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Hargeysa,
Somaliland, September 19, 2009 – A senior official of the
self-proclaimed republic of Somaliland, who has declined to
be named, has accused the president of the Transitional
Federal Government of Somalia [TFG], Shaykh Sharif Shaykh
Ahmad, of bringing senior members of Al-Qa'idah to southern
and central regions of Somalia during his days as the
chairman of the Union of Islamic Courts [UIC].
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Scene
from the clashes between security forces and
protesters in Hargeysa, capital of Somaliland, 12
Sep 2009 |
By Ashenafi Abedje
Washington, September 19, 2009 – Somaliland’s representative
to the US, Sa’ad Noor, attributes recent violent
demonstrations in Hargeysa to disagreements over voter
registration. Noor made his comments a day after President
Dahir Riyale Kahin called on the opposition to show
restraint.
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The U.N. distributes food for 3.5 million people in
Somalia. Above, refugees reach for food in
Mogadishu in August. |
By
SARAH CHILDRESS
NAIROBI, Kenya, September 19, 2009 – A United Nations group
is investigating whether three Somali contractors it uses to
ship food aid to people in the war-ravaged country are
misappropriating aid and providing financial assistance to
insurgent groups, according to U.N. officials.
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Nairobi, Kenya, September 19, 2009 – Islamic insurgents on
Friday vowed to launch more attacks after using stolen U.N.
cars in an assault on an African Union peacekeeping base in
Somalia that killed 21 people. A Somali official said that
six more U.N. vehicles were unaccounted for.
Thursday's suicide car bombings were the deadliest single
attack on AU peacekeepers since they arrived in the lawless
African nation in 2007. The bombings also underscored links
between al-Qaida's terror network and Somalia's homegrown
insurgency.
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A Somali
woman is rushed into a local hospital after several
mortar rounds hit the African Union in Mogadishu on
Thursday. |
By Mohammed Ibrahim And Jeffrey
Gettleman
Mogadishu, Somalia, September 19, 2009 — Somali insurgents
mounted a brazen suicide attack against top Somali and African
Union officials meeting on Thursday to plan a major
offensive in Mogadishu, driving two explosives-laden trucks
marked “U.N.”
deep into a fortified base near the airport here and
detonating them at a fuel depot and the office of an
American logistics company, according to witnesses and
African Union officials.
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Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan |
By JEFFREY
GETTLEMAN and ERIC
SCHMITT
NAIROBI, Kenya, September 19, 2009 — American commandos
killed one of the most wanted Islamic militants in Africa in
a daylight raid in southern
Somalia on Monday, according to American and Somali
officials, an indication of the Obama administration’s
willingness to use combat troops strategically against Al
Qaeda’s growing influence in the region.
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Mogadishu, Somalia September 19, 2009 – A group of lawmakers
in Somalia have rejected a new deal between the governments
of Somalia and Djibouti, which states that Djibouti will be
the base for anti-piracy training and operations, Radio
Garowe reports.
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Nairobi, September 19, 2009 – Save the Children is urgently
seeking to expand its feeding programmes in Somalia to get
life-saving assistance to the growing numbers of
malnourished children struggling to survive the country’s
worst humanitarian crisis for 18 years.
Conditions for children in the country are deteriorating at
an alarming rate. Latest figures show the proportion of
malnourished children has risen to 20 per cent as a result
of severe drought, crop failures, rising food prices and
hyperinflation.
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Mogadishu, Somalia, September 19, 2009 –
The African Union (AU) has vowed to continue its mission in
Somalia, despite the killing of 14 peacekeepers in suicide
blasts claimed by Islamists.
The dead included the deputy commander of the AU force in
Somalia.
Shelling after the double bombing left at least 13 people
dead, mostly civilians, witnesses say.
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What Could Suicide Bombings
Mean For Somalia? |
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By Daniel
Wallis
NAIROBI, September 19, 2009 – Twin suicide car bombs that
struck the main African Union (AU) military base in
Mogadishu and killed 17 peacekeepers have raised serious
questions about the credibility of Somalia's feuding
government.
The attack showed the ability of the al Qaeda-linked rebels
to strike the heavily-guarded heart of the AU mission AMISOM,
and underlined the administration's lack of control over a
country that is of growing concern to Western security
experts.
