Bradley Manning admits to leaking 'the most significant documents of our time

Protesters carry signs in support of US Army Private First Class Bradley Manning. (AFP Photo / Paul J. Richards)

Bradley Manning, the US Army intelligence officer accused of passing sensitive military documents to whistleblowing website WikiLeaks, has pleaded guilty to ten separate charges. The army, however, will pursue the grave charge of aiding the enemy.

Although the army judge has accepted Manning’s guilty pleas on ten counts, the remaining 12 charges are still to be reviewed. The army accuses Manning, 25, of aiding the enemy. If convicted, he could face a life sentence.


Private First Manning told a military court that he was responsible for uploading a trove of material to the website and pleaded guilty to 10 counts, RT's Andrew Blake reported from the courtroom.


After his plea was read to the court, Pfc Manning for the first time formally admitted guilt in the court, more than 1,000 days after being arrested. Reading a 35-page statement from his seat before Col. Denise Lind, Manning explained why exactly he risked his life to publish state-secrets.


Pfc. Manning pleaded not guilty to aiding the enemy and a number of other lesser charges, but told the court he’d like to take the blame for a series of other counts — charges that were not presented by the government but introduced by the soldier himself. In lieu of a laundry list of charges that could put Manning away in prison for life, he hopes the court will convict him of only ten lesser offenses that come with only a maximum sentence of 20 years.


Manning pleaded guilty to unauthorized possession and willful communication of sensitive material, including the hundreds of thousands of State Department cables and other materials provided to WikiLeaks. By pleading guilty, he waves the right to appeal a decision made earlier in the week in which the court ruled that Manning’s right to a speedy trial was not violated.

Bradley Manning (Mark Wilson/Getty Images/AFP)

In explaining himself, Manning told the court that he communicated with unidentified persons he believed to be working for WikiLeaks, and assumed he was speaking with founder Julian Assange. Manning says he only sent the anti-secrecy website material after being rejected by other outlets, however.


While on break from the Army, Manning says he called up the Washington Post and claimed to have materials with “enormous value to the American public.” Manning told the judge that he “spoke for 5 minutes about the general nature” of the documents but said, “I do not believe she took me seriously.”


Rejected, Pfc. Manning approached The New York Times, an outlet he described as “the largest and most popular newspaper” in the world. “I left a message saying I had access to information about Iraq and Afghanistan that I thought was very important,” he said.


“I never received a reply from the New York Times,” claimed Manning, even though he left the paper with multiple ways to be reached, including his Skype name.


Believing there were few appropriate conduits for the materials he collected as an intelligence officer, he said WikiLeaks “seemed to be the best medium for publishing this information.”


In an interview with British public television, Assange referred to Manning as "America's foremost political prisoner," adding that "the only safe way to get these cowards to publish anything is to get WikiLeaks to do it first."


"All those involved in the persecution of Bradley Manning will find cause to reflect on their actions," Assange asserted.


During pre-trial motion hearings earlier in the case, prosecutors admitted that they would have charged the Times with releasing the information had they published them before WikiLeaks. In January, prosecuting attorney Capt. Angel Overgaard, said, "publishing information in a newspaper [can] indirectly convey information to the enemy." When Col. Lind asked if that would apply to WikiLeaks, Capt. Overgaard said, "'Yes, ma'am.



Manning is slated to go before a military court-martial this June, and faces life imprisonment if convicted of aiding the enemy, the most serious of the charges against him. On Thursday, however, the Kansas-born pleaded guilty to lesser charges in hopes of a more lenient sentence. Earlier, during this week’s pre-trial hearing, those in the Ft. Meade, Maryland, courtroom were told that Manning hoped releasing intelligence to WikiLeaks would “spark a domestic debate on the role of our military and foreign policy in general.” Last year, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange credited the materials attributed to Manning with helping end the US war in Iraq.


"If Bradley Manning did as he is accused, he is a hero and invaluable to all of us,” Assange said during a December address penned from London’s Ecuadorian Embassy. “It was WikiLeaks’ revelations — not the actions of President Obama — that forced the US administration out of the Iraq War… By exposing the killing of Iraqi children, WikiLeaks directly motivated the Iraqi government to strip the US military of legal immunity, which in turn forced the US withdrawal.”


