He had been caught in Kenya fleeing the fighting in Somalia. U.S. officials allowed him to be returned
NAIROBI, KENYA, March 16, 2007 - A U.S. citizen who was caught fleeing the recent fighting in Somalia was questioned about links to Al-Qaida by the FBI in Kenya, then quietly sent back to the ravaged country, where he was turned over to Ethiopian forces.
Amir Mohamed Meshal, 24, is now imprisoned in Ethiopia, where the State Department's 2006 human rights report says "conditions in prisons and pre-trial detention centers remain very poor."
Up To 40,000 Civilians Flee Mogadishu
NAIROBI, March 15, 2007 – Escalating violence and insecurity in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, forced at least 40,000 civilians to flee the city in February, United Nations humanitarian agencies working in the country have said.
"Insecurity, fear of attacks, removal from public buildings and outright violence are the main reasons for the movement of peoples and more than 40,000 people have left Mogadishu in the past month," the agencies said in a February situation report released on Wednesday.
New York, March 14, 2007—A reporter for a leading broadcaster in the capital Mogadishu, has been jailed incommunicado since Friday by Somalia’s Ethiopian-backed transitional government while reporting on a story, local journalists told CPJ.
Hassan Sade Dhaqane of private HornAfrik radio, the country’s first independent broadcaster, was arrested by three security agents while reporting on a security operation by peacekeeping Ugandan troops near Mogadishu’s airport, HornAfrik Co-manager Ali Iman Sharmake told CPJ. Dozens of people have been killed during increasing insurgent attacks
Nairobi, Mar 14, 2007 – The Muslim community in Mombassa recently demonstrated against the government on what they perceive as the marginalization of their community .They blamed the government for sending Muslims Kenyans to Somalia in the name of terrorists.
The closing of the Kenya-Somalia border to stop the fleeing refugees from entering into Kenya was unfortunate. Rafael Tuju Kenya ’s Foreign Affairs Minister did not handle the issue prudently.
KAMPALA, Uganda, March 14, 2007 – THE three UPDF soldiers, who were injured in last week's rocket grenade attack in the Somali capital Mogadishu have been flown back to Kampala for treatment.
Daily Monitor has established that two of the victims are admitted at Mbuya Military Hospital while the other is in Ward 6A at Mulago Hospital.
Mogadishu, March 16, 2007 – The second phase of Ethiopian troops' withdrawal from Somalia has concluded, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin said on Thursday. Mesfin arrived in the Somali capital Mogadishu Thursday in an unannounced visit and held talks with President Abdillahi Yusuf, other Somali transitional federal government (TFG) officials, clan elders and civil society leaders. "We discussed with the Somali government the bilateral relations between the two countries.
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Mogadishu, 17 March, 2007 - The price of small arms sold in Mogadishu's Bakara Market has increased lately, according to arms sellers in Irtogte within Bakara market.
Irtogete is a market in which the various types of weaponries are exclusively sold.
One of the arms sellers in the market, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in fear of reprisal, told Shabelle that the price of weapons rose high after insecurity in Mogadishu mounted.
Former speaker, Aden (L), President Yusuf (C), PM Gedi (R) |
Addis Ababa, 17 March 2007 - In mid November 2006, he had landed in Mogadishu in a controversial manner.
Without the consent of the interim President and the Prime Minister of Somalia he attempted to broker a deal between the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) and the Transitional Federal Government (TFG)
Mogadishu, 14 March 2007 - An African Union delegation and Ethiopian foreign minister, Seum Mesfin, arrived at Mogadishu international airport on Thursday amid security was tightened.
The delegation met with senior Somali government officials in the Somali capital Mogadishu.
Sources close to the transitional government said the delegation was led by Ethiopian foreign minister and the Somali ambassador to Addis Ababa, Abdikarim Farah Laqanyo.
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Mogadishu, 15 March.2007 - THE UN Security Council on Tuesday condemned attacks against African Union (AU) peacekeepers in Somalia and urged all Somali parties to foster an ‘inclusive political process.’
Ugandan troops, which form the vanguard of the expected 8,000 strong peacekeeping force, have been attacked three times since they arrived a week ago, injuring two soldiers.
Sanaa, 28 February – The Board of Directors of Yemen Times Establishment for Press and Publishing has officially appointed Nadia Abdulaziz Al-Saqqaf as the new Editor-in-Chief of The Yemen Times starting tomorrow, March 1st 2005.
