Statement to the 425th meeting of the African Union Peace and Security Council by Ambassador Nicholas Kay, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) for Somalia

"I am also concerned by the military tensions between Puntland and Somaliland in the Sool and Sanaag regions. I call for maximum caution and avoidance of confrontation." .....................................Ambassaddor Nicholas Kay said

African Union Peace 425th Meeting, Adis Ababa

Excellency, Chairperson of the Peace and Security Council, Your Excellencies, members of the Council, Ambassadors, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen

Thank you very much indeed for inviting me to address the Council today and thank you for the African Union’s continued support to peace and stability in Somalia.

It is a moment, I would say full of promise and progress but not without challenges. It is a time today, in which we are all turning plans into actions. I would certainly like to pay sincere tribute to the brave men and women of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). Without them, we would not be where we are today. It is important to underline that under Ambassador Annadif’s resolute leadership, AMISOM continues to be the single most important contributor to the security of Somalia, and a vital partner for the Federal Government and the United Nations in peace-building, state-building and stabilisation.

Mr. Chairperson,

2014 is a crucial year for Somalia. It is a year which will be challenging on both the political and security fronts, but also a year where we need to see progress.

As we meet and as Ambassador Annadif has explained, AMISOM and the Somali National Army are achieving significant military gains. United Nations Security Council Resolution 2124 made possible the most significant and geographically extensive military advance since AMISOM began; operation “Eagle” is a direct and visible outcome with remarkable successes so far and major towns now extended under state authority. I salute the courage and professionalism of the African Union and Somali forces. I also recognise the invaluable support provided by key partners, in particular the United States of America, the European Union and its member states and Turkey.

I would like to underline that the UN is doing everything possible to support the renewed operations and I welcome the meetings which are now happening with UNSOA and the senior leadership in AMISOM to address what have been somehow standing issues. But I can underline that supplies of food, fuel, water are being delivered by the UN Support Office for AMISOM (UNSOA) in all sectors. Casualty, medical evacuations in some considerable number are happening. I underline also and echo Ambassador’s Annadif appeal for military helicopters for the mission, for AMISOM, and again the UN and UNSOA stand ready with the budget for 12 helicopters if they were to be provided by member states. UNSOA and UNSOM have been supporting the training of Somali National Army troops and pre-deployment training of AMISOM forces. This includes training in human rights and humanitarian law, in accordance with the Secretary-General’s Human Rights Due Diligence Policy.

I think we should not forget the absolute ambition and complexity of the operation that AMISOM is undertaking. This is an operation that has started with a massive 'Relief in Place' as the new sectors are created and forces move. It now has six contingents, as Ambassador Annadif said, contributing on the military side and they are now undertaking difficult, demanding operations simultaneously in at least five different sectors. This is a scale and complexity of operation that would challenge many organisations and I think we should pay tribute both to the African Union success and also the UN/UNSOA success in supporting this operation so effectively to date. But more can be done and more improvement in communication and liaison between the organisations, I am sure will help resolve any outstanding issues.

Mr. Chairperson,

Military operations alone will not achieve sustainable peace and it is therefore vital that military operations are accompanied with stabilisation efforts. The Government of Somalia has already taken the lead on this and provided the framework for the stabilisation, including the establishment of interim local administrations. UNSOM has been working closely with AMISOM, IGAD and other partners to support this - and will be providing technical support and advice to the newly established interim local administrations. I have recently allocated $3 million from the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund to be used for the immediate responses in this context.

AMISOM, UNSOM/UNSOA and the Federal Government need to continue to harmonise their work in order to deliver the greatest impact to the people of Somalia. In particular, it will be critical to coordinate our efforts during the operations to ensure human rights and humanitarian principles are upheld. In this regard, I look forward to the swift establishment of the Civilian Causality tracking mechanism, as well as the endorsement of the Protection of Civilians strategy.

Furthermore, on the political process, which again Ambassador Annadif has explained very clearly, the best hope for peace and stability in Somalia remains a united, secure and federal Somalia. This is achievable and I believe that Somalia can reach its goal of an agreed constitution, a nation-wide electoral process and improved security by 2016. In order to achieve this, the targets which the Federal Government has set out in its Vision 2016 framework should be our guiding framework as the international community. Progress on the creation of a federal Somalia has its challenges as we have seen recently in Baidoa where two rival camps advocating for a six- and three-region state respectively have yet to come to the negotiating table. I will continue to work closely with key partners, principally the African Union, IGAD and the European Union, to support a Federal Government-led process with respect to its commitment for the formation of a three-region state. I condemn the violence and killing yesterday in and outside Baidoa and I call for restraint and an urgent response by the Federal Government to lead the peacebuilding process.

In the south of Somalia, implementation of the Addis Ababa agreement of 28th of August has been mixed. I strongly support IGAD’s role as guarantor of the agreement and IGAD’s special envoy Ambassador Affey’s initiative to accelerate full implementation of the technical, security and political elements.

Elsewhere and further to the north, I am also concerned by the military tensions between Puntland and Somaliland in the Sool and Sanaag regions. I call for maximum caution and avoidance of confrontation.

