This is where you can follow the important socio-economic, geopolitical and security developments, going inside the Republic of Somaliland and Horn of Africa region
On January 27, 1945, Soviet forces liberated the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp, discovering the largest Nazi killing center in Europe. Auschwitz has become a symbol of the Holocaust, representing the depths of man's inhumanity to man. The Auschwitz Album - Visual evidence of mass murder at Auschwitz-Birkenau (Yad Vashem)
In November 2005, the United Nations passed a resolution to mark January 27 as an international day of commemoration to honor the victims of the Holocaust,
and urged member states to develop educational programs to impart the
memory of this tragedy to future generations. Eighteen governments have
legislated January 27 as an annual Holocaust Memorial Day and Holocaust
remembrance ceremonies will be organized on the international, national,
regional and local levels, including in universities and schools.
The 2013 observance of the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust is built around the theme "Rescue during the Holocaust: The Courage to Care",
honoring those who risked their own lives to save Jews and others from
near certain death under the Nazi regime during the Second World War in
Europe.
Marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a new display will
open on Sunday January 27, 2013 in the lobby of the Library and Archives
Building at Yad Vashem. "Gathering the Fragments
- Behind the Scenes of the Campaign to Rescue Personal Items from the
Holocaust" will display the process of collection, research,
registration and digitization performed in the framework of the
nationwide project to rescue personal Holocaust-related items. The
opening event will be attended by Holocaust survivors whose personal
items are displayed in the exhibition.
Exhibition Curator Michael Tal explained, "The majority of items
donated to Yad Vashem during the campaign have come via second- or
third-generation descendants of the survivors and others who possess
items from their families in Europe. Therefore, most of the information
we receive about the items is, at best, only partial. The exhibition
therefore showcases the research work carried out at Yad Vashem in order
to reconstruct the full story behind each item. We are committed to
learning as much as possible about everything that comes to us, and to
sharing new insights with the greater public."
A further crack in an unpredictable and repressive regime.
Eritrea Dictator President
At around 10am on 21 January a contingent of Eritrean troops stormed the state television station. They rounded up the staff – all employees of the Ministry of Information – and forced the director of Eritrea TV, Asmellash Abraha Woldu, to read a statement calling for:
the freeing of all prisoners of conscience
the implementation of the Eritrean constitution
and stating that the ministry of information was under their control.
Almost immediately the television broadcast was interrupted, and remained off the air for several hours, before resuming its broadcasts with pre-recorded material. This is about all that is clear.
In the centre of Asmara, the stunningly beautiful highland capital of this tiny sliver of a country bordering on the Red Sea, life continued much as normal. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office declared that it had detected “unusual military movements in and around Asmara” and instructed British nationals in Eritrea to “exercise extreme caution and to continue to monitor the FCO's websites for updates.”
The Eritrean government dismissed speculation and rumours of a coup and described the events as a “small incident”. They went on to launch a scathing attack on foreign commentators, including this author.
Behind the apparently calm façade lies a seething discontent, particularly among younger Eritreans. It appears that the soldiers involved in Monday’s protest were from outside of the capital. “They were just amateurs,” one source told me,
“mostly just very frustrated young people.” Around a thousand young men and women cross the border into exile every month, according to the United Nations refugee agency. Many leave for Ethiopia, which accommodates 127,970 Eritreans.
The total Eritrean refugee community stands at 251,954, many of them in Sudan.
So why do young Eritreans flee from the country of their birth? The answer is that they face a future dominated by conscription and poverty. National Service, nominally for eighteen months, can be extended by years. Citizens as old as 50 are still liable for the army reserves. Once conscripted, Eritreans can face years in forced labour on foreign owned gold mines, working for a pittance.
Others are deployed in trenches along the country’s desolate, 1,000 kilometre long border with Ethiopia. The border war between the two countries, from May 1998 to June 2000, was fought with modern jets, heavy artillery and tanks. There is no official death toll, but estimates suggest it left 100,000 dead. Both countries agreed to settle the dispute though by binding arbitration. While Eritrea stood by the ruling of a tribunal in the Hague, Ethiopia did not, insisting on further talks. But while Addis Ababa – a key western ally in the US “war on terror” – played its cards skilfully, Asmara did not. Washington was alienated by a series of snubs and Eritrea found itself out in the cold.
To try to increase his leverage over the US, and to open another front against his Ethiopian adversaries, Eritrea’s President Isaias Afewerki began supporting Islamist fighters of al-Shabab in Somalia. This brought the wrath of the international community down on his head, and United Nations sanctions against Eritrea that have been steadily tightened. As these became increasingly onerous, the Eritreans apparently cut their ties with the Somali fighters.
The situation inside Eritrea itself continues to deteriorate – but away from the glare of international publicity. The country allows no independent media and none of the major news agencies, like Reuters, AP or AFP have correspondents in the country. Reporters Without Borders considers Eritrea the most repressive state in the world, ranking it below North Korea in its latest index.
No free elections have been held since independence in 1993. There is only one political party, the ludicrously named People’s Front for Freedom and Justice. Human Rights organisations like Amnesty International regularly criticise the country’s arbitrary detentions and routine practices of torture. Former prisoners report being held in shipping containers in temperatures that rise to over 50 degrees in the blazing sun. Others are suspended from their wrists in the notorious “helicopter” position.
Human Rights Watch estimates there are between 5,000 and 10,000 political prisoners, without including deserters from National Service “who may number tens of thousands more.” The UN recently appointed a Special Rapporteur to monitor Eritrean human rights violations. Beedwantee Keetharuth can expect little assistance from Asmara.
The news from the Eritrean capital following Monday’s “small incident” indicates that so far the mutinous troops have been allowed to return to their barracks. But the omens are not good.
In May 1993, four days before the country’s official declaration of independence, soldiers who had not been paid during the entire liberation war with Ethiopia, launched the largest public protest the country had ever seen. They stormed around Asmara, demanding that President Isaias should meet them. When he finally came to hear their grievances, the President promised to improve their lot and they returned to the barracks. That evening, with the protests over, around 200 of the leaders were rounded up and arrested. Some were imprisoned for up to 12 years without trial.
Much the same appears to have happened this week. The angry soldiers are reported to have gone back to their camp. What happens to them over the next few weeks, and whether other mutineers appear out of the woodwork, encouraged by their example, is impossible to predict. But the government’s credibility has received a severe blow. The Horn of Africa is notoriously unstable and a further crack in even a regime as unpredictable and repressive as Eritrea is unlikely to be welcomed in Washington or London.
Jariirada the Guardian ee ka soo baxda wadanka Biritain ayaa sheegtay
in Debra Hammami oo ah Hooyada dhashay Cumar Xamaami gudaha
al-Shabaabna looga yaqaano Abu Mansuur Al-Amriiki ayaa waxa ay shegtay
in ay ka wlaacsan tahay nolasha Wiilkeeda kadib maalinti Sabtida oo ay
ugu ekeed xiligi Shabaab ay u qabteen in uu isku soo dhibo ama ay
dilayan.
Mrs Debra Hammami waxa ay shaaca ka qaaday in ay rajo weyn ka qabto
in ay dhacdo arin mucjiso ah oo uu ku badbaado Wiilkeeda Abu Mansur
Al-Amriki.
Hamaami oo 28-sano jir ah ayaa waxa ay maalinti sabtida ugu ekeed
xiligii Shabaabka ay ku amreen in hubka uu dhigo iyo sidookale in uu
isku dhiibo kooxdaasi.
Debra Hammami waxa ay shaki ka muujisay in Wiilkeeda oo noo l ay dib u
arki doonto isagoo ku sugan gobolka Alabama ee Wadanka Maraykanka.
Sidookale Hooyada dhashay Abu Mansur Al-Amriiki ayaa u shegtay
jariirada the Guardian in aragtida Wiilkeedaay ugu danbeysay Sanadii
2006,kii isagoo xiligaasi ku sugnaa WadankaMasar,balse waxa ay
tilmaantay in arimahiisa ay kala socdaan barta uu ku leeyahay Twiterka
Waxa ay tiri”ma rajo dhigi doono xitaa 100-sano ha qaadato,waxaan rajenaya mar uun inaan arko omar hamaami”.
Debra Hammami ayaa ugu baaqday wilkeda in uu katago Somalia si ay u
nabad gahso nafsadisa ama goob aamin ah ka ah goobaha ay gacanta ku
hayaan al-shabab.
Three civil society organisations and one literary forum have been ordered to shut down and cease all operations by Sudanese authorities amidst a renewed clamp down on freedom of expression, association and assembly in the country. Attempts by journalists and activists to demonstrate against the closures have been suppressed by the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS).
On 24 December the Sudanese Studies Centre (SSC), legally registered as a civil society organisation working to promote dialogue on culture and democracy, was closed for one year by the Ministry of Culture and Media following orders from Information and Culture Minister Ahmed Belal Osman.
