The United Nations has accused two advisers to the Somali president of sending arms to al-Shabaab in a shipment which arrived just weeks after the Islamist militant group's fighters stormed a shopping mall in Nairobi last September and killed at least 64 people. One of the aides, Musa Haji Mohamed Ganjab, allegedly claimed to have delayed an attack on a militant stronghold in Barawe,where US Navy Seals tried but failed to arrest the commander alleged to have orchestrated the Westgate mall attack, according to a leaked UN investigation. The allegations, in a letter to the Security Council, are the latest blow to the president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud,a former university professor who has been mired in scandal since he was elected in 2012. The report by the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea also accused President Mohamud of conspiring with the aides, a former minister and Shulman Rogers, a US law firm, to misappropriate millions of dollars of public money which was banked abroad before 1991, when the country slid into civil war. The second aide was named as Abdiaziz Hassan Giyaajo Amalo, a US citizen of Somali descent whose uncle was a former governor of the central bank. Both aides were allegedly "double dealing” with the militants while working with Shulman Rogers and President Mohamud to recover overseas assets. Both men denied all the allegations, including having ever worked for the president. Mr Amalo said the report was "false and malicious”. Mr Ganjab, who is now based in South Africa, said the UN had "no evidence”. Shulman Rogers said all its actions were for "the public good of Somalia”. President Mohamud’s office declined to comment Source: http://www.thetimes.co.uk http://www.somaliaonline.com/somali-presidents-advisers-allegedly-funnelled-arms-to-alshabab-and-delayed-an-attack-on-al-shababs-stronghold-of-barawe-according-to-a-new-leaked-un-investigation/

American foreign fighters are at it again in the Middle East.Most recently, they're wearing the uniform of the Israeli state, willing participants in the onslaught of Gaza's population. American volunteers have contributed to thedeaths of at least 633 Palestinian civilians since the recent conflict began. Of the 30 Israelis killed, it has emerged that at least two had dual US citizenship.So how does the United States respond? To start with, by sending more Americans.Less than 24 hours after his Fox News "hot mic" episode, US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Cairo on Tuesday, dissecting the situation with the predictable Western refrain about Hamas' bad behavior and Israeli's "right to defend" itself."We're here working because we've seen too much blood shed on all sides," said Kerry.But it was his addition of "including the death of two American citizens" as his voice trailed off that confirmed one of the conflicts most unrecognized hypocrisies: American citizens are systemically encouraged to fight, oppress, and kill Palestinians.Forget how America lectures Arab governments about "cracking down" or "stemming the flow" of Arab foreign fighters to Iraq or Syria or Afghanistan. For those American volunteers in Israel, there will be no FBI dragnet back home to trace their voyages from Newark to Tel Aviv. No interviewing of neighbors to understand what motivated the departed to don foreign fatigues and raise a rifle at someone they've never met. Not to mention being placed on the mother of all no's--the "no fly" list. Definitely no monitoring synagogue sermons or AIPAC conventions, unless they're invited speakers and they're up next.Fortunately for Israel's American volunteers, they will also be spared the indignity faced by Muslim-Americans of FBI surveillance stings--as chronicled in --to inveigle US citizens to fight or injure others abroad who aren't deemed "bad guys."No, there are just three ways that American-Israeli foreign fighters run afoul of the law. First, if they join the "wrong" side, most readily defined as Hamas. The US classifies this resistance group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and sanctions it for "threatening to disrupt the Middle East peace process". Odd considering Netanyahu has done more than his share to kill that very process. And when was the last time you saw any US citizen prosecuted for supporting (or being!) violent Israeli settlers or being members of extremist groups like Kahane Chai?Criminal penalties or a loss of citizenship could theoretically result from those serving in Israel were it proven they intended to relinquish U.S. citizenship upon enlisting. It would be considered treason were US-Israeli fighters to directly attack the United States.Lastly, it's still a federal criminal offense to murder a US citizen abroad. While it's still too early to tell whether the deceased US-Israeli fighters Sean Carmeli or Max Steinberg had killed any dual Palestinian-American citizens while fighting in Gaza, you can rest assured that there will be no investigation.Indeed, one can safely say these American "jihadis" (isn't that what we normally call those heading for a fight over there?) will be in the clear.They probably had zero plans to ditch their passports when they took up arms for Israel. Just ask Rahm Emanuel, who volunteered twice in the Israeli Defense Forces. He later became President Obama's Chief of Staff and Mayor of Chicago.How perverse is this: Carmeli and Steinberg might have even had a shot at becoming top-secret cleared US diplomats--even mediators to the very conflict they once participated in with weapons. Just review the story of Martin Indyk, America's Mideast Peace Envoy, who was himself a volunteer (albeit civilian) during Israel's 1973 war and who later was a top official at its US-based advocacy operation, known as AIPAC.But on the final threshold were Carmeli and Steinberg fighting the United States and committing treason? Their defenders would argue not.But if you study all Al Qaeda rhetoric before 9/11 and the innumerable other groups that have sprouted up since, unqualified American support for Israel--diplomatic, financial, and yes, military aid--remains a key grievance and recruitment device to attract people to attack and kill Americans.So while Netanyahu's killing machine obliterates Palestinian kids playing soccer on Gaza's beaches, have no doubt that there are Arabs and Muslims wanting to exact revenge on both Israel and the United States.That Carmeli and Steinberg fought to deepen that anger means they were also inciting Arabs and Muslims to hate Americans, posing risks to all citizens whether traveling abroad or walking freely at home.In a parallel universe where logic prevails, the US might do something about it.But in today's America, the support for Israel's oppression of Palestinians is institutional. There will be no closing of US-based charities and NGO's that openly raise tax-free money for Israeli settlers. The IRS will continue to allow this indirect subsidy for hostile activities in contravention of stated US foreign policy (you know, "they're an obstacle to peace"). There will be no effort to "de-radicalize" America's foreign fighters for Israel when they come home. On the contrary, they might even stand a chance of becoming civil servants or elected officials in positions of authority where they can secrete their bias into US policies.That is what Secretary Kerry meant to say when paid homage to Israel's American war dead: the system he is part of mourns you. But that does not necessarily mean America or Americans do.We can only hope others might understand that distinction.Clayton Swisher is manager of investigative journalism with Al Jazeera Media Network, and author of The Truth About Camp David (New York: Nation Books, 2004) and The Palestine Papers (London: Hesperus Press, 2011).The Truth About Camp David (New York: Nation Books, 2004) and The Palestine Papers (London: Hesperus Press, 2011).http://www.somaliaonline.com/american-born-jihadis-are-at-it-again-this-time-wearing-the-uniform-of-the-israeli-military-by-clayton-swisher/

THE ban on khat could be to blame for the recent anti-social behaviour in Easton previously linked to Ramadan. Somali community activist Abdi Mohamed, of the Bristol Somali Media Group, said the closure of khat cafes had left young users on the street. He said authorities had been warned of the potential effects of the ban on the herbal stimulant previously sold openly in shops and some cafes. He called on more outreach work and community facilities to deal with the cultural shift which is taking place. He told the Bristol Post: "If you think about it, there were 20-30 khat cafes full every evening when the ban was not in place and now they are closed. "These cafes were not just for people taking khat, they were for people to socialise in too and now a lot of people have no where to go in the evenings." Groups of up to 100 men loitering on and around Stapleton Road were highlighted earlier this week by residents complaining about noise into the early hours. The problem was initially blamed on people breaking the Ramadan fast at dusk. Police stepped up patrols in the area and put up signs in the street asking for respect for neighbours during the month of fasting which ends this Sunday. Khat is a leafy plant chewed by some communities from North Africa which acts as a stimulant. The plant became illegal in June this year and is now a Class C drug. SOURCE: http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/ http://www.somaliaonline.com/neighborhood-residents-complain-about-late-night-noise-but-somalis-blame-the-recent-khat-ban-which-they-say-had-left-users-on-the-street/

Somalis love it, Saudis see it as the ultimate treat and the fanciest coffee shops in Dubai are raving about it. We’re talking about camel milk. Bedouins’ drink of choice is now available in the U.S. thanks to Desert Farms, a company that is selling and marketing it as a wholesome and nutrient-packed alternative to conventional cow’s milk. Under the slogan “Make everyday a hump day,” this Santa-Monica based startup launched in January, determined to turn camel milk into America’s next liquid super food. A Bedouin selling camel milk in Yemeni City How does it taste? It differs depending on the local camel diet, but OZY taste-tester Rob Carpenter says: “It has a very grainy taste, a thin texture, a little bit nutty, and slightly sweet. But I could not say it tasted that different from standard cows milk except for its thinner consistency and slight but dangerous aftertaste. Overall very much worth trying!” The image of Amish raising camels for milk might be novel enough to get some to try it… The milk is sold frozen, because it’s unpasteurized. It needs to thaw before drinking. While the product is a novelty for most western countries, it’s got a long history in other corners of the world. “Camel milk has been used for centuries in the Middle East by nomads and Bedouins, and they swore by it. That’s why people have faith in it — it’s a historical product,” explains Walid Abdul-Wahab, Desert Farms’ founder. Although Desert Farms is based in California, it outsources the milk production to small-scale farms in the Midwest, most of them owned by Amish families that raise the camels in GMO-free pastures. The image of Amish raising camels for milk might be novel enough to get some to try it but, besides this peculiarity, camel milk also happens to be good for you. The white nectar is 50 percent lower in fat than cow milk, three times as rich in Vitamin C and also contains phosphorus, iron and vitamin B1, according to Abdul-Wahab. What’s more, camel milk is said to improve motor functioning on children with autism, and Abdul-Wahab says that about 80 percent of Desert Farms’ sales have been to parents of children with autism. According to Abdul-Wahab, another 10 percent has been bought by diabetics because camel milk contains more insulin than cow milk. The rest has gone mostly to health conscious people, Saudis or Somalis. It’s not a cheap treat. A pint of raw or pasteurized milk costs $16 to $19 online or at Whole Foods stores in Northern California. The price goes up to $40 for a bottle of frozen colostrum: a thicker, yellower type of milk collected within 24 hours after giving birth, which Desert Farms says is the “perfect food” because it contains “immune and growth factors.” Prices are unlikely to come down anytime soon. There’s just one camel for every 18,000 cows in the U.S., and milking camels is a very hands-on and labor-intensive process. Yet the company is already looking to expand in the West and start experimenting with other camel milk products like yogurt, cheese and chocolates. For now, this wanna-be super food can be easily bought online but beware. In some Gulf states it’s believed to be a potent aphrodisiac. Source: http://www.ozy.com http://www.somaliaonline.com/somalis-love-it-saudis-see-it-as-the-ultimate-treat-and-the-fanciest-coffee-shops-in-dubai-are-raving-about-it-camel-milk-hits-the-us-market/

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Five people, including two women in the U.S., were charged Wednesday with funneling money to the al-Qaida-linked extremist group al-Shabab in Somalia, prosecutors said.The two U.S. women — Muna Osman Jama, 34, of Reston, Va., and Hinda Osman Dhirane, 44, of Kent, Wash. — were arrested Wednesday and have been charged with 20 counts each of providing material support to a foreign terrorist group, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. The U.S. designated al-Shabab as a terrorist group in 2008; in 2012, leaders of al-Shabab and al-Qaida announced they were merging.Jama faced an initial appearance Wednesday afternoon at the federal courthouse in Alexandria, and Dhirane appeared in U.S. District Court in Seattle. Dhirane's husband, Rashid Jama Barhadle, told Seattle's KING-TV that she has done nothing wrong."The FBI come 4 in the morning, around 10 cars," he said. "They knock my door too hard and scared my kids. I have 5-year-old, she cried."Three others overseas have also been charged. One, Farhia Hassan, was arrested Wednesday at her home in the Netherlands. Two others, Fardowsa Jama Mohamed and Barira Hassan Abdullahi, are fugitives in Kenya and Somalia, respectively.An indictment alleges that, beginning in February 2011, the women sent monthly payments to al-Shabab fighters. The payments were often $100 or so — the largest single payment was $1,500.According to the government, the defendants would refer to money they sent overseas as "living expenses," and used code words like "orphans" to refer to al-Shabab fighters and "camels" to refer to trucks. KIRO 7 TVDhirane's home in Kent, Wash.. Her husband says she has done nothing wrong.Prosecutors say Jama and Dhirane directed a fundraising network composed primarily of women, with Jama sending money to Kenya through her conduit and Dhirane doing the same to a contact in Somalia.Dhirane was represented at her hearing by a public defender who requested an identity hearing to confirm she is the person listed in the indictment. The hearing was set for July 29.Al-Shabab has had some success recruiting U.S. citizens, usually of Somali descent, to join its ranks.In the Eastern District of Virginia, U.S. citizen and Muslim convert Zachary Chesser was sentenced in 2011 to 25 years in prison for twice trying to travel to Somalia and trying to join al-Shabab. The second time, he took his infant son to the airport with him as cover, thinking that a person traveling with a baby would look less suspicious.Chesser had gained notoriety on the Internet under the name Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee for threatening the creators of the "South Park" cartoon show following an episode that he deemed disrespectful to the prophet Muhammad.Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/http://www.somaliaonline.com/five-somali-women-in-the-us-kenya-and-the-netherlands-are-charged-with-fundraising-and-funneling-money-to-al-shabab/

