By A Correspondent The EastAfrican Djibouti has embarked on an ambitious programme that may see Mombasa knocked off its perch as the eastern seaboard’s main port, with multimillion-dollar investments lined up to expand the small Red Sea nation’s container and oil terminal capacities. Sources say the Kenya Ports Authority is watching the improvements at the Doraleh port, which will include the construction of a two-kilometre jetty and a $400 million container terminal with interest. Work on the latter began last week. With just four container terminals and 10 cranes, the port currently has a capacity to move 400,000 container units per year and 10 million tonnes of general cargo. The first phase of Doraleh’s expansion, which is situated just 10 kilometres from Djibouti’s capital, started earlier in the year. It involves the construction of a $130 million oil terminal with a capacity of nearly 400,000 cubic metres. Plans are also underway to turn the port into a duty-free zone. The developments are the results of a strategic plan was launched in 2000, when the Djibouti government invited Dubai’s DP World - one of the world’s leading port companies - to partner in the expansion project. DP World has undertaken to complete the upgrading by 2008. Injection of capital and expertise by the Dubai firm is expected to make Doraleh port a significant player in the import/export business for the eastern Africa seaboard, whose hinterland is home to more than 400 million people. The Djibouti government hopes that the port will eventually become the key economic engine for the 800,000 inhabitants of the resources-poor desert country. The emergence of Doraleh port as a major player in the Horn of Africa is expected to offer stiff competition to Mombasa, traditionally the dominant cargo hub in the region. Mombasa serves more than half a dozen countries including Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Southern Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia and northern Tanzania. Today, the Kenyan port handles more than 15 million tonnes of cargo each year. Facilities at the premier Kenyan port include a deep-water port with 21 berths, two bulk oil jetties and dry bulk wharves that can handle all size ships. It also offers specialised facilities such as cold storage, warehousing, and container terminals. In the fight for market share, the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) is likely to point out that the port of Doraleh does not have an adequately developed hinterland infrastructure, including rail-lines and roads, to transport goods into and from the interior. The political situation in the Horn of Africa, where Ethiopia and Eritrea have remained in a state of war, will in the short-term make full exploitation of the new facilities difficult to achieve which will also favourMombasa. Besides, says the KPA, a large part of the 500-kilometre road linking the port to Nairobi has re-built. Kenya and Uganda also recently jointly concessioned their railway systems to a South African consortium in an attempt at making the service more efficient in moving cargo to-and-from the port. Recently, the port of Mombasa has also invested heavily in modern equipment including cranes and tugs, as well as reducing bureaucracy and pilferage to remain competitive. The port has also embarked on a marketing blitz to change its image as a corruption-prone backwater. Just last week, KPA signed a memorandum of understanding on behalf of the port with Malaysia’s Port Klang Authority (PKA) meant to enhance trade between the two ports. Source: The East African, Dec 05, 2006

^No need to be mad, the end is near for Abdulahi-Ahmar and his Woyane[Tigree]master.

^Thanks for sharing it brother..Very good article.

Be patience son, Yeey-Ahmar, the Baidhabo gangs and their Ethiopian master were behind those killing spree. The criminals who were behind the killings are either dead, in Baydhabo or in Ethiopia after the ICU victory.

^Its Muslims..Not Moslems..And please keep to the topic..Don't take us to the Middle East. Whatever you have against the Arabs is your own business..You sound like a confused individual.

By Daniel Wallis Sunday, December 03, 2006 NAIROBI, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Ethiopia has a massive military force of 15,000 men in Somalia and will be to blame for any war in the chaotic Horn of Africa state, the speaker of parliament in Somalia's interim government said on Sunday Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan rejected a U.S. draft resolution before the United Nations that would relax an arms embargo in order to let regional peacekeeping forces enter Somalia, saying it could jeopardise talks between his government and rival Islamists. Adan, one of the top leaders of the weak Western-backed Somali administration, has been making efforts to reconcile it with the newly powerful Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC). He was scathing about Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who he said was destabilising the country by sending in a "massive military force" of men and equipment. "Estimates by experts say there are around 15,000 (Ethiopian) troops now in Somalia," Adan told Reuters in an interview. "They are not just sending a fighting force but the families of these fighters as well ... If war takes place now, it will be the responsibility of Ethiopia and its prime minister." Addis Ababa is the main backer of Adan's fragile government, which has been confined to the provincial town of Baidoa by the rapid territorial gains of the Mogadishu-based Islamic courts. Ethiopia denies sending any troops over the border, and says it only has several hundred armed military trainers in Somalia. On Thursday, parliament in Addis Ababa voted to let Meles' government take "all necessary" steps to any Islamist invasion. "ETHIOPIA MUST WITHDRAW" Adan said Ethiopia had a free hand in Somalia for years, selling weapons to warlords whose militias carved up the country following the fall of former dictator Siad Barre in 1991. "To avert war, Ethiopia must withdraw its troops without conditions and support the ongoing negotiations between the Somali sides to create peace," Adan said through a translator. He flew to Mogadishu last month to meet the Islamists to try to restart Arab League-sponsored talks between them and his government that collapsed on Nov. 1 in Sudan's capital Khartoum. But the deal he agreed with the SICC -- to resume discussions on political and security issues and power-sharing -- was rejected the next day by his own cabinet, which said it saw his meetings with the Islamists as a "personal" affair. Adan, whose good relations with the SICC and some of their businessmen backers has put him at odds with President Abdullahi Yusuf and Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi, said his position allowed him to negotiate in the "best interest" of all Somalis. At the time, diplomats hailed the speaker's backchannel initiative as the best chance Somalia had of avoiding war, which experts fear could suck in the armies of neighbouring states. Adan said he was hopeful negotiations between the two sides would resume in Sudan in mid-December. But he echoed the concerns of European experts that a draft proposal by the United States at the U.N. Security Council to let east African peacekeepers enter Somalia put that at risk. Talks about the arms embargo should come later, he said. "The timing of this proposal is not right ... It is not possible to solve Somalia's crisis by military means," he said, adding that if the U.N. adopted the resolution, it would be seen as legitimising the Ethiopian military presence in Somalia. "The next Khartoum talks are only 10 or 15 days away. Unless we make sure they resume, the worst consequences will happen." Source: Reuters, Dec 03, 2006

Maxkamadaha iyo Wadamada IGAD oo dhan... Waxaa caawa magaalada jabuuti heshiis ku gaarey Maxkamadaha iyo wadamada IGAD oo ay ku jiro Dowladda Itoobiya waxaa heshiishkaa Dhinaca maxkamadaha u saxiixay Xoghaya arrimaha dibada Maxkamadaha Dr Ibraahim Xasan Caddow, Dhinaca IGAD u saxiixay Dhamaan Wasiirada Arimaha dibada. Heshiiska waxaa ku jira In Maxkamadaha ay si derisnimo ah loogu wada noolaado wadamada Geeska Afrika, sidoo kale waxaa ka mid ah heshiiska in si wadajir ah loola dagaalamo Argagixisada , waxaa kaloo ka mid ah heshiiska in la sii wado wadahadalka Maxkamadaha iyo dowladda Federaalka.

An intersting new development is this meeting in Djibouti. There is a clear indication that the Clan Courts want to talk to Adis, desperately. So how will that go down with their gulible supporters? Don't worry kid, if Abdulahi-Ahmar works hard and stays loyal servant, I'm sure the Tigree regime won't divorce your uncle.

trying to liberate Somali Galbeed, now thats crazy I tell ya. To you and to Abdulahi-Ahmar, its crazy idea, but to Most Somali people, its fantastic idea.

Mogadishu sees security improvements Businessmen to hand over weapons to UCI as Somali capital enjoys peace, prosperity. NAIROBI - As another sign of improved security in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, the powerful business community has agreed to hand over their weapons to the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC). "We have met and discussed this issue and they [the business community] have agreed," Sheikh Abdulkadir Ali Umar, the vice-chairman of the UIC, told IRIN. The business community has 30 days to comply with the order. "We expect to have all heavy weapons handed over within the 30-day period," said Umar. Businesses would be allowed to keep small arms "for the time being". The business community in Mogadishu has, since the early 1990s, set up its own security to protect their operations from marauding gangs of militias. "The reasons we acquired these weapons no longer exist in Mogadishu, so we don't need them," said Abdulkadir Dini, a businessman in the capital. He said that since civil war broke out in 1991, businesses had been forced to provide "everything a government should be doing, such as electricity, water and security. We had to reinvent the wheel. Getting rid of all these weapons is one less expense to worry about. I hope they will start the provision of other public services," he added. The handover of weapons is an indication that the security situation is such that business people “felt they did not need to keep such weapons", said Muhammad Nur Ga'al, deputy head of the Civil Society in Action, a coalition of civil-society groups. As an indication of how far security had improved, "food aid is being delivered and then sent outside the city without any security escort. This has not happened in 15 years," Ga'al said. There is another reason why the UIC is asking the business community to hand over their weapons at this time, according to Ga’al. "They are on a war footing and so would like the extra firepower," he said. Forces loyal to the UIC have been massing at Buur Hakaba, 60 km south of Baidoa, in anticipation of a showdown with forces of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), which is allegedly supported by Ethiopian troops. The Ethiopians have denied sending a fighting force to Somalia, but acknowledged that their "military advisers" were helping the TFG. Not all business people are happy at being asked to hand over their weapons. "There are some who are worried that the situation is not stable enough to warrant a han

^Getting rid of warlords, merceneries and other anti-peace groups in Mogadishu was a noble work done by the ICU for the 2+ million citizens of that city.. Do you see the killing of those who are opposed to the ICU in any terms as a clean-up ? Be specific chief, are you talking about the defeated coalition of warlords who are now in Baydhabo??

