The world should not give up on Somalia

FOLLOWING news footage of dead peace-keepers being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu, the world abandoned a peace-keeping mission in Somalia in 1995. The American public opinion turned against participation in the United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM) and President Bill Clinton ordered a complete withdrawal of US troops in 1994.

Other nations such as Belgium, France and Sweden followed suit. Subsequently, talks were held to provide for a ceasefire, disarmament of militias and a conference to appoint a new government. However, the planned conference was repeatedly postponed and many faction leaders ignored the agreements. With no progress, and dwindling support from member states, UNOSOM was disbanded in March 1995. The disbanding of this mission dashed all the hopes for a possible return of a civil government to Somalia.

Somalia has since stayed without a government. For how long can this go on when the world is watching? The statement attributed to the UN Secretary General last month that the circumstances in Somalia were not favourable for UN deployment was instructive to the AU. In effect, the UN chief was telling African leaders that they must mobilise troops to from what he called the “Coalition of the Willing” and participate in the Somalia mission. Only Uganda and Burundi have deployed in Somalia; other African leaders have maintained a “wait and see approach.” The UN Security Council is expected to renew the mandate of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), which expires on 17 January.

Fortunately, the African Heads of State Summit is scheduled to take place in Addis Ababa. In my view, the agenda of the summit should largely be informed by, among other things, the deteriorating security situation in Somalia. If this does not happen, one can correctly say that Africa has learnt nothing and forgotten nothing from her history. The world cannot abandon the Somali people. If that happens, the international community should prepare to suffer the consequences of its failure to take responsibility.

Paddy Ankunda

The writer is the AU spokesman for Somalia

Source: New Vision Online

Somali man drowns in illegal crossing attempt

Police say a Somali man has drowned while illegally crossing the Limpopo river at the Beitbridge border between South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Superintendent Maggy Mathebula says police had received information that a group of Somali nationals were illegally crossing to South Africa from Zimbabwe when one of them fell in the river.Mathebula says they are waiting for eyewitnesses from Johannesburg to assist them in pointing out the spot where the man fell in, before they can start in their search. The police's dog unit and divers are on standby ready to start with the search.

Source: SABCnews.com

Guubaabo - Elmi Ahmed (Montecarlo)

waa in aan guntiga dhiisha iskaga dhignaa hadaan nahay beesha makadoor samaroon .halganku maanta ayuu bilaamay.

sida la wada ogsoon yahay madaxweyne daahir rayaale kaahin wuxuu noqday ninkii ugu horeeyey ee dimoqraadiyada barra ummadda reer soomaaliland.

hortii ma jirin nin sameeyey doorasho xalaal ah.waana casharkii ugu waynaa ee loo dhigo qabqablayaasha dagaal ee ku habsaday ummadda soomaaliyeed.

waa iin aan maanta hadaan nahay makadoor samaroon aynaan u kala hadhin sidii uu waligiis rayaale u joogi lahaa guriga madaxtooyada ee ay ragga qaarkiis u waasheen.

makadoor samaroon ha midoobo ha is raaco ha guulaysto. degaankaygu waa lawyacade ilaa agamsaha oo kala badha gabiley iyo arabsiyo ,ilaa diridhabe dhinaca kalana ilaa bulaxaar.

haddii daahir ka tego kursiga, makadoor wuxu ku dhawaaqi doonaa xukuumad ka madax banaan soomaaliland.

Siyaasada Somaliland ee Reer Awdal ayeyna noqon saddexdii nin ee u heshiisay ninka neefka adhiga ah iib keenay.

Nin fayow oo wata neef adhi ah (Wan) ayaa magaalada yimid si uu wanka u iibiyo.

Saddex nin ayaa u heshiisay waxay ku tashadeen in ninkan miskiinka ah ayka dhigaan nin waalan oo aan kala garanyn neefkan uu wataa inuu yahay "Ri" iyo inuu yahay "Wan"

isagoo kusii aadan dhinacaa iyo sayladii xoolaha ayuu ninkii kowaad ku hor yimid markaas ayey is salaameen oo ninkii neefka watay ayaa yidhi wankan ayaan iibgaynayaa oo aan rabaa inaan waxooga lacag ka helo:

markaasuu ninkii rabay inuu ninka waalo ayaa yidhi waar waxan aad wadataa waa "Ri" ee ma'aha "Wan" markaasuu iska dhaafay.

neef wate ayaa dib u eegay "Wankiisii" oo iska soocday.

ninkii labaad ee heeshiiska ku jiray inay ninka neef wate waalaan ayaa ka hor yimid sidii oo kale ayuu ugu yidhi neefkan aad wadataa ma'aha "Wan" ee waa "Ri"

neef wate oo wareeray oo kala garan la'a neefkan uu wataa inuu yahay "Ri" ama "Wan" ayaa kii saddexaad ka hor yimid. markaas ayuu neef wate waydiiyey waar waxan aan wato oo aan kala garanyn inuu "Ri" yahay iyo inuu "Wan" yahay ayaan iib gaynayaa.

markaasuu ninkii sadexaad intuu qoslay ku yidhi "waar waa Ri waxan aad wadataa"

neef wate sidii ayuu ku khal khalay oo uu kala garan waayey inuu Ri wato iyo Wan wato.

ayeynaan is wareerin. nin walowba neefka aad wadato waa neefka aad wadato ee aan isla fahano danta guud. Kaliya waxa loo baahan yahay in ninkii qaldan la' qabto oo nolol la'isku ogolaado. cadaalad iyo kala danbayn ayaan dhaqan u lahayn ayeynaan is dhabar jabin aan iskaashano.

Kuwa inaga danbeeya aan ka naxno oo wax lagu faano aan u qabano.

makadoor ha guulaysto

Elmi Ahmed (Montecarlo)
London, UK
elmi545@gmail.com

Ergo l - Markii Arimuhu Gadhaan Casaan; By Omer fahiye

Waxa wali ii socda Ergo l Hadana qofna ma oga inuu meel qaldan taaganyahay. Haduu qofku qaladkiisa garan waayo wuxu halis u yahay inuu ku dhaco qalad kale; mid kale iyo mid kaleba oo markaa qaladaadkiisu wuxuu ugu ekaadaa wax caadi ah, waxa la yidhi waxaad barataaba waa baaskaa.

Dhaqanku wuxuu lahaa calaamooyin iyo (red lines), markii arrimuhu gaadhaan casaanka:

durbaan wariyey lahayd
xeer hakiyey lahayd
halyay taliyey lahayd
bulsho hareerataagan bay lahay
dabar iyo hogaan iyo
garsoor hufan bay lahayd,

gaf kasta oo dhaca hab loo mareeyo ayay lahayd markii la tuuray rukumadii dhaqanka waxay sheekadu noqotay (DHIDARKII KU KACAY DALAB DOC KASTAAB WAA U TOOS),wax alaale wixii sax ama hagaag loo yaqaanay qalad buu noqday,wax alaale wixii qalad loo yaqaanayna sax ayuu noqday.

Sheekhnimada khamiis cad uun baad u baahantahay inaad xidhato qofka ugu horeeya eekaasoo horbaxa ma Sheekhiibaa haduu ku yidhaahdo markaa laga bilaabo Sheekh baad tahay xataa inaad malcaamad quraan gashay qofna makhusayso. Suldaanimada dukaamada lagu iibiyaa, inta sultaan suuqa taagan yaab ayaa ku dhamaanaya kuwii la yaqaanay mid kama joogo ama uu dhintay ama meel u ka cidhiidhsado ayuu waayay ama lafihiisa ayuu u xishooday.

Waxaan ogahay intii Caaqil ee mushaahara ka qaadan jirtay Ingriiskii ma dhamayn toban imikana laf hoose ayaa leh toban iyo ka badan, taasi waxay lumisay hogaankii toosnaa ee aan ku soo dhaqanay qarniyaal. waxa abuurmay khilaafka taagan yaa wax xukuma oo yaa la xukumaa? markaa waxa qoonmay kala dambayntii, cadaaladi iyo is xukunkii.

Qofka waxa lagu qiimeeyaa inta uu maalintaa qaadka ka bixin karo. noloshu way adagtahay dadkuna way isku sii eedeeyeen, oo waxay doorteen inay been ku noolaadaan, noloshii miyiga oo u ahayd dhamaystir ka magaalada, ee marka u saaka keeno neef xoola ah suuqa ama caano ee u iibiyo dilaalkuna ka helo quud maalmeedka oo isaguna reerkii u gayn jiray rashin - way xidhantay. qofka wax soo saara ee u halgamaya noloshiisa boqolaal baa darfaaha haysta oo wixii u soo dhididay fadhiga ku cunaya markaa isaguna wax fiican kasban maayo iyaga wax ma wada tari karo.

Dadku waxay waqtiga intiisa badan ku lumiyaan hadal iyo fadhi loo balamo si loo qayilo. Markii aan dhawaaan booqday dalkii oo aan muddo ka maqnaa wixii an arkay wuxu ahaa wax anaan filayn oo madaxayga rogay, waxan maqaalkayga ku soo xidhayaa maanta, talo aan dadka leehay wax badan oo la qabsan karo ayaa jira ee madaxu hashaqeeyo. waxaad ka maarmi kartaan boqol dollar oo dibedda laga soo diro ee talo is weydiiya, fadhiga badan dhaqdhaqaaq ku beddela, khilaafkana isla shaqayn wax tarleh ku bedela.

Borama waxa yaalaa meel walba wuu yaalaa ee ka baadigooba, nolosha miyigu waa laf dhabar lagag maarmi karo duliga magaalada ee ha u daymala`anina, qofku nolosha isagaa samaysta ee wax ka sugidda dawladdu waa waqti lumis ee isku tashada, dawladdu iyadaa dadka u baahan ee ula macaamila sida ay tahay.

Omer Fahiye
omerfahiyeh3@gmail.com

Mogadishu landmine blast kills Somali official

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A landmine blast killed Mogadishu mayor's spokesman on Saturday in the latest attack by Islamist rebels on government authorities in the anarchic capital, officials said.

"Mohamed Muhuyidin Ali was standing on the sidewalk waiting for his car and then all of a sudden a huge landmine blast occurred," Abas Mohamed Nur, the spokesman's deputy, told Reuters by telephone.

"He was wounded by shrapnel and he was rushed to a hospital, where he died," he added.

Several local officials of Somalia's transitional government have been killed by Islamist-led rebels since the beginning of this year.
Somalia has been mired in lawlessness since warlords ousted dictator Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991. The transitional government is the country's 14th attempt at restoring central government since then.

Source: Reuters

Somali town captured by Islamist fighters

Mogadishu - Islamist militia on Friday took control of a town in south-central Somalia after Ethiopian soldiers withdrew overnight, witnesses said.

The Islamists, who briefly controlled much of south and central Somalia before they were ousted by Ethiopia-backed Somali government troops early this year, have since been waging near daily attacks against the joint forces.

"The Ethiopian forces withdrew from the town overnight and now I can see the former Islamic courts fighters," said Mohamed Haji Elmi, a local elder.The Islamists took over Guriel, 300km north of the capital Mogadishu, which they had previously controlled.Somalia has been plagued by 16 years of violence that has defied numerous bids to restore stability.

