|
|
|
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, December 26, 2009
-- Bolloré Africa Logistics, a unit of Bollore SA, may sign
an agreement to manage the port of Berbera and oversee $700
million of upgrades to the facility in Somaliland, Abdillahi
Duale, the foreign minister, said. “Our discussions are
already in an advanced stage,” Duale said today in an
interview in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. “We have
already made a basic agreement.”
Read full text...
|
|
|
|
Mohamed Saleban Bare said he was innocent of any
charges |
Hargeysa, Somaliland,
December 26, 2009 — A Somali just home from eight years in
the US jail at Guantanamo Bay told AFP the prison was "hell
on Earth", and alleged torture there had scarred some of his
fellow inmates.
Mohamed Saleban Bare, who arrived in his hometown of
Hargeysa on Saturday, said he was innocent of any charges
that would have caused security forces to arrest him in
Pakistan in 2001 and transfer him to the US jail via
Afghanistan.
Read full text...
|
|
|
|
Hargeysa, Somaliland,
December 26, 2009 (SL Times) – Coastguards in Somaliland
have arrested 11 suspected pirates, a minister said
Saturday, Oct. 19, 2009.
The men were boarding on a small boat late Friday when they
were intercepted in the Awdal province, Abdillahi Ali Ismail
Iro, Somaliland's interior minister, told reporters.
Read full text..
|
|
Top Al-Qaida Operatives
Depart Iraq, Afghanistan For Somalia And Yemen |
|
Washington, December 26, 2009— The United
States government which continues to provide support to the
Transitional Federal Government of Somalia [TFG] has said
senior Al-Qaida members have arrived in Somalia after
embarking on a long journey from the Afghan mountains of
Tora Bora.
Read full text.
|
|
|
|
Mogadishu, December 26, 2009 – A rising
dispute between militants in Somalia may have split the
country's al-Qaida-linked al-Shabaab group into two
factions. Reports say the suicide bombing at a Mogadishu
hotel earlier this month deepened divisions between an
al-Shabaab leader closely aligned with foreigners and
another opposed to foreigners dictating the group's agenda.
Read full text.
|
|
|
|
Nairobi,
Kenya, December 26, 2009 – The United States government is
concerned about the state of freedom of the press in the
Somali region of Puntland. The December 21 arrest of a Voice
of America (VOA) Somali Service reporter highlights the
difficult conditions in which journalists practice their
trade in Puntland.
Read full text...
|
|
|
|
A Somali
soldier in Bakara market, Mogadishu. Tensions are
growing between al-Shabaab fighters and the foreign
jihadists but President Ahmed's Government is too
weak to take advantage of the differences |
By Tristan McConnell
Nairobi, Kenya, December 26, 2009 – Pass beyond what is
described as government territory in the Somali capital — a
few blocks between the airport, the harbor and the
presidential palace — and you are at the mercy of
al-Shabaab, the extremist Islamic group that holds sway
across southern and central Somalia. Where it rules, it has
implemented laws and punishments reminiscent of Afghanistan
under Taleban rule.
Read full text...
|
|
|
|
New York, December 26, 2009 – The United
Nations Security Council imposed an arms embargo and other
sanctions on Eritrea today in a move that in effect brands
the country a pariah state.
The UN voted to punish Eritrea for illegally supplying arms
to al-Qaeda-linked Islamic insurgents in Somalia and for
occupying disputed territory on its border with Djibouti.
Read full text...
|
|
|
|
Tristan McConnell
Nairobi, December 26, 2009 – On the first Thursday in
December a young Danish-Somali man in women’s clothes blew
himself up in a suicide attack in Mogadishu. Four days
earlier, Somali pirates had hijacked a 300,000-tonne
supertanker 800 miles out to sea. Somalia’s abject failure
does not end at its own borders: the chaos is spreading far
across its frontiers and beyond its coastline.
Read full text...
|
|
UN Sanctions Shameful, Says
Eritrea |
|
Asmara, Eritrea, December
26, 2009 – Eritrea has labeled UN sanctions imposed on
Wednesday as shameful, and denied allegations that it arms
Islamist militants in Somalia.
Eritrea's UK ambassador Tesfamichael Gerahtu told the BBC
that the sanctions were illegal and would only worsen the
problems in the Horn of Africa.
Read full text...
|
|
Ethiopia: Drive To Mombasa
Eased By U.S.$85 Million Loan |
|
Wudineh Zenebe
Addis Ababa, December 26, 2009 – The African Development
Bank (AfDB) approved an 85 million dollar loan to Ethiopia
for the construction of a 192km road which will enable
Ethiopia to access the Mombasa Port.
