Bosaso, June 21, 2007 – The president of the regional authority of Puntland, Gen Adde Muse, has said the Asmara dissidents were undermining his administration.
Speaking to reporters in Boosaaso, he accused what he termed as Free Parliamentarians and members of [ousted] Union of Islamic Courts, who are stationed in Asmara, of seeking to destroy Puntland authorities. He, however, vowed to face them.
Mogadishu, June 20, 2007 – At least two people have been killed overnight in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, during gun battles between suspected insurgents and the police. Two police stations, one in the north and the other in the south of the city, were targeted in surprise raids.
The attacks come a day after Islamist fighters and their ousted leaders were granted an amnesty by the government.
Recurrent violence in Mogadishu has twice delayed a national reconciliation conference now set for next month.
Abuja, June 22, 2007 – The democratic world couldn't have been wrong for looking up to the United States of America as its ultimate champion. For if Washington's huffing and puffing about democracy around the globe could not make it a leading force, its unmitigated rush to topple autocratic regimes in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa with a view to installing democracy would, at least, make it a considerable factor.
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Djibouti, June 22, 2007 – The Horn of Africa US Military base in Djibouti: Us warplanes are overflying the northern Somali region of Puntland in preparation for airstrikes against suspected Al-Qaeda fugitives, more than a week after US warships shelled the area.
The commander of Somalia's national police force, Gen. Abdiqyebdid, who is in Boasaso, the commercial town of the semi-autonomous province of Puntland, is due to open army training courses for Puntland police in Armo settlement in the province, Puntland officials said.
MOGADISHU, Somalia, June 19, 2007 – Somalia's presidential spokesman was shot in the neck while he was stuck in a traffic jam, in the latest assassination attempt on a government official in the chaotic nation, authorities said Tuesday.
Hussein Mohamoud Hussein was taken to a hospital in neighboring Kenya and released.
"He walked out of the hospital, he is OK," said Peter Elwelu, head of the Ugandan troops who are in Somalia as part of an African Union peacekeeping force.
Nairobi, 20 June 2007 - The Government of Japan has recently announced its support of $4 million to a UN programme through the UN Trust Fund for Human Security to support Somali internally displaced persons (IDPs). The UN programme, to be jointly implemented by five agencies, aims to help 11,000 protracted displaced living in the town of Bossaso, Puntland State of Somalia.
Lagos, 22 June 2007 - International Maritime Bureau (IMB), global watchdog for piracy at sea, has called for urgent intervention by international navies following upsurge in pirate attacks in war torn Somalia.
Pottengal Mukundan, the UK-based director of the IMB told reporters at a conference on maritime security last week that pirates were operating with impunity off Somalia.
Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, the leader of the routed Union of Islamic Courts |
Mogadishu, 23 June 2007 - Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, the leader of the routed Union of Islamic Courts, stated that it made no difference to the Islamists either they would attack and kill the Ethiopian troops or the AU (Ugandan) troops present in Mogadishu, the Somali capital. Interviewed by the Arabic TV. Aljazeera, Aweys declared that the Islamic insurgents in Somalia would target the foreign forces in Mogadishu.
Mogadishu, 21 June 2007 - Somalia transitional federal government disclosed Wednesday that 64 Somali inmates were released on Thursday. Most of the prisoners were Islamist related elements, according to Mohammed Warsame Darwish, the chief officer of Somalia national security department and the leader of the national security committee which was forced in early this month.
In a news conference the committee held in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, Darwish said another number of Somali inmates would be freed soon.
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Nairobi, 22 June 2007 - Barely three weeks before the Somali national reconciliation conference opens, the government has tightened security in the capital, Mogadishu, to ensure the meeting is not disrupted, a spokesman said.
The conference, scheduled for 15 July, is expected to mark a turning point for the war-ravaged country and will be attended by various political and clan groups.
NAIROBI, June 22 2007 - The Sudanese Embassy in Nairobi yesterday described as “too sensitive” claims by the widow of former Sudanese Vice-President John Garang de Mabior that he was assassinated.
Ambassador Majok Guandong said he was not ready to comment on the issue raised by Rebecca Garang, over the weekend, which he described as “personal.”
NEW YORK, 22 June 2007 - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed a senior United Nations political officer as his Deputy Special Representative for Nepal and deputy head of the UN mission in that country (UNMIN), his spokesperson announced today.
