Somaliland: Nation In Talks With Genel About Resuming Oil Exploration

By Alexis Flynn 
 

LONDON -- Somaliland's government is in talks with Genel Energy PLC (GENL.LN) about the Anglo-Turkish oil company resuming its exploration operations--after they were halted due to security concerns earlier this month--the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said in a statement.

"Genel is not leaving Somaliland. We are in close discussions with Genel regarding the steps that need to be taken prior to a resumption of operations," said the Energy Ministry statement.

A Genel spokesman declined to comment. The company, helmed by former BP PLC (BP.LN) Chief Executive Tony Hayward, said Sept. 9 that it had called a temporary halt to its operations in Somaliland, a breakaway nation in the Horn of Africa, due to fears over a sudden spike in violence in the region.

The Somaliland government said the halt was "an opportunity to take the necessary steps to ensure planning comes into line with implementation, guaranteeing the partnership of Genel and the government of Somaliland has a long and sustainable future."

London-listed Genel began prospecting for oil in Somaliland after acquiring a set of licenses in the area last year.

It doesn't produce any crude oil in Somaliland, whose decision to grant exploration rights has incurred the wrath of Somalia's recently elected central government.

Somalia maintains that any licensing of oil exploration is the sole responsibility of the federal government. However, Somaliland--which built up a degree of autonomy during two decades of civil war--says that it has the right to attract investment in the areas that it controls.

-Write to alexis.flynn@dowjones.com

Source: online.wsj.com

Somalia’s Al-Qaeda Franchise Has Made a Comeback

Country fractures further just as the security situation began to improve 

A fighter of the  Ras Kimboni Brigade mans a heavy machine gun in Kismayo. U.N./Stuart Price photo

Peter Dörrie in Editor's Picks

Up until last week, the archetypal failed state of Somalia could look back on a string of accomplishments: For the first time in since 1990, a president was elected in a process approaching democratic norms. And this president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, is not even a former warlord but an academic and respected political activist.

But for Al Shabaab, the Al Qaida-aligned Somali militant and terrorist group, this presents a golden opportunity. Somalia is still deeply divided, with varying factions and outside influences at play in the country. Instead of fighting a united and determined enemy, Al Shabaab can now exploit the weakness of the different factions separately.

It didn’t lose any time doing so.

On Sept. 12, a massive car bomb ripped through the important commercial trading center of Kismayo. The blast killed 20 people and injuring scores more. The newly-appointed president of Jubaland — a semi-autonomous state within Somalia — barely escaped with his life. The following day, Shabelle News reported heavy fighting between the president’s forces and Al Shabaab in 

Kismayo, although these reports have not yet been confirmed.

For Al Shabaab, this opportunity could not come at a better time. For one, the group is undergoing severe internal problems.

Several high-ranking jihadists, many of them from abroad, have turned against Al Shabaab’s main commander, Ahmed Abdi Godane. That in turn resulted in an ongoing effort to purge the organization, with the latest victim being Omar Hammami, an U.S. national and long-time fighter for 

Al Shabaab who published scathing criticism of Godane’s leadership. Hammami, who went by the nom de guerre Al Amriki or The American, was killed in a firefight together with several of his supporters on Sept. 12.

Godane may hope that going on the offensive against the new official authorities in Jubaland could serve to reunite Al Shabab behind his leadership.

Soldiers from the Somali National Army (SNA) participate in a training exercise at Jazeera Training Camp in Mogadishu. U.N./Tobin Jones photo

Federalism’s downside

It might be surprising to hear, but Somalia was actually in better shape a few weeks ago.

A strong commitment of the African Union provided for a robust and capable peacekeeping force, AMISOM. This force succeeded in pushing Al Shabaab out of the capital Mogadishu in 2011, where the government held sway over only a few blocks before.

Together with government troops, the African Union force steadily enlarged the government-controlled territory, even providing inspiration for the new terms of engagement for the United Nations Mission in Congo. Al Shabaab was further weakened by a Kenyan military intervention in southern Somalia, where local militias and Kenyan troops pushed the rebels out Kismayo.

But while taking Kismayo and its harbor severely undermined one of Al Shabaab’s main sources of income, the Kenyan intervention was the first sign of trouble for the new Somali government and its African Union allies.

