MOGADISHU, June 13, 2007 -- A peace conference for feuding Somali factions planned for June 14 has been put back by a month to allow organizers to finalize logistics, officials said Wednesday.
We have received requests from some Somali clans asking for more time choose delegates and we need time to prepare the venue for the conference," Ali Mahdi, the conference's chief organizer told journalists in Mogadishu.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, June 13, 2007 - Global shipping officials warned Wednesday that pirate attacks off Somalia's coast have spiraled to terrifying levels, with U.S. and international navies failing to protect seafarers from being kidnapped.
Somali pirates have abducted more than 100 crew members of various nationalities, often seizing them in international waters and spiriting them away to Somalian territory, said Capt. Pottengal Mukundan, director of the British-based International Maritime Bureau, a shipping security watchdog.
The presence of Ethiopian soldiers is still causing unrest
Mogadishu, 15 June 2007 - A grenade thrown at a cinema in the central Somali town of Baidoa has killed five people and injured nine.
Eyewitnesses say the video hall, known to have shown films that have had naked scenes, was packed with people.
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Mogadishu June 15 2007 - Eight people were killed and several wounded on Friday in a suicide attack and a roadside bomb in the Somali capital Mogadishu, witnesses said.
A suicide bomber rode a motorcycle packed with explosives into the convoy of Mogadishu deputy governor Mohamed Osman Dhagahtur, killing three civilians and two guards, north of the capital.
Nairobi, June 14, 2007 – The bodies of two Kenyan policemen who disappeared while patrolling the Kenya-Somali border Sunday have been found. For VOA, Katy Migiro reports, the officers are suspected to have been killed by Somali Islamists.
After a massive search operation, the bodies of the two murdered Kenyan police officers were found on a hill 500 meters from the Kenya-Somali border, 12 kilometers from Mandera police station where they were based.
Uganda, Kampala, 16 June 2007 - Britain has given sh4.5b to sustain the UPDF peacekeeping force in strife-torn Somalia. The money is for immediate disbursement, according to the British High Commissioner, Francois Gordon.
Gordon announced the £1.4m contribution on Friday and praised the UPDF for their courage. This was during a cocktail party held at his residence in Nakasero to celebrate Queen Elizabeth's birthday.
Mogadishu, 16 June 2007 - The Ugandan (AMISOM) troops in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, have detonated massive accumulations of diverse weapons in Muriyo concave near Halane army training compound in south of the Somalia capital on Saturday.
Resident in south Mogadishu reported they heard the deafening sounds of mine explosions that rocked the residential neighborhoods.
New York, 15 June 2007 - The needs of hundreds of thousands of Somalis displaced from Mogadishu this year topped the agenda during talks there yesterday between officials from the United Nations and the country's Transitional Federal Government (TFG), the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said today.
The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Eric Laroche, led the joint mission to the capital to discuss improving the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the country, where fighting between the Ethiopian-backed TFG and the Union of the Islamic Courts (UIC) caused 490,000 Somalis to flee from Mogadishu between February and May.
Addis Ababa, 12 June 2007 - Prime Minister Gedi said his government is closely monitoring the activities of the newly-formed anti-government, anti-Ethiopian coalition sponsored by Eritrea.
In an interview with VOA ,Prime Minister Gedi said an immediate goal of the Eritrean-based coalition is to derail a government-hosted Somali national reconciliation conference, scheduled to begin next Saturday in Mogadishu.
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Mogadishu, June 17, 2007 - Abdi Nore Siad known as ‘Abdi-Wal’ who was among the members of the defeated anti terror alliance Sunday has narrowly survived an assassination attempt when his car was targeted with a bomb blast near the main SOS hospital in Huriwa district, north of Somalia capital Mogadishu.
Mr. Nore told the local media shortly after the attempt on his life that his car run over a roadside bomb but no one was hurt in the explosion. “Only my car was damaged by the blast,”
-UNSC starts five African nations trip
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, June 15, 2007 – Ethiopian Prime Minster, Meles Zenawi expressed hope that the United Nations Security Council that will visit Ethiopia by the end of this week would back the African Union (AU) financially so that additional peacekeeping troops will be deployed in Somalia.
Meles said that he expects the visit of UN Security Council to Ethiopia will bring some good news that shares the responsibilities Ethiopia is shouldering so far.
Mogadishu, 5 June 2007 - A grenade attack killed four people and wounded six others watching a video in the western town of Baidoa in the latest flare-up in chaotic Somalia, residents said today.
"The hand grenade was thrown at a video show in Baidoa late last night," said Mohamed Ali, a resident, adding that he did not know who the attackers were. "Four people died and six were wounded. The video show was full of people watching an Indian movie at the time," said Ali.
