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Is promoting Sufi Islam the best chance for peace in Somalia?

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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.

By David Montero
The Christian Science Monitor

Reading Sisters rooted in Africa

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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.

Source: The London Free Press

ONLF denies killing civilians in southern Ethiopia (Press Release)

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ONLF Press Release: Response to A False Accusation

The claim by the website, Somalilandpress, which fabricated baseless allegation that ONLF fighters killed several civilian traders from Hargeisa, is not based on facts. The concocted story continues further to say that ONLF carried out this act because it was angry with people from Northern Somalia’s relationship with Ethiopia.

The Ogaden National Liberation Front regards all Somalis as brethren and does not hold any grudges against any groups from Somalia despite many transgressions by some Somali warlords against the Somali people from Ogaden and their legitimate struggle for total emancipation. The Somali people in the Ogaden and the Somalis in North Somalia share a common heritage, kinship and economic ties that benefit both peoples. It is our conviction that these mischievous acts will not affect the relationship between the two brotherly peoples as the agents of the TPLF regime from Ethiopia try to destroy their peaceful coexistence.

The raison d’être for ONLF’s struggle is to emancipate the Somalis in Ogaden regardless of clan, believe or affiliation and there is no reason why it should target parts of its own people. Any entity or group trying to sow conflict and division among the Somali sub-clans in the Ogaden will fail. People with this attitude should know that this outmoded logic will benefit no one and they will be held responsible for unnecessary consequences of their machinations.

It is not simple thing to forget that the practice of continuous rendition of people from Ogaden who seek safety and security in Hargeisa to please Meles and his henchmen. Hence it is no wander if such paid stooges and their sympathisers, such as, Somalilanderpress redouble their efforts to tarnish the name of ONLF and incite hatred among the people of both sides of the border.

Finally the Somali people of the Ogaden wish peace and stability for all Somalis in Somalia and hope this will be reciprocated.

  • Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF)

Singer Michael Jackson dead at 50

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Michael Jackson has died at age 50 after being rushed to UCLA Medical Center.

Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Steve Ruda told the L.A. Times that Jackson was not breathing when paramedics arrived at his home and CPR was performed.

TMZ.com reported that he may have suffered cardiac arrest.
Jackson had been due to start a series of comeback concerts in London on July 13 running until March 2010. The singer, whose hits included “Thriller” and “Billie Jean,” had been rehearsing in the Los Angeles area for the past two months.

The shows for the 50 London concerts sold out within minutes of going on sale in March.

His lifetime record sales tally is believed to be around 750 million, which, added to the 13 Grammy Awards he received, makes him one of the most successful entertainers of all time.

He lived as a virtual recluse since his acquittal in 2005 on charges of child molestation.

There were concerns about Jackson’s health in recent years but the promoters of the London shows, AEG Live, said in March that Jackson had passed a 4-1/2 hour physical examination with independent doctors.

A life in music
Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, in Gary, Indiana, the seventh of nine children. Five Jackson boys — Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael — first performed together at a talent show when Michael was 6. They walked off with first prize and went on to become a best-selling band, The Jackson Five, and then The Jackson 5.

Jackson made his first solo album in 1972, and released “Thriller” in 1982, which became a smash hit that yielded seven top-10 singles. The album sold 21 million copies in the United States and at least 27 million worldwide.

The next year, he unveiled his signature “moonwalk” dance move while performing “Billie Jean” during an NBC special.

In 1994, Jackson married Elvis Presley’s only child, Lisa Marie, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1996. Jackson married Debbie Rowe the same year and had two children, before splitting in 1999. The couple never lived together.

Jackson has three children named Prince Michael I, Paris Michael and Prince Michael II, known for his brief public appearance when his father held him over the railing of a hotel balcony, causing widespread criticism.

Check back with msnbc.com for updates on this breaking story.

© 2009 msnbc.com

Somaliland Government rejects US meeting on Somalia

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Hargeisa (Somalilandcurrent)- Somaliland Government says they would not attend a conference about Somalia that will take place in USA, though Somaliland has been invited to attend the meeting.

Somaliland Foreign Affairs Ministers, Abdullahi Muhammad Duale, told the press in Hargeysa [the capital of Somaliland], that his government was not ready to attend the conference aimed at discussing Somalia affairs.

