Here are excerpts from the late General's 1993 book on the origin of the Somali people. It is actually a very interesting book. 1.Origin of the Somali People Mohamed Farah Eideed 'The News Week" the International News Magazine of January 11, 1988 carried a very thrilling article "The Search for Adam and Eve" by John Tierney et al.1 It reported that geneticist Rebecca Cann, formerly of the University of California, Berkeley who is now at the University of Hawaii, and her erstwhile colleague Allan Wilson of the University of California, have proved through their startling mitochondrial DNA research that all human beings in the world are descended from a common single woman ancestress Eve who lived two million years ago in Sub-Saharan Africa. Fossil hunters in Asia more than half a century ago found the bones of a Java man and Peking man. Before them, a strange skeleton had been discovered in Germany's Neanderthal valley. Anthropologists have been of the view that "all these ancient humans traced their lineage back to Africa, because that was the only place with evidence of humans living more than a million years ago. Stone tools were invented there about two million years ago by an ancestor named Homo hibilis ("Handy Man"). Before him was Lucy, whose three-million years old skeleton was unearthed in the Ethiopian desert in 1974.2 Anthropologist Dr. Leaky held that Homo hibilis lived in eastern Africa nearly three million years ago.3 Both these researches show that the modern man originated in Africa -- in Somalia or at least not very far from Somalia. Let us remind ourselves that in ancient times, the boundaries of Somalia covered a very large area, parts of which are now under the control of Ethiopia, Somalia, and others. Therefore, there is a possibility that ancient Somalia was the home of Even who lived two million years ago. 2. According to Historian Basil Davidson: "... We have seen that East Africa's early ancestors of mankind more than two million years ago were people whose heads had big jaws and big brows. The descendents of these and other types of hominid spread gradually across the world during the countless thousands of years of the Early Stone Age. As they did so, they evolved different shapes and sizes of body and appearances. Different skin colours appeared, different kinds of faces, different sorts of hair. Little is known about how all this happened. But what we do know is that most of the different races of modern man, of homo sapiens, had come into existence before the end of the Middle stone Age... main differences between the big families of mankind -- between the so called 'black, 'white' or 'yellow' races -- go far back into the Stone age. Several different 'families' or groups of different types of Africans were living in central and eastern Africa when the Iron Age began here. One of these peoples seem to have been a type of 'tall hunter', but this type has long since disappeared. Another was a type of 'short hunter' who were the ancestors of peoples such as the Bushmen and the Twa (Pygmies) who still survive in some places. Other ancestors of modern East Africans, though not of Central Africans, were another fairly tall people who may be called 'North-East Africans' and who were partly related, in distant times to Western Asians. It is from them that the Cushitic group of languages have descended. ... A few groups who speak languages of the Cushitic family still flourish in the north-east: these include the Somali and the Ealia."4 3. Renowned archeologist Professor J. Desmond Clark In his authoritative reference volume "The Prehistory of Africa" (1970), he has made the discovery that in the Stone age during the period 50,000 BC to 35,000 BD, the earliest ancestors of the Somalis specialized in making leaf-shaped stone points and scraping equipment, and that since the later Middle Pleistocene age, i.e., since at leas 30,000 years ago, Somalia had definitely been under continuous occupation by man. Let us quote the exact words of the evidence of Professor Clark for the sake of the perfect knowledge and fullest satisfaction of all the Somali people and other foreign readers, for this is a very crucial and important research highlighting the origin of the Somali people: "About seventy thousand years ago, there began a world-wide lowering of temperature that heralded the onset of the last glaciation and the continental ice sheets advanced again in the higher latitude belts. Twenty thousand years later temperatures in the tropical and sub-tropical regions were already some 5o to 6o Centigrade lower than they are today and there is some indication of increased rainfall and greater availability of surface water supplies. ... By sixty thousand years ago, there is evidence from both north Africa (Haua Fteah) and the Mediterranean basin generally as well as from tropical Africa (Kaiamto