WASHINGTON (Somalilandpress) — Former employee of VOA, Farhia Absie speaks out against her former boss, Mr. Abdirahman Yabarow, Chief editor of VOA Somali-Services in an interview with Radio Rajo-doon.
Farhia, who joined VOA on 15th January 2008 accused Mr Yabarow of misusing American tax payers funds, abusing and harassing his employees on basis of clan affiliation.
She adds Mr Yabarow hires and fires based on clan affiliation and such practices would damage the VOA Somali-Services programmes whom Somalis came to recognize for being the watchdog of rigorous news and information before the retirement of Fred Cooper, the former chief editor.
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Mr Yabarow accuses Farhia of not knowing the Somali language, an accusation she dismisses as one of his tactics to cut off the legs of the Somali-Services.
She says she has all the evidence including email exchanges between her and her former boss to prove her accusation against Mr Yabarow.
Farhia, who resigned from VOA Somali-Services, called on the general population to stand up for public broadcasting free of discrimination and prejudice if they believe in it and urged them not to support Yabarow based on clan, “we all know the situation Somalia is in because of tribes,” she said.
A new fast food sensation has hit the Emirates’ culinary scene.
Right now, Dubai diners can’t seem to get enough of the “camel burger.”
“It’s a sensation,” Ramesh, restaurant manager at “Local House” the restaurant chain behind the burgers told CNN. “Everyone’s bored of beef and chicken. So, as soon as the word got out, we had queues of customers eager to give it a try.”
Not only are the exotic burgers a novelty, they are also a healthier alternative to their beefy American cousins, the restaurant claims. The $6 “camel quarter-pounder” is virtually fat and cholesterol-free, according to Ramesh.
“Not only are they super healthy, but the flavor is amazing,” he told CNN of the centuries-old Bedouin delicacy they have given a 21st century twist.
Instead of the familiar sesame bun, they serve the burgers with freshly-baked “khameer” — a popular and yeasty regional bread.
“It also comes with melted cheddar cheese, our very own burger sauce and a portion of fries,” Ramesh said.
The restaurant’s novel burgers have so far been a runaway success with inquisitive tourists and local Emirates alike.
“Many have said they prefer it to normal burgers, and a lot of people can hardly taste the difference,” Ramesh told CNN.
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Although camel meat is similar to beef in taste, it has a reputation for being extraordinarily tough. How the “Local House” transforms it into a soft and tender patty remains a closely guarded secret.
“Khalib [camel-burger inventor and the restaurant’s owner] spent over two months perfecting the recipe and working out how to tenderize the meat. I’m not permitted to tell you how it’s done,” Ramesh said.
For the full camel experience, patrons are invited to wash their order down with a vitamin and insulin-rich vanilla-flavored camel milkshake. In fact, so popular are their camel products that the restaurant has plans to open a new section — provisionally called the “Camel Corner.”
Camel meat has, for centuries, been a feature of traditional nomad recipes as a result of its ability to survive in the very arid conditions of the Arabian Peninsula.
The transition to a more urban, sedentary way of life has replaced these customs in all but the most isolated tribes, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
The camel burger is a modern way of engaging with traditional foods, Ramesh told CNN. “Local House” is not the only establishment in Dubai exploring the desert-dweller’s culinary potential.
Last year, the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum founded “Al nassma,” which produces exclusive camels’ milk chocolate. The unusual chocolatiers aim to become the “Godiva of the Middle East,” according to Reuters.
With plans for a new burger joint to be built in the shadow of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, camel meat is on its way to being a food of Dubai’s future as well as its ancient past.
Nairobi, 9 February 2010 (Somalilandpress) – Remaining residents within Somalia’s battle-torn capital are fleeing as rebel and government forces prepare for new clashes. The Western-backed Mogadishu government has announced its intention of launching an offensive against the Islamist opposition.
For weeks, the Transitional Federal Government has been promising to drive back the rebel forces who control much of Mogadishu and most of southern Somalia. The threat was reiterated by the the nation’s foreign affairs minister during a visit to Japan. He said the offensive would begin “very very soon.”
Those in the capital city say clashes appear imminent, with the government army positioning to attack, and reinforcements reportedly flowing into the shifting rebel lines.
