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Students Uprising
of Feb 20th Observed by SONYO
Hargeisa, Feb 21, 2004 (SL Times) – An uprising staged by Hargeisa’s
school children in Feb. 20th, 1982 protesting the jailing of
members of the UFFO group, was observed yesterday in Somaliland’s
capital, Hargeisa.
UFFO was founded in 1981 as a self-help group with the aim of
improving community services. Most of the founders were arrested by
the then repressive regime of Somalia.
At least 2 school children were killed
when government forces of the late dictator, Mohamed Siyad Barre, opened
fire on demonstrating students
protesting the arrests in Feb 20th, 1982.
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Senior Puntland
Official Defects To Somaliland,
Abdillahi Yusuf’s Regime Crumbling From within
Hargeisa, Feb 21, 2004 (SL Times) – Mr. Hassan Mahmud Dhilood,
Puntland’s minister of education arrived in Hargeisa on Thursday after
defecting to Somaliland's authorities earlier this week.
News about the defection of the Sanag-born official was first reported
following his sudden arrival in Erigavo last Monday night. Mr. Hassan
Dhillood who is from the Dhulbahante clan, has declared allegiance to
Somaliland.
In addition to his job as education minister, Mr. Dhillood also served
as Abdillahi Yusuf’s war secretary for the Las-Anod area.
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Hargeisa Urban
Household Economy Assessment
Typically, there are only two sources of
food for urban households: market purchase (as described in the
Expenditure section above) and gifts of food (for poorer households).
Gifts of food tend to be given by middle and better off households to
their poorer neighbours and relatives. Both cooked food and dry food
are given, and in some cases this assistance is given daily,
particularly to neighbours. These two sources of food, market purchase
and gifts, are illustrated in the figure below, expressed in terms of
2,100 calories per person per day.14
The quality of diet improves significantly as households get
wealthier. Very poor and poor households can only afford to purchase
small quantities of vegetables, meat and milk powder, and the vast
majority of their calories come from cereals, sugar and vegetable oil.
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Dire Conditions
In The Togdheer Region - Fews Net
NAIROBI, 17 Feb 2004 (IRIN) - Extensive drought in the Togdheer Region
of the republic of Somaliland, where about 350,000 people live, has
forced schools to close, water wells to dry up and the livestock
population to decline significantly, the Famine Early Warning Systems
Network (FEWS NET) said on Monday.
"There is currently a severe drought in Togdheer Region, particularly
[in the] south and northwest due to successive rainfall failures,"
FEWS NET said in a report following an assessment mission to the
region conducted in late December. "The Somaliland authorities
conducted [an earlier] assessment... and called for international
assistance," it said.
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Nun Who Saw It
All And Died With The Story
John Kamau
Nairobi, February 16, 2004 (The East African Standard) – The death of
a key witness to the Wagalla massacre now means that the horrific
details from an independent source may never come to light.About four
months ago, just as the government promised to unearth what
really happened at the Wagalla airstrip, a lone gunman entered a
300-bed hospital compound in Borama town, Somaliland, and shot dead
60-year-old Italian nun, Dr Annalena Tonelli.
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International
News |
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U.S. General Visiting
Ethiopia Warns That A Clear Terrorist Threat Exists In East Africa
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, Feb 16, 2004 (AP) – A clear terrorist threat still
exists in East Africa, and greater military cooperation is needed to defeat
it, a top U.S. general warned on Monday during a visit to Ethiopia.
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Somali Was A
Flight Risk In US
By Cynthia Banham and Freya Petersen
San Diego, February 19, 2004 (f2Network) – An arrest warrant for Omar
Mohamed, the Somali man allegedly linked to a terrorist financing
group, was issued by a San Diego court while he was still in Australia
in December.
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Pakistani Said to
Have Given Libya Uranium
ISTANBUL, Feb. 20 (New York Times) — The network led by the Pakistani
nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan shipped partly enriched uranium
directly to Libya aboard a Pakistani airplane in 2001, providing the
fuel stock in addition to the designs and technology to make a nuclear
bomb, according to a report by Malaysian investigators released
Friday.
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Double Agent Plan
U.S. Attempt to Turn Al Qaeda Suspect Into U.S. Informant Soured by
Press Leak
By Pierre Thomas, Feb. 13 (ABC News) – Exclusive
When a Somali-born computer student was arrested in Minneapolis last
December on suspicion of helping al Qaeda, federal counterterrorism
officials thought they might finally have found what they desperately
need — a way of getting inside Osama bin Laden's shadowy network.
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Immigrants Celebrate
Britishness With New Ceremony
LONDON, February 20, 2004 (Reuters) - Mark Rimmer is planning a party. It
will be formal but fun, ceremonial but celebratory, and solemn but special.
Most of all, it will be historic.
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Reflections On
Multicultural Immigration's Threat To Women
By Brenda Walker
Feb 19, 2004
The mid-February birthday of suffragist icon Susan B. Anthony is a
reminder of the long struggle for women's right to vote, starting with
the 1848 Seneca Falls Declaration and culminating with the passage of
the 19th Amendment in 1920.