Falls) for wetter as well as cooler conditions. At an estimate, this climatic adjustment from the warmer, humid middle Pleistocene to the cooler and wetter conditions of Upper Pleistocene took about ten thousand years or less to complete. ... It was at this time (i.e. 60,000 - 10,000 = 50,000 years ago) also that the various sub-species of Homo Sapiens made their appearance in the archeological record in Africa. ... With the coming of Homo Sapiens, there is now for the first time evidence for regular occupation of the equatorial forest on the one hand, and on the other, of what are today the desertic and semi-arid steppe lands of the Horn and north-east Africa. The earliest evidence of continuous occupation of regions such as the Congo forests, as of Somalia, and Nubian Section of the Nile Valley, dates from this time.5 ... South of the Sahara, a number of more specialized equipment traditions make their appearances after 35,000 B.C. ... That in the Horn, to begin with (described as "Levalloisian"), shows connections with northeast Africa but this later gives place for an industry ('Somali land still Bay') with finely retouched leaf shaped points and scraping equipment which shows association with those of east and south African Savanna and grass lands where many variations in the scrapper and point forms are formed."6 4. According to Historian Robin Hallet: "In Somalia, southern Ethiopia, and Darfur, local chronicles throw some light on developments in the last seven or eight hundred years. But the earlier history of these areas is almost completely dark. ... In time archeological research should be able to throw a flood of light on the early history of many more parts of North-east Africa. But for the time being the historian must make do with the hypotheses put forward by physical anthropologists and linguistic scholars. ... The evidence provided by physical types is vague and confusing. Broadly speaking, the region is divided between two great linguistic families, Afro-Asiatic and Nilo-Saharan. Three branches of Afro-Asiatic have existed in the area. Ancient Egyptian, Cushitic and Semitic. Of these the first is now extinct. The Cushitic branch of Afro-Asiatic has been divided into five sections: Northern, Central, Western, Eastern, and Southern. The most prominent of the Northern Cushitic are the Beja, a pastoral peopled living between the Sudanic Nile and the Red Sea. Central Cushitic today form a small group - the Agau and Kindred people - in northern Ethiopia; but Central Cushitic languages were probably spoken over a much larger area until they were replaced by the Semitic languages introduced by colonists from South Arabia in the first Millennium B.C. Western cushitic languages are spoken by some of the Sidama peoples of South western Ethiopia. Eastern Cushitic by other Sidama groups and by the Danakil (Afar), Galla, and Somali of the Horn of Africa. Finally, there is a small isolated group of Southern Cushitic speakers represented by the Iraqu of northern Tanzania."7 He further states that: "archeological evidence suggests that movement of peoples of Caucasoid stock from Western Asia into North-east Africa began at a very remove date, at least ten thousand years ago. The first Caucasoid were hunter-gatherers, who must have kept to the drier lands and avoided the cool Ethiopian highland and the savings of Southern Sudan. Some of these early Caucasoid groups probably remained on the Red Sea Coast, others moved Westward along the North-Africa littoral, yet others followed the line of the Rift valley that divides the Ethiopian highlands onto the highlands of East Africa. The Caucasoids introduced the different Cushitic languages. But about the relations between the speakers of the different branches of Cushitic nothing definite is known."8 5. Agathachides In the second century B.C., a Greek scholar Agathachides, first tried to classify the people of North-east Africa. He divided the peoples living south of Egypt into four types: river rain agriculturists, marsh dwellers, nomadic pastoralists, and fishers on the shore. The first three groups accord well with the present division (represented by such groups as the Nile Nubians, the Nuer, and the Beja, in that large part of the population of the modern Sudan that is not of Arab origin."9 6. Keeping Cattle Historians inform us that cattle-rearing started in Sahara about 5000 years ago, i.e. about 3,000 B.C.10 Thus the Galla and other Somali tribes who, as we have seen above, were the original inhabitants of Somalia, might have become pastoral nomads around 1,000 B.C. Before that time, they might have been hunters, catchers and food gatherers. 