Source: IOL

The Fall of Mogadishu – A Black Day in Somali History

The sudden and apparently unexpected capture of Mogadishu by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) forces has angered every Somali who has a sense of dignity.

On the other hand, the fall of Mogadishu brought a sense of relaxation only to Somalia warlords (or shall we say: Somali traitors) and they supporters who betrayed their nation.

The fall of Mogadishu marks a black day in Somali history. Somalia would be hollow and worthless without Mogadishu which is the heart of the nation. Mogadishu is where every Somali feels that he or she is superior to anyone. It is the city that refused to accept the tribal allegiance and labeled itself as the loving home for every Somali. History tells us that Mogadishu is an accommodating city should its inhabitants behave as city-dwellers not as mooryaan.

Read More by Biddho.com

Portland Rally Held To Protest Genocide In Somalia

PORTLAND (NEWS CENTER) -- Members of Maine's Somali community got together for a rally in Portland Friday. The group held a demonstration against the Ethiopian sponsored genocide in Mogadishu and Ogaden.

It was one year ago Friday that Ethiopian troops illegally invaded Somalia. Those troops are still there. Organizers of the rally they wanted to express their sadness about what is happeneing to their families back home.A few dozen people took part in the demonstration.

NEWS CENTER

Imperialist hypocrisy and Ethiopian crimes in Ogaden

By: Crystal Kim
There is nothing humanitarian about imperialism
Democrat and Republican politicians continue to claim that there is “genocide” in the Darfur region of Sudan. They claim that U.S. military intervention in Sudan is a “humanitarian” necessity, not part of an imperialist agenda to secure access to raw materials and markets in the oil-rich region. Is this true?


A look at the humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia’s Somali region of Ogaden unveils the true imperialist motives behind U.S. intervention in Sudan and Africa in general.

Although virtually unmentioned in the bourgeois media, people in the Ogaden region are suffering from a violent counter-insurgency war and severe humanitarian crisis at the hands of the pro-imperialist, puppet regime of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
The roots of the current crisis in Ogaden date back to imperialist land grabbing in the late 19th and 20th century. During this period, Ogaden was incorporated into, partitioned from and then re-incorporated into Ethiopia by European colonists.
While Ethiopian authorities control Ogaden, the region is populated almost entirely by ethnic Somali pastoralists who speak a different language and have a different culture than highland Ethiopians. The Ogadeni people feel culturally and socially closer to their kin in Somalia and northern Kenya. Trade with Somalia is much greater than trade with Ethiopia. According to the BBC, the Somali shilling is the main currency in some areas in the region.
Due to discrimination and economic hardships that the people in Ogaden suffer at the hands of the Ethiopian government, an independence movement began to flourish. The Ogaden National Liberation Front leads this movement.
While historically ignored and neglected by the Ethiopian government, the Zenawi regime is now waging a violent and relentless war in Ogaden to silence the independence movement. This began after Zenawi realized that the region may be sitting above valuable oil deposits.
Humanitarian crisis
In June 2007, Ethiopian authorities imposed a trade blockade on large parts of the region, preventing commercial traffic and emergency food aid from entering. The blockade, coupled with droughts over the past two years, has created a severe food crisis in Ogaden. Thousands of residents have fled to survive. Many people have been reduced to eating grass.
A survey conducted by Save the Children U.K. reported that 21 percent of children in Ogaden are acutely malnourished, compared to 19 percent in parts of Somalia and 13 percent in Darfur. The United Nations considers 15 percent the emergency threshold.
Yet, Nur Abdi Mohammed, a spokesman for the Zenawi government, claims, “There is no food aid problem. There is no malnutrition problem.”
The Ethiopian government also is forcefully conscripting untrained civilians to fight in Ogaden. Anybody who works for the government—including doctors, teachers, office clerks and employees of programs financed by the World Bank and United Nations—is in danger of conscription. Many government workers have fled to neighboring countries.
There are accounts of soldiers barging into hospitals and threatening to jail health workers unless they comply with conscription. There are also accounts of firing, jailing and torturing people who refuse. The civilians are sent to fight in Ogaden with little or no training. Some have even had to buy their own rifles. (New York Times, Dec. 14, 2007)
A Human Rights Watch report documented dozens human rights violations by Ethiopian troops, including gang rapes, burning villages, confiscating livestock and forcing civilian relocations. The report also documents “demonstration killings,” such as public hangings and beheadings, meant to terrorize the people of Ogaden.
In response, government spokesman Mohammed said, “There is not a single soldier who is abusing human rights.”

Darfur vs. Ogaden: the hypocrisy of imperialism

Why is there no “Save Ogaden” movement propped up by the U.S. government? Why aren’t U.S. politicians calling for military intervention in Ethiopia?

The disparity in response between Darfur and Ogaden is due to the fact that Darfur is being used as a pretext to control oil-rich Sudan. Sudan is led by a government resisting imperialism. It has denounced the U.S. occupation of Iraq, championed the cause of the Palestinian people and strengthened economic ties to China. The U.S. government could not care less about the actual humanitarian crisis facing the Sudanese people.

Ethiopia’s Zenawi is the U.S. government’s top ally in the Horn of Africa. He and his followers—armed and funded by U.S. imperialism and African client states—overthrew the communist-inspired Derg government in 1991.

As the U.S. government’s main stooge in this geopolitically critical area, the Zenawi government has been doing the bidding of U.S. imperialism. The U.S. government funds Zenawi’s brutal regime to the tune of $500 million each year.

In December 2006, Zenawi oversaw the invasion of Somalia by the Ethiopian military. It was a proxy invasion initiated, directed and funded by the United States to displace a popular and potentially anti-imperialist government in formation. Thousands of Ethiopian troops still occupy Somalia.

When it comes to Ogaden, since the U.S. government already exercises control over Ethiopia, there is no need to feign concern about the humanitarian crisis in the region. In fact, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice stated on Ethiopian television that the Bush administration was against a bill that would restrict U.S. military assistance to Ethiopia until it improved its human rights record.

If Ogaden turns out to be sitting on top of valuable oil deposits, it is in the interests of U.S. imperialism for the independence movement in the region to be crushed and for Ogaden to remain under Zenawi’s control.

The differential response by the U.S. government to Darfur versus Ogaden reveals the hypocrisy of U.S. imperialism. This hypocrisy allows the U.S. government to preach about “genocide” in Darfur, but then but look away when Zenawi’s government intentionally starves and pillages people in Ogaden.

It is this same hypocrisy that demonizes Robert Mugabe as a dictator for working to free Zimbabwe from the iron grip of imperialism, but turns a blind eye when the Zenawi government kills hundreds of anti-government protesters, as it did in 2005. There are endless examples of such hypocrisy.

Hypocrisy is an inherent element of U.S. imperialism because imperialism is motivated by the unfettered flow of U.S. capital, not solidarity and cooperation.

In Africa, there are humanitarian crises across the continent due to imperialist interventions and severe economic underdevelopment. Centuries of colonialism and neo-colonial rule have taken their toll on Africa’s oppressed people. U.S. imperialism and the bourgeois media shine a light on select issues to facilitate the continued neo-colonial subjugation of the African continent.
Revolutionaries and progressive people should not be fooled when U.S. politicians talk about people’s needs in Africa.

Source: PSL

Iran, Djibouti discuss relations

Iran's first vice-president has held talks with the Djiboutian president on bilateral ties on the final leg of his African tour.

"Iran and Djibouti can boost ties by taking advantage of available resources," Parviz Davoudi said in a meeting with President Ismail Omar Guelleh. The Iranian official also called for improving regional and bilateral cooperation while he conferred with the country's Prime Minister Dileita Mohamed Dileita.

Davoudi left Tripoli in Libya and landed in the capital city Djibouti late Thursday.

Source: HRF/JC/PA - Irna

Iran ready to implement economic projects in Djibouti - Davoudi

Iran-Djibouti-Davoudi Iran's First Vice-President Parviz Davoudi said here Friday that Iran is ready to contribute to implementation of different economic projects in Djibouti.
Davoudi told Djiboutian Prime Minister Delita Mohammed Delita that Iran is capable of commissioning projects in Africa, in Djibouti in particular, regarding its rich experience in the fields of petrochemical, dam building, housing, refinery and power plant construction in Central Asia, South Africa, the Middle East and other African states.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Davoudi underscored Iran's right for access to peaceful nuclear energy.

"Release of a report by 16 US intelligence institutions made it clear that Iran has had no diversion in its nuclear activities and they are peaceful in nature. The acknowledgement to righteousness of Iran, negates any possibility for referral of Iran's case to the UN Security Council from the International Atomic Energy Agency." He thanked Djibouti for defending Iran at the international communities on Tehran's peaceful nuclear projects and for human rights issue.

Delita for his part, defending Iran's stance for access to peaceful nuclear energy, said his country will always stand beside Iranian government and nation.

"Close viewpoints by the two countries can help further upgrade mutual relations," said Delita, urging Iran to contribute to his country's economic projects.

Source: Irna

ETHIOPIA: Meles Zenawi’s TPLF’s 30 Year History of Lawlessness and Terror

Sophia Tesfamariam
December 28, 2007

At a time when Eritreans around the world are standing firm, reaffirming their unity and support for the people and government of Eritrea, the mercenary minority regime in Ethiopia led by the life long terrorist Meles Zenawi has launched another campaign of vilification and defamation against Eritrea.

In cities across the United States, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Australia, Eritreans living in the Diaspora are conducting “Hizbawi Mekete” meetings to reject Meles Zenawi’s vicious and malicious campaigns against the State of Eritrea and its people. While Jendayi E. Frazer sends her surrogates James Swan, Deputy Secretary of State for African Affairs, and James Knight, Office for East Africa, Bureau of African Affairs to US Educational institutions to poison the minds of Americans, Meles Zenawi’s hired mercenaries have been busy churning out anti Eritrea diversionary reports through various Internet sites to misinform, confuse and deceive the readers.

It is a futile attempt to cover up the regime’s international crimes in Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea. The regime and its backers are trying to cover up its carnage and destruction in Somalia. Not only is it militarily occupying and destroying Somalia, killing and maiming innocent civilians, raping and terrorizing defenseless women and children, and destroying vital infrastructures, in violation of international law, the minority regime in also occupying sovereign Eritrean territories after rejecting the Final and Binding decision of the Eritrea Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC). It has also rejected the Final and Binding demarcation decision of the EEBC calling it “legal nonsense”. In addition to committing genocides in Ethiopia, it is threatening to destabilize the region as it prepares to launch another ill-advised war against Eritrea, with the tacit approval of the US Administration and its allies.

It was a year ago on Christmas Eve 2006 that the minority regime in Ethiopia launched its US backed war of invasion and occupation of Somalia. In violation of international law and the African Union and UN Charters, backed by the US Administration, using the pretext “searching for extremists”, “fighting terrorists”, etc. has destroyed vital infrastructure, tortured and raped defenseless Somali women and children, caused the displacement of over a million from Mogadishu and terrorized the people of Somalia, pulverized their villages, farms and homes with its indiscriminant air raids and bombs.

