Change, Recycling, or Staying the Course.

The present contest in the Somaliland Presidential Elections could be summed up in the above three descriptions fitting onto the character and agenda of the respective three parties.
Faisal and his UCID party is a party of change for the Republic of Somaliland. The mere fact that the principle figures in the UCID party are people who never took leadership positions in the different Administrations and Governments of Somaliland, makes them new people, and new people always mean change. There comes the next question: What sort of change?
Read More 

The Decline of Western Influence on the Woyane Regime in Ethiopia

Wednesday, 26 May 2010 21:16 Ogaden Online Editorial

 

www.aminarts.com

The verdict is in. While the people of Ethiopia have not spoken, the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) regime currently in power in Ethiopia certainly has. The message from TPLF to those Western democracies that have been coddling and cajoling it is this: any leverage they thought they might have had on the TPLF regime no longer exists.

For nearly two decades, Meles Zenawi, the TPLF head, has been on a deliberate, and sometimes provocative, strategic path to get to where he and his junta are today. His goal whether stated explicitly or implied has all along been to reach a point where it, the junta, would effectively be immune to any pressures that could be brought to bear by Western democracies.

An astute student of African politics, Meles knew he took over an Ethiopia heavily dependent on foreign aid and that reality meant that the providers of that aid, mainly the West, had considerable leverage which could be brought to bear should they choose to exercise that power. The global war on terror came as a timely gift to Meles’s TPLF regime. It bought him time; time he used wisely to consolidate power while forging new relationships with undemocratic powers that would have no incentive in using their aid to pressure his regime to institute democratic reforms or respect human rights.Read More

Kooxda Alshabaab oo Sheegtay inay la wareegeen Degmooyin ka tirsan Gobolka Galgaduud

Kooxda  Al Shabaab ayaa sheegtay in si nabad galyo Ee Saakay kula a wareegeen  Qaybo ka tirsan Deegaanada  gobolka Galgaduud waxayna Warbaanida u shegeen inay halkaasi Ee haatan joogaan Ciidamada Alshabaab.Sii Akhri

Somalia: Al Shabaab boycott Hizbul Islam unity offer

28 May 28, 2010 - 8:27:36 AM

The Islamist leader of Somalia’s insurgent group, Hizbul Islam has called on all the Somali insurgent groups to unite and work as one to wage war against the UN-backed transitional Somali government and its military backer Africa Union peacekeeping troops.
Speaking on Thursday at an Islamic seminar in Mogadishu, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys said it was on the goodwill of the population for the insurgents to unite and topple the puppet government.

Sh Aweys, Hizbul Islam rebel chief

“It is very important for the fighters to unite instead of staying as factions and turning on each other” said the 65-year old cleric.
“The seminar produced a 14-point communiqué and the most important part of it is the call for more fighting and unite amongst the groups,” he added.
He urged Mogadishu residents to brace for an all out war against the AU and Somali government.
However, Al-Shabaab, a powerful insurgent group has boycotted the workshop for unclear reasons. Aweys had an advice for the group. “Don’t look for more than you deserve.”
The two groups, who control large swathes of territories were in some point involved in deadly power struggle over the control of southern Somali towns.
GAROWE ONLINE

Somalia: NATO commanders meet Puntland officials off Bossaso

28 May 28, 2010 - 8:21:04 AM

Officials from Somalia’s Puntland state got opportunity to interact and discuss with the Commander of the NATO Task Force, Commodore Steve Chick and his team who are patrolling the waters off Somalia as part of NATO's counter-piracy operation, code-named Ocean Shield.
The meeting took place on board NATO flag ship HMS CHATHAM, which was anchored few miles off Bossaso port, the commercial capital of Puntland..
According to Abdi Ali Hirsi (Qarjab), the governor of Puntland's Nugal region, the commander and his team briefed officials on NATO's and the other counter piracy forces, including the EU Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) and the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) operations in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean to fight piracy.
“25 officials from Bari, Karkaar, Nugal and Mudug regions of Puntland attended the meeting and we critically analyzed the anti-piracy mission,” Qarjab said.
“The NATO officials informed us that they would be meeting Puntland public and government including the president who is currently out of the country,” he added.
NATO, which has fleets in Somalia’s coastlines has established a working relationship with Puntland in an attempt to uproot piracy off the Horn of Africa.
Somali pirates have carried out more than 300 attempted attacks on foreign vessel since the beginning of 2009, a record high compared to 2008.
GAROWE ONLINE

HomeNews News Somalia militia attack Kenya village

Somali militia al Shabaab brandish their weapons on a street in the outskirts of Mogadishu. Suspected members of the insurgent group shot and seriously injured five people after crossing the border to Kenya in Wajir district May 27, 2010. Photo/REUTERS 

By ABDULAHI JAMAA and FRED MUKINDA
Posted Thursday, May 27 2010 at 14:16

Somalia militia shot and seriously injured five people after crossing the border to Kenya in Wajir district Thursday. Read More

Somalia parliament elects new speaker

MOGADISHU — Somalia's parliament on Friday elected Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan as its speaker following a crisis within the country's transitional institutions that led his predecessor to resign.
Adan, who already held the position between 2004 and 2007, was elected by 217 lawmakers out of 388 present during the parliamentary session in the capital Mogadishu.
"I want MPs to be united so that we can overcome the current political situation," he said in his acceptance speech. "We must forget past differences and work towards a better future for Somalia."
Adan, who was ousted as parliament speaker in 2007 over his opposition to the Ethiopian military intervention welcomed by then president Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, also said he would seek to rally international support.
Read More 

Somali Faction Leader Says He Has Hired German Mercenaries

A Somali factional leader, who claims to be the legitimate pre
sident of Somalia, has confirmed media reports that he has hired a security firm in Germany to provide more than 100 former German soldiers to work for him in Somalia.
Factional leader, Abdinor Ahmed Darman, says the private security company, Asgaard German Security Group, has agreed to help train military and security personnel in Somalia and to help fight piracy.
Darman says, under the terms of the contract, former German soldiers deployed by Asgaard are also required to help defend him and his supporters against attack by troops loyal to Somalia's U.N.-backed Transitional Federal Government and 5,300 African Union peacekeeping troops protecting the government in Mogadishu.
 Read More

Sheikh Caan ah - Masaajidka Ibnu Taymiyah

With 99% of seats in parliament, Meles creates a one-party state

By Jonathan Manthorpe | Vancouver Sun
After Ethiopia's previous dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam murdered the man he had deposed, Emperor Haile Selassie, he capped his triumph by having the body buried under his office floor.
Ethiopia's current leader dictator, Meles Zenawi, who led the rebellion that deposed Mengistu in 1991, has not been quite so utilitarian in how he disposes of his opponents.
But critics say Meles has been just as effective in creating what amounts to a repressive one-party state in what was once a country carrying reasonable hopes of leading a democratic upsurge in Africa.Read More

Meles Zenawi - Talk to Al Jazeera

Talk to Jazeera - Meles Zenawi.

