Landmine blast wounds AU peacekeepers in Somalia

By Aweys Yusuf and Abdi Sheikh

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A landmine blast wounded at least three African Union peacekeepers in the Somali capital on Saturday, witnesses and a spokesman for the AU force said.

Soldiers from Uganda and Burundi are serving as peacekeepers in Mogadishu, where the interim government faces an insurgency led by remnants of a hardline Islamic courts movement.
Captain Barigye Bahouku, the AU force spokesman, said one of their vehicles hit a landmine planted near Mogadishu's sea port.

"A number of our troops have been injured but I do not have the full details yet," he said by telephone.

A witness said at least three peacekeepers were hurt.

"I saw three wounded soldiers lying down. They were bleeding badly," local resident Mohamed Qalinle told Reuters. He said Somali government troops sealed off the site of the explosion and arrested several people.

In a separate incident, a remote-controlled roadside bomb killed one government soldier and two civilians in the Elgab neighbourhood of southern Mogadishu.
"The bomb was remotely set off when the government military vehicle was passing," a police spokesman said.

Fighting in Mogadishu alone killed 6,500 people last year, according to a local human rights group tracking the death toll.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been forced to abandon their homes and livelihoods in what the United Nations calls Africa's worst humanitarian crisis.

Somalia has been mired in anarchy since warlords toppled military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. The interim government's attempts to restore central rule have largely been paralysed by infighting and the Islamist-led insurgency.

Source: Reuters

Islamic finance hits its stride

Just 10 years ago Islamic financing techniques, despite being used by transport companies, were still relatively niche products compared with conventional investments, lending and leasing.
Now, as each week passes, new deals are announced and landmark transactions are closed across the Middle East, Africa and Asia, and even in Europe and the United States.

With the global conventional financial community set for a relatively cautious approach in 2008 because of restricted liquidity emanating from the global credit crunch, many in the Islamic finance sector are suggesting that this year could see considerable growth for sharia-compliant financing techniques offered by Islamic and non-Islamic institutions alike.

"In general, I would say that interest in Islamic financing for the transport industry, including aviation, shipping and rail, is increasing," says Davide Barzilai, a lawyer in the Islamic finance practice at Norton Rose in London. "However, we must not forget that Islamic finance is still a small portion of the money in the Middle East region."

But the appeal of Islamic finance is not confined to moveable assets in the transport industry. There is clearly strong demand for infrastructure projects, which many in the sector say fit perfectly with the profit-sharing ethos of sharia-compliant financings.

The financing standard was effectively set high several years ago, when in late December 2005 Dubai Ports World's USD5.7 billion acquisition of P&O featured a USD2.8 billion sukuk (bond) to part-finance the deal. Law firm Denton Wilde Sapte played a major role on the financing side, advising Dubai Islamic Bank and Barclays Capital on the sukuk.

The firm also advised Dubai Islamic Bank on a USD1 billion sharia-compliant musharaka bridging facility to secure the acquisition. Law firm Clifford Chance advised the Dubai Ports Authority on this bridge facility.

More recently, large-scale projects have been financed using increasingly marketed and hence increasingly popular sharia-compliant structures.

A landmark example is the recent transaction in which the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) - a World Bank Group member - said it had provided its first-ever guarantee for sharia-compliant project financing. This is a USD427 million guarantee to support investments into a new container facility at Doraleh Container Terminal in Djibouti, which is expected to significantly improve port facilities and help the country become a major business hub in East Africa. The terminal is being developed jointly with Dubai Ports World.

Djibouti is strategically located on one of the fastest-growing east-west international shipping routes at the crossroads of Asia, Europe, the Gulf of Aden and East Africa. Development of the port and transport sector is at the heart of its poverty-reduction strategy.

MIGA's guarantees protect the investments of Dubai Ports World as well as those of the financing banks - Dubai Islamic Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and WestLB - against the risks of transfer restriction, war and civil disturbance, expropriation and breach of contract, according to the agency.

Support will total USD422 million to cover funding provided by these three banks as well as other participating banks under an Islamic project finance facility. MIGA's participation allows syndication of a significant amount of financing provided by several banks on favourable terms and conditions under an Islamic financing structure.

MIGA will reinsure USD5 million with the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC) under MIGA's facultative reinsurance programme. This represents MIGA's first collaboration with ICIEC at the project level.

