|
Front
Page |
|
News Headlines
|
|
|
|
Local
and Regional Affairs |
|
|
|
Editorial |
|
|
|
Editor's Choice |
|
|
|
Features
& Commentary |
|
|
|
International News
|
|
|
|
Opinion |
|
|
|
|
Las Anod, Somaliland, May 30, 2009 (SL Times) – Las Anod
celebrated Somaliland Independence Day on May 18. According
to Holhol.net a big crowd of people gathered for this
occasion at the Sool region's headquarters (Guriga gobolka)
in Las Anod. Somaliland's political parties took part,
particularly UCID whose supporters were present in force
with their party signs and placards.
Read full text...
|
|
|
Borama, Somaliland, May 30, 2009 (SL Times) – A UNICEF
delegation led by Mr. Mathew Collins visited Borama on May
21. The purpose of the visit was to check on the progress of
UNICEF projects in Somaliland. Mr Collins met with education
officials in Borama and representatives of Amud University.
.
Read full text...
|
|
|
Erigavo, Somaliland, May 30, 2009 (SL Times) – 200 youth
attended a seminar on HIV/AID education in Erigavo, in May
21. The seminar was provided by SSDO and GAVO..
Read full text...
|
|
|
Borama, Somaliland, May 30, 2009 (SL Times) – A meeting
between parents and education officials took place in Borama
on May 16. The purpose of the meeting was to bring awareness
about the dangers of youngsters joining troublemakers who
create disturbances in the city. An additional objective was
also to discuss the issue of youths risking their life to
illegally travel to foreign countries.
Read full text...
|
|
|
Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi |
SABRATHA, Libya, May 29, 2009 — Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi
called on Friday for the creation of a Somali exclusion zone
as part of efforts to fight piracy in lawless waters off the
Horn of Africa country.
Speaking at an African regional summit, Kadhafi said he will
"submit to the world a plan consisting of respecting the
economic waters of Somalia in exchange for an end to
piracy."
Read full text...
|
|
|
Looking for No1. Mo Farah wants to
add to his British 10k record at Crystal
Palace Photo: PA |
London, May 28, 2009 – Farah smashed the national 3,000m
indoor record before going on to win the European title at
the same distance, before adding the 10 kilometer mark to
his list of achievements with victory in the Bupa London
10,000 road race.
Now the 26-year-old Somaliland-born Briton is preparing to
challenge Moorcroft's time of 13 mins 00.41 secs which was
achieved in winning at the Bislett Games in Oslo 17 years
ago.
Read full text...
|
|
|
Jurgen
Kantner along with his girlfriend, Sabine Merz, was
captured aboard their yacht the Rockall in the Gulf
of Aden by Somali pirates. Andre Lascaris for The
National |
Daniel Howden
Berbera, Somaliland, May 30, 2009 – The shipping forecast
for the Gulf of Aden is troubled. In the past week, heavily
armed Somali pirates have been intercepted by warships from
Sweden, Italy and Canada.
Emergency conferences have begun in Cairo and London to
address the piracy crisis, while at least 15 hijacked ships
languish at anchor off the coast of Somalia with some 210
sailors held hostage. Many others have been released.
Read full text...
|
|
|
Hargeysa MAY 27, 2009 – Mark Bowden, the United Nations
Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator made a 3 days trip to
Somaliland to visit various UN projects in Hargeysa and
Berbera.
Mark Bowden announced Cabdiqadir Nur Hussein as the winner
of the UN Media Awards 2008 for Somaliland. Mr. Hussein won
the prize for best feature, in the print category. The
winning article was printed in the Geeska Afrika Newspaper
in Hargeysa, Somaliland.
Read full text...
|
|
Seeking Alternatives To
Charcoal In Somaliland |
|
A lorry
transporting charcoal in Hargeysa, Somaliland
capital |
Hargeysa, May 27, 2009 – Insufficient cheaper alternatives
and a large former refugee population are fuelling
tree-felling and dependence on charcoal in the republic of
Somaliland, adversely affecting the environment, say
analysts.
Most urban households use charcoal for everyday cooking. "We
use a sack of charcoal every four days because our family is
large," said Zahra Omar, a mother of 12, in the capital,
Hargeysa.
