Hargeysa, Somaliland, December 1, 2007 – Around 6:30pm local time Wednesday evening, a large lorry carrying heavy telecommunications equipment pulled into the main compound of the Somaliland ministry of information.
This lorry carried the transmitter for the new broadcasting unit of Radio Hargeysa, which is in fact “Radio Somaliland”. This transmitter is the final components of the broadcasting unit, enabling the station to reach across the whole of East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.
This new broadcasting unit has long been expected to arrive in Somaliland. After several delays, it has now arrived and will be broadcasting within a few days.
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Abdikarim Abdi Adan, directore of Cardiff Somaliland community organisation |
Hargeysa, Somaliland, December 1, 2007 (SL Times) – A leading Welsh Labour party member and activist, Abdikarim Abdi Adan, who is also the Wales Somaliland Communities Link Director is scheduled to arrive today at Egal international Hargeysa airport. Adan will be accompanied by Harris Nystaza from Cardiff’s community links.
Abdikarim Adan, is a leading figure in UK and Somaliland relations, and has cultivated a strong base and profile in the Welsh Labour party and various UK political circles. He has played a crucial role in lobbying the Welsh, and in a broader sense, the UK political establishments, to support Somaliland and its case for recognition.
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President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame |
Rwanda, Kigali, 28 novembre 2007 - The Rwandan government has finalized training of Somali troops that will help serve in returning peace to that war ravaged state, APA learns here Tuesday.
According to the spokesperson of the Rwanda Defense Forces, Major Jill Rutaremara, the newly trained Somali military personnel are ready for deployment.
“It is true that we have just concluded training the Somali troops that we received as part of our effort in ensuring that the war ravaged country returns to peace,” he said.
Ethiopian soldiers guard the Temporary Security Zone with the Eritrean border |
Nairobi, 1 December 2007 - A deadline for Ethiopia and Eritrea to agree on the physical demarcation of their border expired Saturday amid escalating tension between the two nations, leaving the frontier only delineated on maps.
After their 1998-2000 border war which left 70,000 people dead, the two Horn of Africa countries agreed The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration should demarcate the border both on maps and on the ground.
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A boat loaded with hopeful immigrants sails through the Gulf of Aden |
Sanaa, Yemen, 1 December 2007 - Thirty African migrants, including seven women, drowned after their boat overturned while trying to cross the Gulf of Aden from Somalia to Yemen, the defence ministry said on Saturday.
Somal 's masked insurgents |
MOGADISHU, Somalia Nov 28, 2007 – Splits have emerged among Somali insurgents waging war in the capital against the government and its Ethiopian military backers, sources said.
Earlier this month, Adan Hashi Ayro, leader of the Al-Shabaab guerrillas responsible for most attacks, called on loyal fighters to target African Union peacekeepers serving in Mogadishu.
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Mogadishu, November 28, 2007 - Somali Parliament meeting due to be held in Baidoa on Tuesday was called off without specific date and for no apparent reason for the postponement.
The parliament was to debate and endorse an agenda of a new Media after the announcement of new Prime Minister, Nur Adde.
Hargeysa, Somaliland, December 1, 2007 - Somaliland will for the first time participate in summit for livestock exporting nations in Hudet, Ethiopia. The conference will gather together 550 delegates from East Africa to discuss animal husbandry, range and environmental issues in the region.
The conference will gather together interest parties from Kenya, Djibouti, Somaliland, Ethiopia and international agencies.
Rome, Nov 27, 2007 – A delegation of religious leaders mainly from the Horn of Africa, who have just visited strife-torn Somalia, have stressed that a solution to the crisis there lies within the country and not outside, while Pope Benedict XVI has called for peace in Somalia - writes Fredrick Nzwilli.
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27 November 2007
New draconian restrictions on the coverage of fighting between government forces and rebels by the few media still operating in the capital are “unacceptable,” Reporters Without Borders said today. The restrictions were ordered on 26 November by Mogadishu mayor Mohamed Omar Habeb, a former warlord and governor of the central city of Jowhar who is also known by the nom de guerre of “Mohamed Dhere.”
Nairobi, 29 November 2007 - The UN Special Representative for Somalia, Mr Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, traveled to Baidoa today for talks aimed at furthering the peace process.
