Maamulka Axmed-Siilaanyo ee Somaliland - Qalinkii: Ibraahin Yuusuf Axmed ”Hawd”

Danta xisbiyada laga yeeshaa haddii ay tahay dimuqraadiyadayn, dawladnimo wanaag iyo xaqsoor, oo ay tahay in ay weel u noqdaan aragtiyaha iyo danaha ka la duduwan ee qaybaha bulshada, kuwa Somaliland iyaga ayaa sabab u noqda qabyaaladda iyo qaybinta dadweynaha, waayo fikir kale oo ay ku dhisan yihiin baan jirin.

Sannadkii 1992 ummad caydhowday oo wada qaawan oo qori garabka u saaran mooyee aan wax kale haysan baa dawladnimada Somaliland laga dhex yagleelay. Haddana fawdo iyo colaad lagu ka la irdhoobay baa maamul dhab u shaqaynaya loo gudbiyay. Haddana reero qabyaaladaysan iyo afmiishaarro bahaloobay baa hannaan dimuqraadiyadeed laga suurtageliyay oo habsami iyo nabad madaxnimada lagu la ka la wareegay. Hawlahaasi ma ay fududayn ee mar walba arrintu waxa ay saarrayd mindi jirjirkeed. Maantana maamulka jira waxaa laga sugayaa dawladnimadaa in uu sii ambaqaado oo waxa ka dhiman ku kordhiyo. Taas ayaa noqon lahayd tallaabadii ugu dambaysay ee lagu gaadhi lahaa maamul wanaag, caddaalad iyo xasillooni bulsheed oo buuxda.

Madaxweyne Axmed Maxamed Maxamuud ”Siilaanyo” iyo jaalleyaashiisa Kulmiye waa la ogaa wixii ay qoob iyo qaylo dalka ku waaleen xilligii ay Rayaale iyo Udub talada hayeen. Eedaha iyo foolxumada ay sheegi jireen soohdin ma lahayn. Dacwad ay joogto carrabka ugu hayn jireen waxa ay ahayd garsoorkii iyo hantidhawrkii in ay xukuumadda ku milmeen, sidaa darteed dulimiga iyo musuqu faraha ka baxeen. Tu kale ha joogtee taasi runtood bay ahayd. Waxaa kale oo run ah maantaba taa in aan waxba iska beddelin. Wax waliba waa tabtii ay ugu yimaaddeen. Maanta madaxweynaha iyo wasiirradiisa yaa la xisaabtama? Marka ay xilkooda iyo hantida yare ee umadda ku tagrifalaan awooddee baa qabata ama qaban karta? Sidaas ayay ahaanaysaa ilaa la helayo hay’ado dawladeed oo xukuumadda ka madaxbannaan.

Dhaqanka siyaasadeed ee Somaliland sidiisaba waxaa ku jira laba cilladood oo ragaadiyay. Ta hore waa bulshada oo aan ka la garanayn dawlad iyo reer, cudurkaas oo siyaasiga xumi weligiiba ku shaqaysto isaga oo ay la tahay in ay tol’la’ayda ugu badinayso. Ta labaadna waa hay’adihii dawladnimada oo isugu urursan golaha fulinta (xukuumadda), golahaas oo ay awoodda oo dhami gacanta ugu jirto. Garsoorka iyo hantidhawrka oo ah laba tiir oo aanay la’aantood dawladnimo hagaagsani suurtoobi karin maanta Somaliland laga ma yaqaan, haddii ay jiraanna ma aha wax xukuumadda ka madaxbannaan. Inta aanay labadaasi awood iyo madaxbannaani lahayn laga ma yaabo in la helo dawladnimo hagaagsan, ama in musuqmaasuqa laga baxo, ama xaqsoor la helo.

Bulshaduna dhaqanka caynkaas ah ayay qaayibtay oo maalinba kooxda talada haysa ayaa ah “dawladda”, kooxdaas ayaana dalka waxa ay doonto ka samaysa. Muwaaddinku waxa uu xabsiga ku galaa telefoon nin siyaasi ahi diro. Wargeyska sidii Xiddigta Oktoobar noqon waayaa waa xaraan. Khasnadda qaranka iyo jeebka siyaasigu waa isku mid qudha. Madaxweynuhuna waa ilaah la caabudo iyo sheyddaanka la iska naaro isku mar qudha iyada oo labada jeerba lagu qiimaynayo maskax garashadeedu liidato.

Bilawgii waxaa wax lagu soo dhisay habka tolnimada iyo hiddihii soojireenka ahaa. Berigaa dad baa moodayay in ay tahay si badownimo ah oo aan dawladnimo ku shaqayn karin. Guul bay se dhashay oo maanta shisheeye iyo sokeeyaba waxaa la isla qiray fikraddaasi in ay ahayd mid kudayasho u leh Afrikada burburtay oo dhan. Ha ahaatee maalintaaba qof waliba wuu garan karayay in ay tahay xaalad kumeelgaadh ah oo laga bixi doono. Mar uun bay garashada qummani diidi doontaa dawladnimo casri ah in aan lagu wadi karin ”reer hebelow waa idinku intaa annaga waa nagu intan”.Laba iyo labaatan sannadood ka dib arrintu weli waxa ay taagan tahay bartii laga soo unkay. Waxa qudha ee soo kordhay waa ururrada siyaasadeed oo qudhoodu tolal ku wada tiirsan.

Danta xisbiyada laga yeeshaa haddii ay tahay dimuqraadiyadayn, dawladnimo wanaag iyo xaqsoor, oo ay tahay in ay weel u noqdaan aragtiyaha iyo danaha ka la duduwan ee qaybaha bulshada, kuwa Somaliland iyaga ayaa sabab u noqda qabyaaladda iyo qaybinta dadweynaha, waayo fikir kale oo ay ku dhisan yihiin baan jirin. Dadka xisbiyada ku wada jiraa ma laha aragti midaysa aan ahayn in ay madaxnimada wadajir u ugaadhsadaan. Haddii wax kale oo mideeyaa jiri lahaayeen qofku sida xoolo baadi ah marba dhan u ma tasoobeen ee xisbiga ay isku fikirka yihiin buu ku ekaan lahaa. Fariidnimada ugu weyni maanta waa in ay dhawr nin oo ka la reero ahi calan xisbi isku wada sawiraan si ay u qaldaan bulshada miskiinadda ah ee indhaheedu ina hebelkooda uun garanayaan. Wax kale oo meesha yaallaa ma jiraan. Udub oo ahaa xisbigii ugu adkaa waxa uu jiray oo keliya intii ay kooxdiisu talada haysay, maalintii xilka laga wareejiyay ayuuna nin waliba reerkoodii u carraabay. Ifafaalaha Kulmiye ka muuqdaana kaa ka ma duwana. Doorashadooda soo socota haddii ay isla dhaafaan ayay nasiib lee yihiin.

Dawladnimada sidaa u aragga xun nin wal oo maanta hoggaamiye ka noqda hawl weyn baa hor taalla. Haddana dhanka kale madaxnimada xilligan waxaa ku jirta fursad taariikheed oo wanaagsan, waayo waxa aad reebi kartaa raad iyo waxqabad qiimi leh oo lagugu xusuusto. Haddii halkaa laga eego Axmed-Siilaanyo dharaartii uu xilka la wareegay guul baa u dagatay. Waa ruugcaddaa aan Geeska Afrika oo dhan cidina ugu aqoon iyo waayo’aragnimo badnayn dawladnimo waxa ay tahay. Sidaa darteed qabyada iyo cudurrada jira oo dhan wuu ka dheregsanaa. Wax walba in lagu bixiyo in la ka la furfuro tolnimada iyo dawladnimada, iyo hirgelinta hay’adaha dawladnimada isu dheellitira, ayaa ah labada waajib ee ugu horreeya waxqabadka laga sugayay.