Among the materials Manning said he handed over were State Dept. cables, Pentagon logs referred to today as the ‘Iraq and Afghan War Diaries,’ as well as video published by WikiLeaks under the title ‘Collateral Murder.’ With that release, WikiLeaks showed US soldiers onboard an Apache helicopter opening fire on Iraqi civilians, including a Reuters photographer.

Members of the Bradley Manning Support Group protest under the rain during a rally at the entrance of Fort George G. Meade military base in Fort Meade, Maryland (AFP Photo/Mladen Antonov)

"For me, this seemed similar to a child torturing ants with a magnifying glass,” Manning said Thursday of the footage. In regards to the war logs, he said his opinion remains that the releases consisted of “two of the most significant documents of our time.” The cables, he added, “documented backdoor deals and seemingly criminal activity that didn’t seem” to fit with the public’s perception of an ethically-sound America.


“I thought these cables were the perfect example of a need for more open state diplomacy,” he said.


Previously, Col. Lind expressed concern over having Manning read a sworn statement, instead perfering for him only to answer questions while on the stand. “He can try to read it, but I am going to stop him” if the contents are not relevant to being guilty of committing the lesser offenses of entered in the plea, she said.


“He understands his statement and he understands the elements he needs to plead guilty,” Manning’s attorney David Coombs told the judge.


Manning has been detained for over 1,000 days without a formal military trial, and will see the start of his fourth year behind bars this May. The only other time he has spoken publically on the stand was in December 2012, when he testified about the conditions he endured while detained at a military brig in Northern Virginia.


Lind agreed to take 122 days off any eventual sentence for Manning due to the poor treatment. Earlier this week, she dismissed an attempt by the defense to have all charges against Manning dropped over an alleged violation of the ‘speedy trial’ statute.

Somalia: Al-Shabaab on the back foot

Somali government forces backed by troops and armour sent by the African Union have flushed the Islamist group Al-Shabaab out of the strategic town of Burhakaba 160 kilometers southwest of the Somali capital Mogadishu.

The government has also seized control of the connecting road.

Reports say not a single shot was fired.

Al-Shabaab remains in control in areas further to the southwest.

Since the early 1990s, Somalia has been faring without a central government.

Voice of Russia, TASS

Ex-backer denounces "cultish devotion" to WikiLeaks founder

Britain's Jemima Khan, former wife of Pakistani politician Imran Khan, leaves City of Westminster Magistrates Court in central London December 14, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Paul Hackett

LONDON | Wed Feb 6, 2013 12:53pm EST

 (Reuters) - Jemima Khan, a celebrity backer of Julian Assange who put up bail money for him, has gone public with her frustrations about the WikiLeaks founder, saying he demands "blinkered, cultish devotion" and should face justice in Sweden.

An article by Khan published on Wednesday on the website of British magazine The New Statesman gives an insight into how Assange, whose whistleblowing website angered Washington by releasing thousands of U.S. diplomatic cables in 2010, has alienated some of his staunchest allies.

Assange was arrested in Britain in December 2010 on an extradition warrant from Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations of rape and sexual abuse made by two women.

After losing a protracted legal battle to avoid extradition, which went all the way to Britain's Supreme Court, Assange jumped bail and sought refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in London last June. He has been inside the building ever since.

Khan, who first rose to prominence as an heiress but is now a campaigner and an associate editor of The New Statesman, described in her article how she had gone from "admiration to demoralization" on the subject of WikiLeaks.

"The problem is that WikiLeaks - whose mission statement was 'to produce ... a more just society ... based upon truth' - has been guilty of the same obfuscation and misinformation as those it sought to expose, while its supporters are expected to follow, unquestioningly, in blinkered, cultish devotion," she wrote.

Khan was executive producer of a documentary film about WikiLeaks entitled "We Steal Secrets" which recently premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in the United States.

Khan said the film, directed by Oscar-winning documentary maker Alex Gibney, sought to present a balanced view of the WikiLeaks story but Assange had denounced it before seeing it.

"When I told Assange I was part of the We Steal Secrets team, I suggested that he view it not in terms of being pro- or anti-him, but rather as a film that would be fair and would represent the truth," she wrote.

"He replied: 'If it's a fair film, it will be pro-Julian Assange.'"

Khan's article praised WikiLeaks for exposing corruption, torture, war crimes and cover-ups but criticized it for a "with us or against us" mentality that was detrimental to its cause.

