Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Feb 3, 2006 (Reuters) – Somalia's breakaway enclave of Somaliland deserves to be rewarded for creating peace from anarchy, but no one should confuse Ethiopia's establishment of trade links there as recognition of its bid for nationhood, Ethiopia's foreign minister said on Friday.
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Cairo, Egypt, Jan 30, 2006 (Zee News) – An American-Italian team of archaeologists has found the remains of 4,000-year-old ships that used to carry cargo between Pharaonic Egypt and the mysterious, exotic land of Punt, the Supreme Council of Antiquities has announced.
Hargeysa, Somaliland, February 1, 2006 (afrol News) – Protests are emerging as the government of the republic of Somaliland disclosed a business agreement involving exploration on a territory Somaliland claims is occupied by troops from the autonomous Somali region of Puntland. Puntland authorities last year had sold exclusive mining rights in all its territory, including parts claimed by Somaliland, to an Australian company.
Somaliland has been a self-declared independent state since 1991, and draws its legitimacy and international borders back to the days of British colonialism - as opposed to the Italian colonization of Somalia. Puntland, on the other hand, is an autonomous region in Somalia, under direct control of Colonel Abdillahi Yusuf Ahmed, who later has become Somalia's transitional President.
Djibouti, January 30, 2006 (ADI) – The members of the National Assembly met this morning under the chairmanship of Idriss Arnaoud Ali with a view to adopting a motion for a resolution on the new internal rules governing parliament.
Perfecting its working methods that it had began on 21 January by voting the private bill on constitutional review ratified unanimously on 23 January by the 53 deputies present, the National Assembly this morning unanimously adopted its new internal rules.
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Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, January 31, 2006 (Sapa-DPA) – Ethiopian authorities on Tuesday announced a ban on exports of four types of grain in an effort to stabilize the local grain market.
The ban, taking immediate effect, includes the indigenous fine grain teff from which the country's staple flat bread injera is baked.
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Wajir, Kenya, Feb. 01, 2006 (Standard) – At least four Kenyans are said to have starved to death at a Somali border town in the last two days.
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Jowhar, February 02, 2006 (Sapa-AP) – Somalia's premier on Wednesday said that he opposed the transitional parliament's first meeting in the southern town of Baidoa, saying talks across the anarchic country are necessary to prepare the ground for the session.
Nairobi, Kenya, Jan. 29, 2006 (The Standard) – A multi-national force has been deployed at the Indian Ocean coast to combat [the] rising number of sophisticated pirates. It is feared that the activities of the pirates could cost Kenya 10bn shillings [about 139m dollars] in lost revenue.
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Nairobi, Kenya, Jan 31, 2006 (Xinhua) – The United States navy has handed over suspected Somali pirates it captured off the coast of Somalia after firing warning shots at their ship a week ago, in the first sign of a military crackdown on Somalia's anarchic coastal waters.
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BRUSSELS, Jan 31, 2006 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Djibouti has ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention last Wednesday, said a press release of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) on Tuesday.
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Nairobi, February 4, 2006 (VOA) – An official from the International Crisis Group today said Somaliland may gain recognition as an independent state at some point in the future.
Talking to VOA, Matt Bryden, the director of the Horn of Africa Project of the ICG, says the breakaway republic’s claim to recognition is “consistent with the AU charter.” Bryden adds, “Having once been an independent state, Somaliland’s claim to independence is probably stronger than that of territories such as Eritrea and Western Sahara, that are already members of the AU.”
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Abdillahi Yusuf Takes Refuge In Galkayo After Falling Out With Geedi And Addis Ababa
Col. Abdillahi Yusuf, the president of Somalia’s Transitional Federal government (right) and Sharif Hassan speaker of TFG parliament (left) in Yemen.
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, February 4, 2006 (SL Times) – Col. Abdillahi Yusuf, the president of Somalia’s Transitional Federal government on Thursday arrived in his home town of Galkayo following his recent fall out with his premier, Ali Mohamed Geedi, amid an increasing Ethiopian displeasure with his bellicosity in relation with other Somali groups.
Abdillahi Yusuf ruled out returning to Jowhar, the seat of his government and located about 650km to the south of Galkayo, apparently for security reasons.
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By Margaret Besheer
Washington, February 03, 2006 (VOA News) – Muslims around the world are protesting the publication of 12 caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed. The drawings were first printed in a Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, in September, but several European newspapers have since reprinted them, saying it is a matter of free speech, not religious beliefs.
