Nairobi, September 18, 2007 – Scores of families have fled their homes following a clash between forces from the republic of Somaliland and the autonomous region of Puntland in Somalia.
"A heavy exchange of artillery took place around the village of Abeseoley [22 km north of the regional capital, Las Anod]," said Faisal Jama, a resident of Las Anod in the Sool region, to which both sides lay claim.
17 September 2007
Reporters Without Borders calls on the foreign ministries of the leading democracies to mark tomorrow’s sixth anniversary of the start of a wave of arrests in Asmara by summoning Eritrea’s ambassadors to express disapproval for a crackdown that led to the suppression of all freedoms and the imprisonment of more than 10 journalists in unknown locations.
JOHANNESBURG, 21 September 2007 - Peacekeeping missions in Africa are hampered by difficulties in generating forces and a shortage of funding, a senior United Nations official said on Friday.
Nick Seymour, senior political officer with the UN's peacekeeping department, said getting enough troops to conflict zones such as Somalia and Sudan's Darfur region, where a struggling African Union peacekeeping force should be bolstered by UN soldiers next year, would always be a challenge.
Mr. Ban and Mr. Toure of the ITU: part of UN or not? |
UNITED NATIONS, September 20 - The International Telecommunications Union, a member of the UN family, has scheduled a "Connect Africa" summit for Kigali, Rwanda at the end of October. In the run-up, ITU secretary-general Hamadoun Toure took questions from reporters at the UN on Wednesday, having handed out a map circling East Africa from Somalia on south as "The Missing Link." Inner City Press asked about the relative 'Net savvy of Somalis, despite the long lack of a central government. Mr. Toure countered that business people there have to have four or five cell phones, since there is not inter-connectivity.
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This photo shows a general view of an unspecified area in Upper East Region, Ghana inundated by flood waters 07 September 2007. UN agencies and the Red Cross on Tuesday warned that the worst floods seen in parts of Africa for decades were intensifying and appealed for international aid to avert disease |
DAKAR, September 18, 2007 - Forecasters were predicting Tuesday further downpours in the coming days over much of Africa, where at least 270 people have already died from flooding and one million are affected.
"We anticipate that the situation will worsen," said Elizabeth Byrs from the UN Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), adding that heavy rains were forecast in west Africa between 18 and 24 September.
Addis Ababa, 17 September 2007 - Eight named Oromo Ethiopians and allegedly more ethnic Oromos suspected of having links with the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) remain in prison despite international attempts to persuade the regional government to take legal actions.
Journalists take cover as Somali government forces besiege Shabelle radio in Mogadishu, 18 Sep 2007 |
Geneva, 19 September 2007 - A Geneva-based media rights groups has criticized Somalia's government for its treatment of journalists after a Somali radio station accused government forces of killing one person at its headquarters Tuesday.
The Press Emblem Campaign said in a statement Wednesday that there is an "escalating spiral of violence" against journalists in Somalia, calling the country the second most dangerous place for media workers after Iraq.
BAIDOA, Somalia Sep 19 - A United Nations delegation led by human rights expert Dr. Ghanim Alnajjar that was dispatched to the Horn of Africa region to assess the humanitarian and human rights condition there was denied access to land in the southwestern Somali town of Baidoa, officials confirmed Wednesday.
Dr. Alnajjar was dispatched on a 5-day trip to visit Kenya and Somalia, where he is supposed to meet with government leaders, traditional elders, human rights workers and members of civil society, according to a press release issued by UNDP.
NAIROBI, Sept 19, 2007 - A local human rights group accused Ethiopia's government on Wednesday of manipulating a visit by U.N. aid officials and human rights investigators to the country's remote and violent eastern Ogaden region.
Hours before the United Nations was expected to publish its report in New York detailing the mission, the local group said Ethiopian authorities had detained critics for its duration and coached officials to pose as clan elders in U.N. interviews.Read full text...
A Yemeni fisherman with his catch |
MUKALLA, September 19, 2007 - Yemeni fisherman Fadhel al-Nawbi, aged 27, swore he would never sail in Somali waters again. However, as soon as he returned to Mukalla (750km south of Sanaa) from yet another fishing expedition, he reassessed his two options: stay jobless or embark on yet another potentially dangerous fishing trip to the autonomous Somali region of Puntland.
“I have been sailing to different Somali cities for four years. To get to Somali waters can take up to three days depending on sea conditions. We go to coastal cities like Bosasso [Puntland’s main port]. We take food, ice [to keep the catch fresh] and fuel," he said.
