In his recent article “Somaliland: America’s underestimated friend” Bashir Goth has eloquently compared Somalia with Somaliland with respect to peace building and democratic governance. Instead of critiquing the merits of Mr. Goth’s article, Mohamed Ahmed responded with an article full of personal attacks. This is exactly the way medieval kings used to response when they receive unfavorable news: kill the messenger! Mr. Ahmed has every right to criticize and attack Mr. Goth’s ideas and opinions. However, when some people cannot face the facts they simply resort to personal attacks. Hence, Mr. Ahmed entire article focuses not on the subject matter—Somalia vs. Somaliland — but on Mr. Goth’s history.
The change of heart on the part of Mr. Goth truly reflects the genuine reconciliation and peace-full co-existence of yesterday’s foes in Somaliland. In other words, this change shows how far Somalilanders have gone to heal their wounds and seek common future. Take the example of, for instance, the incumbent Somaliland President Dahir R. Kahin and his loyal Foreign Minister Abdullahi M. Duale. These two men were at the opposed ends of political spectrum during the Somaliland’s civil war in the 1980s. Yesterday, Mr. Kahim and Mr. Duale were members of the National Security Service (NSS) and the Somali Nation Movement (SNM), respectively. Today both are members of the Somaliland’s ruling party UDUB. This shows that people of Somaliland have refused to be hostage to their gloomy past. The people of Somaliland have wisely decided to let bygones be bygones in order to have a better future for their children. In the process, even those who had blood on their hands, on both sides of the conflict, were forgiven and forgotten.
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Mr. Goth’s previous writings including those in Awdal Phenomenon represent Somaliland’s painful past history. His previous writings on Somaliland, however pathetic they may look now, were merely a reflection of prevailing political upheaval at that time in Somaliland. And to set the record straight, Mr. Goth’s support of Somaliland is not conditional on President Dahir R. Kahin. In fact, as an editor of Awdal News, Mr. Goth has repeatedly criticized Mr. Kahin’s regime.
Having explained the circumstances surrounding Mr. Goth’s past and present writings, let us now look at the issue at hand: differences between Somalia and Somaliland—-the theme of Mr. Goth’s article. In Somaliland, there is a government that has a monopoly over the ‘use of force’ in the territory it claims to control. In Somalia, the Sharif government is protected by African Union forces. In Somaliland, there are political parties who are readying themselves to take part the upcoming presidential election. In Somalia, there are Al-Shabab and Hisbul-Islam who want to violently overthrow the government of President Sharif. In Somaliland, we have uninterrupted peace for over a decade now. In Somalia, we have a government whose forces routinely shell the biggest market of Mogadishu — the Bakara Market.
These are just a few glimpses of the realities prevailing in Somalia and Somaliland. Mr. Ahmed does not want hear or see the reality. For him attacking the messenger is easier for him since some facts are hard to deny. Therefore, Mr. Ahmed tries to kill the messenger– Mr. Goth– instead of critiquing his theme: differences between Somalia and Somaliland.
MOGADISHU, (Somalilanpress) — With his brinkmanship diplomacy facing a dead-end, Eritrea’s strong man, Isaias Afwerki, is approaching members of the League of Arab States (“Arab League”), which is scheduled to hold its summit on March 27th, to come to his rescue and facilitate mediation with Djibouti. This would be a face-saving gesture that would result in his withdrawal from the disputed territories bordering Djibouti, without seeming to do so under the duress of UN.
Ironically, the Arab League, which had, at the request of Djibouti, held an emergency meeting in May 2008 regarding the Eritrea-Djibouti conflict, had offered to mediate when the issue first arose. It had offered fact-finding delegation to both nations in June 2008. The delegation was welcomed in Djibouti, but rejected by Isaias Afwerki, who dismissed the conflict as a “fabrication.”
Djibouti, which is a member of the Arab League, had earlier indicated that it would boycott the upcoming summit to protest Libya’s negative vote on UN Resolution 1907, which called on sanctions on Eritrea, partly for its refusal to comply with Resolution 1862, which had called on Eritrea to withdraw from the disputed territories within five weeks of its adoption (January 2009.) Libya was the only country that voiced a negative vote on Resolution 1907, when the security council voted to pass the resolution (China abstained.)
