MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) Chatting women sitting outside makeshift homes at night is a new scene in a once-dark refugee camp in the Somali capital. In a city where darkness brings the threat of attack, recently installed solar lights are helping to ward off sexual assault.

Women living in Mogadishu’s hundreds of refugee camps often stay and don’t use communal bathrooms at home at night because of the threat men armed with knives and guns pose to them. With the installation of 79 solar-powered lights by the Danish Refugee Council in a camp known as Zone K, life has returned to Mogadishu’s nights.

“It feels like we are starting a new life,” Sadiya Hussein, a mother of four, said while resting with other women on a sandy spot near their homes, which are made out of sheet metal or sticks and cloth. “Because of the lights we can come together to chat and get some fresh air. No rapist can sneak in now. It’s fully lit and better.”

Since a devastating famine struck Somalia in 2011, refugee camps in Mogadishu have held tens of thousands of people fleeing both hunger and violence. The number of rapes rose sharply, making the simple act of going to the bathroom a life-risking activity.

“They simply came and waited for women between their house and bathrooms,” said Fatima Nor, who said she was once attacked but escaped when her husband intervened. “We really feel a little bit safer than before. I think having light scares the predators.”

Mohamed Bundu, the Mogadishu director for the Danish Refugee Council, said that in addition to the extra security the May installation of the lights brought, they are also helping children study and businesses attract customers.

“All the criminal acts that were often committed because of the darkness have considerably gone down,” he said.

The 79 lights erected on tall poles in the Mogadishu camp cost about $2,000 each.

Heather Amstutz, the regional director for the Danish Refugee Council, said the group has also installed solar lights in northern Somalia. The projects ask for buy-in from the communities they serve, which reduces the threat of vandalism or theft. The projects are paid for by U.N. funds.

The lights “add five productive hours to these small settlements. Kids can study by the light, the vendors are selling their vegetables by the lights,” she said.

A U.N. monitoring group report on Somalia published last month said there are 530 camps in Mogadishu housing internally displaced people, 75 percent of whom are women and children who are particularly vulnerable to sexual attacks. The report said officials recorded 1,700 reported rapes between January and November 2012.

The report said there were probably more attacks that weren’t reported and that the number of reported rapes was higher than previous years.

Attackers frequently wear government police or military uniforms, though the government has consistently denied its forces are responsible.

Despite the positive impact of the solar lights, one past sexual violence victims says she still doesn’t feel safe.

“I see that the lights are helpful but they cannot, sadly, prevent the rapists from coming,” the veiled 30-year old woman said while standing at the door of her home. “We are still exposed to the rape attacks because no one protects us.”

Salad Ahmed, a 40-year old father of six, feels the lights are beneficial. Most camp residents can’t fight back against attackers who wield guns or knives during attacks. Ahmed, though, has an axe and sword to protect his wife.

“The more you can see your enemy the more you can plan how you should engage him,” he said.

Source: AP

MOGADISHU (AFP) – Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud escaped unhurt Tuesday from an ambush on his heavily armoured convoy claimed by Al-Qaeda linked Islamists, the latest attack targeting the internationally backed leader.

Shebab gunmen claimed to have ambushed the convoy as it travelled to the port of Merka south of the capital and boasted of destroying vehicles with rocket-propelled grenades.

But officials said that the attack had failed and all in the presidential entourage were safe.

“Gunmen tried to disrupt the president’s trip … but I can confirm the president and his delegation are well and reached their final destination Merka to have meetings with local community,” said Somali army official Mohamed Qorey, speaking by telephone from Merka.

The president was travelling in an armoured convoy from the 17,700-strong African Union force (AMISOM) that fights alongside the Somali army against Shebab gunmen.

“We ambushed a convoy that was escorting the self-appointed Somali president,” Shebab spokesman Abdulaziz Abu Musab told AFP.

The attack took place near the small settlement of Buffow, close to Merka, a former Shebab stronghold captured one year ago around 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of the capital.

“The presidential convoy was attacked but they have continued after about 15 minutes of heavy gunfire,” said Ibrahim Adan, a resident of Buffow.

Diplomatic sources played down the attacks saying it had consisted of little more than a roadside bomb.

Residents in Merka said Mohamud appeared in the port, greeting officials and residents as he toured the town.

