Mogadishu, 14 December 2009 (Somalilandpress) – Kenyan security forces have foiled an attempt by armed gunmen, to kidnap a Catholic nun in Wajir, northeastern Kenya, officials said.
According to reports, the gunmen attacked the nun’s house, but were repulsed by security forces on patrol when she rung alarm to the police.
Some of the attackers are believed to have fled while others have been arrested by the police.
The attackers, who are believed to be wanted to take the nun to Somalia, attacked the house as they deeply entered the house. Their efforts were, however, thwarted by security forces.
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According to Northeastern Provincial Commissioner James Ole Sirian, the attackers fled and abandoned their car some 40 kilometers from the Kenya-Somalia border after being surrounded by security forces.
Reports indicate that there was a sustained exchange of fire as the attackers escaped.
The kidnap attempt follows reassurances by security forces that the area around the Kenya-Somalia border is safe from attacks by the Somali Al Shabab militants, who have on several occasions threatened to attack Kenya.
Early this year, armed gunmen kidnapped two Italian Catholic nuns at El Wak in Mandera District and set them free a few days later.
By Abdinasir Mohamed
Somalilandpress
abdinasir4@gmail.com
Mogadishu-Somalia
TORONTO, 13 December 2009 (Somalilandpress)The Tanzanian Foreign Ministry has summoned the Canadian High Commissioner after a Canadian diplomat allegedly spat at a policeman and a journalist.
A Tanzanian ministry spokesman condemned the incident, saying that his country is considering whether to expel the diplomat concerned.
Reporters say the diplomat, angered by a traffic jam, wound down his window and spat at the policeman on duty.
The Canadian High Commission in Dar es Salaam said it was investigating.
Tanzania’s foreign ministry says the incident was a humiliation not just for the police officer and journalist concerned, but for the entire country.
The alleged incident occurred in the Banana district on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam.
The journalist was allegedly spat at after he went to the police station where the diplomat was taken after being arrested.
The diplomat was freed because he had diplomatic immunity.
TORONTO, 12 December 2009 (Somalilandpress) – They hung out at a Somali restaurant in “Little Mogadishu” in the northwest corner of the city, played basketball together, and worshipped at a North York mosque.
The five friends, in their early to mid-20s, grew up and attended schools in Toronto. They spoke English and Somali. At least two of them were university students.
That is, until all five disappeared.
No one recalls them ever causing trouble. But the Star has learned Canadian intelligence officials were watching at least one of the young men several months before he mysteriously left home.
Mahad Dhorre, Mustafa Mohamed, Mohamed Abscir and a fourth we know only as Ahmed vanished the first week of November. A fifth, Ahmed Elmi, left his home in Scarborough about three months ago. A sixth man, an Afghan, who worshipped at the same mosque, is also reportedly missing.
Their passports are missing and they haven’t called home. The overwhelming fear is that – like at least 20 young Somali-American men in Minneapolis who have disappeared in the past two years, and others from Australia, Sweden and Britain – the young men are en route to Somalia to fight alongside al Shabaab, an Islamist youth militia aligned with Al Qaeda.
The Shabaab, which is fighting the government, is often called Somalia’s Taliban. Its increasingly savvy online presence is being blamed as a possible reason for the disappearance of the five Canadians. And Somali community leaders fear other young people will be targeted as long as they feel alienated in this country, and embraced by another.
“These people can speak in their language and lure them from right under our nose,” said Ahmed Hussen, the Ottawa-based president of the Canadian Somali Congress, adding people in the community have told him chat rooms were also used to lure the missing men. “We won’t even know what’s going on.”
THE FIRST Somali-Canadian to leave the country was Ahmed Elmi. The 22-year-old vanished in early September. A month later, friends say, he called his parents and told them he was in Kismayo, a port city in southern Somalia where the Shabaab has ruled for more than a year.
Those who knew Elmi wonder how a boy who grew up in a quiet Scarborough community would flee to a city plagued by violence.
Elmi’s soft-spoken father said the family is still in shock and trying to understand what happened. He declined to be interviewed.
RCMP and Canadian Security Intelligence Service officers are investigating the disappearances, canvassing areas in Little Mogadishu and questioning families.
But six months ago, CSIS agents paid a visit to the Scarborough condominium complex where another of the missing men, Mustafa Mohamed, lived with his family, says the building’s property manager.
“They said there was some kind of suspicious Internet activity and the family was under surveillance,” said Raees Akhtar.
On the second floor of the building, Mohamed’s mother, Shukri, was too distraught to talk. “I’m not ready …,” she said from behind the closed door of her apartment.