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But the Libyan foreign minister, whose country is hosting the summit, met with Djibouti officials to explain Libya’s position: that it is against all sanctions, as a matter of principle, and its vote was not directed at Djibouti. He was persuasive, and Djibouti is attending.
For the past month and half, the Eritrean Foreign Ministry has been busy carrying letters of appeal to Arab leaders. The Eritrean regime’s ambassadors to Egypt, Fassil Gebreslasie, and its ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Omer Mahmoud, have been busy lobbying for support from their host countries as well as the neighboring Arab countries.
Fassil Gebresselasie handed a letter to Amr Mousa, the Secretary General of the Arab League, outlining the Eritrean proposal for resolving its problems with Djibouti and Somalia and pleading to him to take initiative to resolve Eritrea’s problems.
Djibouti and Somalia, also a member of the Arab League, consider any alternative mechanism as circumventing UN resolution 1907 and are likely to reject any mediation without preconditions. And since the Arab League uses “consensus” to reach binding decisions, Djibouti and Somalia can torpedo any decision that the Arab League may want to undertake.
Egypt’s position is expected to be decisive on the matter. Yemen, which had offered its offices to mediate the conflict and was rejected by Isaias Afwerki when the conflict first arose, and which has been smarting over allegations that Isaias Afwerki is supporting Houthi fighters, is not likely to be receptive. Saudi Arabia is unimpressed by Isaias’s increasingly warm relations with Iran (refer to Saudi paper Al-Wattan). Sudan’s role is more circumspect. Shortly after the adoption of UN Resolution 1907, Amr Moussa had dispatched a delegation, led by a senior Sudanese general and intelligence official, to notify Isaias Afwerki that the Arab League would not take any measures in contravention of UN Resolution 1907. Characteristically, Isaias Afwerki heaped abuse on the Sudanese official.
Subsequently, Sudan assured Eritrea that though it would not openly support the idea of an Arab League initiative (for fear of antagonizing Djibouti and Somalia, as well as Ethiopia), it will also not oppose such a move. In his last visit to Asmara, Mustafa Osman, special advisor to Sudan’s President Omar Albeshir, had suggested to Isaias to seek the help of either Qatar or Libya to sponsor a proposal to pressure the Arab League to get involved. Libya’s Muammer Ghaddafi and Qatar’s Sheikh Hamad are the only two close allies of Isaias.
Following up on the suggestion, Isaias Afwerki has attempted to get regional groups to sponsor the proposal. To this end, he sought the help of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, and UAE) by approaching Qatar and the Arab-Maghrib Union (Libya, Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia) by approaching Libya.
While using Qatar to influence the Gulf Cooperation Council, Isaias has also tried to appeal to the United States by using Saudi Arabia as an intermidary. Prior to Secretary Hillary Clinton’s visit to Saudi Arabia on February 15, 2010, Isaias attempted to secure a visit with the Saudi king or his foreign minister, but was not successful.
‘Jerusalem’ summit and Arab Unity
The Arab leaders are also expected to unit against Israel and condemn their recent “Judaisation” of Jerusalem and are expected to ratify an agreement drafted by their foreign ministers to raise $500-million as aid to Palestinians in east Jerusalem.
Arab leaders such as Syria’s Bashar al-Assad said they were ready for war with Israel unless they stopped their “violations” in Jerusalem.
King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia, King Mohammed VI of Morocco, The Sultan of Oman, Qaboos Bin Said Al-Said and the presidents of Egypt, Yemen and Lebanon will not be attending this year’s summit for health related issues and because of differences with the host, Khadafi.
NAIROBI, (Somalilandpress) — Somaliland Finance minister, Mr. Hussein Ali Duale has met with the Kenyan Prime Minister, Mr. Raila Odinga at the Prime Minister’s office in Nairobi on Wednesday.
The Prime Minister and the minister discussed areas of mutual interest between the two countries.
Mr. Daule briefed the Prime Minister of the current situation in Somaliland, including the forthcoming Presidential elections, the economy and social development in the country.
