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International News
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Opinion |
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Distributing
relief food (file photo):Congestion at the Djibouti port,
land-locked Ethiopia's main access to the sea, is delaying
food delivery to thousands affected by drought, high food
prices and low global food stocks
ADDIS ABABA, March 4, 2009 (IRIN) - Beneficiaries of food
aid in Ethiopia could face tougher times unless supplies
that are stuck in Djibouti port arrive quickly in the
country, sources said.
Officials blamed congestion at Djibouti port, land-locked
Ethiopia's main access to the sea, but insisted the
situation was improving.
"It was a problem during October and December," Mitku Kassa,
Ethiopia's Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development,
said. "Through negotiation and discussions with the
officials, especially Dubai Port World, which manages the
port, and STDV, the port agency, the [situation] is
improving."
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Djibouti, Mar 4, 2009 –
Ambassador of Finland to Ethiopia Kirsti Aarnio presented
her Letters of Credence to President Ismail Omar Guelleh of
Djibouti on 26 January. Ms Aarnio is the first Finnish
ambassador to Djibouti. Official diplomatic relations
between Finland and Djibouti were established already on 14
March 2007.
In the formal ceremony, Ambassador Aarnio was accompanied by
Second Secretary Anssi Kullberg and Conflict Advisor
Simo-Pekka Parviainen from the Finnish Embassy in Addis
Abeba.
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San’a, Yemen, March 05, 2009 – Yemen and France are planning
an artificial harbor off Yemen's Perim Island to help the
international campaign against piracy in the region, A
French diplomat said.
Speaking after French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner met
Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Saleh, the diplomat said:
"This anchorage will facilitate the missions" of vessels
helping in the counter-piracy fight.
France, Yemen and Djibouti are preparing a letter of intent
on an "agreement in principle" to create the harbor on Perim,
which lies in a strategic location at the entrance to the
Red Sea between Yemen and Djibouti, the diplomat added.
Kouchner said he and Saleh explored ways their countries
could join forces to battle against high-seas piracy.
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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE
London, March 5, 2009 – Amnesty International today warned
that 2.2 million people face the risk of starvation and
disease following yesterday’s decision by the Sudanese
government to expel more than 10 aid agencies, including
Oxfam, Care, Save the Children and Medecins Sans Frontieres.
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Thursday, 05 March 2009
Countries in Africa and the Arabian Gulf must work together
to form strong political and economic ties, economist
argues.
According to a recent article in the Harvard Business
Review, the average annual return on investment in Africa is
between 65 and 70 per cent higher than in any other country.
However, according to Peter Croll, director of the Bonn
International Centre for Conversion, the media often does
not portray the correct picture of Africa. And this has
negative consequences for the way potential investors view
Africa as an investment region. The BICC is a German
research institute promoting peace and development.
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Paris, March 4, 2009 – Reporters Without Borders strongly
condemns Deputy Prime Minister Abdirahman Ibbi's statements
yesterday on Radio Garowe criticising Somalia's independent
news media and threatening to combat them. Ibbi is both
deputy premier and minister of fisheries and marine
resources in the new national unity government.
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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
London, March 4, 2009 – Amnesty International is calling on
armed opposition groups and government forces in Somalia to
cease all indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks and to
take all feasible precautions to avoid loss of life and
injury of civilians. Last week’s fighting in the Somali
capital, Mogadishu, resulted in some 40 deaths and at least
241 injuries, including to at least 70 women and children,
though this toll may be higher.
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Turin, March 06, 2009 – Mo Farah underlined
his status as favourite for the 3,000 metres title at the
European Indoor Championships on Friday with an assured
performance in Turin.
Farah, who has twice broken the British record this season,
eased down to finish third in his heat at the Oval Lingotto
to qualify comfortably for tomorrow's final.
The 25-year-old ran the opening laps at the back of the
field before surging to the front with seven laps remaining,
eventually strolling across the line in eight minutes 03.26
seconds, almost half a minute outside the national record he
set in Birmingham a fortnight ago.
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We
Should Be In Mogadishu |
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Written by Owei Lakemfa
Friday, 06 March 2009
THE Umaru Yar’ Adua government had pledged Nigeria’s commitment
to transform Somalia from a failed state based on anarchism to a
country with a central government based on the rule of law.
