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Ethiopia: Oil Company
Employee Shot Dead In 'Act Of Banditry' |
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Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, April 10, 2010 – A British geologist
has been shot dead in an ambush in Ethiopia while
working for an oil company, the Foreign Office has
announced. Jason Read, 39, from the Portsmouth area, was
killed on Monday while driving in the south-east of the east
African country. Government officials described the shooting
as an "act of banditry", saying they did not believe it was
politically motivated.
Read full text.
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Al-Shabaab
fighters |
Paris, France, April 10, 2010 – Reporters Without Borders
strongly condemns the Islamist militia Al-Shabaab’s
announcement today that it is banning local radio stations
in the regions it controls from retransmitting the
broadcasts of the BBC and Voice of America on the grounds
that they carry Christian propaganda.
Read full text.
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Manchester, UK, April 10, 2010 – The 18-year-old made his full
debut at Scunthorpe in the FA Cup in January then came off the
bench against Liverpool in February to become the first
Somali-born footballer to play at the highest level in England.
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AFP
Photo: Russia on Tuesday pressed for a stronger UN
mechanism to ensure effective legal action is taken
against pirates caught off Somalia... |
UNITED
NATIONS, April 10, 2010 – Russia on Tuesday pressed for a
stronger UN mechanism to ensure effective legal action is
taken against pirates caught off Somalia.
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SEOUL, South
Korea, April 10, 2010 – Reports say negotiations for the
release of a South Korean supertanker hijacked by Somali
pirates have begun.
Authorities say Somali pirates hijacked the 300,000-ton
Samho Dream in the Indian Ocean on Sunday. The ship was
transporting crude oil worth about $160 million from Iraq to
the U.S. with a crew of 24 South Koreans and Filipinos.
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MOGADISHU, Somalia, April 10, 2010 – The minister for
Information of the Transitional Federal Government, Dahir
Mohamud Ghelle, stated that the media in Somalia is going
through its most difficult period.
Speaking at press conference in Mogadishu on Wednesday, Mr
Ghelle said some groups in the country are bent on
suppressing freedom of expression.
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W.Cup Anthem Singer Stirs
Few In Native Somalia |
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The
Toronto-based rapper fled the Somalia at the age of
13 |
Mogadishu, Somalia, April
10, 2010 — For the few who know him in Somalia, he is a
"crazy" refugee, but many have never heard of K'naan -- a
hip-hop artist whose hit song "Waving Flag" is the official
World Cup anthem.
Read
full text...
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Dutch Sidestep EU Red Tape
To Rescue German Ship |
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In this
image released by t
he Royal
Dutch Navy Monday
April 5,
2010, a boarding party
slides
down a rope from
the
frigate Tromp's Lynx
helicopter onto the mv Taipan. |
By MIKE CORDER
THE HAGUE, Netherlands, April 10, 2010 -- Gaining fast on
the pirates who had seized a German freighter, Dutch naval
captain Col. Hans Lodder had no time to waste on
bureaucracy.
Sidestepping the command of the European Union's anti-piracy
task force, he went instead to his own government for
authorization to recapture the ship by force.
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full text...
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Somali Refugees Recruited
To Fight Islamist Militia |
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By Sudarsan
Raghavan
Washington Post Foreign Service
DADAAB, KENYA, April 10, 2010 – The U.S.-backed government
of Somalia and its Kenyan allies have recruited hundreds of
Somali refugees, including children, to fight in a war
against al-Shabaab, an Islamist militia linked to al-Qaeda,
according to former recruits, their relatives and community
leaders.
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Somali Anger At Threat To
Music |
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By: Patrick Jackson
Mogadishu, Somalia, April 10, 2010 – Radio stations
broadcasting out of Somalia face a dilemma this month after
a powerful Islamist militant group ordered them to stop
playing music.
Saying that the playing of music was un-Islamic, Hizbul-Islam
announced on Saturday that stations had 10 days to take it
off air.
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full text...
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Locally Based Web Site Lets
Somalis Nationwide Submit Crime Reports |
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BY JOHN
FUTTY
Columbus, Ohio, April 10, 2010 – A Web site has been
launched in central Ohio to attract crime reports from
Somalis throughout the United States who might otherwise
hesitate to provide tips because of a language barrier or a
distrust of law enforcement.