A friend said the family hadn’t heard from Mohamed. “(Shukri) is very upset,” she said. “She doesn’t know what to do … She has other younger children, too, and she’s worried about them.”
During questioning, RCMP officers have shown photographs to the families and queried them about their sons’ activities.
“(The families) are just as bewildered … they are also looking for answers,” said Abdurahman Hosh Jibril, president of the Somali Canadian National Council.
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MAHAD DHORRE was only about 6 when he left Somalia. He and his adoptive mother spent about four years in a refugee camp before they arrived in Canada in the mid-1990s, friends say.
His father died in Somalia; his biological mother still lives there.
The gangly, bearded youth from Markham grew up playing basketball, watching baseball and dreamed of going to university.
“He liked going to the mosque but there was nothing radical about him,” said Yusuf Arshame, a friend who has known Dhorre for years.
Dhorre was studying math and history at York University when he decided to take a break this summer. He started working at the bookstore at Abu Huraira Islamic Centre, the mosque in North York where the five hung out.
Arshame says Dhorre began socializing less and spending more time at the mosque. In October, Dhorre flew to Nairobi with his mother. Days later, he disappeared.
Abdul Warsame, a youth leader in the community, first met Dhorre at a conference this summer. “He was smart and funny,” recalls Warsame. “One of the first things he said was `I know most of you think we (from the city’s east end) are uptight. But we are not different.’ That’s the kind of a guy he was – always speaking his mind.”
They quickly became friends. He last saw Dhorre during Ramadan, then weeks later he went missing.
OF THE 20 or so Somali-Americans who have gone missing, at least five have been killed in Somalia. One died in a suicide bombing in October 2008, part of coordinated attacks that killed 20 people.
Osman Ahmed’s nephew, Bashir Hasan, vanished more than a year ago, resurfacing in southern Somalia. He died three months ago.
“He was 17 … he was naive,” said
Ahmed, a Minneapolis-based businessman. Three months before Hasan disappeared in November 2008, he was filling out university applications, planning his future as a lawyer. “And suddenly, he was gone,” said Ahmed, who believes his nephew was enticed by the Shabaab over the Internet.
Days before he died, Hasan called his mother and told her he wanted to come home. “And then, we got a call saying he was dead,” said Ahmed, who believes Shabaab executed him. “You only leave as a martyr … there’s no other way out.”
His is one of the few Minneapolis families to speak publicly about their loss. “We’ve lost as a family, we didn’t want to lose more as a community,” said Ahmed.
But it hasn’t stopped other young Somali-Americans from trying to join the Shabaab. About two weeks ago, four young men, two under the age of 16, were stopped while trying to fly to Kenya through Chicago.
Two days earlier, U.S. federal officials announced terrorism charges against eight men, seven of whom are still at large. It brought to 14 the total from Minneapolis who have been indicted or pleaded guilty for allegedly indoctrinating, recruiting or training local youths to join militia-waged war in Somalia.
Omar Jamal, a well-known advocate for the Somali diaspora in the U.S., said Toronto community leaders must ensure mosques play no role in radicalization. “We have to do everything to keep our kids safe. … We can’t let them go to a place we left years ago.”
In Minneapolis, some families of missing men have accused certain mosques of radicalizing their sons.
In Toronto, the North York mosque where the five Toronto men worshipped has come under scrutiny since they disappeared.
The Abu Huraira mosque, located in a nondescript building in an industrial area near Sheppard Ave. and Highway 404, was the first to alert police that the men were missing. “The parents came to us and we immediately told (police),” said administrator Omar Kireh.
He stressed the men only “occasionally worshipped at the mosque over the years,” adding the mosque has no hardline agenda. The mosque, with a congregation of about 1,000 mostly Somali-Canadians, holds classes for youth, he said, where they are encouraged to stay out of gangs and guns.
It became the subject of controversy a couple of months ago when Saed Rageah, the mosque’s charismatic young imam, gave a controversial sermon interpreted by some as an attack on those calling for a ban on the niqab and burqa.
Rageah later said he had been misinterpreted. The Star could not reach him for comment.
Members of the congregation, however, describe Rageah as traditional, but not radical. And the Somali community believes the mosque had nothing to do with the disappearance of the men, although some suspect they may have been targeted there.
“It’s not a coincidence that all worshipped here and disappeared at almost the same time,” said Ahmed Yusuf, a Somali-Canadian social worker. “The question is how, and can it be done again.”