Adar Kahin comforted her fellow singer Hibo Nuura, long time friend, during a vigil for the singer and activist Saado Ali Warsame. Hibo and Saado were members of the great musical troupe Waaberi.Saado Ali Warsame’s songs and poems urged unity in a country known for its tumult and division. Between the lines, they also reflected a political activism for change that propelled her to become one of the first women in Somalia’s parliament.Warsame, who for decades was one of the top singing stars in Somalia, bridged the communities of her home country and her adopted home in Minnesota. She lived in Minneapolis and St. Cloud from 2007 to 2012. Somali-Americans here often found it remarkable that they could mingle and chat so easily in local coffee shops and stores with a celebrity of such status.She had just returned to Somalia for the end of the Muslim holiday of Ramadan when she and her driver were killed Wednesday in a drive-by shooting in the capital, Mogadishu.The militant group Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s shooting outside the Ambassador Hotel. Warsame, who according to a family member was born in 1950, was the fourth member of the Somali parliament killed by Al-Shabab this year and the latest of seven members of parliament to be assassinated.For Somali-Americans in Minnesota, home to the largest Somali population in the United States, the news of Warsame’s death struck hard, raising concerns about the stability of the fledgling government in the restive east African nation. But it was also a time for reflection on Warsame’s contributions to the idea of unity, both in Somalia and the Somali community here. She was elected to the Somali parliament in 2012. Warsame, who held dual citizenship, was most recently back in Minnesota a week or so ago.“Saado was a passionate advocate for Somali nationalism, for human rights, and she was a symbol that we can have one Somalia that is at peace with itself,” local political activist Sadik Warfa said.Warfa said he was with her son and daughter in Elk River on Wednesday as the family struggled with the news. Warsame’s body apparently already has been buried in Mogadishu in a prominent national memorial.Minneapolis turns outA memorial service Thursday night in Minneapolis drew a large crowd honoring Warsame. The room inside the Brian Coyle Community Center in the largely Somali-American Cedar-Riverside area hit maximum capacity soon after the event began around 6 p.m., so the crowd was asked to move outside. More than 100 people sat in chairs outside the center just in front of the Riverside Plaza apartments as community members, friends and co-workers spoke in Somali in an hourlong tribute to Warsame. Fans of her music also filled the crowd. Mahdi Elmi of Minneapolis likened her to Tupac or Michael Jackson.Abdiaziz Yusuf, a member of the Somali parliament who worked with Warsame, called her a “brilliant member.”Salma Barkad was Warsame’s niece. The 26-year-old, who lives in Minneapolis, sat in the audience wearing a shirt with Warsame’s photo on it. The shirt read, “In loving memory of legend Saado A. Warsame, phenomenal woman.”“She was never afraid to say what’s on her mind,” Barkad said with tears in her eyes. “She was a brave woman.”“She was a role model to me, and I plan to follow her footsteps.”‘It really sets things back’Warfa urged the U.S. government to insist that Somalia conduct a full investigation into Warsame’s death, particularly since she was an American citizen.“The pattern is not good,” he said. “They [the U.S. government] send condolences to the family. They condemn, and that’s it. The killing of these parliamentarian members, it really sets things back for all of us.”Warsame’s status as a celebrity was huge, and she was often described as Somalia’s Aretha Franklin. As a boy growing up in Mogadishu in the 1980s, Ahmed Ali Said would listen to Warsame’s songs, which often had undertones urging political change. At the time, she was as big a pop star in Somalia as Michael Jackson was in the United States, he said.Said met Warsame several times for coffee in St. Cloud, where he moved in 2001. He said her story in part inspired his current campaign for a seat on the St. Cloud City Council.“She had two flags. She felt that if Somalis could come together and unite they could rebuild Somalia with the help of the United States,” he said.Local Somali community activist Abdirizak Bihi said Warsame was well aware of the dangers of her political involvement, at one point early in the process even acknowledging that becoming a member of parliament could be a death sentence for her. Bihi said he recalled watching a video of when she arrived back in Somalia.“Right at the airport she said she was there to help rebuild at any cost, even until she dies,” Bihi said. “She died for that.”Source: Start Tribune http://www.somaliaonline.com/legendary-artist-hibo-nuura-a-long-time-friend-of-saado-becomes-inconsolable-as-saado-ali-warsame-is-remembered-in-minneapolis/

Twin schoolgirls who followed their jihadi brother from Manchester to Syria have reportedly married ISIS fighters. Salma and Zahra Halane, 16, from Chorlton ran away to Syria three weeks ago - and their father has also since travelled out to find them. Social media accounts reportedly belonging to the girls show them posting about learning to use guns and seeing grenades and Kalashnikov rifles. Salma (left) and Zahra Halane (right) ,have reportedly married ISIS fighters. They left their parents’ home in the middle of the night and caught a flight to Turkey, before crossing the border Communicating with a reporter online, they said they mainly stay in and read the Qur'an unless their husbands take them out. The social media account says one of the twins is now married to a British man of Afghan origin, reported BBC's Newsnight. An expert in extremism has checked the social media accounts and they are thought to be genuine. Shiraz Maher, an expert on radicalisation, said on the programme: 'These women are saying they have chosen to go because they want to support fighters. Selfies: Zahra, left, and Salma, right, pose with friends in pictures taken not long before they fled the UK Schoolgirl: Zahra Halane kneels in front of friends when she was in Year 6 at her primary school The sisters were hard-working students who hoped to train as doctors. The pair achieved 28 GCSEs between them, but last month they left their parents’ home in the middle of the night and caught a flight to Turkey, before crossing the border. Police said the pair are thought to have followed their elder brother, who ditched his own ‘excellent’ academic career to join the ISIS terror group around a year ago. Friends said the twins had appeared to be typical teenagers, pouting for selfies and shopping at Primark – but they are now feared to be training for battle. Last month a rebel fighter boasted that he was teaching girls as young as 16 how to fight. Yilmaz, a Dutch national who has been in Syria for two years said: ‘It’s extremely easy to get here. People go on holiday ... they end up in Syria.’ The twins’ parents raised the alarm after finding the girls’ beds empty and their passports and clothes missing. A former neighbour said the couple had been ‘quite strict’, and did not allow the girls to ‘mix with other children on the street’. Support: Visitors arrive at the family home yesterday, but the girls' parents have not spoken publicly Others recalled that the twins wore headscarves when they were as young as nine. But Rhea Headlam, who sat next to Zahra in primary school, said they were ‘just normal teenage girls’. ‘I’m really shocked – I used to bump into them at Primark,’ she added. ‘They were both really clever.’ Last summer Salma achieved 13 GCSEs – 11 of them at grades A* to C – while Zahra passed 15, of which 12 were A*-C. The results put them in the top 10 per cent of their year group at Whalley Range High School for Girls in Manchester. They went on to study at Connell Sixth Form College, where fellow students said they hoped to follow in the footsteps of their elder sister Hafsa, 25, who is at medical school in Denmark after graduating from Manchester University. ‘The twins both have aspirations to become doctors – that is their ambition,’ said one. Another claimed it was ‘typical’ of the girls to head to Syria ‘after they had finished term’, adding: ‘They wouldn’t want to mess up their education. ‘I’m shocked they have gone. They didn’t seem to be radical or extremist in their views.’ The girls’ devoutly Muslim Somali refugee parents and their 11 children had been moved from an estate made famous by the TV series Shameless to an upmarket suburb, after telling the council they needed more bedrooms. They were given a six-bedroom end-terrace despite the protests of the existing tenant. Police probe: Officers were seen leaving the house. The large back and front gardens were strewn with discarded household items and children's plastic toys Neighbours said the twins’ parents were keen to share elements of Somalian culture with them, taking round dishes of traditional delicacies for them to try. The twins’ father Ibrahim is understood to teach at a nearby mosque, where leaders this week issued a statement repudiating extremism and opposing violence of all kinds. Mohammed Shafiq, of the Ramadan Foundation, said the family were moderate Muslims who know all about the dangers of war-torn countries. ‘They were desperately unhappy to discover [their son] had gone to Syria, and they thought they were keeping a watchful eye on their other children. Then this happens,’ he said. Sources believe Salma and Zahra were inspired by their brother’s transformation into a jihadi fighter, and became radicalised themselves while viewing extremist Islamist material online. According to police sources, their brother also travelled to the family’s native Somalia, where he may have linked up with another Islamist terror group al-Shabab. A friend told The Sun the brother was known for his ability to recite long passages of the Koran. Officers are investigating how the girls funded their own trip, over fears they have been bankrolled by jihadi fighters who want them as their wives. As many as 1,500 Britons may have travelled to Syria to fight alongside rebels. Many of them have posted messages online promising to use their ‘terror skills’ if they return to Britain. SOURCE: http://www.dailymail.co.uk http://www.somaliaonline.com/somali-girls-who-ran-away-to-syria-have-married-isis-fighters-as-their-family-copes-with-their-disappearance/