Central Ohio Crime Stoppers created the site, www.somalitips.com,
in cooperation with the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service and
the Somali community.
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full text...
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US Treasury Beefing Up
Staff In Afghanistan |
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By LOLITA C. BALDOR
WASHINGTON, April 10, 2010 -- The U.S. Treasury Department
is sending more staff to Afghanistan to target the financial
networks that provide money for the Taliban, a Treasury
official said Wednesday.
The boost in personnel there, along with additional staff
dedicated to that effort here in Washington, will coincide
with the Pentagon's surge in military troops heading to the
war over the next several months, said David Cohen,
assistant treasury secretary for terrorism and financial
intelligence.
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full text...
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Kenya To Face Somalia On
The Football Pitch |
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The match will be held in Djibouti because of security
concerns in Somalia.
Djibouti, April 10, 2010 – Kenya's U-17 side left the
country today ready to face Somalia in the African Youth
championship qualifier that will be played in Djibouti
tomorrow. The return tie will be played in Nairobi in a
fortnight.
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full text...
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Amping Up For Wale And
K'naan |
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By Jason
Rogers
Williamsburg, April 10, 2010 – A perfect storm of epic
musical proportions is speeding towards Williamsburg,
combining two of the rising stars in hip-hop, 2,000
screaming fans and the College of William and Mary. The Wale
and K’naan concert will take place tonight at the Lake
Matoaka Amphitheater. AMP will bring these hip-hop stars to
the College as part of this year’s spring concert, and the
campus is buzzing with excitement.
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full text...
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Somaliland Deputy Planning
Minister Ahmed Hashi Halts UNDP Seminar |
Hargeysa, Somaliland,
April 10, 2010 (SL
Times) – A seminar held
by the UNDP which
brought together
Somaliland and UN
officials was abruptly
brought to a halt by
Somaliland Deputy
Planning Minister Ahmed
Hashi when it became
obvious that instead of
discussing a development
specific to Somaliland,
the UNDP was using a
plan designed for
Somalia.
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SNM Celebrates 29th
Anniversary |
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, April 10, 2010 (SL Times) – The Somaliland
National Movement (SNM) celebrated its 29th anniversary on April
6th at Hargeysa’s Freedom Park (Beerta Xoriyada). The event was
organized by Somaliland Veterans Organization (SOOYAAL) and was
attended by the heads of political parties, SNM leaders,
veterans, civil society organizations and ordinary citizens.
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Hadrawi And Burao
University’s Cultural Research Center |
Burao, Somaliland, April 10, 2010 (SL Times) – Togdheer News
reported this week that poet Muhammad Ibrahim Warsame (Hadraawi)
discussed with reporter Kayse Digaale the objectives of
Burao University’s cultural research center.
Hadrawi said that the purpose of Burao University’s cultural
research center is to collect Somali traditions and culture
so that the various stages that the Somali people have been
through could be researched.
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Kuwait Royal Family Pledges To
Re-Build Sheikh Hospital |
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Berbera, Somaliland, April 10, 2010 (SL Times) – A son of
the Emir of Kuwait has pledged to help in re-building Sheikh
Hospital. Prince Ahmed Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah who is
the son of the ruler of Kuwait came to Berbera, Somaliland this
week and from there he went to Sheikh, a mountainous part of
Somaliland where Kuwait’s ruling family owns a palace.
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Garowe, Somalia, April 10, 2010 (SL Times) – The Somali website
Garowe.com which is close to Puntland’s government reported that
the British couple Paul and Rachel Chandler will be released
from captivity after a bribe paid by the British government was
channeled to the pirates through Somalia’s government.
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Mogadishu, Somalia, April 10,
2010 (SL Times) – More and more members of Sheikh Sharif’s
parliament are applying for asylum in European countries.
According to Dayniile.com, the parliamentarians are claiming
that they belong to persecuted minorities in Somalia in order to
qualify for asylum.