Read full text...
|
|
FBI Watching Somali Muslims
In D.C.
Refugees had posed security concern ahead of Obama
inauguration |
|
HOMELAND INSECURITY
WorldNetDaily Exclusive
By Paul Sperry
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Fearing the next terror attack could emerge from America's
growing Somali refugee population, federal authorities have
stepped up surveillance in Somali communities – including a
large enclave just outside Washington.
Read full text...
|
|
Situation Continues To
Deteriorate In Mogadishu |
|
Geneva, May 29, 2009 – The International Committee of the
Red Cross reported the humanitarian situation for people in
the Somali capital, Mogadishu is continuing to worsen. It
said dozens of people have been killed, hundreds wounded and
thousand more forced to flee since the intensification of
armed clashes early this month.
Spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross,
Florian Westphal, said numbers tell the story. He said the
number of wounded people arriving at Mogadishu's two main
hospitals clearly indicates the scale of the crisis.
Read full text...
|
|
Somalia Terrorists Denounce
Extended UN Mandate |
|
An
Islamic fighter prepares to fire in a street
littered with spent bullet casings during clashes
between Islamic fighters and government soldiers in
Mogadishu, Somalia |
Nairobi, 28 May 2009 – Somalia's al-Qaida-linked militant
group has denounced the extension of the U.N. Security
Council mandate for African Union troops to stay in Somalia.
The group said it will target AMISOM with more suicide
bombings and mortar attacks if the peacekeepers do not leave
immediately.
Read full text...
|
|
British And American Fighters Respond To Jihad Call In
Somalia |
|
Mogadishu, May 23, 2009 –
Up to a thousand foreign fighters, including
Britons, have answered the call to jihad in Somalia and are
leading street-fighting Islamist extremists in the war-torn
capital Mogadishu, The Times has learnt.
Early yesterday the Western-backed
Government launched a counter-offensive after almost a
fortnight of attacks by insurgents that have killed at least
200 civilians.
Read full text...
|
|
Cargo Plane Crashes at Dire Dawa Airport |
|
Dire Dawa, May 28, 2009 – An Armenian cargo aircraft
identified as Antonov 24 (AN-24) crashed as it flew off
course of the runway at Dire Dawa Airport early last week.
Early in the morning last Monday, May 18, 2009, the airplane
rented from the East European country for six months to
transport about 2,000tn of chat from Dire Dawa to Bosaso,
Somaliland, went off the runway as it was about to takeoff,
officials from the air port disclosed.
Read full text...
|
|
Somalia: Ethiopia Has No Plans To Go It Alone |
|
Nairobi, May 29, 2009 – Ethiopia will
only intervene in Somalia as part of the regional Igad
grouping, Mr Yelibu Lijalem, the deputy head of mission at
the Ethiopian Embassy in Nairobi, has said.
He said the threat posed by the advance by radical Islamist
forces in Mogadishu was not particular to Ethiopia. “We will
decide as a region, we will not intervene unilaterally.’’.
Read full text...
|
|
British Envoy: UN Security Council Pledges Financial Support
To Somali Gov't |
|
UNITED NATIONS, May 26 (Xinhua) -- The
United Nations Security Council agreed to provide logistical
support to the government of Somalia engaged in fierce
battles with Islamist insurgent forces, and will do so
through assessed contributions, marking the first time, said
the top British envoy to the UN here on Tuesday.
Read full text...
|
|
US Anti-Terror Authorities See Western Fighters In Somalia |
|
WASHINGTON, May 24, 2009 (AFP) — A US
counter-terrorism official on Saturday said US nationals had
likely joined the ranks of insurgents in Somalia, where
Islamist rebels are waging a bitter war against the
Western-backed government.
"There is reason to believe that nationals of Western
countries, including the United States, have joined up with
terrorist groups in Somalia," the official said.
Read full text...
|
|
Bollore Africa Logistics Eye Berbera Port |
|
Berbera, 28 May 2009— A delegation of
French officials arrived on a private jet in the Somaliland
port city of Berbera on Wednesday for talks with President
Dahir Rayale and other senior officials who had already
traveled from the capital [Hargeysa].
