Somalis using fake passports on Turkish airline

By ABDI GULED — Associated Press

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somalis aided by human traffickers are using fake passports to board the Mogadishu-to-Istanbul flight as a way to flee to Europe, a Somali official and Turkish Airlines said.

Turkish Airline last year became the first international airline to fly direct to Mogadishu after two decades of conflict isolated the East African nation. Somalia's government said that Somali asylum seekers are using fake passports that belong to Somali-Europeans smuggling networks to get to Europe by flying out of the country on Turkish Airlines.

"After the city got some stability, human traffickers returned with scams," said Gen. Abdullahi Gafow Mohamud, Somalia's immigration and naturalization department chief. "The problem increased when Turkish Airlines started operating here. Somalis in Europe are increasingly using fake passports to smuggle people illegally into Europe."

Mohamud said Somali officials caught three people using fake passports last week. He accused Somalis in Europe of being part of the scam. Residents in Somalia pay thousands of dollars for the use of the false passports.

"They look for people with similar features, so that they give their passports to them to assist the person to get to Europe unnoticed. We can't ignore it anymore," he said.

Mohamud showed reporters bundles of fake passports he said were used by human traffickers.

Turkish Airlines confirmed that such scams are happening. Merve Oruc, a spokesman for the airline, said in an email that the airline is experiencing "some problems" with fake passports.

"And because of it, (the) visa department of our subsidiary, Turkish Ground Services, goes to Mogadishu for each flight and works together there with Immigration Office," Oruc wrote.

The Somali government is concerned the smuggling scams could lead to the stoppage of the Istanbul-Mogadishu flight. Oruc said the airline has no plans to discontinue the flight.

Since African Union forces ousted al-Shabab fighters from Mogadishu about 18 months ago, a relative peace has returned to the war-battered city, creating a new sense of hope and opportunity in the seaside city.

At the height of violence in Somalia thousands of Somalis fled across the Gulf of Aden into Yemen ever year and dozens perished at sea while trying to cross the Red Sea in rickety boats. Despite the new, relative peace, many Somalis are still trying to flee to Europe or North America.

Human traffickers are banking on the relatively weak Somali passport security to pass through the system unnoticed. World governments rarely grant visas to Somali passport holders, leading many Somalis to believe that an illegal human trafficking route is their only way to get to Europe.

Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2013/02/22/2462013/somalis-using-fake-passports-on.html#storylink=cpy

Four Somalis in U.S. found guilty of supporting terrorists back home

By Ben Brumfield, CNN

                                                  STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• San Diego jury convicts four Somalis after hearing recorded phone calls with terror leader

• Federal agents record dozens of calls over months

• Prosecutor: They talked about "bullets, bombings and Jihad"

• The defendants said the conversations were about charity for orphans

(CNN) -- A Somali terror leader implored his fellow countryman in California to send money 'to finance jihad," triggering a chain of events that ended with four convictions.

U.S. government agents recorded dozens of such calls a few years ago, according to the Department of Justice.

And on Friday, a jury found four Somali nationals guilty of supporting terrorism in their native country.

The verdict came after prosecutors played the recordings to jurors in a San Diego federal court during weeks of trial.

The four, who included an imam and a cab driver, had raised $10,000 and wired it to the Islamist terrorist group Al-Shabaab, according to the original indictment.

Cab driver Basaaly Saeed Moalin had many phone conversations with former Al-Shabaab leader Aden Hashi Ayrow, before a U.S. missile strike ended the latter's life in May 2008.

Investigators from the FBI, Homeland Security and a San Diego anti-terror agency recorded dozens of them.

Federal prosecutors filed charges in November 2011. The group pleaded not guilty. But the recordings convinced the jurors otherwise.

Read the case file (pdf)

The money wasn't coming fast enough for Ayrow, who implored Moalin in at least one recorded call to hurry it up. "You are running late with the stuff," Ayrow told him. "Send some, and something will happen."

Ayrow pushed the cab driver to get his local imam to come up with some funds. Mohamed Mohamed Mohamud ran the City Heights mosque in San Diego, which many in the Somali community attended.

Together with a second cab driver, Ahmed Nasiri Taalil Mohamud, and an employee at a money transfer company, Issa Doreh, they raised the cash and wired it to Al-Shabaab , the Justice Department said.

It wasn't the only favor Moalin did for the terror group.

Moalin had kept a house in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, one of the world's most embattled cities at the time. He offered to let the terrorists use it, the Department of Justice said.

