Garowe, October 17, 2007 – A Puntland regional government official has today urged the international community to intervene in the conflict between Somaliland and Puntland.
The Puntland Information Ministry, in a news conference, urged the international community to intervene in the conflict in Sool Region especially in the recent fighting between Somaliland and Puntland over Sool Region.
New York, October 19, 2007 - The Committee to Protect Journalists released the following statement today in response to the brutal assassination of Bashiir Noor Gedi, acting Manager of the leading independent broadcaster Radio Shabelle, who was shot dead this evening by unknown gunmen outside his home.
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BOSSASO, Somalia Oct 18, 2007 – Police authorities in Somalia's Puntland regional autonomy surrounded a house full of armed men in the Gulf of Aden port city of Bossaso on Thursday.
The men inside the house, who have refused to surrender, opened fire on police and a gunfight ensued, witnesses told Garowe Online.
Date: 19 Oct 2007
Main Developments
Assistance to vulnerable people in Mogadishu was further complicated this week following the abduction of the Head of Office of WFP Mogadishu by the Transitional Federal Government forces (TFG) on 17 October. Reports indicated that about 60 heavily armed soldiers entered the United Nations Common Compound and arrested the staff member without reasons given for his arrest.
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Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi |
Addis Ababa, Oct 17, 2007 - Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi met Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in Addis Ababa on Wednesday, amid speculation he would quit as parliament debated the president's move to oust him.
Gedi, in his latest battle for political survival against President Abdullahi Yusuf, again denied through his allies that he was going to step down.
London, UK, 20 October 2007 (SL Times) – Prominent Somali poets Mohamed Ibrahim Warsame (Hadrawi), Mohamed Hashi Gaariye and Hassan Abdillahi Ganey arrived in London yesterday (Friday) for participation in The Somali Week Festival which will be launched this afternoon in Oxford House in Benthal Green.
The three poets as well as a dozen of Somali artists will present programmes featuring Somali culture.
NAIROBI, 15 October 2007 - Somalia's president and prime minister are staring each other down in a political standoff that may end their lengthy feud but also set the Horn of Africa government adrift -- again.
President Abdillahi Yusuf and his allies, including 22 ministers, are again trying to have Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi thrown out via a no-confidence vote, tentatively set to happen on Tuesday or Wednesday, Somali officials said. .
In the past 11 years, many Somalis from the Ogaden were detained, tortured, their private properties confiscated and then handed over to the Ethiopian government against their will.
16 October 2007 - Somalis from the Ogaden region who fled from Ethiopian government’s unceasing infringement on their basic human rights are being persecuted in Somalia (Somaliland, Puntland and TFG areas), where they are constantly imprisoned, tortured and then handed over to the Ethiopian government in exchange for ammunition, materials or simply to prove loyalty, cooperation and friendship to Ethiopia.
MOGADISHU, October 16, 2007 - Three children were killed Monday when a mortar hit a house in the Somali town of Beledweyne north of the capital Mogadishu, police and witnesses said Monday.
The latest fatalities come amid deadly clashes between breakaway Somaliland and Puntland, a pair of impovrished enclaves in northern Somalia, over the precise path of their frontier. Several people were killed.
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BAIDOA, Somalia Oct 16 - Somalia's petroleum minister says he does not believe it is the "right time" to explore for natural resources in the East African country torn apart by 17 years of civil war.
Oil Minister Abdullahi Yusuf Mohamed " Harare" told Garowe Online in an exclusive interview that the conditions on the ground in Somalia are not ready for oil exploration.
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Editorial: Garowe Online
The basis for the clan argument is evident in Las Anod today.
In much of the world, there is the generally held view that Somalia is a chaotic country that continues to defy international attempts to restore national order. Closer examination of this Horn of Africa country reveals a different picture that takes into account "local reality." In northern Somalia, for example, peaceful coexistence has reigned for years between the region's major clans.
Abu Bakr Hussein, 39, said he has not eaten properly since living in the open area of al-Basateen, a poor neighbourhood in the southern port city of Aden |
ADEN, 21 October 2007 - Abu Bakr Hussein, 40, was among 100 Africans who crossed the Gulf of Aden by boat to reach Yemen on 8 October. “Each of us paid US$60 to the smugglers but the journey was horrible,” he said.
