TOP UN OFFICIALS APPEAL FOR SAFETY OF CIVILIANS CAUGHT UP IN DR CONGO FIGHTING New York, Oct 31 2008 9:10 AM

Top United Nations officials today voiced deep concern over the plight of the hundreds of thousands of civilians caught up in the deadly fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and appealed to all sides to ensure their safety.
As many as 250,000 Congolese have been uprooted from their homes since August as a result of the fighting between Congolese armed forces (FARDC) and the rebel National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), led by renegade general Laurent Nkunda, in North Kivu province.

The UN peacekeeping force in the DRC, known as MONUC, has been working to protect civilians caught up in the deadly fighting in recent days, but has been stretched to the limit in its capacity to do so in the vast African nation. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it has received disturbing reports that several camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) near the North Kivu town of Rutshuru, about 90 kilometres north of the provincial capital, Goma, have been forcibly emptied, looted and burned.

The agency is concerned over the fate of some 50,000 IDPs living in these camps. In addition, the area around Rutshuru, where UNHCR has an office, has been the scene of fighting in recent weeks and is now under rebel control. High Commissioner António Guterres has again appealed to all sides in the conflict to respect humanitarian principles and to ensure the safety of civilians and those trying to help them. “Hundreds of thousands of people who have already suffered far too much are in danger and in desperate need of help,” he said. “As humanitarians, our job is to get life-saving assistance to them as quickly as possible. We are trying to do this in an extremely volatile environment characterised by reported widespread human rights abuses and general lawlessness. “While we will do everything we can to help the innocent victims, the solution has to be political and we appeal to all sides to bring this conflict to an end,” stated the High Commissioner.

UNHCR staff in Goma reported that the situation today is calm but tense. “Our office is open and our people are working, but security restrictions on movement remain tight,” the agency’s spokesperson, Ron Redmond, told reporters in Geneva.
Since the latest round of fighting started in August more than 8,500 refugees crossed the border into Uganda – some 2,500 of them over the past three days. UNHCR reported that an additional 600 refugees arrived this morning. Some 1,200 have also fled to Rwanda.
There are 16 UNHCR-assisted sites in North Kivu sheltering some 100,000 people, plus more than 40 makeshift encampments housing tens of thousands of civilians. Altogether, there are more than one million IDPs in North Kivu.

“It’s clear that we are going to require more funding to cope with the new needs,” noted Mr. Redmond. “We need to rapidly distribute plastic tarpaulins, blankets, sleeping mats, jerry cans, buckets, mosquito nets, kitchens sets and sanitary material and it appears we’ll have to set up new sites for displaced people as well as existing camps in North Kivu.”
Also today UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay expressed her concern over the increasing number of killings and other human rights violations recorded over the past few days in North Kivu.
“During previous outbreaks of fighting in this region, we have seen horrendous large-scale summary and arbitrary executions, rapes, disappearances, torture, harassment, unlawful arrest and arbitrary detention, not to mention wave after wave of mass displacement,” she said.
“Over the past days, a number of fresh violations have been recorded by UN human rights staff in the region,” she added.

In Goma the main perpetrators of looting, killings and rapes, appear to have been renegade FARDC soldiers, many of whom have fled the fighting. Other serious abuses, including targeted killings, have been reported from areas held by CNDP forces.
“The total number of civilians killed so far is not known, but this is clearly an extremely dangerous situation,” Ms. Pillay stressed. She called for “radical” reforms by the Government so that its security forces can play an appropriate role under the constitution and fully respect the human rights of its citizens.

“What happened in Goma should not have happened, as most violations were committed by looting soldiers belonging to the government forces,” she said. “I urge the Government to take swift and significant action to control their soldiers and protect the civilian population.”

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Qaraxyadii Is-miidaaminta Ahaa Ee Ka Dhacay Somaliland Oo Markii Ugu Horeysay Ay Qiratay Kooxda Al-Shabaab Ee Ka Dagaalanta Soomaaliya

Hargeysa(GAR) :-Kooxda lagu magacaabo Al-shabaab ee ka dagaalanta koonfurta Soomaaliya ee Magaalada Muqdisho ayaa sheegatay inay ka danbeysay,falalkii is-miidaaminta ahaa ee maalintii Arbacadii ee ay soo dhaafay lala beegsaday sadex goobood oo kala Madaxtooyada Somaliland, Xafiiska Ganacsiga Dawlada Ethiopia Iyo Xarunta Hay’ada UNDP inay ka danbeeyeen.

Sidaa waxa sheegtay Kooxda Al-shabaab oo Xalay ku baahiyey Website-kooda Cajalad maqal Iyo muuqaal ah oo 30-daqiiqadood ahayd, isla markaana waxa shaacisay Telefiishanada caalamiga ah Sida Al-jaziira iyo Al-Carabiya.
Muuqaalkan ayaa laga dhex arkayey dhalinyarada oo u tababaranaysa baabuur iyo olol, waxa kale oo laga maqlayey ninka ay sheegtay Al-shabaab inuu hogaaminayey qaraxan ismiidaaminta ah ee maalinimadii arbacadii ka dhacay gudaha Somaliland oo lagu magacaabo Cabdicasiis [Sacad] oo la maqlayey codkiisa isaga oo u digaya ciidamada Ethiopia ee u sugan Soomaaliya iyo kuwa kale EMISON ee jooga Xamar, isaga oo ay hadaladiisu isugu jireen Hanjabaad iyo Ereyo diiniya.
“Aniga magacaygu waa sacad waxaan ahay argagixiso maxaad iga qaadi kartaan, waxaan doonaynaa inaanu tango oo weeraro ku qaadno dad gaalo” ayuu yidhi sacad oo xalay soo turjumeen Wargeyska Jamhuuriya.. Oo saaka soo daabacay.

Sida Wargeyska Jamhuuriya Saaka daabacay cadadkiisi 3699, waxaanu sacad sheegtay inay weerari doonaan Gaalada iyo Gaalo-gar-gaarayaas ha.
Ugu danbeytiina waxa uu jeediyey khudbad kooban oo Af-ingiriisiya.
Sheegashadani waa markii ugu horeysay ee xogi ka soo baxdo sadexdii qarax ee maalinimadii Arbacada ahayd ka dhacay gudaha Somaliland oo sababay dhimasho iyo dhaawac laxaad leh, waxaana ku dhintay dad gaadhayaa 25- qof, waxaana ku dhaawacmay in ka badan afartameeya qof.
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SHAHIIDKA DUUG, DHIIGA MAYDH, ILMADA ISKA TIR, GUNTIGA GIIJIYA OO GEEDIGA WAADA.

Qalinka Ahmed Arwo

INAALILAA WA INA ILAYHI RAAJACUUN. Tacsi murug iyo naxdin xanbaarsan aan u gudbiyo inta ehelkoodu ku naf waayey iyo inta ku naafowdayba weerarkii shalay ee ka qaawanaa dadnimada laguna beegsaday dad iyo duunyo aan godob ka galin. Waa geeri oo waa loo dhashay, waa naxdin oo waa loo soo toosay, waa dil iyo dulmi aan dariiqiisa haysan. Inta gacanta gardarani dishay Alle ha siiyo naxariistiisa ballaadhan, ehelkoodana ha ka yeelo kuwa samir iyo duco laasima. Tacsida waxay tahay mid dhammaan ina taabatay reer Soomaliland mid qurbe-joog ah, iyo mid weli maqasha ku raaca duleedka reerka.

Dawlad iyo dadweyne, mucaarid iyo muxaafid, xaakim iyo la-xukume, rag iyo dumar, wiil iyo waayeel dhammaan samir iyo iimaan.
Waa duni oo joogsi ma leh. Wax kasta oo dhacana isma taagto. Adigoo iloobin nabarka laguu gaystay, haddana waxaad nacaska fulayga ah ee dhabarka kaa wareemay aad kaga guulaysataa markaad muujiso adkeysi iyo inaanad dhayal u ciirin. Xusuuso hooyadu markay ubadkeedu dhaco.. waxay tidhaa iyadoo dhoolacadaynaysa ... hubbo oo kac...ma daransiiso xanuunka ku dhacay ee waxay u tustaa caado qof walba soo martay. Waana dariska ugu horeeya ee fadhi baradku barto... in la dhaco, la kufo oo la kaco..
Haddaba shahiidka duug, dhiiga maydh, ilmada iska tirtir, dhexda giiji oo geediga ha joojin. Waxa inoo socda ooynu ku jirnaa marxalad adag, hadafkeedu yahay inaynu ku guulaysano ooy noqoto mid midhaheeda jiil ka jiil la dacarsandoono. Waa diiwaangelin ay dabo socoto doorasho aynu ku salayno cidda masiirka ummaddan dhibta iyo taariikhda qadhaadha soo martay loo dhiibi lahaa.

Waxa lagu gaadhi karaa midnimo. Waxaana xil inaga saran yahay inaynu u guntano sidii ruux kasta oo muwaadin ahi u heli lahaa inuu xaqiisa doorasho si hufan, furfuran, xalaal ah oon habrasho iyo cabsi lahayn u guto. Madaxdeenu shalayto si wacan oo wanaagsan oo isku duuban ayey arrinta qaraxa ka yeeleen waxay innoogu yeedheen midnimo, gacanta oo leys qabsado, wado shaqayn cadowga oon meelna loo banyan. Waa waajib wadani waana mid aan cidina su’aal ka keenayn. Is-jira oo wadajira oo foojignaada. Iskaashada oo isku duubnaada.
Dawladda waxa la gudboon heer kasta ooy joogto, in nin kasta oo xil qaran hayaa manta u soo noqdo waajibaadka ka saran xilkaas. Inuu hawshiisa u guto sidii loogu aaminay. Askariga, sarkaalka, ciidanka booliska, kan difaaca, kan sirdoonka ah, ka maxaabiista ilaaliya, karaaniga qalinka ku shaqeeya, inanta computarka dul fadhida, maayara, dhiisiga, badhasaabka, macalinka, dhakhtarka, duubabka , madaxtooyada, wasiirada, barlamaanka, xeer-ilaalinta iyo tan ugu culus waa xaqsoorka waa maxkamadaha, waa gudiga doorashooyinka waa gudi kasta oo arrin garnaqsi loo saaray... waxa la gudboon inay waajibkeeda si cadaalad ah u gudato.
Maanta waxa hiil u aha qarannimadeena, waxaa hoog u aha cadowgeena, waxaa samir u aha inta dhibtu si gaar ah ugu habsatay inaan gogalxaadhka doorashooyinka soo socda loo maro oo lagu qabto hab cadaalad ah, hab hufan, furfuran oo loo siman yahay.

Qof kasta oo xil ka saran yahayna waa inuu waajibkiisa u gutaa si codka muwaadinku u gaadho cidda uu xaq ahaan u doortay. Waa taas tan fashilaysa hammadii daalinka soo duulay, waana ta xaqiijinaysa in dalkeenu noqdo xiddig ka dhex iftiima mugda Geeska Afrika. Gobal kasta, degmo kasta, magaalo kasta, tuulo kasta, beel kasta, reer kasta, jilib kasta, jufo kasta, iyo qoys kastaa, waa inay u furnaadaan seddexda xisbi oon meelna cid gaar ah iyo xisbi gaar ah u xidhnaan. Dadka ha loo siiyo fursad ay ku doortaan cidda ay dantooda u dhiiban karaan. Hantida dawladda, idaacadda, warbaahinta, iyo wax kasta oo la wada leeyahay waa in xisbiyadu u sinaanaadaan. Waa arrimahaas kuwa ina walaaleynaaya, ina mideenaayaa, ina xoojinaaya, wiiqaaya cadowgeena. Wax walba ku liq danta guud, shallayto haddaad garab ahayd manta noqo qof qarannimo ku hawl gala. Dalool kasta gufee, oo qaybta oodda qaranka kaaga beegan soo jiid, gaadhkeedana u yeel.

