Somali’s Ambassador to Kenya Muhamad Ali Nur has said the situation in his country is “very severe” and has consequently appealed for help from the international community.
Speaking during an interview with Kenya’s privately-owned KTN TV at the Somali embassy in the capital, Nairobi, Nur said: “The situation is very severe. We have humanitarian crisis. People are dying daily. People are being displaced, going out of the cities.
“Al-Shabab group who are fighting against the government are not peace-loving people. The are fighting the government. They don’t want peace. The government always welcomed Somali parties and groups to participate in the peace process. Al-Shabab actually – they are the ones who are really indiscriminately killing people. They are the ones responsible for the displacement of people and that is why we have appealed to the international community to enable countries to come and support us. We need nation building” he said in the interview.
“The hospitals are very overwhelmed with injured people, kids especially, young women who are really injured by the shelling of these Al-Shabab groups who are shelling indiscriminately to civilian people”. he added.
Responding to a question as to whether a military intervention was now necessary, he remained evasive saying, “I think apart from that, Somalia needs capacity building. The Somali forces need to be helped. We have now AMISOM [AU Mission to Somalia] troops who are helping peacekeeping forces in Somalia, but on top of that I think the international community need to reassess, re-evaluate, re-help, help again, the Somali forces who will be able to bring peace and stability to Somalia”.
He was asked whether the recent US arms shipment would be of any help. His response:
“I think it will. I think the transitional federal government is a legitimate government and the US is a friendly country who came to help of the plea that we have asked to help us. Well, as we all know that Al-Shabab have been assisted by other countries who do not want peace. For example, Al-Shabab, have been getting assistance by weapons and ammunition from Eritrea, and that is a well-known fact. I think we welcome the assistance we are receiving from the USA.”
He said his government had warned both Kenya and Ethiopia to beef up security along their borders with Somalia. “Some of the border sides in Somalia, for example in Kenya and Ethiopia, we have some Al-Shabab forces around that area. And we have told the Kenya government and the Ethiopian governments to beef up the borders so that foreign fighters or the Al-Shabab fighters will not enter into Kenya and destabilize Kenya”.
Washington, 28 June 2009 (Somalilandcurrent) — The Problems plaguing Somalia show no sign of abating in the near future.
It seems that every other day there has been a Bomb Explosion in Mogadishu killing dozens of people or requests made by the Transitional Government for Assistance have been falling on Deaf Ears.
Is there any hope for the Horn of Africa?
For Almost 20 years Somalia has been in a State of Anarchy. Two Previous Attempts by the United Nations to restore a functioning Government have failed and currently a third attempt is not promising.
Piracy has been a Major Concern amongst the International Community as the Gulf of Aden is a Chokepoint amongst the Shipping Lanes of the World.
Islamic Militants who have been linked to both Al-Qaida and Eritrea have been battling Government Forces in and around the Capital Mogadishu. And in recent day days in a High Profile Incident 4 thieves suffered Cross Amputation for their Crimes.
As a result of the latest fighting 250 people have reportedly been killed and 170,000 have been displaced. The US Government has seen fit to send 10 tons of Arms to support the Somali Government.
The Crisis in Somalia seems to be getting worse.
In the near future a Conference will be held in Washington, DC regarding the Future of Somalia.
What is interesting is for the First Time Somaliland will be asked to attend. However they will not attend due to the fact that they have been invited as a Province of Somalia not as an Independent State which they claim to be.
In another Interesting Fact Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti were not invited to take part in the Washington Conference.
For Several Years now the Somaliland Region has been attempting to have the Independent Community state that they are a Country. In 1998 the Somali Government tried to prevent the region from seceding by Force but was unsuccessful.
After a Meeting with US Officals at the Embassy in Nairobi the Somaliland leadership decided not to attend because their concerns would not be on the Agenda. That is a Legitimate Concern.
The Leaders in Hargeysa don’t want to be lumped into a Solution that may end up being a detriment to Somaliland. After all the Region will be announcing which companies were able to purchase Gas and Oil Exploration contracts this fall. The region does not have a problem with Piracy either.
In the Long Run the US may be making an Error by not increasing contacts with Hargeysa. On this note the Obama Administration deserves some praise. Unlike Previous Administrations they have been talking to Somaliland.