Darfur refugees stand outside their make-shift shelters Sunday March 25, 2007, in this derelict section of Es Sallam camp. (Ap-photo) |
WASHINGTON, 16 June 2007 - Climate change is partly to blame for the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region, where droughts have provoked fighting over water sources, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in an editorial published Saturday.
"Almost invariably, we discuss Darfur in a convenient military and political shorthand — an ethnic conflict pitting Arab militias against black rebels and farmers," Ban wrote in The Washington Post. "Look to its roots, though, and you discover a more complex dynamic."
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The parliament is asking the government “to examine whether initiatives to advance the resolution of the question of an international recognition of an independent Somaliland appear useful
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The Bundestag, German parliament |
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, June 15, 2007 – The German Parliament on Wednesday passed a resolution, inter alia “asking the German Federal Government to work towards mitigating dangers for Somaliland’s stability that may arise from the current Southern Somali scenario”.
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, June 16, 2007 (SL Times) - Parliament's House of Representatives chair committee rejected last Wednesday the two remaining National Election Commission (NEC) candidates, Mr. M. Hamud and Mr. M. Omar who were, for the second time, nominated by the House of Elders (Guurti) to sit on the new 7 member committee board of the NEC.
The first time the two candidates were presented to parliament for endorsement was two weeks ago when parliament endorsed four out of the 7 newly formed NEC candidates, and rejected Mr. M Hamud and Mr. M Omar's candidacy for the NEC nomination because Parliament concluded that their age exceeded the limit permitted by the NEC charter.
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, June 16, 2007 (SL Times) – A breast feeding mother named Amina Dhore is being held in detention in Gabiley, 55Km west of Hargeisa, in connection with a land dispute.
Amina was arrested early last week by an order issued by the Security Committee separating her from her breast fed baby after Hargeisa local authority gave a planning permission to a real estate prospector called `Ina Bubaa' to a disputed piece of land in the east of Hargeisa, Somali language Geeska Africa newspaper reported. The two parties are said to have both legal ownership of the plots of the land. Both legal ownership documents were issued by the same Hargeyisa local authority under the responsibility of Mayor Hussein Ji'ir.
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“We have Not Given Official Recognition To Somaliland, And It Is Known, Why We Haven't”
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi |
Addis Ababa, June 11, 2007 – Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has said that the country's forces would only leave Somalia once the situation in the country stabilizes. He said the stand was necessitated by the fact that the AU has not been able to send troops to Somalia because of monetary constraints. The premier added that the upcoming Somali reconciliation conference was a major gain for the Horn of Africa. The following is the excerpt of an interview broadcast on Ethiopian TV on 10 June; subheadings inserted editorially
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Civilians have been caught up in the violence in Somalia |
Mogadishu, June 15, 2007 – At least seven people have been killed and several wounded in two separate attacks in the Somali capital Mogadishu, witnesses have said. Three civilians and two guards were killed on Friday when a suicide bomber rode a motorcycle packed with explosives into the convoy of Mohamed Osman Dhagahtur, Mogadishu’s deputy governor.
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Toronto, June 14, 2007 – Federal border officials hired a private jet to fly two people to Djibouti last month after they were deemed too dangerous to stay in Canada.
One of those passengers was Hussein Jilaow, 26, a Somali refugee and member of Winnipeg's violent Mad Cowz gang with 13 convictions since 1999.
He returned to Somalia after he was flown to the neighboring country of Djibouti on May 23 aboard a chartered flight, his lawyer, David Matas, said.
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This picture, released by the US Navy, shows an F/A-18E Super Hornet launching from the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in January 2007. US warplanes are overflying the northern Somali region of Puntland in preparation for air-strikes against suspected Al-Qaeda fugitives, more than a week after US warships shelled the area, officials said Tuesday.
MOGADISHU, June 12, 2007 – US warplanes are overflying the northern Somali region of Puntland in preparation for air-strikes against suspected Al-Qaeda fugitives, more than a week after US warships shelled the area, officials said Tuesday.
Picture of ancient rock painting in Laas-Geel district of Hargeysa region |
Paris, France, June 10, 2007 – It has been revealed that the World Monuments Fund has enlisted Somaliland’s Las Geel Rock Art prehistoric site on their Watch List of endangered world heritage. This revelation was made three days ago in Paris by Miss Maryan Ibrahim Abdi during a Press conference organised by Somaliland Heritage (SH) at the Centre for African Research of the Sorbonne University. Miss Abdi who heads Somaliland Heritage said the recognition of Las Geel prehistoric site by the World Monument Fund will help raise awareness locally and internationally for the necessity of preserving and protecting such sites in the entire region of east Africa and the horn of Africa in particular.
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Commentary
By Greg Mills
IN A recent article, author Bashir Goth observes of that rump of what was previously Somalia: “As people of Somaliland, we have only one thing in mind; that all roads lead to recognition... We have been watching other countries with less democracy, less peace and less ethnic cohesion gaining sovereignty and recognition. We have seen Bosnia, Montenegro, East Timor, all former Soviet Republics embraced and accepted by the international community. We now watch Kosovo and Western Sahara inching towards independence.”
