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Somaliland Minister Dies in Saudi Arabia

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HARGEISA, 20 November 2009 (Somalilandpress) – Somaliland’s Minister of Water and Mineral Resources, Mr. Qasim Sh. Yusuf died in Mekkah today. The minister was among hundreds of Somalilanders went to Saudi Arabia for this year’s Pilgrim or Hajj.

The Minister died of a heart attack as Government officials confirmed to Somalilandpress.

Mr. Qasim was one of the senior ministers in Somaliland who have been in the politics for such long time.

Nicolas Cage Met with Imprisoned Somalia Pirates

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NAIROBI, 20 November 2009 (Somalilandpress) – Nicolas Cage met with Somalia prisoners in order to learn about their circumstances and meet with UN councils.

Nicolas Cage traveled to Kenya to meet with the imprisoned Somali pirates, reported E! Online.

The U.N. Ambassador on Drugs and Crime, Cage, paid a visit to the Somali prisoners to find out why the attacks have been increasing recently. Cage said he walked away with more understanding of their dilemma from the prison.

After the meeting at the Shimo-la-Tewa prison facility, Cage felt he could now discuss the matter with different U.N. councils.

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Recently, Cage had been the center of much media criticism after telling reporters Australian doctors prescribe cocaine for sinuses, which is what a doctor gave him while he was preparing for his role in the upcoming movie, “Bad Lieutenant.”

Cage has also been dealing with money issues, and recently went through foreclosure for one of his houses. The actor admitted on television he was suffering money problems, which the media blame on his excessive spending and purchasing.


Source: The Celebrity Cafe

Africa: Obama's Lessons for Civil Society

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HARGEISA, 20 November 2009 (Somalilandpress) – All Africa reports, “The election of Barack Obama as 44th President of the United States is celebrated as a milestone in several, well known respects – not only will he assume office as the first president of color – but as an underdog who entered the race for the White House with a slim resume, an unfamiliar name pitted against an established political brand and a political novice whose prospects of raising enough money to meet up to the task were not extremely bright at the starting line.

The response to Obama’s conquest of these challenges across Africa has been, unsurprisingly, euphoric. Most obviously due to Obama’s Kenyan heritage – and as many have been quick to note, the almost involuntary inspiration that Obama’s mix of intellect and emotional intelligence often evokes.

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But apart from the goodwill that Obama’s election elicits – there are crucial lessons to be gleaned on the importance of active citizenship and of ordinary citizens taking full responsibility for the direction that their democracy takes. Several across the African continent would do well to emulate the example set by ordinary U.S. citizens who have, through the election of Obama, painted a vivid picture of a democracy that has indeed come of age.

However, it is Africa’s broad network of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) seeking to change the continent that has a rich case study of an effective grassroots movement to glean lessons from – particularly given the spirit of volunteerism and civic participation that buoyed Obama’s bid for the presidency.”

Source: AfricanPath

The impoverished majority in most African countries are denied their constitutional rights

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HARGEISA, 20 November 2009 (Somalilandpress) – The Constitution of the Somaliland guarantees citizens protection from the government from loss of property or liberty without due process of law

Somaliland tax payers are being ripped off in the billions by incompetent and deceptive politicians in cahoots with deceptive private contractors. In this ongoing saga of corruption and abuse of taxpayers.We know that far more than 14 billion tax payer dollars have been lost to mis-management and corruption by private interests in Somaliland.

The politicians win, the profiteers win, and the tax payers lose by being forced to pay for yet another non-solution to a costly Somaliland problem, yet one more time. It must stop. But, it can only be stopped by voters who take it upon themselves to vote for challengers against incumbents, repeatedly, election after election, until the challengers themselves recognize their is nothing to be gained by accepting the campaign bribes and blackmail of wealthy special interests.