"WOMEN HAVE RIGHTS TOO"

She wrote that she was among those who had found the timing of the sexual abuse allegations against Assange suspicious, as they came at the height of the furor over the revelations on WikiLeaks, but had come to the conclusion that the allegations had to be dealt with through Swedish due process.

"The women in question have human rights, too, and need resolution. Assange's noble cause and his wish to avoid a U.S. court does not trump their right to be heard in a Swedish court," she wrote, referring to Assange's fears that Sweden could be a first stop on the way to an espionage trial in the United States.

"I don't regret putting up bail money for Assange but I did it so that he would be released while awaiting trial, not so that he could avoid answering to the allegations," Khan wrote.

Khan has not disclosed how much money she put up and whether she has had to surrender it since Assange skipped bail.

Khan wrote that it was hardly surprising that a man who had spent his life "committed to this type of work, wedded to a laptop, undercover, always on the move", would have an unusual personality.

"I have seen flashes of Assange's charm, brilliance and insightfulness - but I have also seen how instantaneous rock-star status has the power to make even the most clear-headed idealist feel that they are above the law and exempt from criticism."

(Reporting By Estelle Shirbon; editing by Andrew Roche)

Plan floated at U.N. to lift Somalia arms embargo for a year

By Michelle Nichols | Reuters 

Reuters/Reuters - A Somali National Army soldier rests on the frontline with his rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launcher beside him, while marching towards the town of Buurhakaba on February 24, 2013 in this picture provided by the African Union-United Nations Information Support Team (AU-UN IST). REUTERS/Tobin Jones/AU-UN IST PHOTO/Handout

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A proposal to lift a U.N. arms embargo on the Somalian government for a year but leave in place restrictions on weapons like surface-to-air missiles has been floated among a deeply split 15-member U.N. Security Council, diplomats said on Wednesday.

The Somali government has requested that the 21-year-old arms embargo be lifted so it can strengthen its poorly equipped, ill-disciplined military - more a group of rival militias than a cohesive fighting force loyal to a single president - to battle al Qaeda-affiliated Islamist rebels.

A draft resolution to renew a U.N.-mandated African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia, reconfigure the U.N. mission and decide on the arms embargo request is likely to be circulated among Security Council members this week, diplomats said.

The Security Council is scheduled to vote on the resolution next Wednesday before the mandate of the 17,600-strong AU peacekeeping force, known as AMISOM, expires the next day, March 7.

"What we may see is a lifting for a defined period ... as far as the government itself is concerned but with some caveats," said a council diplomat. "For example, excluding some types of equipment, which would continue to be embargoed."

He said the proposed defined period could be a year.

The United States has been urging council members to agree to demands by the government in Mogadishu for the embargo to be lifted, while Britain and France were reluctant, council diplomats said. Negotiations were ongoing, they said.

The Security Council imposed the embargo in 1992 to cut the flow of arms to feuding warlords, who a year earlier ousted dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and plunged Somalia into civil war. The country last year held its first national vote since 1991 to elect a president and prime minister.

SUPPORT VERSUS SECURITY

"It sends shivers down the spine," one council diplomat said of the proposal to lift the embargo. "This move would come with significant security risks and would set a deplorable precedent as the situation is still extremely volatile."

He said the current embargo provided sufficient exemptions for the Somali security forces to be properly equipped and that the council was very divided over the issue.

Another U.N. diplomat said the Security Council's Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea, an independent panel that reports on compliance with U.N. sanctions, had reported that some al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab militants had infiltrated units of the Somali security forces.

U.N. monitors have also warned that the Islamist militants in the Horn of Africa nation are receiving weapons from distribution networks linked to Yemen and Iran, diplomats have told Reuters.

"There's a good argument for sending a strong signal that Somalia now has a government that is increasingly establishing itself as a proper government ... but on the other hand of course there is continuing concern about security," a council diplomat said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said earlier this month that the council should consider lifting the arms embargo to help rebuild Somalia's security forces and consolidate military gains against al Shabaab militants.

AU troops from Uganda, Burundi, Kenya and Ethiopia are battling al Shabaab militants on several fronts in Somalia and have forced them to abandon significant territory in southern and central areas of the Horn of Africa country.

The militants, who merged with al Qaeda in February last year, launched their campaign against the government in early 2007, seeking to impose sharia, or strict Islamic law, on the entire country.