Kenya has long viewed the chaos in Somalia as a threat to its own internal stability. Until a few years ago, this threat was tolerable, because the sparsely-inhabited Somali border lies hundreds of kilometers away from Kenya’s commercial heartland.

But then Kenyan politicians hatched a plan to build a new rail and pipeline corridor to service the new nation of South Sudan and its oilfields. This corridor and its corresponding harbor close to the island of Lamu will be situated within less than 150 kilometers from Somalia.

Next, a string of attacks by Al Shabaab on Kenyan territory underlined the vulnerability of the planned infrastructure and so Kenya invaded — that country’s first war since independence. However, the goal of the Kenyan intervention was never to support the weak Somali government, which had little capacity to provide security for Kenya’s interests.

Instead, Kenya wants to create a buffer zone — now called Jubaland — between its territory and the chaos in Somalia.

Kenyan soldiers inside their armored personnel carrier in Kismayo. U.N./Stuart Price photo

Charcoal kings

Sheikh Ahmed Madobe is Jubaland’s most influential politician and master of its commercial center — and Al Shabab’s target in last week’s bombing.

His militia was Kenya’s main ally in its fight to “liberate” Kismayo from Al Shabaab. And part of his motivation for teaming up with Kenya were the millions of sacks of charcoal lining the streets of Kismayo, waiting for a U.N. export embargo to be rescinded.

As luck would have it, several Kenyan businessmen also had strong interests in the charcoal trade and did swift business with Al Shabaab before and during the embargo.

With Kismayo under his control, Madobe and Kenya began a lobbying campaign to end the embargo. When they weren’t successful with this strategy, exporting of the charcoal began anyway, with Kenyan commanders taking their cut for looking the other way.

For the Somali government, control over Kismayo and its port would have been an incredible opportunity to strengthen its hold on the whole country. But government delegations from Mogadishu were routinely turned away by the new powers in Kismayo. Madobe had no interest in sharing power and profits and Kenya’s priorities are a calm border — not Somali unity.

This stance is supported by the other powerful regional player: Ethiopia. Somalia fought a devastating war against Ethiopia for control of the Ogaden region in the 1970s and the Ethiopian government is determined to keep Somalia divided — and without territorial ambitions — in the future.

In the end, Somali Pres. Mohamud bowed to Madobe’s influence and his powerful regional allies. Jubaland was declared an autonomous region, similar in status to Puntland and the de facto independent Somaliland in northern Somalia, effectively cutting the central government off from all the income from Kismayo’s port and denying its influence over the internal affairs of Jubaland.

And then there’s Al Shabaab.

The leadership of East Africa’s most dangerous terrorist group appears to making Jubaland their new target — now that it’s no longer the central government’s only internal opponent and with African Union troops breathing down their neck in central Somalia.

Jubaland could also offer Al Shabaab many more opportunities and greater freedom of operation. Additionally, controlling the production and initial trade of charcoal could be just as profitable as control over the port of Kismayo itself.

In the end, Kenya probably has undermined its own goals by propping up Madobe and pushing for an autonomous Jubaland. In the long run — and certainly with a view of securing its economic interests — a united Somalia with a strong central government in Mogadishu would serve Kenya’s interests much better than a divided country.

Subscribe to War is Boring: medium.com/feed/war-is-boring.

 

Breakaway Somaliland hopes to become gateway for Horn of Africa

By Katrina Manson in Hargeisa

©AP

Passengers wait to board a flight at Bebera Airport. The port could become a $2.5bn logistics hub

The wreckage of fighter jets and goats nibbling the grass alongside the newly laid tarmac at Somaliland’s small Hargeisa airport hardly suggest the territory is about to become an infrastructure hub for the region.

But authorities in the breakaway costal nation in the Horn of Africa say the recently unveiled $10m Kuwaiti-funded makeover of its two airports is just the beginning. They hope the investment will kick-start its efforts to become the new gateway for landlocked Ethiopia’s 92m people, developing connections by road, rail, air and sea in a nation at the meeting point of the African and Arab worlds.

“We believe [developing our export infrastructure] would contribute a lot to the region in terms of our strategic location and help the region’s trade,” says foreign minister Mohamed Bihi Yonis of the territory, which already exports millions of dollars of livestock across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

In recent months, bottlenecks at ports in Mombasa, Dar es Salaam and Djibouti have highlighted the demand for better infrastructure in a fast-growing region.

