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Child Sponsorship Report
2009, From Hargeysa, Somaliland |
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Dear Child
Sponsors,
In spite of the failure to hold elections as planned in
August (due to a misunderstanding between the national
parties on the procedures to follow), Somaliland is one of
the most peaceful countries in the horn of Africa.
However the ongoing drought is affecting the rural people
who are mainly pastoralists.
Read full text.
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Mohammed Omar Hussein
Hargeysa, Somaliland, May 8, 2010 – Honorable Faisal Ali
Warabe the chairman and the pioneer of UCID a political
party in the breakaway state of Somaliland in northern
Somalia has declare that if he becomes the next President of
the forthcoming election in breakaway state of Somaliland he
will achieve a recognition for Somaliland which now 2 former
presidents of Somaliland and the current president honorable
Dahir Rayale Kaahin have failed to do so.
Read full text.
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By Katharine Houreld
NAIROBI, Kenya, May 8, 2010 – Two explosions inside Somali
mosques kill nearly 50 people. Islamist militants raid a
lucrative pirate haven before their rivals move in, sending
pirates fleeing in luxury vehicles.
Events in Somalia over the last week show a lawless country
growing even more chaotic amid deepening divisions among
militant groups.
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Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia, May 8, 2010 – Six Somali children were killed
and five people injured when a three-storey building
collapsed in Jeddah, Civil Defence spokesman Abdullah Al-Amri
said on Saturday.
Al-Amri told reporters that rescue teams expect to find more
bodies buried in the rubble of the building in al-Sahifah
district that collapsed the previous evening.
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NAIROBI,
Kenya, May 8, 2010 – Nearly half of all women and children
in Somalia have anaemia and Vitamin A deficiency, a recent
study indicates.
The study
conducted by the Food Security Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU-Somalia)
in conjunction with the UN Children's Fund, the World Health
Organization, the World Food Programme and under the
technical leadership of the Institute of Child Health,
University of London - said: "Somali women and children are
suffering from shocking levels of anaemia and Vitamin A
deficiencies."
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In this
April 6, 2003 file picture Russian Navy ships
Admiral Panteleyev, left, and Marshal Shaposhnikov,
right, two anti-submarine ships with the Pacific
Fleet, leave Vladivostok harbour in the Russian Far
East, to head to the Indian Ocean. The Russian
Defense Ministry says, the Russian anti-submarine
destroyer Marshal Shaposhnikov has freed the Moscow
University, a Russian oil tanker that had been
seized by pirates off the coast of Somalia on
Thursday, May 6, 2010. (AP Photo, file) (Str -
AP) |
By JIM HEINTZ
Moscow, May 8, 2010 – The
pirates seized by a Russian warship off the coast of Somalia
have been released because of "imperfections" in
international law, the Defense Ministry said Friday, a claim
that sparked skepticism - and even suspicion the pirates
might have been killed.
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Kenyan
president Mwai Kibaki and his Chinese counterpart Hu
Jintao inspect a guard of honor mounted by a
detachment of Chinese Army at Shanghai International
Conference Centre. President Kibaki is in China
for a State visit. Photo/PPS
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Funding to go to development projects as port deal is
discussed
By SAMWEL KUMBA
Shanghai, China, May 8, 2010 – China has extended a grant of
Sh1.2 billion to Kenya.
The bulk of the money will be in the development of a second
port at Lamu and the construction of a rail and road
corridor from the Coast to Isiolo.
This will link the Kenyan Coast to Southern Sudan and
land-locked Ethiopia to the north.
Read
full text...
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Ethiopia: Eritrean Government Trained Terrorists Apprehended |
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Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia, May 8, 2010 – The Joint Anti-terror Taskforce of
the National Intelligence and Security Service and the
Federal Police said it apprehended members of the Oromo
National Liberation Front (ONLF) and Al-Shabaab who were
trained by the Eritrean government to downplay the fourth
national elections in Ethiopia.
