Minneapolis, (Somalilandpress) — A pair of 17-year-old Somalis from Minneapolis were charged this afternoon with first-degree murder in the killings of three people last week at a south Minneapolis market in what Hennepin County’s top prosecutor called “a robbery gone bad.”
Ahmed Shire Ali and Mahdi Hassan Ali were accused in a criminal complaint of killing two store employees and a customer who walked in just as the robbery got underway. He was immediately shot.
“It’s a tragic, senseless shooting,” said County Attorney Mike Freeman, in announcing three counts of first-degree murder against each defendant. “It’s a robbery gone bad.”
The two suspects are being held in lieu of $3 million bail each.
The shootings took place about 7:45 p.m. Jan. 6 at the Seward Market and Halal Meats at E. Franklin and 25th Avenues S.
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Killed were store employee Abdifatah Warfa, 28; his cousin, Mohamed Warfa, 30, who had brought Abdifatah some tea, and Anwar Mohammed, 31, a store customer. The Warfas were Somali; Mohammed was Oromo.
The criminal complaint released today provided details of what Dolan has called a “cold-blooded” killing.
According to the complaint, based largely on police interviews and surveillance video from the store:
Ahmed Ali and Mahdi Ali entered the store after 7:30 p.m. Both were wearing masks.
Ahmed Ali immediately went to the rear of the store and, speaking in Somali, told two customers not to move. As he spoke, Mahdi Ali stood at the front counter and hollered “This is a robbery.”
Mahdi Ali ordered Abdifatah Warfa and Mohamed Warfa to step out from behind the counter and lie on the floor. He then demanded money from them.
As the men hit the floor, a store customer, Anwar Mohammed, walked in.
Mahdi Hassan Ali turned and shot Mohammed. As Mohammed fell, Mahdi Hassan Ali ran from the store. As he ran, he turned and shot Mohamed Warfa, who was following close behind and fell near the store’s entryway.
At that point, Ahmed Shire Ali fled, running past the bodies of Mohammed and Warfa. As he ran out, Mahdi Hassan Ali ran back into the store and chased down and shot Abdifatah Warfa as he tried to make a cell phone call. As Abdifatah Warfa lay dying, Mahdi Ali ran from the store again, pumping a second shot into Mohammed as he ran by.
Help from community
Appearing with Freeman at a news conference this afternoon, Dolan said police initially were reluctant to disclose robbery as the suspected motive because while the store security video made it appear to be a robbery, the video did not include sound. He said investigators couldn’t be sure it was a robbery until they conducted interviews.
The morning after the shootings, Dolan said that the suspects were believed to be Somali, and he appealed to members of the city’s East African community for information that would help investigators capture the suspects and solve the crime.
Less than 48 hours later and working off a tip that came out of the Somali community, police arrested a 17-year-old whom they described as a primary suspect in the slayings. Later that day, the family of another 17-year-old took him to a neighborhood precinct station and turned him in.
Investigators say they’re not looking for more suspects.
“We’re not looking for anyone else at this point,” said Minneapolis police Capt. Amelia Huffman, commander of the criminal investigation division. “These are the two guys in the store, and these are the two guys responsible.”
The teenager who allegedly shot all three people, Mahdi Ali, was known to police because of some “low level” criminal behavior in the past, according to Huffman. The other teenager, Ahmed Shire Ali, did not have a criminal history, she said.
In interviews with many in the Somali community, he was “generally described as being a pretty good kid prior to this,” she said.
HARGEISA, (Somalilandpress) — This paper, commissioned as part of CGD’s work on weak and fragile states, examines how the lack of recognition of Somaliland by the international community—and the consequent ineligibility for foreign financial assistance—has shaped the region’s political development. It finds evidence that Somaliland’s ineligibility for foreign aid facilitated the development of accountable political institutions and contributed to the willingness of Somalilanders to engage constructively in the state-building process.
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In the absence of other sources of revenue, the New Charter government of Somaliland had incentives to establish credible political institutions and engage with the business community to create a tax-based relationship with its citizens to fill its coffers. The Somaliland government‟s inability to rely on foreign aid forced it to explore endogenous sources of revenue, inducing legitimate state-building as officials needed to be accountable to the general public, including the local business community.
HARGEISA, 14 January 2010 (Somalilandpress) – Last Friday, the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council voted to extend for another six months the mandate of its woefully undermanned military force in Mogadishu. The AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), comprised of some 5,000 soldiers from Uganda and Burundi, has been besieged by Islamist insurgents since its arrival nearly three years ago, losing dozens of its members to repeated attacks like the suicide bombing last September 17th, which killed 17 peacekeepers, including the deputy force commander, Brigadier General Juvénal Niyoyunguruza of Burundi, and wounded some 40 others. Despite the peacekeepers’ valiant efforts, they cannot be expected to confer legitimacy and viability on Somalia’s “Transitional Federal Government” (TFG) when it does not possess those qualities in its own right. Hence, the international backing of the regime may not be sufficient to ensure its survival and that it is very possible – if not likely – that, by the end of the year, the TFG’s few remaining outposts in the capital will have fallen to its opponents. Thus policymakers and analysts need to consider what will be the consequences of such a victory by the jihadists.