Al-Shabab’s attack on the presidential palace in Mogadishu on July 8 is the latest in a string of violent assaults that have afflicted Somalia and neighboring countries. The militant Islamistgroup’s ability to penetrate the heavily fortified presidential complex is a testimony to the movement’s potency to disrupt reconstruction efforts of the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS).This is particularly striking against the backdrop of enhanced security precautions the FGS had recently taken, and the military offensive the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and Somali National Army (SNA) had launched on March 5. As with the assault on Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall in September 2013, there is a risk that al-Shabab’s “Ramadanoffensive” will trigger a predominantly military response by the FGS and its international allies. Distortion at PlayHowever, as argued in a study by the Life and Peace Institute, dividing Somali political actors into a binary dichotomy of extremists and moderates has produced a distorted understanding of the conflict. Partly rooted in the prevailing counterterrorism narrative, this distortion goes in tandem with a one-sided perception of al-Shabab. Yet as rightly pointed out by the International Crisis Group’s latest policy briefing on Somalia, the group is multifaceted and constitutes much more than an armed insurgency. Unfortunately, simplistic portrayals of both the Somali conflict and its most prominent fomenter have significantly hampered the country’s prospects for conflict resolution and state-building.Simultaneously, there is another distortion at play when it comes to al-Shabab, namely the ubiquitous proposition that the Islamist movement constitutes the greatest challenge to peace and stability in Somalia. However, this is questionable for two reasons.First, at the grassroots, al-Shabab offers practical solutions and benefits for numerous communities, including the mediating of clan disputes, establishing local governance arrangements and providing basic services. Second, despite popular claims to the contrary, defeating al-Shabab is not a precondition for advancing Somalia’s state-building project. For one, a victory over the extremist movement is likely to catalyze local clan disputes. For another, the historic track record of state-building shows that the creation of governance structures has, for better or for worse, generally been accompanied by violent contestation, particularly during early phases.Somalia’s obstacles toward peace, stability and prosperity lie beyond the challenge posed by al-Shabab. Just as has been acknowledged in the case of pirates, the Islamist movement constitutes more of a symptom of underlying discrepancies rather than an insurmountable core problem in and of itself. Consequently, the FGS and its international backers should not exhaust themselves and their scarce resources in hopeless military operations against al-Shabab which, if anything, have encouraged it. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and the international community should consider devoting more attention toward tackling Somalia’s more fundamental problems, which would allow them to kill two birds with one stone: rebuilding a functioning state and, thereby, draining al-Shabab of its fertile soil.Somalia’s Real ChallengesThere are four key challenges facing Somalia. First, the fragmentation of clans not only challenges prospects for peace and stability in the country, but also provides fertile soil for al-Shabab. That this dynamic has seen a revival with the rolling out of a federal agenda is evidenced by the increasing tribal tensions in southern Somalia. Rather than curbing such fragmentation, the military advances against al-Shabab appear to have furthered it by establishing a power vacuum. While al-Shabab has frequently exploited resulting clan competition to its own benefit, such fragmentation is poisonous for Somalia’s state-building endeavor. Hence, the FGS needs to successfully forge social cohesion on a national scale, if it wants to establish peace and stability. If the Somali government and the international donor community continue to remain largely unable to reduce the multitude of risks the Somali population faces, the objective of building a viable state and defeating al-Shabab will remain a distant dream. Second, the FGS needs to come to grips with the lack of a political vision. As of today, the government has failed to put forth a tangible plan on how to move forward in newly liberated areas or with regard to federalism. Against the backdrop of remaining social fault lines involving clan identity, the recommendation of “facilitating local clan dialogue and reconciliation” is generally advanced. Yet its relevance is not only questionable in an environment of constantly shifting alliances, but it is also backward-looking and divisive in nature. What the FGS needs to come up with is a common vision that paints a tangible and realistic picture of the future. Such a vision could bridge clan divides, implement a political agenda for action, and provide an ideological framework that allows the FGS to mobilize popular support for state-building and, therefore, challenging al-Shabab’s hegemony in terms of vision.Third, a fundamental obstacle lies in the void of local administrations. For one, the absence of formal administrative structures has provided al-Shabab with the possibility to fill this gap. This has not only allowed the extremist movement to establish its presence in rural areas for the past decade. It has also enabled al-Shabab to become part and parcel of political governance at the grassroots level. For another, it has deprived the FGS of the ability to control territory, provide basic services and gain traction among local constituencies. The arrival of ill-disciplined SNA troops and corrupt government officials in newly liberated areas soured rather than watered the population’s appetite for central government control. Therefore, the challenge of setting up functioning administrative structures needs to be embraced, in order to defeat al-Shabab and build a viable state.Fourth, the FGS must tackle concerns combating poverty, reducing vulnerability and providing livelihoods by creating employment opportunities. While poverty remains endemic, warnings of famine are once again on the rise. Yet creating loyal fellowship for its state-building project will be hardly possible in the absence of tangible improvements to popular livelihoods. Similarly, it seems next to impossible to create an engaged citizenship, without a productive economy and the ability for popular taxation.If the Somali government and the international donor community continue to remain largely unable to reduce the multitude of risks the Somali population faces, the objective of building a viable state and defeating al-Shabab will remain a distant dream. Going Beyond Military ApproachesClearly, insofar as al-Shabab is an insurgency movement, it needs to be countered militarily. However, this should not lead the FGS and its international partners to become “locked” in a military response. Not only do continued military campaigns against al-Shabab provide it with nurturing grounds, but they also divert attention from the underlying challenges for peace and prosperity in Somalia. Frequently heeded calls for “political inclusion” of the extremist movement are questionable. Not only do both sides of the table contain elements who reject political dialogue, but such a solution maintains the focus on al-Shabab as the primary hindrance to stability and development in Somalia. Yet as this seems to be far from the truth, al-Shabab should be given less rather than more attention.Given that fighting al-Shabab militarily does little to advance the fate of the Somali population and the FGS’ state-building project, other approaches need to be found. The most promising way forward appears to be a strategy that hones in on building a functioning state apparatus which, by consequence, renders organizations such as al-Shabab irrelevant to the local populace. This is a long-term and difficult endeavor. Yet the FGS and the international donor community should consider such a strategic shift before President Mohamud’s term is up, and his empty-handedness triggers the international community’s retreat from Somalia. Dominik Balthasar is a Researcher and Analyst with the Transatlantic Postdoctoral Fellowship for International Relations and Security, in the framework of which he has worked with Chatham House, the US Institute of Peace, and the EU Institute for Security Studies. His work focuses on issues pertaining to conflict and state fragility, as well as international efforts toward state reconstruction and development, particularly in Somalia. Balthasar has taught at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, and has consulted with a number of international development organizations, including the United Nations and the World Bank in Somalia. He lives in Paris, France. http://www.somaliaonline.com/somalias-obstacles-toward-peace-stability-and-prosperity-lie-beyond-the-challenge-posed-by-al-shabab-by-dominik-balthasar/

A blind jihadist pictured fighting alongside ISIS militants in Syria has reportedly urged others to join the Islamist militants, saying having a disability is no excuse.Taymullah al-Somali, a Dutch national who is believed to have travelled to the Middle East earlier this year, has been photographed numerous times alongside ISIS militants and is believed to be based in the capital of the self-declared caliphate, Raqqa.The Somalia-born militant has been quoted on known Islamist social media accounts urging Muslims to join ISIS, reportedly saying: 'Being blind didn't stop me from coming to #Syria, what's your excuse?' Militant: Numerous images of Taymullah al-Somali (centre) have emerged, including this one showing him posing alongside two men from Belgium. The man on the left is reportedly named Hicham Chaib Ready for war: Taymullah al-Somali is seen posing with an anti-aircraft gun while dressed in combat fatigues Numerous images of al-Somali have recently emerged, showing him posing alongside an international group of jihadists - including at least two from Belgium, one of whom is reportedly named Hicham Chaib.One image shows him posing with an anti-aircraft weapon while dressed in combat fatigues, while another chilling photograph shows him among a group of gun-toting militants holding a young child.Another shot shows al-Somali outside an apparent sharia law court in the city of Raqqa, adorned with the black jihadist flags that have become symbolic of ISIS' reign of terror in the Middle East.Al-Somali, who is often pictured smiling, has become something of a poster boy for jihadists in the Middle East, who use his disability as a rallying cry that nobody is beyond joining ISIS' ranks. Taymullah al Somali poses with an unidentified militant outside a sharia law court in the Syrian city of Raqqa. The building is adorned with the black jihadist flags symbolic of ISIS' reign of terror in the Middle East Chilling: This photograph shows al-Somali among a group of gun-toting militants holding a young child in Syria Background: Although al-Somali's true identity has not yet been confirmed, at least one Islamist website named him as Bashir Abu Mu'adh, who arrived in the Netherlands as a child in the early 1990s One of those retweeting images of al-Somali is Abu Uthmaan al-Britanni, who is understood to be a 24-year-old former shop worker from Britain who travelled to Syria from the town of Portsmouth.An ISIS-affiliated social media account quoted al-Britanni praising al-Somali, saying: 'He is a wonderful friend Mujahid [fighter]. Although his eyes are blind, he is always smiling.'Images of al-Somali first emerged on an account believed to be maintained and updated by the militant himself, although it likely someone else actually posts the messages on his behalf.One photograph he shared was uploaded with the caption: 'Being blind did not stop me. What is your excuse for staying behind?'.Another post urging more jihadists to join ISIS added: 'My beloved brothers, if there is anyone with a valid excuse to reframe [sic] from jihad, it's me. I am blind!' Propaganda: Taymullah al-Somali, who is often pictured smiling, has become something of a poster boy for jihadists in the Middle East, who use his disability as a rallying cry that nobody is beyond joining ISIS' ranks Pose: Taymullah al-Somali is a Dutch national who is believed to have travelled to the Middle East earlier this year. He has been photographed numerous times alongside ISIS militants No support: Earlier today Turkey's top Islamic cleric and the successor to the last Muslim caliph's most senior imam said ISIS' declaration of a caliphate (pictured) 'has no legitimacy whatsoever' Although al-Somali's true identity cannot be be confirmed, at least one Islamist website named him as Bashir Abu Mu'adh, who arrived in the Netherlands as a child in the early 1990s.Earlier today Turkey's top Islamic cleric and the successor to the last Muslim caliph's most senior imam said ISIS' declaration of a caliphate 'has no legitimacy whatsoever'.Mehmet Gormez, the head of the Religious Affairs Directorate - the highest religious authority in Turkey, added that ISIS' death threats against Christians were a threat against all civilisation. 'Since the caliphate was abolished ... there have been movements that think they can pull together the Muslim world by re-establishing a caliphate, but they have nothing to do with reality, whether from a political or legal perspective,' he said.'The statement made against Christians is truly awful. Islamic scholars need to focus on this [because] an inability to peacefully sustain other faiths and cultures heralds the collapse of a civilisation,' he added,Since ISIS' advance across northern Iraq in June, Christians have fled the city of Mosul, where the militants are based, after they were given the choice to convert, pay a religious tax or be executed.Mosul's Christian community is one of the world's oldest in the world, tracing its roots back two thousand years.SOURCE: http://www.dailymail.co.ukhttp://www.somaliaonline.com/blind-somali-member-of-isis-urges-others-in-the-west-to-join-him-saying-having-a-disability-is-not-an-excuse/

Farmers markets are a common sight in Sioux Falls, but now, there's a new business in town that's providing more than fresh produce. The New American Garden Market is giving customers a taste of culture from around the world. With funding from a federal grant, the Somali-Bantu Community Development Counsel of South Dakota opened their very first farmers market in Sioux Falls. But this organization's agricultural program isn't just about selling fresh produce. "We want to make our city more diverse, diversity for people, diversity for vegetables," Executive Director Abdul Sidow said. That's not the only thing the counsel is giving to the people. Executive Director Abdul Sidow says all funds raised through this farmers market go back to the refugees of the program to assist them with everyday expenses they can't otherwise afford. "We want the clients to reach self-sufficiency, and this is a way to help them reach self-sufficiency. So, you think this is a community garden, but this is more than a community garden, this is sort of a business," Sidow said. Even though it's the first weekend this farmers market has been open, there are over 100 different types of plants in the garden. From potatoes and cucumbers to traditional vegetables from different countries, this farmers market has something for everyone. Even though it'll take a while for many of the plants to start producing food, this market is already catching the eyes of people passing by. "I think it's amazing. I mean, that they're making good use of the property here and, I had no idea that it'd look this good. It looks good," Jim Miller said. Which is something the program's executive director hopes to expand upon to a second location in the future. The New American Garden Market will be open in the Hy-Vee parking lot on tenth street each Saturday and Sunday from 10am-3pm until mid-October. http://www.somaliaonline.com/another-somali-farmers-market-opens-its-doors-this-time-in-sioux-falls-south-dakota/