The US State Department and its officials such as Jendayi E. Frazer and her surrogates such as Vicki Huddleston, James Swan, and James Knight continue to shield the regime from international and Security Council condemnation as it destabilizes the entire Horn region and creates havoc in the lives of millions. The carnage in Somalia and Ethiopia is not going to receive coverage from the US media, as they were instructed by Jendayi E. Frazier to downplay the regime’s crimes, but others have reported on it. As leader of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), Meles Zenawi is not only a terrorist himself, but also leads the terrorist mercenary regime in Ethiopia which is considered the US’ "staunch ally in the global war on terror". Allow me to present Meles Zenawi’s 30 years long documented history of genocide, terror and destruction in the region.

On 8 December 2007 the Guardian reported the following:

“…UN officials insist that reports of indiscriminate shelling and heavy-handed house-to-house raids are credible…”Ethiopia has a functioning government that should be accountable," said a senior UN official responsible for Somalia, who cannot be named for fear of compromising his agency's work. "We tried talking to Ethiopia, even at ambassador level, but we get nowhere. It seems that they, like the other parties, can get away with anything in this dirty war.” Besides the blocks on medical access, Unicef said that both government-allied militias and insurgents were recruiting children to fight. It also noted an unprecedented amount of sexual violence against women, particularly at checkpoints…”

The Independent reported the following on 3 December 2007
“…Ethiopia's government has responded with a brutal counter-insurgency operation which has paralysed trade and forced thousands to flee their homes.

Refugees who have fled the Ogaden to Somalia told The Independent in October that Ethiopian soldiers are burning villages, raping women and killing civilians as part of a systematic campaign to drive them from their homes…dozens of villages had been destroyed and accused the Ethiopian government of forcibly starving its own people by preventing food convoys reaching villages and destroying crops and livestock.

19 November 2007 BBC Report “Ethiopia 'bombs' Ogaden villages”

“…days of air attacks on civilians have caused many casualties…Helicopter gunships have been used to attack villages in the remote area…Aid workers say an estimated 1,500 Ogaden refugees crossed into Kenya to escape renewed fighting last month…Ogadenis fleeing into northern Kenya have given harrowing description of government assaults on their villages…More than 500 families reached different parts of Kenya's massive Dadaab camps in October - many gave similar accounts of a sustained campaign of rape and brutality, with men hanged from trees…the Ogadenis claimed Ethiopian soldiers had been entering villages over and over again to kill, rape and burn in a campaign to flush out ONLF rebels…”
20 November 2007 New York Times Report “Separatist Rebels Accuse Ethiopia’s Military of Killing Civilians in Remote Region”

“…Separatist rebels fighting in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia accused the government on Monday of strafing nomads in recent days at a watering hole with helicopter gunships, killing up to a dozen civilians…A Western diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak for attribution, said the government had recently moved several attack helicopters to the Ogaden, a desolate corner of eastern Ethiopia…“Unfortunately, these reports are credible,” the diplomat said. “But whether the government is using the gunships to track down rebels or for reprisals against villages, we don’t know…”

19 November 2007 Reuters article “Ethiopia's Ogaden refugees recount horrors of conflict” reported:

"…The last time they attacked the village, they collected many men and took them away," he said, pausing in the early afternoon heat of a refugee camp in north-east Kenya…"Some guys were hung on trees, nooses round their necks until they died ... I saw it."…Similar harrowing testimony -- dismissed as rebel propaganda by the Ethiopian government -- was repeated by various Ogaden refugees who have trickled recently into different parts of Kenya's massive Dadaab camps, home to 170,000 refugees…Ethiopian soldiers had been entering villages over-and-over again to kill, rape and burn in a campaign to flush out rebels of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF)…“My village was attacked more than 10 times. There is a great genocide going on. Why does the international community not intervene?"… The effect of the Ogaden crisis is being felt in neighboring Kenya, where more Ogadenis than usual have been trickling into the three Dadaab camps…”

CNN headline story “Ethiopians say soldiers killing villagers 'like goats'” reported the following on 29 November 2007:

“…In the desert stretches of eastern Ethiopia, locals accuse soldiers fighting an insurgency of burning villages to the ground, committing gang rape and killing people “like goats.”
In its 18 October 2006 article “193 Protesters Said Killed in Ethiopia” , the Washington Post reported:

“…Ethiopian security forces fatally shot, beat or strangled 193 people protesting election fraud last year, triple the official death toll…This was a massacre…These demonstrators were unarmed yet the majority died from shots to the head…More than 750 people were injured…It is time the EU and U.S. realize that the current regime in Ethiopia is repressing the people because it lacks democratic legitimacy and is actually weak…It is driving Ethiopia to more poverty, conflict and war…”

Genocide Watch and Survivors’ Rights International in their 2004 report said:

“…At least 1500 and probably as many as 2500 Anuak civilians have died…Hundreds of people remain unaccounted for and many are believed to have been “disappeared” (murdered) by government forces…Poor rural villages, where Anuaks and other ethnic minorities live on the margins of subsistence, have been attacked, looted, and burned. EPRDF soldiers have burned thousands of Anuak homes… Anuak women and girls are routinely raped, gang-raped and kept as sexual slaves. Girls have been shot for resisting rape, and summary executions of girls held captive for prolonged periods, as sexual slaves have been reported. In the absence of Anuak men—killed, jailed or driven into exile—Anuak women and girls have been subject to sexual atrocities from which there is neither protection nor recourse…”

A renowned Human Rights activist in Ethiopia reporting on the Thanksgiving Day massacres in the Gambela region is quoted on Reuters on 13 January 2003 saying:

"What happened in Gambella verges on genocide as a result of the ethnic policy adopted by the EPDRF government…EPRDF's preference for ruling through an ethnic-based federation… dominated by the minority ethnic Tigrayans… the federal structure in effect divides and rules larger ethnic groups such as the Oromos and Amharas and bars non-members of the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front”

On 10 March 10 2004, Insight writer John Powers reported as follows:

“…uniformed soldiers of the Ethiopian government attacked a remote town in the western part of the country on Dec. 13, 2003, and killed more than 400 members of the Anuak tribe…”
Doug McGill in a 16 May 2004 article, “Ethiopia's Genocide of the Anuak Tribe Broadens to Women, Children, Villages” wrote:

“…A genocide in western Ethiopia that began last December with a massacre of more than 400 Anuak tribe members has broadened into widespread attacks by Ethiopian military troops against more than a dozen Anuak villages in the western Ethiopian province of Gambella, according to Anuak refugees and humanitarian aid groups. Scorched-earth raids carried out from January through April have destroyed a dozen Anuak villages in Gambella, refugees said. The raids have driven more than 10,000 Anuak into refugee camps in neighboring Sudan and Kenya…”

The “Looqe bloodshed” of 24 May 2002 started when elders and students from colleges and high schools holding tree leaves marched towards the city. Meles Zenawi’s forces in mechanized brigades opened fire using heavy machine guns on the peaceful protesters. Over a hundred innocent people were killed including a ten-year-old boy. Hundreds of innocent civilians were targeted for harassment and imprisonment.

BBC reported on 16 July 2002:

“…At least 100 people were killed and their villages razed to ground on the orders of the local authorities in Yeki…EU sources say that the head of the local police spoke of 128 fatalities. The opposition claim that between 500 and 1,000 died…the report also says local people spoke of a mass grave in which hundreds of people were buried…”

In December 2002 Press Release the Oromia Support Group (OSG) reported the following killings by Meles Zenawi’s TPLF forces:

“…Wonchif newspaper, Addis Ababa, reported on 12 November 2002 that, on 5 November 2002, in Fentale district, E. Showa, government soldiers who had been harassing famine victims in the area, shot dead eleven Oromo women, of the Itu tribe. Quoting from Sagalee Bilsummaa Oromoo [Radio Free Oromia] the paper reported that government soldiers were also to blame for the recent deaths of 32 women who were returning from market in the Afar Region, northeastern Ethiopia…The Union of Oromo Students in Europe (UOSE), Germany Branch, reported, on 3 December, three deaths and one survivor from a paralytic illness which struck its victims shortly after their release from detention. UOSE suggests the illness and deaths were due to injections received by each of the men, just before their release. The injections were said to be for malaria prophylaxis…”

In its 2003 report covering January-December 2002, Amnesty International (AI) reported the following:

“…Police shot dead over 230 people and detained several hundred more in Oromia and the southern region in connection with demonstrations, mostly peaceful. Many human rights violations including torture, rape and extrajudicial execution were reported, particularly in conflict zones in the Oromia and Somali regions… On 10 March in Teppi town in the southwest, police shot dead up to 200 demonstrators of the Shekicho and Mezenger ethnic groups, who were protesting against administrative boundary changes. Over 300 were detained…”
In April 2001, Ethiopian security forces raided Addis Ababa University (AAU) to quell student protests. During the raid, police fired live ammunition at hundreds of student and teachers, killing 41 students and arresting hundreds. The students were protesting several university policies that limit academic freedom in Ethiopian universities, including a ban on student unions and student government. Ethiopia is reported to be the only country in sub-Saharan Africa in which the government has set up a police station on campus for the purpose of controlling dissenting students and professors.

AAU students went on strike demanding academic freedom, including the rights to organize a student union and publish a student newspaper and the removal of armed police from campus. High school, college, and university students around the country demonstrated in solidarity, and TPLF forces responded to these demonstrations with brute force.

In its 37th Special Report, “Stop the Repeated Violation of the Rights of Students” of 23 January 2001, the Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO) reported the following:

“…At Awassa Teachers College, a large number of armed soldiers were made to intervene forcefully, supposedly to resolve the misunderstanding between students and administrators of the College. This resulted in the loss of life, in many students sustaining heavy and light bodily injuries, in the disruption of the learning-teaching process, in the detention of both students and residents of the town, and in the destruction of property…”

The Oromia Support Group (OSG) reported in November 2000 that 2,592 extra-judicial killings and 838 disappearances of civilians suspected of supporting groups opposing the government were recorded. Most of these have been Oromo people and that thousands of civilians were imprisoned. Torture and rape of prisoners was commonplace-today OSG reports that there have been 3,981 extra-judicial killings and 943 disappearances of civilians suspected of supporting groups opposing the minority TPLF regime led by Meles Zenawi
In May 2000, the minority regime launched the third of its offensives against Eritrea. As it is doing in Somalia today, the regime’s forces destroyed vital infrastructures, burnt schools and clinics, raped and tortured civilians and more. The Eritrea Ethiopia Claims Commission gave an account of the minority regime’s crimes during its occupation of one of Eritrea’s sovereign territories during the 1998-2000 border conflict.

