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Hargeysa, Somaliland, July 18, 2009 –
Somaliland’s major financial donors said on Tuesday, they
have halted financing Somaliland’s democratization process
and threatened to completely cut off election funding unless
the “incompetent and corrupt” election commissioners are
replaced immediately.
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An adandoned
village: Hundreds of families have been displaced following
clashes between two clans over ownership of Elberdale
farmland in Gabiley region - file photo
Hargeysa, Somaliland, July 18, 2009 – At least 700 families
in Somaliland have been displaced following clashes between
two clans over ownership of Elberdale farmland in Gabiley
region, local officials said.
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Paris, July 18, 2009 – Reporters Without Borders is outraged
by the arrest of two journalists and the closure of a TV
station in Somaliland and the beatings which several
journalists received from police in the northeastern
semi-autonomous region of Puntland.
Read full text...
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Electoral Crisis Underscores Broader Human Rights Concerns |
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Georgia
Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch |
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For Immediate Release
Hargeysa, Somaliland, July 18, 2009 – The Somaliland
government’s disregard for the law and democratic processes
threatens the territory’s nascent democracy, Human Rights
Watch said in a report released on July 13, 2009. The
administration of President Dahir Riyale Kahin has committed
human rights violations and generated a dangerous electoral
crisis.
Read full text...
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To: Congressman Donald Payne,
Chairman
Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health
2310 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, District of Columbia 20515
Dear Mr. Chairman, |
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Somaliland Forum thanks you greatly for your genuine concern
for the suffering people of Somalia. As Somalia’s neighbor,
Somaliland is equally pleased that you urged the many
Somalia factions to focus on the needs of the Somali people
while respecting the peace, security and governance of their
country. It is our hope they heed your concerns.
Read full text...
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Sheffield, South Yorkshire, July 18, 2009 – A PIONEERING
Sheffield project dedicated to breaking down racial and
cultural barriers through football was devastated this week
by the death of one of its young players in a motorway crash
on the way home from a tournament in Italy.
Read full text...
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Fiona Hamilton and Sean O’Neill
London, July 18, 2009 – Today at evening, tens of thousands
of families across Britain will gather around their
television sets, shunning the BBC and commercial channels in
favor of Universal TV, the Somali community’s most popular
forum.
Read full text...
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Lee Yue Zhong was on world
tour with his bicycle |
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Garowe, July 18, 2009 – On Friday, the Police in Garowe, the
capital of autonomous region of Puntland State of Somalia,
detained a Chinese national, who came to Somalia on a
bicycle.
Read full text...
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Funds For Basic Humanitarian Needs In Somalia Insufficient-
Warns UN Humanitarian Agency |
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NAIROBI, July 18, 2009 –
The Health and Water, Sanitation '&' Hygiene (WASH) clusters
of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) are below 20 % funded in the
2009 Consolidated Appeal for Somalia, said UN OCHA Somalia
in its latest update on the security, displacement, access
and humanitarian response in Somalia where the civil strife
is having devastating effect on the social services
infrastructure, particularly health, in the South/Central
regions.
Read full text...
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Kidnapped French Agents Held By Hardline Militia |
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PARIS, July 18, 2009 – Two French agents kidnapped in
Somalia are now held by the Shabaab Islamist militia and
talks to free them will be difficult, Somali Social Affairs
Minister Mohammed Ali Ibrahim told France 24 television on
Friday.
Read full text...
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French Hostages Given To Al Qaeda-Linked Somali Group |
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MOGADISHU,
July 18, 2009 – Somalia's al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab
movement has taken possession of both French hostages seized
in Mogadishu after winning a tussle with another rebel group
holding one of them, insurgent sources said on Friday.
Read full text...
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Tragic loss for FURD |
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Tue 14 Jul 2009
Sheffield United were devastated to hear the news of the
accidental death of one young man and serious injuries to
others of one of FURD's junior football teams on Monday..
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Somali terrorism conspiracy case unsealed |
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Abdifitah
Yusef Isse and Salah Ahmed |
In a July 13, 2009 booking photo provided by the Anoka Couty
Sheriff, Salah Osman Ahmed is shown. Ahmed is one of two men
accused of supporting terrorism in a grand jury indictment
unsealed Monday in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Anoka County
Sheriff,ho)
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Aid agencies need $11 million to provide water and
sanitation to displaced Somalis – UN |
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Orphaned and
vulnerable children are suffering the most in the ongoing
conflict in Somalia |
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14 July 2009 – Aid agencies in Somalia are appealing for $11
million to provide the hundreds of people displaced by
fighting in the capital with emergency water and sanitation
programmes, the United Nations Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported today.
