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?
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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.
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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.
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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.