Our early history we were rural society and moving towards where rain falls after a period we immediately change urban society although some remain their stage we changes our camels to cars and so on, as we passing these social change steps we suddenly stopped un-expected stage that some pessimistic believe this phase is hard to pass easily, but if we ask ourselves can our society ready to make change or reached maturity period or is there factors of social change all these question I believe we can’t find reliable answers because the fundamental of our society or lifestyle broke early and attachment needs more orienting steps.
Orienting social change needs attention mass media but unfortunately our mass media didn’t interest these main issues I mean changing our society civilized people productive society and make the society busy for developing issues and also change their way of thinking and my knowledge our society they are victimized all changes regardless to our faith, culture, and main example is the Diaspora in western countries according to a survey that I made personal in our media I didn’t find any program that orient social change I think there is no awareness or importance of this vital issue although some radio whose opened recently claim that they operate peace and development issues but I think the measure has been lost, there measurement is based on senseless so we need these standards to change immediately.
The human institution or non-governmental organizations that operate inside Somalia also didn’t focus social evolution although they claim that their function is human aid but the main thing that you can aid for human being is to change and betterment for their life and I believe that mass media and humanitarian organizations can play a vital role for this important program and adore and realize his value because if we didn’t care our society it’s clear that they will remain this hard stage for long time.
How we can change our society?
There is several steps we can orient our society to lead progressive social change and these steps are:-
Build community based on their behavior respect in each other.
Change the attitude, (not leaving our value) behavior I mean assault behavior we adapted, political system.
Orienting accountability for the all national resource and public sectors such as roads, airport, and universities and so on.
Solutions for social problems determining the core of the problem.
Understanding well practicing democracy and free speeches and mutual respect in all fields.
Because progressive social change involves making significant changes on a systemic level, conflict with those who hold power is often inevitable. The power that social change organizations bring to the table is their ability to organize, to educate and to mobilize.
Unless take these process we can’t beseech he edge of the social change or the sense of change so I adjure our society to bring social feeling about evolution process and also adjure for this stage all the influential individuals to focus for their ability and feel responsibility about their society.
Finally I believe if these processes take carefully we became progressive social and also we can stop thinking useless issue.
By Saaid Omar Ahmed Dhuhulow
Khartoum-Sudan
email qaroof22@hotmail.com tell +249923374457
Hargeisa, 27 June 2009 (Somalilandcurrent) – Somaliland scored 4.5 in the numerical index rating, with 1 representing the most respect and 7 the least respect; ranked Somaliland as the 144th world’s political and civil rights-respecting country out of 208 countries (193 recognized and 15 yet to be recognized countries); which further indicated that Somaliland has more political rights and civil liberties, than 64 countries, including China, Russia, Egypt, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia according to the Washington based Freedom House Organization’s 2007.
Somaliland peace-making and democratization, and the relatively peaceful neighboring Puntland State of Somalia are enough to approve of the hypothesis of that building peace through people not for the people is more successful than parachuting Somali government established in Nairobi, Impeghatti, Djibouti, Arta, Cairo, Sana, etc.
Thanks to traditional elders, the homegrown efforts not only manage the peace and security in Somaliland but also the judicial functions as a prevention measure. According to the Hargeisa based Research and Training Center (RTC), 65% of Somaliland settlements rely on community elders in their peace, security and justice management. In addition, two third of the cases reached at the prosecution offices withdrawn their cases to civil mediation; which accumulates the traditional elders’ peace, security, and justice management burden to 77.5%.
Unexpectedly, the supposed appreciation and reward from other Somalis and the international community to the Somaliland is yet to be materialized. Instead, all the fifteen international community’s Somali reconciliation attempts and the self-pro-claimed Somali efforts of setting Somali governments, including internationally unrecognized late General Aideed’s government, the Union of Islamic Courts defeated by the Ethiopian Military intervention with the US logistic support, and the Al-shabab Al-Mujahedeen Islamist Movement, which currently controlled most of Southern Somalia emphasized to establish a Mogadishu based (suppose to be based) Somali governments; as if Somalia is in Mogadishu; while Mogadishu is in Somalia.
“Contrary to the western belief, Somaliland ’s successful multi-party elections have proved that the African tradition, Islamic faith and modern democracy are compatible“
Al-shabab Al-Mujahedeen publically declare that they masterminded the three suicidal explosions in Hargeisa on October, 2008 as retributive action against the pro-western and pro-Ethiopian Somaliland is schemer to revenge from the extradition of Anti-Ethiopia ONLF members or supporters from Somaliland to Ethiopia , since Ethiopia is common enemy for ONLF and Al-shabab.