Of course the mere possibility that the Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen (“Movement of Warrior Youth,” al-Shabaab), the insurgent group declared a “specially designated global terrorist” by the United States two years ago and a “listed terrorist organization” by the Australian government last year, and its allies in the Hisbul Islam (“Islamic party”) movement led by Sheikh Hassan Dahir ‘Aweys, a figure who appears personally on both United States and United Nations antiterrorism sanctions lists, might actually triumph is so anathema to some members of the international community that they have essentially been rendered incapable of rational analysis about the situation. As a result, their actions hasten the very outcome that they seek to prevent at all costs. Thus the shipment, first reported last week by the Mareeg news service, that the TFG had imported a large shipment of arms, including tanks – the latter representing a considerable escalation from the “technicals,” improvised battle wagons constructed by mounting a machine or anti-aircraft gun on a pickup truck or four-wheel drive vehicle, which have been ubiquitous in the Somali conflict. It later emerged that the shipment came on Sierra Leonean-flagged vessel, the MV Alpha Kirawira, which, according to a press release by the European Union Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Somalia’s Operation Atalanta, was chartered by the UN Support Office for AMISOM (UNSOA) and escorted out of the Kenyan port of Mombasa by the Spanish frigate SPS Navarra and accompanied all the way to Mogadishu by the French corvette FS Commandant L’Herminier.
Unfortunately, what I noted here six months ago with respect to the unfortunate U.S. shipment of arms to the TFG earlier this year is also true about the current consignment: it is likely to prove “a “poorly thought-out gesture may have handed the Islamist extremists both the weapons and the nationalist (and anti-American) card to use in their fight against the TFG.” (One does not have to agree with all her conclusions to acknowledge the validity of the assertion made in the essay by Bronwyn Bruton of the Council on Foreign Relations for the November/December 2009 issue of Foreign Affairs that “had it not been for the United States’ counterterrorism efforts, the sharia courts and al-Shabaab might have remained marginal.”) In fact, as I have had occasion to argue, “if any further proof is needed of the failure of the policy of simply shipping weapons to the TFG is mistake of startling proportions,” it is the evidence from the open markets of Mogadishu that “the TFG is both so corrupt and so lacking in capacity that sending it materiel has only made it more convenient for the insurgents fighting it – who are well-financed thanks to their foreign donors, both state and non-state – to simply replenish their arsenals on the open market.” The observation about the weakness of the TFG should, of course, come as no surprise given the extra-legal machinations which were required one year ago by the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and the appositely-createdparliamentarians just to give birth to the regime’s current incarnation under the supposed “moderate” Islamist Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed (see my report at the time on this episode).
My colleague, Michael Weinstein of Purdue University, is quite on target when he noted in an analysis last week that while, “in the sense of international recognition, the TFG is Somalia’s ‘legitimate’ government and [al-Shabaab and Hisbul Islam] are the ‘armed opposition’; in the sense of power and momentum, the TFG and the rest of the anti-Shabaab coalition…form a variegated and divided opposition” as the jihadists go about their strategy of encircling the transitional regime in Mogadishu by achieving dominance in the central regions of Hiraan, Galguduud, and southern Mudug. As I reported last week, it was Dhuusamareeb, the capital of the Galguduud region, which was being contested; it now appears that fierce fighting taking place across the region, including its commercial hub at Guriceel. Even if the jihadists lose any specific battle, it is unlikely that their overall strategy will be frustrated given their broad momentum and deep resources. Moreover, Professor Weinstein is also correct in dismissing the wishful thinking of some that fissures are opening up among the insurgents, noting both that al-Shabaab’s “contending factions made a demonstration of unity on January 1 at a ceremony in Mogadishu showing off hundreds of newly trained fighters” and that “despite its conflicts with [Hisbul Islam] in the deep southern regions, [al-Shabaab] appears to be able to collaborate with Hisbul Islam tactically and, perhaps, strategically elsewhere.” In fact, in fighting this week around Beledweyne, capital of Hiraan and Somalia’s second largest city in terms of population, armed units from the two Islamist groups were fighting side by side.
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These considerations are important when one begins to tally up estimates of relative strengths the various opposing factions and compare their training and command-and-control structures. Well-informed analysts estimate that al-Shabaab has somewhere between 4,000 and 7,000 fighters in and around Mogadishu, at least one-third of whom have had advanced training from its foreign jihadist allies, who apparently exercise a great deal of control over them. In addition, al-Shabaab has up to 6,000 fighters scattered around the country. The group also has anywhere between 500 and 1,500 foreign jihadists who have flocked to its banner from as far away as Nigeria and Pakistan as well as several hundred Somalis from the diaspora. Hisbul Islam’s organization is more clan-based, with perhaps as up to 5,000 fighters around the capital, the majority of whom hail from the Hawiye clan of Habar Gidir, and perhaps as many as 3,000 elsewhere in the southern and central Somalia. Although only about 10 percent of Hisbul Islam’s forces have had advanced training, most of those more skilled fighters are deployed in or close to Mogadishu, thus increasing their impact. The Ahlu Sunna wal-Jama’a (roughly, “[Followers of] the Traditions and Consensus [of the Prophet Muhammad]”) militias opposing al-Shabaab in the central regions have maybe several thousand members, but most of these are clansmen mustered on an ad hoc basis, rather than a standing force, notwithstanding Ethiopian efforts to train and assist them. In contrast, the TFG claims to have 5,000 troops, although that figure is inflated with clan militiamen it manages to hire from time to time and over whom it has no effective control. At the most, the regime of Sharif Ahmed may actually command 1,500 poorly trained fighters. However, what it does have, thanks to the largess of its foreign benefactors, is an excess of armaments. This, however, is a double-edged sword. As the representative of one Mogadishu-based Somali nongovernmental organization told me over the weekend, the lack of training and the large amounts of ammunition means that TFG troops can and do fire at will – and the resulting high level of “collateral” civilian casualties hardly improve to the TFG’s popularity.
