Djibouti, Somaliland in bitter port feud

[Djibouti, Somaliland in bitter port feud]

From what I know, The Saudi authorities requested a livestock screening centre to be built in order to control any outbreak of epidemy.

 

Then a Saudi company invested in Djibouti, helped with foreign aid and in concert with local authorities, to built that centre.

 

Do you have any other choice than to comply with your client demands, if you want to expot that is?

[Is it time to separate religion from politics?]

What is politics? Politics come from Polis, which means city in Greek as the city-State was the norm in classical Greece; hence politics is the State or public affairs management by its citizens.

 

Could religion be separated from politics?

 

In other words, could religion be dissociated from the laws which regulate the way a State is run, its rapports with its citizens and other States?

 

But does this amount to saying: could there be any legal system derived purely through "secular means", whatever that may signify?

 

Clearly, no human legal system hasn't been fundamently influenced by religions, as Christian values and old Pagan Roman traditions, for instance, were the main sources of Western legal systems...

[Is it time to separate religion from politics?]

...

[Is Democracy the ultimate form of government?]

If we are to have a meaningful debate, the question should rather be re-formulated as "Is democracy a la Western the most ethical political framework according to their own standards?".

 

Clearly, underneath the thin veil of mass participation, political decisions ultimately benefits powerful corporations and Western establishments as epitomized in the USA considered as a "democracy model" (irresponsible agriculture, indecent health and income inequalities, Drugs advertizing to the public allowed thanks to powerful lobbies, racial inequalities ect).

 

Even more catastrophic in terms of human costs, US sponsored economic exploitation, pollutions, insecurity caused by unilaterism and constant violation of International Laws as well as political hi-jacking through direct/indirect interventions and armament race, not least nuclear proliferation, will likely expose humankind with exceptional challenges and possible extinction.

 

hence, just by enumerating few of the endless list of crimes perpretated against humanity as a whole, not mentioning those against ignorant US citizens whose 2/3 rate of death is easily avoidable, one can have a glimpse of the results of such "democracies"...

[THE BENEFITS OF TEA]

Another study found that Tea benefits are severely reduced by the addition of milk, a very common practice.

 

At the same time, with diabete rapidly becoming a serious health concern even in Sub-saharian countries such as Somalia, the risks can far outweight the benefits.

 

The average Somali family use nowadays pure sugar (glucose) as one of its main source of energy alongside white flour (typical bread/pancake and tea meal), which both quickly rise blood glucose level and hence trigger type 2 diabete.

 

Moreover, not only caffeine diuretic properties (favorizes urine emission) eliminates the rare oligo-elements found in Somali typical diet, especially given their frequent tea consmption, but it also explains its addictiveness, while exhausting the brain in a vicious cycle (exhaustion/stimulation through tea/exhaustion ect) and favorizing insomnia.

 

That is why I personally find little difference between tea and coffe, although tea contains significantly less caffeine; it is not like Tea corporations and others partial studies are inciting us to drink one light cup of tea, made from natural leaves, and without added sugar from time to time.

 

And that is why also such pseudo-science popularized by the media could be very damaging...

[STD in Somalia]

Even by assuming that "condoms are the way forward", how could they be widely available in rural as well as urban areas and supplied regularly in a country where the lack of clean water work havoc on its population?

 

So, are you ready to say to the poor under-nourished mother: I have neither food supplies nor safe water to drink for you, but here's your weekly entitlement of condoms so you can have safe sex at least!

 

On a more serious note, pre-nuptial checks for STDs should be institued, alongside other routine health-checks, as already done in other countries (maybe by making it compulsory or offering incentives).

 

Likewise, those already contaminated could be helped or even treated through generic medicines, if offering it would not conflict with other priorities, as to encourage individuals at risk to diagnosis themselves and avoid propagating STDs.

 

Nevertheless, the more fundamental issue is to discourage prostitution/adultery/fornication by applying Shariah while educating the masses about Islam.

 

It should be stressed also that Aids, however most dangerous, is just the tip of the iceberg as many other STDs cause infertility, major disabilities, chronic pain, favorize some forms of cancers or even kill .

 

It seems incredible then that some will lombastes their creator wisdom and advocate instead for condoms, medicines ect which can only protect/cure to a limited extent against STDs, while the health systems of the richest countries can not sustain other unavoidable treatments despite their already unsustainable economies which destroy the environment and lives of the rest of the mankind!

[Rare People indeed]

Couldn't agree more. Maybe we tend to think of Islam as another Qabil (determined by birth, we only get emotional about palestinians/muslims killings even though their societies are seculars) rather than an all-encompassing way of life/thinking that must prevail upon any other material consideration.

 

that may explain why we don't bother learning about our Deen basic, which should obviously be the first priority -while addicted to the news- as if our problems were not the result of lack of Da'wa among Muslims and non Muslims alike (our secular outlook, which attributes everything to necessarily superficial/material causes, don't help either).

 

As for the reverts, born among Kuffars, they are more immune against such traps, hence their authenticate Islamic way of living/thinking/priorities which always amazes me when I met them accross the West...

[What to do When i reach back home!]

Personally, We used to live in Hargeysa during summer vacations; I still have vivid memories of my first summer there in 86 as a 2 and half years baby when the Somali army fanfare paraded weekly ("baamboy") and how we enjoyed putting little "tusbaale" on a "qodax" spit, playing with the cousins, the family spirit (all united under the same house) ect.