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Somali insurgents launched a rocket attack on a military base in the capital, Mogadishu, late on Tuesday
A new opposition alliance aims to topple the transitional government |
Mogadishu, 19 September 2007 - Eyewitnesses told the BBC two civilians were killed in the hour-long battle.
A military spokesman said about 20 insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns were fought off with anti-aircraft guns.
ADDIS ABABA , Ethiopia, 22 September 2007 - Somali president Abdillahi Yusuf appealed for Arabian-African peacekeepers, under U.N. aegis to be deployed in Somalia to replace the outgoing Ethiopian Troops. The President made his call in Saudi Arabia where his government’s high officials, (PM Ali Mohamed Gedi, the Parliament speaker, Adem Mohamed Nur) and the Chairman of the Reconciliation Committee of Somalia, Ali Mahi Mohamed reached last week in response to an invitation offered by the kingdom of Saudi Arabia to host the closing session of the national reconciliation conference (NRC) of Somalia.
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NAIROBI, September 21, 2007 (AP) - Civilians are more afraid than ever of being targeted by fighting in Somalia's capital, where combatants pay children $100 to throw grenades and an insurgency rages unabated, a human rights expert said Friday.
Ghanim Alnajjar, the U.N.'s independent expert on human rights in Somalia, visited Mogadishu Thursday. He relies on interviews with a wide range of people to make regular reports to the U.N. Human Rights Council.
MOGADISHU, Somalia Sep 21, 2007 – Hundreds of fresh Ethiopian troops and armor have arrived in parts of the Somali capital Mogadishu over the past two nights, residents and military sources said.
Residents described seeing military transport trucks and tanks pouring into Ethiopian army bases in Mogadishu.
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U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Michael K. Mahon |
Hargeysa, September 22, 2007 (SL Times) – Somaliland Times conducted on Friday night a telephone interview with the commander of NATO's Standing Maritime Group 1 (SNMG1), U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Michael K. Mahon, who recently embarked with a force of NATO ships which set sail on 30 July 2007 to make an historic 12,500 nautical mile circumnavigation of the African continent on a two month deployment from August to October this year as part of NATO’s commitment to global security.
The commander of SNMG1, U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Michael K. Mahon, talked to SL Times from on board the flag ship of the NATO multinational force, the USS Bainbridge sailing off the coast of Somalia in the Indian Ocean.
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Hargeysa, September 22, 2007 (SL Times) – On Monday morning [Sept 17], a clan militia belonging to the clan of the former Puntland Minister of Interior Affairs and Security, Mr M. A. Habsade attacked forces loyal to the Puntland administration stationed in Las Anod, the provincial capital of Sool region in Somaliland.
The provincial capital was rocked with sounds of heavy anti-aircraft gun fire as the two militias battled inside the town from morning to late into the afternoon. By nightfall much of the fighting had died down. One person was reported killed in the battle and many were wounded on both sides of the conflict.
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Hargeysa, September 22, 2007 (SL Times) – Somaliland Examination Board yesterday announced the results of Somaliland’s intermediate and secondary schools examination. The results were announced in a press conference held by the minister of education and the national examination board Thursday morning.
Speaking to the press, Somaliland Minister of Education, Mr Hassan Mohamoud Warsame (Gadhweyne) said, “It is my pleasure that the ministry of education today is announcing the national examination results. Even though we experienced difficulties and delays to the outcome of the examinations, nonetheless, we managed to finally complete all the results, and this was thanks to the hard work and determination of the national examination board.
Hargeysa, September 22, 2007 - Puntland security forces attacked Somaliland troops stationed in contested Sool region after loosing public confidence, Somaliland's deputy defense minister said today.
Ahmed Mohamed Filanwa said Puntland leaders aim to create a distraction by attacking Somaliland forces along their hotly contested unofficial border, saying that angry locals were "uprising" against Puntland rule.
22 September 2007 The EPMP negotiated agreement Somalilanders everywhere welcomed recently the announced settlement on 20 th August 2007 of some of the disputes between the President and the House of Representatives which have been raging almost since the directly elected House took office in October 2005. The settlement which was facilitated by an Eminent Persons Mediation Panel (EPMP) (consisting of famous poets, academics and religious leaders[1]) included the release from prison of t he Chairman and the two Deputy Chairmen of Qaran political association
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MOGADISHU, 22 September 2007 - The United Nations' new envoy to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, held his first talks here Saturday with the embattled transitional government's top leaders, the UN said.
Meanwhile the Horn of Africa region continued to be plagued by violence as a roadside bomb killed a civilian in the Somali capital and six suspected extremists were detained in nearby Somaliland.
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HARGEISA, Sep 22, 2007 - Ethiopian troops arrested six men believed to be members of al Qaeda during a cross-border operation in the breakaway republic of Somaliland, a senior Somaliland official said on Saturday.
