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Puntland Official And Two
Others Murdered In Bosasso |
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Bosasso, Somalia, February 20, 2010 (SL Times) – Three
people, including a high official in the ministry of finance
called Farah-Jiis were assassinated Wednesday in Puntland's
port city of Bosasso. The Killer or killers fled the scene
and their identities are unknown.
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Mogadishu, Somalia, February 20, 2010 (SL Times) – Sheikh
Sharif's militias shot and wounded Abdillahi Sahal Gardhub,
the head of Hamarweyn district of Banadir region, and four
of his bodyguards. It is not clear why Sheikh Sharif's
militia fired on an official who is part of their own
administration but this is not the first time this sort of
thing happens.
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US
Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice |
UNITED NATIONS, February 20, 2010 – U.S. Ambassador to the
United Nations Susan Rice on Friday dismissed a U.N. official's
charge that the United States was withholding funds and aid to a
U.N. food agency in Somalia for political reasons.
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Nairobi, Kenya, February 20, 2010 – A contested Somali town
near the border with Kenya is reported to be back in the
hands of Hizbul Islam after several days of heavy fighting
between Hizbul Islam forces allied with local militias and
al-Qaida-linked militants.
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Livestock deaths have increased the need for
humanitarian intervention |
Hargeysa, Somaliland, February 20, 2010 – Officials in
Somaliland have appealed to the international community to
provide humanitarian aid for hundreds of thousands of
people, especially children, in the wake of prolonged
drought.
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Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, February 20, 2010 — Abdillahi Duale,
Somaliland’s minister of foreign affairs has called on the
international community to looks towards a two-tracked
solution while dealing with Somaliland and Somalia.
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Mogadishu Weapons Market
Booms Ahead Of Battle |
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Mogadishu,
February 20, 2010 — Islamist insurgents and fighters from
Somalia's government forces mingle peacefully at Mogadishu's
main weapons market, but both sides are stocking up ahead of
a major government offensive.
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full text...
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Pirates Free UK Ship
Carrying Arms On Big Ransom |
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Gulf of Aden, February 20, 2010 – Somali pirates have
released a British vessel and her international crew on a
ransom topping five million dollars, sources say.
The UK ship, named Asian Glory, was released along with its
18 seafarers, ten Ukrainian nationals and eight Bulgarian
citizens, late on February 18 after the hefty payoff, a
Press TV correspondent quoted informed sources as saying.
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Independent Somalia: The
State That Never Was |
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Somalian
Prime Minister Abdurashid Ali Shermarke (R), and
Somalian President Aden Abdullah Osman Daar in July
1960 |
By
Jean-Marc Mojon
Nairobi, February 20, 2010 –When Virginio Bresolin passed
away recently in Merka, a coastal Somali city run by Al
Qaeda-inspired rebels, so did the last of a generation of
Italians who emigrated under Mussolini.
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Piracy Off Somalia May
Spread To Yemen |
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In a file
picture an armed pirate keeping vigil along the
coastline at Hobyo town in Somalia. (AFP) |
Dubai, February 20, 2010 – The piracy off Somalia's shore is
"likely to spread to volatile Yemen", said a former White
House official and a Somali-American journalist. They called
for a new international conference to find a solution in an
op-ed published in the Detroit Free-Press.
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full text...
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Finnish Troops To Somalia?
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Helsinki, Finland, February 20, 2010 – The government
proposes that Finland send no more than 10 people to take
part in the European Union's military operation in Somalia.
President Tarja Halonen is to decide on the matter on
Friday. The operation is aimed at training Somali security
forces.
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full text...
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Ethiopia Opens Fifth Camp
For Somali Refugees |
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Nairobi, February 20, 2010 – The Ethiopian government and
United Nations have opened a new refugee camp for thousands
of Somalis fleeing violence in the Horn of Africa country.
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full text...
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Djibouti Connects To South
Africa-Sudan Submarine Cable |
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Djibouti, February 20, 2010 – The submarine
telecommunications cable, Eastern Africa Submarine System (EASSy,)
which will connect South Africa to Sudan reached Djibouti on
Monday particularly at the Haramous seaside area, APA learns
here.