Likewise the other summers, apart from some chilling stories; in fact, the vast spaces, greeneries, the abundance of unexplosed ammunitions and weapons, the MIGs/technicals at the airport were all the more exciting.

I still have most idyllic images in mind and preferred the place to extremely hot, desertic Djibouti but we had to leave for school, work ect.

 

Economically, you can have a top lifestyle for a few hundreds dollars there, so I don't understand why anyone would prefer spend his money in any other African State just to get that, especially when it's so badly needed at home.

 

At any rate, there are plenty investments opportunities over there and land prices are soaring although this bubble is economically counterproductive and speculation is not only destructive but also un-islamic; the construction sector is also booming though there are more ethical/productive investments ect.

 

The only limiting factors are, in fact, imputable to corruption/mismanagement as politicians feel free to squander the meagre resources provided they maintain our "sovereignity within the British colonial borders", though Sool & Sanaag are partly under Puntland administration despite the fact that the army absorb 3/4 of the budget(the notoriously mismanaged Berbera port income has not even contributed to its upgrading, let alone to national Education & Health efforts).

 

Really sad Indeed, when Somaliland have largely the capacity to be self-sufficient and even to export (for instance food products consumed in Djibouti are imported from Ethiopia rather than "Somaliland", the Arab states boycotted livestock export due to the unconditional secessionism ect)...

[What went wrong?]

Actually, my aforementioned remarks were merely reflecting the opinions of some local sheikhs, hence the misunderstanding.

 

Now, given that they explained Islamically why the courts failed (inclusion of too many bid'a groups, not that ICU supporters were all misguided), what remains is to form a consensus on how to deal with the warlords puppet regime while avoiding a generalized blood bath a la Iraqi at all cost.

 

Negociatiating doesn't means defeat...

[What went wrong?]

Salafiyyah simply means ascribing to the Kitaab, Sunnah, and the precedence of the Salaf. Another name for a Salafi is, I'm sure you've heard of it, a Muslim. No more, no less. Salafiyyah does not mean blind following of a certain scholar or throwing the b-word(Bid'ee) anytime somebody disagrees with you on an issue.

Indeed, Salafi means follower of the pious predecessors.

 

Hence, innovators or people of Bid'a (Bid'a= innovation unknown to the prophet, his companions and the early following generations he praised as the best)can, obviously, not be Salafi.

 

Now, is not Sufism or mysticism, for instance, a quintessential innovation in our Deen which misguided

Somalis througout centuries?

 

You just have to do your own research, visit places of worships/pilgrimage and ask the elders and not so old about the rituals they used to perform until quite recently and which is still prevalent, albeit receding.

 

Blame ignorance, most Somalis doesn't even master the Deen basics and removing innovations, while these are perpetuated thanks to opportunistics leaders and their corrupt "sheikhs", will require a sustained commitment.

 

At any rate, ICU leadership finally convinced sufis leaders and other groups to join them for our common struggle despite their initial malevolence in connivence with the warlords & co as the time was not propitious for internal rifts.

 

However, how could such fundamental disagreements be overlooked permanently, especially had the ICU won the hostilities?

 

Glad to see we agree on the rest anyway...

[What went wrong?]

S/caleykum,

 

 

According to some local sheikhs, the Islamic Courts were constitued of many non-salafis (takfirs, khawaarijs, ikhwaaniins or muslim brotherhood influences, sufis ect ect) members and this ultimately led to their demise as Allah don't guide bid'a followers towards success; this was the fundamental danger.

 

As we have been told, Sheikh Sharif was considered as the most suited among them for leading the popular uprising but he left for Dubai, allegedly angered by Indhacade impulsivity, before being convinced by Sheikh Dahir Aweys to return in Xamar just prior to the all out war.

 

Likewise, it is alleged that he wasn't even consulted about Kismayo capture as he previously assured Barre Hirale that he won't be attacked; later, this prompted Hirale to accuse the courts of disregarding their pact.

 

Again, when the Sheikh declared that Somalis should be left alone to sort out their problems in allusion to "Al Qaeda", which presence in Somalia he denied, one of the Shababs leaders allegedly organized a rally in a prominent public place, declaring to the crowd that Bin Laden was their "Sheikh", "Al Qaeda" was present in Somalia and that in fact we are "Al Qaeda" ourselves, refering to his listeners, apparently in a bid to contradict Sheikh Sharif!

 

To sum it up, the Courts were rather misguided in their overwhelming majority due to their corrupt Aqeedah or creed (although still infinitely better than secularist warlords and other qabil worshippers opportunits), thus their very unity would have been seriously challenged have they won.

 

Therefore, the painful military setback, far from being a "defeat for Islam" could have been engineered by Allah to protect us against even worse outcomes, as a trial or a lesson.

 

Hence, the latest new developments could be the "least worst option", through Allah wisdom, and the priviledged strategy may be to collabore with the new government in return of an "amnesty" as long as they don't reject the Deen.

 

Hit-and-run attacks primarily endanger our own people a la Iraqi and the main focus should be to educate the mass about the authenticate aqeeda of Ahl-al-Sunnah as political shortcuts can not be sustained against the will or indifference of the majority.

 

More explicitely, not only a Muslim life is sacred but our Deen doesn't condone machiavelism; in other words, the end can, under no circumstance, justify the means.