"After you bury your stuff deep in the ground, you would, then, plant trees on top," Moalin told Ayrow in a recorded conversation. Prosecutors argued he was "offering a place to hide weapons."

For months, they talked about "bullets, bombing and Jihad," said U. S. Attorney Laura E. Duffy. After hearing the recordings, the jury no longer bought the defendants' explanation that they "were actually conversations about their charitable efforts for orphans and schools," she said.

Sentencing is scheduled for May 16.

Al-Shabaab is one of about 50 groups that have been designated by the State Department as foreign terrorist organizations.

The Islamist extremists have been waging a war against Somalia's government in an effort to implement a stricter form of Islamic law, or sharia.

In recent years, Somali and African Union troops, who have received funding from the U.S. government, have won many battles against the terror group, pushing it back to a handful of strongholds.

For more than 20 years, Somalia did not have a stable government, and fighting between the rebels and government troops added to the impoverished east African nation's humanitarian crisis.

In January, the United States granted official recognition to the Somali government in Mogadishu.

EXCITING NEWS: First Head of State Ever on Trial before the International Criminal Court

Laurent Gbagbo, former Ivorian leader

When former Ivorian leader Laurent Gbagbo stepped into court on Tuesday, he became the first former head of state ever to appear before the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Gbagbo faces hearings on charges that include four counts of crimes against humanity, including responsibility for mass murder and rape, allegedly committed during post-electoral violence in the territory of Côte d’Ivoire in 2010 and 2011.

Click here to read Alpha Sesay, our legal officer in The Hague, who looks at the issue of the credibility of the International Criminal Court at this critical moment.

Against this background, it is extremely important for the court to get it right in the Gbagbo case.

As with the trial of Charles Taylor at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, credible proceedings in Gbagbo’s case will reaffirm that leaders, however powerful, can be brought to account if they are accused of being involved in the commission of serious crimes.

Gbagbo is only one of three former heads of state to become a subject of an ICC arrest warrant and proceedings (see our briefing paper on the background to the case here). The court issued arrest warrants for Sudan’s Omar Al-Bashir in 2009, and for Muammar Qaddafi, then president of Libya, in 2011. With Al-Bashir yet to be arrested and Qaddafi killed by a Libyan mob, Gbagbo became the first head of state to be brought into the court’s custody.

The proceedings against Gbagbo come at an important stage in the development of the ICC, which has now been in existence for 10 years, and which now has a new team of prosecutors, led by Fatou Bensouda. The court is also reviewing its performance during its first decade, which produced only two verdicts: one of them a conviction following a trial that was marked by missteps, the other an acquittal.

In its first case, that of Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, judges threatened to release the accused on two different occasions. He was eventually convicted and sentenced to a 14-year jail term. Another Congolese warlord Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui was recently acquitted and released, after a trial that lasted three years.

Other prosecutions have also faced challenges. In early 2012, judges confirmed charges against only four out of six prominent Kenyans, including the country’s deputy prime minister and current presidential candidate Uhuru Kenyatta. Several challenges have delayed the commencement of trials for two warlords from Darfur; former Congolese Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba’s trial is still in progress.

Against this background, it is extremely important for the court to get it right in the Gbagbo case, which brings with it its own challenges.

So far, only one faction in the Ivorian conflict (Gbagbo and his wife) have become subjects of ICC arrest warrants. However, Human Rights Watch (HRW) documented massacres and atrocities carried out by the forces of current President Alassane Ouattara in March, 2011, in the campaign that eventually led to Gbagbo being pushed out of power with the assistance of the French military. These atrocities included a massacre in western town of Duékoué, where HRW says “pro-Ouattara forces committed horrific abuses, killing several hundred people.” These abuses have yet to be properly investigated or prosecuted in Ivory Coast.

The court’s previous prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, indicated publicly that his office was investigating all sides to the conflict, and that arrest warrants would be issued in a sequential order. This, he explained, meant going after different factions and individuals at different times. While there might be legitimate reasons for applying sequencing in the Ivory Coast situation, such an open-ended sequencing, coupled with a failure to effectively explain this process to affected communities in Ivory Coast, will create the perception that the court’s investigations are one-sided.

This criticism is one that the court must work to avoid.