Iskuduubnida ku ilaali cadaaladda, iyadaa ina deeqda ee u gunto. Illaahow xaqa na tus, nagu toosi, oo nagu dhaq. Allow balaayada inaga xijaab, na gees mari, nabadda noo adkee, inta lunsan ee xumaanta caadeystay Allow soo hadee, xumahooda Allow tus. U muuji inta ubad ay agoomeeyeen, qalbigooda tus inta waayeel ay dhegta dhiig u dareen. Allow nabad taam ah ku soo dabaal dhammaan inta cariga Soomali ku nooshay, ka badbaadi colaadda iyo abaarta ku habsatay. Allow Soomaliland ka yeel dal nabad iyo Cadaalad ku sifooba, sidoo kalena u gargaar dhammaan Soomali iyo Islaamka kaleba. Allow cidna xumaan uguma maqnin, ee kuwa noogu maqan fashili oo hadafkooda jabi.

AAN IDINKU DHAAFO MAGACYADA DHIMASHO IYO DHAAWAC ILAA HADDA LA SHAACIYEY IYO WARGEYSKA OGAAL

1. Xildhibaan Maxamed Cismaan Libaaxo (Golaha Guurtida)
Madaxtooyada
2. Daahir Cali Iid, (Xoghayihii Madaxtooyada)
Madaxtooyada
3. Xuseen Maxamed Faarax (Af-gaab) (La taliyihii Madaxweynaha ee dhinaca Hay’addaha)
Madaxtooyada
4. Maxamed Cilmi Geelle, (madaxii amniga UNDP)
UNDP
5. Xusseen Aadan Cabdi
?
6. Maxamuud Maxamed Yuusuf (Fool)
?
7. Maxamuud Cabdiraxmaan Sugule
?
8. Maxamed Axmed Cumar
Madaxtooyada
9. Ibraahin Cabdirisaaq Cabdilaahi
?
10. Layla Xaaji Cabdi Rooble
Madaxtooyada
11. Siciid (Darawal UNDP)
UNDP

Intaas ka sokow, siday tibaaxeen Warar laga soo xigtay hawl-wadeenada Caafimaadka tirada dadka dhintay ee kale lama aqoonsan Magacyadooda, kuwaas oo ay ku jiraan is-qarxiyayaashii Baabuurta Qaraxa loo adeegsaday watay.

Magacyada Dhaawaca:
Sida laga soo xigtay Saraakiil Caafimaad oo u dhuun-daloola goobaha lagu dawaynayay dhaawacaa dadka ku dhaawacmay qaraxyadii shalay, waxa dadka dhaawacmay Magacyadooda ka mid ah;
1. Sulub Cabdi Saleebaan
2. Maxamed Cabdilaahi Guulleed
3. Xiis Mahdi Sugaal
4. Barre Yaasiin Geelle
5. Maxamed Cabdi Cismaan
6. Maxamed Axmed Cismaan
7. Cabdilaahi Cabdi Xasan (Dayr)
8. Ibraahin Cabdilaahi (Huutuu) (Sarkaal sare oo ka tirsan Sirdoonka)
9. Cali Cabdilaahi Xaashi
10. Cabdicasiis Maxamed Faarax (Sarkaal UNDP – waxa isla shalay loo duuliyay Jabuti)
11. Xuseen Faarax
12. Xusseen Xasan (Makaanik UNDP)
13. Khadar Cabdilaahi Muxumed
14. Jamaal Cabdi Maxamuud
15. Abokor Sulub, (Taliyaha ciidanka ilaalada Madaxtooyada)
16. Cabdirisaaq Xaamud Caydiid, (Weriye ka tirsan Telefishanka Space Channel)
17. Maxamed Aadan Ismaaciil (Adiino) (Sarkaal UNDP – waxa isla shalay loo duuliyay Jabuti)
18. Maxamed Ismaaciil (xafiiska xisaabaadka Madaxtooyada)

Dhinaca kale, intaas kuma dhama magacyada dadka ku dhintay iyo kuwa ku dhaawacmay masiibadaasi, mana kala cadda Magacyadaa dhimashada iyo dhaawaca in ay sax ku yihiin siday nagu soo gaadheen iyo inay wax ka qaldan yihiin. Waayo, Maamulka Cusbatalka guud ee Hargeysa si rasmi ah umuu shaacinin Magacyada oo dhammaystiran, balse waxaanu ka soo xiganay Saraakiil Caafimaad oo goobaha daawaynta ku sugnaa.

XG: Ogaal

Allow Nabad iyo Caano.

Axmed Carwo
Cardiff,U.K
Samotalis@gmail.com

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UN slams suicide raids in breakaway Somali regions

UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council on Thursday sharply condemned the wave of suicide attacks that killed at least 23 people in two breakaway Somali regions.The 15-member council adopted a non-binding, British-drafted statement that "condemns in the strongest terms the terrorist attacks" in the towns of Hargeysa and Bosasso Wednesday. It stressed the need "to bring the perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism to justice and urges all states to cooperate actively with the authorities of Somalia in this regard."

The council reaffirmed that "terrorism in all its forms and manifestation constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security, and that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable." Meanwhile, investigations were underway to identify the perpetrators of Wednesday's bombings, which drew international condemnation and came as regional leaders gathered in Nairobi in a bid to boost peace efforts in Somalia.

At least 20 people were killed in addition to the three bombers when three suicide car bombs struck Hargeysa, the capital of breakaway Somaliland. The simultaneous attacks struck the presidential palace, the United Nations Development Program's compound -- which housed five other UN agencies -- and Ethiopia's diplomatic representation. Residents said thousands of police and soldiers were patrolling the streets and setting up checkpoints.

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Spanish War Plane Prevents Hijacking Off Somalia Coast

Spain's Defense Ministry says one of its patrol planes has helped prevent a hijacking in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia.In a statement Wednesday, the ministry said its PS Orion aircraft received a distress call from the Panamanian-registered oil tanker Leander, indicating it was being attacked by pirates.

The ministry said the plane flew to the scene, about 210 kilometers off the coast of Somalia and circled the ship three times, launching smoke bombs toward the small, pirate boats.The plane reported that, after the third pass, the pirates gave up their attack and retreated.Maritime officials say pirates in the Gulf of Aden have attacked more than 60 ships this year and hijacked at least 30. Earlier this week, a NATO warship escorted a cargo vessel to a port in Somalia, in the first such mission since NATO ships arrived in the region to fight piracy.NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the warship accompanied a vessel taking supplies to Burundian peacekeepers in Somalia.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer (fFile)NATO has dispatched seven ships to join the international effort against piracy in the Gulf of Aden and along Somalia's eastern coast. Meanwhile, Germany today approved a 13-month extension of its monitoring mission in the Gulf of Aden, though it lowered the number of troops allowed on the mission from 1,400 to 800. Germany currently has 90 soldiers in the region. Somalia's interim government is fighting an Islamist insurgency and has been unable to patrol the coastline.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

By VOA News

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NY Times: 5 Suicide Bomb Attacks Hit Somalia

NY Times MOGADISHU, Somalia — Five suicide car bombers attacked government and United Nations sites in northern Somalia on Wednesday, killing at least 21 people. The attacks shattered the rare sense of calm that had existed in a few corners of the country.

The suicide bombers struck within half an hour in Hargeisa, the capital of breakaway Somaliland, and Bosasso, in Puntland, said Faisal Hayle, a security official in Mogadishu for the transitional government of Somalia.Several buildings were leveled by the attacks, which Somali officials quickly labeled the work of Islamist terrorists.

The bombers struck between 10 and 10:30 a.m., first attacking in Hargeisa, long considered the safest city in Somalia. They struck the Somaliland presidential palace, an Ethiopian Consulate office and a United Nations office there.The Somaliland president, Dahir Rayale Kahin, who spoke to the BBC Somali service, said that his secretary and his adviser had been killed in the attack on the palace and urged people to cooperate with the police."We are very, very sorry for what happened," he said, adding that Somalilanders' "independence and existence has been attacked.""I am telling you that the enemy is among you, and you must pick them up," he said.At least 20 people were killed and more than 30 others wounded in the attacks in Hargeisa, according to officials and witnesses.

Reuters quoted witnesses as saying that the death toll from the five attacks totaled 28, and that at least 20 of the deaths had occurred at the Ethiopian office in Hargeisa.In the port of Bosasso, two huge blasts rocked the city as suicide bombers attacked two offices of the Puntland security forces, killing one person and wounding six soldiers, residents and officials said.There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks. Faisal Hayle, the security official, blamed a militant Islamist group called the Shabab, which the United States considers a terrorist organization.The Shabab has been waging a relentless war against Somalia's weak transitional government, but most of its attacks have been confined to south-central Somalia. Hargeisa, in northern Somalia, had been considered an oasis of stability, where the ubiquitous teenage gunmen who haunt the rest of Somalia's streets were remarkably absent.The Somaliland government has been credited with setting up a small but functioning democracy, and providing a degree of peace and safety to more than a million people.

The government was in the middle of registering people for coming presidential elections.Several United Nations agencies are based in Hargeisa because it is considered one of the few areas in Somalia where aid workers are safe.Neighboring Puntland, on the other hand, is fast emerging as a center of piracy and kidnapping.In a statement on Wednesday, the United Nations Development Program said that a suicide bomber had entered its compound in Hargeisa and that there were casualties and deaths, but the agency gave no precise figures.The attack may have been timed to coincide with a meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, between Somalia's transitional leaders and foreign forces supporting them.Militant Islamist groups were not invited to the talks, and organizations like the Shabab have shunned the discussions. The militant group says it wants to turn Somalia into an Islamic state and has demanded the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops.Ethiopian forces have been backing Somalia's transitional government and have been among the targets of previous suicide attacks claimed by the Shabab.

Last year, there were several suicide attacks on Ethiopian and Somali government army bases, but nothing like Wednesday's coordinated assault, with five suicide attacks in a single day.At a news conference after the attacks, the Puntland president, Mohamud Muse Hirsi, placed the blame for the bombings on terrorists seeking to jeopardize Puntland's security."It was two shocking blasts that we haven't seen before," he said, accusing outsiders of carrying out the attacks. "We know their faces, and they are not Puntlanders."The first bomb exploded at a security service intelligence office close to the presidential palace in Puntland, according to residents and officials. Two minutes later, an explosion hit the agency's office in the Laanta Hawada neighborhood, killing one person and wounding six.Mohamoud Awale, a resident of Bosasso, said he saw a speeding car drive into one of the offices. "I was really very shocked because I haven't witnessed such a catastrophic event," Mr. Awale said.Hawa Mohamoud, 40, a resident with four children, said: "When I heard the explosions, I realized that we were under attack. I don't know where I can go with these children, and it seems that our turn for the insecurity has come."