Ethiopia: orphans on the brink of war As the EU announces a €60 million food security grant to impoverished Ethiopia, the UN warns that in nearly four years, half the country’s children will be orphans. By Theodore Liasi for ISN Security Watch (30/10/05) Ethiopia is reported to have one of the world’s largest populations of orphans and vulnerable children in a nation on the brink of war. Bedeviled with famine and HIV/AIDS, Ethiopia is currently locked in a war of words with neighboring Eritrea. Both sides are engaged in a game of brinkmanship, with the UN caught in the middle of a 25-kilometer-wide demilitarized buffer zone. According to some reports, the standard of living of Ethiopians lags hundreds years behind that of the average European. Education, healthcare, and even the most primitive farming strategies are virtually unknown. In and among the turmoil and primitive conditions, Ethiopia’s children are on the frontline, bearing the brunt of the crisis that has gripped the country. Extreme poverty continues to plague the land, with an average annual per capita income at less than US$100 and life expectancy just 46 years of age. One out of ten children die before reaching their first birthday, and one out of six die before the age of five. Only 11 per cent of the population in urban Ethiopia have access to clean drinking water, leaving nine out of ten children to drink unsafe surface water. In a bid to try and relieve the deepening crisis, the EU announced last Wednesday that it would provide a €60 million (US$73 million) grant to Ethiopia for a food security program over the next five years. The grant is intended to benefit farmers in 262 districts of the country, according to an agreement signed in Addis Ababa on Wednesday. The deal was signed between Finance and Economic Development Minister Sofian Ahmed and European Commission Ambassador Tim Clarke. It is the first substantial foreign aid Ethiopia has managed to secure since the bitterly disputed 15 May general elections, which saw the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) of incumbent Prime Minister Meles Zenawi sworn into office amid claims of vote-rigging and concerns over the killing of demonstrators during clashes with security forces. British Prime Minister Tony Blair conveyed his government’s dissatisfaction over the incident by withholding some US$35 million in development aid earmarked for Ethiopia in 2005. A country of orphans Africa has the greatest number of orphaned children in the world, with 34 million living in the sub-Saharan region alone. Within four years, nearly half of Ethiopia’s children will be orphans. Dr. Bulti Gutema, representing the Labor and Social Ministry, told a government and UN initiative last Tuesday that there were currently 4.6 million orphans in Ethiopia - 11 per cent of the country’s child population - and that 12 per cent of them are believed to have HIV/AIDS. The situation is deteriorating and experts predict that by 2010, 43 per cent of the country’s children could be orphans. With over half of the population reported to be under the age of 18, this represent a serious problem for the government and aid agencies. According to UN officials, 18 per cent of households are taking care of orphans, while 6.1 per cent of AIDS orphans are forced to beg in order to survive. Food insecurity, shortage of resources, stigma and discrimination, and a lack of psychosocial care, among other things, remain the biggest problems of orphans and vulnerable children in Ethiopia. Bulti also indicated that the government and other UN agencies were undertaking various efforts to tackle the growing problem. The new campaign “offers a chance for every one of us who care about the future of our children to make a contribution to ensure that orphans and other vulnerable children get the support, the love, the protection, and the resources they need to fulfill their dream just like every other Ethiopian child,” said Bjorn Ljungqvist, UNICEF Representative to Ethiopia. Compounding matters, the UN has also reported that child trafficking still continues unabated despite measures to combat the exploitation of children. According to a recent UNICEF report, child labor and child prostitution continue to be major problems, as the level of poverty in Ethiopia is so absolute that many families simply cannot support their own children or take on relatives’ children whose parents have died from HIV/AIDS or other illnesses. There is no system for collecting data about educational access, trafficking, or the levels of child labor. “Most of the information we have from the IOM [international Organization for Migration] is of young girls being trafficked to the Middle East,” UNICEF spokesman Indrias Getacheu in Addis Ababa told ISN Security Watch on Thursday. “Young girls think that they will make a lot of money and are promised a good job. But when they get there they find that they don’t have any protection, they don’t have any legal status and they end up in a situation of bondage,” “If they get caught, they are arrested, end up in prison, and face all kinds of abuse. A lot of times they come back mentally disturbed, sick, and a lot of times in caskets.” Internally, Ethiopian children are sold for as little as US$1.20 to work as domestic workers or prostitutes. According to the IOM, up to 20,000 children are sold each year by their parents and trafficked by brokers to work in cities across the country. The IOM estimates that 12,000 to 14,000 Ethiopian women are working in Lebanon, mostly in domestic service. The figures were announced as the Ethiopian government, the UN, and the IOM launched a campaign to highlight the suffering endured by vulnerable children. “While this crisis of vulnerable children is depriving children of their rights to human development, it is also proving to be a growing burden on already impoverished communities,” said UNICEF’s Bjorn Ljungqvist. Alem Brook, a legal expert with the IOM’s counter-trafficking unit in Addis Ababa, said the level of internal trafficking of children in Ethiopia was one of the highest in the world. “The parents are often deceived with promises of money or that the child will be educated,” Alem told journalists last week. “Traffickers pay around 10 to 20 Ethiopian birr [uS$1.20 to US$2.40] for each child. We are talking about thousands of children each year.” According to the IOM, trafficking is the fastest growing crime in the world; it is believed to net those involved around US$10 billion a year. Alem said the majority of boys and girls ended up as domestic laborers, commercial sex workers, weavers, or professional beggars. Traffickers in Ethiopia expect to earn around 7,000 birr (around US$800) for each victim they send overseas, she added. If caught, they are liable to 20 years' imprisonment, but few are ever prosecuted. According to the International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor, the exploitation of children in Ethiopia is particularly difficult to research “due to their hidden, sometimes illegal or even criminal nature". “Slavery, debt bondage, trafficking, sexual exploitation, the use of children in the drug trade and in armed conflict, as well as hazardous work are all defined as Worst Forms of Child Labor,” the group said. The UN special representative of the secretary-general for children and armed conflict announced new measures in a report to eradicate the exploitation of children. The campaign for the “era of application” calls on all UN member states, including Ethiopia, to establish a monitoring and reporting program offering effective protection and relief to children within their territories. UNICEF estimates that looking after each orphaned child in Ethiopia would cost around US$300 a year, totaling some US$1.38 billion, yet the organization has less than US$10 million available. Some 300,000 children already live on the streets, according to the UN body.

Lucky he didn't meet the fate of Somali Journalists, Somali intellectuals and military officers, other foreign Journalists at the hands of Alqaeda. ^Don't insult our intelligence kid, we know the fact that after the clean-up of Mogadishu city, our people felt safe from the terror sponsored by the Tigree dictator and the mafia group in Baydhabo.

In a press briefing he gave to local journalists on the issue of Somali Islamists yesterday, the State Minister said that Ethiopia has always chosen peaceful path to solve the looming threat the UIC posed against the country since early on. Withdrew your militia from Somalia and stop denying the good people of SomaliGalbeed and other ethnic groups to choose their own destiny..Then I'm sure it will be easy to bring stability to the few states left after the much waited break-up of the artificial Nation of Ethiopia.

