Somalia's First Think Tanker on His Country: It's a 'Researcher's Gold Mine'

TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images

Posted By J. Dana Stuster

This week, for the sixth time in a row, Somalia topped Foreign Policy's Failed States Index, reinforcing its image as "the most failed of failed states." And while it's true that the country remains fragmented, with two autonomous breakaway regions, a persistent terrorist threat from al Qaeda-linked al-Shabab fighters, and foreign-financed warlords in the wide swaths of the country beyond the sovereign control of the central government, Somalia has taken tenuous steps toward asserting self-governance in the past year. The mandate of Somalia's transitional government ended in August 2012, and since then the country has come under the control of a new government in Mogadishu, formed under the auspices of a constitution approved in 2012.

In step with these developments, the new Somali political scene is quickly acquiring the trappings of other, more functional governments -- including the country's first think tank. Established in Mogadishu in January 2013, the Heritage Institute for Policy Studies (HIPS) has begun writing reports and policy papers to advise the nascent Somali government, international organizations, and other local actors. In its first six months, HIPS has provided commentary and guidance on topics as diverse as Somali refugees in Kenya, educational opportunities in Somalia, and domestic diplomatic initiatives in Kismayo and the self-declared state of Somaliland.

"In Somalia, everything is a priority and it is a researcher's goldmine," Abdi Aynte, the institute's director, told Foreign Policy by email. "Everything that affects … the national fabric is hugely and manifestly under researched."

"They've made a strong start," James Smith, a Nairobi-based researcher who has worked with HIPS, told FP by email. The institute has drawn together a staff "comprised of mostly Somalis returning from the Diaspora," Aynte notes. Aynte himself is Somali-American and a former journalist who worked for Voice of America, BBC, and Al Jazeera English; others have come to HIPS after spending time in Britain, Canada, and Sweden. Their publications also draw on conversations during monthly forums with policymakers and stakeholders.

"I think the assessments made thus far in the policy briefings have been fair," Smith writes, though he notes that some Somalilanders may have chafed at HIPS's position that the semi-independent state's "quest to leave the union is growing increasingly untenable."

Aynte stresses, "As to ideological or political leaning, we are a nonpartisan and research driven institute." And HIPS hasn't shied away from critiquing the new government. The institute's assessment of the government's first 100 days in office, published in April, pointed out "an unhealthy imbalance between the presidency and the cabinet" and inadequate measures to address corruption, going so far as to call the official response to the country's currency crisis "incoherent." An upcoming report will address federalism, Aynte tells FP, calling it "the most controversial issue in Somalia." HIPS is making "a genuine effort to spark debate and to get people discussing issues," Smith writes.

And after only six months, HIPS is gathering an audience. They meet regularly with Somali government officials and international diplomats, and Smith tells FP he knows "individuals in the diplomatic and aid communities here in Nairobi that are keeping a close eye on HIPS outputs."

The real test -- for HIPS, the new government, and Somalia as a whole -- lies ahead. Aynte is still concerned by the level of violence in Somalia -- which has spilled over into Mogadishu in attacks on a judicial complex and a U.N. compound in recent months -- and the fractious state of Somali politics. "Somalia is a fragile state," he tells FP. "If Somali politicians lose sight of the fragility of the situation and indulge in political bickering as some are doing now, the ongoing international support and optimism of all things Somalia could disappear -- a prospect Somalia cannot afford let alone entertain."

As Obama prepares to visit East Africa, terror threat a priority

The largest US diplomatic mission in sub-Saharan Africa: the US embassy on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya. (photo credit: AP Photo/Khalil Senosi)

In the wake of the 2012 Benghazi attack and regional instability, US security forces will be on high alert.

As President Barack Obama prepares to visit East Africa, nearly 15 years after terrorists bombed two US embassies here, security experts say that the region still faces threats from militants.

Obama is scheduled on Monday to visit Dar es Salaam, the commercial capital of Tanzania, which along with Nairobi was the site of near-simultaneous embassy attacks in August 1998. The attacks killed 224 people, mostly Kenyans, but also a dozen Americans. Obama is likely to visit the memorial for the victims of the Tanzania attack.

The threat of terrorism has increased since the Osama bin Laden-masterminded attacks, said a top Kenyan security official who added that intelligence capabilities have also increased and that the situation “is under control.” Obama is not visiting Kenya.

The latest US State Department Country Report on Terrorism for Tanzania said that the country has not experienced a major terror attack since the embassy bombing, but that Tanzania’s National Counterterrorism Center said the June 2012 arrest of an al-Shabab associate shows that terror groups have elements inside Tanzania.

Kenya, though, faces more security concerns, given its shared border with Somalia. Scott Gration, the immediate past ambassador in Nairobi, worries that security at the Nairobi embassy has been “complacent” and may not have had adequate priority in the recent past.

Gration, a retired US Air Force major general, told The Associated Press this week that during one period of his yearlong tenure as ambassador the American security staff saw its personnel numbers cut in half because of things like personnel changeovers known as gaps.

“When it cuts down to 50 percent, including the head guy, that’s a little bit much and to me that indicates there wasn’t the sense of urgency that there needs to be, or maybe we’ve become a little bit complacent and arrogant, and that became an issue for me,” said Gration, who still lives in Nairobi and runs a technology and investment consultancy.

“You know what Kenya’s like. There are grenades going off, in Mombasa, in Wajir, even in Nairobi,” he said.

The period of the 50 percent reduction occurred about four months prior to the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, he said, in which four Americans were killed, including the ambassador, on September 11, 2012.

The Nairobi Embassy is ranked as a “critical” threat posting for terrorism and crime by the State Department.

“There are 179 countries (with embassies). Take your gaps other places, but don’t take your gaps in a high threat area. So it was surprising to me that we would take a reduced capability in a place like Benghazi, Nairobi and other places, though I think that this has been corrected by the investigations and by the media” scrutiny, said Gration.

Hilary Renner, the State Department spokeswoman for the Bureau of African Affairs, said she could not comment on specific security operations, measures or personnel assigned to the Nairobi Embassy.

“The safety and security of US personnel serving abroad is one of the State Department’s highest priorities,” she said by email. “We continually assess and evaluate the security of our missions, and make appropriate adjustments, as needed.”

Gration also declined to say how many security personnel work in Nairobi. But an official familiar with the security arrangements said the embassy has only about five American security personnel, meaning a reduction of 50 percent would have been two or three people. The embassy also employs Kenya security personnel. The official said he was not allowed to be quoted by name.

Though no major attacks against US interests have occurred in East Africa since 1998, the region has its share of terrorists, including al-Shabab militants in neighboring Somalia, a group with ties to al-Qaida.

Also, Kenyan officials last year arrested two Iranian agents said to be from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force, an elite and secretive unit, who were found with 15 kilograms (33 pounds) of the explosive RDX. Kenyan officials have said the two may have been planning attacks on American, British or Israeli interests.

The new US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were built far off the street, with multiple layers of physical security, making a repeat of the truck bomb that tore through the street-side Nairobi embassy in 1998 unlikely.

