The good, the bad and, the ugly sides of Somali politicians all combined in this one interview.

malistar2012;976513 wrote: alshabaab will be defeated these are coward acts , suicide bombing in a crowded Restaurant shows how desperate they are and weak. There are big events taking places in Xamar like the National Conference and other huge events . alshabaab decide to target a busy restaurant its a shame . SNA force will defeat alshabaab cant wait till the arm Embargo gets totally lifted .............. My friend, you badly need some sobering DOSE of REALITY.

Che -Guevara;976507 wrote: Some heads should roll for this one. The interior minister needs to resign or be forced out. I don't know what Minister's relation to the Prime Minister or President, but incompetency should not be tolerated. Do you have in the history of this nation a minister resigned or replaced because of failure in his/her duty?. If not, how this culture of accountability can be taught to our people? The reality on the ground in both business and politics is that if you failed big time, it is considered as experience and you will either be rewarded with higher position or at least you will earn some bragging rights.

Allaha u naxariisto inta dhimatay, wadankana haka badbaadiyo fitnadan dhiiga dadka oo la daadiyo kunaaxday.

Shebab is ideology which blossom in chaos situations. The solution is not simple but doable in two methods: 1- Fight the ideology with ideology. 2- Solve the chaos with improved security and give youth hope. Good example of both points can be found in Egypt nineties and again the same country today. The groups that carried fanatic atrocities are defeated in taming them ideologically in the late nineties, and sadly today the same groups are reawakened because of the chaos in that country.

Mad_Mullah;976294 wrote: Why was the capital never moved to the North? You have a civil war raging in the south, the north is relatively safe. Why not have the capital there, even if it's for a limited time. Is due to lack of infrastructure? The north up till now doesn't have anything compared to a DESTROYED Mogadishu let alone something that would be able to host foreign diplomats, embassies, airports, cultural institutions etc. Or is there some other reason? It is very good question. The reason wasn't lack of infrastructure but the shortsightedness of the ignorant and the stubborn Somali politicians in that era, plus the negligence of the IC as the country had neither capable friends nor reliable allies. There was a good chance that, OAQ's government might have succeeded if allowed to temporarily move to Hargeisa, and probably this poor nation would have not suffered decades of continuous bleeding. Have we learned anything from that catastrophe - I think not. "Never let your persistence and passion turn into stubbornness and ignorance." Anthony J. D'Angelo

^ Kacaankii eray bixita Mashruuc siday tahay buu ku dhaafay, eray lagu badalay hadii u jiro waanu ka maqli laheyn

This whole thing gets more complicated now. What a bad strategy, SFG hired consultants to rebutt the UN and PWC leaked report. However, they forgot to hire someone with no prior vested financial interest in propping them up. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- September 6, 2013 7:36 am Somalia moves to discredit UN report over funding fears By Katrina Manson in Nairobi Somalia has hired British and US consultants to discredit a UN report that claims rampant corruption in Mogadishu because it threatens to imperil donor funding and the return of foreign-held assets, including gold, totalling billions of dollars. The report, commissioned by Somalia’s president and seen by the Financial Times ahead of its release, accusesUN investigators of being “factually inaccurate and inexplicably biased” and rejects claims that the central bank doubles as a corrupt slush fund and that $12m transferred to the bank by accountancy firm PwC “could not be traced”. “We are not claiming that this is a perfect government after 22 years of statelessness, mistakes can happen [but]we want to show the world we are not hiding anything – we have zero tolerance of corruption and the top priorityof this government is reform of financial institutions,” President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud told the FT ahead of the report’s release. Years of corruption and financial mismanagement in Mogadishu, which has yet to recover from decades of instability and still faces terrorist attacks, have left donors worried that aid is regularly diverted, but many hoped they could work with a promising new government formed in Mogadishu last year. But Mogadishu officials are concerned the UN report will undermine Somalia’s appeal to donors ahead of an aid conference this month. “Despite the change in leadership in Mogadishu, the misappropriation of public resources continues in line with past practices,” said the report from the UN panel of experts, published earlier this year. Mr Mohamud, who survived an assassination attempt this week, said he wants to assure donors that Somalia has a “very transparent and accountable government” and said he is expecting pledges of “more than $1bn, more than $2bn even” at an EU-sponsored development conference in Brussels at the end of September. Jarat Chopra, co-ordinator of the UN report, said he and his team of seven experts stand by their findings. He has not seen the government’s rebuttal but said the two companies that prepared it may have “ulterior motives and vested financial interests” because they are also involved in other commercial projects in Somalia whose contracts have not been published. “It would be a basic conflict of interest for a firm to be secretly under contract pursuing Somalia’s overseas assets while pronouncing conclusions on the transparency, accountability and effectiveness of public financial management,” said Mr Chopra. Pre**it Dass of FTI Consulting worked as the forensic accountant on the rebuttal. FTI, whose Africa department is headed by Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, a former UK cabinet minister, also promoted an unpublished oil exploration deal between Mogadishu and Soma, a new UK company headed by former Tory leader Michael Howard, which was criticised for its lack of transparency. FTI said it believes the Soma oil deal is transparent. US law firm Shulman Rogers, the other firm that prepared the rebuttal, is also mandated by Mogadishu to recover Somali assets held overseas that have been rendered inaccessible since civil war began 22 years ago. Diplomats say millions of dollars in cash is thought to be held in private bank accounts in Dubai, Italy, Kenya, Switzerland and the US. “Every other month we’re getting new information on bank accounts in all corners [of the world] – we want to recover that money,” said Mr Mohamud. In 2009 Shulman Rogers signed an asset recovery deal with the previous transitional government for fees of $50,000 a month and 3.5 per cent of any assets recovered, but the company said the government did not pay in full. Jeremy Schulman, of Shulman Rogers, this year negotiated a new contract with the Mogadishu government that has not been published but is, he said, “significantly discounted from [the 2009] arrangement”. “We are trying to help them recover Somalia’s state assets and their gold so they can use that as the foundation for printing new currency,” said Mr Schulman, who denied any conflict of interest, saying Mr Chopra had made “unfounded allegations”. Although the World Bank has a programme that tracks and recovers assets for free, it is not providing this service to Somalia. Many financial institutions have been reluctant in the past to return the money to a makeshift government in charge of a failed state regularly accused of embezzlement, but US and IMF recognition of Somali’s new Mogadishu government this year – the first such recognition in more than 20 years – is likely to trigger the return of the money. A US government official told the FT that gold belonging to Somalia worth an estimated $25m is stored at the US Federal Reserve, along with cash and property worth millions of dollars, and it is expected to be signed back over to Mogadishu in the coming weeks. Diplomats say international financial institutions would be less likely to co-operate if allegations of corruption persist. http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/6719eb3c-1643-11e3-a57d-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2e7maVdAd