Even worse were the conditions he soon found himself living in, accentuated by severe pain he began feeling in his left eye upon arrival in Yemen. "I don't know where to go for treating my eye; nor do I have money to buy medicine."
Somali Prime Minister Gedi |
BAIDOA, Somalia, 20 October 2007 - Somalia's interim prime minister urged the public to defend themselves against men in government uniform who are causing "mass displacement."
Prof. Ali Mohamed Gedi, the embattled Somali premier, returned to the southern town of Baidoa on Saturday after a three-day visit to the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.
UN, NewYork - Women are dying from complicated pregnancies and childbirth at almost the same rate they were in 1990, and 99 percent of deaths are occurring in developing countries, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia, according to a report issued Friday.
The report by three U.N. agencies and the World Bank found that maternal mortality declined at an average of less than 1 percent annually between 1990 and 2005.
Mogadishu, 18 October 2007 - At least eight people have been wounded six of them Puntalnd forces in a firefight in Bossaso town, the regional capital of Bari in eastern Somalia In mid of political hostilities in neighboring Sool Region.
The skirmishes took place between forces from the Semi-autonomous region of Puntaland and armed men in Qas and Raaxo neighborhood inside Bosaso town.
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Hargeysa, 20 October, 2007 (SL Times) – Somaliland Foreign Minister, Abdillahi Muhammad Duale warned Puntland that, “Somaliland forces will take ‘pre-emptive strikes’ against the enclave of Puntland and will attack its major cities, if it doesn’t stop its aggression against Somaliland.”
Speaking to the BBC World Somali Service on Wednesday, Duale reiterated his government’s commitment to secure “Somaliland’s borders from foreign aggressors.”
“Somaliland has lost patience with Puntland and will not sit by and watch, doing nothing, while its people and territory is under constant attack and terror,” Duale said.
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Las Anod, 20 October 2007 (SL Times) – Heavy fighting broke out in the early hours of Monday morning between Somaliland and Puntland’s forces in Las Anod, Sool region. This is the second time, in less than six weeks that the two sides have clashed in Las Anod.
More than 20 people were reported dead, and 30-40 wounded, in this latest escalation of hostilities between Somaliland Republic and Puntland. S/land and P/land have been virtually in a state of war, ever since P/land invasion of Las Anod in 2002.
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Yusuf Abdi Gabobe and Lord Avebury |
London, 20 October 2007 (SL Times) – Yusuf Abdi Gabobe, the chairman of Haatuf Media Network met Lord Avebury at his London home this week and discussed issues and topics relating to Somaliland and the region as a whole.
Lord Avebury is a tireless campaigner for democracy and how it could take root and develop in Africa and the Far East. Gabobe briefed the esteemed legislator about the situation of the media in Somaliland and drew his attention to the possibility that the government might abrogate Somaliland’s media law and replace it with a law that treats media-related issues as criminal offenses.
Journalist Bashir Nor Gedi |
Mogadishu, 19 October 2007 - The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) is deeply shocked by the Assassination of Media Executive of Prominent and Popular Radio station in Mogadishu.
Bashir Nor Gedi, Acting Chairperson and the Vice Chairperson of Shabelle Media Network was this evening, 19 October 2007, assassinated at his home in Wardhigley district of Hamarjadid neighborhood by unknown gunmen, according to his wife and his relatives.
The UN compound in Mogadishu was stormed by security forces |
Addis Ababa, 19 October 2007, Somali PM Ali Mohamed Ghedi has said the head of the World Food Programme in the country, who was arrested by troops on Thursday, is under investigation.
But Mr Ghedi did not say if any charges had been brought against Idris Osman.
The UN has protested strongly against Mr Osman's detention, but has said it has not yet received an explanation.
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“ Somaliland's military incursion into Las Anod as being propelled by the need to reach colonial-era boundaries”
MELBOURNE, Australia, 19 October 2007 – Ethiopia's decision to invade neighboring Somalia under the pretext of "protecting" that country's transitional government has transformed into 'a disastrous miscalculation,' an expert on Somali politics said.
Dr. Michael Weinstein, a professor at Purdue University in the United States, told Australia's SBS Somali-language radio service that Ethiopia is in a "weak position" nearly 11 months into the invasion.
