OdaySomali;837218 wrote: NO I was against Pasho posh, Pasha Bazi and the forcing of women to wear a burka. There is a difference between freely choosing and being forced. But your point has been noted and taken, I shall reflect on it. That dress is certainly bida'a, who invented this type of gown, certainly it wasn't around the time of salafi saliheen!

^ It's both, internal revenue and donations from Arab countries and the like. But for the sake of good governance we should have an audit system. Transparent accounting will give us credibility. As for IMF and World Bank loans, we should forget it. Either donor nations give us budgetary support or like Turkey come and do the projects themselves. In the meantime, we have the 4billion Dollars loan we need to repay, maybe that's the reason why the World Bank has come out like this in public, to remind us that they haven't gone away a bit of Forget Me Not.

^Lol

Jacaylbaro;837148 wrote: Whateva they are cooking is for the interest of those countries ,,,, Good on Somaliland ...............................,-~*`¯lllllll`*~,............................................. ..... ...........................,-~*`lllllllllllllllllllllllllll¯`*-,.......................................... ......................,-~*llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll*-,...................................... ..................,-*llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll.... .................................. ................;*`lllllllllllllllllllllllllll,-~*~-,llllllllllllllllllll.................................... ................lllllllllllllllllllllllllll/...........;;;;llllllllllll,-`~-,................................ .................lllllllllllllllllllll,-*.............`~-~-,...(.(¯`*,`,............................... ...................llllllllllll,-~*........................)_-..*`*;..).............................. .....................,-*`¯,*`)............,-~*`~................../............................... .....................|/.../.../~,......-~*,-~*`;.................../............................... .................../.../..../..../..,-,..*~,.`*~*..................*............................. ... ...................|.../.../..../.*`...................................)....)¯`~,........... ......... ...................|./..../..../........).........)`*~-,............../.....|..)...`~-,.............. .................././.../....,*`-,.....`-,....*`....,---.........../...../..|..........¯```*~-,,,, .................(............)`*~-,.....`*`.,-~*.,-*.......|.../..../..../......................... ..................*-,.......`*-,...`~,..``.,,,-*.............|.,*...,*....|.......................... ......................*,.........`-,....)-,..................,-*`...,-*.....(`-,...................... ........................f`-,........`-,/...*-,___,,-~*.....,-*......|....`-,......................

