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From Lord Avebury
020-7274 4617
ericavebury@gmail.com
ericavebury.blogspot.com
January 24, 2009
Dear Mark,
Thank you for
your letter of January 19, following the brief discussion at
question time of Somalia on January 14.
I note that
contrary to public statements, there is no sign as yet of
the Ethiopians completing their withdrawal, and I wonder if
they have given any indication of the timetable?
Read full text...
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Search and seizure
crews from the U.S. Navy close in on Somali pirates
before apprehending them in the Gulf of Aden |
ABOARD THE USNS
LEWIS AND CLARK, February 13, 2009 — U.S. Navy and Russian
warships arrested 26 suspected pirates off Somalia in
separate operations this week, while a maritime watchdog
warned on Friday that attacks are stepping up as weather
improves and pirates look to replenish their haul after
releasing ships hijacked for ransom.
The latest arrests came Thursday, when an American
helicopter from the USS Vella Gulf fired warning shots at
gunmen in two skiffs that had opened fire and tried to board
the Indian-flagged vessel Premdivya.
U.S. forces searched the skiff and found weapons including
rocket-propelled grenades, then took nine suspected pirates
aboard the American ship, the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet said.
Read full text...
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CAIRO, February 11, 2009 — The U.S. Navy
has seized seven suspected pirates in the Gulf of Aden after
a merchant ship sent a distress call saying gunmen had tried
to board it from a skiff.
Lt. Nathan Christensen, a spokesman for the Bahrain-based
5th Fleet, says the Marshal Islands-flagged Polaris sent the
call on Wednesday afternoon.
The USS Vella Gulf raced to the location where U.S. sailors
boarded the skiff.
Christensen says the suspects were armed with AK-47s and
RPGs. They will eventually be handed over to Kenya.
It was the Navy's first arrest since a new U.S. anti-pirate
task force was established to deal with the escalating
piracy problem in the Gulf.
Read full text...
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Members of the Lundin
family are dealing with one another in a region where
numerous finds are being made.
Last month Canada’s
Africa Oil Corp pulled out of Puntland without paying
its local staff (AEI 596) but the group is far from being
broke: it has just debuted on six blocks in Ethiopia and
Kenya. Last week
Lundin Petroleum sold Africa Oil 85% of blocks 2, 6, 7
and 8 and 50% of the Adigala block in Ethiopia as well as
100% of blocks 10A and 30% of block 9 in Kenya.
The operation didn’t cost
the Canadian firm a cent. It was the seller,
Lundin Petroleum, which lent it the EUR 20 million
needed for the transaction. Africa Oil will pay Lundin back
in shares.
Read full text...
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Friday, February 13th, 2009 More than three million people
in Somalia, a third or more of the total population, will
remain dependent on humanitarian assistance this year,
according to a United Nations analysis.
So far this year, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) has
handed out 34,000 tons of food to some 3.4 million people
every month, according to the assessment by the UN Food
Security Analysis Unit (FSAU) on the strife-torn country,
which has been riven by factional fighting and has not had a
functioning central government since 1991.
Read full text...
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NAIROBI, February 14, 2009 — Somalia's new president on
Friday named Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke, a Canadian-Somali
national, as the war-torn country's new prime minister.
The new premier, the son of a former president but a
relative newcomer to Somalia's political scene, will face
the daunting task of forming an inclusive government and
restoring stability to the Horn of Africa country.
"I selected Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke to be the prime
minister of Somalia and I wish him success, and I will do my
best in my capacity as president to help the premier fulfill
his duties," President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed said,
reading a statement at a special reception ion Djibouti.
Read full text...
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By Akwei Thompson
Washington, DC, February 08 2009 – The International
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is
reporting that populations in large areas of Kenya and the
Horn of Africa are now facing an exceptional humanitarian
crisis that requires urgent food assistance. The IFRC says
the combined effect of high worldwide food prices and a
crippling drought are seriously jeopardizing the lives,
livelihoods, and dignity of up to 20 million people in rural
and urban communities.
The Federation’s Nairobi-based communications manager,
Andrei Neacsu who just returned from northern Kenya tells
Nightline’s Akwei Thompson the situation is reaching
alarming proportions in some of the worst affected areas.
