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After a
long period of drought, meteorologists in Somaliland
are predicting the country is likely to receive
substantial rain between October and December.
Farmers and pastoralists have been urged to make
full use of the rains - file photo |
Hargeysa,
October 3, 2009 - After predictions by meteorologists that
the country was likely to receive substantial rain between
October and December, officials of Somaliland have urged
farmers and pastoralists to prepare to make maximum use of
the rains.
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Suspected
Somali pirates raise their hands in their skiff
during their arrest by Marines from NATO's
Portuguese frigate Corte-Real in the Gulf of Aden
June 22, 2009 |
Madrid, October 3, 2009 -
Somali pirates hijacked a Spanish tuna fishing boat in the
Indian Ocean, the regional government of the Basque Country
and a pirate spokesman said on Friday.
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Mogadishu, October 3, 2009
– Somalia's al Shabaab rebels took full control of the
southern port of Kismayu on Friday and sought to play down
fears that clashes with their ousted rivals Hizbul Islam
might spread to other areas.
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Paris, October 3, 2009 – Reporters Without Borders today
(October 2, 2009) wrote to Dahir Riyale Kahin, President of
Somaliland, urging him to pay the closest possible attention
to a report entitled “Media freedom kept within bounds”,
released by its partner organization in Somalia, the
National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ).
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New York,
October 2, 2009—The Committee to Protect Journalists
condemns the suspension on Thursday of three Voice of
America (VOA) reporters in the semi-autonomous region of
Puntland in northeastern Somalia. Puntland’s Deputy Minister
of Information Abdishakur Mire Adan issued a letter
suspending all three VOA correspondents and any other VOA
journalist from reporting in the region.
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Jehan Nga for The New York Times - Bags of food
stored in Galkayo, Somalia. Part of the country is
teetering on the brink of famine. |
By
JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
DOCOL, Somalia, October 3, 2009 — One in five Somali
children is wasting away from malnutrition. Tens of
thousands need urgent medical care to survive. The whole
middle belt of the country is teetering on the brink of
famine. United Nations officials say Somalia has not been in
such perilous shape since the central government collapsed
in 1991 and is in desperate need of help.
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Rita Apaloo, founder of African
Women Connect. (Photo by Jamal Denman) |
By Jamal Denman, TC
Minneapolis, October 3, 2009 – African Women Connect (AWC)
hosted a community summit at the Center for Families in
north Minneapolis on September 26. AWC is an organization
started in 2004 by Liberian native Rita Apaloo. Their
mission is to assist African women immigrants with adjusting
to living in the United States.
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From Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, authors of
Half the Sky
 |
Young people have often been the
conscience of their countries, and students have
historically been activists. But we're especially impressed
by young people today because they not only protest against
things, but also are active in support of projects.
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Ottawa, October 3, 2009 – Minister of
Transportation John Baird hopes to go to Ethiopia later this
month to pressure the Ethiopian government to release a
Canadian citizen who is serving a life sentence there.
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Ethiopia Says No Rebel Risk
To Ogaden Oil Search |
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Addis Ababa,
October 3, 2009 – Ethiopia sought on Thursday to reassure
international firms exploring for oil and gas in its
volatile Ogaden region that rebels were no longer active
there.
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Somali Pirates Resume
Attacks |
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By Katharine Houreld
Nairobi, October 3, 2009 – Pirates have resumed their daring
attacks on shipping vessels after weather off the Somali
coast improved, a maritime official said on Wednesday, but
warships in the area and precautions taken by mariners
themselves have helped thwart the attempted hijackings.
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Somalia's President Seeks
Support In Twin Cities |
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The
war-torn country's leader will visit the 70,000-member local
community as he struggles to keep his government from
collapsing.
By RICHARD
MERYHEW and JAMES
WALSH
Twin Cities, October 3, 2009 – His
country is lawless, his government is teetering and his
people have fled to all parts of the globe.
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Somalia: Scarce Educational
Opportunities Affect Overall National Development |
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Nadia McGill
ADRA International
SILVER SPRING, Md., October 3, 2009 – With one of the lowest
primary school enrollment rates in the world, millions of
Somali children are likely to remain poor, a concern that
affects not only the children and their families, but the
future development of the nation as a whole, reported the
Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA).