Tamrat Samuel of Eritrea has served with the world body since 1983, most recently as Senior Political Affairs Officer responsible for the South Asia region within the Department for Political Affairs
Nairobi, 22 June 2007 - The United Nations World Food Programme today appealed to Kenyan authorities to allow food assistance on 140 trucks to cross into Somalia. The WFP food is enough to feed more than 100,000 people for three months amid warnings of rising malnutrition in the South.
The WFP-contracted trucks left the Kenyan port of Mombasa and were unexpectedly stopped at the Northeast Kenyan border crossing of El-Wak since the first ones started arriving there on 25 May.
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Parliament representatives in session (photo file) |
Hargeysa, Somaliland, June 23, 2007 (SL Times) – 20 MPs from the lower house of Somaliland parliament issued a press statement on 20/06/07 entitled "Foreign treaties and agreements signed by the government cannot be legitimate without the prior acknowledgement and approval of parliament."
The statement criticized the recent agreement which the ministry of livestocks signed with the Saudi businessman, Mr Al-Jabiri to whom, according to the MPs, `the government virtually signed away the free market policy of the country when it gave Mr Al-Jabiri a complete monopoly of Somaliland's export livestock market.’
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The Minister of Education, Mr Hassan Haji M. Warsame |
Hargeysa, Somaliland, June 23, 2007 (SL Times) – The Minister of Education, Mr Hassan Haji M. Warsame announced on 14 June the start and finish dates for all secondary and middle school 2007 exams. The minister made this announcement in a press conference held at the headquarters of the National Examination Board of Somaliland (NEBS), in Hargeysa.
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Accra, June 18, 2007 – Somaliland is a relatively unknown East African country in the Horn of Africa. She became a sovereign nation in 1947 after breaking the yoke of British colonialism and within its first week of her freedom entered into integration with Somalia. Come 1991, she withdrew from the integration and declared her independence.
On 18th May 2007, Somaliland marked her 16th anniversary of her independence from Somalia. The proclamation of independence was founded on basic requirements of international law which include a permanent population, defined territory, a stable system of government and the capacity to enter into international relations with other states.
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Nicholas Clegg (Sheffield, Hallam, Liberal Democrat)
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with which countries' agencies the immigration and nationality directorate co-operated in order to return failed asylum seekers in the last 12 months.
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President of Somaliland Dahir Rayale Kahin (photo file) |
Roma, Italy, June 20, 2007 – The president of the Republic of Somaliland, Hon Dahir Rayale Kahin, and a delegation he is heading arrived in Italy yesterday on an official visit. The visiting Somaliland team yesterday met the assistant foreign affairs minister, Hon Patrizia Sentinelli, and other government officials. The president briefed the Italian officials he met on the various stages Somaliland had come through and the progress it had made. Kahin thanked the government of Italy for the door it opened for the Republic of Somaliland, requesting the Italian government to continue with the relations.
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Kismayo, June 22, 2007 – Reports from Somalia say at least six people were killed and several others wounded when two clans clashed near the port city of Kismayo Friday.
Clan leaders and witnesses say soldiers from the Marehan and Majerteen clans exchanged heavy gunfire in an area north of the city.
The reports say the two clans were trying to expel one another from the area.
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MOGADISHU, June 21, 2007 – Somali authorities have announced plans to impose a curfew on the capital, where at least five people were killed on Thursday in the latest violence to undermine government attempts to restore law.
Two policemen died when hand grenades were lobbed at officers patrolling Mogadishu's Bakara market, witnesses said.
The police opened fire in the direction of the attackers, scattering the crowds and killing at least three civilians.
Addis Ababa, June 19, 2007 –Something interesting may be happening in Somaliland in the wake of the Ethiopian takeover (let's call it what it is) of southern and central Somalia. For the 16 years since its unilateral declaration of independence, Somaliland has steadfastly refused to have anything to do with the Somali peace process, characterizing it as an internal affair of a foreign country.
Now, though, Mohamed Abdi Mareye, a minister in the Somali Transitional Federal Government, is claiming that certain unnamed Somaliland elders and government officials want to participate in the national reconciliation conference scheduled for next month in Mogadishu. And Mareye's claim comes on top of reports that Somaliland is in the midst of secret negotiations concerning possible terms of reunification:
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Commentary
By Jamal Ali Hussein
IT was last January 28 when I boarded my plane from New York to London on my way to South Africa. I was reading the Financial Times when I noticed an article about Kosovo declaring statehood, and how the European Union (EU) is setting the stage for Kosovo to be an internationally recognized State.
I could not help asking myself questions like why the African Union (AU) is not playing the same role on my birthplace of Somaliland? On May 18, Somaliland Republic (former British Somaliland) celebrated 16 years of self-rule and thriving democracy since it has decided to re-instate its sovereignty from Somalia after the fall of Siyad Barre’s regime in 1991.