Dr Axel Klein is a lecturer in Study of Addictive Behaviour at School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research University of Kent Email: A.Klein@kent.ac.uk Telephone: 01227 827466 At last a well orchestrated campaign by a small group of Islamic zealots has succeeded in closing the licit importation of khat, the mild naturally occurring stimulant that has been used in Ethiopia, Kenya and Yemen for millennia. Since large number of Somali refugees arrived in the UK in the 1990s, the trade in khat picked up significantly. Several times a week planes fly in from Nairobi and Addis Ababa to supply hundreds of mafrishes – khat cafes – and green grocers all over the country. The trade has provided hundreds of UK Somalis with a livelihood, and their countrymen with a peaceful and agreeable past time. For Islamic campaigners this has long been a thorn in the flesh of the community. Mafrishes are public spaces, where discussion ranges widely and freely, as friends gather to relax and enjoy. At a time of rising hostility and nationalism making the assimilation for even second or third Generation British Somalis more difficult, such spaces come at a premium. In Somali neighbourhoods like Tower Hamlets of Lambeth these mafrishes were the strongest organised opposition to the grip held by Islamic organisations over the community. Different attacks on the health hazards or the social harm all failed to yield a result. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of drugs reviewed the evidence on three different occasions and recommended that it did not merit the status of a controlled substance. What finally convinced the home secretary was the alleged link between khat use and terrorism. The idea was ingeniously floated by Abukah Awale – who signs off as ‘a leading anti khat campaigner’ – a couple of years ago, with stories of Islamic radicals recruiting followers in the mafrishes. When questioned in 2012 by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) subcommittee he had to admit that he knew of a single incidence, and that happened to the son of someone he knew – in Kenya. Undeterred by lack the evidence Awale developed the theme after the Woolwich attack on Lee Rigby, telling the Mail on Sunday that one of the attackers had been a khat chewer. This time he had a national audience and a government crisis to advance his cause. As he has admitted many times, Awale is no expert on pharmacology, medicine or policing, but he is a self proclaimed former addict on a mission. Like many crusaders Awale is undaunted by trivial complexities like missing evidence or distorted facts. Instead he just carried on, complaining about the evils of khat to all who’d listen until a brutal murder in South London provided him with the opportunity. “This is the tool for me, I will put this on the table and say, ‘Now you must act’. When this country hears terrorism, they will act,” Awale admitted to the Independent last year. Precedence over the determination of the ACMD makes a mockery of evidence-based policy making. As serious is how it unwittingly plays into the hands of Islamic extremism and leaves moderate Muslims high and dry. The radicalisation of the young will now be reinforced by two predictable trends: Muslim men stopped, searched and arrested for khat offences by zealous police officers; and the outraged siblings of those, who with no legitimate alternative, will embrace the most indulgent aspects of western culture. Sadly, the slow, painful path towards criminalisation was inevitable once khat had been framed as a ‘drug’. It demonstrates that many policy makers are undeterred by evidence or consequence as long as they fall into line with standard practice. These reflections on malfunctions in the democratic process will not trouble the orchestrators of the anti-khat campaign. A Conservative home secretary with backbench support has just handed radical Islam their first political success in the UK. Let her be remembered in Friday prayers. Dr Axel Klein is a lecturer in Study of Addictive Behaviour at School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research University of Kent Email: A.Klein@kent.ac.uk Telephone: 01227 827466 http://www.somaliaonline.com/the-radicalisation-of-young-somalis-will-now-be-reinforced-by-somali-men-being-stopped-searched-and-arrested-for-khat-offences-by-dr-axel-klein/

A volunteer for Wandsworth's school admissions panel has been dismissed after publishing an offensive blog describing Somali women as buck-toothed herdswomen from a Saharan oasis.Retired journalist Hugh Thompson, from Putney, will no longer sit on the borough's Independent Appeal Panel making decisions about children who have been refused school places.Following a panel meeting, on Wednesday, July 2, Mr Thompson, in his late 60s, published a post about a group of Somalis he referred to as "new Britons from the horn of Africa".He named the Somali boy and said: "His single mum turned up followed by her older mama complete with beard, another who spoke no English."In their shapeless cloaks and headgear, their buck-teeth and their fat little faces looking like proverbial herdswomen from some Saharan oasis. In this case called Tooting."Basically her son was a sensitive lad, slow learner, asthmatic and very shy. It was best he went to a school near her cousin and where other Somalis she knew fetched and carried their children. There was no father anywhere in the story, how do Somalis have children?Mr Thompson, who teaches English as a foreign language to immigrants in Merton, discussed the family’s application and went on: "Is there a point where we should show some tolerance of immigrant groups who rely totally on networks to survive."But they had made no effort either in terms of language, dress or custom to move towards the host culture."Mr Thompson described the boy’s mother putting her hands into the prayer position and tilting her head. He added: "Was this some traditional sign that she was a defenceless woman who needed the help and protection of those more powerful. If it was, it was rejected."Later one of the panel told of schools in London where Somalis groups split into their clans and fight it out in classroom and playground."A spokesman for Wandsworth Council said it was vital appeals were heard fairly and impartially and added: "We are aware of this blog post and as a result of the totally unacceptable, inappropriate and offensive language it contained, as well as the fact that it had breached the confidentiality of the panel proceedings, we have decided that this individual can no longer sit on the independent appeals panel."Opposition councillor and a governor of Smallwood School James Daley, said Tooting, where the family is from, was proud to welcome people from different faiths and cultures.He added: "There is simply no tolerance for these kind of narrow-minded, offensive viewpoints - but it is of even greater concern that they come from an individual who held the power to determine the outcome of school place appeals. These are decisions which have an enormous impact on families - and are not to be taken lightly."After being contacted by a council solicitor, Mr Thompson removed the material and posted another entry admitting he had broken "professional and obvious rules".The long-term member of the Putney Society said: "I have been a fool and that’s the end of it. I knew there were certain rules and I broke them."I didn’t think it was very important as not many people read my blog."When asked if he regretted it, Mr Thompson said: "Yes and no. My blog is a diary of my life and things I think about - I write about them. Sometimes there are things I shouldn’t write about."I suppose on balance I probably do regret it yes. Only just."He denied the posts were racist but said the council was totally reasonable and totally just in dismissing him. Source: http://www.asianimage.co.uk/ http://www.somaliaonline.com/school-admissions-worker-describes-somalis-in-their-shapeless-cloaks-and-headgear-their-buck-teeth-and-their-fat-little-faces-looking-like-proverbial-herdswomen-from-some-saharan-oasis/

Washington, DC — Washington in early August is known for inactivity. During these long and hot 'Dog Days', Congress departs for its annual recess. Families, including the First one, pack up for an annual vacation. But this year, the President will host the biggest group of country leaders to ever visit our Capitol for a summit, all at once. This one-of-a-kind event, featuring three days of official meetings, will include participation by leaders from nearly 50 African countries. Better late than never, one might say. As we all have heard, seven of the 10 fastest growing countries in the world are African. But, in recent years, the United States has had to get in line to engage with Africa. Roads, dams and airports are being built. So are hotels and office building skyscrapers. And pipelines and power plants. More often than not, it's the Chinese who are doing the building. If not them, it's the Brazilians or Turks or Indians. Even Malaysia, Norway, and Russia are kicking our butt. The line is getting longer and the competition stronger. Now African countries investing across Africa are making us look bad. After South Africa, Morocco is the second largest investor in Sub-Saharan Africa among nations on the continent. Maybe this Obama summit will begin to change all that. But these are not your grandfather's African leaders. This generation is, by and large, better educated, more accomplished in fields other than politics, more likely to have been elected in free and fair contests, and more likely to embrace the rule of law than their predecessors. The leaders do not come begging. They do not come to lobby our President for a new aid package. They are more interested in partnerships than handouts. They are the ones being courted now - by dozens of global companies but, usually, not ours. We've both been in waiting rooms outside the offices of important ministers in many African countries. We've both noted the high-level business delegations from those other countries march in and out, often departing with major contracts. We've rarely seen American executives there. This summit won't significantly make up that deficit. But it can provide a solid roadmap for U.S. relations with these countries in the years ahead and a platform for mutual commercial prosperity. But only if the President and his team pay attentions to these 'dos' and 'don'ts': The Don'ts 1. Don't preach and patronize. Most political leaders don't enjoy listening to their counterparts talk at them - diplomacy by nature is about dialogue. And in this case, the danger is even greater; most African leaders think the United States is, at best, hesitant on Africa and, at worst ignorant and condescending. 2. Don't treat this as a Lions Club convention. Heads of countries don't do strategic meetings en masse or sit through 'break-out' sessions. 3. Don't raise expectations too high, desperately seeking concrete results from the summit. You've won points just by creating the event. Don't try to overreach with vague and/or warmed-over initiatives. If you try to feature 'accomplishments' that are mostly borrowing on existing programs and already-approved funding, these leaders will see through it. The Dos 1. Do create important audiences for what these leaders have to say. Most U.S.-based global companies are late to the game (you know who you are!). Insist that CEOs come to DC to listen to these leaders. It's likely they'll be impressed with what they hear. Follow up is everything and the White House must continue to encourage and support U.S. firms as they launch business development efforts in the region so to effectively speed up market success. Do the same with a group of university and college presidents who will be educating the next generation of U.S. and African leaders. 2. Do provide some focus. Talk to these leaders about how to make the Obama "Power Africa" initiative more relevant and effective. Include CEOs of both fossil and renewable-based companies in the discussion. Africa's energy future is diversified and to overlook resources is to slow poverty alleviation and job creation. 3. Do spend time on partnerships to address terrorism, not only its ugly threat but also its origins. Countries like Nigeria, Kenya, Somalia and the countries of the Sahel need some reassurances here. 4. Do use social media to launch a massive discussion between the young people of America and their counterparts in these African countries. Half the people on the world's second most populous continent are under 15 and 70% are under 30. People-to-people diplomacy helped to bring down the Berlin Wall and can be effectively wielded to forge lasting and meaningful ties between the U.S. and Africa. Remember, President Obama captured the hearts and minds of young Americans in his campaigns. He can do it again across borders. Approaching the summit in this fashion can have very positive effects. Africa is now becoming a recognized part of the global fabric. Multibillion dollar deals are getting done, an African won an Oscar, m-commerce is taking off, there will be an African tech IPO - pretty soon Barack Obama and Nelson Mandela will not be the only African names that Americans know. 'Dogs Days' or not, some great things can happen in DC this year. Toby Moffett is a former member of Congress from Connecticut and a senior advisor at Mayer Brown, LLP. He has represented African countries, companies and NGOs for more than twenty years. Aubrey Hruby is a Visiting Fellow at the Africa Center at the Atlantic Council and is a consultant helping countries do business across African markets. http://www.somaliaonline.com/how-obama-can-get-the-upcoming-u-s-africa-summit-right-by-toby-moffett-and-aubrey-hruby/

You may remember Dualleh Abdulrahman from our recent March Menswear Giveaway. He made it to the finals of the contest but didn’t win, although he easily stole the “People’s Champ” crown when you take a look at the comments on the Top 13 post.He was my personal favorite entry to last month’s giveaway, so I asked him to send us more pics so we could share his style and story.“My name is Dualleh Abdulrhamn, I’m 36 years old, half Irag/half Somalie! Born in Dubai.I’m an artist, photographer, clothing customizer & stylist living in the Netherlands. This crazy mix of interests has always made me an outcast. Kids always made fun of the way I looked because I was tall & skinny, and clothes never fit me properly. I’m 6’2″ with a slim neck & long arms. So typical a size ‘Small’ fits well at the neck, but the sleeves are way too short.This made me want to try sewing my own clothes at a young age…but I didn’t have money to buy fabric. When I was 25 I started browsing the local thrift stores to find cheap garments that I could practice altering and customizing. If I ruined a couple pieces it wasn’t a big deal – we’re only talking a few Euros at the thrift store here.I looked up to Prince & Lenny Kravitz as style icons – everything they wore i tried to find it at the thrift store and make it my own. I also love the 1920s working man style…and German soldiers clothing. So i try to mix it all and create a look that is only me… I think style is important because it’s the first way to express your creativity & personality.When looking for new style updates I usually go to my favorite cafe to watch people pass by. I just take elements from what I see. Of course, I try to focus on people who are similar to me, tall and skinny, and focus on elements that would work for me personally. As Dan often says on TSBmen, know your strengths – just because something works for one guy, doesn’t mean it will necessarily work for you… But maybe you can tweak it ”Here’s five looks from Dualleh’s vintage-heavy personal style, along with some of his clever Do-It-Yourself customizations that make his thrift store finds even more unique and personal.1. Chopped & Screwed Cotton blazer by Canda, Shirt by WE, Coat by WB Lace & Co, Pants Vintage (recut), Shoes by Van Lier, Laces by Hickies,Bag by Frye (Vintage), Tie Vintage tweed (No Brand)“This military trench coat was was really long – it covered my knees. I chopped it to make it more contemporary and versatile for the Spring. I also recut these vintage high-waisted trousers to look more style-forward and fit with my typical silhouette… Most of my trousers are vintage and self tailored.”2. Collar SwapShirt by Canda (thrifted), Tweed tie Vintage, Tweed waistcoat by Peek & Cloppenburg (vintage), Wool blazer by Hugo Boss (thirfted), Tweed cargo pants by Regent (thrifted), Shoes by Arange“This shirt had a regular collar on it, but I didn’t like the shape of it… So I removed it and replaced it with a club collar (made from the fabric that I cut off the hem – the shirt was very long).”3. Tube TieShirt Vintage, Waistcoat by We, Leather tie DIY, Blazer by Zara, Pants by Levis Vintage, Boots by Arange “Leather tie: I made it out of bicycle inner tube! I also cut a skinny vintage belt to add ankle straps to these boots, since they were a little loose around the ankle.”4. DIY NeckwearBlazer by Harris tweed (Vintage), Shirt by Canda, Vintage tie made into a bowtie, Leather DB waistcoat Vintage (No Brand), Tweed pants by Heritage, Boots Vintage (No brand), Propellor pin vintage, Pocket watch & skull key chain by H&M“I made this skinny vintage bowtie out of a skinny vintage necktie. It’s a very easy way to have a one-of-a-kind piece of neckwear… I also like that I can customize the shape and size (I like my bowties on the small/slim side).”5. Worth the EffortShirt by Canda, Tie Vintage, Jean jacket by American Today, Leather waistcoat same as look 4, Pants by Canda, Shoes by Van Bommel. “This double-breasted leather vest needed a lot of work and alterations…but it was certainly worth it. Sometimes a piece is just so cool that it’s worth putting some effort into… I’m also wearing it in Look #4 above – 1 Piece/2 Ways!” (Also a waistcoat/double-breasted waistcoat mini story in here while you’re at it).Source: http://tsbmen.com http://www.somaliaonline.com/five-looks-from-dualleh-abdulrahman-an-artist-photographer-clothing-customizer-stylist-living-in-the-netherlands/