Read full text...
|
|
Headlines |
|
|
Somaliland President Meets French
Businessmen In Berbera |
Berbera port manager,
Ali Hor-hor (center) and
members of the French
businessmen touring in
the Berbera port after
they have held
discussions with
president Rayale
Berbera, Somaliland, May
30, 2009 (SL Times) –
Somaliland President
Dahir Rayale Kahin left
for Berbera this week
where he met with
officials of a French
company. A press
statement released by
the French delegation
said, "The results of
our visit to Berbera
will be known within the
next three months." The
Somaliland government,
however, has not
commented on the
meeting.
Read full text...
|
|
David Cameron: Somaliland Is A Model For
Somalia And Africa |
|
Munir Ahmed
Egal (Left) with David Cameron |
Milton Keynes, UK, May 30, 2009 (SL Times) – David Cameron,
the standard bearer of the conservative party in Britain and
a heavy favorite for winning the next election said that
Somaliland could be a model for Somalia and Africa. The
opposition leader was giving a lecture at the Open
University at Milton Keynes and was asked a question by
Munir Ahmad Egal, a freelance journalist who is originally
from Somaliland.
Read full text...
|
|
Somaliland President Calls For
International Help In Fighting Piracy |
|
President
Rayale receives a UN delegation led by Mark Bowden
(right) |
Hargeysa, Somaliland, May 30, 2009 (SL Times) – Somaliland
President Dahir Rayale Kahin called for international help
in his country's fight against piracy. This happened during
a meeting with a UN delegation led by the UN representative
to Somaliland and Somalia, Mr. Mark Bowden. The meeting took
place at the presidential palace in Hargeysa..
Read full text...
|
|
|
Hargeysa, Somaliland, May 30, 2009 (SL Times) – Somaliland’s
three political parties reached an 8-point agreement regarding
the coming presidential election. The agreement was signed in a
ceremony at Mansoor Hotel on May 27, 2009.
Read full text...
|
|
|
|
President Riyale’s s spokesman,
Said Adani Moge
Hargeysa, Somaliland, May 30, 2009 (SL Times) – President Dahir
Rayale Kahin's spokesman, Mr. Said Adani accused Somaliland's
press of writing whatever they want and publishing material that
is often harmful to the national interests of the country. He
asked parliament to pass the press law which the government had
submitted to parliament in 2007. The speaker said this on the
government-owned television.
Read full text...
|
|
Ethiopia Planning To Mediate
Between Somaliland, Puntland Over Disputed Region |
|
Addis Ababa, May 30, 2009 – The
vice president of the Puntland Administration, General Abdisamad
Ali Sharmarke led a delegation of Puntland officials to Addis
Ababa where they held talks in which they discussed various
issues with senior officials of the Ethiopian government.
Read full text...
|
|
Buhoodle Celebrates Somaliland
Independence |
|
Buhoodle, Somaliland, May 30, 2009 (SL Times) – Buhoodle
celebrated for the first time Somaliland Independence Day on May
18. The event was jointly organized by officers of Somaliland
armed forces in Buhoodle and a civil society organization called
Darwish.
Read full text...
|
|
Road Work In Las Anod |
|
Las Anod, Somaliland, May 30, 2009 (SL Times) – The city council
of Las Anod started a project of clearing the roads of the city
of illegal constructions and trash that blocked the main
transportation arteries of the city.
Read full text...
|
|
Journalists Trained In Hargeysa |
|
Young journalists in Somaliland
Hargeysa, Somaliland, May 30, 2009 (SL Times) – A seminar for 25
Somaliland journalists began on May 24th in Hargeysa. The
seminar will focus on training in management and will go on for
four days. .
Read full text...
|
|
|
Obama: We Need Two States |
|
President
Barack Hussein Obama
NAZARETH May 30. 2009 – Barack Obama signaled his readiness to
step deeper into the quagmire of the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict this week following a meeting with Mahmoud Abbas, the
Palestinian president, at the White House.
At a press conference afterwards, Mr Obama stressed the
importance of getting the peace process “back on track” by
pushing ahead with the creation of a Palestinian state and
calling on Israel to halt settlement building.