“…Ethiopian troops looted large stocks of sugar that had been stored there and stole flour from at least one bakery. In comparison, during the second occupation, looting and burning of homes and shops were widespread, and a commercial bank, hospital and two grain warehouses were also looted and burned. This evidence also indicates that both Ethiopian soldiers and civilians were involved in the looting and that much of the looted property was taken to Ethiopia by truck. There was also clear and convincing evidence, not just in the form of witness declarations but also in international organization and press reports, of wholesale theft and destruction of domestic animals by Ethiopian troops as they withdrew from Teseney and other locations. The Commission was struck by the extensive evidence of this gratuitous, and patently unlawful, slaughter and burning of the goats, sheep, donkeys and cattle so critical to the survival of rural civilians…”

On 19 June 2000 Carol Pineau, a CNN correspondent reported the following in an interview :
“…Barantu, a major town in southwestern Eritrea, was completely looted after Ethiopia's brief two-week occupation. Further west, houses, factories and grain reserves were burned to the ground…”

Meles Zenawi’s forces who are today committing international crimes in Somalia also committed horrendous crimes against women and children in Eritrea during the 1998-2000 war and the Eritrea Ethiopia Claims Commission noted the following:

“…The Commission is satisfied that there is clear and convincing evidence of several incidents of rape of Eritrean civilian women by Ethiopian soldiers in Barentu and Teseney, which evidence has gone unrebutted by Ethiopia…”

The minority regime in Ethiopia has massacred thousands of individuals since it usurped power in 1991. Some notable individuals murdered by the regime’s forces include the murder on 7 June 1998 of Tesfaye Tadesse a human rights activist, newspaper editor, and lawyer Tesfaye Tadesse, who was hacked to death by Meles Zenawi’s forces outside of his home. On 8 May 1997 the minority regime also murdered Assefa Maru, the acting president of Ethiopian Teachers’ Association (ETA) and member of the Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO). Professor Asrat Woldeyes, a veteran surgeon, former dean of Faculty of Medicine at the Addis Ababa University (AAU), and president of All Amhara Peoples Organization (AAPO) was imprisoned on fabricated charges and died shortly after his release.

Gebre Igzibaher, the leader of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party (EPRP) was killed in Addis Ababa and the whereabouts of other EPRP members Ms. Aberash Berta, Lemma Hailu, Tesfaye Kebed, Tsegaye Gebre Medhin, Yishak Debretsion, Sitotaw Hussein, Amha Belete, Teklai Gebre Sellasie, Hagos Bezabih, Azanaw Demile and thousands more remain unknown. The TPLF regime’s reign of terror did not begin in 1991 when it usurped power in Ethiopia; its terrorist acts began much earlier. Here is a short list of its terrorist acts as recorded by the Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism (MIPT) , a non-profit organization
dedicated to preventing terrorism on U.S. soil or mitigating its effects. Here are the facts about Meles Zenawi’s terrorist TPLF regime:

TPLF attacked NGO target (Feb. 17, 1988, Ethiopia)- Members of the Tigray People's Liberation Front abducted six European aid workers in Asmara. The victims were three Irish nuns, two Belgian doctors and a Dutch nurse. All were released a week later
·TPLF attacked NGO target (Oct. 1, 1987, Ethiopia)- Sophie Bedon, a French nurse, was kidnapped by Tigrean rebels, possibly Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF). The woman was taken hostage after an attack on an Ethiopian garrison in Rama. In the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, she was handed over to the French embassy after being held for over three weeks.
·TPLF attacked NGO target (Mar. 8, 1986, Ethiopia)- Two employees of the American relief agency World Vision were shot to death in the dining room of their residence compound in the northern town of Alamata. The victims were both Ethiopian nationals. According to western diplomatic sources, the attack marked the beginning of a new guerrilla offensive by the Tigre People's Liberation Front, a well-armed, highly disciplined rebel army that has been fighting for more than a decade in northern Ethiopia against the Addis Ababa government.

·TPLF attacked Airports & Airlines target (Mar. 2, 1985, Ethiopia)- Rebels seized a French disaster-relief aircraft, its five-crew members and four medical staff members in the northern town of Lalibela. The plane had been flying supplies for Ethiopian villagers as part of the international effort to relieve the disastrous drought and famine. The TPLF, a regional autonomy group active against the central government, was suspected. The hostages were freed a few days later.

·TPLF attacks tourists (Oct. 17, 1984, Ethiopia)- Secessionist Ethiopian guerrillas seized ten foreigners, including two American tourists, when they overran Lalibela. The foreigners do not appear in any immediate danger from the Tigray People's Liberation Front, however, there is concern that the Ethiopian military will attempt to recapture the town, thus jeopardizing the hostages. The captured include two Britons, an Australian, a Finn, three West German medics and a Swiss International Red Cross representative. An American tourist couple, a British national and a Swiss citizen were freed on October 30.

·TPLF attacked Journalists & Media target (June 1, 1976, Ethiopia)- The TPLF captured Jon Swain, British correspondent for the Sunday Times of London, in mid-June near Axum. He was released in Khartoum on September 5, 1976. It was not known what negotiations, if any, led to his release.

·TPLF attacked NGO target (Apr. 22, 1983, Ethiopia)- TPLF guerrillas kidnapped 10 foreign relief workers, including an American, apparently to win publicity for drought victims, diplomats in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, disclosed. They said the Tigre People’s Liberation Front at Korem took the foreigners, seven of them women, in a raid. The hostages included four Britons, an Indian, two Irish nurses, an American priest and nuns from Italy and Ethiopia. On June 9 the ten foreign relief workers were set free in Khartoum, the Sudan. The guerrillas said the relief workers were not "captives" but "guests invited to view conditions of their province.”

·TPLF attacked NGO target (Aug. 3, 1983, Ethiopia)- Guerrillas kidnapped ten Swiss citizens working for an aid organization. Four women and six men were seized near Jari where the aid group Terre des Hommes (Land of Man) operates a village for orphans. The only demand by the Tigray People's Liberation Front was to have someone from the organization pick up the 10 captives. He said the motive apparently was publicity for the liberation movement.

·TPLF attacked NGO target (Feb. 17, 1988, Ethiopia)-Members of the Tigray People's Liberation Front abducted six European aid workers in Asmara. The victims were three Irish nuns, two Belgian doctors and a Dutch nurse. All were released a week later

·TPLF attacked Private Citizens & Property target (May 1, 1976, Ethiopia)
The Tigray People’s Liberation Front kidnapped a British veterinarian, Dr. Lindsey Tyler, his wife and two children in Ethiopia’s Tigray Province. They were released on 5 January 1977 in Port Sudan, Sudan.

No amount of white washing, cover up or diversionary articles and statements will cover up Meles Zenawi’s genocidal and terrorist record.

The Rule of law must prevail over the law of the jungle!

Source: American Chronicle

Xaalkeennu Waa CAADDA.

“Dhacdadii u dambeysay markii askar beeleedkii shaadh ka S/land sidatey iyo beelihii dhulbalaadhsigii la jabiyey in Hargeysa laga soo direy ciidamo. Kuwaas oo loo qaatey ciidamo dhexdhaxaad ah laakiin si kidis ah ragbadan nooga laayey, Waana godob aan u hayno mamulka S/land gaar ahaan ina Rayaale. Waxaanan balanqaadeynaa cidkasta oo na dulmida in aan wakhtigeeda la sugayno in aan la'xisabtano”.

War murtiyeedkaasi wuxu kasoo baxay beesha Bahabar Muuse (Samarroon); oo ka mid ah beelaha ugu miisaanka weyn Samaroon oo ka hadlayay xaalada Degaanka Caadda ee Gabiley. Bahabar Muuse, waa Beel xaddaarad qadiimi ah ku fadhida, lehna dulqaad aad u weyn oo an marnaba ku horreynin daandaansiga. Waana beel hadii dul qaadkaas laga far marooojiyo oo la daandaansado, la hubo inay naftooda hurayaan, sida Libaaxdana u dagaalammi doonaan (Allaha sahlo Libaax seexday, niman salaaxeene). Isla markaana la hubo inay heli doonaan taageerada Beelaha Samaroon oo dhan.

Hadaba guurtida u xilka Qaran ka saaran yahay xasiloonida Somaliland, si loo kala badbaadiyo dagaal weyne dhex mara Samarroon iyo Isaaq, oo keeni doona dhammaanshaha Somaliland . Waxay ila tahay in sida ugu dhakhso badan loogu soo celiyo beesha Bahabar Muuse, xaqooda ka maqan, ee marna shaadh dawladeed loogu soo qaadanayo, marna shaadh shicib loogu soo qaadanayo. Raga laga laayayna, cidii laysay halla soo taago sharciga oo amma halla dilo ama deg-deg ha loo bixiyo magtooda iyo xaalkooda, oo toban laab ah.

Madaxweyne Daahirna waxan odhan lahaa SHAME ON YOU: Bahabar celi ayaad ciidan Ciisa ah ku dul haysaa dhulkoodiina laga sii durkinayaa, oo ceelashii iyo beerihii adeeraday ayaad ku haysaa cidhiidhi. Bahabar Muusana waxad ku dul haysaa ciidan Jibriil Abokor ah oo maalin walba xaalkoodu kusii socda xaalada Falastiin. Awdal oo dhan ayaa noqon doonta Falastiin, haddii ad sidaas wax ka badali weydana, taariikhda Awdal, meel xun iyo baal mugdi ah ayaad ka gali doontaa. Lagama yaabo inaad maanta noo baahantahay, waxanse kuugu bishaaraynayaa inaad noo baahandoonto, kuna danbayn doonto sida odaygii yidhi: “maantoo an talo hayo, tamar ma hayo, maalintaan tamarta hayayna, talo ma haynin.

Haddal iyo dhammaan; gudida xidhiidhka ee Beesha Bahabar Muuse, baaqooda waxay ku soo gaba-gabeeyeen sidan: "Haddaba dhamaan Golayaasha iyo muwaadiniinta jecel nabadda iyo cadaalada waxaan ugu baaqaynaa in ay arrinta CAADDA wax ka qabtaan intay goori goortahay.Waxaanan caddeynaynaa haddi xalkale oo caddaalada la waayo in aan dhulkayaga udhimanayno annagoo mabsuuda". Xaqiiq waa ay u dhiman doonaan dhulkooda iyagoo mabsuuda ah waana ka dhab, waana Bahabar Muuse.

Sidaa daraadeed ballanteena iyo Xaalkeenu Waa CAADDA.


Cabdiqani Yuusuf Caateeye


HiilDan

hiildan@yahoo.com

Somalia: One Year after TPLF Invasion - Part IV

The second half of the year 2006 was a time when certain powers, nervous about the new political developments in Somalia aimed at national reconstitution and unity, were gearing up to squash these developments before they had a chance to take root. It is to be recalled that the Government of Eritrea, in the interest of the Somali people and regional stability, had repeatedly cautioned the international community not to take any measures that could have grave consequences on the peace and stability of Somalia.

The Eritrean government had also called for the international community's role to be limited to giving relevant encouragement to the Somalis while they settle their differences on their own. However, the ignoble concerns of world powers had no room for such constructive problem-solving methods.

While fully aware that the solution to the Somali problem could only come from internal political process, the US Administration decided to launch a military intervention by recruiting regional forces so as to disrupt the promising developments in that country, either because they did not come from the warlords making up the interim government or simply because the evelopments did not sit well with the Administration. Consequently, the TPLF regime was the primary agent selected for this endeavor.

Clinging to power by cheating the people's choice, the TPLF regime was desperate for any external distraction that would deflect the people's attention from their domestic affairs, and hence was more than ready to slip into the role assigned to it by Washington. The new developments in Somalia came as a blessing in disguise for the clique with the help of which it could not only find refuge from the Ethiopian people's question, but also prove its loyalty to its masters. Unfortunately for the TPLF, wars do not prolong life—they can only shorten it.