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full text...
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Kenya Faces Political
'Meltdown' |
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Nairobi,
February 20, 2010 – Ongoing political wrangling in Kenya's
coalition government is having a major detrimental effect on
its fight against corruption, a lobbying group warns.
Transparency International warned Kenya risked turning into
a failed state.
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Accused War Criminals Make Home In
U.S.
Former Somali General, Accused of
Rights Abuses, Lives in Comfort in D.C. Suburbs |
Former Somali Gen.
Mohammed Samantar,
accused of human rights
crimes, is living out
his golden years in a
comfortable house in a
middle-class suburb of
Washington, D.C.
(Courtesy the Center for
Justice and
Accountability)
More Photos
By Chris Cuomo and Eamon
MCniff
Washington DC, February
20, 2010 – For many,
mention of Somalia
conjures images of
a smoldering Blackhawk
helicopter and
AK-47-wielding pirates
loaded onto an antique
skiff.
What may not come to
mind as quickly is the
idea that the tipping
point for Somalia's
downward spiral into
an international no-go
zone may have come
decades before U.S.
troops landed on a
Somali beachfront in the
mid 1990s. It may have
come during the regime
of military dictator
Siyad Barre.
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Somaliland And
International Agencies Wrap Up Their Meeting |
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, February 20, 2010 (SL Times) – A meeting
between international agencies and Somaliland’s government ended
Tuesday. The meeting took place at Ambassador Hotel and went on
for three days. The purpose of the meeting was to evaluate the
projects undertaken by international organizations in Somaliland
for the past two years as well as projects marked for the next
three years.
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Somaliland
Delegation To Visit US |
Hargeysa, Somaliland, February 20, 2010 (SL Times) – The
Somali language newspaper Haatuf reported that Somaliland
President Dahir Rayale Kahin wrote a letter to the chairmen
of Somaliland’s upper and lower house requesting them to
nominate a member each to accompany a Somaliland delegation
that is headed for Washington.
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Karin Bombed By International
Forces To Discourage Pirates |
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Karin, Somaliland, February 20, 2010 (SL Times) – Karin, a
town 48 miles east of Berbera was bombed from the air by
unidentified planes on Thursday.
A member of Somaliland coast guard told the Somali language
newspaper Haatuf that the bombings were warning shots by the
anti-piracy international forces EUNA Atlanta for Puntland
pirates who have been lately trying to move their operations
into Somaliland's coast.
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Las Anod, Somaliland, February 20, 2010 (SL Times) – A convoy of
137 trucks loaded with food aid passed through Las Anod on its
way to Somalia’s central regions. The food shipments first
arrived by ship at Berbera port and from there it was
transferred to trucks and driven through Las Anod. The World
Food Program chose this new route to reach the hungry in
Somalia's central regions after al-Qaida affiliated al-Shabaab
banned the WFP from operating in territories controlled by it.
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, February
20, 2010 (SL Times) – Somaliland's Upper House finally managed
to resolve a thorny dispute that has dogged it for the last
several weeks.
The dispute erupted when the two Deputy Chairman of the Upper
House disbanded the standing committee and formed a new one
while the Chairman of the Upper House was abroad.
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Hadrawi Heritage Foundation
Established |
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, February
20, 2010 (SL Times) – Hadrawi heritage foundation was
established this week in Hargeysa. The inauguration of this
foundation was announced in a gathering at Mansoor hotel in
Hargeysa.
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Veterinarians Sent To Eastern
Somaliland |
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, February 20, 2010 (SL Times) – Nine groups
of veterinary doctors have left Hargeysa for eastern Togdheer,
Sool and Sanag regions. The veterinary doctors are going to
those regions to treat animals whose health were negatively
affected by the recent drought.
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Hassan Ganey Composes New Poem |
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Hargeysa,
Somaliland, February 20, 2010 (SL Times) – The poet Hassan Haji
Abdillahi (Hassan Ganey) composed a poem called Shinley (the
poem starting with the letter “Sh”). The poem focuses on some of
the problems bedeviling Somaliland’s society.