“He was fine and well, meeting the people who had come to see him,” said Nasir Abdirahmam, a resident of Merka.

Somalia’s weak central government, selected in a UN-backed process in August 2012, has made some progress in Mogadishu but has little concrete influence outside the capital.

The government was the first to be given global recognition since the collapse of Somalia’s hardline regime in 1991.

But the authorities have been dealt a number of setbacks in recent months, including a string of Shebab attacks, accusations of rape against the army and AU soldiers and a pull-out by aid workers because of a wave of kidnappings and killings.

Shebab fighters in May 2012 ambushed the convoy of Mohamud’s predecessor, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, but the president escaped unharmed.

More recently, Shebab fighters have carried out a series of bombings, attacks and killings aimed at overthrowing the government.

UN Monitoring Group reports in July estimated the Shebab are still some 5,000 strong, and said they remain the “principal threat to peace and security to Somalia”.

In June, Shebab suicide commandos carried out a brazen daylight attack on a fortified United Nations compound, and in July a suicide car bomber attacked a Turkish embassy complex in the city.

Last month Doctors Without Borders — an aid agency that has earned a reputation for working in the toughest of conditions — closed all its operations in the war-torn country, warning of growing insecurity.

Source: AFP

September 2nd, 2013 | by Jack Serle and Alice K Ross

One strike in Pakistan ends 34-day stretch without an attack.

Yemen sees more strikes in a month than any time since March 2012.

Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières pulls out of Somalia.

Pakistan

August 2013 actions

All actions 2004 – August 31 2013

A Bureau investigation appears to confirm the CIA briefly revived its controversial tactic of deliberately targeting rescuers. The Bureau first exposed these so-called ‘double-tap‘ strikes in February 2012. The new study focussed mainly on strikes around a single village in early summer of 2012, aimed at one of the last remaining senior al Qaeda figures, Yahya al Libi.

US Secretary of State John Kerry started the month with a visit to Islamabad in which he said drone strikes in Pakistan would end ‘very, very soon’. This statement was quickly taken back by the Department of State. A spokesman said: ‘In no way would we ever deprive ourselves of a tool to fight a threat if it arises.’

On August 31 CIA drones killed four alleged militants from the Islamic Movement of Turkmenistan. Locals said they were foreigners affiliated with militant commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur. It was the only strike in the month.

The lull in strikes this month in Pakistan came as an international security alert centred on Yemen led to a reported shift in focus from Pakistan’s tribal areas to the Middle East. Yemeni officials claimed a Pakistani bomb-maker had been killed in the sudden surge of Yemen strikes aftercrossing into the country.

Also in August, the Pakistan government said there had been a tacit understanding between Washington and Islamabad over drone strikes, not a written agreement – although it did not say when the understanding had started, or whether it was still in place. This came in response to questions in the National Assembly. The Pakistan government also came under pressure in the Punjab assembly, which adopted a resolution condemning drone strikes.

Yemen

August 2013 actions

All actions 2002 – August 31 2013*

* All but one of these actions have taken place during Obama’s presidency. Reports of incidents in Yemen often conflate individual strikes. The range in the total strikes and total drone strikes we have recorded reflects this.

A terror alert centred on Yemen gripped the US in August leading to six confirmed drone strikes. The US closed 21 diplomatic missions in the Middle East and east Africa in a move that one counter-terrorism expert called ‘crazy pants‘.

August saw the highest number of confirmed drone strikes since March 2012 when the Sanaa-based government, with considerable US air support, drove al Qaeda out of its southern and central provinces.

Of the 22-43 people killed, three were said to be senior militants. Alleged commanders of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) Saleh al Tays al Waeli and Saleh Ali Guti (aka Saleh Jouti) reportedly died on August 6, while Qaid Ahmad Nasser al Dhahab, described as AQAP’s ‘spiritual leader’ was killed in a night-time precision attack that was likely to be a drone strike on August 30.

Six civilians were reportedly killed, three children among them: two were adolescents, Hussain, 16, and Hassan, 17. The name and age of the third child is not known.

The unusual intensity of the drone strikes appears to support reports suggesting that restrictive new targeting rules, introduced at the time of President Obama’s major speech on drones in May, were relaxed in the face of the ‘elevated threat‘. A senior US official told the New York Times the list of people who could be targeted was increased: ‘Before, we couldn’t necessarily go after a driver for the organization; it’d have to be an operations director. Now that driver becomes fair game because he’s providing direct support to the plot.’