Mr. Odinga has praised Somaliland’s ability to maintain security and stability and for it’s development and progress.
Mr. Duale has also met with other senior Kenyan officials including the Foreign Minister, Moses Wetangula.
NAIROBI, (Somalilandpress) — Kenyan security forces have arrested three suspected terrorist in the capital Nairobi on Thursday.
Sources say that the suspects were planning to leave Nairobi for Somalia’s war-torn capital, Mogadishu, where they were to meet Islamists groups fighting the transitional government.
“The three suspects are being questioned to establish their activities
in the country. They are being investigated over terrorism
activities,” said a police source.
The three suspects include Dr Suleiman Ahmed who originally hails from the disputed Sool region, he is believed to be behind serious bombs in the town of Las Anod that killed a number of Somaliland military officials.
The arrest come barely after a suspected terrorist of Australian
national and Somali origin, Hussein Hashi Farah, escaped from Kenyan
police cells.
A police officer who is privy to the investigation against the three
suspects said they were in possession of Kenyan, Australian and
American passports respectively.
“There are no specific charges against these three, but they are under
investigation. We will let you know of the progress and if they will
be charged in court,” the police source added.
“I am not aware of that,” said Anti-Terrorism Police Unit Chief
Nicholas Kamwende when contacted.
Police officers at the Wilson airport said the suspects were picked up
by anti-terrorism officers who whisked them away to their offices in
Nairobi Area.
The name of one of the three was almost similar to that of a terror
suspect who fled from a police station in Busia town that is at the
Kenyan –Uganda border, sparking anxiety amongst police officers who
arrested him.
“We have since established it is a different person but we are still
interrogating them,” another officer said.
On Wednesday, four other suspected terrorists were arrested in Mombasa and were due to be flown to Nairobi for further interrogation.
HARGEISA, 25 March 2010 (Somalilandpress) – The term Faqash originated from its widespread and popular use amongst Somalia’s former northern regions (Now Somaliland) to describe those who were a part of/or loyal to the expansionist and oppressive regime of Mohamed Siad Barre. The term was literally derived from the sound the boots of its officers made when walking in mud and became a popular derogatory name to describe the troops that many citizens felt were more of an occupying force than an actual government that represented the people.
While the current meaning and context of the term has been hotly debated and discussed due its misuse by those who consider it to be a tribal term, after much research I think it is quite evident that when one looks at the facts with an open mind, that the term simply refers to an ideology that existed in Somalia (and continues today) not much different from ideologies such as Marxism, Nazism, Capitalism, Socialism, Communism, Fascism, etc. The only reason that we need to continue to understand and study this ideology is because it has been exported in the minds of an entire generation of Flight 13 Refugees who have taken this idea abroad with them and created an international network of those who pray for the downfall of the biggest victim of this ideology; the people of Somaliland.
The European Holocaust is debated up until this day by two sides who often debate the number of people who died and whether or not they reach in the millions. The Somali Genocide and Holocaust that took place, while not as internationally popular, is much different in that pretty much everyone is very aware of the loss that one side in particular endured. The only difference is that the attitude of those who suffered the least during the implementation of the Faqash Ideology states ‘So what if a genocide took place? You weren’t the only victims because ever since then we’ve been killing ourselves instead of you and you should feel sorry for us now.’ This longing for the peace and stability provided in Somalia former, even at the expense of the entire northern population, is what makes the beneficiaries of the Faqash ideology long for the ‘Old Somalia’, flaws and oppression of the north included.
While the people who suffered the most and experienced the highest loss of life due to this ill-thought out ideology hail from current day Somaliland, we must remember that this ideology was an enemy to all of Somalia former and the remnants of this ideology is what prevents current day Somalia from recovering from Somaliland’s secession. Let us not forget that the first targets of ‘Faqashism’ were the people who hail from Mudug & Nugaal regions of Somalia.