Somaliland broke with Somalia in the early 1990s, and Puntland declared itself semiautonomous in 1998.The Somaliland police were securing the streets of Hargeisa, government offices and the offices of other international organizations to prevent further attacks.Residents in Hargeisa poured into the streets, showing solidarity with the government, and chanting, "We support our sovereignty and unity," according to Ifrah Nor, a resident.

Mohammed Ibrahim reported from Mogadishu, Somalia, and Jeffrey Gettleman from Nairobi, Kenya.

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Radio Horyaal Khamiis 30/10/2008

via Somaliland.Org by admin on 30/10/08

Khamiis 30 October 2008 - 30 min

GARGAAR: Letter to the members of the Somali Diaspora

http://gargaar.blogspot.com/

Islamic Banking: Steady in Shaky Times Principles Based on Religious Law Insulate Industry From Worst of Financial Crisis

By Faiza Saleh Ambah Washington Post Foreign Service Friday, October 31, 2008; A16
JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia --

As big Western financial institutions have teetered one after the other in the crisis of recent weeks, another financial sector is gaining new confidence: Islamic banking.
Proponents of the ancient practice, which looks to sharia law for guidance and bans interest and trading in debt, have been promoting Islamic finance as a cure for the global financial meltdown.
This week, Kuwait's commerce minister, Ahmad Baqer, was quoted as saying that the global crisis will prompt more countries to use Islamic principles in running their economies. U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert M. Kimmet, visiting Jiddah, said experts at his agency have been learning the features of Islamic banking.

Though the trillion-dollar Islamic banking industry faces challenges with the slump in real estate and stock prices, advocates say the system has built-in protection from the kind of runaway collapse that has afflicted so many institutions. For one thing, the use of financial instruments such as derivatives, blamed for the downfall of banking, insurance and investment giants, is banned. So is excessive risk-taking.
"The beauty of Islamic banking and the reason it can be used as a replacement for the current market is that you only promise what you own. Islamic banks are not protected if the economy goes down -- they suffer -- but you don't lose your shirt," said Majed al-Refaie, who heads Bahrain-based Unicorn Investment Bank.

The theological underpinning of Islamic banking is scripture that declares that collection of interest is a form of usury, which is banned in Islam. In the modern world, that translates into an attitude toward money that is different from that found in the West: Money cannot just sit and generate more money. To grow, it must be invested in productive enterprises.
"In Islamic finance you cannot make money out of thin air," said Amr al-Faisal, a board member of Dar al-Mal al-Islami, a holding company that owns several Islamic banks and financial institutions. "Our dealings have to be tied to actual economic activity, like an asset or a service. You cannot make money off of money. You have to have a building that was actually purchased, a service actually rendered, or a good that was actually sold."

In the Western world, bankers designing investment instruments have to satisfy government regulators. In Islamic banking, there is another group to please -- religious regulators called a sharia board. Finance lawyers work closely with Islamic finance scholars, who study and review a product before issuing a fatwa, or ruling, on its compliance with sharia law.
Islamic bankers describe depositors as akin to partners -- their money is invested, and they share in the profits or, theoretically, the losses that result. (In interviews, bankers couldn't recall a case in which depositors actually lost money; this shows that banks put such funds only in very low-risk investments, they said.)
Rather than lend money to a home buyer and collect interest on it, an Islamic bank buys the property and then leases it to the buyer for the duration of the loan. The client pays a set amount each month to the bank, then at the end obtains full ownership. The payments are structured to include the cost of the house, plus a predetermined profit margin for the bank.
Sharia-compliant institutions also cannot invest in alcohol, pornography, weapons, gambling, tobacco or pork.

Computer engineer Tarek al-Bassam said the crisis made him glad that he had chosen an Islamic bank to take his money. His Islamic savings account has made about 4 percent profit, he said. "Usually it's a very low risk or a very low gain. But I'm happy with it," Bassam said.
He has also borrowed from an Islamic bank, to buy a building. Even if he's late in his payments, he said, he will not have to pay cumulative interest or a larger sum than the one agreed upon. But he notes that under this system, it can be harder to get a loan than from a conventional bank. Islamic banks have stricter lending rules and require that their borrowers provide more collateral and have higher income.
Islamic banking has grown by about 15 percent a year since its modern inception in the 1970s, fueled by the Middle East oil boom of that decade. "There was a lot of hostility when we first started out. We were regarded with suspicion, especially by the regulatory authorities. We were an odd fish. Authorities only acquiesced when they saw the huge demand," said Dar al-Mal al-Islami's Faisal, who has been in Islamic finance since the late 1970s.

Islamic finance now accounts for about 1 percent of the global market, according to Majid Dawood, chief executive of Yasaar, a Dubai-based sharia financing consultancy. "We had expected to be at 12 percent of the global market by 2025, but now with this financial crisis, we expect to get there much faster," he said in a telephone interview from New York, where he was speaking at a conference on Islamic banking.
Growth in Islamic banking picked up even before the current financial crisis, mainly because of strong client demand for safe, religiously acceptable investments and a recent explosion in new and innovative financial instruments, said Jane Kinninmont, an analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, a research and advisory company.
Islamic banks now offer credit cards in which the full balance must be paid off at month's end. They have devised a kind of commercial paper known as sukuk, which generates a predetermined return that is called a profit, not interest. It is tied to a specific asset and conveys ownership of it. A sukuk might be issued by a government or a company that is building a hospital or a bridge, for example.
Work in Islamic banking by the King & Spalding law firm has grown roughly 40-fold in the past four years, according to Jawad Ali, a Dubai-based partner at the firm. The firm has 35 lawyers "who do nothing but structure sharia-compliant investment and financing on a daily basis," he said.
Islamic finance first sparked interest in the United States in the late 1990s. The Dow Jones Islamic Index was established in 1999, and the Dow Jones Islamic Fund, which invests in sharia-compliant companies, the following year.
But interest cooled after some Islamic banks were accused of financing terrorism in a lawsuit filed by family members of Sept. 11, 2001, victims, and a lot of Persian Gulf money left the United States for Europe.

In 2004, the German state of Saxony-Anhalt issued a 100 million-euro sovereign Islamic bond. That same year, the first Islamic bank opened in Britain, which now has six Islamic financial institutions, including a retail bank. Although the biggest Islamic banks are in the Persian Gulf -- Dubai Islamic Bank, Kuwait Finance House and Saudi Arabia's al-Rajhi Bank -- Malaysia and London are growing as major centers of Islamic banking as well. Islamic institutions are not immune to ills plaguing other banks, such as corruption charges and bad investments. Differences of interpretation between sharia scholars about what is permissible and what isn't also create confusion. The sukuk market, which had doubled each year since 2004, growing to a total of about $90 billion in bonds issued, fell 50 percent this year after a Bahrain-based group of Islamic scholars decreed that most of the bonds were not compatible with sharia law.

But as banks turn borrowers away in these times of economic turmoil, Islamic institutions continue to close deals in Europe, the Gulf and the United States, bankers said. "Banks feel safer and more comfortable with us because we put down more money, more equity. We are not allowed to borrow with very little down," said Tariq Malhance, a former chief financial officer for the city of Chicago who now heads Unicorn Investment Bank's U.S. office.
And those who have been in Islamic banking for a long time now feel vindicated.
"The current financial collapse is an opportunity. The ugly side of Wall Street is exposed; it's always been there but covered by a layer of glamour that is now stripped away," Faisal said. "We are more conservative and sober in our investments. That used to be considered a handicap. Now it's considered the height of wisdom."

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SOMALILAND POLICE ARREST SEVERAL PEOPLE SUSPECTED OF HARBOURING HARGEISA BOMBERS

Hargeisa, 30 October 2008 (Somaliland Today)- Somaliland police are hot on the heels of the suspected accomplices of the suicide bombers who carried out three simultaneous massive explosions that shook the Somaliland capital of Hargeisa yesterday, killing over 20 innocent people and wounding 29 others. Police had already identified the plate number of one of the vehicles used by the suicide bombers and quickly traced it to a second-hand car market in the port city of Berbera where the vehicle was originally bought. The police were also able to locate three different residences rented by the terrorists before carrying out their despicable acts of terror.

The severed head of one of the terrorists was also reportedly recovered from a place not far from the presidential palace where the terrorist attacks were carried out.
“We located three residences rented by the bombers and found explosives including bomb-making chemicals in these properties”, said the Somaliland interior minister, Abdillahi Ismail Ali.
In an interview with the BBC Somali Service, Mr. Ali stated that several suspects were being held in custody and two of the bombers had already been identified. He stopped short of saying which group the bombers belonged to. However, he indicated that they [the bombers] were from Mogadishu where suicide bombings are common place.
Reliable sources told Somaliland Today that the security guard of one of the properties rented by the bombers alerted to the neighbours and took his concerns to the police after he became suspicious of the men- a charge vigorously denied by the interior minister.
“We are just beginning to put together the jigsaw puzzles”, said a senior CID officer who wants to remain anonymous. “ Soon we will find out what had happened, where those evil men came from, who they were consorting with and their connections as well as those who sheltered and rendered support to them [the terrorists] and don’t forget we have already apprehended some of accomplices”.

The suicide bombers had driven vehicles laden with explosives into three high profile targets namely the presidential palace, the UNDP headquarters and the Ethiopian Commercial Attaché where most of the fatalities occurred. Among the dead was the president’s personal secretary, Dahir Ali Idd, who happened to be standing outside the presidential palace when the bomber rammed his vehicle into the gate of the palace. Idd took the full brunt of the blast and his remains had been buried at The National Cemetery in Hargeisa yesterday evening. Terrorists also struck the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, Somalia, at the same time and day, which shows that the bombings were co-ordinated. The bombings elicited harsh condemnation throughout the world and an outpouring of sympathy for the innocent victims.

A Somaliland Today correspondent says the bombers appeared to have chosen these high profile targets to maximise publicity but more importantly to paint Somaliland as an unstable entity after enjoying 16 years of relative peace and tranquillity. Somaliland had held presidential, parliamentary and municipal elections successfully, which the international observers praised them as free and fair. Enemies of Somaliland are still hell-bent on stopping its democratisation process in its tracks, authorities believe. A little over two years ago, Somaliland security forces had thwarted a massive terrorist plot intended to disrupt parliamentary elections. Yesterday’s terrorist outrages coincided at a time when a huge registration campaign is underway in the country for the upcoming presidential elections.

Somaliland has already been severely penalised by the international community, which insist that Somalia should remain undivided and Somaliland should wait until Mogadishu come to terms with itself. Somaliland got its independence from Britain in 1960 and later voluntarily united with Somalia. In 1991, after the collapse of the government in Somalia, the territory asserted its independence as the Republic of Somaliland although it has not yet received international recognition again as a sovereign state.

Somaliland TodayNews desk

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SOMALILAND: Jamal Abdi: "There's real panic and confusion in town"

HARGEISA, 30 October 2008 (IRIN) - As security forces investigate the three suicide car-bombs that went off on 29 October targeting a UN compound, the presidential residence and Ethiopian embassy in Hargeisa, capital of the self-declared republic of Somaliland, Jamal Abdi, 22, a local journalist, spoke to IRIN from hospital about the experience:
"Along with other journalists, I had just left the headquarters of UDUB [the Somaliland ruling party], when the first explosion hit the UN compound. As we tried to find out what was happening, a car being driven at very high speed forced its way into the Ethiopian embassy compound and exploded.