There was no immediate word from Addis Ababa, which has sent thousands of soldiers to support an interim government in neighbouring Somalia threatened by Islamist-led insurgents.
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Ghanim Alnajjar, the United Nations' independent expert on human rights in Somalia, is interviewed as he visits Mogadishu, 20 Sep 2007 |
Mogadishu, 21 September 2007 - A United Nations human rights expert says people in Somalia are more afraid then ever of being targeted by fighting in the capital, Mogadishu. Ghanim Alnajjar said Friday that civilians are afraid of being killed and of being arrested by insurgents, government troops and Ethiopian forces. He also accused all sides of recruiting children to fight in the conflict.
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MOGADISHU, September 18, 2007- Somalia's independent Shabelle media house said government troops surrounded its Mogadishu office on Tuesday and opened fire at the building, wounding a security guard.
The interim government's relations with independent media houses have been rocky since it and its Ethiopian army backers routed an Islamist movement from the capital over the New Year.
Ambassador John M. Yates, U.S. Special Envoy to Somalia |
Since the United States tacitly supported an Ethiopian invasion of Somalia that ousted the Islamic Courts Union controlling much of the country, Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government has struggled in its stabilization efforts. Ambassador John M. Yates, U.S. special envoy to Somalia, says there has been “some momentum” since the close of a six-week reconciliation conference in August, and that the “first priority will be the drafting of a constitution.” Yates notes, however, that the security situation in Mogadishu remains “fairly dismal,” and there is a “lack of confidence in the Transitional Federal Government in its capacity to carry forward.” He says the Eritrea provides support to insurgents in Somalia, but the U.S. ability to influence Eritrea “seems to be limited.”
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An unidentified Somali man holds the remains of a spent RPG rocket at the alleged scene of the overnight fighting between Somali government forces and insurgents which took place in the south of the Somali capital Mogadishu. Four civilians were Wednesday killed in the Somali capital, where a raging insurgency has paralysed government efforts to restore stability, witnesses said. |
MOGADISHU, September 19, 2007 - Four civilians were killed Wednesday in the Somali capital, where a raging insurgency has paralysed government efforts to restore stability, witnesses said.
Meanwhile, global media watchdogs called on the embattled government to halt attacks on independent media in Somalia, a day after security forces opened fire on a radio station.
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Ali Mohammad Gedi, Prime Minister of Somalia |
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 19 September, 2007 - Ali Mohammad Gedi, Prime Minister of Somalia's transitional government, has reaffirmed that Saudi Arabia supports the idea of sending Arab-African troops under the leadership of the United Nations to maintain security and stability in Somalia.
He expressed hope that Saudi Arabia would play a role in this matter within its capacity as chair of the rotating Presidency of the Arab League.
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Analysis
By Darren Taylor
September 10, 2007 - The crisis in Somalia has deepened in recent weeks, despite the conclusion of another national reconciliation conference aimed at ending the conflict in the Horn of Africa country. Human rights groups say fighting has killed many people, with thousands having fled to displacement camps. Somalia has been ravaged by violence for almost two decades, as various groups have battled for political power.
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The United States is planning a new strategic command to take the global War on Terror to the Horn of Africa
Mean Streets: Mogadishu’s commercial center, once bustling, is much quieter now |
Sept. 17, 2007 issue - America is quietly expanding its fight against terror on the African front. Two years ago the United States set up the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership with nine countries in Central and Western Africa. There is no permanent presence, but the hope is to generate support and suppress radicalism by both sharing U.S. weapons and tactics with friendly regimes and winning friends through a vast humanitarian program assembled by USAID,
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Washington DC, Sep 19, 2007 – Much of the work for U.S. Africa Command, the U.S. military’s newest geographic command, likely will be done by five teams, each deployed to and designed for a specific region of the continent.
The plans for these “regional integration teams” are still being laid, but Pentagon officials want a “split-based, tailored presence” there, not a one-size-fits-all approach that might produce dividends in one region but chaos in another, according to Defense Department documents prepared in mid-September.
One team will go to the northern, eastern, southern, central and western portions of the continent, mirroring the African Union’s five regional economic communities, the briefing documents say.
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WASHINGTON, 19 September 2007 - President George W. Bush and the U.S. Congress registered record-low approval ratings in a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday, and a new monthly index measuring the mood of Americans dipped slightly on deepening worries about the economy.
Only 29 percent of Americans gave Bush a positive grade for his job performance, below his worst Zogby poll mark of 30 percent in March. A paltry 11 percent rated Congress positively, beating the previous low of 14 percent in July.
