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EU Appoints New
Commander Of Anti-Piracy |
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Brussels, Belgium, June 18, 2011 – The EU's
Political and Security Committee announced here
Thursday the appointment of Rear Admiral Duncan
Potts from the UK as Operation Commander of the EU
Naval Force Atalanta Operation combating piracy off
the Somali coast.
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London, UK, June 18, 2011 – An eighth person has
been arrested in connection with the killing of two
Somali teenagers in Buckinghamshire.
Mohamed Abdi Farah, 19, and Amin Ahmed Ismail, 18,
were shot on the Fishermead estate in Milton Keynes
on 26 May.
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Edmonton, June 18, 2011 – In an effort to address
the city's unusually high number of killings in
2011, Edmonton's police department has reassigned
more than a dozen officers from across the
organization into the overburdened homicide section.
In a wide-ranging interview Tuesday, Rod Knecht,
Edmonton's new chief of police, said 16 officers
have been seconded to help solve this year's
killings.
"That's quite significant, to move 16 people from
other duties, focusing on the outstanding unsolved
homicides," he said.
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London, UK, June 18, 2011 – Just 47 irregular
immigrants arrived in Malta on two boats last year,
according to data provided by the National
Statistics Office.
In a statement issued on the occasion of the World
Refugee Day, being celebrated on Monday, the NSO
said that new application for asylum amounted to
176, down by 92 per cent when compared to 2009.
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A
Pakistani army soldier checks a cyclist near
the hideout house of slain Al-Qaeda leader
Osama bin Laden (AFP/File, Asif Hassan) |
New York, June 18, 2011 — Federal prosecutors
dropped charges against Osama bin Laden from attacks
spanning more than a decade, officials said in court
papers filed in US District Court in New York
Friday.
Charges included more than 200 counts of criminal
activity such as murder, conspiracy to use weapons
of mass destruction against civilians and more.
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The logo and ironwork over the entrance of
The Ritz Hotel is seen Feb. 17, 2011, in
London. |
Washington, June 18, 2011 – CBS News has confirmed
that U.S. officials have been advised that Harun
Fazul, the third top ranking al Qaeda terrorist
killed last week in Somalia, had in his possession
documents outlining a potential plot to attack
luxury hotels in London and mainland Europe.
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Abukar Albadri/European Pressphoto Agency
Supporters of Prime Minister Mohamed
Abdullahi Mohamed of Somalia threw rocks at
hotel guards in Mogadishu on Friday,
protesting his firing. Several people were
reported killed. |
Nairobi, Kenya, June 18, 2011 — Once again, the
Transitional Federal Government of Somalia has been
handed a golden opportunity.
Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Al Qaeda’s top operative in
Somalia and one of the most wanted men in Africa,
drove into a government checkpoint by mistake last
week and was killed in a blaze of gunfire. At the
same time, the Islamist militant group he helped
lead — the Shabaab — has been steadily losing ground
as African Union peacekeepers and government troops
go on the offensive.
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Cars of members of the Islamic sect Boko
Haram burnt by the police and military (AFP/File,
Pius Utomi Ekpei) |
KANO, Nigeria, June 18, 2011 — A Nigerian Islamist
sect that staged a series of deadly attacks mainly
in the country's north on Wednesday threatened
"fiercer" attacks and said it would not enter into
talks with the government.
The Boko Haram group, which had two days ago laid
down conditions for any talks with government, also
disclosed for the first time that it had links with
Islamists in Somalia.
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ODI director Alison Evans |
London, UK, June 18, 2011 – THE Overseas Development
Institute says Africa needs effective leadership,
smart policies and proper institutional foundations
to progress in development.
According to the ODI mapping progress report which
was released yesterday, Africa needed to lead its
own development programs if they were to be
sustainable.
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Recognizing Somaliland
Would Boost The Fight Against Piracy |
Catherine
Ashton, the
EU's foreign
policy chief
Attempts to
tackle the
scourge of
piracy and
keep the Red
Sea open for
merchant
shipping.
Brussels,
Belgium,
June 18,
2011 – On 6
June,
Catherine
Ashton, the
EU's foreign
policy
chief, spoke
to the
Asia-Europe
Meeting in
Budapest
and, among
other
things, she
touched on
the
situation
off the
coast of
Somalia,
pointing out
that 500
people have
been
imprisoned
for piracy
off the
coast of
Somalia and
saying that
the solution
to piracy
“lies on
land”. It
does, of
course.
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Ahmed-Shadi
Abdillahi Mohamoud Receives Gold Medal From
Ethiopian Prime Minister For Highest Medical School
Scores |
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Meles Zinawi hands over a certificate of
honor to Ahmed_Shadi, a student from
Somaliland |
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, June 18, 2011 (SL Times) –
Ahmed-shadi Abdillahi Mohamoud , a student from
Somaliland has earned the highest scores for this
year’s graduating class of Ethiopia’s Defense
University College of Health Sciences.