Axmed-Siilaanyo in uu garsoorka iyo hantidhawrka curyaansan dhaqaajiyo ilaa imika Ilaahay ma waafajin. Mar haddii aanay taasi dhicin wax waliba waxa ay isaga socdaan sidii xumayd ee uu ugu yimid. Musuqmaasuqa aan cidina ka xisaabtami karin, ku tumashada xorriyadda muwaaddinka iyo batraannimadii siyaasigu weli waa tabtii. Weli se waqti buu haystaa. Inta xilligiisa ka hadhay ma ku dhacaa taabbagelinta hay’ado dawladeed oo hawlahooda u madaxbannaan, gaar ahaan garsoor iyo hantidhawr masuuliyiinta la xisaabtami kara? Ma ka badbaadi karaa muddada xilkiisa in aanu ku dhammaysan in uu madaxweyne uun iska ahaado dabadeed wax walba sidoodii kaga tago ee wax looga aayo ka tago? Wayddiintaasi macno weyn bay u lee dahay taariikhda Somaliland iyo ta qof ahaaneed ee Axmed-Siilaanyo labadaba.

Rabadaan wanaagsan!

Ibraahinhawd@hotmail.com

www.ibraahinhawd.com

Ethiopia: Nile Insurance Sold Bank of Abyssinia Shares 224% their Par Value

 

Written by Meraf Leykun -  Ethiopian Business News 

Bank of Abyssinia shares auctioned by Nile Insurance S.C has attracted bid 224 percent above their par value. Nile Insurance S.C is disposing shares it owned in the bank following a 2008 law which caps the maximum amount of shares a shareholder can hold in a bank to 5 percent of the bank's capital.

In a bid to comply with the law, Nile Insurance, is reducing its shares worth 49.2 million Ethiopian birr to 31.5 million birr by offering for sale 708,704 shares. The National Bank of Ethiopia has set a three year timetable, which will expire in August 2013, for "influential Share holders" to reduce their interest to the maximum amount required by the law.

The starting price for the 360,000 Bank of Abyssinia shares owned by Nile Insurance was set at 40 birr inclusive of 60 percent of premium added by the insurance company. When bids were opened six weeks ago, the average offer was 46 birr per share.

With the absence of secondary share market in Ethiopia to determine the value of share, financial institutions have recently started to determine the amount of premium to add to the par value by assessing the assets of the bank and demand from outsider.

Over 20 bidders made offer above the average price during the current auction. Financial institutions also take the offer received through auction as an indicator of the market value of the shares.

"The gap between the amount the highest bidder offered for a share and the face value is a good indicator of the positive perception potential shareholders have towards the banks financial standing" Dawit G. Amanuel, CEO of Nile Insurance, told Fortune.

Satisfied with the previous action, Nile has floated another batch of 551,894 shares this past week, with a value of 13 million birr. The bid is expected to be opened on July 31, 3013.

Source: Fortune

Somaliland: a fragile corner of peace

An roadside independence monument in Hargeisa shows a fist holding up the map of Somaliland. The lack of international recognition has lead to robust yet lopsided growth. Photo: Aman Sethi

Hargeisa - Somaliland is fascinating experiment in minimalist state building. Down the street the porter walked, wheelbarrow piled high with thick wads of Somaliland shillings held together with elastic bands. Along the pavements, tea-sipping money traders sat behind similar stacks of wealth, trading shillings for dollars, pounds, euros and even slivers of gold.

The shilling is the official currency of the self-proclaimed sovereign Republic of Somaliland; but the currency, much like the republic, is yet to be recognized by any country in the world. The 3.5 million residents of this breakaway territory along the Gulf of Aden carry a veritable currency basket in their pockets – personal savings are in dollars, but shopping is in shillings.

The money traded on the streets, residents say, is a testament to the safety and security of their town.

On May 18 1991, the northern province of Somaliland broke away from Somalia. Somalia was torn apart by two decades of internecine violence, but in Somaliland, clan elders set about assembling their own nation state with an elected government at the capital in Hargeisa, a judiciary, a nominally independent central bank with a national currency, and relative security.

Twenty two years on, international isolation has resulted in a stilted economy without a formal banking or energy sector, but a robust money transfer industry, high cell phone penetration, and reasonably fast internet.

Hargeisa is a dusty town of about a million residents, its streets peaceful, bazaars raucously decorated in the red, green and white colours of the flag, and supermarkets stocked with milk from Saudi Arabia, chicken from Brazil, and iPhones from Dubai.

While Somalia has been ravaged by clan conflict, Somaliland is controlled by an uneasy alliance of the majority Isaaq clan and several smaller groups. A clique of business families have created a minimalist state confined to providing security and stability for a fast growing private sector that has created significant wealth for some, even as more than half the urban population and a quarter of the rural population rely on foreign remittances to make ends meet.

“When our first president came he didn’t have a pencil on his desk, nor a paper,” said Abdulkader Hashi, a former petroleum engineer who returned from the Kuwait oilfields to set up The Mansoor, Hargeisa’s biggest hotel.

Mr. Hashi mobilized the Somaliland diaspora, telling his friends, “Give money to the government, bring your goods and we’ll waive customs duty. We bought the stationery, knocked on the door of the President and said, let your people go to work. We opened offices, police stations, we paid them. We called judges, put them in office, paid them.”

Driven by clans of currency, spectrum, a Somali state thrives

The Shilling is the official currency of Somaliland, but is not recognized by any other country. Most residents keep their money in dollars, and buy shillings from the street. Photo: Aman Sethi

Across town from Hargeisa’s money exchange market is a large green building that looks and acts very much like a bank, but isn’t one. Dahabshiil is Africa’s largest money transfer company and has 24,000 agents in 144 countries; its operational headquarters are in Hargeisa, and the company is one of the cabal of businesses keeping Somaliland together.

A recent study by the FAO estimates that Somalia, including Somaliland, receives “a minimum of $ 1.2 billion per year” as remittances, compared to international aid that averaged $ 834 million a year between 2007 and 2011. Most of the money remitted, the study found, was spent on food and household expenditure like school fees and medical expenses. A recent decision by Barclay’s bank in London to withdraw banking services for companies like Dahabshiil has prompted an international advocacy campaign to protect remittance dependent families in the Horn of Africa.

Dahabshiil is the largest money transfer agency in Africa. A recent study estimates Somalia receives at least $ 1.2 billion a year from its diaspora. Photo: Aman Sethi

“You can walk into a Dahabshiil office anywhere in the world, give the name, location and contact number of the intended recipient and the money is transferred instantly,” said Amina Issa, a Dahabshiil spokesperson. The company also provides payroll services for the Somalia operations of international organisations like the United Nations.

“There is no commercial banking system here,” said Ms. Issa, “So we offer our customers a basic deposit account for keeping money safe.” The account comes with a chequebook for $5 and an ersatz debit card that works with select retailers, but offers no interest on savings.

A banking law is expected soon, but for now there are no regulations to govern Dahabshiil’s operations in Somaliland, no minimum cash reserve ratios, depositors insurance, or loan regulations. In a recent survey by the Somaliland National Industry Association, 90 percent of respondents identified the lack of institutional finance as the most critical challenge facing new enterprises.

“If you are on the inside, it is easy to get capital on an informal, family basis,” said a local businessman, “But if you are on the outside, it is impossible to raise money.”

Dahabshiil, however, is in the enviable position of holding depositor’s money at zero interest with no regulations to govern how the money is invested. The company has since opened its own bank in Djibouti, launched SomTel, a cellular service across Somaliland, and continues to run its own general trading arm.

As the biggest source of dollars in Somaliland, Dahabshiil plays a role in keeping the exchange rate at 6500 Somaliland shillings to the dollar. This gives the company an unusual edge when trading across currencies.