There is a popular adage from WWII that exemplifies a lot of what led to this tribal mistrust and hatred that exists until today. Like the adage ‘… and then they came for me…’, many tribes indeed benefited from their alignment with the Faqash regime as they stood to personally gain and benefit from this association that was used to oppress and single out a single northern tribe for indiscriminate abuse and classism and subtle racism. It’s no secret that tribes associated with certain ‘men of power’ in the old Somali regime were awarded favours and were treated differently and as super citizens.
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While Siad Barre was himself an insecure and insolent man, at the peak of his power he had managed to amass a team that was a force to be reckoned with which included smart strategists and propagandists. The divide and conquer technique that many accuse Somaliland of being a product of is actually the technique that has created the havoc that still runs 20 years after it was last implemented in Somalia. Whereas Somalilanders have chosen to unify under the banner of one country and one people, as was the dream of Somalia former, Somalia still suffers from the divide and conquer technique to this day with mistrust and a thirst for power superseding the brotherly love. The only difference is that Somaliland has chosen a democratic method and a respect for self determination to keep its citizens together as opposed to the strong arm tactics used by the former regime.
So back again to the word Faqash, and demystifying the strong aura that it carries. Why is there such strong emotion carried by the term? To understand the emotion involved with such a strong term one has to first explore why the term still lingers around and has taken on so many contexts which have nothing to do with the actual true meaning of the term itself.
The current misuse of the term to blanket insult people hailing from a certain region or tribe is an adulterated context of the term, but one must understand that a lot of the people who misuse this term do so due to either real life traumatic experience or hardship endured at the hands of the Faqash Regime. Many people suffer from post-traumatic stress, were displaced and or lost their property or close family members due to the tactics of the Faqash Regime. While I do not agree with their uniformly calling an entire region’s population Faqash, the pain and sense of loss that has led to this error should be easy to understand and sympathise with. While I hate them for using it in such a sinister way, I can see where they’re coming from.
I equally understand when the average citizen from current day Somalia becomes enraged or feels insulted and takes offense when they hear the term as they feel it is being directed towards them thanks to its true definition being abused by the few who are bitter towards all of their brothers from the south. I think that those who are quick to get offended are just as lame as those who abuse the term as they are looking for any reason to point a finger at the other side and create an opportunity to display the animosity they harbour deep within their souls.
My message to those who get offended quickly is that they should shrug off when someone calls them the term as an unwarranted insult. I would never get offended if someone yelled ‘Hey You White Cracker!’ even if I was the only other person in the room because I’m obviously not a RITZ product. The word Faqash stands for the expansionist ideology of Siad Barre’s former regime that used any means necessary, including outright oppression, to subjugating entire populations based on where they fell in the hierarchy of the class system that was used to maintain Siad Barre’s grip on power. So unless you support everything this regime did, then relax, it’s not you who we’re talking about when we use the word Faqash.
And my message to those who indiscriminately use the word Faqash to paint an entire region or country as such is to also take it easy. While it’s hard to not hate the people who benefited either knowingly or unknowingly from your hardship, you have to understand that this was a state-sponsored ideology and that whoever wasn’t benefiting financially for towing the government line was either too scared or ignorant and uneducated to do something about it. And to those who use it in a tribal context, please remember that some of the biggest Faqash were from the Isaac Clan itself including the imbeciles who were a part of the SRC who sold their entire country (all of Somalia former) for a few pieces of choice property and the trappings of office.
So there you have it. The true meaning of the word Faqash has nothing to do with tribes, nothing to do with Somalia bashing, and nothing to do with one group of people being better than the other. It is a simple descriptor word used to describe both the ideology and atrocity of a government that was lead by Mohamed Siad Barre. It is not meant for those who continue to suffer from the actions of that man and who acknowledge that he made a lot of mistakes that have impacted so many. To those of you who dream of Somalia the way it was before because you were a ‘house negro’ and dream of its return, you are the ones we speak of when we continue to use the word Faqash up until this day. If you still support what Siad Barre did, inwardly or outwardly, or are offended by being called Faqash, we can compromise and start calling you ‘Douches’ instead, because you support murder and ignorance on par with the Nazis.