Selected for the role of mercenary due to the above reasons, the TPLF regime did not think twice about invading a sovereign neighboring nation under the pretext of protecting the unpopular interim government, which had by then been limited to Baidoa only. Shortly before the invasion, the clique's leader had declared that: “so long as the Somalis do not trespass over the Ethiopian border, we have no reason to interfere in that country. These new developments have not caused us any undue concern and, as long as they do not undermine our sovereignty, we will not undermine theirs.”

Yet, after receiving different instructions from their masters, this leader backed out on his word and was forced to admit that they “have sent not more than a few hundred soldiers into Somalia so that the interim government could protect itself.” After the necessary preparations were made for the invasion, the clique declared war on Somalia through its superfluous parliament. In a briefing he gave shortly after this declaration, the Prime Minister of the clique had boasted that the war will only take a week. However, the war in Somalia did not finish in a week.

It is in recent memory that the clique's leader had also told the said parliament that the Ethiopian troops will accomplish their mission and withdraw from Somalia in a matter of weeks.
Yet, the TPLF regime was unable to accomplish its objectives as the weeks turned into months and now into a full year. Just as the Eritrean government had predicted before hand, the situation in Somalia has become a second Iraq to the TPLF and its masters.

Now, after it has become clear to all that the war in Somalia has no end, the US Administration, sthe UN and the international community, as a whole, are being forced to admit that their approach towards the Somali issue was indeed wrong. They have even come to realize that the only solution to the problem is a political process that ensures the participation of all the forces in that country, just as the Eritrean government had stressed. As to the ever deceitful TPLF regime, it has been reduced to a level where it has lost any credibility as a government or a political force.

The fact that the regime was selected as an agent in the first place was because its significance, as a government, was minimal; because no self-respecting government that stands for the interest of its people could ever be willing to gamble with the lives of its own people in order to serve the interests of others.

Source: Biddho.com

Xisaabta Mar ii soo Celi.

Wali waxan ku qasbanahay inaan madadaaliyo SAHRA-Haldhaa/Shara Suubban/Sahra-Awdal, anigaana isku xil saaraye, cidna iima xil saarin. Shaqsi ahaan dadka intii dan iyo muraad ii lihi way ogsoonyihiin emailka laygala soo xidhiidhi karo oo ah ; hiildan@yahoo.com iyo Forumka an ugu jeclahay ee Saylac Forum, oo ka mid ah saylacnews.com iyo waliba Addresskayga oo ah: 52 Russell Road , London E16 3QS , iyo Telefoonka gurigayga ee 020 7 4763610. Kuwa iisoo diraya emailada riqiiska ah ee faro ku tiriska ahna waxan leehay, "halkaad iga daydaydiyo, halkaan dagay kala durkee, Ilaahbaa deeq baxshee, dulmiga Awdal ka daa......"!!!!!

Dadka an intaas igala soo xidhiidhi karin, hadana wada xasad iyo xinnato, ee wareerinaya shabakadaha Awdal iyo Somaliland , ee xag-xagasho wada. Aniga Ilaahaybaa I dilayee kuwaas uma diyaar ahi, wakhtina uma hayo, mana karo inaan la yoon-yoontamo, xagaygana waxay ka yihiyiin XAYE-LAAWE, iga galay xabaal oo iga dhintay, oo marnaba xaallayni maayo.

Imikana Sahra-Awdal, waxan u dhiibayaa, maansada iyo waliba heesta an laxanka yaabka leh u saaray ee an ugu magac daray Xisaabta Mar ii Soo Celi


XISAABTA MAR II SOO CELI

Xeer la dhigay iyo
Xaq la dhitaystayba
Xaal nin yaqaanaa
Xurmo la weydiiyaaye
Xishood nimaan lahayniyo
Xaye laawe xaggayga
Xabaalbuu ka galayoo
Xaallayniba maayo¢e
Waxanse u xiimayaa
Inta Xaq-dhawrka lehee
Xaaraan iyo xalaalba
Kala xeerin labadaba¢e

Xalay roobkii da¢ayee
Xayska dhigay saakana
Xawleleeyaay laagihiiyeey
Xareeduna qulqulayso
Xoolahani ka oomaniyo
Aadmiga xeebsan harraad
Xasiid la goostiyo wali
Xangeeyna an helin
Waa xog aanan garanine
Xaajadeedu maxay tahay?.

Ma xujaa Adduunyadu?
Ma xeel baa ayaamuhu?
Xadiis miyaa odhaahdu?
Hawraartu xajiin miyaa?
Xaqiiqdu ma aramibaa?
Ma xeeliga baddeeniyo
Buuraha isku xidhanbaa
Xikmadii eebe ku taagiyo
La xadreeyay sir gooniya?

Adaan kuu Xil saaroon
Sahraay kaala xidhiidhiye
Xabiibtiday gacalisooy
Xisaabta mar ii soo celi
Cabdiqani suldaan Yuusuf suldaan Caateeye suldaan Faahiye

London UK

HiilDan

hiildan@yahoo.com

Somalia festers in chaos one year after Ethiopian incursion - Feature

Mogadishu - One day after Saedo Soleyman's husband was shot dead by Ethiopian troops in the violent Somali capital Mogadishu, her seven-year-old daughter Sahro was killed by a mortar shell that landed in front of the family's home. And as if things couldn't get any worse, Soleyman now lives in a makeshift hut made of plastic sheets and sticks some 30 kilometres outside Mogadishu and depends on handouts from aid agencies to survive a worsening humanitarian crisis.

Soleyman's story is all too common on the outskirts of Mogadishu these days.

After nearly a year since Ethiopian-backed transitional government troops staked their claim over Mogadishu in January, the situation has deteriorated to such an extent that the United Nations is calling Somalia Africa's worst humanitarian crisis.

"Our life is on the verge of death," said Soleyman, sprawled out in the shade of a tree - the place she now calls home.

Somalia was plunged into anarchy in 1991 after warlords toppled dictator Mohammed Siad Barre, sparking a succession of failed governments.

The current transitional government - the 14th attempt at cementing effective rule in the volatile country - has been unable to quell a persistent insurgency that a local human rights group says has killed up to 6,000 people.

The insurgency has turned most Mogadishu neighbourhoods into ghost towns. Some 80 per cent of schools are closed. Families spend their days hiding in bullet-scarred apartment buildings to stay out of harm's way.

Some 600,000 people have poured out of Mogadishu since January, adding to the 400,000 Somalis displaced before the start of the newly-ignited conflict.

Like Soleyman, they mostly inhabit a stretch of road between Mogadishu and Afgooye 30 kilometres away, fleeing the vicious conflict on foot, by wheelbarrow, donkey cart and any other means to get as far from the violence as possible.

The journey out is nothing if not a struggle. Pro-government militiamen set up roadblocks, demanding upwards of 500 dollars to cross. The UN children's agency UNICEF has said women are dragged out of vehicles and raped in broad daylight even as they attempt to vacate the carnage in the capital.

"Sexual violence and rape is part of the game," said Christian Balslev-Olesen, the children's fund representative for Somalia, adding that the trend was new to the Somali conflict.

Balslev-Olesen said all parties are involved in the crime, including Ethiopian troops who are so bogged down in the constant fighting they are unable to withdraw.

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said he is awaiting a more robust deployment of African Union troops to the capital, who, now numbering 1,600, are incapable of maintaining peace.

The United Nations, which said earlier this year a UN force in Somalia was unlikely, appealed for 400 million dollars in aid for Somalia for 2008, up nearly a third from last year's request.
But delivering aid to displaced Somalis continued to be hampered this year.

Increasing piracy off Somalia's lawless shores has seen more than 20 ships attacked and 13 hijacked, eliciting an escort of UN ships by French and US navies.

Local aid agencies say it's not only the violence that impedes aid delivery, but government restrictions. The head of the World Food Programme's Somalia office was detained at gunpoint by the national security service earlier this year for reasons still largely unknown.

"We meet obstacles from government soldiers especially those at checkpoints who impose a sum of money on us, which in turn delays the aid assistance," said Ahmed Ali Ganey, a humanitarian worker with the Somali Relief Council.

But the government has throughout the year denied obstructing aid efforts.

Moreover, it has insisted it is winning the war against insurgents in bullet-scarred Mogadishu.
"There is no place the insurgents rule. It is clear that the government manages all of Mogadishu," said Mohamed Omar Dalha, the transitional government's deputy parliamentary speaker.

Residents assess the government's performance otherwise.

"The security situation is worse than before," said Abdi-Muhsin Mohamed Yusuf, a student at Mogadishu University, whose studies have been interrupted on many occasions because of mortar shells, gunfire or bombs.

"Every aspect of life is getting worse every day."

Source: earthtimes.com

Two Foreign Aid Workers Seized in Northern Somalia

Two women working for the international aid group Doctors Without Borders (Medecins sans Frontieres) have been kidnapped in Somalia's semi-autonomous northern region of Puntland.
Officials in the region say the women were seized in the port town of Bossasso Wednesday, by a gang armed with machine guns. The two women have been identified as Spanish and Argentine nationals.

Police gave chase and engaged in a gunfight with the kidnappers, and two were captured.
Puntland is relatively peaceful compared to the rest of Somalia, which has been wracked by violence since warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. But the region has become a staging ground for kidnappings, piracy and human trafficking.

The abductions come two days after Gwen Le Gouil, a French journalist, was released more than a week after he was kidnapped in Puntland. Officials said they secured his release without paying his captors any ransom.

In other developments, suspected insurgents killed three people late Monday in an attack on the home of a regional police chief in Baidoa, about 250 kilometers northwest of Mogadishu.
Police said bodyguards and members of chief's family were among the dead and wounded.

Source: VOA

Somalia: We Will Reach International Border, Says Somaliland Leader

Somaliland

The leader of Somalia's breakaway sub-state of Somaliland has said that his administration intends to reach the international border established during colonial times.

Dahir Riyale, president of the breakaway Somaliland republic, told the Voice of America's Somali program that Somaliland and Somalia combined to form the first Somali Republic.

"Somalia was two countries that combined [in 1960]," Mr. Riyale said. "The third country in the middle known as Puntland is meaningless."

Puntland was formed when a coalition of Somali clans united and formed a regional administration, with land stretching deep into territory claimed by Somaliland's separatist leaders.

In October, Somaliland troops finally expelled Puntland from the key town of Las Anod that has become the centerpiece of the Somaliland-Puntland ' border' conflict since 2002.

According to Mr. Riyale, Somaliland is in Las Anod "by want of the people."

"We control Las Anod because of local support. We were outside Las Anod for a while and waited until the people wanted us [Somaliland]," Mr. Riyale said.

He downsized the significance of clan elders, saying: "The elders can say whatever they want. Our intention is to reach the international border and to protect our territorial integrity."

Clan elders belonging to the Dhulbahante clan, the dominant community in Sool region where Las Anod is located, have repeatedly demanded that Somaliland withdraw its soldiers from Sool.
The Somaliland leader said there is "no one in the south to talk to." He pointed to the violence in the capital Mogadishu, where war rages between insurgents and Ethiopian-backed government forces.