In a press statement it sent to ENA on Saturday the
taskforce said the terrorists, who promote the cause of the
busiest regime of Eritrean government to destabilize the
region, have been detained while they were entering via
Somaliland and Somalia borders.
Read
full text...
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Djibouti Grants Monopoly On Part Of Port Operation |
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Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia, May 8, 2010 – A crisis is looming between
Ethiopian authorities and their counterparts in Djibouti,
following a new directive that is deemed to have given a
monopolistic position to an alliance of private companies on
the operation of stripping, stuffing, and unstuffing of
containers. Unlike the traditional practice, forwarders are
no longer allowed to handle this operation on their clients’
behalf. An alliance of companies, under Maersk Djibouti
Container Freight Station (MDCFS), has been given the
exclusive rights over the operation in a specially
designated location known in Djibouti as PK 12. This is an
area on the outskirt of Djibouti Town, a couple of
kilometers from the Doraleh Port, where there is a brand new
container terminal.
Read full text...
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Ottawa Oks Sanctions Against Eritrea Over Somali Militant
Support |
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By Stewart Bell
Ottawa, Canada, May 8, 2010 – The federal Cabinet has
approved sanctions against Eritrea in response to the
African nation's support for a Somali militant group that
has been recruiting Canadian youths.
The sanctions include a ban on weapons sales, and Canadian
banks have been ordered to freeze any assets belonging to
Eritrean political leaders and military officials.
"Canada is concerned by Eritrea's support of armed
opposition groups in Somalia," said Dana Cryderman, a
Department of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman.
Read
full text...
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Al Qaeda Commander Killed
In Somalia |
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Mogadishu, Somalia, May 8, 2010 – An Al Qaeda commander said
to be from Egypt was killed in heavy fighting in the Somali
capital Mogadishu between the extremist group Al Shabaab and
the pro-government moderate Islamists late on Monday, APA
learns here on Tuesday.
Read
full text...
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SOMALIA: Gunmen Kill
Veteran Broadcast Journalist |
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New York, May 8, 2010—Three gunmen shot dead veteran
broadcast journalist Sheik Nur Mohamed Abkey on Tuesday
evening as he was returning home from work at the state-run
Radio Mogadishu, local journalists told CPJ.
Read
full text...
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Extremists Praise Somali
Canadian In Online Eulogy |
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Mohamed
Elmi Ibrahim, shown in a YouTube video from Saudi
Arabia. |
By Stewart Bell
Toronto, May 8, 2010 – A Canadian who was being investigated
for allegedly joining a Somali militant group died in a
“fierce battle,” according to a eulogy posted on an
extremist website.
Read
full text...
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SOMALIA - Islamist Militias
(Al-Shabaab And Hiz-Al-Islam) Are One Of The Forty Predators
Of Press Freedom |
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Gulf of
Aden, May 1, 2010 – French warship has destroyed a pirate
mother ship some 438 nautical miles off the coast of
Somalia, the EU Naval Force Public Affairs Office has said.
The Nivose light surveillance frigate "found, stopped and
searched" a suspicious vessel and two supporting skiffs on
Thursday afternoon. The search revealed that the vessel was
a pirate mother ship.
Read
full text...
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Somaliland-French Relations Show
Progress |
Somaliland President
Dahir Rayale Kahin met
with France’s Minister
of Foreign Affairs,
Bernard Kouchner (left)
in Paris, France
Paris, France, May 8,
2010 (SL Times) –
Somaliland President
Dahir Rayale Kahin met
with France’s Minister
of Foreign Affairs,
Bernard Kouchner. The
meeting took place at
the French foreign
ministry (Quai d’orsay).
Before that, Somaliland
President Dahir Rayale
met with Andre Parant,
President Sarkozy’s
advisor for African
affairs and other French
officials.
Read full text...