7. Sir Richard Burton on the Origin of the Gallas Regarding the origin of the Gallas, Sir Richard Burton, the British explorer who travelled in northern Somalia about 137 years back (in 1856-58), wrote as under in his famous book: "First Foot Steps in East Africa": "The half-castes in Eastern Africa are represented principally by the Abyssinians, Gallas, Somal, Sawhili, Hamitic, and Kafirs. The first-named people derive their descent from Menelak, son of Solomon by the Queen of Sheba... About the origin of the Gallas there is a diversity of opinion. Some declare them to be Meccan Arabs, who settled in the Western Coast of the Red Sea in a remote epoch: according to the Abyssinians, however, and there is little to find fault within their theory, the Gallas are descended from a princess of their nation, who was given in marriage to a slave from the country south of Gurague. She bore seven sons, who became mighty robbers and founders of tribes; their progenitors obtained the name of Gallas, after the river Gala, in Gurague, where they gained a decisive victory over their kinsmen the Abyssin"11 8. Somaal as the Ancestor of the Somalis Today all the Somalis consider that their common ancestor in the remote past was "Somaal" and that the country has been called Somalia after the name of that ancestor Somaal. 9. Physical Anthropology Not very extensive physical anthropological studies of the Somali tribes have been done as yet. But even then, whatever work has been done is very important, for it reveals very clearly that the Somalis living in the Horn were a very ancient people of far more than 10,000 years B.C., much before the oldest civilization of Egypt which developed only about 5,000 years B.C. Physical anthropological research studies conducted by Professor Jean Hierneaux and reported by him in his famous book "The People of Africa" (1974) throw valuable light on the Somali people: " ... the fossils record tells of tall people with long and narrow heads, faces and noses who lived a few thousand years B.C. in East Africa at such place in Gamble's cave in the Kenya Rift Valley and at Olduval in northern Tanzania. There is every reason to believe that they are ancestral to the living 'Elongated East Africans'. ... It (this element of 'Elongated Africans') was first concentrated in the cattle breeders of the neolithic Sahara, whose inhabitants dispersed because of progressive desiccation, giving rise to the herdsmen of east Africa (the Tutsi, Hima, Masai, Galla and Somali are all pastoralists).12 ... The Galla of Southern Ethiopia are intermediate between Tutsi and the Somali. In northern Ethiopia and Eastern Sudan, biological affinities with Somali and Galla fade away as one moves north within the Beja ethnic group. The most southern Beja subgroups, the Beni Amer and Hadenda, differ only moderately from a northern community of Somali, the Warsingali. ... The Somali and Galla speak Eastern Cushitic languages, the Beja, a Northern Cushitic one. ... Besides having similar physical characteristics, the Elongated Africans share a major cultural trait: they are essentially pastoral, except for a few communities who abandoned this way of life recently.12 ... According to Murdoch, independent pastoralism did not appear among the Somali and Galla until near the end of the first millennium (thousand) A.D., whereas apparently it was already practised by the Beja when they first appear in Egyptian history around 2700 B.C."13 ... The archaeological existence suggests that pastoralism together with grain cultivation, may have diffused to the Ethiopian highlands and the Horn of Africa in the second, if not the third millennium B.C. and it was established in the highland and Rift Valley region of Kenya and northern Tanzania in the last millennium B.C. or earlier. However, the Kenyan and Tanzanian populations who practised pastoralism long before the coming of iron were themselves akin to the ancestors of the present Cushitic speaking Galla and Somali, whose nucleus of expansion lies in Southern Ethiopia. The skeletons of hunter-fisher-gatherers of the stone age all belong to populations characterized by tall stature generally with a long and narrow head, high and narrow face and nose, and frequently showing sub-nasal prognathism -- features which are all displayed by the living Elongated Africans.14 ... However, the earliest movement from east Africa, if correctly dated, shows that the modern Elongated Africans there differentiated at a time when the peoples of the Sahara were still relatively archaic. According to archaeology, the centre of this differentiation might be the Horn. The extremely hot and dry climate of this area might be expected to cause, through climatic selection, the most rigid evolution towards the Elongated African morphology from a still little differentiated stock."15 Thus the Somalis can feel proud that archeological and physical anthropological researches have conclusively established that the Somalis have been a very ancient people who have been living in their present land for about 40 or 50 thousand years.