"Who invited Ethiopia? The people of Southern Somalia and its parliament invited the Ethiopian army to assist them," Riyale said.

He admitted that the road to international recognition is a long and difficult one, but underscored that his administration brought more attention to Somaliland.

He pointed to an African Union fact-finding mission that visited Somaliland and drafted a report.
Riyale said Somaliland has a democratic government and is a land where press freedom is protected. But he warned politicians and media organizations who violate the breakaway republic's laws.

"Law without punishment is not law at all," Mr. Riyale said.

Source: Garowe

Gabaygii Salal - hiildan

Inta badan waxan u heesaa gabadh la yidhaahdo Sahra-Haldhaa oo ku jirta Forumka Saylac, ahna gabadhii an u sameeyay albumka SOO SOCO INAABTAAY. Sida qaalilbka ah, haddii aan shaaca ka qaado sirta an ka wato SAHRA. Aniga xagayga, Sahra Haldhaa/ Sahra-suuban , waa AWDAL, waana Awdaltayda. Waa Awdal oo an madadaalinayo, marna ku cabanayo, marna ka cabanayo, marna canaananayo, marna caashaq iyo iyo jacayl an ula ciir ciirayo. Maantana Shara waxan u dhiibayaa maansada SALAL, oo xitaa noqon karta Hees:


SALAL
Salal bay naftaydani
Seexan wayday jiifkoon
Saqda dhexe habeenkii
Sagaal jeer u toosaaye
Sahraay sabaanadan
Si kastooy ahaatiyo
Saadaashu waxay noqotaba
Waxbaa leh Salalage
Seeduhuu jacaylku
Saaqay waa horiyo
Caashaqii ii sirayee
Sawaxankana i baday
Sahwi kaloo ii dheeroo
Sasme an ka qaadaan
Saakana kuu wadaaye
Adna Saablayda jidhkiyo
Qalbigaaga ku soohoo
Soowtkaan ku leehay
Gacaliso ha Sii dayn
Sooyaalka taariikhdana
Ku xafid Sadaradaydan
Suubban hooyo labo
Sabiyooy wada dhashay
Sagaal ku siday calooshoo
Sarartiyo adhaxda saartay
Samaalana Aabahood
Socodkiyo baray asluub
Sufraarkana u dhaansaday
Saxariir inay mudan
Suurad iyo markay jimidh
Sinmeen cudadahoodu
Wixii laga sugaayiyo
Sooba celin waa abaalkii
Siibe xididikii dareenkiyo
Sumacadii kalgacalkeey
Isku sideen walaaluhu
Sadna u lahaa waalidkuye
Iyagaababa isku sara kacay
Isku sita seefiyo waran
Sun iyo boog qaraxdiyo
Isku noqoy sokeeye waabay
Gacalnimadii sabooshoo
La seg-saag geyaankiiye
Subunise laguma iibsadoo
Saanad weeyi xishoodkuye
Isagiina la wada siibye
Waxana laysku Sirayaa
Annaa kaa Sarreeyiyo
Sadkay layma siiniyo
Mid kalaa la sasabaaye
Salka iyo guntooduna
Waa saxal madooboo
Kuwani is wada sudhan
Midna Subag ma culanine
Surintoodu waa mugdi
U sidnayn siraade
Soonahdoodana sabooliyo
Caydhu waa saaxiibe
Hadana Saraawiiliyo
Suut rag kalay sitaan
Isku moodaan Saraakiile
Saadkay soo ergisteenna
Marka laga siibi doonee
Sanka ciidda loo dari
Saacadeedu ma dheeree
Waa waxay sameeyaan
Sarriigi maayo murtidee
Soohdin waxn uga dhigay
Waxba yay qaar Sillooni
Sibiraha igu Jiiddane
Sidoodana i moodin
Xadhig lama sitaane
Subxaankaan ka magan galay
Xumaan la susubiyaaye
Siiga bul balooy baydh
Sixirka xasadku reebban
Saaxirka xinkuna raaran
Saarka Iblaysku rogan
Ka Rooxaantuna Saarane
Salaawaad calaa Nabi
Suuradaha Quraankiyo
Saatirkaan wakiishaye
Safka Jinka kuma Jiro
Adna Sahra Haldhaayeey
Sacadiinoo xoroowdiyo
Saylacoo calanakii
Saafigiiyee buluugee
Sudhan yahay dusheedaa
Sahandabe la Arkiye
Waa Innoo Sidaasi



Cabdiqani Yuusuf Caateeye

HiilDan

hiildan@yahoo.com

Somalia is on fire again

By OSCAR KIMANUKA oscar_kim2000@yahoo.co.uk

Television screens are awash with images of death and despair in Mogadishu, Somalia. Crowds of Somalis beat, hammer and drag dead Ethiopian troops in a manner that reminds us of the bitter experience of American troops back in October 1993, when a mob dragged the bodies of two United States soldiers through the streets of Mogadishu. The American soldiers had been ruthlessly killed in an intense street battle.

It was soon after the firefight that the US withdrew its troops from chaotic Somalia.
What had led the Americans then to intervene in Somalia was the war and famine following Siad Barre’s exit from power. The rescue effort led by the Americans began in a blaze of glory and publicity in December 1992 as the American marines stormed ashore on the beaches of Mogadishu into the lenses of waiting television cameras. Their task, code-named Operation Restore Hope, was to impose peace and democracy and feed the hungry and starving.
FIFTEEN MONTHS AFTER their colourful and triumphant arrival, the Americans made an ignominious withdrawal, leaving the United Nations to clean up the mess.

Somalia today is yet again in chaos. The hope that the Transitional Federal Government would make progress towards national reconciliation is quickly evaporating. In scenes reminiscent of the 1993 battle, the bodies of two dead Ethiopian soldiers were dragged through the streets of Mogadishu, a grim reminder that the fragile East African state of Somalia is far from stabilising.
THE WAR IN SOMALIA IS A war few would like to touch even the UN. No less a person than the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said that sending a UN peacekeeping force to Somalia right now is “neither realistic, nor viable” and has instead suggested the formation of a multinational “coalition of the willing.”

Interestingly, Mr Ban should be aware that no one is willing to send troops into Mogadishu. The African Union, which had previously pledged to send 8,000 peacekeepers, just supplied 1,600 Ugandan troops.

The images on the television screens of dead bodies dragged through the streets of Mogadishu are a serious impediment to anyone out there with the remote wish of sending in troops.

Source: NationMedia

Somali refugees find a haven in Shelbyville

First of five parts
For a rural Tennessee town like Shelbyville, the public square typically displays a cross-section of the entire community.

People are on their way to the county courthouse. Perhaps folks are there to shop or to drop by one of the banks to conduct important business.

Lawyers, farmers, business people and just plain folks dot the sidewalks as they go about their daily routine.

Including groups of Somali men and women in traditional Muslim dress.
They drive in traffic alongside us, shop at Wal-Mart and other businesses in Shelbyville and work for one of the county's largest employers.

One local official says there may be as many as 1,100 Somalis in Bedford County, although estimates vary.

Depending on who you talk to, these new neighbors are either greeted with indifference, whispers or even fear.

But whatever the reaction, the reality is that these new arrivals are working and living among us. How they will assimilate and become part of the community has yet to be determined.
One question the T-G has frequently heard asked is: How do people from the war-torn African country of Somalia arrive in such numbers in our community?

The answer is through the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services.
According to ORR's web site, their mission is "founded on the belief that newly arriving populations have inherent capabilities when given opportunities, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) provides people in need with critical resources to assist them in becoming integrated members of American society."

Those granted refugee status overseas by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security are brought to this country for resettlement by the State Department. From there, voluntary agencies (also known as VOLAGs) and ORR help out with their resettlement and integration into American society.

Refugees are also eligible to receive ORR benefits and services from the first day they arrive in this country.

Many refugees move to Nashville, which is one of three locations selected in 2001 to participate in an experiment in public-private partnerships of immigrant and refugee integration, which was primarily funded by ORR.

According to the Carnegie Reporter, Nashville ranked first in the number of new immigrants arriving from 1991 to 1998 relative to the number of foreign-born counted there in 1990. Atlanta placed second and Louisville was third.

While Hispanics make up a large number of immigrants coming to Nashville, other nationalities are settling in Music City as well. The Department of State has been working closely with VOLAGs to relocate refugees to Nashville, including groups from the Middle East, Europe and Africa.

For example, Nashville has one of the nation's largest groups of Kurdish refugees, approximately 7,000, and also housed one of five U.S. polling stations in the country for Iraqi expatriate voters during the January 2005 elections.

Approximately 5,000 Somalis live in the Nashville area, according to published reports.
Refugees make up only 10 percent of immigrants to the U.S., according to a study by the Brookings Institution. Using data from ORR, Brookings learned that more than 2 million refugees have arrived in the United States since the Refugee Act of 1980 was established.
Also, according to the Brookings study, unlike other immigrants, "refugees have access to considerable federal, state, and local support to help them succeed economically and socially."
According to Regina Surber, director of community services in Tennessee for the Department of Human Services (DHS), some of the Somali refugee arrivals to the area are direct resettlement clients while others may be "secondary migrants" who were originally resettled in other states and / or other parts of Tennessee.

"What happens most often in new resettlement communities is that the first to move there are newly arriving refugees, who, after becoming familiar with the area, encourage their relatives and friends to join them," she said.

Surber said that Tennessee had 172 arrivals from Somalia last year and since 1996, they have resettled 1,878 refugees in the state "but many others have moved here from other states over the years."

According to information supplied by DHS, a total of 13 refugees have directly settled in Bedford County from Somalia -- only two in 2005-06 and 11 in 2006-07. However, Surber said these figures do not include secondary migrants, people who have relocated here after first settling somewhere else. DHS does not have a mechanism in place to track such secondary migration.
The refugees are placed by national resettlement agencies, Surber explained, with four such organizations in the Middle Tennessee area -- two of which are Catholic Charities of Tennessee, Inc. and World Relief, Inc., both located in Nashville.

The agencies find local churches and community partners to assist in the resettlement process, financially and with volunteers as well as donated goods and services. The VOLAGs in Tennessee are local affiliates of national organizations, which receive federal funding for the provision of their services, Surber said.

Surber explained that the refugees are provided with employment, language, and case management services as a part of the resettlement process.

According to the State Department, after 12 months of residency, refugees are required to apply for adjustment of their status to that of permanent resident alien. After five years in the United States, refugees may apply for citizenship.

MONDAY: How are Somalis impacting local schools?

Source: Times Gazette

Somali President phones President Saleh on Somali developments

SANA'A, Dec. 23 (Saba) - President Ali Abdullah Saleh has received a phone call from Somali President Abdullah Yusuf, who acquainted Saleh with the latest developments in Somalia.

President Saleh renewed Yemen's supporting attitude to resettle peace, security and stability in Somalia. During the call, President Saleh exchanged congratulations with Somali President on the occasion of Eid al-Adha, wishing him more health and happiness and Somali people further stability and progress. NN/AF Saba

Somali gov't official accuses UN of 'unbalanced' reports

NAIROBI (AFP) — A senior Somali government official accused the United Nations on Sunday of painting an exaggeratedly bleak picture of the situation in his country and spreading the Islamist insurgency's propaganda.