"All of a sudden, I was on the ground and everything became dark. I was hit by flying debris and the first thing I remember is my right leg bleeding. But before I could even get up, the third explosion went off in the presidential compound, 20m away.
"By then, I could hardly hear anything, I was in a daze. One of my colleagues was badly hurt, so we were all taken to the hospital.
"Yesterday [29 October] was a dark day for Hargeisa. This is something we have never seen. We hear it on the news but you never expect it to happen to you.
"There's real panic and confusion in town. Everyone is talking about it and wondering what next.
"I am one of the lucky ones. I am still in one piece and my family knows where I am. There are people still buried under the debris and many more with horrific injuries in hospital.
"At the hospital where I am, hundreds of people are looking for relatives they cannot trace. Some find their relatives and you hear the cries of joy but many others go home not knowing what happened to their loved ones.
"The population is really scared and is looking for people to blame. I am afraid they may target the southerners who have sought refuge in Somaliland. That would be tragic."

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Brigadier’s memories of Somalia

BRIGADIER Malcolm Page, chairman of the Henley branch of the Royal British Legion, was the guest speaker at last week’s lunch meeting of the Rotary Club of Henley, held at the Red Lion hotel. He gave a résumé of the history of Somalia and the lead-up to the formation of the Somaliland Scouts, a battalion of the British Army in which he served when he was in the country from 1947 to 1951.

Although there were a number of British officers and technical personnel, the battalion consisted largely of Somalis who often served overseas. David Tapp thanked Brigadier Page, who is also the UK chairman of the Royal Commonwealth Ex-Services League. The club made a small donation to the Somaliland scouts account of the league, for which the speaker expressed his thanks.

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Oromia state distributes plasma televisions bought with some 100 mil birr

Wednesday, 29 October 2008
Addis Ababa, October 29 (WIC) – The Oromia Education bureau announced that in order to achieve full and proper transmission coverage from the centre regarding the lessons prepared for all secondary and preparatory schools, it has been distributing plasma televisions bought at a cost of 100 million birr.

The government of the state is distributing 2,309 plasma televisions bought as part of the undertaking to back up the provision of secondary and preparatory level education with modern technology, Bureau Head, Dereje Asfaw, told WIC.

In schools of rural areas where there are no electric lines, generators have been bought and are being distributed for power source, in addition to the plasma televisions.

The plasma televisions would be distributed to 109 new and 155 existing secondary and preparatory schools, Ato Dereje indicated, adding, so far the distribution has been completed in the major zones of the west and south west while the efforts would be made to cover the remaining zones in the coming two weeks.

The Bureau Head also said the installation work starts and becomes operational within a month as soon as the distribution of the plasma televisions is completed. Hence, the existing secondary and preparatory schools, including those built this year, will get the lessons transmitted from the centre properly, he added.

The serious attention the state government gives to the delivery of education via plasma television and hence the huge budget allocated for the procurement from abroad is motivated by the need to avoid the gap between rural and urban areas with the support of modern technology, according to the head.
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BBC - Jobs - Job Details

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SOMALIA: Fleeing from the frying pan into the fire

HARGEISA, 29 October 2008 (IRIN) - When he fled Mogadishu, Mohamed Abdi thought life outside the war-torn capital could not be worse than what he was leaving behind. But since arriving in the self-declared republic of Somaliland in September, Abdi has had to reconsider.
Besides the overcrowded conditions in shelters for the displaced, Abdi and hundreds more who fled fighting in Mogadishu are still awaiting official registration in Somaliland and have yet to receive food aid.

Their situation is complicated because agencies and local authorities remain divided over whether the southerners are refugees from another country or internally displaced people (IDPs).
"Those who come from Somalia are considered refugees by the Somaliland government; therefore the policy of Somaliland has not changed on that issue," Ali Ibrahim, Minister of Planning, said, adding that any report suggesting otherwise "is false and erroneous".
Somaliland, he said, treated the southerners according to international conventions covering refugees. "We are doing the best we can for them," he added.
Ibrahim stressed that only people from Somaliland were considered "displaced persons" - a term some agencies uses rather than "internally displaced persons".
There are no accurate figures available, but the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates there are about 75,000 displaced people in Somaliland.

Life since Mogadishu
Meanwhile, Abdi and others have to make do with whatever they can lay their hands on.
They travelled for nine days from Mogadishu: "We were caught between the two sides," he told IRIN in Hargeisa on 20 October. "The government and the Ethiopians were accusing us [civilians] of being part of the Muqawama [resistance] and the resistance was accusing us of collaborating with the enemy."
Abdi owned a shop in the Black Sea area of Mogadishu, where he lived with his wife and five children. He said by the time they left, life had become "impossible".
"My shop was destroyed and we lost many neighbours and friends," he explained. "So I decided to take my family to a safer place."

Osman Hussein, another displaced civilian, said Mogadishu had become a killing zone.
"It seemed like every day we were burying someone we loved or knew," Hussein added. "We may not have been the target but we always suffered and no one cares."
The suffering did not end the day they left Mogadishu. During the trip, they were robbed twice and the women raped.
"We were robbed near Jowhar and then between Bulo Burte and Beletweyne," said Abdi. "The second time, our women were raped and we could not do anything."
Sharing shelters
Some of the new arrivals were sharing shelters in the camp with IDPs from Somaliland, as they awaited official registration.
However, none of the new arrivals had received food assistance, forcing many to look for work in Hargeisa.
The influx from south-central Somalia to Somaliland started early this year.
"They have been coming in droves since February," said Farhan Abdi Saleebaan, a protection officer with CCBRS, a local NGO.
Saleebaan said by the time they arrive in Hargeisa, the displaced were traumatised, weak and disoriented. "They really are in bad shape," he said, adding that some had lost family members while others suffered untold miseries at the hands of bandits en route.
Once in Hargeisa, they also faced resentment from locals. "They [the locals] think they are competing for scarce jobs and there is some discrimination against them," said Saleebaan.
Abdi, who is also the community leader, said despite some of the economic difficulties they faced, they were much happier in Hargeisa because they had peace and security.

After an initial assessment by a working group led by the Ministry of Reintegration, resettlement and rehabilitation, shelter material was distributed on 18 October to about 2,000 of the most vulnerable.
"I am now living in a very small hut with no door, but I sleep like I haven't slept in a long time," Abdi told IRIN. "The children can go outside and play, without worrying about a shell landing on them.
"We don't have much and we depend on the kindness of these people; some days we eat, some we don't," Abdi added. "But at least we have peace and security - that is what we want and the chance to make a living for our families without being afraid of being killed."

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Warar dheeraad ah oo ka soobaxaya qaraxyadii Hargeysa iyo Boosaaso

Warar dheeraad ah ayaa ka soo baxaya qaraxyo ismiidaamin ahaa kaasoo maanta barqadii ruxay Magaalooyinka Hargeysa iyo Boosaaso, iyadoo qaraxyadaas ahaayeen kuwo daqiiqado isaga dambeeyay, isla markaana qorsheysnaa.Wararka horu dhaca ah ee la helayo ayaa tilmaamaya in Dhamaan qaraxyadaas ka dhacay magaalooyinkaas ee Maamulada Somaliland iyo Puntland waxay ahaayeen kuwo ay fuliyeen niman naftood-huryaal ah oo gaadiid waxyabaha qarxa laga soo buuxiyay, kaasoo lala abaaray xarumo ku yaal

Magaalooyinkaas.Magaalada Hargeysa ayaa maanta u aheyd jawi kacsanaan iyo amakaag, iyadoo qaraxyada lala beegsaday ah ahaayeen saddex goobood oo baabuur waxyabaha qarxa laga soo buuxiyay lalana eegtay. Waxaa tirada dadka ku dhintay ay haatan caga cageyneysaa ilaa 20 ruux iyadoo dhaawaca uu gaaray 30, waa sida uu xaqiijiyey wasiirka Arimaha Gudaha ee Somaliland. Qaraxii HARGAYSA
Qaraxii u horeeyay oo ka dhacay agagaarka Xarunta Madaxtooyada Somaliland ayaa halkaas waxaa uu ku bur buriyaya dhismayaasha xarunta Madaxtooyada, waxaana ku naf waayay Xogheyntii Madaxweynaha Somaliland oo lagu magacaabi Daahir Cali Ciid, sidoo kale mid kale oo howl wadeenada xafiiskiisa ah ayaa ku dhintay.Qarax kale ayaa isna waxaa uu ka dhacay Xafiiska/Safaarda ay Dowladda Ethiopia ku leedahay Magaalada Hargeysa, waxaana ku dhintay dad gaaraya labo ruux, waxaana qaraxa 3aad uu ka dhacay xarunta UNDP, waxaana ku dhintay Madaxii Nabadgelyada UNDP ee Somaliland.Madaxweynaha Somaliland oo ka hadlay qaraxaas ayaa ku tilmaamay fal aad u xun, isagoona shacabka Somaliland ugu baaqay inay feejignaadaan oo ay iska soo dhex saaraan waxaa uu ugu yeeray cadawga, isagoon faah faahin cida qaraxa ka dambeysa, hase ahaatee waxaa uu tilmaamay inay baaritaan socdaan.Waxaa uu sheegay Daahir Rayaale Kaahin in xaalad deg-deg ah la geliyay magaalada Hargeysa waxaana socda buu yiri baaritaano xoog leh oo ay wadaan Ciidamada Booliska.

BOOSAASO
Sidoo kale qarax isna Ismiidaamin loo adeegsaday ayaa isna lagu qaaday xarun ay ku howl galaan Ciidamada La dagaalanka Argagixisada Puntland, oo ku taal Magaalada Boosaaso, waxaan qaraxyadaas ay dhaliyeen qasaare dhimasho iyo dhaawac.Madaxweynaha Puntland Cadde Muuse oo ka hadlay qaraxa ayaa sheegay in wax ku cusub ay yihiin qaraxyadaas, isla markaana ay aad uga xun yihiin."Labo Nin ayay ahaayeen, labo baabuur ayay wateen waxay isku qarxiyeen xarumaha Ammaanka, dad aan u dhalan Puntland ayay ahaayen"ayuu yiri cadde Muuse oo intaa ku daray in Baaritaanada socda ay yihiin kuwo lago ogaanayo ragaas, waxaana uu kaloo sheegay in Ciidamada Booliska ay hayaan Sawirada raga is qarxiyay.Qaraxyadan maanta ka kala dhacay Magaalooyinka Hargeysa iyo Boosaaso ayaa ah kuwo ku cusub Maamuladaas, marka loo eego qaraxyadan oo ah kuwo ka dhaca K/Soomaaliya, waxaana aad looga hadal hayaa Magaalooyinkaas, iyagoona guud ahaan ay hakiyeen dhaq dhaqaaqii gaadiid iyo ganacsiga.