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International Literacy Day:
ADRA Emphasizes Role Of Literacy In Poverty Reduction |
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Nadia McGill
SILVER SPRING, Md., September 19, 2009 – On International
Literacy Day, September 8, the Adventist Development and
Relief Agency (ADRA) calls for greater attention to the
plight of hundreds of millions of people around the world
who live in deep poverty because they lack access to basic
reading and writing training.
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Egypt Hands Over Suspected
Pirates To Puntland |
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MOGADISHU,
September 19, 2009 – Egypt handed over to Somalia's Puntland
authorities eight suspected pirates who had seized two
Egyptian fishing vessels before being overpowered by the
crew, officials said..
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SAC Condemns Rayale For
Killing Innocent People & Closing The Parliament |
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Somaliland American Council (SAC) is
dismayed by and condemning the actions of President Dahir
Rayale's government that resulted for the death of innocent
people who were exercising their right to demonstrate SAC
also condemns Rayale government for closing down the
people's house (the parliament).
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Appeal To The Somaliland
President & Vice-President: Resign So The Nation Can Get
Back To Its Democratic Journey |
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UDDAA and Other Somaliland Diaspora
Organization appeal to the President and the Vice-President
to resign so that the nation can continue peacefully with
its democratization process.
We have been following, with ever increasing dismay, the
delays in the presidential and local government elections
and the continual constitutional and political crises over
the last four years. We are appalled to see that the
reputation of Somaliland as an oasis of peace and a country
built on consensus and compromise slowly being dismantled.
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Puntland
Leader Warns Somalia Govt, Urges Somaliland Peace |
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Garowe, September 19, 2009 – The president of Somalia's
Puntland State government has reportedly sent a clear
warning to Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG),
while urging politicians of Somaliland to uphold the peace.
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Somali
Insurgents Vow Revenge For US Killing Of Leader |
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'They will taste the bitterness of our response,' says
al-Shabaab commander after death of Saleh Ali Nabhan
Mogadishu, Somalia, September 19, 2009 – Senior members of
Somalia's insurgency vowed revenge today for a US raid
that killed a senior
al-Qaida commander high on the FBI's most wanted
terrorist list.
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Dead Al-Qaida
Suspect Tied To Somali Youths In U.S. |
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By Dina Temple-Raston
Minneapolis, September 19, 2009 • Earlier this week, U.S.
Special Forces killed a man U.S. intelligence said was the
link between an Islamic militia in Somalia and al-Qaida in
Pakistan. But he also had a connection to the U.S. that has
not been reported: He was a senior instructor for new
al-Shabaab recruits, including a handful of young
Somali-Americans from Minneapolis.
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A Talk With Somalia’s President |
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President
Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed stands inside his office
within the Villa Somalia walls. |
Following are edited excerpts from a
transcript of Jeffrey Gettleman’s recent interview with Somalia’s
president, Sheik Sharif
Sheik Ahmed, at Villa Somalia, the presidential
palace, in Mogadishu, the nation’s capital. The answers were
translated from the Somali by a Somali interpreter:
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full text...
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Upper House Steps Up Mediation
Efforts |
Somaliland Upper House
of Parliament
Hargeysa, Somaliland,
September 19, 2009 (SL
Times) – Somaliland’s
Upper House met with the
leaders of the country’s
three political parties
as part of the Upper
House’s efforts to
broker an agreement
between the political
parties.
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BBC Correspondent
Confirms Somaliland Times Report That Egypt Returned
Pirates Because Of Fear Of Retaliation |
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Somali pirates were caught
and brought to Egypt after the ship they were holding for
ransom was rescued |
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, September 19, 2009 (SL Times) – On Sept
14, 2009, eight pirates were returned to Puntland from Egypt.
The pirates had originally taken over an Egyptian vessel but the
vessel was rescued and some of the pirates were killed while the
survivors were taken to Egypt.
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US Says No Talks
With Al-Shabaab, Kenya Signs Agreement With Al-Shabaab And
UN Wants To Talk With Al-Shabaab |
Nairobi, Kenya, September 19, 2009 (SL Times) – Al-Shabaab,
an al-Qaida linked Somali organization arrested three men in
Balad Hawo and accused them of planning to kidnap people
from across the border in Mandhera, Kenya.