Ethiopia: Ethiopia Will Continue to Seek Peaceful Options to Deal With UIC - State Minister The Ethiopian Herald (Addis Ababa) December 3, 2006 Posted to the web December 3, 2006 Aregu Balleh Addis Ababa State Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Tekedda Alemu said that efforts are continuing on the Ethiopian side to seek diplomatic solutions to the threat posed by the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC). In a press briefing he gave to local journalists on the issue of Somali Islamists yesterday, the State Minister said that Ethiopia has always chosen peaceful path to solve the looming threat the UIC posed against the country since early on. He said successive talks were held with representatives of the Union in Addis Ababa, Khartoum and Nairobi. Moreover, various discussions have also been conducted through telephone conversations in order to resolve the problem. "The response from the other side was, however, not encouraging," Dr. Tekedda, said adding that the UIC also repeatedly postponed programmes set for dialogue eventhough Ethiopia showed commitment to hold discussions even at the level of the Prime Minister. Ever since the UIC started to emerge as security threat, Ethiopia has been voicing a clear message that it does not have any agenda against the UIC rather than building a constructive relation with the group. It has also been clearly stating its position that the UIC should refrain from activities that damage its sovereignty. According to Dr. Tekedda, Diplomatic efforts have continued until last Thursday when discussions between the UIC and the government of Ethiopia were held in Djibouti. At this moment in time when the UIC's threat against Ethiopia is growing higher than ever before, the government, apart from safeguarding the country's sovereignty will make use of any opportunities available to resolve the matter peacefully, the State Minister said. Relevant Links East Africa Ethiopia Arms and Military Affairs Peacekeeping and Conflict Resolution Civil War and Communal Conflict Somalia Conflict, Peace and Security "If there had ever been any commitment on the side of the UIC it would have been easier for the two parties to solve the matte," Dr. Tekedda said, adding that the UIC leaders are only required to respect international laws and refrain from violating the country's sovereignty. The UIC was, however, never alone when it set its policy against Ethiopia. It has been backed by the Eritrean government, which has been pursuing a policy aimed at destabilizing Ethiopia. Other elements such as the ONLF and OLF have always been behind the UIC's move. The State Minister, who indicated that the country is made to face a big threat ahead, said that this should, however, be reversed by the country and its people. He also urged citizens at large to stand in unison to overcome the problem shortly. BBC Ethiopians meet Somali Islamists Ethiopia's Deputy Foreign Minister, Tekeda Alemu, has held direct talks in Djibouti with senior representatives of Somalia's Union of Islamic Courts. Ethiopia says it explained its policy of backing Somalia's transitional government against the Islamists. Representatives of neighbouring nations also took part, as well as Kenya's ambassador to Somalia. The two sides have clashed in the past month, with the Islamists pledging to force Ethiopian troops out of Somalia. However, Ethiopia says it has held several meetings with the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) to try to resolve their differences. Last chance? The BBC's Africa editor, Martin Plaut, says the news of contacts between the two sides is a surprising revelation. Previously, there have been fears that the sporadic clashes would escalate to all-out war with the Islamists on one side, and Somalia's transitional government on the other side alongside the Ethiopians. TIMELINE 30 Nov 2006: Ethiopia's parliament authorises all legal and necessary steps against any invasion by the UIC 27 Nov 2006: UIC accuse Ethiopian forces of shelling Bandiradley Oct 2006: Ethiopian's PM says Ethiopia is "technically at war" with the UIC Sept 2006: Somalia's president survives an assassination attempt July 2006: Ethiopian troops cross into Somalia June 2006: UIC takes control of Mogadishu 1996: Ethiopian forces defeat Islamist fighters in Somali town of Luuq 1964 and 1977: Wars fought over Ethiopia[somaliGalbeed] region. Timeline: Ethiopia vs Somalia But our correspondent says there has been no indication from Addis Ababa of what message they communicated to the Islamists in Djibouti. Last month Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said the Islamists represented a "clear threat" to his country which he said was prepared for conflict following repeated Islamist calls for a holy war. The UIC, which is backed by Ethiopia's rival, Eritrea, and now controls much of southern Somalia, has denied claims by Ethiopia and the weak Somali transitional government that it has links to al-Qaeda. The talks come as Somalia's interim government, formed two years ago, edges closer to securing regional and international approval for the deployment of foreign peacekeeping troops in Somalia. When he came to power, interim President Abdullahi Yousef asked for foreign troops to bolster his position. A regional grouping of African states has now backed that proposal in principle, with the African Union also offering support. The idea is now being considered by the UN Security Council. The UIC strongly opposes any foreign presence on Somali soil, as do several members of Igad, including Sudan. Our correspondent says the talks in Djibouti could be the last opportunity to head off all-out conflict in the Horn of Africa.

^Abdulahi-Ahmar has always been a coward and traitor and I can honestly say, Somalia is better without him... Here is what a concerned Somali citizen said: For us, Ethiopia will not rest until Somalia becomes its satellite as there are so many Somalis who are competing for its alliance, political and power hungry prostitutions. Ethiopia sees Somalia as its lifeline for economic, maritime gateway and business opportunities. Additionally, Ethiopia sees Somalis unpatriotic, politically disunited and physically fragmented. Ethiopia leads the scramble for Somalia, where she can transport its poisonous Qat, which is only consumed by beguile Somalis who are indirectly feeding and sustaining our historical enemys treasury and the military armaments of its marauding pundit militias. We must view Ethiopia as our past, present and future enemy. We must teach our children and other clueless Somalis to note Ethiopia as our real enemy that is after our resources, territories and wants to leech our blood and national resources. Those Somalis who allied with Ethiopia must be seen as the other face of the coin of Ethiopian.

BAYDHABO: Dadka ag deggen Madaxtooyada Somalia oo lagu amray inay isaga guuraan halkaas Posted to the Web Dec 03, 15:07 Baydhabo (PP) - Dadka Deggen agagaarka Madaxtooyada Soomaaliya ee Baydhabo ayaa laga codsaday inay isaga guuraan halkaas, waxaana la sheegay in codsigaas uu yimid kaddib markii qarax uu ka dhacay albaabka hore ee Baydhabo. Warar ay Puntlandpost ka heshay ilo wareedyo ku sugan Magaalada Baydhabo ayaa waxay sheegayaan in soo jeedintaan ay tahay mid ka timid dhanka Dowladda Federaalka Soomaliya ayna gaarsiiyeen dadkaas Booliiska Degmada Baydhabo. Xarunta Madaxtooyada ayaa la sheegay in haatan ay tahay meel ammaankeeda si weyn loo sugayo, waxaana booliiska Baydhabo ay sheegeen inay ka baqo qabaan in loogu soo gabado dadka deegaankaas daggan oo waxyeello la gaarsiiyo xarunta Madaxtooyada ee Dowladda Federaalka Soomaaliya. Dhawaan ayaa waxaa ka dhacay Magaalada Baydhabo qarax weyn oo keenay cabsi ad u fara badan oo la soo darista madaxda Dowladda, waxaana wararka qaarkood ay sheegayaan in qaraxyadaas oo ahaa kuwo dhowr ah lala damacsanaa in Baydhabo la geliso isla markaana lala beegsado xarunta Madaxtooyada Dowladda Federaalka Soomaaliya. Madaxweynaha Soomaaliya ayaa la sheegay inuu ku boorriyay kooxaha sugidda ammaanka inay adkeeyaan amaanka isla markaana kordhiyaan howlahooda gaarka ah, waxaana dadka lagu amray inay ka guuraan xarunta Madaxtooyada agteeda loogu baaqay inay dagaal bartamaha Magaalada Baydhabo. Qarax kan ka horreeyay ayaa la isku dayay in lagu qaarijiyo Madaxweynaha Soomaaliya C/llaahi Yuusuf Axmed, Balse uu ka badbaaday, waxaana qaraxaas lala beegsaday Madaxweynaha xilli uu ka baxay xarunta Baarlamaanka oo uu socday Madaxtooyada oo ah halka uu rasmi ahaan u daggan yahay. Maxamed Xuseen Jantiile Wakiilka Puntlandpost - Mogadishu E-mail: puntlandpostmog@hotmail.com Saaxiibkaa u *** Daabaco Qormadan

