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Issue 419/ 06th-12th January 2010

 

Suicide bombers strike in Somaliland

Africa's Best Kept Secret

Our Trip to Somaliland

Front Page

News Headlines

Somaliland’s Diplomacy In High Gear At African Summit

President Of Puntland Student Union Killed

Local and Regional Affairs

NATO Special Forces Storm Hijacked Ship, Free Crew

Pirates Aboard Libyan Vessel Fire On Somaliland Forces

Direct Flights To Somaliland Launched

Somaliland Journalists Meet With African Leaders And UN Secretary-General In Ethiopia

Reported Hijacking Of Cambodian Ship False

Battle Islamist Militia – IGAD

Editorial

The International Media And International Community Are Making The Somali Problem Worse

Features & Commentary

Fractionalized, Armed and Lethal: Why Somalia Matters

International News

Opinion

Demystifying The Iidoor Scapegoat Phenomena

Yusuf Garaad’s Abuse of the BBC Somali Service

LOCAL & REGIONAL AFFAIRS

New Global Health Partnership Strengthens Work In Somaliland

London, UK, February 06, 2010 – King’s Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre formally launched a new global health partnership with the Tropical Health and Education Trust (THET) on 4 February 2010.

Read full text.


By Samson Haileyesus
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, February 6, 2010 – Jama Mohamoud Omar, former chairman of Somaliland’s National electoral commission (NEC) has spoken out against what he called the electoral process in Somaliland falling into the hands of foreign institutions and is calling for the international community as well as Somaliland’s neighbors to do all they can towards helping Somaliland continue in its path towards democratization.

Read full text.


Danish special forces storm hijacked ship

BRUSSELS, February 06, 2010 — NATO special forces stormed a Slovenian cargo ship captured by pirates in the Gulf of Aden Friday, freeing the crew of 25 in an unprecedented operation, a spokesman for the EU's naval force said.

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Las Qoray, Somaliland, February 06, 2010 – A shoot-out erupted Thursday between pirates who seized a North Korean-flagged, Libyan-owned ship and coast guards in Somaliland, leaving one soldier dead, police said.
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Official from the Kenya Airport Authority moves dancers way from the runway after an East African Safari Air Express lands at the Kisumu Airport. The airline has launched direct flights to Somaliland. PHOTO/ JAMES NJUGUNA

Nairobi, Kenya, February 6, 2010 – Travelling to Somaliland is now easier with the launch of direct flights to the city of Hargeysa in the country by East African Safari Air Express. This follows the signing of a bilateral trade agreement between the airline and the Government of Somaliland last year.
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Moha Farah Jirde shakes hand of the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, February 6, 2010 (SL Times) — Reporters from Somaliland have been invited to the African Union summit in the Ethiopian capital who have been discussing a range of issues from security and conflict to development.

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The African Union: Get Still More Serious

The African Union mercifully fended off Libya’s leader, but it must do more if it wants to be listened to

Muammar Qaddafi, Libya’s clown of a leader

Addis Ababa, February 06, 2010 – IF THE African Union (AU) had allowed Muammar Qaddafi, Libya’s clown of a leader, to chair the continental body for another year, as he apparently desired, the rest of the world would rightly have consigned it to the dustbin of comic diplomacy. Mr Qaddafi, now the world’s longest-ruling dictator, with 41 years under his cartridge belt, has been re-embraced by some in the West as a reward for dropping his nuclear ambitions and because of his vast oil wealth.
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Reported Hijacking Of Cambodian Ship False

Berbera, Somaliland, February 6, 2010 – A Cambodian-flagged vessel believed to have been hijacked by Somali pirates was in fact detained by authorities at the port of Berbera in Somaliland on the Gulf of Aden, according to media reports published on Sunday.

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Battle Islamist Militia – IGAD

Addis Ababa, February 6, 2010 – A six-nation east African regional bloc on Monday urged Puntland and Somaliland to jointly battle Islamist militia which it said had extended to the areas.
The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) "noted in particular that the terrorist groups have recently expanded their acts of terrorism to the relatively stable regions of Somaliland and Puntland."

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World Cup Feared Target Of Al-Qaida

LONDON, February 06, 2010 – Intelligence reports are revealing that scores of al-Qaida-linked terrorists have been tracked from Somalia down through Africa into Zimbabwe, where its ostracized President Robert Mugabe reportedly has allowed them to hide while they prepare to launch attacks on international fans who will be attending the most prestigious soccer tournament – the FIFA World Cup, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

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Burundi Peace Troops 'Mutinied'

Mogadishu, Somalia, February 6, 2010 – Thirty-three Burundian soldiers accused of mutinying while serving in Somalia as peacekeepers have gone on trial. They are charged with refusing to obey orders in January 2009 in a protest over their salaries.

