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Beer, Somaliland, October 24, 2009 – Beer
(pronounced Bayer) village in Somaliland lost its water
system in 2005 when flash floods hit the region, swept away
water delivery pipes, and left a seasonal community well
clogged with silt.
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Water
being distributed by Medair |
Hargeysa, Somaliland,
October 24, 2009 – In Somaliland's drought-stricken Togdheer
region, Medair is delivering emergency truckloads of water
to dozens of remote communities to save the lives of the
most vulnerable.
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Somali
Islamist fighters patrol the streets in southern
Mogadishu. Al Shabaab insurgents have threatened to
attack Burundi and Uganda. Photo/REUTERS
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Mogadishu/Nairobi, October
24, 2009 (SL Times) – The Ugandan government has warned a
Somali rebel group that it would quickly regret any attack
attempted within Ugandan territory.
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US Drones Protecting Ships
From Somali Pirates |
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U.S.
military surveillance drones based in the Seychelles
islands are patrolling off Somalia's coast in hopes
of stemming a rising piracy trade. U.S. military
officials say unmanned drones called Reapers are
patrolling the Indian Ocean.
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Nairobi,
Kenya, October 24, 2009 — For the first time, sophisticated
U.S. military surveillance drones capable of carrying
missiles have begun patrolling waters off Somalia in hopes
of stemming rising piracy.
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People
walk along the main road to Goma in eastern
Democratic Republic of Congo after fleeing fighting
in Kibumba, October 27, 2008. |
Kampala,
Uganda, October 24, 2009 – The African Union (AU) adopted a
convention on Friday that obliges member states to protect
and help millions of people uprooted within their own
countries because of conflict and natural disasters.
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A
displaced Somali woman sits with her child in front
of their makeshift shelter in Galkayo.
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Galkayo,
October 24, 2009 – There is no shortage of dangers for women
in the grim refugee camps of northern Somalia.
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Nairobi, October 24, 2009 – A Somali general says 1,500
young men have been recruited from Kenya on his government's
behalf and are receiving military training in Kenya.
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Nairobi, October 24, 2009 (SL Times) –
Somalia’s Prime Minister, Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, the
UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Lynn
Pascoe, and the UN Special Representative for Somalia,
Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, have called for an urgent increase in
international support for Somalia.
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Richard
Phillips, centre, hugs his children after arriving
on a plane in South Burlington, Vermont |
Washington, October 24, 2009 – Most of us are probably
already quite familiar with the story of how the Maersk
Alabama was boarded by pirates off the coast of Somalia.
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Somalia: Puntland
Investigating "Flying Poachers" |
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Puntland
officials say the most common game in the area is
gazelle (such as this one above) and ostrich (file
photo) |
Nairobi, October 24, 2009 –
Authorities in the self-declared autonomous region of
Puntland, northeastern Somalia, are compiling data on
foreign helicopters said to be poaching and stealing
wildlife from the area while at the same time scaring off
the farm animals.
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Kenya: Stop Recruitment Of
Somalis In Refugee Camps |
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Deception Used to Enlist Refugees to Fight in Somalia
Nairobi, October 24, 2009 – The Kenyan government should
immediately stop the recruitment of Somalis in refugee camps
to fight for an armed force in Somalia, Human Rights Watch
said today.
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Somalia Says Forces Ready
To Take Capital, South |
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As Somali PM boasts of foreign military help, insurgents vow
to punish neighboring involvement.
Nairobi, October 24, 2009 – Newly-trained Somali government
forces will soon take on insurgents entrenched in the
capital Mogadishu and across the south of the war-torn
country, the Somali premier said Friday.
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Funding Shortfalls May
Threaten Critical Humanitarian Assistance In Somalia |
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New York, USA, October 24, 2009 – UNICEF
officials worry that funding shortfalls may threaten the
humanitarian assistance activities that are urgently needed
for roughly 3.6 million people in Somalia, including for 1.4
million affected by severe drought and about 1.5 million
displaced primarily by conflict.