One day there were two Somali boys playing by a stream in Baadiyo. One of the young boys was lingering over by a bush. The other boy couldn't figure out why his friend was at the bush so long, so he walked over to the bush, and to his astonishment saw a Somali woman bathing naked in the stream. All of a sudden the second boy took off running. The first boy couldn't understand why his friend ran away so abruptly, so he took off after him. When he finally caught up to him, he asked why he ran away. The boy said to his friend, "My mom told me if I ever saw a naked lady I would turn to stone, and I felt something getting hard, so I ran."

Thanks Bee for clarifying. I knew Ameenah wasn't going to be that nice to the faaraxs. Ciid Mubarak to Ameenah,Bee, Lakkad, Mujahid and Shukri.

Is rudy talking about Al-Jazeera the channel?

I think Henry should take it. I don't know why Rinaldo is included in this list.

Originally posted by JamaaL-11: Vikings Jamaal, this is not a good time to watch the vikings. They suck!!!

Jazeera, we all read it but the topic wasn't "flaming" enough for everyone to reply. It is the kind of article you just appreciate to read and move on.

There is still bananas in Somalia? I thought the warlord thugs either destroyed or replaced most of the big farms with Marijuana plantation after the civil war.

OFF TOPIC: SOME THOUGHTS TO SHARE. Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin were both Jews. So were the majority of those who were involved in the early "agenda setting" for the so called "democratic priciples" Former prime minister of Malaysia, Mohamed Mahathir recently said, "Communism, socialism and democracy were pretty much designed by jews so that it would be hard for others to prosecute them. So that they can rule the world by proxy." In other words, these systems have their own hidden agenda whether it is International relations or domestic policies. Note: that "Jewishness" has the meanings both of "adherence to the religion of Judaism" and "membership in the ethnic group 'Jews'".

I agree with Bee. She looks good with the hijab if looks were her concern when she chose not to wear it.