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By Nelima Kerre ,
TC
Daily Planet
February 11, 2009
Leaders of the Somali and
Muslim communities came out in a united front February 10 to
address what they called “the inaccurate and unfair
portrayal of our mosques and Imams.” Mid last year, about 20
Somali men were reported to have gone back home to fight a
holy war. The
Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center
was rumored to be connected to their disappearance.
Read full text...
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By Nelima Kerré , TC Daily Planet
February 11, 2009
After the disappearances of young Somali men over the past
few months, some youth complained that the negative press
has resulted in repeated FBI interrogations. Samiya Ahmed,
Rukia Mohamed and Sarah Qaxiya were Facebook friends with
some of the missing. The authorities went to Samiya’s house
with photos of the missing men asking her if she knew any of
them.
“When they came to my house, it took me by shock. I have
never had any encounters with the law,” said the Normandale
student. “I even received a phone call the day before
inauguration day asking if I know anyone who is going to
bomb the inauguration,” she added.
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By Bob Collins
Filed under:
Crime and Justice
February 9, 2009 Officials at
a local mosque have scheduled a Tuesday news conference to
confront
growing rumors that
they are helping to receuit young Somali men to fight on
behalf of Islamic extremists in Somalia. The news conference
comes after the Star Tribune asked -- but did not answer --
the question of the mosque's involvement
in an article today.
Two weeks ago,
National Public Radio reported
on the disappearance of young Somalis in several U.S. cities
and, like the Star Tribune, it seemed to implicate the
Abubakar mosque in Minneapolis.
Read full text...
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HARGEISA,
Somaliland, Feb. 10, 2009 – Authorities of Somaliland
Tuesday welcomed the election of the new Somali President, a
rare move by the Somaliland's officials, as the state seek
independence from the rest of the war-torn Horn of Africa
country.
Vice President of Somaliland, Ahmed Yusuf Yasin, said that
his government can work with the new Somali administration
of President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed who was elected in
parliamentary vote in neighboring Djibouti where the Somali
legislature held its session late in January.
Read full text...
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Deputy prime
minister Abdallah Bos Ahmed has asked the opposition
movements to put down their weapons, while also inviting
them to join the government and participate in the
reconstruction and stabilization of the country. Bos Ahmed
stressed the importance of having the support of the
opposition in what he called "a new phase for Somalia" in
keeping with a similar invitation offered yesterday by the
new president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed who spoke of
'national reconciliation in welcoming a suggestion from the
clans to mediate between the government and the armed
opposition.
Read full text...
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Headlines |
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Somalia’s New Prime Minister |
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Somalia's
Prime-minister,
Omar Abdirashid
Ali Sharmake |
Djibouti, February 14,
2009 (SL Times) –
Reports from Djibouti
indicate that Omar
Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke,
the son of Somalia’s
last civilian president
was chosen as Somalia’s
prime minister. This
does not come as a
surprise since news of
Omar Sharmarke’s likely
appointment has been
circulating for days.
Read full text...
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Somaliland Official Says No US Residents Being Held As Terror
Suspects |
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Somaliland Interior Minister, Abdillahi Erro
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By Alisha Ryu
Nairobi, Kenya, February 10, 2009 – Officials in the
republic of Somaliland say reports it is holding more than a
dozen U.S. residents as possible terrorist suspects are not
true. The reports have fueled speculation that 20 Somali men
who were living in the United States have been recruited by
the radical al-Shabab group to destabilize Somaliland and
other parts of Somalia.
Read full text...
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Somaliland Security Forces Arrest Seven Pirates In Berbera |
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, February 14,
2009 – The Somaliland National guard based in the city of
Berbera apprehended 7 Somalia pirates from the Somali state of
Puntland - the pirates were believed to be highly armed and were
planning carrying out attacks in the Gulf of Aden through the
red sea shipping lines.
The Somaliland national guard successfully halt their nasty
operations, after the special Coast guard forces received a tip
from the Somaliland intelligence agency, the Puntland men have
been followed for weeks before their arrests were made in
Somaliland waters.
Read full text...
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Dahir Riyale Kahin, President
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Hargeysa, Somaliland Feb 14, 2009 – The vice president of
Somaliland has told a Monday press conference that his comments
on Somali unity were misunderstood.
Mr. Ahmed Yusuf Yasin, Somaliland's vice president, told the
press conference in Hargeysa that his comments were directed to
new Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed as a "warning" not to
interfere with Somaliland affairs.
Read full text...
