug by flash floods. Residents approached a local vehicle garage for the use of an unused trailer body in its compound to be used as a footbridge.
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One of the hazard sites in Berbera. Many bunkers exist in this site which contain toxic fuels |
April 2007 – The purpose of this preliminary brief report is to sound the alarm bell for the implications of the presence of Lethal Radio Active radiation and other toxic materials in and around Berbera and the damage that this hazard may have already inflicted on the Berbera community, livestock and other forms of life and the environment in general and the future catastrophe waiting to explode. And to enlist the co-operation of all concerned for mitigating the impact. Other objectives of this report include:
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Commentary
By Muj: Ahmed Mireh Mohamed
It is a phenomenon that an African country is colonizing another African country in the twenty first century. The UN convention and the African Union charter were all invalidated. We were driven back to the Dark Age’s survival of the fittest. The Security Council led by the US legitimizes and blesses the occupation of Ethiopia as a Christian country over Somalia as an Islamic state. Somalis are penalised simply for their faith.
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Richard and Enid Eyeington |
County Durham, Apr 24 2007 – A relative of a North East headmaster shot along with his wife in Africa today welcomed the death sentence handed out to one of the killers.
Richard and Enid Eyeington, originally from Pelton Fell, Chester-le-Street, County Durham, were murdered in October 2003 on an aid mission in Somaliland.
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A herder stands with his cattle over the plains of Ethiopia's remote Somali region near Jijiga, about 390 miles east of the Addis Ababa, in this April 19 file photo.
ADDIS ABABA , Ethiopia, April 25, 2007 (AP) - Ethiopian Muslim rebels who are allied with Islamic militants in neighboring Somalia stormed a Chinese-run oil field at dawn Tuesday, killing 74 people and destroying the facility.
Islamic insurgents fire on Ethiopian positions in Mogadishu. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images |
Mogadishu, April 27, 2007 – The Somali capital Mogadishu suffered some of the heaviest bombardment in nine days of fighting yesterday, as Ethiopian tanks supporting the interim government shelled new areas of the city despite a claim by the Somali prime minister to have routed Islamist insurgents.
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April 27, 2007
Democracy Now!
. . . Not just Islamists, which is a codeword for terrorists, but . . . most Somalis will not abide this occupation. . . . So it is not going to be a successful war for the Somali government, for Ethiopia and, of course, for the US, which is the orchestrator of the whole adventure this time.
. . . Women are being raped, that hospitals are being bombed. This is clearly a huge effort to intimidate and terrorize all those who come from clans who are fighting the government. They want to intimidate the civilians, because most of the death toll is of civilians. So this has been going on, and there has been no call whatsoever for this to stop.
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Remarks by Dr. David Shinn to the Somali Conference in Columbus
By David H. Shinn
April 21, 2007 - Let me be clear on one point. I don’t speak for the US government. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Jim Swan ably performed that responsibility.
Speaking as a private individual, I look at Somalia from the standpoint of what I believe is best for US policy based on my understanding of US interests.
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Mr. President,
March 27, 2007
We express our gratitude to you, and members of your government for the excellent reception and hospitality accorded to the Goodwill Mission. We also thank the leadership of the legislative branch (The House of Representatives and Guurti), the leadership of the political parties, regional and local community leaders, as well as members of civil society for their hospitality, openness and support.
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By Bashir Goth — Abu Dhabi, UAE
IF YOU think that Dalits (untouchables) exist only in India think again. We have them in Somalia. But what makes the situation of ours even worse is that unlike India where people belong to different races, languages and colors; Somalia is the most homogenous country in Africa with people belonging to a single race and sharing a common language, a common religion and a common skin complexion.
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International News
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LONDON, April 25, 2007 – US and Ethiopian military intervention in Somalia has hampered international efforts to bring peace to the war-torn country, an independent British report said Wednesday.
"Genuine multilateral concern to support the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Somalia has been hijacked by unilateral actions of other international actors -- especially Ethiopia and the United States -- following their own foreign policy agendas," the report from the Chatham House foreign affairs think-tank said.
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Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London, UK, April 23, 2007 – A Foreign Office spokesperson today issued the following statement:
We welcome the fact that Ahmed Ali Issa, Ahmed Elmi Samater, Ibahim Jama Afkan (in absentia) and Da'ud Sahal Idleh have been tried for the appalling murderers of the Eyeington family. They have now been held to account.