The exact details of the plot – believed to be the work of AQAP – are unknown. However President Hadi told Yemeni police cadets that it involved two huge car bombs, one intended for an oil terminal and the other a target in the capital.

Somalia

August 2013 actions

All actions 2007 – August 31 2013

There were again no recorded US attacks in Somalia this month.

Médecins Sans Frontières announced it was ending all operations in the country after over 20 years of continuous work.

The medical charity said it was pulling out because of ‘extreme attacks on its staff in an environment where armed groups and civilian leaders increasingly support, tolerate, or condone the killing, assaulting, and abducting of humanitarian aid workers.’ Sixteen MSF workers have been killed in Somalia since 1991 and just last month two kidnapped MSF staff were released after 21 months in captivity.

It also emerged that six major British financial institutions are evaluating their investments with BT following allegations by legal charity Reprieve that the telecoms giant had supplied communications infrastructure that was used to target drone strikes in Somalia and Yemen. BT has the $23m (£15m) contract to provide telecommunications between RAF Croughton and Camp Lemonnier, the US base in Djibouti from which drone strikes in the countries are flown.

Follow Alice Ross and Jack Serle on Twitter.

Source: Bureau of Investigative Journalism

Only spoilers win if Barclays shuts shop for remittances

There will be many losers if, at the end of this month, Barclays enforces its decision to close shop for the Somali money transfer agencies holding accounts with the bank. Barclays is the last of the UK banks to respond with such caution to stringent anti-money laundering regulation introduced since 9/11. Because it has been, until now, the only bank willing to continue risking sanction, the remittances it handles have become a vital lifeline for Somalis.

Diaspora Somalis send about $1.3bn back home every year, roughly $500m of which comes from the UK. This is the only source of income for many Somalis. In the absence of a functioning banking system, aid agencies depend on the transfer agencies to get cash to where it is needed. Moreover, cash transfers, according to research to be published this week by Britain’s Overseas Development Institute, have been more effective than food aid in saving lives during recent famines, and are less likely to be diverted. Yet Somali agencies, which use an innovative system of trust to transfer funds, are being punished for the tiny fraction of clients who use their services to finance terrorism and launder ill-gotten gains.

Barclays has extended its deadline for closing the Somali accounts to the end of September. It should extend again to allow time for governments, aid agencies and transfer agencies to work together to find an alternative. In the interim, the onus will be on the UK and other European governments to engage more effectively with the US to ensure that the application of the US Patriot and Bank Secrecy Acts, and the 2010 Executive Order on Somalia, do not have such dire, if unintended, consequences.

As things stand, hundreds of thousands of Somalis will lose their only source of income, remittances will be driven underground where benevolent funding will be even harder to distinguish from illicit flows, and Barclays’ reputation will take a hit. The aid agencies and western governments attempting to strengthen Somalia’s fragile recovery after 22 years of civil war will also be deprived of an essential tool for promoting stability. It is hard to imagine a greater victory for those in Somalia attempting to spoil the peace.

Source: Financial Times

In this photo taken Thursday Feb, 14, 2013. Ilwad Elman one of the organizers of TEDx Mogadishu, speaks at the world Aids event in Mogadishu, Somalia. Ilwad Elman, who helps run the Elman Peace and Human Rights Center in Mogadishu, spoke at last year’s TEDx event and is a co-organizer this year. Her goal is to cultivate and celebrate social entrepreneurship in Mogadishu by allowing the country’s leading thinkers to reach a wider audience. She said last year’s event inspired Somalis to return to Mogadishu to open businesses. The short talks by artists and intellectuals at events known as TEDx have been held 7,500 times in more than 150 countries, but there may not be an event more challenging or dangerous as the TEDx talk being held in Mogadishu this Saturday. Then again, there may be no city in the world that needs its smartest and strongest voices heard as much as Somaliaís capital, which is clawing its way forward to move beyond its bombs-and-bullets past. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)

The short talks by artists and intellectuals at events known as TEDx have been held 7,500 times in more than 150 countries, but there may not be an event more challenging or dangerous as the TEDx talk being held in Mogadishu this Saturday.

