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“I Would Like To Commend
The Successful Elections And Peaceful Change Of Power In
Somaliland” Says Norwegian Minister |
Norway's Opening Address at the ICG-meeting on Somalia
By: State
Secretary Espen Barth Eide
Madrid, 27 September 2010
Your Excellency Mr. President Sheikh Shariff Ahmed
Mr. Chairman.
Dear colleagues and friends,
The International Contact Group on Somalia was established
for the purpose of trying better to coordinate international
efforts to assist Somalia in finding a way towards peace,
security and stability. Through this, we also hoped
gradually to be able to contribute to bring Somalia out of
its status as a “failed state”, and create a better life for
the people of Somalia.
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By Tesfa-Alem Tekle
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,
October 2, 2010 – Ethiopia today said it arrested 75
Eritrea-trained ‘‘terrorists’’ who were planning to carry
out attacks during the country’s New Year and Eid holidays.
The captured “terrorists”
were allegedly trained and armed by the Eritrean government.
Ethiopia said they had departed from Eritrea in six groups,
crossed the red sea and then traversed Ethiopian borders
from Somaliland.
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, October 2, 2010 – Gunmen have killed
one man and kidnapped three others in Somaliland on
Wednesday in the latest eruption of violence in the
relatively stable area, a government official said.
The incident occurred at a road block linking Ainabo and Las
Anod near the border with Puntland.
"It was raining heavily when gunmen sneaked on the
checkpoint ... in the early hours. They killed the guard,
wounded a soldier and kidnapped two civilians and a
soldier," Assistant regional governor for Serar, Ibrahim
Jama Mohamed, said.
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Somaliland is a difficult
place to be a woman. Childbirth in particular brings with it
serious risks--lack of access to trained health
professionals, low uptake of antenatal care, and high rates
of malnutrition, and prevalence of female genital cutting
all increase the chances that complications may occur. While
rates of maternal mortality are still some of the highest in
the world, according to the Director General of the Ministry
of Health, they have declined from 1,600 deaths per 100,000
live births in 1997 to 1,044 per 100,000 births in 2006.
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Abdurahman Mohamed Farole, president of Somalia's
northern breakaway state of Puntland speaks in Apr
2009 at a press conference in Nairobi (file
photo) |
Alisha Ryu
Nairobi, Kenya, October 2, 2010 – The United States says it
is planning to boost ties with Somalia's two autonomous
regions - Somaliland and Puntland - in an effort to restore
stability in the south and to curb the spread of Islamic
extremism. Some analysts say the move, however, may end up
increasing violence and instability in Puntland.
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Spanish
naval officers look on as Kenyan police officers
prepare to take away a suspected Somali pirates from
a naval warship. Photo / AP.
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By Daniel Howden
Somalia's pirates have succeeded where Islamic militias and
epic famine could not, by keeping the country in the
international headlines.
To their tacit supporters the pirate gangs are coastguards
or disaffected fishermen reasserting control over stolen
seas. To their critics and high seas opponents they are
ruthless opportunists disrupting the global trading system,
blocking food aid and imprisoning innocents. To most
seasoned observers they are both.
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Bosaso, Somalia,
October 2, 2010 – A court in northeast Somalia has sentenced
a pirate leader to death in absentia, according to
prosecutors.
Pirate leader Salad Mohamud Gelle killed a Pakistani captain
aboard a commercial ship in June, the general prosecutor of
the semi-autonomous region of Puntland said on Tuesday.
Gelle and other Somali pirates had hijacked the ship in
Somali waters.
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full text...
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United Nations Seek
Coordinated Strategy Against Somali Piracy |
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Al Shabaab Gain Significant Funding
From Un-Regulated Use Of Somali Ports And This Funding Is
Used To Sustain The Fight Against The T.F.G. And A.M.I.S.O.M.
Forces
SPECIAL REPORT BY XINHUA CORRESPONDENT DANIEL OOKO
Nairobi, Kenya, October 2, 2010 –
The UN envoy for Somalia has called for a coordinated
political, military and development strategy to combat
rampant piracy off the Horn of African country’s coastline.
The UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for
Somalia, Augustine Mahiga said the international community’s
action to counter piracy must be conducted under the overall
strategy of the Djibouti agreement and contribute to a
solution for the whole of Somalia under a federal structure.
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full text...
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'Somali Threat To Affect
World' |
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On July 11, 2010, twin bombings in the Ugandan capital
Kampala killed 74 people who were watching the FIFA World
Cup final on TV. The Somali Islamist group, Al-Shabaab,
claimed responsibility for the blasts, hinting at its reach
beyond borders. Violence and insecurity have become two
significant features of Somalia, thanks to piracy and
terrorism.
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Two Men Arrested For
Killing Compatriot |
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Victim was dragged near a building and stabbed to death
Dubai, UAE, October 2, 2010 – Two Somali nationals have been
arrested in Dubai for the murder of a compatriot.
The men identified as AM and AA allegedly assaulted the
victim MA on September 16 in a building located in the Al
Nakheel area of Dubai, reported The Gulf Today.
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full text...
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AP Interview: Interpol Head
Warns Of Somali Threat |
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AP – Interpol
Secretary General
Ronald K. Noble
listens during
an Interpol -
EU Symposium
entitled 'The
External … |
By PAISLEY DODDS
Brussels, Belgium, October 2, 2010 – Islamist militants in
Somalia will soon pose more of a terrorist threat than those
based in Afghanistan, Interpol's secretary-general said
Thursday.
Ronald K. Noble told The Associated Press that Somali
militants will eclipse Afghanistan in terms of threats in
the next five to 10 years.
Speaking on the sidelines of a conference on west African
security in Brussels, Noble said that law enforcement was
"seeing more and more terrorist activity originating in
Somalia.
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full text...
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US Man Faces Terror Charges
For Support Of Somalia's Al-Shabaab |
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Washington, October 2, 2010 – A US man arrested hours before
he was scheduled to travel to Somalia to fight with a
terrorist group against "infidels" has been indicted on two
terror charges, officials said Thursday.
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full text...
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Spain Aims To Turn Somali
Pirates Into Fishermen |
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Madrid, Spain, October 2,
2010 – Spain will help Somalia to develop its fishing
industry in an effort to fight piracy off the lawless coast,
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said on
Tuesday.
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full text...
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Al Shabaab Burns Millions
Of Somali Shillings |
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Abdi Hajji Hussein
Mogadishu, Somalia, October 2, 2010 – The Al Shabaab
extremist group on Tuesday set fire to about 10 million
Somali shillings (US$322.58) in a square in the Kuntuwaarey
district of the Lower Shabelle region in southern Somalia,
according to residents.
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full text...
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International Contact Group
Applauds Somaliland, Pushes For More Development Assistance To
Somaliland |
International Contact
Group on Somalia held in
Madrid, Spain
Madrid, Spain, October 2,
2010 (SL Times) – The
most recent meeting of
the International
Contact Group (ICG) that
took place in Madrid was
something of a watershed
for that group as far as
Somaliland is concerned.
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Somaliland President
Condemns Eritrean Government For Smuggling ONLF Into Somaliland |
Somaliland
president,
Ahmed
Sillanyo |
Hargeysa, Somaliland,
October 2, 2010 (SL Times) – Somaliland President Ahmed Sillanyo
accused the Eritrean government of training and arming Ogaden
National Liberation (ONLF) militias then smuggling them to
Somaliland so that they would clandestinely cross the border to
Ethiopia and wage war there.
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President Ahmed
Sillanyo Meets With Local Independent Agencies |
Hargeysa, Somaliland, October 2, 2010 (SL Times) –Somaliland
President Ahmed Sillanyo met with the heads of local
independent agencies.
During the meeting, the president listened to briefings from
the heads of these agencies about the services they provide,
the obstacles they face, and their plans for the future.
