US newspaper: Professor Ahmed Samatar to Minnesota Somaliland community: ‘I want Somaliland to win’

Dr. Ahmed Samatar (photo by Ibrahim Hirsi)

Professor Ahmed Samatar has been a leading advocate for a united Somalia and a strong critic of the country’s clan-based political system that continues to divide Somalis. Demonstrating his views through academic writings, interviews and speeches, Samatar once described the current Somali politics as “sewage." In a recent speech, Samatar described a shift in his opinion, from advocacy for a completely unified Somalia to advocacy for independence for Somaliland.

Samatar, an international relations professor at Macalester College, received his undergraduate degree from University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and his master’s and Ph.D. degrees from University of Denver.

In recent years, Samatar has shifted his role from being a mere political commentator to being an active participant in the process of redefining the politics he’s disparaged for decades: He recently served as a member of the Somali parliament and ran for the presidency last summer, although he lost the election.

On August 10, Samatar spoke to nearly 300 people at Brooklyn Park Community Center about his recent visit to Somaliland, a self-proclaimed independent state, which has been struggling to gain recognition from the international community for the last two decades.

“I’ve seen peace, security and a trace of law and order everywhere I visited in Somaliland,” Samatar said, addressing his audience in Somali. “I’ve seen people paying tax willingly because they are satisfied with what the government is doing. There is sense of democracy. Freedom of expression. They understood that if you don’t let people speak from their mind, the government would fall.”

Earlier this summer, Samatar visited Somaliland for the first time in about 18 years. Even though he’s never held a public office in Somaliland and has opposed its separation from Somalia for many years, hundreds of thousands of spectators assembled on streets with photos of Samatar in an expression of profound love and respect for the international studies professor at Macalester College.

“No words can describe the reception I received,” he told the crowd, speaking behind a podium placed in between two flags — that of the United States’ and the green, white and red striped flag of Somaliland. “I can’t wait to go back.”

Samatar endorsed a separate Somaliland state, though he cited obstacles that will present tough challenges in that quest.

“The world’s attention is on Somalia right now,” Samatar said. He reminded the crowd, mostly Minnesota-Somalilanders, of the official recognition the United States granted last January to the Somalia government in Mogadishu.

He added that the world is busy in the reconstruction and development of Somalia, suggesting that no one is considering sovereign statehood for Somaliland at the moment.

In case option one — an independent Somaliland — doesn’t work out, he urged the people of Somaliland to have a second option: negotiation with Somalia. When an audience member confronted his suggestion of having a Plan B, Samatar said, “You won’t go anywhere if you don’t have Plan B.” But he reassured the crowd: “I want Somaliland to win. I mean it.”

Somaliland reports mistreatment

Before 1960, Somalia was in the hands of British, Italy, France and other colonial countries that divided the country into pieces. For instance, the southern part of Somalia, including Mogadishu, was colonized by Italy. Its northern part, now called Somaliland, was a British-occupied land.

After a long journey of bloodshed and struggle for a sovereign Somali state, Somaliland gained its independence from Britain on June 26, 1960. Four days later, Somalia got its independence from Italy.
Having shared a common struggle for independence, Somalia and Somaliland decided to join forces and become one strong Somali nation.

While many Somalis say it was a milestone that Somaliland joined Somalia, some people from Somaliland — not all of them — argue that the merger was a mistake. They say Somaliland hasn’t benefited from the 31-year-old marriage to Somalia.

For the past 50 years, Samatar said, there were only two clans that took turns to fill the presidency. The clans Samatar was referring to are ****** and *****, two of the largest clans in Somalia.

Because Somaliland felt disenfranchised, they formed their own government when Somalia collapsed in civil war in 1991. They created their own flag. They created their own national anthem. And they refer to Somalia as nothing more than a neighboring country. For the Somalia government, on the contrary, Somaliland is just another region of Somalia.

Somaliland needs improvement 

Samatar’s presentation on Somaliland wasn’t all about praise — he also pointed out many low points that the autonomous Somaliland state can improve upon.

Somaliland isn’t that different than Somalia in terms of power sharing, Samatar said. Somaliland feels like a village with one man in power, he said, referring to the major clan, ****, which has held the presidency for many years. He called for diversity in the Somaliland leadership. “The government should reflect on the people it services,” said Samatar.

He also urged the government to work on energy development. “You can’t run a country without electricity.”

Samatar also said that he met people, who don’t have access to clean water. He added that people go on foot four miles, fetching water.

Audience reactions

Samatar’s assessment on the issues in Somaliland seemed more like those of an academic than a politician. After Samatar’s presentation, the audience was given a chance to comment and ask questions.

Asked if he would run for Somaliland presidency, Samatar said: “It’s not about me wanting or not wanting to become a president. It’s about the desire of the people. Is Somaliland asking someone who can change? Someone who can lead? I don’t see those questions asked. I see corruption. I see romanticization of clan, which I’m not into."

“It was a fair discussion,” said Said Ahmed, who identifies himself as a Somalilander. “It was very informative.”

Aisha Hassan, who hasn’t been to Somaliland for the past 15 years said she’s glad that Samatar visited “my country” to see the realities there.“The professor is a genuine man,” Hassan said. “He says it like he sees it. I respect his conclusion.”
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Editor’s note: Since Professor Ahmed Samatar’s discussion was in the Somali language, reporter Ibrahim Hirsi roughly translated the quotes into English.
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The event was made possible by the Northwest Hennepin Human Services Council, Africa Institute for International Reporting, Horn Development Center and the City of Brooklyn Park.

Source: tcdailyplanet.net

Alberta woman held hostage in Somalia reveals details of abuse, ransom in book

Amanda Lindhout

After about a year of being starved, beaten and sexually brutalized, Amanda Lindhout decided it was time to kill herself.

The Alberta woman, taken hostage in Somalia in August 2008, says she reached her breaking point after spending three days trussed up like an animal, her hands and feet pulled so tightly behind her back that she could barely breathe.