Then again, there may be no city in the world that needs its smartest and strongest voices heard as much as Somalia’s capital, which is clawing its way forward to move beyond its bombs-and-bullets past.

Baghdad and post-conflict Tripoli, Libya have each hosted recent TEDx talks. But Mogadishu is probably the most challenging place for the talks, according to Nate Mook, the co-organizer of Saturday’s event.

Originally the second TEDx talk in Mogadishu was to be held in June. But that month al-Shabab rebels attacked a United Nations office center, killing eight U.N. employees and five Somali civilians, so the event was rescheduled.

TED’s theme is “Ideas Worth Spreading.” The main yearly TED event attracts high-power names like Bill Clinton and Bill Gates. TEDx events are smaller, community-based events held around the world to showcase local ideas and talent.

Saturday’s lineup will showcase Somalia’s budding stars. Iman Elman is a 21-year-old commander in Somalia’s military in charge of a battalion of nearly 100 men. Mohamed Mahamoud Sheik, a 25-year-old entrepreneur, noticed in 2012 that Somali men were hand-carrying their suits on flights from Mogadishu to Nairobi. Why? Somali’s capital had no dry-cleaning services, so he started one.

Security will be “the No. 1 priority of the day,” Mook said. Audience members at Saturday’s talk will pass through security checkpoints and be individually searched, and they may not even know yet where it will take place.

“We don’t announce where the event is taking place. We are very particular about the invitations that we give out,” said Mook, a 31-year-old from Washington, D.C.

Arranging Internet access to beam the English and Somali language talks to the world has been a big challenge. But Mook helped with Mogadishu’s first TEDx talks last year, and says he is much more excited about this year’s event.

“The amount of interest and support for Somalis all over the world to hear about these positive stories has been immense. In many ways TEDx provided, it opened a door to a place that was inaccessible for a really, really long time,” Mook said.

Somalia fell into anarchy in 1991 when warlords ousted the president. Al-Qaida-linked Islamic extremists from the group al-Shabab controlled the capital from 2006 until they were pushed out by African Union and Somali forces in 2011. That military success heralded a blossoming of the sports, business and arts scene in Mogadishu, although deadly al-Shabab attacks still take place.

Ahmed Jama, a British-Somali chef, spoke last year and will speak again this year. He said last year’s talk “connected me to the world.” The talk won him an invitation to a cooking event in Denmark.

“Despite challenges, it’s a sign of peace and inspiration. It’s helping Mogadishu to show its positive side of life and development. They bring in prominent and inspiring speakers who draw positive attention to Mogadishu,” Jama said.

Ilwad Elman, who helps run the Elman Peace and Human Rights Center in Mogadishu, spoke at last year’s TEDx event and is a co-organizer this year. Her goal is to cultivate and celebrate social entrepreneurship in Mogadishu by allowing the country’s leading thinkers to reach a wider audience. She said last year’s event inspired Somalis to return to Mogadishu to open businesses.

“Despite the known risks associated with organizing a globally live-streamed event of this caliber,” said Elman, “I believe it’s most worth it because of the real potential that our viewers will act on the ideas shared with them this year, just as they did last year, and ultimately contribute to eradicating current risks we face in organizing this event.”

Source:AP

Idil Timayare and her six children at home in the North End. She holds daughter, Samira, and is surrounded by sons (from left) Salman, Zakariya, Soyan, Harrun and Ahmed (kneeling).

By: Carol Sanders

Misfortune follows the North End single mom with six kids everywhere.

When she was nine, her family fled mayhem in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu. They took shelter in a refugee camp in Kenya that locals torched, scattering many families, including hers. At 15, she was alone and fled to South Africa, already flooded with unwelcome refugees. By the time she was 28, she was a single parent of six and driven out again by locals who beat her husband until he fled and burned down their small shop.

When Idil Timayare was reunited with her parents in Winnipeg in 2011, her troubles didn’t end. She was run down by a cab this past winter, days before a crucial refugee hearing. As luck would have it, the Immigration and Refugee Board member hearing her case had a track record of rejection — saying no to 180 refugee claimants out of 210 cases heard in 2011. With a busted foot and fuzzy on prescription painkillers, 31-year-old Timayare testified on behalf of herself and her six young kids and lost.

Now, she and her children, who’ve been attending school here, have no status in Canada and their future is uncertain. They scrape by with help from food banks and social assistance in a dark, stifling hot-box they rent for $1,000 a month in the North End.