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Somaliland Soldier Killed In Oog |
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Oog, Somaliland, October
2, 2010 (SL Times) –An armed group carried out a sneak attack on
Somaliland soldiers in Oog which is part of Saraar region.
A Somaliland soldier was
killed in the attack, another was injured, while a third soldier
and a civilian were kidnapped.
The armed group fled
immediately after the attack and is believed to have gone back
to Buhoodle which is where it is thought that they initially
came from.
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Somaliland's minister of Interior, Dr. Mohamed Abdi
Gabose
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Boorama, Somaliland,
October 2, 2010 (SL Times) –The Minister of Interior, Dr
Muhammad Abdi Gaboose visited Borama this week. This came on the
heels of the landing in the west coast of Somaliland by militias
belonging to Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF).
The ONLF militias had
trained in Eritrea and were secretly ferried across the water
into Somaliland, where they were supposed to cross the border
into Ethiopia. Somaliland authorities had found out about the
infiltration of ONLF militias into the country and launched
operations to apprehend and disarm them.
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Johnnie Carson of
the US State Department's Bureau of African Affairs.
© Vince Crawley/Africom/afrol News |
Washington, October 2, 2010 – The US government has announced it
will "engage more actively" with Somalia's breakaway provinces
of Somaliland and Puntland, including development aid. Stability
here would prove "a bulwark against extremism and radicalism" in
Somalia.
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Somaliland And Puntland To
Cooperate On Security |
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, October 2, 2010- Somaliland and Puntland,
once-warring territories in northern Somalia, have
unprecedentedly agreed in principle to work together to tackle
common security threats.
Troops from both entities have clashed over disputed borderlands
in the past. They also differ over the issue of sovereignty:
Somaliland unilaterally declared independence in 1991, and
Puntland, while asserting a degree of autonomy, recognizes
Mogadishu as its own, and Somaliland's, capital.
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Who Attacked Al-Shabaab? The Rebel
Leader Speaks |
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Members of
al-Shabaab patrol the streets of Mogadishu on Sept. 10,
2010, during the first day of Eid al-Fitr. Feisal Omar /
Reuters |
By NICK WADHAMS
Nairobi, Kenya, October 2, 2010 –
Who attacked Somalia's al-Shabaab on Sunday? At about 12:30
p.m., a mysterious helicopter opened fire on a meeting of top
leaders of the increasingly ambitious al-Shabaab rebels, which
the U.S. has designated as a terrorist group. The group's
leader, Sheik Muktar Abdirahman Godane, told TIME in an
interview on Monday that he was present at the meeting in the
Somali town of Merca and watched as the helicopter, which he
said was either gray or olive green, approached from the sea,
circled and fired on the house where the meeting was under way.
None of the foreign military powers with ships off the Somali
coast have taken credit for the strike. "The helicopter was
there for about 20 minutes in the air of Merca, and then it
left," Godane told TIME. "We are now investigating the
ammunition that it fired."
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Somaliland Foreign Minister
Welcomes ‘Renewed’ U.S Interest |
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Peter Clottey
Hargeysa, Somaliland, October 2, 2010 – Somaliland’s Minister of
Foreign Affairs said the willingness of residents living in the
republic of Somaliland to fully embrace democracy has played a
pivotal role in making the area unattractive to hard-line
Islamist insurgents, such as al-Shabaab.
Mohammed Abdillahi Omar welcomed what he described as the
renewed U.S. interest after a top official in the Obama
administration said Washington wants to strengthen ties with
both Somaliland and Puntland, located in the Horn of Africa.
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Osama Bin Laden 'Trying To Change
Image With Climate Change Message' |
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Osama bin Laden,
Al-Qaeda leader
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Washington, October 2,
2010 – Osama bin Laden's message of worry about climate change
and the Pakistan floods could be an attempt to improve his image
among Muslims according to a Western analyst.
Paul Pillar, a former US
intelligence official said bin Laden was seeking to capitalize
"on any crises or problems which are of concern to the people
whose favor and support he seeks."