DAMACA ITOOBIYA IYO DAMIIR LAAWEYAASHA BAYDHABO Mohamed-Deeq Abadi-madar ”Haldhaa” haldhaa35@hotmail.com Waxaan in badan maqlaa dad Soomaaliyeed oo aqoonyahanoo isku sheegaya oo ku dooda in tigreega hadda Itoobiya xukuma uu ka fiicanyahay ama ka duwan yahay xukunkii Mingiste. Run ahaantii ma aqaan si day u fikirayaan, laakiin waxaad mooddaa inay aqoon la’aan hadlayaan oo ay iska sheegayaan waxaysanba ka warhayn. Waxaa cad in xabashidu ay cadaw noo tahay noocay doontaba ha noqotee. Waxa ay biladaha isku siiyaana ay tahay hadba si ay ula dagaalaan ummadda Soomaaliyeed. Madax-waynihii hore ee Itoobiya Mingeste Xayle Maryan mar uu la hadlayay golahiisa baarlamaanka wax yar ka hor intuusan cararin, wuxuu yiri;- " Guusha ugu wayn ee aan u soo hooyay dalka Itoobiya waa inaan burburiyay dawladdkii Soomaaliyeed oo aan dib danbe loo arki doonin dawlad Soomaaliyeed ". Waxaa laga yaabaa inay in badan is waydiiso faa'iidad ugu jirta dawladda Itoobiya burburinta Soomaaliya. Waxaanse filayaa inay cid kastaa u caddahay kana jawaabi karto. Iyadoo sidaas ay jirtana bal aynu yara qodabayno faa'iidada Itoobiya ugu jirta burburkii dawladda Soomaaliya. 1- Itoobiya oo ah dawlad Kirishtaan ah kuna dhex jirta jasiirad Muslimiin ah oo intay Muslimiintu midnimo iyo walaanimo ku suganyihiin ay Itoobiya noloshu ciriiri ku tahay. 2- Dalka Itooobiya oo ah saddex meeloodoo laba meel iyo badh dhulkii dawladii Islaamka ahayd ee Harar (Adari) fadhiyi jirtay laga dhacay iyo shacabka Itoobiya oo 75% Musliin ah kuna jira gumaysi nooca ugu xun oo markaa haddii ay Soomaaliya sii dhisnaato laga baqayo inay raadiso dhulka Muslimiinta ka maqan shacabkana kiciso. 3- Itoobiya oo aan xeeb lahayn gacantoodiina ay ka baxday xeebihii Muslimiinta Eretareeya. Marka waxaa qasab ku ah inay raadsadaan xeebo kale. Taasna waxaa lagu heli karaa jiritaan la'aanta dawladda Soomaaliyeed. 4- Inta ka sokaysa qabsashada xeebaha waxay ku talo jiraan inay helaan waxyaalaha ka soo dega dekadaha Soomaaliyeed ee aan dawladda lahayn, sida Xamar, Boosaaso, Kismaayo iyo Berbera. Kuwaasoo waqtigan xaadirka ah wixii ka soo dega ku gala canshuur la’aan labada dawladood ee Kiinya iyo Itoobiya. Waxa maanta ay labada waddan ku camiranyihiina waa xoolahaas canshuur la'aanta kaga soo dega dekadaha aan dawlada lahayn, kuna gala canshuur la'aan. 5- In suuq xor ah oo aysan dawladi maamulin loo helo maandooriye yaasha, sida Khamriga, xashiishka oo waddanka aad loogu beeray iyo Qaadka. Taasoo aad arkayso in maalin kastaa ay ka soo duulaan labadaas dal dayuurado wada caws (Qaad) oo ayna ku noqdaan dayuurado wada lacag adag. Khamrigana waxaaba lagu sameeyaa waddanka gudahiisa oo waxaa sameeya xabashida joogta. Xashiishkana waxaaba lagu beeray meelihii loogu talo galay in bariiska lagu beero intii uu burburay qarankii soomaaliyeed. 6- In bulshada laga baabi'iyo dhaqanka fiican iyo akhlaaqda, hoosna loo dhigo xaaladooda caafimaadka oo cudrada xun xun ee aan dawada lahayna lagu faafiyo, sida (AIDS-ka). Taasna waxaa fuliya naago iyo rag u dhashay Itoobiya. Naaguhuna waxay meelo badan oo dalka ka mid ah ka furteen goobo ay kaga ganacsadaan jiidhkooda iyadoo ay u dheertahay jaasuusnimo ay dawlada Itoobiya u jaasuusayaan. Intaas aannu soo sheegnay oo dhanna waxaa nooga marag kacaya duullankii gardarada ahaa ee ay Itoobiya ku soo qaadday ummadda Soomaaliyeed ee la ildaran daadadka iyo macaluusha. Ummaadda Soomaaliyeed ee soo ceshatay wanaaggii iyo kala danbaytii 16 sano ka maqnayd caasimadda Muqdisho. Ummaadda Soomaaliyeed ka guulaysatay qabqablayaashii giidh miiradka ahaa 16ka sano. Itoobiya waxay damacsanaydna wuxuu ahaa inay baabi'iso Muslimiinta geeska Afrika, si ay taas u gaartana waxay doonaysaa inay hesho dekado ay ku dhul ballaarsato. Duullaamada ay Itoobiya ku soo qaaddo ummadda muslimka ah ee Soomaliyeed waxaa gacan xoog leh ku siiya Maraykanka, sida uu sheegay wasiirka gaashaan dhigga ee Itoobiya, kadib markii duullaan ku soo qaaden jabhaddii S/galbeed sannadkii 1994kii. Wuxuuna yiri wasiirkaas isagoo BBCda u warramayay "Waxaanu dawladda Maraykanka ka helnay gargaar ah gawaarii gaashaam, waxyaalo kalana waanu ka sugaynaa". Duullaankii gobalka Gedaba waxaa ka qayb galay helakobtardii maraykanka nooca loo yaqaan (Cobra). Haddana waxaa hubanti ah duullaanka ay itoobiyaanku soo qaadeen inay taageero ka haystaan Maraykan oo ku waafaqsan arrintaas, kadib markii uu ku fashilmay taageeradii uu soo siiyay qabqablayaashii dagaalka ee Muqdisho. Waxaa kaloo iyagana gacan xoog leh siiyay dawladda Kiinya oo iyadu u sahayshay inay Itoobiyaanku ka soo galaan dhinaca Kiinya. Run ahaantiina dagaalka way u sinaayeen, mana kala sokeeyaan oo iyaguna waa cadawga labaad ee ay Soomaalidu leedahay. Cadaawada ay Kiinya u hayso Soomaalida waxaad ka heli kartaa oo aan ku qeexay buugga la yiraahdo "Tuugo sharciyaysan" ee soo baxay 1997kii. Kaas oo aan kaga hadlayay dhibaatooyinkii ay booliiska Kiinya u gaysteen qaxootigii Soomaaliyeed ee ku soo qaxay Kenya. Waxaase intaasoo dhan ka daran oo ka cadawtinimo badnaa madax-weyne isku sheegga iyo ra’iisul wasaare isku sheegga iyo baarlamaan isku sheegyada, Soomaaliyeed kuwaasoo dalkoodii iyo dadkoodii u soo horqaaday cadaw soo jireen ah oo lana col ah diinta iyo dhaqankagaba. Waxayna dadkoodii iyo dalkoodiiba dhaafsadeen dhowr shilin, waaba haddii la siiyee!!. Yaase u sheega inaysan Wayaanadu (Tikreegu) waxba bixinin Daafi qallashay oo qudhuntay mooyaanee. Bal nimankaas cadawga soo horkacay maanta ma mudanyihiin in Madax-weyne ama ra’iisul wasaare ama Wasiir ama Xil-dhibana lagu sheego?!!. Kuwa kale ee qorshaha la wadaagana ma mudanyihiin in janano iyo kornaylo iyo masuuliyiin lagu sheego, sida Jen. Cadde Muuse, Cabdi Qeybdiid, Ismaaciil Buubaa, Shaati-guduud iyo kuwa kalaba?!!. May. Ma mudna. Sababtoo ah ma ahan rag waawayn mana ahan carruur. Ma aha jaahiliin, cilmina ma lahan. Ma waalna, mana miyirqabaan. Reer magaalana ma ahan reer baadiyana ma ahan. Waxaase lagu sheegi karaa :- "Waxba yahoow" . Waana kuwuu gabayga ku tilmaamay gabayaagii waynaa ee Soomaaliyeed Allaha u naxariistee C/laahi Suldaan "Tima cadde" "Rag sagaashanka dhaafay Oo gadhka saynta gammaankiyo Kebed soohan la moodaa Sanbab loo lulayaa oo Baruur saafiya mooda ". Waxaan qormadaydan ku soo gabagabaynayaa inay ummadda Soomaaliyeed isku kaashato wanaaga iyo khayrka, cadawgeedana ka hortimaado oo dalkooda iyo diintooda ka daafacato iyagoo is haysta. Waxaan kaloon ugu baaqayaa inay ka haraan gadanayaasha doonaya inay dillaalaan dadka iyo dalka Soomaaliyeed, kuwaasoo carruurtoodii iyo xaasaskoodii dibadaha gaystay, oo doonaya inay carruutanada ku dhammeeyaan madaafiicda ay sooo ganayaan iyo kuwa ay ku soo hoggaaminayaan. Waxaan kalloon ugu baaqayaa inay u soo laabtaan diintooda iyo Allihii abuuray way liibaanayaan aakhiri iyo adduunba ee. Waligiina yaysan idin murginin daba dhilifka iyo gumaysi raacaha doonaya inuu dhulka Soomaaliyeed ka iibiyo gumaysi soo jireen ah. "Soomaaliyana Soomaali baa leh". Mohamed-Deeq Abadi-madar ”Haldhaa” Chairman of The Somali Social Democrats’ Party (SSDP) haldhaa35@hotmail.com