(Editing by Peter Cooney)

Court Cases: Manning makes his plea for role in WikiLeaks documents

The US Army private accused of feeding documents to WikiLeaks has pleaded guilty to misusing classified material, but denies aiding the enemy. Bradley Manning faces life in prison if convicted of that.

 Manning entered his pleas on Thursday, ahead of his June 3 court martial for the biggest leak of government secrets in US history. Though he pleaded not guilty to aiding the enemy, Manning did cop to a series of 10 lesser charges related to misusing classified information.

 The documents he released to WikiLeaks, Manning said, "represent the underground realities of the conflicts of Iraq and Afghanistan."

 Manning, a private working in Army intelligence, was arrested in May 2010 while serving in Iraq and charged with downloading thousands of documents, diplomatic cables and combat videos and forwarding them to WikiLeaks. The website began exposing the government secrets that same year, outraging US officials.

"Domestic public debate"

Reading a statement to the tribunal, Manning said that he had initially attempted to contact traditional media outlets - The Washington Post, The New York Times and Politico - before deciding to pass the documents on to WikiLeaks. He sent the organization two military logs of daily incidents during the US campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 "At the time I believed, and I still believe, these are two of the most significant documents of our time," Manning said, adding that he wanted to "spark a domestic public debate about our foreign policy and the war in general."

 Manning provided various diplomatic cables and cockpit video from a US gunship that shot at Iraqi civilians. He explained that he had chosen WikiLeaks because it seemed to him that the group "exposed illegal activities and corruption" and was "almost academic in nature."

Facing lengthy imprisonment

 Manning faces 20 years for the charges he has admitted to. He also admitted to misuse of documents from the US Southern Command pertaining to Guantanamo Bay, a memo from an unnamed intelligence agency, and records from a military operation in Afghanistan's Farah province.

 He is prepared to take the witness stand to read aloud from a 35-page statement defending himself against charges of aiding the enemy, but only after the judge rules on how much of it he will be allowed to read.

 Under a ruling last month by the presiding judge, Denise Lind, Manning would have any sentence reduced by 112 days to compensate for the harsh treatment he received during his initial confinement. While at Quantico, Manning was placed in solitary confinement for up to 23 hours a day with guards checking on him every few minutes. After a 14-month investigation, a UN special rapporteur on torture concluded that Manning's treatment had amounted to cruel and inhumane treatment.

 WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has taken refuge in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London since June. He is wanted for questioning over alleged sex crimes in Sweden, but has fears the country would extradite him to the US, where he says WikiLeaks is currently the subject of a grand jury investigation.

 mkg/dr (AFP, Reuters, dpa, AP)

“Yurub Baan ka Gacan Haadiyaa Markaan Guurawee” Maxamed Siciid Gees – London

“Dadka beeraha iyo wax-soo-saarka lahaana waxay ahaayeen dhinaca konfureed Adoon laga keensaday Bariga Afrika oo dadka Jareerta ihi ka soo jeedaan ama Soomaali Bantu, Dhinca Waqooyina dadka beeraha iyo wax-soo-saarka lahaa waxay ahaayeen…”

“Nimanka dunida ka teliya ee Jimciyada iyo Ururrada Caalamiga ah u samaystay iyo turjumaanadooda, si kasta oo ay isugu dayaan ma dhisi karaan Jamhuuriyaddii Soomaaliya”

Qaybtii 2aad

Jeffrey Herbst oo ah Professor wax-ka-dhiga Jaamacadda Princeton University Qaybta Culuunta Siyaasadda, ayaa Buug u qoray oo la yidhaahdo State and Power in Africa, oo uu kaga hadlayo is barbardhigaya sidii dawladuhu uga unkameen Yurub iyo Afrika, waxa uu ku soo qaaday arrimo khuseeya waddankii Jamhuuriyadda Soomaaliya ee Dimuqraadiga la odhan jiray.

Prof. Jeffrey waxa uu ka hadlay iyada oo kooban in awoodda dawladaha ka jira dalalka Afrika ay ku kooban tahay qaybo dalka ay ka taliyaan oo qaybo badan aanu xukunkoodu gaadhin, sababta oo ah waa nidaamkii ay ka dhaxleen gumaysiga, kaas oo ku koobnaa magaalooyinka waawyn ee ay xukumi karayeen ama gaadhi karayeen. Halka dawladaha Yurub ay ka dhismaan cashuur ay ka qaadaan muwaadin kasta oo hanta ama dakhli soo gallo, taasina suurtogelinaysa inay xukumaan dalkooda.