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By Faysal Gabanow
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, June 15, 2007 – Somali PM Ali Mohamed Gedi has nominated Col. Abdirisak Isak Bihi as a new defense minister for his embattled government to replace the ousted minister Col. Barre Adam Shire (Hiilaale).
Col. Abdirisak is a former Colonel in Somali National Army and had training in Russia and Italy and comes from the same clan of the former Defense Minister- Marehan, former President Siyad Barre’s clan.
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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
12 June 2007
Serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law continue to take place in Somalia amid insecurity and sporadic violence. In this context it is imperative to maintain an international human rights focus on Somalia. Reconstruction efforts to remedy the breakdown of the state in 1991 have only just begun.
Amnesty International reiterates its call, made elsewhere, for a strong human rights component, including protection of civilians, to be included in the mandate of the African Union mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and any follow-on United Nations operation. We also reiterate our call for all parties to the present conflict to abide by the applicable norms of human rights and international humanitarian law.
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MOGADISHU, 11 June 2007 – Somali authorities have lifted a broadcasting ban on three independent media houses accused of supporting terrorism and said on Monday they had drafted the local industry's first media law.
State security officials ordered the HornAfrik and Shabelle television stations and IQK Koranic radio off the air on Wednesday for the second time in six months. "The three stations were reopened late yesterday after long deliberations between officials of the ministry of information, other government agencies and the owners of the radio stations," Information Minister Madobe Nuunow Mohamed told Reuters.
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The United States is planning to "distribute" a new military command for Africa across several countries
ALGIERS, June 11, 2007 - The United States is planning to "distribute" a new military command for Africa across several countries rather than have a single headquarters on the continent, a defense official said on Sunday.
Ryan Henry, Principal Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, told journalists on a visit to Algeria that the command would not be designed to fight wars but would rather focus on training African security forces.
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Ex-hostage to talk at Red Cross event
Chief Warrant Officer Michael Durant gives a thumbs-up while being transported to to an air base in Germany.
File Photo Courtesy Mikedurant.Com |
Chief Warrant Officer Michael Durant should be dead several times over.
Durant was the pilot of Super Six Four, one of two helicopters that gave the popular book and movie "Black Hawk Down" their name after they were shot down over Somalia on Oct. 3, 1993.
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by Prof Michel Chossudovsky
May 31, 2007
The Bush administration has admitted that covert actions of an aggressive nature were applied against Iran and Syria. The stated objective was to wreck the countries' economies and currency systems. The infamous Iran-Syria Policy and Operations Group (ISOG) created in early 2006, integrated by officials from the White House, the State Department, the CIA and the Treasury Department, had a mandate to destabilize Syria and Iran, and bring about "Regime Change" :
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There was good news and bad news in President Rayale’s overseas trip. The most obvious bit of good news was that the president and his delegation traveled to important countries such as Ethiopia, Sweden and Norway, and they were able to see Ethiopia’s prime minister, Swedish and Norwegian ministers, parliamentarians and foreign aid agencies. In the case of Ethiopia, frequent contacts and consultations are necessary for improving the vital relations that exist in so many fields between the two countries. When it comes to Sweden and Norway, both countries are playing an increasing role in Somali affairs, with Norway being a member of the contact group for Somalia, therefore, meeting with them and ensuring that they understand Somaliland’s needs and perspective is very important. Another item of good news was that the president made time to meet with Somalilanders in the diaspora and got to hear some of their views and concerns.
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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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By Bashir Goth
A Somali proverb says: “Meel hoo u baahan hadal wax kama taro”, roughly meaning (Talking will not satisfy where giving is needed.) Somalis are experts in talking; they can talk from here to eternity with beautiful rhetoric, marshalling long-winded rhapsodies from the fathomless wisdom of the poetic Somali language. They try to outdo each other, speaker after speaker. The speakers’ list gets longer and longer and topics on the agenda inflate into a mighty balloon. But just like balloons are popped at the end of a rapturous party, decisions made in Somali gatherings fly into thin air as soon as the participants leave the hall. No follow up mechanism is ever put in place, no commitments survive and no pledges materialize into tangible reality.
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Letter To Editor
Dear Editor,
I hope the Somaliland authority will come to its sense that multi-party system is health and good for it. Thus most commentators wonder why "Somaliland National Party (QARAN) is seen as a threat rather than a positive.
It is better that common people's aspirations for better government will over-ride current existing parties who lack socio-political and economical directions that the international communities can understand and trust whereas today current parties mostly rely on personal criticisms and character assassinations.
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Somaliland Marches On!