Somaliland has a future. Somalilander’s have a future. In many ways, it will not look like our past. What is happening right now is a revolution, a political, economic, and cultural revolution. There is no choice about it.So, what are we to do? Keep expressing dissent by marching and protesting in the streets? Keep signing petitions on the Internet? Keep demanding impeachment of Riyaale? Keep reading and writing angry diatribes on progressive websites? Keep voting for mainstream politicians from the three major parties, hoping for a new political ?.
Such activities release anger, but are largely placebo self-medications, unlikely to provide the permanent solutions our nation needs. Protests serve more as entertainment for the nation than a force to tear down the rotten system. Scale is a problem. Maybe if half million angry Somaliland sat down peacefully in the streets all around the Goverment, defying police action for many days, just maybe the system would crack. Protests must have a revolutionary character. They must induce fear into the hearts of smug and delusional power elites – like Cawil & Riyaale. The real needs are structural reforms that combat the major societal delusions that are driving Somaliland downhill. We must attack the root causes of problems rather than provide temporary relief or cover-up of symptoms. Delusional patriotism is tougher to remedy. To revitalize Somaliland democacy we must have a national dialogue

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I don’t mean by this and that we should sit down right now and have a conversation, between people and Goverment. I mean it more literally: Are we, as a nation, still capable of talking with one another about the issues that confront us? Or have shouting, extreme polarization, pitched political battle, and unshakeable mistrust in the motives of anyone who disagrees with us sabotaged our capacity for reasoned discourse? I don’t think we’re that far gone, at least, not yet. But we’re certainly on dangerous ground. Anyone who cares about the dialogue of democracy ought to be very concerned right now.

We all need, to recognize our own fallibility, to understand that our own particular perspective on a problem need not be the only one. In fact, it’s helpful always to keep in mind that we might be wrong. “The spirit of liberty is the spirit that is not too sure it is right.” When people of opposing viewpoints are willing to give one another the benefit of the doubt– or at least to treat one another with respect– then resolving differences becomes much easier.At the same time, it helps to keep an eye on the proper target: resolving differences and reconciling views, rather than winning at all costs. Our system was not set up to further a particular set of policy goals, it was designed to provide a way for Somalilands to come together to decide what those goals ought to be and how to reach them. That means learning how to search for compromises in which everyone is at least a partial winner, and understanding from the start that political differences may be stark, but this does not make them irreconcilable.

For the goal, after all, is to serve the national interest and focus on the common good, asking ourselves not what’s good for any one of us, but what’s good for the country. When we do this, it becomes possible to focus on a rival’s ideas, not his motivations or personal shortcomings. And that, in turn, makes it possible to have a genuine conversation in which opponents search for commonalities, and in particular talk about the concerns they share.

At its best, creative dialogue is the very heart of a democratic system. It increases mutual understanding, establishes respect among adversaries, stimulates fresh thinking and new perspectives, and builds the consensus for which Somaliland so desperately earn. It is not beyond our capabilities to have that kind of dialogue, but as a society, we have to make it clear that we want it, and hold to account those who get in its way. Our obligation is to strengthen those forces in our society that promote a reasoned dialogue, and to discourage the forces that make it more difficult.

Yes indeed let us fight corruption at our footsteps and also at the power abuse. Unless we do this our attempts to reduce our chronic corruption will just lead to nothing.

The impoverished majority in most African countries are denied their constitutional rights.

Witten by:
Amiin D. Caynaanshe
amiincaynaashe@yahoo.com

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Views expressed in the opinion articles are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the editorial

Shame On You Mr. Rayaale, You Abuse The Power

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HARGEISA, 20 November 2009 (Somalilandpress) – My belief is that democracy should be built on a super-structure. That super-structure is the rule of law. Where that rule of law is subverted, or denied its respect, then you dont have democracy, you don’t have freedom, you dont have rights. And in any representative democracy, sovereignty belongs to the people. It is given through their representatives. Where those representatives are now denied the right to function legitimately, then any government coming out of that is an illegitimate government. Pure and simple.

we are heading for anarchy. Any misadventure, any abuse of power, any denial of rights is an abuse of the constitution and when the constitution is not being respected, then you are looking for and promoting anarchy. You are setting a bad precedent which nobody can predict how it will end. Are we building a society that is for the people? Are we protecting the lives and property of our people? Are we promoting and protecting their liberties? Are we working for their happiness? In the drive towards nation-building and development, the people must come first. And if that is the case, then we must be orderly and have respect for the rule of law. We must obey court orders or challenge them if we are not happy. But when it gets to the crunch, we must abide by the ruling.

I respect the parlamant today for being courageous, interpreting the law; that is their responsibility. You cant have illiterates suddenly become learned people interpreting court orders, even if those orders are written in simple English. It would amount to misinterpretation by masquerading politicians purporting to be senior advocates when the competent person authorised by the constitution to preserve and ensure that the rule of law has given a ruling. When they (courts) make pronouncements, we have to obey.But you dont mr.President, And because I exercised my right to make that clear, I became an enemy of someone seeking to drag me into what was not my own making.