 

Finaly, Ulama may differ about the declared Jihad (as TFG officials are still considered as Muslims) and even on how to deal with the present situation whereas ICU positive legacies are recognized despite their inherent fundamental flaws reflecting those of an overwhelmingly misguided society; nevertheless, the moral remain the same: indeed, nothing can replace laborious and sustained Da'wa efforts however long it takes...

[Kaalinta Israel: Zionism Against Somalis]

Kaalinta Israel ay ku leedahay dagaalka Soomaaliya, 09,January-07

 

 

Somalia, 09,January-07 ( Qaadisiya.com) Sida aan ognahay la iskuma khilaafsana damaca Israel ay ka leedahay gobolka Afrikada bari si ay u xaqiijiso arrimo dhawr ah, sidaa darteed ayay Israel ku dadaashay inay dagaal iyo fitno ka huriso dhulka soomaaliyeed si ay u gaadho ujeeddooyinkeeda gurracan.

 

Daqiiqadihii u horreeyay ee Hoggaamiyayaashii Maxaakimta Islaamiga Soomaaliyeed ay ku dhawaaqeen jihaad ka dhan ah ciidamada dawladda Ethiopia ee ku jiray gudaha Soomaaliya oo ay ku eedeeyeen inay waddanka kusoo duuleen kuna baaqeen markii u horraysay in dagaalyahannada Islaamka ee caalamku ay kala qayb qaataan dagaalka lala galayo Ethiopia baaqaa oo ay Ethiopia si xaqiraad ah uga jawaabtay sheegtayna”baaqaa Maxaakimtu dagaalyahannada Ajnabiga ah ugu yeedheen waxay muujinaysaa ilaa heerka xag-jirnimadooda” laakiinse jawaabta Israel ay ka bixisay arrinkaa wuxuu aha mid ka duwan ka Ethiopia, durbadiiba waxay xidhiidh toos ah lasoo sameeyeen xukuumadda Adis-ababa una shegeen inay ku dhawaaqaan dagaal loogasoo horjeedo Maxaakimta Islaamiga ah iyagoo u ballan qaaday inay siin doonaan taageero ku filan siday meesha uga saari lahaayeen maxaakimta Islaamiga ah.

 

Ogolaanshahaa markuu helay ka bacdi ayuu ku dhaqaaqay Males Zenawi inuu caalamka u sheego in lagu khasbay Ciidamadiisu inay u galeen soomaaliya inay la dagaalamaan Ciidamada maxaakimta oo ku dhawaaqay jihad dawladiisa ka dhan ah.

 

Ethiopia ayaa mar sii horraysay sheegtay in ay u dirtay Soomaaliya boqolaal Khubaro

 

Millateri iyo la taliyayaal ah si ay u caawiyaan Soomaaliya ugana difaacaan khatar uga

 

Timaadda dhanka Islaamiyiinta (MMI), iyo inay tababaraan ciidamada DFK.

 

Ciidamadaa dhawrka boqol ah ee Ethiopia ay u dirtay Soomaaliya waxaa ka mid ahaa khubaro yuhuud ah oo ka baaraan degayay sidii loo hurin lahaa dagaal lagu qaado Ciidamada maxaakimta Islaamiga ah.

 

Waxaa kaloo jirtay in qaraar lagasoo saaray UN-ka lagaga hadlay waddamada faragelinta ku haya soomaaliya lagu sheegay in Dawladaha Ethiopia iyo Uganda ay ku caawiyeen DFKM gantaalaha lagula dagaalamo diyaaradaha ee garabka laga rido oo noocoodu yahay SI-7, waxaa kaloo warbixintaa lagu sheegay in gudaha soomaaliya ay joogaan ciidamo Ethiopian ah oo lagu sheegay 5000 ilaa 10000 oo askari oo wata gaadiidkooda dagaalka.

 

Ciidamada Ethiopia ayaa bilaabay inay kusoo siqaan Soomaaliya iyagoo kaashanaya ballamihii Israel, taasoo caddayn u ah in dagaalka diyaar garow aad u sarreeya uu ka

 

Horreeyay sidii ay gebi ahaanba u ga takhalusi lahaayeen xooggii maxaamimta Islaamiga ah iyadoo ay caawinayaan waddamo shisheeye oo ay ugu horrayso Israel.

 

 

 

Maxay Israel ka doonaysaa Somaliya.

 

 

 

Israel marna kama hadlin faragelinta ay ku hayso soomaaliya laakiinse waxaa lawada ogyahay inay ka leedahay dano dhawr ah oo ay ka mid yihiin:

 

1.doonis inay gacanta ku dhigto waddamada Geeska Africa.

 

2.Doonis inay usoo gacan gasho maamulka badda cas.

 

3.Doonis la dagaalanka Ururada Islaamiga ah ee Gobolka geeska Africa.

 

4.Dhammaystirka qorshe yuhuudda Falaashaha lagagasoo qaadayo Ethiopia.

 

Waxaa jirta in Israel ay si aada u doonayeen inay xukunkooda hoos keenaan waddamo dhawr ah oo gobolka ku yaalla ayna ka mid yihiin Ethiopia,Eritrea,Soomaaliya iyo Zanzibar iyagoo faragelintaa ay ka mid tahay mid xagga millateriga ah ama inay u diraan khubaro iyo la taliyayaal iyo mararka qaarkood inay ka caawiyaan dhanka hubka iyo teknolojiyada casriga ah si ay gacanta ugu dhigaan waddamada.