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Loose Talk By Foreign Minister |
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, September 19, 2009
(SL Times) – With the confrontations between Somaliland’s
government and the parliamentary majority hardly over,
Somaliland’s government is already busy at work picking a
fight with the Chairman of the House of Elders, Mr. Suleiman
Mahmoud Adan.
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, September 19, 2009 (SL Times) –
Somaliland’s Minister of Education, Mr Hassan H. Mahmud Warsame
(Hassan Gadh-weyne) announced yesterday the official results of
the 2008/09 national examinations for high school and middle
schools.
The minister said that the results of this year’s examinations
are much better than last year and he attributed this
improvement to the combined efforts of teachers, administrators
and students.
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London, UK,
September 19, 2009 (SL Times) – As part of the UK-based team
coordinating election observers for the much-delayed
presidential elections in the internationally unrecognized
Republic of Somaliland, Progressio yesterday expresses its
profound disappointment and concern at news that the poll will
be postponed indefinitely.
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Borama’s Al-Aqsa And Buroa’s Ilays
Students Commended For Their Accomplishments |
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Borama/Buroa,
Somaliland, September 19, 2009 (SL Times) – On Sept.13, Borama’s
Rays hotel hosted a celebration for of students from al-Aqsa
High School who passed the national exams with high marks. Among
the guests were the Director of training and curriculum at the
ministry of education, Mr Abdillahi Yasin, Mr Ahmed Abdillahi
Tallan (the head of al-Aqsa schools in Awdal region), Mahamud
Haddi (the head of education in Awdal), Diiriye Hassan (an
official at Amoud University), religious leaders, parents and
students.
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Somaliland Electoral Crisis Must
Be Resolved Urgently, Leading Authorities Say |
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London, September 19, 2009 (SL Times) – Leading authorities on
Somaliland – including notable scholars and members of the
UK-based team coordinating observers for the country’s
much-delayed presidential elections – have issued an urgent call
to political leaders in the internationally unrecognized country
to find “a speedy resolution” to the crisis which has seen the
presidential poll postponed four times since April 2008.
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Sillanyo Rules Out Meeting Face To
Face With President Rayale |
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Somaliland
opposition leader Ahmed Sillanyo. Picture: Fred Oluoch
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Hargeysa,
Somaliland, September 19, 2009 – The leader of Somaliland’s
opposition KULMIYE party has categorically ruled out that their
officials will have any face-to-face meeting with president
Rayale, saying there will be no talks unless the president fully
honors what has been agreed upon by the three major political
parties shortly after the six-month presidential term extension
in May.
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Obama Unveils New Approach To
Missile Defense Program |
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US President Barack Obama delivers statement regarding
missile defense at White House in Washington, 17 Sep
2009 |
Washington,
September 19, 2009 – U .S. President Barack Obama is dropping
plans for a missile defense system with interceptors in Poland
and a radar facility in the Czech Republic. It is a dramatic
reversal of a Bush administration policy that created deep
tensions with Russia.
President Obama says he is scrapping the Bush administration's
proposal, and replacing it with a plan that is more flexible and
effective.
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Freed, Shoe-Hurling Iraqi Alleges
Torture In Prison |
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Muntader al-Zaidi,
who spent nine months in jail for hurling his shoes at
President George W. Bush, addressed reporters in Baghdad
on Tuesday.
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By MARC
SANTORA
BAGHDAD, September 19, 2009 — Hours after his release
from prison, the Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at
former President George
W. Bush said Tuesday that he had been tortured while in
jail.
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Mohammad
Khatami, center, a former Iranian president, is attacked as he attends a
Quds Day rally. More
Photos |
BEIRUT, Lebanon, September 19,
2009 — Tens of thousands of green-clad protesters chanted and carried banners
through the heart of Tehran and other Iranian cities on Friday, defying tear gas
and truncheons as they turned large swaths of a government-organized anti-Israel
march into the largest opposition rally in two months.