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Eight Killed By Nigeria
Independence Day Bombs |
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By Kingsley Igwe
ABUJA, Oct 2, 2010 – Car bomb explosions killed eight people and
injured three near a parade in Nigeria's capital on Friday
marking the 50th anniversary of independence, police said.
Two blasts, which also destroyed three cars, came an hour after
the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND),
Nigeria's biggest rebel militia, warned it had planted several
bombs and told people to evacuate the area.
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After: Afgooye
corridor: satellite images of the Ceelasha area in July
2010. |
NAIROBI, Kenya, October 1 (UNHCR) – Satellite
imagery from a UN refugee agency assessment on forcibly
displaced civilians from Mogadishu shows that a virtual new city
is growing up to the west of the Somali capital in the so-called
Afgooye corridor.
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By
Ambassador Richard S. Williamson
Since President Obama’s Cairo speech, his administration has
been disturbingly quiet in word and deed about the Egyptian
government’s repression of democracy.
For generations, America has been the world’s shining city
on the hill for freedom and human rights. We have provided
light, encouragement, and support for voiceless victims of
human rights abuse and those seeking to join the march of
freedom. Sadly, the light has dimmed, the voice has
softened, and the support has shrunk under President Obama.
This has not gone unnoticed.
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By J. Peter Pham, Ph.D.
Last Friday, speaking
in New York to reporters one day after attending
a major meeting on Somalia chaired by United Nations
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the margins of the 65th
session the United Nations General Assembly, Assistant
Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson
signaled a subtle, but significant, shift in United States
policy—one that opens the door to finally dealing
realistically with what the veteran diplomat characterized
as "a national problem, a regional problem, and also a
global problem."
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Madrid, 27 September 2010
Mr. President,
Secretary of State de La-ig-lesia
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to welcome all of you to this, the 18th Meeting
of the International Contact Group for Somalia. I warmly
thank the Government of Spain for hosting this very timely
meeting in their lovely capital city.
As many of you know, this is not my first participation in a
meeting of the International Contact Group. I had, in fact,
the privilege of attending several previous meetings in my
former capacity as the representative of Tanzania. But this,
of course, is the first time I have the honor of chairing
this meeting as the Special Representative of the United
Nations Secretary-General on Somalia. It is nice to see many
friends gathered
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Fadumo and her
daughter live in the Mandeeq village in a Somali hut made up
of
shabby clothes and plastic sheets. The shack is at present
in desperate condition - lacking all necessities for life.
Fadumo lost both of her parents and lives with her aunt who
also is a single mother and a head of house hold with eight
children. With tears in her eyes she mentioned that her aunt
was the breadwinner for their family. Now, the children and
the whole family have found themselves in a miserable
condition with no food, clothes etc.
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1969 Military Coup In Somalia
Part XLV |
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By Dr. Mohamed-Rashid Sh. Hassan
This is the Forty-fifth article of a series of articles that
Dr. Mohamed-Rashid analyses the military coup and its legacy
Globalization
Many social and economic scientists view globalisation
differently. It is an ongoing trend whereby the world has,
in many respects, become one without relatively boundaries
of social sphere at a generally accelerating rate. The trend
of globalisation includes the internationalising of
production, the new international division of labour, new
migratory movements from South to North, the new competitive
environment that accelerates these processes and the
internationalising of the state making states into agencies
of globalising world.
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Somalia: From Finest To Failed
State (Part II) |
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By Mohamed Haji (Ingiriis)
Britain made its protectorate in northern Somalia, Italy in
southern Somalia and the French in Djibouti, while the two
other parts of Somalia (Western Somalia) and Northern
Frontier District (NFD) were given as gifts by Britain to
Ethiopia and Kenya, respectively. By doing so, Britain
violated a treaty with Somali clans signed in 1884 and 1885,
stipulating that Britain will never cede, sell, mortgage or
otherwise give for occupation, save by the British
Government, any portion of the territory presently inhabited
by them or being under their control. This was clearly
illustrated by Louis Fitgibbon’s The Betrayal of the
Somalis.