Somalia: Presidential Office Hires Hiiraan Online for Special Interest (Report)

RBC Radio has obtained a copy of so-called agreement between the office of Somali president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and the owner of Hiiraan online news website (www.hiiraan.com ), which is to aim that www.hiiraan.com should fulfil and be part of Sheikh Sharif’s communication team. As mentioned the agreement was signed on 1^st February 2010 and its main purpose is the owner of Hiiraan online, Mr Gure will work and contribute the creation of a media team (communication team) which should implement a so-called project from Sheikh Sharif to the Somali Diaspora community.
Sii Akhri 

Asli Abade: A Pilot With a Vision

Today I have a wonderful lady to write about. You don’t need me to introduce you to her simply because you already know her much more than I do. I have never met her as a person but over the years of her involvement in Somali Reconciliation Conferences I admired her strength and dedication to peace. She is Asli Hassan Abade, the first Somali female pilot in the history of Somali aviation. She now lives in Dallas, Texas hopefully with family and friends. Asli is a pilot with a vision and the pride of a nation. She is a Peace activist who tirelessly advocates for the restoration of peace and stability in the Motherland. The Somali flag is her favourite outfit as she wears it most of the time especially during peace conferences to persuade Somalis to unite and rebuild their country.

In honour of her efforts and devotion for peace Somalis have coined her the name: Asli Calan Side, meaning Asli the Flag bearer. In an interview she had with a Somali TV, Universal, in March 20th of this year, Asli, who at the time returned from the Xajj in Saudi Arabia, said " I fly once in every six months in America to avoid my license from getting expired “ adding “I have a dream that one day I will fly a Somali aircraft in Somalia when the pieces of the nation have been brought back together in peace" It is the weight of these wonderful words that I was moved and inspired to write this short article few minutes after the interview has ended and posted it at my page in www.authorsden.com/abdinoorhajimohamed I’m glad to share it with you now, belatedly though.

With all these insurgents and terror-linked Islamist groups, with all these TFG and AU bombardments in civilian populated areas, with all these warlords and war-profiteers, with all the disintegration Somalia is undergoing today, Asli’s flame of hope never ceased to flicker, leave alone to be blown off by winds of despondency. Her courage to withstand the rigours of life has not been abated and her spirits to fight for peace have never been weakened nor diminished. She has a dream to see our skies not anymore rocked by the sound of mortar rockets but filled by the echoes of sophisticated jet airlines of which one of them is piloted by herself! What a noble dream!

Her dreams to see Somalia standing on its own feet as well as her ideals of Somalia living in peace with itself and its neighbours and prospering with the sweat and blood of its own citizens are still glaring in her mind like the embers of a morning fire. Her wish to see Somalia feeding itself without depending on foreign economic aid is alive deep in her heart. In every word she uttered in the interview she was expressing hope; the hope of a united and prosperous Somalia.

Not everybody can have such a dream in the midst of war but those like Asli whose hearts never cease to have hope can go beyond the grain of misery. They can light up the dark with the beauty of their soul and mind. Unfortunately the few visionary Somalis are constantly let down by the leaders who have no vision at all. Look at the situation today. The rift between the authorities is getting wider and harsher by the day. Is it fair to fight over positions of power when the whole nation is drowning in the blood of its own people? And after all, is there anything left to fight over? What we hear these days is nothing more than an obtrusive distress mirrored in the eyes of humanity.

Finally let us pray for those leaders to settle their dispute through peaceful means and dialogue. No matter what happened to Somalia there will always be a Somalia in the Horn of Africa so long as there are Somalis with a commitment for peace like our sister Asli Calan Side. May her dreams and the dreams of good-hearted Somalis come true! May we extinguish the spreading fires with a breath of peace.

Abdi-Noor Mohamed
Writer and Film Maker
Sweden
E-Mail:nuuru2003@hotmail.com

Maqaal: Buuhoodle, Faroole, Shariif, Amiin Caamir

Waxgarad ka kooban aday dhaqameedyo caan ah, ganacsato, culimaa’u diin, saraakiil ciidan, aqoon yahanno iyo qaybaha kaloo bulshada sida dhallinyarada iyo haweenka ayaa shir il-yartu is qabatay iisugu yimid, si ay uga arrinsadaan xaalad adag oo si kadis u soo foodsaartay, bulsho weynta ku nool magaalada Buuhoodle.
Shir beeleedka loo wada dhan yahay, baaxadda weyn bilicda qurxuun ku darsaday, oo ayan wehelin degdeg loo agaasimey, qaab darro iyo jaawareerkii lagu yiqiin shirarka degdegga loo qabto, ma waxaa looga arrinsanayaa in lagu kala hagoogto dhiig laba beelood oo daadanaya? Maya! Ka weyn taa. Reer Buuhoodle laba arrimood ayey ka tashanayaan. Labadaas oo kale ah:
1. in ay ka baaraan degaan, madashaanna kor iyo hoos ugu qaadaa dhigaan, sidii loo heli lahaa hab iyo hanaan ay naftooda iyo degaankooda uga maadiyaan saddex cadaw oo weerar cad ku soo qaaday degaankooda.
Sii Akhri 

Calooshood u Shaqeystayaal Germany u Dhashay oo Loo Soo Kireeyey inay Muqdisho Ka Dagaalamaan (Xog Qarsoodi ah)

Berlin (RBC Radio) Telefishanka dowlada Gerrmany NDR ayaa shaaca ka qaaday warbixin qarsoodi ah oo ku saabsan heshiis dhexmarey ganacsade Soomaali ah iyo shirkad dhinaca amaanka qaabilsan oo laga leeyahay dalka Gemany.
Warbixinta uu siidaayey telefishanka Germany ayaa ka soo xigatey saraakil Germany in nin lagu magacaabo C/NUUR AXMED DARMAAN oo mar madaxweynnino sheegtay markii ugu horeysey uu heshiis la galay shirkad ka shaqeysa dhinaca amaanka oo laga leeyahay Germany taasi oo lagu magacaabo ‘Asgaard German Security Group’. Sii Akhri
.  

Tens of thousands of Gaza children are due to attend camp sessions

UN camp for Gaza children torched

Page last updated at 11:35 GMT, Sunday, 23 May 2010 12:35 UK

Masked gunmen have attacked a UN summer camp being set up for children in the Gaza Strip, UN officials say.