On 30 December, activists organised under the umbrella of the Confederation of Civil Society Organisations demonstrated outside Sudan’s National Human Rights Commission. They attempted to deliver a memorandum condemning the closure of the SSC. Although the Commission’s chairperson was willing to receive the memorandum, plain-clothed NISS agents surrounded the building and prevented them from entering. It was reported that one journalist was beaten and three activists were arrested and released a few hours later. The Commission subsequently condemned the actions of NISS.
The following morning, on 31 December, the Executive Director of the SSC, Mr. Abdalla Abu Alrish, was summoned from his home by NISS. He was interrogated all day before being released in the evening and ordered to return on the 1 and 2 January for further questioning.
On the same day, 31 December, the Humanitarian Affairs Commission (HAC), a regulatory body governing the work of Sudanese civil society, closed the ARRY Organisation for Human Rights and Development (ARRY) and the Al Khatim Adlan Centre for Enlightenment and Human Development (KACE). ARRY works on human rights monitoring and documentation in South Kordofan, and has offices in Khartoum. HAC representatives entered their offices and ordered its closure. Further details are unknown.
KACE, a pro-democracy NGO that also works to promote multiculturalism in Sudan, was closed in the early afternoon by a delegation of six HAC representatives, accompanied by nine other individuals, including armed NISS officers, who delivered administrative decision no. 20, dated 26 December and signed by the General Registrar of Organisations, Dr. Mohamed Fadlalla Suraj Eldin. The decision ordered the cancellation of KACE’s registration with immediate effect, and its removal from the NGO register. An inventory of the office was recorded and the assets of KACE seized.
The NISS also summoned Sudanese writer Ms. Zeinab Belil for interrogation on 31 December. Ms. Belil is chairperson of the Cultural Forum for Literary Criticism, a network of Sudanese writers. The NISS ordered the forum to cease all of its activities. Ms. Belil was interrogated about the relationship of the forum to the Iranian Cultural Chancellery in Khartoum, which funds a literary prize awarded yearly.
On 6 January, another demonstration was organised by the Confederation of Civil Society Organisations and the Campaign for the Defence of the Freedom of Expression and Publishing in front of the Presidential Office. The demonstrators intended to deliver a letter to the Presidential Office calling for a reversal of the closures, which they deemed unconstitutional, as well as a stop to the harassment of independent civil society. The NISS closed the roads surrounding the Presidential Office, and only allowed a delegation of five prominent members of civil society, led by Dr. Amin Mekki Medani, to proceed. The Presidential Office refused to accept the letter.
The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) calls on the Government of Sudan (GoS) to:
Immediately allow the closed organisations to re-open and continue their peaceful work in support of civil society initiatives to promote democracy and cultural diversity in Sudan. Their assets should also be unfrozen.
Respect the right of Sudanese people to peacefully protest and fully exercise their rights to freedom of assembly, association and expression as recognised by the Interim National Constitution of 2005.
Background
ACJPS has serious concerns that by targeting civil society organisations in this manner, the GoS is seeking to close down the small space available in which Sudanese civil society operates. The closures follow widespread anti-regime demonstrations that spread throughout Sudan from June – August 2012, and were lead in large part by Sudanese youth movements.
Increasingly threatened by vocal discontent amongst the Sudanese people, the Government of Sudan is seeking to close down any forums for independent civil society dialogue and coordination. The Sudanese authorities have further accused the closed civil society organisations of receiving funding from the United States of America (US) to undermine the ruling National Congress Party. In a speech on the Government controlled Sudan TV on 2 January, First Vice President Mr. Ali Osman Taha stated that the recently closed organisations were being used by “western” intelligence agencies to engineer the fall of the regime, citing the book ‘Rogue State: a Guide to the World’s Only Superpower’, written by a US author. The book, first published in 2000 and revised in 2005, details US funding to civil society in pursuit of regime change in different Arab and African contexts, including Sudan.
In a parallel development, on 25 December 2012 President Omar al-Bashir issued a presidential decree establishing a committee to examine the regulations of foreign NGOs in Sudan. The committee will be headed by a representative of the defence ministry and include delegates from the Foreign Ministry, Ministry of Interior, the Darfur Regional Authority, HAC and the NISS.
ACJPS fears that the recent closures signal the beginning of a third wave clamp down on independent civil society by the GoS, with the first being ushered in alongside the military coup in 1989 and the second in 2009 after the International Criminal Court’s announcement of the indictment of President Omar al-Bashir. Sudanese civil society has only recently begun to recover from the effects of the closures in 2009.
Contact: Osman Hummaida, Executive Director, African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) Phone: +44 7956 095738 (UK) E-mail: osman@acjps.org
"Dugsigaa waxa loo sameeyey inuu Somaliland wax taro, mana aha inuu noqdo mid khilaaf burburiyo"
...........Dr. Axmed Xuseen Ciise
Dr. Ahmed Hussein Essa
Hadal haynta faraha badan ee ku saabsan dugsiga Abaarso Tech waxay dhaawacaysaa sumcaddii dugsiga iyo sharaftii iyo karaamadii dadkii aasaasay waxana khasab ah in la soo afjaro si dugsigaasi ugu noqdo sidii loogu talo galay ee ahayd dugsi wax tar badan ku soo kordhin kara Somaliland iyo waxbarashada dhalinyarada. Mana ah inuu khilaafkaasi noqdo mid dadkii wakhti iyo maalba u huray sumcadooda iyo sharaftoodaba galaafto.
Sidee buu ku bilaabmay dugsigaasi?
Waxa maalin dhawayd jaraaiidka lagu soo qoray maqaal uu Billeh Osman ku sheegay in isaga iyo inan maraykan ah oo adeer u yahay (edadii qabo) ay aniga, Axmed Xuseen Ciise, si kedis ah makhaayad kula kulmeen ka dibna aan la tagay meel cid la ah oo Abaarso la yidhaado iyo in inankaa Marayknka ah iyo asxaabtii dugsigaa dhiseen. Hadalkaasi runta aad iyo aad buu uga fogyahay.
Billeh Osman oo aan is naqaanay ilaa iyo 1998 wuxuu horaantii 2007 ii sheegay inuu inankaa uu ededii qabaa joojinayo shaqadiisii, xidhayo shirkad uu lahaa oo ah kuwa Wall Street, doonayana inuu samafal bal isku dayo in wakhtiya. Billeh wuxuu i weydiiyey inaan diyaar u ahay inuu ila shaqeeyo isaga oo yidhi wuxuu jecelyahay inuu dhisme dugsi gacan ka gaysto. Waxaaan Billeh u sheegay inaan arrintaa soo dhowaynayo oo aan anba rabay
inaan dugsi Polytechnic ah sameeyo xidhiidhna la sameeyey deeq bixiyaal. Inankii oo ahaa Jonathan Starr ayey ka dib hay'adda aan maamulo ee IPRT martiqaad u fidisay, fiisna u soo saartay. Billeh ayaa soo horeeye wiik ka dibna aniga iyo Billeh ayaa airportkana kaga hortagnay. Afduub-na ma jirin, rag mar kaliya makhaayad ku kulmayna maanaan ahayn.
Socdaalkaa Billeh iyo Jonathan ayey Hargeysa iigu yimaadeen ayaanu si rasmi iskula qaadanay asaaska dugsigu oo markaa aniga iyo Bille-ba ku wadnay inuu noqdo iskuul technical ah……waa sababta aanu magaciisa ku darnay kelmada Tech. Billeh Osman laba goor oo keliya ayuu dalka dib ugu soo laabtay oo joogitaankiisu aanu ka badan 20 cisho isku gayn. Shar iyo khayr maqaalkaa uu maalinta dhawayd ku qoray joornaalada ayey ka ahayd. Lacag uma uririn, wax kalena uma qaban.
Dhulka Dugsiga ee Abaarso sideebuu ku yimid yaase bixiyey yaa la siiyey?
Markii aanu isla qaadanay inaanu dugsigaa wada asaasno, waxaanu u baahanay dhul balaadhan oo aan magaalada ka fogeen waddadana u dhow. Waxaan xusuustay inuu jiray dhul ku yaala Abaarso oo mar la damacsanaa in Airport laga dhigo. Waxaan ogaa in dhulkaas mar la isku dayey in Kuliyad Macalinimo laga dhigo oo uu hormood ka ahaa Axmed Cabdi Dacar oon suuragelin. Sidaa daraadeed annaga oo wada socona ilaa 10 qof ayaanu tagnay dhulkaa. Waxase markiiba noo muuqday in dhulkaas aan waxba ka nooleen. Annaga oo iska soo noqonay ayaanu war ka helnay Guddoomiyaha Degaanka Abaaro, Aadan Xuseen Cigeh, oo leh soo noqda aniga ayaa meel idiin haya. Waanu ku noqonay, wuxuu na tusay meel aanu isku raacnay inaanay haboonayn laakiin Aadan wuxuu noo sheegay inay reer ka mid ah degaanku diyaar u yihiin inay meel kale oo ka haboon bixiyaan. Haddanna dibaanu ugu noqonay, meeshii lana tusay oo markaa ay ka masuul ahaayeen Cumar Axmed Daahir iyo Mawliid Axmed Dahir. Waxaanu dhammaan isku raacnay inay meel haboon tahay.
