For the past generation, the only time we heard references to Somali women in culture or the media was either the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) or wartime rape cases. But that has all changed, as more Somali women take center stage in the politics of their country, and institutions with women become protocol in every region. Somali politics was a male reserve throughout most of the nation’s history, but the Garowe II Principles have changed all that. One of the major points of the recent accord was the allocation 30% of the seats in the National Constituent Assembly (NCA) to women, as well as the Interim Independent Electoral Commission. The initiative to lobby for more female representation was taken by Somali women groups in the largest staged peaceful demonstrations in the Somali capital, Mogadishu recently. These demonstrations and the hard work of progressive Somali politicians resulted in the seats being raised from 20% to 30%, and work continues to be done in that respect. Another 3,000 Somali women staging a demonstration in favor of the first meeting in Garowe this past January to push for the second Garowe conference that would cement their new-found liberation. This move is unprecedented in Somali politics and has been widely embraced by all Somalis, with exception to factions such as Al -Shabab who wish to relegate Somali women to subordinate positions to keep Somalia unstable. The peaceful state of Puntland, based in northeastern Somalia has proven that the full inclusion of women in any decision-making process is the key to stability and progress. This forward-moving state, its friendly neighbor Galmudug, and even the newly liberalised capital of Somalia, Mogadishu, have benefited greatly from the active participation of women. DissidentNation.com

On the top page of the popular English newspaper The Guardian were two articles today covering the topic on oil post-Conference; one titled Somalia Promises West Oil Riches as Diplomats Vow to Defeat Al-Shabaab and the other titled Britain Leads Dash to Explore for Oil in War-Torn Somalia. The two articles allude to exactly what many Somalis have stated ever since Puntland began its most ambitious phase of oil exploration this past January at the drilling of the first well, known as Shabeel-1. The UK and the international community, including the Turks, who setup an elaborate and vain philanthropy scheme, all want a share in Somalia’s massive potential resource wealth, principally the oil in Puntland. Many doubted the seriousness of oil exploration in Somalia’s Puntland region, but its spelled out clear as day now, and the world media is quickly picking up on it. Around the time of the conference, Puntland’s Minister of International Cooperation Abdulkadir Hashi said the following. We have spoken to a number of UK officials, some have offered to help us with the future management of oil revenues. They will help us build our capacity to maximize future earnings from the oil industry. It’s clear that the UK is concerned about Iran cutting off supplies and the threat at the Strait of Hormuz, and that it must hurry to secure supplies in Somalia now that Libya has gone upside down. Results from the Shabeel-1 well in Bari province are due to hit the public in a few weeks, and all parties are lining up to prepare for the outcome. DissidentNation.com

The Hermet;794882 wrote: is that what substitutes for a written white flag these days..if so..dont go that easily, because your lot have a habit of surrendering to easily or running from the battlefield... :D

^^ so rather than answer simple questions, you resort to troll your own thread? hermet, each time i think you're making progress, you take 10 steps back. why?

The Hermet;794853 wrote: if you say so..:cool: just gaurd yourself, i can take care of myself. how can you guard yourself, when few men, whom by the way were taken by surprise, chased your failed enclave back to the drawing board help protect you? how can you protect yourself? don't you mean, they can't pass buhoodle and as result, your safe for another day? also, when are you going to answer my first question?

The Hermet;794847 wrote: first of all, alshabab as a force are not out of mugdisho as they have said again and again they have changed tactic as you can see there are daily attacks in mugdisho of alshabab everyone from the new york times to the independent have said mugdisho is teaming with alshabab. It has taken the ethiopians, the kenyans, the somali so called army, american air strikes, european intellegence services and they are still fighting and still control much of the south. They vacate a town then strike once the occupying force feels abit comfertable. They are fighting a long term strategy. As for puntland, saxib you dont have to joke with anyone we are use to meeting regularly in combat as was the case in las canod a few months ago. Your so called army is not that strong, you have failed to even keep puntland united as the case with las **** state and west puntland have shown, you have lost east sanag and can not even liberate las canod which is 23 miles from Garowe. Alshabab has been slightly weakend financally but what they currently lack in fiances they have in morale, objective and in warfare morale and objective is half the battle. In time Ethiopia will withdraw and so will kenya when there mandate also expires. because they are simply in it for the money and dont want stability in somalia. therefore in the long run the South will be the dominon of alshabab, with alshabab's union with atm in the north, they have effectively reached bosaso over night. therefore with alshabab atm will only get stronger and knowing alshabab fighters will eventually move from the south to outside bosaso. :cool: so all in all...get your defences ready if you wanna continue existing, dont believe this AU, Ethiopian and Kenyan hype. gaurd yourself, id rather have you as an enemy then alshabab... walahi seriously mean that. :cool: hermet, you don't believe that while al-shaab and Amison fight, that PL and other states will stay merely static do you? As i post, PL is getting stronger. watch this video,

^^^ well said. here they come hermit; the chickens are coming home to roost.

hermit, if al-shaab cannot win in mogadishu and as i post are being chased from southern states, i ask you, how will they defeat a well organized state government that defeat them in the past years and have experiences of chasing terrorists in the early 90s. again, i ask you, how?