Sudden interest in Somalia points to suspect Western corporate interests By RASNA WARAH Sunday, March 04, 2012 In her book The Shock Doctrine, Canadian author Naomi Klein argues that Western governments often use humanitarian relief and reconstruction as an excuse and an opportunity to force poor or strife-torn countries to adopt neoliberal economic models that ultimately serve the interests of Western corporations. Citing examples from Chile, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Russia, Argentina, among other countries, she shows how political and economic turmoil has been used as an entry point by Western countries to introduce economic reforms that would ordinarily be unpopular with local populations. In Iraq, for instance, after the ouster of Saddam Hussein, US companies made a fortune providing security and other services to Iraqis, all in the name of promoting democracy and good governance. In Chile, the US government actively undermined the presidency of Salvador Allende, a left-leaning democrat, and supported the coup that brought Augusto Pinochet to power. Pinochet, in turn, unleashed neoliberal reforms that were in line with US interests. In Sri Lanka, after the devastating tsunami of 2004, land previously occupied by fishing villages was taken over by big hoteliers. Capitalism Klein refers to these events as “disaster capitalism” — “orchestrated raids on the public sphere in the wake of catastrophic events, combined with the treatment of disasters as exciting market opportunities.” While I would not go so far as claiming that the London Conference on Somalia hosted by the UK government last month was yet another business opportunity for Western governments and companies, the timing of the conference is certainly suspect. Facing massive unemployment and recession at home, Western countries may be looking at Somalia as an opportunity to expand markets and revive local industries. It is possible that Western countries have woken up to the fact that Somalia represents an untapped source of natural resources and a destination for Western goods. Somalis are in need of virtually every service, and have huge infrastructure shortfalls, which could be filled by Western companies. Also, the country’s resources have remained under-exploited for 20 years, and its leaders could be persuaded to give rights and concessions to Western companies in exchange for aid. Indeed, two days after the London conference, the Guardian newspaper reported that Britain was seeking oil-drilling rights in Somalia. The Canadian company Africa Oil has apparently already begun oil exploration in Puntland. Is aid the carrot that is being used to obtain these rights? It’s possible. In London, Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohammed Ali told the Observer that in the future, a share of natural resources would be offered in return for help with reconstruction. “There’s room for everybody when this country gets back on its feet and is ready for investment,” he said. And who exactly is in charge? Questions are also being raised about who will drive the reconstruction project. BBC journalist Mary Harper, the author of the newly-published book Getting Somalia Wrong?, told this writer that despite the impressive groundwork done by Britain in engaging with, listening to and learning from Somalis, the final communiqué emanating from the London conference appeared “rather thin and vague on many key issues.” For instance, the question of who exactly will be in the charge of the country once the tenure of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) expires in August this year is not spelt out clearly. The conference endorsed the establishment of a Constituent Assembly to replace the TFG, but its task seems to be focused purely on governance issues, such as the preparation of a constitution, the establishment of institutions and preparations for elections. But this Assembly will not manage donor funds. Nor will it manage or collect taxes from ports and airports. The task of managing Somalia’s economy appears to rest with the newly-established Joint Financial Management Board, comprising representatives from Britain, France, the European Union, the World Bank and the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) (and later any future government), which aims to “increase transparency and accountability in the collection and efficient use of public revenues, as well as international development aid, and which will help strengthen Somali public financial management institutions.” The Board’s stated objectives are to minimise corruption, maximise the use of funds in the public interest and improve accountability and transparency on where and how Somali revenues and donor funds are spent. At face value, this appears to be a step in the right direction given the corruption and financial incompetence within the TFG, United Nations agencies and humanitarian organisations. Lack of trust in the TFG’s and the UN’s ability to deliver development to Somalia and use funds appropriately was probably what prompted the establishment of the Board. Somalia is desperately in need of a financial facility that can monitor how donor and domestic funds are used. However, Canada-based Abdirizak Mohamed, editor of Hiraan Online, is worried that the Board is yet another nail in the coffin of Somalia’s sovereignty. “We may have lost our sovereignty when we allowed African troops into Somalia and when the UN Security Council expanded the mandate of Amisom a day before the start of the London conference. But now with this new Management Board, comprising European donors and the World Bank, we have lost our independence to manage our resources.” The presence of the World Bank in the Board also raised questions about the philanthropic intentions of Western donors. Is Somalia going to be revived through loans from the Bank, and if so, will Somalia be in debt before it is on its feet? The other issue that is not clear is whether the oversight function of the Joint Financial Management Board will supersede agreements that prevent donors from monitoring UN agencies. The European Community has signed a Financial and Administrative Framework Agreement (FAFA) that does not allow it to do external audits of UN projects that it funds. The UN is expected to manage EC contributions in accordance with its own rules and regulations, which allows for a lot of pilfering and mismanagement. Will the FAFA agreement be overlooked in Somalia? Non-traditional donors The glaring absence of non-traditional donors, such as Turkey — which has made significant and tangible contributions to the reconstruction of cities such as Mogadishu in recent months — from the Board suggests that perhaps the real intention of the London conference was to diminish Turkey’s influence in Somalia and impose a West-friendly regime to ensure that Western companies and corporations benefit the most from the reconstruction project. Since the Board will not only decide how money is used but where, it could decide to undertake projects that are most beneficial to countries represented on the Board (i.e. Britain, France and the European Union), rather than allow for more open and competitive bidding for projects. Some analysts feel that the London conference was hastily convened to influence a conference on Somalia being organised by the Turkish government in June, which might have come up with alternative solutions that may not have pleased Western governments. Many Somalis have welcomed Turkey’s aid to Somalia, partly because Turkey is seen as a “neutral” partner, and as a secular Muslim nation, is culturally more acceptable to Somalia’s largely Muslim population. Neoliberal model The dominance of traditional Western donors in the Joint Financial Management Board also suggests that the development paradigm being pushed in Somalia will be aligned to the Western neoliberal model that calls for increased liberalisation, deregulation, privatisation and cutbacks. However, this model cannot work in Somalia where regulation is actually needed to stabilise and revive the economy and where state institutions are either non-existent or too weak to regulate markets and the economy. The London conference, while purporting to come up with a “Marshall Plan” for Somalia, also failed to recognise that a Marshall-like plan can only work in countries (like post-War Germany) that already have well-established institutions and industries that can be revived through an injection of funds. Somalia has neither. While businesses such as mobile phone companies are thriving in Somalia, they are not regulated or taxed, though an informal system of taxation has developed whereby “taxes” are paid to faction leaders, local administrations, Islamist groups, port militias and armed men at roadblocks. The lack of an established tax regime in the country and the absence of regulatory bodies means that industries operate informally, even when they are highly profitable. While Somalis are known for their entrepreneurial culture and their ability to take risks, the injection of donor funds (most likely followed by the recruitment of Western companies to deliver services and infrastructure) could cause a sudden volatility in the economy, and fuel resentment of foreign-owned businesses... Rasna Warah is a columnist with the Daily Nation. (rasna.warah@gmail.com)

Somalia needs to create it's institutions, we can't have governance without them. I think the new Joint Financial Management Board will improve our situation come August.

^Lol

Lol, Somaliland should make the Queen head of state, in place of Jamaica, who want out!