THAT BOTHERS many Somali-Canadians in Toronto.
There are stories of how mothers have hidden their grown-up sons’ passports while other family members keep an eye on them. Some mothers are even trying to monitor their sons’ Internet activities.
It sounds over-the-top but Jibril said, “It’s an extraordinary situation.” There’s a fear there may be an exodus of more young men from Toronto as happened in Minneapolis, he said. Toronto is now home to almost 50,000 Somali-Canadians, he points out.
In Little Mogadishu, an area bounded by highrises along Dixon Rd. and between Kipling and Islington Aves., families run thriving restaurants and grocery stores. Yet Somalis remain one of the GTA’s most disadvantaged, scoring near the bottom in household income, employment and education.
Mohamed Gilao, executive director of Dejinta Beesha, a settlement agency, said young people find it difficult to integrate; some drop out of school and fall prey to crime, drugs and gangs. And now, it seems, radicals, too.
But the five missing men were raised in middle-class families and none had a run-in with police, say community leaders.
Warsame, the youth leader, talks of the crisis of “belonging” that plagues all young people from war-torn countries, especially if they still have relatives there.
Most Somali-Canadians still have families in that country and faithfully keep track of events there. Many send money back, ensuring the bond never severs.
“I’m not making any excuses (for Mahad Dhorre) and others,” said Warsame. “But these kids wonder about equality and justice when they see war, hunger and violence in their native country. Is that what drives them? I don’t know.”
Pretoria, 12 December 2009 (Somalilandpress) – University of Pretoria awards Dr. Edna Adan Ismail from Somaliland the Chancellor’s Medal for her outstanding contribution to humanity.
“You cannot make progress unless you stick your neck out but with due caution”. Dr. Edna Adan, recipient of University of Pretoria’s Chancellor’s Medal.
“Edna Adan Maternity Hospital is the best hospital in Africa”. Mr. Martin Nsibirwa, University of Pretoria’s LLM Programme Manager introduced Dr. Edna profile to the audience.
The recognition that Centre for Human right at the University of Pretoria is bestowing upon me belongs to all who speak out for the voiceless and will hopefully encourage those who are concerned about human rights but who keep silent out of fear of repercussions. Perhaps we should learn from the tortoise whose motto is “You cannot make progress unless you stick your neck out but with due caution” Says Dr. Edna Adan former Minister of Foreign Affairs in Somaliland, the founder of Edna Adan Maternity Hospital (http://www.ednahospital.org/), Hargeisa, Somaliland.
Dr. Edna Adan was speaking at the University of Pretoria’s graduation ceremony yesterday afternoon (Thursday, 10th Dec 09), where by government officials, European Union in South Africa (EU), ambassadors, UN high officials, academia, alumni’s who had returned to celebrate 10th anniversary of the LLM programe, international journalists, members of the Community of Somaliland in Southern Africa and hundreds of other guests gathered to celebrate 29 law students from 20 countries who have just completed a Master of Laws (LLM) in Human Rights and Democratization in Africa who received their degrees at the graduation ceremony. A number of prizes were also awarded to deserving students.
The theme of Dr. Edna’s keynote address was “Promoting Human Rights in Somaliland and Africa in general”. The 10th December is the International Human Rights Day. On this day, some sixty years ago, the United Nations adopted the Declaration of Human Rights, while in 1420 years ago, Islam has laid the principles of Human Rights.
“Today, with profound humility, and knowing full well that there are many who are far more deserving than I am, I accept this award on behalf of those individuals and groups both in Somaliland and elsewhere who have taken great personal risk to ensure that others may live in peace and dignity. This includes the quarter million war genocide victims in Somaliland who gave their lives to fight oppression during our civil war from 1982 to 1991. I wish to reconise them as the martyrs who praved the way for the peace, freedom and stability that we (Somalilanders) enjoy today”. Said in a moving address in which she accepted Chancellor’s Medal for her outstanding contribution to humanity Somaliland, in particular with regard to helping the under-privileged realize their right to health.
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Dr. Edna further emphased in her moving speech about women empowerment in both Somaliland and Africa in general.
“I accept this award on behalf of the women of Somaliland and Africa who have the highest maternal mortality rate in the world and who die because they are poor. Our women die because they lack care from well trained health care providers in health facilities that are properly equipped. Our women also die because the lack the education that would have raised their status and given them access to skills and employment” Dr. Edna attaches her caring emotions; she further highlights that women die because of female genital cutting.