Kenyan farmers of khat which was recently banned in the UK have started recording a drop in value of sales as the local and regional markets suffer from oversupply. Traders of miraa told the Star that farmers are getting less money because of influx of the product in the last major export market, Somalia where prices have dropped sharply. Miraa exporting and marketing agency Sakijo International said Somalia, Garissa and Mandera markets are the biggest beneficiaries of the recent ban on the product's trade in the UK as they are now well supplied leading to a price drop. "Somalia is taking almost ten extra tonnes and the prices have come down. Where farmers should be earning about Sh50,000 a bag they are now getting between Sh20,000 and Sh25,000," said Sakijo's spokesperson Kimathi Munjuri. A miraa trader in Eastleigh, Jotham Koome told the Star that prices in Somalia have halved since the ban became effective. Koome said a kilo of miraa was now being sold at $7(Sh613.90) from $14(Sh1227.80) previously. On Tuesday however, the price in Somalia shot up slightly because fewer flights to ship the products operated, causing the price to increase to $13.8(Sh1210.26) per kilo. Kenya exports about 28 tonnes of miraa daily operating a similar number of flights for the consignments. On Tuesday only 14-miraa carrying flights went to Somalia. However, prices in the local market have not changed drastically with the current low season being due to the holy month of Ramadhan. In Nairobi, a kilo of miraa has reduced from about Sh3,000 depending on the type to Sh2,000. In Garissa, traders said there has been a surge in supply although some strangely said that despite the influx prices have increased slightly by Sh400 from Sh1,100 to Sh1,500. Nairobi does not consume the same grade of miraa as the one that is exported. Various traders said the variety of miraa sold in Nairobi is of a higher grade than the one exported as it is more fresh hence the market here has not been affected by the ban in UK. Source: http://www.the-star.co.ke

(Reuters) - A United Nations panel that monitors compliance with U.N. sanctions on Somalia has accused the country's president, a former minister, and a U.S. law firm of conspiring to divert Somali assets recovered abroad, according to a new report. The Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group, an 8-person committee, disclosed the findings in a confidential report to the U.N. Security Council's Somalia/Eritrea sanctions committee. Reuters reviewed a copy of the 37-page document. The U.N. Monitoring Group said the information it has gathered so far "reflects exploitation of public authority for private interests and indicates at the minimum a conspiracy to divert the recovery of overseas assets in an irregular manner." Most of the overseas assets were frozen at the outset of the civil war in 1991 and include cash and gold held in banks during two decades of chaos and conflict in Somalia, as well as government properties on foreign soil. What the monitors describe as a conspiracy involved the U.S.-based law firm Shulman Rogers, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and his office, former foreign minister Fawzia Yusuf H. Adam, as well as two other individuals whom the monitors said acted as liaisons between Shulman Rogers and Somalia. If the findings are accurate, the monitors' report could cast a pall over President Mohamud and potentially scare off foreign donors who have pledged billions to rebuild his shattered nation after two decades of chaos. All those accused of involvement in the plan to divert assets have denied any wrongdoing. Several accused the chairman of the Monitoring Group, Jarat Chopra, of dubious investigative methods and making baseless assertions. Former foreign minister Adam, who is now a lawmaker in the Somali parliament, said she never profited from the Shulman Rogers contract and that she had not pressured Yassur Abrar, Somalia's former central bank governor. "As a foreign minister, my role was to build the image of Somalia, not to conspire and defame my name and that of my government." The president's office said it could not comment in detail on the allegations in the report because it has not been made public. Shulman Rogers reacted strongly to the Monitoring Group's report about its role in the alleged conspiracy - which it has not seen - as well as the group's assessment that the arrangements for recovering Somali assets were "contrary to the public good." Jeremy Schulman said "the public good of Somalia has been well served by the work we have done." He blamed the findings in the report on the group's Chairman Chopra, saying he was not a “reliable source for truthful information about the goings-on in Somalia.” Chopra said he stood by the group's findings and declined to comment further. In February, Reuters reported on some of the findings that have now been raised in the Monitoring Group's report. The Reuters story focused on last year's resignation by Somalia's central bank governor, which threw Western donors into a quandary over supporting a government they need to fight al Qaeda's local allies. A 2013 U.N. Monitoring Group report said individuals in Mohamud's government used the Somali central bank as a personal "slush fund", with an average 80 percent of withdrawals made for private purposes. The presidency and the then-central bank governor Abdusalam Omer have strongly denied that accusation.. In its latest report, the Monitoring Group said that "a complex architecture of multiple secret contracts, which defied a separation of powers between the Presidency and the Central Bank, created the opportunity and rationalization for the misappropriation of public resources." "'Pie-cutting' of overseas assets by those involved in the project entailed retention of excessive percentages and direct payments from recovered assets as well as attempts to circumvent deposits in the Central Bank of Somalia," it added. FLED FROM MOGADISHU Abrar, the former central bank governor who was also a former Citigroup vice president, quit last October after seven weeks on the job, alleging she had been pressured to sign a contract with Shulman Rogers that she feared could invite corruption at the central bank. According to the new report, she sent her resignation from Dubai after fleeing from Mogadishu out of fear for her safety. The Monitoring Group said it had followed up on a number of Abrar's allegations and her concerns about the contract and the planned scheme for the recovery of Somalia's overseas assets. One of her main worries, the monitors said, was a clause in a July 2013 contract with Shulman Rogers that gave the law firm a bonus of 5 percent of recovered assets in addition to its fees and for Shulman Rogers to retain a further 6 percent of recovered assets for undefined costs and expenses. "Ms. Abrar considered this clause for undefined costs and expenses to be for hidden fees and ultimately understood that it was meant as a side payment to be divided two percent each between Foreign Minister Adam, Musa Haji Mohamed Ganjab and Abdiaziz Hassan Giyaajo Amalo," the report said. However, the Shulman Rogers contract, reviewed by Reuters, does not state that any individuals would be paid from the 6 percent clause. The U.N. Monitoring Group report alleges that Amalo, a U.S. citizen of Somali descent, and Ganjab were government advisers who also acted as facilitators who were “serving as a regular channel between Shulman Rogers and the President”. A Shulman Rogers representative vehemently denied that the firm had paid or sought to pay any government officials. Ganjab, a Somali businessman, did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Amalo told Reuters in an emailed statement that he was never a government adviser and dismissed allegations against him as "false and malicious". FEARS OF DIVERSION OF FUNDS The monitors said Abrar raised her concerns about the 6 percent contract clause with the president in September 2013. "The President informed her that Adam, Ganjab and Amalo had worked hard for their money and that they had earned and deserved the commission of six percent," the report said. "Abrar appealed to the President to reconsider his support for this, but he simply thanked her and asked her to read through the contract," according to the report. Abrar never signed off on the contract for Shulman Rogers. The report said she had also been pressured by the then-deputy finance minister to open a bank account in Dubai against her wishes that she feared could be used for the diversion of Somali funds. Abrar resigned without opening it. After consulting with the World Bank, the Somali president's office said in a statement to Reuters that it revoked a power of attorney it had granted to Shulman Rogers in May and was renegotiating its contract with the law firm. "International advice will continue to be solicited as the national asset recovery proceeds," the statement added. Source: Reuters http://www.somaliaonline.com/a-united-nations-panel-accuses-president-hassan-and-a-u-s-law-firm-of-conspiring-to-divert-somali-peoples-assets-recovered-abroad/

Wild cheetahs are being smuggled to the Middle East to be sold as exotic pets causing a dramatic decline in numbers, conservationists have warned. According to a report published by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), the cheetahs are mainly smuggled from the Horn of Africa. "Huge numbers of cheetahs appear to die in transit," said Nick Mitchell, the Eastern Africa co-ordinator of the Rangewide Conservation Programme for Cheetah and African Wild Dogs, who took part in the report. Somaliland is the centre for the illegal export of cheetah cubs destined for the Gulf States. The animals are smuggled by boat to the coast of Yemen, and then driven across the Yemeni border by car. "This whole trade had not been appreciated by the public or by the conservation world," said Mitchell. "If we do not act now on the trade and land-use change, then we can be certainly losing sub-populations in a few years." Fifteen known cheetah populations with an estimated 2,500 adults are being targeted by the wildlife smugglers. David Morgan, head of science at Cites, said: "Middle Eastern countries spoke up very clearly and this has been a positive development. Qatar, the Emirates, Kuwait all recognised the problem. "Many Asian countries still want the trade in medicinal products, but the more show-off element seems to be rising," he continued. "It comes with the rising economies of these countries and that drives up demand. But there are so very few animals left in the wild that they cannot afford a big rise in demand." The largest surviving cheetah population - about 6200 - is in Southern Africa. Here the fastest mamal on earth are threatened by trophy hunters willing to pay a bounty of $10,000-$20,000 (£6,000-£12,000) per animal. This practice is also legal in Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe. An estimated 200 cheetahs are killed every year in trophy hunting. The luxury pet trend also threatens the endangered cheetah sub-species of Iran, where there are about 40 to 100 animals living in the wild. There are currently fewer than 10,000 cheetahs worldwide. Source: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ http://www.somaliaonline.com/somaliland-become-the-centre-for-the-illegal-export-of-cheetah-cubs-destined-for-the-gulf-states/