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Somaliland First Lady Cuts Ribbons For New
Constructions At Orphanage, African Children’s Day
Celebrated |
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Amina-Weris cuts ribbons for the new
constructions at Hargeysa Orphanage
Center |
Hargeysa, Somaliland, June 18, 2011 (SL Times) –
African children’s day was celebrated on June
16th in Somaliland’s capital Hargeysa. The event
took place at Hargeysa’s orphanage center.
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Waran
Adde Appeals To Sillanyo To Respond To Awdal
Grievances, Warns Against Mahiga |
Hargeysa, Somaliland, June 18, 2011 (SL Times) –
Former Somaliland Minister of Aviation, Ali
Muhammad Waran ‘Adde, appealed to Somaliland
President Ahmed Sillanyo to do something about
the grievances of the people of Awdal region. He
advised the president and vice president that if
problems are not solved in time, they fester and
become hard to resolve later. He also cautioned
the president that some evil-doers might take
advantage of the situation and create bigger
problems. Mr Waran Adde articulated these
concerns in a wide-ranging press conference
which he held at Hargeysa’s hotel Shiraaqle.
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Habsade Says New
Government Radio Will Be Purchased Through Tender,
Welcomes The Formation Of New Parties |
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, June 18, 2011 (SL Times) –
Somaliland Minister of Information, Mr Ahmed Abdi
Habsade, revealed that the government had
transferred the matter of the much-awaited new radio
Hargeysa to the contracts committee, and that
whoever wins the tender competition will get the
contract to import the radio.
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, June 18, 2011 (SL Times) –
Somaliland's first lady, Amina Sheekh Mohamed Jirde,
led a large delegation including the Minister of
Education, Zamzam Abdi Adan, to a ceremony to
encourage education in Berbera. The event was
organized jointly by the administration of Golis
University (Berbera branch) and the administration
of Bursade High School. It took place at Mansoor
hotel’s Berbera branch, and was attended by the
leaders of Sahil region and Berbera city
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Daniel Harris with Marta Foresti
Development Progress
Key messages
1. Absence of easily recognizable formal state
institutions should not be equated with an absence
of institutions altogether. Coexistence and
interaction between ‘traditional’ and ‘modern’
institutions have been key to balancing internal and
external demands for legitimacy in Somaliland and
represent significant progress in governance.
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New York, June 18, 2011 – The costs of establishing
courts in Somalia and prosecuting detained pirates
would be more than 24 million dollars over a
three-year period, a UN study reported Thursday.
The study focused on Somali courts in the
semi-independent regions of Somaliland and Puntland,
which detain the largest numbers of pirates and
already have some jurisdiction over crimes of
piracy. Funding for the courts will be borne by the
UN Development Programme and the UN Drugs and Crimes
Office in Vienna.
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Syria Shoots Dead 18
As Regime Sacrifices Reviled Figure |
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Altinozu, Turkey, June 18, 2011 – Security personnel
used live fire to disperse protests in the country's
two largest cities, Damascus and Aleppo, as
demonstrators refused to be mollified by news that
President Bashar al-Assad's brother-in-law had been
forced to surrender control of much of his business
empire.
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Libyan Forces Hit
Misrata City Center As Qaddafi Vows To Remain In
Office |
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Misrata, Libya, June 18, 2011 – Forces loyal to
Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi launched rockets at
the port and center of Misrata, attacking the
besieged western city for the first time in weeks.
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Saudi
women are challenging a female driving ban |
Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia, June 18, 2011 – A number of Saudi
Arabian women drove cars on Friday in response to
calls for nationwide action to break a traditional
ban, unique to the ultra-conservative kingdom,
according to reports on social networks.
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Development progress becomes the norm – but why?
By Liesbet
Steer
The developing world has long lent itself to
political soundbites, often with a tone of despair.
It wasn’t too long ago that Henry Kissinger called
Bangladesh a “basket case” and Tony Blair cited
Africa as a ’scar on the conscience of humanity’.
Development in poor countries seemed an expensive
exercise in futility. Times have changed. Recent
years have seen unprecedented progress in the
quality of life across the developing world.
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By Horand Knaup
Hargeysa, Somaliland, June 18, 2011 – There are
hundreds of pirates serving time in prisons in
northern Somalia. But for every one arrested, there
are several people willing to fill the gap. A visit
to a pirate jail reveals that, despite the risks,
many Somalis are still being drawn to the sea by
dreams of ransom, revenge and repute.
