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UN Monitoring Report On
Somalia, Eritrea |
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By David
Clarke
Nairobi, Kenya, July 30, 2011 – A U.N. Monitoring
group report seen by Reuters on Thursday said
Eritrea was behind a bomb plot in Ethiopia and that
the Red Sea state bankrolled Somali al Shabaab
rebels.
The report also said networks run by Kenyans in east
Africa's biggest economy were channeling funds to al
Shabaab fighters in Somalia.
Following are some other highlights from the report:
AL SHABAAB FINANCES
Somali rebel group al Shabaab earns money from
taxation and extortion; commerce, trade and
contraband; diaspora support and external
assistance, the report said.
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Photo: AFP
Islamist fighters loyal to Somalia's al-Qaida
inspired al-Shabab group perform military
drills at a village in Lower Shabelle
region, some 25 kilometers outside Mogadishu
(February 2011 file photo) |
Nairobi, Kenya, July 30, 2011 – One of the biggest
obstacles to providing aid to Somalia has been the
heavy hand of the al-Qaida linked militant group al-Shabaab,
which has so far dictated which aid groups are
allowed in and which are banned. But some analysts
say the crisis has actually weakened the militant
group.
On July 6, al-Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamoud
Rage announced to the world that the militant group
would lift a ban on foreign aid to Somalia to help
victims of the worst drought in a generation.
Two weeks later, they reversed the decision. This
time, Rage said the ban would remain, but the group
would allow those humanitarian groups who had
previously worked in Somalia.
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Nairobi, Kenya, July 30, 2011 – Kenya's High Court
has ruled that former industrialization minister
Henry Kosgey should face trial over charges he
illegally imported cars into the country.
Kosgey has denied the charges.
He is one of four ministers in the Kenyan government
to either step down or resign since 2010 over graft
charges. Kosgey is also chairman of Kenyan Prime
Minister Raila Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement
Party.
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Nairobi, Kenya, July 30, 2011 – A United Nations
report says the Eritrean government planned a large
scale attack on an African Union meeting earlier
this year in Addis Ababa.
The U.N. Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea
says that if the attack was executed as planned
there would have almost certainly been civilian
casualties.
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Photo: AFP
A severely malnourished Somali child
receives Oral Rehydration Salts at
Mogadishu's Banadir hospital on July 28,
2011 |
The United
States has eased restrictions on funding food
appeals for famine-hit Somalia, as warnings grew of
a hidden hunger crisis in Eritrea.
Nairobi, Kenya, July 30, 2011 – The United Nations
children's agency says about one-third of Somalis in
need of aid in the drought-struck southern part of
the country are children.
UNICEF said Friday that some 1.25 million children
are among the 3.7 million Somalis in urgent need, as
the country experiences its worst drought in 60
years.
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GENEVA, Switzerland, July 30, 2011/African Press
Organization (APO)/ — Coastguard s from Somalia’s
Puntland, Somaliland as well as Djibouti are taking
part in an innovative IOM training programme to
equip them with the necessary skills to assist and
protect irregular migrants and asylum-seekers
traveling at great risk through Somaliland, Puntland
and Djibouti en route to Yemen and the Gulf States.
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Photo: East London Mosque
There is a lack of data specifically
relating to mental health in the Somali
community in London |
London, UK, July 30, 2011 – Post-traumatic stress,
depression and anxiety disorders are the most common
mental health problems experienced by Somalis who
fled their country to settle in the UK, according to
Abdi Gure, a community development worker for Mind,
a mental health organization based in Harrow, north
London.
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Drought has killed livestock and left
Somalia’s land no good for growing crops -
11 million people are at risk from
starvation in the world’s worst famine in 20
years |
Nairobi, Kenya, July 30, 2011 – The European Union
is sending €27.8 million to fight famine in Somalia,
according to a 23 July announcement made by
International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and
Crisis Response Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva.
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An African Union soldier keeps check on a
crowd of newly internally displaced people
in Mogadishu (AFP/File, Abdurashid
Abdulle) |
Mogadishu, Somalia, July 30, 2011 — Three African
Union troops were killed and dragged through the
streets in Mogadishu Friday as fighting erupted
between pro-government forces and Islamist rebels,
witnesses said.
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National Electoral
Commission Sets Election Dates |
Hargeysa,
Somaliland,
July 30,
2011 (SL
Times) –
Somaliland
National
Commission
issued a
press
release in
which it
announced
the dates of
the coming
municipal,
parliamentary
and national
elections.
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Somaliland Journalist Association Elects New Leaders |
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The new
SOLJA elected leaders |
Hargeysa, Somaliland, July 31, 2011 (SL Times) – The
fourth general assembly meeting of the Somaliland
Journalist Association (SOLJA) elected a new
executive committee on the third its three-day GA
gathering which was held from 29th to 31st July 2011
at Ambassador Hotel, Hargeysa.
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UCID
Party Splits |
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, July 30, 2011 (SL Times) –
UCID party has split into two camps, one led by the
Chairman of the party, Faysal Ali Warabe, and the
other led by his deputy, Adan Mohammed Mire ( Waqaf).