Halima Abdi charges foreign visitors at least $1,000 for a tour of remote northeastern Kenyan villages that most people wouldn’t dream of making. Her clients are young girls sent by their parents to undergo traditional circumcision.Most of her customers are ethnic Somalis who arrive from countries such as the U.K., Sweden and the Netherlands, Abdi explained in an interview at her cramped one-room office in the suburb of Eastleigh in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. Abdi says she’s offered “consultancy services” to hundreds of migrant families from abroad since she began operating in 2000.“I have undergone the female cut and I have administered the same to my daughters and their granddaughters too will go through it,” said Abdi, a 48-year-old mother of five children. “These beliefs and values are still present and valued by Somalis in Africa and the developed world.”While female genital mutilation has been illegal in Kenya since 2011, practitioners like Abdi continue to earn a handsome living from the procedure. The Wagalla Centre for Peace and Human Rights, a Wajir, Kenya-based advocacy group, says the practice has made some circumcisers rich enough to buy four-wheel-drive vehicles, build luxury homes in remote villages and acquire livestock.As part of Kenya’s efforts to curb the practice, President Uhuru Kenyatta in December appointed Linah Jebii Kilimo as chairwoman of the state-run Anti-FGM Board Kenya. Kenyatta’s wife, Margaret, said in May female circumcision “should not have any place in any community living in the 21st century.” ‘Risky Business’Decades of conflict in Somalia, coupled with a growing international campaign against the female genital mutilation, has forced Somali parents to send their daughters to foreign countries to undergo what they consider to be a cultural rite of passage. Ninety eight percent of Somali women have undergone FGM, according to the United Nations Childrenâs Fund.Once Abdi has completed travel arrangements for her clients, parents and their daughters are driven in private vehicles to Garissa near the Somali border about 200 miles northeast of Nairobi. The journey usually involves paying bribes to security and immigration officials in Garissa who often check the documents of foreign visitors, she said.“It’s a risky business and that is the first information I give to Somali migrant parents when they visit my office,” Abdi said. “They are ready to pay anything to mitigate the risk and ensure their daughters undergo the rite.”FGM is considered by some communities as a way to prepare girls for adulthood and is often motivated by the belief that it reduces a woman’s libido and discourages sexual activity before marriage, according to the World Health Organization.No BenefitsMore than a quarter of girls and women have undergone genital cutting in Kenya, one of 29 countries in which it is practiced, according to Unicef. Globally, at least 125 million girls and women have been circumcised, according to the World Health Organization. There are no known health benefits to the procedure.“Many factors like corruption, weak law enforcement and well-oiled cartels in various Kenyan towns are behind the rising number” of people coming to northern Kenya to have the cut administered, said Amran Abdundi, a program coordinator at women’s-rights organization Frontier Indigenous Network. “The law has been enacted, but enforcing it needs resources and strong goodwill from law enforcement agencies.”The most basic form of the practice involves the partial or total removal of the clitoris. Two more extreme forms include the cutting of the labia and the narrowing of the vaginal opening through the creation of a covering seal, a process known as infibulation, or pharaonic circumcision. All three types are carried out Kenya. One in five Somali women and girls have undergone infibulation, according to Unicef.Thorns, SticksLong-term consequences of FGM include recurrent bladder and urinary-tract infections, infertility, cysts and an increased risk of childbirth complications and newborn deaths, according to the WHO.In northern Kenya, circumcisers use implements including knives, sharpened sticks, razor blades and thorns, according to Abdundi. Stitching of the wounds involves the use of twine made from tree bark.After arriving in Garissa, the girls are transferred by 4x4 vehicles to sites operated by a network of traditional circumcisers at villages including Dadajibula, Welmerer and Amuma, who charge about $200 per circumcision and about $300 for accommodation, according to Abdi.Girls SubduedIn the village of Dadajibula, Dubey Sankader, 80, operates from a temporary shelter made of sticks, wood and leaves. Sankader says she uses a support team of 10 women to help hold down the girls as the procedure is carried out.“It’s painful and most of them faint in the middle of the rite, while others make loud noises and cries, but they are subdued by my permanent staff,” she said.Once circumcised, the girls legs are initially tied together and a herbal remedy known as Malmal is used as an antibiotic and a pain-killer to help accelerate the recovery.“Circumcised girls stay for one month before being allowed to move out of the facilities and the village with their parents who shower them with gifts, praise and building their confidence,” Sankader said.The girls are allowed to leave after spending about six weeks recovering. Some are not so lucky. Sankader said she knows of at least one girl who died during the ritual, while others have either fallen into a coma or developed “complex trauma.”Alternative CeremoniesThe Anti-FGM Board, which is awaiting funding from Kenya’s government, plans to eradicate the practice by educating parents and children about the dangers of female genital mutilation and training officials like the police and district chiefs on why the law should be implemented, Kilimo said in a phone interview.“We will also urge communities to come up with alternatives to rites-of-passage ceremonies that currently take place,” she said. “There must be another way of affirming to girls that they have come of age instead of subjecting them to the brutality of genital mutilation.”Advocacy groups like the Wagalla Centre also want stricter laws to enable the authorities to seize the financial assets of people involved in the circumcision business.Qali Hassan began her practice three decades ago and says her fees are now so high she only serves Somali clients from abroad. Local girls can no longer afford her services.The 64-year-old mother of eight children currently offers her service out of a six-room structure on the outskirts of Dadaab, a town about 420 kilometers (259 miles) northeast of the capital, Nairobi. The world’s biggest refugee camp, which provides temporary shelter to more than 400,000 Somalis, is located a few miles north of Dadaab.Sanitation BlockHassan’s clinic includes an operating theater, waiting rooms for family members and a sanitation block with running water sourced from a solar-powered borehole, she said.“The current anti-FGM law is silent on forfeiting properties and proceeds made by the circumcisers and something needs to be done so they can be stripped of this ill-gotten wealth and status in the society,” said Adan Garad, executive director of the Wagalla Centre.Abdi says even though it’s illegal, she’ll keep practicing.“Female circumcision within the Somali community is as old as our culture,” she said.To contact the reporter on this story: Abjata Khalif in Garissa at akhalif@bloomberg.netSource: http://www.businessweek.com/http://www.somaliaonline.com/wealthy-somalis-flock-to-kenya-to-have-their-daughters-circumcised/

Somalia has appointed the country’s first ambassador to the United States in more than two decades. Omar Abdirashid Ali Shamarke had his diplomatic credentials accepted today at the White House, where he is expected to attend President Obama’s Iftar celebration this evening, a dinner marking the breaking of the fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. “Ambassador Sharmarke’s arrival to Washington represents the latest progress in advancing U.S.-Somali relations,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement. “We look forward to working with Ambassador Sharmarke and continuing to work with the Federal Government of Somalia to bring stability, security, and prosperity to all Somali people,” Psaki added. Somalia’s embassy in the U.S. closed in 1992 following the fall of long-time president Siad Barre, which plunged the country into chaos. Two years ago, the first elected government in twenty years came into power and the United States has given more than half a billion dollars in aid to help build infrastructure and provide basic services, including security and development of a justice system. Ambassador Shamarke is no stranger to the United States. He spent years in America in exile and his family is based in Virginia. He also served in Somalia’s transitional federal government as prime minister in 2009, resigning a year later due to government infighting. Shamarke told ABC News in an interview shortly after taking office that Somalia needed help fighting the Al Qaeda-backed militant group Al Shabaab, which at that time controlled all of southern Somalia and most of the capital Mogadishu. “We don’t have an edge in terms of capability and that’s why we have requested this international emergency help to salvage the country,” said Shamarke. “We cannot prevail on these extremist groups when they have Ak-47s, and other weapons and we only have Ak-47s.” In the last five years, the United States gave more than $1.5 billion in assistance, including equipment and training to African Union troops fighting alongside Somalia security forces to push Shabaab out of Mogadishu, as well as its strongholds in southern and central Somalia. Despite the terror group’s loss of physical territory, it continues to launch deadly strikes in both Somalia and the region. Last September, Shabaab militants attacked an upscale mall in neighboring Kenya, killing 67 people. Just last week militants stormed Somalia’s presidential palace, setting off explosions and shooting guards. African Union and Somali military troops responded quickly and both the prime minister and president were unharmed, but the attack showed the threat the terror group continues to pose to the country’s security and stability. U.S. officials say that despite the ongoing terror threat, the administration remains committed to supporting the new government and increasing ties between the countries. A Pentagon spokesman confirmed to ABC News that up to 120 troops are now in Mogadishu, the largest U.S. military presence in Somalia since the 1993 failed Black Hawk Down operation. The State Department’s top diplomat for political affairs, Ambassador Wendy Sherman announced last month that the U.S. will soon name its own ambassador to Somalia, the first in over 20 years. But in a nod to the realities of the security situation on the ground, Sherman confirmed that the new ambassador will be based out of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi along with the rest of Somalia team for the foreseeable future. Though the U.S. has set up a small mission in the airport in Mogadishu it is still too dangerous to have any U.S. staff based there, officials said. ABC News’ Luis Martinez contributed to this report Source: http://abcnews.go.com http://www.somaliaonline.com/meet-the-first-somali-ambassador-to-the-united-states-in-20-years/

Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan harshly criticized Israel over the air strikes on Gaza which left dozens dead. Erdoğan also said that it is impossible to continue the normalization process with Israel under these circumstances. "Israel has not been sincere in negotiating a normalization of relations with Turkey and has returned to its brutality in Palestine", Turkey's Prime Minister and presidential candidate Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in Antalya, during his rally for the upcoming presidential elections. His comments came at an Iftar dinner hosted by the Antalya Municipality on Saturday, the fifth day of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza which have left at least 170 Palestinians dead and hundreds more injured. Erdoğan said: "All possible steps towards the normalization of relations with Israel have been locked in a box because of the recent Israeli atrocities in Palestine. "Israel continues its brutality in Palestine, where it has dropped 400 tons of bombs and killed dozens of innocent people, including women and children." Erdoğan slammed observers who said Turkey should remain impartial in the Palestine-Israel conflict, adding: "We are not impartial in the Palestinian cause and will never leave them alone." Israel claims the offensive is aimed at halting rocket fire from the embattled Gaza Strip, which is home to 1.8 million Palestinians. He added: "Helping Palestinians is our historical, religious and humanitarian responsibility, because they were always with us when we were in need - especially during our Liberation War. "We cannot turn our back on our brothers in need in Palestine, Bosnia, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Arakan (Myanmar) and elsewhere in the world." The prime minister also said anyone who has fled from Syria for his/her life and come to Turkey to take refuge is a friend, and we are obliged to take them into care. Previously, the opposition presidential candidate Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu had said in a television interview that Turkey should remain impartial in the Israel-Palestine conflict. The Republican People's Party and the Nationalist Movement Party have chosen Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, the 71-year-old former head of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, as their candidate for the elections - the first in Turkey where the president will be chosen by popular vote. Turkish voters will go to the polls on Aug.10. Should none of the candidates take more than 50 percent of the votes a second round will take place on August 24 between the top two candidates. Source: http://www.dailysabah.com/politics/2014/07/14/turkeys-erdogan-says-no-normalization-with-israel http://www.somaliaonline.com/turkeys-erdogan-rejects-normalizing-relations-with-isreal-in-light-of-its-gaza-campaign/

In conformity with Islamic teachings, Muslims are required to fast from dawn to sunset during the holy month of Ramadan. Yet, in some parts of the world, this rule is not always realistic.While Muslims around the world break their fast at sunset (having fasted 20 hours maximum in some places), the Muslim minority living in Kiruna, the northernmost town in Sweden, would have to wait weeks to break their fast.Aljazeera has shed light on the problem facing “an estimated 700 Muslims who are spending Ramadan in the mining town of Kiruna” where “the sun stays up around the clock from May 28 to July 16”In the absence of a definite religious edict (fatwa) regarding this issue, “Muslims in the north are using at least four different timetables to break the fast,”said Aljazeera.Aljazeera interviewed some of the Muslims living in Kiruna, many of them are recent asylum-seekers.According to Aljazeera“a majority of those who fast in Kiruna follow the timings of the capital Stockholm, 1,240km south, after being advised by the European Council of Fatwa and Research (ECFR)”However, GhassanAlankar from Syria follows the timing in Saudi Arabia, “because it’s the birthplace of Islam”.“I started Ramadan by having suhoor with the sun shining in my eyes at 3:30 in the morning,” he said.The chairman of the Islamic Association in Kiruna Abdulnasser Mohammed, of Somali origin, sticks to the fasting times of Istanbul in the summer, “since Turkey is the Muslim country closest to Sweden.”Muslim scholars should issue a religious edict to settle this problem for Muslims living in such places where the sun cannot be a time indicator for prayers and Ramadan fasting.However, “Ramadan is not about starvation or about inflicting injury on yourself. People must choose what works for them,” Abdulnasser said.Source: http://www.moroccoworldnews.com http://www.somaliaonline.com/somalis-fast-ramadan-in-remote-sweden-where-the-sun-never-sets-having-suhuur-during-the-day/