When her captors did untie her, they told her it was only a reprieve. They promised to use the same torture technique on her again each day until they got their ransom money.

Left alone, Lindhout resolved that she was better off dead. She would take a rusty razor to her wrists.

But as she held the blade in her hand, a small, brown bird flew into the doorway of the room where she was being held. It hopped on the dirty floor, looked at her and flew away. It was the first bird she'd seen since shortly after she was taken.

"I'd always believed in signs ... and now, when it most mattered, I'd had one," she writes. "I would live and go home. It didn't matter what came next or what I had to endure.

"I would make it through."

In an advance edition of a book, which is set for release next month, the 32-year-old details the brutal 15 months she spent in captivity along with Australian photographer Nigel Brennan. Entitled "A House in the Sky," the book is co-authored by Sara Corbett, a contributing writer with the New York Times Magazine.

The book reveals how Lindhout and Brennan's families eventually gave up on the Canadian and Australian governments and co-ordinated the pair's release themselves.

The final price for their lives: $1.2 million.

About $600,000 went to the kidnappers as ransom. They'd originally asked for $3 million. The remaining money was spent on other costs, including a $2,000 per day fee for a private hostage negotiator.

The two families split the bill evenly. While Brennan's family was more well off. Lindhout's parents came up with their half with the help of donations.

Lindhout says both the Canadian and Australian governments made the kidnappers an offer of $250,000. It was categorized as "expense" money to maintain official policies of not paying ransoms.

It was rejected.

Ottawa officials also tried to enlist the help of people in the Somali government, she writes, but its leadership was in constant chaos.

Lindhout doesn't condemn the federal government for failing to save her, but she does write about countries around the world that quietly pay ransoms, "strike diplomatic deals or send in armed commandos" for their citizens.

"Many, including the Canadian and U.S. governments, try to provide family support while also maintaining a hard line about further fuelling terrorism and hostage-taking through ransom payments ... Still, try telling that to a mother, or a father, or a husband or wife caught in the powerless agony of standing by," the book reads.

She admits she was naive and inexperienced, travelling to a dangerous country for the thrill of adventure. As a Calgary cocktail waitress, she had saved her tips for backpacking trips around the world before turning to freelance journalism to further fund her travels.

She had earlier travelled on her own to Afghanistan and sold a story to her hometown newspaper, the Red Deer Advocate, and some photos to an Afghanistan magazine. She thought her career was advancing when she landed a job in Baghdad for Press TV, the English division of Iran's state broadcaster, but she says she quickly felt she was "part of a propaganda machine."

She decided to take a chance on heading to Somalia. "The reasons to do it seemed straightforward. Somalia was a mess. There were stories there — a raging war, an impending famine, religious extremists and a culture that had been largely shut out of sight."

She knew it was dangerous but hoped to find a story that would launch her career.

She spoke on the phone with Brennan, a former boyfriend she'd met on a previous trip to Ethiopia, and blurted out an invitation for him to join her and take photos while she did TV news. He agreed.

They had only been in Somalia a few days when they got into a car with a hired fixer, driver and security guards and headed for a camp of displaced people outside the capital city of Mogadishu. On the way, armed men stopped and dragged them from the vehicle.

Lindhout says she later learned the group had been watching their hotel and were actually targeting two men also staying there — a writer and photographer working for National Geographic. The kidnappers were surprised to end up with a woman, she says.

While Lindhout and Brennan were kidnapped together, they had different experiences in captivity. Brennan was kept in a room with windows, furniture and books to read, but Lindhout was holed up in a dark room with rats. It was simple: he was a man; she was a woman.

They both told their captors they wanted to convert to Islam. They recited the Qur'an and prayed five times each day, hoping it would provide them some protection.

Back in Canada, Lindhout's family feared she was being sexually assaulted, but Canadian officials assured them Muslims were unlikely to do such a thing.

She says one captor, however, routinely snuck into her room and forced himself on her.

Things got worse, she says, when she and Brennan tried to escape in early 2009.

The pair used a nail clipper to dig bricks and metal bars out of a bathroom window, then crawled out and ran to a nearby mosque. When some of the gun-toting kidnappers caught up with them, no one in the crowd would help — except one older woman.

She clung to Lindhout's arms then threw herself onto Lindhout's body as the men dragged their hostage out of the building. Lindhout says she later heard a gunshot echo from inside the mosque, though she says she never learned the fate of her helper.

The kidnappers blamed Lindhout for the escape, even though it had been Brennan's idea. The next day, in a prayer room, they put a sheet over her head, stripped down her clothes and took turns violating her body.

In November 2009, Lindhout says, she was told she and Brennan were being sold to a more violent, rival group. As they were being passed over to strangers, Lindhout clung to a car door and had to be pulled away, screaming.

A few minutes later she realize they were actually being rescued. A ransom had been paid.

Lindhout was taken to a hospital in Kenya. She had broken teeth, ribs that constantly ached from being kicked and a skin fungus that had spread across her face. Her hair had been falling out in clumps. She was extremely malnourished and had trouble walking because her feet had been in shackles for so long.

She returned to Canada after about a week in hospital. Her recovery included a specialized treatment program to cope with post-traumatic stress disorder and repeated visits with therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, nutritionists, acupuncturists and meditation guides.

What kept her going for 459 days?

Lindhout writes she got through the most painful times by constructing, in her mind, a house in the sky, where she got to eat whatever she wanted and embraced her friends and family.

She made a promise to herself that, if she were ever freed, she would find a way to honour the woman who tried to save her at the mosque. In 2010, she founded the non-profit Global Enrichment Foundation to help support education for women and girls in Somalia and Kenya.

Now living in Canmore, Alta., Lindhout says she still thinks about her kidnappers. She tries not to hate them and understands they are products of a violent environment and an unending war.

"Forgiving is not an easy thing to do. Some days it's no more than a distant point on the horizon. I look toward it. I point my feet in its direction. Some days I get there and other days I don't.