Qaraxyo ka dhacay Hargeysa iyo Boosaaso

29/Oct/ 2008 Qaraxyo waa weyn ayaa gil gilay Magaalooyinka Hargeysa iyo Boosaaso ee Maamulada Puntland iyo Soomaaliland, iyadoo qarax aad u xoog badan lala eegtay Safaarada Ethiopia ku leedahay Hargeysa.
Saaka barqadii ayaa dadwaynaha Magaalada Hargaysa waxay ku war heleen Sadex qarax oo xoog waawayn oo laga maqlayay magaalada guud ahaan.
Weerarada Hargeysa oo loo adeegsaday Gaadhi Miinaysan oo lagu weeraray Xarunta Hayada UNDP ku leedahay Caasimada Hargaysa, iyada oo Qarixii labaadna lagu beegsaday Safaarada Ethiopia ay ku leedahay Caasimada Halka Qaraxa Sadexaadna lagu beegsaday Madaxtooyada Somaliland.
Weeraradan oo u muuqday qaar qorshaysan waxa ka dhashay khasaare baaxad iyada oo ay dadkii meelahaas ku sugnaa yeesheen dhimasho iyo dhaawacba waxa kale oo khasaare baaxad lihi gaadhay sadexda meeloodba ha sii kala darnaadeene, iyada oo ay ugu darantahay Safaarda Ethipia waxana jira dhimasho iyo dhaawac aan ilaa imika tiradooda si rasmi ah loo hubin, walina si rasmi ah looma oga cida ka dambaysay.Sidoo kale labo qarax ayaa waxaa ay iyana ka dheceen Magaalada Boosaaso ee Gobolka Bari Xarun ay ciidamada Nabad sugida ku leeyihiin magaalada Boosaaso, waxaana qaraxaas uu ahaa mid si weyn u gil gilay Magaalada oo dhan.

Mid ka mid ah xarumaha la weeraray ee qaraxyadu ka dhaceen ayaa waxaa la sheegay in baabuur Toyota Surf ah lala galey, halka xarunta kale gaariga kale oo isla noocaasi ah lagu horqarixiyey, waxaana jira warar sheegaya in mid ka mid ah xarumahaasi gawaarigii ku qarxay lagu dhex arkey ninkii gaariga watey oo si xun u goo.gay, waxaana laga dhex helay qaarka dambe ee ninkii gaariga watey.Sida ay wararku sheegayan Labada Qarax ee ka dhacay Boosaaso ayaa waxay ahaayeen Gaari Waxyaabaha qarxa laga soo buuxiyay, kaasoo la geluiyay Xarunta Nabad sugida, waxaana la ogeyn in qof naftii hure ah uu isku qarxiyay iyo in kaleWixii war ah oo ku soo kordha wararka Qaraxyada Boosaaso iyo Hargeysa kala soco wararkeena dambe

General@xogdoon.com
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5 Suicide Bomb Attacks Hit Somalia

Suicide bombers struck a UN compound, the Ethiopian consulate and government security posts, killing or wounding dozens of people, according to officials and witnesses. Three of the five bombings hit the breakaway republic of Somaliland, one of them exploding at the palace of the regional president.

The wave of bombings appeared to have been timed to coincide with a meeting of east African leaders in Nairobi, Kenya, to discuss a new peace deal. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks. Officials blamed a militant Islamic group called the Shabab, which the United States considers a terrorist organization.The Shabab has been waging a relentless war against Somalia's weak transitional government, but most of its attacks have been confined to south-central Somalia.

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Suicide Car Bombings Kill Dozens in Northern Somalia

By Alisha Ryu Nairobi29 October 2008
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An unprecedented wave of suicide car bombings killed and wounded scores of people across northern Somalia on Wednesday as regional leaders met in Nairobi to discuss ways of ending the violence in the Horn of African country. As VOA Correspondent Alisha Ryu reports from our East Africa Bureau in Nairobi, the bombings in the regions of Somaliland and Puntland are the first of their kind outside of southern Somalia.

The larger of the two attacks took place in Hargeisa city in the breakaway republic of Somaliland around 10 o'clock in the morning.
Civilians help a wounded man in Hergeisa, after a series of bombings in the breakaway republic of Somaliland, 29 Oct. 2008Three separate explosions ripped through the presidential palace, a building housing the United Nations Development Program, and the Ethiopian embassy. All three buildings are located in the same neighborhood.In a statement to the media, UNDP confirmed that its office in Hargeisa had been struck by a suicide bomber, who forced his explosive-laden car into the compound and then detonated. It is not yet known how many people were killed and wounded there, but witnesses said nearly two dozen people may have been killed by the suicide bombing at the Ethiopian mission.

VOA was not able to reach government officials in Somaliland for comment, but witnesses said the president's residence also took a direct hit and many people near the palace were injured by flying debris. Almost at the same time, nearly a dozen soldiers in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland were wounded when two suicide bombers drove their cars into a security compound operated by the intelligence service in the port city of Bosasso.An official at Puntland's interior ministry, Colonel Abshir Abdi Jama, told VOA that he believes all five bombings were planned and carried out by the militant Islamist Shabab group, an al-Qaida-affiliated group which once formed the military wing of Somalia's Islamic Courts Union. In late 2006, Ethiopia intervened in Somalia, with U.S. support, to oust the Shabab and the courts from power.

Earlier this year, the United States put the Shabab on its list of terrorist organizations. Colonel Jama said, "The Shabab, I think they send a message to the Nairobi meeting."Jama was referring to a meeting of a regional bloc known as the Inter-governmental Authority on Development, which began Tuesday in the Kenyan capital. The leaders of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda held talks with leaders of Somalia's transitional federal government and members of a moderate opposition faction to discuss reconciliation and power-sharing.
Somalia's MP delegation listens to speeches at a Nairobi meeting with regional heads of state to discuss Somalia's crisis, 29 Oct. 2008The Nairobi meeting follows a U.N.-sponsored deal signed on Sunday in Djibouti between the government and the opposition group. It calls for a cease-fire to be observed starting next Wednesday and for Ethiopian troops protecting the Somali interim government to move out of Mogadishu and the garrison town of Beletweyn near the Ethiopian border.

The two Somali rivals are to also form a 10,000-member joint security force to help African Union peacekeepers secure the capital Mogadishu and other areas of Somalia after Ethiopia relocates its troops.The Shabab, which has rejected previous peace proposals, has condemned the deal, saying the group will not stop fighting until Ethiopia withdraws all of its troops from Somali soil.An associate professor at the University of South Africa, Iqbal Jhazbay, said he agrees the Shabab most likely planned and carried out the attacks. He said the militants are probably also receiving indirect support from a variety of Somali groups united in their hatred of Ethiopia and in what they view as external interference in Somali affairs.

He added, "Whoever has undertaken these attacks are aware that the government in Hargeisa has very close security as well as diplomatic relations with Ethiopia. The build-up of western forces, coupled with Russia and NATO along the coast of Puntland could have also prompted it [the attacks]. And also opponents of the TFG [transitional federal government] would also want to send a signal that they plan to continue this resistance." Suicide bombings are rare in Somalia. The handful that have been carried out previously have occurred in towns in the southern part of the country.

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Deadly car bombs hit Somaliland

The attacks were a shock to many in Hargeisa after years of peace
At least 29 people have died in a wave of coordinated car-bombings across northern Somalia.
Most of the casualties were in the Somaliland capital, Hargeisa, where the presidential palace, Ethiopian consulate and UN offices were targeted.
Two suicide attackers also killed six intelligence agents in their offices in neighbouring Puntland, the region's president says. These are the first suicide attacks in the two relatively stable regions. Somaliland has declared independence from war-torn southern Somalia but this has not been internationally recognised. The region is a US ally in the fight against Islamist militants in Somalia.

Body parts
Puntland's President Mohamoud Musa Hirsi Adde said that the attacks in both regions were coordinated, reports the AFP news agency.
"The whole plan was organised from the same place and by the same people," he said.
Somaliland President Dahir Riyale Kahin says the government is ready to defend the country.

Somalia's problems are not security but political
Seyoum MesfinEthiopian Foreign Minister
Eyewitness: 'Terrible day'
Regions and territories: SomalilandThe BBC's Jamal Abdi in Hargeisa says he saw body parts flying through the air after the attack on the Ethiopian consulate.
One of the buildings in the consulate was levelled to the ground and eight people were killed.
Our correspondent says the explosions shook surrounding buildings violently and there was gunfire after the last explosion.

He says the attacks came as a real shock to many people after years of peace.
Guards outside Somaliland's presidential palace opened fire on the attackers blocking them from entering the compound. One car managed to get into the heavily fortified UNDP office complex before the explosives were detonated. Eyewitnesses at the UNDP office said the attackers parked the car next to one of the buildings, which suffered the worst damage and heaviest casualties.

There is a lot of anxiety around the city and cars have been blocked from approaching the three locations. There is no information about who was responsible for the three attacks, which took place within seven minutes of each other. But some suspect Islamist insurgents, given the coordinated nature of the bombings and the targeting of Ethiopia.

Rare criticism
The al-Shabaab group, which the US describes as a terrorist organisation, refuses to join peace talks until Ethiopian troops agree to leave Somalia.

Most of the casualties were in the Somaliland capital, Hargeisa
Ethiopia helped forces of the interim government oust Islamists from the capital, Mogadishu, in 2006 - since when Islamists have staged regular attacks in the city.
The bombings come as regional leaders meet in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, to discuss the ongoing crisis in Somalia and the performance of the transitional federal government.
On Tuesday, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin made a rare criticism of the Somali government.

"Somalia's problems are not security but political," Mr Seyoum said, blaming disputes between the country's leaders for the prolonged crisis. The transitional federal charter, which was adopted in 2004, expires next year when a constitution is supposed to be drafted and elections held.

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21 killed in a Blast in Somaliland Written By:Rebecca Muiruri/BBC , Posted: Wed, Oct 29, 2008

Caption: The presidential palace, Ethiopian embassy and UN offices were targeted in the coordinated car bomb attacks
At least 21 people have been killed in a wave of coordinated car-bombings after three large explosions rocked the capital of Somalia's self-declared republic of Somaliland, Hargeisa
The presidential palace, Ethiopian embassy and UN offices were targeted in the coordinated car bomb attacks.

Guards outside the presidential palace opened fire on the attackers before the car was detonated. One car managed to get into the basement of the heavily fortified UNDP office before the explosives were detonated. The total number of casualties from the attacks has not been confirmed and rescue operations are going on. There is no information about who was responsible for the three attacks, which took place within seven minutes of each other.
There is a lot of anxiety around the city and cars have been blocked from approaching the three locations.

Meanwhile, the AFP news agency reports that there have been two bomb attacks targeting anti-terrorism offices in another breakaway Somali republic, Puntland.
The simultaneous bombings were suicide attacks, reports say.
Somaliland has escaped most of the instability seen in southern Somalia since the last national government was overthrown in 1991.
But its declaration of independence has not been internationally recognized.