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In The Memory Of Sakin Jirde
Hussien |
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May her soul rest in peace.
"Inna Lillahi wa Inna ileyhi Raj'oon
Truly we belong to Allah and truly to Him shall we return.
Ahmed Arwo
On Tuesday 21 of
September 2010, we buried a giant humanitarian, a scholar and a pillar of women
empowerment in Somaliland. Sakin was so kind to all creatures large and small,
she adopted a blind dog. She was munificent to the poor and the weak. She was
passionate to female education, their health and overall development. She spent
her entire life in curing and caring the sick and the frail. That noble duty
took her to three major continents: Africa, Asia and Europe, where she served in
some of the largest and famous hospitals worldwide.
Read full text.....
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Ethio-Somaliland Relations
Post-1991: Challenges And Opportunities – Part Three |
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Author: Nasir M.Ali
Ethiopia’s Relations with
Somaliland: Political or Economic?
Due to globalization and the current international system it is difficult to
separate the politics from economics and vice-versa. It appears that each of
these two factors is complementing one another. The growing relations between
Ethiopia and Somaliland initially originated from political relations which
later involved economic elements. Politics is the key for people-to-people
relationships and no one can dare to invest in the economy of another country
without understanding the political situation of that country .
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Somaliland Should
Industrialize |
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The Seven Pillars To
Clinch Prosperity
By John Drysdale alias
Chang Kai Ming, alias Abas Idris
How Do I Know This?
There is nothing difficult
about industrializing provided you obey the rules – the Seven Pillars, mentioned
in the title above, indicate the main rules of the game.. This will be described
later.
I was invited in the 1970s
to Singapore by the Singapore Development Board to leave Britain and come to
Singapore to employ some Singaporeans on a project that I had started in
England. I handed over my company to my British Managing Director and flew to
Singapore.
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Out Of Grief Came Africa |
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Joanne Antonelli,
center left, a nursing supervisor at Legacy Salmon Creek
Medical Center, talks to charge nurse Kathleen Williams
as she makes her rounds to different departments to
gather reports at the beginning of her shift. Antonelli
recently returned after a month volunteering at a
hospital in Somaliland. |
After Vancouver nurse’s husband died, she answered a call in
Somaliland
By Erin
Middlewood
As a nurse, Joanne Antonelli has held hands with countless people
whose loved ones died.
“I thought I knew grief,” she said. “I had no idea.”
On Oct. 18, 2008, her 47-year-old husband, Michael, was away on a
church men’s retreat in the Columbia River Gorge. Her phone rang. She’s a
night-shift worker, so she often doesn’t pick up. On this day, she did. It was
her church’s pastor. Something was wrong with Michael and he needed to go to the
hospital.
He never made it that far.
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Washington’s U-Turn On Somalia |
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By Yasir Mohamed
Development projects, such as education and primary health care, can improve
Washington’s image in the region and tackle radicalization.
The
United States decision to cooperate with Somalia’s breakaway regions, Somaliland
and Puntland in development projects, is a laudable initiative that can be a
recipe for success in addressing the country’s growing security concerns.
Read full text....
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Somali Government: Already
Weak And Falling Apart |
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Moderate militia leaves Somalia’s embattled government days after prime minister
quits.
Written by Benjamin Joffe-Walt
A
moderate Islamist militia has pulled out of the fragile Somali government less
than a week after the country’s prime minister quit.
The Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca (ASWJ) militia signed a power-sharing treaty in March
with Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government, which is besieged by a growing
radical Islamist insurgency led by the Al-Qa’ida-inspired rebel groups Al
Shabaab and Hizbul Islam.
Read full text....
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International Contact Group On
Somalia - FINAL Communiqué |
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The
18th meeting of the International Contact Group (ICG) on Somalia was convened in
Madrid on 27 and 28 September 2010 under the chairmanship of Mr. Augustine P.
Mahiga, the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG)
for Somalia. President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed led the Somali delegation.
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