Read full text...
|
|
Africa Oil Corp. Enters
Ameded Agreement With Puntland State of Somalia |
|
Rochester, New York, December 26, 2009 – Africa Oil Corp. (TSX-V:
AOI) and the Puntland State of Somalia have entered into
amending agreement which modify the terms of the existing
Production Sharing Agreements made in respect of the Dharoor
Valley Exploration Area and the Nugaal Valley Exploration
Area. The revised agreement were signed by both parties on
December 8, 2009 and were ratified by the parliament of the
Puntland State of Somalia on December 23, 2009.
Read full text...
|
|
Sweden Records Biggest
Population Increase Since 1946 |
|
Stockholm, December 26, 2009 – Sweden's
population will be 9.34 million at the end of this year, an
increase of 84,000, the highest annual increase since 1946,
according to preliminary population statistics issued by the
Swedish Statistics Central Bureau on Monday.
Read full text...
|
|
Taxi Driver Delivering
Blood To Cancer Patients Abandoned Car And Battled Blizzards
On Foot |
|
In UK
snow continues to cause travel disruption
|
London, UK, December 26, 2009 – A taxi
driver delivering vital blood to cancer patients abandoned
his car and battled through the blizzards on foot.
Father-of-one Abdirashid Issa was taking the blood from
Southampton to Basingstoke Winchester when he was caught in
Monday's chaos.
Read full text...
|
|
Doctors:
Somalia, Yemen, Afghanistan, AIDS top 2009 crises list
|
|
Geneva, December 26, 2009 – Aid organization Medecins Sans
Frontieres (MSF) released Monday its list of the ten worst
global humanitarian crises for 2009, with places like
Somalia, Yemen and Afghanistan making the grouping, along
with failing efforts to fight malnutrition and HIV/AIDS.
"There is no question that civilians are increasingly
victimized in conflicts and further cut off from lifesaving
assistance, often deliberately," said Christophe Fournier,
the president of MSF (Doctors Without Borders).
Read full text...
|
|
Somalia:
Puntland Parliament Endorse New Flag |
|
Garowe, Somalia, December 26, 2009 – The
parliament of Somalia’s Puntland state has endorsed the new
flag of regional state.
In a parliamentary session held in Garowe on last week, the
administrative capital of Puntland, the lawmakers numbering
41 unanimously passed the motion that allows the creation of
a flag, state identity and anthem.
Read full text...
|
|
Ethiopia
Sentences Five To Death Over Coup Plot |
|
Addis Ababa, December 26, 2009 – An Ethiopian court
sentenced five people to death on Tuesday and 33 others to
life in prison for plotting to assassinate officials and
topple the government.
Four of the five were sentenced in absentia while the fifth,
opposition leader Melaku Tefera, was in court for the
verdict.
Read
full text...
|
|
|
|
Kenyan Parliament Deputy Speaker,
Farah Ma’allin, Gives Historic Speech At Joint Session Of
Somaliland’s Legislators |
President Rayale
receives Kenyan
Parliament delegation
Hargeysa, Somaliland,
December 26, 2009 (SL
Times) – A Kenyan
parliamentary delegation
led by Kenyan Parliament
Deputy Speaker, Farah
Maallin Ahmed, arrived
in Hargeysa this week on
an official visit.
Read full text...
|
|
AMISOM Arrests Some
Of Sheikh Sharif’s Officers |
|
Mogadishu, Somalia, December 26, 2009 (SL Times) – The African
Union troops stationed in Mogadishu arrested some of Sheikh
Sharif’s officers because they believed those officers had links
with al-Shabaab.
Read full text...
|
|
Former Minister
Says He And Somaliland’s Government Habitually Lied To The
Public |
|
Mohamed
Suleiman-weyne, former minister of Industry (photofile) |
London, UK, December 26, 2009 (SL Times) – The former
minister of industry, Muhammad Suleiman Weyne said to a
gathering of Somalilanders in Bristol, UK, that when they
laid a cornerstone for a new cement factory in Berbera they
were play acting, and that they were deliberately misleading
the public and had no intention of building such a factory.
Read full text...
|
|
Minister Of State For Foreign
Affairs Passes Away |
|
Late Minister of State |
Hargeysa, Somaliland, December 26, 2009
(SL Times) – Somaliland Minister of State for Foreign Affairs,
Mr. Said Muhammad Nur, passed away this week. Somaliland
President Dahir Rayale Kahin as well as ministers,
parliamentarians and ordinary citizens attended the funeral.
