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International News
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Opinion |
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US guided-missile destroyer USS
Bainbridge Photo: EPA |
Washington, April 10, 2009 – Within 48
hours more naval ships will join the destroyer USS
Bainbridge, which arrived overnight to help secure the
release of the American, US defense officials said.
The move comes after Somali pirates defied the might of the
US military by refusing to release the captain of an
American cargo ship kidnapped in a bungled hijack attempt.
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US Secretary of State Clinton (left)
and Defense Secretary Gates, 9 Apr 2009 |
Washington, April 09, 2009 – Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton said Thursday the United States is trying to recruit
additional countries to join anti-piracy naval operations
along the African east coast in the wake of this week's
pirate attack on a U.S.-flagged cargo ship. Clinton vowed to
bring the hijackers of that ship to justice.
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, April 7, 2009 – Somaliland troops have
fired on opposition party demonstrators in the capital
Hargeysa as they marched in front of the party’s
headquarters.
The Somaliland's opposition leader and Kulmiye chairman
Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo, who was among hundreds of supporters
walking between the Kulmiye party headquarters to his
residence in Hargeysa said a girl was injured during the
interception.
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MOGADISHU,
Apr 11, 2009 – French commandos stormed a yacht held by
Somalia pirates in an operation Friday that left one French
hostage and two gunmen dead, hours after an American skipper
held in a separate ransom battle narrowly failed in a
dramatic rescue bid, officials said.
As a
multinational force off Somalia built up its military
muscle, French forces staged their rescue six days after the
yacht, the Tanit, was seized by pirates in the Gulf of Aden
and talks broke down, the French presidency said.
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WASHINGTON Apr 10, 2009 — Five well-organized pirate groups
conduct most of the pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia,
but they hire local fisherman to ferry them out to their
quarry to avoid detection, according to a memo prepared by
the staff of the House Armed Services Committee in early
March.
It is very much a business. According to the memo, one
captured pirate explained how the ransom — on average $1
million to $2 million per boat — is divided among
participants.
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NAIROBI, Kenya Apr 11, 2009 - The governments of Somalia and
Kenya inked a Memorandum of Understanding last week that has
stirred socio-political controversy across Somalia,
re-igniting memories from half a century ago when Kenya was
"awarded" Somali territory by withdrawing European
colonizers.
A copy of the MoU, obtained by independent Somali news
agency Garowe Online, indicated that the Somali and Kenyan
governments will pose "no objection in respect of
submissions on the Outer Limits of the Continental Shelf
beyond 200 Nautical Miles" to a United Nations body tasked
with enforcing the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the
Sea..
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Djibouti,
April 8th, 2009 – Ethiopia launched a multi million mobile
telephone network to increase its mobile telephone
subscribers to 12 million from the current 4.1 million.
Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporation (ETC) said that a
six million expansion work for the mobile telephone is being
carried out in the first phase of the project; including
Somali zone, Afar Zone and Oromo National regional state.
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Addis Ababa, April 8, 2009 – The United States Senator,
James M. Inhofe said Ethiopia has disciplined and
responsible military force.
The senator made the remark on Tuesday while conferring with
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi on various issues of mutual
concern.
United States Senator James M. Inhofe is here to attend the
120th IPU assembly taking place from 5-12, 2009.
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Canadian Arrested In Somalia Allegedly Member Of Islamist
Militia |
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By Stewart
Bell, National Post
TORONTO Apr 10, 2009 -- A Canadian has been arrested in
Somalia for allegedly planning to bomb leaders of a moderate
political faction, according to local media reports that
identified him as a member of the militant group Al-Shabab.
Abdifatah Mohamad Ibrahim appeared in court yesterday in the
central Galgudud region, where authorities showed his
Canadian passport to spectators, according to Radio Garowe
and the Somali-language news site allpuntland.com.
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Headlines |
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Donors And International Organizations Call For Dialogue |
Women
line up to vote in
Hargeysa during first
multiparty parliamentary
elections in Somaliland
Nairobi/Hargeysa, April 11, 2009 (SL Times) – A number of
donor nations and
international
organizations that
support Somaliland’s
democracy and
presidential election
have issued a press
release this week in
which they called for
dialogue between
Somaliland’s political
parties as the only way
out of the current
political crisis.
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KULMIYE Statement On The Current Political Situation In
Somaliland |
Hargeysa, Somaliland, April 11, 2009 (SL Times) –
Somaliland’s main opposition political party released a
statement on April 8, 2009, accusing Riyale administration
of arrests of many of its members and supporters. The
statement which was sent to the Somaliland Times by party
officials, was signed by Dr. Mohamed A Omar, the Foreign
Affairs Secretary of the party:
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Education Workshop |
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, April 11, 2009
(SL Times) – A meeting and workshop to discuss the situation of
education in primary and intermediate schools was held in
Hargeysa’s Mansoor hotel this week.
The meeting was jointly organized by the ministry of education
and Save the Children (Denmark). Among the topics discussed in
the meeting was how to prevent students from dropping out of
school.