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There are strange and some very unorthodox things happening in Somaliland. Our confusion stems from the following catalogue of events:
1. Our President has become the Business Development Manager of Somaliland Private Company Ltd. He now travels around the World promoting business ventures!! Well, if that's what he wants to do, why not take the role of Chief Executive??!! What is perplexing is why our President discussing business ventures abroad without the appropriate Line Ministers, advisers and support?? Are his Minister of Information and his private secretary the only advisers he needs these days to turn around Somaliland Economy!!??
2. The present Government has often been criticized for its lack of transparency. It seems to us that there may be some very good reasons behind this. Some of these reasons are catalogued below:...
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Hargeysa, Somaliland, Jan 31, 2006 (Reuters) - Somaliland has reacted angrily to a call by African leaders for a partial easing of a United Nations arms embargo on lawless Somalia, fearing the weapons may one day be turned against the breakaway enclave.
African Union member states last week urged the United Nations to make an exemption in the embargo to allow foreign peacekeepers to enter the Horn of Africa nation and help it restore a functioning government.
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Somaliland Forum Press Release
London, UK, Jan 30, 2006 (SL Times) – Somaliland Forum joins the government of the Republic of Somaliland in denouncing the illegitimate and fallacious contract the Australian company, Range Resources Ltd, entered into with an overseas company, Consort Private Ltd on 10/18/2005, to buy 50.1 percent of the sole and exclusive rights to all mineral, oil exploration and development in the break away region of Puntland including Sanaag and Sool regions which are within the borders of Somaliland. The authorities in Puntland neither have jurisdiction nor the dispensation to carry out any exploration on Somaliland territory.
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NAIROBI, Feb. 1, 2006 (Xinhuanet) -- A rift has again emerged in Somalia following a decision by the president and speaker to convene the parliamentary session at home for the first time since it was created in neighboring Kenya about two years ago.
Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Gedi has reportedly criticized the decision to call a key meeting of parliament in the town of Baidoa, 250 km southwest of Mogadishu later this month, saying the town is unsafe and that he was not consulted.
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International News
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Exclusive: We'll Help Sink Pirate Gang
Exclusive Scots Vow After Liner Attack By Armed Marauders 
The U.S. Navy's Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill follows a suspected pirate vessel in the Indian Ocean Saturday. After some aggressive action by Churchill, U.S. Sailors established communications and boarded the vessel.
By Himaya Quasem Sunday Mail
London, Jan 29, 2006 (Sunday Mail) – A SCOTS couple terrorized by gun-toting pirates in the Indian Ocean vowed to help convict the gang yesterday.
Allison Allan, 32, and fiance John Lygate, 40, below, were working on board a cruise liner when the pirates struck 100 miles off the coast of Somalia.
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Tripoli, Libya, January 30, 2006 (African News Dimension) – Libya has shut down its embassy in Denmark to protest against the Danish government’s silence over newspaper cartoons deemed offensive to Islam.
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Somali Man Shot Dead In London
London, February 2, 2006 (IRR) – The Somali community in the Woolwich area is in deep shock after the death of a 22-year-old Somali, Nuur Saeed, after an 'operation' by Woolwich police.
The police say that on 10 January Nuur was in a house at which they executed a search warrant in Plumstead. 'At 5pm Mr Saeed was found to be suffering from head injuries on the ground below the balcony of the second floor premises', according to a police statement. He was taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital by ambulance and later transferred to Kings College Hospital where he died on 24 January from complications arising from massive brain injury.
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Somaliland’s disheartening foreign policy needs an overhaul
By Dr. Mohamed A Omar. London , UK
At a time when Somaliland is wining the political battle for democratization, a serious shortcoming is emerging from its foreign policy which is creating a real concern. With the number of foreign countries and international agencies taking a fresh interest in Somaliland growing, the timing of this deficiency could not have been worse. For a deeper understanding of the issue, my argument is placed within a relevant international and regional political framework. I will argue it is not only a poor diplomatic capacity that is letting Somaliland dawn; it is also about a lack of vision and policy initiatives. An outsider with a proven track record in international diplomacy is needed to overhaul the ailing system.
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Editorial
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Every society has individuals who are not satisfied with staying in one location and who like to move from one place to another. Being nomads, or of nomadic background, many Somalis should have no problem understanding that kind of behavior. It is however a different matter when such peripatetic behavior is exhibited by people who claim to be a government, as is the case of the so-called government of Somalia. At any given moment, several members of this “government” are flying somewhere. Almost every day, you will hear that someone who belongs to one of its various factions, is on an “official” visit to this or that country. Sometimes, you would hear so-and-so just flew out of the country and so-and-so is on his way back, with little or no signs of coordination even among members of the same faction, as happened this week when Ali Gedi “the prime minister” flew to Addis Ababa as warlord Abdillahi Yusuf “the president” was departing Djibouti.