The visit provided the SRSG with the opportunity to continue his consultations with President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed and to meet the new Prime Minister, Mr Nur Hassan Hussein.
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Mogadishu, Nov 25, 2007 - The appointment of Nur Hassan Hussein alias Nur Adde as the new prime minister to replace the deposed Ali Mohammed Ghedi has brought an end to three weeks of public anxiety.
Somalia President Abdillahi Yusuf, center (File Photo) |
Nairobi, November 26, 2007 – Somalia's interim president has told officials he wants his interim government to tighten control over the country's politics, economy, and security. As VOA Correspondent Alisha Ryu reports from our East Africa Bureau in Nairobi, President Abdillahi Yusuf reserved his harshest criticisms for international aid groups and non-governmental organizations that he says are doing little to help the Somali people.
November 24, 2007
Fatuma Abdul Aziz Mohammed would give everything she owns to see her five children again. The problem is she owns nothing.
The 37-year-old Somali sits with her hands folded, every now and then adjusting her veil, but her equanimity belies her tragic story.
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Somaliland Reconstruction and Development Programme conference in Maansoor Hotel, Hargeysa on 26/11/07 |
Hargeysa, Somaliland, December 1, 2007 (SL Times) – A ceremony held at Mansoor Hotel, in Hargeysa, marked on Thursday, the last day of the government’s discussions with the regional heads of UN, EU and the World Bank preparations for long term Reconstruction and Development Programme earmarked for Somaliland for the next five years at a cost of $550 million.
As part of the ‘Joint Needs Assessment’ (JNA) program, which was initially designed for the “Reconstruction and Development Programme for the whole of Somalia” by the UN and the World Bank in 2005, at first, Somaliland government refused to be part of the JNA enterprise under the TFG and insisted on being treated as an independent entity.
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Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck MEP, President of ELDR |
London, December 1, 2007 (SL Times) – One of the main three parties in the European Union Parliament (ELDR) introduces a conditional resolution which calls upon the EU and all its member states to give diplomatic recognition to the Republic of Somaliland. Prominent among the conditions raised was the release of the Qaran leadership from jail.
Whether the president will heed this additional call to do the right thing and work toward bringing about the long sought recognition a step closer remains to be seen.
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Las Anod, Somaliland, December 1, 2007 (SL Times) – More than fifty Puntland military soldiers defected to Somaliland on Thursday and were taken to an area close to Las Anod airport for debriefing by Somaliland military officers stationed at Las Anod.
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Somaliland parliament chamber: house of Elders. (photo-file) |
Hargeysa, Somaliland, December 1, 2007 (SL Times) – The upper house of [elders] parliament’s Internal Affairs select committee announced Tuesday in parliament that the recent amendments made to the ‘Presidential and Local-government Election Bill’ by the lower house of representatives was “unconstitutional”.
A new draft law of the ‘Presidential & Local Councils Elections (Amendment) Bill 2007’ was endorsed in a clear majority vote by the lower house of representatives in August 2007. The lower house’s amended bill called for drastic changes made to the voting system.
Hargeysa, Somaliland, December 1, 2007 (SL Times) – The President of the Republic of Somaliland, Dahir Rayale Kahin, met Tuesday with officers from the World Bank, the United Nations, The European Union and diplomats from the French and Italian embassies in Nairobi Kenya. The meeting held at the Presidency was an opportunity for the visiting delegation to meet with senior members of the Somaliland government.
Bossaso, Puntland, December 1, 2007 (SL Times) – A press statement was issued on 24/11/07 by the ‘Jambeel’ clan of Buru district in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland (60km east of Bosaso) warning local/foreign companies ‘not to conduct mineral surveys or collect mineral samples from their district.’
This comes after last week’s incident, when field experts from the Australian based company, Range Resources Limited, attempted to collect mineral samples in Puntland’s Buru district and were chased out of the district by the ‘Jambeel’ clan militia.
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Stockholm, Sweden, December 1, 2007 (SL Times) – The Swedish Agency for Development has declared its intention to undertake development projects in Africa in general and Somaliland in particular.
This news was recently reported by the Scandinavian based television network, STVE, in a special programme featuring officials from the Swedish ministries for Overseas Co-operation, scholars from Africa and local social activists.