Read full text...
|
|
|
|
Doctors and paramedics
tend to a police officer injured in the suicide bomb attack in
Lahore on Wednesday
Lahore, May 29, 2009 – The rattle of automatic gunfire followed
by the crump of a massive explosion early on Wednesday further
undermined Lahore’s reputation as a centre of music and fashion,
replacing it with one for violence and terror – at least in the
perception of the world at large.
Read full text...
|
|
|
Washington, May 29, 2009 – As President
Barack Obama prepares to address Muslims around the world,
questions about the mood and opinions of Arabs are surfacing. A
new University of Maryland/Zogby International poll on attitudes
in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Morocco and the United Arab
Emirates shows that the election of President Obama is fueling
hopes about U.S. Middle East policy. But it also reveals that
most Arabs hold unfavorable views of the United States. .
Read full text...
|
|
Gunmen In Iran Wound 3 At President's Campaign Office
|
|
Tehran, May 29, 2009 – Iranian state media say gunmen have
opened fire on one of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's campaign
offices, wounding three people.
The IRNA news agency says the shooting took place Friday in the
southeastern city of Zahedan, near the Pakistani border.
Read full text...
|
|
|
|
|
By
Gwen Thompkins
Listen Now [6 min 56 sec]
add to playlist |
download
All Things Considered, May 27, 2009 · Somaliland has called
itself an independent republic since the 1990s. But the rest of
the world calls it the northern region of Somalia. The more than
3 million Somalilanders have their own president, their own
Parliament and their own passports. They now want the rest of
the world to show them a little respect.
Read full text...
|
|
|
Islamic fighters in Mogadishu, Somalia. Photograph: Ghaith
Abdul-Ahad
In a
rare dispatch from war-ravaged Mogadishu, Ghaith Abdul-Ahad
found a city daring to hope for a break from years of violence.
Then the fighting resumed
Mogadishu, May
29, 2009 – Mogadishu's best barometer of ¬violence is the little
blackboard on which Dr Taher Mahmoud daily records the number of
patients in his hospital. For the last 20 years the tall surgeon
with huge hands has been operating on the victims of the city's
civil war..
Read full text...
|
|
|
In central
Somalia, a new axis of conflict has opened up. Now, in a
definitive shift, fighters from different clans are forming
alliances and battling one another along religious lines.
Near the town of Dusa Marreb, Sufi militiamen stood with an
amored personnel carrier at a checkpoint
By
JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
DUSA MARREB,
Somalia, May 30,
2009 — From men of peace, the Sufi clerics suddenly became
men of war.
Their shrines were being destroyed. Their
imams were being murdered. Their tolerant beliefs were under
withering attack.
Read
full text...
|
|
Minorities Missing Out On Top Jobs: Study
Visible minorities constitute 40 per cent of area
population, but hold only 13 per cent of 3,257 leadership
posts |
|
Cadigia Ali is an Italian-trained
medical doctor from Somalia who came to Canada with
her family in 1991. She is an active volunteer, and
also works for the provincial government.
|
Toronto, May 28, 2009 –
Somali-born doctor Cadigia Ali has carved out a successful
new life here as a community volunteer, public servant and
now aspiring politician, but is living proof of the findings
of a new report released Wednesday on the low presence of
visible minorities in leadership posts in the Toronto area.
Ms. Ali, 59, a live-wire personality who arrived here with
her family in 1991, learned a harsh lesson when she plunged
into local politics in 2006 and tried to pull off the
unlikely feat, for anyone, of knocking off an incumbent city
councilor.
Read
full text...
|
|
Daniel Howden: Dancing To A Different Tune |
|
Africa Notebook
Thursday, 28 May 2009
Hargeysa’s wedding hall doesn't deal in subtlety. A concrete
box with a sagging ceiling, it's decorated in flourishes of
cream and pink reminiscent of icing. The heart-shaped silver
thrones for the bride and groom seem to have been plucked
from the top of a towering wedding cake. .