In yar ka dib ayaan shir u qabtay odayada iyo waxgaradka deegaanka oo dhan, xaflad balaadhan la sameeyey, dhulkiina ay dhammaan xubnhii reerkii igu soo wareejiyeen.. Billeh-na meesha ma joogin aoqoonna uma lahayn dadka iyo deegaanka, wax isaga iyo Jonathan la siiyeyna ma jirto. Dhisma Dugsiga?
Si dhismuhu u bilaabmo, waxaan la xidhiidhay Engineer Amin Cumer Xaashi oo ah Architect Somalilander ah oo deggan dalka Maraykanka oo aan ku qanciyey inuu tabaruc ahaan sameeyo design-kii iyo floor planka. Shaqadaas oon hawl yareen, waanu ku guulaysanay inaanu samayno nakhsad aanu ku wada qanacnay, ka dibna dhismihii rasmi ahaan u bilownay bishii Feb 2009.
Jonathan waxa uu dalka ku soo noqday bishii August dhismayaashii oo markaa dhamaad ku dhow. Bishii September ayaanu bilownay fasalkii ugu horeeyey oo aanu ku sii bilownay xafiiskii IPRT oo ilaa bishii Nofember hawlihii Abaarso Tech ka socotay. July ilaa August macaliimiinto waxay deganaayaan gurigaygii oo aan uga guray. Nofembar ayaanu ku wareegnay Abaarso oo markaa dhamaatay oo xataa furniture-kii uu na soo gaadhay.
Ilaa intaa dhismayaashu socdeen, Billeh iyo Jonathan midna dalka ma joogin. Tacabka naga kalay hawshaas oo aad u baaxad waynad, waxa ka markhaatiya Ugaasyo iyo Salaadiin, Wasiiro, Aqoonyahano, Wariyeyaasha ugu caansan dalka, iyo maamulayaasha dugsiyada kale ee dalka oo talo, booqasho iyo waxtarba noogu imin jiray maalin walba.
Yaa maalgeliyey?
Waxa joornaalada dhawaan lagu qoary TV-yadan laga sheega in lacagta ku baxday Abaarso Tech uu bixiyey Jonathan iyo asxaabtii reer Maraykan, iyada oo hoos loo dhigayo kaalinta wayn ee wadaniyiin tiro badan ku lahaayeen. Abaarso Tech dhab ahaan waa dugsiga dhismihiisa ay muwaadiniyiinteenu ka qaateen qayb aanay weligood ka qaadan dugsiyada iyo Jaamacadaha kali ee dalkeena. Tusaale, shirkadda MSG ee Maxamed Aw Sacid Geedi waxay Abaarso Tech ugu deeqday $250,000 , waxaanu Maxamed aw Saciid ku balanqaaday inuu sanad walba siin doono Abaarso Tech $100,000. Shirkadda Dahabshiil waxay bixisay $110,000 oo 50,000 ka mid ahi yahay DAYN aan anigu magacayga ku soo qaaday, kuna baxday dhismayaasha socda oo weli lacagtaa igu leedahay, bixinteeduna ku beegnayd 31 Dec 2012. Waxa kale oo reer Somaliland ka qayb qaateen dhiska masaajidka oo ay ku baxday $66,000 dad badan oo ay ka mid yihiin Saciid Xaliye, Maxamed Abu Site, Ismaaciil Axmed Yaasin, Maxamed Cabdi Arabay, Xasan M, Jama Yey, Sacaada Diin, Shaafici Stores, Qamdaan, ZamZam Abdi Adan, Amina Yusuf, Bashe Maxamed Faarax iyo dad kale oo badan. 10,000 oo kale waxa bixyisay sharkidda Teleosom, 5,000 Maansoor, 30,000 lacag gaadhaysa Ambassador Hotel. Hay'adda aan maamulo ee IPRT waxay ka heshay dawladda Ingiriska lacag dhan 225,000 oo dhammaan gashay dugsiga. Bisha Cas waxay na siisay deeq gaadhaysa $8000. Anigu gaar ahaan waxaan bixiyey $7000 oo qayb ka mid ahi ahayd GANAAX deegaanku igu xukumay inaan siiyo labadii muwaadin ee markii hore dhulka ku deeqay oo shaqadii aanu ugu balanqaadnay aan ka helin dugsiga. Dad kale oo ay ka mid yahiin Cabdilcasis Samaale, Ismaciil Cabdi Bacad waxay isku gayn u bixiyeen lacag gaadhaysa 12,000$.
Isu gayn lacagta Muwadiinito ama local ka yimid waxay gaadhaysaa $700,000. U malayn mayo in dugsi kale oo Somaliland ku yaala lacag intaa leeg reer Somaliland geliyeen. Haddanna Abaarso Tech waxa dhigta arday aan waxba ka badnayn 100 arday sida uu imika yahay.
Lacagtaa ay reer Somalland geliyeen Abaarso Tech iskamay iman. Waxay ku timid kalsooni ay i siiyeen dhammaan dadkaasi. Billeh iyo Jonahan-na dadkaa reer Somaliland may aqoon, manay arag imikana intooda badanni ma yaqaanaan inay sheegtaan ama maldahaan cidda dhab ahaan keentayna wax loo dulqaadan karo maahaa. Kun goorbaanay reer Somaliland ku mahadsan yihiin kaalintoodaa, balantaan hore ugu qaaday ee ahayd in taageeradooda laga midho dhalin doonaana weli way ii guntan tahay.
Qaan sheegasho iyo dhulka uu dugsigu ka dhisan yahay oo dib khilaaf u abuuray Sidaanu annaguba dhaqaale ugu soo ururinay dugsiga Jonathanna dibedda lacag taa u dhigan ta wuu ka soo ururiyey. Isaga laftiisu lacag wuu geliyey. Hase yeeshee lacagta uu gaar ahaan u geliey oo ahayd mid uu isla isagu maamulay wuxuu Jonathan ku sheegay ilaa imikana ku sheegtaa DAYN uu ku leeyahay Board-ka. Xubnaha Boardku waa dad tabaruc ugu shaqeeya dugsiga sinna dow uma aha in tabarucooda looga daro qaan sheegasho oo la yidhaado lacag baa la idinku leeyahay. Abaarso Tech waa non-profit, macaash-ma- doon. Hay'ad macaash ma doon ahi dayn ma qaadato. Cid wal oo arrintaa loola tagayna sidaas bay u aragtay inaanad meel aad adigu ka tahay Co-Founder aad haddana Dayn u
sheegato. Iyada oonay dow iyo gar midna ahayn, haddana Board-ka Abaarso Tech iyaga oo ka baxsanaya khilaaf ayey ugu balanqaadeen Jonathan inay u celinaayaan dhamaan lacagtii isga ka baxday.
Wuxuu intaa kaga bii sii daray inuu yidhaado lacagtaa waxaan u qaadanayaa dhulka dugsigu ka dhisan yahay oo dabcan u dhiganta iskuulka ayaan qaadanayaa ileen lama kala reebi karo eh. Boardku iyo ciddii wal oo lala tashadayna arrintaasi waxay ku noqotay mid aan cagliga geli karin in wax la isugu tagay oo tabaruc ku dhisantay cid gaar ah la siiyo. Muddo sanad ka bandanna murankaa dhulka ha la ii saxeexo ayaa na mashquuliyey.
Markay taasi socon wayday ayuu imika haddanna Jonathan bilaabay khilaaf uu dhulkii toos u soo galay isaga oo isku dayey inuu qaar ka mid ah reerkii markii hore dhulka bixiyey dib heshiis kale ula galo isaga oo ugu balanqaadaya mucaawino ay ka mid tahay inuu midkood u dhisi doono dukaan supermarket ah. Dabcan nin ajnebi ah oo leh lacag baan bixinayaa waxay deegaankii ka dhex abuurtay fidno dhul oo xataa gaadhay gacan ka hadal iyo inay meesha ka soo dhex toosaan dad aan shaqaba ku lahayn oo nagu bilaabay ku qabso ku qadi maysid eh. Guddida Deegaankaas oo ka cabsi qabta in khilaafku dhaafo gacan ka hadal ayaa bishan 9keedii go'aan ka qaatay, xukuumaddana ka codsanay in si degdeg ah wax looga qabto intaan dhib aan xal lahayn meeshaa ka dhicin.