Mr. Chairperson,

I am pleased that AMISOM in conjunction with the Federal Government have increased their security operations in the city of Mogadishu and that the Government has developed a new security strategy for Mogadishu. We are, as Ambassador Annadif says, beginning to see the positive results of that.

Mr. Chairperson,

Finally, we need to keep in mind that the military offensive is sparking humanitarian needs, which need to be addressed as a matter of urgency. Most of the humanitarian needs so far have been the result of population movements. Humanitarian access due to the volatile security situation remains a challenge. Humanitarian partners are working to determine urgent needs and how best to respond.

Mr. Chairperson,

The military gains should be followed by sustainable peace- and state- building results. I firmly believe this can be achieved and that both the UN and the African Union have a great role to play. Only together can we can help the Federal Government deliver to the Somalis what they most need: improved security, rule of law, education, health, jobs, economic development. Let us remember that Somalia is at a turning point of a long road. It needs now more than ever our collective efforts in order to move forward. Together, I am sure, by 2016, we will achieve much of which we now dream.

I thank you very much.

OIL IS AT THE HEART OF THE UKRAINE CRISIS

First, the neatly-packaged narrative is undermined by U.S. interest in secessionist movements around the world

AP Photo/Sergei Chuzavkov

by Michael Shank

For anyone questioning the fundamental energy and resource connection to most geopolitical struggles and conflicts, the West's wrestle with Russia over Crimea is illustrative of merely the latest energy-related conflict in a long litany of ones.

While perhaps not as dramatic as America's removal 60 years ago of democratically-elected Iranian President Mohammad Mossadegh, for wanting to democratize his nation's oil supply and free it from Western corporate control, the U.S. interest in the Ukraine is not far afield.

Having just returned last week from Poland and Germany, where I met with leaders from both countries to discuss Russian geopolitical plays in Ukraine and Crimea, the relevance was apparent.

Packaged in a neatly-framed narrative over sovereignty, this is a fight over who gets to supply the European Union with energy, and American companies (and the U.S. members of Congress who represent them) would love to replace Russia's energy imports into the E.U. with American gas exports. And this conflict provides the perfect opportunity to do so.

There are several problems with this premise, however. First, the neatly-packaged narrative is undermined by U.S. interest in secessionist movements around the world. Whether it's our support of Somaliland and Puntland and their efforts to undermine sovereign Somalia and their government in Mogadishu, or the West's support for changing borders in South Sudan, Kosovo, Falklands, Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands, and Kashmir, Russia's behavior is not new. We've done it before.

Second, the international law concerns are riddled with inconsistencies. If we are truly concerned about a world power and a permanent veto-wielding member of the United Nations Security Council contravening international norms, standards and legal precedents, then America must also lead in that regard.

America's circumvention of sovereignty and disregard for international law with our invasions and interventions in Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia, Iraq, and more, must also be held to the same accountability measures that members of Congress are now using to keep Russia in check. If we want to be an effective arbiters of rule of law, whether in Crimea or Cairo, then we have to lead by example, otherwise our words ring hollow among our allies and our adversaries.

Lastly, the energy supply argument is deeply disconcerting because it merely provides a shot in the arm for an unsustainable energy industry.

We don't need more fracking stateside and any attempt to supplant Russia's energy supply to the E.U. (recognizing that it would take years, not months) is a giant step in the wrong direction. More fossil fueling is simply going to create more violent conflicts out of existing ones and take a greening E.U. into heavier carbon reliance.

The way forward, then, is to utilize Russia's reliance on E.U. energy buyers as a means of negotiating a way out of this crisis. Excessive sanctions and military rhetoric will only make the situation worse, polarize parties and escalate already heightened tensions. Russian-E.U.business ties, however, can more appropriately be leveraged to find a way forward, apply pressure, and keep communication channels open ¬ all essential components of conflict de-escalation.

That's only if the West wants to prevent further violent conflict. Nostalgic Washington, and the Eurasian experts who've occupied a quiet docket until recently, may well prefer to return to Cold War narratives and, admittedly, Russian President Vladimir Putin fits nicely into that narrative. But that will forge little fertile soil in an already intractable situation and merely fuel the conflict's ire and the fossil fuel reasoning that underlies it.

There is a way out of the crisis. Let's hope America and her friends in the E.U. pursue it.

----

Michael Shank is the director of foreign policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation, in Washington, D.C. Follow him on Twitter at @Michael_Shank.

Source: politix.topix.com

XUQUUQDA GABADHA IYO XADAARADAHA

Haween Soomaaliyeed oo Xijaaban

BY AXMED ADAM CALI (HAYBE) QALINMAAL

Waxay ahaayeen qaar u diiday inay wax dhaxasho, haddii la guursadana ninkeeda ayaa geli jiray halkii aabbaaheed oo may lahayn masuuliyad

Xilligii saman  jaahiliga ( Islaamka ka hor) ruuxa dumarka ah qabaa’ilka Carbeed waxay u arkayeen waxaan qiimo lahayn oo way quudhsan jireen, haddii qofka yar ee reerka u dhashaa uu noqdo gabadh waxay Aasi jireen iyadoo nool).