The split began with the announcement of the deputy
chairman and other top UCID officials that they had
sacked Chairman Faysal Ali Warabe.
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President
Sillanyo Visits Awdal, Gabiley |
Borama/Gabiley, Somaliland, July 30, 2011 (SL
Times) – The President of Somaliland, Ahmed
Mohammed Mohamoud (Sillanyo), went on a short
visit to Awdal and Gabiley this week. While in
Awdal, the president took part in a graduation
ceremony at Amoud University.
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Saudi-Emirates International Veterinary Delegation
Arrives In Somaliland |
Berbera, Somaliland, July 30, 2011 (SL Times) –
A delegation from the Saudi-Emirates
International Veterinary Quarantine Management
Company (SEIVQMC) arrived in Berbera this week.
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House Of
Representatives Debates Mining Law |
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, July 30, 2011 (SL Times) –
Environment and Natural Resources subcommittee of
the House of Representatives of Somaliland has
concluded a three-day workshop in which the
committee members reviewed the Mining Code and
Mining Regulations Bill of the Republic of
Somaliland.
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London, UK, July 30, 2011 -- WorldRemit, a leading
online money transfer business, has launched an
online money
transfer service that enables the Ethiopian
diaspora to send money back home using a variety of
payment options including debit cards, credit
cards and Interac
Online (Canada).
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Las-Anod, Somaliland, July 30, 2011 – Hundreds of
families from south-central Somalia who have sought
refuge in the independent Republic of Somaliland
lack food, shelter and water, say local officials.
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Aid agencies blocked from helping millions
Dubai, July 30, 2011 – A petrol tanker belonging to
the United Arab Emirates hijacked by Somali pirates
on July 16 has been released, state news agency WAM
reported on Thursday.
Seventeen sailors from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh,
Sudan, Myanmar, Kenya and Somalia were on board the
tanker, according to WAM.
The MV Jubba 20, a laden tanker, was released
yesterday "without any ransom payment or giving any
concessions," WAM said.
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Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, July 30, 2011 – The African
Union has admitted the newly independent nation of
South Sudan as its 54th member.
The AU says it has received the required number of
votes supporting the South Sudan's admission to the
Pan-African body.
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Libya: Murder Of Rebel
Commander Threatens Split |
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Rebel forces chief commander Abdel Fattah
Younes speaks during a rally in the
rebel-held city of Benghazi, Libya Photo: AP |
Western diplomats were scrambling to prevent a
damaging split in the Libyan opposition on Friday
after its top commander was killed, possibly by his
own side.
By Damien
McElroy, and Adrian Blomfield
Benghazi, Libya, July 30, 2011 — The mysterious
murder of Gen Abdel-Fattah Younes threatened to set
off damaging infighting amongst the rebel movement
just days after being officially recognized by
Britain.
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Norway Mourns, Buries
Massacre Victims |
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Oslo, Norway, July 30, 2011 – Norwegians have
honored the memory of the 76 people killed in last
week's bombing and shooting rampage, as the first
funerals were held one week after the attacks that
traumatized the country.
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Then and now ... Naomi Jacobs as a teenager
in 1992, left, and now |
Manchester, UK, July 30, 2011 – A WOMAN hit by
devastating amnesia told yesterday how she went to
bed as a mum aged 32 and woke thinking she was still
15.
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By Jonathan Manthorpe
As Somalia descends into
another of the troughs of violence and famine that
have marked this ultimate failed state for 20 years,
just over its northern horizon is one of the most
successful new countries in Africa.
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A primitive rock painting, of a galaxy of
colorful animal and human sketches to adorn
the caves in the rocky hills of this arid
wilderness in northern Somalia, in Laas Gee.
PHOTO BY: Tony Karumba |
By
Ian Birrell
The Summer Time restaurant
was buzzing. On the dusty road outside, new
four-wheel drive cars fought for space with smart
saloons. Inside, waiters in bow ties rushed about
serving spicy chicken, camel milk and piles of
spaghetti.
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More like a small automobile than a bird,
the kori bustard, although by no means a
Somali endemic, was a trip highlight. It is
said to be the heaviest flying bird. We saw
several, stalking the plains, including an
enraged male, its feathers bristling as it
marched away from an unsuccessful
confrontation with a rival. |
By Richard Fleming
Birdwatchers come in all shapes and sizes, from
grannies who venture no further than the bay window
view of their garden feeder to list-crazed maniacs
who will risk bullets, kidnappings and divorce in
their quest for new species.
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By Michael Anderson
Part 1 of 3 applying lessons learned in Somaliland
to Afghanistan
During my time at CENTCOM,
I developed a process for quantitatively comparing
every country in the world based on econometric
data, surveys, and social indicators. Rather than
compete with Brookings, Freedom House, or the Global
Peace Index, I used them as sources in my model. In
my stability spectrum, Afghanistan was typically the
2nd or 3rd least stable country in the world.
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Somaliland has been seeking international
recognition since it declared independence from
war-torn Somalia in 1991. It is relatively stable
and has organized several peaceful elections. After
the
independence of South Sudan on 9 July,
Somaliland's government would like it to be Africa's
55th country. Join in the
debate below.