Maxaa la isku hayaa? Maxaa Sal u Ah Khilaafka?
Waxa lagu celceliyaa in la isku hayo lahaansha Abaarso Tech. La iskuma hayo lahaansha Abaarso Tech. Maalintii la furayey Abaarso Tech waxa goob joog ka ahaa Salaadiinta dalka, madaxda golayaasha JSL, Xildhibaano, shaan wasiir, iyo marti sharaf badan. Aniga ayaa hagayey shirkaa furitaanka. SI CAD oo PUBLIC ah oo TV-yada iyo jaraaidka ku soo baxday ayaan u cadeeyey cidda Abaarso Tech leh iyo sifaha macaash-ma-doonka ah ee aanu u samaynay.
Waxa sii xoojiey arrintaa go'aan guddi oo ka timid aragti madaweyne oo uu saxeexay Madaxweynaha Juhuuriyadda JSL, Mudana Axmed Maxamed Maxamuud Silaanyo. Waxaase dhab ahaan khilaafka salkiisu yahay sifaha maamul iyo barbaarin ee Abaarso Tech. Ma jirto aduunka goob wax barasho oo qof keliya loo siiyo madaxbannaani bilaa xad ah. Meel caruur lagu barbaarinayo, tacliin, dhaqan, nolol lagu korinayo oo cid loo xidho.
Mana haboona sidaan qabo in weliba qof ajnebi ah, aqoontuu doono ha lahaado, lacagta uu doono ha haysto, magac iyo maamuuskuu doono ha lahaado in 100% fasax loo siiyo barbaarinta caruur. Culimo, waxgarad iyo muwaadiniinta kalebana arrintaa anaga iyo cidii kale ee masuul ka ahba way nagu canaanteen.
Arrinta muranka dhalisay waa taa. Jonathan wuu caawiyey Abaarso Tech sidaanu annaguba u caawinay, aduunkana way jiraan dad sidaas oo kale caawiya ama ka qayb qaata dhismaha dugsiyo badan. Dugsigs SOS ee Sheikh dad ajnebi ah ayaa caawiya 100% laakiin maamulka iyo barbaarinta caruurta faraha ku lama jiraan.
Nasiib darradu waxa weeye in markii muranka maamul na soo dhexgalay in arday iyo waaladiin ba nagu khasbeen cid walbana dul mareen in la yeelo waxaan caqliga wanaagsani na fareen. Wax yaabaha aadka looga xumaado waxa ka mid ahayd in ardaydii qaar ka mid ah soo qoraan araaji ay leeyihiin waxaanu ku taageeraynaa macalimiinta oo ay
ku qoran yihiin erayada “NO WHITE TEACHERS, NO EDUCATIONâ€. Lamanaan yaabin ardayda yar yar ee maskaxda sidaa loo geliyey ee waxaanu la yaabnay macalinka isaga oo Afrika jooga soo gudbiyey waraaqo ay sidaasi ku qoran tahay. Waxaan hubaa dal kale oo Afrika ah ama calaamka kaleba ah, xataa Amerika, hadday ahaan lahayd, in masuulinta dawladdu halkaaba ay go'aan cad ku qaadan lahaayeen.
Meel Ka Dhaca MAANTA SOCDA?
Dhawr arrimood oo ku saabsan dugsiga sare (maaha qaybta Jaamacadda ee Hargeysa ku taal) ayaa dhawaan soo baxay oo ku saabsan dhaqanka dugsiga. Marna dhaliilahaasi wax kamay sheegin caruurta ku jirta dugsiga khaas ahaan hablaha. Haddana walaadiin dumar u badan ayaa beryahan ba magaalada la dhexmarayey hablaa lanaga aflgaadeeyey. Meel hablo lagu aflgaadeeyey anigu maan arag. Laakiin maamulka waxbaa laga sheegay. Mana aha dow in qiiq kale lagu qariyo dhaliilaha la sheegay oo u baahan wax ka qabad.
Xataa waxay gaadhay in IMAAMO iyo culumaa'udiin ka hadlay Abaarso Tech lagu sheego dad lacag qaatay oo laaluush ka hadliyey.
Bulshada Deegaanka waxa lagu sheegay dad JIHAD dugsiga ku wada oo argagaxiso ah. Waxa dadka deegaanka iyo arday ka hadashay dugsigaba loogu hanjabay in Guantanamo la geyn doono. Reer Abaarso waa dadka martida loo yahay ee la dhex degan yahay ee macalimiinta iyo caruurtuba la nool yihiin. Ma gayaan in sidaa loo ceebeeyo. Xataa
walaadiin joogta Burco oo aan weligood ila kulmin, wax i weydiin, marna ila soo hadal, ayaa YOUTUBE-ka iyo Somaliland.org arrimo aanay waxba ka jirin nagu dhaliilay Abaarso-na wax ka sheegayey. Runtii dulqaad badan bay muujiyeen reer Abaarso.
WAA MAXAY XALKU?
Dad badan baa arrintan soo dhexgalay kana taliyey. Waxa ka mid ahaa culamaaudiin ay ka mid yihiin Guddida Wanaag Farista iyo Xumaan Reebista. Waxay dhamaan ku taliyeen si arrintanu u soo afjaranto in: 1- Labadayada masuul ee asaasay dugsiga Abaarso Tech aanu madaxbanayno Maamulka hoose ee dugsiga siina wadno hawlaha guud ee Baordka iyo maalgelinta 2- In masuul muwaadin ah oo tacliin sare leh loo magacaabo dugsiga 3- In hablaha loo sameeyo dumar waayeel ah oo u gaar ah sida ay aduunkoo dhan, gaal iyo Muslim-ba tahay.
Anigu dhinacayga waan soo dhoweeyey go'aankaas iyo kii ka horeeyey ee Guddidii uu Madaxweynuhu arrintaa u saaray gaadhay. Sidaana ka fursan mayso. Waxsae jirta is dhegamarin iyo cid ku hanjabaysa inaan cidina waxba ka qaadayn oo isleh waxaad kalsooni ka haysataan meel aniga, iyo waxgaradkaa kale ee ka taliyey oo dhanba ka saraysa.
The group Justice for Blacks indicts the World Bank for its racial injustice against its own black staff as America celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday and questions whether the new President of the bank will uphold the caste system of discrimination against blacks or seek to walk a different path that genuinely addresses systemic racial discrimination
When it comes to racial discrimination at the World Bank, there are three facts that have long been accepted as truisms, included in seven successive World Bank and two World Bank’s Staff Association reports: First, racial discrimination in the World Bank is systemic. Second, victims of discrimination are denied due process. Third, the Bank has failed to reform itself.
Many have asked the question: ‘How is it that the World Bank, which has over 50 years of experience in teaching others how to design and implement successful reforms, fails to rid itself of the scourges of bigotry?’ Others have asked: ‘How does an institution committed to fighting poverty in Africa as a major part of its mission explain systemically disadvantaging the people of black African heritage in its own ranks?’ (Foreign Policy in Focus, July 2009). What is not asked often enough, however, is: ‘How can those in a position of power remain oblivious to the inhumane suffering that victims of discrimination are subjected to?’ It is the quest for an answer to this question that led Professor Joseph Kieyah to wonder if the World Bank sees Blacks as ‘sub-human’ (The Africa Report, April 2012). More information is available on our Facebook: End Racial Discrimination at the World Bank.
The purpose of this article is to take a closer look at the physical and psychological tolls that racial discrimination exacts on its victims. Many studies have pointed at the Bank’s lack of accountability to an independent justice system as the most important culprit for its governance ills, not least for its culture of racial discrimination. Racial discrimination chips away people’s sense of dignity and diminishes their self-worth. Suffering such a violation without legal recourse is a traumatic experience, especially when it is systemic and sustained over time. A recent article entitled ‘Neo-Apartheid World Bank: It is the Culture’ describes the five stages of grief that victims of discrimination go through as follows:
‘First is denial, which is a coping mechanism to deal with a pain that it too painful to handle. It is nature’s therapeutic way of controlling the emotional floodgate and letting in only as little as the person is capable of handling. What is filtered out is denied to give the brain time to absorb what has been filtered in. Once the full gravity of the reality sinks in, denial gives way to anger. Anger represents an emotional eruption to face the pain head on. The third stage is bargaining, in which the victim comes to terms with the pain. This, in turn, sets into motion the fourth stage: depression. Such a painful emotional rollercoaster has to run its course with excruciating agony before the victim returns to something resembling normalcy.’
Those who go through the five stages of grief and survive with their psychological and physical faculties intact are the lucky ones.