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"Today the Somali people are very grateful of what Ethiopia is doing, assisting them in the establishment of rule of law in the country" |
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, Mr. Seyum Mesfin |
Paris, November 15th 2007 – The Horn of Africa is a region of permanent tensions. In Somalia the situation is precarious, a peace agreement between Eritrea and Ethiopia was signed seven years ago but it is an armed peace with risks of confrontation, a rebellion is active in the Ethiopian Somali region. Ethiopia, the most important country in the Horn, cannot withdraw from Somalia since neither African Union nor United Nations have taken over the task of helping the transitory government though it is recognized.
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Commentary
By Mohamed Khawi
Chronological brief.
Colonial era: under British rule, the Individual tribes who had had protection treaties with the British jointly or severally signed on board a naval ship, for protection purposes. The Dolb. were the only exception, as they were skeptic about the ulterior motives of the British and mistrusted the wisdom behind protection by colonizing aliens. Because of Geo-social realities of the HUWAN Society, the British rule had later been extended to canvass the Dolb. Territory as an integral part of Somaliland on defacto basis.
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Somalia'sformer interim PM Ali Mohamed Gedi, left, and Mohamed Dheere (File Photo) |
Mogadishu, 2 December 2007 - A Somali human rights group says violence in the capital, Mogadishu, has killed nearly 6,000 people this year.
Analysis
By Scott A Morgan
It has been announced that the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will be making a rare trip to Africa in Early December. This is just the latest Effort by the Administration to restore both its Credibility and Image since the Invasion of Iraq in 2003. And recent events are indicative of how Africa is a focus in the Strategic Planning in Washington. Read full text...
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Columnist says Hirsi Ali's book is as hateful as the "hate" she comdemns
December 1st, 2007
At the time when Islam is under scrutiny everywhere in the world, with Islamic militants and extremists everywhere in the news, any criticism of Islam, especially by those who happen to have come from Islamic background, is a celebrated cause, particularly in the West.
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Washington, D.C. November 30, 2007 – Saturday, December 1, is the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day. According to the United Nations Program on HIV and AIDS, there were 33 point two million people living with AIDS in 2007, including two point five million children. Over 28 million of them are in Sub-Saharan Africa. The theme for this year’s World AIDS Day is “leadership”.
WASHINGTON, November 29, 2007 - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit Ethiopia next week for meetings on the conflicts in the volatile African Great Lakes region and Sudan and Somalia, said the State Department on Thursday.
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President Afwerki of Eritrea |
Asmara, Eritrea, 21 November 2007 - Starkly similar to what Ethiopia said before its invasion of Mogadishu to remove the ICU militants, the Eritrean government has accused Ethiopia of already declaring war.
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Former President of Mozambique vows “to promote good governance in a continent that is changing rapidly for the better”
Alexandria, Egypt, 26th November 2007 – President Joaquim Chissano, the former President of Mozambique, has accepted the inaugural Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership from Kofi Annan, the former Secretary General of the United Nations, at a ceremony in Alexandria in Egypt tonight.
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1 December 2007
In a briefing on Secretary Rice's upcoming travel to Ethiopia yesterday, Friday 30, 2007, Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer responded to questions pertaining to Eritrea too. Following is an excerpt of the briefing:
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President Bush makes remarks during a World AIDS Day ceremony.
Maryland, November 30, 2007 – President Bush is urging Congress to approve the doubling of the U.S. commitment in the global fight against HIV and AIDS.
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Toronto, 28 November 2007 - A Canadian citizen who has been detained in Ethiopia for the past 10 months without being charged is suing the government there and its officials for "violations of international law, assault, battery, false arrest and false imprisonment."
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Haatuf Cartoon on 'New Press Law"
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In a luncheon in honor of Ahmad Abdi Habsade and other Sool leaders, Mr Habsade said, “I have laughed in the five days I spent in Hargeisa more than I did all the time I was in Garowe (Waxaa run ah 5tii Casho ee aan iminka Hargeysa joogey intaan qoslay inaanan Garoowe ka qoslin).” On the face of it, Habsade’s comment may seem like a simple expression of courtesy. However, when looked at more closely, that comment contains a big chunk of the rationale offered by those who believe that Sool is part of Somaliland. But how does Habsade’s laughter reflects the connection between Sool and Somaliland, one might ask?