“When there is a dollar shortage, we borrow dollars from Dahabshiil and inject them into the market. If there are excess dollars, we buy them using shillings,” said Abdilahi Hassan Aden, Director General of the Somaliland Central Bank. The Central Bank, Mr. Aden said, relies on companies like Dahabshiil for dollars because no international body recognizes the Somaliland shilling.

A recent study estimates Somalia receives at least $ 1.2 billion a year from its diaspora. More than half Somaliland's urban population and a quarter of rural residents rely on remmitances for basic needs. Photo: Aman Sethi

There is no formal currency exchange in Hargeisa, so when the shilling fell to 7500 to the dollar, Hargeisa residents said bank officials drove down to the money exchange with a vehicle full of dollars. “They made a mistake,” said one irate businessman, “They started selling shillings first. We had to tell them to stop.”

In 1996, Abdikarim Dirie gave up his job as an accountant in Toronto and returned to Hargeisa to manage his family business. “At the time, we only had fixed telephones in Somaliland and so I saw an opportunity,” he said.

In 2000, Mr. Dirie set up TeleSom as a shareholder company and raised money through his network of investors, including the Djibouti-based Salaam Group that has the same telecom, banking, and money transfer profile as Dahabshiil.

“We relied on expatriates initially. Very expensive, very difficult to persuade them to come here, the city was just emerging from the war,” Mr. Dirie said, describing how he built the company, “In 2002… we succeeded in training local staff to replace the expatriates. It was a major turning point.”

Today, TeleSom is the largest cellular operator and private sector employer in Somaliland with 1 million subscribers and a staff of 1800. Somaliland has amongst the lowest call rates in the world and 85 percent of the territory is connected to the cellular grid.

There is no telecom regulator to monitor tariffs or auction out spectrum. Instead, the Somaliland Association of Telecom Operators (SATO) regulates the industry. Two years ago, SATO retroactively assessed how many subscribers each company had and formalized their spectrum accordingly.

“I called all the operators to my office and discussed all the spectrum we have. When we agreed on the spectrum, I assigned each company a frequency, and all these documents were then sent to the ministry,” said Yusuf Ahmed Omar Hashi, SATO’s Secretary General, describing how the telecom operators divided the spectrum amongst themselves.

By fixing the price of spectrum, this fraternal dialogue reduced the fixed costs of setting up a cellular service and could explain Somaliland’s low call tariffs. But this could also explain why the Somaliland government is perennially cash strapped. SATO members point out that they pay corporate taxes and an annual license fee but declined to reveal the respective amounts.

SATO also failed to hammer out an inter-operability agreement between networks, so it very cheap to call within a network but prohibitively expensive to call a rival. A call between Somtel number and Telesom numbers are treated as international calls and routed via satellite.

In private conversations, Somaliland’s businessmen puzzle over a disjointed economy that is intensively competitive like in the telecom sector, yet riddled with glaring market failures like the telcos’ refusal to connect their networks.

International recognition, and its attendant benefits, is still many years away as international agencies like the AU and the UN are invested in the idea of a united Somalia.

In the meantime, clan elders and investors realize that the booming remittance industry indicates that the domestic economy has failed to produce employment. The money traders and their cash piles are feeling the pressure of a recession in Europe and the changing demographics of the Somali diaspora.

“The remittances will last another ten years at most,” said Mohammed Igeh, an energy investor who recently returned from Norway, “I have been sending money home to my parents, but my daughters in Norway? No way. They were born there, they live there. They don’t even know anyone in this country.”

Source: The Hindu

Genel decides risk is worth it searching for oil in Somaliland

Tony Hayward, chief executive of Genel Energy, is sanguine about the risk

By Tim Webb

Finding oil could be the least of Genel Energy’s problems. If the explorer fronted by Tony Hayward finds as much of the black stuff as it expects to, it may find itself in the middle of several territorial disputes in one of the world’s most volatile regions.

Next year Genel will drill its first wells in Somaliland, the breakaway East African territory that declared independence from Somalia more than 20 years ago after a bloody civil war.

The prize could be huge. At 40,000 sq km, its acreage in the nation is biggest than the whole of the Kurdish region. 

Genel decides risk is worth it searching for oil in Somaliland: Finding oil could be the least of Genel Energy’s problems. If the explorer fronted by Tony Hayward finds as much of the black stuff as it expects to, it may find itself in the middle of several territorial disputes in one of the world’s most volatile regions.

Mary Harper: Somalia's lifeline under threat

Mary Harper: Somalia's lifeline under threat: Sending money to Somalia: a personal experience Whenever I want to send money from the UK to friends in Somalia, I go into a little s...

Witness - Sisters of Somalia

Asha Hagi Elmi is a humanitarian activist, internationally recognised for her work helping to build peace and defend the rights of women in Somalia. Witness journeys with Asha to the refugee camps of Mogadishu, swelled to bursting point in 2011 by tens of thousands of Somalis fleeing drought and the threat of famine

Somalia - Al Shabaab 'Infiltrates' Intelligence Services in Mogadishu: UN

Mogadishu — The UN Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea's new annual report to the UN Security Council portrays a harrowing picture of security institutions in Mogadishu, where senior government officials are allegedly working in cohorts with Al Shabaab militants, further destabilizing Mogadishu's fragile security, Garowe Online reports.

The UN investigators found that the Somali government officials in Mogadishu "use Al Shabaab agents", adding that the "Monitoring Group has received information relating to the infiltration of Al-Shabaab networks into the National Intelligence and Security Agency of Somalia," according to the UN report, issued to the UN Security Council in New York earlier this month.

Continuing, the UN reports raises particular concern regarding the role of former director of NISA, Mr. Ahmed Mo'alim Fiqi nominated by former TFG President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, and the report says that Mr. Fiqi who resigned in March 2013 as director of NISA "enjoys a close relationship with Al Shabaab".

"Senior TFG officials have voiced concerns that Fiqi used Al-Shabaab agents to target political opponents within the government. One senior security official that worked with Fiqi informed the Monitoring Group that several Al-Shabaab suspects he arrested claimed to be working as agents for Fiqi," the UN report states.

Al Shabaab's infiltration in Mogadishu was partly aided by former TFG President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed's unexplained decision to release "more than 200 Al Shabaab prisoners" in Mogadishu, in August 2012. By September 12, 2012, "two of the suicide bombers involved in the attack on the Jazira Hotel in Mogadishu on 12 September 2012, when President Hassan Sheikh was addressing his first press conference as President, were former prisoners who had been released in August," the report notes.

Moreover, the report condemns the role of a certain Mr. Artan Abdi Ibrahim (Artan Bidar), "a known security consultant in Mogadishu who has provided private security protection for Government officials but who has been also identified by senior security officials as an agent for Al-Shabaab," the report says.

The report accuses Mr. Artan Bidar of engaging in "contract killings" and that he is under investigation since 2012 by security services "for the alleged assassination of at least several individuals in Mogadishu". Continuing, the report notes, "In addition to independently providing assassins for contract killings, Artan Bidar coordinates with Al-Shabaab hit squads through family connections with Ali Dheere," the spokesman for Al Shabaab militants, with whom Artan Bidar shares clan affiliation.

Somali government forces, aided by AMISOM peacekeepers successfully removed Al Shabaab military component from Mogadishu, but Al Shabaab militants continue to carry out targeted assassinations and devastating bomb attacks. Last week, the militants are suspected of fatally shooting Deputy Commissioner of Mogadishu's Yaaqshiid district, Ms. Rahmo Dahir.

On April 14, at least 20 people were killed when Al Shabaab militants raided Mogadishu's courthouse; again on June 19, at least 22 persons including four foreigners were killed in a daring Al Shabaab attack on a U.N. compound in Mogadishu.