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Las Anod, Somaliland, February 20, 2010 (SL Times) –
Somaliland Minister of Justice Asowe Hassan, the Minister of
Education, Hassan H. Mohamud Warsame, and the Minister of
State of Education, Mohamud Garaad Muhammad (Qaw-dhegayste)
visited Las Anod Schools in order to observe first hand the
status of education in the city. According to Afnugaal.com,
the ministers visited Muse Yusuf high school, Nugaal high
school and Abyan elementary school.
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Bosasso, Somalia, February
20, 2010 (SL Times) – A man and a woman were killed in the
city of Bosasso Monday. The woman worked as janitorial staff
with Puntland’s Intelligence Service (PIS), while the
background of the man was not revealed. Initial reports
indicate that the woman was the real target while the man
was killed as collateral damage.
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full text...
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Mogadishu, Somalia,
February 20, 2010 (SL Times) – Sheikh Sharif’s militia
fought each other Wednesday in an area called ex-control
Afgoye which is part of Mogadishu. Four people including
civilians were killed in the fighting. Reports say that the
fighting was triggered by conflict over extortion money that
Sheikh Sharif’s militias extract from civilians.
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African Union Suspends Niger After
Military Coup |
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Niamey,
February 20, 2010 –The African Union has suspended Niger
following Thursday's military coup, in which President Mamadou
Tandja was deposed and the government dissolved.
The organization said it had imposed sanctions on the country
and demanded a return to constitutional rule.
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Tiger Woods Makes Emotional
Apology For Infidelity |
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Tiger Woods
practices his swing outside his home in Windermere,
Fla., Feb. 18, 2010. Tiger Woods... (Sam
Greenwood/Reuters)
More Photos |
Tiger Woods news conference in full
PONTE VEDRA, Fla.
February 20, 2010 – A tearful Tiger Woods has made a frank
apology for cheating on his wife.
The
world number one golfer was talking publicly for the first time
since the scandal surrounding his private life erupted in late
November last year.
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Microsoft agreed to give Windows
users a choice of internet browser |
London, February 20, 2010 – Millions of European Internet Explorer (IE) users
will have the option to choose an alternative browser from 1 March, Microsoft
has announced.
It follows a legal agreement between Microsoft and Europe's Competition
Commission in December 2009.
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By Michael M. Phillips and Alan Cullison
MARJAH, Afghanistan, February 20, 2010 — The Taliban grenade that whizzed
overhead was John Kael Weston's first indication that this town might not be
ready for an influx of diplomats, agriculturalists and economic-development
specialists.
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Lack of sleep is one of the
most common sleep-related complaints from Americans, researchers say.
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By
Lara Salahi and Christine Brozyna
Chicago, February 20, 2010 – President Bill Clinton's stamina kept him so keyed
up as he travelled around the world recently that it seemed hard to keep up with
him, or figure out where we would see him next.
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As Somalia's
minister of defense in the 1980s, Gen. Mohammed Samantar,
right, was part of a military dictatorship that "had one
of the worst human rights records in Africa," according
to the United Nations. "They tied my hands to my legs,
and they waterboarded me, and put [on] me some kind of
electric shock," said Bashe Yusuf, a former Somali
political prisoner now living in the United States.
(Courtesy Center for Justice and Accountability) |
Richard C. Paddock
San
Francisco, February 20, 2010 -- When Mohamed Ali Samantar,
former prime minister of Somalia, arrived in the United States
in 1997, he quietly took up residence in Virginia, far from the
violence and chaos of his homeland.
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By Nicholas
Kralev
Unprecedented military cooperation among NATO forces, Russia,
China and other countries in the Gulf of Aden has helped
decrease the number of pirate attacks on ships off the coast of
Somalia in the past year, the State Department said Thursday.
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By
Andrei Fedyashin
By an odd coincidence, February 17 has linked two
unrecognized (or semi-recognized) non-identical twins -
Kosovo and Abkhazia. Two years ago, on February 17 Albanians
unilaterally proclaimed the independence of the territory
that Serbia considers its own and calls "Kosovo and Metohija."
On February 17, 1810, that is, 200 years ago, the Abkhazian
principality joined the Russian Empire of its own free will.
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full text...