MashaAllah! http://radiomuqdisho.net/daawo-sawirada-wasiirka-xanaanada-xoolaha-oo-maanta-kormeeeray-maxjarka-xoolaha-ee-muqdisho/

I like the last two, and also number 16.

We need a National Audit Office and Director of Audit, ASAP!

A World Bank report says the Somali government has not accounted for most of the revenues and donations it received in 2009 and 2010. The report, released this week, says World Bank auditors found that Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) received far more money than it has said. The report's author, Joakim Gundel, said auditors found the government had collected at least $94 million in revenues in 2009. But the government reported only $11 million in revenues. In 2010, auditors found the government collected $70 million in revenues, while the government reported just $22 million. “There is a discrepancy in what comes in and there’s a lack of accounting of how money has been spent," said Gundel. "So that opens naturally a big question mark for sure." Gundel said discrepancies appear to back assertions made one year ago by a Somali government whistleflower. The former chief of Somalia's public finance unit, Abdirizak Fartaag, said an audit found strong evidence of mismanagement and misappropriation of funds. The World Bank report said not all revenues and donated funds are deposited in the central bank, and it is not clear where they go. “What we did observe is that in relationship to the bilateral funds, donations often they are given directly to individual government members and do not exactly specify exactly who and how," said Fartaag. "But such donations appear to have happened. But we did find and did make observations that this money is not fully deposted in the central bank, sometimes it’s only partly. The report found the United Nations-backed government has no real accounting system nor does it publicly disclose financial statements. It also said the weak transitonal government lacks transparency, making it difficult for auditors to fully assess the country's finances. Gundel said the unaccounted for money could significantly bolsters Somalia's security without relying on foreign donations. The weak transitional government has received significant foreign aid and donations to help it address persistent conflict, instability, poverty, food shortages and an insurgency by al-Shabab militants. Under a U.N.-brokered roadmap, Somalia is to form a post-transition government. The plan calls for the adoption of a new constitution by July 1 and parliamentary elections to be held on August 20. Somalia has not had a stable central government in more than 20 years, since warlords overthrew President Mohamed Siad Barre. VOA

By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA ISTANBUL Somalia's prime minister said Thursday that his country has more to offer than pirates, militants and images of the hungry, and that Somalis can even teach the world a thing or two about resilience. Abdiweli Mohamed Ali delivered his hopeful vision at a conference in Istanbul, where hundreds of Somali and international delegates are discussing a transition process for the fragile country. A timetable backed by the United Nations calls for a new constitution and parliament, to be followed by a vote for president and prime minister by Aug. 20, as the nation struggles to emerge from decades of war and famine. Ali, who survived a suicide bombing in Mogadishu in April, said he hopes Somalia can eventually exploit its long coastline and benefit from the business links of its far-flung diaspora to build a stable economy that links Asia and Africa. For now, though, the country is trying to consolidate gains in the fight against al-Shabab, an Islamic militant group that has links to al-Qaida. "The al-Shabab element will not survive for too long," Ali predicted. He claimed that its "reckless tactics" had sapped support for the group, which has increased bomb attacks as the territory they control shrinks under pressure from African Union and Somali forces. Pro-government forces took control of the capital in August, but there are concerns that militants might try to again infiltrate areas they have abandoned. Once in place, a 225-member parliament is to vote for Somalia's new leadership. Voting isn't being opened to the public because of a lack of security across the country. Somali leaders are appealing to donors to set up a trust fund for what is expected to be an arduous effort to rebuild a Horn of Africa nation with weak institutions, or none at all. Many Somalis depend on remittances from relatives abroad. Attacks by Somali pirates on international shipping in past years intensified the image of a country in an anarchic spiral. Turkey, a rising nation with an activist foreign policy, has emerged as a prominent advocate for stability in Somalia, opening an embassy there last year and sending humanitarian aid worth $51 million, with more in the pipeline. This year, Turkish Airlines launched flights to Mogadishu as part of what Bekir Bozdag, Turkey's deputy prime minister, called a campaign to "break the loneliness and the exclusion of Somalia from the rest of the world." Turkey deployed a special security team at Mogadishu airport as Somali elders and other delegates boarded a plane for the Istanbul conference earlier this week. Mahboub M. Maalim, executive secretary of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, a regional aid group based in Djibouti, said the forum was helpful because, "we just want to make sure the Somali issue stays on the international radar." Turkey said no al-Shabab members were invited to the meeting, though militants and figures in the transitional government fought together in past conflicts, and some loose links in a country of shifting alliances are believed to still exist. Eveline Rooijmans, a humanitarian policy adviser for the aid group Oxfam, said she was concerned that aid was being directed primarily to areas under government control and that civilians in sectors held by al-Shabab were not getting the help they need. "That is something that is not going to sustainably rebuild Somalia, if you do this," said Rooijmans, adding that aid should not be delivered in a manner that suits "the political and military agendas of the international community." Some 2.37 million Somalis, or one-third of the population, remain in dire need of humanitarian aid even though the January harvest was adequate and Somalia has been lifted out of famine conditions with the help of international assistance, she said. Many aid organizations are reluctant to enter regions held by militants because of concerns about safety and accusations that they are helping al-Shabab. The United States has laws against such aid, though they were loosened during the famine that was declared last year after successive failed rains. Additionally, militants exacerbated the famine by letting few agencies into areas under their control. Ali, the prime minister, said he was anxious for Somalia to shed the label of "failed state" and become a place "where one can travel in peace in the dead of night He declared: "Somalia is more than hungry faces in the news, pirates or extremists" Source AP