Written By:
Maxmuud-Aar X. Xuseen (Mo Hussein)
_______________________________________________________________________________ Views expressed in the opinion articles are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the editorial
BERBERA, 25 March 2010 (Somalilandpress) – A court in Berbera sentenced eight pirates to 15 years jail each on Wednesday.
The Somaliland coastguards arrested the suspects in January after they discovered the group was planning to hijack ships off the Somaliland’s waters. They were captured with their speedboat and weapons that the court said they were using to carry out the operation.
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Judge Osman Ibrahim announced the court’s decision after the hearing that continued since they were arrested. He said the suspects were found guilty and the court sentences them to 15 years in jail each.
Somaliland has been successful so far to combat pirates and to protect its waters from the piracy. Many pirates caught by Somaliland coastal guards are now in Jails.
“Without Somaliland, the pirates would operate in Djibouti and all the way to Sudan waters” Said Somaliland’s Minister of Planning while speaking to a UN delegation. “We are blocking them to do so. That means Somaliland maintains a strategic position in the region” he concluded.
TEL AVIV (Somalilandpress) — A Turkish-owned ship named “Frigia” and carrying cargo of the Israel Chemicals company has been captured by Somali pirates.
The ship had left Ashdod port and was en route to Thailand Tuesday when it was attacked in the Indian Ocean. No Israelis were aboard – 19 Turks and 2 Ukrainians were manning the ship, which was flying a Maltese flag.
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The ship had delivered a cargo of sulfur for the Negev Star company two weeks ago, and then loaded up with $11 million worth of phosphates and potash.
There has been no contact with Frigia since it was hijacked. According to Turkish media, the ship is being directed toward a Somali port.
Naval piracy has experienced a resurgence in recent years, particularly at the hands of Somalians. Somalia experienced a political collapse in 1991, from which it has never recovered. A radical Islamic insurgency has swept the region, threatening to overtake Somalia. Citizens in the north have attempted to secede and create a new state — Somaliland — but have not yet succeeded.
Israeli officials have stated that they would support the creation of Somaliland, which has democratic, non-radical aims.
Somaliland’s telecommunication business is booming despite the lack of recognition and having no access to international banks and credit unions.
Al Jazeera’s Jama Nur Ahmed went to Hargeisa to see firsthand how Somaliland’s leading telecom operators are improving the lives of ordinary people.
Six months ago, Somaliland’s leading operator, Telesom unveiled its mobile banking system dubbed “ZAAD Services”, since then more than 40, 000 people use it now in Hargeisa from all walks of life.
What makes Somaliland telecoms so different from others in Africa, is that Somaliland operators are owned by Somalis.
Here is a short footage of that program in Arabic.
EDMONTON, 24 March 2010 (Somalilandpress) – Four months after he left Toronto, 21-year-old Abas Abukar was dead.
On Halloween morning in 2008, the former Humber College student’s body was found in Northmount Park, a wooded area in this city’s north end. Abukar had been shot a few hours earlier, an autopsy concluded. He was victim number 19.
A month later, Abdulkadir Mohamoud, 23, was found stripped, beaten and shot to death in a park. He, too, had moved from Toronto, about two years earlier. That same day, Ahmed Mohammed Abdirahman, 21, was gunned down outside a seedy townhouse complex. They became victim numbers 20 and 21. Eight more would be killed after that.
Since the summer of 2005, 29 Somali-Canadians ranging in age from 17 to 28 have been murdered in Alberta, in what police are calling an escalating gang and drug turf war amid the province’s booming oil economy. Some, however, have simply been killed in the crossfire, a situation of hanging out with the wrong people at the wrong time. The killings have occurred primarily in Edmonton, Calgary and Fort McMurray.
The victims were all from Ontario, mostly from the Toronto area, and almost all were either born or raised in this country.
Some moved to Alberta with their parents who, faced with an unemployment rate of 22 per cent in Toronto, the highest of any ethnic group, sought legitimate high-paying jobs while their kids succumbed to the lure of easy drug money. At least half, according to news reports, were known to police, in some cases small-time drug peddlers in Ontario who moved west to make better money in a lucrative drug market.