Sidoo kalena qofka dumar aha ee gabawdayna ama islaantu wax sharaf ah kumay lahayn bulshada dhexdeeda, waxa kale oo caado iska ahayd inay inanta gashaantida ku qasbi jireen in ay jidhkeeda ka ganacsato, si ay reerka xoolo ugu soo hesho.

Dhinaca dhaxalka xaq uma lahayn qofka dumri in wax laga siiyo dhaxalka, ninkeeda wax xuquuq iyo tix gelin ah kumay lahayn,inta goor ee ay gabadhu furmaysaana ma lahayn tiro go’an iyo xad uu ku joogsado.

Sidoo kale Dumarka guursigooduna ma lahayn tiro iyo xad go’an oo uu ku joogsado , ninkuna intii kolba rabo ayuu guursan jiray, inay doorato ninka ay guursanaysona wax xaq iyo xuquuq ah umay lahayn.

Haddii Aabuhu ka tago gabadh iyo carruur bah kale ah oo aanay dhalin gabadhaas uu ka dhintay waxa dhici jirtay in wiilka ugu weyn bahdaas kale uu guursan jiray hooyadood oo ah gabadha aabihii ka dhintay ee aan isga dhalin isagoo u arkayay inay tahay dhaxalkii aabihii oo ay la mid tahay xoolaha kale ee aabihii ka tegay.

Reer Yurubka maanta xorriyadda dumarka ku faanayana waagii hore doodoodu waxay ahayd qofka dumari ruux bay leedahay sida raga iyo ma laha.

Waxay taariikhdu inoo sheegaysaa in dawladihii hore ee Giriigu ay gabadha xaqiri jireen waxaanay ruuxa dumara u arkayeen wax hoose oo aan qiimo lahayn, waxaanay xaaladdu gaadhay heer gabadha la qabo iyo ta inanta ahba loo iib geeyo suuqa oo la weydaarsado lacag. Waxay ahayd gabadhu mid laga xayuubiyay xuquuqdeeda madaniga ah iyo ta dhaqaaleba.

Waxay ahaayeen qaar u diiday inay wax dhaxasho, haddii la guursadana ninkeeda ayaa geli jiray halkii aabbaaheed oo may lahayn masuuliyad iyo go’aan qaadasho madax banaan, Sidoo kale xaq umay lahayn inay ku tasarrufto xoolaheeda amaba ay gasho heshiisyo baayacmushtari oo aanu ninkeedu ogayn.

Sidaasi ayuu ninku u ahaa mid si toos ah oo buuxda gacanta ugu haya gabadha. Sidaas baanay ahayd xaaladda qofka dumara ilaa Allah dawladoodii, xorriyaddoodii iyo dhaqankoodiiba ku burburiyay gacmaha ninkii la odhan jiray Filib iyo inankiisii Askandar Almaqdooni.

Waxa iyana taariikhdu inooga warrantay in boqortooyadii reer Ruum la mid ahayd ta Giriiga halka ay gabadha ka taagnayd.

Wadaaddada masiixiyiinta reer Yurub qudhooda ayaa waxay gabadha u arkayeen wax xun oo ah tiirka sharku cuskado, waxay la ahayd inay tahay isha ay xumaanta iyo macsida oo dhami ka soo burqanayso  iyo inay tahay albaab ka mida albaada jahannama.

Waxyaabaha kale ee ay gabadha ka aaminsanaayeen waxaa ka mid ahaa in ay iyadu sabab u tahay dhaqdhaqaajinta dareenka ninka, iyo in quruxda gabadhu tahay hubka ibliiska oo aanu jirin hub kale oo u dhigma oo shaydaanku adeegsan karo.

Xaaladdaasi foosha xun ee murugada leh iyagoo haweenku ku jiro ayuu Islaamku soo baxay wuxuuna ku dhawaaqayay:

“ Xorriyadad haweenka, hadday tahay dhinaca cibaadada, guurka, dhaxalka, waxbarshada iyo dhawrsnaanta.”

 Inat aynaan u gelin sida uu Islaamku sharaf iyo qiimo ugu yeelaya gabadha , taariikhda cusub ee Yurub aan wax yar ka soo qadano:

Sida uu ku qoray ninka la yiraado Herberat Sbenser kitaabkiisa la yidhaahdo cilmiga bulshada Masaaridii horena waxay gabadha u arkayeen inay tahay saldhiga sharka iyo ta sababta masaa’ibta iyo balaayooyinka dhacaya.

Sanadkii 1805, oo ah wakhti aan siiba fogayn dastuurka Ingriisku wuxu ninka u ogolaanayay inuu gabdhiisa ka iibin karo nin kale haddii uu naco ama dhibaato dhaqaale la soo daristo.  Mar danbe ayaa la soo saaray Sharci xaarantinimeeyay qodobkaasi.

Waxaana dhacday in nin Ingiriisi ku iibiyay gabadhiisii shan boqol oo gini sananaddii1930kii, looyaradii difaacayay ayaa waxay doodeen in qaanuunka Ingiriisku boqol sano ka hor uu ninka u ogolaanayay in uu iibin karo gabadhiisa haday iyadu ogolaato, sidaas darteedna ay iyadu ogolaatay oo aan denbi ahayn.