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Meeting Portrays Puntland As
Victim Rather Than Pirate Base |
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Garowe, Somalia, April 10, 2010
(SL Times) – A meeting organized by the administrators and
students of Omar Samatar High School took place in Puntland on
Apr 5 2010. According to the BBC Somali Service the meeting was
attended by students, officials from Puntland administration and
Puntland’s minister of information.
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Somalia: Tide Turning Against
Extremism |
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David Miliband
Foreign Secretary, London
In Somalia there are signs that opinion is building against the
extremist group Al-Shabaab, who threaten attempts to restore
stability. A recent conference of major Islamic scholars in
Dubai, including the Egyptian televangelist Amr Khaled and the
Saudi-based Sheikh Abdullah bin Bayyah, issued a declaration
condemning Al Shabaab's interpretation of Islam. The
declaration denies that fighting the transitional
government in Somalia can be justified as a legitimate jihad,
examines the constructive role Islam can play in resolving the
country’s 20-year long civil war, and calls for all Somalis to
support President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed.
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Somalia's Al Shabaab Takes BBC Off
Air: Rebels |
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Mogadishu, Somalia, April 10, 2010 - Somalia's al Shabaab rebels
said on Friday they had taken the British Broadcasting
Corporation (BBC) off the air in regions they controlled because
it spread Christian propaganda.
The insurgents, who profess loyalty to al Qaeda and are fighting
a deadly insurgency in the anarchic Horn of Africa nation, also
said they had looted transmission equipment belonging to the
BBC.
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Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,
April 10, 2010 – The president of Somalia’s semi-autonomous
region of Puntland, Mr. Abdirahman Mohamed Farole has
recently held a meeting with Ethiopian Foreign Affairs
Minister, Seyoum Mesfin in Addis Ababa. The meeting which
took place in Sheraton hotel, focused on number of issues
including regional security as well as the Puntland cabinet
ministers.
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full text...
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By Barry Malone
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, April 10, 2010 – An Islamist rebel
group which had threatened to attack oil and gas firms
exploring a potentially mineral-rich region of Ethiopia has
surrendered, the government said on Friday.
The United Western Somali Liberation Front (UWSLF) had been
fighting since the 1960s for independence for Ethiopia's
Somali region -- which includes the Ogaden and accounts for
one-fifth of the country's landmass -- government head of
information Bereket Simon told reporters.
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full text...
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Nairobi, Kenya, April 10,
2010 – At least 12 al Qaeda members have crossed from Yemen
into Somalia in the last two weeks, bringing money and
military expertise to Somali rebels battling the
Western-backed government, a senior Somali official said.
Somalia's al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab rebels are waging a
deadly insurgency against the transitional government headed
by a former rebel and are intent on imposing a harsh version
of Sharia Islamic law throughout the war-ravaged nation.
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Marlon King Turns Muslim In Jail,
Taking Hamza Name |
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JAILED Marlon
King has converted to Islam – naming himself after
hate cleric Abu Hamza |
Abu are ya?
By ANTHONY FRANCE, Crime Reporter, and RHODRI PHILLIPS
DISGRACED soccer star Marlon King has converted to Islam in jail
- and named himself after hook-handed hate preacher Abu Hamza.
The former Premier League striker has been radicalised by Muslim
inmates after being caged for molesting a girl and breaking her
nose.
And he describes vile Hamza - jailed for seven years in 2006 for
soliciting murder - as his "hero".
King, 29, has asked other lags to call him Abu Hamza Tariq. He
is praying five times a day toward Mecca, demanding Halal meat
and will only talk to Muslim inmates.
He has already been to see the prison imam to discuss being
converted.
Read full text...
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HIV Prevention Strategy With
Condom Kills Millions Of Africans – WHO Data Says |
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Dear Parliamentarian,
The present WHO Policy advisory on HIV Prevention with Condoms
adopted by Ministries of Health in most African Countries has
led to deaths of millions of Africans according to WHO, UNICEF,
& UNAIDS 2006 data on Reproductive Health Index (RHI). We hereby
attach the RHI (excel file) that shows country data worldwide.
We choose 36 Sub-Saharan African countries and related the
Contraceptive Use Prevalence (including condom use) to HIV
Prevalence in 15-49 year old Africans. There is a directly
proportional increase of HIV prevalence with condom use – MORE
CONDOMS MORE HIV/AIDS.