Ethiopia, a $43bn economy largely closed to the outside world, is growing at 7 per cent a year and keen to develop coffee and leather manufacturing exports. Ethiopia’s vulnerability was exposed after it lost its main access to the sea when Eritrea won independence in 1994.

“Ethiopia is the only landlocked country in Africa that has only one export port,” says Lars Christian Moller, the World Bank’s lead economist in Addis Ababa, referring to the small city-state of Djibouti, where Dubai’s DP World runs a huge port operation.

“Relying only on one trade corridor makes the management of the political economy of logistics particularly vulnerable to the relationship with the partner country Djibouti,” says a recent World Bank report co-authored by Mr Moller. It counsels Ethiopia to develop transport routes through Somaliland to “diversify Ethiopia’s options and thus improve its negotiating power with transit corridors”.

It could also greatly assist Somaliland’s efforts to secure international recognition. Hargeisa declared independence from Somalia when civil war started 22 years ago, but has yet to be recognised by neighbours reluctant to undermine Mogadishu, only now emerging towards a fragile peace. The fact that Hargeisa is officially seen as part of Somalia could yet complicate investors’ efforts to secure insurance and financing.

The former British colony has no banks, no access to international finance and survives on a budget that runs only to $125m a year for its 4m mostly nomadic people. It derives much of its income from transport taxes and remittances.

"We expect Somaliland to be a growing trade centre in east Africa and are positioning ourselves to meet and cater to the demand" said Esayas Woldemariam Hailu, Ethiopian Airlines

Still, Somaliland officials say they hope one day to serve 30 per cent of Ethiopia’s exports, worth close to $1bn a year. They are to meet counterparts in neighbouring Ethiopia for trade talks later this year. “We would start tomorrow if we had the infrastructure ready,” says Suleiman Diriye, director-general at the ministry of finance. Ethiopia’s trade ministry did not return requests for comment.

Jason McCue, a British businessman appointed as an envoy for Somaliland’s independence bid, is trying to assemble a consortium of investors to develop the beachside town of Berbera as a $2.5bn logistics hub, including an oil pipeline when exploration for crude accelerates in Somaliland and Ethiopia.

“The economic case for developing Somaliland is just mind-blowing – Berbera port is key,” says Mr McCue, whose Berbera Development Company is tasked by government to select a port developer and operator.

Ethiopian Airlines, among the three biggest airlines on the subcontinent, is “very confident” that volumes of passengers and goods via Somaliland will rise, and intends to start a joint venture to develop cargo flights to serve goods transiting the port.

“We expect Somaliland to be a growing trade centre in east Africa and are positioning ourselves to meet and cater to the demand,” says deputy CEO Esayas Woldemariam Hailu, who attended the reopening of Hargeisa airport last month.

At the airport reopening ceremony, a luxurious private jet delivered Kuwaiti benefactors to the airport, littered as it is with fighter jets. Yet, Hargeisa is long used to such contrasts: goats and Hummers, camels and four by fours regularly share the hot dusty streets. But if proof were needed of the scale of the territory’s ambitions, look no further than the high-powered VIP lounge: Hargeisa’s small, revamped airport has two.

-----

Source: The Financial Times Limited 2013.

China to invest US$13B in oil and gas exploration this year

ImagesSlow development of China’s enormous shale gas potential and missed output targets may be bad news as the country tries to develop domestic gas supplies to ease its heavy dependence on dirtier coal and expensive imports of oil and gas.

China will invest 80-billion yuan (US$13.07-billion) in oil and gas exploration in 2013, state media said on Sunday, as it tries to boost energy supplies reduce its dependence on energy imports.

Oil and gas investment in China has risen from 19-billion yuan in 2002 to 67.3-billion yuan in 2011, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing Ministry of Land and Resources figures.

More than 5 billion tons of petroleum reserves and 2.6 trillion cubic meters of natural gas were discovered between 2008-2011, Xinhua said.


China, the world’s biggest energy consuming country, has promised to cut its growing dependence on overseas oil and gas supplies.

Still, some analysts expect China to overtake the United States as the world’s biggest crude oil importer as soon as 2017. Much of it comes from the Middle East and Africa and is transported via vulnerable sea lanes.

Gas imports are important to China because domestic production is not sufficient to meet growing demand. Imported gas is delivered via pipeline from Central Asia and by ship from countries such as Australia, Indonesia and Qatar.