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Bristol's Somali Voice
Newspaper Back After Arson Attack |
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Bristol, October 3, 2009 – The Somali
Voice newspaper is back up and running thanks to a
collective effort from the people of Bristol.
The bilingual publication's offices in Easton were destroyed
by arson in July.
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Good EU
Backing For Somali Training Plan -Solana |
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Gothenburg, Sweden, October 3, 2009 – European Union defense
ministers voiced support on Tuesday for a plan to establish
training missions for Somali security forces outside the
war-torn country, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana
said.
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Human Rights
Council Holds Interactive Dialogues With Independent Expert
On Somalia |
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Geneva,
October 3, 2009 - The Human Rights Council this morning
started its consideration of its agenda item on technical
assistance and capacity-building, hearing presentations of
reports by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human
rights in Cambodia and the Independent Expert on the
situation of human rights in Somalia, and holding
interactive dialogues with them.
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Lawyer For
Woman Stranded In Kenya Calls Gov't Claims Irrelevant
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Toronto, October 3, 2009 — Government documents that claim a
Canadian woman stranded in Kenya for three months gave
contradictory statements to consular officials are
irrelevant, the lawyer representing her said Monday.
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Somalia Could Miss World
Cup Trophy Tour |
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Kigali,
October 3, 2009 — AS several African nations prepare to host
the coveted Fifa World Cup trophy, it remains to be seen
whether the trophy will reach Somalia.
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full text...
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Somaliland Political Parties Sign
Agreement |
Somaliland's three
political parties signed
a Memorandum of
Understanding on the way
forward to holding
presidential elections
which had been
previously postponed
Hargeysa, Somaliland,
October 3, 2009 (SL
Times) – The heads of
Somaliland’s three
political parties signed
the 6-point agreement
that they had agreed to
earlier in the week. The
agreement was signed by
the President of
Somaliland, Dahir Rayale
Kahin, the Chairman of
Kulmiye Party, Ahmed
Silanyo, and the
Chairman of UCID, Faysal
Ali Warabe.
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Somaliland Police
Arrest An Alleged Terrorist |
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, October 3, 2009 (SL Times) – Somaliland’s
police arrested a man whom they said was planning a terrorist
attack in the country. The man was arrested in Hargeysa and
police found in his residence a lot of bottles and chemical
materials that could be used to make explosives as well as cell
phones and a camera.
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Somaliland Armed
Forces Thwart Clan Conflict In Ceelbardaale |
Hargeysa, Somaliland, October 3, 2009 (SL Times) – Two clan
militias that have been facing each other for sometime have
recently had gotten within a distance of 3 km to each other
which prompted Somaliland’s military to take action.
Somaliland combined military and police forces pushed back
the feuding clan militias to a distance of 8 km from each
other.
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Al-Jazeera Features Somaliland |
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, October 3, 2009 (SL
Times) – The Arabic television al-Jazeera broadcast this
week a special program on Somaliland and the various stages
that the country has gone through. The program was prepared
by al-Jazeera’s correspondent Muhammad Rashad and started
with a camera shot of the memorial for the 1988 airplane
attacks on Somaliland’s civilians by Somalia’s then military
regime.
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MPs of
Somaliland’s Lower House of Parliament (photofile)
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, October 3, 2009 (SL Times) – Somaliland
parliament suspended for an undefined period of time the drive
to impeach President Dahir Rayale Kahin and the Vice President
Ahmed Yusuf Yasin.
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UN Special
Representative for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah |
Nairobi, October
3, 2009 – The UN Special Representative for Somalia, Ahmedou
Ould-Abdallah, has congratulated Somaliland officials on the
signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on the way forward to
holding presidential elections which had been previously
postponed.
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Tusmo Donates Blankets Berbera
Hospital |
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Berbera,
Somaliland, October 3, 2009 (SL Times) – Tusmo, a cultural
organization, donated blankets to the mental illness hospital in
Berbera.
According to Hadhwanaagnews.com, the singer Muhammad Adan Ali (Himilo)
handed 40 blankets to Dr. Muhammad Abdirahman in the name of
Tusmo.
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SCDO Holds Seminar On Violence
Against Women |
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Nairobi, Kenya, September 26, 2009 — FBI are investigating
whether an American Somali was involved in a suicide bombing on
a peacekeeping base in Somalia that killed 21 people, a family
friend said Friday.