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A picture of Polish President Lech
Kaczynski and his wife is seen next to a candle during a special service
for the victims of the plane crash in Smolensk in a Catholic Cathedral
in Moscow, Sunday. Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife and some of
the country's most prominent military and civilian leaders died Saturday
along with dozens of others when the presidential plane crashed as it
came in for a landing in thick fog near Smolensk in western Russia |
By: Edward Cody and Peter Finn
WARSAW, April 11, 2010 -- Tens of thousands of mourners filled the streets of
central Warsaw with red votive candles Saturday night in a display of patriotism
and grief hours after President Lech Kaczynski and senior Polish officials were
killed when the presidential jet crashed in heavy fog in western Russia.
The crash, which officials said killed all 97 people on board, cut a devastating
swath through Poland's political and military elite. In addition to Kaczynski
and his wife, Maria, the dead included the national bank's president, the deputy
foreign minister, the head of the National Security Office, the deputy
parliamentary speaker as well as lawmakers and presidential aides. Among
military personnel killed were the army chief of staff, the head of the air
force and the navy chief commander.
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How many
countries in the world? The answer to that question is
surprisingly difficult
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APPLY online for visa-free entry to the United States and the
Department for Homeland Security offers 251 choices for “country
where you live”. The wide but rum selection includes Bouvet
Island, an uninhabitable icy knoll belonging to Norway in the
South Atlantic; South Yemen (which stopped being a state in
1990); and the “Neutral Zone”—a diamond-shaped bit of desert
between Saudi Arabia and Iraq that vanished after the 1991 Gulf
war.
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Dr. Oduesp Eman
While the current Somali transitional government is by no means perfect, there
are at least a couple of things it has been doing right- putting in place
various apparatuses to pave the way for good governance, and laying the
foundation to re-establish law and order. Granted, these two developments are
only moving at a snail’s-pace.
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By NICK FRANCIS
A SHOCK new survey this week showed how Britons feel let
down by Labour's immigration record. According
to our YouGov poll, nearly two-thirds of people questioned
felt the Government was handling immigration badly (see
graphics below).In 2008, net immigration was 163,000,
compared to 48,000 in 1997 when Labour came to power. Yesterday
we showed you the positive side of immigration -
hard-working individuals who contribute to British society. Today,
we look at the other side of the story - those who have
brought violence and crime to the streets of the UK.
IN crisp spring sunshine, on a bustling north London street
and in full view of young mums pushing prams, we are
brazenly handed four rocks of class-A drugs by two Somali
gangsters.
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full text...
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Kayse
Maxamed came to Britain in 1997 and will vote in
2010 |
By Dickon Hooper, BBC Points West
Giving a voice to Somali women
The Somali community is one of the largest refugee groups in
Bristol, but how will its voice be heard in the coming
General Election?
Even though refugees can work and are often well integrated
in the city with their families, they cannot vote.
Instead, many of the estimated 30,000 Somalis living in the
city rely on community media to be heard.
Bristol Community FM, for example, hosts a weekly chat show
hosted by Somali Women's Voice.
Muna Muhamud, who co-hosts the show, said there was a "sense
of frustration" at the sheer number of Somalis who would not
be able to vote on 6 May.
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full text...
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US And
British Rhetoric As Crazy As Al-Shabaab’s |
Al-Shabaab cuts someone’s arm and leg. Al-Shabaab stones
someone to death. Al-Shabaab carries out suicide bombings.
Al-Shabaab desecrates graves. Al-Shabaab kicks out international
NGOs. Al-Shabaab bans listening to the BBC and VOA. Al-Shabaab
orders Mogadishu’s residents not to eat meat. Al-Shabaab indulge
in these crazy and criminal actions with such a monotonous
regularity it is hard to expect anything else from them.
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1969 Military Coup In Somalia
Part XX |
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By Dr. Mohamed-Rashiid
Sh. Hassan
This is the twentieth article of a
series of articles that Dr. Mohamed-Rashid analyses the
military coup and its legacy
The formation of the
Movement
1. Somali National Movement (SNM) continued ...
The important point is that on one side of the Somali
political spectrum was the power of the state, which in the
hands of a military dictatorship and with support of clients
comprised of certain clans, business people and landowners
who had become rich through the prevailing system. They
defended their interests by using force and coercion. On the
other side of the spectrum, there was an alliance of nomads,
intellectuals and religious individuals represented by the
SNM who wanted to win their freedom and because of this took
arms.