War on Somalia to Divert attention from Ethiopian unrest Saturday 2 December 2006 22:10. By Qeerransoo Biyyaa* Dec 1, 2006 - At this moment Ethiopia is at its peak in poverty and political turmoil. The government is unable to control disease outbreaks or it just does not care. For instance cholera has wiped out hundreds of people in South and South East. In other parts of the country seeing a depressing scene of humans dying on hospital concrete floors is common. Malaria and HIV/AIDs wiping millions non-stop. There are not adequate medical doctors nor are there medical supply for the diseases to be treated at hospitals and local clinics. We are going back to a period that looks like when Mohammed Amin through his photography revealed to the world about the existence of a grinding poverty in Ethiopia. People are hardly able to afford to move from place to place using public and private transportation. The prices of both long distance and short distance transportation has doubled everywhere except in Meles Zenawi's Tigray. Besides these horribly indescribable difficult living situations, there is a growing protest to political and economic oppression by a greater majority of the Ethiopian population. Government security forces are on everyone's doorstep every morning you walk out and every evening you walk in. If you are suspected of having affiliation with opposition, you are gone. That is both in urban and rural areas. Where protests are very strong in Oromia and other parts of the country, people are tortured in their own houses. They will make people lie down on the ground and walk over their chest several times until they faint. They also tie water or some objects to male's genital organs. Rapes are widespread. Specially the Agazi force and federal police do that. This force is purely from ethnically Tigrian tribe from top officials to ordinary soldiers. It is a force loyal to the Meles Zenawi regime. They do terrorise people and interrupt their activities. They do sometimes loot money from private houses and business people to discourage them in their work. Zenawi has no legitimate fears of threat from Somalia as he claims. Rather he is going to war with Somalia because mainly he wants to divert the attentions of the rest of the world from the problems that are cooking within Ethiopia because of injustices. That is why I have started my views with the deteriorating political, social and economic situations within Ethiopia. That is a very important understanding to tell why Meles Zenawi is declaring war on Somalia. If Zenawi goes to war with Somalia, he will hide his internal bad records from the west. Also it is perhaps one of the best ways for him to do some business with the United States of America and make billions of US dollars to keep him in power. But I am not sure if he will be able to regain a long lost western description of "One of the new breeds of African Democrats". * The author is based in ethiopia; he can be reached at meettaa@gmail.com

Tigray region booming while majority of Ethiopians are starving.... Because of the dominant role played by the TPLF in the EPRDF, it is not surprising that the Tigray Region has received the lion's share of economic benefits from Front activities. Tigray has become the center for new factories manufacturing, among other things, pharmaceutical products and cement and other building materials. The infrastructure of the region is being improved by the construction of irrigation dams, roads linking different woredas, airports in the main towns, schools, special vocational training centers, colleges, clinics and hospitals, and water supply systems. Electricity and telephone services are available in many of the towns. The massive Tiss Abay Hydro-Electric Power Project, now under construction on the Blue Nile, primarily will benefit Tigray when completed. The outpouring of economic benevolence on Tigray at the expense of other parts of the nation is described by Assefa Negash as "the pillage of Ethiopia." The marked imbalance between the reconstruction activities in Tigray and in the other regions was justified by Prime Minister Meles as a function of the constitutional division of power between the Federal Government and the Regional States. Since each regional state is responsible for the overall development of its domain, according to Meles, the dynamic economic growth in Tigray is attributable to the successful efforts of the Tigray Regional State. The Prime Minister failed to note that the Central Government has provided Tigray with more development resources than have been available to other regions and that Tigray was receiving 85 percent of all international aid to Ethiopia.

Get Ethiopian troops out of Somalia By Gregory H. Winger ALEXANDRIA, VA. – In matters of war, America must be wary of an ally who greets her with a beggar's hand. This is the case with Ethiopia and its involvement in the war on terror: The country hopes that if it helps keep radical Islam at bay in the horn of Africa, the US will send aid its way. In early summer, at the request of the fledgling Somali government, neighboring Ethiopia moved troops into Somalia to halt the advance of the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), which already controls much of the south, including Mogadishu, Somalia's capital. Ethiopia's actions seem to be in the best interest of the United States, as a militant Islamic regime in Somalia would be a major complication in the war on terror. However, Ethiopia is neither suited to promoting peace in Somalia nor interested in pacifying the troubled land. In truth, no country stands to gain more than Ethiopia from a war against the Islamic militias in Somalia. Ethiopian troops in Somalia are regarded as hated foreign interlopers whose sole purpose is to prop up an unpopular and powerless regime. Ethiopian soldiers on Somali soil strengthen the Islamic Courts by allowing them to claim the mantle of nationalist defenders, which garners them popular support and undermines the country's transitional government. Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is not only aware that his actions have increased the possibility of conflict, but is counting on the outbreak of war to win him aid. The past year has not been kind to the Ethiopian government. After fixed elections that allowed Mr. Zenawi to win a third term, the government began a crackdown on the opposition. In response, the US Congress passed a bill branding the government as undemocratic and an abuser of human rights. Additionally, international donors have stopped the flow of cash to the Ethiopian government, and have not been in contact with the regime for several months. The loss of aid has hurt, as Ethiopia is one of the most aid-dependent countries in the world. But an anti-Islamist war in Somalia would enable Zenawi to position himself as a key ally in the war on terror. Zenawi reasons that if his country plays an essential role in supporting Somalia's transitional government against the UIC, the United States will provide economic and diplomatic support, despite other objections to Ethiopia's policies. All Zenawi has to do is wait for civil war in Somalia to reignite - an outcome made more likely by his deployment of troops. Last week, Somalia's president, Abdullah Yusuf, escaped a suicide car bomb meant to take his life. The transitional government and its Ethiopian allies have been quick to link this attack to the UIC and Al Qaeda. However, even following this attack, war is not inevitable, and the US does not have to play the fool in this potential African tragedy. While both the UIC and Ethiopia would benefit from war, three groups critical to peace would lose in this equation: The struggling transitional government, which has no interest in a war that would lead to its own destruction, and the civil war-weary population and Mogadishu business community, without whose support the UIC cannot keep control of southern Somalia. America can appeal to these factions within Somalia by offering economic incentives - such as lifting sanctions on certain Somali companies - as a reward for cooperation in seeking a peaceful solution. By assisting a regional peacekeeping mission and supporting the current peace talks in Khartoum between the UIC and the transitional government, the US can help prevent Somalia from becoming a new front in the war on terrorism. Yet moderation will never triumph as long as Ethiopian troops are on Somali soil and remain a rallying cry for Islamic extremists. Since 2002, the US military has operated a task force in Djibouti to provide humanitarian assistance and military instruction to the horn of Africa. One of the key benefactors has been Ethiopia. America must call immediately for Ethiopia to remove all of its forces from Somali territory. And if Zenawi does not comply, the US should suspend all nonhumanitarian operations inside Ethiopia and all future assistance to the government until Ethiopian soldiers leave Somalia. America is prepared to help governments in need of assistance, but this aid should not go to a leader eager to spark an unnecessary war. Only when Ethiopia proves itself to be a supporter of progress in the horn of Africa, and a true ally of America in its conduct of both its foreign and domestic affairs, should it enjoy the rewards of American friendship. Until then, the US must show Ethiopia and the world that America refuses to define its allies based solely on whom they battle against, and that fighting in the war on terror merely out of self-interest is not a quick way to curry favor. • Gregory H. Winger is a senior research assistant at the National Defense Council Foundation in Alexandria, Va.