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Addis Ababa, October 19, 2007 – Why is the U.S. subsidizing and supporting murder, rape, and systematic ethnic cleansing in the Horn of Africa? The reason: it's all part of our strategy for "victory" in the "war on terrorism."
The village of Kamuda – a remote outpost in the Ogaden region of eastern Ethiopia, where the majority are Muslims and ethnically Somali – had some unexpected visitors last June, when a platoon of Ethiopian soldiers showed up, announcing their arrival by shooting their rifles into the air – and demanding to know why the villagers had been providing food and safe haven to rebels from the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF). With no satisfactory answer forthcoming, the soldiers took action: they picked out seven young ladies, between the ages of 15 and 18, and dragged them off into the bush.
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ADDIS ABABA, October 19, 2007 - Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi on Friday expressed concern over escalating tension between Somaliland and Puntland and called for talks to avert further bloodletting.
The dispute over two small territories on the border erupted Monday into its worst fighting in years, killing as many as 20 people and wounding several others, with combat focusing on the region of Sool.
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Mogadishu, Oct. 18, 2007 - There are so many ways to die in Mogadishu. You can walk, as an old lady here recently did, into the path of a roadside bomb planted by Islamic rebels. The insurgents haven't perfected their timers. They missed the passing government patrol. The grandmother was decapitated.
Just as likely -- and lucklessly -- you might cross paths with renegade units of the half-starved government troops. Two weeks ago these forces shelled the Hawa Abdi displaced persons' camp with an anti-aircraft cannon. They wanted to steal the camp's donated food. Armed refugees fought back fiercely.
Commentary
Hargeysa, 20 October 2007 (SL Times) – None of us know when we might need the services of an effective human rights organization to defend us, our families, colleagues and communities, or even our way of life. What is certain is that we will need them at some point in our lives. That is why we all have an interest in making sure that the individuals who have chosen this difficult job are allowed to do their jobs without pressure and intimidation.
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Mr. Angel Villa Hernández, Director of the Sub-Sahara division of the Cuban Foreign Ministry presents Dr. Jhazbhay with a box of vintage Cuban cigars! |
Ohio, US, October 20, 2007 (UNISA) – Recently, the College of Human Science's Dr. Iqbal Jhazbhay presented research papers in Ohio in the USA and Havana in South America.
In the States, Dr Jhazbhay presented a paper underlying his 400-page study on Somaliland's rare stability in the Horn at the 2007 Triennial Ohio Congress on "Somali Studies in the 21st Century: Local and Global Perspectives"
The Somali Studies International Association recently celebrated 30 years of promoting interest in the Horn of Africa and knowledge of Somali studies (1978-2008).
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BAIDOA, Somalia Oct 16, 2007 – Legislators in Somalia continued their deeply divided debate about the fate of the country's interim Prime Minister today.
Some 160 MPs convened Monday at a warehouse in the southwestern town of Baidoa where parliament is based.
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Shaykh Sharif Shaykh Ahmad |
BBC Monitoring
Text of report by Somali independent Radio Gaalkacyo on 17 October
The chairman of the opposition Somali faction in Asmara, Shaykh Sharif Shaykh Ahmad, has denied that his faction has any involvement in the fighting in [disputed] Sool Region.
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LANDSDOWNE, Virginia, October 21, 2007 - Vice President Dick Cheney, ratcheting up the Bush administration's warnings to Iran, branded its government Sunday as "a growing obstacle to peace in the Middle East" and declared that United States and its allies "will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.
"The vice president's remarks, coming just days after President George W. Bush suggested that a nuclear-armed Iran could lead to "World War III," amounted to a one-two punch from the Bush administration.
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London, October 15, 2007 – Uncomfortable questions are being asked about Britain’s Somali immigrants - and the answers are by no means easy to find.
When Adam Dirir and his colleagues at Somali Voice take to the airwaves on Friday evenings, they face an image crisis.
Headline after headline has talked about Somali crime gangs terrifying communities.
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MINNEAPOLIS, October 16, 2007 – A noted Somali writer, whose role in Somali literature has been compared to Shakespeare's place in English, has been added to Hennepin County's "Ten Most Wanted" list for the rape of a 10-year-old girl a decade ago, authorities said.