Somaliland: National Political Parties Registration and Verification Committee declares political consultative council illegal

Take disciplinary measures against chairman, they advice UCID
 

By M.A.Egge

The national political parties registration and verification committee (NPPR&VC) have categorically termed null and void the legality of the recently announced formation of a national consultative council by opposition members.

In an official press released the NPPR&VC said the consultative council had no room in the legal status of national organizations in the country hence they advised the UCID political party to take legal steps and act accordingly with their chairman’s misdemeanor for being a prime member of the illegal entity.
The committee clarified that Articles 9, 22 and 32 of the constitutional laws of the land was clear on political organizational regulations. These, they said, were further vividly expounded by laws number 14 and 20 of the land.

It is on the fundamental basis of the said rules that the NPPRXVC declared the organization as an illegal one hence thus gave advice on reprimanding the UCID boss through applicable disciplinary measures.
All the seven members of the committee signed the press statement.
They are:

1. Abdirizak Jama Omar
2. Aden Gedi Qayat
3. Omar Hassan Ahmed
4. Hassan Ahmed Duale
5. Mohammed Abdi Malik
6. Ismael Abdi Ali
7. Abdalla Ibrahim Mohammed

UN experts say corruption still rampant in Somalia

By Edith M.Lederer, The Associated Press, United Nations

Corruption in Somalia remains rampant despite the country's new leadership, with 80 percent of withdrawals from the Central Bank made for private purposes and at least 33 percent of monthly revenues from port operations unaccounted for, U.N. experts said.

In a report to the U.N. Security Council obtained Friday, the panel of experts monitoring sanctions against Somalia said a key to irregularities has been the current governor of the Central Bank, where US$12 million of US$16.9 million transferred by PricewaterhouseCoopers could not be traced.

The report also said only 4 percent of the estimated revenue from issuing passports reaches government coffers. In the past

Depite the good-faith efforts of Finance Minister Mohamud Hassan Suleiman, the panel said the system inherited by the new government "is in many ways beyond its control, while at times political decisions and appointments have exacerbated conditions of corruption."

Somalia had not had a functioning central government since 1991, when warlords overthrew a longtime dictator and turned on each other, plunging the impoverished East African nation into chaos. But since African Union forces ousted al-Shabab fighters from the war-battered capital, Mogadishu, in August 2011, a relative peace has returned, creating a new sense of hope and opportunity.

Last year, a new interim constitution was approved, a new parliament was seated, a new president was elected and a new government and Cabinet started work, replacing a weak and largely ineffective transitional government.

The panel said the election of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud "presented an opportunity for a new kind of leadership in the country," but he inherited a system in which he controls neither the flow of money nor security institutions.

While struggling to extend the government's reach, the panel said the president has had to seek external funds and arrange security relations inside and outside of government.

These limitations, along with events in past months, notably in southern Somalia which is controlled by al-Shabab militants, threaten to undermine the government "and the current peace and reconciliation process in the country," the panel said.

It said that "ferocious competition" for control of the new government at the end of the transition last summer contributed to the mismanagement of the country's finances. The efforts of donors to encourage the deposit of government revenues in the Central Bank may have been the right objective but it proved to be flawed, the panel said.

"On average, some 80 percent of withdrawals from the Central Bank are made for private purposes and not for the running of government, representing a patronage system and a set of social relations that defy the institutionalization of the state," it said.

The panel explained that in Somalia, key leaders authorize individual payments from public funds, which contradicts national budgeting or structured spending for official bodies.

"It is not a system that can be changed easily given the breadth of interests at stake at the center of power and has simply become the way of doing government business," the panel said. "However, without a legitimate repository for internal and external revenue, efforts to build an effective public financial management system will be undermined."

Income from the port of Mogadishu constitutes the government's largest internal revenue stream, but the panel said these customs and port fees have historically been diverted at the source.

The panel said it has documented at least one case in which then port manager, Sayid Ali Moalim Abdulle, diverted US$3.4 million from humanitarian shipments during the Somali famine in 2011.

"Based on analysis of activity at Mogadishu port, the monthly revenue potential from import customs alone is in excess of US$ 3.8 million per month," the panel said. "However, the average monthly deposit in the Central Bank from the port between August 2012 and March 2013 was US$ 2.7 million in total."

A call to Somalia's U.N. Mission Friday afternoon seeking comment on the report was not answered.

BOXING: Malik Scott gets counted out, even though the referee didn’t appear to reach the count of 10

Malik Scott was counted out even though he appeared to get up at nine (Getty Images)

By Kevin Iole | Boxing 

Malik Scott is probably never going to win the heavyweight championship, so in the grand scheme of things, Saturday's loss at Wembley Arena in London to Dereck "Del Boy" Chisora won't make much of a difference.

But fair is fair and referee Phil Edwards appeared to cost Scott a chance to win the fight and keep his unbeaten record.

In the sixth round of the scheduled 10-rounder, Chisora had Scott pinned in a corner and landed a series of clubbing punches. Scott went down from a right.

Scott appeared to be clear-headed, as the announcers noted while examining the replay, and he took the count on one knee. In professional boxing, there is a mandatory eight-count after a knockout and a lot of fighters choose to take it on the knee as a way to clear their heads and catch a break.

Scott was clearly watching Edwards as the referee counted directly in front of him. Scott appears to get to his feet when Edwards reached nine. Inexplicably, though, Loughlin waved the bout off and called it a TKO for Chisora.

The countdown begins at the 23:40 mark and the announcers begin to break down the finish at about the 25-minute mark on the video. Edwards is counting and using his fingers as he administered the count. But he never said 10 or put up 10 fingers.

Malik Scott is probably never going to win the heavyweight championship, so in the grand scheme of things, Saturday's loss at Wembley Arena in London to Dereck "Del Boy" Chisora won't make much of a difference.

But fair is fair and referee Phil Edwards appeared to cost Scott a chance to win the fight and keep his unbeaten record.

In the sixth round of the scheduled 10-rounder, Chisora had Scott pinned in a corner and landed a series of clubbing punches. Scott went down from a right.

Scott appeared to be clear-headed, as the announcers noted while examining the replay, and he took the count on one knee. In professional boxing, there is a mandatory eight-count after a knockout and a lot of fighters choose to take it on the knee as a way to clear their heads and catch a break.

Scott was clearly watching Edwards as the referee counted directly in front of him. Scott appears to get to his feet when Edwards reached nine. Inexplicably, though, Loughlin waved the bout off and called it a TKO for Chisora.

The countdown begins at the 23:40 mark and the announcers begin to break down the finish at about the 25-minute mark on the video. Edwards is counting and using his fingers as he administered the count. But he never said 10 or put up 10 fingers.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/boxing/

British man, 23, who vanished in Somalia after being stripped of his citizenship has been denied access to his lawyer on eve of legal fight

Mahdi Hashi faces life in jail if found
guilty of terrorism charges

By Robert Verkaik
A British man controversially stripped of his citizenship before being arrested and allegedly tortured has been denied access to his lawyers on the eve of his legal fight to be returned to the UK.

Mahdi Hashi, 23, who vanished last summer in Somalia, is in a high- security prison in New York awaiting trial on terrorism offences.

In a separate case, his lawyers  will go before a special immigration court in London next week to force the Home Secretary to hand back his British passport, which she removed on the basis of secret evidence obtained by MI5.

Mr Hashi's family say their son is innocent and must be sent home to face allegations that he was supporting terrorism in Somalia. But they fear he is facing an impossible battle because the Americans have imposed 'special administrative measures', meaning he is banned from communicating with his lawyers.

He faces similar legal impediments in the UK at the Special Immigration Appeal Commission, where his lawyers will be unable to challenge the evidence against him during a closed session next week.

The former North London care worker, who came to Britain from Somalia when he was aged five, lost contact with his family while staying in Somalia last year. When they began looking for him, they were told the Government could not provide assistance because Home Secretary Theresa May had issued an order depriving him of his UK citizenship over allegations of Islamic extremism.