THERE ARE THOSE WHO ARE KILLED BY IT
Following a financially draining, emotionally destabilizing, and blatantly unfair process, an African staff member was devastated after the Tribunal summarily dismissed his racial discrimination charges with abject disregard for the merits of his claims. Racked with raw wrath and tormented with deepening emotional grief, he quickly spiraled down. Totally consumed by a deep sense of humiliation in his community where he was once a popular personality and public media figure, within weeks he was killed in a car crash. He perished at age 41, leaving behind a wife and two young children.
Another high caliber African staff member (a Harvard graduate and an author of several books) also perished under the crush of the Bank’s systemic injustice. He was brought into the Bank to function at a senior management level by a fair-minded vice-president. Soon after the vice president retired, he became a target and was subsequently downgraded to a lower-level position. As a senior member of the Bank’s management team he knew that it was futile to file complaints with the Tribunal. He was silently consumed by the injustice and succumbed to stress-related complications in short order.
THERE WERE THOSE WHO CHEATED DEATH
There are numerous victims who have experienced nervous breakdowns, suffered heart attacks or been hospitalized, cheating death only by the grace of God. And there were those who went on a hunger strike to protest, but to no avail.
ENDANGERED LIVES
Filing discrimination claims at the World Bank results in systemic and sustained psychological abuse. The story of a Sub-Saharan African staff provides a telling example. Soon after the staff filed discrimination charges he faced systemic retaliation. The Bank’s own Appeals Committee ‘found some evidence to support an inference of retaliation’ and questioned ‘whether the aggrieved staff’s supervisor harbored personal animosity toward the staff.’ As a result, the Committee ‘strongly recommended’ that the HR vice president take immediate actions to accord him ‘a healthy working environment.’ The VP rejected the Committee’s recommendation thereby encouraging the aggrieved staff’s immediate supervisor and his director to escalate their assault. In a futile effort to find a humane solution the Chief Ethics Officer visited one of the Bank’s senior vice presidents three times. The Ombudsman met with the HR vice president, but all to no avail.
IGNORED EXPERT WITNESSES
Dr. Noa Zanolli Davenport, a world renowned expert was retained by the aggrieved staff as an expert witness in his attempt to secure provisional relief while pursuing his case before the Tribunal. As an author of a highly acclaimed and frequently cited book and articles on workplace psychological abuse, Dr. Davenport is a highly sought-after expert who has appeared in several US and European courts as an expert witness. Having gone through hundreds of pages of documents and having interviewed the aggrieved staff, concluded he was subjected to ‘mobbing,’ -- commonly known as ‘office bullying.’ Mobbing is defined as ‘a malicious attempt to force a person out of the workplace or to surrender through humiliation, harassment, isolation, and emotional abuse and terror.’ The European Union and the International Labor Organization have recognized workplace mobbing as a serious health issue. Companies have been assessed substantial fines for failing to stop mobbing in the US, UK, Europe, and Australia. A UK firm was fined $26 million. In the World Bank mobbing is a tacitly approved instrument of choice to bring protesting staff into line. A 2007 study prepared by the Bank’s Ombudsman’s Office noted:
‘Systematic and prolonged bullying behavior at work is highly injurious to the victim’s health resulting in a range of emotional and physical disorders, including stress, blood pressure, depression and heart attack. Many of the harassment behaviors in the Bank fall squarely into the category of office bullying that is more devastating than all other work-related stress added together.’
Several studies including a 2008 study at McLean Hospital in collaboration with Harvard Medical School found that individuals exposed to mobbing face a heightened risk of suicide. Citing scientific studies Dr. Davenport’s report emphasized that ‘mobbing can result in serious heart attack or even suicide’ and flagged the fact that the aggrieved staff ‘had to be rushed to the emergency room on two occasions with a racing heart.’
In his request for provisional relief the staff noted that in addition to the tremendous psychological stress he also had a potentially life threatening physical health issue that he was dealing with. He volunteered to submit his doctor’s report if required. The Bank’s acting vice president made it clear in her reply that the Bank’s management could not do anything to mitigate the situation ‘while the adversarial Appeals case is in progress.’ Meanwhile, the Bank’s lawyers argued before the Appeals Committee that the staff was claiming health problems ‘to gain sympathy.’ The Committee ruled for the Bank and against the staff member’s motion for provisional relief, stating:
‘The Appeals Committee has interpreted undue hardship to refer to situations where staff members demonstrate the likelihood that the consequences of the management actions would cause immediate and irreparable harm.’
Only trained health professionals can determine what constitutes risk for irreparable harm. However, the Bank was not interested in expert opinion.
DESTROYED EVIDENCES AND DENIED JUSTICE
During the Tribunal proceedings, the staff member sought to substantiate his suffering with evidence including Dr. Davenport’s extensive report. The Tribunal not only ignored her report, but also brazenly suggested it never received it. The Tribunal was in possession of (i) Dr. Davenport’s report, (ii) evidence of emergency room visits, (iii) a report from a prominent psychiatrist, and (iv) evidence of prescriptions for depression drugs. Nonetheless, its judgment read:
‘The Applicant’s heated rhetoric about the injury he perceives simply cannot substitute for material evidence of his serious charges. … Naturally the Tribunal cannot accept the Applicant’s allegations of bullying and intense psychological abuse, unsupported as they are by any evidence save his own assertions.’
This was patently false. It is with such reprehensible violation of due process that the Tribunal rejects racial discrimination claims it reviews. Victims of discrimination spend as much as $100,000 in legal fees and end up seeing their evidence ignored or destroyed and denied. For most victims of discrimination the Tribunal’s judgments dismissing their claims is a crushing weight of injustice more devastating than being exposed to several years of mobbing. It extinguishes the flicker of hope that victims of discrimination cling to and as such represents a traumatic end to already traumatized victims.
As America celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday, Dr. Jim Yong Kim, the new President of the World Bank will find himself at a crossroad. For the sake of convenience, he could embrace the past, lauding the Bank’s accomplishments fighting poverty in the world while ignoring its paucity in fighting injustice for its own Black staff. He could continue to uphold the caste system for employees and issue the Bank’s familiar promissory notes for Tribunal reform, which for decades have bounced, marked ‘insufficient funds.’ But we, the group Justice for Blacks at the World Bank, appeal to him to summon the courage of Dr. King and help the Bank walk a different path, the path of being a drum major for justice for the Blacks in its institution. Only in so doing will his tenure prove creditworthy to Blacks and the Bank prove itself to be a first-class institution in truth.
The birthday of Dr Martin Luther King reminds the world that African Americans suffered for centuries under slavery and during the Jim Crow era of legalized segregation. Yet the World Bank continues to target them to this day
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
~ Martin Luther King, 1963
As we gear up to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday, we must remember that the day is commemorated not only to honour an iconic civil rights leader, but also to cherish his legacy and keep his dream alive. Dr. King’s birthday is as much a day of celebration as it is a day of reflection and commitment for action. It is in this spirit that we write this article.
The World Bank was established in 1946 and currently stands as the second largest employer in the nation’s capital, next only to the US federal government. Its history is replete with a deep-rooted racial bias against Blacks. Since 1978, several investigative reports have documented that racial discrimination in the World Bank is “systemic” and all-encompassing. To-date Blacks are systematically segregated in the Africa region, a practice referred to as “ghettoization.” The degrading practice continues despite repeated plea from the Staff Association “to address seriously the issue of ‘ghettoization,’ to ensure that diversity cuts across the institution as a whole.”
Dozens of articles and blogs have expressed the culture of bias as: “a shame” (World Bank Staff Association Newsletter); “walking Apartheid Avenue” (Africa Rising 21st Century); “sins of bigotry” (The Huffington Post); “demeaning and dehumanizing” (The Africa Report); “debasing of humanity,” (The Ethiopian Reporter); “Apartheid a la Banque Mondiale” (Camer.de, Cameroon); “chronic inequality” (The Guardian, UK); “pervasive” (The Atlanta Black Star); and “profoundly beyond the pale of human decency” (Pambazuka News).
Much has been written, also, on the fact that victims of discrimination are denied the protection of the law. Because the World Bank enjoys immunity from US courts, aggrieved staff can only file complaints with an internal Administrative Tribunal. A 1999 report by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the Bank’s justice system “did not adequately protect grievants’ rights of discrimination and did not hold managers accountable.” The US Treasury Department endorsed the report as “a fair and accurate statement.” Several recent studies have reached the same conclusion as recently as in 2010, some calling the Tribunal “a fig leaf of justice.”
The gravity of the problem is best described as “breathtaking” by Beatrice Edwards, Executive Director of the Government Accountability Project (GAP), in an op-ed article in the June 2009 issue of Foreign Policy in Focus. She wrote: “The pattern of discrimination at the World Bank and the lack of vindication for complainants at the Tribunal translate into an environment of impunity where breathtakingly racist incidents can still occur.”