Maxkamadii ayaa iyana waxay ugu jawaabtay qaanuunkaas waxa la baabiiyay sanaddii 1805tii, waxaana lagu beddelay qaanuun kale oo xaaraantinimeeyay falkaas ah iibinta gabadha, markii muddo la isku haystay fal denbiyeedkan , mar danbe ayay Maxakamadu ku dhowaaqday xukunkiisii oo noqday toban bilood oo xadhig ah.

Sida uu qoray wargeyska qadiimiga ah ee Xadaaradda Islaamka sanadkeedii 2aad Xaashidda  1078, in nin Talyaani ahi gabdhiisi ka iibiyay nin kale isagoo kula heshiiyay inuu hafto ku bixyo lacagta (Installment), waxayna sheekadu ku soo xidhnatay markii ninkii daynta lagu lahaa bixin waayay lacagtii inuu dilo ninkii gabadha ka iibiyay.

Waxaad tixraaci kartaa Kutubta hoos ku qoran oo aanu ka soo uririyay Maqaaladan:

1-      Kitaabka (Ilabaxinamadeena Wanaagasan) ee uu qoray Sh,Mustafe Subaaci

2-      Kitaabka (Nolosha gabadha Muslinka ah) ee  Wahbi Sulayman

3-      Kitaabka (Nolosha gabadha iyo shareecadda) ee Sh.Yuusuf C/laahi Al-Daqfaq

Nolosha fiican ee gabadha wanaagsan ee soo saaraysa faca tarbiyada iyo akhlaaqda leh oo waxtarka u leh bulshada mustaqbalka dhow, kuma imanayso iyadoo la raac raaco tilaamaha ay bixinayaan kuwo iyaba ay burburtay qoyskoodi iyo dareenkii ruuxiga ahaa ee gabadhihii ay dhaleen, kuwii dhalay iyo kuwii u dhaxayba. Kuwaasi oo ku niyad jabay hortooda,  oo aan helin dariiqa badbaadada nolosha.

La soco..

Wa Bilaahi tawfiiq

The curious tale of the world-beating Somali shilling

by Ron Derby

High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article.

Here’s a pecuniary peculiarity to rival Bitcoin – the world strongest currency over the past 12 months belongs to a small, war-torn African state without foreign currency reserves or any discernible monetary policy and a central bank of only three years’ standing.

Yet the Somali shilling, Somalia’s official currency, has overcome such disadvantages to appreciate against the US dollar by just under 60 per cent since March last year, becoming the strongest among global 175 currencies tracked by Bloomberg. Its surge has been so pronounced that the second most robust currency over the same period – the Icelandic Krona – could only manage a measly 10.2 per cent rise.

High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article.

Source: Thomson Reuters

So what lies behind the shilling’s gravity-defying performance?

Improving security over the past year has encouraged native Somalis to return to the country, bringing foreign currency with them, said Ben Payton, senior Africa analyst at London-based risk analysis company Maplecroft.

Somalia is recovering from decades of civil war and also faces an Islamist insurgency from al-Qaeda-linked jihadis who mount regular attacks on the capital and claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack on a Nairobi shopping mall in October last year.

Donors have pledged billions of dollars to help secure and rebuild Somalia at recent conferences in the hope that it can make good on recent military gains against the militants.

The inflows and modest levels of foreign investment have been largely responsible for the appreciation of the Somali shilling, Payton said.

“As a result, the supply of US dollars in relation to the Somali shilling has increased. With shillings in comparatively short supply, the value of the currency has appreciated.”

The shilling’s story stands in sharp contrast to the weakness of many other emerging market currencies hit by the US Federal Reserve’s unwinding of monetary stimulus since the start of this year.

On Wednesday, the Fed continued on this path, announcing that it will reduce its monthly purchases of Treasury and mortgage-backed securities to $55bn from $65bn because of confidence that the four-year-old US recovery is becoming self-sustatining. In addition, Janet Yellen, the new chairwoman, appeared to suggest the Fed may start raising interest rates.

The appreciation of the Somali Shilling is an anomaly as remittances (hawalas) from abroad constitute the economic lifeline for many of its people. These are mostly received in dollars, with some then converted into local currency.

As the rates between the dollar and the shilling are determined by black market traders, “there are considerable variations in the rates offered by different operators,” Payton said.

Somalia’s central bank was re-established in 2011, but remains powerless to set monetary policy in the country situated in the horn of Africa and it isn’t backed by any hard currency reserves.

One of the strategic goals of the Somali Central Bank’s five-year strategic plan from 2013-2018 released in August was to expand its monetary instruments including the introduction of new currency.

“…this is not likely to be feasible for the foreseeable future, as the embryonic federal government would have difficulty in rolling out a new currency across the country, given that large areas are still outside its control,” Payton says.

Source: ft.com

Telecoms contractor could be called to account for drone deaths

By Mark Ballard 

Telecoms supplier BT could be asked to account for drone attacks in Yemen and Somalia after connecting a fibre-optic cable to a US military base conducting the strikes.