KULMIYE’s Chairman, Ahmed Sillanyo sent condolences to the
family of the deceased minister and praised him for his
contributions to the liberation of Somaliland.
Read full text...
|
|
|
Las Anod, Somaliland, December 26, 2009 (SL Times) – The newly
appointed Governor of Sool Region, Mr. Farah Askar Hussein
assumed his new duties in a ceremony at the regional
headquarters. As reported by Afnugaal.com, the ceremony was
attended by the previous Governor of Sool region, Mr. Ali
Mohamud Ahmed, elders, intellectuals, Sultans like Garaad
Abdirashid Garaad Ismail Duale and government officials.
Read full text...
|
|
|
|
Abdillahi
Yusuf, the deposed former president of Somalia’s TFG |
London, UK,
December 26, 2009 (SL Times) – Abdillahi Yusuf, the deposed
former head of Somalia’s “government” said it is inevitable that
al-Shabaab will complete its control of Mogadishu. He said this
in an interview with the Voice of America’s Somali Service on
Wednesday (Dec.23, 2009).
Read full text...
|
|
Fighting Breaks Out Between
Puntland And Galmudug |
|
Galkayo, Somalia,
December 26, 2009 (SL Times) – Armed conflict broke out
Wednesday in the town of Galkayo between Puntland and Galmudug
administration. Galkayo town is divided into a northern part
which is run by Puntland and a southern par which belongs to
Galmudug. Galkayo is suffering from an ongoing series of
explosions, assassinations and counter assassinations.
Read full text...
|
|
Sheikh Sharif Complains To Kenya
|
|
Nairobi, Kenya, December 26, 2009 (SL Times) – The President of
the Transitional Federal Government, Sheikh Sharif sent a letter
to the Kenyan government in which he complained that the former
Prime Minister Ali Geddi is engaged in activities that undermine
his government. Both Kenyan authorities and Somalia’s ambassador
in Kenya, Mohamed Ali, confirmed receiving the letter.
Read full text...
|
|
Southern Exodus From Puntland |
|
Garowe, Somalia, December 26, 2009 (SL Times) – Somalis from
southern Somalia, continue to leave Puntland and head back to
their home towns and villages. Most of these people are from the
Bay and Bakool region, and they are leaving Puntland because
they feel their lives are in danger after several of them were
killed in Puntland.
Read full text...
|
|
|
Passenger Tries To Blow Up Plane
White House: Failed Plane
Attack An Attempted Act Of Terrorism |
|
This picture
provided by J.P. Karas shows Northwest Airlines Flight
253 on the runway after arriving at Detroit Metropolitan
Airport from Amsterdam on Friday, Dec. 25, 2009. A
passenger aboard the plane set off firecrackers Friday,
causing a commotion and some minor injuries, a Delta
official said. Delta and Northwest have merged. (AP
Photo/J.P. Karas) (J.p. Karas - AP) |
By Scott Butterworth and Spencer S. Hsu
DETROIT, December 26, 2009 -- A Nigerian national, claiming to
be acting on behalf of al-Qaeda, is in custody in Detroit after
allegedly attempting to light an incendiary device aboard a
Northwest Airlines flight after it landed Friday, federal
officials said.
Read full text...
|
|
Woman Knocks Down Pope At Mass;
Christmas Celebrations Begin
Pope delivers
Christmas message after assault |
|
Pope
Benedict XVI gave
blessings
in 65 languages |
Vatican City, December 26, 2009 – Pope
Benedict XVI reappeared in public Friday urging tolerance for
migrants in his Christmas message, hours after a woman knocked
him to the floor during evening mass in St Peter's Basilica.
The 82-year-old appeared unshaken as he
addressed tens of thousands in St Peter's Square and millions
around the world, urging "acceptance and welcome" for those
forced from their homes by hunger, intolerance or climate
change.
The pontiff was dragged to the ground by a 25-year-old woman who
vaulted security barriers and grabbed him as he made his way to
the altar for Christmas Eve mass.
Read full text...
|
|
|
|
This photo provided by the U.S.
Secret Service shows Kristy Lee Roshia. Authorities say Roshia, accused
of threatening to kill first lady Michelle Obama, is in federal custody
in Honolulu as the Obama family plans to travel to Hawaii. (AP
Photo/US Secret Service) |
Washington, December 26, 2009 – A woman accused of telling
the Secret Service she would "blow away" Michelle Obama was in federal custody
Tuesday as the Obama family planned to travel to Hawaii.