What have you done for power and time? You just ban, ban, ban and ban. You ban without domestic stimulation, domestic help. It is a dream in the Somaliland. You have spent seven and half years and you still have excuses in the corruption and power abuse. Now, it is hostage taking. You have failed if you cannot find a solution in seven and half years. If you are a university student and you cannot get your degree in seven and half years, what happens? You leave!.please apologize those who but you there.

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You abuse power and you are disturbing the peace of the innocent people of Somaliland, and you continue to react to the living ghost of villa somalia! It is my right to speak out. When I see an illegitimate government, I call it an illegitimate government. When we see the rule of law, constitutional democracy in action, we are happy because that was what we asked for, that was what the people voted for. When we asked the people to come out, they came out. We asked for and got their votes through the electoral process. In the future, if they (electorate) realise that after they had exercised their right and cast their votes and elected somebody, someone somewhere, a totalitarian regime emerges and uses the coercive instruments of office to subvert their right, will they be encouraged to come out next time? I wont keep quiet. we will speak up courageously. we believe in constitutional democracy, we believe in the right of the people to elect their leaders legitimately, and that the legitimacy of any government is derived through the rule of law and acceptance by the people. So, if we have to be vilified and abused for this, so be it. If we have to risk our life for it, we will do so at any given time. Dont do it to us; we wont take it.

Shame on you Mr. Riyaale,You abuse the power and you are disturbing the peace of the innocent people.and go same where to hide.

Witten by:
Amiin D. Caynaanshe
amiincaynaashe@yahoo.com

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Views expressed in the opinion articles are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the editorial

What’s going on?

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HARGEISA, 19 November 2009 (Somalilandpress) – Somaliland’s democracy is almost 20 years old yet if you were to ask an average citizen within the country or in the Diaspora for the definition of democracy they would give you several versions of what they perceive it to be. Even though there is no specific, universally accepted definition of ‘democracy’, there are two principles that any definition of democracy includes equality and freedom. These principles are reflected by all citizens being equal before the law, and having equal access to power. At the end of the day this holds true.

Naturally we are a peaceful people but if something was to threaten our way of life we would defend it by any means necessary thus the creation of the S.N.M and separation of the former illegitimate union. Somaliland’s educated youth population is growing in large numbers and they have legitimate questions that must be answered. Why haven’t they received the opportunity to speak their mind? I spoke to a few young people in Hargeisa and asked them what they thought of what’s going on. They were very mindful of their words and thought clearly before replying and I was pleasantly surprised. Maintaining peace was at the top of their list and giving democracy a chance so that the will of the people may be heard.

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The opportunity for the hundreds of young university graduates to gain employment and be able to put into practice what they have worked so hard for. One young lady shared her disappointments of how the intellectuals and academics haven’t been able to act as mediators to help reconcile and map a path to effective resolutions. She sounded like a PhD candidate writing a paper on conflict resolution. Clearly being impressed was an understatement. She was able to not reiterate the problem and give her version of how things went wrong.

Somaliland’s path to recognition is in danger of being derailed and all the efforts and sacrifices of the people would have been in vain. Our political system and constitutional rights to pick a President that is capable of representing the rich and the poor, the franchised and disfranchised, the orphans and physically challenged, and those that sacrificed their lives so that their children and their children’s children live in a free and transparent society.

Peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice. It demands greater heroism than war. It demands greater fidelity to the truth and a much more perfect purity of conscience”, Thomas Merton. There will come a time when those in power will have no choice but to listen to the youth. To understand the problem is to realize there is one. I pray that the solution is one which will help reinstate the good faith of the people and put us back on the path of true democracy and lasting peace.

Yaqub Warsame
Somaliland press Team

Two Somali Journalists Injured in Separate Shootings

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New York, 18 November 2009 (Somalilandpress) — Two Somali correspondents for international media outlets were injured in separate shootings, one in the northeast semi-autonomous region of Puntland, and the other in the capital, Mogadishu, according to local journalists and news reports.

In the Puntland city of Galkayo, northeast of Mogadishu, a police officer fired on the car of Mohamed Yasin Isak, a local correspondent of the Somali-language service of U.S. government-funded Voice of America, at a checkpoint in front of the regional governor’s office, according to Media Association of Puntland. Local journalists counted at least 15 bullets holes in Isak’s car. One shot struck the journalist in the upper arm, causing a minor injury.