NAIROBI, Kenya, July 10 – The United States (US) government has ruled out a military intervention on the continent to combat the increased terror threat. In a tele-conference with journalists across the continent on Wednesday evening, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield said a military response is not the answer to the terror challenge. “The answer is not the US Government sending African Command to address this in a military way. This is not just a military response; it’s more a response that requires looking at economic development, looking at education programmes, looking at services and infrastructure being provided to these communities,” she said to a question on Boko Haram. On the Al Shabaab, she said America’s military presence in Somalia was targeted at building the capacity of the country’s own military forces following the US military’s recent admission of its presence there since 2007. “We have a Somalia strategy that tries to focus on helping Somalia invest in the future of its people. And part of that strategy is to have a small cell of our military work with the Somali military to build their capacity to address the kinds of attacks that we saw happen yesterday (Tuesday) at the Villa Somalia and other attacks that we’ve seen around the continent,” she said in response to Capital FM News. Extremism on the continent, she said, would also be tackled during the inaugural US-Africa Leaders Summit that will be held in Washington between August 4 and 6, bringing together Heads of State from 50 African countries. The Heads of State would be engaged on how to combat extremism through creation of employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for the youth. “This is one of the outcomes that we’ve asked African leaders to bring to the summit and that is an announcement of how they are investing in the future of the youth on the continent. Because we know if we don’t invest in these young people, they will be attracted, as we have seen, by an extremist ideology that does not provide a future for Africa,” she said. The US is also pursuing this aim through the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) which seeks to better equip African youth in the areas of public and civic service as well as business. The first set of 500 annual YALI participants are already receiving mentorship in these areas at 20 Universities in the United States and are expected to meet US President Barrack Obama at a town hall-style meeting at the end of their six-week training which began in June. The US government is likely unwilling to make a military intervention on the continent given the challenges they have experienced on the Afghanistan and Iraq front. It has however made its presence felt on in the fight against terror on the Continent through the sharing of intelligence, training and finances. Britain has taken a similar position, acknowledging the work of AMISOM troops in Somalia but limiting their contribution to intelligence, technical and fiscal support. Extremism however continues to be a challenge with the most recent attack being on the Presidential palace in Somalia. “Incidents such as this further demonstrate that insecurity in Mogadishu persists, including very real threats from Al Shabaab. This is why we continue to support the efforts of the Somali National Security Forces and the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) to expand security and stability in Somalia. These forces stopped today’s attackers and prevented further harm,” the US Department of State Spokesperson Jen Psaki stated on Tuesday. These cross-border attacks have led the US to relocate some of its staff from Nairobi, a measure Thomas-Greenfield said was temporary pending the resolution of the security situation in the country. “This for us now is a temporary move, but we’re hoping that we can work with the Kenyans to change the security situation not just for Americans who are working and living in Kenya but also for Kenyans,” she said. Source: http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2014/07/77017/ http://www.somaliaonline.com/us-rules-out-military-intervention-in-somalia-says-solutions-requires-looking-at-economic-and-education-development-programmes/

Even if pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia are now only sporadic, piracy is still a latent problem which inflicts high costs on international trade. The estimated cost of piracy in 2013 was somewhere between $3 and $3.2 billion. Shipping companies continue to spend huge amounts of money on safety measures and additional fuel to increase transit speed, while international navies patrol the Gulf of Aden and the Somali Basin.These massive costs are inflicted by an “industry” that brought an average income of around $50 million per annum to Somalia from 2008-2012. The differences between the massive costs and meager profits of piracy imply that there has to be some room for a more efficient solution than expensive sea-based deterrents. Indeed, a recently released White House plan against Somali Piracy suggests that the Obama administration is no longer willing to commit naval assets in the long run.But what would such a solution look like? In theory, laws and rules might support a “contract out of piracy,” in which foreign nations or shippers effectively pay pirates to cease their activities. The problem is that state-building is in its infancy in Somalia. The central government has not projected power beyond Mogadishu for decades, ceding control to a plethora of traditional clan-based elites, warlords and Islamist militias who provide governance and fight over territory. Without stable law and order in the remote coastal regions, there is no-one to make sure that all parties live up to their contracts.A simpler approach may be to look to the key underlying conditions that make piracy possible. Our previous research shows that the key ingredient to the success of Somali piracy is land-based support, which has allowed pirates to keep their ships safe and the crews alive while ransom negotiations dragged on – usually for several months, sometimes for years. Without access to land and comprehensive security guarantees for the captive ships, pirates could only extract small on-the-spot “fines.” The 2013 World Bank report on Somali piracy identified 26 anchorages in which protection was offered to pirates. In a new paper we ask why there were only 26 pirate anchorages on a coast the length of the U.S. eastern seaboard, and argue that the answer to this question provides a new solution to privacy.Neither Somalia’s physical geography nor the degree of political stability/instability explain where pirates find anchorage. Instead the willingness of communities to host pirates depends on harsh economic calculations. Local elites across Somalia fund their activities through taxation (or extortion – depending on your point of view). Elites that tax imports and exports in their ports have no sympathy for pirates: they drive away a more profitable, more stable and less risky source of income. Few people are going to want to trade with a pirate port, for fear that their own ships and cargoes will be held to ransom. Therefore, coastal regions and ports connecting to the wider economies of the Indian Ocean and Horn of Africa have never offered protection to pirates. Indeed, they have often engaged actively in counter-piracy – for example Somaliland and the various Islamist administrations in Kismayo.In contrast, the Puntland and Central Somali pirate coast is arid, supports only nomadic herders and has no infrastructure to integrate it with regional trade routes. This means that there aren’t many other activities for local elites to tax. It is no surprise that they welcome pirate dollars in principle. Moreover, their eagerness to support pirates depends on how much money they need. Our research shows that the number of ships held locally shot up when there were territorial disputes or when funds were needed for closely fought regional elections. Once these political aims were achieved, the pirates were asked to leave. The 2008 “pirate capital” of Eyl sent pirates packing in 2009 after the local clan’s candidate won the presidential election.These insights provide the beginnings of a new approach to stopping piracy at its source – developing the local economies that are most prone to support piracy, because they don’t have other good economic options. You don’t necessarily need a stable political settlement for Somalia as a whole to do this. Instead, you need to build a transport infrastructure which integrates the currently remote regions into the wider regional economy. This will change the local attitude to piracy from “welcome revenue source” to “economically damaging nuisance”. There is no need for a contract or its enforcement: the choice is self-enforcing.Would this work? We know that it’s worked in the past. Bosasso in Northern Puntland switched from supporting piracy to closely cooperating with the international naval mission on counter-piracy around the time the Saudi ban on Somali cattle exports was lifted in 2009. When Bosasso regained its role as a major export center and customs revenues shot up, pirates became a problem and tackling them a policy priority. Upgrades to the harbor facilities in 2012 doubling port capacity reinforced that calculation.This doesn’t mean that road building is a comprehensive substitute for state building. Although it would be an effective counter-piracy measure, it would do nothing to address other forms of maritime crime such as drug and people smuggling, and unlicensed fishing, all of which can coexist perfectly happily with trade. There is still a good case for helping to develop Somalia’s capacity to enforce law and order in its remote regions and its territorial waters. But roads are helpful as a complement to state-building efforts – they will kick-start economic development and reduce opportunities for insurgents to hide and be supported by disadvantaged populations. In the short term, road building can help tackle the problem of Somali piracy, and combined with state building it can help address Somalia’s problems over the longer term too.Anja Shortland is a Reader in Political Economy at King’s College, London. Federico Varese is a Professor of Criminology at the University of Oxford. The academic article this post is based on, “The Protector’s Choice. An Application of Protection Theory to Somali Piracy,” is forthcoming in the British Journal of Criminology http://www.somaliaonline.com/road-building-not-state-building-can-solve-the-somali-piracy-problem-by-anja-shortland-and-federico-varese/

Twin schoolgirls who followed their jihadi brother to Syria were hard-working students who hoped to train as doctors. Sixteen-year-olds Salma and Zahra Halane, who last summer achieved 28 GCSEs between them, left their parents’ home in the middle of the night and caught a flight to Turkey, before crossing the border. Police said the pair are thought to have followed their elder brother, who ditched his own ‘excellent’ academic career to join the ISIS terror group around a year ago. Salma (left) and Zahra Halane (right), who last summer achieved 28 GCSEs between them, left their parents’ home in the middle of the night and caught a flight to Turkey, before crossing the border Friends said the twins had appeared to be typical teenagers, pouting for selfies and shopping at Primark – but they are now feared to be training for battle. Last night a rebel fighter boasted that he was teaching girls as young as 16 how to fight. Yilmaz, a Dutch national who has been in Syria for two years, told Sky News: ‘It’s extremely easy to get here. People go on holiday ... they end up in Syria.’ The twins’ parents raised the alarm last month, after finding the girls’ beds empty and their passports and clothes missing. A former neighbour said the couple had been ‘quite strict’, and did not allow the girls to ‘mix with other children on the street’. Others recalled that the twins wore headscarves when they were as young as nine. But Rhea Headlam, who sat next to Zahra in primary school, said they were ‘just normal teenage girls’. ‘I’m really shocked – I used to bump into them at Primark,’ she added. ‘They were both really clever.’ Last summer Salma achieved 13 GCSEs – 11 of them at grades A* to C – while Zahra passed 15, of which 12 were A*-C. The results put them in the top 10 per cent of their year group at Whalley Range High School for Girls in Manchester. They went on to study at Connell Sixth Form College, where fellow students said they hoped to follow in the footsteps of their elder sister Hafsa, 25, who is at medical school in Denmark after graduating from Manchester University. ‘The twins both have aspirations to become doctors – that is their ambition,’ said one. Another claimed it was ‘typical’ of the girls to head to Syria ‘after they had finished term’, adding: ‘They wouldn’t want to mess up their education. ‘I’m shocked they have gone. They didn’t seem to be radical or extremist in their views.’ It emerged yesterday that the girls’ devoutly Muslim Somali refugee parents and their 11 children had been moved from an estate made famous by the TV series Shameless to an upmarket suburb, after telling the council they needed more bedrooms. They were given a six-bedroom end-terrace despite the protests of the existing tenant. Yesterday the large back and front gardens were strewn with discarded household items and children’s plastic toys. Police probe: Officers were seen leaving the house. The large back and front gardens were strewn with discarded household items and children's plastic toys Neighbours said the twins’ parents were keen to share elements of Somalian culture with them, taking round dishes of traditional delicacies for them to try. The twins’ father Ibrahim is understood to teach at a nearby mosque, where leaders this week issued a statement repudiating extremism and opposing violence of all kinds. Mohammed Shafiq, of the Ramadan Foundation, said the family were moderate Muslims who know all about the dangers of war-torn countries. ‘They were desperately unhappy to discover [their son] had gone to Syria, and they thought they were keeping a watchful eye on their other children. Then this happens,’ he said. Sources believe Salma and Zahra were inspired by their brother’s transformation into a jihadi fighter, and became radicalised themselves while viewing extremist Islamist material online. According to police sources, their brother also travelled to the family’s native Somalia, where he may have linked up with another Islamist terror group al-Shabab. Officers are investigating how the girls funded their own trip, over fears they have been bankrolled by jihadi fighters who want them as their wives. As many as 1,500 Britons may have travelled to Syria to fight alongside rebels. Many of them have posted messages online promising to use their ‘terror skills’ if they return to Britain. Source: Dailymail.co.ukhttp://www.somaliaonline.com/police-search-the-home-of-salma-and-zahra-halane-the-twin-sisters-believed-to-have-fled-to-syria/