Edmonton police Chief Mike Boyd says his officers are working closely with investigators in Ontario cities to track the movement of gang members and drugs between the two provinces. But so far arrests have been made in only one case and members of the Somali community, having fled their own war-torn country, are growing anxious.
“I wish we had never moved to Edmonton,” says Faduma Arab, Mohamoud’s mother, who has since moved back to Toronto with her five other children.
“My son might have still been alive.”
——————
Drug trafficking is dangerous anywhere but in Alberta, Canada’s most prosperous province, it has become increasingly more perilous.
In Alberta, the drug business is worth over $5 billion annually and is controlled by well-established gangs such as Hells Angels, native gangs and Asian triads. According to criminal experts, the ‘newbies’ — what the Somali-Canadians are called — are running headlong into other groups, rubbing people the wrong way and triggering turf wars in which they are coming out the losers.
Edmonton police and criminologists suspect Somali-Canadians aren’t even part of true gangs with guns and backup — just young naïve men in loosely organized groups.
Some Somali-Canadians have been recruited by other gangs and are being used at the lowest level as peddlers or mules to deliver drugs, says William Pitt, a former RCMP officer and now a professor of criminology at Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton.
“That makes them a disposable commodity — if the police get them, they don’t know much or have large quantities (of drugs) on them; and if they die… they are no loss to the gangs,” he says.
Gang war has hit Edmonton streets before.
In the late 1990s, Vietnamese gangs in the city battled each other and other crime groups to gain a slice of the city’s drug trafficking, prostitution and gambling. At least 10 people were killed over five years.
Somali-Canadians are easy targets: they are a small Black minority, the largest African group in Edmonton; they typically don’t carry guns; and they likely don’t know the nuances of the established drug trade, says Cathy Prowse, a former police officer, gang expert and criminal anthropologist at Mount Royal University in Calgary.
“There are some rules among gangsters… you never encroach on anyone’s territory, never steal others’ clients or drastically change the price,” says Prowse, who retired from the Calgary Police Service after 25 years.
The new kids on the block aren’t familiar with such subtleties.
“Young people also think they can make some money (in drugs) and get out if there are any problems,” says Prowse. “They are delusional. It’s easy to get in, tough to get out.”
——————
“Come work for me. You’ll be rich,” says a tall man with a goatee, flashing a wad of notes at the three young Somali-Canadian men.
“It’s easy money.”
Jamal Yusuf, 16, a student at J. Percy Page High School in southeast Edmonton, says he had heard of teenagers being offered money to peddle or deliver drugs, such as crack cocaine and heroin, but it was the first time he had been approached.
It was during a house party last summer — a K’naan number was blasting, Yusuf was sipping iced tea and grumbling about homework when the stranger made the offer.
Speechless for a moment, Yusuf says he smiled and declined.
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He has been approached at least half a dozen other times with similar offers since moving from Toronto with his family in 2007. Each time, he has refused.
Yusuf, an easygoing teen with a quick smile, knows the dangers of the drug-related business, but says he wonders why others haven’t noticed the spike in funerals. “Everyone knows what’s going on… I don’t know why people still get involved.”
But according to one small-time drug dealer on the streets of Edmonton who gave his name as Bilal Ahmed, the lure of easy money is difficult to resist.
——————
Ahmed, 19, says he grew up in Toronto’s Kipling and Rexdale Aves. area and moved to Edmonton in 2007 along with his older brother. He never sold drugs in Toronto, he says, but was peddling ecstasy pills within weeks of arriving in Edmonton.
Someone he knew was selling cocaine and offered him the pills to sell, which go for $5 to $20 each. The money was too good to refuse, he says. On a good weekend, he claims to make as much several thousand dollars, although criminologist Pitt says a mid-level drug dealer can make up to $10,000 selling coke or heroin in a single evening. Ahmed says it is also an easy way to make friends, blend in with the crowd, gain acceptance.
Ahmed doesn’t know when or why the violence started but it hit home on Nov. 29 last year when his cousin, Robileh Ali Mohamed, 23, of Ottawa, was killed near a Somali restaurant in downtown Edmonton.