"More than anything else, it's what has helped me move forward with my life."

Source: The Canadian Press

Somalia Suffers World’s Worst Polio Outbreak

By Bennett Riese
 
Less than 24 hours ago, the AP reported that a polio epidemic of “explosive” proportions had struck Somalia. The African country famed for its piracy and tribal conflicts may now claim it has more polio cases than the rest of the world’s countries combined.

Although most countries in the world consider polio eliminated, it is considered endemic in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and until very recently, India. Figures released on Friday illustrate over 100 cases with an extra 10 popping up in a Kenyan refugee camp. The outbreak initially started this past May, and campaigns to vaccinate the Somali people have reached about 4 million. Somalia was removed from the endemic list in 2001.

Areas of the country are still heavily controlled by the al Shabaab child militia network, and health workers are having trouble reaching children in those areas, 7 out of 10 of whom are not properly immunized against polio.

Oliver Rosenbauer, a spokesman for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative at the WHO in Geneva, said that “It’s very worrying because it’s an explosive outbreak and of course polio is a disease that is slated for eradication… In fact we’re seeing more cases in this area this year than in the three endemic countries worldwide.”

Polio is one of computer magnate Bill Gates’ pet issues, and through his foundation he personally devotes millions of dollars to the effort. Rosenbauer is optimistic that the polio outbreak will not affect continued efforts to eliminate the disease.

“The only way to get rid of this risk is to eradicate in the endemic countries, and there the news is actually paradoxically very good,” Rosenbauer said in a phone interview with the AP on the subject of eliminating polio in endemic nations.

The AFP notes that the outbreak could not have come at a more inconvenient time for Somalia. Apart from the al-Qaeda associated al Shabaab Islamists, rival warlords and the Somali national army are all clashing for control of the country.

A clear indicator as to the problems facing doctors who operate in Somalia was the notice that Doctors Without Borders is pulling out of Somalia after 22 years of lending aid. The nonprofit cited attacks on its staff members, although the organization was not participating in the polio campaigns.

Somalia: Radio Station Employee Is Shot Dead in Somalia

By MOHAMMED IBRAHIM and NICHOLAS KULISH

MOGADISHU, Somalia — A technician for the state-run broadcaster Radio Mogadishu was murdered on Saturday, the sixth media employee killed so far this year in Somalia. Separately, in the first such execution in Somalia, a man found guilty of killing a journalist last year was executed by firing squad.

Two armed men dressed in student uniforms attacked the technician, Ahmed Sharif, outside his home in the Shibis neighborhood of Mogadishu on Saturday morning, said Abdirahim Isse Addow, director of Radio Mogadishu. They fired four rounds, striking him in the chest and abdomen.

“He was rushed to Keysaney hospital, where he was confirmed dead,” Mr. Addow said. Both assailants escaped.

Also on Saturday, Aden Sheikh Abdi was executed by firing squad after his conviction for the murder of Hassan Yusuf Absuge, a reporter for Radio Maanta, a private station. A photograph from the scene of the execution showed Mr. Abdi tied to a post while a half-dozen men dressed in a mix of fatigues and police uniforms knelt and took aim with their rifles.

At a news conference, Col. Abdullahi Muse Keyse, a spokesman for the Somali military courts, said that Mr. Abdi was accused of belonging to the Islamic extremist group the Shabab. A lower military court convicted him in March and sentenced him to death. He appealed the sentence, but a senior military court rejected his appeal in July.

Somalia is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, and the execution of Mr. Abdi was part of efforts by the Somali government to crack down on attacks against the news media. This year, the government began offering rewards of $50,000 for tips leading to the arrests of the killers of journalists.

Journalists are vulnerable to a variety of groups in Somalia, including the feared Shabab militants, warlords and even common criminals in a country where weapons are readily accessible.

In July, gunmen killed a television reporter in the semiautonomous region of Puntland. Two Somali journalists were also shot last month in the southern port city of Kismayu, with one wounded critically.

According to Reporters Without Borders, 18 journalists were killed in connection with their work last year. Somalia ranks 175th out of 179 countries in the group’s most recent Press Freedom Index. The Committee to Protect Journalists ranked Somalia second in the world after only Iraq in allowing the killers of journalists to go unpunished.

The Somali government has tried to build on recent security gains after the Shabab militants were pushed out of Mogadishu and other cities. But a series of bombings this year and a deadly siege on a United Nations compound in June have starkly illustrated the dangers that remain.

Last Wednesday, the medical humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders said that it would no longer operate in Somalia because it was too dangerous.

The Shabab claimed responsibility Saturday for a raid across the border into Kenya in which at least four police officers were killed. The commissioner of Garissa County in northeast Kenya told The Associated Press that a local chief and a schoolteacher were also wounded in the attack on a police post in the village of Galmagalla late Friday.

Mohammed Ibrahim reported from Mogadishu, and Nicholas Kulish from Nairobi, Kenya.

Shirweynihii 5aad ee Akaadamiga Nabadda & Horumarinta Somaliland Oo Hargeysa Ku Qabsoomay & Hogaan Cusub Oo Lagu Doortay

"Waxaan ku talin lahaa inuu machadku ka balaadho u-jeedadiisa cilmi-baadhis iyo nabad ka shaqeyn oo uu noqdo machad saameyn baddan ku leh siyaasada,oo uu la xidho...."Dr.Sacad Cali Shirree

Hargeysa - Shirweynihii 5aad ee Akaadamiga nabadda iyo horumarinta Somaliland (Academy for peace and Development) ayaa maanta lagu doortey Broad Of Directs cusub oo ka kooban 11-xubnood, kadib markii uu Broad-kii hore xilkoodii oo laba sanadood ahaa uu ka dhamaaday.