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World Press Freedom Index -
Somalia In 2009 |
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Reporters Without Borders / Reporters sans frontières
AFRICA: Journalists prey to violence, political crises and
instability
Madagascar and Gabon fall, Horn sinks deeper, Zimbabwe
improves
The Horn was again the African region
with the most press freedom violations. Eritrea (175th),
where no independent media is tolerated and 30 journalists
are in prison (as many as in China or Iran but with a much
smaller population), was ranked last in the world for the
third year running.
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Djibouti
Rejects Alleged Destabilization Role In Somalia
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New York, October 24, 2009 – Djibouti has sharply denied
accusations that it played a role in fueling violence in
neighboring Somalia.
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Shift Aid Base
From Nairobi To Somaliland, Puntland And Other "Safe" Areas,
Urges UN Official |
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Nairobi,
Kenya, October 24, 2009 – Humanitarian agencies should move
from Nairobi to "relatively safe" areas of Somalia to be
able to better serve more than 1.5 million internally
displaced people (IDPs) caught up in a "deepening"
humanitarian crisis, Walter Kälin, Representative of the UN
Secretary-General on the Human Rights of IDPs, said on 21
October.
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Pakistan Tied
With Somalia For Highest Deaths Of Journalists |
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Peshawar, October 24, 2009 – Pakistan and Somalia share the
world record for the highest numbers of journalists killed
in any country from September 1, 2008 to August 31, 2009,
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Tuesday.
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Somaliland President Forwards The
Names Of Commission Nominees, Parliament Starts Confirmation
Process |
Dahir Rayale Kahin, the
ruler of Somaliland in
his office in
Hargeysa, April 9, 2008
Hargeysa, Somaliland,
October 24, 2009 (SL
Times) – Somaliland
President Dahir Rayale
Kahin has finally
forwarded the list of
the seven members of the
electoral commission.
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Somaliland
Representative In France Undergoes Surgery |
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Mohamud Salah Nur (Fagadhe), |
Paris, France, October 24, 2009 (SL Times) – Somaliland
representative in France, Mohamud Salah Nur (Fagadhe), underwent
a successful surgery in a private hospital in Paris, France on
Oct.14, 2009.
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Sultan Abdirizaq
Sultan Abdillahi Arrives In Somaliland |
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Sultan
Abdirizaq Sultan Abdillahi, Sultan of the Subeer Awal
sub-clan |
Hargeysa, Somaliland, October 24, 2009 (SL Times) – Sultan
Abdirizaq Sultan Abdillahi arrived in Somaliland to take
over the position of overall Sultan of the Subeer Awal
sub-clan, vacated by his grandfather Sultan Muhammad Sultan
Diriye who passed away this week in Hargeysa.
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Southern Leader Accuses Puntland
Of Being The Mother Of Piracy |
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Mogadishu, Somalia, October 24, 2009 (SL
Times) – One time warlord and current member of Somalia’s
parliament, Qanyare Afrah, accused Puntland’s regional
administration of not just supporting pirates but having
created the problem of piracy.
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, October 24, 2009 (SL Times) – As part of
its efforts to show the positive side of Somaliland society, the
Hargeysa-based Arabic language newspaper al-Hatif al-Arabi paid
a visit to the office of al-Falah, a non-governmental
organization.
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Borama,
Somaliland, October 24, 2009 (SL Times) – The Director of Borama
General Hospital, Dr Ismail H. Muhummed and officials from the
non governmental organization COOPI honored some of the staff of
Borama General Hospital with certificates and cash prizes.
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Somaliland Readies For
Presidential Election |
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Dahir Riyale
Kahin, who has ruled Somaliland for seven years, will
face two challengers. Tim Freccia for The National |
By Matt Brown
Hargeysa, Somaliland, October 24, 2009 – Inside the compound of
the presidential mansion here, there is a circle of blue and
white tiles about a meter across lying on the ground over a dirt
mound. The decorative hump amid a dusty car park seems out of
place, until a guard explains that it is a memorial.