The government has begun to shell al-Shabab-controlled areas. Some reports say there have civilians have been killed in the shelling.
Hundreds are said to be fleeing the city in expectation of major violence, most heading to the Afgoye Corridor about 30 kilometers south of Mogadishu. The camp there is thought to house the most concentrated number of displaced people in the world.
The spokesman for the insurgent Islamist group al-Shabab, Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, told reporters his fighters are ready for any attack, saying the government would be unseated from power. The group regularly denounces the official administration for being un-Islamic.
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The official government is headed by Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, a former insurgent leader who was elected by the nation’s parliament in early 2009.
Most of his tenure in power has been marked by a strengthening Islamist insurgency, composed of many of his former friends and allies. Most powerful and most radical of the rebel groups is al-Shabab, thought by Washington to have links to al-Qaida. Fighting alongside, and occasionally against, is Hizbul Islam, a conglomerate of smaller rebel factions.
The embattled administration has been buffered from the insurgents by an African Union peacekeeping force composed of Ugandans and Burundians, which protects about 10-square blocks that includes the presidential palace and the airstrip.
The government has for months lingered in inaction as the rebels have entrenched their control throughout much of the country. But its officials say the time has come for retaliation.
A recent Reuters report quoted an anonymous Kenyan official as saying 2,500 Somalis have just finished military training in northeastern Kenya and are being deployed with the Somali military. Kenya, not eager to start a direct conflict against the Islamists, and has denied the accuracy of such reports
But some doubt whether the Somali army is capable of conducting the long-promised counter-insurgency campaign. The army is criticized as being poorly funded and undisciplined. Soldiers complain of late pay and a lack of equipment.
The Mogadishu government says support from the international community has been inadequate. In addition, the administration is plagued by a perception of being corrupt and inept.
The internationally celebrated historian and TV presenter Niall Ferguson has broken up with his wife of 16 years after a string of adulterous affairs.
The 45-year-old Harvard professor has left former newspaper editor Susan Douglas, with whom he has three children, for his mistress, the Somalian-born feminist Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
Ms. Hirsi Ali, 40, is a lawyer and former Dutch MP who wrote the script for a controversial film that criticised Islam and resulted in the assassination of its director. She is currently living under police protection in America.
Professor Ferguson, whose books, television programmes and work with financial hedge funds earn an estimated £5million a year, is understood to have been in a relationship with Ms Hirsi Ali since last summer.
Today, The Mail on Sunday can reveal how Ferguson’s philandering behaviour – described by one confidante as ‘more akin to a Premiership footballer’s louche ways than an esteemed professor’s’ – wrecked his marriage to Ms Douglas, one of Tory leader David Cameron’s closest friends, a leading member of the Tory ‘A-list’ of potential parliamentary candidates and a former Fleet Street editor.
Ferguson ‘cheated eight times in five years’
Ferguson, who also has high-level links to the Tory Party, with a seat on the board of the Right-wing think-tank the Centre for Policy Studies, has been seen with Ms Hirsi Ali at a number of high-profile events over recent months.
Just two weeks ago they attended the
Jaipur Literary Festival in India where they were photographed kissing in the opulent surroundings of the spectacular Diggi Palace.
Ms Hirsi Ali had been flown to the event secretly. She has been the subject of threats from Muslim extremists since writing the script for the movie Submission, which was critical of Islam.
When its director, Theo Van Gogh, was shot dead in an Amsterdam street in 2004, a death threat against Ms Hirsi Ali was pinned to his chest. Since then she has lived in safe houses in Washington and New York under constant armed protection.
Previously Ms Hirsi Ali lived in seclusion and under police protection in the Netherlands. She fled from Africa to Amsterdam in 1992 where she obtained political asylum.
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Ms Hirsi Ali, who became involved in politics and feminist issues including criticising the practice of female circumcision, which she underwent as a child, claimed she was fleeing Africa to escape an arranged marriage.
She works as a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think-tank.
The pair are understood to have met at Time magazine’s prestigious 100 Most Influential People In The World party in New York last May. Ferguson and Ms Hirsi Ali, who have both been on the list, were introduced by Belinda Luscombe, the magazine’s art editor.
The flamboyant Ms Hirsi Ali, who was dressed in an eye-catching cobalt-blue cocktail dress, immediately captivated Ferguson, who was photographed with his arm around her waist.