Nomads are good creating such animated imagination. Remember the many Somalis conned to buy properties in UAE, and the only thing they were sold to was just an animated building plans. We lack the attitude of the beautiful life experience saying 'Cut your coat according your cloth' and the Khalifa Omar bin Abdul-Aziz's saying رحم الله امرؤ عرف قدر نفسه

He is making some valid points. However, the way he put this one is really funny "Horta dowladan federalka hadda jirta anaga ayaa dhalnay, waa ina puntland haddaan sikale u dhigno..."

Nothing wrong with dance. This looks like some kind of Aroos party and the dance seems to me as clean as it can get. No niiko or any other dirty mingling. By the way, the little boy can dance better than most of the Faaraxis on stage

Good point doing national consultation forum. However SFG needs to work harder and make this kind of forum as inclusive as possible on national scale.

Haatu;975953 wrote: What the hell is dable and janan? Anyone? Dable=Private. The lowest (group) rank in the Military Janan=General. The highest (group) rank in the Military

Great news. Now, every tax-payer should demand to know, how every penny of these $200 Millions will be spent.

Alpha Blondy;975805 wrote: as the Director General of the ministry, i'd ensure all clan meetings are subjected to a list of stringent conditions including but not limited to.. 2. all Caqils, Chief Caqils and Suldans must disclose all tribal secrets. they must also submit their clan population figures on a bi-yearly basis. If you succeed in the above point, this will easily solve the puzzle of the past three decades...rigid census. You should get a medal of honor (Nomad Peace Prize) for contributing to the peace and well being of the Nomads

Alpha Blondy;975805 wrote: as the Director General of the ministry, i'd ensure all clan meetings are subjected to a list of stringent conditions including but not limited to.. 2. all Caqils, Chief Caqils and Suldans must disclose all tribal secrets. they must also submit their clan population figures on a bi-yearly basis. If you succeed in the above point, this will easily solve the puzzle of the past three decades...rigid census. You should get a medal of honor (Nomad Peace Prize) for contributing to well being of the Nomads

^ Well done Saxib, I truly admire your courage and durability.

Alpha Blondy;975888 wrote: reverse economic migration, maha? here in the nation's capital, it's not so much as taxi driving but any job with a desk. i'm one of those people but luckily i've been here for 5 years and 3 months, now. i have seen many of these qurbo-joog vultures come and go but it's time to be honest and say the house is FULL. we'd rather see no more of these diaspora folks. they're pathetic, walahi. AB, I guess 5.3years was enough for you to get institutionalized

It is a positive development. Locals to get busy improving their lifestyle, see the dayuusbaros as their new rivals instead of getting busy to drag down one another.

Nice pics. Beautiful choice of colours.

Wiil Cusub;975771 wrote: Breath taking pics. Even better as there is no sight of mercenaries such as SKA running around the airport. Absolutely priceless.

nuune;975699 wrote: The defunct Somali Airlines is planning to launch services this year, I expect the first destinations to be Hargeisa. Interesting! Nuune, what is the benefit for SFG to run national airline where they can't even manage to run functioning security forces? Could this be a private scheme dressed up as national to generate income for the SFG? if that is the case, it must be a smart way to do business.

Juxa;975531 wrote: Rape and violence against women be it in Mogadishu or Hargeysa is completely unacceptable. Something needs to be done to address the isue. The dowlad must bring about death penalties for those who commit this despicable act. I absolutely agree with you in hanging convicted rapists. When someone intentionally insert unrelated victims pictures in to the article and choose that kind of title. The least thing we say about him is Allaha caafiyo ninkan aadka u xanuunsan.

To add a bit more from the Propaganda Menace: “Propaganda is, or at least may be, a five-sided affair: first, there is the side of the origin, beginnings, sources; second, there is the side of the interests involved; third, there is the side of the methods used; fourth, the side of the content spread; fifth, the side of the results or consequences to the victims.”

I thought our friend Saalax took recreational break from this sort of tailor made dissemination. This brings to the mind the book ‘Propaganda Menace’ and my favourite quote: “Imagine a man who, first from mere curiosity and then from feverish absorption, goes regularly down to a wide and swift stream behind his house, wades out amidst the treacherous currents and spends hours of every day collecting samples of whatever the stream brings him, especially its flotsam and jetsam -- soggy papers, rusty misshapen cans, rags and tatters of garments, decaying flowers and vegetables, broken boxes, and we know not what besides. He garners with the enthusiasm of a sportsman, lugs his treasures ashore, and there in a quiet cove spends much time in careful examination and sorting until he has satisfied himself as to the source, nature, volume and dangers of this refuse.” The Propaganda Menace Frederick Lumley