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Members of the Ogaden National Liberation Front, who are fighting the Ethiopian Army in a separatist war in the desert |
IN THE OGADEN DESERT, Ethiopia, June 18, 2007 — The rebels march 300 strong across the crunchy earth, young men with dreadlocks and AK-47s slung over their shoulders.
Often when they pass through a village, the entire village lines up, one sunken cheekbone to the next, to squint at them.
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23 June 2007 - African immigrants in the United States are generally more educated and earn larger salaries compared to people from other continents, but their success depends on what country they come from, according to a new report.
The study was conducted by Kefa M. Otiso, a professor of Geography at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Otiso said the project, which draws data from the 2000 U.S. Census, began “just out of curiosity” by comparing Kenya and Ghana. During the Kenyan Diaspora investment forum in Atlanta, Ga., in March, Otiso presented his findings in a report on how Kenyan immigrants were doing economically. They did surprisingly better when compared to the general U.S. population, the report showed then.
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The African Union will get weakened when it loses members from the North but eventually she will form new Sub-Saharan Union By Ivan Simic Belgrade, 20 June 2007 - The term "New World Order" (Novus Ordo Mundi) has been used to refer to a new period of history evidencing a dramatic change in world political thought and the balance of power. When we talk about New World Order we can say that everything is about hegemony and dominance of stronger countries over others. If we look back through history we can recount various attempts of several countries to create a New World Order or some sort of dominance among countries.
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23 June 2007
The US Central Intelligence Agency is preparing to release a set of documents compiled more than 30 years ago detailing the agency’s involvement over the previous quarter century in crimes both at home and abroad. These included assassination attempts against foreign heads of state, covert spying on newspaper columnists and other US citizens, the infiltration of left-wing groups and the testing of mind-alerting drugs on unwitting American subjects.
The CIA’s current director, Gen. Michael Hayden, announced the decision to release the documents, known within the agency as the “family jewels,” at a conference in Washington Thursday of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations.
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New officers installed The Sulphur Sunrise Rotary Club will install the 2007-2008 officers at tonight's award banquet. |
June 18, 2007 – The Sulphur Sunrise Rotary Club announced last week that phase two of the Clock Tower Memorial Brick campaign is underway.
"It's time to finish the walkway around the Clock Tower," said Sulphur Sunrise Treasurer Chris Gregory. "Both Rotary Clubs will be selling memorial bricks over the next couple of weeks so we can finish the project."
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ISLAMABAD, June 22, 2007 – A leading group of Pakistani Islamic scholars on Thursday awarded its highest honor to Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, saying it was in reaction to Britain’s knighthood for Salman Rushdie.
Meanwhile a Pakistani minister who caused outrage by remarking that the award given to the ‘Satanic Verses’ author justified suicide attacks announced that he was set to visit Britain next month.
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How bad is the Ethiopian government faring in US congress? The answer is: very bad. A rough way to gauge how negatively the Ethiopian government is viewed in the US congress is that Ethiopia, the oldest nation in black Africa, was lumped with Equatorial Guinea in a hearing at the US Congress on May 10, 2007. There are three main reasons for Congress’s anger: the first one has to do with the political conditions in Ethiopia itself. Many US legislators are upset about what they perceive as increasing repression and lack of progress in democratization in Ethiopia. Furthermore, many of these congressmen have reached the conclusion that the reason Ethiopia has not instituted democratic reforms is because it figured that, since it is an ally of the United States in the war against terrorism, the US would not take it to task for not letting democracy take root in the country. Many of these congressmen think that the quid pro quo of allowing Ethiopia to trample on human rights in return for Ethiopia’s anti-terrorism services does not serve the long-term interests of the US.
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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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By Yassin Abdillahi Ahmed
Sine the beginning of 1990s, Somaliland has made remarkable progress on many directions. To name some: reconciliation process, the creation and implementation of functioning governance, institutional building and democratization process which further led to three different free and fair elections, but for the last five years was imperative.
Education
When Rayale, came to power five years ago, the number of school going children was as low as 15 to 17%, but since becoming the president of Somaliland in May, 2002, the number has increased dramatically to 33% which puts Somaliland much higher than, the other parts of the Defunct Somali State.
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The Where About Of Adal
By Ibrahim Adam Ghalib
It was a surprise to me when I saw an article written by Mohamed sheikh Omar the representative of Hatuf news paper. He has written a well versed article about the where about of Adal organization. Being a senior member of Adal organization and the only person who have the information I have to accept any criticism on our part from the media. Every organization or institution is likely to receive criticism from time to time.