Habsade himself explains it this way: “it isn’t about being hostile to anybody, it’s about who you know (Taasi waxay ku tusaysaa, maaha xumaan ee waxa weeye yaad taqaannaa).” To make the meaning of his words more clear, Habsade pointed to Hasan Abdi Khayre (the former minister of postal services) and said every time he sees him, he is reminded of their childhood days and the fun they had growing up together. In other words, Habsade laughed in a few days in Hargeisa more than he did in all the years he was in Garowe because, in Hargeisa, he was among people he had known since his childhood and youth, therefore he was more comfortable and could exchange jokes more frequently and freely.
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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 Abdalla A. Hirad
Samir Husni is considered the top gun, among the diplomats, for the Republic of Egypt and its gizmo, the League of Arab states. A former Foreign Minister of Egypt has always been the Secretary-General of the league of Arab States, since its inception. The current one, Omro Musa, is not an exception. So much so, that the policy of the League of Arab States, as an organization has, usually, remained the same as the foreign policy of Egypt. It explains why Ambassador Husni visited Saudi Arabia, last week—to conduct discussions with the Saudi authorities in relation to the current painful days of Somalia, as carried by the international media.
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By Abdifataah Mahamed Ahmed
If you think education is expensive, try ignorance - Derek Bok.
Schools are a fountain of knowledge.
Education are your investment for better life, education is one of the most necessary thing that people needs while they are living. Where there is no education is like a dark and where there is education is like light. True education is training of both the head and the heart. Education refers to both formal and informal. Education is ought to teach us not only how to make a living but also how to live. Continuous positive education leads to positive thinking. We don’t need more academic education; we need more value-based education. Intellectual education influences the head and value-based education influences the hearts, in fact education that does not train the heart can be dangerous.
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When The Fundamental Structures Of Good Governance Is Not In Place, What Value Will DRP Projects Have?
Dr. Ali Abdi Mohamed, Hargeysa
When the Fundamental structures of Good Governance is not in place, what value will DRP projects have? nor do we care the illusive Millions of Dollars mashed, therein
There was a two day conference at Mansoor Hotel, between the UNDP, donor Nations, World Bank and the Somaliland Government over the implementation talks on the long going process of the World Communities contribution to the development Projects of Somaliland, which had two previous name changes as to the Project Identification.
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The Academic Life Of The Emerging Somaliland Universities
By Abdirahman Ibrahim Abdilahi
The academic life is not an enthusiasm as you may believe but demands enormous amount of time to be given on gaining knowledge on the area that you want to become skilled at and universities require hard working student who is keen to finish his courses and related assignments on time with distinction. Currently, students are not serious at least in this part of the world since unemployment is getting higher and higher by the day and students are needed to expect brighter future upon completion of the university.
On the contrary if a person carries out his /her duties seriously than they can make a difference both in education and beyond. Nonetheless, student’s time on preparation and course work is far more less than good old years for a variety of reasons including to that of TV, internet, rising unemployment etc.
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Somaliland Times has failed in its responsibility to provide unbiased and balanced information to the public
By Ambassador Wubishet Demisi
Dear Editor
I am writing to you to express my surprise and dismay at the news published by Somaliland Times on 24 November 2007 alleging “Jijiga officials persecute Somalilanders” without offering any proof. The allegation made public by the paper is totally unfounded and devoid of facts.
I strongly believe that media has a great responsibility in dealing with highly delicate matters which can erode the sense of mutual trust and harmony among people. Thus media needs a great skill and responsibility especially in a region where we belong. It usually requires thorough investigation, looking at both sides of the coin and some care in its execution. In this regard, Somaliland Times has failed in its responsibility to provide unbiased and balanced information to the public.
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By Noah Arre
I cannot understand why all politicians think alike! I can especially hardly understand why third world political leaders consider themselves as “supper humans”. And I cannot understand why all like to see things only through their own perspectives. I cannot understand why they shamelessly ignore realties. I can hardly understand why most believe and practice that “you are either with me or you are against me.” And I cannot understand why when you join an opposition party for instance you are the true enemy of a particular political leader.