Renner said the US works closely with host governments on security matters. And the US-Kenya security relationship — in particular the relationship the FBI has with Kenya’s Anti-Terrorism Police Unit — is seen as strong.

The threat of terrorism is high in East Africa, as a result of decades of instability in Somalia, said a top Kenyan police official. The official, though, said he doesn’t think al-Shabab or al-Qaida can carry out large-scale attacks in Kenya, and instead have resorted to small-scale attacks with grenades. The official spoke on condition he wasn’t identified because he was not authorized to share the information.

Kenyan police last September said they disrupted a major terrorist attack after they found four suicide vests, two improvised explosive devices, four AK-47 assault rifles and 12 grenades in Nairobi’s main ethnic Somali community, Eastleigh.

More than three dozen presumed terrorist incidents were reported in Kenya in 2012, mostly grenade attacks, that were generally attributed to al-Shabab, according to the latest US State Department Country Report on Terrorism for Kenya. It said Kenya showed persistent political will to secure its borders, apprehend terrorists and cooperate in regional and international counterterror efforts.

The Benghazi attack has greatly increased the focus on security on overseas embassies. The State Department’s diplomatic security budget increased from about $200 million in 1998 to $1.8 billion in 2008. But a recent Government Accountability Office report found that there has been little long-range strategic planning for embassy security.

Gration said he was in the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia during the 1996 bombing that killed 19 Americans. He was also in the Pentagon when it was attacked on September 11, 2001.

Despite the criticism of the US security posture during a two-month period in Nairobi, he said: “I truly believe the State Department is doing a great job. They’re working hard. There was some small aspects of things that I disagreed with.”

Gration was a national security adviser to Obama’s first presidential campaign and resigned his job as ambassador in June 2012 ahead of a US government audit critical of his leadership.

Gration said that as he’s thought about security over the years, he’s concluded that it’s impossible to protect oneself completely.

“So yes we’re still vulnerable when we’re overseas or in America to an attack, and it can be well organized, or it can be disorganized and they can still do a lot of damage,” Gration said. “So it’s a false security to think we can ever be free of attacks against our interests overseas or even in the homeland.”

Somaliland: The EU rehabilitates Somaliland's main hospital

The Europian Union

 

Press release

 

The European Union has launched the rehabilitation project for the Hargeisa Group Hospital to improve access to health services for Hargeisa's rapidly growing population.

Together with its partners, Terre Solidali and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), the EU will increase the efficiency, quality and sustainability of Somaliland's main hospital that faces infrastructural and capacity constraints as it was outstripped by the size of the population.

With a support package of 1,5 million EUR, the 24 months project will support the development of an infrastructure master plan for the hospital in order to integrate the various departments of the hospital, separate critical areas and introduce critical missing facilities. Further, the action will support the development of small scale infrastructure interventions as well as implementation of a maintenance system for the medical equipment of the hospital. The project is also set to address quality of clinical care through the introduction of standard clinical protocols and improvements in the collection and analysis of clinical data.

The project interventions will also include a strong capacity building component for the respective target groups. Sound financial and information management tools will increase transparency, accountability, and efficiency, while creating an enabling environment to generate and manage resources, and use the enhanced incomes and information to provide more adequate services.

Olympian Mo Farah Receives CBE At Palace

Olympic gold medallist Mo Farah has received a CBE from Prince Charles during a service at Buckingham Palace.

The 5,000m and 10,000m specialist triumphed at both distances at the London Olympics last year and became one of Team GB's biggest stars.

The Somali-born athlete, 30, grew up in Hounslow, West London, and is now well-known for his trademark 'Mobot' celebration.

Speaking after receiving the award, he said: "I never in my life imagined coming to Buckingham Palace.
"I remember running past it in the mini-marathon as a kid when I was 13 and thinking it was so beautiful and taking pictures of the lion, so coming inside and receiving this award is great.

"Prince Charles said 'You must be getting sick of so many medals' and to hear someone like the Prince of Wales knows who you are is just brilliant.

"I'm not tired of it at all, I just want to make my country proud and collect as many medals in my career as I can."

Farah found himself the subject of an investigation this week after the All England Club said it was "looking into" reports he broke Wimbledon rules by filming play from the Royal Box.

"I was filming but I took the film down from Twitter," Farah told reporters at the Palace.

Others famous names at the investiture included actor Ewan McGregor, who got an OBE for services to drama and charity, and Olympic rower Anna Watkins, who received an MBE for services to rowing after she won the gold medal in the double sculls.

On a military note, Major Edward Colver, of The Yorkshire Regiment, was awarded an MBE in the Military Division after he lost six of his men in the biggest single loss of life suffered by British troops in Afghanistan.

Privates Kershaw, 19, Anthony Frampton, 20, Daniel Wade, 20, and Daniel Wilford, 21, Sgt Nigel Coupe, 33, and Corporal Jake Hartley, 20, died when an IED hit their armoured Warrior vehicle in Helmand province on March 6 last year.

Sergeant David Acarnley, a bomb disposal officer with the Royal Logistic Corps from Riding Hill, Northumberland, also got the Queen's Gallantry Medal for rescuing Danish colleagues when their vehicle was hit by an explosive device in June last year.

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Dagaalkii Oo Saaka Sii Xoogsaday Iyo dagaalamayaal ka tirsanaa Jabahada Raaskanbooni oo is-dhiibay iyo xaalada oo cakiran.

Colonel Bare Aden Shire (Bare Hiiraale)

Wararka laga helaayo magaalada Kismaayo ee xarunta gobalka J/hoose ayaa waxa ay sheegayaan in ciidamadii Col Yaasiin Nuur Raadeer Iyo Gen. Cabdilaahi Ismaaciil ( Fartaag) ay isu soo dhiibeen ciidamada daacadda u Bare Aadan Shire (Barre Hiiraale).

Dagaalamaayaashaan in dhiibay ayaa waxaa la sheegay in ay wataan gaadiidka dagaalka, iyada oo sababta ay isu soo dhiibeen lagu sheegay laba arimood oo kala ah in laga awod roonaaday kooxdooda iyo iyaga oo markii horaba la sheegay in ay ku heyb ahaayeen Barre Hiiraale.

Wararka qaar ayaa waxa ay sheegayaan in Gen. Fartaag uu gudaha u galay garoonka diyaaradaha Kismaayo kadib markii ciidankiisii ay u galeen Barre Hiiraale si ay amaankiisa u sugaan ciidamada Kenya.

Ciidamadaan is-dhiibay ayaa waxa ay dhabar jab ku yihiin Jabhada Raas-kanbooni oo arintu aad ugu xumaatay kadib dagaalkii shalay bilaawday.

Dhanka kale, waxaa maanta socda dagaal xooggan oo bilaawday subaxnimadii hore ee saaka kadib markii ay isku jarmaadeen dhinacyadii shalay hardamay.