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Explosions, suicide car bombs rock Puntland, Somaliland

MOGADISHU, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- At least 21 people have been killed and almost 30 others were wounded after a wave of coordinated suicide car bombings hit targets across northern Somalia on Wednesday, officials and witnesses said.
Nearly 20 of the dead were in Hargeysa, the capital of the breakaway republic of Somaliland, where the Presidential Palace, the UNDP office and a commercial office of Ethiopia were attacked by three separate suicide car bombs that exploded within minutes of each other, witnesses told Xinhua.
"Nearly twenty-two others were wounded in the three explosions which took place in Hargeysa," Ahmed Ali, a resident in Hargeys, who went to the scenes of the explosion, told Xinhua.
In coastal port city of Bossaso, the commercial capital of the northeastern semi-autonomous region of Puntland, two suicide car bombers blew themselves up inside two compounds of the local Anti-terrorism Squad, Adde Musse, president of Puntland, said at a news conference.
Musse said it was too early to lay the play on anyone and that investigations were continuing into the attacks which he said were "unprecedented" in Puntland.
One woman was reportedly killed while eight soldiers were wounded in the two compounds which were extensively damaged by the blasts which have coincided with those in Hargeysa and were minutes apart.

www.chinaview.cn

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DEATHS REPORTED AFTER EXPLOSION HITS UN COMPOUND IN NORTHERN SOMALIA

The United Nations has confirmed that the UN Development Programme (UNDP) compound in northern Somalia was attacked this morning, resulting in a number of deaths and injuries.
“At approximately at 10 o’clock this morning the UNDP compound in Hargeysa, Somaliland, was hit by an explosion, caused by a vehicle which forced entry into the compound,” according to a statement issued by the Office of the UN Resident & Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, which is based in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
“There are known casualties as well as deaths, but the numbers are currently being verified.

Medical evacuation of the injured is ongoing,” it added.
The UN said it is aware of reports of other explosions in the Hargeysa area, as well as in Puntland. These have not involved UN premises.
Somalia, which has not had a functioning government since 1991, has been wracked with violence in recent months, despite the signing of a UN-brokered peace deal between the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the rebel Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS) aimed at ending the fighting

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SOMALIA: Suicide bombers strike Bossaso, Hargeisa, killing dozens

HARGEISA, 29 October 2008 (IRIN) - Up to 40 people are reported to have been killed and many others injured as near-simultaneous explosions hit Hargeisa, capital of the self-declared republic of Somaliland, and the town of Bossaso, commercial capital of the neighbouring region of Puntland.

Witnesses told IRIN the explosions were caused by suicide bombers in cars.
In Hargeisa, a local journalist said the attackers "were definitely suicide bombers, who seem to have coordinated their attacks".
Police sources told IRIN five men have arrested in connection with the attacks on Hargeisa.
Somaliland President Dahir Riyaale told a news conference in Hargeisa on 29 October that 19 people were killed in three suicide attacks.
However, a local journalist told IRIN that 39 people were killed and over 50 injured, including four journalists.

A statement from the Office of the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia said: "At approximately 10 o'clock this morning the UNDP [UN Development Programme] compound in Hargeisa, Somaliland, was hit by an explosion, caused by a vehicle which forced entry into the compound."
The statement added there were casualties, "but the numbers are currently being verified".
Witnesses said the bombs also went off at the presidential palace and the Ethiopian embassy in Hargeisa.
"I was sitting in a café in front of the presidential palace when I was hit by something on my head; when I touched it I found I was bleeding, and I was taken to the hospital," said Jamal Abdi, a local journalist.
Hundreds of people are crowding around Hargeisa general hospital to check on family and friends. "It is so crowded that police are firing into the air to disperse people," said the journalist.
Muse Gelle, governor of Bari Region, where Bossaso in located, told IRIN that four people, including the two suicide bombers, were killed in the Bossaso attacks.
He said seven security officers were being treated in hospital. He added that the target was the Puntland Intelligence Service (PIS) compound.

Gelle said the security compounds were "seriously damaged by explosions".
The governor said no one had claimed responsibility for the attacks.
"We cannot say who is behind this now but the police are investigating it and will issue a statement once we have identified the culprits," he said.

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ARRIN LEYSLA OGGOLYAHAY HADDANA LEYSKU DIIDAN YAHAY!

Waxa iga yaabisay arrinta xuduudaha waqooyiga Hargeysa iyo Bariga Baki ee ilaa 2002dii laga hadlaayey, ee waliba labada daraf isla dacwada ay isla meel afsaarayaan. Waxa taas sii xoojisa iyadoo dawlad, mucaarid, aqoonyahan ay dhammaan daliishadaan sharciga doorashooyinka oo u dhigan sidan:
REPUBLIC OF SOMALILAND
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ELECTION LAW
(Law No: 20-2/2005 )
Article 9: Establishment of Electoral Regions
1. In the election of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Somaliland, the country shall be divided, in accordance with Article 109 of the national Constitution[18], into electoral regions which will have the same boundaries as the six districts which existed on 26 June 1960 and which are now the regions.
Sharciga Doorashooyinka 20-2/2005 Waxuu Qoddobka 9aad sheegayaa in lixda gobo lee jiraa yaalanayaa xuduudkoodii lixdanka oo ay ahaayee n degmooyin kala ah Hargeysa, Boorame, Berbera, Burco, Laascaanood, iyo Ceerigaabo.... Waana qodobkan kan cid waliba ay aqoonsantay garteedana ay ku salaynayso.

Waana qodob sharci ah oo leysku raacay. Waana isla isaga sida uu soo qaatal Suldaan ee ka tirsan dhinaca Awdal waxaana hadalkiisa uu si garnaqsi ah ugu saleeyey xuduudkii 1960 iyo sharciga doorashooyinka ........Waxgaradka Awdal waxay garnaqsigooda ku yidhaahdeen:
Sida dastuurka Somalilnd qorayo xuduudaha waxaa lagu saleeyay sidii lixdankii, hadaan nahay dadka deegaankaas ma diidanin, waana la og yahay sanduuqa la dhigi jiray Boodhka meesha uu ka tirsanaan jiray, cadceed duhur ah sacabo laguma qarin karo.
Xukuumadu hadii ay dhiirigelinayso in qabiiladu xuduudaha jeexdaan dee maamulka ha ku wareejiso, hadiise ay dadka dhex u tahay waa in cida dambiga leh ay gacanta wax kaga qabato. Goobaha la rabshay waxaa ka soo horjeeda kuwo la mid ah siday uga hirgeli doontaa marka kuwayaga la diiday is weydiiya?

Waxa sidoo kale u soo waramay wariye Hashim Goth oo codhaan ku gunaaday in reer Awdal ogol yihiin sharciga iyo xuduudii 1960kii ka dhegeyso halkan...Guji hoos
Warbixin ku Saabsan Caqabadaha Hortaagan Diwaan Gelinta Codbixyayaasha G/Awdal
By Hashim Goth

Dhinaca kale Salaadiinta Hargeysi waxay iyana codsanayaan in la fuliyo sharciga oo xuduudka loo daayo sidii lixdankii...waxaaana ka mid hadalkooda.............. waxaannu halkan ku caddaynaynaa in wixii ka yimaadda ama khasaare ah ee ka dhaca halkaa ay masuul ka tahay xukuumadda uu Madaxweynaha u yahay Daahir Rayaale, sababta oo ah waxaannu ugu tagnay ergo ka kooban salaadiin, cuqaal iyo waxgarad kale oo beesha Sacad Muuse ah, waxaananu ula tagnay goobaha la isku hayaa gobolka ay ka tirsanayaan, kuwaas oo kala ah xil goobood oo Waqooyiga Hargeysa ah iyo Todobada goobood oo Waqooyiga Gabiley ah, kuwaas oo dhammaantood ka tirsan Gobolka Maroodi-jeex ayna isku hayaan Gobolka Awdal,
waxaananu ka codsanay Madaxweynaha in goobahaa diiwaangelineed ama codbixineed ee la isku hayo maanta in la waafajiyo sida ku cad dastuurka Jamhuuriyadda Somaliland ee ay Baarlamaanku ansixiyeen Madaxweynuhuna saxeexay, kaas oo dhigaya in xuduudaha gobollada iyo degmooyinku ahaanayaan sidii ay ahaayeen 1960-kii,

Isla weedhahaas oo kale ayey ku hadleen xisbiyada qaranku iyo mas’uuliinta dawladduba. Waxa la yaab leh oo waa maxay waxa leysku hayaa. Degaanka ballaadhan ee ay labada beelood oo ehel, abtinimo, xidid, iyo darisnimo aan go’ayni ka dhaxaysaa ma waxa laga waayey cid arrintan isla garata.

Yaa se xalka laga sugaayey. Sow ma ahayn in dawladdu soo afjarto murankan taagnaa lixda sano, iyadoo ayna jirin xamaasad doorasho. Hadday intan kala saari weyday waa maxay ujeedada laga leeyahay gobbolada cusub iyo degmooyinku. Ma muranku ha sii kordhaa. Waa maxay sababta loo magacaabay badhasaabo iyo madax degmeedyo aan jirini. Bal ila akhri qodobka dastoorka eek u saabsan dhismaha gobolada iyo degmooyinka oo u qoran sidan:

Haddaba muwaadin waa maxay ujeedada iyadoon ilaa manta la horgayn Golayaasha Sharcidejinta, loogu xafladeynayaa oo kaba daran loo qorayaa shaqaalahooda. Hadda tamar ay kuwii jiray ku saxdo ayey weyday ilaa manta. Ma ogtahay in labada degmo ee waliba mid u gudbay gobalnimo ee Baligubadle iyo Salaxlay ayna lahayn xuduud sugan iyagoo jiray in ka badan 10 sano, sidoo kale Darasalaam, Cadaadley, Xagal, Allaabaday iyo qaar la mid ah oo ah degmooyin dhammaan la ansixiyey inayna weli lahayn wax xuduud ah.

Haddaan u soo noqdo meelahan muranku ka joogo. Waxaan leeyahay waa u magic xumo in iyagoo isla oggol sharciga xuduudka doorasho, iyagoo ah dad marna aan kala durkeen, kala maarmin, dan iyo wada-dhalasho isku xidhay, in laga waayo cid labada dhinac ah oo si cad oo xaq ah isku raacda xalka xuduudku ahaa. Waxaan idinka dalbayaa in la helo dhan walba 10 nin oo si wacan isu yaqaan, waa tiro labaatan ah kana tirsan degaanka hadalku ka jiro oo si xaqa ugu wada dhawaaqa halka xadku ahaa.

U hiiliya xaqa. Adkeeya walaalnimadiina, oo ogaada inaydun tihiin daris aan oodi kala xidhin, ehel darin ku wada fadhiya. Waxa dhammaan ina deeqaa waa cadaaladda. Hadalka toosiya, oo idinkoo garnaqsan weedhaha dab-shidka ah iska jira. Kii hadalku ka duulo miyir ha loogu jawaabo.
Waxaan idinka sugayaa labaatan liibanay oo murankan ku soo afjara sida uu sharcigu dhigaayo ee labada dhinacba qirsan yihiin. Ogow dadka intiisa badani arrintan dhab uma oga, waxayse is leeyihiin xaqbaad ku joogtaan oo waatan waayeelkiinu leeyahay annagaa sharciga iyo xuduudada 60kii ku taagan ee waa dhinaca kale kan siitada goostay...markaas la yaabimaayo dhallinta hadalka kulul isku dhaafsanaysa warbaahinta. Waa se mid baaq labaatan geesi oo labada dhinac ihi si hawl yar u damin karaan. Waa in laogaadaa in xadkani yahay mid looga dan leeyahay in si ku meel gaadha wax inoogu qabsoomaan.