 

Israel waxay geed dheer iyo mid gaabanba u fuushay inay arrimaha soomaaliya saamayn weyn ku yeelato iyadoo ay jiraan warbixino sheegaya in marar dhawr ah ay isku dayeen inay gacanta ku dhigaan Somaliland sida ay sheegtay jariidada Macaariif ee kasoo baxda Israel waxaa arrintaa xidhiidhiye ka ahaa ganacsade Yuhuud ah oo deggan Adis-ababa, Israel ayaa isku dayday inay kiraysato Dekadda Berbera ama ugu yaraan ay u isticmaasho arrimo ganacsi iyo weliba arrimo kale oo iyaga u khaas ah.

 

Israel ayaa iyadu muddo dheer u arkaysay in haddii la helo dawlad dhexe oo soomaaliyeed oo loo dhan yahay ay caqabad ku noqon doonto danaha ay ka leedahay soomaaliya.

 

 

 

C/raxmaan Ismaaciil (Abuxamza)

Source: Islammemo (Islamic Site)

[Nine Conditions Of The Shahadah: Very Important!]

1 KNOWLEDGE: ('ilm):

 

Allah says in the Qur'an,

"So know that there is no God save Allah, and ask forgiveness for your sin."

(Surah Muhammad: 19).

 

Similarly, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said,

“Whoever dies knowing that there is no one worthy of worship except Allah shall enter Paradise.”

(Recorded in Sahih Muslim).

 

 

2 CERTAINTY (yaqeen):

 

Allah says,

"the (true) believers are those only who believe in Allah and His messenger and afterward doubt not, but strive with their wealth and their lives for the cause of Allah. Such are the sincere."

(al-Hujjarat : 15).

 

Similarly, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, "No one meets Allah with the testimony that there is none worthy of worship but Allah and I am the Messenger of Allah, and he has no doubt about hat statement, except that he will enter Paradise." (Recorded by Muslim.)

 

Indeed, Allah describes the hypocrites as those people whose hearts are wavering. For example, Allah says,

 

"They alone seek leave of thee (not to participate in jihad) who believe not in Allah and the Last Day and whose hearts feel doubt, so in their doubt they waver."

(al-Tauba: 45).

 

 

3 ACCEPTANCE (qabool):

 

Allah says in the Qur'an,

"Do you believe in part of the book and reject part of it? And what is the reward of those who do so, except humiliation in the life of this world, and on the Day of Resurrection they will be sent to the most dreadful doom."

(al-Baqarah: 85).

 

 

4 SUBMISSION and COMPLIANCE (Inqiyad):

 

Allah commands in the Qur'an,

"Turn unto Him repentant, and surrender unto Him" (al-Zumar: 54).

 

Allah has praised those who submit to His command by their actions. Allah says,

 

"Who is better in religion than he who surrenders his purpose to Allah while doing good" (al-Nisa: 125).

 

Actually, Allah has clearly made it a condition of faith that one submits to the command of Allah and His messenger. Allah says,

 

"But nay, by your Lord, they will not truly believe until they make you [the Messenger of Allah] judge of what is in dispute between them and find within themselves no dislike of which you decide, and submit with full submission" (al-Nisa: 65)

 

 

5 TRUTHFULNESS (as-sidq):

 

As opposed to hypocrisy and dishonesty:

Allah has described them in the opening of the Qur'an with the following words,

 

"And of mankind are some who say, 'We believe in Allah and the Last Day,' when they believe not. They think to beguile Allah and those who believe, and they beguile none save themselves, but they perceive not. In their hearts is a disease, and Allah increases their disease. A painful doom is theirs because they lie"

 

The Prophet (peace be upon his) said, "No one bears testimony to there being no one worth of worship save Allah, sincerely from his heart, except that Allah makes the Hell-fire forbidden for him."

 

 

6 SINCERITY (or al-ikhlass):

 

Allah says in the Qur'an,

"Worship Allah, making religion pure for him" (al-Zumar: 2).

 

And Allah also says,

 

"And they are ordained not else than to serve Allah, keeping religion pure for Him, as men by nature upright and to establish worship and to pay the poor-due. That is true religion" (al-Bayinah: 5).

 

And the Prophet (peace be upon him) added, "Allah has forbidden for the Hell-fire anyone who says, 'There is no one worthy of worship except Allah,' and say so desiring the face [and pleasure] of Allah." (Recorded by Muslim).

 

7 LOVE (mahabbah):

 

Allah says in the Qur'an,

"Yet of mankind are some who take unto themselves (objects of worship which they set as) rivals to Allah, loving them with a love like (that which is due to) Allah only. However, those who believe are stauncher in their love of Allah" (al-Baqarah: 165).

 

And elsewhere Allah says:

 

"Say: If your fathers, or your sons, or your brethren, or your wives, or your tribe, or the wealth you have acquired, or merchandise for which you fear that there will be no sale, or dwellings you desire are dearer to you than Allah and His Messenger and striving in His way: then wait till Allah brings His command to pass. Allah guides not wrongdoing folk" (al-Tauba: 24).

 

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "Whoever has three characteristics has tasted the sweetness of faith. [The first of these] is that he loves Allah and His Messenger more than he loves anyone else..."(Recorded by al-Bukhari and Muslim.).