It is ridiculous but I cannot understand why politicians take things personal and immediately roll up their sleeves ready to hit you where it hurts most.
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By Yusuf Deyr, Hargeysa
The Scottish come by their temperament honestly. If you lived in Scotland you would understand and notice some practical experience that we both share in common. A common factor that features our shilly – shally behaviour and too much suspicion. Not because of their offensive attitude, but because we both have some aching deep scars and hurting scratches of touches of history. The constant sweeping storm wind, the lack of sunshine, July is like January, centuries of being conquered, ignored, or having their Sovereignty tampered. The Scottish scowl is not meanness, but a defence.
A firmly closed gate that easily opens when the unfriendly conditions allow it. Their climate and history taught them that. If they let down their guard for a minute.
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By Ahmed Dirie, Ph.D.**
The autonomous region of Puntland (North East of Somalia) has relatively succeeded in strengthening and protecting its young and fragile democracy from both internal and external threats (though currently shaken by Las Anod case) by establishing functioning public institutions and providing peace and stability to its people since its founding of 1998. After this modest achievement, Puntland leaders are aggressively engaged in setting off economic development programs, especially the extraction of natural resources (oil and hardrock mineral deposits) to generate “the much needed capital for development”.
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President Abdillahi Yusuf |
27 November, 2007
Following is an attempt to literally, though very difficult, translate of a very un-presidential, undiplomatic, chaotic, blatant and controversial speech that the warlord-turned-president of the Transitional Federal government of Somalia, Abdillahi Yusuf (TFG, which the Guardian Editorials called neither transitional, nor federal, nor government) delivered on November 20, 2007 to conclude a long seminar held for some officials in the ministry of planning in the provincial town of Baidoa, the temporary seat of the Transitional Federal Parliament of Somalia.
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Violence in Somalia has created a humanitarian crisis without equal, but it is being barely noticed
by Sally Healy
As tens of thousands more frightened and exhausted people fled the terrors of Mogadishu last week, a Somali community leader condemned the international community "for watching the cruelty in Somalia like a film and not bothering to help". He was mistaken. The international community has barely been watching the cruelty in Somalia at all.
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28 November 2007
The United States remains, as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world," through its own wars of aggression and by fomenting and manipulating conflicts that kill millions. It is also the most cynical power on the planet, crying crocodile tears over the carnage in Darfur (in which the U.S. is complicit) while simultaneously unleashing wholesale death in Somalia.
By Sophia Tesfamariam
November 29, 2007
Today, the media is once again frantically writing about the Eritrea Ethiopia border demarcation issue and so called “Horn experts” and “analysts” are once again engage din their favorite pastime, pushing for war in the region, as if the lives of Africans were dispensable. They have also misrepresented the facts by labeling the demarcation issue “a border dispute”, while they know very well that it has been legally resolved and now also legally demarcated.
By Jaindi Kisero
Nairobi, 28 November - 2007ALL HAIL THE POWER OF the shilling. You can now buy the dollar at as low as Sh63 - the highest level for the local currency in nearly a decade.
If I were a chief executive officer of a motor assembly company, I would take advantage by importing all the vehicle assembly parts I need to last me two years.
If I were running a newspaper company, I would import all the newsprint in advance to last me two years and lock in the gains.
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IN MOGADISHU: A woman shelters her child in the window of a battle-scarred building in the Somali capital in February. The continuing violence and presence of Ethiopian soldiers in Somalia is contributing to the radicalization of a generation of youth. After seeing most of his family killed by an Ethiopian missile, a 15-year-old dreams only of death -- his enemies', and his own. DJIBOUTI, November 30, 2007 - A year ago, Bashir Yusuf was a schoolboy who dreamed of becoming a doctor. Now the 15-year-old Somali dreams only of revenge and his own death.
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The old adage of the pen being mightier than sword is haunting the regime of Somalia’s Ethiopian-backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG). With more than eight radio journalists killed in 2007 and President Abdillahi Yusuf’s regime resorting to draconian rules to silence the free press, it seems that Yusuf and his mentor Meles Zenawi are forgetting that in the 21st century it is the Internet that is mightier than dictators.
Yusuf must know that all his swords, all his guns and all his dictatorial rules will not be able to blunt let alone silence the pen. It is simply against the grain of true journalists to submit to power.
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