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Americans Rise In Rank
Inside Somalia Jihadi Group |
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Nairobi, Kenya, January 14, 2012 — The October al-Qaida
video shows a light-skinned man handing out food to
families displaced by famine in Somalia. But the
masked man is not Somali, or even African — he's a
Wisconsin native who grew up in San Diego.
A handful of young Muslims from the U.S. are
taking high-visibility propaganda and operational
roles inside an al-Qaida-linked insurgent force in
Somalia known as al-Shabaab. While most are from
Minnesota, which has the largest Somali population
in the nation, al-Shabaab members include a
Californian and an Alabaman with no ancestral ties
to Somalia.
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By Daniel Greenfield
Anyone interested in seeing the future of
Afghanistan need only take a short plane trip from
Italy across Libya and Sudan to what is the most
dysfunctional territory in Africa. Somalia can’t be
properly called a state, more of a prolonged clumsy
civil war fought between rival gangs of Islamists,
some of whom have American backing and some of whom
don’t.
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Images of central Garowe: The left one taken
in February 2002, the right in June 2009 |
Garowe, Somalia, January 14, 2012 – New research
suggests piracy has led to widespread economic
development in some parts of Somalia.
The study, published by British think-tank Chatham
House, looked at detailed satellite imagery.
Regional centers have benefited from substantial
investment funded by piracy, but coastal communities
have missed out, the report indicates.
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Mogadishu, Somalia, January 14, 2012 – The United
Nations' 20-year-old arms embargo on Somalia is
severely hampering the fight against terror groups
in the country, a top minister has said
Somalia's minister for Defence Hussein Arab
Issa urged the international community to lift the
embargo arguing that it has had a negative effect on
the government's campaign against radical militant
groups such as Al-Shabaab.
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Kampala, Uganda, January 14, 2012 – The Ugandan
government has appealed to African countries to
contribute troops to the peace-keeping mission in
Somalia.
Defence state minister Lt. Gen. Jeje Odongo, said
there was need for more AMISOM troops in Somalia to
consolidate the gains and rout out the militants
fighting the interim government in Mogadishu.
“We appeal for more boots on the ground so that more
Somalis can live in peace,” Odongo’s call-out for
more troops was clear.
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File | Nation Miraa farmers. Analysts have
been puzzled by the ban, given that the
Dutch government tolerates the use of
cannabis (bhang) and ecstasy, which are
relatively more harmful.
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Nairobi, Kenya, January 14, 2012 – The Dutch
government has banned the use of khat (miraa),
dealing a second blow to the livelihoods of Kenyan
farmers who rely on the crop for revenue.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Dutch government
announced the ban, citing health and social issues.
“If taken in moderation, there are no major
problems, but an investigation showed it to be
problematic among some 10 per cent of khat users,”
read a report used to inform the ban.
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Denizli, Turkey, January 14, 2012 – Studying in
Denizli’s Private Servergazi High School, sixteen
students first time in their lives played snowball
with each other as first snow of the season falls on
Denizli streets after a long time.
Somalian students who are brought to Turkey’s
Denizli province on scholarships from famine and
drought stricken Somalia to continue their secondary
education are nowadays enjoying the snow due to the
cold weather conditions.
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New York, January 10, 2012-The Committee to Protect
Journalists today called on authorities in the
semi-autonomous republic of Somaliland to explain
why they have detained Royal Television
correspondent Yusuf Ali since Sunday.
Police in the northwestern town of Borama arrested
Ali at around 11 a.m. on Sunday without any charges,
local journalists told CPJ. He is being detained at
Borama Police Station without access to a lawyer,
they said. Under Somaliland's constitution,
detention without charge beyond 48 hours is illegal.
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Garissa, Kenya, January 14, 2012) – The Kenyan
security forces are beating and arbitrarily
detaining citizens and Somali refugees in Kenya’s
North Eastern province, which borders on Somalia,
despite repeated pledges to stop such abuses, Human
Rights Watch said today.
On January 11, 2012, in the latest of a series of
incidents documented by Human Rights Watch since
October 2011, security forces rounded up and beat
residents of Garissa, the provincial capital, in an
open field within the enclosure of the local
military camp. A Human Rights Watch researcher
witnessed the incident.
“When military officers can beat civilians in broad
daylight without fearing repercussions, it’s clear
that impunity has become the norm,” said Daniel
Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch.
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Somaliland Closes TV
Station, Arrests Journalists |
Hargeysa,
Somaliland,
January 16,
2012 –
Somaliland
has shut
down a
private
television
station it
accuses of
airing
anti-government
propaganda,
and arrested
13
journalists
as they held
a protest
against the
move, a
minister
said on
Sunday.
Minister of
Interior
Mohamed Nour
Arrale said
that the
government
of the
breakaway
territory
had
suspended
the license
of Horn
Cable TV,
which was
taken off
air on
Saturday.