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US Court To Hear Somali
Ex-Minister Torture Case |
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The lawsuit alleges that Ali Samatar was
responsible for killings, rapes and torture, including
waterboarding, of his own people while in power
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Washington, D.C.,
October 3, 2009 – The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review
the first human rights case ever filed addressing human rights
abuses committed in Somalia during the brutal Siyad Barre
regime. The key issue under review is whether the defendant in
the case, Fairfax Virginia resident and former Somali General
and Defense Minister Mohammed Ali Samantar, is immune from civil
suit in the U.S. for human rights abuses committed in Somalia.
No person has ever been held legally responsible for the abuses
committed by the military government against the civilian
population of Somalia in the 1980s.
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Rio To Host 2016 Olympic Games |
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Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula
da Silva, left, Rio 2016 bid President Carlos Arthur
Nuzman, center, and Brazilian soccer great Pele, right,
celebrate with their delegation after it was announced
that Rio de Janeiro has won the bid to host the 2016
Summer Olympic Games at the 121st International Olympic
Committee session at the Bella Center
in Copenhagen, Friday, Oct. 2, 2009 |
Rio de Janeiro, October 3, 2009 — Nearly
50,000 people cheered in celebration when Rio de Janeiro was
announced as host of the 2016 Olympics, jumping and shouting in
a Carnival-like party on Copacabana beach.
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Obama's Olympian Gamble Collapses |
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U.S.
President Barack Obama sits next to first lady Michelle
Obama before speaking in Copenhagen October 2, 2009 to
promote Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympic
Games |
By Steve
Holland - Analysis
Washington, October 3, 2009 – U.S. President
Barack Obama's politically risky Olympics gamble failed to
bring home the gold on Friday when international organizers
rejected his personal appeal and denied Chicago's bid for the
2016 Summer Games.
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International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA Director General Mohamed
ElBaradei attends a board of governors meeting in Vienna June 18,
2009 |
By Mark
Heinrich
Vienna, October 3, 2009 – The head of
the U.N. nuclear watchdog will head to Iran this
weekend to pin down an Iranian pledge, made at talks with big powers on
Thursday, to open a newly revealed uranium enrichment site to inspections.
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Sarajevo, October 3, 2009 – The
European Union and the United States will present Bosnia's ethnically divided
leaders next week with a plan to settle their differences and clear the way for
the country's EU candidacy, officials said on Friday.
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The crackdown on an opposition rally on Monday left
at least 157
people dead [AFP] |
Conakry, October 3, 2009 – Opposition leaders in Guinea have
rejected a call by the ruling military to enter a national unity government,
dismissing it as a tactic to divert attention away from a lethal crackdown on
street protesters.
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Constitutional Impasse as Presidential Elections are Postponed
Michael Walls
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Africa Programme Ι September 2009 Ι AFP BN 2009/02
Summary Points
§
Somaliland currently faces a critical constitutional and
political dilemma. Successful negotiation of this dilemma would
mark a significant step forward in the evolution of the
Somaliland political system, but failure with consequent
instability and a more authoritarian governance system remains a
distinct possibility.
§
The presidential election scheduled for 27
September has again been postponed, with no new date yet
announced. The President’s and Vice-President’s already extended
terms in office expire on 29 October 2009, and there is
currently no constitutional means for addressing the power
vacuum that will arise in the absence of an election one month
before that date.
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The Somaliland Independent
Scholar’s Group
(29 September, 2009. Hargeisa Somaliland)
I. Introduction
On 26th of September 2009, the ISG
members met to discuss the implications of recent Agreement
sponsored by the international community between the Somaliland
parties and the subsequent historic unanimous vote of the House
of Elders on the 25th of Sept, 2009, to endorse it.
The meeting was sponsored by the Social Research and Development
Institute (SORADI). It was moderated by its Director, Dr.
Mohamed Fadal.
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Amina Muumin, who lives in Helsinki, wants Finland
to grant asylum to her brother Ismail Mahmoud
Muhammad, who is a detainee in Guantánamo. Ismail is
not being charged with anything, but he is
apparently afraid to return to his home country
Somalia |
By Tommi Nieminen
Helsinki, October 3, 2009 –
Ismail Mahmoud Muhammad was taken away in June 2007 - in
handcuffs.