Maamulkii gumaysiga Yurub ee afrika waxa uu isku koobay inuu cashuuro badeecadaha soo gelayaa iyo kuwa ka dhoofayaa magaalooyinka ay xukumaan ee shaqo iyo awood kuma lahayn hantida shacabka dalka ku nool, sidaas darteed xukunka gumaysigii Yurub ma saamayn bulshadda dalalka ay ka talinayaan. Dawladihii dhaxlay markii gobanimada ay heleena waxba kama ay  beddelin maamulkii.

Waxa  kale oo uu ku soo qaaday buuggiisa Prof. Jeffrey, in xasiloonida dawladnimo ee dalalka Afrika ay samayso sida dadwenuhu ugu filiqsan yahay ama u deggan yahay dalkaas. Waxa uu soo qaatay haddii Gobal ka mid ah dalkaas oo caasimaddu ku taal uu yahay meesha dabcan ugu dad badan, dalka intiisa kale si siman loo deggan yahay waxa suurtagal ah inuu dalkaasi uu xasilooni yeesho oo isqabadku yaraado, haddiisee laba qaybood oo kala durugsan ay jiraan oo aad loo deggan yahay.Labadaba waxa badan in loolaniyo isqabad siyaasadeed oo kala go’ keeni karaa uu yimaaddo. Tusaalooyinkii uu soo qaatay waxa ka mid ahaa Jamhuuriyadda Soomaaliya oo yidhi waxa tirada dadweynuhu ku kala nool yahay Muqdishu iyo degaanka ku dhow iyo Hargeysa iyo degaanka ku dhaw, sidaas darteed isqabad iyo dagaal ilaagoosasho keenay ayaa ka dhacay;

Ka sakow, hibashada iyo taariikhda labada dal ay kala ahaayeen, sad-bursigii Soomaaliya ama konfur, tacadigii iyo maamulxumadii  maamulkii militariga ahaa. Waxa  isweydiin leh, maxaa labadaa degaan ee Banaadir iyo WaqooyiGalbeed ka dhigay meeloo dad badani ku dhaqan yahay,inta u dhexaysa ka dhigay dhul teelteel loogu dhaqan yahay. Dhinaca Waqooyi Galbeed waxa uu weligii ku xidhnaa Imaaraddii Harar, taas oo lahayd wax-soo-saar beereed ama cunto,waxana magaalo xeebdda u ahaa Saylac iyo Berbera. Sidoo kale Muqdisho waxay ku xidhayn Shabeelada Hoose, sida Afgooye oo wax-soo-saar beereed iyo cunto lahayd oo ay ku dhismeen magaalooyinka xeebta Banaadir ee Muqdisho, Marka & Baraawe.

Labada qayboodba waxa ku xidhnaa dhaqan iyo ilbaxnimo caalami ah oo ka soo jeeda Carabta, dadka beeraha iyo wax-soo-saarka lahaana waxay ahaayeen dhinaca konfureed Adoon laga keensaday Bariga Afrika oo dadka Jareerta ihi ka soo jeedaan ama Soomali Bantu, dhinca Waqooyina dadka beeraha iyo wax-soo-saarka lahaa waxay ahaayeen ilaa maanta yihiin dadka Oroomada ah,meelna Soomaali Geel-jire shaqo kuma lahayn.

Dhulkaas weyn ee dhexeeya labada qaybood waa dhulka Geel-jire xoola dhaqato, Laandheeree sheegatadu ku nooshahay oo gabayga iyo hadradu ay tahay wax-soo-saarkoodu. Waa dhul aan wax ka soo bixin oo aan cunto jirin, sidaas ayaa tarantii dadka yareeyey, xataa biyaha la cabbo iska daa kuwa wax lagu beerto ayaa gaadhi gaadhi saar ah. Goballada Gaguduud biyaha waxa ku jiraa Radioactive ka badan heerka WHOogashahay ee caafimaadka dadka waxyeelin, cuduradda feedhaha iyo dhimashada carruurta waa meelaha ugu badan dunida.