The new prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, has indicated on numerous occasions that she will only be led by the evidence. Beyond Laurent and Simone Gbagbo, if her investigations lead her to others who are alleged to have been involved in the commission of serious crimes, irrespective of the sides they took in the conflict, they must be made to account for their actions before a credible judicial process. The prosecutor should only be prevented in this regard if there are credible efforts to ensure there is accountability at the domestic level.

As with the trial of Charles Taylor at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, credible proceedings in Gbagbo’s case will reaffirm that leaders, however powerful, can be brought to account if they are accused of being involved in the commission of serious crimes.

Vatican blasts 'false' media reports ahead of pope election

The Vatican is lashing out at the media for what it says has been a run of defamatory and false reports -- which center around corruption within the Catholic Church -- before the conclave to elect Pope Benedict XVI's successor.

Italian newspapers have been rife with unsourced reports in recent days about the contents of a secret dossier prepared for the pope by three cardinals who investigated the origins of the 2012 scandal over leaked Vatican documents.

The reports have suggested the revelations in the dossier, given to Benedict in December, were a factor in his decision to resign. The pope himself has said merely that he doesn't have the "strength of mind and body" to carry on and would resign Feb. 28.

La Repubblica, a top Italian newspaper, reported that Pope Benedict XVI decided to resign on Dec. 17 -- the day he received the dossier from the cardinals.

The cardinals investigating the leak questioned dozens of Vatican officials and concluded that those at the top of the church were corrupted by rival factions, the New York Post reports.

“Everything revolves around the non-observance of the Sixth and Seventh Commandments,” the report said, according to La Repubblica.

The reference to “Thou shall not steal” refers to alleged pilfering of the Vatican bank, while “Thou shall not commit adultery” refers to homosexuality, the New York Post reports, citing La Repubblica's report.

Italian news weekly Panorama claimed gay encounters involving one faction took place at a Roman sauna, the New York Post reports.

The Vatican says the reports are an attempt to influence the election.

On Saturday, a day before Benedict's final Sunday blessing in St. Peter's Square, the Vatican secretariat of state said the Catholic Church has for centuries insisted on the independence of its cardinals to freely elect their pope — a reference to episodes in the past when kings and emperors vetoed papal contenders or prevented cardinals from voting outright.

"If in the past, the so-called powers, i.e., States, exerted pressures on the election of the pope, today there is an attempt to do this through public opinion that is often based on judgments that do not typically capture the spiritual aspect of the moment that the church is living," the statement said.

"It is deplorable that as we draw closer to the time of the beginning of the conclave ... that there be a widespread distribution of often unverified, unverifiable or completely false news stories that cause serious damage to persons and institutions."

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi was asked how specifically the media was trying to influence the outcome; Lombardi didn't respond directly, saying only that the reports have tended to paint the Curia in a negative light "beyond the considerations and serene evaluations" of problems that cardinals might discuss before the conclave.

Some Vatican watchers have speculated that because the Vatican bureaucracy is heavily Italian, cardinals might be persuaded to elect a non-Italian, non-Vatican-based cardinal as pope to try to impose some reform on the Curia.

While Lombardi has said the reports "do not correspond to reality," the pope and some of his closest collaborators have recently denounced the dysfunction in the Apostolic Palace.

Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, for example, criticized the "divisions, dissent, careerism, jealousies" that afflict the Vatican bureaucracy. He made the comments Friday, the penultimate day of the Vatican's weeklong spiritual exercises that were attended by the pope and other officials. Ravasi, himself a papal contender, was chosen by Benedict to deliver daily meditations and on Saturday Benedict praised him for his "brilliant" work.

The divisions Ravasi spoke of were exposed by the documents taken from the pope's study by his butler and then leaked by a journalist. The documents revealed the petty wrangling, corruption and cronyism and even allegations of a gay plot at the highest levels of the Catholic Church.

The three cardinals who investigated the theft had wide-ranging powers to interview even cardinals to get to the bottom of the dynamics within the Curia that resulted in the gravest Vatican security breach in modern times.

Benedict too has made reference to the divisions in recent days, deploring in his final Mass as pope on Ash Wednesday how the church is often "defiled" by attacks and divisions from within. Last Sunday, he urged its members to overcome "pride and egoism."

On Saturday, in his final comments to the Curia, Benedict lamented the "evil, suffering and corruption" that have defaced God's creation. But he also thanked the Vatican bureaucrats for having helped him "bear the burden" of his ministry with their work, love and faith these past eight years.