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British Prime Minister Tony Blair |
BERLIN, April 24, 2007 - British Prime Minister Tony Blair warned here on Tuesday that wealthy Western countries would ultimately suffer if they failed to fulfill their pledges to help the development of Africa. |
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New York, April 24, 2007 - Somalia has become the most dangerous place in the world for relief workers to operate, the United Nations humanitarian chief warned today, with none of the sides in the deadly fighting that has raged across the capital Mogadishu in recent weeks respecting the rules of war or making any allowance for aid operations.
John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, told the Security Council that the fighting in Somalia is probably the worst in 16 years, since the impoverished country stopped having a functioning national government.
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By Hussein Al-alak
April 25, 2007
The true intention of the US occupation of Iraq, has been exposed once more with the construction of a so-called security wall “around Sunni districts that are surrounded by Shia areas.”
The move is being presented to the world as protecting the Sunni’s from the Shiite, and preventing the Iraqi born “insurgents” from attacking the US occupation and their fellow band of squatters.
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More and more countries have doubts about the death penalty
Apr 27th 2007
HOURS after being sentenced to death by a sharia court in Somalia last May, Omar Hussein was publicly executed. He was hooded, tied to a stake and stabbed to death by the 16-year-old son of the man he had admitted stabbing to death three months earlier.
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Editorial
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What kind of prime minister bombs his people and when he is told that his people are suffering and dying as a result of the bombing, says the bombing of civilians will continue and the best thing for them to do is to flee their homes? It is the same kind of prime minister who when asked why his government is blocking food assistance that the international agencies want to deliver to the hungry and homeless refugees, says the reason food is not getting to the hungry is because the international agencies have not met the requirements of his government. It is the same prime minister who when asked about the conflict between two clans (Majeerteen and Marehan) in Kismayo, says al-Qaida is behind the conflict, even though both clans are supposed to be part of his own coalition. It is the same prime minister who said al-Qaida was behind the recent confrontation in Dhahar between Somaliland and Majeerteenya (Puntland). That “prime minister” is none other than Ali Gedi, the prime minister of Somalia.
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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 Dr. Omar Ibrahim Hussein
Under the current political System, we have limited choices due to the narrow agenda of the existing three political Parties. Although one Party may be more inclusive than the other, the choice we have is not between different values and platforms of three different political Parties, but a choice between Rayale, Sillanyo and Faisal. Instead of calling UDUP, KULMIYE or UCID you could very well call them by their real names, RAYALE, SILANYO and FAISAL Parties. That is why I believe Gabose and Hashi want to have one of their own. The logic is if they can have it, I can have it too.
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OPEN LETTER TO WORLD LEADERS ON THE GENOCIDE IN MOGADISHU, SOMALIA
Dear Sir/Madam,
In April 2007, it was reported that the Ethiopian army and the Somali TNG forces committed genocide against civilian people in Mogadishu. It was officially reported that over one thousand civilian was killed in just two days fighting in Mogadishu and mostly of these people died as result of indiscriminate shelling by the Ethiopian forces. Many international organizations and observers rightfully recognized that the shelling in Mogadishu constitutes genocide. Yet the U.S., UN, EU, Arab League and other international organizations such us; the Red Cross, Red Crescent, Amnesty International and Africa Watch have failed to respond to this genocide with the urgency that is required.
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Why Blame Thyself When You Can Blame The President
By Suleiman Abdi Dugsiye, Ottawa
Distinguished readers, before I get into details, let me turn your attention to the following quote:
“Democracy is a process by which people are free to choose the man who will get the blame”.--Laurence Peter.
Is there any truth in it? I don’t know about you, but to me, in its translated Somaliland version, there is truth in it. As a matter of fact it appears that the idea of putting the blame on the President for all the everyday problems is becoming the ritual of the day.
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An Open Letter To Sillanyo
By Mohamoud Ali Gaildon
Dear Sir:
Please accept my sincere apology for using your nickname in the title of this missive to you. Tradition dictates that I, a man many years your junior, address you in a manner that befits your grand stature among Somalis of all clans and your seniority in age to me. That you can relate to how I feel and, thus, commiserate with me in my discomfiture at having to use your nickname I am sure. I was born and bred in Aden, the town that presented you to the Somali nation; and I spent most of my schooling in Erigavo, Dayaha and Sheikh, a region that you hail from. It is, therefore, in the grand spirit of the manners fed to both of us since childhood that I apologize to you.