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Dhaka, Feb 7, 2009 – PRAN Export Ltd, a local private company,
will export processed agro-food products worth US$15lakh to
Hadrawi Trading Establishment of Somaliland over the next one
year.
An agreement to this effect was signed between PRAN Export Ltd,
a concern of the PRAN-RFL Group, and Hadrawi Trading
Establishment at National Press Club in the city on Sunday.
Read full text...
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Prof.
Abdihakim Y. Khaire |
Hargeysa, February 13, 2009 — A Somaliland Political Analyst and
a Classmate of the New Somali PM Omar praises President Sherif
for the appointment:
“The right choice for the right job at the right time,” that is
how Professor Abdihakim Yusuf Kheire has described the
appointment of the New Somali PM Mr. Omar A/Rashid Ali Sharmarke
in an exclusive interview SomalilandPress Today in Hargeysa.
Read full text...
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DUBAI, February 13, 2009 – An al Qaeda leader, in a video
released on Islamist websites on Friday, urged Somali militants
to step up attacks against Somalia's new moderate government,
which he dismissed as U.S.-backed.
"Aim your arrows towards them..., direct your battles against
them and intensify your campaign against them," Abu Yahya al-Libi
said on the video. He called for a jihad, or holy war, against
the new government of Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, a moderate Islamist
who was elected late last month as president.
Read full text...
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US
House Approves Obama’s $787 Billion Stimulus Plan
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Barack Obama said
that approval of the stimulus plan was "critical" |
New York, February 13, 2009 – The US House of Representatives
has approved President Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan,
which is now being voted on by the Senate.
The process will go on for several hours to allow a senator who
is away from Washington to return to the capital and cast his
vote.
The $787bn (£548bn) plan failed to get any Republican backing in
the House.
Earlier on Friday, Mr Obama said that Congressional approval of
the stimulus plan was "critical".
If the Senate backs the package of tax cuts and spending,
designed to rescue the ailing US economy, the president will be
able to sign it into law.
Read full text...
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Buffalo, February 14, 2009 – Thursday's upstate plane crash
claimed 9/11 activist Beverly Eckert's life, but left untouched
her legacy of helping to better guard the nation against terror
strikes, fellow advocates said Friday.
Eckert, of Stamford, Conn., was among the 50 killed when
Continental Connection Flight 3407 out of Newark crashed into a
house. She was traveling to Buffalo to present a scholarship
that she set up after her husband, Sean Rooney, died in the 2001
attacks.
"She continued to participate in the life of our school
community" after her husband's death, school president John
Knight said. "She did everything she could to take this tragic
event of Sean's passing and have something positive come of it,"
Knight said. "She loved Canisius High School, and we loved her."
Read full text...
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Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, left, greets the
crew members of the Ukrainian ship MV Faina at Kiev's
Boryspil International Airport, Friday, Feb. 13, 2009.
The Ukrainian cargo ship Faina which was hijacked by
Somali pirates with its 20-man crew, and carrying tanks
and other heavy weapons was released Thursday Feb. 5,
2009, after pirates received an airdropped ransom of
$3.2 million. |
By MARIA DANILOVA
KIEV, Ukraine, February 13, 2009 — Twenty tired, joyful sailors
stepped off a plane into the arms of tearful wives and loved
ones Friday after months in the hands of Somali pirates who
hijacked their ship and its cargo of heavy weaponry.
The celebration at Kiev's airport ended a long and frightening
ordeal for the surviving crew of the MV Faina — 17 Ukrainians,
two Russians and a Latvian — and a nail-biting wait for their
relatives back home. Pirates seized the Faina off the Horn of
Africa on Sept. 25 and released it last week, speeding off in
skiffs with a $3.2 million ransom dropped to the deck by
parachute.
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Burhan Hassan, in 2005, after having
received a certificate from the Abubakar mosque in
Minneapolis. When he went missing, he was a senior in
high school. By all accounts, he was a good student and
was supposed to graduate on time in May. His mother
wanted him to go to medical school. He disappeared Nov.
4, calling his mother two days later to say he was in
Somalia. Courtesy of Osman Ahmed |
By
Dina Temple-Raston
Minnesota, February 5, 2009
Just hours before President Barack Obama took the oath of
office, the FBI had word from overseas of a possible terrorist
attack. The threat was linked to a Somali hard-line jihadist
group called al-Shabab, or The Youth.