The Vatican's attack on the media echoed its response to previous scandals, where it has tended not to address the underlying content of accusations, but has diverted attention away. During the 2010 explosion of sex abuse scandals, the Vatican accused the media of trying to attack the pope; during the 2012 leaks scandal, it accused the media of sensationalism without addressing the content of the leaked documents.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Ethiopia: Ericsson launches school broadband project

Global telecommunication services operator Ericsson has launched a new school broadband project in Ethiopia aimed at boosting Internet services for local schools in an effort to increase infrastructure and services for the younger generation.

Ericsson has launched a new school broadband project in Ethiopia aimed at boosting Internet services for local schools. (Image: File)

It said that it will bring “voice and data communications to the Millennium Village Project (MVP) in Koraro in a remote part of northern Ethiopia as a way of increasing understanding and access to Internet for schools. With access to 3G connectivity more than 4,000 students and their teachers at two schools involved in the Connect To Learn initiative will now have access to modern learning and teaching resources through Ericsson’s cloud-computing platform,” Ericsson said in a statement released on Thursday.
“In addition, community health workers in the Millennium Villages will be using mobile phones provided by Sony Mobile and broadband access provided by Ericsson to deliver healthcare services to households and collect health information for improved monitoring,” it added.

Ethiopia’s government has been pushing forward on Internet services and broadband efforts across the country and sees schools as the future of this process.

The company added that the project includes netbooks and wireless terminals to facilitate access to online educational resources, as well as ICT skills training.

"Waxay Doonayaan Inay Nagu Shaanbadeeyaan Inaanu Ka Tirsanahay Al-shabaab" Hooyo Mako Axmed Oo Dhashay Wiil u xidhan Ciidamada Sirdoonka Somaliland

Hargeysa - Qoyska Caaqil Ibraahim Axmed Cabdi ayaa si weyn uga cawday tacaddi soo noqnoday oo ay sheegeen inay ku hayaan ciidamadda Sirdoonka Somaliland, taas oo ka danbaysay kadib markii habeen hore laga xidhay Axmed Ibraahim Axmed (Darmaan), oo ah wiil dhalinyaro ah, kaas oo ay sheegeen in ciidamada sirdoonka  Somaliland ka dhex qafaasheen suuqa Hargeysa caweyskii fiidnimo, Islamarkaana loo geystayJidh-dil.

Qoyska ayaa sheegay in wiilkaa hore ay ciidanka sirdoonku u xidheen kadib markii ay goor saqdhexe gurrigoodda ugu daateen oo ay halkaa ka kaxaysteen Axmed Darmaan iyo dhawr dhalinyaro ah oo qaarkood  muddo u xidhnaayeen sabab aan illaa immika la garanayn, balse ugu danbayntii lasoo daayay.

Shir jaraaíd oo ay si wada jir ah u qabteen Mako oo ah Hooyadda dhashay Axmed Ibraahim Darmaan  iyo guddoomiyaha Wargeyska saxafi Cabdifataax  Dheeg Axmed  oo ka mid ah qoyskaa waxay ku sheegeen in ay ka cabanayaan  tacaddiyo  xadgudubyo soo noqnoqday iyo cago juglayn sida ay sheegeen  ay ku hayaan ciidamada sirdoonku, kuwaas oo sida ay xuseen baryahan dambe sii kordhayay marba marka ka danbeysa.

Hooyo Mako Axmed  Warsame waxa ay hadalkeedda ku bilowday sidan; “Muddo imika laga joogo laba bilood ayay noo soo daateen ciidanka sirdoonku anaga oo hurudna, waxaanay nagu rideen rasaas, waxaanay dhammaan jajabiyeen alaabtii guriga taalay ,waxaanay habeenkaa guriga ka kaxaysteen shan inan oo ay xidheen, ka dib waxay la hadheen inankayga oo ah Axmed Ibraahim Axmed, markaas oo uu u xidhnaa ciidamada sirdoonka muddo labaatan cisho ahayd, wax dambi ah oo ay ku heleena ma ay jirin baadhitaanadii ay sameeyeen. kadibna waa ay iska soo daayeen iyaga oo aan wax raali gelin ah aan nalaga siinin dhibaataddaas naloo gaystay”. Ayay tidhi Hooyo Mako Axmed.