Burco marka Bari looga baxo ilaa magaalada Buuranne ee duleedka Jawharwax la cuno iyo nolol ma jirto, waayo waa dhulka ay ka soo abuurmeen Xagjirka, Budhcad-badeednimadu,Warlord-nimadu,Qaxootida Soomaaliyeedee Yurub iyo Waqooyiga Maraykan iyo dunida kaleba tegay waxa uu ka soo jeedaa degaankaas. Waxa ka magacaaban maamulku-sheegyo, sida Khaatumo State, Puntland State, Gel-Mudug State, Ximan iyo Xeeb State, Hiiran State oo awood iyo jiritaan lahayn.

Nimanka dunida ka teliya ee Jimciyada iyo Ururrada Caalamiga ah u samaystay iyo turjumaanadooda, si kasta oo ay isugu dayaan ma dhisi karaan Jamhuuriyaddii Soomaaliya. Mamulka ka dhisma Banaadir haddii aad loogu dedaallo uu soo gaadhi karaa Jawhar. Nidaamka iyo Mamulka  ka dhisan Hargeysa ee Somaliland haddii loo dedaalo waxa uu gaadhi kara ilaadalka intiisa badanoo uu samayn ku yeelin karaa.

Sidaa dalal ka kale ee Afrikaee su`aasho waxay tahay Somaliland ma wada gaadhi karto xuduudeed,Waayo?Waxa jira dhul ah Tribal land oo aanay xukumin, dhulkaas ballaadhan oo ah mid Geel-jiraha oo loo yaqaano afga Carabiya “Mandaqata Alqabaa’iil”

Maxamed saciid gees

Landon

Boqortooyada Biritayn

Boobe Mow Oynaaa, Mise Waynu La Oynaaa !!!!!

By. Abdi Aziz Ali

Qoraagii ruugcadaaga ahaa ee dad badani ugu yeedhaan suugaan dhaadhiga waayadan danbe, Boobe Yuusuf Ducaale ayaa baryahan danbe noqday nin qisadiisa iyo maqaaladiisa si weyn bulshadu u hadal hayso.

Tan iyo markii uu waayay xil wasiirnimo oo muda gaaban  majaraha u hayay, waxa uu cagta saaray wadada mucaaradada.

Maqaalo iyo waraysiyo aan kala go’lahayn ayuu mar qudha ooda ka soo rogay. Wuxuuna ku dooday in uu ka aamusi kari wayay waxa uu ku tilmayay maamul xumo umada mija xaabisay. Inkasta oo aan Odayga ixtiraan weyn u hayo, waxa ii cuntami weyday maqaal kiisii ugu danbeeyay kaas oo uu magac uga dhigay (Qiimee qofkaaga qalloocan, si’aad u qiimo-tirto qofkaaga qumman)

Inkasta oo aanan 100 qof ee guushaa helay ku jirin isla markaana aanan  wada aqoon difaacidooduna danseegnimo ku astaysantahay. Hadana marka aan  arkay  Sh.Dirir iyo Hadraawi. Waxa aan ka marakacay in ay yihiin Niman istaahila wax qiimayntan ka weyn.

Aan ku soo dhawaadee waxa ii bixi wayay shaqsiyada dhabtaa ee Boobe.  Boobe ma nin xafiiltan qaadaybaa, ma nin mucaaradnimadu mansabkuu umada ku dhex lahaa ilowsiisay baa,  ma kurtinkii habeenkii la arkee bahalka la moodaybaa, Odaygu inta la moodayo miyuu ka fududyahay, Boobe miyaan  u oynaa oo oday weyn oo gabi dhacleeyay ayaan ku tilmaanaa mise nin magac u duulay oo dib u saqiiray baynu  u daynaa.

Mise Waa madaale daacada oo guluf ugu jira la dagaalanka maamul xumada iyo musuqa, Ma ildheer garad arakayaa wax ka daahan dad ka intiisa kale. Mala oynaa Boobe, oo  ma yahay haldoor dirir ugu jira toosinta umada. Bal Adba ??????????????????

Qalinkii Abdi Aziz Ali

US recognition of democratic Somaliland is long overdue

Continued backing of weak government in Somalia is a mystery.

 

LEWIS CENTER, Ohio — Recently the Obama administration recognized the United Nations-backed nominal Somali government.