So, what will happen if the TFG collapses?
First, the event, however undesirable, needs to be kept in perspective: while the jihadists in Somalia and their allies abroad will undoubtedly try to capitalize on the propaganda value of their victory, it really does not change the strategic balance that much. As I told a Congressional hearing last June, “even without taking Mogadishu, al-Shabaab and its allies have already succeeded in carving out a geographical space where they and likeminded jihadist groups can operate freely…even without toppling the TFG, al-Shabaab has already achieved a major objective of jihadists worldwide by securing a territorial base from which they can carry out attacks elsewhere, especially against targets on the Arabian Peninsula.” Even a supporter of continued backing the TFG like Ken Menkhaus of Davidson College has acknowledged in a RUSI Journal article last August: “While a Shabaab victory in Mogadishu would constitute a major political setback, it would not appreciably worsen the security threat that exists in Somalia.”
Second, the jihadists’ Wahhābist ideology is as alien to the Somali tradition of Islam as the foreign trainers and fighters they have imported along with it; therein lie the seeds of their downfall. The brutal hudud punishments that have been meted out in areas controlled by al-Shabaab this past year – including public stonings, beheadings, amputations, and floggings – have revolted the majority of Somalis even as the militants’ petty social regulations – like the order, handed down last month and enforced last week with the imprisonment of dozens, requiring men in the port of Kismayo to have their moustaches and grow beards – have irritated them needlessly. Without a foreign “invader” like the AMISOM force to rally nationalist sentiment against, al-Shabaab and its allies will be forced to rely on pure terror to keep the masses under control.
Third, conquering a collapsed state is easy enough when faced with a weak opponent like the TFG, but administering the country is another matter entirely. The very ties to foreign terrorist and other jihadist networks that will have facilitated al-Shabaab’s military victory will leave any regime led by the group isolated internationally. A sign of things to come, as it were, was last week’s decision by the UN’s World Food Program, which provides emergency food assistance to more than 3 million Somalis, to suspend its program in southern Somalia, which distributes food to one million people, because of what it described in a statement as “the imposition of a string of unacceptable demands.” Nor is autarky an option given that the relatively few highly-qualified Somali professionals from the diaspora that the TFG has managed to lure back to the country would most certainly flee again in the face of a jihadist takeover.
Fourth, the defeat of the TFG will present the international community with logistical challenges of monumental proportions for which contingency plans ought to be developed now, even if it is not politically possible to publicly acknowledge their existence. Someone will need to quickly evacuate the AMISOM peacekeepers and their equipment, including artillery and armored vehicles, to prevent them from falling into the hands of the insurgents – the AU certainly does not possess this type of massive airlift capability. Then, the international community in general and relief organizations in particular will need to be ready to cope with large numbers of Somalis trying to escape Mogadishu’s newly ensconced extremist rulers. The 20,000 refugees who, in response to the WFP pullout, trekked toward already-packed camps in Kenya this week from the immediate border districts of southern Somalia may just be the start of a mass exodus.
Fifth, the development will be a wake-up call: the combination of the irredentist claims of the some of the radical Somali Islamists and the wider jihadist agenda of others will galvanize regional opposition. Thus far, Ethiopia has been most sensitive to the challenge, but Kenya and other countries in the Horn of Africa have grown increasingly concerned. The subregional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) rallied together last year for an unprecedented appeal for the sanctions on Eritrea which the UN Security Council imposed on the Asmara regime last month for its role in supporting the Somali insurgents. A Somali regime headed by al-Shabaab can expect similar treatment from neighbors anxious to prevent the spread of its noxious ideology as well as to protect their own territorial integrity and national security.
Sixth, the collapse of the TFG may have a silver lining insofar as it forces the international community to finally get over its nearly two-decade-long fixation with southern and central Somalia and move beyond repeated “top-down” efforts, each more disastrous than its predecessor, to install a central government (there have been fourteen such abortive attempts since 1991, with the current version of the TFG representing a fifteenth try). Instead, driven by the necessity of containing a jihadist regime in Mogadishu and, eventually, rolling it back, a “bottom-up” approach will have to be adopted. Thus legitimate and functional Somali entities – whether they are found in the nascent states like Somaliland and, to a certain extent, Puntland in the northern regions or in local communities and civil society structures in parts of central and southern Somalia – may finally get the recognition and engagement that has been lacking for all too long.
The TFG has had its chance. If, after more than five years since its inception and hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid and military support, it has proven unable to rally to its banner the very populace it purports to represents there is nothing that any outsider can or should do to impose its writ upon southern and central Somalia. Rather, it is time for Somalia’s neighbors and other international partners to undertake a long-overdue triage and henceforth refocusing scarce resources on minimizing the fallout from the interim regime’s collapse and strengthening the salvageable parts of the former Somali state, thereby simultaneously safeguarding their own legitimate national interests in regional security and stability.
Written By: Peter Pham
Source: Familysecuritymatters
HARGEISA, 14 January 2010 (Somalilandpress) – Somalilanders are a people that seen a great cruelty and hardship during their country union with Somalia. In 1991 it was when Somaliland has asserted itself as a nation heading for new start, that in a sense they build their own country without any international help, and they held a series of elections that have been declared ‘relatively free and fair’ by the international community observers, and unlike every other breakaway state in the world Somaliland is more functional than the territory it wants to decouple from. The fact that Somalia is the country it wants shot of makes its case even more compelling because today it is impossible to find a better example of a failed state.