Read
full text...
|
|
Bring Zimbabwe In From The Cold |
|
By GREG MILLS and JEFFREY HERBST
Published: May 27, 2009
AFTER years of rightly criticizing President Robert Mugabe’s
authoritarian rule in Zimbabwe, Western countries now face a
different, and difficult, set of decisions.
Since February, Zimbabwe has operated under a unity
government led by Mr. Mugabe with the opposition’s leader,
Morgan Tsvangirai, as prime minister. Had last year’s
elections been free and fair, Mr. Tsvangirai would have been
elected president, but instead of continuing to contest the
results he eventually agreed to serve as prime minister. The
transition has not been smooth; cabinet posts have been
divided up awkwardly, while many people inside and outside
the country have criticized Mr. Tsvangirai for seemingly
being co-opted by Mr. Mugabe.
Read
full text...
|
|
Eritrean President Issaias Afeworki Talks To Asharq Al-Awsat |
|
Asmara, Asharq Al-Awsat, May 29, 2009
- The simplicity with which Eritrean President
Issaias Afeworki welcomed us was in harmony with the simple
life of the people in the capital Asmara, the Port of
Massawa, the cities of Keren and Tessenei, and other towns
in Eritrea. However, Eritrea's celebration of its 18th
anniversary of independence brings back to mind the years of
war that the four-million strong population waged for
independence from Italy and later from Ethiopia, turning the
colony into one of the most recent free countries that
joined the United Nations. The presidential palace - where
the interview that Asharq Al-Awsat held with President
Afeworki was conducted - has become the people's icon of
freedom. However, the president does not reside there. Like
other ordinary citizens, he lives in a rented home in the
middle of Asmara where he is surrounded by neighbors.
Simplicity, modesty, and friendliness are all present here
in Eritrea.
Read
full text...
|
|
Poet Hero: Hadraawi, Beloved Peacemaker |
|
Mohamed
Ibrahim Warsame, better known as Hadraawi |
Written by Rebecca Miller
Mohamed Ibrahim Warsame, better known as
Hadraawi, is Somalia’s most beloved poet. He was born in
Togdheer, in Northern Somalia (1943). When of school age, he
left his sister and eight brothers to live with his uncle in
the Yemeni port city of Aden. While at school, he became
known for his wonderful storytelling about lions, jackals
and hyenas.
Read
full text...
|
|
|
|
|
Djibouti's Prevention Of Somaliland Independence Celebration |
The Somaliland community’s
hope of celebrating Somaliland independence day in Djibouti were dashed
when instructions reached them from Djibouti’s ministry of interior that
no such celebrations could take place in Djibouti. The news was a
serious blow to Somalilanders in Djibouti who thought they could join
their brethren around the world in celebrating the independence of their
country of origin.
Read full text...
|
|
|
|
War in
Somalia: Protecting Somaliland's Peace Should Be a Priority |
|
Nicole Stremlau
Program
in Comparative Media Law and Policy, University of Oxford
Posted:
May 15, 2009 04:47 PM
The war
in Somalia has entered a
new phase. Even by Mogadishu's standards, in recent days the
fighting has been intense. More than 100 people have been killed.
The al-Qaeda affiliated al-Shabaab and the Transitional Federal
Government (TFG), supported by the international community, are
engaged in a violent power struggle.
Read full text...
|
|
Comments
A reply to Nicole
Nicole, your analysis is right on the money. Somalia as a sovereign
country has ceased to exist two decades ago. But the international
community keeps trying to revive it. Their approach has been to set
up one government after another in neighboring countries and call
them Somalia's government. That has not worked and is unlikely to
work. The fact is what used to be called Somalia is now divided into
three entities: south-central Somalia which is controlled by
religious extremists, the Northeast (Puntland) which is a base for
piracy, and Somaliland Republic (the Northwest). Out of these three
territories, Somaliland is the only one that is peaceful, democratic
and has a chance to succeed as a polity but the international
community has not recognized it because, check this out, they don't
want to destabilize Somalia. That does not make sense. How can
anyone destabilize Somalia? It is a lame excuse.
The media coverage has not been helpful either. They keep repeating
talking points from UN bureaucrats and state department officials
without asking the tough questions. For example: why is the US
government supporting a Somalia government that controls only a
couple of blocks out of the whole country? Why is Somaliland not
being recognized even though it is a stable and promising democracy?