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CAIRO, September 19, 2009 —
Egypt’s top Islamic authority defended women’s rights to wear trousers in public
following a high profile court case in neighboring Sudan were women were flogged
for dressing in pants, the local press reported Wednesday.
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The seafront in Piran - coastal territories have proved to be the
biggest sticking point in talks (Photo: robertivanc) |
Ljubljana, September 19, 2009 Slovenia on Friday (11
September) announced that the long-standing border dispute with its neighbor
Croatia should not be a barrier to Croatia's adhesion to the European Union,
unblocking a dispute that had remained unresolved since 1991.
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Jeremy Sare is a freelance political journalist writing
principally for the Guardian and New Statesman. He
specializes on drugs policy, East Africa and
immigration |
Jeremy Sare
Gordon Brown, in his speech
on the war in Afghanistan last
week served up that old truism: failed states are a seedbed for
terrorism and establishing democratic elections are the
long-term solution. Pity then that this principle is not applied
more widely.
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Charles Tannock is spokesman on the European Parliament
Foreign Affairs Committee for the European Conservatives
and Reformists Group |
By Charles
Tannock
After almost two decades as a failed state torn by civil war,
perhaps the world should begin to admit that Somalia – as it is
currently constructed – is beyond repair. Some of the country,
however, can meet at least a basic standard of governance.
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Photo: Mohammed
Amin Jibril/IRIN
A street in Hargeysa, the Somaliland
capital: Political events in recent months have
rocked the country’s relative stability (file photo) |
Nairobi,
September 19, 2009 – Since Somaliland unilaterally broke
away from the rest of Somalia in 1991, it has prided itself
on its relative peace and the development of democratic
institutions, but
political events in recent months have rocked its stability.
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full text...
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Somali 'Travelers': The
Baldest, Holiest Gang, Part II |
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An
apartment complex in Cedar-Riverside, a Minneapolis
neighborhood where many Somalis live (Elliot
Dodge deBruyn). |
DAVID AXE AND JOHN MASATO ULMER
How young Somali immigrants searched for belonging, and
found jihad. Second of a three-part series. Part I can
be found here. Part III will appear next Saturday.
When 26-year-old Shirwa Ahmed, a Somali-born immigrant
living in Minnesota, blew himself up in Puntland, Somalia,
on Oct. 29 last year, he became the very first American
suicide bomber, and a harbinger of a looming crisis. Ahmed
sneaked into Somalia in late 2007, followed by potentially
scores of other young Minnesotan Somali-Americans.
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full text...
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'Black Hawks'
Return To Somalia |
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Helicopter attack shows dramatic shift in US policy
and comes with some peril. |
By Tristan
McConnell
NAIROBI, Kenya, September 19, 2009 — A strike by six U.S.
helicopter gunships on an Al Qaeda target in Somalia on
Monday marks a dramatic shift in U.S. policy to a direct
hands-on approach to the failed state in the Horn of Africa.
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full text...
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Arming Somalia
The
United States sent RPGs, machine guns, mortars, and -- in
the words of one U.S. official -- "cash in a brown paper
bag" to Somalia last spring. Foreign Policy reports on how
the shipments took place, and who's not happy about it. |
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BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON
Late in May, as violence consumed the streets of the
infamously violent capital city of Mogadishu, Somalia,
packages of ammunition, weapons, and cash began arriving
from the United States as part of an attempt to help the
country's flailing Transitional Federal Government (TFG)
stave off collapse.
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full text...
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Fighting In Somalia Takes Big Toll On Children |
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Fatuma
Ali's grandson, Omar Osman Ali, 5, lost his eye to a
stray bullet that struck him as he slept.
Edmund Sanders / los Angeles Times. |
MOGADISHU,
Somalia, September 19, 2009 — Even in a country that has
endured so much suffering, few images could more tragically
convey the senseless violence gripping Somalia today than
the expressionless stare of a 5-year-old boy named Omar.
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full text...
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Mothers Of Invention |
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Zuhur
Ahmed at her show at KFAI 90.3 and 106.7 radio in
Minneapolis, MN. |
Moving to Minnesota has brought many Somali women advanced
educations and their own businesses. A high percentage of
Somali-owned enterprises in the Twin Cities are run by
women.