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Ethiopia's Airline Of Checking Every Passenger's Luggage Is The Rightway!
By Mohmaud Samatar
There is an English/American saying " Better save than sorry" imagine if the maid of the Somaliland Parliament speaker was paid hundreds of dollars to place an explosive in his suitcase and that suitcase ends up in the Ethiopian Airline Cargo, and causes a disastrous situation for lives and property, what excuse would the Somaliland leaders would have had ? , except "sorry I didn’t know".
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SOMALIA: ENTRENCHING ETHIO-OCCUPATION, HUMANITARIAN CRISIS AND FARCE CONGRESS
By Omar Salad
As Ethiopian occupation entrenches, Farce congress of reconciliation is talked as a panacea for the grave insecurity created by such occupation and deep socio-economic and political abyss Somalia is in and exacerbated by humanitarian crisis rapidly going from worse to worst. Meantime, international community directly and indirectly blesses and supports the stifling, murderous and destructive Ethiopian occupation and a farce reconciliation congress designed by Ethiopia for the approval of its colonial occupation.
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By Abdullah Bashery, Malaysia
Sir,
The leaders and people of Somaliland should take all precautionary measures to safeguard their livestock export and resources against economic suppression by unscrupulous Western Illuminist trying to undermine a legal muslim society.
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By Abukar Arman
Modern day Somalia became a nation of profound paradox and a web of political conundrum- a country where perception is always reality; where the “mundane” is a cherished deadly thrill; where “new” political dynamics are nothing but old, and, where potential “solutions” are problems. But, that is not all.
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By Mohamud Samatar
There is no doubt that the Imbhagati made government of Somalia is contemplating how to create chaos and unrest in Somaliland to bring it under it's control, but the irony is Somaliland has a democratly elected government , has declared that she is no longer part of Somalia, withdrew it's union with Somalia and declared it's independent in May 18 1991. Somaliland has been peaceful and has held free and fair presidential election and Parliament.
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Camel trader and mother-of-five Osub Fahid in Jijiga market, Somali region, Ethiopia. |
Addis Ababa, June 17 2007 – The phone call came in just after Ali Farah Kadiin had finished breakfast in his house in the centre of Jijiga, the bustling capital of Ethiopia's Somali region. It was his agent in the port of Mokha, Yemen, telling him that a boat carrying 300 cattle - 35 of them his - had hit a rock just outside the harbor and sank, drowning every animal on board. |
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Montreal, June 16, 2007 – Readers courting or having come to terms with midlife crises might recall Bob Geldof as the former front man of the Boomtown Rats, whose best known hit was 1979's I Don't Like Mondays.
Gen-Xers might know him as the mastermind behind Live AID, a day-long multi-city concert in 1985 featuring major rock acts; it was seen by an estimated 1.6 billion people around the world and was credited with raising about $71 million for aid to Africa.
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Hundreds of migrants live communally in a field near Malta's main airport
Ahmed Waddai, a 24-year-old from Chad, sits on his bunk bed the Hal Far Open Center. |
HAL FAR, Malta, June 18, 2007 – In a cruel twist, every flight that takes off to the European mainland from Malta’s main airport can be seen from inside the Hal Far Open Center, a nearby tent city housing up to 600 men, women and children.
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The Victims of Communism Memorial at the intersection of New Jersey and Massachusetts Avenues NW in Washington, D.C., was finally unveiled, June 12. It’s a small, 10-foot bronze replica of the “Goddess of Democracy” carried around by Chinese students who protested in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
The Washington Post, in “The Meaning of a Marker for 100 Million Victims” (June 13), editorializes, “If one were to build monuments commensurate in size to the atrocities they memorialize, the victims of communism would require perhaps the entirety of the federal city.” At least that’s according to numbers given by those who spoke at the dedication, who repeatedly claimed 100 million persons killed.
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Geneva, 12 June 2007
I last briefed this Council in September 2006 following my annual mission to Kenya and Somalia. At that time, the situation was bad, but I must say that almost nine months later, the situation of human rights in Somalia appears to be much worse. The very precarious security situation there has prevented me from undertaking my planned annual mission.
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Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Saturday said that Egypt supports the legitimate position of the Palestinian Authority and President Mahmoud Abbas and his government.
Mubarak made the remarks in an address to the ruling National Democratic Party's bloc inside the Shura Council (the upper house of the Parliament), noting that Egypt fully recognizes the perils lying beneath the current tumultuous Middle East situation.
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