Thanks for raising these questions.
J. Gabobe, Seattle |
OPINION |
|
Impose Naval Blockade On Somaliland, But Not On Alshabaab
Terrorists |
|
By Dalmar Kaahin
What an irony? But as if spreading disinformation about
Somaliland and hurling insults at its leaders don’t suite
Dr. Megalommatis’s venomous outbursts, in his latest lethal
baits masqueraded as a remedy to sea piracy in Horn of
Africa he proposes the unthinkable: strangle Somaliland
people through navy blockade while terrorist Alshabaab
operated port in Mogadishu, Somalia remain untouched.
Dr. Megalommatis’s “article” entitled, “Blockade of
Somaliland, Puntland and all Somali Harbors But Mogadishu:
the Only Answer to Piracy” doesn’t provide panacea for
piracy but reveals his enmity against peaceful and
democratic republic of Somaliland.
Read full text...
|
|
Djibouti Is Following The Path Of Somalia |
By
Mohamed Awaleh
Nation-state building must start from the nation to state,
instead of the state to nation. Republic of Djibouti has
practiced the opposite. Because of this there is now
instability. Djibouti has inherited tribal rivalries: Afar
and Issa. To save the nation-state, Djibouti leadership must
accept the new process of true decentralization in order to
diminish tribal or sectarian politics in the country.
Djibouti must begin to study their own traditional cultures
and societies in order to better understand their
circumstances. Each and every indigenous community has its
own institutions that sustain and protect individual rights:
kingdoms, councils of elders, nomadic pastoral democracies,
and other progressive variations of common social structure.
Read full text...
|
|
Democracy Requires A Responsible Government |
|
By
Ibrahim Adam Ghalib, Borama, Awdal
Within a democracy those who govern must be accountable and
responsible to those whom they govern. The power to govern
derives from the electors and they must be given the
opportunity to choose between the present system and the
favored alternative. One function of the institutions like
the political parties and the parliament is to represent the
electors and to call the governments to account for its acts
and justify the decisions taken unilaterally that
constitutionally require a consensual decision making and
the acts that are unjustified. If this mess continues it
will eventually threaten the integrity of the
administration.
Read full text...
|
|
Stop Illegal Fishing In Somaliland |
|
By Amiin
Dahir, Columbus, Oh
The primary issue in the development of the sea and
fisheries sector in Somaliland is the irresponsible fishing
practices known internationally as illegal, unreported and
unregulated (IUU) fishing.. These have become a direct
threat to the efforts to responsibly manage Somaliland’s
fish resources and are an impediment to achieving
sustainable fishing.
Illegal fishing in Somaliland is generally done by fishing
boats that operate without a fishing operations permit (SFP)
or fishing permit document.
Read full text...
|
|
Italians Among Foreign Fighters In Somalia - Reported |
|
By
Anab Mohamed, Ohio, USA
For a few days now a battle has been raging in Mogadishu
between TFG [Transitional Federal Government] troops, led by
the moderate Islamic Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, and Al-Shabab
fundamentalist insurgents. The latter, after fierce
fighting, yesterday managed to take Giohar, which lies at a
distance of approximately 90 kilometers from the capital.
The fundamentalists, however, suffered a serious setback
because of the defection of their most committed commander,
Sheikh Yusuf Mohamud Siad, known as Inda ‘Adde [White Eyes],
who yesterday at dawn, after a heated assembly with his clan
(the habergidir/aer) elders, decided to hand over a part of
his arsenal to the government. However, Inda ‘Adde is no
novice in terms of sudden side-changes.
Read full text...
|
|
A Country For Sale |
|
By Yusuf Deyr, Hargeysa
Reading the desperate face of the lay – man on the street is
my favorite book. Using his tongue as a pen inked with
twisted tears deep, deep from his heart. As we share and
have many things in common. That is why his agony and scream
shivers my spine. His coughing and sneezing opens my eyes to
see and my brain to imagine. Then I nose around and apply
all my senses to snoop. The henchmen of the spider web
palace, sit on his back and always choke him to death. At
the same time showers him with empty promises of honey and
milk. If I set aside all negativity, and redeem all sins.