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KULMIYE’s Delegation
Warmly Welcomed In Buroa |
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Burco, Somaliland, May 8, 2010 (SL Times) – A high level
delegation from Kulmiye party led by Kulmiye’s Campaign Manager
for the eastern regions, Dr Muhammad Abdi Gaboose visited Buroa
this week and was warmly welcomed there. In a speech to a huge
crowd of Buroa residents, Dr Muhammad Abdi Gaboose said although
Buroa is Somaliland’s second capital, the current government has
not made any improvements in the lives of the people when it
comes to the fields of health, employment and replacing
Somalia’s currency with Somaliland’s currency. Dr Gaboose also
said that Buroa’s electorate is 100% for Kulmiye and advised
UDUB to look somewhere else for support.
Read full text...
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Somaliland
Engineers Graduate From Ethiopian Military College |
Hargeysa, Somaliland, May 8, 2010 (SL Times) – Seventeen
Engineers of Somaliland origin graduated from the Ethiopian
military college in Debrezeit. The Somaliland military
engineers were part of a graduating class of 130 engineers
that included students from Rwanda, Djibouti and Sudan.
The graduation ceremony was attended by the Ethiopian
Defense Minister Siraj Fegisa and military attaches from
several countries.
Read full text...
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Fadumo Ileeye Says Upper House
Should Not Interfere In Elections |
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, May 8, 2010 (SL Times) – Fadumo Ileeye,
a member of Somaliland’s Upper House appealed to her colleagues
not to interfere in the six-point agreement that was reached by
Election Commission and the political parties.
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Las Anod, Somaliland, May 8, 2010 (SL Times) – The search for
new sources of water for Las Anod has resumed this week with the
arrival of water engineers.
Somaliland’s President Dahir Rayale Kahin had promised to find a
solution for the water shortage problem in Las Anod, but the
first attempt to dig for water had failed.
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, May 8, 2010 (SL Times) – The Governor of
Hargeysa’s region Mohamed Abdi Da’ud appealed to the elders of
the region to help in ensuring that the coming presidential
election takes place in a secure environment.
The governor issued his appeal in a meeting with about 50 elders
of Hargeysa region.
Read full text...
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Somalia Parliamentarians Accuse UN
Rep Ahmed Ould Abdalla Of Dividing Somalis |
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Mogadishu, Somalia, May 8, 2010
(SL Times) – About 300 members of Somalia's parliament accused
the UN Secretary General's Representative to Somalia Mr Ahmed
Ould Abdalla of ignoring Somalia's federal constitution and the
Djibouti accord, even though it is his responsibility to
safeguard the constitution from violations.
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Three people Assassinated in
Bosasso |
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Bosasso, Somalia, May 8, 2010 (SL Times) – A man and two women
were killed within a twenty-four hour period in Bosasso this
week. All three people were Puntland administration’s security
personnel (the man was an official in Puntland’s security, and
the two elderly ladies worked with their neighborhood security
committees).
Read full text...
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AMISOM Told To Leave Somalia |
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Mogadishu, Somalia, May 8, 2010 (SL Times) – A member of Sheikh
Sharif's parliament Mr Dahir Abdiqadir (Irro) has called for the
African troops in Somalia (AMISOM) to leave the country. Mr
Dahir Abdiqadir said the African troops in Somalia brought no
benefit to the country, and that on the contrary, it brought
only death and massacres. He said the money spent on African
troops should have been spent on Somali security forces, and if
African troops leave the country, Somalis will reach an
agreement among themselves.
Read full text...
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Somaliland — Need To Be Noticed |
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Mohamed
A Omar |
By Mohamed A Omar (Inside
Africa)
8 May 2010
Keeping the question of Somaliland on hold for so long is a
risky strategy that has security ramifications in this age
of terror.
Somaliland is a peaceful entity in an unstable region with a
large Muslim population susceptible to radicalization. The
longer the world ignores its achievement, the greater the
risk.