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Islamists Make Gains In Somalia's War

MOGADISHU, Somalia, February 06, 2010 – War-torn Somalia seems to be headed for a new spasm of bloodshed as al-Shabaab, the main Islamist faction that is aligned withal-Qaida, has been strengthened by merging with one of its main militia rivals while another fell apart.

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African Union Says Somalia Being Ignored

Addis Ababa, February 6, 2010 – A call for change rang loud and clear on the first day of the African Union’s summit in Ethiopia.
But the first appeal did not fall in favor of Libya’s leader Muammar Gaddafi who was blocked in his bid to stay on as chairman for another year.

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Racism Still Prevalent In St. Cloud

Attacks against Somali community show need for strong human rights office.

By Dr. Luke Tripp
St. Cloud, USA, February 6, 2010 – A packet of hateful and derogatory depictions of the Prophet Muhammad engaged in bestiality was stapled to the telephone pole outside Deko Farah’s St. Cloud shop in January 2010. This was not an isolated hateful incident, but many have attempted to frame this incident as a case of an individual bigot who was exercising his freedom of speech.

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Headlines

Saudi Agriculture Minister Defends Importation Of Somali Livestock

H.E. Dr. Fahd Bin Abulrahman Balghunaim leads inauguration of 'Saudi Agriculture 2009' and 'Saudi Agro-Food 2009 (photofile).

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, February 06, 2010 (SL Times) – The Saudi Minister of Agriculture, Dr Fahd Balghonaim, strongly defended the Saudi government’s decision to lift the ban on importing Somali livestock.

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Somaliland Army Celebrates 16th Anniversary

Hargeysa, Somaliland, February 06, 2010 (SL Times) – Somaliland’s army celebrated the 16th anniversary since its establishment.
The Commander of Somaliland’s National Army, General Nuh Ismail Tani gave a speech in celebration of the occasion. He started his speech by recalling that at the time of independence, Somaliland had a strong and well trained army called the Somaliland Scouts, but this army disappeared during the union with Somalia.
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President Dahir Rayale Kahin Meets Swiss Delegation

Hargeysa, Somaliland, February 06, 2010 (SL Times) – Somaliland President Dahir Rayale Kahin met with a delegation from Switzerland. The Swiss delegation was headed by Switzerland’s envoy to Sudan and the Horn of Africa, Mr Andrea Semadeni.

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Parliamentarian Nasir Ali Shire Accuses Sheikh Sharif’s Ministers Of Lobbying To Ban Somaliland Livestock Export

Hargeysa, Somaliland, February 06, 2010 (SL Times) – Eng. Nasir Ali Shire, a member of parliament from UCID party who has just come back from a trip to Saudi Arabia said that Sheikh Sharif’s ministers have lobbied the Saudi government to stop importing livestock from Somaliland.
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Las Anod, Somaliland, February 06, 2010 (SL Times) – An explosion took place in Las Anod Wednesday night, near al-Hamdi hotel.

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Las Qoray, Somaliland, February 06, 2010 (SL Times) – A Libyan owned but North Korean registered ship was hijacked by Somali pirates and was brought close to the town of Las Qoray in eastern Somaliland.

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Interpeace And Voter Registration Technicians Arrive In Somaliland

Hargeysa, Somaliland, February 06, 2010 (SL Times) – Members of Interpeace and voter registration technicians arrived in Somaliland this week.

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Somaliland Hosts School Syllabus And Terminology Meeting

Hargeysa, Somaliland, February 06, 2010 (SL Times) – Thirty two intellectuals, poets and academics from Somaliland, Puntland and south Somalia held a meeting in Hargeysa in order to set a standard for Somali terminology that could be used in teaching classes in elementary and middle schools.

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Somaliland Parliament Speaker Meets His Swedish Counterpart

Stockholm, Sweden, February 06, 2010 (SL Times) – Somaliland Parliament Speaker, Mr Abdirahman Muhammad Abdillahi (Irro) met with his Swedish counterpart Mr Per Westerberg. Mr Abdirahman Muhammad Abdillahi (Irro) was accompanied in the meeting by another member of Somaliland parliament.
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Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, February 06, 2010 (SL Times) – Somaliland Foreign Minister, Mr Abdillahi Muhammad Duale met with the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, John Carson. The meeting was held in Addis Ababa where the African Union summit was taking place.