He said the conference had nothing to do with Somaliland, and that it was for Somalia and Puntland regional autonomous [in northeastern Somalia]. Somalilandpress reporter in Hargeysa, said that the minister, who returned from Kenyan capital, Nairobi, took the decision after meeting with US embassy officials in Nairobi.

The minister said that Somalia and Somaliland are two different countries, adding that Somaliland was ready to talk with US as an independent country.

Reports say that US congress has invited Somali government, Puntland and Somaliland to attend a meeting over Somalia crisis.

By Abdinasir Mohamed

 

Ethiopian premier says ready to deploy troops if Somali government overthrown

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Mogadishu (Somalilandcurrent)- Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, has said his country is ready to once again deploy its troops in Somalia if Islamist groups manage to overthrow the Somali president. Mr. Zenawe said his government has strengthened security along the border with Somalia and has made a decision to send troops to the neighbouring country if at any point it feels threatened in order to ensure security in the country. “Our troops are ready to return to Somalia if we feel there is a potential for danger and if the Transitional Federal Government [TFG], which we have good relations with, is overthrown,” Zenawi said in a press conference in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. “So far, we do not have any set plans in which we intend to go into Somalia, however, we will closely monitor the situation in the Horn of African country and we will deploy our troops if the current legitimate government in the country is overthrown.” He added. The Ethiopian Government had deployed its forces in Somalia two years ago and ousted the Islamic Courts Administration which was in control of the country at the time. Ethiopian troops withdrew from the country early this year after an agreement in which the current TFG was formed in Djibouti was reached. The spokesman for the Al-Shabab group, Sheikh Ali Mahmud Rage held a news conference in Mogadishu in which he said they will fight any foreign troops deployed in the country in order to back the TFG which they are currently fighting. There are already many Ethiopian troops with battle wagons present in central Somalia regions, particularly in Hiran. Senior officials of these Ethiopian troops that are currently in Somalia have said they are in the country in order to look after the security of their own country.

By Abdinasir Mohamed

Email: abdinasir4@gmail.com

Mogadishu-Somalia

Africa Weather Information Network Launched

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Hargeisa, 25 June 2009  – About 5,000 new automatic weather stations are set to be deployed across Africa, under a climate change initiative announced today by the United Nations World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the Global Humanitarian Forum, the Earth Institute at Columbia University, and mobile telecommunications companies Ericsson and Zain.

The innovative public-private partnership launched the “Weather Info for All” initiative to improve Africa’s weather monitoring network in the face of the growing impact of climate change.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the region facing the most immediate risk of droughts and floods due to climate change, according to a recent Global Humanitarian Forum report. Agricultural yields in some areas are expected to fall by 50 per cent as early as 2020.

The 5,000 automatic weather stations will be installed at new and existing mobile network sites throughout Africa over the coming years, aiming to increase dissemination of weather information via mobile phones that can reach the continent’s most remote communities.

At the launch in Geneva, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, President of the Global Humanitarian Forum, said “This is a great example for twenty-first century collaborative humanitarian and development work between public and private sectors.”

Through its Mobile Innovation Center in Africa, Ericsson will develop mobile applications to help communicate weather information developed by National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) via mobile phones.

“The massive growth of mobile subscribers in Africa is the perfect opportunity for the telecoms community to collaborate with national partners to strengthen weather networks and systems across the continent,” said Carl-Henric Svanberg, President and CEO of Ericsson.

The initial deployment, already begun in Zain networks, focuses on the area around Lake Victoria in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The first 19 automatic weather stations installed will double the weather monitoring capacity of the Lake region.

“Once the switch is turned on, a flow of extensive weather data will become available throughout Africa, with benefits extending from the national policy makers to the smallholder farmers,” said Jeffrey Sachs, head of Columbia University’s Earth Institute.

Approximately 70 per cent of Africans rely on farming for their livelihood. Meteorological information will become increasingly critical as changing weather patterns render obsolete traditional knowledge relating to agriculture that African farmers have relied on for centuries.

“For food production, almost every decision is linked to weather, climate and water parameters,” said Michel Jarraud, Secretary-General of the WMO. “Working through NMHSs, WMO will identify weather information needs, advise on technical requirements and help disseminate the information. This initiative may prove to be one of the most important for African meteorology in decades.”


UN News Center

AU Peacekeepers to Launch Somalia ‘Peace Radio’

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Hargeisa, 25 June 2009  – The African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM) will launch a radio station aimed at promoting peace in the conflict-torn Horn of Africa nation, a spokesman told AFP Wednesday.