"We urge UN agencies to conduct a very fair assessment of the real situation on the ground and shun away from unbalanced reports," senior foreign ministry official Osman Mohamed Adam told AFP.

The ministry's permanent secretary complained that some UN agencies compiled reports based on information relayed by local NGOs with ties to the Islamist insurgents that Ethiopian-backed government forces have been battling all year.

"Many UN agencies don't want to collect data themselves but borrow reports from other organisations," he said.

"They don't talk about the achievements and the development made by the government," Adam added.

One report that irked the transitional government recently was a statement by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees claiming that Somalia was home to one million displaced people, including 600,000 who had fled fighting in the capital Mogadishu.

Adam said the Somali government was compiling its own figures on displacement and would publish them soon.

On Thursday, Ethiopian Prime Minster Meles Zenawi argued that the United Nations was exaggerating the security and humanitarian emergency in Somalia.

"At the moment some UN agencies appear to be doing damage in respect of parroting totally unfounded reports by some agencies without in any way trying to verify the facts," Meles said.
"The situation there, as hard as it is, it could do with less hype and exaggeration," he added.
Ethiopia sent troops to neighbouring Somalia a year ago to help oust an Islamist militia which briefly took control of the country and imposed a strict Islamic law.

The militia has since reverted to guerrilla tactics, prompting daily street clashes in Mogadishu. The fighting has driven hundreds of thousands out of their homes and aggravated an already dire humanitarian situation.

Source: AFP

Zuma’s choices and our own

THE most puzzling thing about Thabo Mbeki is how someone purported to be an intellectual could be so oblivious to the one historical principle that has proven true over and over again. I used to go around reciting it as a little boy in Ginsberg, having read it in one of Steve Biko’s essays:

“The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”
Mbeki was not yet an oppressive tyrant, but with the passage of time he could easily have transmogrified into one. The signs were there for all to see. But I would not be surprised if Mbeki still insists that African National Congress (ANC) members suffer from false consciousness. I can see that this is all a machination of racists, liberals and coconut intellectuals. The man’s ability to deny is unparalleled. He is truly tiresome in that way.

Enough about Mbeki. He is a man of the past. Our gaze must turn to Jacob Zuma. In my forthcoming book, To The Brink: The State of Democracy in South Africa, I argue that Zuma is likely to be a transitional figure in at least three ways.

The first scenario would not be so much of a scenario were it not for its social consequences. I have always argued that we should have found a political solution to this matter. Mbeki took us to the brink with Zuma and was ultimately left with egg on his face. He might be tempted to retaliate through the legal process but that would simply heighten the tension .

We may look to our most recent history for precedent. The state could do what it did with Adriaan Vlok — who received a suspended sentence for apartheid atrocities. Zuma could also be pardoned by an incoming president — the way Gerald Ford did with Richard Nixon during Watergate. The quid pro quo would be that Zuma should exit gracefully into the sunset.

The second scenario would be one in which Zuma is acquitted. There is little a man can do about his age. Barring an early election, Zuma would be 71 at the end of his first term, and 76 at the end of the second term. The same goes for all the members of the so-called Class of 1942.
I cannot imagine the ANC electing another 70-something to lead it in 2012 or in 2017. Granted, Nelson Mandela was in his 70s when he was president and other countries have had old and successful presidents, such as Ronald Reagan. The difference is that many of our “old timers”, Zuma included, come from a culture of exile, secrecy, hierarchy and quaint notions of old-fashioned solidarity. And yet the world we live in demands openness, accountability and horizontal networks.

On a cautionary note, Zuma should avoid the triumphalism that goes with what the great American presidential scholar and adviser Richard Neustadt called “newness”. “Everywhere there is a sense of a page turning, a new chapter in the country’s history, a new chance too. And with it, irresistibly, there comes the sense, ‘they’ couldn’t, wouldn’t, didn’t but ‘we’ will. We can because we won.” This can be dangerous, particularly in the sensitive and closely watched areas of economic and foreign policy.

The third scenario is my most preferred. This would be for Zuma to give way to someone such as Kgalema Motlanthe or Tokyo Sexwale. I would prefer Sexwale over Motlanthe because the latter is more of an organisational leader and the former more of a public leader. Either one of them would give us a breather. We need it, desperately.

Zuma won on the strength of a deep and widely-held anti-Mbeki sentiment in the ANC, but now that he has won he will no longer have Mbeki as his foil and his anti-type. All eyes will now be on him. He saved us from the brink of tyranny but will he have the presence of mind to save us from himself?

Surely he would also agree that there would be too much “stuff” around him and that would distract him from being an effective leader of his country. And yet, as party leader and elder statesman he could still play an active and influential role in guiding the ANC. The country would be forever grateful to him, and history would remember him well for such a statesmanlike act.

Whether Zuma chooses to go down in ignominy in a jail cell somewhere; or to bear the burden of the state presidency; or to be remembered as a party leader and statesman who pulled his country from the brink of tyranny, is entirely his gambit. The challenge for us and future generations is different. It goes beyond Mbeki and Zuma to what Neustadt said: “Choose your president carefully because at the end of the day no one can save him from himself (or herself as the case may be).”

n Mangcu is executive chairman of the Platform for Public Deliberation and author of the forthcoming book To the Brink: The State of Democracy in South Africa (University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, January 2008)

Source: Business day

Putin and TIME: The View From Russia

"How could you take part in this outrage?"
The first such call came from a friend on Wednesday, close to midnight, just after I had stopped surfing Russian TV newscasts, all full of proud reports that TIME had named Russian President Vladimir Putin its Person of the Year.

"Is this the Moscow correspondent of the U.S. magazine most loyal to Putin?" wondered the next caller. A friend in the U.S. e-mailed me: "Putin's Time's POY? Well...But we still love you."
All these old friends — intellectuals and members of the social elite, for the most part — were teasing me. But not entirely. "Every joke contains a bit of the truth," one of them remarked in passing.

As we discussed Russian TV's positive though shrill initial reactions to TIME's announcement, I realized that Putin was not all that far from the truth when he told the magazine's editors at the Person of the Year interview that Russian TV, however state-controlled, was free. Most commentators freely hailed Putin's achievment of putting Russia back on the world map and just as freely pruned TIME's analysis of what happened on his road to achieving it: the suppression of democratic freedoms.

"How do you think this coverage will affect the ordinary people?" asked a friend that night. "Those who will never enter TIME.com or read TIME's print version?" He believed they would stay brainwashed into thinking that TIME magazine endorsed and promoted Putin and his politics.

Then, I received a call from Echo Moskvi, the last liberal Moscow Radio station, which is something of an on-air Hyde Park for limited numbers of intellectuals, a small arena for them to spout off, not unlike the old Soviet-era Literaturnaya Gazeta. I explained as briefly as I could: it's not an endorsement or a distinction. Hitler and Stalin were Men of the Year, because they left indelible imprints on their respective years' events, which were to influence history.

TIME journalists are like investigators who explore, gather and present facts on the assigned case as thoroughly and conscientiously as possible, allowing our audience to make decisions and pass independent verdicts on whether a given person has made such an impact for better or worse.

In Putin's case, I told the radio interviewer, it was crucial to the Person of the Year decision that he had revived Russia, returning it once again to its integral role in international politics and the global economy. But Putin had accomplished this by suppressing the freedoms, however frail and imperfect, that Russians enjoyed in the 1980s and '90s.

The majority of the Russian people supported Putin in his policy of swapping freedoms and democracy for stability and order — or, in the eyes of critics like myself, for the illusion of stability and order. Ordinary Russians believe Putin's impact is for the better. I told Echo Moskvi that I thought his impact was for worse. Only time (and TIME) will tell. They thanked me and cut off. After hearing my views on the air, other friends called to express appreciation.
One peculiarity of my almost 20 years experience as the only Russian citizen among the select corps of TIME correspondents is that I often enough fail to see Russian matters eye-to-eye with my friends and colleagues at the magazine.

Not that I always prove right. Still, I believe I'm right about this: Putin's formal emergence as the only viable national leader, and his tacit acceptance of the role, mark for Russia a point of no return in its slide into a new authoritarianism, the shape and nature of which cannot yet be fully defined. I'm sure that the period of Putin's rule — which I predict will be long — will once again put the country in the situation described by the great Russian historian Vasili Klyuchevsky almost a century ago: "The state was swelling up, the people were withering."

Nor do I agree with the view, espoused by some of my American colleagues, that this regime is dangerous for Russia only: the export of corruption, merged with the state machinery, is no better than the export of revolution. And that is why I believe that Putin was the correct choice as Person of the Year — because no other person this year made a deeper or more fateful impact on history, present and yet to come.

As I walked outside my dacha gate this morning, my friend Volodya was fiddling with his car. I asked what he thought of the coverage the Russian electronic media had been giving Putin as the magazine's choice. "What's that all about?," he asked, while fixing something in the engine compartment. "I was busy all day yesterday — first work, then picking up my kid from his nursery school, then running my wife's errands."

I told him that the Russian President had been picked by TIME as the Person who made the deepest impact on this year's events. "I dunno," said Volodya. "I'm just making my living. And who cares, anyway?"

Source: TIME

Yaa Yidhi Faysal Cali Waraabaa Doonaya Jagada Madaxweynenimada? Faallo– Maxamed Cumar Hyena

Qaybaha kala duwan ee shacbiga reer Somaliland ayaa weli ku jiro waayo aragnimo ay ku kala baranayaan siyaasiyiintooda haya xukunka dalka iyo kuwa haatan hadal haya mustaqbalka inay ka qayb galaan maamulka dalka, kuwaas oo isugu jira muxaafidka, mucaarad, wadaad, waranle, siyaasi cusub iyo kuwa hore.

Shacbiga ayaa durba qaybo ka mid ahi kala barteen ragga ku jira dawladda Rayaale ee wax qaban kara, kuwa aan waxba qaban karin, kuwa shacbiga iyo dawladda u kala sheekeeya iyo kuwa la dhegeysan la’yahay talooyinkooda.

Shacbiga ayaa sidoo kale waxay kala barteen ragga hoggaamiya siyaasadaha mucaaradka dhabta ah iyo kuwa sheeganaya, kuwa ay ka go’antahay in dalkan laga saaro xaaladda siyaasadeed, dhaqaale iyo nololeed ee uu ku jiro iyo kuwa an doonayn inay wax isbeddeleen ee hoosta kala socda xukuumadda shacbiga qaarkii ka cabanayo wax qabad la’aanteeda.

Sidoo kale waxay dadweynaha qaarkii ku sii kala durkayaan, ama u sii kala dhawaanayaan axsaabta lagu sheego inay yihiin kuwa qaranka, kuwaas oo kala ah UDUB, UCID iyo KULMIYE iyagoo qaarkood ay kala garan la’yihiin xisbiga mucaaradka ah ee dhabta ah iyo kan sheeganaya ee aan dhabtii ahayn mucaaradka, halka kuwa kalena ay kala garan la’yihiin xisbiga UDUB inuu yahay kan wax duminaya iyo inuu yahay kan wax dhisaya.