Contrary to the expectation, the international community graded Somaliland down to UN Security Level Four, which could discourage development and investment. In the gatherings, Somalilanders asked questions to each other- whether such security downgrading decision is rewarding to Al-shabab, and inviting to carry our more attacks or not? On September 11, 2001; three planes were crashed into buildings in New York, just couple of yards away from the United Nations headquarter, and no one down graded the USA security level; why Somaliland? This will be a witness for Islamist hardliner’s claim of that the Western World is not looking a democracy but they are using as proxy hand to intervene other’s affairs.
The currently widespread legitimate debate among Somalilanders is- ‘what did they benefited from supporting the Western World in the war against the international terrorist’, Djibouti in the war against Eritrea, Ethiopia in the war against ONLF, and the Red Sea facing countries in the war against the sea pirate.
The homegrown Somaliland peace and democracy needs to be rewarded, at least by offering temporary recognition to both Somaliland and Somalia with condition of attending negotiation to agree, either as two separate states or into one Somalia within that period, as a carrot and stick policy.
Any other attempt is unproductive, if not counterproductive, and could create a conducive environment for Al-shabab Al-Mujahedeen’s potential conquer of all Somali territories, including Djibouti, and the Somali regions of Ethiopia and Kenya.
Somaliland the home of 3.5 million persons, one third of the population of the collapsed Somalia , is a former British colony in the Horn of Africa that merged in 1960 with the Italian colony of Somalia to form the independent republic of Somalia .
When Somalia disintegrated into fiefdoms controlled by iron-fisted warlords in the early 1990s, Somaliland broke away and set up its own administrational institutions, including executive, legislative and judicial bodies, and currency.
Somalilanders tried to build a new state through shirweyne (conference in Somali) under the acacia trees that people in this country can understand and identify with, instead of the extravagance five-star hotels in the neighboring or concerned African and Arab cities, where many failing reconciliations held.
In this basically classless society, the right to choose one’s leaders freely and hold them accountable was practiced for centuries or perhaps for millenniums. The traditional elders controlled political system took the major decisions by consensus and selected government leaders through an electoral college consisting members representing clans during the decade of 1991-2000. Since then, the challenge has been how to transfer the clan-based system to a modern democratic system.
Opportunely, a gradual democratization process took place, where 2001 constitutional referendum, municipal elections, presidential, and House of Representatives election where held in 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2005, respectively; and the second term presidential and municipal elections are planned September and December 2009, respectively.
Seventy-six International observers from 15 countries including South Africa , Britain, Canada , New Zealand , the United States , Zimbabwe , Sweden , Finland and other EU members reported in their overall assessment that besides lack of enough resources and higher illiteracy of the voters, free and fair elections have been conducted in Somaliland .
Ahmed Mohamed Diriye (Toorno),
ahmedmdiriye@yahoo.com,
Hargeisa
Las Anod, June 27, 2009 (Somalilandcurrent) — The Central Bank of Somaliland (CBS) opened its first branch in Las Anod, the regional capital of Sool on Friday. The branch will introduce Somaliland currency [Somaliland Shilling] to the region and will carry out all monetary policies, financial research, note issuance and anti-money laundering as well as general services of a commercial bank and exchange.
Las anod historically used Somali Shilling but since coming under Somaliland’s control in November 2007, the Somaliland government has built a number of institutions.
Currently, there are no foreign exchange or commercial banks in the city.
Central Bank of Somaliland governor Mr. Abdirahman Mohamed inaugurated the new branch also present for the opening ceremony were the governor of Sool, Mr Ali Mahamoud (Ali Sandule), traditional leader, Mr Adan Ali Duale, Mayor of Las Anod, Mr Anbashe Aw-Dahir and a large crowd from the public.
The Central Bank of Somaliland was established in 1994 after a bloody war with neighbouring Somalia – the bank has a governor, general director and five members of which three members are prominent private businessmen in its board of directors.
The Somaliland currency consists of the following denominations 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 Shilling. Foreign exchange branches are usually located in regional airports such as Egal International Airport [Hargeisa], Borama airport and so on.
A scorpion once tried to cross the river Nile. He approached several animals, asking if he could ride on their backs. None of them dared trust him, and they all refused.Finally, an old sheep agreed because the scorpion said that if he strung the sheep during the crossing, they would both die.