A few weeks later Mr Hashi was detained by Djibouti's secret police. He was taken to the country's intelligence service headquarters, where he spent nearly four months. Mr Hashi said he was stripped to his underwear, blindfolded and told he would be sexually abused.

Hashi is in the Metropolitan Correction Center in New York. His family tracked him down just before Christmas

He was then handed over to Americans based in the African country and says the first team of interrogators ignored his pleas to alert the British authorities to his detention and torture. Last November, he was shackled and put on a plane to the US.

Mr Hashi's lawyer, Saghir Hussain, said: 'Mahdi disappeared in August 2012 in Djibouti only to reappear  for the first time in public on December 21 in court in New York. He has disappeared again, this time by “special administrative measures”, which stop an inmate communicating with the outside world. I do not know if I will be able to speak to my client again.'

Mr Hashi's father, Mohamed, added: 'Mahdi has never posed a threat to the UK or US. He would not have been in this situation if he had not been harassed by the Security Services before he left for Somalia.

'Our family will never end our fight to free Mahdi.'

Hashi is in the Metropolitan Correction Center in New York. His family tracked him down just before Christmas

 

 

 

 

More...

• British man who 'vanished' after being stripped of citizenship claims he was tortured and forced to confess by the CIA
• Four men found in 'prison room' of Houston home where they claimed to have been held hostage for up to TEN YEARS while 'captor cashed their checks'

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Source: dailymail.co.uk

Somaliland : Scuba Diving Berbera Coast

A trip to Somaliland is nothing close to a traditional vacation.  Experienced scuba divers, however, are among those few who can hear the country’s name and push aside the negative hype, imagining instead the blissfully blue waters and teeming marine life of the Red Sea.  The rarely-visited beaches, surprisingly, are something that off-the-beaten-path travelers consider a plus–the feeling of having the water all to oneself is increasingly rare in this era of global development.

For those with a sense of adventure–especially women, who are a rare sight on most Somali beaches–the Berbera Coast in the Gulf of Aden is one site to consider adding to your bucket list of adventure dives.

The trip to Berbera is as much an adventure itself as the diving. 

Along the ride, travelers will most likely be introduced to the intriguing story of Aw-Barkhadle and pass by the evil mountain where he is entombed–be prepared for sandal slapping or rock-throwing to occur as you approach it. Continuing on your journey, be prepared for a number of stops–there are about a dozen police checkpoints en route to the only dive shop in Somaliland (where you’ll meet “Scuba Steve”).  And, once you get there be prepared for an African-style three-mile journey across copper colored landscapes getting to the coral reefs on either the main road or the off-road detour.  Excited, yet?

The wrecks, ironically, still lie partially above water and can be seen from the shore.  Of the handful of ships that have run aground or were left deserted here, expect to see only about a quarter to a half of each ship under the water’s surface–all masts still tower high in the sky, making for very interesting wreck dives.

The coral reefs, however, are the main attraction–not the wrecks–located off the Berbera coastline.  The reefs can be seen from shore in some areas, even by swimmers and snorkelers.  By boat, dive sites are accessed with small dinghies by the one or two local guides who dive these waters. One of the main perks include an amazing assortment of shells that line the beaches, which are accessible for the tourists who visit to scoop up by the handful and take home (if Customs in your home country permits, of course).  Marine life includes plenty of brilliantly colored fish with bright purple and golden hues.  Specific species of marine life includes angel fish, spotted rays, and unmistakable moray eels.  The brain coral is outstanding for macro photography opportunities as well.

Conveniently enough, however, the Berbera dive operators are able to accommodate beginner divers and assist with PADI certifications, as the sandy bottom is only about a dozen feet down in the shallows and water temperatures are warm year round (full wetsuits are recommended for winter months).  Therefore, Somaliland may just be one of the world’s most interesting places to travel and dive for the first time–or your thousandth.  Even if you’ve dived in other African countries, the Berbera coast of Somaliland seemingly never fails to throw a completely new experience at every diver.
 
Source : Scuba Divers Travel

Netanyahu sees Mursi fall as sign of political Islam's weakness

Reuters/Reuters - Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a special cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of late Israeli Prime Minister Menahem Begin

BERLIN (Reuters) - In rare remarks on Egypt's government crisis, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has suggested that the fall of the president, Mohamed Mursi, demonstrates the weaknesses of political Islamist movements.

"I believe that over the long haul these radical Islamic regimes are going to fail because they don't offer the adequate enfranchisement that you need to develop a country economically, politically and culturally," Netanyahu told the German weekly Welt am Sonntag.

He said he thought radical Islamism was wholly unsuited to dealing with a global economic and information revolution, and "goes right back to medievalism against the whole thrust of modernity, so over time it's bound to fail".

Israel had previously responded more cautiously to Mursi's removal by the Egyptian army on July 3. Netanyahu avoided any comment at the time, though a confidant expressed hope that Egypt's new leaders may restore largely frozen contacts with Israel.

In the interview, Netanyahu reiterated Israel's concern that a U.S.-brokered 1979 peace treaty with Egypt should remain intact, alluding also to a surge of violence in a Sinai border region since Israel's ally Hosni Mubarak was toppled from power in Egypt two years ago.

"Preserving the peace with Egypt through these convulsions is of central importance to us," Netanyahu said.

(Reporting by Sarah Marsh; Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan in Jerusalem; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

In ka Badan 600 oo Maleeshiyadii Khaatumo oo Wata Hub Culus iyo Hogaamiyo Dhaqameedyo Magac leh oo ku Soo Biiray Ciidanka Xukuumadda Somaliland

Weftigii Xukuumadda ee uu Hoggaaminayay Wasiirka Madaxtooyadda Md. Xirsi Cali Xaaji Xasan ayaa maanta degmadda Fuqifuliye ee gobolka Sanaag oo 80km dhinaca koonfur bari kaga beegan magaaladda Ceerigaabo ku soo dhaweeyay in ka badan lix Boqol oo ka mid ah kooxaha nabad diidka ah ee Khaatumo, kuwaasi oo wada hadal dheer ka dib maanta si rasmi ah ugu soo biiray ciidanka qaranka. Waxaanay wateen 13 Gaadiidka Tiknikadda ah.

Maleeshiyadan laxaadka leh ayaa iskugu jirta kuwo la qarameeyay iyo sida la sheegay kuwo la nabadeeyay.

Garaad Cabdilaahi Maxamed Guulleed oo ka mid ah isimmadda Beesha deegaankaasi ayaa sheegay inay ku faraxsan yihiin inay maleeshiyadii ugu badnayd ay ku qarameeyeen ciidammadda qaranka Somaliland ka dib wada hadal dheer oo sida uu tilmaamay ay ka dhalatay is faham buuxa.

Garaad Cabdilaahi Maxamed waxa uu intaasi ku daray inay ku qanacsan yihiin Somaliland, isla markaana ay safka hore kaga jiraan bulshadda difaacaysa qaranimadda Somaliland, waxaanu xusay inay dadkooda dhinac ka raacayaan. Garaadku waxa uu u mahad naqay cid kasta oo ka soo shaqaysay hawshan midho dhashay.


Horjoogihii ama Taliyihii watay ciidankan ayaa sheegay inay ku faraxsan yihiin sida Somaliland u soo dhawaysay isla markaana uga midho-dhalisay wada xaajood muddo qaatay oo uu xusay inay la yeesheen xukuumadda Somaliland. Waxa uu carabaabay in diyaar u yihiin inay ciidanka qaranka ka mid noqdaan.

Wasiirka Madaxtooyadda Somaliland Mudane Xirsi Cali Xaaji Xasan, oo ka hadlay madashaasi ayaa bogaadiyay maleeshiyadan oo ah tii ugu tiro badnayd ee ka soo goosata kooxaha nabad diidka ah, waxaanu tilmaamay in arrintani ay fursad wanaagsan siinayso dedaaladda xukuumaddu ku doonayso inay nabad waarta ka islaaxiso goboladda bari ee dalka.