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By Tina
Brown
In March, The Daily Beast's power-packed three-day summit,
Women in the World, will showcase the stories of outstanding
women leaders around the globe, featuring Meryl Streep, Her
Majesty Queen Rania, and many more. Watch here for extensive
coverage and opportunities to get involved.
One of the most exciting parts of my job as editor of The
Daily Beast is the way we can respond so quickly when our
emotions are stirred. Since our launch in October 2008,
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Sheikh
Sharif’s Credibility Problem |
For a few weeks now, Sheikh Sharif and his associates have
been making one pronouncement after the other saying that they
will unleash a military offensive against al-Shabaab and Hizb
al-Islam and “clear them out of the country.” These strident
announcements have led many civilians to flee Mogadishu in fear
thus adding to the influx of refugees into already bursting
refugee camps in Somalia and in neighboring countries.
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1969 Military Coup In Somalia
Part XIII |
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By Dr. Mohamed-Rashiid
Sh. Hassan
This is the thirteenth article of a series
of articles that Dr. Mohamed-Rashid analyses the military
coup and its legacy
The Formation of the Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party
(SRSP)
The long awaited founding conference of the party was held
in the capital in July 1976, but before it started the name
and those who would be on the central committee had been
already agreed by the President and his close advisers. If
the conference had any meaning it was as a show to
legitimize what was already agreed upon. The aim of the
conference was to create on illusion of democratic
participation, and show the public that from now the
military alone would not hold power or would not have any
power at all; instead a party was formed to take
responsibility for the nation.
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A Trivial Change At African
Union |
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By Geleh Ali Gulaid, Ohio
The African Union (AU) will need more than a change of flag
to solve the perennial problems that have hindered the
progression of Africa economically and politically. Cosmetic
touchups such as changing a name or a flag will not get to
root of the reemerging problems that have and will derail
the hopes of many Africans.
Read full text....
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A Convincing Case For
Somaliland Recognition |
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By Ibrahim Hassan Gagale
The opponents of Somaliland Republic sometimes raise
insincere arguments about the legitimacy of its national
borders and its quest for international diplomatic
recognition calling its borders “Colonial Borders” to deny
Somaliland sovereignty and diplomatic recognition. This
hostile group is either ignorant of the historical origin of
current borders of African States or purposefully engaged in
misleading.
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Anti-Somaliland Campaigners:
Descending To The Lower Of Pan-Somali Polemics |
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By Abdulaziz Al-Mutairi
In last two decades, Somalia was dooming into devastation,
and until today it has no signs of a recovery. After the
collapse of brutal regime of Siyad Barre, the armed struggle
between rival Mohamed Farah Aideed and Ali Mahdi, and
beginning of Warlords, the international community hosted
many peace conferences for Somalis to settle their
differences including the latest in Djibouti. However, all
failed due to reasons with personal interest.
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The Failure Mentality |
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By Ismail Hassan
It is disturbing to realize that we – Somalis – failed in every aspect. If you
glance our recorded and oral history, you would find that we failed to satisfy
the basic human needs such as water, shelter and food. As primitive nomads, we
travel days searching for water, which is one of the basic needs.
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Foreign Observers Involvement During National
Election |
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By Yohannes Gebresellasie (Ph.D.)
International governmental and non-governmental institutions such as the Carter
Centre have been playing a supportive role in advancing democratization and good
governance as observers during elections in less developed nations like ours.
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Bulgarian Journalist Elena
Yoncheva: West Sees Somali Pirates As Lesser Evil Than
Islamists |
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Author: Ivan
Dikov
Interview | February 20, 2010
Elena Yoncheva has made top documentaries about a number of
the "hottest" spots and conflict zones on the planet,
including Chechnya, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo,
Afghanistan, Iraq, North Korea, Columbia, among others.
Read full text...
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Attacks On The Press 2009:
Somalia |
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Top Developments
• Al-Shabaab terrorizes media through violence, threats,
censorship.
• Many local journalists flee into exile, leaving a void in
coverage.
Key Statistic
6: Journalists killed in direct relation to their work in
2009.
Somalia was among the world’s deadliest countries in 2009,
surpassing violent hot spots such as Iraq and Pakistan.
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