The attackers burned tents and destroyed other equipment after tying up a guard.
Read More 

Militants fire mortars at Somali president's palace

Al-Shabab militants have fired mortars at Somalia's presidential palace, sparking deadly battles in which at least 14 people have died. Read More

Ethiopia votes in election clouded by fraud fears

Polls have closed in Ethiopia's first election since a 2005 contest which was marred by protests that led to the deaths of 200 people.

Voting was smooth and steady in the capital, Addis Ababa, but the opposition said there had been irregularities elsewhere in the country.
Officials have dismissed the claims.
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, a Western ally against militants in Somalia, is seeking re-election. 
Read More

Agencies urge Somalia aid boost as UN meet starts

A Somali woman holds her malnourished child in a hospital in Mogadishu, March 2010.
REUTERS/Ismail Taxta

NAIROBI (AlertNet) - Aid agencies working to alleviate Somalia's humanitarian crisis have called on donors to plug a shortfall in funds for life-saving relief as a major U.N. conference on the war-torn country gets underway. The Istanbul Conference on Somalia, which takes place from May 21-23 and is convened by the United Nations and the governments of Somalia and Turkey, will address threats to security and stability in the Horn of Africa nation. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is due to address the summit, which will also explore ways to combat rampant sea piracy off the Somali coast. "We understand there is donor fatigue but we Read More

Puntland oo War Ka Soo Saartay Dagaalkii Maanta Ka Dhacay Buuhoodle

Garowe (RBC Radio) Wasiirka amniga Puntland ayaa caawa sheegay in dowlada Puntland ay ka xun tahay dagaalkii maanta ka dhacay degmada Buuhoodle ee dhexmarey dadka degaanka iyo ciidamada Ethiopia.
Yuusf Axmed Khayr oo caawa ka hadlay dagaalkii maanta ka dhacay Buuhoodle ayaa sheegay inuu ku baaqayo in dagaalka la joojiyo dowlada Ethiopiana ay xakameyso ciidankeeda.
“Waxaan ka codsaneynaa dowlada Ethiopian ina ciidankeeda xakameyso oo ay wax ka qabato arimaha ka taagan degaankaasi, Anagoo aad uga xun waxaan laanahay hala wada hadlo, shacbiga reer Buuhoodlena  dagaalka ha joojiyeen”, ayuu yiri Gen Yuusuf Axmed Khayr.Sii Akhri

President reinstates prime minister of Somalia

The president of Somalia has backed down on his decision to sack the country's prime minister.

In a statement, the president said he has asked the prime minister to continue his duties.
Internal splits in the government erupted first with the resignation of the parliamentary speaker. Read More

The TFG that never was: resuscitating the corpse

The TFG that never was: resuscitating the corpse
By Abdikarim H. Abdi Buh
May 20, 2010

The last of the procession of TFGs (Transitional Federal government) installed by the international community in Mogadishu for the past two decades ended up in total failure. The common denominator of all the 17 so called internationally recognised TFGs, is that they were imposed from the top without participation of the wider stake holders on the one hand and deliberate dismissal to take into account the ideological demographic change engendered by the sustained lawlessness and underdevelopment of two decades in the new Somalia on the other hand.

The firing of the parliament speaker (Quranic school teacher/warlord) in a chaotic way and the unconstitutional dismissal of the Prime Minister (the heavy-eyed one)  would have made a big news if the TFG is a real government that functionally governs the country but on the contrary this event is received no better attention than the daily infighting among the TFG militia and their politicians that seldom dare to venture outside Nairobi. The public is conditioned to hear or read on the various Somali websites the foul play of the TFG and this in-flight is just a continuation of the messy culture of the TFG – far from a new phenomenon but an old age culture as this reminds the people Condolelza rice’s statement in 16/12/2006 in which she said “President Abdulahi Yusuf has no constitutional power to depose Premier Nur.”

The current TFG like its predecessors  is confined to few blocks in Mogadishu guarded by AMISON troops; so whether the President appoints a new Prime Minister (alert and aggressive one)  and speaker (Sharif Sakin – corrupt and illiterate Qat merchant) or chooses to persuade  Mr. Sharmarke (the sleepy one) to resign silently;  the reality is - it will make no difference on the ground – the TFG members will still be living in the barracks of AMISOM, will still be fighting among themselves and will still be observing their prayers in the presidential palace bunker mosque. The issue is not about the composition of the TFG but the legitimacy and relevance of the institution itself in the eyes of the Somalis.

The TFG faction of Sh. Sharif is mortally wounded and has its soul under the ground as it failed to deliver its supposed mandate - to assert its authority on the country. It was the intend of its sponsors (US, Ethiopia and Kenya) to use this faction to flush out the insurgent Islamists and to pacify the few other pockets through negotiations and other more civilian methods but it proved beyond any doubt that it failed to deliver even the bare minimum – to come out of the AMISOM garrisons and meet directly the people they are supposed to govern.  Since its inception the TFG’s undisciplined militias that are known only to rape, rob and shell civilian residential areas and politicians in exile that sign out the resources of the country for few thousands of dollars are the only undisputed tangible outcome of Sharif’s TFG and as such the populace would have rejoiced if it fades away from the scene – the TFG only delivered death and destruction and to add an insult to injury the crooks are to rob the people off their money by funnelling a patch of printed fake currency in to Mogadishu – they shouldn’t be allowed to further starve the people their actions drove to destitution-the Islamists and the Bakara market traders already outlawed its use in Mogadishu.

The chief architect and political engineer of this political manipulation is the infamous General Gabre who flattened the city and chased out President Sharif and his yester mates out of the country during the Christmas of 2006. Where ever he goes, like his shadow, bad luck follows the general as his arrival in Mogadishu coincided with the bombing of Bakara Market mosque by his own agents a fortnight ago.

The chief financier Ambassador Ahmedou Ould Abdullah (the colonial Minister)  who is accustomed to collecting negative returns from his investments, General Gabre the ruthless manipulator and stooge Sharif, who is giving out the ropes with which he will be hanged next, are at the helm of this unredeemable political fiasco. President Sharif is just repeating like a parrot whatever his masters put in to his mouth as he is incapable to come up with his own agenda – he is born to serve under the instruction of others.

The General is delegated  by his Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, to sort out the new Mogadishu (the few blocks guarded by AMISOM) as the same tiny enclave is literally administered like an Ethiopian military intelligence base. The Tigrayan style of governance is one that is based on disorder and deception – they say one thing and do the opposite. The Tigrayan regime in Addis is dictatorial and paranoid, one that can trust outright no group lest they turn against them at the last hour. To sustain the strangle hold on Somalia in a way to  collect the rent from the US and to accrue undue diplomatic favours that helps them to suppress the pro democracy Ethiopian opposition; the TPLF (Tigryan regime) preferred over other constructive options to play the age old trick of divide along clan lines and keep the nation in disarray without any regard for the long-term negative implications of their acts – further confusion may bring forth a more radicalised breed than Al Shabab.  Al Shabab and the TPLF both silenced international communication (BBC, VOA and internet sites) but at least the Islamists has more broader base then the exclusive Tigrayan junta that has the worst human rights violations in Africa  and yet classed as US ally while the Islamists (revolutionary group against occupation) are labelled as terrorists – the long standing US double standard.