A better approach would be for the international community
to offer Somaliland an interim UN membership. This would put
it in a position to consolidate on its democratic
credentials, to support the regional peace making process
and to deny international extremist groups of a potential
recruiting ground.
Read
full text...
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Drought has
exerted a heavy toll on the population: At least 60
percent of people In Somaliland raise livestock
for a living (file photo) |
Hargeysa, Somaliland, May
8, 2010 (SL Times) – The human and environmental disruption
wreaked by drought in Somaliland, where more than 60 percent
of people raise livestock for a living, means the
self-declared, but barely recognized, independent state
should draw up its own plan for climate change adaptation,
according to a new report.
The
Impact of
Climate Change on Pastoral Societies of Somaliland,
by Candle Light, a Somali NGO promoting sustainable
development, focused its research on an area particularly
vulnerable to climate change, the semi-arid Haud region,
which runs from Hargeysa’s airport to the Ethiopian border,
70km to the south.
Read
full text...
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London, UK, May 8, 2010 –
The following is a press release by Leadinspiration, a
British-American software and telecommunication company
whose been awarded with 4G and Long Term Evolution (LTE)
licenses to develop for East Africa. The press release comes
days after when Somaliland’s President Dahir Riyale and his
Minister of Post and Telecommunication, Mr. Ali Sandule
arrived in Dubai after signing a major telecommunication
deal with a European company in Djibouti. According to
another report, Ethiopia will also be connected to the fast
broadband via Somaliland.
Read full text..
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Libdems Open Power Talks With
Conservatives |
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London, UK, May 8, 2010 – The Liberal Democrat and Conservative
parties opened talks on Friday over a possible alliance to form
a government following an inconclusive general election result.
The negotiations could give the perennially third-ranking
LibDems their first taste of power for decades.
But grassroot party members, more left-leaning than the LibDem
leadership and who have the power to scupper any deal, said they
were unhappy about the talks with the Conservatives.
"I will never consider voting for the Lib Dems again if a
Conservative/LibDem pact is the outcome of this election," said
one supporter writing on an LibDem activist website. "A Lib-Con
coalition means nothing and will do nothing," wrote another.
Read full text...
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British Muslim MPs Double |
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London, UK, May 8, 2010 – The number of Muslim MPs has doubled
to eight in the closest elections in decades and saw the first
three Muslim women – all Labour - elected to the 650-member
House of Commons.
In addition, the first Conservatives have gained their first two
Muslim MPs but the possibility of adding a third were dashed
after Zahid Iqbal failed in overturning Labour’s 3,000 majority
in Bradford West, northern England.
Thursday’s elections were marked by a swing from Labour to the
Conservatives and resulted in one of two Muslim ministers,
Shahid Malik losing his parliamentary seat for Dewsbury in
northern England by just over 1,500 votes.
But Transport Minister Sadiq Khan defied the swing to retain his
seat for Tooting in south London with a reduced majority of
2,500 votes.
Read full text...
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Greeks greet another government austerity plan, and an IMF/EU rescue package,
with riots and violence
Athens, May 8, 2010 – THE headlines this week were about riots, petrol bombs,
tear gas and strikes. In Athens demonstrators stormed up to the steps of the
parliament building, where an austerity plan was about to be debated, calling on
the parliamentary “thieves” to come out. Three people were killed when
protesters set fire to a bank. Hours later, with tear gas drifting over the
adjacent square, parliamentary leaders held a brief, sombre exchange on the
significance of the deaths, vowing to sustain the principle that protest must be
peaceful.
Read full text...
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The
U.S. and the U.N. are doing everything but keeping the peace in
Mogadishu.
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Al-Shabaab
fighters
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By Letta Tayler
As with most mortar
attacks in Somalia, the shelling that turned 14-year-old Abdi
into a war orphan struck without warning. Returning from school
one day in the shattered capital of Mogadishu, the boy found his
house blasted to bits and his parents dead beneath the rubble.