Read full text...
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Top UN envoy hopes for return to stability in Somali capital |
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A group of IDPs
in Mogadishu |
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13 July 2009 – Following gains made by Somali secu13 July
2009 – Following gains made by Somali security forces over
the weekend, the top United Nations envoy to the war-torn
Horn of Africa nation voiced hope today that stability can
soon return to the beleaguered capital Mogadishu.
Read full text...
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Forgotten Somalia |
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Cassandra
Clifford
DC Human Rights Examiner |
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July 15, 1:04 AM
The fragmented country of Somalia is no stranger to conflict
and the last two years of fighting has increasingly taken a
toll on the lives of everyone in the country, especially the
children.
Read full text...
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Minnesota Woman Says Missing Son Killed In Somalia |
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MINNEAPOLIS, July 13, 2009 (AP) — A 20-year-old man believed
by his family to have been killed in his native Somalia "had
no clue" what the country was really like when he left his
home in Minneapolis to fight there, his mother said Sunday.
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Neighbors May Be Reaping From Somalia Unrest |
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By George Omondi (email
the author)
Nairobi, July 18, 2009 – A tepid response by neighboring
states to the spiraling conflict in Somalia has sparked
fresh speculations that those fanning the war enjoy secret
support from governments in the region.
Read
full text...
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Abduction Of French Experts Confirms Somaliland Times Report On
Tfg’s Infiltration By Terrorists & Corruption. |
Asomali government
soldier runs to posituon
during fighting hardline
islamist fighters in
northern mogadisho
Mogadishu, Somalia, July
18, 2009 (SL Times) – In
last week’s editorial,
the Somaliland Times
pointed out that
militias belonging to
Somalia’s so-called
Transitional Federal
Government (TFG) are
undisciplined, often
switch to the side of
their opponents, and
have been infiltrated by
terrorists. The
Somaliland Times also
described Somalia’s TFG
as riddled with
corruption.
Read full text...
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Somaliland Political Parties & Electoral Commission Agree On
Code Of Conduct |
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, July 18, 2009 (SL Times) –
Somaliland’s three political parties (UDUB, KULMIYE, UCID),
and the electoral commission signed an agreement in July 11,
2009 on a code of conduct for the presidential election that
is scheduled for September 27, 2009.
Read full text...
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Habsade Leads Delegation Of Las Anod Elders On Borama Visit |
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, July 18, 2009 (SL Times) – A
delegation of elders from Las Anod led by Muhammad Abdi
Habasde arrived in Borama this week. Mr Habsade said the
purpose of their visit was first of all to take part in the
burial ceremony of the innocent civilians who were killed in
the road that connects Borama and Hargeysa. Mr Habsade
added, “what happened was something not seen before, and the
responsibility resides on the individuals who did it, and I
say to you to protect your good name and do not engage in
similar acts.”
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, July 18, 2009 (SL Times) – Somaliland
government ordered its police and military commanders to turn
the area of conflict in Ceelbardaale into a military zone. There
was a simmering conflict between two lineages in the area over
land, which took an ominous turn when four travelers were taken
from their vehicles and murdered.
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Hoyal Staffs |
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, July 18, 2009 (SL Times) – Somaliland
police jailed two Horyaal Radio journalists. Police officers
took the two journalists from the office of Horyaal Radio in
Hargeysa on July 13, 2009. The two journalists are the Director
of the Radio, Muhammad Osman Mire (Sayid) and the head of the
News Section, Ahmed Suleiman Dhuhul. The arrest of the two
journalists was in contravention of the legal guidelines because
it was done without a warrant. The government had accused the
media of having incited the killings that took place in
Ceelbardale.
Read full text...
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Ministry Of Education Officials Questioned |
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, July 18, 2009
(SL Times) – Officials from Somaliland ministry of education
appeared before parliament’s Community Affairs Subcommittee on
July 9, 2009. The purpose of the hearing was to get a briefing
on the current situation of education in the country and the
ministry’s education policy.
Read full text...
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Somaliland’s Community Leaders Appeal For Calm In Ceelbardaale |
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, July 18, 2009 (SL Times) – Somaliland’s
community leaders both inside and outside the country appealed
to the two sides in Ceelbardaale to end the conflict. The
community leaders included businessmen, sultans, religious
leaders and intellectuals. In a press conference in Hargeysa,
the elders and community leaders condemned the murder of four
travelers between Gabiley and Dila this week, and said it is
both against the Islamic religion and Somaliland’s traditions.
Among the participants were Sheekh Maxamed Aadan Axmed, Sheekh
Yuusuf Adan Maxamed, Suldaan Xasan Warsame Shire, Suldaan Axmed
Nuur Samaale and Suldaan Axmed Daakir.
