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Somalia MPs Brawl Over
Election Of New Speaker |
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The brawl was not the first fist fight in
recent weeks, but is the most violent
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Mogadishu, Somalia, January 7, 2012 – Somalia's
government has launched an investigation after a
punch-up in the parliament in the capital,
Mogadishu, over the election of a new speaker.
Punches were thrown, MPs hit each other with
chairs, some used pens to stab one another. Three
were taken to hospital.
A new speaker was eventually voted in late on
Wednesday, but the president has since denounced the
election.
Somalia's interim government has
international backing, but has faced criticism for
its factional infighting.
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Special
Representative Augustine Mahiga
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Nairobi, Kenya, January 7, 2012 – The United Nations
envoy for Somalia today expressed deep concern over
the country’s ongoing political disputes warning
that, if not resolved, the country could miss a rare
window of opportunity to end its 21 years of
conflict.
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Help at hand: The USS Kidd sits close by the
dhow after capturing 15 armed Somalian
pirates in the Arabian Sea
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Muscat, Oman, January 7, 2012 – Just days after
Iranian and American military officials traded
warnings over a U.S. Navy vessel's departure from
the Persian Gulf, the United States Navy has rescued
13 Iranian fishermen from Somali pirates in the
Arabian sea. And in a side irony that punctuates the
rare instance of Iranian-American co-operation, the
rescue operation was carried out by the very U.S.
Navy aircraft carrier strike group that Iranian army
officials had earlier boasted of evicting from Gulf
waters.
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Zeynab Omar, Winner of Annual Pathfinder
Award |
Mankato, January 7, 2012 — An advocate for the
disabled, a progressive company and a high school
student from Somalia are this year’s recipients of
the annual Pathfinder Awards.
Wilbur Neuschwander-Frink will receive the
Pathfinder Award, Zeynab Omar will receive the Young
Pathfinder Award and Lloyd Management will receive
the Business Pathfinder Award.
The awards, given annually to people who
embody the spirit and work of Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr., were announced at a news conference Thursday
but will be bestowed Jan. 16 at the annual Martin
Luther King Community Celebration.
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President Ismail Omar Guelleh of Djibouti
and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France |
Paris, France, January 7, 2012 — Nicolas Sarkozy and
the President of Djibouti Ismael Omar Guelleh signed
in Paris on Wednesday a new treaty for cooperation
in defense matters which replaces the agreement
signed in Djibouti after independence in 1977
reported the presidency.
It establishes, according to the Elysee, “the
framework of bilateral military cooperation” and
said “the facilities granted to our operational
forces stationed” in Djibouti, the largest French
military base abroad which hosts nearly 3,000
soldiers.
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London, UK, January 7, 2012 -- The British
government welcomed a panel's support for military
engagement in the Gulf of Aden to combat the threat
of piracy, the foreign secretary said.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague described
piracy off the coast of Somalia as a "major
international problem" that not only threatened
international trade but efforts to help the war-torn
country along the path toward recovery.
A British Foreign Affairs Committee said it welcomed
an announcement by Prime Minister David Cameron to
permit private armed guards on British vessels in
the region.
Hague said he welcomed support for military
engagement in the region and for extra-territorial
courts to prosecute pirates.
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Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali
on Friday and a delegation of senior
government officials paid a visit to the
central Somalia town of Baladweyne for the
first time since it was recently seized
from Al-Shabaab rebels |
Baladweyne, Somalia, January 7, 2012 – Somali Prime
Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali on Friday and a
delegation of senior government officials paid a
visit to the central Somalia town of Baladweyne for
the first time since it was recently seized from
Al-Shabaab rebels.
In a statement the Somali government information
ministry said that the Somalia prime minister visit
was aimed to evaluate the situation and boost the
soldiers morale.
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Kenya-based Somali hip hop crew Waayaha
Cusub is trying to win the hearts and minds
of Somalia’s youth in an open challenge to
the Islamist militant group al-Shabaab. |
By Michael Kaloki
Nairobi, Kenya, January 7, 2012 – “Al-Shabaab are
sending a bad message. We are telling al-Shabaab to
stop cheating the children. Fighting is not nice,”
says Dikriyo Abdi. “Sometimes my parents cry when
they talk to me, because they see what Somalia has
become.