AFRICAN AMERICANS FACE THE MOST DISCRIMINATION
In an open letter to the current President of the World Bank that appeared on this forum (Dec. 13, 2012), as members of Justice for Blacks, we wrote: “In the World Bank’s caste system blacks are lined up behind the beyond and stacked down beneath the underneath.” That was generally speaking for all Blacks. Hard as it may be to believe, the situation is far worse for African Americans.
In a 1978 op-ed article in the Washington Post, William Raspberry, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, reported: “60-odd black African professionals on a professional staff of more than 2,400.” This means Blacks in general accounted for a meager 2.5 percent of the World Bank’s professional grade. More importantly, the article noted, “there was not a single black division chiefs out of 160 scattered throughout the bank.” With respect to African Americans, Raspberry found “three black Americans out of 619 American professionals,” accounting for 0.48 percent of American professionals in a city where Blacks represented over 50 percent of the population.
A 2009 investigation by the Government Accountability Project (GAP) found “four Black Americans out of over 1000 American professionals, a significant proportional decline even from the abysmal levels reported by Raspberry thirty years ago.” The Bank’s public explanation is that there is a lack of qualified African Americans. As Bea Edwards succinctly put it in her above-noted op-ed article, “This is, of course, a well-worn canard that doesn't hold up.”
The World Bank’s own 1998 report indicates “black staff members are recruited disproportionately in the secretarial grades, ignoring the educational and professional success they have achieved.” The report acknowledges, “many of them are qualified for the professional ranks of the Bank." According to the same report, 32 percent of the Bank’s overall workforce is in secretarial ranks. In comparison, 47 percent of Africans are in secretarial grade. The corresponding figure for African Americans is a staggering 75 percent!
African Americans are excluded from professional ranks because they are blamed for “complaining too much to the Congressional Black Caucus.” As such, it is believed the best way to deal with them is not to hire them. As a result, they are effectively shut out of the World Bank or are kept in a secretarial position as an agency temporary. The story of Ms. Hitch provides a telling example. The following is a brief summary, borrowing liberally from a report prepared by GAP.
HITCH V. WORLD BANK (2005)
Ms. Hitch, an African American worked for the World Bank from 1984 until June 30, 2004. During her employment she served as an agency temporary, then on the Contract Temporary Assignment Program, and finally on term assignments. But despite positive performance evaluations and awards, she was never offered a permanent position with the Bank in the nearly 20 years.
Ms. Hitch applied for three separate positions in 2003-2004 and was denied all of them, including the contested program assistant position in the Bank’s Energy and Water Department, as well as another position that she was selected for, but was not offered. In 2004, she was short-listed for a regular position, but was excluded from an interview. She was interviewed only after she inquired about her exclusion. The interviewing panel identified her as “the candidate of choice” and this triggered a senior HR officer to send this email to the hiring director:
“I thought I should let you know the background of the African American only for your benefit when you finally get to make the hiring decision. She is about 57 years old and has been in the Bank about 20 years. For 18 years as a temp…I believe that in the department, we need young, dynamic staff who are quick starts and have the urge to go an extra mile.”
The HR official mentioned an “Indian” male candidate as an alternative to whom the position was given. Ms. Hitch filed a complaint with the Tribunal. While summarily dismissing her racial, gender and age discrimination claims, the Tribunal noted, “it is troubled by the unfortunate stereotyping … when comparing candidates during a selection process.” However, it ruled the Bank’s decision “was based on the Applicants’ respective qualifications and legitimate diversity considerations.” It is not clear how the Tribunal arrived at this conclusion. Particularly, the claim of “legitimate diversity consideration” was inexplicable. African American women are by far less represented than Indian men in the World Bank. It is with such blatant disregard for fact-finding due process that the Tribunal summarily dismisses every racial discrimination claim it reviews.
A NEW LAW WAITING TO BE ENFORCED
It has long been recognized that racial discrimination and whistleblower retaliation fester under the veil of the Bank's immunity. It was this recognition that led the passage of the Lugar-Leahy Amendment in 2005, requiring the Bank to give whistleblowers access to "independent adjudicative bodies, including external arbitration." The Lugar-Leahy Amendment is of particular importance in granting victims of discrimination the security of justice. This is because victims of discrimination often blow the proverbial whistle seeking support from American civil and human rights groups, the Congressional Black Caucus and other government agencies. As a result, they are subjected to whistle-blowing retaliation, often involving termination or separation under the threat of redundancy.
The intent of the Lugar-Leahy Amendment is to introduce an independent and fair grievance resolution system as an international best practice, without infringing on the World Bank’s immunity from national courts. The Amendment has been adopted as a best practice resolution measure by other international agencies, for example the African Development Bank. The World Bank’s refusal to comply with the Lugar-Leahy Amendment triggered the passage of the Consolidated Appropriation Act, 2012 that requires the US government to withhold approval for the World Bank's capital increase until it has made substantial progress in complying with the Act.
The Bank seems to be unfazed and remains out of compliance with the Consolidated Appropriations Act, insisting that its Administrative Tribunal is an independent adjudicative body. This position is untenable given the fact that its own multiple studies have determined the Tribunal lacks independence. Moreover, as recently as September 2010, the US Treasury and the US Executive Director to the World Bank have indicated they were “seeking to assure that the Bank provides a fair justice system for its employees, and [were] continuing to explore the possibility of pressing the World Bank to look harder at external arbitration.”
Currently, there are at least three discrimination-related outstanding retaliation claims requesting access for independent adjudicative bodies through external arbitration or mediation. One is by Adrienne Smith, which is being handled by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The World Bank has ignored all three requests. The onus is on the US government to enforce the law by blocking the Bank’s pending request for capital increase.
African Americans have suffered for centuries in the US both under slavery and during the Jim Crow era of legalized segregation. It was to end the dehumanization of Blacks that many African American civil rights leaders sacrificed their lives. Dr. King did not die to replace Jim Crow with racism of a Bretton Woods brand that targets African Americans even more than it targets other Blacks.
Justice for Blacks, a group consisting of current and former World Bank officers, calls upon American civil rights leaders to raise their voice for the Obama administration to enforce immediately the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which is a critical first step towards insuring justice for Blacks in the World Bank. Rekindling Dr. King’s spirit and keeping his dream alive demands no less.
By Pamela Merchant, the Executive Director, Center for Justice and Accountability
Last week, the U.S. government recognized a government of Somalia for the first time since 1991. In his remarks to Secretary of State Clinton, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud spoke of Somalia emerging from a period of chaos to one of peace. This new Somalia, he said, will make a "valuable contribution to the region and the world at large." If Somalia is to be a shining example, it should start by ending impunity for war criminals and giving victims justice.
Somalia's transition must reckon with its past. The Somali state's collapse in 1991 did not emerge from a vacuum: it was precipitated by years of brutal violence under the Mohamed Siad Barre dictatorship. Under Barre's 21-year regime, government forces tortured, summarily executed, raped, and even launched aerial bombing raids on civilian populations. The armed groups that overthrew Barre in 1991, and the remnants of that regime, continued the cycle of violence.
To date, no individual has been held to account for these crimes--in Somalia. However, accountability efforts have been made against former Barre-regime officials living in the U.S. The Center for Justice and Accountability has brought three cases in U.S. courts on behalf of Somali victims. Last November, a U.S. federal court of appeals denied immunity to Mohamed Ali Samantar, former Somali Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, for crimes against humanity and torture. That same month, a district court in Ohio ruled that Colonel Abdi Aden Magan, the former Chief of Somalia's National Security Service was liable for torture. Another torture suit is pending against Colonel Yusuf Abdi Ali (a.k.a "Tukeh"), a former Brigade Commander in the Somali National Army.") Each of these cases was filed under U.S. universal jurisdiction laws that permit civil suits for human rights violations.
President Sheikh has made a commitment to restore faith in governance and the rule of law. His first step should be to hold to account former officials and warlords who brought Somalia over the brink. His second is to end impunity for human rights abuses committed in the wake of Somalia's collapse. To date, cases of gender based violence, child soldier recruitment, and attacks against journalist have gone unpunished.
Lessons can be learned from the cases in the U.S., but President Sheikh can look closer to home as well. Local activists and government officials in the northern region of Somaliland have begun to excavate mass graves and document evidence of war crimes. The Somali government should build on these efforts and end the impunity of suspected war criminals like General Mohammed Said Hersi Morgan or Maslah Mohamed Siad Barre. Both have been accused of overseeing widespread and systematic abuses under Siad Barre. And both currently split their time between Somalia and Kenya.
It will be difficult to restore confidence in government with such perpetrators still at large. After victory in his case against Samantar, Aziz Deria, whose father and brother were abducted by Somali officials and never seen again, observed that holding former officials "formally accountable for atrocities in Somalia's civil war is the best way for Somalia to move forward. Clan retribution can be set aside when people can be assured of justice through the legal system."