Read full text...
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Islamic And Traditional Medicine In Somaliland |
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, July 18, 2009 (SL Times) – Sheikh
Abdiqadir Arab Warsame Sheikh Jabir, one of Somaliland’s
religious leaders talked for the first time about the Ihsan
Herbal Center, a clinic located in Hargeysa that uses religious
and herbal medicine to treat human diseases.
Read full text...
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Mental Illness Center Receives $1500 Donation |
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, July 18, 2009 (SL Times) – Two Somaliland
citizens who work in Sudan, donated $1500 to a center that takes
care of the mentally ill. The two individuals who donated the
money are Naima Ahmed Mumin Qudus who works for the UN and Dr.
Yusuf who works in Darfur. The mental illness center is run by
an organization called SAHAN.
Read full text...
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Gaashan Defeats Nation Link In Basketball |
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, July 18, 2009 (SL
Times) – Basketball competition between 6 top level teams
started at Tima Adde grounds. The competition was sponsored by
Telesom and was given the name Zaad service.
Read full text...
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Dahabshiil Employees Awarded Certificates After Receiving
Training On Anti Money Laundering Compliance |
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Dahabshil Leaders |
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, July 18, 2009 (SL Times) – Dahabshiil CEO,
Mr. Abdirashid Duale, presented on Thursday certificates of
competence to 21 officers from the Money Transfer Company on the
successful completion of a two-day training seminar on Anti
Money Laundering compliance, followed by a competence test held
between June 15 and 16 at the company’s Operation’s Center in
Hargeysa.
Read full text...
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Somaliland Government Accused Of Suffocating Freedom Of Speech |
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, July 18, 2009 (SL
Times) – Authorities of a leading Television in Somaliland have
accused government of suffocating independent media outlets and
freedom of expression in Somaliland.
Read full text...
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U.S. Urges Release Of Journalists In Somaliland |
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U.S.
Embassy in Kenya - Press Release
Nairobi, Kenya, July 18, 2009 (SL Times) – The United States
government condemns the recent arrests in Somaliland of Radio
Horyaal journalists Mohamed Osman Mire and Ahmed Saleban Dhuhul,
and the suspension of Horn Cable TV (HCTV). We call for the
immediate release of the journalists, and we strongly urge that
Horn Cable TV be allowed to resume broadcasting without
impediment during this important, pre-election period.
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South Africa Tests AIDS Vaccine |
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South Africa Tests AIDS Vaccine
Its Scientists Developed With Help From US
CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Jul. 19, 2009 – South Africa is
launching clinical trials of the first AIDS vaccines created by
a developing country, a feat by scientists who forged ahead even
when some of their political leaders shocked the world with
unscientific pronouncements about the disease.
Read full text...
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New
Clashes In Iran, Tens Of Thousands In Opposition Hear Top Cleric
Criticize Leadership
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TEHRAN, Iran, Jul. 18, 2009 – In a sign of
endurance for Iran's protest movement, demonstrators clashed
with police Friday as one of the nation's most powerful clerics
challenged the supreme leader during Muslim prayers, saying
country was in crisis in the wake of a disputed election.
Read full text...
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American Officials See Link
Between Limits, Spate of Attacks |
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U.S. military
officials cite a recent surge in violence, such as this
roadside bomb attack in Baghdad on July 2.
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BAGHDAD, July 18, 2009 – The Iraqi government
has moved to sharply restrict the movement and activities of
U.S. forces in a new reading of a six-month-old U.S.-Iraqi
security agreement that has startled American commanders and
raised concerns about the safety of their troops.
Read full text...
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PeterPham |
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By J. Peter Pham, Ph.D.
World Defense Review columnist
Published 16 Jul 09
It
came as no surprise when Foreign
Policy magazine
and the Fund for Peace released their "Failed
States Index 2009" three
weeks ago that, once again, Somalia topped the rankings. What I reported
two weeks ago about
the country's "Transitional Federal Government" (TFG) continuing
to lose what little ground it has left in the face of an
onslaught from Islamist insurgents is even truer as the forces
of al-Shabaab ("the
youth"), the al-Qaeda-linked group formally designated a
"foreign terrorist organization" by the U.S. Department of State
last year, and its allies, including the Hisbul
al-Islamiyya ("Islamic
party") group of Sheikh Hassan Dahir ‘Aweys, a figure who
appears personally on both United States and United Nations
antiterrorism sanctions lists, seize control of more and more
neighborhoods in Mogadishu.
Read full text...