 

 

8 DENIAL OF FALSE WORSHIP:

 

Allah states,

"And he who rejects false deities and believes in Allah has grasped a firm handhold which will never break" (al-Baqarah: 256).

 

Perhaps the Prophet (peace be upon him) made this point even clearer when he said, "Whoever says there is no one worthy of worship except Allah and denies whatever is worshipped besides Allah, then his wealth and blood are protected and his accounting will be with Allah." (Recorded by Muslim).

 

 

9 ADHERENCE (astaqeem) until death:

 

Allah says in the Qur'an,

 

"O believers, observe your duty to Allah with right observance, and die not except as Muslims "O believers, observe your duty to Allah with right observance, and die not except as Muslims [in complete state of surrender, submission, obedience to Allah]" [in complete state of surrender, submission, obedience to Allah]" (al-Imran: 102).

 

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, " A man spends a long time doing the deeds of the people of Paradise and then he ends his deeds with the deeds of the people of the Hell-fire. And a man spends a long time doing the deeds of the people of the Hell-fire and then he ends his deeds with the deeds of the people of Paradise." (Recorded by Muslim)

In another hadeeth, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said,

"By the One beside whom there is no other God, one of you does the actions of Paradise until there is just a hand span between him and Paradise and then the book [preordainment] overtakes him and he does the actions of the people of Hell and he enters into it." (Recorded by al-Bukhari and Muslim.)

 

 

Walaalayal, these are the conditions of the shahadah. These are the aspects of the shahadah that each and every one of us should look deep down into our own hearts and ask ourselves:"Is my shahadah meeting those requirements?"

"Am I saying it sincerely, honestly and out of love for Allah?"

"Am I saying it based on what it really means?"

"Am I denying all other false objects of worship?"

"Is there any part of my shahadah that is weak or missing?"

[Embrace TFG now before....]

Although I firmly believe that the root cause of Somali mayhem is Western secularism, instead of "tribalism" which could be assimilated somehow to a different version of regionalism, we all agree that Shariah implementation is not only our fundamental Islamic obligation but also the only empowering tool available to our wisests in the urgent necessity of filling the moral void left by the colonization and the concomitant loss of traditional values such as the established Somali culture of respect for the elders, consensus and dialogue, as the chaotic sedentarization associated with acculturation and materialism attracted khat addicted youth in the hands of ruthless warlords with neither religious nor traditional authority (colonial legacies of tribals elders marginalization being pursued by the successive secular democracy or socialist regimes).

 

One just have to imagine Western societies deprived of their historical capital of "Judeo-Christian ethics" alongside their core values/coherent hierarchy of authority and their masses left with little other reference than the unmitigated pursuit of personal enrichment at all cost to realize the extent of ravages; a most tragical situation, moreover further exacerbated by foreign interferences in our context (not least in the form of pseudo "assistance").

 

When the civilian "democratic" governments succumbed to state-sponsored, institutionalized corruption and suicidal nepotism, it was hardly surprising that the acclaimed military regime irresistibly went down the very same path he so ardently criticized in his rethoric.

 

Thus, clan manipulations by state authorities should be seen as a consequence in the light of that ruthless struggle for political supremacy and its associated economic benefits, mainly in the form of the rather nefast foreign aid (for most Somalis Islam is their prime source of identity nevertheless, as testified by ICU success to recruit from every corners, although nationalism is still very present too).

 

 

What is the

solution

?

 

I am a strong advocate of Shariah rule which in all probability is the best line of attack to "confront" this inherent problem. Having said that, Shariah in the most genuine form, can only take roots as the end result of a long indoctrination process (

I still get jitters when I see pictures of thousands of civilians welcoming warlord Maxamed Dheere back to Jowhar

). It will require time and a great level of effort to completely transform the present Somali psyche. The “who, how and when” is all open for a debate.

 

Good point indeed.But this could also amount to "begging the question".

 

How could the badly needed indoctrination process be engineered when Ulemas are fair game, let alone being in charge of the education system or responsible for the national curriculum?

 

More fundamentally, is not self-defence a requirement at some point, especially when hunted down in his own occupied country by foreign powers who make little secret of their crusade inspiration

[Arabic Language]

Arabic - The Key to Understanding the Qur’an

by Sister Fâtima Barakatullâh

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

We all feel touched when we open up a good translation of the meaning of the Qur’an and we ponder and wonder at the beauty of the words and the deep meanings within. But in reality we are just seeing a glimpse of the real treasure that the Qur’an is.

 

Imagine how you’d feel if you could understand the words of Allah in the form in which they were sent down and not just rely on a translation of the meaning in English. Imagine the power of the words and the directness of the message then! The potency would be awesome!

 

The Qur’an is the word of Allah; a direct message from Allah to us His creation and Allah chose the Arabic language as the language of this message. Indeed Allah tells us this in the Qur’an emphasising to us that to understand the message in its fuller form one must understand the language:

“Indeed we have sent it down as an Arabic Qur’an, in order that you may understand” (Surah Yusuf, Aayah 2)

 

 

“And thus we have inspired to you an Arabic Qur’an so that you may warn the mother of towns and all around it” (Surah ash-Shura, 7)

 

 

Arabic and the message of the Qur’an cannot be separated and translators throughout the ages have tried to convey to the non-Arabic speaking people the beauty of the meaning of the Qur’an but have always called it ‘The translation of the meaning of the Qur’an’, emphasising the fact that the Qur’an’s direct translation is not possible, because so much of the potency and splendour of the words and their meanings which are inextricably linked to the Arabic language are lost in English or any other language. Indeed to even appreciate the poetic beauty of the Qur’an one needs to have an understanding of Arabic.