Somaliland has most of the trappings of the modern nation-state: army, government bureaucracy, parliament and multi-party political system, legal system and functioning economy. So why no one is yet recognizing it? Even though that they have established a communication and political contacts with the following countries:-
United Kingdom,
Ethiopia
Belgium
Ghana
South Africa,
Sweden
Djibouti
On January 17, 2007, the European Union sent a delegation for foreign affairs to discuss future cooperation.
The African Union has also sent a foreign minister to discuss the future of international acknowledgment, and on January 29 and January 30, 2007, the ministers said that they would discuss acknowledgement with other member states.
In June 2007, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi held a conference with President Kahin during which he was referred to in an official communique by the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry as the President of Somaliland, the first time that Somaliland has been officially acknowledged as a sovereign state by another government.
While this is not claimed as a move to official recognition by Ethiopia, it is seen as a possible step towards a unilateral declaration by Ethiopia in the event of the African Union failing to move its recognition of Somaliland forward.
A delegation led by the President of Somaliland was present at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2007 in Kampala, Uganda. Although Somaliland has applied to join the Commonwealth under observer status, its application is still pending.
On November 27, 2007, Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck of the ELDR, one of three main parties in EU, mailed a letter to Javier Solana (the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and the Secretary-General of both the Council of the European Union (EU)) and to Dahir Rayale Kahin the president of Somaliland, in which there is required an acknowledgment of Somaliland by EU.
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In December 2007 the Bush administration discussed whether to back the shaky transitional government in Somalia or to acknowledge and support the less volatile Somaliland secessionists.
Politics plays a big part in the independent of Somaliland, everything is revolving on this upcoming election the risk is too high this time, you just have to read between the lines to know what is going on, and what kind of conspiracy is taking a place right now inside and outside the country, You don’t need to be rocket science to figure that out, those countries who hate Somaliland and want to destroy it, and was against Somaliland recognition see the current situation in the country as an-opportunity to destabilize and destroy it, they are well-known countries, and they know that in this time in this moment they can achieve what they couldn’t achieve for the past 21 years. The lift off boycott is a sign, the Egyptian ambassador to Somalia visit to Somaliland, and the comments he made is a sign and a lot of other sings, in this risky hostile situation, Somaliland needs a leader like Gandi, a one who gets his people from where they are to where they have not been.
A leader who can invoke ideas that contributes to the unified sense of mission and thereby to the harmony of the whole. History judges leaders on their managing of the national interests, not on their passions for rule and privileges.
Presidency, the highest post of any nation, will always have unlimited responsibility. It is a profession that is as hard as a rock as anybody might think. It is too intellectual and far rigid in its roles and requirements for the average person. By its essence therefore it requires an extraordinary person with extraordinary skills. It also takes quite a bit of learning.
In this election you can sense that everything is different, but there is only one thing shared by all, and that is safety and security of their country it might not matter who wins this election, whether he was Ahmed M. Mahamoud Silanyo, Dahir Riyale Kahin or Faysal Cali Warabe when it tickles the security issue. However I don’t believe that the Somaliland people need a leader who neither has the ability or the intellect that could add anything chronically gracious to his administration.
There really is no point to have a leader who has no enough courage to question a system, not just to understand the existing trends but to change the whole structure into honest forms of transparency and accountability
The people are looking for a leader who can find the common stake that the Somaliland people have in one another and let his mind reflect that spirit as well, a leader who knows that loving a chair is one thing and leading a nation is another.
Each century, while giving birth to new ideas, gains new perceptions. Each and every leader of other nations look differently at the world than those before them did. Somaliland people need a leader who can guide them through the circumstances that are variable and changing day after day.
It is all bad and it is all pain and above all it is desperately sad when you feel great about what you have achieved to forget yesterday’s catastrophes and mass murders, and to accept the illusions that your struggle has ended.
Somaliland people need leaders who must think in a new way. The people cannot afford the ills of our tribal politics; they need a new approach that understands and guarantees success and sense of tomorrow. It needs leaders with transformational qualities, who have the capacity to understand that the imperative to act wisely upon urgent issues; politicians who can sense any problem before the public can feel it; men whose understanding is thousand times ahead of that of the public, a leadership that is intellectual if we are wise, analytical if we are ambitious, humane if we care enough, considerate if we are kind, honest if we want to live in an honorable life, prudent and pragmatic if we want to beat the problems and the property we share.
Right thinking leaders look at their time with a measure of suspicion and circumspection. In conditions of widespread poverty and communal strife, they increasingly work on how best they can get these problems licked. They do not try to do everything for their countries at once. They pace their policies and patch the holes and put things together in a way that gives a good start. They think not of how to clean the country’s roads; instead, they pick up a bit of garbage on the road and drop it in a litter bin. They think not of how to feed the country’s millions of hungry children; instead, they help the kid on the corner to get a cup of milk.
Mohamed Mahatir of Malaysia did just this; he thought very small when he rose to the power of his country. From his thinking small came rural micro-credit and Malaysian projects, a powerful instrument of social change, opportunities for Malaysians in Malaysia.
Obviously, nations will not develop unless the leadership at all levels reaches some minimum standard of maturity. The matured leader always picks up a talented team. If there is no talent on the team; the leadership chooses, the system does not work well.
It is only by a collective effort, by bringing together the best minds in the country, by following the reasonable norms of contacts and cooperation that people can preserve their home, can make it better and safer.
By: Ibrahim Ahmed
__________________________________________________________________________________________ Views expressed in the opinion articles are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the editorial
HARGEISA, 14 January 2010 (Somalilandpress) – I took the pen with my right hand holding on my dairy book, reading between the lines my eyes caught so many events that are really startling, inspirational and some how marvelous. From these stories we learned that all of us as people of Somaliland had moments of strength, difficulties and achievements.