Shirweynahan oo hal-maalinle ahaa, ayaa waxa lagu qabtey Huteelka Ambassador ee Magaalada Hargeysa,waxaana lagaga hadlay waxyaabihii u qabsoomay Akaadamiga nabadda iyo horumarinta,Waxaana Munaasibadii furitaanka iyo xidhitaanka ahayd ee Shirweynaha Shanaad ee Akaademiga Nabadda iyo Horumarka oo isku lammaanaa, waxa ka qeybgalay Wasiirka Wasaaradda Qorsheynta Qaranka Somaliland Dr.Sacad Cali Shire, saraakiil ka socday hay?adaha caalamiga ah iyo kuwa waddaniga ah ee wada shaqeynta la leh Akaademiga Nabadda iyo Horumarka, Madaxda iyo Masuuliyiinta kala duwan ee Hay?adda Akaademiga Nabadda iyo Horumarka iyo weliba marti-sharaf kale oo lagu marti-qaaday shirka.

Ugu horeyn, Garyaqaan Maxamed Faarax Xirsi oo shirkaasi ka hadlay ayaa waxa uu soo dhaweeyey dhamaan-ba marti sharaftii ka soo qeybgashay shirweynaha shanaad ee lagu doortey 11-xubnood oo ah broad-ka ,isla markaana waxa uu ka hadlay Akaadamigu kaalinta ay ku leedahay Somaliland, waxqabadkii u qabsoomay ee ay horumarka ka gaadhay, carqabadihii ka horyimid

"Akaadamiga nabadda iyo horumarinta Somaliland waxay kaalin weyn ugu jirtaa Somaliland,taas oo wax muuqda oo bulshada u dan qabatey".Ayuu yidhi Maxamed Faarax.

Wasiirka Wasaarada Qorsheynta Qaranka Somaliland Dr. Sacad Cali Shirre oo isna halkaasi ka hadlay ayaa waxa uu yidhi "Waxaan ku talin lahaa inuu noqdo (Akaadamiga Nabadda iyo horumarinta Somaliland) machad heer gobol ah oo ay himiladiisu noqoto, waxa kale oo aan ku talin lahaa inaanu machadku ku eekaan cilmi-baadhis iyo Documenters, balse uu intaas oo ka sal-balaadhnaado".

Isaga oo hadalkiisa sii watana waxa uu yidhi"Waxaan ku talin lahaa inuu machadku ka balaadho u-jeedadiisa cilmi-baadhis iyo nabad ka shaqeyn oo uu noqdo machad saameyn baddan ku leh siyaasada, oo uu la xidho dhigiisa caalamka, siminaaro joogto ah,borogaraam telefiishanka inuu lahaado, inuu hogaamiyo aragtida dadka ileyn waa maskaxdiiye, waxaad mooda inay maskaxdii meesha ka baxday oo waxa buuxiyey dad kale oo mararka qaarkood iyaga oo niyadii la yimid, hadana aanu habku ahayn habkii saxsanaa.Markaa waxaad mooda inuu kaalintii aqoon-yahanku ka maqan-yahay qarankeena, oo hadaad joornaalka aad soo qaado, wax ka soo baxay jaamacad ama machad ama ka soo baxay aqoonyahan wuu yar-yahay, warka bogagka buuxiyey waxa uu u baddan-yahay reer iyo Salaadiintii

Dr. Sacad Cali Shirre waxa uu sheegay inuu jeclaan lahaa inay Akaadamigu noqoto hormuudka sidii loo soo celin lahaa doorka aqoonyahanka."Way fiicnaan lahayd inay Akaadamigu ay soo saarto joornaal Caalami ah,Akaadamigu waxay laba Xafiis ku leedahay Hargeysa iyo Burco waa talaabo wanaagsan waa inay intaas ka balaadhiyaan".Ayuu yidhi Sacad Cali Shirre.

Guddoomiyihii Hoggaanka xilka wareejiyey ee Akaademiga Nabadda iyo Horumarka Dr. Aadan Abakor oo isna madasha hadal ka jeediyey, ayaa ku amaanay inay yihiin dad waayo-aragnimo iyo khibrad u leh xilka loo doortay, isaga oo ka xog-warramay muddadii ay xilka hayeen waxyaabihii u qabsoomay iyo kuwa weli dhiman in laga midho-dhaliyo qabashadooda.

Sidoo kale, waxa munaasibadda lagu doortay Hoggaanka cusub (BoD) ee u yeeshay Akaademiga Nabadda iyo Horumarka ka hadlay Ku-simaha Agaasimaha Guud, isal markaana ah Madaxa Maamulka iyo Lacagta Md. Xasan Cumar Halas iyo Agaasimaha Barnaamijyada, waxay ka warrameen hawlahooda waxqabad ee u qabsoomay iyo marxaladaha ay rajeynayaan inay u qorsheysan sidii ay u fulin lahaayeen. "Hay?adu waxay leedahay laba Xafiis oo waa-weyn oo xafiiska guud Hargeysa ayuu ku yaala, ka kalena waxa uu ku yaala Burco oo leh shaqaale gaara, qorshahana waxa ku jirta in dhamaan gobolada laga sameeyo.Inta ugu baddan hawlaha aanu qabanaa waxaanu la qabanaa hay?ada dhaqaalaha bixisa ee Interpeace, qorshaha akaadamigu waxa uu ku shaqeynayaa is-bedelkaa ku imanaya bulshada iyo deegaankaba".

"Qorshahayagu waxa uu yahay in lagu daro akaadamiga qeyb cusub dadka siyaasada lagu tababaro, barnaamijkaana waxa nala wadda Inter-peace, markaa waa inay ka soo baxaan dad siyaasada wax ku tari kara".Ayuu yidhi Halas.