Still , I smell blood in the water!
Read full text...
|
| |
|
Somalia And Somaliland |
|
The arrivals hall of Hargeysa airport is a dust-blown,
concrete box on a sweltering plain of scrub desert. Through
its broken tinted doors are peeling walls with a few
scattered pictures of Mecca. A brass plaque on a beam above
them commemorates the opening of the building by Prince
Henry, the 1st Duke of Gloucester, in 1958. The tarnished
plate looks oddly out of place as a reminder of Britain’s
forgotten colony.
Read full text...
|
|
|
A militant
opposed to the government mans a position near the
presidential palace in Mogadishu, Somalia |
Mogadishu, May 19, 2009 - Just last month, Western donors gathered in Brussels to pledge money to
the new Somali government of Sheik Sharif Ahmed, in the hope
that he could restore order and
put an end to the offshore piracy that has plagued
shipping off his country's coastline. But renewed fighting
in and around Mogadishu has raised fears that Somalia's 15th
government in 18 years is about to fail. Sharif was
named President only in January, and it was hoped that
as an Islamist committed to restoration of law and order and
political dialogue, he might do better than his predecessors
at uniting Somalis behind a central administration and
bridging the divide between militant Islam and the secular
West. That was before the return to Somalia of Sharif's
erstwhile Islamist comrade, Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys.
Read full text...
|
|
Taking The Silk Road To Avoid Recession |
|
Dr.
Terry Lacey |
Dr. Terry Lacey
Development Economist
Indonesia is exploring new paths and has taken the silk road
to help avoid recession, quickly expanding economic
relationships with non-traditional trading partners like
Azerbaijan and looking for new deals with the Central Asian
Republics on oil and gas, commodities, relatively low cost
manufactures from Indonesia and tourism.
Whilst Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and now South
Korea have hit recession and downturn following the October
2008 Western banking and financial collapse, Indonesia
maintained growth at 6.1 percent in 2008 and at 4.5 percent
in 2009.
Read full text...
|
|
|
May 28th, 2009 – It is almost 20 years since Somalia was
under the rule of a central government led by the military
dictator, Siyad Barre. He was defeated by the warlord,
Aideed and the country then fragmented into a patchwork of
rival fiefdoms controlled by warlords. One or other of them,
usually under the control of neighboring countries or
imperialist powers attempted to take charge of the country,
but failed. The military invasion of the country by Ethiopia
in late 2006 at the behest of US imperialism, also ended in
failure when it had to withdraw its troops in December last
year. The invasion left the country decimated with tens of
thousands killed since 2007, more than two million refugees
and half the population in need of food aid. The questions
that have to be asked are, why there has been the virtual
collapse of the state for such a prolonged period and why
there were the repeated foreign interventions?
Read full text...
|
|
|
Editorial
– Daily Nation
Monday, May 25, 2009
Reports that Kenyan youth might be targets of recruiters to
fight with Somali extremists in that country’s worsening
civil war should be sufficiently alarming to rattle
authorities into action.
The accounts of Kenyan parents lamenting the loss of their
sons to the al-Sabaab militia are doubly alarming because
that movement’s leaders have made plain their hostility
towards Kenya.
Read full text...
|
|
Anarchy, Terrorism, and Piracy in Somalia: New Rules of
Engagement for the International Community |
|
By: Alemayehu Fentaw
Somalia has long been anarchic, hitting rock bottom claiming
#1 in The Fund for Peace’s most recent Failed States Index.
It had no functioning central government in the past 19
years, albeit 14 attempts to reconstitute state authority
had been made since 1991, when the former Cold War dictator
Mohammad Siad Barre was ousted after 22 years in power. All
such efforts were doomed to fail. Whether or not the latest
effort is going to succeed is a matter that will remain to
be seen. One thing is crystal clear at this point in time,
nonetheless, that Somalia’s latest attempt at state-building
has to be supported by the US and the rest of the
international community, rather than fought, lest it should
be a hotbed of terrorism and piracy.
Read full text...
|
|
|