A Congratulatory Note to Somalilandpress
I have followed your work for years and was thrilled to read about your recent victory. I am happy a website owned from my country won, I am happier that is was you (Somalilanpress). I must tell you how much I appreciate the outstanding success you have contributed to your country. Congratulation Mr: Editor and your Somalilandpress team for their tireless effort to lend their time and energy for the production of this fruitful website. Certainly your timely news, as well as posting comprehensible opinions has contributed to your being selected one of the ten most used websites in Africa. The real key was your skills as competitive people. Let’s hope this successful trend continues.
Social Memories:
As primary and secondary school access improves, demand for higher education will also increase. Currently university enrolment is getting higher year after year. Despite to these, the largest number of university students graduated all universities in Somaliland. An estimated 700 students were graduated in this year. By that time they have finished a four year period of pleasant studies and they were fully equipped to hunt their higher education or their careers in the labor market.
One of the most tangible challenges facing graduates in Somaliland is graduate unemployment. Young graduates of men and women are roaming the streets of Hargeisa with nothing to do, observing the country and waiting a chance of employment. A complex mix of factors contributes to Somaliland’s unemployment figures; it includes an increasing number of young graduates in the high schools and a university that adds to the pool of job seekers every year, worsening the situation. Slow growing economies are unable to generate enough job opportunities to absorb the young people qualifying from institutions of learning every year. It also includes the massive expansion in women’s participation in the labor market over the past year. Women are more likely to be in most of job vacancies which is limited men’s access to job opportunities. Unemployment rate higher among males than females.
In 2009, there were top issues on our media and that is the war between press and government. Somaliland now has 8 private newspapers, two independent private television stations and one radio stations, for one state local radio stations and one television station and more than 10 private websites. This rapid expansion has generated fear to the government which resulted that most media remains largely state controlled or owned.
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Back in time, at the start of 2009, four journalists were arrested by the government. Three of the journalists were released in 8 hours later while the other one was remained in prison. Ahmed Sale ban Dhuxul was caught by the police at the parliament compound while the house of elders had a session to extend the president’s term in office in the morning 28th March 2009. The detained reporter, Ahmed Saleban Dhuxul was an independent correspondent of Somaliland Space Channel (SLSC) and radio Horyaal. Mr. Dhuxul was denied access to enter the hall of the meeting while the other journalists were allowed to take part the assembly of the House of elders. He was released after government failed to confirm his guilty to the court.
On 29th July 2009, at 6:30pm Somaliland police closed down the Horn Cable TV office in Hargeisa. The police later on headed to the studio located east suburb of the city; how ever after a long tedious quarrel and brushes between the reporters and staffs at the studio, the police forcefully arrested the news head of HCTV, Mr. Mohamed Abdi (llig).
On 23th August, 2009 the regional court of Sahil region has sentenced the editor in chief of the Berberanews.com website three years in jail. Mohamed Saeed Abdilahi (xarrago), the editor in chief, and Yasiin Jama Ali , a reporter were accused for slandering the Sahil authorities including the Governor, the Mayor and the Port Manager. The reporters denies any wrong doing.Yasin Jama Ali who reports for both Bereberanews.com and Horyaal radio, has been barred from continuing to his journalism profession, and also the Bedernews.com website has been banned from working and reporting.
On 12th May, 2009 the governor of Sanag region Ali Abdi Hure has appealed to both the government of Somaliland and the international community to deliver an emergency food relief to the drought hit community in Sanag region. In a press conference held in Hargeisa. The head of the region told to the reporters that parts of Sanag region, especially Dararweyne district is not only affected by draught but diseases as well, the people are suffering flu and malaria, he said. The governor also added that Garadag and Eelafweyn the worst hit areas the fodder and water are in severe shortage. Mr. Ali has appealed to the society in Sanag region to come together and attend a congregational worship pleading Allah to send harmless downpours to them.
Farhan Abdi Suleiman is a social worker, a graduate of the University of Hargeisa and youth activist. He is also a regular contributor to Somalilandpress. He can be reached at:
oday1999@yahoo.com
Tell: 252-2-4401132
Hargeisa, Somaliland
Borama, 13 January 2010 (Somalilandpress) – We, the human being, belong the same species that must unite its perceptions and its ways of conduct. Acting on this point, the ultimate vision of all highly civilized and well established societies is to make different societies with different culture close together. Really, our different cultures are not predators to one another, but could be intimate friends that could accept and complement one another. This could happen only if highly developed countries cooperate with less developed countries. If this happened, human being could create a common ground which accommodates all societies on the globe. This common ground would converge the ever diverged values, norms, and the expectations of different communities in the world.
Yes, we can win the unification of entire globe by creating common culture and common understanding among them. The canal for this inspiring vision of global unity is through healthy intergovernmental and international nongovernmental organizations. Some people may wonder how this could happen. Beginning from our cave dweller ancestors to the modern communities, our loyalty towards social and political autonomy was continually changing. Prehistoric ancestors of human being had some kind of sociopolitical structures. Families in that era were believed to be either matriarchal or patriarchal. The ruling individuals who led those families were great grandparents who earned the loyalty of their kin through goodness or charismatic leadership. As the villagers multiply in number and had become small tribes, their loyalty turned from grandparents to sultans and tribe leaders. City states emerged and people turned their loyalty towards kings and queens. Then, people began to turn their political loyalty towards nation states and this is a current sociopolitical position of human being.