By KRISTIN
TILLOTSON
When Nimo Farah came to Minnesota at age 9, she didn't know
to step on the foot bar to get water from the lavatory sink
at her school, or to store textbooks in a locker rather than
carrying them all home every day. Now 24, she's so skilled
at navigating life here that she guides other immigrants
through the confusing maze of real estate finance.
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full text...
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Somaliland’s Democracy Scores A Victory But Government And Police
Must Be Held Accountable |
It is said that a week is a long time in politics. Certainly the
last four weeks have been a very long time in Somaliland
politics. Things were moving so fast that we had to re-write
last week’s editorial several times. However, by the time we
submitted it to the printer and announced in it that a deal to
remove the police that took over parliament’s headquarters was
reached between the government and the parliamentary majority,
little did we know that the government would renege on its
promise at the last minute which would result in confrontations,
the death of two people, and the injury of a dozen.
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The End Of Siyad Barre's
Disciples In Somaliland |
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By Yassin Hassan Abdillahi
Somaliland’s infant Democracy is on the brink of collapse!
The courageous people of Somaliland have been betrayed by
few of Siyad Barre’s disciples. These thugs who never
believed in the independence of Somaliland have simply taken
charge of Somaliland.
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Loosing The Faith In The
System |
Part III The role of the
National election commission for the current standoffs
Written by Ibrahim
Saed Hussein
If National election commission (NEC) unable to organize and
conduct free and fair presidential election periodically in
Somaliland, if this problem is frequently happening in the
political ground, if the mandate for the current president
is regularly extendable after its expiry and the opposition
parties threatening that tolerance proactively is ending,
and a solution is not yet harmonized.
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The Damaging Cost Of The
Political Violence In Somaliland |
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Liban
Obsiye, Bristol, UK
These two last weeks without doubt have been among the most
difficult in Somaliland’s short political history. From
absolutely nowhere and without any warning it appears as
though what was a month ago a calm nation in the process of
preparing for a delayed but democratic general election had
turned into a violent, thug ruled state where even the
Police and Honorable Members of Parliament were sucked in by
the violence and turmoil taking place in the streets.
Read full text.....
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Tragedy And Hope: Somaliland’s
Political Crisis |
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By
Farhan Abdi Suleiman (oday)
We watch on the news and read newspapers about the political
crisis going on in different parts of the world. In
2007-2009 there are so many political crises in the world;
we can see Honduras, Barma, Thailand and Afghanistan. In
some parts of Africa political crisis were tainted in to
civil wars, From Somalia to Afghanistan, from Iraq to Sudan
sons were bleeding and bullets now replace the rain.
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Somaliland: Time To
Reconcile The Nation |
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By Ahmed
Kheyre
No one can defend what occurred in Somaliland today, and
it appears that matters are getting out of hand. But, where
there is hope, there is always opportunity.
I have often lauded Somaliland’s winning formula of
dialogue, discussion and consensus, and will always continue
to do so. Those who expect Somalilanders to abandon their
nation and sovereignty at the first sign of difficulties are
truly mistaken.
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Military
Strikes Won't Help Stabilize Somalia
The helicopter attack on terrorists in
Somalia merely allows the US to tick another box on its
'most wanted' list |
|
Nuradin Dirie |
By
Nuradin Dirie
The killing
of Saleh Ali Nabhan, a leader of al-Shabaab, in Somalia
yesterday dramatically reduced the list of wanted terrorist
individuals in the country. I say dramatically, because the
total number of known terrorists in Somalia is no more than
half a dozen. This is the paradoxical story of the war on
terror in Somalia.
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Can The People Of
Somaliland Learn Their Lesson Two? |
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By Adan J. Hadi
Since the colonial era, the people of Somaliland have always
been good at fighting for their independence, liberating
their land and getting their freedom back into their hands.
However, we never keep that freedom for long. Whenever we
get it, after a long costly struggle, we give it away and
hand it over to another oppressor who is similar or even
worse than the previous one.
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Analysis:
Keeping A Lid On Somaliland |
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Photo: Mohammed
Amin Jibril/IRIN
A government car is set ablaze in
Hargeysa, capital of Somaliland , on 12 September as
opposition supporters and civil service activists
protested the closure of the lower house of
representatives |
Hargeysa,
Somaliland, September 19, 2009 – There is a need for
all-inclusive consultation and support for local mediation
efforts in Somaliland, which has recently experienced
sporadic opposition and civil society-led protests over the
indefinite postponement of national elections there.