After roughly six years of service as the Editor-in-Chief, Walid Al-Saqqaf will be ending his term of office and temporarily leaving Yemen for training and post-graduate studies.
Somalia’s foreign minister, Ismail Hurra Buba |
Mogadishu 18, March.07 - The Somali government revealed on Saturday that it would not be involved in the Somali national reconciliation conference due to be held in Mogadishu.
Somalia’s foreign minister, Ismail Hurra Buba, told Shabelle in an interview yesterday that the reconciliation conference did not mean that the routed Islamists and the government would sit and negotiate. “The Somalia national reconciliation meeting is not for particular groups or organizations. It is open for all Somalis to come together, to reconcile and decide the future of this country,” he said
ADDIS ABABA, 16 March 2007 - Ethiopia on Friday called for international pressure to be applied on Eritrea, which it accuses of holding eight Ethiopians still missing after the release of five European captives this week. A British embassy group of five people, abducted in the northeast Ethiopian desert on March 1, was released on Tuesday in Eritrea, but eight Ethiopian drivers and guides accompanying them are still missing.
"We have to keep up the pressure. The international community should also put the pressure on the Eritrean government to release the eight Ethiopian hostages," Ethiopian foreign ministry spokesman Soloman Abebe told AFP.
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MOGADISHU, 14 March 2007 - Somalia's president came under mortar attack in his palace Tuesday just hours after moving in, but escaped unharmed in the assault that killed a 12-year-old boy and wounded three of his siblings. Officials said six others were killed in the increasingly violent capital.
Gunbattles raged as insurgents launched their most violent attacks since the interim government took control of Mogadishu at the beginning of the year.
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Mogadisho, 15 March 2007 - The transitional federal government in Somalia has strongly dismissed on Wednesday reports saying that the United States government has covert jails inside Somalia.
Somali’s interior minister Mohamed Mohamud Guled known as ‘Gama-dhere’ said the US has no prison cells in Somalia describing it as false news exaggerated by the media.
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Beletwein, 16 March 2007 - Somali soldiers were responsible for robbing a government checkpoint that collects taxes in the central Hiran region, police officials said.
The incident happened in the Hiran regional capital Beletwein midday Friday when an unknown number of armed and uniformed soldiers stormed the checkpoint and exchanged gunfire with policemen there for several minutes.
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Protesting traders with their animals try to reach the presidential palace on Friday |
Hargeysa, Somaliland, March 17, 2007 (SL Times) – The Hargeysa regional security committee last night sentenced 18 butchers and meat stall traders, who took part in Thursday's demonstration against the mayor of Hargeysa, to six months in prison and one protestor was fined Sl/sh 1 million ($160). Ten of the protestors were women.
The regional security committee was declared by Somaliland’s previous and current parliaments as an illegal committee that should not have the legal authority or discretion to sentence a person to prison. Parliament has affirmed that only the judiciary has the authority to send someone to prison. The opposition and human right workers have stated on many occasions that the constitution specifically states 'no citizen can be sentenced to prison without having a fair and lawful trial before a court of law'
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Hargeysa, March 17, 2007 (SL. Times) - Somaliland Government announced last Thursday that it has banned air and land travel from Somalia into Somaliland.
According to a circular issued by Somaliland’s Minister for Civil Aviation, Ali Mohamed Waran-adde, the reason for the ban is to prevent a diarrhea outbreak which took place in Somalia, particularly Mogadishu and Bossaso, from spreading to Somaliland. The minister ordered Somaliland’s airline companies and land transportation not to collect passengers from, or, to Somalia, until new information is released by ministry.
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Swedish Gov’t Decides To Allocate Development Aid to Somaliland Proportionally With Somalia
STOCKHOLM, Sweden, March 16, 2007 (SL. Times) – The Swedish government issued a statement on March 15, 2007 stating that it would treat Somaliland as a self-governing area.
The most significant issue in the government's decision is how the Swedish government sees the situation in Somaliland.
The Swedish government stated that "Somaliland which takes politically a unique position shall be treated for the first time as a self-governing area”
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Commentary
The media across the United States are celebrating Sunshine Week with all smiles. This is because of the freedom of information, which is entrenched in the Constitution of the United States.
However, the picture in Africa remains somber and bleak for journalists and independent media. The reporters from the continent have nothing to celebrate.