“Habeen hore abaaro sideedii fiidnimo ayaa haddana Axmed Ibraahim Axmed oo gaadhi wata suuqa dhexdiisa ay ciidamada sirdoonku ka qafaasheen kadibna ay la tageen guri qarsoodiya oo ay leeyihiin ciidamada sirdoonku sida la ii sheegayna waa ay jidh dileen oo  dharkii ayay xataa khasab kaga badaleen, markaa ka dib abaaro laba iyo botankii habeenimo ayay keeneen saldhiga dhexe kuna yidhaahdeen ciidanka saldhiga dhexe hanaloo hayo meel gaar ahna ha lagu xidho  waxayna amreen inaanay cidna u geli karin cidna loo sii dayn karin.”

Hooyo Mako Axmed waxa kale oo ay ka warantay xaaladiisa caafimaad oo ay sheegtay in inankeedu uu qabo xanuunka Macaanka ilaa imikana aanay xaaladda uu ku sugan yahay ka warami karin, waxaanay tidhi; “Saaka markaanu ogaanay (shalay) ee aanu saldhiga ugu tagnay ee aanu is nidhi u geeya irbadii macaanka waxa dhacday in askaritii noo diiday inaanu aragno, balse markii dambe taliyaha saldhigu uu naga qaaday irbadii oo uu isagu kusoo muday, waananu u mahadnaqaynaa taliyaha, ilaa wakhtigaana kama warami karo inuu nool yahay iyo inuu dhintay.”

Hooyadan oo ka hadashay sababta  inankeeda loo daba socdo ayaa sheegtay in lagu qasbayo inay noqdaan Al-shabaab, ciidamada sirdoonkuna doonayaan inay dalka ka baxaan, waxayna iyadoo arrintaa ka hadlaysa tidhi, “Waxay doonayaan inay  nagu shaanbadeeyaan inaanu ka tirsanahay ciidamada Al-shabaab, markaa waxaan leeyahay haddii aanu nahay Al-shabaab waxba may ahaateen oo dambi aanu faraha kula jirno nalagu qabto, waxaanu samaynay oo dambiyana ma garanayno, dowladda Somalilandna namay odhan dambigaas ayaad gasheen oo laydinku haystaa. Sidaas darteed,waxaan cid kasta oo cadaaladda jecel, islamarkaana neceb dulmiga haddii ay tahay shacab iyo haddii ay masuuliyiinta dawladda ku jiraanba leenahay arrintaas in wax laga qabto, sababtoo ah qof kasta gurrigiisa ayay ugu soo gali doontaa haddii ay annaga maanta na haysato oo sidaas lagu eegto”

Dhanka kale guddoomiyaha Wargeyska Saxafi Mr. Cabdifataax Axmed Dheeg oo ay guri ku wada nool yihiin inanka ciidamada sirdoonku habeen hore fiidkii ka kaxaysteen suuqa magaalada Hargeysa oo isna arrintaa ka hadlay ayaa sheegay in uu isagu alaabtii wargeyska lagu daabacayay u dirtay marka la qaban doono oo uu gaadhiga uu watayna uu ahaa gaadhigiisa shakhsiga ah guddoomiye ahaan, ilaa haddana ay ka maqan yihiin gaadhigii iyo abaaltii wargeyska oo saarani, isla marakaana aanay ka warami karin meel uu gaadhigaas  iyo alaabtii saarnayd ay ciidamada sirdoonku geeyeen.

Guddoomiye Cabdifataax isaga oo arrintaa ka hadlaya waxa uu yidhi,  “Axmed waxa uu ila joogay Wargeyska Saxafi doraad, dabadeed saacadu markay ahayd todobadii fiidnimo ayaan u diray inuu alaabtii wargeysku ku soo baxayay kasoo iibiyo Dukaanka Golis oo iibiya qalabka lagu daabaco wargeysyada qaarkood, inankii iyo gaadhigiiba waanu weynay. dabadeed waxaan ogaaday abaaro kow iyo tobankii habeenimo in ninkii alaabta aan u diray xidhan yahay, markaa ka dib waxaan tegay saldhiga dhexe oo aanu weydiinay waxa dhacay halkaas oo ciidanka saldhigu noo sheegeen in ay u keeneen ciidamada sirdoonku, isla markaana ku amreen inay meel gooni ah ugu xidhaan, gaadhigaygii iyo alaabtii wargeyskana ma hayo meel aan kaga waramana ma garanayo oo iyagga saldhiga lama geyn, markaa arrintaa waxaan u arkaa tacadi nalagula kacay oo naloo gaystay, horena waa naloogu gaystay oo waxa gurigayaga noogu soo daatay ciidamada sirdoonka, kiis nalagu qaadayna ma jirto, raali gelinna nalagama siin khaladkii nalagu sameeyay, cidda tacadigaa nagu haysaana waa inamo yaryar oo aanu garanayno mid aanu kaga hadhanayna maaha ilaa aanu sharciga la tiigsano. Balse, ujeedada aanu warkan u baahinaynaa waa in ummaddu nala ogaato dhibaataddan na haysata.” Ayuu ku soo gunaanaday hadalkiisa Guddoomiye Cabdifataax Axmed Dheeg.