^^What happens to the current speaker, do you still think he'll be the next President?

^^Lol @ pre-emptive breakup

General Duke;836903 wrote: You don't know who Ali Khalif Galayr is?... I hear all the time about our politicians stealing left, right and centre but untill one is put on the dock and convicted then I assume they are innocent...yeah, call me naive, but we need to create a judicial system that leaves no one untouched!

Source for your claims? @ Somalia

Aadan Jugle;836844 wrote: If your kind are opposed to somaliland then Exodus is the only option. The cheek!

************

And I failed to understand your calacaal? what is it are trying to defend here? @ Mr Somalilander

Big up the PM, Abdiweli,:cool: Loool @ Calin and Faroole.

Qandalawi;836707 wrote: ^That's even more interesting, the secessionist minister is told that his clan is well represented and needs not get through Lol

^Lol

ElPunto;836645 wrote: ^Amazing how you attribute such selflessness to the Turks - presumably they're going to give up the profits from opening up economies to liberate Palestine. :eek:

DAYO OLOPADE May 29, 2012 NAIROBI — A bomb exploded in downtown Nairobi on Monday — the eighth such attack in as many months. It was a far more sophisticated operation than the makeshift grenades that have been tossed from moving cars and into small churches and bars in the recent past. This bomb was big enough to send at least 30 Kenyans to the hospital. Arriving on the scene to cries of “baba” (“father”), Prime Minister Raila Odinga called the attackers “cowards” and swore, “Kenya will not surrender to terrorists.” The malefactors had not been identified, but he already reasoned that the responsible parties “want to scare investments, they want to scare tourists, they want to scare the people of this country generally.” Nairobians aren’t particularly scared. By now, when a bomb goes off, we are accustomed to clucking at televised reports through storefront windows and making reassuring calls to loved ones. And we are accustomed to laying blame across the border, in Somalia. On a bus to the bomb site on Monday, I struck up a conversation with a civil servant who had no fear of future attacks, and no doubt about whodunit: “Al-Shabaab, who else?” he shrugged. Al Shabab, the Somalia-based terrorist group, has claimed responsibility for previous attacks in Kenya. But there are other culprits closer to home: Odinga, President Mwai Kibaki and the Kenyan military brass who last year unilaterally declared open-ended war against Al Shabab, with unacceptable side effects. “Operation Linda Nchi” (“Protect the Nation”), which began in October, was sold to Kenya with the same “offense as defense” playbook that took the United States into war with Iraq. Ministers assured Kenyans that the invasion would be quick and easy, focused on the “hot pursuit” of kidnappers and pirates who had been terrorizing Kenya’s northern coast. Like the promises of a slam dunk in Iraq, none of those projections have been true. Eight months on, the fight against Al Shabab — which even Somalia’s president has called “unwelcome” — is proceeding with only middling success. The coalition of troops — Kenyan, Ugandan, Ethiopian and French — has reduced the territory under Shabab control. But Ethiopia withdrew earlier this year (perhaps having learned a lesson from its protracted 2006 invasion of Somalia), and Uganda is on the other side of Kenya from Somalia. As a result, Kenya’s porous perimeter offers terrorists their best hope for ad-hoc retaliation. Taming Somalia is like taming Afghanistan: no nation has done it, though plenty have bled their treasuries trying. Living in the Horn of Africa over the past year, I’ve been humbled by the complexities of regional politics. The Kenyan establishment had its reasons to invade Somalia: fighting for vital tourist dollars, punishing rogue pirates and petty kidnappers, protecting the $24 billion port under construction in the northern town of Lamu. Pressure from an America that has itself soured on military intervention is also said to play a role. But I still believe that none of these justifications is worth it. Another witness to Monday’s bombing voiced what was on everyone’s mind: “You can’t rule out that we’ve created antagonism between our country and Somalia,” he said. The mounting belief that this foreign war is causing domestic violence has become a growing chink in the unified front that Kenyan citizens first projected when Linda Nchi began. Kenya’s failure to confront this could prolong the violence in both places.