Guddoomiyaha cusub ee Hoggaanka (BoD) Akaademiga Nabadda iyo Horumarka, ahna Madaxweyne-ku-xigeenkii labaad ee Somaliland Muj. Cabdiraxmaan Aw Cali Faarax oo ugu horreyn ka hadlay xilka loo igmaday, ayaa Illaahay ka beryey inuu ku asturo mas?uuilyadda la saaray, isaga oo Xubnaha cusubna ugu ku booriyey inay wada shaqeyn fiican yeeshaan."Waxaa halkaas ka muuqata inuu Akaadamigu lagama maarmaan u yahay ama laf-dhabar u yahay horumarka iyo nabaddeynta dalkeena, intii aan joognay hawlo baddan oo la qabtey ayaan u soo joognay,qoraalo baddan oo la sameeyey ayaan aragnay oo dhaxal-gal noqday,intaasba rag ayaa soo wadday oo halkan ay maanta mareyso soo gaadhsiiyey.Waan hambalyeynaya cid alla ciddii gacan ka geysatey waxyaabihii soo qabsoomay"

Isaga oo hadalkiisa sii watana waxa uu yidhi"Waxaan leeyahay Broad-ka tagaya ILAAHAY sidii uu idinku asturey,annagana hawsha ha noogu asturo, waxaan isku dayi doona inaan la jaan-qaadno marxalada cusub ee akaadamigu galayo intii itaal-kayaga ah. Intii na soo xushay way ku mahadsan yihiin oo tix-gelin ayaan u aragnaa inta gacan-taaga noogu codeysayna iyaguna way mahadsan yihiin,

Ugu dembeyn, Akaademiga Nabadda iyo Horumarka Somaliland oo 15 September 2013 u dabbaal-deggaya sannad-guuradoodii shan iyo toban ee ka soo wareegay aasaaskoodii, ayaa loogu mahad-naqay Shirweynaha aasaasayaashii Akaademiga Nabadda iyo Horumarka oo ay ka mid ahaayeen Matt Braden, Cabdiraxmaan Cismaan Raage iyo Prof. Axmed Yuusuf (AHN).

Liiska 11-ka magac ee Broad Of Directs-ka cusub waxay kala yihiin sidan:

1. Cabdiraxmaan Aw Cali Faarax
2. Dr. Caasha Aw Maxamed Nuur
3. Haaruun Axmed Qulunbe
4. Dr. Maxamed Xuseen Mu?adin
5. Suldaan Axmed Daahir
6. Dr. Maxamuud Garaad Maxamed
7. Siciid Maxamed Axmed
8. Mark Breary
9. Maxamed Baar-jeex
10. Nafiis Yuusuf Maxamed
11. Janathan Star

Somalia: FGS Niedersachsen Takes Over From FGS Augsburg in the EU Naval Force

PRESS RELEASE:

On 14 August, whilst in Djibouti the FGS Augsburg has handed over the German commitment to the European Union Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Somalia Operation Atalanta to FGS Niedersachsen. The handover was presided over by Captain Stefan Pauly, Branch Head of Maritime Operations from the Joint Forces Operations Command of the German Armed Forces, as the counter-piracy duties were handed over from Commander Bernard Veitl (FGS Augsburg) to his successor Commander Kurt Leonards (FGS Niedersachsen). A ceremony was held for the handover on the flight deck of the Augsburg, with senior military representatives of allied nations and international dignitaries as well as staff from the two frigates in attendance.

During their 139 day deployment within Operation Atalanta, the FGS Augsburg has travelled approximately 31,000 nautical miles in the Gulf of Aden and the western Indian Ocean. The frigate patrolled in an area approximately 1.5 times the size of Europe. During their mission FGS Augsburg provided escorts to several vessels of the World Food Programme (WFP), and through deterring piracy at sea have protected merchant ships in the region.

"The deployment has been an absolute success. Piracy is at an all time low, although not eradicated. Our constant presence off the Somali coast as well as monitoring the pirate camps has contributed to the success of the mission", said Commander Veitl. The last task conducted by the frigate was an escort of a WFP ship, from the western Gulf of Aden along the Somali coast to the Kenyan port of Mombasa; protecting 12,000 tons of humanitarian aid destined for the people of Somalia.

"Piracy off the Horn of Africa has fallen dramatically. A key reason is Operation Atalanta. The crew of the frigate FGS Niedersachsen are highly motivated and looking forward to participating in this successful operation," said the Niedersachsen's Commanding Officer after the handover. Prior to deployment the Niedersachsen has conducted intensive training to optimally prepare the ship and her crew for the counter-piracy mission off the Horn of Africa.

Following the handover ceremony the FGS Augsburg set sail on a return journey to their home port of Wilhelmshaven; the FGS Niedersachsen commences her counter-piracy patrols In the Gulf of Aden.

Source: European Union Naval Force Somalia (Northwood)

War stories: The battle-scarred lives of three Somali women

The battle-scarred lives of three Somali women

The Orchard of Lost Souls, by Nadifa Mohamed, Simon & Schuster, RRP£12.99, 352 pages

Review by Fatima Bhutto
  

Nadifa Mohamed’s second novel, The Orchard of Lost Souls, opens in 1987 with Somalia on the brink of civil war. In the northern town of Hargeisa – where Mohamed herself was born – the guddi, the regime’s neighbourhood watch, is rounding up people to fill a stadium for the annual October 21 celebrations marking the military coup that brought Mohamed Siad Barre to power 18 years earlier.

Barre’s corrupt regime – embodied in the novel by the fictional General Haaruun – “needs women to make it seem human,” Mohamed writes. She builds the story around the intertwined tale of three women: Deqo, a nine-year-old orphaned refugee, who has been promised a new pair of shoes to take part in a welcome dance; Kawsar, a widow in her fifties burdened by grief; and Filsan, an ambitious soldier.

Deqo is the thread that connects the women. On the morning of the general’s visit she finds herself confused on stage and is beaten for falling out of step. She has only just left the grim refugee camp in which she had been abandoned and suffers a moment of stage fright. Kawsar rushes to her aid, and for her trouble she is arrested by Filsan who beats the life out of her, rendering her unable to walk.

Mohamed’s debut novel Black Mamba Boy (2010), set in 1930s Yemen, was longlisted for the 2010 Orange Prize and won the 2010 Betty Trask Award. The Orchard of Lost Souls follows on the heels of her selection as one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists 2013. Her characters are believable, strong, self-empowered women. But the novel lacks pacing and tension. Things just happen – bloody, brutal things – and they tend to be presented in rapid-fire succession with no room for menace to fester.