“The planning for this project began last year. AMISOM, the United Nations and the Somali government are all be involved,” Ugandan army spokesman Major Felix Kulayigye.

Uganda is the largest troop contributor to the 4,300-strong AMISOM force, which also includes a large Burundian contingent.

Kulayigye, who did not provide an exact date for the launch, said that while all decisions on programming had not yet been finalised, all broadcasts will be “educational, and will be catered to enhancing peace.”

He said the station would in broadcast English, Somali and Kiswahili.

AMISOM was deployed in early 2007 but has managed little more than keeping a weak transitional federal government on life support.

It is currently protecting internationally-backed President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed in his Mogadishu palace as an alliance of insurgent groups presses on with a six-week-old military offensive to topple him.

Somalia has had no effective central authority since the 1991 ouster of president Mohamed Siad Barre touched off a bloody power struggle that has defied around a dozen different peace initiatives.


Source: AFP

Insurgent Court in Somalia Delays Amputations for Theft Suspects

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Al-Shabab still controls parts of Somalia's south and central regions after being chased out of Mogadishu [File: AP]
Al-Shabab still controls parts of Somalia's south and central regions after being chased out of Mogadishu [File: AP]

Hargeisa, 24 June 2009  – A court under the control of a Somali Islamist insurgent group al-Shabab has ordered four young men suspected of stealing guns and mobile phones to have a hand and a leg amputated, but the punishment was postphoned. An al-Shabab spokesman told the Associated Press the sentence would be carried out but was delayed because of fears the men could bleed to death in the hot weather. The human rights organization Amnesty International has condemned the amputation sentences as a violation of international law.

The court in Somalia’s war-torn capital Mogadishu, was set up by the hardline Islamist insurgent group al-Shabab, which the U.S. government has labeled a terrorist organization with ties to al-Qaida. The court delivered its verdict Monday morning in front of a crowd of hundreds.

An al-Shabab leader in Mogadishu, Sheikh Hussein Ali Fidow, said by implementing Islamic law, the group would restore peace and stability to the country.

Once we eradicate the big enemy from an area, smaller enemies appear, he said. We arrested them for robbing people, and they have been sentenced to have their hands and legs amputated. We will not use such sentences to target any particular tribe or group, but we are implementing sharia law.

The group has imposed strict versions of Islamic sharia law in areas it controls, which include much of southern Somalia, as well as parts of Mogadishu. In particular there have been reports of amputations, stoning, and flogging in the southern port city of Kismayo, a Shabab stronghold. There have been fewer reports of such punishments in Mogadishu.

“Cruel, inhumane, degrading”

The human rights group Amnesty International called the punishment described in the most recent ruling as “cruel, inhuman, and degrading.” A researcher with the organization’s Africa program, Benedicte Goderiaux, says amputations are a violation of international law. She also rejects al-Shabab’s claim that such actions are necessary to restore law and order in the notoriously lawless country.

“If they are really concerned about the security of the residents of Mogadishu, there are many other steps that they could take such as stopping indiscriminate attacks which disproportionately affect civilians, such as taking measures to spare the civilian population unnecessary suffering as a result of the armed conflict and instructing its fighters not to target civilians and not to target journalists,” said Goderiaux.

Goderiaux said it can be difficult to ascertain the views of residents of areas under Shabab control towards the militia.

“People who live in areas under al-Shabab control are obviously very scared in the same way as journalists and activists are generally very scared,” she said. “The al-Shabab faction in control of Kismayo for example has already carried out two amputations since the beginning of the year and one of them was done in public. By doing them publicly, al-Shabab wants to send a message of fear to the population.”

She notes however, that when the Islamic Courts Union briefly controlled Mogadishu in 2006, the population there, while welcoming the return to relative order, pressed the authorities to curb the more severe rules.

After being ousted from Mogadishu by Ethiopian troops in late 2006, the Islamist insurgency splintered. The more moderate faction now controls the internationally-backed transitional government, while the hard-liners are trying to topple the government.

Since early May, al-Shabab and the allied Hizbul Islam militia have been pursuing a renewed offensive against the government. The U.N. estimates that 159,000 people have been displaced from their homes. Over the weekend, the government declared a state of emergency and requested intervention by neighboring countries, including Kenya and Ethiopia. Those countries, however, have so far resisted the appeal.