"I think my four brothers
were killed as well -- I saw pieces of their hands and legs,"
Abdi told me when I met him in the sprawling Dadaab refugee
camps in northeast Kenya last October, two weeks after the
attack. "I am in such shock I barely know who I am."
Abdi was emaciated. He
walked with a list and spoke in a monotone. A wound festered on
his head from a separate mortar attack that had hammered a
Mogadishu market a month earlier. Three friends he had been
playing with in the market were killed in that strike.
Read full text...
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Somalia-born
musician
K'Naan recently
embarked
on a World Cup
trophy tour. |
“Landing In Mogadishu Alone Is Dangerous. But Hargeysa Is
Pretty Amazing In Somaliland”
By Grant Wahl
If you're a soccer fan and you haven't heard the music of K'Naan,
chances are about 100 percent that you will soon. A rising
star who was born in war-ravaged Somalia before emigrating
to Toronto as a teenager, K'Naan is the man behind "Wavin'
Flag," the enormously
catchy song that
will be heard in World Cup stadiums and in TV ads as Coke's
official 2010 World Cup anthem.
I sat down with him during a stop in Baltimore on his recent
tour. We talked about a number of topics, including the
global power of soccer, Africa's moment, Fela
Kuti, his participation in the World Cup trophy tour and
his first trip back to Somalia in 18 years. Here is our
conversation (edited for length and clarity):
Read full text...
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By RASHID ABDI and ERNST JAN HOGENDOORN
It is easy to be pessimistic about Somalia.
The weak and increasingly fractious Transitional Federal
Government seems incapable of extending its authority or
becoming even modestly functional.
An insurgency controlled by extremists is now in full
control of much of the south, and it is radicalizing
Somalia’s youth at home and in the diaspora, imposing its
harsh brand of Islam, proclaiming allegiance to Al-Qaeda,
and promising global jihad.
Recent fighting has killed many civilians, displaced over a
million and triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian
disasters.
Read
full text...
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By 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 reestablish law and order. Granted, these two
developments are only moving at a snail’s-pace.
Furthermore, these kinds of developments are not as
appealing as the reports of lawlessness, corruption,
violence and piracy, thus they seldom get reported. When it
comes to reporting news, especially as it pertains to other
non-ally countries, there seems to be a prevalent norm that
predictably gravitates toward the negative. Positive is
boring!
Read
full text...
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Somaliland Makes Diplomatic Breakthrough In France |
By any objective criteria, President Dahir Rayale Kahin’s
visit to France is a major diplomatic breakthrough for
Somaliland. First there was the meeting with President Sarkozy’s
advisor Mr Andre Parant at the French presidency’s Elysee
Palace. Then the meeting with the French Foreign Minister,
Bernard Kouchner at the Quai d’orsay.
Read full text...
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1969 Military Coup In Somalia
Part XXIV |
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By Dr. Mohamed-Rashid Sh. Hassan
This is the twenty-fourth article of a series of articles that
Dr. Mohamed-Rashid analyses the military coup and its legacy
The Houses of Cards
In 14 July 1989, a demonstration occurred in Mogadishu in
which about 250 people were reported to have died. This was
few days after the assassination of the Catholic Bishop of
Mogadishu, Salvadore Colombo. This was followed by the
execution of the 47 people from Isaq clan on
Mogadishu beach. All this indicated that the Somali military
regime entered its final death stage. By now the political
power of the country was dispersed into several houses of
the ruling family, which I would like to describe them as "houses
of cards" because of their artificiality and
unreal nature, and themselves were in competition with each
other for public resources.
Read full text...