MIGA's presence played an important role in mitigating perceived political risks for the banks and enabled project sponsors to raise the financing needed to make the project a reality. This is the first project that MIGA has supported in Djibouti, which joined the agency in January 2007.
"Increased liquidity in Islamic financial markets is leading to growing demand for guarantees that can support sharia-compliant deals," says Yukiko Omura, executive vice-president of MIGA in Washington, DC.

Source: Janes

Somalia: IDPs Face Harsh Life in Central Region

Hundreds of internally displaced people living in a camp in Beledweyne town are having one of the worst livelihoods.

A refugee camp in Hiiraan's provincial capital namely Daryel which hosted about 675 people of internally put out of place people are facing appalling life.

The camp which is situated on the north side of Beledweyne town the majority of the families living in are starving and poor people.

The families are together with children, women, and elders some of them have missed there sights with the famine life they are in.

Shabelle regional reporter Omar Kiyow who visited in that camp has witnessed the horrible life of that IDPs saying they are on the point of to die for the awful living they are in at this moment in time.

"I have seen with my eyes families cooking the maize's seed and the watermelon's dried fruits they collected from the markets for lack of food" shabelle's Omar kiyow said

One of the displaced mothers with seven children interviewed by shabelle's English section told that she missed her mother and father in a mortar attack hit on there home in Howlwadaag district in Mogadishu that reasoned her to flee from the capital.

The chairman of Beledweyne civil society groups Mohamed Osman Tima Jili has appealed to help these people and he warned lacking any help to those people will cause a new cataclysm.
No urgent measures to help those people are still available.

Source: Shabelle

Ma Somaliland Dadkeeda Ayaa SNM ah Mise waa dad iskugu yimid Dan

waxaan inaan xogaa u Caqli Celiyo Rabaa Dadkan SNM baa Taariikhdeeda La Masaxayaa leh.

Marka Hore In la Is Wadyiiyo Ma Somaliland Dadkeeda Ayaa SNM ah Mise waa dad iskugu yimid Dan Guud? haday Jawaabtu Haa Tahay Adeer SNM wax La yiraah Ma jirto Dadku Ku dhaqan Somaliland Waa Dad kala Gadisa Maaha Dad Qudha Waaa Samaroon, Isaaq, Harti Cid waliba Waxay Leedahay Mujaahid Ay ku Faanto Maanta Qoomiyadda Samaroon xadarad ayey fiiriyeen waa Ilaaween Mujaahidiintii SDA Ee Uu Hogaaminayey Mujaahid Xanshare Alaha Naxariistee oo Mudnayd Bulshada UU ka Soo Jeedo Iney Bartaan Ama USP oo uu Hogaamineyey Sheekh Muuse Godaad Alaha Naxariistoo Jano ha Siiyee.

Markaa Kala Saara Danta Iyo Qadiyadda Somaliland Ha Noqonin Markasta Aan wax kala Garaneyn Somaliland Waa Bulsho Kala Gadisan Siday U diideen Beelaha Samaroon Gaar Ahaan Beesha Habar Cafaan In Caruurtooda soo Kacaysa La baro wax aan La garaneyn Cida uu La shahiidey in caruurtooda lagu baro iskooladda markuu sanadku ahaaa 1996 ayana ka hirgashay magaalooyinka Borama, Saylac, Lughaya, Gabiley, Wajaale, Maanta Hadii laga Joojiyey Goboladda Intiisa Kale Waa Aqoon U soo Hoyatey Bulashada Kala Gadisan Ee ku dhaqan Somaliland.

Markaa Waxaan Odhan Lahaa Dadka Tiradda Yar ee aaminsan In SNM iney Wax Xoreysa Adeer Taasi Niyadda ka Saara OO Raaca Ilbaxnimada Beelaha Kale Ee ku Nool Somaliland. La Jaan qaada umadda oo Cadiifada Joojiya hana ilaawina reer walba oo somaliland ku nool inuu ku faano mujaahid u halgamey ha ahaadaan beelaha harti oo ku faana SDF ha ahaato Beelaha Samaroon oo Ku faana SDA & USP Hana Ilaawina Iney Cid Walba Mujaahid Leedahay Laakiin Ilbaxnimada Aduunku Ay Is badashay lana jaad aduunka aqoon Yaridu ma Wanaagsana - ineyna Ini Reebin Waa Iga Dar daaran

Samatar Hamse
samatar52@hotmail.com

Reykjavik's Geothermal Investments Hold Great Promise For East African Republic

Reykjavik, Iceland, Jan 24, 2008 - (ABN Newswire) - Agreements announced at the World Energy SummitAbu Dhabi and Reykjavik, Iceland, January 23, 2008 - Two agreements between Iceland and the Republic of Djibouti can help the East African country replace its current diesel-generated electricity with green electricity.