China bought 42.5 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas from overseas last year. That was up more than 30 percent compared with 2011 and a nearly 10-fold increase from 2007.

As Somalia Struggles, Can Neighboring Somaliland Become East Africa's Next Big Commercial Hub?

An Ethiopian Airlines plane at Egal International Airport in Hargeisa. Wikipedia

By IBTimes Staff Reporter

The autonomous region of Somaliland is angling to become a trade and transit hub for East Africa, pouring millions of dollars into infrastructural development with the help of international financiers. But its plans are complicated by its ties to Somalia's capital city of Mogadishu.

Though Somaliland has long functioned as a “de facto autonomous state,” the international community nominally recognizes it as a territory of Somalia, which endured two decades of civil war, famine and poverty before implementing a new constitution and national government last year. Somaliland, a region with a population of 4 million located in Somalia's northwest (bordering Ethiopia and Djibouti), has long been petitioning for formal independence. Somaliland has its own government, constitution, currency and economic ambitions. 

A newly reopened airport in Somaliland's capital city of Hargeisa is being touted by officials as a step in the right direction. Egal International Airport was badly damaged in the 1991 civil war with Mogadishu following Somaliland's self-declaration of independence, but a fresh round of refurbishments worth about $10 million began on 2012, mostly funded by Kuwait. Last month, the airport reopened amid great fanfare, and Hargeisa authorities are hoping to attract more international traffic to the facility. They're particularly focused on Ethiopian Airlines, Africa's fastest-growing carrier, whose central hub in Addis Ababa is about 365 miles (587 kilometers) away. 

"Airports are the gateways to the country," Mohamud Hashi Abdi, Hargeisa's minister of civil aviation said, according to the Somaliland Sun. "How they are built and modernized can lead to economic growth as well as regional integration."

Berbera International Airport

Somaliland already had a functioning airport at the port town of Berbera, which sits on the Gulf of Aden. Ethiopian Airlines begin operating daily flights there in July of last year. Somaliland authorities hope to convince carriers to include Hargeisa in their list of destinations, but more improvements may be necessary; pilots have complained that the runway is too short, and that shoddy perimeter fencing allows trespassers which could endanger landings and takeoffs.

As Hargeisa pursues its ambitious goals, Berbera, too, is undergoing some major changes. But the port city will have to contend with neighboring Djibouti, a tiny country dominated by its capital city of the same name, which has already carved a niche for itself as the gateway to the Horn of Africa. Situated at the nexus of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, which connects to the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean, Djibouti's bustling seaport serves as the primary import and export hub for landlocked Ethiopia, a fast-developing country of 93 million with a GDP of $43 billion last year, one of Africa's highest.

Somaliland hopes to tap into Ethiopia's relative wealth by turning Berbera into a similar hub. Some Ethiopian trade already flows through the city, and total revenues from the port generate up to 80 percent of Somaliland's annual budget, which is at an all-time high of $125 million this year. But the government is keen to rake in even more. The demand is there; maritime traffic often overwhelms the Djibouti port, as it does at nearby ports like Mombasa, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

“The economic case for developing Somaliland is just mind-blowing -- [the] Berbera port is key,” James McCue, of the Berbera Development company said, according to the Financial Times. McCue, a British citizen who also serves as an envoy for Somaliland independence, is working to find investors to build up Berbera's infrastructure on land and at sea.

Offloading containers at the Port of Berbera

For now, foreign investment is Somaliland's only hope for large-scale infrastructural development. Since it isn't formally recognized as an independent state, the territory can't receive direct aid from international donors. (Tens of millions of dollars do filter in annually to combat endemic poverty and food shortages, though the funds are administered by aid agencies and aren't recorded in government books.) Hargeisa is highly dependent on transport customs and domestic taxes, which many analysts argue has actually stabilized the region by keeping government authorities beholden to citizens and private businesses.  Meanwhile, remittances from abroad have grown indispensable to citizens, since there are no commercial banks in Somaliland.

Somalia, on the other hand, has leaned heavily on foreign aid since its new government was installed last year. At a conference in Brussels this week, international donors pledged $2.4 billion to help fund reconstruction in the war-torn country.