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Rising Numbers Of Illegal
Immigrants Enter Somaliland |
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Asha Abdi
with some of her children: Somaliland immigration
officials have expressed concern over the increase in
the number of illegal Ethiopian migrants entering the
country |
Hargeysa, Somaliland, October 24, 2009 – Immigration officials
in Somaliland have expressed concern over the increase in the
number of illegal Ethiopian migrants entering the region, with
claims that up to 90 people are arriving daily, against 50 in
2008.
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Residents Of Eastern Somaliland
Town Express Concern About Low Flying Planes |
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Dahar, Somaliland, October 24, 2009 (SL Times) – Residents of
Dahar, Sanaag Region [Somaliland] have expressed serious
concerns about low flying helicopters in the town.
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Microsoft Rolls Out Windows 7 |
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Copies of Microsoft Windows 7 are displayed in Redmond,
Washington, Oct. 22, 2009. Microsoft Corp launched
Windows 7 on Thursday in its most important release for
more than a decade, aiming to win back customers after
the disappointing Vista and strengthen its grip on
the PC market. |
San Francisco, Oct. 22 -- Microsoft Corp.
began to roll out Windows 7 operating system on Thursday with
the hope of shaking off the negative image created by previous
Vista version and maintain its dominance on the global market of
personal computer (PC) operating systems.
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US 'Overshoot' Plane Data Checked |
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The
Northwest Airlines plane involved was an Airbus A320 |
San Diego, October 24, 2009 – Investigations
are under way in the US to find out how a plane heading from San
Diego to Minneapolis overshot its destination by 150 miles
(240km).
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Accra, Ghana, October 24, 2009 – The second prize for Africa
2009 Lorenzo Natali Prize went to Anas Aremeyaw Anas of the New Crusading Guide
newspaper of Ghana and an ace reporter of AfricaNews. His investigative
masterpiece on the "Chinese mafia sex" in the West African nation won him the
prestigious award.
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Charles Wesley Mumbere during an
interview at his house in Kasese, Sunday, Oct 18, 2009 hours before he
was crowned king of the ethnic group the Bakonjo people in the
Rwenzururu district of western Uganda. |
Kasese, Uganda, October 24, 2009 –
For years, Charles Wesley Mumbere worked as a nurse's aide in Maryland and
Pennsylvania, caring for the elderly and sick. No one there suspected that he
had inherited a royal title in his African homeland when he was just 13.
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NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen addresses a press
conference in Bratislava, capital of Slovakia, Oct. 23, 2009. NATO
defense ministers gave broad support on Friday to the United States
revised plans for a missile defense shield in Europe during the Informal
Meeting of Nato Defense Ministers held from Oct. 22 to 23 in
Bratislava |
Bratislava, Oct. 24, 2009 – NATO defense ministers gathering
here Friday gave broad support to the Obama administration's revised plans for a
missile defense shield in Europe.
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While
violence in Somalia rages on, its less well known region
of Somaliland is making tentative steps towards
statehood. |
Written by Abdinasir Mohamed Guled
Hargeysa, Somaliland, October 24, 2009 – With daily reports of
chaos and violence wracking Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, the
relative peace and tranquility of Somalia’s second largest city,
Hargeysa, stands in stark contrast. The presence of foreigners
freely walking and driving in the streets, and the absence of
fear from kidnappings and killings in the capital of the
Somaliland region, is something its larger sister city cannot
boast.
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Yonis,
Zita, and Abdillahi discuss ASAP. Jessica Zita Photo |
Article By Amir
Ahmed
“All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have
been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education
of youth.”
The
quotation comes from Aristotle, but applies to contemporary
political theory as much as it did when he first uttered the
words. In an era when information is commoditized, the educated
mass keep countries stable and economically successful. The
reverse is true for countries where the knowledge infrastructure
is either developing or only accessible to the upper classes.
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J.Peter Pham, PhD
October 22, 2009
After a weekend marked by leaks
to the Washington
Post
and counter-leaks
to the New
York Times,
the long-anticipated policy strategy for Sudan was unveiled
at a
Monday morning press conference by Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton,
flanked by the U.S. permanent representative to the United
Nations, Ambassador Susan E. Rice, and retired Air Force
Major General J. Scott Gration, presidential special envoy
to the benighted African country. Since the details were
rather scarce in the public
strategy document released by the State Department,
only time – and deeds – will tell whether or not the result
of the new policy actually delivers what President Barack
Obama described in a White
House statement as
“a comprehensive strategy to confront the serious and
urgent situation in Sudan.”