Mahamud A. Isse, 72, of Minneapolis, is wanted on a felony bench warrant for criminal sexual conduct stemming from the alleged rape.
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BOSTON, October 17, 2007 - Two teens have pleaded guilty in the slaying of a 19-year-old youth who escaped with his family from war-torn Somalia only to be gunned down as he left a city park near his home.
Sixteen-year-old Eloy Sierra, of Randolph, and 17-year-old Mwase Potts, of Boston, pleaded guilty to manslaughter, assault with intent to kill and a gun charge in the killing of Abdirauf Abdullahi on June 25, 2006.
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The expulsion of Majeerteenya’s (Puntland) militias from Las Anod by the combined and coordinated efforts of Somaliland’s army and the people of Las Anod, and Somaliland army’s reaching of the outer limits of Somaliland’s borders, is such a momentous event in Somaliland’s history, people are still digesting what happened. Many questions are being asked: how did it happen? What made it possible for Somaliland to finally achieve what it could not achieve for many years? Why now? What’s next?
It’s too early to answer all of these and other related questions, but one thing is clear: Somaliland succeeded this time because it had the support of Las Anoders.
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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 Somali UAE community
A letter of appeal for cessation of hostilities to the leaders of Somaliland and Puntland.
We, the undersigned concerned citizens of Somaliland and Puntland appeal to the above mentioned leaders of both Somaliland and Puntland to stop all kinds of hostilities in the Sool region and resort to reason and peaceful dialogue in resolving the dispute. Read full text...
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By Liban Ahmed
Reports from the capital of Sool region, Las-Anod, indicate that the city is now under the control of Somaliland forces. The news is a massive blow to the Puntland administration that has financially backed the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia whose President and Prime Minister are now locked in a messy power struggle that has put the very existence of TFG at risk.
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Recover After Heart Surgery
By Hassan Abtidon
The first phase of heart surgery recovery can last from six to eight weeks. When the person you are caring leaves the hospital after heart surgery, you'll most likely be given a set of instructions on care. Those who have had minimally invasive surgery may have a shorter recovery time. Sometimes self-care instructions are given directly to the patient.
Some muscle or incision discomfort, itching, tightness, and/or numbness along the incision are normal after surgery. However, the pain should not be similar to what was experienced before surgery. Your loved one will be given a prescription for a pain medication before they leave the hospital.
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All Las-Anoders Are Winners
By Mohamed Sougal
Finally the exciting news we where hoping for come through the newsfeed early morning. Laaska was finally free. But sadly, one more time, Majertenia ragtag tag militia terrorized my birthplace before fleeing. Two weeks ago, two civilians were killed in the aftermath of their bloody defeat at the hands of Sool freedom fighters and Somaliland national army . Today, Garowe militia bullet sprayed Xaabsade house located in a densely populated area of Las-Anod.
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The Theories And Realities Of Kulmiye!!
By Yusuf A Abdi-Odowaa, London, UK
Kulmiye is the largest opposition party in Somaliland and purports that it represents a viable and successful alternative government to the present administration. However, how much are really fictitious and reality in Kulmiye’s many claims of holding the government accountable to the public?… In answering so, let’s highlight some of its many claims first;
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By Ahmed Kheyre, London, UK
With regard to the recent events in the Sool region of Somaliland let me re-assure you that Somaliland is peaceful nation striving to have an amicable relations with all its neighboring countries in the Horn Africa and the world.
However, Las-Anod is Somaliland. I would like to make this clear, the Puntland militia had invaded Las-Anod few years ago. Exercising patience and maturity Somaliland decided to resolve the issue peaceably.
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By Abdalle Farah Sigad
Las-Anod proved that no mighty military can ever seized the tiniest town if it doesn’t have the support of its inhabitants.
For very long time many people were blaming the current Somaliland administration by not making any effort to capture Las-Anod. But any sensible person knew that if Somaliland government tried to go in to Las-Anod without the approval of Las-Anod’s population, they would have never had the chance to capture it. “And Somaliland government’s approach was the correct one
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Dear sir/ madam
I would like to complaint about you editorial, "Somalis see through Majeerteenya’s flimsy claims” which sounds nothing more than utter racism. I think it’s not acceptable in this age to be openly racist like this whilst claiming to be a serious newspaper. Your editorial is obviously promoting the subjugation of specific people because of perceived characteristics. I am really disappointed that you are not able to refrain from such writings that do not add anything to relations in this global village we live in.