Xaafadaha qaar ayaa waxaa la sheegayaa in ay yaalaan meydadka ciidamadii ku geeriyooday dagaalii Shalay, gaar ahaan xaafada Siinaay halkaasi oo jab xooggan kasoo gaaray Jabhadda Raaskanbooni.

Magaalada Kismaayo ayaa xaaladeedu maanta wax ay tahay mid aad u cakiran, waxaana laga cabsi qabaa in dagaalka ay ku biiraan ciidanka Kenya ee taageera kooxda Axmed Madoobe uu hor-boodo ee Raas-kanbooni.

Wararka iska soo daba dhacaya ayaa intaa ku daray in ciidamada maamulka Jubbaland ee Barre Hiiraale madaxda ka yahay u suurto gashay in ay qabsadaan intabadan magaalada Kismaayo.
Goob Joogayaal ayaa sheegay in ciidankii Axmed Madoobe loo itaal sheegtay kadib markii xoog looga saaray dhammaan xarumihii muhiimka ahaa ee Kismaayo.
Xoogaga Barre Hiiraale waxay qabsadeen xarunta degmada Kismaayo saldhigga booliska,xarunta Gobolka K2,suuq Yaraha,suuqa shidaalka iyo dhammaan xarunta gaadiidka Viat.
Boqolaal katirsan xoogaga Jubbaland lamagac baxay garabka Barre Hiiraale madaxda u yahay ayaa caawa fiidkii lagu arkayay iyagoo ku roondaynaya aargada Kismaayo balse weli magaaladu waxay rimantahay colaad.
Idaacaddii ku hadli jirta Afka Maamulka Axmed Madoobe oo Hawada laga saaray.
Kadib markii loo itaal sheegtay maleeshiyaadka maamulkii Axmed Madoobe ayaa hawada laga saaray idaacadda Radio Kismaayo oo ku hadli jirtay afka maamulka KMG ah.
Ilo wareedyo ayaa sheegaya in FM-ta si dirqi ah lagula cararay gaari Roneet ah kadib markii ciidanka Barre ku dhawaadeen dhismihii ay ku shaqeynaysay oo markii dambe u gacan galay maamulka Jubbaland lamagac baxay.
Wararkii ugu dambeeyay ayaa sheegaya in maleeshiyaadka Axmed Madoobe ay dib ugu gurteen dhanka dekadda Kismaayo oo ay saldhig ku leeyihiin ciidanka Kenya.
Lama oga in Ciidanka Barre Hiiraale sii heysan doonaan magaalada iyo inkale waxaana xusid mudan in ciidanka Kenya ee xoogga ku jooga Kismaayo ay lasafanyihiin dhanka Axmed Madoobe.

Dartmouth man’s son in plea for help from British Government

Nim’an Bowden with his wife Muarif Ahmed Mohamed outside their home in an ‘internally displaced persons’ camp in Hargeisa, Somaliland

Dartmouth man’s son in plea for help from British Government

THE son of a South Hams water engineer murdered in Africa is pleading for help from the British Government.

Nim’an Bowden, who lives in Somaliland, claims he is one of five children whose father Brian Bowden was from Dartmouth.

Brian Bowden, who was born in Dartmouth in 1928, left Britain in 1958 to work for the Hargeisa Water Agency, in northern Somalia, what is now the self-declared independent state of Somaliland. He later married a Somali woman.

At the start of 1991, as rival tribal militias fought to gain control of the country and overthrow President Mohamed Siad Barre, Mr Bowden was working at the British embassy in Somalia’s capital city Mogadishu.

Ian McCluney, the ambassador at the time, was evacuated by the Americans, along with other embassy staff on January 6, 1991.

Mr Bowden stayed behind to protect his Somali wife and family, as the bloody civil war was being fought around them.

The British Government at the time said Mr Bowden, described by journalist and author Aidan Hartley in his book The Zanzibar Chest as ‘the last Englishman in the whole of Somalia’, had been offered the chance to leave but chose not to, preferring instead to stay behind, look after his wife and children, the embassy and its local staff.

Not long afterwards, Mr Bowden was bludgeoned to death in front of his family.

The Foreign Office said then that he had been ‘killed by an armed gang’ and that Mr Bowden ‘had been given the opportunity to leave’ and the decision to stay was his.

According an African newspaper report at the time, the state-run Mogadishu radio station said: ‘Mr Bowden was murdered at his home by an eight-man gang who made off with gold, money and food.’ The report added that Somali police were hunting the killers.

The BBC reported that, in an interview shortly before his death, Mr Bowden said he had stayed behind because his wife was a Somali and he did not have enough money for a flight to the UK.
The report added: ‘He said when he’d originally considered leaving... the British authorities sent him forms to fill out as the bullets were flying around.’

In an email to this newspaper, Nim’an Bowden, who is now in his mid-20s and living in a refugee camp in Hargeisa, said: ‘My father was the last British citizen working in the British embassy of Somalia in Mogadishu in early 1991 when Somalia entered into chaos and anarchy and the central government collapsed.’

He added that after the British Government had stopped paying staff at the embassy, his father, who was ‘very much a humanitarian’, had borrowed money from a local lender to pay wages. Armed thugs followed him and he was robbed and killed.

Nim’an said that after his father’s murder, the family went back to Hargeisa but ‘we lost my elder brother in the Mogadishu chaos’. He added: ‘My mother, Run Aw Dahir Mohamed, also died in 1994 and then I had to face a difficult time and every hardship in life.

‘I was among the vulnerable street children in the valley of Hargeisa and in the open and who lived on a hook and by a crook – I was doing shoe polishing and every heavy child labour for the business places in Hargeisa.’

He added: ‘I have long suffered from loneliness and have been the victim of severe discrimination as I am regarded an outcast.’

Nim’an wants the British Government to allow him and his wife to have his passports to come to Britain.

Mark Jones, the London-based chief executive of the Horn of Africa Business Association, who is backing Nim’an’s cause, said: ‘[Brian] Bowden’s Somali wife is now dead and his children are in a desperate situation made all the worse by the fact that they are of mixed race. Bowden’s youngest son, Nim’an, has been an orphan since he was six and has to live on the streets since strangers occupied his family home and he has no means of affording legal redress.

‘Nim’an has suffered constant harassment because of his mixed heritage and has felt suicidal because of his desperate situation.

‘Now “living” in Hargeisa, his situation is a dire one, as he is deemed of no tribe, a non-person, an outcast.

‘A child of love, a child of two nations united by history: he has been abandoned and forgotten by his father’s homeland and shunned and derided by the land of his mother.’
He added: ‘Nim’an lives in the capital of a land Britain is yet to officially acknowledge [Somaliland declared its independence from the rest of Somalia in May 1991].

‘The excuses for inaction from British officials and those in Whitehall are and will be legion.

‘In this case sophistry and semantics should not be allowed to triumph. Britain has a moral duty to act and to do the decent thing.

‘Britain owes a debt to Brian Bowden, a debt of honour, one it must pay in full by standing by his children. Nim’an deserves to be allowed to have a future.’