On Monday, President Ahmed said the government was implementing martial law, though considering the limited control exercised by the government on the ground, it is not clear what impact the move will have.


By: By Derek Kilner
VOA

World and USA must relief Somaliland from terror infested Somalia

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Somalia's soldiers patrol in Afgooye, some 30 kilometres south of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, on October 19, 2016. - At least four police officers were killed on October 18 when a suicide bomb attacker rammed an explosives-packed car into a police station before fighters from the Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab group subsequently stormed the area killing at least 10 people, including soldiers and civilians. (Photo by MOHAMED ABDIWAHAB / AFP)

Hargeisa, 24 June 2009  – Recently, Media and Outreach Coordinator for the State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs Greg Garland held online question and answer discussion entitled ‘Is there hope for Somalia?’. The discussion was very much civilized and transparent. The heat and pressure mounted as minute passed, but Garland remained very transparent and clear in answering the questions as per his administration’s policy towards the region.

However, the manner in which US Administration is approaching to the two decades old Somali unrest is wrong, because it believes in a unified Somalia. The administration failed to recognize the democratic, independent and free Somaliland that created complete structure of democratic and modern government without outside help.

State Department praised democracy progress in Somaliland and asked US Aid to double its operations in Somaliland. However, Washington administration botched to utilize Somaliland experience and Forces to ease the violence in Mogadishu.

Somaliland Forces have advantages over African Peace Keeping Forces, Ethiopian Forces and any other outsiders because Somaliland Forces are Somali, Muslim and know the culture of people and government in Mogadishu including the Islamists – Al-Shabaab. Based on these facts, USA shall recognize Somaliland and its forces will roll into brutal streets of Mogadishu. Knowingly, neither Al-Shabaab nor the government will have excuse to fight Somaliland Forces.

After British Somaliland (Today’s Somaliland) and Italian Somalia (today’s Southern regions of Somalia) united, the unrest and violence erupted in Mogadishu streets and Late & First President of Somalia Adan Adde used Somaliland Scouts to normalize the situation in Mogadishu. Britain established Somaliland Scouts and trained them at the beginning of last century. This gives Somaliland experience to stabilize Mogadishu streets, as it did in 1960’s.

Garland said that Washington administration supports the shaky transitional government of Somalia led by Sheikh\ Sharif Ahmed, who is facing growing militancy inside the capital – Mogadishu. The Islamist militant are receiving military, financial and logistics support from Al-Qaeda terror organization and others like Eretria. Recently US based New York Times published report that Al-Qaeda leaders are making shift to Somalia/Yemen from Afghan-Pakistan border. These are signs of growing influence of the militant in Somalia, and ineffectiveness of Sheikh Sharif Ahmed government.

Garland said “The U.S. believes that the Transitional federal Government provides the best solution for a unified Somalia. Inasmuch as Somaliland provides a degree of good governance, it offers an example to what is possible to all Somalis.” Here, unfortunately, Washington looks helpless and stuck with 40 years old failed policy of establishing “Unified Somalia” and overlooks the growing democracies in the region like Somaliland.

US shall realize that unity comes with acceptance from all uniting parties but compulsory union will end up with failure like that of Somalia during 1960’s. The uniting parties shall all agree upon constitution that protects their rights and ensures equality and freedom to all citizens. This cannot happen in Somalia because of tribalism and very complicated population structure.

Garland admitted the international community failed to establish effective and working central government for Somalia in last 20 years, and even US led forces to restore order and hope operation during 1993 failed. He knows international community organized more than 14 peace conferences for Somalis to settle their differences but all failed. Mr. Garland understands that terrorist organizations linked to Al-Qaeda (Al-Shabaab), control 90% of southern parts of former Somalia and thousands of foreign fighters are entering in Somalia from Afghan-Pakistan Border. He sees that Somaliland is the only democratic and active part of former Somalia, but unfortunately his administration in Washington overlooks Somaliland’s competence to win international recognition.

US Forces entered Somalia with same wrong policy, in which Washington administration is approaching to Somaliland and Somalia until today. Former UN General Secretary Boutros-Ghali was part of decision-making in the operation and started the initiative to use force in Somalia. The operation cost the lives of 18 US soldier and more than 30 UN soldiers of different nationalities including Pakistanis.