Contrary to that, still unachieved but wishful sociopolitical rank is to turn the loyalty of different nations with a different religions, cultures, and socioeconomic levels towards global government. To continue this developing chain of political and social oneness, modern communities established the United Nations. The United Nations, other intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations are delegated to rid off the remnants of prejudice, cynicism, and racism among different nations on the globe. Whether they are secular, Islamic, Christian, and Judaic, most of intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations adhered to the general vision of their existence which mostly based on the creation of mutual acceptance among different people in the world and the confrontation of haunting tragedies including epidemics, droughts, social disorder, and injustice.
Not all intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations travel the right way there are many of them that travel a different path. World vision Somaliland is one of the cancerous nongovernmental organizations which implements many impotent projects in the country. This international nongovernmental organization is the most corruptive agency in the country. It is a secret deviant that has many malfunctions in its core areas. The way it implements its projects, the way it behaves its staffs, and the way it partakes a global cultural integrity are totally negative. Being member two temporary teams of workers headed by two foreign ladies was the gateway through which I entered an ocean of conspiracy. As workers, we were two departments. The nutrition department headed by sensitive and awkward lady named Mercy who was not pleasant her physical appearance.
And the commodity department headed by Kebah Jalleh a permissive women who has not the courage to direct her staff and virtually is commanded by Mercy. For the dishonest of Mercy and the permissiveness of Kebah, all the procedures which are lifeblood for the healthy distribution of food donated by WFP, UNICIEF, and USAID went into total chaos. Food stuff is not received by the targeting beneficiaries and those who are in need. The staff who adopted the deeply rooted corruption which is the dominant character of the organization began to cheat the food in the warehouses. They began to transport food from the final distribution points to the cereal markets of Hargeise and Borama. They excellently learned how to prepare a false beneficiary lists that can evade their corruption.
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An ill-fated theft mission that occurred two weeks before in Baki district is an illustrative example for the degree of conspiracy in the organization. The mayor of Baki district and his son in-law decided to transport food from the Baki MCH to Borama. The two men wanted to sell the food and to make money from it. While things were like that, some employees who were not negotiated by the two men noticed the case and started countermoves to get their share from the profit of the food. Because of their different greed a conflict occurred which later disclosed the theft. The case was reported to the acting police in the district. The police kept the food and two days later, two incompetent and under qualified assistants called Abdulnasir and Samsam visited the district. They heard the case and reported to Nairobi. The conflict that arose among the employees was the only factor that exposed the hidden cheating of food in the final distribution warehouses.
Another dreadful theft made by some employees occurred in a Baki district. Four months before, we went there in Baki to complete two screening days. When we finished the screening, we planed to come back. Suddenly, we felt that something is going to happen because a deceitful boy named Abdulkarim Hasan was having secret conversations with some of the boys. Abdurrahman Diriye and I investigated the case deeply. At the time we reached Old Baki, it came apparent for us that sixteen packs of Unimax and 20 packs of Sorghum were stolen by Abdulkarim Hasan. We also knew that he put the Unimax and Sorghum packs on a small pick up car. Abdurrahman Diriye and I began to discus the theft case with Abdulkarim. To prevent any disclosure of the case, Abdulkarim proposed that the packs could be shared by us. Abdurrahman Diriye who is honest and decisive boy insisted that the Unimax and Sorghum packs must be returned to the MCH store. Abdulkrim Hasan tried to persuade us the danger of returning packs to the store because it would prove the fallacy of their beneficiary list report. Although he cried painfully, we showed no compromise to him. Then he accepted to return backs to the store.
These are not the only theft cases but there many hidden and more series ones that made helpless beneficiaries starve. If the donors want to check whether their donations are received by the targeting beneficiaries or not, simply, they can use thumb prints on the beneficiary lists as identity cards that proves a healthy distribution of the food. Like abdulkarim Hasan, professional stealers use their own thumb prints or their coworkers thumb prints and likened it to thumb prints of beneficiaries.
On the other hand, a worrisome habit adopted by world vision Somaliland is that it uses its staff as robot machines. Although the organization has technical and financial capabilities to pay salaries of the employees early in every month, they pay it late. Kebah and Mercy who are the managing directors of the food distribution project never cared those employees who are in remote villages where there is an adverse scarcity of food and water. When employees find it hard to buy food and water, they dashed back to cities and this hampers the well being of food distribution.
Theft is not confined the lower staff of the organization but the theft in the upper staff of the organization is parent which breeds the deception of the lower staff. Without any regard to the stated right in the contract letter which reads “every employee in the food distribution project has perdium when he or she goes outreach activities” Kebah, Mercy, Aragsan, and Mohamed Omar kept the perdiums of their employees as their possession. Because they knew that their employees speak halt English and cannot defend their right.
Worse yet, the leaders of world vision Somaliland do not respect religious belief well. For instance, we know that Eid days are joyful and every Muslim want to face these days high spirit and positive moral. All intergovernmental and non governmental organizations pay Eid bonus to their employees. But world vision Somaliland pays Eid bonus after the Eid days passed. The speculated reason behind this delay is to make their Muslim workers desperate. The mind-set of world vision Somaliland towards people mirrors the general attitudes of highly developed countries and international donors.
In sum, if highly developed countries and international donors do not reconsider insolent actions and atrocities that world vision Somaliland inflicts to the people, they will bear the burden of hostility, cynicism, and hatred against them.