In the middle of the river, the scorpion struck, and as they both sank beneath the waves, the sheep cried, “Why?!”
The scorpion said, “I could not do anything else. I am a scorpion!”
Houston, June 27 2009 (Somalilandcurrent) — Fasil Amdetsion is an attorney from Ethiopia who speaks in riddles. With an undergraduate degree from Yale in both history and international studies, and a law degree from Harvard, he is a thinker.
Working with prestigious New York law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, he is also a do-er.
One of the things Fasil has done recently is analyzed the legal, geopolitical, and historical dimensions of the longstanding dispute over the Nile. He has followed the course of this river from an early age, growing up in the Nile River basin.
The White Nile begins at Lake Victoria and the Blue Nile begins at Lake Tana.
Fasil’s task is to get people outside the region to see trouble on the horizon. He believes there is significant chance of a “water war” along the Nile basin. The largest question is how volatile it will be — and whether it is preventable.
Both necessary and finite, water plays a vital role in food and energy production, modern transportation, waste disposal, industrial development, and of course health. Water gave rise to civilization 7,000 years ago — and sustains it still.
Fasil Amdetsion, Esq. studied at Harvard and Yale
Because of its limited supply, Fasil understands water’s crucial importance to governments and their people. When water is unevenly distributed, or when it is in needed more than ever as nations develop, conflicts are sure to arise.
With water’s myriad uses and limited nature, coupled with the fact that it is the quintessential “trans-boundary” resource, it is difficult for nations to agree upon its distribution and use.
The Nile River between Luxor and Aswan, Egypt.
It is unsurprising, Fasil notes, that the English word “rival” is derived from the Latin word rivalis, a term denoting persons who live on opposite banks of a river used for irrigation.
Fasil thinks the Nile basin will be the most likely site of a future “water war” because the Nile embodies “all the challenges that transnational management of fresh water could possibly present.” The Nile would seem to be a water war waiting to happen.
The Nile is long — over 4,000 miles long. Two countries sharing anything often equates war. The Nile is shared by ten countries, and flows through some of the most water-deprived parts of the world.
The region’s population is growing at 3% a year and is projected to reach 859 million in 2025 (up from 245 million in 1990) is likely to make water even more scarce along the river basin.
One problem is that Sudan and Egypt — two comparatively non-contributories — monopolize the use of the Nile. They claim it all — and rely on colonial-era treaties to do so.
In recent years, nations up-river have become more assertive of their rights. Tanzania, Uganda, and Ethiopia are among the countries that have begun to construct projects on the Nile.
Despite the occasional conciliatory gesture, however, relations between the Nile’s upriver nations have been dominated by suspicion and, at times, raw belligerence.
In a sense, Fasil argues, Nile riparian states are behaving like the proverbial scorpion.
Although these countries have much to gain from cooperation, they have rigidly pursued divergent paths in a manner that may ultimately be self-destructive if environmental and population pressures continue to mount — which they will.
Fasil criticizes current legal frameworks and political arrangements governing the Nile’s use. He is also critical of a status quo which does not allow several countries to make use of the Nile for their own development.
Egypt receives the entirety of the Nile’s bounties from others but is allocated 75% of the Nile’s waters, while Ethiopia, from which 85% of the Nile flows, makes almost no use of the river.
Because of the enormity of interests these two states have at stake, they have been most vocal in asserting claims and counterclaims that represent competing upper and lower riparian visions for the Nile’s future utilization
Specifically, Fasil attempts to overcome the quandary the up-river states find themselves in. He hopes to influence a more comprehensive approach by grappling with environmental challenges, economic issues, populist and nationalist imaginations that influence politics, security interests, and legal arguments.
Population: 72.8 million (2005), 86.2 million (2015)
People living in urban (towns): 42.8% (2005), 45.4% (2015)
Population using an improved water source 94% (1990), 98% (2004)
Population without electricity: 1.5 million
Hydro, solar, wind and geothermal power (% of total primary energy supply), 1.9% (2005)
Employment in agriculture (% of total employment), 30% (1996-2005)
Fasil’s thoughts on this subject are available in a law journal article published by the University of Texas School of Law, Texas International Law Journal, Fall 2009, “Scrutinizing the Scorpion Problematique: Arguments in Favor of the Continued Relevance of International Law and a Multidisciplinary Approach to Resolving the Nile Dispute.”
By Jim Luce (www.jimluce.com) writes and speaks on Thought Leaders and Global Citizens.