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How Fidel Castro
Convinced The Former USSR To Abandon Siyad Barre In Favor Of Mengistu
His country is important strategically, and he
likes prestige. Barre is very convinced of himself. His socialist rhetoric
is unbearable. He is the greatest socialist; he cannot say ten words without
mentioning
socialism.
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| Editorial
& Opinions |
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KULMIYE's Leaders
Less than 3 months ago, most Somalilanders would have agreed that in
the event Somaliland came under attack by a foreign aggressor,
KULMIYE's leaders would have fared better in defending the
country than those of UDUB. Indeed, KULMIYE as the main opposition
party in Somaliland, has always not only condemned Abdillahi Yusuf’s
policy of aggression toward Somaliland, but also criticized President
Rayale’s government for lacking resolve in defending the country’s
territorial integrity against the frequent incursions into Sool and
eastern Sanag by warlord Abdillahi Yusuf's militia. However, following
the recent escalation in tension between Somaliland and Abdillahi
Yusuf, as a result of the latter’s invasion of Las-Anod, the response
of KULMIYE's leaders has so far been an expression of lukewarm support
mixed with disdain for the government’s new-found zeal in challenging
Abdillahi Yusuf’s adventures in eastern Somaliland.
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Reflections On
Somaliland & Africa’s Territorial Order, Part: III
Ian S. Spears
Given the fluid nature of Somali clan ties
and the potential axes of division, a territorial state comprised of
anything but all Somali-inhabited territory is likely to be
contentious. However, Somaliland does have one key advantage: the
willingness of Somalilanders to settle for the previously established
borders of British Somaliland – imperfect as they are – allows them to
claim that they are continuing to respect the territorial integrity of
Africa’s colonial states and to conform to the Charter of the
Organization of African Unity.
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Again Opposition
Party Member Goes to Jail in Borama: How Sad!
By: Adan H Iman
Again, a member of the opposition KULMIYE party, this time the party
chief in the Region, is under detention in Borama allegedly because he
provided written statement to the press accusing the Mayor, Mr.
Abdirahman Sh Omar, inter alia, of misusing public funds in the amount
of $15,000. In an interview with the Jumhuuriya newspaper, the mayor,
who is an honorable man, is obviously hurt and offended by the
allegation.
Much as we sympathize with the mayor, the question is what law has the
police citied in detaining this gentleman? Do the mayor and the city
council members have the legal authority, or in collusion with the
police, in incarcerating anybody they wish?
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The Self Defeated
Colonel
By Sugal Omer
The so-called suicidal mission of Abdillahi Yusuf of Majerteenia to
Las-Anod is very much comparable to someone who pointed a loaded gun
to his head to hasten his own demise in broad day light. Remember it was Abdillahi
Yusuf who claimed that he is a great warrior and a giant
politician. That was then, a couple of weeks back while entertaining
his audience and misguided supporters from the pseudo-administration (maamul
goboled) of Majerteenia.
Today, there is no word from the propaganda mouth-piece of Abdillahi
Yusuf, the so-called allpuntland.com and other Majeerteen affiliated
websites about the defection of the Minister of Education, Mr. Hassan
Mohamoud Dhilood to Somaliland. Abdillahi Yusuf is in limbo. He is hiding,
his tail between his legs. He doesn’t want anyone to mention his long
record of crimes against humanity that he committed against the people
of Majerteenia or the very recent murders and mass executions he
perpetrated against Somaliland's citizens in Las Anod. The end is clear.
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The Colonel's
Bluff
By: Jamal Madar
A hard-line approach without sound military hardware is a dangerous
bluff that could be called. Thus, Colonel Abdillahi Youssef’s shrill
cry of joy (mashxarad) over the occupation of Las Anod may soon turn
into rivers of tears that could be irrigated in the drought stricken
areas of Sool.
In December 2003, a group of armed militiamen acting under the command
of Colonel Abdillahi Yousef- the absolute ruler of the autonomous
provincial administration of Majertenia (now calls itself Puntland)-
crossed the border into Somaliland Republic and occupied Las Anod- the
regional capital of Sool region. Since Puntland was formed in 1998,
the Colonel had always claimed Sool and eastern Sanaag regions that
are largely but not exclusively populated by Dhulbahante and
Warsangali clans, as his own territories. It is not clear how the
Colonel would manage to redraw the century-old colonial boundaries or
rewrite the history of these people but what is clear is that the
basis of his claims are at best ludicrous and at worst infantile.
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| Law |
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Woman Asks Bush
To Let Her Somali Husband Return
The call from the White House came
Wednesday night.
By Lisa Sandberg
San Antonio Express-News, February 20, 2004
By Thursday morning, Francesca Barreh was typing a frantic, last-ditch
appeal to the president as her three young sons ran wild in their
sparsely furnished Northwest Side apartment.
"Please, Mr. President George W. Bush, help bring my loving husband
home where he belongs," the letter read.
It's been a tough three weeks since her husband, Idriss, was ordered
to return to his native Djibouti in Africa because immigration
officials said his first marriage in the United States was a sham.
Unemployed, Barreh is running out of money and losing her apartment;
Idriss was the family's sole breadwinner.
Overwhelmed, she has little control over their rambunctious three
sons, Muhummed, 4; Ishmael 2; and Elijah, 9 months.
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