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New
Money Arrives In Somaliland |
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, January 14, 2012 (SL Times) –
Newly printed currency which was approved by
Somaliland parliament arrived first Berbera and then
were transferred to Somaliland’s Central Bank in
Hargeysa.
The printing of the currency was approved by
Somaliland’s parliament and it was composed of 1000
shillings and 5000 shilling notes as well as 100 and
500 shilling notes that had been in use in
Somaliland.
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Somaliland: 7 Journalists Arrested In A Week, 3
Still Held |
New York, January 14, 2012-- The Committee to
Protect Journalists is alarmed by the recent spate
of arrests of independent reporters in the republic
of Somaliland.
At least seven journalists have been arrested
since last week, with three still in custody without
being charged, local journalists said.
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Head Of
AIDS Commission Briefs Parliament |
Hargeysa, Somaliland, January 14, 2012 (SL Times) –
The head of Somaliland AIDS commission (SOLNAC), Mr
Muhammad Dahir Khayre, appeared in front of
parliament’s permanent committee and reported that
the level of HIV/AIDS in the country had dropped.
He attributed this reduction in the level of AIDS to
the campaign to educate and inform people about the
disease and how it is transmitted, and as a result
of those campaigns, the citizenry is now has better
knowledge about the disease than they used to.
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President Sillanyo To
Address Joint Session |
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, January 14, 2012 (SL Times) –
Somaliland President Ahmed Sillanyo is scheduled to
address a joint session of parliament and the upper
house Saturday Jan.14th.
The president had called the leaders of Parliament
and the Upper House to the presidential palace and
asked them to inform their colleagues and make
arrangements for the session.
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Hargeysa,
Somaliland, January 14, 2012 (SL Times) –
Somaliland’s former defense minister, Adan Muhammad
Mire (Waqaf), passed away in Malaysia.
Since the restoration of Somaliland’s independence,
Mr Waqaf held various high level positions including
the mayor of Buro, minister of state for the
Interior, and minister of defense.
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, January 14, 2012 (SL Times) –
The management of Dollar store held a ceremony to
acknowledge and honor all those who made the Bur’o
regional sports competitions a success.
Among the participants were the minister of
information, Ahmed Abdi Habsade, the minister of
sports Abdi Said Fahiye, the Director General of the
Ministry of Information, Faysal Ali Sheikh, the
Director of Africa for Horn Cable Muhammad Abdi
Sheikh (Ilig), the Director of Radio Hargeysa, the
Director of the National Television Ahmed Suleiman (Dhuhul)
and other officials.
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Nairobi, Kenya, January 14, 2012 – A U.S. Navy
vessel rescued 13 Iranian fishermen held hostage in
the Arabia Sea.
A U.S. Navy vessel rescued 13 Iranian fishermen held
hostage in the Arabia Sea in the latest action by
U.S. forces and the international community to
combat piracy in the waters off the Horn of Africa.
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Minneapolis, MN, January 14, 2012 – In the fine
tradition of Minneapolis City Councils past and
present, the current members have passed a public
policy resolution that has nothing to do with their
jurisdiction.
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Tensions High, US
Warns Iran Not To Block Shipping |
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Washington, January 14, 2012 — Tensions rising by
the day, the Obama administration said Friday it is
warning Iran through public and private channels
against any action that threatens the flow of oil
from the Persian Gulf. The Navy revealed that two
U.S. ships in and near the Gulf were harassed by
Iranian speedboats last week.
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US Identifies Marines
In Urination Video |
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This image made on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2012
from undated video posted on the Internet on
Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2012 by a YouTube user
who identified self as "semperfiLoneVoice"
shows men in U.S. Marine combat gear,
standing in a semi-circle over three bodies.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is
branding as "utterly despicable" the video
purporting to show four U.S. Marines
urinating on the corpses of Taliban
fighters. |
Washington, January 14, 2012 – U.S. military
officials say they have identified the four Marines
seen on video urinating on the bodies of dead Afghan
Taliban fighters.
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Tehran, Iran, January 14, 2012 – Iran on Friday
buried a top scientist it said was killed in an
Israeli-American covert campaign against its nuclear
programme, as a US-led drive for crippling sanctions
ran into opposition even from allies.
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Chatham House
document
In July 2011, Chatham House held a small roundtable
meeting with Somaliland politicians, civil society,
diaspora and thinkers along with experts and
observers from key international partners. The
roundtable aimed to discuss Somaliland's place in
the world twenty years after it's self-declared, and
still unrecognized, independence.
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By Mike Pflanz
Hargeysa, Somaliland, January 14, 2012 – Ali Abdullah stands
at the front of the class asking students their
ages, how long they take to walk to school, whether
they are orphans, and whether any have learning or
development needs.