Ciid Mubarak to all of you. Don't finish the xalwad

Somebody forwarded me this link so I thought I should post it. Today's Featured Article Skyhigh Family connection to Somalia Monday, November 24 2003 @ 04:56 PM EST Contributed by: slb2 by Susan Budig Many consider youth a time spent forging new paths and in the process, rejecting old ways, frequently turning a deaf ear to one’s elders. The rappers of hip hop band Skyhigh Family, have fashioned lives distinctly different from their parents. The three rappers and their manager all came over with their families, traversing the ocean in an effort to escape war-torn Somalia. But rather than dismissing the stories of their ancestors, Skyhigh Family has taken the very contemporary culture of hip hop and fused it with the Somali tales of old, producing music unlike that of many of today’s rappers. Medman casually says the band is “bigger than us three rappers. We’re a bunch of friends who always get together for special occasions. It’s not only about music.” But more than just a bunch of friends, Medman, along with his brother, Alian and their third band mate, Kashulty, under the management of Jamal Hashi, have toured parts of the United States as well as produced an intriguing CD that does not espouse typical gangsta rapping, but instead seeks to enlighten others about the Somali culture. “We use music as a way to communicate to other people in the world, not only Somalis, though, because we are trying to share our background and our views and our thoughts with everybody who is willing to listen to us” says Medman. “When they listen to us, they are going to get a feeling or idea of how Somali people are.” While all of the Somali women I know wear traditional clothing, including a headpiece, these Somali men look as American as any other. But when they speak, the pride and love of their homeland comes through, leaving no doubt that they continue to identify with their own ethnic heritage. Hip hop culture is a lifestyle which evolved in the early 1970s, nearly a decade before the members of Skyhigh Family were born. From its start in New York City, hip hop migrated to other parts of the United States as well as abroad. It’s the music that Skyhigh Family band members grew up hearing. Alian explains to me, “Hip hop is considered more of a culture nowadays. They’ve got turntables, fashion—out of everything, we do the music. Rap is hip hop.” He continues, “Hip hop music has played a major role in Africa. A lot of young kids in Africa all listen to hip hop music. We grew up on it.” Medman elaborates on Skyhigh Family’s approach to rap, “we took African music, basically we rap, but at the same time we have that African influence.” Finishing one another’s thoughts, Medman and Jamal explain, “Somali music is different. We use drums and guitar. We have a different kind of melody, sort of like Arabic with some jazz.” Somalia, known as the land of the poet, seems a likely place for hip hop musicians of the Y-generation to originate, as rappers frequently list into vocalizing the lyrics as a rhyming, spoken word rather than singing them. “Our country is known for poetry…and it felt that the best way to get in touch with others is to use poetry. Each one of us writes poetry,” says Alian. Jamal finishes the thought, “…we turn that into music.” Their debut CD, The Arrival, includes the Somali Anthem Remix, Dheela, meaning groove, and Dhaqaaji. Alian says, “the title for this (last) song is Somali and it means ‘move.’ It was taken from an old Somali record and is connected to our old people. We were influenced by old records and we always wanted to do a remix of this song.” “The other thing about the album,” says Jamal, “is we are trying to tell our stories. The stories of each one of us, how we experience the war-torn country that’s still going on today, fourteen years…we’re trying to tell them all the trials we went through.” Medman describes how the title of the album is based on their arrival from a long journey. Somalis everywhere had to endure hardship in order to get to where they are today. “We’ve been through a lot of stuff to get here.” Jamal adds, “whether you go to England or to Sweden or wherever you are, you’ll always find Somali.” As further illustration of their unique sound and image, Alian describes the band’s name. “The limit is the sky for us. High is the level of pride we have for our culture. We are all one family--not that we’re all brothers, we’re friends-- but we are one family.” I find the band members to be soft spoken and intense individuals, however their gentle, courteous manner isn’t always reflected in their music. The CD has several expected subjects of rap such as Hustlaz, and Playaz Worst Nightmare. With corresponding lyrics “…we beat your *** ‘til you’re senseless.” I like that last song. I don’t want my three year old singing it, but I like the rhythm and drive of the track. Speaking over one another, the band explains the process of making their album. “We’ve worked with a lot of producers and different studios. We’ll tell them what kind of song we’re trying to make and they’ll have us do the vocals. We tell them exactly how we want it to sound and they take it all from there. We pay them to mix and master the song. They use a computer system, like Pro tools, to make their instrument tracks. They use drum machines and guitar machines, keyboards. “At a gig, we give our instrument tracks to the DJ. We usually work with DJ Grand, sometimes Alian DJs for the band. When we perform and the crowd is into it, we can not change the song, so what we do is make it longer. The DJ can loop it; he can do all sorts of things. That’s up to the DJ.” Medman adds, “We’d love to try a live band. That’d be a good step for us.” “We used to do that, live drums, at cultural events. Every first of July, we celebrate Independence Day of Somalia (from the UK in 1960),” recalls Jamal. Each of Skyhigh Family’s musicians is also pursuing secondary education. Medman is working on a degree in electrical engineering at a state college, Alian attends Dunwoody Institute, pursuing a degree in computers and Kashulty is a Dunwoody student, too. Jamal has two years left at Metro State. For now, music is their avocation. http://www.worldmusiccentral.org/article.php?story=20031124165650995

So what is this exactly? a 24 hour news channel. Don't tell me they will be re-boadcasting Aljazeera programs like those stations in Mogadishu.

Originally posted by Mobb_Deep: Acording to Somalilanders SNM is a sacred organization. According to Puntlanders, SSDF is hollier than thou. According to Beelaha koonfur, USC is their god sent saviour. lol@mobb My exact sentiment.

^^^Ciid Mubarak Moderator. Ciid mubarak to all the nomads here.