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HARGEISA, March 14, 2007 – Arab League Secretary General Amr Mousa agreed to send a high-ranking delegation to Somaliland to end Somaliland’s isolation in the Arab world.
Somaliland’s Foreign Minister Abdillahi Duale said Mousa made the pledge in a meeting with him at African Summit in Addis Ababa early 2007.
In a telephone conversation with Awdalnews Network, Duale said that Somaliland had briefed Mousa on the situation of the country and on Somaliland’s irreversible decision on its secession from Somalia.
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ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, March 16, 2007 – Ashenafi Mekonnen, a tour guide and his cook friend Deash Baye are two of the eight Ethiopians who are still held captive in the kidnapping saga which started on March 1, “I know both of them since childhood. It is so sad to lose them and life is not the same for us since the kidnapping,” Berihun Kebede, a good friend of both Ashenafi and Mekonnen told SSI. Both Ashenafi and Debash are orphans.
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Analysis
Scott A. Morgan
March 14, 2007 – There is an underlying problem within Somalia. Most pundits don’t refer to it when they discuss the issue on TV. Nor do the African Specialists when they brief their home Governments. The question is easy to ask but the answer has everyone scratching their heads. The question is what will be the status of Somaliland?
First of all what exactly is Somaliland? Somaliland is the area of Somalia that was known as British Somaliland before the Second World War. It was the base of the Allied Effort to restore the previous Government in Ethiopia after it was invaded by Fascist Italy.
THE new UN Secretary General is fortunate enough to have come at a time when the US failures in Iraq and Afghanistan have mellowed American unilateralist tendencies and pushed the world agenda back to the UN corridors.
The increasing US reliance on international consensus on Iran and North Korea’s nuclear issues as well as its turnaround on its intransigent position on Iraq provides an unprecedented opportunity to Ban Ki-Moon to be more of a General than a Secretary. But true to his low-key profile and being America’s man, the new Secretary General has already chosen to be a loyal, docile secretary than a commanding general. By making his first mission to Africa, he underlined his intention of skirting thorny issues such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, the Israeli-Palestinian issue and Lebanon.
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“We welcome the progress that has been made in Somaliland towards stability and democracy" British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett |
By Steve Atkinson
Is British policy towards Somaliland slowly changing? The past month has seen a number of events in the UK bring the Somaliland question to the fore: the demonstration by Somaliland diaspora in London on 22 February in support of self-determination; the petition for independence handed to Prime Minister Blair and the questions raised in the House of Commons.
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A man wounded in a mortar attack on the presidential palace in the Somali capital Mogadishu is taken to hospital, March 14, 2007 |
MOGADISHU, 16 March, 2007 – An old landmine detonated accidentally by children killed nine people and wounded four on Friday near the Somali capital Mogadishu, police said.
Somalia is awash with armaments after 16 years of civil war. A local police chief said the device was dug up by the children of refugees fleeing mounting violence in the city.
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Hargeysa, March 17, 2007 (SL. Times) - Abdul-Qani Ahmed Askar, a freelance journalist and a former TV departmental head of the state run SLNTV was arrested last Thursday by Hargeysa CID police department. He was taken in to custody late Thursday afternoon and was released on bail early Saturday morning without formally being charged for any crime.
Muhammed Hussen (Rambo), the editor of the Hargeysa based publication ‘Horn of Africa’ newspaper told Somaliland Times that he was allowed in to see Abdul-Qani Ahmed on Friday inside the CID headquarters. Rambo added that the freelance journalist, Abdul-Qani Ahmed said to him that he was arrested on the orders of the state prosecutor Saeed M Obosiiye (the chief prosecutor in the Haatuf trial), and up to now (Friday) does not know why he was arrested or for that matter, detained
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Addis Ababa, 17 March 2007 - In his press conference to both local and foreign journalists last Monday, Prime Minister Meles said that this time around his government and the IMF had agreed on the facts, while there is a slight disagreement about future policy stances.
Responding to a question that gave emphasis to the ideological differences between the IMF liberal economic agenda and the government's developmental state, Meles said that fortunately this was not an ideological debate. This was an assessment of the fact and the figures.