The Islamists are a force borne out of the chaotic situation of the country and are there, whether we love or loath them, to stay for the long term – only AMISOM occupation troops stand between them and the presidential palace. With all international aid and manpower the TFG failed to reclaim an inch of territory from the Islamists or an iota of legitimacy from the nation. The Islamists managed to send their cadres for training to Uganda and other countries at the expense of the unsuspecting US government and on top of that gets free arms and ammunitions for their fighters from the same sworn enemy of theirs without grace – their intelligence is second to none.

The international community must understand that it needs to update its arsenal, as the single archaic tool in their diplomatic brief case, is no more universal mode to deal with all conflict zones.  It is the right time to realize to engage the Islamists rather than waste time on a project (TFG) that passed its sell by date – the Islamists are built-in in to the rank and file of the TFG and perhaps the tea boys in the presidential palace are their eyes and ears – no place is save from their infiltrates and imposters and for sure the departure date of AMISOM troops is fast approaching while the ultimate victory of the Islamists is just round the corner as the secularist platform is completely orphaned and abandoned.

Mr. Abdikarim Buh
Email:Abdikarimbuh@yahoo.com
Political analyst and WardheerNews contributor

Tension high in Ethiopia's Oromia region (Reuters)

May 18th, 2010 |

Forty policemen march two-by-two through a remote Ethiopian town drawing stares from local farmers for their incongruous high-tech stab vests, body armour and riot helmets.
"Look, they are trying to terrify us," says opposition politician Teshale Idosa, his eyes widening. "And it is working. They are terrifying. We are terrified."
The tension is palpable in the Horn of Africa nation's Oromia region ahead of national elections Sunday, with six people killed in just four weeks.  Read More

Afhayeenka Al-shabaab Oo Shacabka Uga Digay Isticmaalka Lacagta Cusub Ee Dawladu Keentay.

Muqdisho (RBC Radio):- Afhayeenka Ururka Al-shabaab Shiikh Cali Maxamuud Raage (Cali Dheere) ayaa maanta si rasmi ah uga soo horjeestay isticmaalka lacagaha cusub ee la sheegay in dawladda federaalka Soomaaliya ay keentay magaalada Muqdisho ee dalka Soomaaliya.
Afhayeenka ayaa shacabka Soomaaliyeed kuwooda ku nool gudaha magaalada Muqdisho waxaa uu uga digay in ay isticmaalaan lacagtaasi, isagoo intaa raaciyey in ciddii ku isticmaasha lacagtaasi goobaha ay iyagu ka taliyaan ay talaabo cad ka qaadi doonaan.  Sii Akhri

Swedish man arrested for plotting Somalia attack

By MALIN RISING (AP) – 7 hours ago

STOCKHOLM — Sweden's security service on Tuesday arrested a man suspected of plotting a terrorist attack in Somalia, the latest in a string of Somali-linked terror cases in Scandinavia.
The man is a Swedish citizen and was detained in the Goteborg area in western Sweden, according to a brief statement from the security service, known as SAPO.Read More

UN Special Representative for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould supports President Sheikh Sharifs decision

---

PRESS RELEASE 012/2010-Nairobi, 17 May 2010 – The UN Special Representative for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, today said that he would fully support President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed in his decision concerning the Government, following his acceptance of the resignation of the Speaker of Parliament, Sheikh Aden Madobe. The SRSG said he would like to see the former Speaker accept the President’s invitation to join the new Cabinet.Read More

Somalia: Puntland forces arrest wanted pirates in Garowe

18 May 18, 2010 - 5:30:41 AM

Security forces in Puntland's administrative capital of Garowe on Tuesday nabbed a group of suspected pirates led by famous Somali pirate called Abdirizaq Abdullahi “Boyah”.

The forces also seized some $26000, pistols and a Toyota Surf 4x4 vehicle, which belonged to the pirates.

Reports said Boyah and four other men were planning to leave the city, when the security forces got the information and caught up with them.

The man gained international publicity through the media when he led sea gangs in hijacking many foreign vessels, making millions of dollars in ransom. However, he recently denounced piracy after heeding with local clerics’ appeal.

According to some clerics who spoke to Garowe Online, the reformed pirates returned to the lucrative but risky business after failing to get other source of income as promised by the government. 

Officials from the Nugaal regional administration and security officers told reporters that the arrest is part of the Puntland’s plans to get rid of the piracy in its shorelines.

The government of Puntland led by President Abdirahman Mohammed Farole has vowed to eradicate the piracy scourge along its coastlines, a move that has seen the decline of pirates' activities in regions under Puntland’s control.

But the government lacks support from the international community, which deployed fleets in Somalia, to tackle the menace.

GAROWE ONLINE

Somalia stand-off as PM defies president's sacking order

Prime Minister Sharmarke is the son of a former president

Somalia's prime minister has refused to comply with an order from the president for him to leave office.

Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke said President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed did not have the power to dismiss him and vowed to remain in office.
The BBC's Peter Greste says the row has effectively crippled the government and driven it to the verge of collapse.

