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Oxfam Head Picked To
Stand For Labor In Cardiff South And Penarth |
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Cardiff, Wales, July 15, 2012 – Labour has elected
the 32-year-old head of Oxfam Cym r u as its
parliamentary candidate for a by-election in a seat
it has always controlled.
Stephen Doughty was declared the candidate for
Cardiff South and Penarth after winning more than
50% of backing in the first round of a vote at the
selection meeting today.
Cardiff South and Penarth has been a Labour
stronghold since the constituency was first created
in 1983.
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By William Maclean
London, UK, July 14, 2012 – Host to the most
important U.S. and French military bases in Africa,
the tiny Red Sea state of Djibouti agrees it faces a
risk of retaliation from the Islamist militants its
Western guests hunt on forays into nearby countries.
But it argues the menace is limited.
Instead, the strategically placed country
points to what it suggests is a more significant,
long-term security consideration: the poverty,
unemployment and regional political instability it
sees as potential pathways to extremist thinking.
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By Alison Wildey
London, UK, July 14, 2012 – World 5,000 metres
champion Mo Farah underlined his credentials to
become Britain's first Olympic long-distance gold
medallist by winning his final warm-up in style at
the London Grand Prix on Friday.
Farah, who also won world silver in the 10,000 in
Daegu last year, was confronted by a wall of sound
from a bumper home crowd as he pulled away from
Australia's Collis Birmingham on the final lap to
win in 13 minutes, 6.04 seconds.
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By
Michelle Shephard
Nairobi, Kenya, July 14, 2012 — A cache of
intelligence found on the body of Al Qaeda’s African
leader, and inside the bullet-ridden Toyota truck he
tried to ram through a Somali government checkpoint,
provides a chilling look at the global aspirations
of Somalia’s al Shabaab.
Obtained exclusively by the Toronto Star, the
meticulously prepared documents that detail plots
for a kidnapping and attacks on the prestigious Eton
College, Jewish neighborhoods and the posh Ritz and
Dorchester hotels in London, were uncovered last
year when senior Al Qaeda leader Fazul Abdullah
Mohammed, 38, was shot dead by Somali forces.
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Mogadishu, Somalia, July 14, 2012 — A constituent
assembly tasked with choosing the members of
Somalia's next parliament will not convene on
schedule, due to tribal elders' concerns about the
country's draft constitution. In what appears to be
a play for more political power, the elders are
withholding the names of candidates for the new
assembly.
An 825-member National Constituent Assembly
representing a broad range of Somali political
factions was scheduled to meet Thursday in Mogadishu
to begin its work selecting members of Somalia's
parliament.
But a council of tribal elders responsible for
selecting members of the constituent assembly have
refused to release the names.
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Johannesburg, SA,
July 14, 2012 – Debbie Calitz says was raped by her
captors during her 20-month hostage ordeal in
Somalia, a report has said.
Speaking to the Daily News in Durban on Wednesday,
Calitz and her partner Bruno Pelizzari, who landed
in South Africa almost two weeks ago, relived
aspects of their capture.
Calitz said the most harrowing part was the
kidnapping. “It was like a dream,” she said.
They described how they were taken hostage after
their yacht, SY Choizil, skippered by Peter
Eldridge, was hijacked off the Kenyan coast en route
to Richards Bay from Dar es Salaam in October 2010.
Eldridge was later rescued.
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Swedish group International Aid Services reported
the kidnappings in Somalia's semi-autonomous
northern region of Puntland.
Nairobi, Kenya, July 14, 2012 – An aid group in
Somalia has reported that three of its workers were
kidnapped by armed men in the center of the country,
probably by pirates.
The website AllAfrica identified the aid workers as
two Kenyans and a Somali doctor working for the
Swedish group International Aid Services (IAS).
IAS carries out water, food, education and
sanitation projects in the vast east African
country.
Agence France-Presse cited an IAS statement in
Sweden as confirming the kidnappings but listing
those abducted as three Kenyan expatriates.
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August 2012
By Sandra I. Erwin
Security contractors continue to search for a
winning business model in the increasingly
competitive anti-piracy industry.
Within the grand scheme of global security threats,
pirates are specks of dust. But over the past
several years, successful ship hijackings have begun
to take a toll on the world’s economy as
Somalia-based pirates have expanded their area of
influence beyond the East Coast of Africa, analysts
said.
Pirate activity in the Persian Gulf area alone cost
the maritime industry between $6.6 billion and $6.9
billion last year, said Rick “Ozzie” Nelson,
director of the homeland security and
counterterrorism program at the Center for Strategic
and International Studies.
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By Konye Obaji Ori
Mogadishu, Somalia, July 14, 2012 – The African
Union (AU) has moved closer in its attempt to help
the Somali government regain control of the war torn
country following another victory over the radical
Islamist group, al-Shabaab.
Although the international community had established
a UN-backed government in Somalia, al-Shabaab has
limited the government to a few blocks in the
capital city of Mogadishu while it controlled the
majority of the Horn-of-Africa-nation.