His life as a free man ended at Djibouti Airport on the Horn
of Africa. The local police arrested Ismail. He was taken to
a US naval base in Djibouti, and from there to the
Guantánamo detention centre in Cuba.
He had the very bad luck to be the fifth-last of the 775
people taken to Guantánamo between 2002 and 2007.
Read
full text...
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Nomad Diaries
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A Novel by Yasmeen Maxamuud Coming
fall 2009
In the pages of Nomad Diaries, you will meet refugee
families who had to construct a new life in a foreign land
not of their choosing. To forge ahead with life, they
attempt to preserve cultural values while learning a brand
new way of life. But learning and adapting to a new way of
life does not come easy. Coping mechanism swing into place
while acquiring a new language and new ways of doing things.
While the relatives these refugees left behind and the
destruction that continues are never far from their mind,
there is a sliver of hope in a new dawn. Nomad Dairies
will make you cry, laugh and it may even force you to
think. Meet some of the characters of this intriguing and
timely story:
Read
full text...
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'My Life As A
Somali Doctor' |
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Somali Dr Hafsa Abdurrahman Mohamed,
26, describes what it is like working at a hospital
in Marere, a town in the southern Islamist-controlled
part of the country |
Mogadishu,
October 3, 2009 – She was one of the 20 student doctors to
graduate from a medical school in the capital, Mogadishu, in
December 2008 - the first to do so for nearly two decades.
Read
full text...
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Jama
Sweden Indicts Himself |
In the last few weeks, Somalilanders have come to know some
strange characters who hold public office but who lack respect
for themselves, their office or the public. At the top of this
list is of course Abdirahman Mohamed Jama (Xoog) the man who
drew a pistol in parliament.
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Somaliland Is Rescued By
Foreign Friends And A Watchful Media |
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By Bashir Goth
With its latest decision to extend or should I say reject
the extension, depending on where one stands on Somaliland’s
slippery political landscape, of the President’s term of
office; the Somaliland Guurti (Upper House of Elders) have
loosened the noose on all parties.
As the political crisis tightened, the President placed
himself into a foxhole, thinking that this will protect him
from the many snipers that demanded his head. Equally
ineffective, the opposition leaders also ended up making
empty howls and toothless snarls when responsible action was
needed.
Bereft of any leadership capacity, the House of
Representatives (The Lower House) ridiculed themselves for
their rowdy escapades and street behavior while the Election
Commission sheltered itself in house of straws, waiting for
the winds to come and blow off the roof or even their heads
at anytime.
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A Four-Step Plan To Destroy
Somaliland In Action |
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By Ibrahim Hassan
Gagale
Many Somalilanders, living in the country and abroad, have
been warning the nation for several years that president
Riyale is not committed to Somaliland cause for independence
but he is a committed betrayer who is digging deep grave for
Somaliland sovereignty and recognition to destroy it for
Somalia.
Read full text....
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Somaliland: A New Way Forward
Toward Peaceful Elections. |
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By Ahmed
Kheyre
The Somaliland House of Elders recent endeavor to resolve
the political stalemate regarding the forthcoming
Presidential elections has met with some success.
After an all night session, 77 members of the House of
Elders voted to extend the mandate of the incumbent
President, Mr. Dahir Rayale Kahin until one month after the
Presidential election date. The new election date will be
set after consultation between all three political parties,
subject to the resolution of the technical issues related to
the voter registration program and its tools.
Read full text.....
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To Save Somaliland We Have A
Duty To Start The Change Process Immediately |
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By:
Amiin Dahir
Many of us, who are praying for change to happen in our
motherland, are advised to start the change process wherever
they are. Let’s change for good. I will agree with early
Cabdulahi Suldan timo Cade, when he poet in one of his
advice (tribalism is destruction) that if you want to make
the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a
change. In the same way, Somalilanders should first take a
look at themselves and start the change. We have role models
to copy or follow their ideas.
Read full text.....
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How Can Some One Try
Destroying Our Production (Somaliland) By Blundering Around
In The Dark?!!” |
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By Dr. Abdi
Elmi Obseyeh
In Somaliland life was calm, routine and made a sense of
peace and happiness. We seldom think of what we have, but we
always think of what we lack. Our experts in psychology
declare that 90% of the things in our lives are right and
the rest 10% are wrong. People can feel happiness if they
concentrate on the 90% which they have ,but if they want to
feel worried and get stomach ulcers they may concentrate on
the 10% of which they lack. We all know that voter
registration in Somaliland had got many errors and
progressive conflicts and arguments of chaos.. .