The occuppied Somalis in SomaliGalbeed would have voted to join the motherland without a question except ofcourse few calooshood ushaqeeystayaal just like our own calooshood ushaqeeystayaal serving the master well and no amount of spinning by few cheerleaders can cloud that fact. The forgotten and neglected Somali Region of Ethiopia: This region lies in SE Ethiopia, bordering on Somalia and Kenya. It is an arid region, inhabited by Somali pastoral nomads. Upon the scramble and partition of Africa in 1884 by the Europeans, the region remained given to Menelik II of Ethiopia during 1891-97, but the territory was totally engulfed in 1954. The region has been in wars, cyclic droughts and total devastation since then, but mostly since 1960 up to now and State policies met with varying levels of resistance. The people of the region are naturally peaceful and where never allowed to exercise their right for self-determination, but rather subjected to longstanding hidden-sufferings and abuses by ruthless successive Ethiopian governments. The only sign of other Ethiopians present or living in this region is the presence of huge military garrisons, which are there only for repression and destruction of lives, both humans and animals. The Ethiopian populations is 64 million and are living in the 9 regions of Ethiopia, Oromonia is the largest region in Ethiopia, while the Somali region is the second. Ethiopia is considered by many experts to be the poorest country on earth, yet the present Ethiopian government has currently over 350,000 soldiers, the largest army in black Africa, and about 100,000 of them are in the Somali region, which is populated by 4-5 million Somalis, that is 8% of the Ethiopian population. The presence in our region by this unjustified huge army tells us more about the plight of our people. Successive Ethiopian governments have not allowed the Somalis to join the army, police and security services, except for some local notorious spies who work with the Ethiopian soldiers by spying only on Somalis, and that kind of employment remains to be the most lucrative work in our region! Forced conscription of young Somalis to join the army and fight in other troubled regions of Ethiopia has been quite common for the last century. More than 20,000 Somalis where forced against their will and participated in the Ethio-Eritrean fighting of 1998-2000. The majority of them, about 16,000, remained unaccounted for to this day, while those who survived where ordered to go back to their agonized families without being paid any salary for the three years that they were fighting at the front lines. The Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) soldiers in the region are themselves the courts, judges, prosecutors, executioners, the police and you name it...!!!, that is to say all the powers in the region are in their hands. They kill people indiscriminately at their own will, without the rule of law, since they have the green lights to do so unchecked from those in Addis Abeba. Every aspect of decent human life remains neglected in this region and the people in this unfortunate region lack the minimum basic standards of human beings in the 21st century such as follows: 1. The Somalis remain denied of their rights to basic education. There are elementary schools and several high schools, which function irregularly. The many universities and colleges in Ethiopia very rarely accept Somali students to study in them. Only about 1-2% of our people can speak Amharic, which is the official language of Ethiopia, while 100% of them speak native Somali language. 2. There are no proper hospitals or pharmacies but only some under-staffed health centers. More than 95% of the people do not have access to health services, while it is 47% for the rest of Ethiopians. The main access to heath services in the region remains to be that of the traditional healers, local herbal-medicine and traditional birth attendants. 3. There is no electricity any where in the region and most of the people in the region have never seen a Television or Cinemas. 4. No communications like postal services, and most of the people have not seen or used up to now telephones, faxes etc., because there aren’t any in the region. 5. There are no roads in the region except dirty dusty ones and trails created by the nomads and their herds. 6. There is no clean drinking tape water. People, their herds and other wild animals share what ever they find in dirty wells. In most of the dry Seasons the Ethiopian soldiers will occupy these wells and people have to bribe them by giving them some of their herds, because that is the only way they can get water and survive in the harsh dry seasons. 7. There isn’t any kind of major developmental project in the whole region, but only few minor ones that are implemented by TPLF supporters from Tigray region, while local Somalis are not allowed to be contractors in their own region. 8. There is no regular farming activities in this region, because traditionally the bandit Ethiopian soldiers will collect forcefully the harvested crops and this has discouraged the people of the region to farm. 9. No proper buildings in the so called “shanty towns” and villages of the region and no public health services, including proper waste disposal system. Instead of schools, one will notice the hundreds of prisons that are in all over the region including even the rural villages. These awful prisons have horrendous and scary underground cells not suitable at all for humans or animals. However, true people remain herded in these man made caves! 10. There are no commercial civilian airports or airlines that serve in the region, but many military airports as well as their fighter jet planes, which participate actively and regularly in the oppression and destruction of the people and their properties. 11. Ethiopian-Somalis are denied of their freedom of mobility, and do not travel freely to other regions and cities of Ethiopia. Only those with permission from the TPLF-soldiers who are occupying the Somali region illegally can travel. 12. This region has no civilian courts, judges and lawyers and Ethiopian governments, especially the present one, have been implementing a policy of targeted assassinations, unjustified imprisonment and different tactics of intimidations to the Somali intellectuals who have been forced again and again to abandon and flee their country by Ethiopian regimes, since they understand that knowledge is power. 13. All the mass media belongs to the Ethiopian government. There are not any private mass media, like radios, journals and Televisions in the Somali region. 14. There aren’t veterinary doctors or veterinary services for the millions of livestock like camels, cattle, sheep, horses, donkeys, chicken and goats in the region, an activity in which more than 70% of the people are involved and upon which they survive on. Lack of Veterinary services, recurrent droughts and diseases have contributed to the gradually decline in the numbers of the livestock herds. 15. Freedom of expression of speech, mass assembly and peaceful protest where not allowed in our region for over a century up to the present day. 16. The government doesn’t allow the local Somalis to have NGO’s and has discouraged International NGO’S as well as Ethiopian and international journalists to visit and write about our problems by telling them that the region was not peaceful and that the government will not be responsible for their security. Successive Ethiopian governments were able to keep secret of whatever was happening in our region and that is why this region was isolated or “closed” in the past and remains so until now from the rest of World. 17. The federal government has marginalized us and does not employ Somalis in its different ministries and agencies in Addis Abeba as well as elsewhere. There is one Somali among the whole staff of the Ethiopian Embassies and Consulates in all over the World, and one out of the 45 members of the Ethiopian cabinet. The unemployment rate in this region could be more than 95%! 18. The central government of Ethiopia has created several clan-based ‘political parties’ in the Somali region, a privilege that was denied from us to establish our own political parties, which has never happened. These parties are clan-based and intended to divide the Somalis into clans. This is the basic present Ethiopian regime’s attitude towards the Somalis of divide and rule by trying to create problems among the Somali clans through these ‘political parties’. Fortunately, this plan resulted in total failure and the Somalis never ever agreed with their proposals of inter-Somali clan fighting’s. 19. The government is interfering with our religious freedom and rights, and won’t hesitate to tell the Western Nations that these pastoral nomads are fundamentalist in order to get financial aid as well as weapons and thus continue its atrocities against its ‘citizens’, who on the contrary need sympathy, peace, bread, justice and development. 20. People of this region don’t own hotels or shops and hence are not involved in commercial activities, mostly for fear of daylight looting by these Ethiopian bandit soldiers and because of this more than 70% of the people remained to be pastoral nomads. Most of the Somalis in this region do not even know the Ethiopia currency-birr, because they have been trading only with Somalia by using the Somali currency-the shilling. When we look and analyse the above-cited status and many more, the people of the Somali region are not living in the 21st century, but rather way back in the Stone Ages. I can say without any bias that now this isolated region is the least developed and most impoverished spot on this earth. The Ethiopian empire has brutalized and denied the Somalis their rights and the rest of the World has forgotten them. The people of the region pay compulsory huge taxes, including the so called “head tax”, compared to what they have, but unluckily receive nothing back except for more torture, destruction, death and the absolute denial of their basic rights. Successive regimes have not only failed us, but even worse kept the lid of oppression on us, massacring at will and letting their security machinery rape our mothers, wives and sisters and kill our fathers, sons and brothers. There is neither democracy nor federalism in Ethiopia, and their lip service to democracy is done only to impress Western donor countries, UN agencies and the World Bank. They propagate federalism only to cheat the Somalis and other nations and nationalities. The present Ethiopian regime is the worst one that the region has had ever seen in the last century and its “pseudo-democracy” is socked in with the blood of innocent, defenceless and tormented ‘citizens’! All the Presidents, Vice presidents and Secretaries of the so called ‘Somali regional governments’ for the last 10 years, have ended up in jails in Addis Abeba, where they were beaten and tortured because they refused to agree and cooperate with the terrible plans of the lawless TPLF soldiers. I clearly remember when the late Hassan Jire Qalinle, who was one of the regional presidents told me upon his release “sooner or later I will die of my ordeals in that horrible underground prison”, and it materialized later on. Those who survived in their ordeals have fled the country. This regime’s soldiers were directly responsible in the extrajudicial targeted assassinations of more than 100 officials, who worked at different offices in the so called ‘regional government’ at all levels of responsibility after being thought of being sympathetic to the ***** National Liberation Front (ONLF). This clearly shows us that ‘regional government’ is a mere rubber stamp for TPLF rule over our region. Whenever they have butchered one or more of those officials, Meles and his close aids used to call and informed me the horrible news of their atrocities, just merely to judge my reactions and that was really torturing and agonizing experience. During the same period, the budgets allocated for this region weren’t utilized even to 10-15% locally at any year, but every year it was redirected for the development of Tigray region, since in the present Ethiopia, ALL ROADS LEAD ONLY TO TIGRAY REGION, when it comes to real developmental projects. The main reason they give for treating our region in that manner was that “the Somalis weren’t able to utilize their budgets on time, while Tigray utilizes its budgets always earlier than planned”. This was and is still the unimaginable tactic they used in deceiving the mini-developmental budgets of our region for the last decade. This evil regime is causing unimaginable miseries to our people in the name of the special type of “Ethiopian Democracy”, which is really a unique one with multipurpose, mostly oppressive and destructive. This government was saying loudly to the Western nations that it was establishing democracy in Ethiopia just to get economic assistance, but the fact was and is up to now completely the opposite of its propaganda. However, it is very unfortunate that many Western nations, including USA and Canada have provided it with billions of dollars in economic assistance in the last decade. The economic assistance has helped the regime to stay in power and continue committing untold gross human rights violations in the Somali region and others like Ormonia. The huge economic aid for the development of Ethiopia that has been provided by Western nations and other international bodies for the last century has been misused, and utilized as a priority in keeping the Ethiopian-empire together forcefully through its history of longstanding human rights violations. The TPLF is sadly committing horrendous crimes and more atrocities to our people than did Dictator Mingistu Hailemariam to them during the Red Terror Campaign! In the last decade, thousands of Somalis have been tortured or killed, while many more have perished in underground detention jails and hundreds of thousands where forced to flee the country. The unjustified torture, extrajudicial killings, looting of livestock and rape of women and even girls as young as 10 years are very common crimes committed on daily basis by these young, powerful and wild Ethiopian soldiers in this region. Those who do not yield to whatever these cruel soldiers want for remain categorized to be **** National Liberation Front (ONLF) sympathizer and targeted for collective persecution, including their families and relatives. Ethiopian officials regard postings to the *** as an exile and the late Emperor Haile Selassie used to send people there as a punishment of being in a big jail! However, soldier who are transferred to this region are blessed because they can become rich quickly by looting illegally goods and livestock herds and by detaining unlawfully people, so