Initially set for April 2008, national polls were pushed to
July, then 27 September, before being postponed indefinitely
due to the current political situation.
Read full text...
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Somali Instability Still Poses
Threat Even After Successful Strike On Nabhan |
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By J.
Peter Pham, Ph.D.
|
J. Peter
Pham is Senior Fellow and Director of the Africa
Project at the National Committee on American
Foreign Policy in New York City |
By J.
Peter Pham, Ph.D.
The United States struck an important blow against Islamist
terrorism in the Horn of Africa earlier this week when, in
the middle of the day on Monday, Special Operations Forces
swooped down on a vehicle bearing militants on a dirt road
near the town of Baraawe, south of Mogadishu about halfway
to Kismayo, and, opening fire, killed Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan,
the ringleader of the cell of al-Qaeda in East Africa
responsible for the 2002 bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel
in Mombasa, Kenya, and the simultaneous attempt to down an
Israeli commercial airliner.
Read full text...
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Last month in Mogadishu, a
government soldier watched as people swam in the
Indian Ocean. More
Photos |
By JEFFREY
GETTLEMAN
MOGADISHU, Somalia, September 19, 2009 — From the gates of
Villa Somalia, the hilltop presidential palace, this ruin of
a city almost looks peaceful.
After nearly two decades of civil war, there is very little
pollution, since just about all of Somalia’s
industry has been razed. A clean breeze lifts off the ocean
and stirs the bougainvillea. Few cars remain in the city and
relatively few people, because hundreds of thousands have
recently fled. It is surreally quiet, except for the
occasional crack of a high-powered rifle.
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A Struggle For Education Amid
Anarchy In Somalia |
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After
more than 18 years of anarchy and lawlessness in
Somalia there are small signs of regeneration in the
education system. |
By Abdi
Mohamed
Mogadishu, Somalia, September 19, 2009 – Mohamed Abdillahi,
a student at Aqon-Bile primary and secondary school in
Mogadishu sits thumbing the pages of his biology book in
front of his class. Each day Ali undergoes a long journey
just to come to school.
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September 17,
2009: The Somali pirates are having a harder time because of
the 25-30 foreign warships patrolling their coast. The
warships interfere with attacks, and have arrested 110
pirates and jailed them in Kenya (where lawyers, diplomats
and judges argue over how to prosecute them).
Read full text...
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The Badlands Of Somalia:
The New Front Line
The West has repeatedly got
Somalia wrong, and could once again be sleepwalking into
another costly military misadventure, writes Nick Meo.
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Militants
of al-Shabaab display their weapons on the outskirts
of Mogadishu Photo: Reuters
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By Nick Meo
With unmanned drones in the skies and the launch of secret
commando raids, Somalia must feel like familiar territory
for the CIA veterans who have moved to East Africa.
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Every Day You Can Give Thanks That You Don't Live In Somalia |
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The world's No. 1 failed state
is crumbling and crazy-dangerous
By NORMAN WEBSTER
Whenever one becomes discouraged with life in Ourtown - its
potholes and falling masonry, its war between drivers and
cyclists, its noisome politics and bizarre language quarrels
- one can always, at the end of the day, crack a cold one
and sink into the sofa while murmuring gratefully, "Well, at
least this isn't Mogadishu."
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Slippery Slope In U.S. Somali Relations |
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Washington, DC, September 19, 2009 — A U.S. commando raid in
Somalia on Sept. 14 reportedly killed Kenyan Saleh Ali Saleh
Nabhan, accused of links with al-Qaeda and of responsibility
for a terrorist truck bomb at a Mombasa hotel in 2002. It is
being applauded as a win by U.S. counter-terrorism
officials, not least for its success in avoiding civilian
casualties.
But critical observers warn that its impact could
nevertheless be counter-productive, producing new recruits
for extremist groups in Somalia and reinforcing accusations
that the fragile Somali government is too close to
Washington. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8256893.stm for
a summary report.
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