Read full text...
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Somali Music Between Maryan
Ali’s Refined Taste And Al Shabaab’s Philistine Manners
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By Bashir Goth
Never have I felt so much hope and gloom at the same time
for Somali music; that wonderful aesthetic product by
default of the otherwise harsh Somali pastoral life. Onboard
a plane from Minneapolis to Washington DC, I read an
interview that Professor Ahmed I. Samater conducted with
Maryam Omar Ali, commonly known as Aryette, a woman with a
passion for Somali music and literature.
Read full text....
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General Ali Samater’s
Predicament: A Witch Hunt Or A Legitimate Search For
Retribution |
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By: Mohamed A. Suleiman
Over the past few weeks, I had the opportunity to read
several articles that were published by some of the most
prominent newspapers in the United States about the suit
that was brought up against General Ali Samater by a group
of Somali citizens. This included a story by Brigid Schulte
of the Washington Post that was published on March 2nd,
2010. The suit which was initially filed in a lower court
has miraculously made it to the United States Supreme Court.
Read full text.....
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Is Yusuf-Garaad The Only
Photogenic Broadcaster At The BBC? |
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By Ibrahim Sheikh-Nor
If, like me, you were dismayed by the omnipresence of Yusuf-Garaad
Omar, the chief of the BBC Somali Service, on the website of
the Service lately, you are not alone. Of the more than two
dozen video interviews published on bbcsomali.com over the
past few months, Yusuf-Garaad conducted virtually all of
them. That left me---and I’m sure thousands of
visitors---wondering what in the world disqualified to the
rest of the more than dozen broadcasters in the Somali
Service?
Read full text.....
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Tribal Practitioners Or State
Practitioners: Who Is The Custodians Of Somaliland State? |
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By Dr. Mohamed-Rashiid Sh. Hassan
Every nation there is certain institutions social forces or individuals with the
strong level of Patriotic convictions, which act as the final safeguarding and
grantor for this nation.
Read full text.....
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Light At the End of the Tunnel: Some Reflections
on the Struggle of the Somali National Movement |
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Written by Ibrahim Megag Samater
I.
Prologue
What
follows is not a narrative account of the activities of the Somali National
Movement (SNM) since the start of its struggle against the military regime of
Siyad Barre. Nor is it an impartial academic evaluation of its performance and
impact on Somali politics.
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Somali-Born K'naan Bends Genres |
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Keinan
Abdi Warsame has
worked
up crowds across the world |
Somali-born MC K'naan interviewed about the toughest of all
'hoods
Toronto, Canada, April 10, 2010 – Gangsta rappers have been
known to boast about how mean their hometown streets are,
but none of them comes from a more violent 'hood than K'naan.
Born Keinan Abdi Warsame in 1978, K'naan grew up in
Mogadishu, Somalia,
amid one the most brutal civil wars in history.
When he was 13, K'naan fled with his family from Somalia and
took refuge in New York and finally Toronto, where they
still live. Coming from a family of performers and poets,
K'naan naturally gravitated toward the arts to make sense of
his new home and to process the trauma that nearly
overwhelmed him in Africa (three of his friends were killed
in the conflict).
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'Piracy Today: Fighting Villainy On The High Seas' |
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By John C. Payne
Part I: The Resurgence of Piracy
Chapter 1: With Seeming Impunity
Piracy in the twenty-first century has flourished in part
because merchant ships have become more technologically
advanced, and, consequently, crews have become smaller. The
world's largest container ships, which carry between eleven
thousand and fourteen thousand containers, are fully
automated. A crew of only a dozen or so merchant mariners is
all that's needed to operate these vessels, and with such a
small crew it only takes an equally small number of heavily
armed pirates to snatch a ship. Years ago, much smaller
merchant vessels required a crew of forty-five hands. Such a
large crew would pose a major logistical problem for pirates
determined to seize a ship and hold the mariners hostage.
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