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Journalists working for Haatuf Media Network, among them Mr. Muhamad Rashid Farha (2nd left upper row) with Mr. Hassan Shire Sheikh, head of the EHAHRD-Net delegation (3rd left, upper row) |
Objectives of the mission
It is the denial of a fair trial to Yusuf Gabobe and his fellow accused that has made this mission necessary. It was believed that a direct assessment of the situation on spot as well as proactive cooperation with the civil society in Somaliland was necessary to actively reinforce local and international efforts to lobby the authorities for affording a fair trial to the detained journalists. The objectives of the mission therefore were:
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International News
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Tehran, 17 March 2007 - Iran 's Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh has said that the Islamic Republic will sell its oil in all currencies.
"Our oil sales will be in every currency," Dow Jones reported Hamaneh as saying on the sidelines of an OPEC meeting in Vienna on Thursday.
Iran has already said it will carry out all its oil-industry related equipment purchases in euros instead of dollars and previously said it has informed its oil buyers that they should pay Iran in euros for the crude oil they purchase.
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By John Pilger
"Hugo Chávez expresses the kind of genuine exuberant democracy long ago abandoned in Britain"
In Andrew Cockburn's new book, Rumsfeld, the gap between rampant power and its faraway victims is closed. Donald Rumsfeld, US secretary of defence until last year and a designer of the Iraq bloodbath, is revealed as personally directing from his office in the Pentagon the torture of fellow human beings, exploiting "individual phobias, such as fear of dogs, to induce stress" and use of "a wet towel and dripping water to induce the misperception of suffocation".
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Athens, 17 March, 2007 - The death toll in the latest attempt by illegal refugees to reach Europe via boat rose to nine on Sunday as coast guards found another three bodies near the Aegean island of Samos, Greek radio reported.
Earlier, the bodies of six people had been washed ashore on the island. At least one child was among the dead.
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February 27, 2007
The major national newspapers and most broadcast outlets failed even to report Thursday’s stunning testimony by former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Brzezinski, national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter, is among the most prominent figures within the US foreign policy establishment. He delivered a scathing critique of the war in Iraq and warned that the policy of the Bush administration was leading inevitably to a military confrontation with Iran which would have disastrous consequences for US imperialism.
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The June 2002 Plan to Market a New 9/11 Mastermind
The Pentagon has released a 26 page transcript of the "confession" of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (pdf) who is
now being presented to World public opinion as the mastermind and architect of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
This "confession" was read (in his presence) from a prepared text by his "personal [legal?] representative" at "military hearings" held behind closed doors at the US Guantanamo concentration camp
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New York, March 16, 2007 - United Nations human rights and humanitarian officials today deplored the assassination of a leading human rights activist in Somalia, saying such attacks were all too common in the strife-torn Horn of Africa nation.
Isse Abdi Isse, the chairman of KISIMA, a non-governmental organization (NGO), was shot dead yesterday in a hotel in the capital, Mogadishu, where he had been participating in a workshop
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Editorial
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Corrupt politicians are bad enough for any country. Corrupt judges are even worse, because the justice system is supposed to be the place where problems are resolved. But the very worst situation is when corrupt politicians and corrupt judges work together to subvert the law. This is what happened in the case of Haatuf journalists who were jailed on President Rayale’s order which was rubber stamped by Somaliland’s courts. No doubt, President Rayale’s conduct was shameful, but that of the judges was even more so. Through their behavior, the judges not only committed a great injustice but they have made a mockery of the idea of an independent judiciary. Now everyone can see that there is no such thing as an independent judiciary in Somaliland.
Separation of powers between the executive, the legislative and judicial systems is one of the ways in which society tries to ward off the possibility of dictatorship. The idea is that the various power centers will check and balance each other, so that no single branch of government concentrates too much power in its hands.
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Special Report |
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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By Ahmed Egal, Beijing, PRC
BBC Somali Section, like everything else in our world, is constantly changing. What was once strict ethic of the BBC may be considered as non ethic now.
It is unfortunate that the internationally accredited BBC is still accommodating a Somali Warlord and permitted him to use the only source of information and news of the Somali people, for his sinister and criminal advocating propaganda internationally. Yusuf Garad is a Somali Warlord who is to be removed like all others were disgracefully chased away from their strong forts.
Yusuf Garad is using a distant fort called BBC Bush House, where he devours irrationally all news that doesn’t match his wishes. He immorally disregards all information and news that does not serve his purpose, which is clannish in one time, hate propagating and supporting certain factions against others on the other hand.