Read
full text...
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The Horn Of Africa -
Prologue To A Tumultuous Year
Even though the
international community does not recognize Somaliland as
country, there has been so much foreign hand in respect to
the upcoming election in Somaliland
Like many elections in underdeveloped countries, there is a
familiar indulgence of NGOs in the Somaliland election that
has exasperated the contradiction between the incumbent and
the opposition parties |
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By Kumsa
Aba Gerba
The Horn of Africa is laden with many fundamental socio
economic and political problems that are caused by the
regional players themselves. There are however many non
intrinsic problems, due to underhanded meddling of the so
called “development partners”. The Hydro politics of the
Nile and Egypt, the future of Southern Sudan, the situation
in Somalia and the fate of Somaliland embed ticking time
bombs, with little safety pins that are to set off in 2010
and forward.
Read
full text...
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Somaliland Inches Closer To Presidential Election |
With the president’s forwarding of the list of the nominees
to the electoral commission, Somaliland has inched a step closer
to the election. The forwarding of the list should have been a
routine matter and should have been done without much fuss,
especially after the thorny previous disputes that were only
resolved with the 6-point agreement; unfortunately, that was not
the case, and as usual, the president refused to submit the
nominees of the Upper House and the opposition parties and
insisted that they should be changed. This was a delay tactic,
and it is through delay tactics like these that he has gotten
close to two years of extra time as president.
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London: UDUB, Somaliland’s
Ruling Party, In Disarray |
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In the past two months, I have attended
two meetings in London organized by UDUB, the ruling party
of Somaliland, one in Shepherds Bush and the other in
Woolwich. After this experience, I can confidently state
that UDUB is in disarray.
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Somaliland: The Impartial
Vantage Point Of The Registration Fiasco |
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By Mohamed A. Abdillahi
1. The Anxiety of the Voter Registration Results
It is common knowledge that the fiasco over Somaliland’s
first Voter Registration Project is developing into a
showdown between the self-proclaimed 3 national parties on
one hand and between the Riyale administration and the
civilian population of Somaliland on the other. So, as we
pray for the best in these Holly Ramadan days, new buzzwords
like “the Server” and “High Treason” keep mounting on us,
only to complicate things and add more confusion to our
minds. With no solutions on the horizon, the Riyale
administration opted to employ reprisals and intimidation,
which only increases tensions and propels a volatile
situation to violent confrontation. Yet the vast majority of
the citizens have difficulties to sort out the core issues
and understand the circumstances surrounding the looming
crisis of the Voter Registration.
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Somalia: Al-Shabaab—“If Your
Breasts Ain’t Bouncing, You Must Get Whipped” |
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By
Dalmar Kahin
Ridiculous! You would think. Welcome to Al-Shabaab’s world.
Imagine strolling along the road with your mother, sisters,
and wife. And as if you have violated some kind of a
pedestrian rule (not a traffic law) Al-Shabaab zealots pull
you to the side. And then just as police officers inspect
vehicles, the Al-Shabaab zealots scrutinize your beloved
family female members. Worse yet, just as the law
enforcement officers focus on the licenses plates,
Al-Shabaab inspects your mother, sisters, and wife’s
breasts. To add insult to injury, the ignorant Western Media
not only reports the barbaric events but also states that
Al-Shabaab is enforcing Islamic Sharia Law. What an insult!
What a disinformation!
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Remembrance Day For Those Who
Lost Their Lives For The Sake Of SL Independence |
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By
Mohamed Mousa, Canada
Somaliland is remembering the brave men and women who lost
their lives in the struggle for independence and for the
freedom and peace we are enjoying today. October 17th is
worth remembering for many reasons.