“I know there is no magic wand that can resolve all our problems but I am confident that if we join hands and concentrate on just one effort which is that of training more midwives in our community, we will prevent the death of many women and children. I therefore appeal for support in this major undertaking which my hospital (Edna Adan Maternity Hospital, Hargeisa Somaliland) is pionnering in Somaliland and where such training is in progress right now” says Dr. Edna, with lots of applauds and support from hundreds of attendees.
She concludes that she profoundly touched by the genorisity of University of Pretoria. “Thank you both for this special recognition and also for the warm hospitality of your people and your country (South Africa). Concludes Dr. Edna
According to the center’s website, the University of Pretoria’s Centre for Human Rights, which was awarded the 2006 UNESCO Prize for Human Rights Education, presents the one-year full-time LLM in partnership with eight other universities in Africa representing all the sub-regions. The students were drawn from a variety of backgrounds, including the civil service, the judiciary, academia, and some recent graduates.
Since its inception in 2000, 291 students from 35 African countries including Somaliland, have graduated from the programme, and gone back to their respective countries to hold various positions in government, academia, and the NGO sector. Thirty-four students from 19 countries have already been selected to participate in the programme next year.
The students who graduated this week will return to their respective countries where they will use their expertise to further an awareness of human rights and influence general human rights polity in international and national NGOs, government and academia.
Dr. Edna has publicized her hospitals services and the struggle of Somaliland to integrate the international community.
The community of Somaliland in Southern Africa (COSSA) has also awarded merit certificate to Dr. Edna for her dedicated contribution and support for the people of Somaliland.
More of Dr. Edna’s speech analysis, stay tuned on Saeed Furaa’s next articles/analysis from this corner of Africa.
By: Saeed Furaa,
Freelance Journalist
Pretoria
South Africa
MOGADISHU,10 December 2009 (Somalilandpress)-The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) has strongly condemned the cowardly bombing of a medical students’ graduation ceremony in Mogadishu on 3 December 2009.
In a statement they issued, the group described the attack against medical school graduates, their parents, instructors and government officials was nothing less than an act of terrorism aimed at squashing the aspirations of those who intended to dedicate their lives to treating their fellow Somalis, according to the statement.
“This attack is, indeed, a national catastrophe for the people of Somalia, and the ONLF extends its deepest sympathies on behalf of all the people of Ogaden [in southeastern Ethiopia, where government forces are engaged in fighting against ONLF] to the families of all the victims of this evil act” Says the statement.
The statement also says that the perpetrators of this act are clearly enemies of the Somali people, their way of life and their hopes for a better future. It describes them as enemies of the reconstitution of a strong Somali state, national reconciliation, peace, progress and democratic governance.
Founded in 1984, The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) fights seeking autonomy for the ethnically Somali Ogaden region.
HARGEISA, 10 December 2009 (Somalilandpress) – For the second time, Republic of Somaliland defused another election dispute in limited time, which could have harmed the democratic process. The ruling and opposition parties signed six terms agreement that replaced old members of National Election Commission.
The new commission has difficult job ahead including clearing the mistakes in voter registration system. A high-tech biometric technology is been used in the registration; however, the use of such technology was too early for Somaliland due to lack of public awareness and infrastructure in the country. Somaliland is one of the first African countries to use such sophisticated technology to empower democracy.
Moreover, the registration process challenged tribal demography that is sensitive in Somaliland and the region in general, because all tribes wanted to score high in the census. This led many tribesmen to enroll two or three times, which tripled the expected number. The capacity of the server could not process the high number. At this point we can say, modern technology undermined the growing democracy of Somaliland.
In Ireland, political parties and communities rejected introduction of new biometric registration system, urging that public are not ready to adopt it.
In Kuwait, the parliament rejected the proposed introduction of biometric and DNA identification systems in the country, because they believed that no electronic voting system can be trustworthy and it is a genuine threat to the democracy. They forced the governments to halt proposal until enough public awareness achieved. Saudi Arabia faced similar faith in the voter registration.
Somaliland, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait has tribal and cultural similarities, and they could have fail if tried, and face similar problems with Somaliland. However, I believe that Somaliland people and government were braver than their counterparts in the Arabian Peninsula for accepting the electronic voting.
Today, the electronic voter registration is witnessing obstacles and became threat to democracy process in Somaliland. Analyzers advised Somaliland to carry out awareness programs before the election, in order to familiarize the system to win the trust of the public.
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Somaliland authority must demand better server or ask the supplier to upgrade it. This will accelerate the process of removing the duplications. The current server is not capable of handling the database of 3.5 million, and should be upgraded.