Mr. Boutros-Ghali had secret agenda to support Ali Mehdi (Transitional President of Somalia during the operation), but US Administration failed to unveil such undercover agenda between Mr. Boutros-Ghali and Ali Mehdi. The secret agenda was to eliminate General Mohamed Farah Aydeed (the rival of Ali Mehdi in Mogadishu) using UN Forces.

The solution of Somali chaos was simple during the operation, but the wrong recommendations of Boutros-Ghali and his secret agenda led the failure of the operation.

Somalia remained under harsh instability and violence for last 20 years, which weakened the country and led terrorist organizations like Al-Qaeda to establish bases. Al-Qaeda planned the suicide bombing of US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania; there are many Al-Qaeda fugitives hiding inside lawless Somalia. These can be minimized if Somaliland is recognized, because the US Forces can establish based inside Somaliland and use its experience to crack down the terror.

Today, Transitional President of Somalia Sheikh Sharif Ahmed lost control of the southern parts to Al-Shabaab, and only controls his residence in Mogadishu (Villa Somalia). Please refer the articles at the bottom for the story.

The USA is watching the growing terror inside Somalia and innocent civilians dying under harsh conditions of strict and wrong Islamic Sharia practices by Al-Shabaab. The group blocked the entire basic social services: No education, electricity, water…etc.

In other hand, the US administration is pressuring and forcing the free people of Somaliland to remain within the human rights violations and killing. Mr. Garland’s administration is holding Somaliland hostage for failed theory of “unified Somalia”. Somaliland government and people cannot do business with outside world due to the diplomatic embargo imposed by USA. They cannot sign trade and partnership agreements with other international business partners. The Somaliland students cannot attend international universities because their certificates are from unrecognized Somaliland. No passports to use and even no embassies for Somaliland across the world. All these are happing to Somaliland, due to lack of diplomatic recognition.

Mr. Garland added. “…The U.S. believes that the Transitional federal Government of Somalia provides the best solution for a unified Somalia. Inasmuch as Somaliland provides a degree of good governance, it offers an example to what is possible to all Somalis…”

Garland braces democratic process in Somaliland, at the same time doesn’t accept it, and he is holding Somaliland until southern Somalia comes out of the current chaos and violence. The question is, If Southern Somalia fails to recover from the violence and chaos that killed hundreds of thousands in last 20 years then will US administration continue overlooking development, democracy progress and good governance in Somaliland?!

There is most devastating humanitarian crisis in southern Somalia including ethic killing, hunger and killer epidemic diseases that take the lives of thousands of civilians. Human rights abuses are daily event. Illegal piracy is common in many parts of former Somalia that disturbs the international sea water, under sponsorship of Puntland. My question is why the world shall punish Somaliland for crimes it did not commit?!

Al-Qaeda’s makeshift & Talibanization of Somalia

Recently Pakistani High Commissioner to London during a debate at Press TV underlined that Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders are working on plans to relocate from Afghan-Pakistan Border into Somalia and Yemen. He added that fighting in Pakistan will end if these leaders leave their country, because the Pashtu tribes are protecting them as guests.

There are feasible Al-Qaeda activities of relocating from Afghan-Pakistan Border to Somalia and Yemen, after Pakistani Forces crashed the Taliban inside Pakistan. This forced Al-Qaeda leaders to look for alternatives like violent and lawless Somalia, which has 100% Muslim population.

Somali eyewitness from Mogadishu told Somali news website that foreigners including Arabs are fighting alongside Al-Shabaab terror organization – Al-Qaeda’s African Wing. These foreigners train the local Somali youth as suicide bombers and on roadside bombs.

NATO Forces operated last four to five years in Afghanistan to defeat Taliban but until now, there are no fruitful results, because Taliban is active and strong. Taliban carry out daily attacks on NATO forces and Afghanistan forces that kill many soldier. It will not be easy for the international community to fight terrorists like Al-Qaeda inside Somalia because Al-Qaeda will get plenty new recruits due to the poverty and lack of education in the country. NATO Forces will not use magic wind to eliminate Al-Qaeda inside Somalia except using Somaliland against the Al-Qaeda. This method succeeded in Iraq, after US forces formed Sunni militia to fight Al-Qaeda and this disabled Al-Qaeda’s operations and death rate of US forces dropped very sharply in very short period.

Comparisons are already being made between the Islamists in Mogadishu and the Taliban in Afghanistan. At some point, the United States government will have to make an unsavoury decision about how to handle the jihadists in Mogadishu. It will almost certainly be necessary to have allies on the ground willing to offer the United States assistance, local information, access to territory, and so on.