The words of President Sheik speak of stability and hope. But to achieve these goals, Somalia must begin transparent human rights investigations and provide redress to victims.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks during a press conference… (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images )
The United States formally recognized the government of Somalia on Thursday for the first time in more than two decades, marking what the Obama administration declared a major policy success in bringing that country back from near-collapse.
“Today’s meeting has been a long time in the making,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said alongside Somali President Hassan Sheik Mohamud after the two met privately in Washington. “Four years ago, at the start of the Obama administration, Somalia was, in many ways, a different country than it is today,” she said.
The brightening picture in Somalia, long considered the world’s ultimate failed state, posed a stark contrast to the situation on the other side of Africa, in Mali, where militants allied with al-Qaeda occupy the northern half of the country and are battling French forces trying to stem their advance.
While some conservatives have criticized the administration for failing to “lead” in Mali, officials described the U.S. strategy there as similar to that in Somalia, where a U.S.-backed African military coalition — along with selective targeting of militant leaders by U.S. drone and aircraft strikes — has made significant strides against extremists who until recently occupied large swaths of Somali territory and much of Mogadishu, the capital.
Political progress in Somalia appeared to catch up with military gains in September, when a newly elected parliament chose Mohamud as president, ending years of “transitional” governments deemed ineffective and corrupt.
After four months of relative peace and institution-building, administration recognition marked the reestablishment of full bilateral relations for the first time since the overthrow of military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
“It’s a great day,” Mohamud said in remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies after his appearance with Clinton and a White House meeting with President Obama. He said U.S. recognition would allow direct American aid and encourage other countries and international financial institutions to follow suit.
Mohamud said his top priorities were security and judicial and financial management reform. While there is “no silver bullet,” he said, and Somalia is “very much aware of all past mistakes, we are ready to move on.”
Over the past four years, the administration has supplied more than $1 billion in indirect assistance to Somalia, the bulk of it in support of the African military coalition.
Mohamud was effusive in his gratitude to the United States, noting that U.S. aid had built schools, seaports and airports and provided humanitarian assistance during droughts and famine at a time when Somalia was “so close to being wiped out.”
“American boys and girls in uniform have sacrificed their lives to save Somali lives,” he said.
Somalia is known primarily in this country as the scene of “Black Hawk Down,” the book and movie that recounted the 1993 death of 18 U.S. military personnel in a Mogadishu battle with fighters loyal to Somali clan leader Mohamed Farah Aideed. During the years that followed, U.S. intelligence operatives attempted to support various sides in clan warfare as an Islamist insurgent group, al-Shabab, grew in strength.
In 2007, al-Shabab declared its allegiance to al-Qaeda. Beginning that year, an African Union force composed largely of troops from Uganda, Djibouti and Burundi has steadily pushed back against al-Shabab forces. Under the Obama administration, those forces have been aided by targeted U.S. airstrikes.
The predicted looting of African resources by western banking and political interest groups has begun. Funded by the western taxpayer and using western military power as cannon fodder and corporate muscle. The western MSM prostitutes and the BBC (Broadcasting Bullshit Constantly...... …when we are not Buggering British Children) people, are in full blown war propaganda mode.
AFRICOM Created in February of 2007, launched in October of 2008 and headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany because it couldn’t find a home base in Africa to protect U.S. interest abroad, this entity has been “charged with supporting U.S. military partners in Africa.”
The U.S. military command in Africa, AFRICOM, has assumed responsibility for much of the day-to-day duties once performed by the State Department and other civilian agencies. More often than not, the uniformed military is the dispenser of a wide range of U.S. foreign aid in Africa, as part of a general militarization of U.S. relations with the rest of the planet.
Still NO African country want this “AFRICON” based within their borders. For very good reasons when we see what been going on at the Hiati US Embassy .
HQ for coups , covert operations, false flags and training death squads that cover the whole Central and South American area.
The US government never approached Uganda or the African Union or its predecessor, the Organisation of African Unity, to ask how the United States could help. Now there is discovery of oil in Uganda. Almost immediately, there are reports that US government has sent an army to Uganda to find Joseph Kony and rescue Uganda’s children. Why did America not make this offer long before Uganda discovered this oil wealth? Acquisition of Africa’s resources is the chief purpose of Africom, not the development of Africa.
Vice Admiral Moeller was the man President George W Bush entrusted with the mission of Africom. Moeller knew that mission in and out. At the United States’ Africa Command Conference held at Fort McNair on 18 February 2008, this American head of ‘Africom’ declared that, ‘Protecting the free flow of natural resources from Africa to the global market is one of Africom’s guiding principles.’
Admiral Moeller specifically cited ‘oil disruption’, ‘terrorism’ and the growing influence of China as a major challenge to United States’ interests in Africa. Africom is organised by the office of the Under-Secretary of Defence for Forces Transformation Resources and National Security Policy at the National Defence University Fort McNair, Washington D.C.
Africom serves the interests of the United States of America. Africa does not need ‘Africom. Africom is a jackal in sheep’s clothing.
America and NATO have the worst records in their dealings with the African people. Patrice Lumumba was assassinated with the connivance of the US and Belgian governments. Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown with the assistance of America’s CIA. In recent years the American government and its British ally have plotted ‘regime change’ in Zimbabwe.
In Libya it is America and NATO that bombed the country and got Colonel Muammar Gaddafi killed. This has happened inside Africa. How much easily and frequently will this happen, now with the Africom operating inside this continent?
What Africans need is the collective defense of Africa against imperialism.
“So far, the task force has deployed small teams to five African nations, including some threatened by the terror group al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, according to a Marine news release” (Stars and Stripes, March 15, 2012 ).
Officially, the underlying framework is “peacekeeping” to be achieved through US sponsored “counter-terrorism operations”. The stated objective is to transform Ugandan soldiers into “counter-terrorism engineers”, namely Special Forces under US supervision, “who will then deploy to Somalia in support of infantry battalions.”(Ibid)
Related US officials see progress in squeezing Lord’s Resistance Army in central Africa US weighs response as extremist group expands reach across Nigeria
“The soldiers on training will use the acquired knowledge in war-torn Somalia and in the hunt down of fugitive LRA commander Joseph Kony, wherever he is,” said Ugandan People’s Defense Force Lt. Col. Richard C. Wakayinja, in a separate Marine news release. (Stars and Stripes, March 15, 2012)
The Lies Behind the West’s War on Libya By Jean-Paul Pougala
African Monetary Fund, African Central Bank, African Investment Bank
The US$30 billion frozen by Mr Obama belong to the Libyan Central Bank and had been earmarked as the Libyan contribution to three key projects which would add the finishing touches to the African federation – the African
Investment Bank in Syrte, Libya, the establishment in 2011 of the African Monetary Fund to be based in Yaounde with a US$42 billion capital fund and the Abuja-based African Central Bank in Nigeria which when it starts printing African money will ring the death knell for the CFA franc through which Paris has been able to maintain its hold on some African countries for the last fifty years. It is easy to understand the French wrath against Gaddafi.
The African Monetary Fund is expected to totally supplant the African activities of the International Monetary Fund which, with only US$25 billion, was able to bring an entire continent to its knees and make it swallow questionable privatisation like forcing African countries to move from public to private monopolies. No surprise then that on 16-17 December 2010, the Africans unanimously rejected attempts by Western countries to join the African Monetary Fund, saying it was open only to African nations.
It is increasingly obvious that after Libya, the western coalition will go after Algeria, because apart from its huge energy resources, the country has cash reserves of around €150 billion. This is what lures the countries that are bombing Libya and they all have one thing in common – they are practically bankrupt. The USA alone, has a staggering debt of $US14,000 billion, France, Great Britain and Italy each have a US$2,000 billion public deficit compared to less than US$400 billion in public debt for 46 African countries combined. Inciting spurious wars in Africa in the hope that this will revitalise their economies which are sinking ever more into the doldrums will ultimately hasten the western decline
Financial Heist of the Century: Confiscating Libya’s Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF) by Manlio Dinucci
The objective of the war against Libya is not just its oil reserves (now estimated at 60 billion barrels), which are the greatest in Africa and whose extraction costs are among the lowest in the world, nor the natural gas reserves of which are estimated at about 1,500 billion cubic meters. In the crosshairs of “willing” of the operation “Unified Protector” there are sovereign wealth funds, capital that the Libyan state has invested abroad.
The Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) manages sovereign wealth funds estimated at about $70 billion U.S., rising to more than $150 billion if you include foreign investments of the Central Bank and other bodies. But it might be more. Even if they are lower than those of Saudi Arabia or Kuwait, Libyan sovereign wealth funds have been characterized by their rapid growth. When LIA was established in 2006, it had $40 billion at its disposal. In just five years, LIA has invested over one hundred companies in North Africa, Asia, Europe, the U.S. and South America: holding, banking, real estate, industries, oil companies and others.