Originally posted by Sophist: War Libaax: War Anigu hade Saalixi ayaan nodey, miyaadan maqal: loool@sophist. We must stop you at any cost. I did a google search on Sheikh Rabiic's name and I found the following Somali news article. Shiikha ugu wayn dariiqada Sayliciyada oo Garoowe yimid Shiikh Maxamed-rabiic Bin-shiikh Yuusuf oo ah sheekha uga sareeya dariiqada Sayliciya/rabiiciya oo fadhigiisu yahay Yagoori oo ka tirsan gobolka Sool ayaa Sabtidii soo gaaray Garoowe. Shiikha oo ay galbinayaan gaadiid boqol ku dhow oo ay ku jiraan baabuurta qoryuhuu saran yihiin (tiknico) oo ammaankiisa sugaya ayaa la dajiyay xarunta dariiqaddaasi (Timo wayn) ku leedahay Garoowe. Ujeedada imaatinka sheekha ee Garoowe oo uu moogaa muddo 10 sano ah ayaa lagu sheegay inay tahay sidii uu ula kulmi lahaa Madaxwaynaha DG Puntland C/llaahi Yuusuf oo la filayo inuu dhawaan yimaado Garoowe. Intii uu shiikhu joogay Garoowe wuxuu la kulmay Isimada iyo duqayda gobolka. Shiikh Maxamed-rabiic wuxuu maanta safar gaaban ku tagay meesha la yiraahdo Baley oo Garoowe dhinaca bari ka jirta 30 km halkaas oo ah xarun-diineed ay wax ka bartaan arday dhan 600, kuwaas oo barta culuunta Islaamka, sidaasna waxaa maanta AllPuntland u sheegay mid kamida dariiqadaas. Dariiqada Sayliciya/rabiiciya, waxay Soomaaliya soo gashay qarnigii 5aad waxaana soo galiyay shiikhii la oran jiray Iimaamu Caydaruus oo u dhashay kuna aasan dalka Yemen. Dariiqadaani waxay ku abtirsataa Shiikh Cabdulqaadir Jaylaani oo ku aasan dalka Ciraaq magaalada Baqdaad. Dariiqada Sayliciya xarunteeda wayn ee Soomaaliya waxay kutaal Yagoori, waxayna xarumo ku leedahay inta badan tuulo iyo degmo kasta oo dalka Soomaaliya kamida. looooooool. This man is more powerful than Riyaale and Cabdullahi Yusuf combined.

^^Guraad, I don't think the average Somalilander is behind this ethnic cleansing. I say shame on Riyaale and his adamant interior minister.

lool@Jamaal-11. lol Originally posted by LIQAYE: Libaxoo wad is kashiftey TMI lool@Liqaye. Saaxiib, anigu xertaan hadda ku jiraaye adiguna ma sida Sophist iyo Jamaal-11 ayaad xerta ka mid ahayd. Mise hadaad ku jirtaa. Informationka aan qoray qofkii xer ahaan jiray uun baa fahmi. Weligayba waan ka shaki sanaa the word "LIQAAYE" . Waryaa Sophist, Garoowe, Yagoori, Adhicadeeye, Caynaba, Burco ilaa Sheikh waxaa hadda ka taliya Sheekh Maxamed Rabiic. Buuhoodle iyo Badhan warkoodaba daa. Watch what you say about the "AWLIYO".

Originally posted by Sophist: Libaax Sanka taabte! Eloping inaad qatar ku aheyd aan umaleynaayey! lool@ Sophist. I was merely talking about the english translation. But ninyahow, waligeey ma arag wax go' lagu ridee, are you sure the guys weren't part of the XERTA TIMOWEYNTA cult? Xerta SHEIKH MAXAMED RABIIC( timoweynta) is know to carry out very similar clandestine missions conducted in darkness and defended with words like "ISHAARO" and "U NIMCAYN" I can imagine what the white girl was going through. Afar doob oo iyada uun sugi inay la baxsadaan. lol

Modesty now the British demonstrators will be energized even more becuase the war in Iraq didn't help at all.