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Signing The Code Of Conduct Is
A Good Augury For Somaliland’s Presidential Polls |
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By Mukhtar Mohamed Abby
The much anticipated Presidential polls of Somaliland that
had been repeatedly procrastinated by the failed and
repugnant Riyale administration is finally seem to be afoot
with the people of Somaliland are going to the polls in June
next month to choose a new President; with the national
political parties of the country – have mostly recently
inked the Election Code of Conduct in the presence of the
high commands of the political parties, the chairman of the
National Election Commission of Somaliland, the Somaliland’s
Speaker of Parliament, the chairperson of the Election of
Commission of Ghana and a host of dignitaries drawn from the
civil society.
Read full text....
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A Decent Into The Absurd |
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Dr Ismail Adan
Distortion, Lies and Hyperbole: In Response to Gregory R. Copley’s article “Somaliland’s
Presidential Election Assumes Growing Priority as Major Powers Sense Strategic
Urgency of the Horn Situation”.
At such a critical juncture in Somaliland’s history, when a level- headed,
intelligent and reasoned approach to solving the Country’s numerous problems is
needed - it is most unfortunate that both time and energy is wasted by some upon
the irrelevant and down right ridiculous. Gregory R. Copely’s article recently
reproduced in the Government friendly SomalilandPress blog entitled; “Somaliland’s
Presidential Election Assumes Growing Priority as Major Powers Sense Strategic
Urgency of the Horn Situation”
is such case in point. The article is so baseless and without root in neither
fact or reason that it is at best laughable, if not downright juvenile,
irresponsible and defamatory.
Read full text.....
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President Obama, Say Something
When You See Something!!! |
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By Tedla Asfaw
New York City was saved last Saturday because of ordinary
citizens response to the slogan of the city after 9/11, "Say
Something When You See Something". These individuals saved
the lives of many tourists and New Yorkers who happened to
be in Times Square that day and that moment.
Read full text.....
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Cruel Jokes Of The UDUB Empire |
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By Yusuf Deyr, Canada
I wish I could have lyrics of poem or song full of Irony and sarcasm with a
deadly weapon tongue. A fair jury with iron guts that calls a spade, a spade. An
advocate for the silent majority, and a volunteer for a positive dramatic
change, like professor Gariye.
A fortune – teller and arm – reader, accurate and sharp in his prediction. A
clairvoyant and a sooth - sayer that chats with the stars and interprets the
whispering of the wind. A compassionate preacher with humble presence. A play –
writer and a dramatist with an emblematic metaphor; and flowery language. A
Somali Shakespearian and Rage Ugas of the century, like professor Hadrawe.
Read full text.....
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ONCE: A Poem Describing Somali Refugees
Experiences In The UK |
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Once I was a boy
Happy and loved
In my dear Mogadishu.
Now I am a man
Angry and bitter,
Sad and Lonely
In London
Living as a refugee.
I watch the TV to remember my dear home
But the more I watch the less I belong.
Once the streets were busy with love and laughter
Read full text........
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Repeating Prior Mistakes In
Somalia |
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By Scott A Morgan, May 8, 2010
In May 2010 the United States will once again launch an
effort to train elements of the Armed Forces of the
Transitional National Government in Somalia. Hopefully this
effort will yield better results than previous efforts.
In late April the Associated Press reported that some of the
soldiers that have been trained by the United States and the
UN have defected from the Government due to lack of pay.
Some of those who have defected have reportedly gone over to
Al-Shabaab the main Islamist Militia that controls a good
part of Puntland.
Read full text......
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Somalia Can't Be Left To Its
Own Devices |
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Mogadishu residents assist the
victims after explosions in a mosque in Bakara market in the Somali
capital |
The danger of allowing this strategic country to
continue to operate without a government is too much for the
wider region to contemplate with any calm.
Dubai, UAE, May 8, 2010 – Somalia is in dire trouble. The
latest slaughter of more than 30 people praying in a mosque
is a tragic continuance of over two decades of misery and
violence. Yet no one wants to help Somalia. Everyone has
tried and failed, and then walked away from the tragedy. But
the danger of allowing this strategic country to continue to
operate without a government is too much for the wider
region to contemplate with any calm.
Read full text....
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