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Richard Tsong-Taatarii, Star Tribune - Abdirahman Omar
managed the counter at Mustaqbal Express in Minneapolis
with his daughter, Sumay, 3, while behind them, business
continued
Wednesday at the shop’s money-transfer service.
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MINNEAPOLIS, April 11, 2009 — Federal agents searched three
money-transfer businesses in Minneapolis on Wednesday, carrying
away boxes of documents and copying computer hard drives for
details of transactions between the U.S. and several African
nations.
Agents searched Mustaqbal Express, also known as North American
Money Transfer Inc.; Quran Express; and Aaran Financial.
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, April 11, 2009 – The Somaliland President,
Mr. Dahir Rayale Kahin issued a Presidential Decree setting the
new date of the elections to be on 27th of September 2009.
According to a press release on 6th April 2009 by the
presidency, this came after taking the Guurti’s [Somaliland
Upper House of Parliament] extension into consideration and the
new proposal from the Electoral Commission that the new date
will be on the 27th of September 2009.
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Hundreds Flee Inter-Clan Clashes In Somaliland |
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IDP children in Somaliland (file photo): Hundreds have
fled inter-clan clashes in the mid-west Satiile area, in
the Gabiley region of the country |
Hargeysa, April
11, 2009 – Hundreds of families in Somaliland have fled
inter-clan fighting in the mid-west Satiile area in Gabiley
region, officials said.
The fighting, the second flare-up in three months, started on 7
April after a group of men drove into Satiile settlement area
and shot dead a local farmer and wounded his brother.
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Obama Returns From First Official Trip To Europe |
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President Barack Obama waving to the
crowd after speaking at Hradcany Square in Prague, Czech
Republic, on Sunday. |
The American president signaled
policy changes during trip that included a surprise visit to
Iraq.
Transcript of radio broadcast:
Washington, April 11, 2009 – President Obama returned to the
United States this week after his first visit to Europe since
taking office in January.
On his way back, the president made an unannounced stop in Iraq.
He met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and President
Jalal Talabani. He also visited American military troops at Camp
Victory, near Baghdad. President Obama offered his thanks and
support to a group of cheering troops. He said it is time for
the Iraqis to take responsibility for their country. Mister
Obama has said the United States will remove most American
fighting forces from Iraq by the end of two thousand ten.
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Nearly 50 of the world’s least developed countries have called
on rich nations to meet an eight-year old promise and pay US$2
billion to help them adapt to climate change.
The demand was made at the UN climate change negotiations that
are currently underway in Bonn, Germany.
Rich countries promised the Least Developed Countries (LDCs)
support for "immediate and urgent" actions on adaptation to
climate change eight years ago at the seventh conference of
parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
in Marrakech, Morocco in 2001.
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Courtesy of Jonathan Starr |
By
Michelle Ye Hee Lee
Abaarso,
Somaliland, April 6, 2009 – Emory alum Jonathan Starr (’98C)
resigned from his role as a hedge fund manager to build a
nonprofit boarding school in Somaliland. Abaarso Tech, which is
slated to open in the summer, is being built on land donated by
a village elder.
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By Michael Gibb
Wednesday, 01 April 2009
When philosophers need data they sometimes conduct ‘thought
experiments.' Here is one such thought experiment.
Imagine you are the (democratic and accountable) leader of an
indigenous people or minority deprived either of a state of your
own or international recognition of your state.
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Dr. Terry Lacey
Development Economist
The G20 Summit leaves open three great questions. Can China
give enough support to prop up the US economy and the
dollar? Can Asia, especially China, India and Indonesia
summon enough demand and trade finance to help lead world
recovery? Where and when do we see the structural changes
which Asia wants in world economic institutions to reflect
the new balance of economic power?
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full text...
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SA Can Learn From Vietnam And Singapore Policy Overlaps |
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GREG MILLS and NICK SEGAL
PICK up an English-language newspaper in Vietnam and several
pages will include detailed listings of the scale and type
of foreign direct investment by country and sector. There
are also lists of possible private sector investment schemes
in public infrastructure projects.
Vietnam remains a single-party, Communist Party-dominated
state. But, through its economic policy, its “collective
leadership” is little different from that of the capitalist
Singapore. The common threads? There are several, but there
are three to highlight here.
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full text...
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Privateering The Pirates |
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Given the logic behind the U.S. recognition of Kosovo, it
seems foolhardy to continue to insist on a united Somalia if
entities like Somaliland might be able to help stem piracy,
or at least reduce the number of ungovernable zones.
By Nikolas K. Gvosdev
April 8-10,.2009 – The Maersk Alabama, a Danish-owned,
U.S.-operated cargo vessel, has become the latest victim of
Somali pirates, only days after a British ship, a French
yacht and a German container ship were also seized.
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full text...
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Capture Pirates, On Land And Sea |
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The Maersk Alabama, a container ship
that Somali pirates seized on April 8. |
By
The Editors
April 9,
2009,
7:44 pm
On
Wednesday, Somali pirates seized the
Maersk Alabama, a cargo ship carrying food aid to Kenya.
The crew managed to retake the ship within hours, but not
before the
pirates took the ship’s captain, Richard Phillips, hostage.