The revelation comes from a high-level review of a complaint that the £23m BT communications line supported drone missions that had accidentally killed between 426 and 1005 civilians in the last decade in the course of strikes on suspected insurgents, according to estimates of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

Officials at the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills threw the complaint out last October, saying there was no evidence to say whether the comms line supported the drone attacks or not.

A review of the decision has since raised the prospect that BT could be asked to gather evidence to answer the question itself.

The big question - whether the fibre-optic cable is infrastructure used in drone strikes critics say are illegal - remains unanswered.

Legal charity Reprieve used an international agreement on corporate ethics, called the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, to complain that BT should never have taken the contract because it obvious what the cable was for.

But the only evidence BIS had to go on was due diligence BT did to satisfy the OECD guidelines when it took the contract in 2012. BT's due diligence ignored the drone controversy. BIS said it therefore didn't know and couldn't say.

The review, published at the end of February, said companies shouldn't get away with glossing over controversies in their due diligence. They shoudn't turn a blind eye when they took on a customer with a bad reputation. They should ask awkward questions and address them specifically in their due diligence.

BT had done only general due diligence when it took out its contract with the US Defense Information Systems Agency on 26 September 2012.

Now the review, though indirect, has turned the spotlight back on BT.

BT refused to comment on the review's conclusion.

Wise monkey

It denied knowledge of drone strikes. It also tried to portray the fibre-optic line, which it laid between the US military intelligence communications hub at RAF Croughton, Northamptonshire, and Camp Lemonnier, the base in Djibouti, North-East Africa, that launches the drone strikes, as a civilian cable not suitable for military applications.

"BT can categorically state that the communications system mentioned in Reprieve's complaint is a general purpose fibre-optic system.

"It has not been specifically designed or adapted by BT for military purposes, including drone strikes," said the statement.

"[It] could be used at the base for a wide range of day-to-day activities, such as general housekeeping/internet browsing, email, communications, stores ordering, data functions and voice communications," said a BT spokesman in an email. He refused to rule out the possibility that it might serve a military function.

Neither BT nor BIS would release the due diligence BT had done. As a system of self-regulation, the OECD rules left it to those best placed to ask and answer the awkward questions, and to allay public concerns that they conducted their business ethically. But it did not allow the public to see the deliberations. Only officials could see the due diligence. The due diligence failed. The officials rubber stamped it even after the complaint.

Could try harder

BIS should clarify its position on how companies should address awkward questions in their due diligence, said the report, written by legal experts Jeremy Carver, a lawyer at Clifford Chance who advised Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble on the Northern Ireland peace process, Peter Astrella, head of corporate policy for UK Trade and Investment, and Daniel Leader, who has fought cases over rendition, torture and death of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay and Iraq.

BIS refused to say whether it would do this or not.

The report said general due diligence was not good enough when there was an obvious controversy - what it called a foreseeable, heightened risk that the contract would relate even indirectly to a human rights abuse.

Sheldon Leader, director of the Essex University Business and Human Rights Project and an advisor to the Law Society, said the OECD guidelines were clear on this point and companies were already required to address specific, foreseeable risks in their due diligence.

It would therefore be possible to bring a complaint against BT for not addressing the foreseeable human rights risks of the DISA contract when it did its due diligence in 2012. BT could meanwhile be held liable for civil damages if a specific link could be established between its comms line and drone attacks that have killed civilians.

The professor, an expert on the OECD rules and father of BIS review committee member Daniel, said BT's position that a comms supplier is not liable for what someone does with its services did not stand up when it came to potential human rights abuses.

"If I have a dangerous swimming pool, I don't intend anybody to misuse it, but I don't pay enough attention to the fact that someone could misuse it, then I'm responsible.

"The fact that BT put out a platform that is able to be misused is certainly something that could get the attention of the courts," he said.

Awkward questions

The complex context of the US base in Djibouti make concerned, civil observers more reliant on those involved to clarify the ethical questions and either reconcile their consciences with the conflict or, as the OECD rules say should be done, use their commercial influence to "prevent or mitigate" wrongdoing.

The drone strikes had been a matter of public controversy, particularly in the US, in the year BT took the contract. BT admitted it was aware of the controversy. The big question it refused to face, and which raged while BT was bidding for the work, was whether it was legal at all.

Critics said the strikes were illegal and constituted inhumane summary executions. These intelligence-led "targeted killings" of suspected terrorists, without trial, in areas outside official war zones had eliminated between about 2,800 and 4,400 people in three brawling states over the course of a decade, according to Bureau estimates.

The death statistics were drawn from a decade when the US War on Terror, in whose name they were first conducted, was refashioned into a more general mission to support fragile African and Asian governments against armed insurgents, with an emphasis on local military partnerships, medical intervention and construction projects. The drone attacks nevertheless had the trappings of war without being formally, legally-declared war. The US insisted it worked in collaboration with governments fighting violent uprisings, and the consequence of a ground-led counter-insurgency would have been many more casualties and a runaway escalation of violence. But its rules of engagement permitted strikes where local governments were unwilling or unable to co-operate. The White House press office would not say when it acted alone.