Farah Barkhad Nour
Borama, Somaliland
Tel: 4458723
E mail: alfa.345@hotmail.com
Source: Harowo
___________________________________________________________________________________________ Views expressed in the opinion articles are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the editorial
(Updates with political wrangle, paragraphs 16-17)
By Hussein Ali Noor
HARGEISA, (Somalilandpress) — Unidentified attackers hurled hand grenades and opened fire at a police station in Somalia’s northern breakaway enclave of Somaliland, wounding three officers, police sources said on Wednesday.
Somaliland is proud of its relative stability, unlike southern regions of the failed Horn of Africa state, where hardline al Shabaab insurgents control large amounts of territory and are fighting a weak Western-backed government.
Washington accuses al Shabaab of being al Qaeda’s proxy in Somalia, and security experts say the group wants to extend its influence north — aiming to destabilise Somaliland and the neighbouring pro-government, semi-autonomous region of Puntland.
Somaliland police sources told Reuters that an unknown number of attackers threw two grenades at the police station in Las Anod, near the border with Puntland, late on Tuesday before opening fire on the building with assault rifles.
Three policemen on duty there were wounded, two of them seriously, hospital staff said.
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The police sources said the town was placed under curfew overnight with extra patrols, and that officers later found a Toyota pickup truck believed to have been used by the gunmen.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
The assault came just three days after security forces in Somaliland said they had foiled an attack on a Hargeisa mosque where the imam had spoken out against militant suicide bombings.
Officials said six rockets and two mortar bombs had been recovered from Imam Sheikh Aden Sira’s mosque after a suspected bomber was discovered carrying them in a jacket.
POLITICAL TENSIONS INCREASING
Sira had been critical of suicide bombings carried out by al Shabaab in southern Somalia, and said he received death threats.
On Wednesday, the police sources said one man had been arrested in connection with the Hargeisa mosque incident, and that another was being hunted. They did not elaborate.
Al Shabaab hit Somaliland and Puntland with synchronised suicide blasts that killed at least 24 people in Oct. 2008.
A court in Hargeisa has sentenced five men to death in absentia for the bombings, which struck the Ethiopian embassy, the local president’s office and a U.N. building. It said they were on the run in other parts of Somalia.
Somaliland, which has long sought international recognition as sovereign state, declared itself independent in 1991.
Analysts worry a simmering political row between the president of Somaliland and opposition parties over delayed elections could lead to clan militias re-arming, an outbreak of violence, and more turmoil for al Shabaab rebels to exploit.
Somaliland’s upper House of Elders remained closed for a third day on Wednesday amid wrangling over positions on several committees. Security forces said they had locked the building to prevent another outbreak of scuffling between rival lawmakers.
The former British protectorate is governed by an opposition-led House of Representatives, which is elected by the people, and an upper house comprised of senior clan elders.
The honourable Farah Maalim, deputy speaker of the Kenyan parliament, visit to Somaliland was well-timed and well-received. Mr. Maalim took it upon himself to see the truth about Somaliland. First and foremost, Somaliland become independent on 26th of June, 1960, five days before joining Italian Somalia to form a union which become the now-defunct Somali Republic .
During that five day period, Somaliland received international recognition from no less 36 nations, including the USA , UK , USSR , France , Ethiopia , etc. So, let us be clear about this, Somaliland was a sovereign nation before July 1st, 1960 , with a settled population and defined borders.
In the euphoria of post-colonialism, the people of Somaliland in their haste,decided to form a union with Somalia , a union that was not ratified by parliament or put to a national referendum.
The unbalanced and unrepresentative union eventually led to a the civil war of 1988-1991, and the bombardment by the Somali Air Force of both Hargeisa and Buroa, leading to untold loss of life and the displacement of the local population.
On 18th May, 1991 , with the support of all Somalilanders through dialogue, discussion and consensus, and irrespective of tribe or social standing, Somaliland restored its sovereignty.
In the intervening 20 years, Somaliland has been stable, democratic and progressive. Somalilanders of all social and tribal persuasion have come together and rebuilt their nation, rebuilt their homes, rebuilt their economy, schools,universities and hospitals and are engaged in combating terrorism and piracy.
Somaliland is not and has never been dominated by single clan, it was Somalia that was dominated and strangled to death by a single clan.
For example, the current President, H.E. Dahir Rayale Kahin is not from the majority clan. President Kahin, then as Vice-President rightfully ascended to the presidency upon the death of his predecessor, the late Mohamed Ibrahim Egal. A peaceful and orderly transfer of power. It was constitutional and it was legal.
President Rayale was re-elected by a mere 80 votes in 2003. Again, peaceful and legal resolution to any political issues. The President faces an election this year, and whatever the outcome, the transition will peaceful, legal and orderly.
Both chambers of the Somaliland parliament are representative of the nation’s many communities.
Every section of Somaliland society, political, social, economic, educational, and religious is truly representative of the nation.
Somaliland’s opponents would do better to stop spreading falsehood about the country and use their energy towards bringing about peace and stability to Somalia .
Mr. Maalim and his delegation visited Somaliland for almost a week. They went everywhere,saw everything and met everyone. They were met with a warm welcome and open arms. They saw Somaliland ‘s progress; its successes, its needs, and its set-backs. Nothing was hidden. In effect, they saw the truth.
And now, Mr. Maalim is coming under fire because he went there, saw the truth and returned to Nairobi “pleasantly surprised and very encouraged”. And they wonder why there is no progress in Somalia .
Minneapolis, 12 January 2010 (Somalilandpress) – Minneapolis police said Sunday that cooperation from the Somali community helped lead to the arrests of two juveniles they believe are responsible for Wednesday’s triple slaying.