Somaliland officials weren't in attendance. "We have declined to participate in a conference that fails to engage Somaliland as an equal partner and recognize the democratic choice of its people, and which wrongly gives the impression that the Government of Somalia has the right to make decisions about our territory," Ahmed Yusuf Elmi, spokesman for Somaliland's ministry of foreign affairs, said.

While the territory pursues its political independence, ongoing development at Berbera and Hargeisa shows that economic independence is already a reality. While Mogadishu struggles toward political stability, Somaliland already has a head start in its ambitious bid to become the Horn of Africa's next big commerce hub.

Source: IBTimes

Xukuumadda oo ku mashquulsan kala Doorashada Afar shirkadood oo Maal-gashanaya Dekedda Berbera

Berbera - Maareeyaha Dekedda Berbera ayaa isagoo Xog-waran ka siinaya Madaxweynaha Somaliland Axmed Maxamed Maxamuud Siilaanyo waxqabadka Dekedda Berbera ayaa waxa uu kaga hadlay Maal-gashi uu sheegay wadahadalkiisa in ay Xukuumaddu la wado afar shirkadaood.

Sidoo kale, Maareeyuhu waxa uu warbixintiisa kaga waramay xidhiidhka Dekedda Berberi la leedahay dalka Itoobiya iyo dhaqaalaha ka soo baxa isagoo sheegay in loo baahan yahay in la sii xoojiyo.

“Waxa maanta halkan inoo sharaf ah  in Madaxwaynaha Jamhuuriyada Somaliland halkan inoogu furo qayb ka mida horumarinta Mashaariicda  dekadda Berbera, Qaybtaasi waxay dhan tahay toban kun oo mitirig iskuweer, waxa galay  laba kun iyo shan boqol oo Qalab ah, Qiimo ku dhaw hal milyan oo doolar ayaa ku baxay, Waxaan filayaa dadka Injineerada ahi way garanayaan marka labo kun iyo shan boqol  oo mitirig isku weer lagu  dhufto sadex boqol oo doolar, waa todaba boqol iyo konton kun oo doolar”

Waxa kale oo uu yidhi Maareeyaha Marsada Caalamiga ah ee Berbera Eng. Cali Xoor Xoor “Goobtani Bad ayay ahayd oo alaabta lagu dhisay qayb ka mida debada ayaanu kasoo iibinay qaybta kalena waa caro kaawooyin iyo darju Alaab ah oo aanu kasoo saaray badda. “ ayuu yidhi

Intaa wuxuu ku daray Maareeye Eng. Cali Xoor Xoor in ay qaadi karto ilaa todoba boqol oo konteenar, isagoo xusay inay ka rareen sadex boqol oo konteenar oo  ay leedahay shirkada Mears si ay u banaanaato oo madaxwaynaha iyo waftigiisu u arkaan Dekada cusub ee wakaalada Dekadu dhistay iyada oo aan cidna la kaashan, taasoo ka mid ah fidinta Dekada si awoodeeda loo kordhiyo,

Maareeyaha dekada Berbera waxa uu iftiimiyay in ay ka go’antahay  xukuumada Somaliland in la Maal-galiyo dekada isagoo sheegay in ilaa hada wadahadal u u socdo ilaa afar shirkadood , Waxaanu tilmaamay in xukuumadu heshiis la gali doonto ta ugu fiican ee danteenu gasho.

Maareeyaha dekada berbera waxa kale oo uu shaaca ka qaaday in wadahadalo ay u socdaan   dalka itoobiya si sanadkii ilaa todaba milyan oo Tan ay ugu gudbaan dalka itoobiya,

Maareeyaha dekada berbera waxa uu ka hadlay in siyaasada Madaxwaynaha Somaliland ay ka mid tahay in laga shaqeeyo  Barmaamijka  dhaqaalaha dalka iyo sidii kor loogu  qaadi lahaa barmaamijka dhoofka xoolaha iyo wax ka soo dajinta dekada  iyo waliba barmaamijka  ganacsiga ee aynu la leenahay dalka Itoobiya oo qiimihiisu dhan yahay Boqolka milyan.

Ugu dambayntii Maareeyaha Dekada Berbera Eng. Cali waxa uu soo bandhigay qalabkii ay soo iibsadeen sideedii bilood ee u danbaysay oo qiimo badan ku jooga dekada , Maamulka sare ee dekada berbera ayaa siddoo kale waxay qoraalku qaybiyeen Horumarka kala duwan ee ay ku guulaysteen.