South Hams MP Sarah Wollaston said: ‘I have made enquiries and helped them with the guidance for applications.’

****************************************************

Brian William Thomas Bowden was born in Dartmouth on June 27, 1928, according to photocopies of his passport emailed to this newspaper by representatives of Nim’an.

Aidan Hartley, a Kenyan-born former Reuters foreign correspondent, author and a correspondent for Channel 4’s award-winning current affairs series Unreported World, described meeting Mr Bowden shortly after the British embassy in Mogadishu was evacuated with the help of the Americans.

In his book The Zanzibar Chest, he describes being in Somalia’s capital city in 1991: ‘Almost all the foreigners in Somalia had already been evacuated on the eve of Operation Desert Storm [the first Gulf War to force Saddam Hussein’s forces out of Kuwait].

‘As the fighting in Mogadishu peaked, the US ambassador had gathered scores of foreigners in his compound, posted his diplomatic staff on the walls with rifles and transmitted a mayday calling for help.

‘A flotilla of US ships steaming for the Gulf was diverted and raced to the rescue.

‘A squadron of CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters had taken to the air from the ships as time ran out and flown all night to reach the US embassy before the compound was invaded.

‘As they lifted off, gangs of Somali looters were already scaling the walls.’

He added: ‘I found the last Englishman in the whole of Somalia at the British embassy.

‘At the door of the building, the ambassador’s chauffeur in his peaked cap greeted me, snapping smartly to attention and saluting.

‘He announced that not only had his boss vanished, but the embassy limo had also been looted.

‘Inside, I found an elderly man. He was a familiar, paternal old colonial.

‘He wore patched khaki shorts and sandals, glasses on his nose.

‘The thin hair was plastered back onto his tanned skull. When I returned, he was sitting on a packing crate, sorting scattered papers from the trashed office floor.

‘We shook hands and he said his name was Brian Bowden.

‘When I told him my name, his eyes brightened. “Hartley. Was your father [Brian Hartley] up here once?” I said that he was.

Bowden exclaimed: “Well, well!”

‘The last time he had seen me, he said, I was a towheaded little boy of four.

‘I was taken aback. Bowden motioned me to the packing crate. “And how are your parents?” I said they were fine.

‘Bowden chuckled. “I remember your father...” And immediately he launched into a desert tale that drew a perfect portrait of Dad.

‘Dad and Bowden, it turned out, had become friends many years before.

‘Bowden, a water engineer, had fallen in love with a local girl and never left northern Somalia. As the civil war got worse, he and his wife and five children fled to the city, where he got a slot doing paperwork at the British embassy.

‘Since the collapse, Bowden had stayed in Mogadishu.

‘He said: “It’s been a bit scary, especially with these automatic cannons going off. It’s been dodging bullets to find water.”

‘Daily, Bowden woke at five and joined the city’s residents as they picked their way through the bombed-out warrens, foraging for food and the odd bucket of water.

‘Looters had invaded his house twice, stealing anything they could carry, including clothes and the furniture.

‘Still, at eight sharp Bowden reported for work at the looted embassy, as he had done every day before the slide into chaos.

‘Turning up to work gave Bowden’s formless life the illusion of purpose.

‘He sat on that packing crate, sorting the scattered papers into piles, being especially careful with the confidential documents. It was an act of loyalty to a nation that had forgotten him.

‘He said: “Last week we had a circular signed by the ambassador expressing his thoughts. He told the staff their salaries are being paid in the UK.”

He was obviously impressed. Then, he added: “But we need the money here, not in London.”

‘Despite this, he did not resent Britain, which had yet been great when he had been posted to Somalia. In his mind it was still great.

‘She couldn’t possibly abandon an entire nation, half of whose population were her former colonial subjects.

‘She could certainly never leave her own embassy staff to die of starvation or flying bullets. “It’s been long enough and I personally would say the ambassador should come back,” he shrugged. “But that’s diplomacy. They’re probably waiting...”

‘For what, he didn’t say. In the end I was no better than the British.

‘Africa is full of tribes, which care for their own people in times of distress.

‘Bowden was from my tribe. He stood before me, my father’s long-lost friend, a malnourished old man.

‘There was nobody else to save him. “You must leave,” I pleaded with him. “No,” he said. “I am caught. If I go, I go as a refugee, even back to the UK,” and smiled weakly. “Here is the only future I can see right now.”

‘Mr Hartley later went to the British High Commission in Nairobi, Kenya, with some letters Bowden had asked him to deliver.

He said: ‘I asked why the British were doing nothing to help him.

‘The diplomat explained that under Government regulations, a citizen must cover the cost of his own repatriation, even from a war zone.

‘Bowden was destitute... and he had a black Somali wife and five children.

‘The Government could not under these circumstances evacuate either Bowden or his large mixed-race family.

‘Bowden hung on for months. One day, he borrowed cash from a Somali loan shark to pay wages to the embassy staff since they had no way of getting to their salaries, which accumulated untouched in a London bank.

‘On his way from the moneylender to the embassy, he dropped by his home for a few minutes.

‘A gang of armed thieves that had got wind, forced his family to watch as they beat him to a pulp and when he was dead they made off with the cash.’

When this newspaper spoke to Mr Hartley at his farm in Kenya about what might have happened to Brian Bowden’s family, he said he was aware of Nim’an’s claims.

He added he believed Mr Bowden’s daughters may have fled to Kenya as refugees.

Mr Hartley said he was hoping to go to Mogadishu and Hargeisa later this year.
Jim Shanor, an American who went to Somalia as a volunteer with the Peace Corps and who now lives in Nakuru, Kenya, met Brian Bowden several times.

He told this newspaper that they first met in Hargeisa in the period 1967-69.

He added: ‘I ran across him again in Mogadishu in 1989-90 and we lunched together almost daily at a popular Somali restaurant, Abdi Steak’s place.

‘His work was always with the water and sanitation sector of the government.

‘I knew Brian Hartley in much the same way in Hargeisa. Brian Hartley worked with livestock development and was journalist Aidan Hartley’s father.

‘The two Brians were very regular at the Hargeisa Club, a former British club later opened to other expats and then to Somalis.’

Dagaal Culus oo ay u dhan yihiin Madaxweynayaasha Jubaland oo ka qarxay Kismaayo

Sida ay sheegayaan wararka dagaalka oo la isu adeegsanayo madaafiic ayaa saameeyay magaalada oo dhan, iyadoo xabada ay meel walba ka socoto, waxaana dagaalka uu socdaa saacad ka badan.

Mid ka mid ah dadka deegaanka ayaa   sheegay in dagaalka uu si xoogan u socdo, isla markaana la isku habeensanayo, waxaana adkaatay in dadka ay salaada maqrib masaajidada ku soo dukadaan, markii dagaalka uu sii cuslaaday, xabadana ay ku faaftay magaalada oo idil.

Wararka ayaa sheegaya in xubnaha Madaxweynayaasha ee kala ah Col. Barre Hiiraale, Iftin Xasan Baasto, iyo Cabdi Baalley oo isku dhinac ah iyo kuwa Axmed Madoobe, waxaana dagaalka ka dambeeyay markii ay qaadeen Ciidamada Axmed Madoobe.