Those it executed were suspected to be the sort of terrorists who killed 74 people in Westgate shopping mall, Nairobi, in September. Critics said drone attacks would make things worse. The public outcry nevertheless grew loud enough last year for US President Barack Obama to appoint a committee of US judges to vet them.

Ongoing Bureau investigations reported between 17 and 26 civilians killed by US drone strikes in Yemen last year. The country has been fighting an al-Qaeda-led armed uprising with US support, but one derived from a long-standing North-South religious, economic and political division with colonial roots and a recent history of war.

Reported civilian casualties dropped to nil in Pakistan, where the number of strikes was cut right back. But Military drones strikes and civilian deaths have been ongoing in Afghanistan and Yemen, the UN reported last month, while the questions of their legality has still not been settled under international law.

Source: computerweekly.com

Encircling Somalia

The Obama administration’s strategy for countering al-Qaeda’s affiliate in war-torn Somalia is to train and finance African peacekeeping forces, strengthen security alliances with other countries in East Africa, and conduct drone missions from bases to the north, east and west.

Source: Staff reports. Graphic by the Washington Post. Published on November 24, 2011, 6:25 p.m.

Ayax Tiro Badan Oo Ka Soo Guuray Dhinaca Waqooyiga Ayaa Ku Habsaday Deegaanka Fiqi Aadan iyo Waraqa-dhigta Ee Gobolada Awdal iyo Salal.

Borama - Waxaana La sheegayaa In ayaxaas uu dul fadhistay aqal soomaaligii iyo geedihi isla markaasina uu ayaxaas uu u cunayo marooyinkii saarnaa aqal soomaaliga.

Sida uu shabakadu uu xaqiijiyey madaxa Mch Ee Fiqi Aadan Dr.Maxamed Cumar Warsame isaga oo ka hadlaya Arimaha Ayaxana Waxa Uu Yidhi “ Ayaxani Wuxuuu Wataa Dacawooyin tiro Badan Oo isaga Cunaya Isla markaasina waxa ay soo dhex galeen gudihii Magaalada.”

Waxa Uuna Intaasi Uu Si Raaciyey In ayaxan Tiro Badnidiisu uu naga Qariyey Iftiinkii Cadceeda Iyo Cirkii Dul Heehaabaya Deegaanka.

Dr.Maxamed Waxa Uu Ka Dayriyey Xalada Xaalufinta Deegaanka Iyo Dhibatada Ayaxaas Uu Ku Keenayo Dhul Daqsimeedkii Iyo Dhirtaba Sida Awgeed Waxa Uu Talo Ahaan Ku soo Jeedinaya In ay Dhibatada Ayaxaas Looga Soo Gurmado Deegaanadaas.

Sidoo Kalena Waxa Ayaxan Laga Soo sheegaya Maalmahan Danbe Deeganada Waraqa Dhigta,Midhidh,Cali Xaydh Iyo Deegaanada Ku Teetsan Sidaasna Waxa Noo Xaqiijiyey Xildhibaan Juube iyo Xildhibaan Baadmaax oo ka mida Xildhibanada Golaha Deegaanka Degmada Lughaya.

Waxa ay Xildhibanadu ay sheegeen In uu Ayaxu Faro Ba’an Uu Ku Hayo Beeralayda Deegaanada Ku Teetsan Waraqa Dhigta.

Waxa Xusid Mudan In Wasaarada Beeraha Somaliland ay bishan Horaanteedi ay hawl Lagu Tirtirayo Ayaxa Ay Ka samaysay Deegaanadaasi Balse Ayaxani Awood ka balaadhan Taasi Oo Gurmad ah Loo Soo Sameeyo Si Wax Looga Qabto Ayaxan Dhibta Ku Haya Deegaanadaas.

Germany to Participate in EU Somalia Mission

BERLIN March 19, 2014 (AGermany will contribute soldiers to a European Union-led military training mission in Somalia — overcoming its previous reluctance to send troops to the East African country.

Government spokesman Steffen Seibert said Chancellor Angela Merkel's Cabinet decided Wednesday to commit up to 20 soldiers to the mission. The move needs parliamentary approval, which it is expected to receive.

The EU mission moved to the Somali capital, Mogadishu, in December. It was launched in Uganda in 2010 and Germany participated in training there, but initially wouldn't send soldiers to Somalia itself because of security concerns.

Germany has been cautiously moving toward a more active foreign policy role under Merkel's new coalition government, which took office in December.

Somalia: Puntland is for Pirates and Somaliland is for .....!!!???

Why are convicted high-seas bandits being sent to the Somali region that profits from their crimes?

Photo: MOHAMED DAHIR/AFP/Getty Images

BY JILLIAN KEENAN

HARGEISA, Somaliland — Mowlid Ahmed Abidoon stands quietly in the small prison cell where he has lived for nearly two years. Slot windows on one wall let in only a little sunlight, leaving his face almost entirely obscured in darkness. Yet there are splashes of color all around: The room's bunk beds are covered in sheets with bright floral and geometric patterns, over which hang canopies of blue mosquito nets -- cells within the cell.