 

Remember that for the Arabs in the time of the Prophet (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) who were masters of eloquence and poetry, the words of the Qur’an itself were so unique compared to the poetry of the most eloquent of them that many came to Islam recognising that the Qur’an could not be the handiwork of even the best human poet, rather it could only come from Allah. The language itself was one of the miracles of the Qur’an. Allah challenges mankind:

 

“And if you are in doubt about what we have sent down to our servant, then produce a chapter like it and call your witnesses besides Allah if you are truthful. But if you do not do it, and you can never do it, then fear the Fire whose fuel is men and stones, prepared for the disbelievers” (Surah Baqarah, aayaat 23-24)

 

 

The Preservation of the Arabic Language

Languages usually evolve. Just look at the difference between Shakespearean English and modern day English. In many ways they seem like two totally different languages and a man from England in Shakespearean times and a man from modern day England would find it extremely difficult to communicate! But the Arabic language is not just ‘a language’. This is why the Sahabah and the early generations of Muslims strove to preserve the classical Arabic language. It was Ali (radi allaahu ‘anhu) who noticed on the tongues of some of the Arabs a slight change in dialect and ordered for the grammar rules of Arabic to be recorded in a universal form. He knew that the preservation of the Arabic language was part of the preservation of Islam itself.

Arabic unified the Muslim countries as it spread to every land that embraced Islam. This is why it is seen that those Muslim societies that are ignorant of Arabic are in general less knowledgeable about Islam. This ignorance has in turn made them more prone to stray from the straight path.

 

The enemies of Islam know this and have worked hard to tear the Muslims from the Arabic language and the Qur’an. During the French occupation of Algeria, the French government was advised,

“We will never be able to overpower the Algerians as long as they read the Qur’an and speak Arabic. Therefore we must remove the Arabic Qur’an from their midst and abolish the Arabic language from their tongues.”

 

 

And unfortunately this is exactly what the secular leader of Turkey, Kamal Ataturk, who abolished the Islamic caliphate, did. He ordered that the Qur’an be recited in Turkish, even in prayers and changed the Turkish language which used to be written in Arabic into a Latin alphabet.

 

Today you will find that although Arabs throughout the world unfortunately have different colloquial dialects, they are still taught the Classical Arabic in their schools and Classical Arabic is the standard written Arabic in every Arabic newspaper and book. So it has been preserved by Allah as He promised in the Qur’an:

 

“Indeed we have sent down the Reminder and surely we will preserve it.” (Surah Hijr, Aayah 9)

 

 

A Priority for all of us

 

Scholars throughout the ages, from the Companions to the present day, encouraged the Ummah to learn the Arabic language. Ubay ibn Ka’b (radiallaahu ‘anhu) said,

“Teach Arabic like you teach the memorisation of the Qur’an!”

 

 

Abu Bakr (radiallaahu ‘anhu) said,

 

“That I recite and forget (a portion of the Qur’an) is more beloved to me than to make a grammatical mistake!”

 

 

And ‘Umar (radiallaahu ‘anhu) once passed by a group of archers who missed their targets.

 

He admonished them and they responded that they were only beginners, but in answering back they made a grammatical mistake in their wording. He told them, “Indeed, your mistakes in Arabic grammar are more difficult to bear than your mistakes in archery!”

 

 

Imam ash-Shaafi’ee said,

 

"Therefore it is imperative that every Muslim should strive to learn Arabic as hard as he can, so that he can testify the shahada, and recite the Book of Allah and say the invocations that are mandatory upon him, such as the takbeer, tasbeeh, tashahud and other prayers. And the more he learns the language that Allah Himself chose to be the language of him who sealed the Prophets (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam), and to be the language of His final revelation, the better it is for him!”

 

 

The great 8th century scholar Shaykul Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (rahimahullah) even went so far as to say that,

 

“The Arabic language is part of the Religion, and knowing it is an obligation.”

 

 

Unfortunately, we have become comfortable with simply relying on translations and spending all of our time and efforts in studying other things, (other languages even!) which may not even benefit us in the hereafter and have forgotten that the Qur’an is in a very approachable language and we all have the ability or rather the responsibility to study and understand it. If you knew that Allah (subhaanahu wa ta’aala) had a message for you, personally, then would you not want to understand it in its original form? Think about it…we have the last revelation to mankind, the only communication from our Lord and Master, which is preserved in its original form, and yet in a 70 odd year life we do not give it the attention, which it deserves. We should realise that Allah has honoured us with the Qur’an and chosen for us the noblest of languages. Attention to Arabic is attention to the Book of Allah so we should make learning it a priority.

 

I remember the feeling of tasting the sweetness of Allah’s words in my Salaah when I first embarked upon my Arabic studies. I just repeated the same aayah of the Qur’an again and again savouring the words and suddenly feeling a deep emotion that I’d never felt before though I had read the same aayah many times before studying Arabic, it was as though a light had been lit for me and I’d suddenly discovered a new part of a house that I’d been living in for years. One of the definite benefits of learning Arabic is that it aids Khushoo’ or consciousness in salaah and helps us to improve all of our worships. Taraweeh prayer in Ramadan becomes a new experience!