When I heard about the terrorist attack in Kenya on June 17, I felt sick. Gunmen from Al Shabab, Somalia’s Al Qaeda franchise, had shot up a crowd of football fans watching the World Cup in the coastal town of Mpeketoni before attacking a bank, hotels and the local police station. The death toll was at least 60.When you live in one of the world’s most dangerous places like Mogadishu, as I did from January last year, you get used to terrorist attacks. The sudden explosion which sends a shock wave across the city and makes you flinch involuntarily. The almost instant burst of machine-gun fire that follows the blast and rattles away for minutes. The wailing sirens of the emergency services. Then come the phone calls you must make to check friends and colleagues are all right, emails to colleagues and family letting them know you are unscathed. Perhaps a prayer for the dead and, simmering in the background, unspoken relief that it wasn’t you.The Kenya attack jolted me back to February 21, when I was at home in the UK, on leave from my job in Mogadishu as communications adviser to the president of Somalia. I was nearing the end of a 14-month posting on a project sponsored by the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office, to assist the Somali government to set up a functioning press office to deal with the insatiable demands of the modern media. That morning I saw something from a colleague flash up on Facebook: “My prayers go out to the family, colleagues and relatives of Mohamud Indhacase; our beloved permanent secretary of the office of the prime minister and all the victims of today’s unfortunate killing and attack.”I could feel my heart pumping. Mohamud was my closest friend there, a Somali-Canadian teacher and social worker. In 2012 he gave up his job in Ottawa and said goodbye to his wife and children to take up an unpaid role as the prime minister’s chief of staff in Villa Somalia, the government compound where we lived and worked together. He wanted to help Somalia pick itself up from the ashes of conflict, the world’s longest-running civil war that ended in 2012.Instead, if these initial reports were correct – and I clung to hopes they weren’t, knowing that accurate reporting falls by the wayside immediately after an attack – he had become the latest victim of a vicious jihadist insurgency fought by uneducated and unemployed young men.A round of calls, emails and social media confirmed the tragic news. Mohamud had been killed after seven Al Shabab attackers had stormed Villa Somalia in an audacious mission to kill or capture the president during Friday prayers. The fact that they had failed almost didn’t matter. They had launched an attack on the equivalent of the White House and had made headlines all over the world. And Mohamud was gone. It was, by a mile, the low point of an extraordinary year.It had all begun amid an epidemic of optimism. Last January there was a growing view among Horn of Africa watchers that Somalia was back. The civil war was over, Al Shabab had been driven out of Mogadishu by the combined forces of Somalia and the African Union and for the first time in 23 years there was an internationally recognised government. Somalis, inveterate travellers, were returning from the diaspora to rebuild their homes and lives in the war-shattered capital.Whichever way you looked, there were inspiring stories, such as the entrepreneur setting up the city’s first dry-cleaning business, restaurants and hotels opening almost daily, rock concerts and poetry festivals. Then there was the Somali women’s basketball team, back on court after being banned on pain of death by the Islamists and rightly described by a commentator as “one of the biggest inspirations to women, education, and humanity I’ve ever seen”.That May, the British prime minister David Cameron hosted a large international conference on Somalia. Further such gatherings followed in Belgium and Japan. There was talk of economic recovery, investment, aid and development, re-establishing long-neglected diplomatic relations, national reconciliation, a new constitution, elections.Three months earlier, I’d had no hesitation signing up for a year in Mogadishu, White Pearl of the Indian Ocean. Unlike other members of the international community, who “engage” with Somalia either from the restaurant-rich comfort of Nairobi or the open-air prison that is the international airport, I would be one of only two foreigners living and working inside Villa Somalia, the inner sanctum of the new government. As a communications adviser to the prime minister, later the president, I would be working at the very heart of the new Somali government alongside passionate Somalis – like Mohamud – who wanted to rebuild their country.It seemed like a unique, ringside seat as Somalia made history for all the right reasons. For a historian and journalist, it was unmissable. I had spent much of the past decade living and working in places like Iraq (researching a history of Baghdad and establishing the Aegis Foundation to fund small humanitarian projects), the war-torn Sudanese region of Darfur (advising the UN and African Union peacekeeping mission) and Libya (advising Nato, assisting the rebels and reporting from the front line during the 2011 revolution).So much for the big picture, not to mention the job specification. It was surely only predictable that the daily reality struggled to match the soaring heights of optimism that coloured them. A country doesn’t recover overnight from two decades of fighting. Though I was supposed to be assisting a government, it took little time to realise there was barely a government there to assist.Much Somali territory has been taken back from the insurgents, but much still remains in the jihadists’ hands. Though they share one language and one religion and are one people, Somalis are surely one of the most fractious communities on Earth. National unity tends to be elusive in a country in which the inherently divisive clan system is so deeply rooted. Rebuilding a federal state with a yet-to-be-determined number of regions, each with their own administrations, when every other politician appeared ready to declare himself president of a new state, frequently felt a thankless task. “One step forward, seven back,” joked a Somali colleague.The professional challenges came thick and fast. What are you supposed to do when an alleged victim of rape gives an interview to a television reporter and the police arrest both the woman and the journalist for defaming state institutions? How to stay positive when they are then sentenced to six months in prison and the world’s media asks what on Earth just happened? From time to time, reporters were also murdered by unknown killers, triggering more attacks in the media and by NGOs. Proclaiming total commitment to press freedom and the security of journalists is fine, but failing to bring the killers of journalists to justice after numerous assassinations sends its own message. Somalia is often called the worst place in the world to be a journalist. And a woman.Then there was the barrage of NGO reports training their relentless fire on Somalia: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the UN monitoring report, all detailing numerous and often sensationalised instances of human rights abuses and alleged corruption. I remember one Human Rights Watch report earlier this year called “Here, Rape Is Normal” which seemed a headline too far. From time to time came the “spectacular” terrorist attacks, such as the storming in spring last year of the Mogadishu courthouse, a terrifying four-hour ordeal that left 29 dead. Visiting the complex with the prime minister the following morning was unsettling, stepping over a suicide bomber’s head to gain entrance to the building. Blood and body parts smeared all over the place. The smell was overwhelming.I became a one-man media-monitoring machine and found my Tweetdeck columns filled with depressingly relevant search terms: “FGM”, “Somalia rape”, “Somalia corruption”, “Somalia piracy”, “Mogadishu explosion” … Most of my Somali colleagues in the press office were unpaid, which did little for team motivation. You cannot expect people to put in long days in the office if they are unable to feed their families (and it’s worth noting here that Somali families are big: the average woman has eight children).≥≥≥For all its many promises of financial support to Somalia, delivered in front of television cameras in conference halls in London, Brussels, Yokohama, New York and Nairobi, the international community consistently fails to deliver on its commitments. All too often as an adviser, I found myself caught between international officials tied up in knots within their own Kafkaesque bureaucracy, complaining about corruption and unable to spend their budgets, and an increasingly sceptical government, racked by allegations of corruption, losing faith in the platitudes of “Somali-owned” processes and “capacity-building”.While professional challenges abounded, daily life in Mogadishu was also a test of character. The obvious advantage of living and working in Villa Somalia was that we were surrounded by Somalis. As Gerald Hanley, an Irishman who served with the British army in Somalia in the 1940s, wrote: “Of all the races of Africa there cannot be one better to live among than the most difficult, the proudest, the bravest, the vainest, the most merciless, the friendliest: the Somalis.”Somalis are tough, brave, resilient, intellectually agile, generous-hearted, hospitable and hilariously funny. They are also fiercely proud, stubborn, chauvinistic and frequently xenophobic. I remember speaking to an academic about the Somali views of foreigners. “For us, all the other Africans are slaves,” he said nonchalantly. “Islam gives us this pride, this supremacy thing. We think we’re better than everyone. The Quran says all these kufar [infidels] are nothing.” As a Somali ambassador in Europe once said to me: “Somalis are the most unrealistic people on earth.” Colleagues routinely called me gaal, or infidel. One used to call me jokingly his “white nigger” in front of senior officials and ministers. There were times when ruefully I recalled Hanley’s comment: “They are a race to be admired, if hard to love.”Over time, food became an obsession. Day after day, the sight of yet another plastic container containing another gristly knuckle of goat perched on a mound of sweaty rice dampened morale. Government rations included little fruit or vegetables. I used to call it the Mogadishu Weight Loss Programme and, returning from leave, would fill my suitcase with microwave porridge, muesli, Kenyan coffee, tea, peanut butter, chilli sauce, mayonnaise, pickle and as much chocolate as I could squeeze in. Fried fish and camel were always treats. In the unlikely event of constipation, nothing beat the ferocious laxative of camel’s milk.It’s difficult to complain about food in a country in which hunger and poverty combine to carry off untold numbers of children. In May, the UN warned that up to 200,000 children could die of severe malnutrition before the end of 2014. Unicef reports there are already 50,000 Somali children under 5 suffering from acute malnutrition. These sorts of statistics put the pampered foreign consultant’s whingeing to shame. Others also make grim reading, whether it is average life expectancy (54.7 years), primary school attendance (17 per cent), child labour (49 per cent) or the prevalence of female genital mutilation (98 per cent).In the fiercest months of April, May and June, the heat gets to you. It comes on in layers, bludgeoning the life out of the sky, dazing you with white light. Then there are the evenings, frequently balmy to the point of blissful. While friends at home moaned of wind, rain and cold, I opened my front door onto the lush green enclave of the presidential gardens. Jasmine, flame-red, orange and pink bougainvillaea, neem trees, palms and banana trees. What better way to exercise than a 20-minute evening run around the compound among swooping kites and scavenging crowds of ibis, greeting cheery Ugandan soldiers camped within Villa Somalia? In the gloaming, bats flitted through the shadows like discarded commas. Mosques and slender minarets glowed and glimmered like beacons. Dusk brought serenity.“Nobody could keep sane in that arid world,” Hanley wrote of his time in Somalia. An official report found that every one of his fellow officers in the Somali interior was “slightly to violently unbalanced”. Shattered by solitude, burnt up by the desert heat, surrounded by murderous tribes with age-old blood feuds, a number of them eventually raised a pistol to their temple and blew their brains out. The cultural dislocation, prolonged isolation and sun-fired wilderness were too much to endure.Reading was one way to keep sane in the furnace of Mogadishu. In the first few weeks I shut myself in my bedroom during empty evenings and raced through the great Victorian novelist Anthony Trollope, perhaps in denial that I was living in the Horn of Africa, gripped by the genteel worlds of Plantagenet Palliser and the bucolic calm of Barchester. Outside came the regular bang of on-edge soldiers firing warning shots at checkpoints, the rat-tat-tat-tat of machine-gun fire either distant or close. Sometimes, left alone in the stifling, single-storey villa we called the Pink House while my housemates were on leave, I locked the door and sat in an empty meeting room listening to Purcell’s plangent song O Solitude again and again.You learn, because you have to, to take pleasure from the simple things, such as the blazing view over Mogadishu from our hilltop compound. Every day the Indian Ocean offered a new perspective behind a city that with swathes of destroyed buildings resembled a tropical Dresden. Sometimes the sea resembled a sleeping ballast, a dead weight to pull down the clouded canopy of the sky. Then it was a vast, grey-blue wall looming above the beach – coloured oil tankers pinned against it like butterflies. It changed height at will, playing with perspective, sometimes towering over the skyline, then barely crowning the minarets and hollowed-out, honeycombed ruins. Its colours shifted, too. White-frocked. Sun-dazed marble. Blandly blue. Shocking, tourist-brochure aquamarine. When rain thrashed down from a grey silk sky it dimmed and disappeared altogether, shrinking into the horizon, taking refuge from this vertical attack.Memory is a funny thing. You don’t remember the long hours and days of waiting to see the prime minister or president, the sweat-filled inertia of life inside Villa Somalia. The mind fastens instead on the brightest, most colourful events: taking the president to kick off a football match in Mogadishu in front of a rapturous crowd; joining a Valentine’s Day feminist flash-mob in a global demonstration against rape and sexual violence; a rooftop lobster dinner with the pirate kingpin Afweyne (literally Big Mouth), the recent victim of an inspired police sting and now behind bars in Belgium; a night on the white-sand beach of Al Jazira sitting around a bonfire, sparks barrelling into the night on the streaming wind; swimming with friends desperate to escape Villa Somalia for a weekend; long conversations with my old friend Sheikh Ahmed Mursal Adam, the presidential gardener since the 1950s and surely one of the most vigorous Somali men of recent years (he can count 257 children and grandchildren; spare a thought for his 41, mostly discarded, wives); returning from leave to find my room shot up by Al Shabab, bullet holes in the walls, curtains, windows – even, most unforgivably of all, in my goose-down mattress topper; being nicknamed Timo Cadde or White Hair, a sign of acceptance; finally, perhaps, the incredible international reaction to an article about the Somali love of rude nicknames, from Chipped Tooth and Limpy to Big Bottom and Scarface, which trended on the BBC website for two days.It’s too early to miss Mogadishu but I hope to return one day, as Hanley did years later, and see whether all that early optimism was justified. Too many Somalis, including brave, public-spirited people like Mohamud, have already lost their lives.Success, if it is to come, will mean that the insurgents are long gone, Somalis have at last put the conflict behind them and learnt to live with each other in greater harmony again.Justin Marozzi worked with Albany Associates as a communications adviser to the president and prime minister of Somalia from 2013-14. His latest book is Baghdad: City of Peace, City of Blood. Follow him @justinmarozzi. http://www.somaliaonline.com/my-life-in-mogadishu-the-view-from-inside-the-villa-somalia-by-justin-marozzi/