The French authorities believe Mr Borrel may have been murdered
Paris, August 28, 2007 – A French magistrate has ordered the trial of two senior Djibouti officials in connection with the death 12 years ago of a French judge, Bernard Borrel.
Arrest warrants for the two men, public prosecutor Djama Souleiman Ali and the Secret Service chief, Hassan Said Khaireh, were issued last year.
MOGADISHU, August 31, 2007 – Talks aimed at ending 16 years of conflict in Somalia were due to wrap up yesterday, with diplomats saying the parley had made no progress after six weeks of marathon negotiations.
As about 2 500 delegates and observers gathered for a closing ceremony in northern Mogadishu amid tight security, diplomats called for a new approach to solve Somalia's chronic anarchy.
Mogadishu, August 29, 2007 – The tradition and unity elders of hawiye clans said that in this ultimate conference, there is nothing significant, which has emerged out of it.
The chairman of the conference said a speech, which is contradicting to that of the elders.
PRESS RELEASE
New York, 27 August 2007 - A young reporter returning from a journalism training workshop in the Somali capital of Mogadishu was shot dead today in southwestern Somalia when clan militiamen ambushed his vehicle, according to the National Union of Somali Journalists.
Abdulkadir Mahad Moallim Kaskey, a correspondent of the private, Mogadishu-based station Radio Banadir, was the only passenger killed when the truck he was in was shot at by gunmen.
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Kenya 's leading opposition figure in the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Raila Odinga (May 2007) |
Nairobi, 29 August 2007 - The chairman of the National Muslim Leaders Forum, Abdullahi Abdi, speaks on behalf of 25 Muslim organizations in Kenya.
In a telephone interview with VOA, Abdi said the current government, headed by President Mwai Kibaki, has failed to address key issues faced by the Muslim community.
Mogadishu, 31 August 2007 - Somali transitional federal government and representatives from Chinese government have signed a number of agreements based on mainly the infrastructure of Somalia as Chinese ambassador to Kenya has arrived in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Friday.
On the Somali side, president abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed has signed the agreement while Du Qiwen, Chinese Ambassador to Kenya, has also signed the agreement on behalf of his government.
Mogadishu, 1 September 2007 - The opposition group of Hawiye tradition and unity committee categorically rejected to participate in the Asmara conference. In these conference participants who are expected to participate are the Somalis in the Diaspora, the Islamic courts and the members who defected from the parliament and called themselves the freedom parliament.
The spokesman for the Hawiya opposition wing, Mr. Ahmed Diriye said that it is not possible for them to attend at that conference which is due to take place on 6th of this month.
Asmara, 31 August 2007 - President Isaias Afwerki dismissed as baseless anti-Eritrea accusation by U.S. State Department officials, and underscored that it emanates from the failed strategy they pursued in Somalia.
The President made the remarks in an interview with Aljezeera TV yesterday. He pointed out that so-called talks that " Eritrea is supporting the Islamic Courts Union" is astonishing when viewed against claims
Somaliland President Appoints New Health Minister
Hargeysa, Somaliland, September 1, 2007 – The president of the republic of Somaliland, Dahir Rayale Kahin, Wednesday [29 August] appointed Abdi Haybe Muhammad minister of health and labour.
This was announced in a press release issued Wednesday by the presidential spokesman, Sa'id Adani Moge.
ASMARA, Aug 31 - A conference of Somali opposition figures due to start in Eritrea on Saturday as a rival to government-sponsored peace talks in Mogadishu has been delayed until next week, organisers said on Friday.
Several Islamist leaders, some former Somali parliamentarians and an ex-deputy prime minister were among those due to attend the talks in Asmara.
Mogadishu, 30 August 2007 - The chairman of Somalia's national reconciliation conference says the meeting was a success.
In an interview with VOA's Somali service as the conference ended Thursday , Chairman Ali Mahdi said he is "very satisfied" with the outcome of the 45-day meeting.