Somalia: EU Naval Force Welcomes French Frigate Fs Courbet to Operation Atalanta

press release

After navigating the Suez Canal and Bab-el-Mandeb strait, French frigate FS Courbet has joined EU Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Somalia - Operation Atalanta. The French frigate replaces the FS Surcouf, who has been operating within the EU counter-piracy operation since last December. On Monday 18 February 2013, the French frigate FS Courbet met her sister ship, FS Surcouf, in Djibouti in order to take her place within EU NAVFOR. On 3 February, FS Courbet departed from her home base in Toulon, France, with a Panther helicopter from the French Naval Aviation 36F Flottille and a Vessel Protection Detachment (VPD) from Estonia on board. She is now proud to be fully integrated in Operation Atalanta.

Whilst with EU NAVFOR, the FS Courbet will work together with the other EU NAVFOR ships already deployed in the region, as well as the ships from other counter-piracy task forces. During this time the FS Courbet will be tasked with the protection to World Food Programme (WFP) and African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) shipping, providing protection to vulnerable shipping on a case-by-case basis, monitoring fishing activities off the Somali coast, and the deterrence, prevention and repression of acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea.

Egypt: New legislation must protect free speech, not restrict it

ARTICLE 19 expresses its deepest concerns about a new proposed Law on the Right to Demonstrate in Public Spaces in Egypt. If enacted, the law would render the right to protest meaningless, and give authorities draconian powers to quash dissent. ARTICLE 19 calls on the Shura Council (the Upper House of Parliament) to make sure that the Draft Law is brought in line with international standards, and that authorities respect the right to freedom of expression and facilitate the right to freedom of peaceful assembly.

“The Draft Law is incredibly dangerous and seriously threatens freedom of expression in Egypt. After the hope of a revolution that inspired the world and a transition in which so much work is still invested, Egypt must now uphold its new constitutional protections for freedom of expression and peaceful assembly rights,” said Agnes Callamard, Executive Director of ARTICLE 19.

“It was the exercise of these rights, by brave men and women demanding social justice and freedoms they had been denied for decades, that brought about the Egyptian revolution. The promise of that revolution must not be betrayed by allowing draconian restrictions on protest to be introduced now,” she added.

ARTICLE 19’s analysis of the Draft Law on protest highlights a range of fundamental shortcomings:

• A failure to establish the obligation of the state to protect and promote the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly.
•  Broad and unchecked powers for law enforcement to use severe and even lethal force to disperse assemblies, even where demonstrators are acting peacefully.
• Sweeping powers for the government to turn vast swathes of Egypt into no-protest zones, ban protests at night entirely, and allow for the confiscation of tents, stages and radio equipment.
• New offences to restrict collective criticism targeting the government and critical discussion of religion.
• Broad and undefined offences of criminal defamation and insult.  
• A 5-day notification period for assemblies, with a burdensome notifications procedure and significant discretion upon authorities to ban or move planned assemblies.
• A failure to guarantee spontaneous demonstrations or counter-demonstrations.
• Severe restrictions on the freedom of peaceful assembly rights of NGOs that receive foreign funds. ARTICLE 19’s concerns regarding the Draft Law are joined by concerns about a second draft law under consideration that threatens to considerably restrict the functioning of civil society organisations.

This includes broad and ambiguous limits on the types of issues that CSOs are allowed to work on, and may eliminate the legal basis for the work of human rights organisations. It also discriminates against and dramatically curtails the operation of foreign organisations, requiring prior government approval for their work; places severe restrictions on domestic CSOs receiving foreign funds, and gives broad powers to governments to dissolve CSOs.

“The draft law restricting civil society is also deeply troubling, and threatens to add to an environment where there is decreasing space for NGOs to operate independently or freely. It is alarming enough that Mubarak-era practices to stifle free speech continue, but that the current legislature are seeking to add to this arsenal of measures to crack-down on dissent is deeply disturbing” Callamard concluded.