Ms Luscombe, a friend of Ms Hirsi Ali, said: ‘I think that is where they met for the first time. In all the years I have known Ayaan, she’s never had a boyfriend. She’s gorgeous, but with a fatwa, it’s tricky to find guys.’
According to sources within Ferguson’s influential circle of academic friends, he has made no secret of his relationship with Ms Hirsi Ali.
The British historian Sir Alistair Horne, with whom he is currently writing the authorised biography of Henry Kissinger, is said to know about the affair, as does Mr Kissinger. However a spokesman for the statesman declined to comment yesterday.
‘It’s rather awkward because both Sue and Niall know Henry and his wife Nancy, neither of whom can understand why Niall has been bringing women other than his wife to private dinners,’ said a source Ferguson, whose books include the bestsellers The Ascent Of Money, which was made into a Channel 4 TV series, and Empire And Colossus, for which he received a £500,000 advance, confessed his adulterous affair to Ms Douglas last summer.
‘He eventually told Sue and said how wonderful Ayaan was and how much he loved her,’ said a friend. ‘Sue tried to save the marriage and flew to Manhattan to be with Niall in November.’
Ms Douglas, who is seven years older than her husband, has met Ms Hirsi Ali on a number of occasions.
Sources close to Ferguson, who was a professor at Oxford before moving to Harvard, say that he has consulted lawyers in the States, while Ms Douglas plans to file for divorce and has consulted a London-based law firm.
It is not the first time that Ferguson has been unfaithful. He has cheated on his wife eight times over the past five years, according to one family friend, and five of these affairs have apparently taken place over the past 18 months.
‘Sue is incredibly strong and resilient,’ says a friend. ‘She has always met life’s challenges head-on and with a sense of humour and perspective.
Inevitably she manages to discover an upside to even the toughest situations. She has been prepared to forgive Niall’s infidelities over the past two or three years because she so passionately believes in keeping the family together.’
The couple have two sons aged 14 and nine, and a 13-year-old daughter. In addition to their properties in Boston and Oxfordshire, they also have a holiday home in Wales.
According to members of his circle in Boston, Ferguson has said that his marriage has run its course and is insisting the split is mutual. Ms Douglas however, has made it clear that she wanted to fight for her marriage.
Now it is over, she may claim she is entitled to half of her
husband’s fortune, having financed much of his early career and raised their three children.
While he is keen to advise others how to spend their fortunes, Ferguson isn’t enthusiastic when it comes to parting with his own cash. In a recent interview he admitted: ‘I intensely dislike spending money, which means that I love big conferences where somebody else pays for everything… I am definitely a saver. Staying in cash seems like quite a good idea at the moment.’
Ferguson, who used to shop at Oxfam in the Eighties when he was a struggling junior academic, has also admitted: ‘I am in debt overall but that is because I am married to a spender. And all our debts are set against assets, in other words, our three houses.’
Given Ferguson’s high profile and the couple’s connections in the media, political and academic worlds, the divorce will be one of the most spectacular of the coming year.
The separation is likely to affect both of their political careers, as each enjoys close links with the Conservative party, which has been focusing heavily on the promotion of marriage.
Ferguson is on the board of the Centre for Policy Studies,
the leading Right-wing think-tank, and works as an unofficial adviser to Mr Cameron, in particular on how to promote ‘Britishness’.
He also worked as an adviser to John McCain at the beginning of his election campaign before quitting to support his rival, Barack Obama. He is considered a leading expert on foreign affairs and once described himself as an ‘ardent Thatcherite’ but now calls himself a ‘liberal fundamentalist’.
He is seen as a contentious figure in literary circles, prompting one rival historian to declare: ‘He has the kind of face you want to punch.’
Party’s rising stars, and is on the A-list of aspiring Parliamentary candidates. She is said to be in the running to contest the Tory stronghold of Stratford-upon-Avon at the next General Election. It is understood that Henry Kissinger wrote an endorsement to Mr Cameron which helped secure her place on the prestigious list.
A friend who has known Ms Douglas for many years said last night: ‘It just seems sad that, despite all the lessons of history, Niall has set himself off in pursuit of some liberal idea of individual freedom and appears hellbent on breaking up his family. God knows how Ayaan thinks her feminist views square with her current conduct with Niall.