In one section we learn that Deqo never knew her father and was abandoned by her mother; lost her only friend in the refugee camp to cholera; is homeless; goes to jail; gets taken in by a brothel where she lives with prostitutes called Karl Marx, Stalin and China; gets sold by the brothel’s madam; is attacked by an old man, and so on. While Deqo’s physical and emotional insecurity is moving, she never gets the necessary space for tension to build.

Filsan, the soldier, is similarly unclear. Her lines are too neatly drawn; when she does good, it’s very good, and when she does bad – as she does often – then it’s very bad indeed. Filsan has served in what she proudly calls the “third largest army in Africa” for seven years and demands respect but feels she is often treated no better than a secretary. She is a hard character to empathise with: she never misses an opportunity to kick down on someone weaker than her, regards a certain kind of power and violence with awe and is blinded by her own ambition.

Of the three women, it is Kawsar, the widow, who is the most robust; she copes with loss and loneliness with a quiet dignity. Through her tale, Mohamed manages to weave fascinating insights into late-1980s Somalia and its spiral into civil war. We see very plainly the extraordinary amount of violence that women faced and the exploitation of local girls by predatory foreigners. Mohamed writes sensitively and with a keen awareness of her characters’ vulnerability, but The Orchard of Lost Souls is too rushed and the women are lost to the odd pace of the story and its many, many revelations.

September 11, 2012: A day that will live in infamy

By James Lewis

September 11 of 2012, just eleven months ago, was the eleventh anniversary of the Declaration of Holy War signaled by three simultaneous attacks on America by nineteen Saudi Arabian suiciders, killing 3,000 innocent people in Manhattan, at the Pentagon, and in the air over Pennsylvania.


That Declaration of War came from the brutal desert theocracy of Saudi Arabia, run by its Wahhabi priesthood.  Wahhabism follows ancient Muslim war theology against all non-Muslims and against Muslims heretics like the Iranians.  Wahhabism runs a worldwide oil-funded missionary campaign, and mosques built by Arabian oil billionaires are often staffed by Wahhabi imams, who preach holy war against the rest of humanity.


"Islam" means surrender or else.


Since 2001, the Saudis and other brutal tribal cultures have continued to finance, agitate, indoctrinate, infiltrate, plot, threaten, manipulate, propagandize, commit mass murder, and sabotage their First-World benefactors.  The dead silence of the Western political and media elites about the Global Jihad means that billions of oil dollars have bought a lot of Democrats and Crony Media.


Across the Gulf, the other war branch of Islam keeps waging its own brand of murder and tyranny.  Sunnis and Shiites are at war with each other in Syria, but they also attack the First World at every opportunity -- politically, psychologically and by acts of terror.


Eleven months ago, on September 11 of 2012,  international news headlines showed two photos of simultaneous al-Qaeda terror attacks on American sovereign assets.  Benghazi was the most famous assault, killing our ambassador to Libya and three other Americans.  But al-Qaeda always commits mass murders twice on the same day.  That is its signature.


A second jihadist attack was therefore headlined on the same day.  It was on our Cairo Embassy, where Qaedists briefly flew their black flag over a burned-out part of the Embassy, long enough for their tame news photographers to send their message around the world.


Every Muslim in the world instantly understood the meaning of that double-terror attack, the war signature of al-Qaeda.  But ordinary people in the West were blinded and deceived by our treacherous mass media, controlled by vast amounts of oil money.


The al-Qaeda message on September 11, 2012 was instantly understood in the White House, where Valerie Jarrett, Barack Obama, and John Brennan are intimately familiar with the war theology of Islam.  They constantly find ways to enable it.


The flood of lies about Benghazi was engineered by our media and Democrat Party Machine, to cover up al-Qaeda's obvious message to the world.  Hillary Clinton and her husband were of course complicit in that massive cover-up.  Oil money may be buying the Hillary run for president of the United States. 


Today our media-political class is still trying to make you forget September 11, 2012.


If the media had told you the truth, Obama would have lost the election.


Whether you like Mitt Romney or not, the world would be much, much safer today if Obama had been defeated.


That is why September 11, 2012 is a day that will live in infamy.


It was a huge triumph of our deadly enemies against an administration and a political class that lives by denying the very existence of our deadly enemies.


We now know that Obama won re-election by organized fraud and abuse of his constitutional authority over the IRS, the FBI, and the national security apparatus.  The Corporate Media colluded in Obama's anti-constitutional actions, revealing the extent of their knowledge only after the election.


We know that Obama is a scofflaw, laughing when he gets away with screwing the American people and our Constitution.  Today he is clowning it up for the hopelessly corrupt media on the golf course in Martha's Vineyard, and like everything else in this administration, there are no accidental signals.  This is the fundamental nature of our One Party Machine today.


This column has previously described Obama's malignant narcissism and oppositional defiant disorder.  His day-to-day behavior continues to add to a mountain of evidence.  Every government and intelligence agency in the world knows all about Obama, and so does the Democratic Party Machine.


Still, the American people are kept in the dark.  We are a laughingstock around the world, and frankly, we will deserve the contempt of the world until we learn to face reality.


Here is a partial breakdown of 9/11/12 malfeasance.


1. Within minutes of the attack in Benghazi, President Obama, directly or indirectly, ordered the U.S. military not to protect Ambassador Stevens and the 30 or so CIA personnel who were under assault. 

This week, USAF Colonel (ret.) Phil Handley publicly explained the nature of that betrayal.

The combat code of the US Military is that we don't abandon our dead or wounded on the battlefield. In US Air Force lingo, fighter pilots don't run off and leave their wingmen. If one of our own is shot down, still alive and not yet in enemy captivity, we will either come to get him or die trying.