Dagaalkan ayaa ku soo beegmay, iyadoo maalin ka hor uu iska hor imaad ku dhex maray magaalada maleeshiyaad kala taabacsan Col. Barre Hiiraale iyo Axmed Madoobe, markii gaari la kala dhacay, waxaana xiisada magaalada ay aheyd mid labadii maalmood ee u dambeysay aad u xooganeyd.

Gaadiidka kuwa lidka diyaaradaha ayaa dagaalka ka qeyb qaadanaya, waxaana daaraha magaalada la saartay qoryaha daran dooriga u dhaca, waxaana dagaalka uu u muuqdaa mid kala bax ah oo dhinac un ay rabto in magaalada ay u harto.

Ma jirto wax hadal ah oo ka soo baxay dhinacyada dagaalamaya, waxaana xaalada magaalada ay tahay mid kacsan, iyadoo dadweynaha ay xabadka dhulka ku hayaan rasaastana ay si xoogan u socoto.

Magaalada oo dhan ayaa ah mid kala xiran, iyadoo wado walba ay taagan yihiin maleeshiyaad hubeysan oo xabado ka soo ridaya, taasna ayaa xaalada sii adkeysay sida dadka deegaanka ay soo sheegeen.

Wixii ku soo kordha kala soco wararkeena dambe.

Dagaal culus oo la isku habeensaday ayaa ka socda qeybo badan oo ka mid ah magaalada Kismaayo, iyadoo dagaalka uu dhex maray Madaxweynayaasha isku heysta maamulka Jubaland, oo badankood isku dhinac ah.

Somalia: former UN coordinator came down hard on the federal government Opinion of Mr. Mohamud M. Uluso

In an interview  (Somalia: lights and Shadows) published Saturday 22, 2013 in the Kenya Daily Nation, Mr. Matt Bryden, former coordinator of UN Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea, came down hard on the federal government of Somalia (FGS). He lambasted the federal government for “delusional” performance, supported the unconstitutional ‘Jubbaland’ regional state announced in Kismaio with the blessing of Kenya Government, and pitched for the “status quo” of the north western regions of Somalia renamed “Somaliland.” He attributed the failure of the federal government to not meeting the expectations raised by what he described an ambitious six pillar program- the political platform of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.  The platform mirrors the “New Deal” strategy that promotes nationally owned plan for peacebuilding and statebuiling.

As a government of failed state, the new federal government and the international community agreed on the “New Deal” strategy that focuses on five goals: inclusive legitimate politics, security, justice, employment and livelihood, good financial management and delivery of public services. The new comprehensive approach supplants the bottom-up or top-down approaches. In partnership, the international community adopted the slogan: “One voice, one common vision in the support of new Somalia.”

Therefore, I think it is an exaggeration to describe the six pillar program ambitious. The international community accepted it as an initial basis for statebuilding process in Somalia- a game changer- which predicates on a substantial international assistance. To their credit, the leaders of the federal government have shown political steadiness, unity and commitment in the face of unimaginable external and domestic pressures and attacks.

The UN coordinator’s criticism assumes that on the one hand, the federal government has no necessary financial and human resources and capacities to fulfill the six pillar program and on other hand, the international donors are not prepared to provide the timely necessary support. This later assumption on the part of the international community contradicts the public declaration made by the key actors of the international community. Whether the international donor community will put its money where its mouth is or not remains to be seen in not far distant day.

Sure, the federal government lacks capacity and resources to fulfill alone the six pillars program. However, the program’s implementation is a precondition for stable government and the preparation of the political election set for in Somalia in 2016 by the international community. The UN Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson said on May 7, 2013 at the London Conference on Somalia the following:

“The daunting responsibility of the Somali Government is to deliver, among competing priorities, a Constitution and elections in the space of just three years,”

It is inconceivable to ask the federal government to focus on constitutional referendum and preparation and conduct of free and fair elections when the sovereignty, territorial integrity, national unity, political independence, government coercive power and representational legitimacy all are contested or in question. The focus of the federal government should be on the completion of the review of the federal provisional constitution, the return of reliable stability in the south central Somalia, on the acceleration of national political and economic integration and unity through national and local institution building, and on a constructive and independent foreign policy.

In answering to the questions related to Somaliland and Jubbaland, the former UN coordinator rehearsed the narratives put out by the protagonists of the two areas. The international community recognizes Somalia as one country and the United Nations refused to circulate the letters from Somaliland for being part of Somalia. The time of division of Somalia into Puntland, Somaliland and South Central Somalia has ended.

With regard to Somaliland, Mr. Matt Bryden highlighted that Somaliland and Somalia are talking as two parties in dispute despite the federal government represents the interests of the population in the Somaliland regions. His answer suggests a never ending talk, good neighbor’s relation, and legitimization of “separation” between Somaliland regions and Somalia. He makes clear that the authority of Somaliland regions cannot enter into political compromises because of the constraints of the regional constitution while the unconstitutional behavior of Raskamboni Militia under the provisional federal constitution is permissible. The constitutional path for addressing the unsettled federal system of governance in Somalia is clear. The argument of different constitutional interpretations on the issue is for distraction.

There are no unconstrained power, conditions and time for the federal government to engage an indefinite talk with the authority of Somaliland regions if it has to conduct a political election in 2016. As in Jubbaland and other parts, there are simmering political and clan conflicts in Somaliland and Puntland. The federal Government must undertake a national census throughout the country in mid-2015. After state collapse, national election is more important than local elections that deepen fragmentation.

Without explanation, the former UN coordinator raised the specter of the use of coercive force against Somaliland regions. Since the matter of Somalia is seized by the UN Security Council, it is hard to fathom such an eventuality. Somalia needs individual and collective transformation that fortifies peace, unity, justice, fairness, trust, and prosperity. Actors and participants of the past disastrous failures should contribute to the transformation and should not reconstruct or engender other colossal failures.

With regard to Jubbaland, the former UN Coordinator urges the federal government to accept the Jubbaland constitution, political agenda and authority led by Raskamboni Militia and to seek an inclusion of personalities in the declared Regional Authority. This tricky suggestion breaches the national political consensus, the provisions of the Provisional Federal Constitution and undercuts the legitimacy of the federal government. In addition, the role of the Independent Boundaries and Federation is not to settle the dispute over the principles of federalism. The commission’s role is to study the implementation of a federal system based on certain predetermined principles. There are many issues to be completed before the federal parliament appoints the commission.

Given the access and connection of the former UN coordinator to the thinking and intelligence of western policy makers for Somalia, the interview reinforces the perception of the international community’s doublespeak on the support to the current “sovereign federal government of Somalia.” This awareness coupled with the lack of significant assistance from the major donors directly to the Federal Government for improving the security situation, building public administration, and starting the delivery of basic social services, prompts a question about the purpose and meaning of the current flares of activities of the international community led by the United States, United Kingdom and United Nations. The Federal Parliament must investigate this issue and inform the public the truth.