that the families and relatives of these innocent victims will have to pay huge sums of money as a bribe to secure their release. This was and is still the main ‘industrial’ activities of income for the hatred Ethiopian soldiers who are occupying forcefully our homeland. I fled from Ethiopia in 1960 and lived in Somalia since early 1991. If I stayed in Ethiopia, I would not have had the chance to attend any level of schooling and would have been an illiterate nomad today, had I survived from the daily butchering of the Ethiopian soldiers. I became the deputy-minister of health of Ethiopia, representing the Somali region in 1991. I remained in that post until the end of 1994, hoping that somehow change would come and I could contribute my part to represent my people’s interests in the government. My endeavours to bring changes resulted not only with active resistance, but also put me in a black list as a sympathizer of the ONLF. Besides my security, staying in that post will only have given the false impression that our region remained represented in the central government. Worst of all, the Ethiopian premier ordered me to hide from the United Nations (UN) agencies, embassies and the rest of the world, the outbreak of massive epidemic of cholera that killed thousands in the Somali region during 1993-1994. Among the reasons he gave me that order were “let those who are opposing us disappear in the dark of the night”, “this will compromise our export commodities” and so on. When the UN agencies and embassies got the information, the regime condemned me for the humanitarian appeal to the UN agencies and others for help and starting from that moment onwards, I remained considered to be the enemy of the regime. Clearly, Meles is a born-again dictator Mengistu Hailemariam, butchering the Somalis more than the later one did in the previous two decades. These evil Ethiopian soldiers executed members of my relatives in the town of Degahbour in early 1994 by their usual method of collective punishment and killing measures. The remaining relatives where denied access to bury them, and their corpses were left in the open to decay, while wild animals like hyenas, foxes, wild dogs and vultures were allowed eating the corpses. Traditionally the Ethiopian soldiers butcher our people in that ill-fated manners and leave the corpses in the open, watching on to see if there are sympathizers and anyone who did so gets the same ordeals. When I complained to the premier, he told me “Wait! We are teaching those who oppose us unforgettable lesson”. These are some of the most common and wild inhuman tactics that they use to terrorize and intimidate the people of this region. They kept me under indirect house arrest by assigning more than a dozen TPLF soldier to my residential house as bodyguards without my request and consent and supposedly taking care of me, but they were intimidating me openly and kept track of all my contacts, movements and of course were planning to assassinate me at the end of 1994. Other members of the cabinet had as bodyguard’s people from their respective regions, but when I requested to have Ethiopian-Somali bodyguards instead of theirs, the response they gave me was “No, we don’t absolutely want to have Somalis with guns in Addis Abeba as our security will be jeopardized”. I feared for my life and was forced again and only after 4 years to escape from my homeland and once more revisit my long life of being a refugee. I escaped with pure lucky as I was not allowed to travel abroad starting at the middle of 1994. I would have preferred to stay and live in my homeland for the rest of my life rather than becoming a re-born refugee. Successive merciless Ethiopian colonial governments have forced over a million Ethiopian-Somalis to remain refugees for most part of their life, me being among them. In my experience, there is no place like your own sweet homeland sweet! The prime minister of Ethiopia presented to his handpicked council of the House of the People’s Representatives in Addis Abeba, the new 5 years developmental plan on October 10, 2001. He said that building democracy, strengthening the judiciary and promoting respect for human rights are to feature prominently in Ethiopia’s new 5 years plan. It is most unfortunate that the World Bank’s chief economist, Nicolas Stern while visiting Addis Abeba, suddenly praised the plan before even the government started to implement and said “the programme constituted a dynamic and comprehensive strategy, with very good prospects of generating sustained long-term growth and empowering the poor to participate strongly in this process”. This kind of praise is a digger deep down in the hearts of the poor and innocent Somalis and many others in the Ethiopian-empire as it gives the green light for the Western donor nations, the World Bank and other international bodies to start providing economic aid to this merciless regime. Given our past and present experiences, such initiatives are hard to swallow until they become a reality and all the opposition parties and groups in Ethiopia have expressed strong reservation to it. When the government presents developmental plans like the above 5 years one to the Western donor nations, the World Bank and UN agencies, our region is included in that plan. Amazingly, when it comes to the implementation of the plan, the Somali region remains neglected somehow or other as if it does not exist at all from the first place. The parasitic Tigray region kept on stealing with the assistance of the ruling EPRDF regime most of the projects planned for the developmental of our region in the last decade. Again, on the 16th of October, the prime minister of Ethiopia has nominated his new cabinet, which consisted of 45 members (Ministers and Deputy-Ministers). Only 1 out of 45 is from our region, making our share 0.45%, while we represent about 8% of the Ethiopian population and the second largest region in the country. On the other hand, the Ethiopian House of people’s representatives has 547 members, mostly handpicked by the Central government in Addis Abeba. Of these 547 members, the Somali region has 22 members (4%), While the Tigray region with a population of about 2.5 million (3.9%) has 40 members (7.3%). Again of these 547 members, 481 (87.9%) belong to the ruling Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) party and there are only 35 (6.4%) opposition members, who are not handpicked by EPRDF. The discrepancies are quite clear in each of the above-mentioned examples, and our region’s share in the central government, where the real power lies, is not there at all. What kind of justice or democracy is that? Sincerely, we would have appreciated much had this regime fulfilled only 10% of the above 5 years plan in our region but for sure won’t, since it has already prepared a different plan of oppression, destruction, and death for our people. Let us ask the great Western democratic nations, the UN and other international donor bodies: Why do you listen and worse aid a government ruled by this merciless regime in the name of democracy? Is there one system of Universal democracy in our World or are there different systems of democracy, depending upon where you are living? How come Meles is claiming to be implementing democracy in Ethiopia, while at the same time denying our rights and is ordering the massacre of hundreds and thousands of Ethiopian-Somalis, victims who were supposed to be protected by ‘their government’, which is on the contrary the victimizer? We strongly believe that there is no democracy without rights and strangely enough, his government calls itself proudly: THE FEDERAL DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF ETHIOPIA. This misleading and false title remained used as a potent weapon of propaganda in deceiving the opinions of the Western nations and other International bodies successful during the last decade. Surprisingly, after more than a decade of ruling in the name of democracy by the EPRDF regime, it admitted openly to the World for the first time this year to be establishing a new “DEMOCRACY RENEWAL SYSTEM” in Ethiopia! What was the one-democracy that they were advocating for the past decade? We will not be surprised if they again come up with another new system of democracy in 5-10 years, provided they stay in power with the help of the donors! The people in this region and elsewhere in the country have absolutely lost all faith and confidence in the present government and its hollow commitments to genuine democratization, protection of basic human rights and the right to self-determination for all nations and nationalities in the Ethiopian-empire. Meles is a classic hypocrite, and knows that without being checked of his brutality, the Western donor nations, after hearing the World Bank’s comments, will appreciate much his plan and will start pouring millions of dollars in aid and economic assistance. That will allow him to stay in power and continue butchering more Ethiopians particularly in the Somali and Oromo regions. Even his own TPLF central committee members are expressing dissatisfaction and are now openly accusing him of being an absolute dictator! These under-privileged and underserved Ethiopian-Somalis have been fighting for their rights and justice for over a century and will continue to do so until they win back all, including the right for self-determination. It is high time for the Western nations, the World Bank and the UN in knowing the truth and reality in the horn of Africa. We are appealing to them to assist us in wining back our rights, which were stolen from us for over a century by successive brutal Ethiopian dictators, of which the present one is the worst and is surviving only at the back of its repressive security forces! It is time for the great Western democratic nations to understand the malpractice of the best system of governing in the World-democracy by the ruling EPRDF regime, which is the prime human rights violator in Eastern Africa in the name of democracy. The donor nations should stop aiding the likes of that government in the developing countries. It is ludicrous that aid brought to Ethiopia in the name of establishing democracy is allowing the regime to deny us of our basic human rights and freedoms. The present Ethiopian government was fully responsible for hiding from the World the horrific drought and famine that started in our region in early 1998, in which thousands of people died of starvation after losing their livestock’s. A British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) journalist who sneaked into the region was the first to report the severe and hidden drought to the World in the middle of 2000. Journalist permitted later on to report the famine to world, reported that the region was devastated and almost completely isolated from the World and even Ethiopia. What happened to the grain and medical supplies shipments during the famine crisis? The Ethiopian government diverted most of the international food and medical aid to its huge army (>350,000). Still worse, the government used the remaining international food and medical aid in our region as a weapon, giving it only to those who were appreciative of its policies, while those who didn’t were left to die in painful hunger and misery by creating an intentional starvation!!! Those of us who have fled and are living in Europe, North America and elsewhere in the World can’t up to now criticize openly the Ethiopian government in Addis Abeba, for fear of massive retaliation to members of our families and relatives in our homeland. The Ethiopian regime is thus denying us indirectly our basic rights for freedom of speech and expression! Those of us living abroad are distressed but hopeful that one day we will go back to our homeland free of the Ethiopian oppressive regime. The Somalis in Ethiopia have the right to live in peace without fear. They are entitled to enjoy the minimum decent human being standards of human rights and fundamental freedoms as they are accepted and adopted by the international community in which Ethiopia is a signatory member, but is not abiding to its signature. Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) states that the right to self-determination is universal and calls upon States to promote the realization of that right and to respect it. The article provides that: “All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development. All peoples may, for their own ends, freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources without prejudice to any obligations arising out of international economic cooperation, based upon the principle of mutual benefit, and international law. In no case may a people be deprived of its own means of subsistence. The States parties to the present Covenant, including those having responsibility for the administration of non-self-governing and trust Territories, shall promote the realization of the right of self-determination, and shall respect that right, in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.” On behalf of these suffering and under-privileged people of our region, we are kindly and humanly appealing to the blessed, compassionate, peace and life-loving Western nations, Amnesty International, the UN, the World Bank, Human Rights Watch and the rest of peace and freedom-loving nations of the World to intervene urgently in the plight of the Ethiopian-Somalis. They are real human beings living in sub-human conditions in this isolated, grief-stricken and war-torn region of ours. This innocent pastoral nomadic Somalis in Ethiopia are bleeding for their rights and its time for them to be relieved from their chronic underprivileged ordeals with justice and all Human dignity. They have been experiencing much more than their share of injustice and sufferings in this Universe and need a break. It is sorrowful that the powerful and lawless army of Ethiopia is again on a large scale of campaign of terror on a new offensive against its own defenceless ‘citizens’ in this region. However, in this region, the land and the space above it belongs to us and believe with strong conviction and hopes that we will persevere and sooner or later the wind of freedom, peace, liberty, democracy, justice, the rule of law and prosperity will prevail in this life time suffering region of ours!!! United we stand one and want justice inorder to live with all human dignities as others are living in this World through the absolute recognition of our people’s right for self-determination. November 13, 2001. Paper presented at the Symposium on the Human Rights abuses in the Somali Region of Ethiopia, co-sponsored by Students against Human Rights Violations and Amnesty International at the University of Toronto, Canada. Prepared and presented by: Dr. Abdi Aden Mohamed: E-Mail: Drabdia@rogers.com