Sidoo kalen waxa kulankaasi ka hadlay Wasiirul dawlaha nabadeynta gobolada bari Md. Cali Maxamuud Axmed (Cali Sandulle), Wasiirka Warfaafinta Md. Cabdilaahi Maxamed Daahir (Cukuse), Taliyaha Ciidanka qaranka Sareeye Gaas Ismaaciil Maxamed Cismaan Shaqalle.

Wasiirka Madaxtooyadda Somaliland Mudane Xirsi Cali Xaaji Xasan, ayaa maleeshiyadii maanta lagu qarrameeyay deegaanka Fiqi-fuliye ee gobolka Sanaag ku ammaanay inay garteen in aan xoog waxba lagu baadi doonin ee xalku shaqeeyo.

Wasiirku waxa uu sidaasi ka sheegay khudbad xiise iyo xamaasad waddaniyeed gelisay quluubtii bulshadda ku dhaqan degmadda Fiqifuliye iyo maleeshiyaddii la qarrameynayayba.

Wasiir Xirsi waxa uu ugu horayn u mahad celiyay ciidankan ku soo biiray ciidammadda qaran iyo dhinacyadii ka qeyb qaatay ka midho dhalinta waan-waan muddo u soo socotay madax dhaqameedka beesha degmaddaasi iyo xukuumadda Somaliland, isagoo arrintaas ka hadlayayna waxa uu yidhi “Ciidammadda, Garaadada iyo cuqaasha halkan fadhida waxaan ku salaamayaa salaanta islaamka waxaanan leeyahay Asalaamu Calaykum warax-matulaahi wabarakaatu. Salaan ka dib waxaan ku faraxsan nahay kulankeenan nabadeed ee deegaanka Fiqi-fuliye laga sameynayo ee Ciidammadda la qarramaynayo. Intii ka shaqaysay ee nagala qeyb qaatayna waanu u mahad naqaynaa. Arrintan aynu maanta u fadhino wakhti badan baa loo huray, tacab badan baa la geliyay.”

“Wada hadladii socday maanta haddii ay rumowday aad iyo aad ayaan garaadka iyo ragga kale ee ka shaqeeyay-ba uga mahad celinaynaa. ILAAHAY-na waxaanu uga rajaynaynaa inuu khayr iyo ajar ka siiyo wanaaga ay ka shaqeeyeen,”ayuu yidhi Wasiirka Madaxtooyaddu.

Md. Xirsi Cali Xaaji Xasan oo hadalkiisa sii watay wuxuu yidhi “Ciidammadda halkan fadhiya waxaan leeyahay maanta wixii laga bilaabo waxaad ka mid tihiin ciidammadda qaranka. Waxaad xaq u leedihiin wax kasta oo ciidanka qaranku xaq u leeyahay haddii ay darajo tahay iyo haddii ay mushahar tahay-ba, haddii ay dalacsiin, muumuus iyo marwaad tahay-ba.”

“Walaaleyaal aad iyo aad ayaanu idiinku bogaadinaynaa haddii ay oday tahay iyo haddii ay askari tahay-ba inaad nala garateen in xabadda iyo xoogu aanu xal ahayn, inaydaan xoog ku baadi doonin, annaguna( xukuumadda) aanaan xoog ku doonin oo aynu garateen inaad duudsigu waxba tarin, in cududu aanay shaqayn ee caqligu shaqeeyo. Annaguna taas ayaanu ku shaqaynaynaa in caqligu shaqeeyo,”ayuu yidhi Wasiir Xirsi.

Wasiirku waxa uu intaasi ku kabay “Waxa loo baahan yahay inaynu danteenna wada garano. Waxaan jecelahay inaan xuso marka aanu Hargeysa joogno ka sokow darajadan imika la bixinayo darajadda ugu weynayd ee aanu bixin jirnay waxay ahayd “MUJAAHID”, markaa dee Mujaahidiin ayaad tihiin. Walaaleyaal waxay wax ku qabsoomaan wada jirka, waxba ma tarto cunfiga iyo colaaddu.”
Wasiirka oo waxa uu intaas ku daray “Waxaanu aad iyo aad idiinku soo dhawaynayaa dalkiinii iyo dadkiinii. Waxaanu diyaar idiinla nahay qalbi furan iyo wax wada qabsi. Wixii horumar ah ee deegaankani u baahan yahay awoodu inkasta ha gaadho ee waxaanu diyaar idiinla nahay inay qeybtooda ka helaan.”

Wasiirka Madaxtooyaddu waxa sheegay in xukuumadda Madaxweyne Siilaanyo ay goboladda bari u qorshaysay nabadeyn iyo horumarin sal balaadhan, isagoo arrintaasi ka hadlayayna waxa uu yidhi “Waxa madaxweynuhu khudbadiisii Goleyaasha uu ku saleeyay oo dhab naga ahayd oo muuqan doonta inuu deegaankan ugu tallo galay horumarin, haddii ay tahay Sanaag bari, Sool iyo Buuhoodleba, qorsheyaashaasi oo loogu tallo galay in lagu horumariyo caafimaadka, biyaha, waxbarashadda iyo guud ahaan adeegyadda bulshadda ee daruuriga ah.”

Wasiirka Cusub Ee Arrimaha Dibeda Somaliland Oo Si Weyn Loogu Soo Dhaweeyay Madaarka Caalamiga ah ee Caasimada Hargeysa (Egal International Airport)

 

Mud. Maxamed Biixi oo ka soo degaya diyaaradii siday

Hargeysa - Wasiirka Wasaaradda Arrimaha Dibeda Somaliland Maxamed Biixi Yoonis ayaa goor dhaweyda soo gaadhay Caasimadda Hargeysa, iyada oo ay siday  diyaarad khaas ah.

Abaara tobankii iyo badhkii subaxnimo ayay soo cagadhigatay diyaaradda siday madaarka waxa si diiran ugu soo dhaweeyay kumanaan qof oo isugu jira Wasiiradda Xukuumadda ee uu ka tirsan yahay, Labada Gole ee Baarlamaanka Guurtida iyo Wakiilada, Masuuliyiinta kala duwan ee Dawladda iyo dadweyne aad u farabadnaa oo sitay boodhadh uu ku xardhanaa Sawirka Wasiir Maxamed Biixi iyo Eroyo soo dhawayn ahi.

Maxamed Biixi Yoonis markii uu ka soo dagay diyaaradii siday waxa uu mid mid u salaamay Masuuliyiintii iyo Dadweynihii soo dhaweeyay oo Diyaaradda hoosteeda iyo barxada madaarka Saf saf u taagnaa iyadoo dhawaaqyo kala duwan oo soo dhaweyn ah ay ku baaqayeen.

Salaantii dadweynaha kadib Wasaiir Maxamed Biixi Yoonis waxa uu dadweynaha soo dhaweeyay kala hadlay barxada hore ee Madaarka maadaama aanay VIP-du qaadayn dadka goobta ku sugnaa iyo Warbaahinta oo saaka aan u kala hadhin isla markaana si xoogan u danaynaysay hadalkiisa.

Wasiirka Arimaha Debada Somaliland Oo Maanta Dalka Yimid Soo Dhawayn Wasiirka cusub ee Wasaarada Arimaha Dibada Somaliland Maxamed Biixi Yoonis oo warbaahinta kula hadlay gudaha garoonka diyaaradaha ee magaalada Hargeysa ayaa waxa u mahad celiyey xubnaha xukuumada ah ee soo dhaweeyey iyo guud ahaan shacbi weynaha ku soo dhaweeyey garoonka diyaaradaha.