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Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, January 7, 2012 – The African
Union on Thursday asked the United Nations to
authorise an increase of its peacekeeping force in
war-torn Somalia by 5,700 to 17,700 amid mounting
attacks by Islamist rebels.\
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Haabsade Says No
Disagreements Between Him And Sillanyo; Obsiye
Blasts Government’s Handling Of Taleeh Meeting |
Hargeysa,
Somaliland,
January 7,
2012 (SL
Times) – The
Minister of
Information,
Ahmed Abdi
Habsade,
refuted
press
reports that
he and
president
Ahmed had
clashed over
the Taleeh
meeting of
the
Dhulbahante
clan.
The
information
minister
stressed
that he and
the
president
are in full
agreement
about the
Taleeh
meeting and
that the
government
policy is
clear on
this issue.
Minister
Habsade said
this in an
interview
with the
Somali
language
newspaper
Haatuf.
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Somaliland Intelligence Chief Sacked |
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, January 7, 2012 (SL Times) –
President Ahmed Sillanyo relieved Somaliland’s
intelligence chief, Muhammad Muse Nur (Guuta-liqe),
of his duties as head of Somaliland’s intelligence.
No reason was given for the sacking, but it is
widely known that the former intelligence had poor
qualifications for the job which was reflected in
his performance.
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Ibrahim
Adan Qalib Says Ministry Of Finance Has The Right To
Ask For Audit |
Hargeysa, Somaliland, January 7, 2012 (SL Times) –
The former accountant general of Somaliland, Ibrahim
Adan Qalib, was critical of the report that the
current auditor Mohamud Aw Abdi (Mohamud Dheere)
released on the allegations of embezzlement by the
Minister of Water and Minerals, Hussein Abdi Du’ale.
Read full text...
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UCID
Holds Conference |
Hargeysa, Somaliland, January 7, 2012 (SL Times) –
UCID party held a major conference in Hargeysa’s
Crown Hotel. The meeting was attended by UCID
officials as well as leaders of the two wings of
UDUB party, Jamal Ali Hussein and Ali Waran ‘Adde.
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Somaliland: End Forced
Return Of Refugees |
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Authorities Deport 15 Refugees, 5 Asylum Seekers to
Ethiopia
Nairobi, Kenya, January 7, 2012 – The Somaliland
authorities should cease forcibly returning refugees
and asylum seekers to possible persecution in
Ethiopia, Human Rights Watch said today. On December
28, authorities returned 20 Ethiopian refugees and
asylum seekers in violation of the fundamental
international refugee law prohibition against “refoulement,”
the forcible return of anyone to persecution or to a
place where their life or freedom is threatened.
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Last month, 200 soldiers from Djibouti
arrived to join the AU force in Mogadishu |
Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia, January 7, 2012 – Ethiopia is to withdraw
from areas it has recently captured in neighboring
Somalia with its troops to be replaced by African
Union (AU) soldiers.
The decision was made by the AU's Peace and Security
Council, which met to finalize boosting its Somali
force.
It wants the UN to approve a new figure of 17,731,
which would include the absorption of Kenyan troops.
They entered the country in October in pursuit of
al-Shabaab militants, who control much of southern
Somalia.
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Islamist fighters loyal to Somalia’s
Al-Qaeda inspired al-Sheba group (AFP/File,
Mustafa Abdi) |
Nairobi, Kenya, January 7, 2012 - Kenyan jets bombed
an al Shabaab camp in southern Somalia Friday
killing 50 fighters of the rebel group and injuring
60 others, its military spokesman said.
Emmanuel Chirchir told Reuters the fighters of the
al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group at the camp
situated south of Garbahare had been planning to
attack Kenyan and Somali troops in two nearby towns
captured by Kenyan forces this week.
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Minneapolis, MN, January 7, 2012 — A money transfer
business that sends remittances from Minnesota to
Somalia is re-opening to allow transfers in small
dollar amounts.