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TORONTO, Canada, September 20 - The Federal Commissioner of Patents issued today a compulsory licence for ApoTriavir under Canada's Access to Medicines Regime Program (CAMR) allowing Apotex to proceed with manufacturing of the product. This drug, a triple combination AIDS therapy, was the first product to be approved by Health Canada under the provisions of the CAMR. ApoTriavir was approved by Health Canada in August 2006 and is pre-qualified by the World Health Organization.
The CAMR was designed to help developing countries that have little or no pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity in their fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases.
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President Bush queues up with troops for lunch at the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia, 14 Sep 2007 |
Washington, 18 September 2007 The U.S. Senate this week is considering whether to restrict President Bush's conduct of the war in Iraq. It is a long awaited showdown between Mr. Bush and Democrats who say they want to impose firm timetables for the withdrawal of U.S. troops. While a president and Congress share war powers under the U.S. Constitution, some experts say the advantage now favors the chief executive. VOA's Jim Fry takes a closer look.
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About two decades ago, after Ali Mahdi declared himself the president of Somalia in a conference in Djibouti, Saudi Arabia invited Ali Mahdi and the conference participants to come to Saudi Arabia to do the Umrah and to celebrate the outcome of the conference. King Fahd himself attended the celebration where he thanked Omar Arteh and the President of Djibouti Hassan Guled for what he saw as their positive role in the Djibouti conference.
The celebration in Saudi Arabia had an undeclared purpose though. It was right after the first Gulf War where the Americans were able to defeat Saddam Hussein and kick him out of Kuwait. During this war, Saudi Arabia sided with the United States and allowed American troops on its territory which angered a lot of Arabs and Muslims (Bin Laden was among those who were incensed by the presence of American troops on the soil of the country where the two holiest Muslim cities are located, and it caused the final rupture between Bin Laden and the House of Saud).
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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 Yusuf Abdi Odowaa, London, UK
Almost every Somalilander who cares deeply and passionately about his/her country is aware that Somaliland is at crossroads at the moment, as it emerges from the world of political un-accountability to the modern world of political accountability.
This is the bedrock between the daily skirmishes between the Somaliland parliament and the government of president Dahir Rayaale.
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By Dalmar Kaahin, Ottawa, Canada
It has become a deep-rooted culture for Puntland and for TFG (Tigray Founded Government) leaders to play the terrorist card—their new Ace Card—in every opportunity, in order to obfuscate and to distort the facts on the ground.
Historically, whenever Puntland leaders could not bear the heat from their opposition they echoed the presence of terrorists in their region, and sent SOS messages to Addis Ababa. In early 2002, when Abdullahi Yussuf was battling against, Jama Ali Jama, the then elected leader of Puntland, Mr. Yusuf played the terrorist card and accused Mr. Jama of leading a terror group.
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Where Is The Beef?
By Noah Arre
Sixteen and half years ago this fall, through a series of well coordinate conferences and meetings, Somaliland decided to become a separate nation. And through a series of belt-tightening, grass-roots supported conventions, Somaliland decided to travel and “take the road that is less traveled!”…. establish democracy and freedom of speech!
Today, many credible international institutions still consider and describe Somaliland as “The little Country That Could!” The Peaceful Island In The Burning Seas!” And “A True Model Of Home Grown Peace, Tranquility and Democracy!”
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Declaration: Jihadist Youth Movement Boycotting The Mixed Islamist-Secularist Conference (Asmara)
Preface and translation by Dr. Abdishakur Jowhar
Preface
The rout of the Islamic Courts Union in Somalia in 2006 appeared to many like a solution to their problem; with the nature of “the problem” defined by varying interests that are decidedly different and often contradictory to that of the Somali people. And so for President Bush the contract on Somalia offered to Zenawi; was but one more field of operation against the followers of his arch enemy; UBL (Usama Bin Laden). For Zenawi of Ethiopia the invasion of Somalia was more about an attempt of drowning his political opponents in a sea of nationalistic pride that he expected would accrue to his person from the momentous act of washing his feet in the Indian Ocean.
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The Disadvantaged People Suffer In Silence
By Ibrahim Adam Ghalib, Borama, Awdal
Ramadan Kariim. This is an opportunity for me to send my sincerest congratulations to the Muslim world that fasted the same day for the first time. I hope this is the beginning of a new era and will contribute to world peace and progress for all mankind.
Interest groups provide a vital link between citizens and public officials. They convey substantive information and public sentiment to policy makers and give knowledge about government programs to citizens and assist them in gaining access to these programs. In this regard disadvantaged people would be represented in the halls of power to provide a balancing mechanism to counter those people who always benefit from these programs.