The second arrest came late Saturday when a 17-year-old boy from Minneapolis turned himself in to investigators with family members by his side, Capt. Amelia Huffman said at a news conference that included Police Chief Tim Dolan and Mayor R.T. Rybak.
Earlier Saturday, a 17-year-old boy, also of Minneapolis, was taken into custody in connection with the shooting deaths of three East African men at Seward Market & Halal Meat in Minneapolis’ Seward neighborhood.
“I think that folks — broadly speaking — in Minneapolis were outraged by this incident and that was certainly true in the Seward neighborhood and the among the Somali families who live there,” Huffman said. “We had great communication, and we had tips that were flooding in from all parts of the community. And, indeed, we were able to track down the first suspect with the aid of people in the community.”
The family of the second suspect brought the boy in to the Third Precinct police station, Huffman said, “because they want to do the responsible thing and participate in the criminal justice system so that he can be answerable for the allegations that he was involved in this crime. And I think that is incredibly significant.”
Dolan said investigators believe they have solved the shootings and that “we anticipate
the suspects will be charged soon.”
“We are confident that we have identified all of the people responsible for the incident,” Dolan said, adding as the investigation progresses, “further charges may be forthcoming.”
Because the suspects are juveniles, their names will not be released until charges are filed, Dolan said.
Police said last week the shooters likely were Somali immigrants, but would not say as much Sunday.
Police were also tight-lipped about a possible motive. They originally characterized the crime as a robbery that turned violent, but Dolan later said that might not have been what happened.
“We will be discussing a motive of the crime after charging has been complete,” Dolan said, “but we do feel that this is not part of a larger pattern of incidents.”
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Police have said that two men walked into the store at 25th Avenue South and East Franklin Avenue about 7:40 p.m. Wednesday and shot and killed Mohamed Abdi Warfa, 30, of Savage; Osman Jama Elmi, 28, of St. Paul; and Anwar Salah Mohammed, 31, of Brooklyn Park.
Warfa and Elmi were from Somalia, while Mohammed was from the Oromia region of Ethiopia, friends and family said.
Mohammed’s older brother, Fethi Mohammed, said the arrests are a “good start, but we need more. The family has to know how it happened and what happened to him. A robbery? Whatever it is, we want to know.”
Fethi Mohammed said he saw his brother’s body at Friday’s funeral and that he appeared to have suffered a gunshot wound to the back of his head.
“Maybe he tried to run, but couldn’t get away,” he said. “We want to know.”
Seward Market is a Somali-owned store located in a neighborhood with a large Somali population. Although closed since the crime, it attracted several neighborhood residents Sunday afternoon.
Peering through the front door, Fuad Abdulle said he grew up with Anwar Salah Mohammed in Ethiopia and stopped by for the first time since the shooting “just to see and feel. We have been praying for him.”
Dolan confirmed the crime was caught on video, but said, “I doubt it will be shown publicly for a very long time. It is very graphic, and will be held for prosecution and appeals.”
While the city has made progress in preventing youth violence, Rybak said, Saturday’s arrests marked a “significant setback.”
“This tragic incident underscores that we also have some challenges and we’re going to stay focused on that,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Seward Neighborhood Group, along with police and city officials, will host a community meeting at 7 tonight at Seward Towers West, a high-rise apartment complex across the street from the store.
“The community is trying to be proactive,” said Minneapolis City Council member Cam Gordon, who represents Ward 2, where the market is located. “I also think the fact the two people who have been arrested are so young just brings about a lot more anxiety … and just makes the tragedy seem even greater.”
Nick Ferraro can be reached at 651-228-2173.
Source: Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.
The US has called on the United Arab Emirates to review a court ruling which acquitted a member of its ruling family of torture charges.
The court found Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan not guilty of abusing an Afghan man – apparently on grounds of diminished responsibility.
A US state department official said questions had been raised and the US would welcome a careful review.
US TV broadcast a video last year of the Afghan man being violently beaten.
The tape showed Sheikh Nahyan apparently torturing the man, named as Mohamed Shapoor, in the desert at night, beating him, letting off rifle rounds close to him, and driving over him with a car.
The sheikh, who is the half-brother of the UAE’s president, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, was acquitted on Sunday while five other defendants were found guilty.
The case marks the first reported investigation of a UAE ruling family member.
Five convicted
PJ Crowley, a spokesman for the US state department, said all members of Emirati society “must stand equal before the law”.
“We remain concerned for the victims of this horrible crime,” he said.
“We’d welcome a careful review of this decision… to ensure that the demands of justice are fully met in this case.”
The judge delivering the verdict in the trial did not explain the reasons for the acquittal.
However, Sheikh Nahyan’s defence said its plea of “diminished liability” had been accepted, Reuters news agency reports.
The defence had argued that the sheikh had been drugged by two American-Lebanese brothers, Ghassan and Bassam Nabulsi, who recorded the beating in order to blackmail him.
The Nabulsi brothers were sentenced in their absence to five years in prison for drugging Sheikh Hassan and attempting to blackmail him with the video. They were also fined 10,000 dirham ($2,723, £1,700).
Three other men were sentenced to between one and three years for their role in the torture.
The incident came to light after US television network ABC broadcast clips of the tape, which was smuggled out of the UAE by a former business associate of Sheikh Nahyan.
Reports say the merchant had lost a consignment of grain belonging to Sheikh Nahyan worth $5,000 (£3,300). He survived the abuse, but needed extensive hospital treatment.
The UAE is a federation of seven wealthy emirates with substantial oil reserves and a large expatriate population. Each emirate is run by a ruling family and citizens are granted few political rights.