‘For Sue’s part, I think she is stunned at how a man who is possessed of one of the world’s foremost intellects can suddenly, in his 40s, start conducting a private life in a manner more akin to that of a Premiership footballer than a professor. Her main concern is to make sure that the children are fully supported and protected through all this.’
Although Ferguson is now the famous name in the marriage, Ms Douglas was the breadwinner during the early years of their relationship. Ferguson comes from a modest background. His father was an NHS doctor and his mother a teacher, and the family lived in a high-rise apartment in Glasgow. As a student at Magdalen College, Oxford, he was once so penniless he bought a wedding ring on his credit card and sold it to a pawn shop to raise some cash.
When he moved to London he started a career as a journalist, and wrote for the Daily Mail under Ms Douglas, who was an executive editor at the time. At The Sunday Times and as editor of the Sunday Express, she later became one of the most powerful women in Fleet Street.
In 1992, Ferguson returned to Oxford to write a history of the Rothschild dynasty and two years later he and Ms Douglas were married.
In 1995, a year after their wedding, Ms Douglas reached the apex of her career when she edited the Sunday Express. In 2002, she was appointed president of new business at magazine publishers Condé Nast before moving to PFD talent agency where she worked as a consultant.
Then in 2006 she suffered a serious riding accident at the couple’s holiday home in Wales. She fell from her horse and was airlifted to hospital where tests showed serious brain damage and internal bleeding.
Ferguson cut short a book tour of America to be with his wife and helped her on the road to recovery.
‘I couldn’t bear being away,’ he said at the time. He also dedicated his book Ascent Of Money to his wife, saying: ‘In the time that this book was written, my wife Susan fought her way back from a severe accident and other reverses. To her and to our children, I owe the biggest debt.’
By this stage he had moved to America, having accepted a chair in history at Harvard. It was then that he also started advising some of the world’s leading hedge-fund managers and forged a close friendship with the banking heir Nat Rothschild.
‘There was a point when it was not impossible for me to get $100,000 for a one-hour speech at some extravagant hedge-fund manager conference in an exotic location,’ Ferguson recalled. While he lived a jet-set lifestyle, his wife stayed at home with the children. Ferguson travelled home every three weeks, but the marriage suffered.
Says a friend: ‘Niall has a fair few enemies who feel he has got above his station, but Sue always stood by him. The marriage was fine for 13 years, then when Niall went to America, it all started to go wrong.’
Last night Ms Douglas, who was at the couple’s Oxfordshire home, declined to comment.
And when asked about her affair with Ferguson, Ms Hirsi Ali said: ‘I’m sorry, I am really not going to comment about that.’
BERBERA (Somalilandpress) — Some 126 people have been rescued by Somali fishermen from the Gulf of Aden after human traffickers reportedly forced them into the sea at gunpoint.
The migrants, mostly from Somalia and Ethiopia, said they had set off from northern Somalia a week ago.
They said their boat had developed engine trouble and drifted for days before the people smugglers forced them into the sea. Six people are missing.
The BBC’s Peter Greste says the scale of this incident is rare.
But our correspondent says stories of human traffickers forcing migrants into the sea are not uncommon.
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The coast guard from the semi-autonomous region of Somaliland spotted the first survivors floating in the water on Sunday.
They said the boat had originally set off from northern Somalia with 135 people on board, hoping for a better life in the Middle East or Europe.
Such migrant crossings normally head for Yemen.
The mayor of Laaso Suarad, the town which organised the rescue, told the BBC they dispatched a flotilla of fishing boats to search for more survivors.
Eventually they found 126 of them clinging to bits of driftwood and utterly exhausted.
The search has also found three bodies.
The UN and the Red Cross are helping the survivors with food and medicines.
Somaliland is a relatively stable part of Somalia, which has declared independence from the rest of the war-ravaged country.
HARGEISA, 8 February 2010 (Somalilandpress) – As part of the UK-based team coordinating election observers for the much-delayed presidential elections in the internationally unrecognised Republic of Somaliland, Progressio today welcomes recent progress made to resolve the Somaliland voter registration process – a key sticking point – and calls on all parties to push ahead and set a date for the poll.