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Multimedia: Growth of khat chewing habit drains struggling
economy. |
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Men and
women load the khat into wheelbarrows to be taken to different
khat stands around Hargeysa, Somaliland
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, July 18, 2009 — Somalia’s economy is
dominated by trade in khat, a narcotic banned in the U.S. and
much of Europe.
Eye-popping, head-buzzing khat is loved by Somali men who chew
the leaves for their stimulant effect. While most of war-torn
Somalia's economy is moribund, khat does a bustling trade
estimated at well over $50 million annually. Doctors warn,
however, that the drug is not only a drain on limited Somali
resources but is also destroying lives.
Read full text...
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More than 20
young Somali-Americans, many of them raised in Minneapolis,
left the United States to join a militant Islamist group in
Somalia.
By ANDREA
ELLIOTT
MINNEAPOLIS,
July 18, 2009 — The Carlson School of Management rises from
the asphalt like a monument to capitalist ambition. Stock
prices race across an electronic ticker near a sleek
entrance and the atrium soars skyward, as if lifting the
aspirations of its students. The school’s plucky motto is
“Nowhere but here.”
Read
full text...
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AFGHANISTAN: When the War is Unwinnable |
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Greg Mills, July
2009
As the West place more troops in
Afghanistan, there are lessons to be learned from history.
Avoid making the same mistakes that others made in the past,
for otherwise the war will not be won. |
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WESTERN GOVERNMENTS are
pouring more troops into Afghanistan. But this strategy is
doomed to fail unless they can master the far harder tasks
of counter-insurgency, state-building and development.
Winning the Afghan war is about politics, people and jobs.
Read
full text...
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“Hostages To Peace” |
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Threats to human rights and democracy in Somaliland |
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Human Rights Watch Report | July 2009
Summary
Since declaring its independence from Somalia in 1991,
Somaliland has set up its own government institutions,
written its own laws and constitution, and held credible
elections. No government in the world has yet recognized
Somaliland's independence and for 18 years the territory has
been left in legal limbo—a country that does not exist.
Read
full text...
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Time To
Show That No One Is Above The Law |
“Four Somaliland citizens were pulled out of their vehicles and
executed point blank.
The shockwaves from this cold-blooded murder were heard
throughout Somaliland and beyond. Somalilanders could not
believe that this kind of evil still exists within them. This is
not the first time in recent history that inter-clan
blood-letting takes place between Somaliland clans. But at least
the last time it happened, it was in the Haud region of Ethiopia
though the involved clans had Somaliland affiliation. This time
it took place not too far from Somaliland’s capital, Hargeysa.
Read full text...
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How Foreigners and Some Somalis have Made Somalia A Pariah
of the International Community |
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By John Drysdale
One must make no mistake about it, the interests in Somalia
of the United States and Ethiopia arise from their own
respective concerns about the political and economic
collapse of Somalia. Not the collapse itself but Ethiopia’s
fear of Somalia’s Islamist penetration of Ethiopia, and
America’s fear of Somalia becoming a redoubt for Al Qaida.
Both these anxieties are real but they do not in themselves
explain why Somalia has collapsed into one of the world’s
most dangerous failed states and what, if anything, can be
done about it.
Read full text...
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Somaliland Election's Formidable Challenges: Terrorism,
Tribalism |
By Dalmar
Kahin
Evidently, Somaliland faces an internal and external
diabolical traps—insidious booby traps. Both powerful and
treacherous, terrorism and tribalism will not only derail
the upcoming presidential election but will also evaporate
the hope of winning recognition after September 2009
successful election. As terrorism takes its toll on innocent
civilians and tribal feuds rage unabated in Gabiley region,
fear and apprehension creep into the minds of many citizens.
Fearful and uncertain about the future, many citizens
question the authority's response to simmering conflicts on
the verge of erupting like volcanoes but rarely receive
answers.
Read full text...
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Reflections Of Our Trip To Saudi Arabia |
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Dr.
Mohamed-Rashid Sheikh Hassan |
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It has been
almost three weeks when I, and the chairman and the
presidential candidate of the UCID party, Engineer Faisal
Ali Waraabe left for Saudi Arabia for performing the Umra
and meeting with Saudi authorities and with Somaliland
communities in Saudi Arabia.
Hence, I would like to depict in a few words what we have
seen there during our trip.
Read full text...
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All African Borders Rose From Colonial Borders |
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By Ibrahim
Hassan Gagale
The Somali Sections of VOA and BBC Radios sometimes hold
political debates on Somaliland cause and its quest for
diplomatic recognition. Some participants in the debates
raise insincere arguments about the legitimacy of Somaliland
national borders calling it “Colonial Borders.”
Read full text...