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UCID’s Leaders Need To Come Back To Their Senses |
Political
parties, like any other institution, have to either develop
and move forward, or stagnate and decay. Unfortunately, too
many Somalis have the mistaken notion that one can happily
stay in the same spot for a long time, when the truth is,
life itself is based on movement, and one cannot,
metaphorically speaking, stay in the same spot; even when it
seems that one is staying in the same spot, one is actually
moving backward. Movement is a principle of life (Sunnat al-hayah
in Arabic), a principle summed up by Heraclitus’s aphorism
“You could not step twice into the same river”.
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Why Norway, Why In
This Way? |
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By: Bashir Goth
The following poem marks the terrorist attack that
shocked the Norwegian people on July 22nd, 2011.
Why? A question with no answer
As no answer fills the void
No answer rises to decipher
Why Norway, why in this way?
Why terror strikes without a thought
Why it devastates, demolishes, devours
Why it raises hell that ends in naught?
But why Norway, why in this way?
Oslo is mourning, Utoeya is bleeding
Innocence is defiled, paradise betrayed
Common sense is for answers pleading
Why Norway, why in this way?
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My Memories Of
Somaliland 1957 – 1960. |
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By
Barry Scowen
It was in the summer of 1957 that my Mother and I
were met at Hargeysa airport by my father and his
newly found friends; he had only been in Somaliland
for a few weeks, his first venture outside the U.K.
since returning from action during WW2 in the
Western Desert. I distinctly remember although quite
warm the difference in temperature it was compared
with landing in Berbera en-ruote from Aden as we
traveled into Hargeysa, and for a boy from the
countryside of East England life looked to me as
though I had been transported back to biblical times
it was a whole new world, one I was to become to
love and one which still holds many fond and happy
memories.
After a few days my Father took us to where he had
taken up temporary residence a small village called
Gabaliee where he was putting the final touches to a
new boys’ school. After turning off the main road we
eventually arrived at the village and met the local
people, I assume it was the head man who explained
the excitement that our arrival had caused as my
Mother and I were the first white woman and child to
arrive there in living memory. To us it seemed quite
strange that with the amount of Europeans living
only an hour’s journey away in Hargeysa no-one had
visited their village before -I did however
understand the longer I was in Somaliland, most
Europeans were there to help themselves not there to
help the local people –shame on them.
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Arab Countries Should
Step Up To Save Lives In Somalia |
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By Afshin Molavi
Imagine a country with the longest coastline in
Africa, bordering some of the busiest sea lanes in
the world. Imagine this country has very wealthy
neighbors just across the water, and a history of
commercial links to faraway places as an old Silk
Road trading post. If geography is destiny, then
this country is fortunate indeed.
Alas, few would consider Somalia fortunate today.
Drought-stricken, wracked by nearly 20 years of
civil war, in the grip of Al Qaeda-linked extremists
in the south and warlords and pirates in other parts
of the country, Somalia is considered the epitome of
a failed state. And now its 10 million people face
the worst famine in 60 years.
When natural disaster and governance disaster
intersect, it does little good to focus on how
geography or regional aid could come to the rescue.
What matters is the facts on the ground: a vicious
cycle of civil war, violence, banditry and
warlordism coupled with a debilitating drought that
has already killed tens of thousands in the past few
months and threatens the lives of nearly one million
children.
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Can I Get A Little
Piracy? |
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Brent Lewin for National Post
Jay Bahadur had planned to fly to Somalia to
cover local elections as a freelancer, but
ended up embedded with the country's
high-profile pirate crews. |
By
Jessica Hume
Jay Bahadur’s plan was simple. Fly to Somalia to
cover the March 2009 elections in Somaliland as a
freelancer, then come home to Toronto and hopefully
find a job in journalism.
He studied Somalia a bit as an undergrad at the
University of Toronto, and after graduating in 2007
he enrolled in a freelance journalism course; he
figured he could work the trip into the class
somehow.
Things did not go according to plan — but, in
retrospect, they probably couldn’t have worked out
better.
For a class assignment on how to pitch freelance
stories, Mr. Bahadur assembled an idea — to embed
with the pirates of Somalia — and handed in his
homework. It was October 2008. He left for Africa in
January 2009. And today, he is on tour promoting his
debut non-fiction book, Pirates
of Somalia.
“My plan was to go to Somalia without any contacts,
find my way to a pirate base and talk my way in,” he
says with a laugh. “It didn’t work out that way.”
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Key To Ending Piracy
Rests Ashore |
What pirates capture is useless without a land base
to sell it
By Joshua Philipp
‘Historically speaking, no one has ever been very successful
attacking pirates 500 miles off the coast.’
—Mark Hanna, University of California, San Diego
Somali coastguards patrol off the coast of Somalia's
breakaway Republic of Somaliland on March 30. As
piracy has flourished and turned increasingly
violent, an unprecedented 17 countries are
prosecuting pirates yet Somali jails have borne most
of the burden. (TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images)
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