ARTICLE 19 urges the Shura Council to amend both draft laws in line with international standards.

Journalist takes harrowing experience in Somalia and turns it into a positive

Caroline Zentner

lethbridge herald

czentner@lethbridgeherald.com

As the keynote speaker at the South Western Alberta Teachers' Convention Thursday, Amanda Lindhout's message to teachers was straightforward - educating youth is what's going to change the world.

She encouraged them to help students become agents of peace, whether in their local community or across the world. Lindhout said she believes everyone has a responsibility to create positive change in the world and she hopes her own efforts can be an example for others.

Growing up in Red Deer, she spent most of her life thinking there wasn't much she could do to solve world problems, but being kidnapped and held hostage in Somalia for 460 days changed her perspective of the world.

Amanda Lindhout, who spent 15 months as a hostage in Somalia, speaks with a teacher following her keynote address at the South Western Alberta TeachersÕ Convention Thursday at the 1st Choice Savings Centre at the University of Lethbridge. Herald photo by Ian Martens

She discovered sources of strength within herself that have helped her transform a very painful experience.

"There are so few visible reminders of that experience," she told the crowd.

She had no mirror during her captivity and said she didn't recognize the woman staring back at her the first time she looked into one after her release. Patches of her hair were gone, seven teeth and a couple of toenails were missing and she was weak and very thin from starvation.

In 2008, Lindhout was 26 years old travelling the world with a backpack on her shoulders.

As she heard their stories she concluded people have more in common than not. They want to be safe, get an education and provide for their families. She pursued a career as a journalist to tell those stories. That summer she was in Baghdad, Iraq working as a freelance journalist covering the war.

"I had Somalia on my mind," Lindhout said.

With no functioning government for 20 years, Somalia was called one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.

Lindhout and Nigel Brennan, a photojournalist from Australia, decided to go together. They were kidnapped while on their way to film one of the camps for displaced people. The kidnappers demanded contact information for their families and her father soon received a voice message telling him his daughter would be beheaded if he didn't hand over $2.5 million. Neither of their families had that kind of money.

She and Brennan were moved from house to house, always at night. They had no access to information but Lindhout learned her captors were all between 14 and 18 years old. Most were orphans who had witnessed horrible scenes from bomb blasts, they saw families being killed and their siblings die of hunger.

"None had experienced peace in their lives. Hunger and disease are part of their everyday existence," she said, adding extremist groups often give these children a job for a couple of dollars a month.

After two months Lindhout and Brennan were separated but they hatched a plan to escape through a bathroom window. They worked at the crumbling mortar until they had a hole large enough to slip through and fled to a nearby mosque filled with about 200 village men. Their captors soon found them and opened fire. The small group of villagers trying to protect them ran from the bullets but one Somali woman tried to help her. The kidnappers grabbed Lindhout by the ankles and dragged her away.

Things became worse for the captives after their escape attempt. They were separated and Lindhout was locked in a pitch black room, chained to the floor. She couldn't sit up or lie on her back. She was allowed to use the washroom five times a day, three minutes at a time. She wasn't allowed to speak or make any kind of noise, sometimes for weeks at a time.

"I never knew if I could make it through the day so I'd ask myself if I could make it through the next minute," she said.

She was starving, in pain, oppressed and abused and filled with anger, self-pity and resentment. One day, as one of her kidnappers was abusing her something snapped.

"Time seemed to stop and the world seemed to stop," she said. "Total peace washed over me in that moment and I felt calm."

She said she felt detached from her body, like she was watching from another place.

"I began to understand who that boy on top of me was," she said. "I realized something - this boy's suffering was greater than my own."

Although it was difficult, she decided to focus on forgiveness and compassion.

She and Brennan were released following a ransom payment by their families. Lindhout's father remortgaged his home and her mother fundraised to get the ransom payment together. Taxpayer money went toward government negotiations and she faced criticism in the media for going to Somalia in the first place.

"I felt enormous guilt," she said.

After a few weeks of feeling sorry for herself Lindhout said she decided she would put the truths she learned in Somalia to work.

"From that day I refused to be pigeonholed as a grim-faced victim," she said. "I realized my process of forgiveness had to include myself."

She vowed to do something to help Somalia and started the Global Enrichment Foundation. It has since raised millions for education programs and now operates six programs in Somalia, including food aid, school meal programs, running schools and female leadership initiatives.