Clad in a striped polo shirt and prison-uniform pants, Mowlid estimates that he is about 20 years old; the last traces of baby fat still cling to his cheeks. He insists that he shouldn't be behind bars. "I'm a fisherman, not a pirate," he says flatly, as though he has delivered this speech a hundred times before.

Court documents from Seychelles say otherwise. On Dec. 6, 2009, Mowlid and a band of fellow Somali pirates used firearms and explosives to attack the Topaz, a Seychelles Coast Guard patrol vessel. (Seychelles, an island nation, is about 825 miles southeast of Mogadishu, Somalia's coastal capital.) They were arrested, convicted, and sentenced to 24 years in prison.

That's how Mowlid ended up in Hargeisa Central Prison, home to 29 Somali pirates. The prison was born of necessity. Pirates are often tried in countries like Seychelles and Mauritius, in whose waters they are caught, but those states don't want to keep the convicted in their jails. The Somali government can't reasonably take them, given its extreme volatility. Yet one place has been eager to house pirates: Somaliland, a self-declared independent (but internationally unrecognized) republic in northern Somalia that wants to prove its state-like qualities and relative security in the tumultuous Horn of Africa.

So the United Nations invested millions of dollars to build a prison in Hargeisa, Somaliland's capital. Opened in 2010 and run by local authorities, it was the first new prison in the region in 30 years.

Today, outside the prison's main entrance, a sign warns visitors what they cannot bring with them: hand grenades, knives, assault rifles. Inside, inmates compete against guards in basketball, while feral kittens roam the dusty grounds. In the prison's open kitchen, a huge pot of stew bubbles over a fire. Aside from spirals of barbed wire and armed guards atop open towers, there isn't much obvious security.

Beneath the veneer of calm, however, the prison is nearing capacity. The facility can hold 506 prisoners, and it already has 480. (Pirates are housed alongside other criminals.) Mowlid, like many inmates, shares his cell with nine other men. Meanwhile, some 1,350 pirates currently incarcerated abroad await repatriation to Somalia. It's clear that neither Hargeisa nor Somaliland generally will be able -- or even willing -- to take them all.

The solution, according to the international community, lies in another autonomous region in Somalia: Puntland, which encompasses the country's northeastern coastline. The U.N. provided funding to upgrade and expand a prison in the port city of Bosaso, and, as of press time, another U.N.-backed facility was scheduled to open in Garowe, Puntland's capital, in February 2014. But Puntland isn't Somaliland. It is a less stable and more corrupt place. Perhaps most worrying, however, is that it's also considered the heart of Somalia's pirate culture.

"Puntland is pirate land,"explains Michael Frodl, the founder of C-Level Maritime Risks, a Washington-based consultancy. "If I were a Somali pirate, I'd do everything I could to get sent to Garowe."

PIRACY BEGAN SPREADING rapidly in the waters off Somalia in the early 21st century because of civil war and poverty -- offering a chance to make money amid an economic wasteland of opportunity. In a typical operation, pirates armed with guns and other weapons approach commercial ships in skiffs, hijack them, and demand a ransom, a chunk of which they often pay to wily financiers. But even if Somali pirates can be considered products of circumstance, some have also become torturers and murderers: Freed hostages have reported pirates hanging captives by their feet, submerging them at sea, staging mock executions, and locking them in freezers.

Reports of appalling violence, along with hundreds of millions of dollars in losses to shipping companies, have prompted the international community to focus on repressing, arresting, and prosecuting Somali pirates. In 2008, the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution calling on countries with ships in the region to use military force against pirates. NATO and the European Union (among others) police the Indian Ocean, and private, foreign-funded security operations have also joined the fight. Meanwhile, shipping companies have fortified their vessels to repel attacks, using everything from armed guards to razor wire.

Their efforts have worked. There were only 15 reported attacks in 2013, according to the International Chamber of Commerce, down sharply from a peak of 237 in 2011. Analysts around the world have touted the drop as a huge success.

But while the most visible manifestations of piracy have diminished, the root causes of the phenomenon remain unaddressed back on dry land. Amid continuing political and economic instability, organized gangs of pirates still exist, looking for susceptible targets, and a new generation of young men like Mowlid could easily turn to a life of maritime crime. Indeed, according to a 2013 World Bank report, "Current and proposed onshore or offshore policies for curbing Somali piracy are either ineffective or unsustainable." As a result, the report states, "whether they [pirate attacks] will continue to be suppressed is a major question." Similarly, Jon Huggins of the nonprofit Oceans Beyond Piracy, has called the recent gains against pirates "fragile and reversible" and has warned against "emphasiz[ing] too much the declining numbers of attacks."

"The prisons in Somaliland and Puntland, in other words, are part of a security solution to a problem that is, at its heart, economic and political -- a worrying mismatch."