The agreements were announced at the World Energy Summit held in Abu Dhabi.First, Iceland's Minister of Industry HE Ossur Skarphedinsson and HE Mohamed Ali Mohamed signed an agreement on energy cooperation where the countries will share expertise to support Djibouti's course towards energy sustainability.Second, the CEO of Reykjavik Energy Invest (REI) Mr. Gudmundur Thoroddson, Djibouti's Minister of Energy HE Mohamed Ali Mohamed, and the CEO of the Djibouti Energy Company Mr Djama Ali Guelleh announced the signing of an agreement on the financing structure for the Djibouti Asal Rift Geothermal Project. As part of the Asal Project, REI intends to build a geothermal power plant, which is estimated to start production in 2012.

The plant will supply Djibouti with green electricity, replacing its current diesel-generated electricity.REI's projects in Djibouti are part of the company's US$150 million commitment to investments in geothermal energy in Africa announced by Bill Clinton and President Grimson at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York in 2007.In an address at the World Energy Summit, the President of Iceland, HE Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, discussed the global impact of climate change and how geothermal energy can be one of the solutions to global warming. The President also discussed how Reykjavik Energy Invest's projects in the Republic of Djibouti will transform the country's energy sources from fossil fuels to sustainable energy.Comments: HE Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, President of Iceland: The cooperation between Djibouti and Iceland will help transform the oil-based energy system of Djibouti to clean, geothermal-based energy.

This cooperation could become a landmark in the clean energy future of East Africa.HE Ossur Skarphedinsson, Minister of Energy, Iceland: Djibouti today generates all its electricity through the combustion of imported fossil fuels, which is similar to Iceland in the middle of the last century. Today, however, Iceland generates all its electricity from sustainable sources. The country has become largely independent of fuel import for domestic usage. We hope to share our experiences with Djibouti and help transform the energy sources used there.Mr. Gudmundur Thoroddsson, REI's President and CEO: REI is currently taking important steps towards significant investments in Djibouti. The signing of this agreement brings us one step closer to supplying green energy to Djibouti.

We are pleased with the excellent relationship that we have had with HE Mohamed Ali Mohamed and the government of Djibouti, and with the professionalism of the energy authorities in the area.- ends-For further information, contact:Gudmundur Thoroddsson, CEO Reykjavik Energy Invest, Phone +354 516 6000 Runar Hreinsson, Director of Public Relations, Mobile Phone: +354 822 2516, e-mail: runar.hreinsson@rei.isAbout Reykjavik Energy Invest Reykjavik Energy Invest (REI) (www.rei.is / info@rei.is) is the Reykjavik Energy (Orkuveita Reykjavikur) international business development and investment arm. Reykjavik Energy Invest focuses on creating partnerships to develop geothermal areas. The company invests in geothermal exploitation rights; develops, constructs and operates geothermal fields; and seeks to acquire geothermal plants currently in operation. Reykjavik Energy is the world's leading authority in the utilization of geothermal energy.

Over the past 60 years, the company has consolidated its leadership by supplying a large portion of the Icelandic population with geothermal water for domestic heating and by gradually developing new steam fields for power production.LINK:
Source: ABN News

Indian trade fair organised in Djibouti

DURBAN: Marking the growth of economic ties between India and Djibouti, a first-ever Indian trade fair is being held at the capital of the east African nation. The four-day long fair which started from January 21 is organised by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).

At least 14 Indian companies are participating in the event displaying various consumer goods. Inaugurating the event, Ambassador of India Gurjit Singh said India considers Djibouti an important partner in the "Horn of Africa" and the bilateral trade has risen by 72 per cent in 2006.

The trade volume has increased by 45 per cent in 2007 and today it is about $310 million, he said. "This is indeed a significant enhancement and we are happy at the growth of our relationship with Djibouti," he added.