Shah pledges more U.S. support in Somalia

Rajiv Shah USAID Administrator

Posted By Josh Rogin

USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah became the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Somalia in more than 20 years Thursday, when he visited the country and pledged increased support for its fragile government.

Shah spent five hours Thursday in the Mogadishu airport complex, the most secure part of Somalia's capital, but used his time efficiently, meeting with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon, Foreign Minister Fowsiyo Yussuf Haji Aadan, and aid groups. Shah announced an additional $20 in humanitarian assistance for Somalia.

"Throughout this time, the Somali people endured the unendurable - violence, fear, hunger, and disease -- but they also came together to build something new - a foundation that would anchor a stable future for Somalia," Shah said in a statement. "For years, USAID has been proud to stand by the reformers -- the Somalis who fought for peace and a better life for the children. We have worked not only to meet emergency needs, but also to support long-term community efforts to rebuild the neighborhoods, rebuild livelihoods and rebuild their confidence in their government."

The stop was part of Shah's tour of the region, which will includes stops in Tanzania and Kenya. He visited Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on Feb. 20 and met with Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda, and Minister of Energy and Minerals Sospeter Muhongo. After his stop in Somalia, Shah went to Nairobi, Kenya and met with the National Bunge Youth Association.

In an interview with the AP in Kenya, Shah said his Somalia visit was a signal of the desire of the U.S. government to work with Somalia's new government to create a more hopeful future for the Somali people.

"America is prepared and committed to stand with the people of Somalia and their new, now-recognized and legitimate government as it tries to build both peace and prosperity, and the task of building peace and prosperity in an environment that has been plagued with extreme ideology and threat, famine and drought," Shah told the AP.

Earlier this week, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), the first Muslim elected to Congress, also visited Mogadishu and spent some time at the airport complex meeting with Mohamud as well as members of the business community and expat community. Ellison called The Cable from the region to report that he was hopeful about the prospects of a stable and democratic Somalia.

"Though things are still fragile, there are definite reasons to hope that Somalia is going to continue to democratize and strengthen its institutions," Ellison said. "The bottom line is that people feel that Somalia has a window of opportunity, if it can get some help from the international community it can put years of chaos behind it."

Ellison is also working on the issue of allowing Somali immigrants living in the United States, many of which are in Minnesota, to more easily send money back to their families in Somalia. Ellison has introduced legislation to consolidate audits and regulatory oversight to streamline remittances.

Last month, Mohamud pleaded for more U.S. support in an interview with The Cable during his visit to Washington. The U.S. government recognized the Somali government during his visit and pledged to begin the process of reestablishing formal diplomatic ties.

Ellison said that although there have been more than a dozen attempts to stand the Somali government on its feet over the past two decades, he was confident that increased U.S. support for Mohamud's government would yield benefits for both countries.

"This administration in Mogadishu has convinced me that they are a good investment," said Ellison. "This one is the real deal."

 

Cooperation: 56 fire-fighting vehicles worth €11M for Egypt

By  Italy - Ministry of Foreign Affairs

ROME, Italy, /African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Italy has donated 56 fire-fighting vehicles to Egypt, worth around 11 million euros in total, as part of Italian Development Cooperation's “commodity aid” programme. The donation was formalised in Cairo at a ceremony with the new Italian Ambassador, Maurizio Massari.

The vehicles, seven of which are small, 46 medium sized and 3 with ladders reaching to over 50 metres in height, were supplied by Iveco and Brescia Antincendi International. The donation also includes spare parts, accessories, technical assistance and a 3-week training course for Egyptian personnel, with one week in Italy and two in Egypt.

Total value: 37 million euros

The vehicles are intended for 10 governorates throughout Egypt and are the latest tranche of the commodity aid programme – worth a total of 37 million euros. The programme combines the supply of equipment with training in sectors such as agriculture, the environment, cultural heritage and health.

Delighted to share our experience with Egypt

“We are proud that Egypt has chosen Italy as a key partner in a sensitive sector such as civil protection”, commented Ambassador Massari. “Civil protection has a long and deeply rooted history in Italy and we are delighted to be sharing our experience with Egypt”, added the Ambassador, who was speaking at the donation ceremony. The event was attended by the Egyptian Deputy Home Affairs Minister, Abu Bakr, who is responsible for Cairo's metropolitan police force and Egypt's civil protection. Massari underscored that Italy views its relationship with Egypt as “strategic and a partnership of equals”.