Kristy Lee Roshia, 35, was charged with threatening a family member of the
president and assaulting a federal agent after being arrested Saturday less than
two miles from the Kailua home where the Obama family planned to stay during a
holiday visit later this week.
Read full text...
|
|
|
|
Shiite Muslims attend Friday
prayers during the festival of Ashoura at the Imam Abbas shrine in
Karbala, 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Dec.
25, 2009. Christmas is bumping into Shiite Islam's most mournful
ceremony this year, forcing Iraqi Christians to keep their
celebrations under tighter wraps than usual. |
Baghdad, December
25, 2009 – A roadside bomb killed six Shiite Muslim pilgrims Friday during a
procession, the latest violence targeting the group during observances of a
religious holiday, officials said.
Read full text...
|
|
|
|
A man uses a laptop computer at a
wireless cafe |
Beijing, December 26, 2009 – China has placed more than 4.65
million computers at some 80,000 Internet cafes under watch in a bid to crack
down on violent or pornographic online games, state media reported Friday.
Read full text...
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Guantanamo is a place of humiliation for Muslims," said
Bare |
By
Andy Worthington, Journalist and author of "The Guantanamo
Files"
The release of Mohammed Sulaymon Barre and Ismail Mahmoud
Muhammad is another example of the hysterical and false claims
that Guantanamo is full of hardcore terrorists.
|
Ismail Mahmoud Muhammad
|
December 26, 2009 – Carol Rosenberg at the Miami
Herald broke
the news on Saturday that 12 prisoners have been released from
Guantánamo. The news followed hints in the Washington
Post on
Friday that six Yemenis and four Afghans were set to leave, but
Rosenberg -- and the East African media -- reported that the men
had already been freed and that two Somalilanders were also
released. I'll be writing soon about the Afghans and the
Yemenis, but for now I'd like to focus on the stories of the two
Somalis: Mohammed Sulaymon Barre and Ismail Mahmoud Muhammad
(identified as Ismail Arale).
Read full text...
|
|
|
|
Martin Fletcher: Commentary
December 26, 2009 - Afghanistan and Iraq have monopolized the
headlines but Somalia is arguably an even greater victim of
George W. Bush’s ill-conceived and lamentably executed War on
Terror. America’s interventions have proved so catastrophic that
its best hope of salvaging something from the wreckage is a
president it chased from power three years ago, who controls a
few square miles of a country three times the size of Britain.
Read full text...
|
|
|
|
Rescuers
in Mogadishu carry a survivor from the blast that
killed Qamar Aden Ali at a university graduation
ceremony on December 3. She had returned in 2005
to help her country |
London, December 26, 2009 – Tears filled Abdul Kadir Ali’s
eyes as he sat in a rundown community centre in Acton, West
London, and told of his sister’s life and untimely death.
Qamar Aden Ali fled Somalia with her two young children in
1986, he said. She settled in Wembley, learnt English, took
British citizenship, studied law at Thames Valley University
and joined a law firm helping asylum-seekers. Then, in 2005,
she returned to war-ravaged Somalia to become the
transitional government’s health minister.
Read
full text...
|
|
|
|
|
|
1969 Military Coup In Somalia
Part VI
Misleading Popularity and
Missing Opportunities
|
|
By Dr.
Mohamed-Rashid Sh. Hassan
The military leaders were predisposed to popularity
therefore they introduced several projects regardless of
their usefulness and consequences. We examine three of these
projects: The Somali script, land reform and
nationalization.
In the third anniversary of the coup, 1972 the military
regime announced that Somali language would have orthography
and the Latin script was chosen.
Read full text...
|
|
Is Somaliland’s Democracy
Fragile? |
|
Written By: Ahmed M.I. Egal
Introduction
Since the resolution at the end of September of the crisis
related to the much delayed Presidential elections in
Somaliland, there have appeared various analyses, by Somalis
and non-Somalis alike, of the causes and effects of this
crisis and the likely impact it will have on Somaliland’s
future. These include descriptive summaries of events with
personal opinions tacked on as conclusions, e.g. Markus
Hoehne’s treatise entitled “The current election crisis in
Somaliland: outcome of a failed 'experiment'?”. By contrast,
the report by the International Crisis Group (ICG),
“Somaliland: A Way out of the Electoral Crisis” is a good
example of a well researched, scholarly analysis that not
only provides a detailed exposition of the events that lead
up to the crisis, but also an objective analysis of these
events which leads naturally to a coherent and cogent set of
recommendations.
Read full text....
|
|
The Outrageous Mooryaan: Mr.