The prisons in Somaliland and Puntland, in other words, are part of a security solution to a problem that is, at its heart, economic and political -- a worrying mismatch. Ending piracy once and for all will require more than military might on the high seas and the threat of incarceration. According to the World Bank, it will require incentivizing -- through both law enforcement and development initiatives -- the local leaders enabling piracy to change their tune. Then there is the matter of jobs. "Ultimately, we need to get these Somali men, often youth, quality employment," says Michael Shank, an adjunct professor and Somalia expert at George Mason University's School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution. The U.N. Development Program has pegged the unemployment rate for Somali youth between the ages of 14 and 29 at 67 percent -- one of the world's highest.

Pirate prisons alone certainly cannot address this problem. Although inmates can complete training programs in trades like construction, metalworking, and plumbing in the Hargeisa and Bosaso facilities, it's unlikely they will be able to use their newfound skills upon release. Even fishing jobs are largely out of reach. Shank explains that, in addition to "ransom pirates," there are "resource pirates." The latter, however, aren't Somalis. They are foreign fleets that threaten East Africa's waters with overfishing and toxic-waste dumping, making it impossible for many Somali men to make money the way their fathers and grandfathers did. "To put the problem of piracy in perspective, ransom pirates made $60 million in their most lucrative year, while commercial-resource pirates illegally harvest up to $450 million in fish annually," says Shank. "Any sustainable solution for this problem, then, must address this exploitation."

Ironically, pirate prisons may also be generating new security risks. Pirates in Hargeisa and Bosaso are held in the same facilities as members of al-Shabab, the Somali terrorist group with ties to al Qaeda, and juveniles are housed alongside adults. That means there's a very real risk that impressionable, disillusioned young men could be radicalized -- young men like Mowlid, who, if his estimated age is correct, was only about 16 when he and his friends attacked the Topaz. "I don't see any future," Mowlid says of his life.

John Wilcox, a prison advisor for Somaliland with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), says roughly 12 of the Hargeisa prison's inmates are members of al-Shabab. There is a covert prison intelligence program in place to ward off radicalization, but Wilcox still worries that the facility could become a breeding ground for extremists. "A lot of these guys don't have father figures," he says, alluding to another socioeconomic problem in Somalia: the disintegration of clan and family structures because of conflict and hardship. "And with al-Shabab in here, we certainly don't want this to be the place where they find one."

Radicalization might be less of a concern if prison inmates were certain to remain behind bars. But in November 2013, Bosaso's prison was attacked by al-Shabab militants carrying at least one rocket-propelled grenade; they killed three people as they sought to liberate fellow extremists from their cells. The UNODC was quick to point out that, had it not been for its recent investments in Bosaso, the attack could have been worse. "However, we cannot close our eyes to possible attacks," says Manuel de Almeida Pereira, a program coordinator with the UNODC in Garowe. "We remain, of course, worried."

It's not just al-Shabab that threatens the prisons' security: Puntland has a reputation for tolerating and even enabling piracy. Although Puntland's former president, Abdirahman Farole -- in office from 2009 until January 2014 -- made repeated public pledges and some concrete efforts to undermine, arrest, and convict pirates, a 2012 report by the U.N. Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea called into question "[t]he authenticity of the Puntland authority's commitment to fighting piracy." Gangs have reportedly paid off local communities in order to dock hijacked ships in Puntland's coastal cities during ransom negotiations, and Puntland government officials have been known to receive pirate money in exchange for protection agreements and information about the location of foreign ships. A 2012 Chatham House study also found that ransom money contributes heavily to the region's economic development, particularly in provincial capitals. "Puntland's political elites are therefore unlikely to move decisively against piracy," the report concluded.

The decision to invest in greater detention capacity in Puntland -- like Somaliland before it -- was due largely to a lack of alternatives. (It didn't help that, due to an ongoing border dispute, Somaliland has refused to imprison pirates born in Puntland, saying it must deal with its own problems.) But the large-scale transfer of pirate prisoners from abroad hardly seems like a safe solution. Pirates have had success bribing their way out of custody throughout Somalia. The U.N. is working to ensure that prisoners are not unlawfully released from the facilities it funds, but some experts are worried that pirates may still slip through the cracks in Puntland.

"Pirates are basically being sheltered by the regime in exchange for protection money," Frodl, the maritime risk consultant, says. "Those jails might hold a few foot soldiers, but if you tried to incarcerate any high-level pirates in Puntland, they'd buy their way out in a week."

MOWLID, WHO GREW UP IN THE TOWN OF Barawe, south of Mogadishu, perks up slightly when asked about the Puntland prisons. Puntland might be better, he agrees. In Somaliland, he has never been able to have a visitor, and he misses his family. Puntland would be closer to home.

A few of his fellow inmates nod. A transfer might be nice.

But that's not what they really want to talk about. As the minutes pass, they shift in their seats, ignoring the bottles of fruit juice and water a prison guard has passed around.

"How can you help us?" demands Ares Isse Karshe, a 40-year-old pirate who was captured with Mowlid. He has a thin, ragged beard with hints of gray. When I explain that I can't help him, he leans back in his chair and says nothing.

Across the room, Mowlid is willing to speak -- but only a little. He claims once more that he is innocent and that his right to a fair trial was violated.

"Please leave us alone," Mowlid says finally, looking down. "We give up the sea. It belongs to you now." His fingers have curled into fists.

Source: foreignpolicy.com