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Boqor Bur Madow
Sentenced To One Year In Prison |
Hargeysa,
Somaliland,
July 14,
2012 (SL
Times) –
Hargeysa
regional
court
sentenced
traditional
leader,
Boqor Bur
Madow, to
one year in
prison.
In a
telephone
interview
with Haatuf
Newspaper,
the
presiding
judge for
the case,
Osman
Ibrahim
Dahir (Osman
Fanah,) said
Bur Madow
was
convicted
based on
laws 268 and
124 which
make it
illegal to
defame
political
leaders.
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Somaliland: Release Prisoner Of Conscience |
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London, UK, July 14, 2012 – Amnesty International is
calling on the Somaliland authorities to immediately
and unconditionally release elder Boqor Osman
Mohamoud Buurmadow, a prisoner of conscience.
Amnesty International is also urging the Somaliland
authorities to quash the conviction against him,
after he was sentenced on 8 July to one year’s
imprisonment after conviction for “insulting a
public official”.
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Norwegian
Delegation Arrives In Somaliland |
Hargeysa, Somaliland, July 14, 2012 (SL Times) – A
Norwegian delegation visited Somaliland this week.
According to some reports, the delegation came to
discuss with Somaliland government the possibility
of deporting some Somali asylum seekers from Norway
to Somaliland.
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Turkish
Officials Interview Scholarship Students |
Hargeysa, Somaliland, July 14, 2012 (SL Times) – The
Director General of the Ministry of Higher
Education, Mr Khadar Ahmed Diriye, announced that
they have received scholarships from Turkey. He
further explained that about 1000 students had
applied for these scholarships online and that most
of those who applied are students at Somaliland’s
universities.
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Mental Illness
Hospital Named After Dr Abdishakur Ali Jawhar |
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Borama, Somaliland, July 14, 2012 (SL Times) – The ministers of health,
information, and planning laid the corner stone for a mental illness hospital
that is being built in Borama.
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Las Anod, Somaliland, July 14, 2012 (SL Times) –
Somaliland’s Police Commissioner, Abdillahi Fadal
Iman, went on a visit to Las Anod this week.
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Cardiff, Wales, July 14, 2012 – Members of the
Somali community in Cardiff have come together for
the first time to fight extremism and tackle
under-achievement.
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, July 14, 2012 – About 120,000
people in the coastal, mid- and far western regions
of the republic of Somaliland require emergency food
assistance after four years of failed rains, says
Mohamed Mousa Awale, chairman of Somaliland's
environment research and disaster preparedness
agency.
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Djibouti, July 14, 2012 – Djiboutian President
Ismail Omar Guelleh broke ground on Wednesday (July
10th) on a road connecting Djibouti to Somaliland,
Djibouti's La Nation reported.
The 20-kilometre road will improve trade
between Somaliland and Djibouti, as well as enhance
tourism on the coast, the official paper reported.
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Cube Was Tougher Than
The Olympics Says Mo Farah |
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London, UK, July 14, 2012 – Olympics favourite Mo
Farah says there is just one thing harder than
winning gold – and that’s winning on TV’s The Cube.
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Osama Bin Laden's
'Cook' Returns To Sudan From Guantánamo |
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Khartoum, Sudan, July 14, 2012 – Osama bin Laden's
former cook and driver Ibrahim al-Qosi returned to
his native Sudan on Wednesday after more than a
decade of imprisonment at the US detention centre in
Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
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By Ahmed M.I. Egal
The British-led process to replace the current
illegitimate and intrinsically unrepresentative
structure in Somalia with another equally
illegitimate one is an affront to the best interests
and rights of the Somali people.
When I was a teenager I saw a movie with the above
title with which I fell in love. I later learned
that it was from a genre that was disparagingly
termed 'Spaghetti Western' in Hollywood since they
were made in Italy.
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The Financial Times reported on July 13 that the
Chinese National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) had
signed a deal with Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf
to explore the northern Puntland region for oil. The
initial agreement was signed in May, and it was
endorsed at the China-Africa summit held in Beijing
last November.
A meeting between CNOOC and Somali officials was
held on June 24 to finalize the deal. The terms
indicate that the Somali government would retain 51%
of the oil revenues under a production-sharing
arrangement. Further reporting from The Financial
Times, however, revealed that Somali Prime Minister
Ali Mohamed Gedi was not aware of the contract,
suggesting that the oil deal remains vulnerable to
political infighting.
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July 9, 2012: While al Shabaab is being defeated,
and much reduced in size and capabilities, there has
been no corresponding progress in forming a national
government.
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Mogadishu, Somalia, July 14, 2012—Defections from Al
Qaeda-linked militant group al Shabaab are
accelerating as Somali and African Union troops take
new territory around the capital Mogadishu,
according to officials in Somalia.