Ma aha mid dad iyo dal midna lagu raraayo. Aan idinku gubaabiyo inaydun si dhekhso ah oo dareekeed leh isu baaqdaan, oo waad istaqaaniine carooga nabadda inta garaaci taqaan loo yeedho. Fariintan kii akhriye ee wax ka qaban karow, ha la fadhiisan, ha la socon, ha la kuclayn, ee la orod ilaa intaad dhigaaga dhinaca kale u gacan galinayso. Yaan leysku halayn. Dawlad ha ku halayn waa ta xaalka halkan gaadhsiisay. Sharciga barlamanka ka soo fulay, ee Madaxweyne sexeexay ee haddana aan suconayn ku qanaca.

Illaahay waxaan ka baryayaa inuu xaqa ina waafajiyo, iyo inuu talada inoogu dhiibo inta cadaaladda u ehel ah, inta nabadda jecel, inta u shaqaysa dadkooda een ka shaqaysan.
Mahad oo dhan Allah ayaa leh.

Axmed Carwo
Cardiff,U.K
Samotalis@gmail.com

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Keep talks open to deals on Somalia

Heads of State and Government from six of seven member countries converged in Nairobi yesterday for an Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad) meeting to discuss Somalia.

They will consult with the country’s Members of Parliament, conduct an audit on the performance of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and consider what can be done to stabilise Somalia ahead of the expiry of President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed’s — and the Somali parliament’s — four-year term.
It was on October 14, 2004, at Kasarani, Nairobi, that Igad, with support from the rest of the world, got Somali MPs to elect Yusuf, then president of Puntland, to head the TFG. Elected transitional President with 189 of 275 votes, Yusuf appointed a Cabinet led by Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Ghedi.

President Yusuf’s government was recognised by most Western nations as legitimate, although his actual authority was to come under severe test. At the beginning of last year, Somalia was consolidating under the TFG.
The TFG is supported by the United Nations and governed out of an administrative capital in Baidoa. In the last days of 2006, forces of the TFG supported by Ethiopian forces ousted the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) from the capital Mogadishu.
Igad then urged the African Union to accelerate the approval of a proposed peacekeeping mission, release funds and help raise more money to support the deployment of troops, a move opposed by Somali Islamists.

Four years down the line and with little to show, Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetangula, has expressed concern over the future of Somalia with only six months to the expiry of the TFG. Wetangula says the interim government has failed to execute its mandate and the Igad summit will be used to streamline governance in Somalia, which has become an utterly failed state.
By now, TFG was expected to have put in place a new constitution, created internal boundaries and conducted a national census. It was also to restore security, foster reconciliation and embark on reconstruction.
But due to instability caused by intermittent clans feuds following disagreements within the government, it did not achieve much.
Speaking recently in Mogadishu, Somali’s interim Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein said the Igad conference is aimed at correcting the government’s mistakes. Somalia has become an incubator of insurgents, terrorists and lately pirates.

Threats
Groups such as Al-Shabaab, affiliated to Al-Qaeda, pose long-term threats, not just to Somalia but to Kenya’s future.
In 15 years without a central government, Somaalia has been developing into a regional security and economic threat.
Pirates operating from its shores are wreaking terror on the Gulf of Aden, one of the world’s busiest straits. The large volume of shipping that passes through on its way to the Suez Canal or regional ports (up to 20,000 trips a year) is vital to the world economy. By strangling this vital sea route, pirates have succeeded in pushing up the cost of freight and cargo insurance. Most of Africa’s eastern seaboard, as well as much of the interior, is now paying for the lawlessness out in the Indian Ocean.

Kenya recently fell prey to these pirates, when the MV Faina, a cargo ship laden with arms, was attacked. The standoff is yet to be resolved after negotiations for a ransom were suspended.
Nato warships, Russian and American destroyers are in the region, having been authorised to use force to free the captives and secure the arms.
Kenya needs to realise there are dangers in this region that it cannot wish away. Our ability to protect our sovereignty, be it on land or water, needs to be strengthened. The porous border with Somalia has long been our Achilles’ heel, allowing terrorists to sneak in and out at will.
The two-day Igad meeting should be seen as an opportunity to seek inclusive solutions to the governance troubles embroiling our neighbour because a secure, stable and prosperous Somalia is better for this country.

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Baaq qurbojoog ee la xidhiidha arrimaha Waqooyiga Hargeysa iyo Bariga Baki
http://www.somalilandcenter.com/content/view/1353/9/

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Torture of Bashir Makhtal and the indifference of the Canadian Government

Medeshi 25 Oct, 2008
October 24th, 2008
By Louisa TaylorThe Ottawa Citizen
The cousin of a Canadian being held in an Ethiopian jail says an official from the Department of Foreign Affairs urged him yesterday to keep the case "low-key" because Canada is doing its best behind the scenes to help Bashir Makhtal.
(Photo: Torure Bed in Ethiopian prison)
However, following the Iacobucci report on the role of Canadian officials in the torture of three Canadians in Syria, Said Maktal said he no longer trusted what the government was telling him.
"I'm a polite person, I've been patient and I've had a lot of respect for our government," said Mr. Maktal, whose cousin has been in an Addis Ababa prison since January 2007. "They keep saying, 'We're doing our best.' But now, reading what our government did to our citizens, that gives me more doubt about what's really going on.
"I'm not going to be low-key anymore."
Bashir Makhtal is ethnically Somali, born in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia. He came to Canada as a refugee and became a citizen in 1994. After training as a computer programmer, he worked for a Toronto bank. In 2001, he left for the Horn of Africa region to start a business trading used clothes in Somalia, Djibouti and Kenya.
Mr. Makhtal was in Mogadishu when Ethiopia invaded in late 2006, and he joined thousands of others in fleeing to Kenya to avoid the fighting. He and dozens of other foreign nationals were arrested at the border by Kenyan police, held in a Nairobi prison and eventually flown illegally to Ethiopia, where they were imprisoned.
According to Human Rights Watch, many of them were interrogated by FBI and CIA agents. There have been reports of beatings and torture by Ethiopian officials, and Bashir Makhtal has been held in solitary confinement since at least the summer of 2007.
Ethiopia at first denied Mr. Makhtal was in its custody, but finally admitted holding him in April 2007. It has variously accused the Canadian of being a financier for the Islamic Courts, a fundamentalist group in Somalia, or a liberation fighter for the Ogaden National Liberation Front, which was founded by his grandfather. The Ethiopians consider the ONLF a terrorist organization, while Canada does not.
No evidence has been presented for either charge, nor has Mr. Makhtal been allowed to see a lawyer throughout his 22-month incarceration. Canadian diplomats were allowed to visit him for the first time in July, but Ethiopian authorities have denied all subsequent requests for consular visits.
Human Rights Watch says Mr. Makhtal and a Kenyan national are the only remaining foreigners from the 2007 renditions known to be detained, though 22 others are not accounted for. The governments of 16 other countries secured the release of their citizens, some within weeks of the arrest in Kenya.
"The people at Foreign Affairs, they're sitting in their offices, doing their paperwork and everything has a procedure," said Said Maktal, who spells his name differently from his cousin. "But we're dealing with a country that does not obey international law. What we're doing is not enough."
Mr. Maktal says his sources in Ethiopia tell him that Bashir was taken before a military court twice this week and pressured to sign a false confession of terrorist activities. He refused. Bashir managed to send a message through intermediaries, telling Mr. Maktal that the prison was "another world" and that diplomatic efforts at the level of junior officials wouldn't get him released, or even a fair trial.
"What has to happen is the prime minister has to get involved personally," Mr. Maktal said. "This is between countries. (Prime Minister) Stephen Harper should pick up the phone."
Foreign Affairs spokesman Daniel Barbarie was unable to comment on the "low-key" comment by the end of the day yesterday. However, he did say that Canadian officials had made numerous high-level representations to the Ethiopian authorities, including two visits to Ethiopia by Deepak Obhrai, parliamentary secretary to the minister of foreign affairs. The result was one consular visit on July 18, more than 18 months after Mr. Makhtal's arrest.
"Canadian officials were able to verify Mr Makhtal's well-being during this visit," Mr. Barbarie said. "Canadian officials continue to actively engage senior Ethiopian authorities on the issues of ongoing consular access, due process and respect for Mr. Makhtal's rights."
Pointing to Bashir's case and those of Maher Arar, Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad El-Maati and Muayyed Nureddin, Mr. Maktal said the common denominator was that "they're all Canadians from somewhere else."
"Are we not important enough, or Canadian enough? I'd like to know: Are there two classes of citizenship in this country?" Email This Post Add a comment Print This P

Medeshi

Somaliland: 104 Teenagers Released

Reintegration of 104 teenagers into society is being overseen by UNICEF and the UNDP Rule of Law and Security.

Below is an article published by Xinhua:The UN children's fund, UNICEF, said on Friday [24 October 2008] that 104 teenagers aged 15 to 18 have been released from eight prisons in Somaliland, northwestern Somalia, following the enactment of the new Juvenile Justice Law for Somaliland in April 2008. UNICEF Representative for Somalia Christian Balslev-Olesen welcomed the presidential decree and the initiatives taken by the Somaliland authorities, saying the action would lead to a fair legal system. "These actions will ensure a fair justice legal system for children and build greater awareness of child rights and the need for children to be protected when they come in contact with the law," Balslev-Olesen said in a statement issued in Nairobi. The Juvenile Justice Law has introduced well founded provisions to protect the rights of children in legal proceedings. These include an increase in the age of criminal responsibility to 15 years and the stipulation that imprisonment of children should be as a measure of last resort for the shortest possible period.

Under a presidential decree pardon, announced to commemorate Eid Al Fitr, the children were released on Tuesday [21 October 2008] into the care of their communities. Many had been imprisoned on charges such as truancy, vagrancy or Asi Al-Walidain (disobedience to parents). According to UNICEF, before their release, the children were evaluated and given two days of individual counseling and psycho social support. "Upon release, services to reintegrate the children were immediately provided by the Justice for Children Project, a joint program between UNICEF and the UNDP Rule of Law and Security (ROLS) Program," the statement said. UNDP's ROLS Program Manager Alejandro said implementation of the ROLS Justice for Children Project had helped to strengthen the judiciary, law enforcement and human rights in Somaliland. "The new Juvenile Justice Law takes precedence over all other laws relating to children in conflict with the law and we expect its provisions -- such as community mechanisms to address juvenile misbehavior -- to be used more frequently to prevent the imprisonment of children," he said. UNICEF said the children were provided with clothing, food allowances and transport back to their communities.

Those without parents will be further supported to enroll in vocational programs. Other activities will include the mobilization of communities to create protective environments to which the children can return: where they are not stigmatized but supported to become responsible and productive citizens. Community child protection committees will also support education of children through enrollment in formal and non-formal education programs for children who have come into contact with the law.

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BBC NEWS South Asia Somali refugees protest in Nepal

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SIDAY U ARKAAN DADWEYNAHA REER BOORAMA SIDA AY U SOCOTO HAWLAHA DIIWAAWIN GALINTU

Borama(SNN)Waxaa ka muuqada guud ahaan in la dhaliilsan yahay sida ay u socdaan hawlaha diiwaan galinta ee ka bilaaban tay gobolka Awdal, taasina waxa u dhaliisheedu ay cirka isku sii shareertay markii maanta galinkii hore ay waraaqihii ka dhamaadeen goobihii laga diiwaan galinayey.Waxaana la arkaayey dadweynaha oo tuban goobaha laga diiwaan galiyo kuwaas oo sugaya mar uun in ay galaan goobaha diiwaan galinta kuwaas oo au ka dhamaadeen waraaqaha diiwaan galinta,iyada oo aanay wax hawl ahi ka socon goobahaas oo albaaba loo laabay.