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Mr. President, Back Off From Your Self-Defeating Mission: And Reform Your Leadership and Administration
Part Two
By Farah Ali Jama, Ottawa. Canada
Mr. President, your clandestine activities and subversive strategy are out there in the open for all to see. And the citizenry of Somaliland are an intelligent; politically conscious, and visionary people that cannot be fooled by a despotic tin pot dictator in sheep’s coating or by anyone else and have a free reign over the people and their motherland. Note: It is this intrepid people who destroyed the fascist Seyid Mohamed Abdulla Hassan, the Italian invasion of Somaliland in the 1940s, one of the most powerful in sub-Sahara of the deposed fascist and tyrannical military regime of Dictator Siyad Barre, and it is this gallant and vigilant people who are in guard to defend their just cause and existence of Somaliland by any means possible. So put these brief facts into account.
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Dear Mr. President: Please Release My Father!
This is an open letter to the President of Somaliland from the daughter of the jailed Haatuf journalist Mohamed Omer Sh Ibrahim
By Hibo Mohammed Omer Sh. Ibrahim
I am writing to you as I am convinced that the illegal arrest and the appalling verdict against the Haatuf journalist not only undermines efforts to bring international recognition to Somaliland but also exposes the instability of the current judicial system.
As the daughter of Mohammed Omar Sheikh Ibrahim, one of the journalists that has been imprisoned for “defaming the good name” of the President I feel that I have a right to express my opinion about this matter. My father, who exercised his life long dream in journalism for more than 30 years, has I feel established himself as a credible journalist and should not be punished for doing his job. Having studied A level Media studies and Law I feel that I have some knowledge of what is meant by a successful judicial system as well as the importance of freedom of speech.
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By Noah Arre
Somaliland Democracy Is By The People, From The People And For The People! And those who find that as a bitter dose that is hard to swallow, tell them, love it or leave it. Unfortunately, the fledgling democracy of Somaliland seems to be under total siege and some thing must be done so that it can survive from the impending catastrophe that seems to be looming on the horizon.
First, it is unfortunate and in fact stupid that some myopic, seemingly ignorant clan loyalists are constantly whipping the hearts and minds of the people of Somaliland. They are sorrowfully whining over trivial issues which may have the potential to create tensions that are capable of derailing the hard-won democracy, peace and stability of our great country, Somaliland! …a Somaliland that despite international isolation earned the praise and respect of the international community and described as Africa’s Best Kept Secret! The Peaceful Island In The Burning Sea! The Little Country That Could!
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By Abukar Y. Sanei
The claim of a "progress" in Somalia has been made by Vicki Huddleston, the former acting US Ambassador to Ethiopia and a nonresident senior fellow of Foreign Policy Studies at Brookings Institution. Mrs. Huddleston has made her assessment of "progress" in Somalia at the Council on Foreign Relations [CFR]. In addition to this report, on January 3rd, 2007, she wrote an op-ed to the Washington Times. In this article, which was entitled "Opportunity in Somalia," she accused the Arab League that they were siding with the ICU, despite the fact that Sudan has played a key role for mediating between the ICU and the TFG. And who was responsible for the failure of the negotiation process between the TFG and the ICU is really controversial. Therefore, praising Ethiopia for its meddling into the affairs of Somalia or the AU for its readiness to send troops to Somalia, and belittling any efforts that might be provided by the Arab League is not, in fact, a productive assessment.
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By Mohamed Yassin, Hargeisa, Somaliland
It is evident that Ghana and Somaliland have been enjoying good diplomatic relations for the last three years. As Somalilander, I’ve seen Ghana as “big sister” and potential candidate willing to be the first country in the black continent to grant a full recognition to Somaliland. The president of Ghana, John Agyekum Kuffour is the current chairman of the African Union, and as that country celebrates the 50th anniversary of its nationhood. There is a likely that Ghana will be the first African country to give Somaliland the birth certificate.
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By Abdirahman Haji Abubakar, Ottawa, Ontario
When the Somali British Protectorate took its independence in June 26, 1960 from the British, the politicians and the elders of the North rushed to join the south to create a Somali Republic with good intensions. Boy, what a mistake that was! Somalia was nothing but a disaster for the last forty years under the leadership of the south. Now all of a sudden the leaders of the TFG are saying Somalia is one and it will never be divided. In 1960 when both the North and South gained their independence, the leaders of the North immediately agreed to join the South without giving much of a thought of what they were getting into. The leaders of the North sent a delegation to Mogadishu even before they gained their independence to pave the way the birth of a Somali nation. There was never any written agreement between the North and the South regarding the unification. Siyad Barre wrote a constitution in 1984 saying Somalia is one nation.