Haddaba markaan u soo laabanno siyaasadaha axsaabta mucaaradka lagu sheego, waxaad mooddaa inay soo baxayaan calaamado muujinaya in xisbiyadaasi, oo kala ah UCID iyo KULMIYE kala miirmayaan .oo midkood laga dareemayo inuu sito shaadhka Mucaaradka, balse aan dhabtii ku socon wadada lagu yaqaanno mucaaradnimada iyo isbeddel doonka.

Waayo aragnimada siyaasiyiinta Somaliland oo muddo ku wareersanaa jahada siyaasadeed ee uu ku socdo xisbiga siyaasiga ah ee UCID ayaa haatan ogaaday in xisbiga UCID uu yahay xisbi Mucaarad ku ah xisbiga kale ee Mucaaradka ah ee KULMIYE, balse aanu dawladda iyo xisbgeeda UDUB mucaarad ku ahayn.

Tan iyo markii Guddoomiyaha Xisbiga siyaasiga ah ee UCID Faysal Cali Waraabe uu markhaatiga ku furay saaxiibkii KULMIYE, isla markaana uu si dhakhso ah u qirtay guuldaradii axsaabtaasi ka soo gaadhay doorashooyinkii madaxweyne Rayaale ku tegey kursiga dalka ugu sarreeya 2003dii, waxay dad badani shaki ka qabeen in Faysal Cali Waraabe daacad ka ahaa maragga uu sida degdegga ah ugu furay Madaxweyne Rayaale inuu 80 cod kaga guuleystay KULMIYE.

Waxay dad badan la ahayd in waagaasi KULMIYE ka doodi karayey ama joojin karayey madaxtinnimada Daahir Rayaale haddii aanu xisbiga UCID lugta jiidin dooddii uu guddoomiyaha KULMIYE Axmed Siilaanyo ku diidi lahaa natiijadaasi, balse markii ergooyin ay hor-boodayeen siyaasiyiin, salaadiin iyo wadaaddo oggolaysiiyeen Axmed Siilaanyo inuu kursiga ka hadho, ayaa waxay dad badani tuhunsan yihiin in UCID ka dambeeyo baabi’inta guul kasta oo xisbiga KULMIYE ka helo shacbiga Somaliland.

Tan iyo waagaasi iyo maanta oo ay bilo ka hadheen doorasho kale oo shaki ku jiro inay dhici doonto iyo in kale, ayaa dad badan oo siyaasiyiin reer Somaliland ahi la yaabbanaayeen hadalada is-burinaya ee ka soo yeedhaya guddoomiyaha xisbiga UCID, Faysal Cali Waraabe oo inkastoo musharraxiintii xisbigiisu haystaan Baarlamaanka Somaliland, haatan u muuqda inuu dagaal kula jiro shir-guddoonka ay isla daala dhacayaan xukuumadda.

Ilaa imika oo Faysal sheeganayo inuu hoggaamiyo xisbi Mucaarad ah, ayaa dhinaca kale waxa soo kordhaya shaki fara badan oo ku gadaaman halka uu u jeedo xisbigaasi iyo cidda uu taageerada ka haysto.

Tan iyo waagaasi mawqif kasta oo xisbiga KULMIYE iska taago siyaasadda dalka, ayaa waxa daciifiya talooyinka iyo turunturrooyinka xisbiga UCID u geysanayo.

Haddaba markaad u fiirsato hadalada ka soo baxayey xisbiga UCID ee liddiga ku ah xisbiga KULMIYE, ayaa waxa wakhtigan la hadal hayaa arrimo door ah oo caddaynayaa in haatan xisbiga UCID uu yahay xisbiga UDUB afhayeenkiisa.

UCID weligii kama hadal xuquuqda aadamaha Somaliland, kamana hadal xoriyatal qawlka, xadhigga suxufiyiinta, xeerarka saxaafadda, Dimuqraadiyadda, xadhigga siyaasiyiinta QARAN-na waxa uu horeyba iskaga taagay mawqif la mid ah kan dawladda, ilaa imikana lagama hayo wax talooyin ah oo dawladda ku khasbaya inay ka leexato ama ku socoto.

Guddoomiyaha UCID, ayaa waxa kale oo lagu bartay booqashooyinka iyo kormeerka hawleed ee ku tego laamaha dawladda qaarkood, halkaas oo sida wasiirada loogu soo dhaweeyo, halka siyaasiyiinta xisbiga KULMIYE-na laga eryo meel kasta oo ay dan ku leeyihiin.

Dhinaca kale tan iyo markii ay guddiga doorashooyinka qaranka ay isku qabteen dawladda iyo shirguddoonku ayaa la ogaa in xubnahala isku mari la’aa uu Guddoomiyaha UCID mar walba dawladda kula safnaa gardaradeeda.

Sidoo kale Faysal ayaa hadallo ka dhan ah musharraxa xisbiga KULMIYE ee madaxweynaha, Axmed Siillaanyo weydiiyey wakhtigii doorashooyinka madaxweynenimada bal in Siillaanyo garanayo Sheedaha iyo degaanno kale oo ku hareeraysan Hargeysa, taas oo u muuqata in Faysal Cali Waraabe Hargeysa ka eryenayo Musharraxa reer Burco ee kula tartamaya Hargeysa.

Haddaba iyadoo xaalku sidaa yahay Xisbiga Faysal Cali Waraabana doorashooyinkii 2003dii uu dadweynaha Somaliland ka helay cod 15% dadweynihii Somaliland ee codkooda bixiyay, ayaa u muuqda in UCID shaki ka qabo guul uu ka gaadho doorashooyinka soo socda ee madaxweynenimada sidaa darteedna la tuhunsan yahay inay xukuumadda wada galeen heshiis lagu wiiqayo guul kasta oo uu Somaliland ka helo xisbiga KULMIYE, isagoo haatan Faysal Cali Waraabe shaadhka ka bixiyey mucaaradnimadii uu sheeganayey, si toos ahna ula saftay xukuumadda, taas oo dad badani oo reer Somaliland ahi shaki ka qabaan in Faysal Cali Waraabe doonayo kursiga madaxweynenimada, iyo inuu doonayo inuu u ololeeyo xisbiga UDUB oo ka heli karo danihii uu ka waayey dalka Finland, isagoo aan doorasho iyo olole kale toona ku karaamo beelinna uu la daadego xisbiga KULMIYE, ama xisbigaasi hoggaankiisa uu jeebka ugu rido xukuumadda sida ka muuqatay bilihii u dambeeyey ee Guddoomiyaha xisbiga KULMIYE ka dhammaan la’aa madaxtooyada, isla markaana Guddoomiyaha xisbiga UCID sida la sheegay ku sasabayey in xisbiga KULMIYE la shaqeeyo Dawladda.

Ugu dambayntiina waxa soo yaraanaya shakigii laga qabay guddoomiyaha xisbiga UCID ee ku saabsanaa inuu yahay Mucaarad iyo inuu yahay sub-station UDUB ah, oo aan isagu doonayn inuu Rayaale ku cidhiidhiyo doorashooyinka soo socda ee qabsoomiddoodu shakiga leedahay.

Source: Haatuf

Somaliland should be recognised

Publication Date: 2007/12/20

Reports that the Bush administration is seriously considering recognising Somaliland are most welcome.

Without a doubt, Somaliland is a an oasis of stability in a sea of anarchic Somali politics.
Moreover, Somaliland is an important partner in the war on terror.
Somaliland is a democracy and should be rewarded by being afforded international recognition.
I appeal to the US Government to lead the rest of the world by doing so.

I urge the US to ignore those who are against Somaliland. They have no moral right to poke noses into the affairs of Somaliland.

The warlords posing as elected leaders command very little support from their own people.

HASSAN YUSSUF AHMED,
Hargeisa, Somaliland.

UN Council urges more support for AU in Somalia

By Claudia Parsons
UNITED NATIONS, (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council called on Wednesday for more funds for a hard-pressed African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia and asked the U.N. secretary-general to keep planning for a U.N. force there.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said last month Somalia was too dangerous even to send an assessment team to prepare for a U.N. peacekeeping force.

U.N. officials say half the population of Mogadishu, or 600,000 people, have fled persistent fighting since Somalia's transitional government came to power after ousting militant Islamists early this year.

The Somali government has long urged the United Nations to send peacekeepers. The AU force, known as AMISOM, is supposed to number some 8,000 troops but only around 1,600 Ugandans have actually arrived.

The Security Council issued a statement after talks on Somalia on Wednesday reiterating its backing for AMISOM.

"(It) urges again the international community to provide financial resources, personnel, equipment and services for the full deployment of AMISOM," it said.

The council also asked Ban to continue to develop existing contingency plans for a possible U.N. deployment and asked him to report back on progress by Feb. 8.

The statement welcomed a briefing this week by Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, U.N. special envoy for Somalia, who called for a new strategy from the international community to tackle the humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa state.

Ould-Abdallah said Saudi Arabia should be asked to lead a new drive to reinforce the AU peacekeeping force, though not necessarily with its own troops. Such a force, including Asian or Middle Eastern troops, could be an interim step before a U.N. peacekeeping force could be deployed.

"The Security Council looks forward to hearing more details of (his) proposals," the statement said, adding that it strongly supported Ould-Abdallah's work in Somalia. (Editing by by Sandra Maler)

Source: Reuters

Do you have an accent?

By Prof. Joseph L. Mbele , African News Journal
If you are like me, with deep roots in Africa, you probably have heard Americans say you have an accent. You might feel that having an accent is not a good thing. Many new immigrants in America are embarrassed about their foreign accents and struggle to learn to speak like Americans. I met a Somali youth in Faribault, Minnesota, who felt that way. I think all this is rather unfortunate. I teach English at college level in America. With apologies to no one, I speak English with my distinctive Tanzanian accent.

An accent is an intrinsic aspect of spoken language. Nobody can say a word, let alone speak a language, without an accent. Basically, an accent is one’s distinctive way of speaking. Though an accent is an individual characteristic, it is also a collective one. Despite their individual differences, people from a given country or region tend to speak with a recognizable accent. I can tell a South African from a Nigerian, or an American from an Indian, based on the way they speak English. Those who know Americans say that Texans, for example, have their own accent, so do Californians, and Americans from other regions.

The accent we grew up with sounds normal to us. We might not even notice it. That we notice the accents of foreigners doesn’t mean that they alone have accents. American English sounds normal to Americans, but it is not a universal norm. English is an international language, with different varieties. With the world getting increasingly interconnected, people who ignore those varieties do so at their own peril, just as those who think they don’t need other languages. Our best option is to learn to hear and understand as many varieties and accents as possible.

Unfortunately, most people have not thought about the issue in this way. Immigrants who struggle to change their accents in order to “fit in” should think about this, so should those who complain about immigrants who speak with foreign accents. Why should someone with a proper Nigerian or Ugandan accent be pressured to speak like an American? Why should someone with a proper Jamaican or British accent be pressured to speak like an American? In Africa, no one asks foreigners to speak English like Africans: the British speak with their own accent; so do the Indians, the Australians and others. That, I think, is the way to go.

Source: TCDaily Planet