Waxaanu sheegay inuu wadanka u yimid sidii uu ugu shaqayn lahaa waxaanu yidhi, waxaan u mahad celinayaa Madaxweynaha Somaliland Mud. Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud, xukuumadiisa, golaha baarlamaanka, salaadiinta iyo guud ahaan shacabka Somaliland.

Waxanan ILAAHAY ka baryayaa hawshaa culus ee la igmaday in ILAAHAY ii fududeeyo, waxaan ILAAHAY ka baryayaa inaad igu gacan qabataan, waa hawl culus  oo umada u taala, waana inaynu ka midaysnaanaa arimaha Qaranka, arimaha ictiraafka iyo arimaha gooni isu taaga mucaarid iyo muxaafidba.

Wasiirka cusub ee wasaarada arimaha debada Somaliland Maxamed Biixi Yoonis oo hadalkiisa sii wata ayaa waxa uu intaas raaciyey.

"Waxaan ahaa Secratery General waxaana ii magacaabay Xoghaya Qaramada Midoobay Banki Moon waxaanan ka shaqaynayey UN-ka laakiin Madaxweynuhu waxaan u sheegay inaan wadankayga imanayo oo aan u shaqaynayo oo aan ka tago shaqadaydii aan ka hayey Qaramada Midoobay diyaar-na aan u ahay inaan hawshan la ii igmaday qabto". Ayuu yidhi Wasiirka cusub ee Wasaarada Arimaha Dibada Somaliland Mud. Maxamed Biixi Yoonis.

 Wasiir Maxamed Biixi Yoonis waxa safarkiisa ku wehelinayay sarkaal sare oo ka tirsan Qaramada Midoobay isla markaana ah madaxa Daarfuur kaasoo u soo galbiyay wasiirka Caasimadda, sidoo kale waxa la socday saraakiil kale oo ka tirsan UN-ka kuwaasoo ka soo kicitimay Daarfuur, waxaanay soo dhaweynta kadib dib ugu laaban doonaan Diyaaradda khaaska ah ee siday Mud. Maxamed Biixi Yoonis.

Wasiiradda Xuukuumadda ayaa kulang gaar ah ku qaabilay wasiir Maxamed Biixi Yoonis qolka VIP-da ee Madaarka Hargeysa halkaas oo ay si farxadi ku dheehantahay ugu soo dhaweeyeen, waxaana adkaatay in qolka Nasashada dadweynuhu galaan, maadaama masuuliyiinta iyo dadweyanuhu ay ka tan bateen madaarka oo ahaa saaka mid aad u camirnaa.

Gaadiid farabadan ayaa u galbiyay Mud. Maxamed Biixi Yoonis dhinaca magaaladda, waxaana la filayaa in uu si toos ah u qaabili doono Qasriga Madaxtooyadda halkaas oo uu kula kulmi doono Madaxweyne Axmed Maxamed Maxamuud Siilaanyo oo dhawaan xilkan u magacaabay, maadaama oo ay tahay markii ugu horaysay ee uu Dalka yimaado tan iyo intii la magacaabay.

Xukuumadda Somaliland ayaa si weyn isaga xil-qaantay soo dhaweynta Wasiirka Arrimaha Dibeda Somaliland, waxaana madaarka ku soo xaadiray goor hore inta aanay diyaaradu soo caga dhigan wasiiradda Maaliyadda C/casiis Maxamed Samaale, Wasiirka Arrimaha gudaha Cali Maxamed Warancade, Wasiirka Waxbarashada Samsam Cabdi Aadan, Wasiirka Caafimaadka Saleebaan Xagla toosiye, Wasiirka Beeraha Farax Cilmi Geedoole, Wasiirka Duulista Maxamuud Xaashi Cabdi.

Guddoomiye ku-xigeenka Golaha Wakiiladda Baashe Maxamed Faarax oo ay wehelinayeen xildhibaanada Golahaasi ayaa iyaha safafka dhaadheer ee soo dhaweynta Wasiirka ka muuqday. Guddoomiyayaasha Axsaabta Qaran ayaa iyana goob joog ahaa gaar ahaan Guddoomiyaha Xisbiga Kulmiye Muuse Biixi Cabdi iyo Feysal cali Waraabe.

Sidoo kale Maayarka Caasimadda Somaliland ee Hargeysa C/raxmaan Maxamuud Caydiid iyo Xildhibaanada Golaha Deegaanka Hargeysa oo aan u kala hadhin ayaa iyana ka mid ahaa Masuuliyiinta soo dhaweynta Wasiirka ka qayb qaatay.

Guddida Qaban qaabada oo uu hogaaminayay Muniir Abu-site ayaa iyana kaalin muhiim ah ka qaatay soo dhaweynta Wasiirka waxaanay ata iyo maalintii la magacaabay ku mashquulsanaayeen sidii ay soo dhaweyntu ugu qabsoomi lahayd si heer-sare ah, waxaanu dedaalkoodu ka muuqday madaarka Hargeysa oo manta si balaadhan loogu soo diyaar garoobay isagoo nidaamkuna qorshaysnaa.

 Source: waaheen iyo hadhwanaagnews

Egypt's central bank receives $2 bln Saudi loan - governor

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's central bank has received $2 billion in Saudi funds, the latest instalment of a $12 billion aid package pledged by Gulf Arab states after the military ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi on July 3.

Egypt's finances, in havoc from political strife since Egypt's 2011 popular uprising, worsened in the first five months of 2013, with the budget deficit widening to almost half of all state spending.

Foreign reserves fell to $14.9 billion in June, representing less than the three months of imports that the  International Monetary Fund considers to be a minimum safe cushion. Only about half of the reserves are in the form of cash or in securities that can be spent easily.

The mounting distress pushed Mursi to approve a 24.2 percent increase in borrowing to finance the budget deficit days before he was deposed, a law published in the official gazette on Sunday showed.

Central bank governor Hisham Ramez told Reuters the Saudi funds arrived in the form of a five-year interest-free deposit at the bank.

The bank had already received $3 billion from the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, $2 billion of which was a cash deposit and $1 billion an outright grant.

Kuwait has pledged $4 billion and Saudi Arabia a further $2 billion in energy products and $1 billion in cash. Ramez said no date had been set for the Kuwaiti payment and did not indicate when the Saudi $1 billion is expected.

The law signed by Mursi increased total government spending on energy subsidies by 20 billion Egyptian pounds and boosted interest payments on government debt by 12.65 billion pounds.

Foreign buyers largely fled Egyptian securities after the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak in early 2011, forcing the government to rely on local banks for finance. Interest rates were pushed into double digits.

For South Sudan and the U.N., a Relationship of Growing Distrust

By JOSH KRON and NICHOLAS KULISH

Camille Lepage/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

A man injured during tribal clashes that have erupted in Jonglei State. Ethnic conflict there is keeping at least 100,000 civilians from receiving urgently needed food and medical aid.

KAMPALA, Uganda — Long before South Sudan achieved its hard-fought independence, the United Nations was here, feeding its hungry, sending in doctors to fight disease and steering the vast, destitute region toward its goal of self-governance and self-determination.  

But instead of gratitude and comity, the relationship between the United Nations and the young country it helped midwife into existence two years ago has evolved into one characterized by growing distrust on both sides. South Sudan, meanwhile, has become one of the most dangerous theaters of operations for the United Nations. 

The relationship has taken on added urgency as ethnic clashes have fueled a growing crisis in the restive Jonglei State. 

In April, seven United Nations employees and five Indian peacekeepers working for the body were killed in an ambush in Jonglei by armed men identified by the South Sudanese as antigovernment rebels.

 

Last December, South Sudan’s military shot down a United Nations helicopter, killing all four Russian crew members in what officials in the South Sudanese capital of Juba later said was a result of miscommunication.

United Nations personnel, including the former human rights chief there, have been detained and even beaten up by security agents, while equipment has been impounded. A human rights researcher for the body was expelled from the country last year and, after an anticorruption campaign, a special presidential adviser hired by the United Nations mission fled after receiving death threats.