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By Faisal M. Aideed, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
To: Somaliland Parliament Sincerely,
This is a petition that will be submitted to the Somaliland parliament to start the impeachment process for the president, Dahir Rayale Kahin.
Due to severe complications of financial wrong doings by the president and his unconstitutional roles in over throwing or couping the National Election Commission (NEC) and confiscating their properties such as personnel mobile phones and vehicles in front of the public instead of recognizing and prizing their well-done job. This person has proved more than once that he has betrayed the laws of Somaliland constitution and has violated the trust of the citizens who brought him to the power.
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| FEATURES & COMMENTARY |
By Gwynne Dyer
Through sixteen years of violent anarchy, most of Mogadishu's population stayed put, but in the past few weeks tens of thousands have fled. Since Ethiopian troops installed the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in the city in late December, the Somali capital's brief interval of peace and security has given way to renewed fighting, with the Ethiopian invaders replying to mortar attacks on their bases with indiscriminate artillery fire in the middle of the city.
Almost all Somalis see Ethiopia as their country's main enemy, and behind the Ethiopians they see the United States. So when the Union of Islamic Courts that restored peace to the ruined city last June was forced to flee in late December, and U.S. aircraft attacked retreating UIC fighters (targeting suspected Al-Qaeda members, they claimed), resistance was inevitable.
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Analysts in the West have tended to interpret the current crisis in Somalia primarily as a conflict between Islamist extremists and the Ethiopian supported Transitional Federal Government (TFG.). However, it is important to realize that the Somali crisis is fundamentally rooted in clan rivalries and sub-clan conflicts, and this is the main reason why a functioning government has proven so elusive.
It is virtually impossible to create a viable government when there are no functioning institutions to carry out its objectives. If that wasn’t tough enough, Somalia is also saddled with the compounding problem of the sheer numbers of participants included in its fledgling government. This phenomenon is necessitated by the belief that the right formula for a Somali government should have every tribe, clan, and sub-clan represented, preferably by its own warlords or those aspiring to emulate them.
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By J. Peter Pham, Ph.D.
15 March 2007
More than three months after the United Nations Security Council first authorized an international contingent to go into the territory of the onetime Somali Democratic Republic to keep a nonexistent peace and nearly two months after the armed forces of neighboring Ethiopia drove off the Islamist forces of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) which had seized control of large parts of the country, the first elements of the African Union (AU) peacekeepers began arriving in the war-ravaged land this past week.
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Introduction
Good evening, and thank you, Frank Burd, for your kind introduction. I am glad to have this opportunity to meet with the Baltimore Council on Foreign Affairs and discuss the topic you suggested to me for tonight: Somalia.
I know that a lot of ink has recently been dedicated to this subject in the domestic and international press. Yet, Somalia remains a country that is not well known to many Americans. Somalia attracted great attention in the Ogaden conflict with Ethiopia in 1977-78 for its impact on superpower relations. We remember Zbigniew Brzezinski's trenchant comment that the U.S.-Soviet strategic arms treaty was, as he put it, "buried in the sands of the Ogaden."
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Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
March 17, 2007
Through these columns, we focalized on the complex Eastern African issues that the present US administration failed to perceive correctly. Continuing colonial style assessments and involvements, the US backed the most hated African tyrant, Tigray thug Meles Zenawi of Abyssinia, in an effort to kick the Islamists out of Somalia. Instead of achieving this, the paranoid dictator helps spread Islamist fire throughout Eastern Africa, as he made the Somali Islamic Courts of Justice the best present they could have ever imagined.
Having become the African heroes fighting against the American charlatan of puppet, the outlawed and omnipotent Islamists of Somalia have already become the recipient of all sorts of demands for support of locally oppressed peoples and minorities. We will have the opportunity to analyze extensively the critical events at the Horn of Africa as the area seems to become the High Place of the Islamic Terror International Incorporate.
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By Cabdale Faarah sigad
Freedom of speech is not a living thing, so it doesn’t have an emotions or feelings nor can it see or hear or feel pain. But in relation to the Haatuf News affairs, President Rayaale and his family are humans like us and they can feel everything freedom of speech can’t. So who deserves protection’ the president and his family or freedom of speech?
As an outside observer I think people who run Somaliland media use freedom of speech for their own purposes and if anybody is abusing freedom of speech in Somaliland, it must be those who run the media.
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