Garad Nor is head of Tawakal Money Express. He says
he'll allow transfers in amounts up to $500 — for
emergencies only.
Fifteen Minnesota hawalas stopped accepting wire
transfers to Somalia last week because the bank that
handled most of the transactions closed their
accounts. The bank feared it was at risk of
violating rules designed to clamp down on terror
financing.
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Osman
Mohamud (Buurmadow) |
London, UK, January 7, 2012 – Somali national Boqor
Osman Mohamoud was arrested by security forces in
the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on 17 November 2011
and is now being held incommunicado in conditions
amounting to an enforced disappear a nce . He has
not had access to relatives or lawyers and h he
could be at risk of torture or ill-treatment.
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Bomb Attack Kills
Dozens Of People In Syrian Capital |
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Bassem Tellawi/Associated Press
Syrian authorities inspected the site of an
explosion in Damascus on Friday. |
BEIRUT, Lebanon, January 7, 2012 — A bomb tore
through a crowded neighborhood in Damascus on
Friday, killing 26 people and wounding dozens more,
unleashing scenes of chaos and underlining the
growing confusion and complexity of the Syrian
uprising, officials and residents said.
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UK Piracy Report
Welcomed By Industry Observers |
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The report into Somali piracy by the foreign
affairs committee comes at a time when
the problem has become relatively stable. |
London, UK, January 7, 2012 – The UK’s House of
Commons Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) report –
‘Piracy off the Coast of Somalia’ - published this
week has engendered favorable comment from various
shipping industry bodies.
Basically, the report called for clear guidelines
and rules to be established by the UK Government
when dealing with pirate attacks on UK flag vessels.
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Mubi, Nigeria, January 7, 2012 – Witnesses say
gunmen have killed at least 17 people in
northeastern Nigeria after storming a town hall
where a Christian ethnic group was meeting.
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By
Elizabeth Royall – Part V
Conclusions and Recommendations
• Intervene in postconflict countries sparingly,
carefully, and with a modest agenda. Postconflict
countries can rarely create successful democracy in
the West’s likeness. When the international
community does intervene, it should engage
indigenous leaders (at all levels) to develop
productive political strategies and responsive,
adaptive governance systems with a special focus on
local governance and programs.
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Hoda Dahir and Christian Jepsen
In Somaliland, NRC assists displaced people to build
their own homes. After years in refugee camps in
Ethiopia, young Mohamed can now witness how piles of
bricks evolve into a new, permanent home for his
family.
By The string of banging hammers is shadowed by
mesmerizing chants of Somali poetry and mischievous
jokes.
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By Katherine
Harmon
In a chaotic Libya or a post-war Iraq,
achieving individual safety and the most basic of
health care might seem to be the best any government
or aid organization could hope for.
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By Sean McLachlan
This was a strange year for me. I didn't see any new
countries but I still had some great adventure
travel. I spent two months living in Harar,
Ethiopia, writing a series about it for all you fine
folks. I'd visited this fascinating medieval walled
city back in 2010 during a road trip in Ethiopia and
passed through on my way to Somaliland. The three
weeks I spent in Harar in 2010 convinced me I had to
come back and learn more.
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They are not the words Mo Farah will have wanted to
hear at the start of a year he hopes will culminate
in an Olympic gold medal, and maybe even two,
hanging from his neck.
By Simon
Hart
Kenenisa Bekele, the defending Olympic champion
over 5,000 and 10,000 meters and the man most likely
to rain on Farah’s parade in London, says he is now
fully recovered from the long-standing calf injury
that restricted him to just two races in the whole
of 2011 and is eager to add to his list of Olympic
accomplishments, which began with 10,000m gold in
Athens in 2004.
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Factionalism And Somaliland’s Political System |
Somaliland’s
political scene these days is dominated by three phenomena:
(1) the formation of many new political groups that want to
participate in the coming elections; (2) serious splits
within two of the old political parties; (3) attempts by
religious extremists to take advantage of Somaliland’s open
political system and establish themselves as legitimate
organizations with the aim of subverting Somaliland from
within. Since we have dealt with the issue of religious
extremism in previous issues, we will restrict our comments
and analysis to the first two topics.