Originally posted by Opinionated: Walking around without your hijab is not like walking around naked. I think we're taking this a little too far, don't you think? [/QB] Opinionated, I think it all depends on how the queen was brought up or the Islamic values she currently carries. People are not the same. Hijab is one of the few things both Sunnis and Sheites agree on. There is absolutely no question about its validity. If one distorts the interpretation of the Koran, there is always the Sunnah which is the word of the Prophet(pbuh). The Prophet(pbuh) clears up many things Alhamdulillah.

Originally posted by Lakkad: Eloping Lakkad, I learned a new word today. Thanks saxib Eloping = Masaafayn Eloping: To run away with a lover, especially with the intention of getting married

Hibo, I am glad to see you again walaashiis. That was a noble cause. Please give us more data, details about the AIDS in the areas you visited and how people are coping with it. I heard that doctors can get shot in the head if they tell someone he/she has AIDS. Is that true? What can the locals do to stop the rapid spread?

Source: USAID Famine Early Warning System Network Date: 14 Nov 2003 Tropical cyclone update and potential impact for the Greater Horn of Africa - Issue 1 14 - 16 November 2003 This is an ad-hoc regional bulletin, which provides information to facilitate contingency and response planning in areas at risk of, flash floods and damaging winds associated with tropical cyclones. It is a collaborative effort between FEWS NET, USGS, local and international partners. The presence of tropical cyclones off the northeast coast of Somali, which is slowly drifting inland, may have both adverse and beneficial impacts within Somali and neighboring countries. For areas within its expected landfall, there are concerns for potential heavy rains and strong winds. Its positive impact will be beneficial rains in the drought prone areas of the Sool plateau as well as parts of the neighboring pastoral livelihood zones in Kenya and Ethiopia. This advisory highlights the forecast cyclone trajectory in next 2-3 days, its potential impact. FEWS NET will continue to closely monitor this cyclone. Current Situation The current weather situation as depicted by the Meteosat imagery confirms the presence of the unnamed tropical cyclone with a westward drift towards the northeast Somalia coast. This storm currently has winds of 55 - 70 knots, or 25 - 35 m/s. Field reports indicate increased cloudiness and rains in parts of Mudug, Nugal, Bay and Bakool and Gedo regions in Somalia. This is also evident from the Meteosat imagery with extensive cloud bands already engulfing these areas. The current location of the cyclone has also resulted in increased rains extending southwards into central districts of Kenya. According to NOAA forecast, the tropical cyclone landfall is expected to be on Somali on 16 November 2003. Its potential impact will be intense heavy rains and damaging strong winds within the vicinity of the cyclone. Expected impacts. Areas that are likely to be adversely affected by this storm are central Somali, parts of northern Somali (including Sool Plateau) and Somali region in Ethiopia, delineated in a red circle. Apart from these adverse impacts, the presence of this cyclone is generally expected to result in beneficial rains in the adjacent areas of southern Ethiopia and northeastern Kenya where the seasonal rains have been erratic and lighter than normal. This scenario is subject to change, but of now, it is well supported by the available data. FEWS NET and partners will continue to monitor the cyclone and provide regular updates. Contacts and Web-site Links: - FEWS NET Kenya and Somalia (nmutunga@fews.net, sidow@fews.net) - USGS/FEWS NET - Nairobi (ggalu@fews.net, hgadain@fews.net) - http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/fews/briefing.html (Africa Weather Hazard Briefing Page) Readers are invited to visit www.fews.net/ Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- With the exception of public UN sources, reproduction or redistribution of the above text, in whole, part or in any form, requires the prior consent of the original source. Related Documents: Latest Emergency Updates: Horn of Africa Drought; Somalia Latest By Country: Ethiopia; Kenya; Somalia Other ReliefWeb documents by: USAID Famine Early Warning System Network Source URL: http://www.fews.net/ Home Page: www.reliefweb.int Email: comments@reliefweb.int

Samir iyo iimaan. Allaha U naxariisto qaraabadaada.