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A Kenyan human rights group says a campaigner has disappeared in Nairobi, taken by people they suspect were Kenyan security agents |
Nairobi, 27 August 2007 - The Nairobi-based Muslim Human Rights Forum is arranging street protests, following what they believe was the abduction of Farah Mohammed Abdullahi by Kenyan anti-terror police. Abdullahi was a vocal campaigner for the release of Kenyans held abroad for alleged terrorism links. The chairman of the forum, Al-Amin Kimathi, gave his account of what happened.
BOSSASO, Somalia, August 30 – Some 3,000 Ethiopians have gathered in the dusty northern Somalia port of Bossaso, joining Somalis preparing to make the risky trip to Yemen across the Gulf of Aden during the annual sailing season.
The bad weather that kept smugglers' boats ashore between June and August is coming to an end and a fresh wave of people smuggling has already started. Those making the journey risk everything; at least 385 people died during the crossing through the first five months of this year.
MOGADISHU, August 31, 2007 – Talks aimed at ending 16 years of conflict in Somalia were due to wrap up yesterday, with diplomats saying the parley had made no progress after six weeks of marathon negotiations.
As about 2 500 delegates and observers gathered for a closing ceremony in northern Mogadishu amid tight security, diplomats called for a new approach to solve Somalia's chronic anarchy.
Press Release
Khartoum, 30 August, 2007
The African Union Mission in the Sudan (AMIS) has learned with dismay of an incident in Wad Banda, Kodofan, Sudan, in which a Sudanese army base was attacked on Wednesday 29 August, 2007. Responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Unity faction of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA-Unity).
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Hargeysa mayor Hussien Muhamud Jiir |
Hargeysa, 1 September, 2007 (SL Times) – Ask Hussien Muhamud Jiir, the incumbent mayor of the capital, “what have you done for the city?” and you will get a barrage of descriptions of UN, EU, Norwegian or Danish-assisted local authority building works and renovation projects, but you will never hear any mention of important local authority services which have improved the well being of the city and its population.
Hargeysa residents know that the incumbent city mayor will not brag about how he brought about fundamental changes to the way the local authority manages and funds its key public services, or how he has transformed the local authority, or how it provides efficient and cost-effective services, or how it reduced duplication and waste between the various departmental sections of the local authority. Nor will the city residents expect the mayor to present details on how he has implemented policies for the local authority.
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Somaliland Lower House of parliament. (Photo-file). |
Hargeysa, 1 September, 2007 (SL Times) – On Monday the lower house of parliament held an extraordinary house session and voted for the second time to reject the remaining two electoral commission candidates nominated by the upper house of parliament.
Previously, the lower house chair committee had refused to allow the two candidates, Mr M. A. Hamud (Nine) and Mr M. A. Omar a second chance to be endorsed by the house.
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Passengers disembark from a plane at Mogadishu's airport, July 2006 |
Mogadishu, August 27 2007 - The Somali government has suspended flights between the capital Mogadishu and the breakaway state of Somaliland amid a row about Somalia's new passport, an immigration official said on Monday.
Somaliland foreign affairs minister, Abdillahi Duale |
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, August 31, 2007 – The Somaliland ministry of foreign affairs is under review and restructuring to further enhance its effectiveness towards achieving Somaliland’s diplomatic goals said Abdillahi Duale, Somaliland’s minister of foreign affairs.
Minster Duale who is on a working visit to Ethiopia to cement ongoing relations with Ethiopia, the African Union, African nations, members of the EU, the Arab League and other regional organizations told SSI that his ministry is currently being overhauled to further enhance service delivery in addition to building capacity within his ministry as well as its missions abroad.
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Ambassador Wubshet Demisse in Hargeysa. (Photo-courtesy of Haatuf) |
HARGEYSA, Somaliland, September 1, 2007 – Ethiopia's envoy to the breakaway region of Somaliland, Ambassador Wubshet Demisse, has dismissed reports that troops from Ethiopia will deploy in the region.
Speaking to Haatuf reporters from his Hargeysa office, Amb. Demisse said Monday that his government has friendly relations with the government of Somaliland and does not wish to see instability spread to the region.
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Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh cuts the inaugural ribbon Feb. 26, at the new Defense Fuel Supply Point (DFSP) at the Port of Doraleh |
DJIBOUTI, Aug 29, 2007 – Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh accused French magistrates on Wednesday of politicizing an investigation into the death of a French judge in the Red Sea state 12 years ago.