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Finding Their Feet
Slowly: A Look At The Struggles And Successes Of The
New And Growing Somali Community In The Republic Of
Ireland |
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By Liban Obsiye
On my short visit to the Republic of Ireland this
week I was privileged to meet members of a new and
vibrant community who were working hard to set roots
in this country. This new group of people were from
Somalia and had come to Ireland in search of a
better life for themselves and their families.
Most of the Somali people I met lived in the capital
Dublin in privately rented accommodation in close
proximity to each other and a few resided in the
Mosney refugee center which is one of the largest
privately run refugee camps in Europe. Many of the
people I met were still awaiting the decision of
their immigration claim which they collectively
thought was taking "forever" and hampering their
ability to support themselves. Even those that have
been successful in their immigration applications
were only given leave that can be extended yearly
and does not give them the full refugee status which
would allow them under the 1951 United Nations
Refugee Convention to bring their families to join
them.
Of course some have been very lucky and have
received full refugee status and as a result have
been lucky enough to have been joined by their
families in Ireland. These handful of people are
extremely lucky according to Ahmed (not his real
name), who is yet not able to bring his children to
join him as he only has Leave to Remain which he has
to renew every year. The reason for this is that the
Irish Naturalization and Immigration Service rarely
awards refugee status even to those who clearly have
a right to it which allows for family reunion with
those immediate family members refugees left behind
or were separated from in the usually hasty process
of leaving their countries and seeking asylum
abroad.
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I Am The Next
President Of Somaliland |
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By Ahmed Ali Aden
When president Sillanyo has called for the immediate
creation of the committee which will advise the
president (after consultation with the public)
whether the country needs the creation of new
political parties, he was sticking to his words at
the time of the Kulmiye campaign when he said he
will give the green light for new political
parties. But many, in the old political parties,
did not feel at ease with the president’s decision
but rather kept a stiff upper lip the whole time
that this process of consultation was underway.
The vast majority of the public knew of what the
outcome of the committee’s consultation would be and
when the committee eventually announced their
verdict, the president has bravely put the stamp of
approval and declared that the country is open for
new political parties. Yacnii Al-miidaan Waasac.
Again, some in the old parties who insincerely used
to pay lip service to the creation of new political
parties took another blow which gravely dented their
self-esteem.
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President Ahmed M.
Mahamoud Is Bearer Of Peace & Prosperity
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By Geleh Ali Gulaid
The character of president Ahmed M. Mahamoud
Sillanyo is what defines and extrapolates the
phenomenal achievements attained in the short
duration that he has been at helm and that
ultimately differentiates him from his predecessor.
For one, Ahmed M. Mahamoud Sillanyo has been Public
servant with a moral responsibility to his country (Daanaya
Dalkis) and not a politician. After he was robbed of
the presidency in 2003 with the concocted bogus mere
80 plus votes, we saw the valor and dignity in which
he conducted him-self with and the manner in which
he chose the path of unity and cohesion of his
country and accepted defeat. His convictions and
fidelity to these sacred and inviolable principles
that he incessantly defends is what shapes his
character. Sacrificing on behalf of all and being
obligated and compelled by moral commitment is
nothing new to Ahmed M. Mahamoud Sillanyo. The
accomplishments of his administration be it the
making of primary and elementary education free or
the doubling of salaries of the armed forces is not
just the right thing to do but personifies the
decency, fairness and justice to our ever greater
ideals as a nation. Ahmed M. Mahamoud Sillanyo
public life of servitude encapsulates an aura of
common purpose and sense of community.
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Analysis: The
International Situation Is Favoring The Recognition
Of The Republic Of Somaliland |
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By Abdulrahman Me’ad, Writer & Activist
The visit of the Ministerial Delegation of the
Republic of the Somaliland to Cairo which includes
Dr. Mohammed Omer the Minister of Foreign Affairs
and International Co-operation and Mr. Hersi Hassan
the Minister of the Presidential Affairs, is
considered as a diplomatic success to Hargeysa as it
proficiently managed to deal-with the largest and
most important state in the Arab World by the way
that might enhance its role and mission.
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