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By Rhoda A. Rageh, Holland
All accounts and facts surrounding the sacking of the Minster of Defense point the finger at the mismanagement of the President. He is clearly incapable of the title Commander in Chief. It appears to me that the Minister of Defense acted upon good military conscience under a confused commander in chief. It seems to me that, had he and his army not taken the wise decision to save themselves and the country, there would be no Somaliland today. The fact that the sworn army went to the other side is a serious problems to ponder on before anything else. That the odayaal were not able to calm the situation points to the problem of useless untrained (perhaps dishonest) Sultans, Aaqils and Boqors who are not in touch with the reality and sentiments of their own people.
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To: The President of Somaliland (Dahir R Kahin)
CC: Ambassador Bob Dewar @ British Embassy in Addis Ababa
Shune Hersi Gelleh and her son |
Today we were confronted by our sister and given the tragic news that our mother, Mrs. Shune Hersi Gelleh has been arrested for no particular reason except to satisfy the eccentric desires of other fellow Somalilanders. Our mother is known for her love and desire to stay in her home country, probably her poor health improves in temperate climate rather than in the UK; nonetheless we fear the psychological implications this will have. We were kindly notified that the basis at which our mother was arrested was unclear yet justified by money.
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By Dr. Abdishakur Jowhar
Mogadishu , the capital of Somalia, is a city living a clandestine nightmare that even Dante could not imagine. But on this day nothing could conceal the truth as told by dead bodies piling up on its streets. Every freshly killed body, every dead body thrown into the impromptu mass graves; every one of these belongs to only one Somali tribe and no other. Over 1000 bodies of civilians have been found so far; and every last one of them belong to the same tribe-the Hawiye. The dead do not lie. And this is the story they tell; the story of the curse of tribal cleansing yet again;
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| FEATURES & COMMENTARY |
“The US must recognize Somaliland immediately”
Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
April 26, 2007
The critical events at Obala, Northern Ogaden, and the successful operation carried out by the ONLF, bring the West in front of a most challenging predicament: either adjust the African policy on Humanist and Democratic principles and concepts and put an end to the most loathed tyrannical regime of fake ‘Ethiopia’ or support it and see Islamic terrorism expand throughout Africa like mushrooms.
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“My figures represent individuals [who are] genetically almost identical but also quite different"
xenia and her Somali figure |
By Xenia Marita Riebe
This is a story about the world, and one artist’s desire that no culture should ever be lost in the process of globalization.
In 2005, the artist began an art project she calls the Global Citizen Project . To call it an art project understates what she is trying to accomplish. To put her subject into her own words, “the main topic of the project is to transform global society in its cultural variety by means of art.”
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The Guardian
April 26, 2007 – Once again, the residents of Mogadishu are cowering under the hammer blows of shellfire. Once again, the capital is in the grip of warlords, clan leaders and foreign armies. Once again, the body count is mounting. More than 320,000 civilians, between a quarter and a sixth of Mogadishu's population, have fled. The UN says Somalia is suffering one of the worst humanitarian crises in his history and suspects the transitional federal government (TFG) of stopping aid from getting through to refugees. Have we been here before? The answer, of course, is yes.
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Friday prayers at the Zetland Mosque ... pressures are bringing Muslims closer together, possibly creating "an Australian brand of Islam". |
OUT ON the flat sheep country between Melbourne and Geelong, a muted landscape of grey skies, withered grass and straggly gums, another chapter is unfolding in the settlement of Australia.
A former rural junction called Hoppers Crossing has become a new suburb of brick homes, fences, kerbed streets. Children swarm around on trail bikes and show off at skateboard ramps. In the centre is a shed-like evangelical church and next to it, a low green-and-white building with vaguely Arabic windows called, of all things, the Virgin Mary Mosque.
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By Daniel Martin Varisco
Yemeni legend has it that one day a man took his goats to browse among shrubs in the mountains. The goatherd noticed that--after eating berries from one plant--one of his goats began to prance around as though half crazed. Curious at such a strange sight, the old man tried some of the berries himself. He suddenly felt years younger.
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By Andrew McGregor
April 26 - The U.S.-supported Ethiopian invasion that expelled Somalia's Islamist government last December is rapidly deteriorating into a multi-layered conflict that will prove resistant to resolution. Resistance to Ethiopian troops and the Ethiopian-installed Transitional Federal Government (TFG) is inspired by nationalism, religion, economic factors and clan loyalties, yet all of these motivations are part of a constantly shifting pattern of allegiances in which the only common characteristic is a desire to expel foreign troops from Somalia.
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By Ivan Eland
April 12, 2007 - The media often report overseas developments, but don’t always explore their underlying causes, which, in many cases, conveniently lets the U.S. government off the hook. The recent internecine violence in Somalia provides a classic example.
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