Police commander Col. Muse Ahmed Muse Hasasi told local reporters that the unidentified officer fired because the journalist’s car was speeding and appeared suspicious, according to news reports. Speaking to CPJ, Isak denied the allegations. “Am I crazy? How can I drive high speed through a police checkpoint?” he said.

Hours before the shooting, local journalists told CPJ, Hasasi had come uninvited to a meeting of the local press and threatened Isak with unspecified harm. Journalists had gathered to discuss an incident on Monday where security forces assaulted several journalists and blocked others from attending a meeting of the local government about growing insecurity.

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“We are alarmed by reports that police fired on Mohamed Yasin Isak’s car only hours after a police officer had threatened to harm him,” CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney said. “We call on the authorities to investigate both the threat made against our colleague and the shooting at the checkpoint.”

Isak has been the target of arrest and censorship by the Puntland government since August in connection with his coverage of a spate of unsolved assassinations of public figures in the relatively peaceful Mudug region, according to local journalists. Isak told CPJ he feared for his safety but would continue working. “Journalism is my skill, it’s my job. It’s the one thing I know,” he said.

In Mogadishu, a bullet fired during skirmishes between Somali government forces and Islamist fighters struck Abdirahman Warsame, a correspondent of Chinese government- owned Xinhua News Agency, in the left arm, according to the National Union of Somali Journalists. Warsame was awaiting a friend in front of Banadir Hospital in Mogadishu’s Medina district, when the fighting began, the journalist later told CPJ. He said doctors could not extract the bullet lodged in his arm. As for pain, “I am fine,” he told CPJ.

“The shooting in Puntland and the wounding in crossfire in Mogadishu of Abdirahman Warsame underscore the risks taken by the small number of journalists still trying to bring us news from Somalia,” CPJ’s Mahoney said.


Source: CPJ

Somalia: Some 350 Troops Complete Training in Djibouti

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MOGADISHU, 17 November 2009 (Somalilandpress) – Djibouti prime Minister Dileita Mohamed Dileita today attended the
ceremony to mark the end of training of some 350 Somali soldiers by France.

The charge d’affaires at the Somali embassy in Djibouti, Mr Abourhaman Mohamed Hirabe, the French ambassador, Mr Dominique Decherf, the chief of staff of French forces stationed in Djibouti (FFDJ), Brig Gen Thierry Caspar-Fille-Lambie, as well as several top Djibouti and French military officers also attended the ceremony which took place at Myriam Camp some 70 kilometres from the capital.

Following in the example of the first group of 154 elements of the Somali security forces trained by France a few months ago, the second contingent of 350 men also received training that lasted about six weeks.

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The training overseen by the 5th RIAOM [French Overseas Interarmy Regiment] was aimed at instilling in the Somali soldiers the basics of international law of war and to create the beginnings of a group spirit.

It is worth noting that the French government had broached with the European Union a suggestion of training 3,000 additional Somali security forces, a plan which will goes in hand with the training of national coast guards in the area. Financed by Japan and the EU, a centre based in Djibouti with the support of Kenya, Oman, Tanzania,
but also the provinces of Somaliland and Puntland will open in January 2010.

France’s support for the transitional government and more precisely its participation in the putting together of a Somali national security force comes in the framework of UN Resolution 1872, France’s ambassador to Djibouti explained, adding that he was convinced that the process launched by his country opens a new path to the reconstruction process and the pacification of Somalia.

Mr Abourhaman Mohamed Hirabe, the Somali embassy in charge d’affaires, has for his part on behalf of the Somali government expressed his gratitude to Djibouti and France for their efforts towards peace and stability in Somalia.

By: Abdinasir Mohamed
Somalilandpress
Mogadishu-Somalia

Gearing up for prevention: The Hajj meets H1N1.

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(CNN) — For many Muslims it’s the journey of a lifetime: making the Hajj pilgrimage. Almost 3 million faithful, together, in the city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia. But this year, the Hajj could become an incubator for the H1N1 virus.

At a Muslim community center in Duluth, Georgia, American Muslims pray and prepare for the Hajj. Lateefa Khan is here with her husband, Zakerullah. She has mixed emotions. They are leaving their children behind but say they look forward to the worship.