The unarmed
container ship was the first American-flagged vessel to be
captured in
the latest wave of pirate attacks off the Horn of Africa.
Is there a
way to stop these pirate attacks, which are becoming ever
more brazen and sophisticated?
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full text...
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Hostages Of Somalia |
Somali piracy is back
in the news big time. The reason: this time Somali pirates have
taken control of an American cargo ship, the Maersk Alabama.
Though the takeover was brief and the ship has sailed to its
destination in Kenya, the Captain of the ship, Richard Phillips
is being held hostage by the pirates on a lifeboat about 300
miles off the Somali coast.
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OPINION |
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Time To Reinvent The Wheel! |
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By Mahdi Gabose
East Africa Policy Institute
The difficulties for Somalis is that we seem to lack the
ability to see life beyond what is taking place before our
eyes. Planning ahead for what may come down the road is
something we are simply not equipped to do, nor do we seem
to learn from our past mistakes and try to avoid repeating
them.
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Puntland: The Shame On Somali Identity |
By Abdulaziz Al-Mutairi
The history of the illegitimate semi-autonomous
administration of “Puntland” is shame on Somalia, because of
its connection to many illegal operations like agreements
with Mafia to dump toxic nuclear wastes in the Somali water,
and today’s piracy.
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Somaliland Foe Jubilant Over Its Political Crossroad |
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By Dalmar Kaahin
In 1989, the devastation of Hargeysa, Somaliland capital:
smoldering and crumpling buildings; scorched vehicles,
charred bodies littered the streets, wounded civilians
screaming in agony, disarrayed refugees fleeing in droves,
bewildered and strayed children crying for comfort—through
the eyes of a distanced observer, the horror might testify
the aftermath of an earthquake.
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Somaliland Will Prove Wrong The ‘Cynics’ By Peacefully
Overcoming The Current Political Crisis! |
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Eid Alisalan Ahmed
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By Eid Alisalan Ahmed
Introduction
Twenty Eight Years ago by tomorrow, 6th April 1981,
Somaliland National Movement (SNM) was founded by the people
of Somaliland to liberate Somaliland and regain the rejected
freedom in 1960.
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Good News For English Readers |
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“LEARN HOW TO TALK THE TALK”
By
Abdifatah Mahamed Ahmed
2009
NEW
ENGLISH BOOK COMING SOON
(Waa
buug cusub oo dhawan soo bixi doona)
Learn
how to talk the talk (part-I)
1.
Bad news travel fast
2.
Bad news never lingers around
3.
We live in hope and die in hope
4.
One men’s loss is another man’s gain
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Somaliland Needs Reconciliation And Sensible/New Date of
Presidential Elections |
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By Dr. Shacabi, California, USA
The present political climate in Riyales’ Government, in
which opposition parties are not able to operate freely and
safely, is in no way conducive to the holding of free, fair,
and credible Presidential elections scheduled first on March
2009 or the new date of the Somaliland Commission has
declared to be on May 31, 2009.
Read full text...
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Regulation And Social Responsibility A Must If Somaliland Is
To Have A Stable Economy |
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Liban Obsiye, Bristol, UK.
The arrival
of BCIMR commercial bank in Somaliland is a great indicator
of how fast the region is progressing economically, socially
and politically as a bank that is a subsidiary of a major
international banking organization such as BNP-Paribas which
is based in France, would not have taken the decision to
open a branch that offers such a large variety of financial
products and services in Hargeysa so lightly.
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I Have A Dream That Someday Somaliland Will Emerge Strongly
In Africa |
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By Mohamed H. Osman
Somaliland is a victim of unspeakable horror of African
Union diplomacy, where diplomatic connections and unwritten
traditional codes are strong; Somaliland Cause of
independence is facing a significant obstacle from the
union. The African leaders failed to hear the voice of
freedom of the people of Somaliland in last 19 years.
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From A Nomad To Life On The Banks Of River Thames |
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Mr Abdikadir Aden |
Written by Wallace Kantai
April 10, 2009: I bumped into Abdikadir Aden a few weeks ago
at the Stanley. We have known each other for almost 20 years
– from when we were both ‘rabbles’ (form one boys) at Lenana
School. We had kept up an intermittent correspondence; on
e-mail, phone, Facebook and occasionally street greetings.
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Why The Pirates Are Immune From Attack |
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April 9, 2009: Somali
pirates are now operating as far east as the Seychelles,
which are a group of 115 islands 1,500 kilometers from the
African coast. The islands have a total population of 85,000
and no military power to speak of. They are defenseless
against pirates. So are many of the ships moving north and
south off the East Coast of Africa.
Read
full text...
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Helping Hand To The Homeland |
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Dave Hallett with an image of a shelter box on his computer
screen. |
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By
CHAD IBBOTSON
Apr 8, 2009
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The
6.3-magnitude earthquake that hit central Italy on Monday
has Kingston's Italian community rallying in support.
Yesterday,
reports had 207 people killed, 1,000 injured and 15 still
missing. Rescuers are continuing the search for survivors.
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