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| Nairobi, 30 August 2007 - Organisers of Somalia's national reconciliation conference hailed the meeting as a success even as analysts expressed doubts over the outcome, saying major parties in the current crisis had been left out of the peace-making process.
"The conference will come to a close today [30 August]. It has been a success," said Abdulkadir Walayo, media adviser to the National Governance and Reconciliation Commission (NGRC), which organised the conference.
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By Abdi A Jama
The mesmerizing produced knowledge of imagined societies and geographies of the “Western” scholars is still palpable. Recently, professor I. M. Lewis has been written numerous books and articles about Somalia; A Pastoral Democracy; A Modern History of Somalia; Blood and Bone: The Call of Kinship in Somali Society; to name a few. Rehashing and recycling the famous drained notions of his colonial ancestors, he appropriately cited Somali clans, their lineage, differences, and regions to exhibit and contextualize the ongoing historical and habitual enmity between Somalis. Somali culture, he asserts, has belligerent and violent characteristics based on tribal lineage which has caused the ceaseless fighting between Somali clans.
UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia Erick Laroche chats with handicapped girl in an internally displaced camp situated on the outskirts of Mogadishu, 1 Aug. 2007 |
Nairobi, 29 August 2007 - The International Organization for Migration, known as IOM, says thousands of undocumented migrants and asylum seekers will attempt to cross the Gulf in overcrowded open fishing boats, throughout the "migration season." Over 500 people have died or gone missing trying to cross since January, and as the sea becomes less stormy at this time of year, IOM expect the numbers to increase significantly.
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NAIROBI, Daniel Ooko - The United States will provide nearly 4 million US dollars to improve access to basic social services for the people of the southern region of Somalia.
A statement from the U.S. embassy in Nairobi said on Thursday that the funds, to be presented to the UN children's fund, UNICEF, on Friday in Nairobi reaffirmed Washington's strong commitment to support credible and legitimate governance institutions in the war-torn nation.
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Nairobi, 31 August 2007 - Norway said Friday that it will cut development aid to Ethiopia by an estimated five million dollars. The move comes after Ethiopian officials said six Norwegian diplomats had to leave the country. As Arjun Kohli reports from our East Africa Bureau in Nairobi, Ethiopia had accused Norway of trying to spread instability across the Horn of Africa and undermining its national security.
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Analysis
By Aden Yabarow
Background
Paul Roberts states in his book, the end of oil, that United States Geological Survey claims that there are worldwide proven oil reserves of 1.7 trillion barrels, 900 billion barrels of unproven oil and an estimated 1.5 trillion barrels yet to be found. But the United States Geological Survey in its 2000 report claims that there are worldwide proven oil reserves of 3021 billion barrels and 15401 trillion cubic ft of gas.
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Mogadishu, 2 September 2007 - A heavy fighting broke out in Mogadishu late last night and in this fighting both the fighting groups exchanged different kinds of weapons including rocket-propelled grenades, motors, and both heavy and light machine guns.
The actual place where this confrontation happened was around the textile and milk factories. This fighting was between the government forces and the opposing groups who attacked the military bases in these places.
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They were known as the 'Texas Mafia', and they shaped the most controversial presidency in US history. But one by one, George Bush's most trusted aides have left his side. Rupert Cornwell reports on the White House exodus that turned the world's most powerful man into a lame duck
29 August 2007
As the world yesterday observed the latest of the premature death throes of this ill-starred presidency, one image spoke loudest of all. George W Bush was standing in front of a microphone on the asphalt at Waco airport, Texas, angrily – some would say petulantly – defending his old friend Alberto Gonzales, who had just announced in Washington that he was resigning from the post of Attorney General
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Global Research Editorial Note
August 30, 2007
The mainstream media has failed to report the agreement reached between the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Iranian government in regards to the Iranian nuclear energy program. An understanding has been reached between the two. The IAEA has given Iran's nuclear program a clean bill of health.
Why is the U.S. media not reporting on this matter?