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Bosaso, Somalia, February 06, 2010 (SL Times) – The President of Puntland Student Union, Mr Abdillahi Mahadi Sayidka, was shot in the head and chest in Bosaso and died instantly.
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Mogadishu, Somalia, February 06, 2010 (SL Times) – The leader of Hizb al-Islam, Hasan Dahir Aweys confirmed that his deputy, Hasan Turki, had left Hizb al-Islam and joined al-Shabaab.
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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Conrad Murray Hires Death Drug Lawyer In Michael Jackson Case

Prosecutors to Indict Michael Jackson's Doctor

Los Angeles, February 6, 2010 - Los Angeles prosecutors won't make a special exception for Dr. Conrad Murray, the physician accused of administering a lethal cocktail of painkillers and anesthetics to Michael Jackson, and want to charge the physician and hold him overnight just like any other accused perp, sources told ABC News.
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Toyota’s Chief Steps Forward To Apologize

“I deeply regret that I caused concern among so many people,” Akio Toyoda, president of Toyota Motor Corporation, said at a news conference on Friday. “We will do our utmost to regain the trust of our customers.”

NAGOYA, JAPAN, February 6, 2010 — The president of Toyota apologized at a hastily arranged news conference Friday night for the quality problems that led to the recall of more than nine million cars worldwide.

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Charisa Coulter and nine other Americans were charged Thursday in Port-au-Prince with abducting 33 Haitian children.

By MARC LACEY

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, February 6, 2010 — Ten Americans who tried to take 33 Haitian children out of the country last week without the government’s consent have been charged with child abduction and criminal conspiracy, as Haitian officials sought to reassert judicial control after the Jan. 12 earthquake.

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Omar Hassan al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, waved his cane to a crowd last month in Yambio, in southern Sudan.

By MARLISE SIMONS

Hague, February 6, 2010 – The president of Sudan, who is already facing an international arrest warrant, came under new legal scrutiny on Wednesday when appeals judges at The Hague reopened the possibility that he may be charged with genocide.
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A recent traffic jam in Pakistan between the border town of Chaman and Quetta. Lax security at the border allows Taliban fighters to slip back and forth.

CHAMAN, Pakistan, February 6, 2010 — The thick brown sack that a man named Abdulmalek carried over his shoulder on a recent afternoon might have contained anything: weapons, drugs or explosives. But crossing back and forth between Afghanistan and Pakistan was no problem, he said.
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FEATURES AND COMMENTERY

Jama Mohamoud Omar, previous chairman of Somaliland’s National Electoral Commission (NEC)

Following disputes over the conducting of elections in Somaliland which were initially slated for September 2009 SSI’s Samson haileyesus caught up with Mr. Jama Mohamoud Omar, previous chairman of Somaliland’s national electoral Commission (NEC) and discussed with him on the crisis leading up to the political stalemate, the challenges, roles played by donors and the way forward. Excerpts:

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Omar Yousuf and Amina Jireh, both Somalis, are part of a suit filed in the United States against a former Somali prime minister.

By RICHARD C. PADDOCK
Washington DC, February 6, 2010 – The three refugees from Somalia came to the Bay Area several years ago to escape the violence of their homeland, to put the terror behind them.
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By Sean McLachlan 

February 6, 2010 –There are some places you just can't consider for a vacation. While even Iraq has recently opened up to carefully handled tours, Somalia remains out of bounds.
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The Brookings Institution
February 03, 2010 — For the last few years, Somalia has held strong onto the top spot in both the Index of Failed States and the Fragile States Index.

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Our Trip to Somaliland

Africa's Best Kept Secret

People & Power - Best Kept Secret - 28 Oct 07- Part 1

People & Power - Best Kept Secret - 28 Oct 07- Part 2

Somaliland Deserves International Recognition

I traveled to Somaliland in June of this year at the end of 2 difficult years of my life......
It was a little intimidating being there at the start (Somaliland is an unrecognized state within Somalia) but I found a people consumed with demonstrating their civility and peacefulness, in very testing circumstances.
Having been there and spent time with the Somalilanders, I believe Somaliland deserves International Recognition of its Independence and that Countries that will not accept the de facto separation from the mess that is Somalia need to be pressed for a fuller explanation as to why they wont support 20 years of peaceful growth in a very difficult region.

Somaliland Electoral Laws Handbook
By Ibrahim Hashi Jama


Lessons For Somaliland From Kenya's Post-Election Violence

Role Of The Media In Somaliland Elections - New Report Published

Dr. Nicole Stremlau is Co-ordinator of the Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy and a Research Fellow in the Centre of Socio-Legal Studies

report examining the role of the media in the upcoming Somaliland elections in the light of lessons learned from Kenya, has been published in September 2009.

The report explores issues of media policy during post-election violence. We examine the case of Kenya, where 1,133 people were killed after the 2007 elections, to distill lessons for Somaliland’s upcoming elections. There are indications the elections in Somaliland will be highly contentious and that the media will have an important role in either exacerbating or alleviating political violence.