“It is very exciting. An amazing experience,” Khan says. “I am looking forward to worshipping, focusing all my time on worshipping.”

Khan will take precautions to avoid H1N1, also known as swine flu, at the Hajj. They’ll carry hand sanitizer and will be “frequently washing our hands, trying to stay as clean as possible.”

The Khans, along with a number of people at the center who are going on the Hajj, also are getting H1N1 inoculations.

Dr. Asif Saberi gives them a short lecture on how to prepare and encourages everyone to have their shots at least seven days before traveling. He says the Saudi government is doing a lot to protect pilgrims, but “the magnitude of the problem is the magnitude of the numbers of people who attend the Hajj.”

When it comes to using hand sanitizer and wearing masks, Saberi says he encounters confusion about religious dictates and flu prevention. According to Muslim beliefs, for example, men in a state of pilgrimage should not wear any stitched items or touch alcohol. So what about wearing face masks or using alcohol-based sanitizers?

“One of the basic principles on which shariah (Islamic law) is based is the protection of the health,” he says. “So if protection of the health is of such paramount importance, then the ritualistic significance of not wearing stitched clothes on your body is subservient to the need to maintain good health. And therefore wearing a mask is important. Using the sanitizer, which prevents this disease from spreading to others, is important.”

Saudi Arabia has been preparing for the influx of millions of pilgrims. It won’t turn away anyone who wants to come to the Hajj, but it is urging other countries not to let children younger than 12, people older than 65 or pregnant women make the pilgrimage.

The Saudi health minister went on television with his daughters, publicly getting their H1N1 flu shots, part of a campaign to alleviate fears about the vaccine.

The kingdom also is using sophisticated technology — thermal screening equipment at entry points and mobile devices to document suspected cases of the flu.

Dr. Ziad Memish, assistant deputy to the Saudi health minister and co-author of a paper on Hajj and H1N1 published in Science magazine, said the government consulted 25 international experts, who joined with 25 Saudi experts, to discuss how to prepare.

“We had the team inspect the airport, the seaport, the regional lab that tests for the influenza,” he said. “And then we had a review of all the evidence regarding the different strategies that should be used to prevent the spread of the disease during the mass gathering of the Hajj.

“We have relied on a collaborative program with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where they are helping us setting up a system that was used in the Hurricane Katrina disaster, and I think the system has already been tested and it is working perfectly well.”

In Washington, Louise Gresham, director of health security and epidemiology at the Nuclear Threat Initiative — which also works to reduce global biological threats — looks at a report tracking the spread of H1N1 in the Middle East. Gresham describes the risks:

“Picture, if you can, that 1 million people will come together in a single mosque at any given time during the Hajj. Picture that crowding over an extended period of time, and that’s a test. A test not just for each individual pilgrim, but it is a real test for disease detection.”

The Nuclear Threat Initiative supports a groundbreaking surveillance system in the Middle East, called the Middle East Consortium on Infectious Disease Surveillance. It brings together public health leaders and representatives from academic institutions and private health care facilities in Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority. It was started seven years ago, during the height of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“They actually started writing a plan for food-borne disease outbreaks, but they started a pandemic preparedness plan,” Gresham says. “When H1N1 came along, this put them in a perfect position, because they were practiced, they were rehearsed and they had built great, great trust.”

As part of this cooperation, Israel is supplying Gaza and the West Bank with H1N1 vaccinations for those who make the religious journey.

That trust, plus international cooperation, will be crucial in protecting pilgrims.

For those like Fayzah Abu Ayadah, faith outweighs fear.

“Even if we die there, it is not important,” the Palestinian says. “The important thing is to go for the Hajj.”

Source:CNN

Romance of the Ransom

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Baraawe, 16 November 2009 (Somalilandpress) – To outsiders Somalia is a remote and forsaken land, drenched in blood, clogged by diseased refugees and doomed to irreversible destruction and hopelessness.

But one town in my country is a seaside oasis of pleasure, tranquillity and glamorous beaches — as well as cardboard boxes crammed full of hard United States dollars.

This is Baraawe, south of Mogadishu, in Somalia’s southeast corner, home to daring bands of sea robbers, deceptive fishing canoes and, overlooking the port from a distance, heavily armed foreign frigates.

The town is the ultimate movie-style fantasy; an Eldorado in a troubled land where the pirates are heroes, distributing in Robin Hood fashion the wealth they crudely accrue at sea.