Among America's fighting forces, the calm, sure knowledge that such an irrevocable bond exists is priceless. Along with individual faith and personal grit, it is a sacred trust that has often sustained hope in the face of terribly long odds.

The disgraceful abandonment of our Ambassador and those brave ex‐SEALs who fought to their deaths to save others in that compound is nothing short of dereliction‐of‐duty. Additionally, the patently absurd cover‐up scenario that was fabricated in the aftermath was an outright lie in an attempt to shield the President and the Secretary of State from responsibility.

Please note that everyone in the world who knows the U.S. military understands these facts very well.  The "secret" of Obama's betrayal is therefore only a secret to the "LoFo voters" in America.


2. In Cairo, where we had just helped Islamic radical Mohammed Morsi rise to power, an al-Qaeda mob overran parts of the U.S. Embassy.  In a state dominated by police, military, and internal espionage, such mob attacks do not occur accidentally.  Morsi was put into power by Barack H. Obama, who told Morsi's pro-American predecessor, President Hosni Mubarak, to resign after thirty years of protecting the peace in the Middle East.


In the five years since Obama became president, both branches of the Muslim war theology have made major conquests.  Syria is now torn between the jihadists of Iran and the jihadists of the Arabian desert. 

Whichever group wins, the civilized world will be the losers.


United States Embassies are legally American territory, and every diplomat knows the meaning of a mob attack on an embassy.  It means that by failing to provide police protection in obedience to international law, the host government is declaring a legal casus belli, a cause for war.


Notice that this is exactly what the first jihadist regime in the world did to Jimmy Carter in 1979 by kidnapping our diplomats in Tehran.  That international slap in the face ended up defeating  Jimmy Carter in the election of 1980, and bringing Ronald Reagan to the presidency.


It was Reagan who vigorously defended America and brought the Evil Empire to a well-deserved end.


Eleven months ago, the Obama administration and our Democrat National Machine plotted to cover up the two 9/11/12 attacks, to avoid a repetition of the Carter debacle and the rise of a conservative Republican administration.


That is why our deeply corrupted IRS targeted the Reaganesque Tea Party, and tried to destroy the most charismatic and well-qualified conservative on the national scene today, Governor Sarah Palin.

Our political class fears the rise of another Ronald Reagan.


Obama and the Democrat Machine acted brutally and illegally to prevent another Reaganite presidency. 

They are still doing it every day.


3. Long before 9/11 of last year, the Obama administration was deeply penetrated by Muslim Brotherhood infiltrators, who have been widely exposed in the web-based media.

As Col. Allen West (ret.) just wrote,

... yes, we do have Muslim Brotherhood affiliated groups and individuals infiltrated into this current Obama administration. This is serious.

Beginning in the 1970s, radical Muslims bought political power in the Black Nationalist movement.  Barack Hussein Obama has told the world in two autobiographies that he modeled his own life after Malcolm X, the Black Nationalist.  Today, the radical left in the black community claims to stand for all Americans of African descent.  That is of course another Big Lie.  The radical left constantly attempts to threaten and intimidate those who disagree with it, including courageous black people tired of seeing toxic demagogues destroying unnumbered lives in our inner cities.


The radical left-Muslim jihadist alliance began in the 1970s.  The evidence for that alliance is all over the international media today, including the Egyptian and Arabic media, which are expressing shock to see the extent to which America has been corrupted by its internal enemies.  The anti-Morsi coup in Egypt was conducted by nationalist and modernist political groups that did not want to be tyrannized by the medieval Muslim Brotherhood.  Jihadists  are our enemies -- they tell us so every day -- and modernist Egyptians cannot understand why Barack H. Obama is constantly supporting those who want to destroy us.


4. We have just learned that Benghazi culminated in jihadist terror groups stealing 400 ground-to-air missiles, which may threaten our civilian aircraft for years to come.


The damage in Benghazi was not just to American lives, reputation, national pride, international standing, and prestige.  It was material damage, threatening our national security in a clear and present way.  The 400 sophisticated ground-to-air missiles now controlled by jihadists are bound to be used against us.  In the last few weeks, massive coordinated jailbreaks took place in Yemen, Iraq, and Egypt, liberating thousands of terrorist killers who are now on the loose.


The United States has just forced Israel to release more than 100 convicted terrorist killers, who may soon join the others -- in Syria, where al-Qaeda rebels are making military gains against the relatively rational regime of Bashar Assad.  Or in Afghanistan, where the Obama regime is negotiating with the barbaric Taliban to surrender that country to their tender mercies.  

Safe-haven countries for Muslim terrorists now include Iran, the Sudan, Arabia, Libya, and Pakistan.


Bin Laden had to run from country to country to finally find safe haven with...the Taliban.  That allowed al-Qaeda to plot the terror attacks on America on the first 9/11.


We will hear from them before this administration is finished.


5. Obama has been actively and knowingly complicit in empowering jihadist forces from the beginning of this administration. He has made no secret of his real sympathies.  Will choose the Muslim side.  No slander of the Prophet of Islam.


Imagine FDR responding to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor by lying about Imperial Japan.


That is what Obama and the Democrat Machine have done to us.


In Europe, the identical class of radical leftists are running their economy into the ground.  The European left has also smuggled in hundreds of thousands of easily radicalized Muslims from Pakistan, Africa, and Arabia.  

Europe is committing suicide in front of our eyes.  If the left-jihadist political alliance is allowed to stay in power, it will destroy our country also.


We have real enemies, foreign and domestic.  About 100 million Americans know exactly who they are.  

Our job as citizens is to guide our nation to safety against the malignant and corrupt network of enemies.

We must do so by peaceful persuasion if we can.


The alternative does not bear thinking about.