Read More 

Somali president vows to appoint new PM

(AFP) – 10 hours ago

MOGADISHU — Somalia's embattled president promised Monday to appoint a new prime minister, a surprise move that sowed further political confusion and division in the face of a bruising Islamist insurgency.
President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed announced the imminent reshuffle -- which comes without the current prime minister resigning or being sacked -- at a press conference in Mogadishu.
"I am going to name a new prime minister who will form a government which will help the country get out of difficult times," Sharif told reporters gathered at the presidential palace in the Somali capital.
"As you know, the country has been in political turmoil and we need to end that crisis," he said, without making any formal announcement sacking the current government, which only controls a small part of Mogadishu in the strife-torn country.
A bitter dispute within Somalia's fragile transitional federal institutions flared over the weekend when Parliament Speaker Sheikh Adan Mohamed Nur blamed Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke for the country's woes.
Parliamentarians, angered by the speaker's comments, passed a vote of no confidence against him and appointed a temporary replacement.
The parliament speaker then declared that Somalia was without a government before joining Sharif in Monday's press conference and offering his resignation.
"In order to avoid causing trouble for the country in these difficult times, I decided to compromise and leave my position as speaker," Nur said.
It was unclear whether Somalia's prime minister and parliament would accept the president's call for a new government.
According to Somalia's transitional charter, the sacking of a prime minister should be submitted to parliament.
Many observers said Sharif may ask Sharmarke to stay and form a new government.
Somalia's unwieldy parliament and government have long been plagued by rivalries but the current crisis was one of the most serious since Sharif was elected in January 2009.
Since taking the helm of the internationally-backed transitional institutions, Sharif, a moderate Islamist cleric, has failed to build a broad national consensus and assert his authority on the country.
Instead, some of his former allies launched a devastating insurgency against him in May 2009, boxing him and his government back into a tiny perimeter of the capital, under African Union protection.
Since the start of 2010, Sharif and his government have been promising a major military offensive by newly trained and equipped troops to quash the Islamist insurgency but no operation of note has been forthcoming.
The prospect of a major reshuffle of the country's political map following such an offensive has sparked much jostling within the fractious government and on its fringes.
Led by the Al Qaeda-inspired Shebab, insurgents have taken advantage of the government's weakness to launch fresh attacks.
On Sunday, Islamist rebels shelled the newly rebuilt parliament building in Mogadishu, sparking clashes with government forces and African Union forces that left 11 civilians dead, officials said.

Somali president to appoint new PM

(Reuters) - Somalia's parliament speaker quit on Monday and the president said he would appoint a new prime minister in what analysts saw as a deal to clear the way for a more stable government in the Horn of Africa nation.

World

Meeting for the first time on Sunday since December, Somalia's parliament voted overwhelmingly to oust Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke and his Western-backed government. Some also voted to remove speaker Sheikh Aden Madobe.
Analysts said the move by President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed was likely decided in a deal with the speaker and the prime minister to save the government from total disintegration and that the president would probably reappoint Sharmarke.
"It is a sort of compromise to save the government from a total collapse," said Rashid Abdi, a Somalia analyst at the International Crisis Group.
"It is likely that the president will reappoint the current prime minister, as long as they had no rift between them."
Parliamentary business has been paralysed this year, with many legislators living in Kenya, Europe and North America because of security fears in the war-riven country.
The chamber has also been split by a bitter feud over the duration of Madobe's term in office and his competence.
There was speculation Madobe might be offered a ministerial post in a new government, in return for his resignation.
NEW BEGINNING?
Analysts say Ahmed has failed to unite some of the country's warring factions and establish a greater degree of central power that many had hoped at his election in January 2009.
"I do not think the president's announcement is to increase confusion in the system," said Abdirahman Moalim Badiyow, history professor at Mogadishu University.
"The resignation of the speaker and the president's decision seems to be a gentlemen's agreement paving the way for a new start. And that new beginning will depend on the incoming speaker and prime minister."
Somalia has been mired in violence and lacked effective central government since the overthrow of a dictator in 1991. Islamist fighters have waged a three-year insurgency that has killed more than 21,000 people.
Elsewhere in Somalia, villagers said Ethiopian troops in armoured vehicles had crossed into the border town of El Barde, in the south central Bakool region.
"Heavily armed Ethiopian troops with battlewagons arrived in the town early Monday afternoon. There was no confrontation and al Shabaab fled the town before the Ethiopians came," Ali Nur, a resident in El Barde, told Reuters by phone.
Ethiopia sent thousands of troops into Somalia in 2006 to help topple an Islamist movement holding Mogadishu and most of the south. That drew protests from some in the Muslim world and enraged the Islamists, who regrouped to launch an insurgency.
"The Christians have entered the town and our Mujahideen fighters are not far," said Hassan Maalin Takow, an al Shabaab commander.
(Additional reporting by Mohamed Ahmed in Mogadishu, Abdiaziz Hassan, Sahra Abdi in Nairobi; Writing by Helen Nyambura-Mwaura; Editing by David Clarke)

Somali President Ahmed to replace Prime Minister Sharmarke

A bitter feud over the parliament's speaker boiled over President Sharif's government is under threat from Islamist insurgents

The president of Somalia, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, has said he is going to appoint a new prime minister.

The announcement is seen as an attempt by the president to end a bitter power struggle between the prime minister and the speaker of parliament.
It comes at time when the transitional government is battling an insurgency against Islamist extremists.
The president has become increasingly unpopular, amid charges his government has been corrupt and ineffective.
On Sunday the speaker told journalists that MPs had passed a vote of no confidence in the government. This was disputed and MPs later voted to remove the speaker.
BBC East Africa Correspondent Will Ross says although the president has so far avoided taking sides, he seems to have orchestrated the removal of both men with his latest move.
Political infighting Our correspondent says while the speaker, Sheikh Aden Madobe, has stepped aside, it is not clear if the prime minister, Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, will go without a fight.
The political infighting plays into the hands of the Islamist insurgents, as groups like al-Shabab have long maintained that the politicians in power are unfit to govern, he says.
On Sunday, Islamist rebels attacked Somalia's parliament in the capital as it met for the first time this year.
The rebels fired mortar bombs at the building from their stronghold in Mogadishu's main market area, triggering retaliatory shellfire from African Union peacekeepers.
The rebels have fought a three-year war against the UN-backed interim government.
Meanwhile a vital donor conference for Somalia is due to be held in Turkey later this week.
Correspondents say it would be no surprise if there was some reluctance to continue funding the feuding politicians. An aid boycott would put even more strain on the already beleaguered transitional government.
The Horn of Africa nation has not had a functioning central government since 1991.

Russia did not intend to kill Somali pirates: military

(AFP) – 4 hours ago

MOSCOW — The Russian military did not intend to kill Somali pirates who are believed to be dead after being set afloat at sea in a small boat about 10 days ago, a senior commander was quoted as saying Monday.
Navy captain Ildar Akhmerov confirmed earlier reports that the 10 captured pirates and their one dead comrade who had attempted to seize a Russian oil tanker were put to sea in a boat without any navigation equipment.
"We did not have the task of destroying the pirates during the operation to free the tanker. There was one main goal: to free the ship's crew," Akhmerov was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
"Our military medics gave the necessary medical help to all of the wounded bandits. We loaded the dead bandit's body onto one of the pirates' boats with the rest of the pirates, and sent it to the nearest coast, towards Somalia."
"We loaded water, food and all their other things -- except the confiscated weapons, boarding ladders and navigation tools -- into the pirates' boat," he said.
"The further fate of the released pirates is not known to us."
Akhmerov, the commander of a group of warships in Russia's Pacific Fleet, made the comments aboard the Marshal Shaposhnikov, the destroyer that led the operation to free the captured tanker, Interfax reported.
Marines from the Marshal Shaposhnikov led the daring raid on May 6 to free the tanker, called the Moscow University, after it was seized by pirates from the lawless east African country of Somalia.
The operation was initially hailed as a huge success, but Russia was later embarrassed by reports that it had let the pirates go because of the unclear legal situation surrounding their possible prosecution.
Last week an unidentified senior Russian defence ministry source told state news agencies that the pirates' boat had failed to reach shore and that they were "evidently" dead.
The oil tanker's crew of 23 Russian citizens barricaded themselves in a secure cabin when the pirates attacked and were unharmed in the raid.

Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved. More »

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The Russian military did not intend to kill Somali pirates who are believed to be dead after being set afloat at sea

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SOMALIA: Government infighting "good for insurgents"

Photo: Siegfried Modola/IRIN

A peacekeeper at an AU-controlled post overlooking a section of Mogadishu: The Islamist Al-Shabab and Hisbul Islam groups have apparently gained control of more areas in recent weeks

NAIROBI, 17 May 2010 (IRIN) - The widening rift between Somalia's leaders could weaken the transitional government and its ability to deal with problems facing the country, ranging from insurgency to humanitarian crises, according to observers and civil society sources.

"This infighting is bad news not only for the TFG [Transitional Federal Government] but also for the people who hoped that it would solve some of their problems," said Ibrahim Sheikh Hassan, a former law professor. "But it is good news for the insurgents."

The Islamist Al-Shabab and Hisbul Islam groups have apparently gained control of more areas in recent weeks, a reflection "of the government's weakness and divisions, not the strength of the insurgents".

On 16 May, parliamentary speaker Adan Madobe declared that the House had withdrawn confidence in the government of Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid. As a result, he added, the government was no longer legally in office. However, MPs opposed to Madobe said his mandate as speaker had expired, so he could not speak for parliament.

"The government is in no danger of collapse; what is happening has created a bad impression and that is all," Madobe Nuunow, Minister for Constitutional Affairs and a parliamentarian allied to Abdirashid, told IRIN on 17 May.

The "former" speaker [Adan Madobe], he added, was creating confusion. "His mandate has elapsed and he should abide by the law," the minister said.

The confusion in parliament happened on a day when at least 30 people were killed and 100 others injured in fighting between insurgents and government forces, according to civil society sources.

Photo: Siegfried Modola/IRIN

A woman walks through a Mogadishu street: Since January, escalating violence in southern and central Somalia has forced about 200,000 Somalis to leave their homes, according to UNHCR

Internal divisions

A Nairobi-based regional analyst, who requested anonymity, said the crisis in Somalia had brought to a head some of the internal divisions that had paralyzed the TFG over the past year.

"Time is running out on the transition, and unless the Transitional Federal Institutions make genuine progress in the coming months, they will face an even more severe crisis," he told IRIN.

Conflict, drought and hyperinflation have combined to create a humanitarian crisis in Somalia, with aid workers estimating that more than three million Somalis need assistance. Over a million more are displaced by the continuing clashes between armed groups.

Since January, escalating violence in southern and central Somalia has forced about 200,000 Somalis to leave their homes, according to the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR. But the vast majority remained displaced within the country as it is becoming more dangerous and difficult to flee across the borders.

At the same time, insurgents continue to gain ground and to threaten the internationally recognized government, a civil society source said, noting that Al-Shabab and Hisbul Islam had over the past year taken control of most of south and central Somalia.

"Instead of circling the wagons around a failed administration he [the Prime Minister] should seize the opportunity to constitute a more effective and inclusive administration, jettisoning the dead wood and reaching out to genuine representatives of local communities and political forces from across Somalia," he added.

Minister Nuunow insisted the split was "in name only and the president and prime minister are reading from the same page".

However, Suleiman Mohamed Ibrahim, an MP allied to the speaker, disagreed, saying there was a "very serious split and the government ceased to exist yesterday after it lost the vote of confidence". He said the solution to the current impasse lay with the president. "He should appoint a new prime minister and cabinet and end this nonsense."

Somalia said to be in Constitutional Crisis

Peter Clottey 16 May 2010

Photo: AFP

A government soldier runs for cover during heavy clashes in northern Mogadishu, 11 Mar 2010, in a second day of intense fighting between Somali government troops and insurgent forces

The escalating political struggle in Somalia will embolden hard-line Islamic insurgents, including al-Shabab, to launch fresh attacks to overthrow President Sheik Sharif Sheikh Ahmed’s government, said political analyst Ali Abdullahi.
He described the ongoing Somali political power struggle as a constitutional crisis that needs immediate resolution.
“Of course it will. What you have in Somalia right now is we have a constitutional crisis that has emanated from the charter of 2004, which was not refined…what has happened is we have a power struggle that has boiled down to a constitutional crisis,” he said.
Legislators, supporting Prime Minister Omar Abdelrashid Ali Sharmarke, announced the removal of the speaker of parliament shortly after he asked the Somali president to form a new government following a vote of no-confidence.
In accordance with the Somali national charter, supporters of the prime minister named Haji Shukri Sheikh Ahmed as interim speaker of parliament replacing Sheik Aden Madobe.
But, analyst Abdullahi said the power struggle will encourage more insurgent attacks.
“As the way things are, this is going to assist the insurgents in such a way that, whenever you have a power struggle, then, the insurgents become more powerful,” Abdullahi said.
President Ahmed’s Transitional Federal Government has been battling almost-daily with hard-line Islamic insurgents who have vowed to overthrow the administration to implement the strictest form of the Sharia Law.
Abdullahi said the “untouched” Somali national charter is to blame for the power struggle.
“The charter has not been refined at all, (and) the charter is vague on a number of issues. Right now, who has the power to convene parliament? It is the speaker of parliament. And, what he has done was to call his troops who are the parliamentarians and he has said, ‘Gentlemen, what is the agenda on the table?’ And, the agenda on the table was how efficient has the government been and they voted it (government) out, and the prime minister is out,” Abdullahi said.
He also said deep rifts exist between President Ahmed and Prime Minister Sharmarke, as well as deposed speaker of parliament Madobe.

Somali president to name new Cabinet soon

(AP) – 50 minutes ago

MOGADISHU, Somalia — The president of war-weary Somalia says he will name a new Cabinet soon in a bid to overcome divisions that have prevented his government from effectively combating an Islamist insurgency.
President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed must nominate new ministers within a month of his speech on Monday.
Analysts say his administration has been crippled by divisions between competing factions. Ahmed also needs to deliver promised positions to a powerful militia that recently signed a power-sharing agreement with the government.
The U.N.-backed government only holds a few blocks of the city capital and comes under daily attack from Islamist insurgents. Somalia has not had a functioning government in nearly 20 years.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Somalis: Look for WFP and UNDP shadow henchmen in Istanbul!