In late June, a report by the United Nations secretary general said that there had been seven cases of arrest and detention, one assault and one illegal seizure of property involving staff members of the mission since the last report in March.

“Until January of last year, politically the government in Juba saw the U.N. as an ally — that is no longer the case,” said an adviser to both the United Nations and the South Sudanese authorities, speaking on the condition of anonymity to avoid alienating either side.

Myriad United Nations agencies operate in South Sudan, helping to improve literacy, road access, health and more, but it is South Sudan’s relationship with the body’s peacekeeping mission itself, the adviser said, that is growing increasingly tense and has been punctuated by heated discussions.

The question now is whether the episodes have simply been evidence of the risks that come with operating in a country that is heavily armed and unstable after decades of civil war or evidence of something more volatile, even a growing sense of enmity. 

South Sudanese officials increasingly question whether the world body is on their side, with earlier support for independence turning to criticism of the young government’s record on human rights and continuing confrontation with neighboring Sudan, from which South Sudan seceded.

The situation today stands in stark contrast to the heady optimism that followed South Sudan’s independence in July 2011. Days of celebration led to the sobering reality of trying to govern the country, Africa’s newest and one of the least developed in the world.

Reuters: South Sudanese soldiers. The country
has become one of the most dangerous theaters
of operations for the United Nations.

After decades of civil war and neglect by rulers in Sudan, landlocked South Sudan has few paved roads and little industry to speak of aside from the oil production upon which it depends for revenue. Largely rural, the country has a very young and very poor population estimated to be around 11 million, divided into more than a dozen ethnic groups.

Sudan and South Sudan each accuse the other of waging a proxy war by arming rebels groups. Conditions are particularly dire in Jonglei, a large, swampy territory where ethnic conflict is keeping at least 100,000 civilians from receiving aid.

“The fighting is threatening the lives of ordinary people and has reduced the ability of humanitarian organizations to provide urgently needed help,” Valerie Amos, the United Nations’ under secretary general for humanitarian affairs, said in a statement last week. She called on all parties to “create the necessary security environment conducive for aid delivery.”

The administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, Rajiv Shah, said in another statement last week that the United States was “gravely concerned by the serious escalation of the humanitarian crisis in Pibor County in South Sudan’s Jonglei State” as a result of the violence there.

The situation is complicated by the fact that South Sudan’s security personnel are a confusing mixture of soldiers, militia members and police and intelligence officers, widely considered undisciplined and violent. In 2011, police officers assaulted the leader of the United Nations human rights division in South Sudan, who had to be hospitalized. Humanitarian groups have complained about security forces’ hijacking aid convoys.

South Sudanese say that for all the assistance channeled to the impoverished country, the wealth of the aid industry does not reach the national economy. They also say that foreign officials are hired without checking with the government, breeding tension, and that the United Nations does not alert the military to peacekeeper movements. The United Nations has failed to protect civilians and its mandate is overreaching, they contend.

Perhaps most damaging to the relationship is the impression that the peacekeeping mission has turned its back on the South Sudanese in their simmering conflict with Sudan.

“It seems like they are favoring Khartoum,” said Ben Majok, a former South Sudanese soldier in Rumbek, a city in central South Sudan.

The United Nations says it is losing tolerance for South Sudan’s human rights record, and warns that the growing threats to the security of its staff are obstructing its work. The body’s current mandate in South Sudan, described in its budget as “political transition” and “extension of state authority,” is completely different from what it was during Sudan’s civil war.

The South Sudanese are “looking for a mission that would protect them from enemies,” according to the United Nations’ peacekeeping chief in South Sudan, Hilde F. Johnson.

It is not unprecedented for the United Nations to clash with local residents and officials. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, residents have hurled stones at United Nations convoys, accusing the body of incompetence. In Haiti, civilians have attacked peacekeepers over fears that they brought disease and did not do enough to improve the country. In Kashmir, where a United Nations mission has been operating for more than 50 years, politicians have asked the peacekeepers to leave.

Despite the tense relationship in South Sudan, officials on both sides are trying to continue forward. South Sudan’s minister of information insists that relations remain smooth. Ms. Johnson said that risk was something peacekeeping missions “have to live with,” but that there had been “incidents we didn’t expect.”

The peacekeeping presence in South Sudan is older than the republic itself, which Ms. Johnson once referred to as “still a toddler by every measure,” and has been acutely intertwined with the history of the nation’s birth.

Within months of independence, the relationship between the government and the United Nations was put to the test. First, South Sudan shut down oil production, then accounting for roughly 99 percent of national income, over a disagreement with Sudan. Then South Sudan’s army invaded Sudanese oil fields, which they claimed were in disputed territory.

Rather than receiving the support they had become accustomed to, South Sudanese forces got a strongly worded demand from the United Nations mission to withdraw. One private consultant with South Sudan’s government called it a moment of reckoning for South Sudan. The relationship has been slowly deteriorating ever since.

By June 2012, when the mission’s mandate was up for renewal, Vice President Riek Machar wrote to the United Nations requesting that the mission be downgraded, calling the mandate “no longer appropriate.”

That same month the United Nations published a report claiming that South Sudan’s military had committed widespread abuses in Jonglei in an effort to disarm civilians there. The government in Juba condemned the report as one-sided. In November, a human rights officer researching atrocities in Jonglei was expelled from the country.

The attack on the United Nations helicopter in December “rendered aerial reconnaissance for early warning purposes impossible,” the office of the secretary general warned in a report in March, and “restricted the capacity to react to incidents in a timely manner.”

Josh Kron reported from Kampala, and Nicholas Kulish from Nairobi, Kenya.

 

Xasan Daahir Aweys Oo Muujiyay Geesinimo Cajiib ah: “Hadii La I Masaafuriyo Waan Soo Noqon Doonaa, Waxaan Sii Wadi Doonaa Jihaadka Murtadiinta iyo Gaalada AMISOM”.

Wararkii ugu dambeeyay ee ka imaanaya xarunta nabadsugida Dowlada oo uu ku xiran yahay hogaamiyihii hore ee ururka Xisbul Islam balse dhawaan ka soo goostay Al Shabaab ayaa waxa ay sheegayaan in kiiska Sheekhaan uu yeeshay waji cusub.
 
Sheekh Xasan Daahir Aweys ayaa la sheegay in afkiisa laga hayo sidatan ” Hadii la i masaafuriyo oo dal kale la ii dhoofiyo waan ka soo laaban doonaa waxaana balan ah inaan la dagaalami doono ciidamada AMISOM ee gudaha Somalia ku sugan iyo Al Shabaab oo Shareecada Islaamka ka been sheegay ”

Nabadsugida Dowlada oo sheegay inaysan sii deeyn doonin nin dambiile dagaal ah oo hadane Dagaal cusub ku hanjabaya .
 
Qaar ka mid ah laamaha Sirdoonka Dowlada ayaa waxa ay qabaan in caafimaad ahaan Sheekh Xasan Daahir Aweys uusan wanaagsaneeyn maadaama maalin kasta afkiisa laga hayo hadalo is burinayo oo aanan horay looga baran inkastoo Sheekhaan dhanka kale uu yahay qof weyn oo waayeel ah.

Ugu danbayntii Madaxweynaha Soomaaliya Mudane Xasan Shiikh Maxamuud ayaa shegay in Xasan Daahir yahay qof Soomaali ah oo ka tirsanaa Al-shabaab haatana gacanta ugu jira dowlada, wuxuu intaa ku daray in Xasan Daahir aan bulshada lagu sii dhex deyn Karin sababo la xiriira ayuu yiri isagoo weli aminsan fekerka Al-shabaab ee ahaa iney dowladu tahay gaalo mudan in lala dagaalamo,