With reference to Mr. Matt Bryden’s claim that IGAD and African Union are concerned about the appearance of a nontraditional international partner in the region, it seems that there is a collusion of efforts to thwart the glim of hope sparked by the tangible assistance of Turkey and the Organization of Islamic Conference towards Somalia.  The membership of Somalia to Africa, Arab and Islamic world is not an option. It is constitutionally and culturally bound membership. Therefore, the argument that Ethiopia and Kenya under the umbrella of IGAD are not happy with the involvement of Turkey in Somalia deserves serious consideration and public awareness.

 The former UN coordinator suggested that the federal government is failing as all the previous Transitional Federal Governments (TFG) failed. However, he did not mention the fundamental reasons why all TFG failed to establish a stable government.

I like to mention here five reasons. First, the TFG lacked ownership of political agenda that responds to the priorities and needs of the Somali people. Second, the aid resources were exclusively and independently managed in Nairobi by donors. Third, IGAD (Ethiopia) managed TFGs as local government entity. Fourth, the international community focused on terrorism, piracy and humanitarian crisis at the expense of statebuilding. Fifth, factional usurpation and abuse of constitution were encouraged and rewarded. Now if international donor-powers entertain the idea of continuing on that path under the cover of “titular sovereign federal government,” then the possibility of failure of the federal government could be real. The New Deal strategy is based on the vision to exit Somalia from the path of permanent failure.

The position of the Federal Government on Jubbaland tends to bring Somalis together and to abandon the culture of clan animosity and hatred, factionalism, warlordism, secession, and foreign manipulation. The presence of Kenya forces in the region will be considered as a foreign occupation forces as long as they are operating outside the mandate of the UN Security Council and African Union.  The federal government must consistently defend the interests of all Somalis in accordance with the Provisional Federal Constitution and through the national institutions.

The leaders of the Somali Federal Government must engage and educate the public for harmony, loyalty to the state and national values. Injustices, mistrusts and grievances should be addressed through effective legal or traditional mechanisms with strong supervision from the higher authority for the purpose of Somalis coming together and of not replacing injustices with injustices. Openness and public mobilization are needed for political unity. Leaders’ words must correspond to their deeds.

If one tries to summarize the substance of former UN coordinator’s interview, the federal government should forget Somaliland and Jubbaland and look for imaginary or failure tasks like the preparation of political elections and constitutional referendum in a fragmented society or concentration on Mogadishu and surrounding areas. This kind of suggestion is a trap for another secure national failure.


Mr. Mohamud M. Uluso
mohamuduluso@gmail.com

Somaliland: SBF Round 2 Call for Proposals

The Somaliland Business Fund-SBF is offering a second Call for Proposals for Grant Funding from June 21 to August 10, 2013

SBF Round 2

The SBF is offering a second Call for Proposals for Grant Funding from June 21 to August 10, 2013. The application form can be found below...just download, complete and email to concept.note@somalilandbusinessfund.com

During this outreach period, there will be multiple training sessions offered by the SBF throughout Somaliland to explain how our application and selection process works. The communities will include Hargeisa, Borama, Burao, Berbera, Las Anod, Erigavo, Gabiley and Wajale. Please see this website for posted dates/place/times, or call our office.

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In the course of receiving grant application proposals SBF shall in the meantime conduct information sessions in various towns of Somaliland geared towards explaining how the grant application and selection process works titled "How to Complete A Concept Note"

The grant application form can be found and downloaded at the SBF site and  once completed  submit to email to concept.note@somalilandbusinessfund.com

"During this outreach period, there will be multiple training sessions offered by the SBF throughout Somaliland to explain how our application and selection process works. The communities will include Hargeisa, Borama, Burao, Berbera, Las Anod, Erigavo, Gabile and Wajale. Please see this website for posted dates/place/times, or call our office"

To for more details  for the Information Session on How to Complete a Concept Note click and scheduel Here

Alternately you can call 063 485 0660 or drop by SBF office Mansoor Hotel, Hargeisa

Somalia: Alshabab Leader in Captivity Refuses to Hold Talks With the Government

Hassan Dahir Aways

Cadado- — A delegation consisting of parliamentarians and traditional elders flew from Mogadishu towards Cadado a town in central Somalia where Hassan Dahir Aways is seeking refuge from his own men, the Alshabab Islamists.

The delegation consisted of Sheikh Abdiqadir Ali Omar, General Yusuf Mohamed (Inda Adde) among other top politicians.

Reports came out last night that Mr. Dahir Aways refused to hold talks with the federal government and requested to be given an army to fight the government.

It was ironic what the captured leader requested from the traditional elders and other politicians who flew to central intending to lure him to quit the Islamists.

Ahmed Dire who is a traditional elder from Hassan Dahir Aweys clan talking to Shabelle radio station in Mogadishu said that talks are still underway and trying to convincing Mr. Hassan to quit Alshabab.

The Himan and Heeb administration said that it will not provide further refuge for the fugitive leader if he refused to hold talks with the federal government.

Hassan Dahir Aways and other top Alshabab commandos arrived at Adado a town in central Somalia seeking refuge from powerful Alshabab leader Ahmed Godane.

Source: Shabelle Media Network (Mogadishu)

Concern over planned relocation of refugees from Kenya to Somalia

Photo: Kenneth Odiwuor/IRIN

The number of registered refugees have decreased by around 20 percent since September 2012

MOGADISHU, 28 June 2013 (IRIN) - As plans to facilitate the return of hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees from neighbouring Kenya gather steam, serious doubts persist about whether conditions in Somalia are conducive to such a large-scale repatriation operation.

There are some 600,000 Somali refugees in Kenya, according to government figures, more than two thirds of whom live in the sprawling, 20-year-old Dadaab complex in the east of the country.

In recent years Kenya has repeatedly expressed a desire to ease its “refugee burden” and on 5 June President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Somali counterpart Hassan Sheikh Mohammed met in Nairobi to move the process forward. They agreed that a conference would be held in August to work out the modalities of repatriation and also to set up a tripartite committee with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

“This is part of Somali government policies… Somalia is now on the path to economic recovery as well as security improvement,” said Abdirahman Omar Osman, an adviser to the Somali president, told IRIN.

Mohamed Omar Dalha, the deputy chairman of Somalia’s Parliamentary Commission for Foreign Affairs, was more cautious. “It does not matter if they [the refugees] are sent to relatively peaceful areas like Mogadishu and Baidoa… [But] large swathes of the country are still controlled by militants. We have to be careful about the security of these people,” he said.

"The narrative that Somalia is safe and ready for large-scale returns – when the federal government only controls a fraction of the country – is dangerous."

Abdullahi Mohamed Shirwa, the chairman of a network of civil society organizations in central and southern Somalia, said of the planned relocations: “There are blasts - suicide attacks - and people are fleeing in the southern town of Kismayo as conflicts [are] renewed. The very reasons that forced these people to flee still exist, so there is no point why they should be returned. They will not have access to health [or] education services in these areas.”