The threat came at a time when
the FBI was focused on what looked like a massive recruitment
effort of young men from Somali communities in the U.S. As many
as two dozen of them have disappeared from Minneapolis alone in
the past year.
Federal agents are worried
these young men are training in Somalia and could end up
returning to the U.S. to launch a terrorist attack.
Read full text...
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Mohamed Egeh Killeh
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TO: THE AMERICAN CONGRESS
From: Somaliland Ecological Society (SES) LNGO,
Hargeysa, Somaliland
Contact: Mohamed Egeh Killeh
Mail
mekilleh2@yahoo.com
Mob: 00252-2-4459235
Tel: 00252-2-517826
Date: February 12, 2009
Before the collapse of the Military Regime of Siyad Bare in
1991, it was the government’s intention to establish a national
park within Bushbush Game Reserve, 1975 -1976.
The writer was counterpart to the UNDP/FAO funded development
project: FO/DP, SOM/72/012 of “strengthening of forestry and
wildlife management project”.
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Nairobi, Feb 11, 2009 -- A controversial comment by the top U.N.
envoy to Somalia "motivates" those who have carried out recent
fatal attacks against journalists in the war-torn country, the
head of the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) said
Wednesday.
Earlier this month, the U.N. special representative for Somalia,
Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, compared the role of Somalia's media with
the infamous Rwandan radio station that was used to incite
participation in the 1994 genocide in that country.
Read full text...
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Somali President
Sharif Sheikh Ahmed Sharif |
DJIBOUTI, February 12, 2009 – Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed was
recently elected President of Somalia at a parliamentary
meeting in Djibouti. Before returning to Mogadishu where he
will appoint a prime minister and form a government, Ahmed
talked to IRIN about the challenges ahead. Below are
excerpts:
IRIN: What are the biggest challenges facing your
administration?
Ahmed: The biggest obstacle is trying to get people to
believe and have hope again that things can and will get
better. The people have suffered and are still suffering.
They have been divided. Rebuilding the unity of our people
and nation will be one of our biggest challenges. Every time
they were hopeful, they were knocked back again. We must
keep this hope alive.
We also face the task of building government institutions
from scratch. We are basically broke and the country broken.
All these in my opinion are obstacles we will have to deal
with urgently.
Read full text...
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In
Somalia, Conflict Prevents Learning
African Union Mission to
Somalia (AMISOM) military tanks patrol the streets of
Somalia's capital Mogadishu, February 9, 2009 |
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By HENRY OWUOR in Nairobi
February 10 2009
In Summary
NGO says many parts of Somalia have no schools and in some of
the few child-friendly centers, where children can learn, girls
are rewarded with one kilogram of cooking oil if they
consistently attend school for 23 days.
Somalia has no government-run schools especially in the south
central area that includes Mogadishu, an NGO has said.
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Somalia’s Government: An Exercise In Futility? |
The selection of Sheikh
Sharif as Somalia’s president and the appointment of Omar
Abdirashid Sharmarke as prime minister has brought an end to
speculation about the holders of Somalia’s top government jobs.
The line up is now clear, and is made up of two moderate sheikhs
(Sheikh Sharif as president, Sheikh Adan Madoobe as speaker of
parliament) and a western educated prime minister. All of this,
plus Sheikh Sharif’s numerous conciliatory announcements may
give some, particularly the international community, a sense of
optimism about Somalia’s future.
Read full text...
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ANNOUNCEMENT |
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A presentation
about Somaliland by Professor Fredrick Michael Lorenz and
Jamal Gabobe
Title: Supporting
the Unrecognized Government of Somaliland: Developing State
Capacity and the Rule of Law.
Location:
University of Washington, Law School, William H. Gates Hall,
Room 117.
Date: Feb.25, 2009
Time: 12:30-1:20 pm |
OPINION |
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Does Kulmiye Have A Misyar Marriage With
Sheikh Sharif? |
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By Ahmed M.I. Egal
There has been a spate of reports recently in the Somaliland
press that a contingent of Kulmiye supporters from the UK
attended the recent Djibouti conference that elected Sheikh
Sharif Ahmed as President of Somalia. In addition, it has
also been reported that this contingent held at least one
secret meeting with the new President of Somalia, and that
the two sides have agreed to meet again in Mogadishu in
early April. This date is significant in that it is
immediately after the Somaliland elections which are
scheduled for end-March 2009. The reports continue that the
two parties have reached a secret agreement that if Kulmiye
wins the upcoming Presidential elections, they will agree to
a form of federal structure uniting Somaliland & Somalia.