AFP new agency published on 12th June 2009 report about Al-Qaeda’s plans to shift to Somalia entitled “Some Qaeda fighters head to Somalia, Yemen”. Dozens of Al-Qaeda fighters and some of the extremist group’s leaders are shifting from their haven in Pakistan’s tribal areas to Somalia and Yemen, The New York Times reported on Friday.

Violent militant groups in all three countries are now communicating more frequently in a apparent effort to coordinate their actions, US administration, military and counterterrorism officials told the Times.

A senior administration official attributed the shift to “the enormous heat we’ve been putting on the leadership and the mid-ranks” with Predator drone strikes launched from Pakistan and Afghanistan that President Barrack Obama has intensified since taking office in January.

“Al-Qaeda has been hit by drones and it has generated a lot of insecurity among them,” said retired Pakistani general Talat Masood, a military analyst in Islamabad. “Many among them are uneasy and it is possible that they are leaving for Somali and other Jihadi battle fronts…The hard core, however, will like to stay on.”

Another explanation, the newspaper said, may owe to expanded violent extremist campaigns in Somalia and Yemen, with US officials pointing to Somalia as a failed state and to a weak central government in Yemen.

CIA Director Leon Panetta said Thursday that the intelligence agency is focusing on countries like Somalia and Yemen as possible safe havens for Al-Qaeda. The group’s leader, Osama bin Laden, is still hiding in Pakistan, Panetta told reporters… End of Report.


The Ideal Solution for Somalia

The solution for Somali unrest is to go back to old codes of 1960 union, and cure disagreements and uncertainties between the Somali communities. We understand that fact don’t satisfy all people, because there is always winner. However, in Somalia all shall be winners, even if it takes giving the leadership of the country to all tribes per term.

The unity of 1st July 1960 that created Somali Republic was not fundamentally agreed, because the Somalis were uneducated and did not understand the meaning of unity; there was no constitution and agreements. It was enthusiastic union that ended on 18th May 1991, after Somaliland was retained its sovereignty afterfive decades within Somalia.

The theory of “Greater Somalia” is based on unity between Somali dominated five regions in the Horn of Africa including Djibouti, Somaliland, Eastern Region of Ethiopia, North Frontier District of Kenya and Somalia (Former Italian Somalia). Somaliland and Italian Somalia united on 1st July 1960, but other three parts remained uninterested in the unity. The Somali dictator Mohamed Siyad Barre attacked Ethiopia to take the 5th Region of Ethiopia by force, as part of theory. Also, the diplomatic relation between Kenya and Somalia was very bad due to the theory, as Siyad Barre believed that Kenya occupies parts of “Greater Somalia”.

Recognizing Somaliland could be as good as the disintegration of USSR, because the people unite and disintegrate based on their own desire, and people of Somaliland voted for independence during 2001 Referendum with 97%. Yes to independence. Somaliland is 3.5 million with 168,000 miles square, and nobody in the world will be able to force them back into another marriage with failed state of Somalia. So, USA government shall recognize Somaliland and utilize its expertise in Somali conflict in the right path.

USA should change its policies in the horn of Africa, and support the growing democracies instead of dancing with dictators. The faith of Somalia will be similar to that of USSR, and dividing the country into Somaliland and Somalia will be an ultimate solution. USA shall not redo in Somalia its failed policy in Afghanistan that created terrorism after USSR lost the war. Dancing with dictators never pays off.

Frankly, the worst democracy is better than any dictatorship. Dictatorship leads to frustration, extremism and terrorism. Somaliland is unique form of democracy and it is growing without democracy mentors and Somaliland created peace without crisis management experts. Somaliland deserved appreciation from the outside world, as neighboring countries do every day.

Today, the landlocked Ethiopia uses Somaliland main port ‘Berbera’ for its imports and exports; Djibouti shares very peaceful border with Somaliland border securities of both countries cooperate on security. In other hand, millions of illegal and drug traffickers cross the border between Southern Somalia and Kenya; large quantities of weapons are smuggled daily into Kenya and Ethiopia. This is different between having Somaliland or Somalia on your border.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, in his recent article on Washington Post, said “once the Soviets were defeated, the Americans took the next bus out of Afghanistan, leaving behind a political vacuum that ultimately led to the Talibanisation and radicalisation of the country, the birth of Al Qaeda and the current jihadist insurrection in Pakistan.”