Hasa yeeshee galinkii danbe waraaqihii waa la keenay oo hawshii diiwaan galinda ayaa bilaamantay.Waxa iyaduna jirta in ay fariinta SMS ay mobile-ka ugu dirayeen gudiga diiwaan galinta taas oo ay ku sheegayaan in ay 15 maalmood goobaha diiwaan galinta qaarkood furanaan doonaan oo ay ka sii socon doonaan, laakiin wali waxaa jira cabashooyin badan oo ku aadan arimahaaswixii intaas dheer ka dhegayso halkan cabashada dadweynaha oo cod ah

HALKAN KA DHAGEYSO ARAGTIIDA DADWEYNAHA QAYBTI1
HALKAN KA DHAGEYSO ARAGTIIDA DADWEYNAHA QAYBTI2

SALALNEWS BOORAMA
XASAN CIISE

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Workaholic Iranian president is exhausted not ill, say supporters

IN HER prime, Margaret Thatcher permitted herself just four hours' sleep a night. Iran's firebrand president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has even less, according to his spin doctors.
Rushing to defend him against rumours he is too unwell to fight for re-election, they admitted yesterday he is sometimes laid low by exhaustion. But that was hardly surprising for someone who often puts in 21-hour days in the service of his people, they argued.


The claims came as the president's team battled to quell talk that the spotlight-loving Iranian president is suffering from anything more serious than a bit of overwork.With more frankness than Mr Ahmadinejad might appreciate, his culture minister, Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi, divulged that the president, who has cultivated a "superman" image, was often hospitalised by fatigue, requiring intensive care treatment for plummeting blood pressure. Mr Harandi added: "Because of overwork, it happens to him a lot."Mohammad Ismail Kowsari, a parliamentary deputy, said: "The president will eventually heal and continue his job. Every human being can face exhaustion under such a workload." Shahab, an Iranian news website associated with one of the president's rivals, reported last week that Mr Ahmadinejad suffered a bout of listlessness caused by low blood pressure last May, which forced him to cancel several engagements.


Officials at the time blamed an overflowing diary for the sudden cancellations.Shahab said Mr Ahmadinejad should not stand for re-election unless his camp removed doubts about his health. At home, Mr Ahmadinejad burnishes his image as a champion of the rural poor by making regular, gruelling tours of Iran's far-flung provinces to deliver public speeches, meet ordinary people and dispense largesse. He will need to make a vigorous return to public life soon to convince sceptical Iranians of his sprightliness. State television said he had attended a ceremony on Saturday for the burial of recently discovered remains of soldiers from the war with Iraq in the 1980s, but broadcast no footage of him.


The Iranian president has faced a particularly stressful few weeks with a slew of bad news on the economic front just as he prepares to launch his campaign for a second four-year term. There is speculation that rival hardliners preparing to run against him hope Mr Ahmadinejad will use ill-health as a face-saving excuse to stand aside. If he refuses to do so, they could try to undermine his candidacy by amplifying concern about his physical ability to manage the country.


By MICHAEL THEODOULOU

source: news.scotsman.com

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Somalia: NSPU’s deception exposed

Adolph Hitler was once quoted as saying,” Tell a lie often enough, loud enough, and long enough, and people will believe you.” But that does this diabolical trap always work? If the art of deception failed any group, it certainly not only botched NSPU cliques’ tireless efforts to distort Somaliland history and the reasons that compelled it to withdraw from its emotional union with Somalia, but also the NSPU members’ lies have caused more embarrassment than comfort among themselves.

For the NSPU coteries—so pathetic are their lies that the readers must willing to take pity on them [NSPU] instead of getting flustered with them.
Just like a Chameleon, the NSPU camouflages its identity as many times as there are months in a year. And the truth of the matter is: this deceptive group’s lies are found within its own papers. Recently, the NSPU changed its name to ASSC—S. See this article: “NSPU (Or ASSC—S) You Can Run But You Cannot Hide”Somalilandtimes Then, it disappeared from the radar system for few months, just to come back with yet another name. Once again, in a desperate attempt to conceal its identity, it changed its pseudonym from ASSC—S to NSUM. (From NSPU to ASSC—S, and now to NSUM, what is next? Creativity has no limitations: so how about from NSPU to UPSN? Impressive!)

However, despite the NSPU operating under multiple names and dressing itself up in a fake unity costume, one thing remains the same: its style of demonizing and villain attacks against Somaliland and its people. By reading the NSPU, ASSC—S or NSUM’s vomit-worthy papers, you would notice easily that the language used, the choice of words, and the assertions put forward are one and the same—nothing changes although writing paper after paper. Why not remain objective rather than subjective, and write brain-stimulating articles?
To prove conspicuously that the NSPU, ASSC—S and NSUM are one and the same group, compare the footnotes taken from their articles:

NSPU: NORTHERN SOMALIS FOR PEACE & UNITY (NSPU) is a grass-roots Somali advocacy organization…dedicated to the promotion of peace and unity among the long suffering people of Somalia… Somaliunity
ASSC—S: AWDAL SOOL SANAAG COALITION AGAINST SECESSION (ASSC—S) is a grass-roots Somali advocacy organization…Our membership hails mainly from the pro-unity anti-secessionist regions of Awdal, Sool, Sanaag, and Ayn of the Somali Republic. hiiran
NSUM: Northern Somali Unionist Movement (NSUM) is a grass roots Somali organization whose members and supporters hail from Sool, Sanaag and Cayn regions in the Northern regions of Somalia(formerly British Somaliland) and whose clan in these regions do not identify with the one -clan-driven secession calling themselves” Somaliland”. tinyurl

Now, don’t you feel that you read the same thing three times? Caught in their pathetic lies! You bet. Yet another baffling question is: if NSPU, ASSC—S or NSUM is so credible why does it operate under multiple identities? Truly, the NSPU has been ridiculed so much—for being the most nitwitted clown—that it has became a victim of its own stupidity and lies.
Furthermore, the paradox of the NSPU’s argument is abundant. For instance, it claims its members hail from “Sool, Sanaag and Cayn regions in the Northern regions of Somalia(formerly British Somaliland) and whose clan in these regions do not identify with the one -clan-driven secession calling themselves Somaliland”” But what could you infer from the preceding statement? Clearly, what the NSPU is saying is:” We clan X—Sool, Sanaag and Cayn tribes—opposes clan Y—the one which supposedly advocates for Somaliland independence.”

Then the million dollar question is: why would clan X’s arguments have more weight than clan Y’s? And since the NSPU represents clan X as it stated in its paper, how possibly could it [NSPU] promote unity? After all, it stands for only clan X, and not for everybody. And just like any other tribal-oriented Somali group, the NSPU has been advocating for the interest of one tribe—far from promoting unity. This is a case where the sheer stupidity of the NSPU defies common sense.

Also, the NSPU’s ruse to obfuscate facts are not limited to derailing the reasons that forced Somaliland to stand as a separate entity from Somalia, confusing the reality on the ground as to create ambiguity, and misinforming the readers. The NSPU left no stones unturned. Its cliques even recruited a seventy-years-old lunatic named Dr. Muhammad Megalommatis—a mere child trapped in an old man’s body—who spits out more trash talks than facts. And although they assumed that he would bolster their unity arguments by presetting the typical well-researched paper expected from a man of his caliber, to the contrary he has spurred more worries than comforts among NSPU group. Read this article: “Has Dr. Muhammad Megalommatis lost his marbles?” Awdalnews.com

For reasons that, perhaps, only aliens from Mars could explain, Dr. Megalommatis keeps resorting to attacking Somaliland people instead of presenting facts. As an example of his mindless childish behavior let’s take a passage from one of his rubbish articles. As he insults Mrs. Huda Barkhad the Somaliland president’s wife, Dr. Megalommatis states, “The Huda Barkhad Republic, after the name of his wife, a cetaceous of 300 kilos that enjoys eating daily caviar imported through Egypt, at the moment the quasi-totality of her realm´s population is starving.” lasanod
He continues his vicious attacks against Somaliland and adds, “The entire country is being transformed…Somaliland´s murderous tyrant Riyale [the president of Somaliland] – to a vast concentration camp whereby minorities are mercilessly tyrannized and terrorized.” jidbaale
A disturbed doctor, isn’t he? Now you understand why he is nicknamed: Dr. Lunatic.

Separating facts from fiction—here is something to dwell on:
• The NSPU pretends to promote Somali unity, yet it represents certain tribes.• The NSPU supports the occupation and the invasion of Somalia by Ethiopia, yet it [NSPU] sheds crocodile tears for Somalia. In fact, the NSPU cliques call Ethiopia, “The sister state of Somalia”, much less condemn its barbaric attacks against the Somali people. Sudantribune
• The NSPU operates under multiple identities yet expects its distorted facts to be bought. It operates under the names: SNPU, ASSC—S and NSUM.• The NSPU members blindly support the notorious warlord Col. Abudullahi Yussuf—the butcher of Mogadishu—because he shares tribal lineages with them and at the same time they claim to “promote” peace and stability in Somalia. And patently this group is far from advocating for Somalia unity. Somalilandtimes
• Additionally, the NSPU strongly believes that Somaliland is occupying Las Anod, the provincial capital of Sool region in Somaliland and the city should be “liberated”. But ironically, the NSPU has no objection to the occupation of the ancient city of Mogadishu by the Ethiopian troops.
To sum up, the NSPU—also known as ASSC—S or NSUM—cliques take painstaking steps to distort facts, dismantle and rewrite Somaliland history as to strengthen their case for Somali unity, but to no avail.
While the NSPU members enjoy living in North America, making decent livings, and receiving good education, they continually spur hate and tribal wars in Somaliland—where the average citizen can barely afford a semi-decent meal, much less enjoy the luxuries of life. But, luckily, putting Somaliland tribes against one another is the thing of the past.

Gone are the days of dividing Somaliland people along tribal lines, victims and victimizers; a nation that is far from perfect but works diligently to unite its territory and its people emerged from the ruins of the late 80s’ brutal civil war which brought Somaliland to its knees. Gone are the days of labeling Somaliland as a tribal entity; if it was a tribal enclave, hundreds of foreign diplomats and business men/women from around the world would not have poured into the country, nor would Somaliland have been admired for its democracy, and commended for its sensitive approaches to conflict resolution, amid chaos in East Africa. Gone are the days of hijacking the wishes of peaceful Somaliland people.

As for the Southern Somalia, the NSPU gangs blindly supports their “strong-man”—the butcher of Mogadishu—Col. Abudullahi Yussuf—the current president wannabe of the illegal foreign-imposed Somali regime. Also, the NSPU members’ unequivocal support for the Ethiopian occupation has been a disgrace; equally regrettable has been their shameless cordial tears for Somalia.
Far from uniting the Somali people, the NSPU group—the fifth column—should be charged for treason and siding with the enemy at times when the Somali people are on their knees begging for their freedom in their own land—so much for the NSPU’s fake unity hollow mantra and its crocodile tears.

Dalmar
Kaahindalmar_k@yahoo.com

http://samotalis.blogspot.com/