“I have hope,” said Timayare, who’s receiving physiotherapy, coping with pain and looking forward to returning to English classes in the fall. “My kids like it here. They enjoy school.”

Their rent is high and their house isn’t great, but they have good neighbours, she said.

Her five sons under 12 have been going to school here for the last two years. The oldest, Zakariya, who’s turning 12 in September, said he’s not sure what he wants to be when he grows up. His younger siblings practically bounce off the walls of their cramped home and he feels the pressure of his station in the family.

“It’s annoying,” said the Canadian-sounding adolescent.

Four-year-old Samira is nervous about starting nursery school but excited about her shiny, pink shoes.

“I can’t go back,” said her mom. She fears her daughter would have to undergo female circumcision.

“I don’t want her circumcised. Somalia is not safe.”

If they’re sent back to South Africa, they have no means of support and, as outsiders, will once again face xenophobic attacks, she said.

Timayare’s parents, who were granted refugee status and assisted by the Canadian government to come here more than a decade ago, are now Canadian citizens. They live a short drive from their daughter and grandkids and planted a big vegetable garden in their backyard.

Samira spends a lot of time at her grandparents’ apartment, where her grandmother, Amina, dotes on her and gives her strawberry ice cream in a red plastic cup.

Grandfather Ahmed Timayare said they help out as much as they can.

On Feb. 4, he was waiting downtown in the car with his grandkids for his daughter, who’d gone to a program for newcomers. They waited three hours and she didn’t show up. He didn’t know a cab hit her and she’d been taken to hospital by ambulance. She was stabilized and a patient lent her a cellphone to call her dad.

Days later, she hobbled into court for her refugee hearing, on crutches with a cast on her leg and still in rough shape. She wanted to get it over with.

Her father stayed in the hall with her kids while Timayare went ahead with the proceedings. She said she can’t remember what happened, but she knows she lost.

Human rights lawyer David Matas said she shouldn’t have testified in such rough shape — especially before a board member with one of the highest refugee rejection rates. Matas asked the Federal Court to review the refugee board decision, but it refused.

Now her only hope is to apply to Citizenship and Immigration Canada to stay on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, Matas said. The application fee for the family of seven is $1,400 — what they have to live on every month, said Timayare.

If her luck doesn’t change soon, the Canada Border Services Agency said she and her kids will be sent back to the place they fled.

“We’re safe here,” said Timayare.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

Source: Winnipeg Free Press

As Somalia celebrates the first anniversary of the end of the transition, there is concern about the perceived slowdown in the fight against the Islamic militant group Al-Shabaab.

Andrews Atta-Asamoah has just returned from a visit to Somalia and says the security situation in Mogadishu is still precarious, even though a lot of progress has been made. He says the decision by the humanitarian organisation Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) to pull out of Somalia after 22 years in the country could be seen as a coded message to those who are considered to be too lenient towards Al-Shabaab.

In the last few months since the inauguration of the new government in August last year, there has been cautious optimism that peace is now a real possibility in Somalia. Was it safe to visit Mogadishu?

For many Somalis travelling on their own it is much safer than in the past. But for foreigners and those attached to the United Nations (UN) and the African Union Mission for Somalia (AMISOM) there are a number of critical no-go areas.

AMISOM is largely controlling four sectors in Somalia, including Mogadishu, where it has succeeded in creating a huge buffer around the airport, known as the Mogadishu International Airport (MIA). Within this secure area you find a number of UN agencies, diplomatic missions like the British embassy and other international actors. If you need to go out of this well-protected area, you often need to go with a convoy of the African Union (AU).

It sounds as if the foreign military force in Somalia could be perceived as an ‘occupying force’, huddled around the airport, a bit like the US forces in Iraq. Is this true?

One has to understand the context. Everywhere you find a UN presence; there are very strict security measures. The MIA is the most protected area because of the UN and AMISOM presence, although AMISOM is also deployed in strategic parts of town. It protects the university and sport stadium. But even its convoys get attacked from time to time.

Generally, though, I think the security situation has improved greatly from what we know Somalia used to be, but it is still very far from what one would expect in a stable country in Africa.

Does that mean the 18 000 soldiers of AMISOM are not as effective on the ground as one is led to believe?