Sources: The Huffington Post [published: May 25, 2009], Human Development Report (statistics), Somalilandpress (highlights stats)
Al-Shabaab’s first attack on Kenyan soil was in 2008. Since then the Kenyan government has responded with force. United Nations Photo/Flickr
Hargeisa, 27 June 2009 (Somalilandcurrent) – As Somalia’s transitional government fights for its existence and the region’s governments debate how to respond, guest columnist Daniela Kroslak argues strongly against another foreign military incursion. Instead what is needed, she writes, is more international investment in the political process aimed at re-orienting and broadening reconciliation efforts already under way.
Kenyan media have been abuzz in recent days with speculation that Nairobi and its allies in the region could be planning a military operation to prop up the fragile Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in Mogadishu, which is under siege from militant Islamist factions led by Al-Shabaab.
Official rhetoric against the Somali Islamists has been hardening: Nairobi increasingly fears the TFG could collapse unless the international community provides it with additional troops to hold its ground.
The deadly suicide bombing in Beledweyne last week that killed the TFG’s security minister, Omar Hashi – a key figure in the regime’s military counter-offensive against Al-Shabaab – came as another shocking reminder of the group’s capacity to undermine the interim government. In a sense, the TFG is fighting for its very survival. Resurgent militant Islamist groups are clearly bent on overthrowing the current regime. President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed has imposed a state of emergency to deal with these threats.
Despite the gravity of the current situation, the calls for foreign military intervention in Somalia are ill-advised. The TFG and its supporters have circulated dire warnings of a high number of foreign jihadi combatants in order to create panic about Somalia being on the verge of becoming another Afghanistan, the new den of international Al-Qaeda militants. This threat is supposed to also justify a foreign intervention.
Under Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, the former leader of the Islamic Courts Union who was elected president last February, the TFG has regained some legitimacy and holds potentially valuable keys to a political settlement. It is more representative of central and southern Somalia’s populations and can probably articulate an Islamic vision for Somalia which will rally the support of its majority, contrary to the jihadists whose practice of Islam is foreign to the country.
Yet external military intervention is not the way forward.
Since the collapse of Siad Barre’s regime in 1991, there have been several foreign incursions. Every single one of them exacerbated the conflict by increasing radicalisation and political polarisation. They reduced chances for political dialogue and helped militant groups to recruit. Al-Shabaab has grown in strength over the last two years largely because it used Ethiopia’s intervention and the United States’ bombing campaign to whip up nationalism and rally the clans around its banner.
A Kenyan intervention force — alone or as part of a force by the regional Inter Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) — would only lead to the same result. In fact, Al-Shabaab, currently under siege politically, desperately wants such an intervention for those very reasons. The movement may be militarily triumphant, but its political message is increasingly challenged in south and central Somalia.
Militant Islamist factions in Somalia are taunting Kenya into a military intervention in the same way they taunted Ethiopia in 2006. Kenya should be wary of falling into the same trap.
Another possible threat which Kenya needs to weigh is the direct security implications stemming from such an intervention. Al-Shabaab’s threat to strike Kenya, which could reasonably be dismissed as bravado, may become real. Al-Shabaab has honed its terror tactics and skills in recent years and is now by far the deadliest guerilla movement operating in the Horn.
Kenya should not get sucked into the Somalia conflict but concentrate on securing its borders and actively supporting its resolution.
What is needed today is more international investment in the political process aimed at re-orienting and broadening the United Nations-sponsored reconciliation efforts known as the “Djibouti process” to ensure as many militants and radicals as possible are reached and the necessary concessions made to ensure their buy-in.
Reaching out to moderates is not enough: peace will have to be made between Somalia’s bitter enemies. This will be difficult, but it is not altogether impossible, as some suggest, and many channels of communications transit through Nairobi.
In the short run, rather than direct military intervention, efforts should concentrate on bolstering the TFG’s military capacity through additional training, funding and the provision of new military equipment as part of an overall strategy to restore the balance of forces conducive to political negotiations.
The African Union peacekeeping mission should not become a direct party to the fighting but should be used only to secure strategic points essential to the reinforcement of the TFG. No foreign army should fight the Somalis’ war; instead the TFG must be enabled to fight its own fight. This is what many Somali officials actually believe will be effective.