By Abdulkadir Idan, London, England
The Horn of Africa has reached a new state of insecurity and the ultimate height of instability and anarchy. This continues to be fuelled by neighboring states that see the existence of any stability in the region as a threat to their regional hegemony. Ethiopia's invasion has contributed to more insecurity then any other period of time. Ethiopia's current occupation seems almost indefinite however if this remains this would only contribute to many more years of instability, turmoil and horror for the tired and innocent victims of Somali's instability. Through out Somalia instability remains the norm, explosions, marauding freelance militias and a lot more. How could this effect Somaliland.
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Multi Dimensions Of The Politics Of Being Silent
By Abdirahman Ibrahim Abdilahi
One of the major resources in Somaliland at the moment is enjoying with is the wealth provided by UN and INGO‘s which are residing mainly in Hargeisa; The prosperity should be distributed equally among the regions because the results of such a system have shown wide income disparity among the people who live in Somaliland as they do not have equal access to resources e.g. development projects, services including cars, staffs and housing accommodations of UN and INGO‘s. In fact the economy should show strong tendencies toward egalitarianism; otherwise the disparities in the income between the people who live in Hargeisa and other regions of Somaliland will be wider in the years to come.
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By Abdullah Bashery, Malaysia
Sir,
The leaders and people of Somaliland should take all precautionary measures to safeguard their livestock export and resources against economic suppression by unscrupulous Western Illuminist trying to undermine a legal muslim society.
S.E. Asia provides a sizeable market for livestock and farm produce from Australia and the U.S. and imports from India and African Continent will stiffen their competitiveness.
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By Abukar Arman
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.
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By Mohamud Samatar
There is no doubt that the Imbhagati made government of Somalia is contemplating how to create chaos and unrest in Somaliland to bring it under it's control, but the irony is Somaliland has a democratly elected government , has declared that she is no longer part of Somalia, withdrew it's union with Somalia and declared it's independent in May 18 1991. Somaliland has been peaceful and has held free and fair presidential election and Parliament.
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Pat Prendergast, left, and Hassan Nur, outside a shelter box tent in Hargeisa |
A MAN carrying an AK47 rifle accompanied Pat Prendergast wherever he went, but he came back with only good memories of his trip to Somalia.
The builder from Blunsdon went to Somaliland, a territory to the north of the African country, on behalf of the charity Shelterbox.
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Speakers Call for an End to Country Specific Mandates, Independent Expert on Situation in Haiti Receives Wide Praise
The Human Rights Council took up the situation of human rights in Cambodia, Haiti and Somalia this afternoon, hearing repeated calls for an end to country specific Special Procedures, but also support for the Independent Expert on the situation in Haiti.
Ghanim Alnajjar, the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Somalia, said that when he last briefed the Council, in September 2006, the human rights situation in Somalia had been bad.
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Paris, June 09, 2007 – Alleluia, I can now watch my World news on the BBC in peace and not be compelled to watch the numbers played by the head of states of the 8 most industrialise and richest countries on earth. The other actors who were in Germany and who also irritated me were the hordes demonstrating outside the meeting venue of the world’s most powerful leaders. It has become a regular sight and they have become part of the decor.
A World meeting without them will be synonymous to a sumptuous party without champagnes. However, I suspect there should be a sort of connivance between countries organising those big theatrical shows and the assemblage of protesters, who are always present and vying in their garish dresses to be seen.
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It is an honor for me to address the first Somaliland ICT Policy Consultative workshop and to thank organizers, in general, and UNDP, in particular, for the technical and financial support to the workshop. My sincere gratitude also goes to you all, members of Somaliland ICT Stakeholders, to honoring our invitation. Today is great to day. It is the beginning of new era dedicated to the pooling of our joint efforts towards the improvement and support for the Somaliland ICT industries.
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by Richard C. Cook
June 14, 2007
It’s official. Mark your calendars. The crash of the U.S. economy has begun. It was announced the morning of Wednesday, June 13, 2007, by economic writers Steven Pearlstein and Robert Samuelson in the pages of the Washington Post, one of the foremost house organs of the U.S. monetary elite.
Pearlstein’s column was titled, “The Takeover Boom, About to Go Bust” and concerned the extraordinary amount of debt vs. operating profits of companies currently subject to leveraged buyouts.
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MMZ, a private company and the largest in Transdniester, says it can not survive five years under the current economic blockade
RYBNITSA, June 14, 2007 – Forced to send shipments an extra 500 km for a customs stamp, the MMZ Steel Works - located in the Transdniestria city of Rybnitsa - has shown no profit for two years, according to a report by Executive Intelligence Review (EIR) which will be published Friday.
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by MAKAU MUTUA
6/17/2007
For the past several weeks, Kenya has made international headlines for the wrong reasons. First, it was the macabre violence of the Mungiki, the shadowy movement whose barbaric killings have left the nation and the world stunned.
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