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Special Report
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REPORT ON FAMILIARISATION TOUR TO SOMALILAND
In November 2005, the Centre for Human Rights began investigating the possibility of a third destination for the LLM field trip. The reasons for increasing the number of field trip destinations to include Somaliland include the following:
• Somaliland is a state in the making; it would be ideal for students on the programme to have a first hand experience of this.
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Opinions
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Arab-African Competition in the Horn of Africa
By Ahmed M.I. Egal
The collapse of the state in the erstwhile Somali Republic in 1991 ushered an era of anarchy, warlord hegemony, sporadic famines and a regression to a pre-modern socio-political structure in that unhappy country. Indeed, some journalists and aid workers which have visited the country comment upon its resemblance to the post-apocalyptic vision of life depicted in the Mad Max movies of the 1980s.
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By Ahmed Hashi Dhimbiil
A few months ago I was in Nairobi, Kenya on a visit to family and friends. I arrived smack in the middle of the TFG elections and a city taken over by Somalis. Nairobi has become another Mogadishu, Somalis can be found in every nook and cranny, in fact, by eight in the morning no one can find hilib geel for the locals have taken a fancy to this Somali delicacy........
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By Mr. Ahmed M. Gedi (sanjab), Secretary General, SLD Justice & Welfare Party.
1. There is one thing that I know well, Somaliland is a constitutional State and Southern Somalia is State based on Clan- warlord-charter adopted by members of parliament nominated by Clan-warlords in a Conference held in a foreign soil.
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"Somaliland was not a party to the protocol which forms that basis of the whole concept of JNA".
"The information provided by the JNA web site does not show that Somaliland is represented at the crucial coordination support group (CSG), which oversees the operations of the JNA."
Dear Sir/Madam
I write to you with regard to the Joint Needs Assessment initiative which the UN and the World Bank currently are jointly implementing in Somaliland/Somalia the aim of which is to produce the Reconstruction and Development Program (RDP). This document (RDP) is intended to form the basis on which the international assistance is mobilised and coordinated for the period 2006 to 2010.
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Rayale’s Foreign Trips And The Chaos That Ensues On The Road To The Airport
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By Yussuf Abdillahi Mohamed, Hargeysa, Somaliland,
It has now become a commonplace that whenever president Rayale is going to or returning from a foreign trip, the road from the airport all the way to his residence turns into an occupation zone. Uniformed Policemen, trigger happy soldiers, and plain cloths line every five or so meters along the road to the airport. Add this to the numerous battle wagons, including anti-aircraft mounted ones that accompany the president, his vice president and some of his ministers and you will be forgiven to think that you are living in a country ruled by a military junta, rather than a democratically elected government.
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Is The JNA Poisonous Or Nutritional Pill?
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By Ali Gulaid, San Jose, CA, USA
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About four (4) years ago I wrote a short article with the title, “what is in a name” in which I argued that international organizations irrespective of country of origin or orientation should be welcomed only if and when they deal with Somaliland (SL) as a separate political entity albeit unrecognized.
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| FEATURES & COMMENTARY |
Reality Check On Ismail Omar Guelleh
President of Djibouti Ismail Omar Guelleh
By A. Duale Sii'arag
Djibouti perches strategically on the western side of the strait of Bab-el-Mandab - one of the vital shipping lanes of the world that connects the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. It is compactly squeezed between Eritrea and Somalia, while Ethiopia covetously envelops the tiny city-state from the west and south.
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The project aims to provide information to Somali people
Cardiff, February 2, 2006 (BBC News) – Somali people living in Wales are being given more support to access services such as health and education in an attempt to combat social exclusion.
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Finnish Muslims Understand Indignation Over Cartoons Of Prophet Muhammad
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Abdi-Hakim Yasin Ararse, vice chairman of the Islamic Society of Finland, examined copies of Danish cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed in a Helsinki mosque on Tuesday.
Helsinki, Finland, Feb. 01, 2006 (Helsingin Sanomat) – Muslims living in Finland have expressed understanding for the uproar in the Middle East over cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad published by a Danish newspaper.
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The Worst Drought In Three Decades In Somaliland
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This report is intended to raise awareness and raise funds for the people of Somaliland who have been affected by a severe drought. It came about as a result of a field trip by Mohamed Sh. Farah and A/wahab Egeh. It focuses on the region around Borama and up as far as the border with Djibouti and it offers the opportunity to address the development imbalance that has seen most agencies stay around the capital city Hargeysa; it looks at Lughaya and Saylac districts, which are hit by the worse drought in three decades.
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