Somalis: Look for  WFP and UNDP shadow henchmen in Istanbul!
By Girma Gizaw
April 14, 2010

The much hipped Somalia International Conference in Istanbul, Turkey on May 22nd 2010 is a much awaited event both locally and internationally. Indeed, I am one of the admirers of H.E. Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, United Nations Somalia Envoy. He is an honest statesman. And wants Somalia succeed as a nation. No doubt. However, his enemy has been only one. His own institution. The United Nations organizations in Nairobi, UNDP and WFP who ransacked several billion dollars of Somalia’s international pledges. And his own inner clerical incompetent staff who undermine his credibility.

Recently, an organization has been examining  how the distribution of funds go for Somalia. 65% is spent as “in-house” expenses by United Nations and other  expatriates in Nairobi. About 40% is siphoned by parasitic Somali businesses that handle the corruption for the white folks as instrumental cover-ups . Only 5% barely gets to the mouth of a few hungry Somalis. Most goes for Al-Shabab and Hizbi-Islam, the power. To the much dismay of many Somali professionals, those the WFP and the UNDP is now scouting those same Somali corruption handlers to represent them in the Istanbul conference. These are illiterate Somali millionaires playing businessmen whose only knowledge is how best to steal international aid on behalf of the expatriates. Sharing the resources with these masters of deception, lords of poverty.Read More

Declassified Memorandum of Conversations and Meetings between Somali and U.S.

Declassified Memorandum of Conversations and Meetings between Somali and U.S.
Officials from 1977 to 1978
WardheerNews
May 15, 2010

Editor's Note: Following are two different documents in the form of Memoranda on past encounters between the late Hussein Abdulkadir Kassim and Henry Kissinger, on the one hand, and Ambassador Abdullahi Adou and Kissinger, on the other hand, on a wide range of issues clouding the Ethio-Somali geopolitical conflict.

In reading these documents, one can’t help but be impressed with Mr. Kassim’s feisty nature, his commendable diplomatic knack in dealing with delicate issues and and his steadfastness in his representation of his country. In the words of his colleague, Ambassador Adou, Kassim was indeed Somalia’s de facto Foreign Minister at the time, although his official portfolio was Minister for Water and Mineral Resources. In the case of Aduo’s Memorandum, his image comes across as an undiplomatic Somali elder with less knowledge about the general etiquette and diplomatic nuances. Hence, knowledge and education matters when it comes to conducting government business.

Nonetheless, these conversations contained in these memoranda are again another set proof of the once small but respected Somalia that is now in the waning. WardheerNews would like to thank Said M. Shire (Saciid Suugaan) who was kind enough to share these documents with our readers. Said possesses the largest collection of Somali documents and academic materials and is compared to none.
1. Memoradum of Conversation: Abdulkadir Kassim & Henry Kissinger
2. Amabaasador Addou's Meetings with US Officials

Leaders like Meles and Museveni must die, for Africa to be free

By By Charles Onyango-Obbo | The East African
In 2002, the deep divisions in Kenya’s ruling Kanu party, allowed the National Rainbow Coalition led by President Mwai Kibaki to score an unprecedented landslide for an opposition party in Africa.
In Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni and his ruling National Resistance Movement had a stranglehold on power until a 2000 split in the party led to the most serious challenge he had ever faced.
A former ally, Col Kiiza Besigye, broke away and faced Museveni in the February 2001 polls. The NRM saved itself only through a massive election swindle
Read More 

Somali fighting kills 24

Heavy shelling pounded Somalia's capital on Sunday, killing at least 24 people and wounding dozens, as parliament's first sitting this year triggered a call by the speaker for a new government. Skip related content

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AMISOM peackeeper stands guard during this year's first parliament session in …More Enlarge photo

Speaker Sheikh Aden Madobe told reporters he had asked the country's president to form a new government after a parliamentary vote of no confidence.

However, Somalia's Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke said his Western-backed government would continue its work.
"My government serves the Somali people and will continue in its dedicated efforts to unify and pacify Somalia," Sharmarke told reporters.
Parliament met on Sunday for the first time since December as al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab fighters fired mortars at the parliament building. African Union peacekeepers returned fire.
Parliamentary business has been paralysed this year, with many legislators living in Kenya, Europe and America because of security fears in the war-riven country. The chamber has also been split by a bitter feud over the duration of Madobe's term in office and his competence.
"280 voted against the government, 30 in favour and eight remained silent. Therefore we will request President Sheikh Sharif to form a government urgently," Madobe told Reuters by telephone.
A member of the parliament secretariat who did not want to be identified confirmed the vote's outcome.
But other lawmakers denied that a vote of confidence in the government had taken place and said legislators had in fact voted to sack the speaker in chaotic scenes.
"I ask anyone who wants to be the next speaker to bring their CV (curriculum vitae) and application," said Haji Shugri, the chamber's most senior lawmaker.
Analysts were swift to question Madobe's call for a new government, arguing that it was likely a ploy to cling onto his position, one of the most powerful in Somali politics and some warned the political infighting looked set to intensify.
CHOPPY WATERS
"(The) current infighting within the government will get more vicious, the tug of war in parliament and within the executive will get more vicious, so we are now entering choppy waters," Rashid Abdi, a Nairobi-based analyst of the International crisis Group, said.
A rights group put the death toll from the fighting at 24 people but said the number was likely to rise.
"The death toll has now hit 24 and it may rise as the terrible shelling still continues. Mogadishu's hospitals are full of wounded people. So far we have counted at least 58 injured people," Ali Yahin Gedi, vice chairman of the Elman rights group said.
He said hundreds of families were fleeing with the belongings they could carry from at least five of the capital's districts.
Analysts say President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed has failed to deliver on the hope he would be able to unite some of the country's warring factions and establish a greater degree of central power following his election in January 2009.
Somalia has been mired in violence and lacked effective central government since the overthrow of a dictator in 1991. Islamist fighters have waged a three year insurgency that has killed more than 21,000 people.
(Additional reporting by Abdiaziz Hassan; writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)

Russia executed all Somali pirates – spokesman

BOSASSO (Somalilandpress) — A pirate spokesman, who wished to remain anonymous, contacted Somalilandpress today said at least ten of his men were executed by the Russian navy after the troopers stormed MV Moscow University. “The Russians commandos stormed the ship before sunrise, starting a firefight with our men, onboard they injured three of them and one was killed,” he said.
He dismissed the Russian navy statement that the men were released because of “the absence of a legal base to carry out prosecution procedures against pirates”.
“The Russians never released the young men instead they shot them point-blank range then loaded their lifeless bodies back on the boat,” he added.