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Somaliland Should Have Its Own Proxies In The South |
With the talks
between Somaliland and Somalia expected to move to the next,
and more difficult, phase, Somaliland has to look into ways
through which it can bring pressure to bear on the TFG in
order to make it accede to Somaliland’s independence. One
way by which Somaliland can pressure the TFG is to cultivate
allies in the south. Obviously, pursuing such a course would
mean that Somaliland would be involved in the politics of
the south, but this would not be direct involvement, but
rather through allies, or by proxy. Somaliland would not be
the first country that follows such policy of involvement
through proxies in southern Somalia. In fact, this is the
script that is pursued in south Somalia by Kenya, Ethiopia,
IGAD, EU, and the US, all of whom support the group, or
groups, that they think will further their interests in the
south.
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Can The International
Community Empower Somaliland To Help Somalia? |
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By Mohamoud H Arrale
On the onset of the article, I would like to
highlight briefly, to my best recall, the melt down
of the Somalia dignity and an unprecedented events
that unfolded after the late Siyad Barre’s regime
has got ousted by the rebel forces in 27 January
1991.
The collapse of the Somali Government in 1991,
regardless of the past, was the eventual upshot of
the country’s disintegration into several, mostly
clan based, administrations with conflicting
political aspiration - the footprint of a failed
state: first Somaliland (former British
Protectorate) broke away from the rest of Somalia
(former Italian colony) – not without a reason.
Just after the late president, Mohamed. S. Barre,
was thrown out of Mogadishu, Mr Ali Mahdi took the
opportunity to grab the vacant presidential seat - a
preset operation - without being elected by the
general public or the leaders of armed rebel forces
of SNM (April 1981), USC (1989) and SPM (March 1989)
who literally forced Siyad Barre to flee and toppled
his regime after their meeting at Balliguble, the
SNM base, on Aug 7, 1990.
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Prime Ministership; Is
It A Real Option? |
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By Dr. Omar
Ibrahim Hussein
The two Presidents
continue their dialogue in Dubai after the successful mediation by the UAE and
we continue to dig their minds to see what might be in there.
Sharif:
We agreed to
continue the dialogue, but remember, I am the big Sheikh and any agreement
between me and you will be honored. As a Sheikh I should only tell the truth and
nothing but the truth. That is how I earned the trust of both the secularists
and the Islamists. Nobody wields more trust than I do in Somalia today. I say
this because confidence building is essential to any agreement. You are a
wonderful leader and I am very privileged to deal with you. To be more
forthcoming; I want to ask you, or rather put a proposition to you…I mean since
we discovered each other, and found out we are like minded, I have a firm
believe we can work together… I see we are working together now, but I want a
little more than that. How can I break the big news?
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Finishing The
Sovereignty Marathon Swiftly And Gracefully |
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By
Yusuf Dirir Ali, MD
I differ with most of the dissenting opinions on
Somaliland-Somalia dialogue. However, I entirely
agree with those who feel the selected members of
our negotiating team must have the experience and
competence to triumphantly win our sovereignty back
from Somalia.
Furthermore, we fully understand that we are
negotiating with ourselves, because we are
confidently convinced that our opponents do not have
the chance of coming up with historic, legal and
morally valid arguments against our case, but still,
this process must not be taken flippantly.
Somaliland is in cross roads and we are at the stage
of winning it now or never. In that regard, history
will never pardon us if we do not use all our cards
and become successful at this moment in time. Thus,
we must do justice to our cause and grant it the
seriousness it deserves.
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Somaliland: A Short
Briefing Paper |
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By Ahmed H
Nur
Has Somaliland A
Legal Ground For Seeking International Recognition?. Yes Or No Answer To This
Question depends On The Establishment Of A Number Of Historical And Legal Facts.
In This Discussion, I will base my discourse on Somaliland’s legal existence
prior to its independence on 26 June 1960, the short-lived Somaliland State
(died as 4 days old), the notion of Greater Somalia and the events which
precipitated it, the merger of Somaliland and Somalia in 1960 and the legality
of the union. I shall weigh Somaliland’s claim to Statehood against the
requirements for Statehood as stipulated in International laws. A necessary
prerequisite is also public support. I will discuss whether popular support for
Somaliland’s quest for recognition exists in the public.
Historical
Background:
Very little is
known about Somaliland’s history before the arrival of the European colonial
powers in the 19th. century. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica,
Somaliland was a powerful Arab Sultanate in the middle ages. These scanty
records fall short of elaborating the nature of this so-called Arab Sultanate.
Whether the Arabness pertains to Arab rulers or simply an Arabic population is
not clear. Many of Somaliland’s contemporary clans trace their paternal
ancestors to Arabs, so the existing oral traditions seem to lend some
authenticity to the history in this book and else where.
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Somaliland: Prospects
For Economic Development And Future Priorities For
Investment |
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By Adam Ismail Hassan PhD
1. INTRODUCTION
Although Somaliland is not recognized
internationally it continues to be peaceful,
relatively stable, with central administration, a
multi-party political system, elected government, an
active civil society and vibrant private sector. In
the context of a post-conflict economic base and
without international development aid, due to lack
of international recognition, consecutive
governments in Somaliland have to varying degrees
succeeded in establishing functioning
administrations, promoted peace, reconciliation and
stability, and created positive and enabling
environment for economic growth and social
development.
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