Progressio, the Development Planning Unit at University College London (UCL) and Somaliland Focus UK say in a joint statement: “Since September 2009 we have seen a marked improvement in the situation, when all three of Somaliland’s political parties signed a six-point agreement by which the government guaranteed that a further extension of office would not be sought and that the disputed and delayed process of agreeing a voter register would be recommenced. The agreement was subsequently approved by Somaliland’s upper house, the Guurti (House of Elders).”
The statement continues: “This development was quickly followed by improvements in the relationship and renewed understanding between the country’s National Electoral Commission (NEC) and the donors who are providing funding and technology for the voter registration process and the election itself. We are heartened by this progress, and look forward to completion of necessary processes (namely, agreement on a voter register) to allow an actual date to be announced. Indeed, as election observers, it is impossible for us to proceed with making plans for our mission until a date is set.”
It concludes: “Despite lack of international recognition of its claim to official statehood, Somaliland – “Africa’s best-kept secret” – has been characterised by many as a beacon of democratisation in Africa in contrast to the chaos in neighbouring Somalia. However, the delaying of the presidential poll is causing severe damage to Somaliland’s reputation. We therefore urge all stakeholders to do their utmost to maintain the positive momentum to ensure the poll is carried out, with as little delay as possible. This must include genuine commitment from all players and a realistic approach to the time needed to ensure a smooth and proper political process.”
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The UK-based team, along with FOPAG (Forum for Peace and Governance) in Somaliland, was invited to lead the election observation mission by the Somaliland National Electoral Commission in January 2009. The team has been tasked with coordinating international election observers from four continents and preparing a report on the conduct of the campaign and poll following the vote. Support for the mission is being provided by the UK government.
Somaliland Focus (UK) Chair, Michael Walls, said: “While Somaliland’s progress since 1991 has been remarkable, the next election marks a significant new step in establishing a legitimate system of national government. We applaud recent successes and look forward keenly to agreement on a voter register and the announcement of a viable election date with genuine cross-party support in the near future. Without those steps, the genuine achievements of the past 19 years will be dealt a profound blow”.
Monday Feb 08 (SomalilandPress)-Female religious leaders have taken a central role in the fight against AIDS in Somalia. This follows a series of trainings recently conducted by local organizations, with support from UNDP.
In Somaliland, UNDP supported four training events for female religious leaders in Hargeisa, Borama, Berbera and Buroa, in collaboration with the Somaliland HIV/AIDS Network and the Somaliland AIDS Commission. These trainings increased their knowledge on HIV and AIDS and placed female religious leaders at the forefront of community-based advocacy and awareness raising. Using the Compassion in Action toolkit developed by UNDP’s HIV/AIDS Regional Programme in the Arab States, the female religious leaders were sensitized about key issues: misconceptions that increase the chances of contracting HIV; stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV; and the important role that religious leaders and community members play in helping to reduce the number of new HIV infections and caring for the sick. They were also equipped with messages from the Koran that support the fight against HIV and AIDS.
These trainings helped to develop common messages on prevention, treatment, care and support for people living with HIV, which will be disseminated during Friday prayer meetings.
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Tradition and religion are strongly linked in the Somali community. Therefore, religious leaders have a great responsibility in leading the fight against HIV/AIDS and advocating for shared communal responsibility in addressing the primary socio-cultural and behavioural risks associated with the spread of HIV. Their open interaction with their congregations can enable them to inform and educate members and encourage positive change regarding sensitive issues related to sexuality, which are often not discussed by the community members.
The trainings were attended by over 100 female religious Leaders drawn from different parts of Somaliland.
Training in South Central Somalia was conducted towards the end of 2009 and sensitized participants on the basic principles of Behaviour Change Communication. The trainings also brought together religious leaders and participants who had been trained under the Behaviour Change Communication Peer Educator project. The aim is to strengthen community outreach work among the various groups in the region.
By December 2009, over 800 religious leaders had been trained using a specific toolkit designed to equip religious leaders to become ‘agents of change’ in the response to HIV and AIDS. In addition, 240 religious leaders were trained using the Behaviour Change Communication toolkit.
MOGADISHU (Somalilandpress) — Ethiopian troops have crossed back into the northern regions of Bakool and Hiiraan in Somalia on Sunday, local residents confirm.