Under the auspices of the African Union (AU) the government last
August reiterated its commitment to sending 850 troops as part
of an African Peace Keeping Force in Mogadishu .
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Wednesday 04 March
2009
FRANCE 24's Marie-Sophie Joubert is embedded with the French
Navy in the Gulf of Aden. Today, her notebook tells the story of
Sebastian, a helicopter pilot who looses his mojo when his
"bird" is on the ground.
Deprived of his "better half", he wanders around aimlessly.
Sebastian D. is a helicopter pilot without a helicopter: under
the Top Gun uniform, the mojo is gone. His Panther B 6452
helicopter is broken. It’s an oil leak, nothing too serious, but
serious enough to keep it on the ground for five days. In other
words, forever.
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Headlines |
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Somaliland’s President Visits Britain |
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Somaliland
president Dahir
Riyale (right)
met David
Milliband,
British Foreign
Secretary in
London
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London, UK, March 7,
2009 (SL Times) –
Somaliland’s President
Dahir Rayale Kahin has
paid an official visit
to the United Kingdom
this week. So far, he
has met with Britain’s
Minister of Foreign
Affairs, David Miliband
and other foreign
ministry officials.
During the meeting,
Somaliland President
Kahin conveyed to the
British foreign minister
the long-standing
relations between
Britain and Somaliland
and how those relations
could be deepened and
strengthened
Read full text...
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President Dahir Riyale Speaks At Chatham House In London |
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Somaliland's
President Dahir Rayale Kahin speaks in front of the
Chatham House in London
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Transcript of Rayale’s Speech about Somaliland’s Role In
The Stability Of The Horn Of Africa
Chatham House
Friday 6 March 2009
Friday 6 March
2009
Mr Chairman, I would like to thank you, for inviting me to
Chatham House. I am extremely delighted to be here with you
this afternoon, to speak about the issue of recognition of
Somaliland among others.
I would like to emphasis the success story of Somaliland
which by and large the international community failed to
recognize. A success story that is basically considered as a
miracle achievement attained by Somalilanders, without
tangible assistance.
Over the years our administration has taken a series of
steps towards a nation building process from 1991. This
process was long and painstaking one, it constituted
reconciliation, demobilization and institutional processes
through homegrown bottom up approach. Which by and large
became a model for nation building.
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Somaliland: Opposition Supporters Demonstrate In Burao |
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, March 7, 2009
– The supporters of the Somaliland’s political opposition party,
KULMIYE on Wednesday organized a demonstration in Burao in
supporting the party’s position about the coming elections. The
party said they will not support any postponement of the
elections and they will not recognize the legitimacy of the
government after the 6th of April 2009. And also KULMIYE party
argued the Parliament to form a transitional government to
organize the elections in May 2009.
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Photo group by president Riyale's
delegation and British MPs from All party Somaliland
Group at Westminster |
London, UK, March 7, 2009 – Somaliland’s president, Dahir Rayale
Kahin and his delegation, currently on an official visit to the
United Kingdom met with members of the All Party Somaliland
Group at the Houses of Parliament in London on Friday.
Mr. Alun Michael MP, the chair of the All-Party Parliamentary
Group for Somaliland welcomed President Rayale and his
delegation to the House of Commons.
The Somaliland delegation was also accompanied by the Speaker of
the Somaliland Parliament, Mr. Abdirahman Mohamed Abdillahi.
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Somali men – both young and old – must be engaged in the
struggle to end violence against women and girls.
In Somalia, many women and girls are silent victims of violence,
human trafficking, beatings, rape, child marriage, and female
genital mutilation. Violence causes death, sickness, disability
and trauma. The majority of the women and girls lack proper
avenues to report their plight, and many remain silent out of
fear of being ostracized or killed by their own families.
Violence is too often shrouded in silence and too seldom
punished.
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Sheikh
Hassan Dahir Aweys - Photo from AP |
NAIROBI, March 7, 2009 – Somalia's new president is another
Ethiopian stooge, a traitor to Islamists and his opponents will
battle until they impose Islamic law, opposition leader Sheikh
Hassan Dahir Aweys said in an interview.