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| The situation in the Somali region of the Ethiopian State is morphing into an out and out humanitarian crisis due to the activity of rebels and the governing armed forces.
19 October 2007 The situation in Ogaden The region of Ogaden, also known as the Somali Region of Ethiopia is positioned in the South-West of the country and borders with the Afar region and the Djibouti Republic in the north, the region of Oromia in the south-west and with Somalia to the east. The region sprawls for 250,000 square kilometres and is in the centre of the Horn of Africa.
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Mogadishu, 17 October 2007 - The speaker of Somalia's parliament sheikh Adan Madobe has announced on Wednesday, that three senior officials of Somalia's government have received an official invitation from Ethiopia government and AU officials in the Ethiopian capital Addis-Ababa which is also the headquarter of AU.
As he was speaking at parliament session in the headquarter of Somalia's parliament in south-central trading town of Baidoa, he said that this move comes amid political battle between president Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed and his premier Ali Mohamed Gedi.
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Nairobi, October 15, 2007 - There are currently 13.1 million Jews in the world, including in Israel. This constitutes an increase of less than half a million, or only 4%, since 1970. The largest drop in Jewish population in the Diaspora occurred in the FSU countries and Eastern Europe, from where some one million Jews immigrated to Israel. The Jewish population in these countries stands at 450,000: 221,000 in Russia and 79,000 in the Ukraine. There has also been a significant drop in the number of Jews residing in Africa, where there are currently only 5,000 compared to 83,000 in 1970.
It was not the distance measured in miles that will linger in the minds of four members of the local Jewish community who recently traveled to Ethiopia. It was the distance they traveled in time.
By Elie Smith
October 16, 2007 – Presently, the desire to protect our environment sounds as though, it is a cheap trend that will soon go by. Environmental protection has become so popular that, even politicians who have the capacities of acting like chameleons and salesmen at the same time have jump onto the wagon. And this question: Is it a good thing, for such a noble course, that seems to have succeeded to transform a section of humanity into culpable people, to now be hijacked by politicians and other opportunists? This is another debate entirely. But in the current campaign to protect and also preserve our environment, in particular the wildlife and forest of Africa, it seems Africans are not interested or are kept at arms length by those leading the show.
Journalists Still Scapegoats Of African Political Crises
Reporters Without Borders
Press release
16 October 2007
Eritrea has replaced North Korea in last place in an index measuring the level of press freedom in 169 countries throughout the world that is published today by Reporters Without Borders for the sixth year running.
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17 October 2007
The Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) 12th national congress last month passed the party's "normal country" resolution. The party considers this a significant development that will have an impact on the presidential election next year and also serve as an index for party unity.
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PART I
HOW IT WAS CARRIED OUT
By Samanter H. Salah
FIRST DAY
In the morning of September 26 th, 2007, when the news was heard that the Residence of Dr. Yusuf Ali Haruun, the Somali President of the Supreme Court, in Baidoa had been raided and ransacked by unknown armed men and that he and another Court Judge were abducted, most people thought that this was nothing more than that the same baseless lie that had been circulated before.
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Anneka Buckle takes a break from Hollyoaks and is shocked at what the News reveals
It’s 7pm and Hollyoaks has just finished. Impending doom as I know it. As I look to my housemates who have merged into one giant sized coach potato, I secretly wonder to myself why on earth no one is reaching for the remote to flick over to the next episode. Doesn’t anyone care that the majority of the Hollyoaks cast have just been poisoned by Carbon Monoxide and may never see the light of day again?
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Iranian-born star Ashkan Dejagah |
Bonn, October 9, 2007 – The German Football Association (DFB) on Monday controversially backed Iranian-born star Ashkan Dejagah's decision to opt out of playing in this weekend's Israel versus Germany Under-21 European Championship qualifying match in Tel Aviv due to "personal reasons."
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| October 19, 2007 – During the past 15 years, almost $300 billion has been squandered on armed conflict in Africa, capital that could have been used to lift the continent out of extreme poverty and to prevent continued disease epidemics, a new study revealed.
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