Dangerous narrative

Mark Yarnell, Africa refugee advocate at Refugees International, told IRIN that while the international community should support those refugees who do want to repatriate voluntarily, “the narrative that Somalia is safe and ready for large-scale returns - when the federal government only controls a fraction of the country - is dangerous…

“The current situation on the ground in Somalia definitely does not allow for a mass repatriation of refugees. Certainly, there are areas in Somalia that are becoming safer and secure, but the stability is fragile. In areas controlled by the Somali Federal Government, Al-Shabab maintains the capacity to carry out major attacks (such as the tragic attack last week on the UN compound in Mogadishu); and in “liberated” cities like the port city of Kismayo, rival warlords are fighting for control, forcing civilians to flee,” Yarnell said.

This view was echoed by UNHCR Somalia spokesman Andy Needham: “There have been some encouraging developments in Somalia lately but these improvements do not mean that large numbers of Somali refugees can all go home yet. It will take time before conditions in general, for example security as well as law and order, are restored throughout Somalia and local administrations are rebuilt.

“UNHCR's position - as elsewhere around the world - is that refugees should make informed decisions about whether to return home and should return home voluntarily in safety and dignity. UNHCR therefore hopes that countries of asylum will continue to afford Somali refugees protection until they can go home,” he told IRIN in an email.

“I can assure you that we will do it [repatriation] in an orderly and most humane manner which upholds the dignity to our visitors,” Kenya’s cabinet secretary for foreign affairs, Amina Mohammed, was quoted as saying in local press reports this week.

Photo: Zoe Flood/IRIN

 

The security situation in Somalia remains precarious

So far this year, 17,000 Somali refugees living in Kenya returned to Somalia, according to UNHCR, which pointed out that some of them may have done so only temporarily, for example to plant crops.

Apprehension

Hubio Abdi Kilass, a mother of three, has lived in Dadaab for the past 20 years. She told IRIN that despite the difficulty of life in Dadaab, Somalia is not yet peaceful enough to warrant her return.

“You can see how we are struggling to collect food rations in this scorching sun, but I cannot trust to go back to Somalia so early, because I am sure I will be forced to run away again due to the ongoing conflict between the various factions fighting for power. I don’t want to be a refugee two times. I would rather stay longer than risk my life,” she said.

Aid officials told IRIN there is apprehension among refugees about possible repatriation, in part because they are not sure about the nature of the process but also because of the unpredictable security situation in Somalia.

“Refugees do not know about the conditions they might be going back to. Those with property are afraid of losing what they have acquired over time,” said Rufus Karanja, spokesperson at Refugee Consortium of Kenya.

“We don’t know about the details of the agreement but we believe it will follow best practices where those willing to go back are also facilitated to have `a visit to see’ opportunity,” Karanja added.

Camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) inside Somalia lack basic amenities and are overcrowded.

“I came back to [my] homeland because I thought life [had] improved, but [what] I encountered and what I had expected are quite different. We do not have enough health services nor do we have enough food, so what sort of repatriation are they talking about?” Zahra, a mother of six who recently returned from the Kenyan refugee camp of Hagadera in Dadaab, told IRIN from one such camp in Mogadishu.

There are an estimated one million IDPs in Somalia.

amd-mh/ko/rz/am/cb

Kooxaha Ictisaam iyo Salafi oo Khilaaf ka Dhex Curtay

Burco - labada koox Diimeed ee la kala yidhaahdo Ictisaam iyo Salafi ayuu ku dhex taagan yahay khilaaf muddo soo socday, kaasoo toddobaadkan si rasmi ah uga soo shaac baxay qaar ka mid ah masaajidada ay gacanta ku kala hayaan ee magaaladda Burco, kuwaas oo ay isku weydaarsadeen Qudbado is-duraya.

brekingKoox dhalinyaro ah oo la sheegay in ay dibeda ka timi ayaa toddobaadkan oo dhan Qdbado ku lidi ah kooxda Salafka ka jeedisay masaajid ay maamulaan oo ku yaala magaaladda Burco, Qudbadahaas oo wariyaha gobolkaasi sheegay in ay ku wajahnaayeen kooxda kale ee Salafiyiinta la yidhaahdo, balse wax jawaab ah intii hore marna may bixin kooxda Salafiyiintu.

Sida uu wariyuhu ku soo waramayo xalay ayaya markii ugu horeysay kooxda Salafiyiintu jawaab ka bixiyeen qudbadihii Kooxda Ictisaam ku bar tilmaameedsanaysay, waxaanay qudbadaasi sii xoogaysay khilaafkii jiray oo marka hore dhinac ka socday.

Qudbadaha iska soo hoorjeeda ayaa magaaladda Burco ka dhex abuuraya xaasaasiyad Diimeed oo u dhaxeeya labada kooxood, kuwaasoo saamayn ku yeeshay bulshada inteedii kale, isla markaana waxa uu khilaafkoodu noqday mid laga hadal hayo goob kasta oo la isugu yimaado magaaladaasi.

Maayarka magaaladda Burco Maxamed Yuusuf Cabdi (Muraad) ayaa manta qudbadii Salaada Jimce kadib labada kooxood kala hadlay mid ka mid ah masaajidada Burco, waxaanu ka dalbaday in ay joojiyaan khilaafka ka dhex curtay, isagoo ku soo rogay in aanay masaajidada ka jeedin Karin qudbado danbe oo ay isku weerarayaan.

Wasaaradda Diinta iyo Aw-qaafta Somaliland ilaa hada kamay hadal khilaafka u dhaxeeya labada kooxood,

Source: Waaheen

ETHIOPIA: Ex-Im Bank Authorizes $130 Million to Finance Export of U.S.-Manufactured Aircraft and Engines to Ethiopian Airlines

Press Release
The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) has authorized nearly $130 million in financing to support the export of Boeing long-range aircraft and installed GE-90 engines to Ethiopian Airlines.
The transaction will support an estimated 700 American jobs in the aircraft and aircraft-engine manufacturing industry, according to an Ex-Im Bank estimate derived from U.S. Departments of Commerce and Labor data and methodology.

Ex-Im Bank Chairman Fred P. Hochberg announced the transaction today in Addis Ababa. Hochberg is in Ethiopia conducting meetings with government and business leaders as part of a week-long business development trip to India, Ethiopia and South Africa.

"Ex-Im Bank is pleased to add another transaction in our successful partnership with Ethiopian Airlines, which is supporting hundreds of jobs in the U.S. aerospace industry. This transaction also demonstrates the tremendous potential of Africa for U.S. exporters," said Ex-Im Bank Chairman Fred P. Hochberg. "Our financing of high-quality, 'Made in the USA' aircraft and engines is also helping Ethiopian Airlines continue to expand its service throughout Africa and beyond the continent."

From 2003 through 2013, Ex-Im Bank has approved more than $2.2 billion to finance exports of U.S.-manufactured aircraft and aircraft engines to Ethiopian Airlines. In May 2012, Ex-Im Bank authorized financing to support 10 Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft to Ethiopian Airlines. Four of the aircraft were funded through a capital-markets bond issuance in November 2012.