Source: Economic Times

AU Delegation in Somali Capital

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Insurgents launched mortars at the airport as an African Union team left Somalia Wednesday, killing a 13-year-old boy and wounding three others, witnesses said.

Hours earlier, mortars also were launched at the presidential palace just after Said Djinnit, head of the AU Peace and Security Council, and other officials had a meeting there, witnesses said. A spokesman for Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf said none of the weapons landed inside the compound.

Djinnit said as he arrived Wednesday that the one-day visit is a show of support for the government, which is battling an Islamic insurgency that has killed thousands of civilians over the past year.

"On the other hand we want see the welfare and the work of our troops, who are doing (a) wonderful job here on our behalf," Djinnit told journalists in the capital, Mogadishu.
As Djinnit was leaving, a mortar landed on a home near the airport, said Mohamed Yusuf, a relative of the boy who died.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since clan-based warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other, sinking the poverty-stricken nation of 7 million people into chaos.

Its weak transitional government, backed by Ethiopian troops, is struggling to quash an Islamic insurgency. Uganda and Burundi have sent peacekeepers to Somalia, officially as the vanguard of an 8,000-strong African Union peacekeeping force. But no other countries have sent reinforcements so far.

The AU has come under attack before in the capital.
Source: AFP

Anagoo Ka Tirsan Jaaliyada Reer Awdal Ee Ku Dhaqan Wadanka "Malaysia"

INAA LILAAH WA INAA ILEYHI RAAJICUUN:Anagoo Ka Tirsan Jaaliyada Reer Awdal Ee Ku Dhaqan Wadanka "Malaysia" Ee Cariga Asia, Waxaan Tacsi u Diraynaa Qoyskii & Qaraabadii & Asxaabtii Iyo Dhamaan Inta Ku Hadasha Afka Soomaaliga Amase Af Carabiga, Tacsidan Oo Ah Tacsi Lama Ilaawaan ah Qof Walboo Somali ah Maskaxdiisu Aysan Marnaba ka Maqnaani Doonin Ayuu Ahaa Alle ha u Naxariistee Marxuum XASAN SHEEKH MUUMIN GORAD.....


Prof. Maxamad muuse jibriil
Prof. C/kariim sh. Cilmi talan
DR:C/rassaq axmad qaalib
Eng.Qumane jaamac qumane
Dr. fahad cabdalla axmad
Abdihakeem Ahmed Ali Miigane ( Cabdi Fadxi )
C/qani maxamad c/laahi (abuwalad)
C/kariim xuseen miigane.
Maxamad muxumad caynaan
Faarah siciid daahir
Jaamac cumar maxamuud (rooje)
C/laahi xaaji siciid maxamuud
C/fataax maxamuud cige
Raage barkhad maxamuud
Maxamad c/laahi axmad
C/salaam c/laahi axmad
mawliid cumar mumin
Ramadan xuseen maxamuud
Xasan aadan cali
Axmadnuur cali muxumed
C/rasaaq axmad qaalib
Idiris habane cismaan
Maxamad mustafe muuse
Maxamad c/raxmaan barkhad
C/laahi bashiir sh. Faarah (borneo)
Sh. Mukhtaar ibraahim diiriye (ma dhibe)
C/raxmaan muuse Bile
C/salaam mustafe ibraahim.
Guleed khadar x.xuseen
C/wali cumar cali
badri maxamad cali ( barwaaqo)

Waxa Kale Oo Aan Tacsidan u Diraynaa Dhammaan Dadka Reer Awdal Iyo Ummada Somaaliyeed Oo Dhan Meel Kasta Oo Ay Joogaanba. Xasan Sheekh Mumnin Ma Uusan Ahayn Oo Keliya, Abwaan Ee Waxa Uu Ahaa Taariikhyahan, Aqoonyahan, Gabyaa Mu"alif, Iyo Hogaamiye Bulsho Oo Ay Adag Tahay Sida Loo Iloobi Karo Amase Lagaga Kaban Karo Marxuumka Illaahay Janadii Fardowza Ha Ka Waraabiyee Aamiin Aamiin Aamiin !!
Ilaahay Samirka Ha Inaga Wada Siiyo, Isna Janada Ilaahay Ha Ka Waraabiyo.
Inaa Lillah Wa Inaa Ilaahi Raajicuun.

Abdihakeem Ahmed Ali Miigane ( Cabdi Fadxi )
Emial ---> Miigane@yahoo.com