Read full text...
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Somalia - Puntland Demography
And Dhulbahante’s Fate |
By Abdulaziz Al-Mutairi
My latest article titled ´Puntland Parliament Appoint Pirate
President´ about manner that president was elected and
demography in Puntland. I highlighted the Majeerteen tribe
makes about 60% of total population of "Puntland", which
triggered anger between the readers and many emails
criticized the statistics demanding correction of number of
population in "Puntland".
However, after these angry emails on the "Puntland"
demography, I did research on the matter and referred many
books, including surveys by foreign writers like John
Anthony Hunt – Geologist and Writer in beginning of 20th
Century. Hunt, was Governor of Somaliland Protectorate and
traveled across land called today "Puntland". Hunt surveyed
the population of both British Somaliland and "Puntland"
between 1940 and 1950. Britain ruled "Puntland" during
aforesaid period after defeating Italy.
Read full text...
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Somalia: Starting New Era, Or
Reinventing The Wheel? |
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By Dalmar Kaahin
The same Islamic Court Union I.C.U that U.S.—Ethiopia
coalition toppled and accused of having ties with Al—Qaeda
in 2006 came to power in January 2009, not because from the
barrel of a gun, but because of a popular vote.
However, the U.S. and the International community continue
driving a wedge between Somali groups. The West shamelessly
continues dividing the Somali factions into moderates and
extremist. In June 2008, I have predicted dividing the I.C.U
along moderates and extremist will not only undermine the
Somali liberation efforts but will also complicate any
future peace conferences. Read the article entitled, “U.S.
Wins Dividing the Islamic Court Union”
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Bottom - Up Approach For
Somali Conflict |
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Abdirahman Ibrahim Abdillahi
We need a man who is capable to negotiate with his opponents
and also capable to reach a tangible peace. A leader with
charisma is in the need of the hour; should sheriff have the
support of the larger sections of the Islamic court
enthusiasts then he should utilize their backing to improve
the security situations and rule of the law of the country.
The people of Mogadishu should learn from the past and
correct the past mistakes because they alone are responsible
for what is happening in Mogadishu and they alone are
capable to shut their differences. To make things easier
Mogadishu city dwellers should understand better or learn as
much about the other peoples concerns or situations. The
people of Mogadishu must realize that they bear great
responsibility for the failure of the Somali state. And for
that the people of Mogadishu must spearhead any rescue
mission to Somali crisis.
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Dr. Terry Lacey
Indonesia has become a net oil importer, has left OPEC and
lacks the refinery capacity to optimize downstream use of
its own oil. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) and
state oil and gas company Pertamina recently announced
ambitious plans to build two new refineries and expand a
third.
Just one new refinery at Banten will cost at least US$4.2
billion, accounting for about one quarter of the new
installed capacity, so the whole package will easily cost
US$15 to US$20 billion, between 2010 and 2015, with final
cost estimates yet to be announced.
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By Ibrahim Hassan Gagale
What the Vice President of Somaliland, Ahmed Yussuf
Yasin, said in the Udub press conference held in Hargeysa on
February 8, 2009 was both shocking and appalling and amounts
to treason against Somaliland independence and international
recognition. The treasonous statements of the Vice
President, Ahmed Yussuf Yasin, and the suspension of
Somaliland Passport by Djibouti Authority subsequently
following the recent meeting held in Djibouti between Dahir
Riyale and Nuur Adde clearly show a plot against Somaliland
sovereignty devised in the meeting.
Read full text...
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The Scheduling Of Somaliland Election |
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Ahmed Ali Ibrahim Sabeyse
Without going into the full details of the laws regulating
the timing of the elections, the National Elections
Commission, in consultation with the national political
parties and the donor nations that finance Somaliland
elections, is the sole authority that recommends the exact
timing of any election. Whether an election is moved
forward, held on a previously agreed upon date, or
rescheduled is the sole prerogative of our National
Elections Commission.
Read full text...