Ethiopian troops return comes as Somali government launches a fresh offensive against Islamist insurgents in the south of the country vowing to drive them out.
Residents in Elbarde and Yeed said that they saw a convey of Ethiopian troops accompanied by hundreds of Somali military personnel who are said to be trained in Ethiopia on Sunday.
Ethiopian troops seized the family of a wanted man, who they accuse of having links with Al-Shabab insurgents, Reuters reported. Residents said troops went to El Barde and Yeed on Saturday seeking the man.
“The man escaped, but they took with them his wife and three children. They also took the escaped man’s brother and family. The troops have now gone but I understand they are in the outskirts of the town,” a town resident, Hussein Ronow, told Reuters.
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Another residents in the Sariirale, a town on the Ethiopian-Somali border said that hundreds of Ethiopian troops have entered the town as well searching houses.
Ethiopian officials could not be reached for comment but Ethiopia denies frequently that it’s troops are on Somali soil.
Ethiopia invaded Somalia in 2006 to help oust Islamist forces from the capital Mogadishu but withdrew under a UN-backed peace deal.
Ethiopia already made it clear that did still reserve the right to intervene in Somalia if it’s interests were directly threatened. Somali government has not commented about the latest development in the war-torn nation.
Muhudin Ahmed Roble
Somalilandpress, 8 February 2010
muhudin01@gmail.com
MOGADISHU (Somalilandpress) — At least 9 civilians were killed and 14 others wounded in clashes between Somali government troops and insurgents in Mogadishu on Thursday and Friday, Human rights group said.
The heavy fighting erupted late on Thursday and continued into Friday morning in the capital in one of the bloodiest days in recent weeks.
A Mogadishu based Elman Peace and Human Rights Organization said “casualties are from the overnight shelling,” and added that they were still monitoring Monday’s casualties.
“We saw al Shabaab carrying their dead and injured in a minibus. But we do not know the exact figure of the deaths,” Hassan Nur, a resident, told Reuters.
“The government shells almost leveled houses that housed local and foreign Al-Shabab fighters,” he added.
Government officials could not be reached for comment about the casualties.
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Somali government are battling with Al-Qaeda inspired Al-shabab fighters who run most of southern Somalia while the government controls few areas in the capital backed by Ugandan and Burundi troops.
The fighting in Somalia has killed over 19,000 Somalis since 2007 and displaced another 1.5 million. Somalia is one of the world’s worst humanitarian emergencies.
Somalia has not had an effective government since warlords overthrew longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
Muhudin Ahmed Roble
Somalilandpress, 8 February 2010
muhudin01@gmail.com
HARGEISA, 8 February 2010 (Somalilandpress) – At least 10 migrants died and 30 went missing when the boat smuggling them from Somalia to Yemen suffered an engine failure in the Gulf of Aden, officials said Sunday.
Seventy people, mostly Ethiopians, were rescued when the coastguard in the northern breakaway state of Somaliland’s Sanag region spotted the boat drifting towards the shore.
“The rescued passengers told us that the boat was carrying around 110 migrants when it left,” Said Ige Mohamed, the head of immigration for Sanag province, told AFP by phone.
“Unfortunately, 10 were confirmed dead and 30 others are still missing in the sea,” he said.
Mohamed explained that the migrants presumably spent several days huddled inside the small boat with nothing to eat or drink and apparently jumped into the water upon seeing the coast.
Two were found already dead on the boat but at least eight others drowned as they attempted to swim to the shore, Mohamed explained.
“We don’t have many details. I don’t know how many days they spent on the boat but the survivors told us they were headed to Yemen and left from Bosasso” in the neighbouring semi-autonomous state of Puntland,” he said.
“Most of them are in serious condition and risk not making it if they don’t receive urgent medical attention,” the official said.
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Abdullahi Awale, a security official in the Somaliland capital Hargeysa, said the incident was being investigated.
According to the UN refugee agency, the number of migrants fleeing the unstable Horn of Africa and arriving in Yemen rose by 50 percent in 2009, reaching a record high of 74,000.
The number of Ethiopians making the journey across the Gulf of Aden or Red Sea — a route described by the UN as “the busiest and deadliest in the world” — doubled in 2009, while the number of Somalis remained steady.
More than 300 people drowned or did not survive the trip last year.