Somalia 'New Deal': EU pledge at Brussels conference

Donors have pledged 1.8bn euros ($2.4bn; £1.5bn) at a conference in Brussels to help Somalia end more than two decades of conflict. 

President Mohamud said the deal would open a "new chapter" for Somalia

The money is part of a "New Deal" for what is widely regarded as a failed state, officials said.
Al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab dismissed the meeting as "Belgian waffle".

Al-Shabab is fighting to oust Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's government, the first to be recognised by the US in more than 20 years.

The group controls most of southern Somalia, but it has been driven out of the main cities and towns, including the capital Mogadishu, by an African Union (AU) force backing the government.

'Milestone'

The EU and Somali government believe now is a good time to adopt the programme as the country has entered a new era, with a more legitimate government and progress on the security front.

Mr Mohamud told the BBC Somali service he welcomed the New Deal.

"It's a standard deal throughout the world in the post-conflict environment. This is a deal that is based on Somalia-led initiatives," he said.

He said he would target four key priorities - security, legal reform, public finances and economic recovery, the AFP news agency reports him as saying.

EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the extra money would support a "new phase in the life of Somalia".

The EU would give 650m euros, while the rest would come from countries such as Denmark, Germany, Sweden and the UK, he said.

The EU contribution would be in addition to the $1.6bn it gave Somalia from 2008 to 2013.
Most of this money was used to finance the AU force of some 18,000 troops, AFP reports.

Meanwhile, Uganda - the largest contributor to the AU force - has suspended 24 soldiers, including the mission head, on allegations of corruption.

The UK's ambassador to Somalia, Neil Wigan, said the conference was "a major milestone", the agency says.

The total of $2.4bn is more than double the amount diplomats were hoping to raise, it reports.

"Our combined efforts will maintain momentum and deliver the change that the people of Somalia desperately need," Mr Wigan is quoted as saying.

The BBC's Abdirahman Koronto in Brussels says some Somali government officials were disappointed that most donor countries were represented by low-ranking officials.

He says there is also some scepticism as previous pledges made at similar conferences have not been translated into improvements on the ground.
 
'Slush fund'

Al-Shabab said it expected donor pledges would remain mostly unfulfilled or the money would be lost in corruption.

"It's a bit like Belgian Waffles: sweet on the outside but really has not much substance to it," it said on its Twitter account.

Mr Mohamud said at a news conference that aid money had been used to save lives, and provide basic services to Somalis.

The New Deal would take Somalia from an "emergency to recovery" over the next three years, he said.

"This is a new chapter. Today we are ending a journey and starting a new one," Mr Mohamud added.

There have been several international conferences to help Somalia rebuild itself, including one hosted by UK Prime Minister David Cameron in May.

The UK and other donors pledged some $130m in aid for Somalia at the time.

Earlier this month, Somalia's government said international investigators it had appointed had cleared it of corruption allegations made by United Nations monitors.

In July, the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia said Somalia's central bank had become a "slush fund" for political leaders and that the current governor played a central role in irregularities surrounding unaccountable disbursements of cash.

In September, Norway decided to directly pay government employees their salaries in order to curb corruption, UN-backed Somali Radio Bar-Kulan reported at the time.

ANALYSIS

Mary Harper BBC Somalia analyst

Somalia is a good test case for the New Deal. It certainly fits the criteria for a fragile state, given that for six years in a row it has come top of the list of the world's most failed states.

The New Deal focuses on peace and state-building. Without these, goes the argument, there can be no meaningful development, and aid money simply goes to waste. This has certainly been the case in Somalia, where billions of dollars have been thrown at a problem that refuses to go away.

The EU and Somalia argue that now is a good time to adopt the New Deal. They say the country has entered a new era, with a more legitimate government and progress on the security front.

But it is possible that the Brussels meeting will simply be the latest in the long list of expensive conferences on Somalia that end with ambitious communiques but have little or no impact on the development of the country.

Source: BBC

Dowladda oo Maxkamad Military saareysa Sheekh Xasan Daahir Aweys

Muqdisho — Dowladda Soomaaliya ayaa qorsheynaysa in dhowaan Kiiska Sheekh Xasan Daahir Aweys ay ku wareejiso Maxkamada Ciidamada Qalabka Sida ee dalka.