 

Practical steps towards learning Arabic

Alhamdulillah with all the teaching aids and easy access to information that we have, learning Arabic does not necessarily mean travelling on arduous journeys to distant lands as it once used to. With discipline and commitment, the student can study much in his own time

 

Here are some tips to help you along they way:

 

1. Make Du’a: As with everything we work towards, we should ask Allah to help us and make learning easy for us. We should ask Allah to purify our intentions so that we truly learn Arabic for the better understanding of the Qur’an and deen.

 

2. Discipline yourself! Put a set amount of time aside every day or twice a week for your Arabic studies and stick to it. Remember a little study regularly is better than hours of study once a month.

 

3. Know your basics well: going step by step is the best way to master any language, concentrating on improving your basic reading and writing is the first step in learning Arabic, even if it is repetitive. Then you can build on that firm foundation.

 

4. Invest in a good dictionary and Arabic books: A good dictionary is the Hans Wehr or Al-Mawrid dictionary, available in most Muslim bookshops and on the Internet too! Arabic words are usually arranged under their three letter roots. Get used to looking up words often and compile your own personal vocabulary dictionary. Some good three-book sets you can start working through are the three Madinah university books or the Kitaab-ul Asaasi books.

 

5. Enrol into a summer course: There are a few around every summer and they are a great way to kick-start your learning. They can be quite intensive so remember to revise and keep up your study afterwards.

 

6. Study Arabic as part of your full-time degree: If you are going to study a degree, why not study a degree in Arabic or one with Arabic as part of it?

 

7. Study under an Arab friend or tutor: The importance of a good teacher cannot be stressed enough. Although there is a lot of self-study involved, a friend who knows Arabic or an Arab brother or sister who you could go to regularly for guidance would be very valuable. You could even start going through your Arabic books with them.

 

8. Organise a class locally: There must be like-minded Muslims in your area who would like to study Arabic too. Maybe you could get together and pay for a teacher to teach you Arabic together at the local Masjid or in one of your homes. Studying with friends is a good way to stay motivated.

 

9. Study abroad in an Arab country: there are various good courses running in countries such as Egypt which really speed up your learning and can provide you with a nice experience. People have found that a few months in an Arab country can be more beneficial than a year or more of studying at home. Make sure you keep up your studying when you get back though!

 

10. Expose yourself to as much Arabic as you can: You can listen to Arabic lecture tapes, visit Muslim countries, read some Arabic everyday, and maybe get an Arab newspaper when you become more proficient.

 

11. Speak Arabic whenever you can: One of the biggest obstacles to speaking Arabic is being shy about making mistakes in speech and so not speaking at all. You must overcome this shyness and use whatever you know whenever you can. This is how you will eventually improve insha Allah. Maybe you could meet some Arab brothers or sisters who only speak Arabic. This way you’ll be forced to speak what you know and they’ll be pleased that you’re making the effort.

 

12. Relate your knowledge back to the Qur’an and other worships: Don’t forget that your aim is to understand what you recite of the Qur’an especially in your salaah and other adhkaar. Try to recognise Arabic words as you come across them in the Qur’an and apply your knowledge in understanding the Qur’an. Ponder over and pay attention to the words in your salaah.

 

 

May Allah help us all to master the language of the Qur’an and to aid its spread throughout the Ummah.

[Somalis Drop Off Welfare Faster Than Everyone]

Health is primarily a matter of lifestyle.

 

As for Healthcare systems, the Cuban one is way more efficient than the US system despite huge difference in terms of spending.

 

Such waste of funds and obscene social inequalities are tolerated for ideological reasons; and ironically enough, even Communist China perform with some remarkable success in this field as shown by the succes of its universal primary healthcare program which is still considered also as a model alongside the Cuban experience.

 

Back to the topic, the inter-communities education and economic appartheid, even more than social class inequalities, discredit largely American hypocrisy of selective/unethical capitalism (not mentioning protectionism or agricultural subsidies which destroy Third World economies ect) though the Democrats plan to finally institute minimal wage in addition to healthcare reforms.

 

With status worship, consumerism and environmental destruction, this country epitomize not only economic irrationality but moral schyzophrenia for a nation which boast, among other things, about its Judeo-Christian "ethics"...

[Person of the Year 2006: Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed]

How not to wholeheartedly agree?

 

Is it really a coincidence that the unholy Crusaders are so keen to eliminate him by providing the Ethiopian planes with updated satellite intelligence in this very moment?

 

This exceptional character, that I never imagined in my wildest dream for our people nowadays, was way too noble and sincere for Somalis increasingly subjuged by Western secularism in addition to fratricidal rivalries and religious superstitions, to follow him; it goes without saying that this is precisely such "shortcomings" Allah' enemies can't tolerate.

 

At any rate, many more will rise inshallah as our Islamic sense can only be awakened by the Crusaders wicked terrorism.

 

And that is what matters...

 

 

PS: Let's not forget to include him in our prayers, especially at Salat-ullail and this Friday!

[Somalia Illegal Invasion: A Foreign Perspective]

Here is an objective view on the US Crusade through Warlords/Addis:

 

Somalia: New Hotbed of Anti-Americanism

 

 

"Viewpoints"

 

 

Thursday January 04 2007 20:03:22 PM BDT

 

 

By Nicola Nasser,Ramallah, West Bank

 

 

The U.S. foreign policy blundering has created a new violent hotbed of anti-Americanism in the turbulent Horn of Africa by orchestrating the Ethiopian invasion of another Muslim capital of the Arab League, in a clear American message that no Arab or Muslim metropolitan has impunity unless it falls into step with the U.S. vital regional interests.