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Kuwait City, 31 August 2007 - The Kuwaiti parliament recently passed a law, effective September 1, 2007, designating Friday and Saturday as the official days of rest in Kuwait, instead of Thursday and Friday as it has been until now.
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London, September 2, 2007 - Steve Cram will commentate this afternoon on a young British hope competing in his first 5,000 metres world final. But it was not so long ago that Mo Farah didn't even know who Cram was. Although naturally talented at distance running,
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| Largest ever UN peacekeeping force set for Sudan mission
New York, 02 September 2007 - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is heading to Darfur this week to see for himself the devastation caused by four years of ethnic cleansing by Sudanese government forces and allied Arab militia which has left an estimated 200,000 people dead and two million homeless.
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About 400 Kulmiye delegates are supposed to gather in Hargeisa, early in September for Kulmiye’s second convention. The delegates will be coming together at a time when Kulmiye’s prospects for winning the presidential elections never looked brighter. But that is far from saying Kulmiye is guaranteed to win the election. For one thing, the elections are several months away which is a very long time in politics and the political scene could drastically change between now and then; for another, Kulmiye’s current bright prospects does not tell the whole story about the real conditions in the party.
In order to ascertain the real condition of Kulmiye party and its chances of winning the elections, the following three factors have to be considered: (a) Kulmiye’s weaknesses; (b) Kulmiye’s strengths (c) convention decisions.
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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 Sharmarke Ali
"Once you base your whole life striving on a desperate lie, and try to implement that lie, you instrument your own undoing". Ernest Becker |
The lightheartedness of sports was missing. Hooliganism, badmouthing, and player antics, without taste and humor, replaced storytelling and good-natured ribbing between players.
Insomuch as, I suspected, that if, SL gutter politics was lumped up with sports, to reveal the countenance of its Gila Monsters, we have witnessed some of our politician’s merit and their reptilian single-mindedness.
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By Hassan A. Mohamud
Congratulations are in order for all those who contributed in any way, shape, or form to this struggle of fighting the dark forces of anarchy. With pride, determination, and God's will, we shall survive from the unleashed political Tsunami that brought the country on the brink of disaster. Though I had faith in our ability to pull out of this, yet from afar and for a while the picture looked bleak to many of our expatriates here abroad. But with enduring public patience and diligent performance of a few patriotic Somalilanders, we are prudently bound to beat the odds and stabilize the situation back to normal.
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By Abdinasir Mohamed Abdilleh 'Six'.
Most Somalilanders abroad wonder what’s the outcome of the political statement in the government’s agenda.. After the mediation team had solved what we observed as an overwhelming political crossroads, but now we are here again and the road is coming to a full traffic jam of political disobedience.
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ETHIOPIAN – SOMALILAND RELATION
By Ahmed Ibrahim Kadleye
The last Somaliland delegation headed by president Daahir Rayaale Kahin visited Addis Ababa last week to sign a cooperation agreement between Somaliland and Ethiopia; also the Ethiopian delegation came to our country last month and signed a similar agreement.
The main purpose of these agreements is how the Ethiopians may benefit by using our main Port Berbera. Most of us believe that the good relationship between the two countries had started in midst of 1990.
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Open Letter To Dahir Rayale: Let’s Do In Somalia What The UN Could Not Do
By Liiban Ahmed
Dear Mr President
First of all, I like to express how proud we are to have you as president, something that many countries feel jealous about. Where in Africa, will you see a president who makes election every two years or so? Where in Africa, will you see a president who sacks his parliament and make people choose a new one that has many opposition members? Even in the mediation talk’s lead by Hadraawi and Sheekh Dirir, you stood up confidently and showed us what it means to be a wise president.
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By Ibrahim Adam Ghalib
Judicial independence means that the judges are free to make decisions based on the law and do not feel compelled to comply with the wishes of the political leaders. In democratic countries judges are usually chosen on the basis of merit rather than politics and cannot be removed from office because of the nature of their decisions.
The will of the people not only influences courts in democracies but can even compel dictatorships to leave office. The role the people played in Pakistan to re-instate chief justice Chaudry is a good example.