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Illegal Immigration (Tahriib);
A Journey Through Hell Without Hope!!! |
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By:
Khadar Hanan
During the last two decades, thousands of Somali modern
generation walks have lost their priceless lives in the dark
wavy oceans between Africa and the other world! The question
is__ how many more are ready yet to spend their money on the
same death ticket?
Read full text.....
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Downsize Cabinet: Suggestions To The TG In Somalia
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By Abdillahi Dool
As reported in the media the International Community is
putting pressure on the Transitional Government in Somalia
to downsize its cabinet. With 39 Ministers, by any standard,
the TG has one of the largest cabinets. Somalia is grappling
with all sorts of crises and one of them is bloated
government. Because bloated government is a serious obstacle
to nation building and governing. It makes sense for the TG
to downsize its cabinet. It is an irony for a nation such as
Somalia with a small population of 10 million to appoint 39
Ministers. It is worth mentioning that China which has the
largest population of 1.5 billion has a mere 19 ministries.
[1]
For that reason, it is incumbent on us to suggest to the TG
the following:
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Open Letter To President Obama |
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By Saaed Furaa
Barack Obama is arguably the most spoken about political
figure since 2004 to date. He is largely admired by many for
his ability to see through the soul of a nation and its
voices calling for something higher themselves. He won the
millions of hearts within the US and elsewhere. It is common
cause that he received the Nobel Price recently for giving
the world hope. Saeed Furaa writes an open letter to the
President of the United States of America:
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Re: 2010 Terror Plot |
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“Somali's in Khayelitsha and other
informal settlements in South Africa are more worried about
Survival and Xenophobia-but not terrorism” Saeed Furaa
I respond to recent unconfirmed media
reports that published allegations made by Prof Hussein
Solomon, head of the International Institute of Islamic
Studies in Pretoria discrediting the Somali Community in
South Africa by linking them to terrorism.
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Eritrea:
Spoiler Exacerbates Crisis In The Horn Of Africa And Beyond |
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By J.
Peter Pham, Ph.D.
One of the frustrations with which Africa's friends have had
to repeatedly cope over the years has been the seemingly
utter incapacity of the African leaders to deal with their
more problematic peers: witness the
annual African Union (AU) summit's literal embrace of
Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe last year on the very
morrow of a farcical "reelection" criticized the pan-African
organization's own monitors or,
with a few honorable exceptions, its
circling of the wagons around Sudanese despot Umar Hassan
al-Bashir earlier this year after the International Criminal
Court indicted him for crimes against humanity and war
crimes for his role in the humanitarian disaster in Darfur
Read full text...
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A Window Into East African
Refugees’ Pain |
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A poster in
Kenya's Kakuma refugee camp tells people to "STOP
FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION IT IS A HEALTH HAZARD
(RISK).” |
By Martin Fletcher, NBC News Correspondent
KAKUMA, Northern Kenya, October 24, 2009 – They shuffle
aimlessly in the dust: 50,000 refugees crammed into
thousands of huts made from branches, leaves, mud and
plastic in the
Kakuma camp in Northern Kenya.
Natives of Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi and
Uganda, the refugees have fled wars aggravated by drought,
yet even here the supply of water is sporadic. They eat once
a day from supplies provided by aid agencies. Kakuma is one
of the oldest and largest refugee camps in the world and
some people have been here since 1991 when it was
established.
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Two
policemen lay dead last July. But a new government
may now have an interest in allowing attacks on
terrorist leaders. |
By JEFFREY
GETTLEMAN
Nairobi, Kenya, October 24, 2009 -
Somalia isn’t just a nagging geopolitical headache that
won’t go away. It is also a cautionary tale. Few countries
in modern history have been governmentless for so long, and
as the United States has learned, it would be nice to think
you could ignore this wild, thirsty, mostly nomadic nation
7,000 miles away. But you can’t.
Al Qaeda is working feverishly to turn Somalia into a
global jihad factory, according to recent intelligence
assessments, and the way the United States chooses to
respond could serve as a template for other fronts in the
wider counterterrorism war. Just last month, American
helicopters swept over the dusty Somali horizon to take out
Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, a wanted Qaeda suspect who had been
hiding out in Somalia for years and training a new bevy of
killers;
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