Togane |
|
Dear Naima
Adan,
I read your article entitled, “Response to Portrait of the
Canadian As Warya by Mohamud S. Togane” published on
wardheernews website.
While I encourage you to write more, giving you constructive
criticism and feedback will only transform you into a
powerful writer. And it is these invaluable inputs which
will reshape your thinking and perhaps influence your next
paper which I look forward to reading.
With that in mind, I must say Mohamud Siyad Togane or the
educated Mooryaan (anachronistic) is outrageous. He is
offensive, daring, provocative, and audacious. He is also
hilarious, creative, intelligent, and thoughtful.
Furthermore, he is a devoted religious man yet so devilish.
Never have I heard before someone so outrageous yet as
righteous as Mr. Togane.
Read full text.....
|
|
A Gorilla On Wenger Mountain |
|
By Mohamed
Egeh Killeh, Wildlife ecologist
The apes form the family Pongidae. They have no tail but
some members are nevertheless superb climbers. Their most
characteristics method of climbing involves swinging beneath
the branches by means of their arms, which are very powerful
and longer than their legs.
The best climbers in this group are the gibbons, of which
there are seven species. Gibbons are found only in the
forests of south-east Asia and are the only primates which
seem to be completely monogamous. Even man does not fall
completely into this category. A pair of gibbons will share
their territory only with their own immature young.
Read full text.....
|
|
Somaliland: Guantanamo Bay
Detainees And The Weekly Standard |
|
By Ahmed
Kheyre
In response to Mr. Adam Brickley´s recent article in the
Weekly Standard, on the repatriation of Somali born
detainees from Guantanamo Base to Somaliland, I would like
to correct some of the author’s factual errors.
Somaliland was former British protectorates which become an
independent nation on June 26th, 1960, and given formal
recognition by international community, including the United
States of America. Somaliland formed an un-ratified union
with former Italian Somalia, on July 1st 1960. The union was
dissolved on the 18th of May 1991. A 2003 national
referendum held in Somaliland, by a margin of 93 %, affirmed
the restoration of sovereignty.
Read full text.....
|
|
AFRICAN GRIEF – Poem |
|
By Farah M. Mohamed
Oh Mama Africa, why do you forsake me?
Years ago I escaped from the wrath of war,
Not blaming you, but still under your eyeful watch.
Open wounds and wasted souls that I saw
Relentless fear persuaded me to flee.
Not knowing where to go, I hastened to follow the crowd.
Dodging bullets and bazookas,
I rested my bones on a land far away,
Picking up the pieces of what I have lost.
I called America my new home,
Yearning for freedom to breathe free
Read full text.....
|
|
|
|
Somali
Terrorists Trained In Uganda |
|
A
Ugandan Soldier inspects arms captured in Somalia |
Written by Hussein Bogere
Kampala, Uganda, December 26, 2009 – The UPDF has been
shaken by the discovery that some of the battle-hardened Al
Shabaab militants it is fighting in the volatile Somalia
were trained here at home.
Highly placed military sources have told The Observer that
the commander of the Ugandan peacekeeping contingent in
Somalia, Maj. Gen. Nathan Mugisha, has advised the Commander
of the Lands Forces, Lt. Gen. Katumba Wamala, to put the
UPDF and other security agencies on “extra alert” as the
Ugandan-trained Islamists could plan a terrorist attack in
the country.
Read full text...
|
|
No-Win Military Scenario
Leaves Engagement As Only Option |
|
Andrew
Stroehlein
December 26, 2009 – At the beginning of this year, Somalia
was experiencing a rare moment of optimism. The desperate
country looked as if it might just start to turn itself
around. The disastrous Ethiopian invasion and two-year
occupation were ending, and the new president of the
transitional federal government, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed,
had broad Somali and international support. The hope was
that he would be able to form coalitions with other moderate
Islamists and isolate the extremist al Shabaab elements.
Read full text...
|
|
The tiny
Pacific island of Nauru has joined three other countries
in recognizing the breakaway Black Sea territory of
Abkhazia, population 215,000. Joshua Keating of Foreign
Policy explains what makes a country, and what a
would-be state will do to become one.
|
|
Listen to the Story
December 26, 2009
NEAL CONAN, host:
Big news today in international diplomacy: Nauru established
diplomatic relations with Abkhazia. Abkhazia, you say?
What's that? And where is Nauru? Well, for those of you not
up on your geography, Abkhazia is a disputed territory on
the Black Sea claimed by Georgia.
Read full text...
|
|
|