They might be “heartless terrorists and renegades” to the outside world, but the mothers in Baraawe dream of giving their daughters in marriage to the pirates. No wonder then that pirate weddings have become hugely popular and semi-official attractions on the town’s weekly calendar.

“Welcome to Baraawe: land of the connected, land of the playful” reads the huge Arabic sign on the road into the town. And for a moment when you arrive you have to pinch yourself to remember that you’re still in Somalia.

There are no potholes, no crumbling roads, no broken TV and cellphone towers. The Italianate seaside villas are lavishly painted, not pockmarked by bullets. The town has become the fourth pirate capital of Somalia.

Multimillion-dollar ransoms have transformed it in just five years from a forgotten fishing village to a thriving commercial centre selling expensive watches, motorbikes, electrical gadgets and even swine flu vaccine, as one merchant-smuggler boasts.

Speakers from seaside verandas blast Bon Jovi hits and the streets are crammed with people buying the freshest tuna fish at the beachside market.

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Cellphone towers and even an internet kiosk give a semblance of quasi-governmental order, provided by a mix of clan warlords and heavily armed pirates.

The pirates are ambitious young men in their early 20s, former fishermen and well-trained ex-police officers — and they’re the talk of the town. Young boys barely into their teens see no sense in seeking even a basic education; neither do they want to follow most Somalis into exile by making the great trek to Kenya or dhow-boating across the Horn of Africa to Dubai.

Talk to them on the streets of Baraawe and their eyes brighten up as they describe counting “the greens”. The area has one of the heaviest concentrations of small ammunition, rocket grenades and heavy machine guns in Somalia — yet peace and tranquillity prevail in Baraawe.

“‘Instead of turning onm the throats of our fellow Somalis like they do in Mogadishu, here our guns bring the wealth and secure the town,” boasts “Terrenco”, a self-styled pirate “colonel”, who says he has 12 years’ experience in the business.

Throughout the day you can see boatbuilders matching the industriousness and craftmanship for which Sicily is renowned: they’re making a smart killing by rushing to satisfy their clients impatiently waiting to enter the sea.

The cash-intoxicated pirates willingly part with $8 000 (about R60 000) for a small kayak — a pittance for them considering that one Dutch shipping and freight company recently handed over €800 000 (almost R9-million) in ransom.

So Baraawe’s mothers urge their budding teenage girls to marry the buccaneers. Not that the girls themselves need much motivation: going down the aisle with a pirate guarantees endless food on the table, luxury dresses and saving your family from starvation and destitution.

And pirates as young as 20 have up to five wives: one excited buccaneer boat driver recently boasted about the $3 000 (just more than R22 000) he’d forked out for his fourth and newest wife.

If you happen to see a pirate wedding procession on a Saturday in Baraawe, you could be forgiven for thinking that a Western VIP must be in town.

Outrageously shiny new Porsche Cayennes are sandwiched by pricey Harley Davidson diesel motorbikes manned by excited pirates brandishing advanced weaponry in a defiant and triumphant show of macho-man pride.

It’s a simple show of pirate brotherhood on both sea and land whenever one of them ties the knot. The sea dollars provide lusty feasts of beef, Thai rice and potatoes freely for the whole town.

You might be jolted for a moment by Kalashnikov rifle fire cracking through the wedding tents, but laughing wedding ushers will reassuringly calm you with a bottle of Bells Scotch whisky. The sound of guns, you learn, is routine when pirates marry: a 17-bullet salute is the sea-venturing tradition.

When the time for presenting the wedding gifts arrives, the role of pirate dollars in oiling Baraawe’s economy during the global cashcrunch becomes even clearer. Wildly smiling pirates — young and old — outdo one another in throwing flashy Blackberrys, six-CD hi-fis and gold necklaces into the gift dishes.

Excited (and intoxicated) men in camouflage kit dance with wads of new greenbacks on their heads before dropping their loot spectacularly into the dishes. Her Majesty’s Chancellor of the Exchequer would turn green and hot with envy.

Perhaps the pseudo peace-building summits held in plush foreign capitals to seek solutions to Somalia’s woes should take a tour of Baraawe.

How unbridled fun and ease thrive as an oasis within atrocity, horror and death would at least make for some crazy report-backs from delegates.

By: Rafik Muhammad Dhana

Source: Mail & Guardian Online