In a place like Mogadishu, for instance, AMISOM was able to deliver 80% of Mogadishu to the government. However, we still see significant attacks from Al-Shabaab, largely due to the guerrilla tactics of the group. When you move out of the city you find less and less government presence, especially in the south-central parts of the country.

MSF has announced its withdrawal from the country after 22 years in Somalia. Although 16 MSF staff members have been killed in Somalia, this doesn’t come after any specific attack, so why withdraw now?

It’s very interesting because MSF has been in Somalia even at times where there was no government. From the official communication from the president of MSF, one gets a sense he is blaming the civilian leadership for condoning some of the attacks on MSF staff. I think it is a coded message that speaks to a perception in the larger Somali community that there has been a slowdown in the fight against Al-Shabaab. There is also a perception that some of the leadership in the current government do not seem to have the appetite for sustaining the tough military onslaught against Al-Shabaab.

Why would there be a slowdown?

Some people believe the slowdown is because there are individuals in the current government belonging to the Damul Jadid (‘new blood’) faction of Al-Islah, and who are generally lenient towards Al-Shabaab. Even if these individuals are not necessarily supporting them in any way, there is a sense that there is a lack of willingness to directly continue confronting them and to continue to use the military approach.

When the president was elected last year, he also decided to change many leaders in key positions, including those leading the onslaught against Al-Shabaab in the security sector. This ended up slowing down the whole fight against Al-Shabaab, which could be an unintended consequence of something the government was doing in good faith. Another important aspect is that AMISOM is overstretched.

What does this mean in terms of the humanitarian situation on the ground in Somalia?

It is going to be very difficult for any other humanitarian organisation to step in and take over MSF’s role. There are other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) present in Somalia, but they also have challenges. The NGOs from Turkey were perceived to be very neutral and they made a point of not being identified with the UN and being only in Somalia to help their Islamic brothers and sisters, but we recently saw a hit on a Turkish convoy and an attack on the Turkish embassy, so it is becoming more difficult for them as well.

The federal government of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was established on 20 August 2012. One year on, things are not looking that good for the government.

The withdrawal of MSF and the announcement by the Puntland government that it is cutting ties with the government are signs that all is not well. It puts a lot of pressure on Mogadishu to do things differently or else it is going to be very difficult for it to sustain its credibility in the eyes of the people for four years.

There has also been strife between the central government and the local leaders in Kismayo.

The new constitution provides for a federal system, but there is disagreement over who should drive the formation of these federal states, the central government or the local administration.

Clearly, the government also finds itself in the context of being constantly in the middle of a push from the international community on the one hand, and a local pull on the other. In its bid to attract international attention and to reposition the country, it appears to be doing more internationally, instead of doing things to please its local constituency.

What about the promises of the new government to root out corruption?

One year on, corruption persists. If you look at the recent report by the UN-monitoring group, there are indications that disbursements from the Central Bank still pass through individual hands and not through any specific government institutions. One gets a sense that it is not necessarily corruption but a lack of strong institutions on the ground. Some of these things should have changed by now.

Piracy has drastically been reduced off the Somali coast. Are some of the punitive measures, like those against money laundering, finally working?

All these responses are paying off, including the fact that ships now have their own security and are avoiding hotspots. One also has to give credit to the response of the Puntland government in trying to dismantle some of those groups who were behind the piracy, through imprisonment and legal responses.

The underlying issue is that piracy is a fall-out of worsening insecurity in Somalia, so any time the security situation improves, you find that also reflected in the piracy situation.

What are the key issues that will determine whether the present government succeeds?

The first issue would be the strength of the government and its ability to project itself as doing something for the people and being a credible partner to the international community.

Secondly, is the ability of the government and the international community, particularly AMISOM, to deal with Al-Shabaab and stretch beyond the areas they are holding. AMISOM is overstretched and it cannot go beyond the territories it has liberated, so it is now on the defensive and if you do this you become more and more vulnerable.

Finally, the question will be whether the international forces in Somalia can position themselves to win the hearts and minds of the people. If you’re on the ground and you’re not really making a huge impact, over time you will start to be seen as an occupying force.