With multiple missions, U.S. military steps up Africa focus

By Peter Apps, Political Risk Correspondent

WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - Striking Islamist militants with drones, supporting African forces in stabilizing Somalia and Mali and deploying dozens of training teams, the U.S. military has returned to Africa.

Its presence remains mostly low key, barely mentioned in the context of President Barack Obama's visit this week to Africa.

Nevertheless, with some 4,000-5,000 personnel on the ground at any given time, the United States now has more troops in Africa than at any point since its Somalia intervention two decades ago. That ended in humiliation and withdrawal after the 1993 "Blackhawk Down" debacle in which 18 U.S. soldiers died.

There are two main reasons behind the build up: to counter al Qaeda and other militant groups, and to win influence in a continent that could become an increasingly important destination for American trade and investment as China's presence grows in Africa.

Obama's eight-day trip is heavily focused not on military issues but on trade and economic development in visits to Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania.

In the Horn of Africa, the vast majority of U.S. forces deployed in Africa are at a major French military base in Djibouti, a tiny country sandwiched between northern Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea.

While U.S. officials will not comment in detail on what happens at the base, experts say it has provided a staging post for occasional special forces deployments and drone and air attacks against Islamist militant targets in Somalia.

Dramatic as those actions are, smaller U.S. operations and outreach programs often with only a handful of troops are key to the strategy of winning influence in a continent where China has surpassed the United States as the No.1 trade partner and has huge mining, energy and infrastructure investments.

Such limited missions, U.S. officers say, have gone a long way to reducing initial African skepticism over Germany-based AFRICOM, set up in 2008 to bring all U.S. military activity in Africa under one unified command, rather than dividing responsibility between commanders in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

"We are focusing on building human capital," says Major General Charles Hooper, head of strategy and plans at AFRICOM. "The smaller missions can be some of the most effective when it comes to gaining trust."

In Angola, Namibia, Democratic Republic of Congo and elsewhere, U.S. engineers have helped train local counterparts in landmine clearance. In southern Africa, military medics have helped local armies tackle HIV infection while in Mauritania, the focus has been on veterinary aid to local ranchers.

U.S. warships combating piracy off both East and West Africa are increasingly frequent visitors to local ports.

One U.S. aim is to convince African militaries their interests are best served by remaining democratically accountable and not interfering in politics.

Some operations, however, have hit just that problem. The hunt in Central African Republic for Ugandan warlord and head of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army Joseph Kony has largely been suspended following a March coup in CAR.

The anti-LRA mission had been the only one in Africa in which combat troops were deployed, involving just over 100 U.S. special forces personnel. U.S. forces continue to train Ugandan and other armies as part of that operation.

KICKED OUT OF MOROCCO, ACTIVE IN SOMALIA
Critics in Africa complain Washington's approach to the continent has become increasingly militarized and focused on counterterrorism. Others worry U.S. military clout may ultimately be used to seize resources.

Administration officials disagree and point to Obama's visit as evidence of U.S. intentions.

"This trip ultimately disproves the notion that we're somehow securitizing the relationship with Africa," Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told a conference call last week. "This trip is expressly devoted to trade and investment, democratic institution-building, young people and unleashing economic growth through some of our development priority."

In general, U.S. forces have only been able to operate when African governments - or sometimes France, which maintains a network of bases in former colonies - allow them to.

Permission can be quickly withdrawn for political reasons.

In April, Morocco canceled its annual Exercise African Lion with U.S. forces after a suggestion from Washington that U.N. monitors in the disputed Western Sahara region should extend their mandate to include human rights.

The United States still treads carefully in Somalia, the scene of a serious reverse in 1993 when militia fighters killed 18 Americans on a mission to capture a Somali warlord in support of a U.N. mission.

U.S. officials say there are often one or two U.S. liaison officers deployed inside Somalia helping African Union forces fight Islamist group al Shabaab - which is linked to al Qaeda - on behalf of Somalia's transitional government.

Most of the U.S. support for the African Union mission AMISOM remains outside the country, training forces in Kenya, Uganda and elsewhere.

It is a similar picture on the other side of the continent, where the U.S. military is also acting primarily in support of local nations and France.

The aftermath of the 2011 Libya war has seen a flood of weapons and militants across the Sahel, fueling the rise of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb which briefly captured much of northern Mali before a French offensive there earlier this year.

The U.S. Air Force provided much of the transport for both African and French reinforcements in Mali, while U.S. air tankers from RAF Mildenhall in England have flown long missions over the Sahara refueling French combat jets.

Some 100 U.S. personnel deployed to Niger to set up a drone base. Unlike in East Africa, however, the drones will be unarmed and used only for reconnaissance to track Islamist militants.

U.S. and African officials say Washington has long been reluctant to share its most sophisticated intelligence with African partners, in part over worries it might fall into the wrong hands.

African officers say that if they are to be truly effective at fighting militants in their own countries and as part of broader Mali-type missions, they need to know as much as possible about rebel movements, locations and plans.

"The Americans are our friends - but often they are friends who are not frank," says former Senegalese army chief Mansour Seck, also an ex-ambassador to Washington. "They have a tendency to ask you what you have but will not tell you what they have." (Additional reporting by Pascal Fletcher in Johannesburg, Gabriela Matthews in Dakar, Abdoulaye Massalatchi in Niamey, Richard Lough and Edmund Blair in Nairobi, Abdourahim Artheh in Djibouti; Editing by Alistair Bell and Eric Walsh)

World Bank laments Djibouti’s telecoms monopoly for high cost of services

A study published by the World Bank, and backed by a number of other leading institutions and development agencies, has lambasted Djibouti for failing to liberalise the country’s telecoms market, to the detriment of service quality and access costs there. Djibouti Telecom still holds a monopoly on the national and international market which, in the World Bank’s opinion, is ‘a serious handicap to competition in the sector’.

The Bank cites by way of example the fact that the cost of a basic 1Mbps ADSL service currently costs USD36 per month, or around half the average Djiboutian annual salary, compared to just 5% in Morocco or 3.5% in Tunisia. As such, high speed internet access is prohibitively expensive to all but the richest inhabitants or corporate/international firms.

US pledges support for Djibouti

The US has pledged to assist Djibouti in several sectors, while hailing the cooperation between the two nations in the areas of counter-terrorism and security.

PANA reported Friday that the pledge was contained in a congratulatory message which the US State Department sent to the African nation on the occasion of its National Day on 27 June.

''The United States is committed to helping Djibouti improve health services, expand education, and build responsive governing institutions,'' the US said.

It described Djibouti as a ''staunch supporter of peace and stability'' in the Horn of Africa, and expressed pride in the work which both have undertaken to support Somalia's political transition and the ongoing US security cooperation through the African Union Mission in Somalia.

''In pursuing our shared counter-terrorism and security goals, we present a formidable, unified front against extremist threats in the region,'' it said.