Somaliland held three consecutive elections including municipal council, parliamentary and presidential. The winning margin in the latest presidential election was very close (80 votes). The opposition accepted the election results peacefully unlike regional countries where thousands lost their lives in election disputes. At this point, Somaliland earned respect from world community in its campaign to promote democracy and without international support. The most remarkable is that neither election experts nor crisis diffusers helped Somaliland to solve its election disputes.
In addition, the peaceful power transfer to the Vice President Dahir Riyale Kahin after sudden death to founder and father of modern Somaliland Mohamed Ibrahim Egal was another golden achievement in the history of Somaliland. Egal was savior and rescuer of Somaliland.
During the power transfer, BBC Somali Service posted report saying that Isaac tribe, who make majority in Somaliland, will not allow minority tribes to lead the country. According to BBC, this means that Dahir Riyale Kahin, who is from minority tribe, won´t take over as new president. BCC analysis failed and Riyale sworn in as third president of Somaliland in less than 15 years and again he was reelected for second term in office.
After voter registration installed, the Somaliland elders – Upper House of the Parliament (Guurti) – took backseats to give the technology and democracy enough space to practice, but closely monitored the development from distance. Voter registration server output was not accurate due to the weak hardware specifications.
However, after technology failed and created political chaos in the country due abovementioned reasons, the elders stepped in again to defuse the tension between the politicians. At the beginning the elders had communication gap with sponsor of voter registration system – Interpeace.
Enemy attacks:
The enemies of Somaliland are trying to fail the upcoming presidential election including Al-Shabab terrorist organization along with other groups stationed in Nairobi, Kenya who receive support from Transitional Government of Somalia led by Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.
This group headed by close associates of Somali Foreign Minister Jangali and wants to disturb Somaliland election and stability.
Al-Shabab is planning to carry out Taliban-style suicide bombing during the Election Day, but the Somaliland forces are better equipped and trained, and will not allow them.
In other hand, the international community including AU, UN, EU and USA are supporting the elections in Somaliland, and vowed to send election observers. The world started to feel the democracy development in Somaliland.
Somaliland needs diplomatic recognition, not a financial aid because they reached self-satisfactory and established necessary public services alone. The Nairobi administration should not allow armed groups to plan terror against Somaliland on Kenyan soil.
By Abdulaziz Al-Mutairi
Email: az.almutairi@yahoo.com
Hargeysa (Somalilandpress)- Today, the 10th of December 2009 We are commemorating the Historic Occasion of the International Human Rights Day, the first day Governments and states world wide gathered to adopt and sign the First Historic Document, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948. The adoption of this document had neither been a past time fallacy nor an intellectual folly, but a genuine product of the saddening human experiences observed as awfully unbearable which was meant to prevent the recurrence of the past tragedies driven by the understanding of Human communion of interests and guided by the conscientious duty discharge of collective responsibility, In response to the violations of human rights and underlying philosophies.
Though during 61 years period that have elapsed from that day today, many of the problems that had prompted Human kind on the adoption of the universal declaration had not been over-come and continue to prevail to reign unabated particularly in those parts of the globe our country includes on top the list countries where very little is known about the very concept of Human Rights, very little have ever been done and so much remains to be done beset by many problems, barriers, and obstacles of inherent socio-cultural and latent by virtue of the processes of governance at work of mismanagement, abuses and misrule of along period , which we had been helplessly exposed. To overcome the ill effects and impacts is not an easy matter but requires lifetime efforts and a more phased out period to be satisfactory coped with.
At a time Sound judgment ought to alert human conscience to the urgent calls of responsible leadership in Somaliland to quit the scene or act in time to act when the alarm bells in response to their malpractices still ring sincere in words of respect and honorable gratitude and on the conscientious belief that the root causes of our demarche and travail are deeply embedded in our recent past history. Inept system of governance that our country and people were subject to, whose hangovers are still lingering in the minds, made the standard norm and the yardstick loosing the distinction and demarcation between virtues and vices had ended up in the impasse of the inopportunely bleak times we had been groping through for quite a long period. Kulmiye party takes the decision to avail itself the opportunity, on the historic occasion of the 61st Anniversary of International Human Rights Day 2009 to adopt the following declaration:
In response to the bold challenges putting themselves to fore in this regard, where there are pressing needs, urgent calls for bold initiatives for a start to be made, Kulmiye Party sets itself to shoulder the tasks to take the lead towards addressing cardinal issues pertaining to it. In this regard Kulmiye Party’s Policies shall be governed by the guiding principle of constituting a Modern Society in a Modern Somaliland State with modern institutions founded upon solid democratic Values and ethical standards where the Basic Human Rights, Fundamental Freedoms and Liberties of all citizens, at individual and group levels, are upheld guaranteed, strictly observed, fully respected and genuinely protected from usurpations, neglect, abuses, violation without infringement as enshrined in Somaliland Constitution and in full compliance with International Human Rights Standards, conventions, covenants and declarations regulated within an Institutionalized Framework of the Rule of Law.