“I thought I was going to be next…”
Somali community leaders in Alberta say many victims appear to be related or knew each other beforehand; indicating one may have lured the other into the drug trade. Just last month, two cousins, Saed Adad, 22, and Idris Abess, 23, both from Toronto, were found dead in a Fort McMurray apartment.
——————
After his cousin’s death, Ahmed fled to Calgary, but returned two months later and is back selling on the streets. On this particular night, it’s about 2 a.m. and –10 C. The street lights are blazing at 107th Ave. near 105th St., close to the downtown core and its shiny corporate high rises, and a block away from a police station. The traffic never stops on the street, where hookers and pimps are known to hang out, and drugs are just a phone call away.
Ahmed, dressed in baggy jeans, a black sweatshirt and an Oilers hat, is sitting in a black Honda Civic in a shopping plaza parking lot where large billboards advertizing a nightclub, a liquor store and a massage parlour jostle for attention.
He’s waiting for a pick-up.
At 2:15 a.m., an SUV pulls up and the driver rolls down a window. The man nods and Ahmed steps out to meet him. Within a minute, money and pills have exchanged hands.
A year ago, Ahmed would have been cavalier — he says he may have hung around for another deal. Now he delivers pills to people he knows well and never stays in one place for long.
He is careful about his movements, never really feels safe. “It’s gonna get bad… like s**t… I’m ready to run back to Toronto,” he says.
—————
Edmonton’s Somali-Canadian community, pegged at 12,000 people, is the largest outside Ontario.
It is now under intense scrutiny, says Mahamad Accord, executive director of Edmonton’s Alberta Somali Community Centre. What angers him is when people call the murders a Somali problem. “It’s not — almost all of these men were born and raised in Canada,” says Accord. “It’s got nothing to do with their ethnicity.”
He acknowledges too many young men are being drawn to crime but says “marginalization combined with a lucrative drug trade in an oil-rich economy has drawn these young men.”
And, he adds, Alberta is less tolerant of diversity than Ontario. “If you are a person of colour, you will be treated differently… doesn’t matter whether you were born here or in Africa.”
Accord and Ahmed Hussen, president of the Canadian Somali Congress, who met with police and Somali community groups in Alberta late last year, say they are trying to educate people and find ways to help Somali youths fit in by starting up homework and sports clubs.
A year ago, faced with criticism over the handling of the murder investigations, Edmonton police assigned Sgt. Patrick Ruzage and Const. Ken Smith, of the city’s gangs and drugs squad, as community liaison officers. Ruzage was sent to Ontario for a week to learn from Toronto police how to work with the Somali community. The two officers spend time mingling with the teens and organize friendly soccer games to try and build trust with the families.
“We are educating them… telling them how they can call Crime Stoppers, help solve a crime and stay anonymous,” says Smith, admitting there has been little success so far. “People are terrified of being snitches and then getting targeted.”
There have been a couple of small victories. The officers, both of whom are black, have been approached by a few young Somali-Canadians about how to become police officers.
—————
Faduma Arab has sworn off Edmonton. Just talking about the time her family spent there chokes her up and her eyes fill with tears.
“I wish we had never moved there… I lost my son there,” says Arab, who now lives in a highrise in south Mississauga.
She phones the detectives on her son Abdulkadir Mohamoud’s case every week; she flies there every few months to see if there is any progress.
“Abdulkadir did not traffic drugs. He was the kind of a son who would clean up the house and cook if I wasn’t there.” She pulls out photos, school report cards of Mohamoud — he got straight As.
One of her younger sons concedes Mohamoud may have hung out with “the wrong people” and was targeted. “I don’t think he even knew that,” says the 17-year-old who did not want his name published. “My brother was a role model for all of us – we looked up to him.”
He never wants to return to Alberta. “I can’t even remember the number of times I was chased from school because people thought I would have drugs… because I’m Somali.”
Mohammed Aden is another devastated parent trying to make sense of his son’s death.
Abas Abukar was only three when the family moved to Canada in 1991 and settled in Etobicoke. He enrolled in the business program at Humber College and worked at Home Depot and Rogers in summer.