Nairobi’s traditional pragmatist tendencies and the practice of using dialogue to resolve problems have not lost their currency. In fact, despite the belligerent tone of some official Somali declarations, provincial and local administration leaders are engaged with Al-Shabaab in a dialogue to resolve the problems of banditry, armed car-jacking and inter-clan tensions along Kenya’s long border with Somalia, and they have effectively succeeded in managing the situation over the past year.
Now is not the time to beat the drums of a new regional invasion of Somalia but to invest in the political process that will provide an end to its decade long conflict.
Hargeisa, 27 June 2009 (Somalilandcurrent) – Governments trying to set framework for establishing Islamic Banking. Conventional banks trying to extend their line of service by Islamic Banking. And Islamic banks are expanding their network globally. Islamic Banking is on the rise! But despite that impressive growth standards have to be set in order to not dilute the quality of Islamic Banking.
Recently there is a lot of talk about Islamic Banking as it seems to have proofed more resilient than conventional banking.
However the total number of Islamic banks is still small and according to online-researches conducted by Shariah-Fortune estimated at around 350-400 institutions worldwide. Compared to around 9,500 banks located in the USA the Islamic Banking sector still seems pretty small.
But its relativity small numbers bear potential for extraordinary growth rates. According to estimates Islamic Banking is one of the world’s fasted growing financial sectors, rising 15-20 % p.a. Asian Banker Research Group found out that growth rate is as high as 26.7 % among the 100 largest Islamic banks.
Basically Islamic Banking is not only restricted to about 1.5 bn Muslims; indeed even non-Muslims can profit from the advantages of Shariah-compliant banking. Most of the banks offer their services to non-Muslims as well.
Islamic banks are located in 50 countries worldwide and can be found in countries like Algeria, Azerbaijan,…Yemen. Major Islamic Banking hubs are Malaysia, Bahrain, UK and UAE.
With regards to the above mentioned many countries and banks now trying to establish or expand Shariah-compliant banking.
A recent example is the mainly Muslim nation of Kazakhstan in which 3-4 Islamic banks are planning to set up operations soon. Special attention should be paid to China. The China Banking Regulatory Commission had given approval to a pilot project of Bank of Ningxia to undertake Islamic financial services in the People’s Republic of China. Even African countries like Nigeria or Senegal trying now to expand their Islamic Finance systems. In March 2009, a framework for non-interest banking was released by the Central Bank of Nigeria. More examples could be named.
However many of these countries are not yet ready to offer Shariah-compliant banking services as they either lack human resources, expertise or the economical and political framework to do so. According to Dr. Al Jarhi, President of the International Association for Islamic Economics, ‘…one of the most serious challenges is represented in the need for set standards and criteria for the governance of Shariah boards at Islamic banks’.
Shariah-Fortune is a service provider in the Islamic Finance Intelligence. It provides informational content with regards to Islamic banking & financing, insurance/takaful, real estate, investment, asset and wealth management and other services related to Islamic finance. Shariah-Fortune provides the world´s biggest company online directory for Islamic Finance with more than 800 institutions in 50 countries worldwide. It covers nearly every geographic region and segment in the Shariah compliant products industry, sourced from the internet through a substantial secondary research effort coupled with a high quality data cleansing process.
Periodically Shariah-Fortune issues a free market report about the size, market players and development of the Islamic Finance sector.
Shariah-Fortune is headquartered in Dubai. For more information on Shariah-Fortune please email info@shariah-fortune.com.
Hargeisa, 26 June 2009 (Somalilandcurrent) – Some armed groups who adhere to a more moderate interpretation of Islam have begun battling Al Qaeda-linked extremists.
Somalia is beginning to seem more and more like the Swat Valley of eastern Africa – a place where Al Qaeda-linked insurgents are setting up religious law courts, assassinating government ministers, and spreading their tentacles farther and deeper.
This week, Al Shabab, the top militant Islamist force that controls most of the country, tried and convicted four thieves. Their punishment: amputation of one hand and one foot each, in accordance with a strict, literal reading of Islamic law. The sentence has been temporarily delayed, but it’s the latest sign that Somalia is fast becoming an extremist haven. (Last month, Islamists invited a crowd to see a man suspected of stealing $90 worth of clothing get his hand cut off, BBC reports in a detailed eye witness account.)
And as in Pakistan, many are looking to armed tribes in Somalia who adhere to Sufism – a mystical, moderate interpretation of Islam – as the best chance for peace.
A Somalian writer – identifying himself only as Mr. Muthuma – writes in an opinion piece published on Bartamaha, an independent Somalian news portal, that a “new axis” of conflict has formed in Somalia, in which fighters are battling one another along religious lines.