Kulmiye Party’s Policy programs shall prioritize the protection, preservation, guarantee and promotion of the basic Human Rights and fundamental freedoms of Most vulnerable, often neglected and discriminated but important sections of the Society, including Women, the Children, the Disabled, Minorities, the IDPs, Refugees and the migrant workers and strives for the guarantee of their deserved protection from social discrimination and exclusion from political decision making participation social and economic development rights pursuit on the understanding these issues as the basic pillars and fundamental prerequisites for the development of good governance and democratic society with a participatory regulatory frame work (that occupies a fitting place with deserved status amongst its contemporary nation states at the age of globalization).
Kulmiye Party in support of the current year 2009 Human Rights Motto, has availed itself the opportunity to declare its open policy to combat and struggle to eradicate all ills and evils, in all their forms, that in principle and in practical actions that impede, hinder, infringe, allow the continued persistence or contributes to the prevalence of Human Rights abuses and violations of any citizen rights and any human who happen to be in Somaliland for any peaceful purposes anytime and combat believes and practices that prevent or disillusion the enjoyment and peaceful exercise of such rights.
The Initiation, development, legislation and enforcement of policy programs towards that end and disbanding and repealing laws that are currently in force known to infringe or jeopardize the basic rights and fundamental freedoms of citizens, individually and in groups. This shall be coupled by a programmatic socio-economic and political reform and transformation to address widespread disparity and deep rooted traditions, inequities and inequalities.
Shall enforce the rule of law to combat violations and abuses, corruption and infringement of Human Rights at every level and ensure transparency and accountability and introduce a system of holding perpetrators accountable for misdeeds committed and violations according to acceptable standards whereas victims shall be compensated commensurate for physical injuries and/ or damages on personal dignity.
Balli Hiile, 9 December 2009 (Somalilandpress) The town of Balli Hiile lies about an hours drive south east of Burcao in eastern Somaliland. Miles and miles of monotonous semi-desert landscape surrounds the village, nothing but acacia trees, termite mounds and small prickly shrubs scatter the land.
Somaliland forms the north western part of Somalia. Declaring its independence from the south in 1991, the region has been striving for international recognition of its independence ever since. Despite a fledgling democracy, its own currency and remaining relatively stable, its claim has never been recognised.
Like the rest of Somalia, Somaliland’s people are in the midst of the worst drought they have seen in a decade. Water points are drying up, animals are dying and with them, thousands of people’s way of life is disappearing too.
For ten years, the inhabitants of Balli Hiile have been noticing this change in the weather. “80% of the village has left because the rains haven’t come” our guide, Fardus who works with Oxfam in Somaliland, tells us. Many of them will have walked 100km with their animals to the Ethiopian hinterlands in search of rain and something for their livestock to eat.
“Those who have left will pass information down the roads from village to village, sending news if they’ve found rain and pasture”, she says.
Only those not able to move and help are left behind. One of those is Abdilahi Ahmed Ali.
Abdilahi is 80 years old and has lived in Balli Hiile since 1958.
“When I look at the landscape now, I think of hungriness”, he says, looking out at the parched land surrounding him. “When I was a boy, the village was full of green, we had the best quality fodder.”
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The community told us that this year, the rains have failed completely, allowing nothing to grow and decimating the livelihoods of a village that relies solely on its livestock for survival. “Each family will lose livestock”, says Abdilahi. “Last year we lost about 40% of our animals, this year we’re hoping it will be no more than 20%.”
Oxfam’s partner HAVOYOCO has been working with the community in Balli Hiile to conserve soil and water by rehabilitating water points and rebuilding crumbling berkads, large holes dug into the ground in which water can be stored.
“We nearly died a while ago,” says one local stallholder in the village. “We had food, but no water to cook it with.” When the community was at crisis point earlier this year, Oxfam though its partner trucked in water to keep people alive.
Despite the devastation of his village and its way of life over the past ten years, Abdilahi still has hope. “We are expecting rain, all we need is rain”, he says.
But if the rains continue to fail and more animals die, many of Balli Hiile’s inhabitants will be forced to give up their way of life and flee to the towns to beg for money and food.