Aweys, 62, a former chairman of the Islamic Courts Union that
ruled Mogadishu in 2006, is now leader of the hardline wing of
the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia based in
neighbouring Eritrea -- a group known as ARS Asmara.
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'No UN Agreement' On Sudan Crisis |
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Al-Bashir
has remained defiant despite the ICC arrest warrant
[EPA] |
New York, March 7, 2009 – The United Nations Security Council
has failed to agree on a response to Sudan's decision to expel
13 aid groups from the country following the indictment of its
president for war crimes.
France had reportedly urged the council on Friday to issue a
non-binding statement that condemned Sudan's decision.
However attempts to urge the council to act have been blocked by
opposition from Sudan's council allies, Libya and China, the
Associated Press reported.
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Tsvangirai's wife, right, was on her way to a rally with
her husband when the crash happened [AFP] |
HARARE, March 7, 2009 – Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe's prime
minister, has been hurt in a car crash in which his wife was
killed, his party has said.
The crash occurred on Friday near Beatrice, a town lying about
60km from Harare, the capital, a source within Tsvangirai's
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said.
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Friday's meeting was meant to set the stage for next month's
presidential-level talks [AFP]
Geneva, Switzerland, March 7, 2009 – The United States and
Russia plan to have a new disarmament agreement by the end
of the year, Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has
said.
Clinton said the two countries had "agreed on a work plan"
after she met Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister,
for a two-hour working dinner on Friday in Geneva,
Switzerland.
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father threw
children from bridge |
Friday, 06 March 2009 - A man
accused of throwing his four young children to their deaths from
a bridge has pleaded guilty, telling a judge he wanted to be put
to death.
Lam Luong, 38, a Vietnamese refugee, entered the plea before
Circuit Judge Charles Graddick at a hearing in Mobile, Alabama
on a change-of-venue motion.
Luong made the plea in a letter he gave to the judge. Under
Alabama law, capital murder defendants must be tried before a
jury even if they plead guilty. Luong's trial starts on Monday. .
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Readers' Questions
Answered By The French Warship 'Le Floréal's' Commander
Puntland authorities thank the Floréal for
capturing pirates.
By Lucas MENGET - Marie Sophie JOUBERT
Gulf of Aden, March 04, 2009 – The French warship 'Le Floréal'
has patrolled the Gulf of Aden since December 2008 as part of an
effort to combat potential pirate attacks on cargo ships. The
ship's captain answered some of FRANCE 24 readers' questions.
Question from Yoga (Douala, Cameroon): Is it possible that the
authorities are linked to the pirates and maybe even helping
them?
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Dr.
Terry Lacey
Development Economist
The Fifth World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF) was held last week
in Jakarta, Indonesia, (2-4 March). The global Islamic financing
industry has over US$1 trillion in assets. But the member states
of WIEF account for 19 percent of the world´s population and
only 6 percent of its income. (Jakarta Post 03.03.09).
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Tariq Alhomayed
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
There is nothing wrong with the people of a neighborhood
hastening to "the Sheikh" or the Mayor, in order for him to
mediate between them and solve their differences peacefully
[as occurs in Arabic soap operas], but it is strange for a
Sheikh to mediate to bring peace to a country torn by
civil-war. This is evidence of the depth of the Arab crisis
and its poor condition
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Al-Bashir’s Arrest Warrant |
Although the list of
African countries that are at any given point in time either at
the brink of, or in the middle of disaster, is long, Sudan tops
the list. Since its independence from Britain, Sudan has lurched
from one crisis into another. For decades, the government of
Sudan was involved in war with the southern part of the country.
As soon as a peace agreement was reached to bring the war in the
south to an end, new conflicts emerged, the most lethal being in
Darfur, where pro-government militias (the Janjaweed) aided and
abetted by Sudan’s government, have killed and displaced
thousands of people.
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OPINION |
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Interpeace: Friend or Foe? |
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Mahdi Gabose, East Africa Policy Institute.