Source: americanthinker.com

European Parliament Identifies Wahabi and Salafi Roots of Global Terrorism (Watch Vedio) and read complete EU report

By Zeryhun Kassa,

It is not merely the faith or oil that flows out of Saudi Arabia. The oil-rich Arab state and its neighbours are busy financing Wahabi and Salafi militants across the globe.
A recent report by the European Parliament reveals how Wahabi and Salafi groups based out of the Middle East are involved in the "support and supply of arms to rebel groups around the world." The report, released in June 2013, was commissioned by European Parliament's Directorate General for External Policies. The report warns about the Wahabi/Salafi organisations and claims that "no country in the Muslim world is safe from their operations ... as they always aim to terrorise their opponents and arouse the admiration of their supporters."

The nexus between Arab charities promoting Wahabi and Salafi traditions and the extremist Islamic movements has emerged as one of the major threats to people and governments across the globe. From Syria, Mali, Afghanistan and Pakistan to Indonesia in the East, a network of charities is funding militancy and mayhem to coerce Muslims of diverse traditions to conform to the Salafi and Wahabi traditions. The same networks have been equally destructive as they branch out of Muslim countries and attack targets in Europe and North America.

Despite the overt threats emerging from the oil-rich Arab states, governments across the globe continue to ignore the security imperative and instead are busy exploiting the oil-, and at time times, blood-soaked riches.

The European Parliament's report though is a rare exception to the rule where in the past the western governments have let the oil executives influence their foreign offices. From the United States to Great Britain, western states have gone to great lengths to ignore the Arab charities financing the radical groups, some of whom have even targeted the West with deadly consequences.

While the recent report by the European Parliament documents the financial details connecting the Arab charities with extremists elsewhere, it is certainly not the first exposition of its kind. A 2006 report by the US Department of State titled, International Narcotics Control Strategy Report - Money Laundering and Financial Crimes, reported that “Saudi donors and unregulated charities have been a major source of financing to extremist and terrorist groups over the past 25 years.” One of the WikiLeaks documents, a cable from the US Consulate in Lahore also stated that “financial support estimated at nearly 100 million USD annually was making its way to Deobandi and Ahl-e-Hadith clerics in the region from ‘missionary’ and ‘Islamic charitable’ organisations in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates ostensibly with the direct support of those governments.”

The European Parliament’s report estimates that Saudi Arabia alone has spent over $10 billion to promote Wahabism through Saudi charitable foundations. The tiny, but very rich, state of Qatar is the new entrant to the game supporting militant franchises from Libya to Syria.

The linkage between Saudi-based charitable organisations and militants began in the late 70s in Pakistan. A network of charitable organisations was setup in Pakistan to provide the front for channeling billions of dollars to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan. Since then the militant networks have spread globally, emerging as a major threat to international security. Charlie Wilson’s War, a book by George Crile that was made into a movie, details the Saudi-militancy nexus as well as Ahmed Rashid’s Taliban.

While ordinary citizens in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and other countries have suffered the deadly consequences of militancy supported by the Wahabi and Salafi charitable organisations, the Saudi government had remained largely dormant. This changed in 2003 when militants attacked targets in Riyadh. Since then, the Saudi government has kept a close watch on the domestic affairs of charities, making it illegal to sponsor militancy, but the government has done precious little to curtail activities by Saudi charities abroad. In fact, evidence, as per the European Parliament’s report, suggests that Saudi and Qatar-based charities have been actively financing militants in Egypt, Syria, Libya, Mali, and Indonesia.

Pakistan has suffered tremendously over the past three decades from domestic and foreign inspired militancy. The Soviet invasion in Afghanistan and the US-backed Afghan militancy forced Pakistan into a civil war that has continued to date. The faltering Pakistani economy did not help. Successive governments have rushed to Saudi monarchs asking for loans and free oil in times of need. However, Saudi money comes bundled with Saudi propaganda and a license to convert Pakistanis to a more 'puritan', read Wahabi, version of Islam.
In late the 70s, Iranians also intensified their influence in Pakistan. While hardline Sunnis were being radicalised by the Wahabi influences from Saudi Arabia, Iranian influence on Pakistani Shias was also increasing. And whereas Pakistan did not need any further radicalization of its people, the Saudi-Iranian tussle spilled into the streets of Pakistan with devastating consequences for religious minorities and liberal streams of Sunni Islam.

At the same time, the economic collapse in Pakistan forced many to find jobs abroad. Millions of Pakistanis left for the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia. While the remittances kept their families and the Pakistani government afloat, the migrant workers returned to Pakistan after being radicalised during their stay in Saudi. They became the brand ambassadors for the Saudi-inspired Wahabi flavours of Islam, thus expediting the pace of radicalisation in Pakistan.

Pakistan was equally vulnerable to foreign influences after the devastating earthquake in 2005 and floods in 2010 and 2011. The European Parliament’s report revealed that these disasters provided Saudi and other Arab charities to channel millions of dollars in aid, of which an unknown amount was used to fund militant organisations who have broadened their reach in Pakistan resulting in over 45,000 violent deaths in the past few years alone.
 
Pakistanis have a very strong spiritual link with Saudi Arabia. However, they are suffering for the unbound devotion to the oil-rich state, which has done a poor job of curbing the financial support for militancy in Pakistan. Seeing the plight of violence stricken Pakistanis, one hopes that Saudi charities could be more charitable.

Murtaza Haider, Ph.D. is the Associate Dean of research and graduate programs at the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University in Toronto.

Watch the below debate on this subject:

Source: dawn.com

Ethiopia: President Ismail Omar Guelleh of Djibouti Arrives in Addis to attend 1st memorial of late Meles Zenawi.

By Nesru Jemal,

President of Djibouti, Ismail Omar Guelleh arrived in Addis Ababa on Thursday to attend the first year memorial of the passing of the late great leader Meles Zenawi. Foreign affairs minister Dr. Tedros Adhanom received President Guelleh on arrival at the Addis Ababa Bole International Airport.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Tedros said the existing sound relations between Ethiopia and Djibouti would be strengthened further.

During his stay in Addis Ababa, President Guelleh is expected to be conferring with senior Ethiopian government officials on ways of furthering bilateral cooperation between Djibouti and Ethiopia.

Source: Ethiopian Radio and Television Agency (Addis Ababa)