Xoghayihii hore ee Arrimaha Dibadda Ururkii burburay Xisbul islaam Sheikh Max’ed Macalin oo Shir Jaraa'id ku qabtay Muqdisho ayaa sheegay in Sheekh Xasan Dahir Aweys lay Dowladda u gudbin doonto Xabsiga Dhexe kadibna loo gudbin doono Maxkamada Ciidamada qalabka sida .

“Mar aan dhowaan ku booqday Sheekh Xasan Daahir, waxa uu ii sheegay in Daruufo iyo dhibaatooyin dhanka Nolosha ah ay ku haysato Xabsiga uu hadda ku jiro, wuxuu kaloo ii sheegay in Xabsiga Dhexe loo gubdin doono kadibna Maxkamada Military la saari doono,” ayuu u sheegay  Saaxafada Sheikh Max’ed Macalin.

Wuxuu sheegay in Xaalad adag uu hadda ku sugan yahay Sheekha Sababtoo ah Xabsiga uu ku xiran yahay. Xasan Daahir waxa lagu daaweynayay Isbitaalka AMISOM ee Xalane kadib markii la keenay Muqdisho isagoo xanuunsanaya June-30-2013.

Todobaadyadii ugu danbeeyay ayaa waxaa socday Dadaalo ay wadeen Beesha uu Xasan Daahir uu kasoo jeedo kuwaasi oo doonayey in Dowladda Cafis ay u fidiso Wadaadka Xabsigana laga sii daayo, balse Arinkaas waxa uu hadda u muuqdaa Mid Fashilmay.

Dowladda Federaalka ah ee Soomaaliya ay u muuqata inay gaartay Go’aan ah in Xasan Dahir la maxkamadeeyo. Sidoo kale Saraakiil sare oo ka tirsan Dowladda Federaalka Soomaaliya ayaa Wariyaha Keydmedia ee Nairobi u xaqiijiyeen Arintaan, waxeyna sheegeen in Xasan Daahir lagu Maxkamadeyn doono Dambiyada: Argagixiso iyo Afduub.

Mid kamid ah Ergadii Xasan Daahir keentay Muqdisho oo la dilay

Wararka inaga soo gaaraaya Magaalada Muqdisho, ayaa waxay sheegayana in daqiiqado kahor lagu dilay Faarax Shidane.

Faarax Shidane ayaa wuxuu kamid ahaa Xubnihii loo diray Sheekh Xasan Daahir Aweys, ee ka soo dejisay Garoonka Diyaaradaha Caalamiga ah ee Aadan Cadde ee Magaalada Muqdisho.

Dilkiisa ayaa wuxuu ka dhacay xaafadda Taleex ee Degmada Hodan ee Gobolka Banaadir, xilli uu ka soo deganaayay gaarigii uu ku tagey Taleex.

Laba nin oo dhalinyaro ah oo bistoolado ku hubeysneyd, ayaa waxaa la xaqiijiyay inay ka dambeeyeen dilka marxuumka, kuwaa oo dilka kadib isaga baxsaday goobtaasi.

Ilaa iyo hadda si sax ah looma garanayao cidda dhabta ah ee dishay Faarax Shidane, oo sidoo kale kamid ahaa ganacsatada waaweyn ee Suuqa Bakaaraha.

Source: universalsomalitv.com

Uganda suspends 24 officers over Somalia corruption

 

Uganda is the main contributor to the AU force

KAMPALA - Uganda said Monday it had suspended 24 of its army officers, who were part of a UN-mandated force battling Al-Qaeda linked rebels in Somalia, over corruption allegations.


A defence ministry spokesman said among those recalled for "getting involved in conduct injurious" to the African Union AMISOM force was the head of the 6,000-strong Ugandan contingent, Brigadier Michael Ondoga.

"They were suspended two days ago," the Ugandan defence spokesman, Colonel Paddy Ankunda, told AFP.

According to an independent local newspaper, The Daily Monitor, the officers were recalled by President Yoweri Museveni over the alleged black market selling of food and fuel meant for the Ugandan troops.

The paper said that some ordinary soldiers were eating only one ration pack a day because of the scam.

"Their conduct is a subject of investigations," the spokesman said, without giving details.

"If enough evidence is gathered the officers will be taken to court."

AMISOM, fighting since 2007 in Somalia and funded by the UN and European Union, has 17,700 troops aiding the government in Somalia. (AFP)