Mar 4, 2009
All indications are that the much anticipated Somaliland
election will be postponed once again due to incompetence on
the part of the Election Commission which by most observers
seems to be unfit and unqualified to do the job.
Their failure is compounded by an administration unwilling
or incapable to live up to its commitments to the people and
the international community and contribute their portion of
the funds necessary to undertake the elections.
Read full text...
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Let's Put Somaliland First |
By Mukhtar Mohamed Abby
Introduction: On 14 April 2003, the people of Somaliland
enjoyed an experience all too rare in the Horn of Africa: an
election without a predetermined outcome. The re-election of
the incumbent President, Kahin came as a surprise for a
number of reasons: first, because the razor thin margin of
his victory- just 80 votes out of the nearly 500,000 ballots
cast. Secondly, because he is not a member of Somaliland's
majority clan. Thirdly, because the opposition was tipped to
win
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Somaliland Should Wary Of The Enemy Within And Without |
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Since the inception of
Somaliland as a separate state from the chaotic South,
hordes of Somalilanders have been rushing to claim the craps
from the high table of the warlords and any outfit that
styled itself as the government of Somalia.
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The Time Has Come To Impeach The Interim President, Mr.
Riyale. |
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By: Abib Mohamed Gahnug
I didn’t take the pen to reply someone as I am not in the
business of recrimination but to speak out against the
irresponsibility and failure of this care-taker government
headed by Riyale. As every Somalilander knows; the official
term of this government ended nearly one year before; it was
the house of elders (known as Gurti) who extended the
presidential term up to one year after it failed to hold the
elections on time.
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Seacom's Cable Reaches Two Ocean Floors |
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Johannesburg, 5 February 2009 – SEACOM is
pleased to announce that the first portions of deepwater
cable are now resting on the seabed of the Indian Ocean and
Red Sea. The cable has been laid from the edge of the South
African waters to Mozambique and cable laying is also
proceeding in the Red Sea from Egypt towards the coast of
Yemen. A third ship is currently being loaded with the
remainder of SEACOM's deepwater cable which will be deployed
from India towards Africa, where these three cable segments
will be joined.
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Dr. Al-Meeri |
SANA’A, March 4, 2009 — Contrary to the common belief that
the origin of man is Africa, new scientific research
suggests that Yemen could be the original homeland of all
mankind.
In an attempt to prove this theory, Yemeni scientists from
the University of Sana’a collaborated with scientists from
the University of Florida to collect blood and saliva
samples from populations throughout Yemen for seven years,
starting in the spring of 2000. These blood and saliva
samples were used to retrace the footsteps of modern humans
out of Africa.
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Abukar Arman
Somalia has a new government that many consider to
possess what it takes to spearhead sustainable peace and
bring the lawlessness of the past two decades to an end.
However, this article is not about that, or about the
so-called Somali piracy.
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Bags of sorghum intended to be given as food aid are
stacked in a warehouse at a market in Burao, Somalia.
Matt Brown / The National |
Burao, Somaliland, March 2. 2009 – In a dimly lit
warehouse behind the bustling market in this northern
Somali town, white plastic sacks full of sorghum are
stacked nearly to the ceiling.
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Dambisa Moyo
By Dick Wittenberg
Friday, March 06, 2009
Development aid does more harm than good in Africa, says
Zambian economist and author Dambisa Moyo, so we should stop
it. She has the ear of at least one African president, Paul
Kagame of Rwanda. 'Why should Bono be the one to determine
economic policy in Africa?
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Mar 2 2009
Western Mail
Angela Gorman, recently in Sierra Leone, reports on how the
charity she founded, Hope for Grace Kodindo, plans to help
turn things around for the country that suffers some of the
worst risks for mothers and their babies in the world
SIERRA LEONE, a country of five million people on the west
coast of Africa, is recovering from a brutal civil war
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Agence France-Presse/Getty Images Islamist fighters,
particularly the al-Shabab terror group, have been gaining
ground against Somalia's Western-backed government.
Lolita C.
Baldor ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington, March 5, 2009 – As people crowded into the
capital for Barack Obama's inaugural celebration, senior
counterterrorism officials huddled in the White House
situation room, frantically trying to unravel intelligence
about a possible attack on Washington
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