He moved to Edmonton in June 2008 “because he wanted to earn tuition money,” says Aden. Abukar had heard from his friends about well-paying jobs and wanted to spend a year working. “I didn’t want him to go… but his words were: I’m 21, I’m a man. I can do this,” says Aden, adding that he spoke to his son every day.
And then one day, he got a call: his son was dead
For the four months that Abukar was in Edmonton, he lived with his sister and her husband. She was pregnant and visiting her parents in Ontario when he was killed. She has since refused to return to that city and her husband has found a new job in Toronto.
“They were shattered,” says Aden. “…we were all broken.”
HARGEISA, 24 March 2010 (Somalilandpress) – “A brain drain is said to occur when a country becomes short of skills when people of such skills emigrate”
Looking back in my student years, I remember loving memories of my teacher a man who was interested in contributing his ideas and values to his country. It was stiff time to undertake such work where almost social sectors were dead and functionless. Somaliland is now convalescing from the ruin that affected nearly all of its public infrastructures, starting from obliteration to the doors of nationhood followed building. Today, Somaliland people are charming in a democratic process that brought peace, stability and relative prosperity.
Now this young nation enjoys all requirements of modern sovereign state; A definite boundary, internal and external security, and independence and effective judicial system, and free press, Somaliland dramatically improving security situation and modest of political progress. The citizens of this peaceful country either inside or outside sought high and low to attest their country’s development as an evitable matter.
Being contributor and insightful to your society is not an easy chore, but needs handwork, dedication and commitment. Many Somaliland professionals living abroad are seeking ways to contribute to the development of their country. The International Organization of Migration instigated last year some initiatives that are targeted medical doctors, nurses and engineers and other highly skilled people in returning Somaliland to assist public institutions in the country.
Some Diaspora qualified nursed from Filand, Norway and Sweden was making it easier for them to provide services to patients within the hospitals in Somaliland. Others are return voluntary to support their country for their own skills; there were large figures that chose to invest their capital to their personal businesses.
During the wars of freedom a huge number of Somaliland professionals slant to migrate Western Europe and North America as means of getting security and better life. Migration from developing countries to developed one has speed up time after time due to the liberation and civil wars existed many African countries in the continent. Somaliland Diaspora is discouraged from returning home by the political disputes that have erupted in Somaliland for the last year. Failing economies, high unemployment rates, the lack of adequate social services, such as health and education, are some of these factors.
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While migration to the western was persistent act for Somali Landers in search of job opportunity and better life, it was a key challenge facing for Somaliland who already countenanced a staid of human resource shortages. The Somaliland human resource was persistently pooped as their highly skilled and non skilled prefers to emigrate and apply their skills and force abroad owing to the wars of freedom in their country. Rather than blame departing professionals in Somaliland. Many people views these highly Skilled Somalilanders located abroad as potential asset. A study made in Somaliland highlighted that 95% of people back home are living remittances send by relatives in overseas. The study is also tinted that 98% of them are females while the other remaining 2% are men.
Until recently, Somaliland government had expresses little concern about the loss of skilled people, while president Rayale actively attempting to address the challenges of the brain drain. On his trip in abroad in 2008, president Kahin meets professionals and intellectuals who have left Somaliland to ask them how they can contribute to their country’s development. The president said also in press release of his return that a conference between government and Somaliland intellectuals based in abroad will be held in Hargeisa. But that proposal is still missing.
The message is clear, my beloved people in abroad the summer is near, how you plan your summer, are you ready to volunteer this summer for contributing social activities in your people instead of going relaxing trip. You Somalilanders in abroad tighten your belt it time to make summer: A way to help in our
Country.
“Somaliland my country Somaliland my people
From the shimmering of Berbera, and the across the Golis range.
Live is full of hope and goes with lots of endurance and determination.
In the azure sky over Hargeisa lie clouds of hope.
Of course we have people that strive to improve our lives.
The springs that flood our soils, makes our land productive.
Our rich wildlife reserve, can earn a lot in foreign exchange.
The red sea port of Berbera will be the regional hub for the horn of Africa.
All that is needed how is to tap these resources and build our young nation.
That is how I love, study and work in my sweet home”