The world should put southern Somalia under UN Trusteeship for ten years in order to restore the basic social service and help the Somalis to establish their life again. The African Peace Keeping Forces should stay in Somalia during the trusteeship to protect the civilians from the terrorist organizations. Also, the world should recognize Somaliland as an independent state, which will reduce the magnitude of problem inside former Somalia.

Southern Somalia was under UN Trusteeship from 1950 to 1960, because the people in Southern Somalia failed to put effective administration in their part of the region. However, this shows that UN Trusteeship can be ideal solution to Southern Somalia, and recognition of Somaliland will support the growing democracy and good governance.

Members of US Congress believe that recognizing Somaliland will open Pandora Box in the region, and many other Somali regions will demand independence like Somaliland. However, the congressmen should understand that Somaliland was independent in more than two centuries before it united with Somalia on 1st July 1960.

Somalilanders joined Somalia to examine possibility of creating Greater Somalia, which includes Djibouti, 5th Region of Ethiopia and Northern Frontiers Province (NFD) of Kenya. However, this theory failed and created unrest in the region including war Somali-Ethiopian war in 1964 and 1977. Also, Djibouti, who was part of the Greater Somalia, turned down the theory and declared independent Republic of Djibouti. This was the end of Greater Somalia.

On the other hand, Somaliland could not retrieve its sovereignty from Southern Somalia because of dictator leaders, who bombed and killed thousands of civilians in Somaliland (former northern regions of Somalia) after the people of these regions called for independence until 1991. Somalilanders took up the arms against Somalia government and liberated their country on 1991, and suddenly announced the long waited independence. On 18th May 1991, it was rebirth of Somaliland. So my question is why US Congress holds back the independence of Somaliland from Somalia?!

US Government should encourage the democracy, good governance against the dictatorship and terrorism that dominated the Horn of African region. This can only happen if Washington administration recognizes Somaliland as strong, democratic and modern ally. Today, there are dictators everywhere in the Horn of Africa including Ethiopia, Djibouti, Uganda, Sudan and Kenya except Somaliland, which had three leaders from its rebirth on 18th May 1991 and fresh presidential election expected on Sep 2009.

The below articles are fact-finding by scholars, university professors, former US ambassador, and other intellectual and politicians about Somaliland and the region in general:

1. Somaliland: The Little Country that Could
Africa Program £ Center for Strategic and International Studies
1800 K Street, NW £ Washington, DC 20006 £ Tel: (202) 775-3135 £
Fax: (202) 775-3199 £ www.csis.org
AFRICA NOTES
Number 9 November 2002
David H. Shinn
http://www.mbali.info/doc45.htm

2. Why the United States Should Recognize Somaliland’s Independence
By Peter J. Schraeder
Peter J. Schraeder is a professor in the Department of Political Science at Loyola University Chicago. He writes on African politics and U.S. Africa policy.
http://forums.csis.org/africa/?p=19

3. The Ghost of Somalia: Somaliland Should be Allowed to Depart a Chaotic Country in Transition
Pittsburgh Post – Gazette. Pittsburgh, Pa.: Jul 12, 2006. pg. B.7
Dan Simpson, a retired U.S. ambassador, is a Post-Gazette associate editor (dsimpson@post-gazette.com).
http://www.mbali.info/doc151.htm


4. U.N.’s Boutros-Ghali Proposes Armed Intervention in Somalia
By John M. Goshko
The Washington Post
UNITED NATIONS
http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:JmLEligNtlMJ:tech.mit.edu/V112/N61/somalia.61w.html+Boutros+Boutros-Ghali+created+somali+problem&cd=2&hl=ar&ct=clnk&gl=kw

5. Somalia –Afghanistan of Africa, HASSAN DAHIR AWEYS the Trojan Horse of Issayas Afeworki
By Abdulaziz Al-Mutairi
The American Chronicle

Abdulaziz Al-Mutairi, MA in Journalism and Mass Communication, Columnist, Freelance Journalist and Weekly article writer about Middle East and African politics and human rights. He is member of International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/102255

Somaliland enforced all possible procedures, codes and technologies to host free and fair elections. Somaliland Election Commission (SEC) installed biometric based system, where all fingerprints of the citizens are saves in centralized database. SEC conducts One-Man-One-Vote.


By\ Abdulaziz Al-Mutairi
Email: az.almutairi@yahoo.com

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