The spokesman condemned the action of the Russian navy “our men never hurt their hostages, we simply want foreign ships to stop overfishing in our waters, if they are not happy to respect our-fishermen and their livelihood, we have no choice but to take hostage to compensate for the losses,” he cited.
“We condemn the action of the Russians, it’s driven by racism and hate for black people and Africa, it’s the face of the new Russia. In future, if we capture Russians they will meet the same fate as those they executed,” he added.
Meanwhile, many Somalis were angered by Somalia’s ambassador to Moscow, Mohamed Handule’s statement, who backed the Russian navy denying that the Russian destroyer Marshal Shaposhnikov has not acted inappropriately. They requested an investigation and the immediate replacement of Mr. Handule.
“Not one Somali or the government of our country sees Russia has being guilty in this,” Mr. Handule told ITAR-TASS news agency.
On the 6th May, eleven Somali pirates hijacked the Liberian-flagged Russian oil tanker, MV Moscow University, carrying 86,000 tonnes of crude oil worth $US52 million in the Gulf of Aden. The anti-submarine destroyer Marshal Shaposhnikov was notified and dispatched a helicopter which disrupted the pirates while commandos on speed boats stormed the tanker. The Russians have killed all eleven pirates and have destroyed their boats according to the pirate spokesman.
There are reports, Somali pirates still hold 23 foreign ships and 384 sailors in Somalia. Meanwhile, a conference co-sponsored by the United Nation and the Turkish government designed to address the piracy, stability and Somalia’s security will be hosted in Istanbul from 21st-23rd of May.
Photo: AFP/Pierre Verdy

Aweys rejects talks with govt, calls for talks with world

16 May 16, 2010 - 10:02:52 AM

Islamist leader of Somalia's Hizbul- Islam rebel group Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys says he is ready to engage the international community in talks, Radio Garowe reports.
We are ready to engage the international community in talks over Somali affairs, but they must first of all accept that they would respect the will of Somalis,” he said.
“We can’t however engage the transition government in talks,” he added.

Sh. Aweys, Hizbul Islam rebel chief

He accused the fragile but international recognized Somali government over ‘foreign invasion’ that caused the current suffering of the country and its people, vowing to continue with the war.
“We must continue with the war, we can’t say what time it would end because it is a jihad one that we want to liberate the people,” said the 65-year-old cleric.
On the other hand, Aweys supported the killing of journalists working government-run Radio Muqdisho, arguing that they are working for the enemy.
Since returning to the war-torn nation in April 2009 from a self-imposed exile in Eritrea, the old cleric declared fight against Somali government led by Sheikh Sheikh Ahmed, his former close ally.
Meanwhile, two armies within Hizbul Islam have clashed outskirts of Harardhere, a notorious pirate haven in northeastern Somalia.
Reports said the two sides exchanged gunfire that reportedly killed at least 10 fighters. The group captured the town recently, sending pirates fleeing with their hijacked ships and crews.
GAROWE ONLINE

Controversy as new bank notes arrive at Mogadishu's airport

16 May 16, 2010 - 12:06:41 AM

Somalia’s fragile transition government has received millions of new printed Somali currency that is expected to be distributed across the war-torn country, Radio Garowe reports.
A private jet transported the 22 million Somali shilling note, which was printed in Malaysia, to the restive capital Mogadishu and subsequently handed over to the Somali central Bank.
Lawmaker Asho Ahmed Abdalla said the parliament was not aware of the printing and arrival of the new shilling, warning that it is a plan by top TFG leadership to devastate the already ruined economy.
Some members of the cabinet, whom we can’t name, are behind this. It’s meant to destroy the country’s already devastated economy,” she said, adding that plans were to hide the arrival of the currency.
Somalia’s Finance minister Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan, who was recently accused of embezzlement of state funds, did not give official comments regarding the arrival of the currency.
However, his Treasury counterpart, Abdirahman Omar Osman (Eng. Yarisow) said he only know plans to print currency in Sudan.
"We entered into agreement with Sudan to print our new currency, which is yet to come out,” he said.
Traders in Mogadishu have quickly vowed to turn down the introduction of the currency in the market, saying it creates confusion
Somali government inked agreement with Khartoum to print print current that cost tops $17 million.
Somalia has had no effective central government for 19 years and the current UN-backed transition government operates under the mercy of African Union peacekeeping troops, which control only the capital’s seaport, airport and Presidential Palace.
GAROWE ONLINE

Abdullahi Yusuf accused of 'political interference in Puntland'

16 May 16, 2010 - 11:34:36 AM

Former Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, who is currently living in Yemen, is actively involving himself in the internal politics of Somalia's State of Puntland, Garowe Online reports.
According to reliable sources in the Yemeni capital, Sana'a, ex-President Yusuf is engaged in an active campaign to "incite the Puntland public" against the current administration, under President Abdirahman Mohammed "Farole."
Sources close to the former TFG leader say that Mr. Yusuf has been "regular contact" with Puntland politicians and security officials. The sources say Mr. Yusuf has claimed that he wants to "save Puntland" but it was not immediately clear from what.

Mr. Abdullahi Yusuf, former president of Somalia

Mr. Yusuf, who is also Puntland's first elected president in 1998,  was forced to resign under international pressure in December 2008 after being accused by the international community and regional governments of being an "obstacle to peace."
He had rejected the US-backed Djibouti Peace Process, which sought to expand the TFG by including Islamist opposition figures, including Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, the current TFG president.
Since his resignation, Mr. Yusuf has lived in Yemen after receiving political asylum under a United Nations arrangement that prohibits Mr. Yusuf from involvement in Somali politics, including Puntland.
Some analysts have suggested that reports of Mr. Yusuf's political interference in Puntland constitutes a "violation of the asylum agreement" endorsed by the U.N., the U.S., and regional bloc Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD).
It is not clear why the ailing former Somali leader is now campaigning to incite instability in Puntland, his native region in northern Somalia.
The democratically elected government of Puntland under President Farole is the first administration since 1998 to regularly pay government salaries, contributing to an improvement in public safety.
Puntland government officials have not commented publicly to reports of Mr. Yusuf's political interference.
GAROWE ONLINE

Photo by: AP

Somalia's Government is Losing Its Soldiers

By BENJAMIN JOFFE-WALT / THE MEDIA LINE
16/05/2010 12:44

Unpaid Somali soldiers defecting, some to al Qaida offshoot

 

They are fighting one of the most fervent, successful and rapidly expanding Islamist militias in the world. The government they are fighting for controls an increasingly limited portion of the country's territory. Their political and military leaders are clearly siphoning huge personal profits off international assistance packages meant to aid the military and country at large. Their camps are ghastly, they are provided with no healthcare, and often have to live off international food aid to avoid malnutrition. They are rarely paid their $100 a month salary. They face the real threat of being shot, blown up, tortured or hung on a daily basis.

Read the whole story