Liesl Louw-Vaudran, ISS Consultant

Remains of genocide victims

Mohamed Ubo

1969: The sunrise of Siyad Bare dictatorship, the sunset of the 9 year old Somalia post-colonial democracy and the beginning of terrible atrocities, brutalities, and marginalization of the north ultimately crafted the kicking out of the late oppressor Mohamed Siyad Bare who fled and died in Lagos Nigeria at the age of 74 in 1995, and the demise of the autocratic rule of Somalia in 1991. This is the time Somaliland walked out the union and  found the password for positive peace, genuine democracy and sustainable development, corresponding to the era that Somalia lost its password of peace which still at large for the time being after more than two decades.

The Somaliland republic was made from scratch without external backing from the international community, but very fortunately employed their local inherited traditions, which have in due course erected extremely strong democratic state institutions. And despite of all those admirable and outstanding endeavors from local people, Somaliland still lacks diplomatic recognition for more than two straight decades, which is outrageously wrong and a mockery to both Africa and other international community. And Somaliland believes, that in the immediate future the cost of more than two decades of diplomatic isolation from the international community will be charged in future international courts.

Conversely, except for the autonomous region of Puntland that has a relative peace, the south and central Somalia have been swallowed up by all forms of conflicts and south and central Somalia are still in a deep coma. After that official collapse of the Somali Republic in 1991, the dead nation—Somalia—started walking on the horn of Africa despite many countries imagine that he is breathing and alive but in 22 plus years nothing has changed for the reason that he is the father of ten bad children—anarchy, violence, warlords, famine, rape, civil disorder, brutality, crimes, human right abusers and tribalism. The dead man along with his ten bad children has been walking and fighting in the Horn of Africa, and has killed thousands and turned millions into refugees outside Somalia and IDPs inside the country.

The dead man walking refused to take a proved template of success for peace and development from his peaceful brother Somaliland. This dead man believes that Somaliland is part of his family despite Somaliland leaving the family in 1991 and then Somaliland delivered ten fruitful children who are: unity, peace, free education, economic growth, healthy population, coherent military, genuine democracy, sustainable development, effective judiciary system and booming business. The dead man walking in the Horn of Africa has forgotten that the unification of British Somaliland with Italian Somalia formed the Somali Republic in 1960 and after the official demise of the Somali Republic 1991, Somaliland stopped being part of the union and In 22 straight years the Republic of Somaliland has tried and failed to convince the dead man walking. Furthermore, unfortunately, the international community has never tried to convince this dead man walking in the Horn by telling him that he is the father of another two destructive children called terrorism and piracy which composes his home a hotbed of all bad tensions in the region that brought his home more timid and terrified to survive in.

After the unification, from 1960 to 1969 the republic exercised fresh democracy. And afterward, in 1969 the nine year old Somali democracy came to an end after Siyad Bare’s overthrow of the elected civilian government in a bloodless coup; Barre was named the new president of the country, claiming that the civilian government neglected the Somali republic. In 1979 the Somali constitution was crafted and guaranteed that democratic elections would be held. The first election was in 1986 and Siyad ran in an uncontested election in which he claimed that he won 99.9% of the votes.

 Siyad Bare established an oppressive military dictatorship that reigned brutally for 21 years from 1969 to 1991 and he was ousted in 1991 due to his torture, cruelty, crimes, corruption, nepotism, tribalism, rape and also his military and economic misadventure.  Committed inconceivable crimes and atrocities against many tribes in the north— according to many different sources almost 70,000 people in the north mostly women and children were calculatedly killed and hundreds were missed through unexplained disappearances  —that international human rights organizations fully accounted the worst human rights abuse in the world following Somaliland showed mountains of primary evidences to the international community particularly when A Peruvian Forensic anthropology team came to Somaliland in 2012; revealed details of widespread atrocities that continued from 1970 to 1991. Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF) is a non-profit organization that seeks to contribute to the consolidation of peace and democracy where grave human rights violations have taken place by working alongside the families of the disappeared to find their loved ones. They came to Somaliland and revealed details of atrocities including number of mass graves across Somaliland. For instance, they found 200 mass graves in Hargeisa , 12 mass graves in Berbera, 8 mass graves in Buroa, 1 mass grave in Sheikh , 2 mass graves in Eragavo and 1 mass grave in Arabsio, and beyond reasonable doubt, this is an outstanding milestone case for Somaliland`s inquiry of brutalities .