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Somalia Stumbles Along With
Sharif |
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J.Peter Pham, PhD
February 12, 2009
Somalia headed the list last month in
my annual review of what would likely be Africa’s most
significant conflicts or flashpoints this year. At that
time, I observed:
For the third year in a row, New Year’s Day finds the
greatest threat to African security to be the chaotic
conditions prevailing in the territory of what was, until
1991, the Somali Democratic Republic. As difficult as it is
to imagine, the internationally-recognized “Transitional
Federal Government” (TFG), the fourteenth such attempt at a
national framework for governance since the dictator Mohamed
Siyad Barre fled from the presidential palace seventeen
years ago this month, is even weaker now than it was just
one month ago when I
described its authority here as “largely notional,”
since its writ barely extended beyond a few blocks in
Mogadishu and in the provincial town of Baidoa where the
rump legislature has been holed up.
Read full text...
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Ken
Menkhaus |
Author: Ken Menkhaus
Feb 9, 2009
President Barack Obama has inherited a dangerous and
fast-moving crisis in Somalia—one with profound implications
for regional and international security. While some within
the new administration will be tempted to continue to place
short-term counterterrorism goals ahead of a more
comprehensive strategy approach as was done during the Bush
administration, the shortcomings of this approach are
abundantly clear: violent extremism and anti-Americanism are
now rife in Somalia due in large part to the blowback from
policies that focused too narrowly on counterterrorism
objectives. The new U.S. national security team must make a
clean break by defining and implementing a long-term
strategy to support the development of an inclusive Somali
government.
Read full text...
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By LEN WENGRAF
February 13 - 15, 2009
U.S.-BACKED Ethiopian troops withdrew from their remaining
positions in Somalia at the end of January, bringing an end
to a two-year occupation carried out in the guise of the
"war on terror."
The Ethiopian Army invaded Somalia in December 2006,
overthrowing the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) government
and installing the Transitional Federal Government (TFG).
Two years later, approximately 10,000 people have lost their
lives, and 1.1 million Somalis were turned into refugees,
the victims of Ethiopian occupiers and an ongoing civil war.
From the beginning, the TFG, though backed by the U.S., was
weak, maintaining control in only a small area of the
capital of Mogadishu, and some regions of western Somalia.
Several thousand African Union troops--including
U.S.-trained Ugandan forces--ostensibly bolster the TFG, to
little effect. The U.S. also intervened directly in Somalia
with sporadic air strikes.
Read full text...
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By Greg Mills
February 11, 2009
Over the past fortnight, violence in Madagascar has flared,
leaving over 100 dead, with supporters loyal to opposition
figure Andry Rajoelina and looters clashing with the police
and military under President Marc Ravalomanana.
On the face of it, Rajoelina, the mayor of the capital,
Antananarivo, known to all as "TGV", is angry because the
president closed down his Viva television and radio stations
late last year for having aired a speech by former (now
exiled) president Didier Ratsiraka.
Read full text...
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Tony Iltis
6 February 2009
Somalia is often cited by Western politicians and
journalists as the archetypical “failed state”, with no
functioning state since the collapse of the last central
government in 1991, and with power contested by warlords,
Islamists, clan militias, armed criminal gangs and even
pirates.
In this mainstream media narrative, military intervention by
the West or Western proxies is justified both to lessen the
suffering of the country’s people and prevent neighboring
countries from being destabilized. Indeed, the existence of
such “failed states” has become one of the main
justifications for Western militarism.
Read full text...
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JOHN CHERIAN
Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed of the Islamic Courts Union is
sworn in as the new President of Somalia following the
withdrawal of Ethiopian troops.
THE election of Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed
as the new President of Somalia is being viewed as a welcome
development on the African continent. His election comes two
years after Ethiopian forces occupied the capital Mogadishu
and ousted the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) from power.
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by Bob Collins
February 12, 2009
There are few relationships on the planet these days worse
than the one between the Somali community in the Twin Cities
and news organizations which don't know how to cover it.
There's plenty of fallout following coverage in the last
week of rumors/allegations that a Minneapolis mosque had
something to do with
the
disappearance of young Somali men. On Thursday
night, the
Minnesota News Council sponsored a panel to try
to repair the damage that the story, and other coverage of
Somalis, has caused.
The panelists were:
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Somali
refugees in the Hagadera camp, in Dadaab, Kenya (E.
Hockstein | UNHCR) |
Lee Wengraf analyzes the situation in
Somalia after Ethiopian forces have withdrawn
February 9, 2009
U.S.-BACKED Ethiopian troops withdrew from their remaining
positions in Somalia at the end of January, bringing an end
to a two-year occupation carried out in the guise of the
"war on terror."
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