The so-called government was the by-product of a UN-sponsored peace process that has been going on for more than 10 years. It involved billions in foreign aid, and some 17,000 African soldiers, who are the proxy of the United States military in Somalia. Yet Somalia is not better off than when the US intervened in the early ’90s.

Somalia’s agony continues. Today, 3 million people are desperately in need of food, 1.6 million have been displaced from their homes. In Mogadishu alone, 300,000 people survive on humanitarian relief. In addition, many people are suffering from chronic violence, the government’s inability to curb the unpaid and undisciplined soldiers who terrorize, loot and rape the population more than they protect.

Recent promising signs are present, such as Al Shabab, Al Qaeda affiliate militant group, retreating from urban centers in south central Somalia. Mogadishu, the capital, is also less dangerous than it was a year ago.

Survival of the-US backed weak government still depends on African troops, despite significant training and equipping of the Somali army by the US. Its leader Sheikh Mahamud, like his predecessor, Sheik Sharif, has absolutely no power and little following.

In contrast, out of the gaze of international media, the Somaliland entity, the former British Somaliland in the north, has shown all of the attributes of nationhood since 1991. These include a functioning government, constitution, defined borders and a flag. It even had two presidential elections, in 2003 and 2010, with a peaceful transfer of power.

Tragically, the US has not recognized Somaliland independence, because the UN and the African Union (AU) bias toward preserving artificial and inherently unstable states like Somalia and Congo.

The decision of the Obama administration to recognize a fictional government is more likely to complicate US efforts to stabilize Somalia. This position only rewards Somalia’s rapacious politicians and their militias at the expense of the 3.5 million Somaliland people that have largely managed their own affairs — not only to avoid to avoid chaos, terrorism and piracy, but to build a functioning democratic state.

Somalia’s tragedy will continue unless the new secretary of state, John Kerry, or the US Congress addresses this futile new policy of dictating political outcomes in this war-torn country.

Kerry also could contribute by defining the US long-term political objective in Somalia.

Outsiders have always made things worse by supporting the wrong groups for their own strategic interests. During the Cold War, America put nearly $1 billion in arms and economic aid into Somalia to prop up a cruel dictator, Siad Barre, who held power for 21 years through brutal military domination. The US-backed Ethiopian invasion six years ago created the environment in which Al Shabab is still wreaking havoc on south central Somalia.

Today, a weak government that cannot protect itself wants to monopolize Somalia. Sheikh Mahamud wishes to strengthen his Al Shabab-infiltrated military made up of rival local clan militias, and he is seeking more money and arms from the US and Turkey.

The more the US contributes to reconstituting a Somali government dominated by one faction of Somalia’s previous civil war, however, the greater the chance of dictatorship and bad governance returning to Somalia. It would be a grave mistake for the US to lift the arms embargo from Somalia.

Somalia needs a genuine political reconciliation, not more arms. The conflict and its politics in the country are always local. There is no military solution for this conflict.

Yet the Obama administration continues its deadly drone attacks against suspected militants in Somalia, which have caused collateral damages of civilians or even deaths.

Moreover, the options for US in Somalia are very limited; everything hinges on how Mogadishu’s politicians, warlords and war profiteers cooperate with Sheik Mahamud’s government. However, many Somalis are skeptical about the chance of a functioning regime emerging in Somalia with Mogadishu as its capital.

Rather than reinforcing a central government with no legitimacy, the US should support the only sources of strength in the area, democratic Somaliland and Puntland, an autonomous region. These entities have functioning political institutions that are organic, having organized by the local people.

More investment and trade instead of aid would offer the Somalis more opportunities to rebuild their shattered economy. America could also help Somaliland to create a free-trade zone with eastern Ethiopia at Berbera port — on the Gulf of Aden. These efforts, with the US forcefully supporting freedom and democracy in the region, would help to diminish or defeat radicalism.

However immensely difficult the mission of fixing Somalia might be, the US must engage and help the Somalis lift up from the agony. Only by following their aspirations and desires and not dictating the political outcomes would end Somalia’s tragedy. Moreover, diplomatic recognition of Somaliland is long overdue.

Ali Mohamed is co-founder of the Horn of Africa Freedom Foundation, a grassroots organization, located in Lewis Center, Ohio, that advocates for the advancement of freedom and democratic values for the indigenous people of the Horn of Africa.

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