The Thriving peace in Somaliland encourages  suitable environment for Development and Investment

 Therefore, Somaliland believes that the Somali republic officially departed in 1991 after Somaliland officially declared it was leaving the union. Somaliland told both the dead man walking and the international community that Somaliland people underwent severe atrocities from the union for 40 years and the Somaliland people were ruled by a constitution they overwhelmingly rejected in the referendum of the constitution in 1961—that means the union had not been legalized at that time. Opportunely as the 1960s governments were democratic; the Somaliland people saw a light at the end of the tunnel but the situation got worse when Siyad Bare went on to take power and crafted domineering military government and later in 1970 formed what he called scientific socialism from the Soviet Union. Siyad Bare was the father of all forms conflicts and great grandfather of all the ten horrific children of Somalia that currently placed were Somalia is in today. The dead man walking along with his ten horrific children did not only commit crimes against the people in the north but in the south they indiscriminately eradicated all innocent residents that hailed from some of the tribes in the north—for instance, the Jazeera Massacre in the outskirt of Mogadishu on the night of July 1989 where 47 innocent civilian mostly students and business men who remained there were lined up and then shot dead within two minutes on account of their clan but very fortunately only Mr. Omar Isse Mire was survived after he pretended to be dead. In January 2012 Mr Mire held a press conference in Hargeisa, and he explained how the government troops took them from their homes to Jazeera beach.  

Despite of all that above realities on the ground, the dead man walking on the horn of Africa refused to accept that Somaliland can withdraw from the union, and refused to accept that people in the north were intentionally tortured, raped, bombed their cities, fled, killed civilian fleeing and executed by the military of the late authoritarian Siyad Bare from the government. This dead man walking refused to accept the mass graves in Somaliland in which thousands of innocent people were buried—many of them were alive during the military was putting them under the ground. Despite the dead man walking rejected the atrocities, luckily, in 2012, one of the perpetrators of that case who was vice president and defense minister from 1980 to 1986, and prime minister from 1987 to 1990 of Somalia was found guilty on 28 august 2012 in USA. Having in mind all that details of atrocities, the dead man walking in the horn of Africa strongly believes that Somaliland left from the union in 1991 has nothing to do with the actual realities on the ground but a naïve behavior from their political elites, the same as their emotional nationalism of 1960. 

In my personal judgment, despite Somaliland achieving remarkable developments in many accounts, its case and seeds of diplomatic recognition has been deposited in the hands of a dead man walking and  still keeps searching its diplomatic recognition from the dead man walking, EU, UN and AU that do not reflect the geopolitical realities of 2013 but can keep searching from the East that are emerging markets like China, Japan and the like that Somaliland could buy its strategic location that can be an economic gate way of Asia to the rest of Africa. Therefore, the paradigm of Somaliland`s search for diplomatic recognition ought to be 360 degree shifted from West to East.

In closing, the dead man walking in the Horn of Africa should stop the mere rhetoric that goes to nowhere and understand in this way, as far as Somaliland people—who voted in 2001 referendum with strong 97.1 percent in favor of the constitution—are concerned, leaving the union is not emotional politics from the political elites but based on principles from the hearts and minds of the grass root ordinary Somaliland citizens.

Mohamed Ubo

Ubo84@hotmail.com

Aid Worker and independent researcher

MOGADISHU—Hundreds of  Al shabab militiamen  have taken  control of  a strategic town in Somalia’s south-western region of Bakool located near Ethiopian border without any resistance after government soldiers withdrew earlier today.

Residents of  Qurac-Jome said ,the rebels after capturing the town launched house-to-house searches, looking for people suspected to be   government collaborators .

Meanwhile, Tension are said to be high in the area as Somali government forces along with Ethiopian troops are said to be making preparations to retake  the town from Al shabaab.

Reports said Civilians are fleeing the area for fear of  their lives due to the escalation of military activities in the area.

The  captured town lies on a key a route which links other towns in the region, including Hudur town which is under the control of Al-Shabaab fighters.

Since 2011, the radical group has lost a number of key areas in southern and central Somalia to Gov’t forces and AU peacekeepers.

The al-Shabab group-linked with Al Qaeda has waging five-year guerrilla warfare to topple President Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud, who was elected in September 10, 2012 after being chosen by the country’s federal parliament.

By Omar Nor, Freelance journalist in Mogadishu