The intended audience for this report is journalists and policymakers in Somaliland as well as concerned international observers. We also expect that the issues drawn out here will be relevant for other countries in the region that are grappling with upcoming elections that have the potential of being highly contentious.

Download the report here: The Report or go to original source:

 http://pcmlp.socleg.ox.ac.uk/news/2009/role-media-somaliland-elections-new-report-published


Ayaan Needs Facial Reconstruction

Here is the transcript of the forthcoming video where Edna Adan appeals to the world to get help for a young woman whose face was destroyed when she was shot - shot in the face when she was only two years old!

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EDITORIAL

The International Media And International Community Are Making The Somali Problem Worse

If someone goes by the statements of the international community regarding Somalis he will get the impression that the international community is trying hard to solve the Somali problem while Somalis are contributing nothing toward solving their problem. Similarly if one reads the international media, one will get the impression that all Somalis are involved in lawlessness and piracy while the international media is providing objective and unbiased news and analysis of Somali problems. Such impressions are far from the reality. That is not to say that Somalis do not bear the primary responsibility for their present situation, or that the international community does not do some positive things for Somalis, or that the international media never sheds light on the Somali predicament, but it is to say that both the international community and the international media have done substantial damage to Somalis.

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OPINION

1969 Military Coup In Somalia Part XI

By Dr. Mohamed-Rashiid Sh. Hassan
This is the eleventh article of a series of articles that Dr. Mohamed-Rashid analyses the military coup and its legacy

The Regime’s Foreign Policy (Core Countries) continued ...

Somalia and the Arab World

The relationship between Somalia with Arab world stemmed at least from four main premises. Firstly, having a common Islamic faith, Islam reached the Somali coast before it reached Egypt. Secondly, the geographical proximity between Somalia and the Middle East is close. Thirdly, trade between the Somali coast and the Arab world existed for a long time and fourthly, the birth of Somalia’s nationalism and liberation struggle was very much linked to the Arab world, particularly Egypt.

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No Alternative To President Rayale

By Liban Obsiye
2010, without doubt, is one of the most crucial year for Somaliland and its people. It is a year of hope and dreams and a year to take the deserved opportunity to reflect upon a near decade of peace and political and social stability as well as growth.

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Riyale’s Kite Flying Exercise Goes Fiasco

By Mukhtar Mohamed Abby
The long awaited Presidential polls of Somaliland is just round the corner with the political parties of Somaliland are trying to score points over each other’s political shortcomings and weak points to bring to the fore in order to win the hearts and the minds of the people of Somaliland.

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Somaliland: A Country Suffering From Little Land Use

By Ahmed M. Elmi (Shawky)
I wonder sometimes, if the ever-growing populations of China or India ever know a country like Somaliland. A country of only 3.5 Million populations, a country the land exceeds its population and so are its resources, yet suffering from lack of exploitation.

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Demystifying The Iidoor Scapegoat Phenomena

Dear Abdul Rahman Hariri, 

I read your opinion piece entitled, “Response To What ICG Said About Las-Anod”. Read the ICG's comments: http://somalilandpress.com/11253/somaliland-las-anod-remains-isolated-as-american-secret-agent-arrives/

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Yusuf Garaad’s Abuse of the BBC Somali Service

By Mohamoud Hassan
Much has been written over the past years about the demise of the objectivity and impartiality of the programmes of the BBC Somali Service since Yusuf Garaad was appointed its editor in the late 1990s.

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FEATURES AND COMMENTERY

The Resurgence Of Al-Qaeda: The Bombs That Stopped The Happy Talk

It was too soon to say that Osama bin Laden’s followers were on the wane—but pessimism should not be overdone
February 6, 2010 – ONLY a few months ago, intelligence experts were saying that al-Qaeda and its allies were in decline, both militarily and ideologically.

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Iran And Israel In Africa: A Search For Allies In A Hostile World

Iran’s proclaimed ambitions in Africa are particularly worrying for Israel, which once had a lot of friends on the continent and wants to keep the few that remain
Dakar And Nairobi, February 06, 2010 – ARRIVING at the airport in Senegal’s capital, Dakar, you have a fair chance that the newish-looking taxi taking you into town will not be the usual French or Japanese model, but Iranian.

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Somaliland Times Newspaper: Publisher Haatuf Media Network, Published in Hargeysa, Somalilandnd


Editor in Chief: Yusuf Abdi Gabobe.


Assist-Editor: Abdifatah M Aideed


Somaliland Times Web Editor, Media and Technology specialist: Abdullah Mohamed Ahmed


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Hits since 25/02/2003

 

Any views or opinions are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Somaliland Times unless specifically stated. .