But Abdilahi was adamant that he will not leave his home and the place he loves. “The only thing I can do is lie down here, I’m not going anywhere. I prefer to die in my house.”
HARGEISA, 9 December 2009 (Somalilandpress) – A closed source in the Horn of Africa reports on al-Shabaab’s strategy at the current juncture of the conflicts in southern and central Somalia. According to the source, Harakat al-Shabaab Mujahideen (H.S.M.) is preparing to launch an offensive in the central regions to gain the kind of dominance over them that it has achieved in the Jubba regions in the south over the past month by displacing its former ally Hizbul Islam (H.I.). The source reports that local observers and politicians had expected H.S.M. to carry its fight against H.I. to Mogadishu next. The move to an encirclement strategy, according to the source, would repeat what H.S.M. did in the Jubba Valley by “creating safe areas on its flanks.” H.S.M. would then turn to Mogadishu.
Regarding the prospects for the success of H.S.M.’s strategy, the source notes that the group will face strong opponents in the central regions [presumably Ahlu Sunna wal-Jama’a in Galgadud and H.I. in Hiraan] and that Ethiopia will likely intervene; but the source adds that, at the very least, H.S.M. is likely to be able “to capture Hizbul Islam territories up to Beledweyne.
Significance :
The source’s intelligence will be analyzed in terms of how it enlightens H.S.M.’s overall strategy. If the intelligence is accurate, then it reflects a set of judgments and decisions by H.S.M. on how it can most effectively gain political dominance in southern and central Somalia. The strategy of encircling Mogadishu, rather than going for an immediate confrontation with H.I. there, indicates patience and prudence on H.S.M.’s part, which in turn indicates that H.S.M. is confident that it need not bring along the baggage of rivalrous allies as it prepares for a stepped-up campaign against the African Union peacekeeping mission (AMISOM) and forces of the Transitional Federal Government (T.F.G.) in Mogadishu. Phase One of H.S.M.’s overall campaign is to consolidate armed opposition to AMISOM and the T.F.G. under its command. If it is successful, H.S.M. will have placed itself as the only alternative to the T.F.G. in the southern and central regions.
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The intelligence casts doubt on frequent current claims by analysts and officials supporting the T.F.G. that H.S.M. has lost popular legitimacy and is weakening, and that its fight with H.I. indicates a collapse of the armed opposition and, therefore, presents an opportunity for the T.F.G. to expand its power in the regions, where it has no present control.
Conflict within an alliance can cut two ways. It can reflect disunity and disaggregation in some cases, yet in others it indicates the achievement of dominance by one faction over the others, leading to consolidation and, consequently, to a stronger opposition than existed prior to internecine strife.
As for loss of popular legitimacy, one must ask, as many Somali intellectuals do: Why, if H.S.M. is so unpopular and is weakening, are there not insurrections in the territories that it controls? Southern and central Somalia is a country awash in arms. Sub-clans have not disappeared. H.S.M. appears to be able to hold and administer territory, and could not do so without some support and acquiescence among local populations.
Whether or not H.S.M. will be able to carry through successfully its encirclement strategy remains unclear, with uncertainty residing in the source’s observation that H.S.M. faces “worthy opponents,” yet itself is formidable. What is apparent is that H.S.M. does not perceive itself as weakening, but, rather, as strengthening to the point at which it is willing to bid for monopoly over armed opposition. Is theirs a sober judgment?
H.S.M. has overreached before and has over-valued its power; yet it has also had periods of success, starting in late 2007 when it adopted its first strategy of encirclement that led to its current control over much of southern and central Somalia. The encirclement strategy is more in line with its sober than its intoxicated side. H.S.M. is taking a risk, but it appears to be a well-calculated risk. The strategy does not appear to be a product of desperation or a last-stand mentality, any more than it appears to be the work of irrational exuberance.
The source’s intelligence should be taken seriously, because, if it is accurate, it indicates that H.S.M. is thinking strategically and is neither over-valuing nor under-valuing its power. As the source puts it, “This is the most logical maneuver before dealing with Hizbul Islam in Mogadishu.”
Report Drafted By: Dr. Michael A. Weinstein, Professor of Political Science, Purdue University
HARGEISA, 9 December 2009 (Somalilandpress) – Piracy along the Somali coast has seen an unprecedented increase in the last year. According to the BBC So far, there have been 147 incidents in the waters off the Somali coast and in the Gulf of Aden, compared with 63 for the same period last year. A total of 533 crew members have been taken hostage. Furthermore, according to the BBC again, the IMB (The International Maritime Bureau) also says the pirates appear to have “extended their reach, threatening not only the Gulf of Aden and east coast of Somalia, but also the southern region of the Red Sea, the Bab el Mandab Straits and the East Coast of Oman”.