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By Abdirahman Ahmed Ali
Freedom is not a license, Somaliland is livery of Freedom and if we want to retain freedom we need decent conduct. Creation of Somaliland is like building the kingdom of God on earth. Decent cooperation is a must for Somaliland democracy and that of the world. Qaran politicians should learn how to win election through love, not public uprising and security disturbances.
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By Mohamud Samatar
The sub-clan cleansing against the Habar-gidir of Hawiye in Southern Somalia particularly in Moqdisho are mostly caused by the so-called military army or the militia created by the governments Somalia/TFG, in the name National Army. Most government militia who operate in Moqdisho the capital of Somalia and it's surroundings are of the sub-clans, of the Abgal of the Hawiye and the Majertens of the Darood clan, both arch enemy of the Habargidir sub-clan of Hawiye.
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Hoping to become Europe's newest sovereign state, politicians in Kosovo are drawing up a unilateral declaration of independence to free their land from Serbia.
According to the U.N., Kosovo is part of Serbia. But this is not the desire of the majority of Kosovo's residents |
PRISTINA, 28 August 2007 - As Kosovo Albanians are getting impatient for the independence that has been promised them by the United States, members of the negotiating team are preparing their citizens for the possibility that the territory will secede from Serbia through a unilateral declaration of independence.
Veton Surroi, an ethnic Albanian who is part of the team of officials negotiating the province's future, has spent the month of August campaigning for such an outcome.
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Aid agencies say roads have been closed |
Paris, 28 August 2007 - International aid agency Medecins Sans Frontiers has accused Ethiopia of denying it access to the country's eastern Ogaden region.
The barren region has recently been the scene of a fierce conflict between government troops and rebel forces.
The exclusion follows an order to the Red Cross to stop operations in Ogaden.
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SINGAPORE, Aug 28, 2007 – Real estate firm Middle East Development LLC is securing massive tracts of land in Yemen, Djibouti and Syria to build whole cities from scratch.
The Dubai-based privately held group, controlled by a key member of Saudi Arabia's bin Laden family, wants to expand beyond residential and commercial real estate into the business of planning and building large-scale cities from the ground up.
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Book Review
Writing in 1952 (about the early career of William F. Buckley Jr., as it happens), Dwight Macdonald mentioned in passing “the neoconservative tendency that has arisen among the younger intellectuals.” Others who share my unhealthy obsessions with both politics and language may know of an earlier usage of that now famous label and fighting word; at any rate, it has proved protean and mutable over these 55 years.
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By John R. Thomson
August 27, 2007
Throughout most of the Muslim world, in virtually all media and with hardly a whimper of demurral, the charge is leveled and endlessly reiterated: the United States, frequently with its hated accomplice Israel, is labeled the world's modern leader in genocide. Led by George Bush, supported by his Zionist accomplices, it is charged the genocide is aimed at one segment of society: Muslims.
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PRESS RELEASE
In Ethiopia, drought, famine, war and ill-conceived policies brought millions to the brink of starvation in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and the beginning of the new millennium.
For the last twelve years the Ogaden was a country ravaged by war and haunted by drought and man-made-famine. The Ogaden Human Rights Committee has frequently warned the massive looming famine in the Ogaden in its reports and press releases.
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Mogadishu August 29, 2007 - The United Nations spent $18 billion on peacekeeping missions around the globe in the past five years — mainly in Africa — but not enough on preventing conflicts from erupting in the first place.
That was a key conclusion of a day-long meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday which called for stepped up efforts to address the root causes of conflicts, develop early warning systems, mediate disputes, and coordinate efforts of U.N. bodies, regional organizations and others trying to prevent new wars.
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| By Yassin M. Ismail, Kent, UK
The recent unlawful arrests, in Somaliland, of three members of the QARAN political party by Dahir Rayale Kahin’s administration without trial and subsequent ignoring of Human Rights groups’ outcry for the release of the detained simply amounts to an act of ultimate display of ruthlessness and intransigence in its boldest and gallant fashion.
Since taken the office in …..as a result of Somaliland’s first democratic general election, the President Rayale’s actions were increasingly growing harsher, inconsiderate and more erratic by the day.
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