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Somaliland: A Democracy in the Horn of Africa. |
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Ahmed Kheyre,
London
According to some recent articles, quoted from a report from
Human Rights Watch presented in Hargeysa, the capital city
"Somaliland, “cautions that Somaliland is at a crucial
juncture after an unlikely recent history of democratic
progress and relative stability in the Horn of Africa.
Somaliland is in danger of losing its democratic and human
rights gains…” according to a human rights group. Let us
examine these statements in detail.
Read full text...
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NO AGREEMENT YET ON CLIMATE CHANGE FOR ASIA |
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Dr. Terry Lacey
Development Economist
India and China did not agree to halve greenhouse gas emissions
by 2050 at the G8 recent meetings in Italy. Will new donors
in the Gulf and the G20 support climate change with real
additional money while the West recycles aid
commitments? What does this mean for funding renewable
energy in ASEAN and Asia?
Read full text...
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How One Youth Was Drawn To Jihad In Somalia |
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Like the Somali-American from Minnesota who was killed
this weekend, Tawakal Ahmed was recruited through mosques in
Kenya to fight for Islamic militants in Mogadishu |
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Some residents say
Taqwa mosque, in Isiolo, central Kenya, preaches a radical
version of Islam. Somali insurgents have been recruiting
fighters from Kenya.Heba Aly |
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Isiolo, Kenya, July 18, 2009 – A smattering of wispy clouds
dots the blue sky as white-robed worshipers trickle into
Taqwa mosque for Friday prayers. Our car is parked outside
the mosque, slightly hidden by a hedgerow of tangled
savannah brush that defines the mosque's perimeter. A cool,
dry wind blows across this arid town – refreshing against
the equatorial heat, but leaving a blanket of dust on the
whitewashed buildings.
Read full text...
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Somalia may become the world’s next extremist stronghold |
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Written by Michael Petrou
When a Maclean’s reporter reached Somali journalist Abdi
Ahmed Abdul on his cellphone as he walked back to his home
through the streets of Mogadishu, he quickly ended the call,
apologizing later that evening by explaining that it would
not be safe for him to be heard speaking English by members
of al-Shabaab—the Islamist militia that controls much of the
country and whose leadership has been linked to al-Qaeda. “I
am scared,” Abdul said. “If they see me talking to somebody
in English, I’d be in danger. If anybody is speaking in
English, they think he is a spy. It means I am passing
information to foreigners, what they call Christians or
infidels, people they don’t like.”
Read full text...
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Will We Remember Somalia? |
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By Cassandra Clifford
Tuesday, July 14 1:55 am EST
The fragmented country of Somalia is no stranger to conflict
and the last two years of fighting has increasingly taken a
toll on the lives of everyone in the country, especially the
children. Somalia is quite literally a raging battle ground,
as fighting in the country continues, as insurgents exchange
fire with the Somali government, Ethiopian troops and
African Union peacekeepers.
Read full text...
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Nicu Popescu is
research fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations
(ECFR) in London, where he deals with the EU’s eastern
neighbourhood and Russia. |
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For years the secessionist
entities of Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh and
Transnistria have been refered to as “de facto states” and
the conflicts around them - “frozen conflicts” (see previous
posts on South Ossetia and Abkhazia).
Read full text...
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Transport Delays For Food Aid Continue
Project is now expected to light up its cable July 23, |
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By Michael Malakata
Nairobi, July 18, 2009 – The deployment of the much hyped
and celebrated Sea Cable System (SEACOM) Africa cable in
troubled Somali waters has been completed and the connection
of the cable stations directly to Indiaand from India to
Europe is expected ahead of its switch date this month.
Read
full text...
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Hillary Clinton's 6-Month
Checkup
Analysis: Secretary of State Still Finding her Way as Top
Diplomat but her Political Instincts are Clearly Intact |
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US Foreign Secretary Hillary Clinton |
By Charles Wolfson
OK, it is an artificial deadline but that hasn’t stopped
questions from being asked about how Hillary Rodham Clinton
is doing as America’s 67th secretary of state. After six
months one can say in some cases it is the normal
inside-the-beltway chatter, mere water cooler fodder for
those who want to know who is up and who is down, especially
since there is a new administration in town.
Read
full text...
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Praying For Return Of Mother Trapped 8 Weeks In Kenya
Woman fears for safety as family, friends demand answers |
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Mohamed
Asbscir with a photo of his mother, Suaad Hagi
Mohamud, who is still trying to prove her identity
after claims she used a false passport. |
John Goddard
Toronto, July 18, 2009 – Strain marks the faces of family
and friends as conditions deteriorate for a Toronto woman
trapped in Kenya.
Read
full text...
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