Waxaa maatna xarunta Jaamacadda Bariga Africa ee magaalada Boosaaso ka furmay bandhig hidaha iyo dhaqanka ku saabsan oo mudo 7-maalmood ah socon doona. Bandhigan oo ah kii ugu horeeyey ee noociisa ah ee abid ka dhaca magaalada Boosaaso ayaa waxaa sameeyey ardayda wax ka barta qaybaha kala duwan ee Jaamacadda Eest Africa University Boosaaso. Munaasabadii bandhigan hidaha iyo dhaqanka ku saabsan lagu daah furayey oo ahayd mid si weyn loo soo agaasimey ayaa waxaa kasoo qayb galay boqolaal qof oo mas’uuliyiin dowlada ka tirsan, arday, iyo marti sharaf kaleba isugu jirey. Waxaana madaxda joogtey kamid ahaa Gudoomiyaha gobolka Bari Cabdisamed Maxamed Gallan, Duqa degmada Boosaaso Xasan Cabdallah Xasan iyo mas’uuliyiin kale oo Isimo, ganacsato, iyo aqoonyahanba isugu jirey. Mas’uuliyiin tira badan ayaa madashaas ka hadlay waxayna dhamaantood ku dheeraadeen sida ay ugu faraxsan yihiin ulana dhacsan yihiin dadaalka ay ardaydu sameeyeen iyo sida ay u jecel yihiin inay dhaqankooda soo nooleeyaan. Maamulka Jaamacadda EAU ayaa iyaguna sheegay inay ku dhiiri geliyeen ardaydooda sidi ay bandhiggan u samayn lahaayeen maadaama ay lagama maarmaan tahay in dhalinta yar yari ay dhaqanka iyo hidahooda soo jireenka ah wax ka bartaan. Waxyaaba bandhiga maanta xarunta weyn ee Jaamacadda Bariga Africa ee Boosaaso ka furmay la keenay ayaa dhamaantood ahaa kuwo si aad ah uga yaabiyey dadkii kasoo qayb galay waxaana kamid ahaa: Dhowr aqal Soomaali oo waaweyn kuwaasoo Jaamacadda dhexdeeda laga dhisay. Awr raran. Fardo. Ari xeryo ku jira. Iyo Lo’. Sidoo kale waxaa goobta oollaa in badan oo kamid ah qalabka hidaha iyo dhaqanka oo ay kamid ahaayeen: Dhiilo. Haamo. Xeerooyin. Fandhaalo. Kebdo. Salliyo. Qufado. Haruubyo. Xabab Iyo Masarafado.

Last July, a quiet little meeting took place in the town of Garowe, capital of Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region, and few except reporters and attendees paid attention. Present at the meeting were the Puntland administration, the UN Political Office for Somalia, and representatives from Galmudug State, the Sufi Islamic group Ahlu-Sunnah wal-Jamaa, and the Transitional Federal Government. At the time not much fuss was made about the meeting, and neither was there very much press coverage, but as the first meeting of its kind in Garowe it cemented a new relationship that few had fully realized at the time. Puntland’s leaders were bringing together a coalition of progressive individuals into an organized partnership on a scale not seen since the Manifesto Group that was active at the outset of Somalia’s civil war. The Manifsto Group was a mostly civilian-driven alliance, but this new coalition is consisting of Somalia’s strongest players. The coalition doesn’t always see eye to eye on the small issues, but their commitment to the cessation of hostilities between Somali parties and the dismantling of militant cells has bridged most gaps between them. The coalition met several more times, in Mogadishu, Garowe twice more, and recently in London this past Thursday. Puntland leader Abdirahman Mahamud’s charm offensive began in late 2010 when Mogadishu’s mayor Mohamed Ahmed Nuur ‘Tarzan’ visited Garowe for Somalia’s first-ever all-inclusive regional sporting tournament. This was the first time that a major leader from southern Somalia had visited Puntland, opening the door for more diplomatic trips by Somali leaders to the region. Somalia’s strongmen have seen the light, and they’ve started to prioritize longer-term rewards over short-term victories. The new coalition on the block, armed, organized, skilled, and backed to the hilt by the world community, is going to propel Somalia into a new era of security, prosperity, and good governance. DissidentNation.com

Dr_Osman;794631 wrote: Time to wear my puntland hat :D:D

Faroole is yet again leading Somalia and Somalis in the right direction.