Moderate Sufi scholars, whose tolerant beliefs have come under attack, have decided to fight back against al-Shabaab for destroying their shrines and murdering their imams….
It is an Islamist versus Islamist war, and the Sufi scholars are part of a broader moderate movement that Western nations are counting on to repel Somalia’s increasingly powerful extremists.
Whether Somalia becomes a terrorist haven and a genuine regional threat – which is already beginning to happen, with hundreds of heavily armed foreign jihadists flocking here to fight for Al Shabab – or whether this country steadies itself and ends the years of bloodshed, may hinge on who wins these ideological, sectarian battles.
But not everyone agrees. Ali Eteraz, writing in Foreign Policy this month, laments the goal of propping up Sufis against other religious sects.
The usual response by supporters of the Sufi solution is that thanks to the extremists, Islam has already been politicized, and therefore propagandist measures promoting Sufism are the only way to fight back. But that’s precisely the problem: Propaganda is inherently discrediting. Besides, state-sponsored Sufism … gets everything backward: In an environment where demagogues are using religion to conceal their true political and material ambitions, establishing another official, “preferred” theological ideology won’t roll back their influence. Minimizing the role of all religion in government would be a better idea. Only then could people begin to speak about rights and liberty.
It remains to be seen how this internal struggle will play out. In the meantime, could an “Islamic-led international engagement” from outside be the answer?
That’s the argument of Nuradin Dirie, a former presidential candidate in Puntland, a semiautonomous region in Somalia. Somaliweyn, a Somali news portal, reprinted this speech Mr. Dirie gave recently in London:
Security and capacity for governance, economic growth and forces of moderation. Where can we find such ingredients of international intervention? How about a state-building intervention that is initiated, financed, and staffed by a coalition of Muslim countries? It would have to be specifically designed to build foundations for governance, investment in economic infrastructure and something quite new. We need something I will call a ‘moderation package.’ An intervention made up of prominent Muslim scholars that can challenge forces of extremism with messages of peace, order and coexistence with the rest of the world.
The defining characteristic of this intervention should be that it is a Muslim World project. The UN and the rest of the International community can support this initiative at an arms-length.
Hargeisa, 26 June 2009 (Somalilandcurrent) – When 13-year-old Ifrah Hashi’s family moved back to Somaliland from Canada, she noticed many young girls couldn’t read. She knew she had to do something.
So she gathered all her favourite books as a child, invited the girls to her backyard and read them stories.
“They loved the stories,” said Hashi, now 18. “They had never heard of things I had grown up hearing about, like Cinderella or Little Red Riding Hood.”
At school she recruited a couple of friends and with their help started teaching the young girls how to read.
The group, Reading Sisters, still exists today even though Hashi has since moved back to Canada to attend school. With the help of the school librarian at Oakridge secondary school, where she graduated this month, she has book drives throughout the year and sends the books back home.
Hashi is one of 13 London students who won a federal millennium scholarship, ranging from $25,000 to $4,000.
Hashi, who will go to the University of Western Ontario in the fall, won a $20,500 scholarship.
“I was really honoured to have won,” she said.
Hashi said returning to Somaliland, a self-declared independent region in the Horn of African ravaged by civil war, was a life-changing experience.
“It was nothing like I’d ever been used to in Canada,” she said.
Her family started a microcredit organization, which provides interest-free loans between $30 and $50 to widows with children so they can start their own company.
Many widows buy a wheelbarrow to transport things, hence the organization’s name Barrows of Hope. Others buy pans to wash clothes or chickens to sell eggs.
“Seeing the way some people live there was really heartbreaking and I felt I had to do something about it,” said Hashi, who is the secretary for Barrows of Hope and hopes to be a teacher one day. “I was always aware of things going on in the world and I like to reach out to others in their time of suffering . . . my parents raised me to be socially conscious of people less fortunate than us.”
Other London millennium scholarship winners are national winners Jasmine Irwin and Nikhita Singh, who both got $25,000 scholarships; provincial winners Younjei Chung, Alison Greaves, Radha Joseph and Nicole Turner, with $20,500 scholarships and local winners Jennifer Aziz, Alyssa Craik, Diana Montano-Rubio, Jasmine Stapleford, Thomas Sullivan and Julia Tsaltas, who each won $4,500 scholarships. Some 9,000 people applied for the scholarships.