21st Century Wire says… As we predicted this past week, the theatrical upheaval in Mali was merely a nudging exercise to move forward the stated objectives laid down in US AFRICOM policy directives. With no debate or questioning in foreign policy circles, and with Obama’s coronation and ceremonial pop concert in Washington DC keeping American eyes and ears glued to the corporate media punditry, NATO allies, led by the US, are carefully carving out a comprehensive military footprint in Africa in order to further evict Chinese influence from the continent. A convenient excuse in the short-term will be to ‘stop the spread of Islamic extremist, but as history has witnessed, this is merely a superficial justification for a comprehensive military and economic colonization of the region over the next two decades. Ironic that it would be America’s first ‘black’ President who would reside over the takeover of Africa. Expect more US bases to come in the near future, as well as more violent civil wars popping up regularly in the region.
Step One: U.S. sends trainers for Mali-bound force Anne Gearan Washington Post
The United States has dispatched about 100 military trainers to six
nations that will contribute troops to a pan-African force being
prepared for deployment to Mali, the State Department said Friday.
The initial U.S. trainers will “discuss training and equipping and
deployment needs of those countries in the interest of getting them
ready to go into Mali,” spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.
The training mission in Niger, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Togo and
Ghana is the largest U.S. involvement to date in preparations for the
African force, which is being assembled by the 15-nation Economic
Community of West African States, or ECOWAS.
The United States also has promised to help fly equipment and troops for
the force into Mali. That effort may involve U.S. aircraft but could
also be done with Nigerian, South African or outside commercial aircraft
paid for by the United States.
AL QIEDA ARE THE CONVENIENT EXCUSE AGAIN.
THIS TIME HIDING IN MALI GOLD MINES…(JUST WHEN FRANCE AND AMERICA GET ASKED BY GERMANY FOR ITS GOLD BACK)
THESE ARE THE SAME AL QUADA WE FOUGHT ALONGSIDE WITH IN LYBIA AND SYRIA
“The truth is, there is no Islamic army or terrorist group called Al
Qaida. And any informed intelligence officer knows this. But there is a
propaganda campaign to make the public believe in the presence of an
identified entity representing the ‘devil’ only in order to drive the TV
watcher to accept a unified international leadership for a war against
terrorism. The country behind this propaganda is the US . . .”
YES AL-QIEDA IS A FALSE FLAG OPERATION
ITS WESTERN SECURITY SERVICES (SS) PRETENDING TO BE ARAB TERRORISTS: MI5 We have MI5 (British CIA) posing as Alqueda.
“Al-Qaeda cleric exposed as an MI5 double agent”,
ONE of al-Qaeda’s most dangerous figures has been revealed as a double
agent working for MI5, raising criticism from European governments,
which repeatedly called for his arrest.
Britain ignored warnings – which began before the September 11 attacks –
from half a dozen friendly governments about Abu Qatada’s links with
terrorist groups and refused to arrest him. Intelligence chiefs hid from
European allies their intention to use the cleric as a key informer
against Islamic militants in Britain.
Indignant French officials accused MI5 of helping the cleric to abscond.
While he remained on the run, one intelligence chief in Paris was
quoted as saying: “British intelligence is saying they have no idea
where he is, but we know where he is and, if we know, I’m quite sure
they do.”
The two British operatives, arrested by Basra police and later freed by a
British military operation, were identified by the BBC as “members of
the SAS elite special forces” (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/424614.stm).
They were disguised by wigs and Arab dress. Iraqi sources reported that
the Iraqi police were watching the two, and when they tried to approach
them they shot two policemen and tried to escape the scene. The Iraqi
police chased and captured them, to discover large amount of explosives
planted in the car, which apparently was planned to be remotely
detonated in the busy market of Basra. The SAS involvement in Iraq was
discovered on the 30th of January 2005 when an RAF Hercules plane
crashed near Baghdad killing then British servicemen after dropping off
fifty SAS members north of Baghdad to fight Iraqi guerillas. MOSSAD We have Mossad (Israel CIA) posing as ALqueda in Palestine:
Officials from the Palestinian Authority have accused the Israeli spy
agency Mossad of setting up a fake al-Qaeda terrorist cell in Gaza.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said that Israel had set up the mock
cell in order to justify attacks in Palestinian areas. [BBC News -
12/8/2002]
Mossad agents arrested by the PA for attempting to set up phony ‘al Qaeda’ cells in the Gaza Strip.
We have israel posing as alqueda in the phillipines.
CIA We have USA posing as Alqieda:
Adam Yahiye Gadahn: The Fake Terrorist
The FBI lists Gadahn’s aliases as Abu Suhayb Al-Amriki, Abu Suhayb,
Yihya Majadin Adams, Adam Pearlman, and Yayah. But Adam Pearlmen is his
REAL name! Adam is the grandson of the late Carl K. Pearlman; a
prominent Jewish urologist in Orange County. Carl was also a member of
the board of directors of the Anti-Defamation League, which was caught
spying on Americans for Israel in 1993, much as AIPAC has been caught up
in the more recent spy scandal.
ARE YOU SURE YOU ARE WATCHING THE RIGHT ENEMY !!!!!!!
CIA + Mossad + MI5 = AlQueada
That all wars are ultimately bankers’ wars doesn’t get more obvious than this.
Our story starts with the fact that many nations have deposited gold
bullion at the New York Federal Reserve. That gold vault was a
centerpiece for the Bruce Willis film, “Die Hard With a Vengeance.”
The idea is that while you and I are required to transact business with
piece of paper and ink, large banks and nations still settle their
accounts with gold, which is simply wheeled from one nation’s vault to
another to settle a debt, all of it under the roof of the Federal
Reserve Gold Depository in New York City, or the similar institutions at
the Bank of England and Band of France.
Then, in 2009, a worker at a German gold bullion trader grew suspicious
of a gold bar that had come in, and decided to assay the gold content.
But the drill bit broke, revealing that the core of the gold car was
filled with tungsten, a metal almost the exact same density as gold. The
bar was cut open, and the scandal reported on German TV.
It quickly became apparent that the problem of tungsten filled
bullion bars was widespread. Because many of the fake gold bars had the
marking of US sources, nations began to ask for audits and tests of the
gold bullion held in their name by the New York Federal Reserve. To the
surprise of many, the New York Federal Reserve refused! Indeed the New
York Federal Reserve refused the German government permission to simply
look at their bullion! Germany’s private central bank then went public
assuring the Germans that they trusted America’s private central bank
and did not need to see the gold. That was followed by a bizarre
editorial from CNBC’s Senior Editor Jim Carney that it didn’t really
matter if the bullion was really there at the New York federal Reserve,
as long as the bookkeeping said it was!
That set off everyone’s alarm bells!
The German government started demanding their physical gold
to be repatriated back to Germany from both the Bank of France and the
New York Federal Reserve. Germany demanded all of the 374 tons of gold
held by the Bank of France, but only 300 tons of the 1500 tons of
bullion held by the New York Federal Reserve. Both the Bank of France
and the New York Federal Reserve have stated that the process of
returning the gold will take years, five years for the French gold, and
seven for the gold coming from the New York Federal Reserve. The delay
makes the situation clear. Neither the Bank of France nor the New York
Federal Reserve actually have the gold Germany deposited, sending
tungsten fakes back to the very nation that first spotted the fraud is
risky, the France and the United States are scrambling to find
replacement gold.
Mali is one of the world’s largest gold producers. Together
with neighboring Ghana they account for 7-8% of world gold output. That
makes them a rich prize for nations desperate for real physical gold.
So, even as Germany started demanding their gold back from the Bank of
France and the New York Federal Reserve, France (aided by the US)
decided to invade Mali to fight “Islamists” working for “Al Qaeda.” Of
course, “Islamists” has become the catch-all label for people that need
to ne killed to get them out of the way of the path to riches, and the
people being bombed by France (aided by the US) are not “Al Qaeda” but
Tawariqs, who have been fighting for their independence for 150 years,
long before the CIA created “Al Qaeda”. Left to themselves, the Tawariqs
could sell gold to whoever they want for whatever they want, and right
now China can outbid the US and France.
So off to war your children must go, to spill their blood for the money-junkies’ gold.
US GENERAL SAYS “THEY” PLAN TO TAKE OVER ARAB AND AFRICAN COUNTRIES FOR OIL AND RESOURSES
NATO …HERE TO HELP………..OURSELVES TO YOUR RESOURSES
They planned this along time ago and with the recent unrest and
revolutions happening in north Africa and the middle east Former General
Wesley Clark of the U.S. Army talks openly about the memo he saw when
Bush was president.