At the end of Thursday’s Somalia-focused conference in London’s Lancaster House, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi aired his opinion to a crowd of international and Somali journalists. It was the first time he had spoken on the conference since the run-up to its date of opening. The prime minister said the following on the conference. We hope that the outcome of the conference bears positive results for the Somalis, but we’ve also heard that a final communique was prepared before the conference had even ended. Later, Zenawi stated that he didn’t expect this conference to change anything for Somalia. He added that the various power brokers in attendance had varying agendas for Somalia’s future that did not correlate at any level. Ethiopia is estimated to have over 5,000 soldiers inside Somalia, having recently taken the strategic Somali cities of Baidoa and Beletweyn from Al-Shabaab militias. During the conference, Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed gave a nearly hour-long speech to international delegates, and in the beginning he stated that Somalia’s future would not be dictated by Ethiopia, and it is likely that Zenawi did not take liking to this new direction Somalia may be taking. DissidentNation.com

the future looks bright for Puntland:D

Mogadishu, Somalia -- There are few success stories here in this tortured country on the eastern coast of Africa. For nearly two decades, this drought-ravaged land and the long-suffering Somali people have been "off the radar" for most Americans. It might still be so if it were not for radical Islamist Somali terrorists -- al-Shabab -- and their financiers, the seagoing pirates who seize merchant vessels plying the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden. All of that is about to change. Last week, as our two-man Fox News unit was en route, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian cleric who inherited Usama bin Laden's mantle as leader of Al Qaeda, released a videotape declaring that al-Shabab is now formally part of the "global jihad" against the Western world. Zawahiri's desperate bid for attention didn't do his Somali allies any favors. The announcement may well presage the demise of al-Shabab. The brutal Somali terror group is now on the run. Remnants of the organization that once threatened to make Mogadishu its capital have fled west -- driven from the city by well-trained, disciplined Ugandan troops dispatched and supplied by the African Union. We accompanied them over terrain once trodden by U.S. Marines in the early 1990s and stained with the blood of American special operators who set out to capture the notorious warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid in 1993. The heroism and perseverance of those who made that effort were captured in the book and film "Black Hawk Down." Unlike U.S. troops who fought here almost two decades ago, the African soldiers who freed this city and now provide security for its 2 million residents -- nearly half of whom are refugees displaced by drought, famine and violence -- receive few accolades in the Western media. They deserve better. Many of them are graduates of U.S. military schools and are applying "low-profile" counterinsurgency tactics the way they are meant to be practiced. One of their officers put it bluntly: "In the U.S., we were taught to learn from your mistakes." From a week on the ground here in Somalia, that appears to be a theme -- one that is proving devastating to al-Shabab. About 160 miles to the northwest of this long-suffering city, Ethiopian troops have now liberated Baidoa, a terror stronghold in south-central Somalia. This victory comes on the heels of a political triumph -- a "constitutional assembly" in Garowe, capital of the autonomous state of Puntland, the largest such national gathering ever convened in Africa. There our Fox News team witnessed the signing of an agreement for a new constitutional framework. The document -- drafted by and for Somalis -- specifies a bicameral legislature, ordains an executive branch with enumerated powers, requires an independent judiciary, rejects a foreign-imposed "caretaker government" and offers universal suffrage to every man and woman in Somalia. Much of the hard work done to achieve the new constitution and a stable government based on the rule of law instead of lawless rulers is being done by Somalis who were once refugees. Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali and Puntland President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole were but two of the dozens of U.S.–Somali dual citizens we met at the assembly in Garowe. They all gave up comfortable lives in America to help rebuild this devastated country. In our interview with President Farole, he expressed hope that the U.S. and European governments will support his initiative to establish an effective maritime police force to "eliminate the scourge of piracy" because it "threatens the global economy" and jeopardizes the foreign investment that Somalia so desperately needs. He already has found a reliable partner in this effort. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has stepped up to provide funds for recruiting, training and equipping a police force to defeat the pirates on land and at sea -- while respecting the rights of the people it protects. We seized the opportunity to accompany the fledgling Puntland Maritime Police Force [PMPF] on an aerial reconnaissance of pirate dens along the Somali coast and documented how the PMPF trains for missions on land and conducts near-shore interdiction and inspections of vessels at sea. When the organization is fully manned and outfitted, it will have more than 1,000 police capable of enforcing the law along Somalia's coastline -- the longest in continental Africa. Creating such a force is no small task in a country that has suffered from more than 40 years of horrendous hardship. The breakdown of civil order and descent into chaos that began here in the 1960s drove away businesses essential to employment, devastated a thriving agricultural economy and wrecked the hopes of exploiting Somalia's resources. A record-breaking drought has added to the misery of millions. Formal education has all but vanished -- yielding an illiteracy rate that exacerbates the economic collapse. None of these problems will go away overnight. But, as President Farole noted during the historic constitutional assembly in Garowe, "we must start with law, order and justice," or "lawless piracy and brutality will continue." Such an outcome is what al-Shabab -- now on its heels -- wants. And that would turn the promise of suffrage for all Somalis into a tragedy for all of us. Oliver North is a nationally syndicated columnist, the host of "War Stories" on the Fox News Channel, the author of the American Heroes book series and the co-founder of Freedom Alliance, an organization that provides college scholarships to the children of U.S. military personnel killed or permanently

If opinions aren't facts then why do we humor them so often?

troll, fadlan exist the thread asap.