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Dear sir
I would like to comment on the article by Mohamed Mukhtar Ibrahim, London.
Quote:
"In terms of crime, the Somali community is not perfect and you are likely to see a Somali youngster snatching a mobile like any other teenager or an open-faced Somali man driving a car illegally but there is no single Somali person that has been charged with any terrorist act. "
Mr. Ibrahim should gets his facts right, and also accept there is a very serious problem within crime and the Somali community.
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With the resumption of the diplomatic relations between the then “ Somali Republic” and the United Kingdom in 1968 (which were severed on Kenya’s independence in 1963), Prime Minister’s Egal’s Government and the United Kingdom Government established a UK Scholarship programme for the graduates of the then (only) two Somaliland secondary schools of Sheikh and Amoud.
During the three years from 1968, 10 students who graduated from both schools, each year, were selected, on the basis of their London University GCE Examination results, to pursue higher education at colleges/universities in the UK. These scholars arrived in the UK, a year after they left school, during the summers of 1969 to 1971.
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By Ahmed Arwo
One of the main objectives of Islam is to emancipate the mind from superstitions, the soul from sin and corruption, the conscience from oppression and fear, and the body from disorder and degeneration. All these are clearly found in fasting. Fasting teaches us sincerity, by obeying Allah without anyone overseeing it. There is no authority that can truly compel us to fasting. No witness can confirm our fasting in certainty. It is sometimes called the secret pillar of Islam. It is secret between the believer and Allah.
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By Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
September 20, 2007
As unity seems to emerge out of the Asmara meeting of hundreds of Somali delegates, vowed to keep infamous ‘ Ethiopia’ out of Somalia, war erupts in other parts of the multi-divided Somalia. A tit-for-tat, good and bad news follow one another in a precipitating rhythm.
Somalia has been de facto divided into three parts; Somaliland seceded proclaiming independence in 1991 in the North to control the former British Somali colonial territory.
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JOHN WALLACE - Candidate for Congress in New York's 20th Congressional District has issued his Position Paper on Going To War and The War in Iraq
I believe that the United States should never invade another county without a formal "Declaration of War", nor should the United States commit American military forces to enforce any mandate of the United Nations or any other non-elected international organization.
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Erma Manoncourt, UNICEF Representative in Egypt, answers journalist's questions about the Female genital mutilation, Geneva, 10 Sep 2007 |
Geneva, 18 September 2007 - The United Nations Children's Fund says the practice of female genital mutilation remains unacceptably high in Egypt. But, a UNICEF representative tells VOA the Egyptian government is committed to ending this widespread cultural practice that is said to pre-date the time of the Pharaohs. Lisa Schlein reports from Geneva.
Female genital mutilation affects both Muslim and Christian girls in Egypt. The government outlawed the practice in 1997. Nevertheless, studies show it remains widespread.
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A U.S. Army captain in Africa waxes philosophical. It's like the old saying, he opines; "give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day, teach him how to fish and he'll eat forever."
Is he talking about skills-building, or community empowerment? No: Captain Joseph Cruz goes from channeling the musician Speech from the American hip-hop group Arrested Development back to his military-approved talking points: "the same can be said about military to military training and that's why we do it."
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LIMA, Sep 18, 2007 - Dozens of people living in a Peruvian town near Lake Titicaca reported vomiting and headaches after they went to look at a crater apparently left by a meteorite that crashed down over the weekend, health officials said on Tuesday.
After hearing a loud noise, people went to see what had happened and found a crater 65 feet wide and 22 feet deep on an uninhabited plateau near Carancas in the Puno region.
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19 September 2007 - Stakeholders in Africa's livestock will Thursday hold a one-day general meeting seeking to attract more interest of policy makers and investors in a sector believed to have untapped potential of improving rural economies and eradicating poverty from the continent.
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When BBC reporter Michael Buerk brought us film of the starving children of Ethiopia in 1984 it motivated the country to action. In 1985 Bob Geldof and Midge Ure’s Live Aid raised millions of pounds, and the attendant publicity put humanitarian aid onto the agenda of the senior politicians of the day, forcing Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe to take seriously an issue which they had not, hitherto, seen as a high priority.
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| Asmara, Sept. 17, 2007 -- Somalia's transitional government says it has signed a reconciliation agreement aimed at stabilizing the country and uniting Somali clans. The agreement in Saudi Arabia was signed by the interim president and prime minister but was immediately rejected by the Islamist opposition.
The head of the Islamic Courts organization, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmad, told the BBC Arabic Service that the Mogadishu and Jeddah talks did not represent a serious effort to achieve Somali reconciliation.
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