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Nairobi,
Kenya, June 18, 2011 – It was probably the shifting
front line in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, that
confused Fazul Abdullah Muhammad close to midnight
on June 7th. The ruined streets on the city’s
outskirts were unlit. The head of al-Qaeda in the
Horn of Africa, one of America’s most wanted men,
turned his Toyota Hilux right when he should have
gone left. He ended up at a checkpoint manned by
Somalia’s transitional federal government (TFG), not
the boys of the Shabaab militia for whom he was a
hero. He pulled a pistol and was shot dead, together
with an accomplice.
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By Murithi Mutiga
On a sunny June afternoon in the year 2000, a noisy
speedboat docked just outside the narrow channel
that leads up to the quiet island of Siyu near Lamu
town.
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J. Peter Pham
Last week, the president and parliament speaker of
Somalia’s struggling “Transitional Federal
Government” (TFG) signed an accord to temporarily
paper over their differences, agreeing to a one-year
extension of each other’s term of office as well as
the dismissal of the prime minister, Mohamed
Abdullahi Mohamed, who objected to the deal.
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Mrs
Clinton Scores 1 Out Of 3 In Africa Visit |
U.S. Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton came to Africa earlier this week
with three main messages. The first message was directed at
China. The message to China was that the US is unhappy with
China’s expanding influence in Africa. Of course, in
addition to making the US look like a sore loser,
criticizing economic relations between two consenting
parties by a third party would seem irrational.
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My Contribution To The
National Justice Conference |
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By
Ahmed Aideed
There have been two parallel systems operating in
Somaliland that stems from our rich cultural xeer
system which to some extent is coated
with thin layer of Islamic Shariah and the received
or inherited legal system from the demised Somali
state. While the xeer system continues to flourish,
the formal legal system seems to have become
anorexic due to a number of factors that includes
its ‘alien’ nature and chronic lack of capacity.
Subsequent Parliaments have also not bothered or
rather failed to put their mark in the legal system.
Although the existing constitutional has provisions
defining the court structure, it has left the
details on administrations and governance of the
various components of the judicature to subsequent
legislation by the House of Representatives.
Unfortunately, these have not been forthcoming from
the current makeshift House of Representative which
lacks both legitimacy and basic capacity to
undertake its primary legislative function.
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My Father: A Poem From
The Heart To Celebrate Fatherhood. |
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By Liban Obsiye.
A poem from the heart to celebrate fatherhood and the life
lasting impact good fathers can have on their
children.
Baby
I would crawl to greet him when he enters the home
I would hear his voice and would want to listen to him
I would hear his questions and desperately answer in my dribble
I would see him eating and would want to eat with him even if I
was not hungry
I would see my young brother on his lap and I would want to throw
him off in rage
I wanted my dad to myself
Because he was my dad first.
Teen
I would think of him and smile
I would wonder what he was doing daily but could not say for sure
I longed to see him
I yearned to hear him
But he was too far
I prayed to speak to him
But the phone card kept stealing him from me
“You have insufficient credit” would ring in my ear.
I longed to be by him
But this just could not be
Even so he was forever engraved in my heart.
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Osama Has Gone! But
Will His Legacy Come To An End? |
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By Abdirahman Mohamed
Dirye
Politicians, and leaders of the world have commented
Osama evil policy of targeting civilians of all
faiths — I hope it will drastically decline in the
future after he was eliminated — but they failed, it
seemed , to foretell the long term repercussions and
the negative affects of Osama upon Muslims , and how
his legacy would be curtailed ; nonetheless, his
scourge over Muslims of been intimidated for their
faith is continued and is more dangerous than his
undignified demise of which many people prayed for
but lately answered by God— I do not mean to
discount the joy that Osama’s death brought the
relatives of the victims of 9/11— however, Muslims
has been scapegoat of world-wide terrorism from Bali
Island to Mombasa of Kenya for more than ten years.
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Open Letter To Obama:
Allowing The People Of Somaliland To Determine Their
Own Destiny |
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Open Letter To His Excellency The President Of The
United States Of America Mr. Barack H. Obama
Your Excellency,
Subject: Allowing the people of
Somaliland to determine their own destiny
Please accept my compliments and profound
felicitations to you, your family and the American
people. As a Somaliland citizen I have the honor of
writing this open letter for your attention, at the
wake of the country’s 20th anniversary,
since the people of Somaliland revoked their union
with Somalia and declared independence in May 1991,
and make this representation to elucidate my
country’s case for international recognition.
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Our Seas Of Dead
Africans |
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Those desperately fleeing violence find
themselves in life-threatening situations on the way
to "safety".
By Tendai Marima
Imagine being trapped at sea with no fresh
water to drink or food to eat. Fearful of dying from
dehydration, you resort to drinking your own pale
yellow liquid, carefully rationing each salty sip.
As you struggle to survive, a mother and her little
baby seated next to you take their last breaths.
Days pass before you muster up the courage to say a
prayer and release their stiffened bodies into the
water.
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