Yeah its wonderful place that ol capital of ours. The port is closed The air port is closed All government institutions are closed. There are a hundred murders a years including assasinations of officers and educated individuals. There are grave robbers and money laundererd and drug dealers and outright killers. The streets are dusty and divided with millitias and so-called Islamic courts running parts of the beloved capital. Come on stop the nonsence Xamar needs to be brought back to the civilised world. Few people surely missed the multiple postings of unpleasant news from Xamar big and small...No wonder why such people passionately hate the ICU...

Yet another piece of USA propaganda to laugh about.. US Defends Somalia Peacekeeping Plan By David Gollust Washington 30 November 2006 The United States said Wednesday it is backing an East African peacekeeping force for Somalia to help stabilize the country, rather than fuel ongoing warfare. A U.S.-backed draft resolution in the U.N. Security Council that would clear the way for the force is expected to come up for action within the next few days. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department. The Bush administration is defending its support for the East African force, amid charges its arrival would only worsen on-going Somali violence and perhaps lead to regional warfare. A U.S.-sponsored draft Security Council resolution, backed by the other permanent council member countries including Russia and China, would ease the international arms embargo against Somalia in place since 1992 to allow deployment of a regional force that would shore up the country's beleaguered transitional government. Based in the western Somali town of Baidoa, the Transitional Federal Institutions or T.F.I. has international support. But it is under military siege by the country's powerful Islamic movement, the Council of Islamic Courts, which controls the capital Mogadishu and says it aims to seize the entire country and perhaps even ethnic-Somali areas of neighboring states. The proposed African force, to be set up by the East African regional intergovernmental grouping IGAD, would seek to stabilize the situation by providing force training and protection for the interim government, though not undertaking offensive action against the Islamic Courts. At a briefing for reporters, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer said the United States is supporting only a narrow change in the arms embargo to allow deployment of the IGAD troops, but not fuel a wider conflict. She said flatly that the forces of the transitional government need to be trained and reinforced so that it can be what she termed a credible negotiating partner with the Islamic Courts, which she said currently sees no reason to sit down and negotiate a settlement. "We feel that this force is also important to achieve our broader Somalia objective, which includes most importantly creating a space for the dialogue to occur between the Transitional Federal government and the Union of Islamic courts. And in particular it's our view that as long as the Union of Islamic Courts continues to believe that it can have a military victory, there will not be an engagement and serious dialogue. So you have to have some parity between two sides of the dialogue," she said. Frazer said the envisaged eight-thousand member force would be made up of troops from the seven-country IGAD grouping and not Somalia's neighbors, including Ethiopia which is reported to have sent in troops to support the transitional government, and rival Eritrea which is helping the Islamists. She said that contrary to claims that the IGAD force would broaden the conflict into a regional war, its deployment would actually create conditions for Ethiopia and Eritrea to disengage, while deterring further aggression against the T.F.I. At this point, only Uganda among IGAD members has said it is ready to commit troops to the force, whose deployment is vehemently opposed by the by the Islamic Courts. The Islamic Courts movement routed a group of U.S.-backed Somali warlords early this year and seized Mogadishu in June, later capturing most of southern and central Somalia and imposing strict religious law. In her talk with reporters, Assistant Secretary Frazer said al-Qaida terrorists were operating with what she termed great comfort in areas controlled by the Islamic Courts and providing training and assistance to a group of radicals loyal to the Somali movement. She said the United States has been in contact with all elements in Somalia including the Islamic Courts, which has publicly disavowed terrorism, to try to prevent the country from becoming an al-Qaida safe-haven. Frazer said of particular concern to U.S. officials are three al-Qaida militants wanted in the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam and a coastal hotel in Kenya in 2002.

Magaca indhacade kuwardi 1000 times a day waxaa kaaga fiican Istaqfurulah adigoo dhahdid 1000 times a day.. I think the time for the obsticle known as clan courts is coming to an end. Even the ONLF has come out and said this is a clan struggle and notthing to dow ith religion. We all now that one sub-clan led by the likes of IndaCdae are not religious warriors but opportunits. This is what the clan organization of *ONLF had to say about the current situation in Somalia. *ONLF[clan organization among many clans in Somali Galbeed] rebels to resist Ethiopian army if it attacks Somali-statement Tuesday 28 November 2006 19:45. *ONLF Statement On Events Unfolding In Somalia Nov 28, 2006 — There has been much written about the events unfolding in Somalia with frequent mention of the *ONLF and speculations on our position with regards to the events unfolding in Somalia. Hence, we would like to take this opportunity to clarify to the international community and members of the media our principled position on the Somali civil war and Ethiopia’s involvement in that country’s internal affairs. First, the *ONLF categorically denies assertions by the TPLF led regime in Ethiopia and members of the media that *ONLF military personnel are in Somalia. As a matter of principle the *ONLF has never been and does not intend to be a party to the conflict in Somalia. We wish to affirm that the scope of our military operations is and will continue to be limited to **** and Ethiopia. We further wish to make clear that the *** cause in not a territorial dispute between Somalia and Ethiopia but rather a legitimate struggle for the self-determination of the Somali people of *** Secondly, the *ONLF strongly cautions the international community against permitting an Ethiopian invasion of Somalia as that would have dire consequences for the entire region. An Ethiopian invasion of Somalia will trigger a catastrophic regional war with massive loss of life and continued instability in the Horn of Africa for years to come. Thirdly, the *ONLF wishes to affirm that we will not allow our territory to be used as a launching pad for an Ethiopian invasion of Somalia without stiff resistance from our armed forces. Fourthly, the *ONLF bears witness to the fact that the TPLF led regime is in continuous breach of the arms embargo placed on Somalia and has been since the inception of the embargo. The current Ethiopian regime has clearly been the primary obstacle to the peaceful settlement of the Somali conflict for over a decade by actively interfering in the internal affairs of Somalia by arming various factions, training their militias and undermining through diplomatic maneuvers nearly all attempts at a peaceful settlement between conflicting parties. The *ONLF will continue to support and encourage every legitimate effort to provide all necessary assistance to the Somali people so that they can fully grasp their political future into their own hands and move toward a peaceful, prosperous and democratic future built by Somalis and for Somalis. *ONLF.. Let me make it clear again..This is only to expose the lies of Zenawi cheerleaders.