The pirate’s are becoming bolder with every ransom paid to them and their attacks have now escalated into kidnapping and demanding ransoms from individuals as well as multinational vessels. At present an international search is under way for a British couple Paul and Rachel Chandler who were captured by Somali Pirates whilst in their yacht heading to Tanzania from the Seychelles. The combination of the Chandlers ordeal, their desperate appeal for help and the greed of the Somali pirates has firmly placed Somali piracy in the international media spotlight.
Whilst the Pirates and their financial backers may be enjoying the limelight and comfortably living off their ill gotten gains, the majority of the worlds businesses are counting the painful cost of it all. As a result of the pirate attacks, many ships have changed routes and those that have been brave enough to continue using the pirate infested routes through the Gulf of Aden have been forced to pay higher insurance premiums in order to receive basic insurance cover. This has inevitably caused an international rift between insurers and shipping companies who feel that the insurers are using the piracy scare as a method of generating more revenue from what is already a costly and heavily recession hit industry. Since the majority of the worlds consumer goods are transported by sea, the hike in insurance premiums for the shipping companies will be passed on to their clients who will in turn pass it on to their customers. This is already happening in most of the worlds developed economies as the consequences of Somali piracy is been bitterly felt through a rise in food and fuel prices. In addition to this, neighbouring East African Countries such as Kenya where just over a million Refugee Somali nationals live, the proceeds of piracy has lead to a sharp rise in property prices and land costs for ordinary citizens as pirates use their ill gotten gains quickly to buy land and commodities before they are captured.
The pirates have argued unconvincingly that their main motivation comes from a need to protect Somalia’s waters against illegal fishing and dumping of waste from foreign vessels. Whilst this may have been true at first and could have attracted support from international environmental groups such as Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace, it has proven to be a very feeble justification as a result of the extortionate ransom demands made by the pirates. The fact is that most of these pirates are nothing more than common criminals and gangsters who use their knowledge of the sea to make trade difficult for the rest of the world.
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The impact of these pirate’s criminal activities is been felt socially and politically by the Somali community in the Diaspora who the western right wing press immediately blame for their activities. Peaceful, law abiding Somalis who already are politically and socially marginalised by poverty, racism and social exclusion are now in most parts of the Western world, been used as scapegoats for the crimes of greedy thugs who they have never met or have any relations with. At a Somali cafe in Bristol many made their feelings clear. “I do not know who they are but these pirates seem to be making life difficult for us at school,” a young secondary school student said. “I hope they realise that their actions are leading to some of us Somali students in Bristol been bullied and taunted.” A father of four jumped in and added, “I do not feel safe letting my children play outside anymore because I am afraid that they may get into fights with other non Somali children. With every pirate attack we lose strength as a community and we are more open to attack from the general public who seem to think we are robbing them of their benefits in the UK and robbing them of their trade in the sea.” With Britain experiencing one of the greatest economic downturns in the country’s history and a huge shortage in social housing and school places, the Somali community is already been blamed for creating a huge pressure on the public purse without contributing anything of value to the British economy and society. The painful consequences of Somali piracy in East Africa has been to further add to the stigmatisation and marginalisation of a Somali Community already facing great difficulties and prejudice in the West.
Of course one sympathises with the poverty faced by Somali’s living in the war torn Country but what they are doing is absolutely wrong. The real enemies of the Somali people are not the multinational vessels carrying millions of dollars worth of goods or the poor private amateur sailors wanting to see the world in their yachts but the many failed Somali governments who, had they been functioning properly, would have been able to collect taxes from the users of their territorial waters as well as grant fishing permits to those who were willing to pay a fair price for them.
Tougher international action is needed against Somali Pirates in order to make the seas safe again but sea patrols by international navies is not enough as this will only artificially delay the solving of this piracy epidemic of the Somali coast.
Piracy and its damaging threats can only realistically be eliminated by addressing its root causes which are poverty and state failure on the in land. Furthermore, in line with the European Parliament recommendation, an independent investigation into war crimes and human rights violations in Somalia need to be carried out to bring closure to those who feel that they have been wronged by successive but equally poor governments of Somalia and to bring the perpetrators of misery, abuse and corruption which might have lead to the piracy epidemic, to justice.