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As the Dutch government moved on Tuesday to ban qat,
a mild narcotic plant popular in Yemen and the Horn
of Africa, Yemeni activists also launched a campaign
against it. Lamenting the effects of the plant on
Yemeni life, activists are marking January 12th as a
qat-free day in the embattled Gulf state. By KHADIJA
PATEL.
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ANALYSIS
By Fred Oluoch
The war in Somalia has led to closer intelligence
collaboration between Burundi, Djibouti, Kenya and
Uganda that is thought to have thwarted plans by the
Al Shabaab militia to launch terror attacks in the
region over Christmas and New Year holidays.
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Roopa Gogineni
Two decades of civil war in Somalia have made the
country one of the most dangerous places in the
world for a woman to give birth.
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The
Taleeh Huddle |
Most
Somalilanders are confused about the meeting taking place in
Taleeh. The source of the confusion is the disparity
between, on the one hand, the tolerance that the government
has exhibited toward the meeting, and, on the other hand,
the announcement that was attributed to the participants, or
at least some of them, that says they want to set up an
administration that is separate from Somaliland in
Dhulbahante-inhabited areas, an announcement that is a
direct challenge to Somaliland’s authority and sovereignty.
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Somali Nationalism:
Not Dead, Just Different |
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By Ahmed M.I. Egal
I write with reference to Peter Lockwood’s piece
entitled “Somali
Nationalism: A Dead Concept?”
published on 9th January. I don’t usually
respond to articles, however this one demanded a
response for several reasons:
·
Firstly, Mr. Lockwood is a Junior Consultant at UNESCO in
Nairobi and has written other pieces on Somali
politics that have been published. Thus, he is part
of the international bureaucracy that is responsible
for administering Somalia and, notwithstanding his
current, if somewhat bizarre, designation of “Junior
Consultant”, is likely to become a member of the
international nomenclature recognised as ‘Somalia
experts’. Thus, his views and perspectives on Somali
politics are likely to have an impact upon
international policy on Somalia and need to be
addressed as such.
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ONLF Inside Somali
State Of Ethiopia |
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By\ Abdulaziz Al-Mutairi
The creation of Somali State of Ethiopia coincided
with the collapse of “Somalia” during 1990’s, after
liberation of Ethiopia.
The vain theory of “Greater Somalia” was adopted in
“Somalia” by one-tribe administration in Mogadishu
led the corrupted Siyad Barre’s regime. This theory
is based on territory expansion policy, where
Ethiopia and Kenya must give up parts of their
countries that has Somali ethnic groups (5th
Region of Ethiopia & Northern Frontier District (NFD)
of Kenya).
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Highlights Of 2011
Somaliland And The Challenges Ahead |
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In
this article I will mention some of the major events
that took place in Somaliland 2011 and thereafter I
will raise some of the challenges facing Somaliland
In the light of globalization
One
of the most important event in Somaliland for the
year 2011 was the opening for a multi-party system.
A fundamental right in a democracy is the right to
form an association or party.
Somaliland Parliament passed a law in August 2011
which allows anybody to form a political party. The
decision of the parliament is an historical moment
for Somaliland democracy and an important step taken
towards full functioning democracy, and is in
accordance with Somaliland people's desire.
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The Republic Of
Somaliland And The Issue Of International
Recognition |
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By
Mohamed Hussein
While news stories from Somalia seemingly rotate between the
subjects of drought, piracy, terrorism and never
ending civil war, there is an often overlooked story
of how clans in the north of the former state of
Somalia, defied the rising tide of violence and
anarchy and built a peaceful new state known as
Somaliland.
The Republic of Somaliland declared its independence in 1991
as part of an effort by local clans to insulate
their region from the violence and anarchy that was
engulfing the Somalia following the fall of the
Siyad Barre regime. This declaration actually
represented the recreation of an independent
Somaliland which had emerged from being a British
Protectorate to enjoy a very brief period of
independence before joining in a union with Somalia.
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Somaliland Business Fair & Sports Tournament – A
Glimpse Of Economy Development |
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By Abdulaziz Al-Mutairi
Somaliland Vice President Abdirahman Ismail
inaugurated Somaliland Business Fair 2011 (www.aoaevent.com)
in Maansoor Hotel at Hargiesa - the capital of
Somaliland. The private sector in coorination with
Somaliland Business Fair Committee organized the
expo between 17th and 21st
Dec 2011.
The
fair was unique of its kind in a region crawling
with instability and civil war. It showcases the
growing private sector of Somaliland, and the
development policy of the government that encourages
the private companies. Somaliland products dominated
the event, where the imported good did not attracted
the attention of the visitors.
Read full text......
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Where Is The Somaliland Government In The Taleex
Gathering? |
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Is a deception in play or is it just indecisiveness from the
Somaliland government regarding the “Taleex” tribal
gathering?
Is it lack of courage and conviction from the government
side?
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