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The Freedom
Torch From London Arrived In Pittsburgh !!!! |
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By Tedla Asfaw
Ethiopians protest at G20 gathering at Pittsburgh was live
covered on ECADF yesterday afternoon and as far as I
remember it is the fist live coverage on Internet of
Ethiopians protest. The noisy crowd draw the attentions of
local and foreign medias and this morning one of the local
news papers reported about the protest. Major news media
however concentrated on the anarchist battle with the
police. Today there will be a big crowd of the Ethiopian
North American Battalion who came to Pittsburgh as far as
the west of USA and Canada.
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The Voice In The Wilderness |
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By Aniis A. Essa
In the week since Congressman Joe Wilson’s display of
ignorance, the issue of RACE, once again, has spun out of
control. So, I will try to add some sanity to the debate.
But first, let me lay the foundation for my argument.
Without question, you can disagree with President Obama
without being a racist. But, what does describing Obama as a
Nazi have to do with healthcare?
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It’s a Mad,
Mad, Mad, Mad World
Muhammad
Abdille Hassan The Somali Mad Mullah Who Predated bin Laden
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How Somalia's legendary 'Mad
Mullah' prefigured the rise of Osama bin Laden—and the
'forever war' between Islam and the West.
By Jeffrey
Bartholet
Saturday,
October 3, 2009
At Dul Madoba,
which means Black Hill in Somali, a jihadist known to his
enemies as the Mad Mullah enjoyed a great victory in 1913.
It is a place and a moment of legend in these parts, but the
site remains as it was, a wilderness of thorn bushes and
termite mounds. No heroic memorial marks the spot. No
restored ruin, no sturdy plinth holding up a statue. The
place is venerated in other ways.
Read full text...
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Canada: Ottawa Saw 'Imposter'
In Mohamud |
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Suaad Hagi Mohamud arrives for a Foreign Affairs
Committee hearing on Parliament Hill in Ottawa,
August 26, 2009. |
Official's affadavit says he suspected woman detained in
Kenya was sister of the Canadian now suing over ordeal
John Goddard
Ottawa, October 3, 2009 – The first Canadian official to
interview a woman detained in Kenya for not looking like her
passport photo says he suspected the woman to be Suaad Hagi
Mohamud's sister.
"My suspicion was based on four factors," migrant integrity
officer Paul Jamieson says in an affidavit.
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Ugandan
peacekeepers in Mogadishu, Somalia in 2007 (David
Axe). |
David Axe and John Masato Ulmer
How young Somali immigrants searched for belonging, and found jihad.
Last of a three-part series. Part I
can be found here. Part II
can be found here.
Somali-American terror recruits have
common roots in an impoverished, neglected and sometime
oppressed immigrant community. Their feelings of impotence
and isolation -- and their desperate searches for structure
-- are not new. But for the most part, any violent impulses
simmered under the surface until late 2006, when the
Ethiopian invasion of Somalia gave American Somalis -- and
their kinsmen all over the world -- a cause on which to hang
their dissatisfaction.
Read full text...
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Kenya’s Citizenship On Sale |
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The
Mandera border crossing point to Somalia. Photos:
Boniface Ongeri And Internet/Standard |
By Adow Jubat
and Boniface Ongeri
Nairobi, Kenya, October 3, 2009 – He had just hit 18 years
in 2006 when as required by law, he decided to get a
national identity card.
Having been born by Kenyan parents in Garissa District,
Khalif Hassan was certain he would easily get the precious
document that confirms his nationality.
As required in this part of the country, he presented
himself to a vetting committee just as a formality to
confirm he is a Kenyan.
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By David Axe
ABOARD U.S.S. DONALD COOK, October 3, 2009 -- In 2008,
Somali pirates hijacked more than 100 large commercial
vessels, provoking a massive international response. More
than 40 warships from a dozen navies subsequently assembled
to patrol the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. At the same
time, diplomats forged consensus approaches that included
U.N. declarations governing operations in Somali waters,
military accords uniting formerly rival navies, and legal
frameworks for prosecuting suspected pirates in various
national jurisdictions.
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