 

The U.S.-backed Ethiopian invasion of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, on Dec. 28 is closely interlinked in motivation, methods, goals and results to the U.S. bogged down regional blunders in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Sudan as well as in Iran and Afghanistan, but mainly in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.

 

Mogadishu is the third Arab metropolitan after Jerusalem and Baghdad to fall to the U.S. imperial drive, either directly or indirectly through Israeli, Ethiopian or other proxies, and the fourth if the temporary Israeli occupation of Beirut in 1982 is remembered; the U.S. endeavor to redraw the map of the Middle East is reminiscent of the British-French Sykes-Pico colonial dismembering of the region and is similarly certain to give rise to grassroots Pan-Arab rejection and awaking with the Pan-Islamic unifying force as a major component.

 

The U.S. blunder in Somalia could not be more humiliating to Somalis: Washington has delegated to its Ethiopian ally, Mogadishu’s historical national enemy, the mission of restoring the rule of law and order to the same country Addis Ababa has incessantly sought to dismember and disintegrate and singled Ethiopia out as the only neighboring country to contribute the backbone of the U.S.-suggested and U.N.-adopted multinational foreign force for Somalia after the Ethiopian invasion, thus setting the stage for a wide-spread insurgency and creating a new violent hotbed of anti-Americanism.

 

The U.S. manipulation is there for all to see; a new U.S.-led anti-Arab and anti-Muslim regional alliance is already in the working and not only in the making; the U.S.-allied Ethiopian invaders have already taken over Somalia after the withdrawal of the forces of the United Islamic Courts (UIC), who rejected an offer of amnesty in return for surrendering their arms and refused unconditional dialogue with the invaders; the withdrawal of the UIC forces from urban centers reminds one of the disappearance of the Iraqi army and the Taliban government in Afghanistan and warns of a similar aftermath in Somalia in a similar shift of military strategy into guerilla tactics.

 

The UIC leaders who went underground are promising guerilla and urban warfare; “terrorist” tactics are their expected major weapon and American targets are linked to the Ethiopian invasion. It doesn’t need much speculation to conclude that the Bush Administration’s policy in the Horn of Africa is threatening American lives as well as the regional stability.

 

According to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, “Because the United States has accused Somalia of harboring al-Qaeda suspects, the Ethiopian-Eritrean proxy conflict increases the opportunities for terrorist infiltration of the Horn and East Africa and for ignition of a larger regional conflict,” in which the United States would be deeply embroiled.

 

Eritrea accused the United States on Monday of being behind the war in Somalia. “This war is between the Americans and the Somali people,” Eritrean Information Minister Ali Abdu told Reuters.

 

The U.S administration found no harm in keeping the divided country an easy prey for the warlords and tribal bloody disputes since 1991, probably finding in that status quo another guarantee-by-default for U.S. regional interests. It could have lived forever with the political chaos and humanitarian tragedy in one of the world’s poorest countries were it not for the emergence of the indigenous grassroots UIC, who provided some social security and order under a semblance of a central government that made some progress towards unifying the country.

 

Pre-empting intensive Arab, Muslim and European mediation efforts between the UIC and the transitional government, Washington moved quickly to clinch the UN Security Council resolution 1725 on Dec. 6, recognizing the Baidoa government organized in Kenya by U.S. regional allies and dominated by the warlords as the legitimate authority in Somalia after sending Army Gen. John Abizaid, head of U.S. Central Command, to Addis Ababa in November for talks with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi on bailing out the besieged transitional government by coordinating an Ethiopian military intervention.

 

Resolution 1725 also urged that all member states, “in particular those in the region,” to refrain from interference in Somalia, but hardly the ink of the resolution dried than Washington was violating it by providing training, intelligence and consultation to at least 8,000 Ethiopian troops who rushed into Baidoa and its vicinity before the major Ethiopian invasion, a fact that was repeatedly denied by both Washington and Addis Ababa but confirmed by independent sources.

 

To contain the repercussions, Washington is in vain trying to distance itself from the Ethiopian invasion; U.S. officials have repeatedly denied using Ethiopia as a proxy in Somalia. Moreover it is trying to play down the invasion itself: “The State Department issued internal guidance to staff members, instructing officials to play down the invasion in public statements,” read a copy of the guidelines obtained by The New York Times.

 

Mission Accomplished?

 

“Mission Accomplished,” Addis Ababa's Daily Monitor announced when the Ethiopian forces blitzed into Mogadishu, heralding a new U.S. regional alliance at the southern approaches to the oil-rich Arab heartland in the Arabian Peninsula and Iraq; in 2003, the same phrase adorned a banner behind President Gearge W. Bush as he declared an end to major combat operations in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. All facts on the ground indicate that the U.S. mission in Somalia won’t be less a failure than that in Iraq, or less misleading.

 

The U.S. foreign policy has sown the seeds of a new national and regional violent hotbed of anti-Americanism in the Arab world, the heart of what western strategists call the Middle East, by succeeding in Somalia in what it failed to achieve in Lebanon a few months ago: Washington was able to prevent the United Nations (UN) from imposing a ceasefire until the Ethiopian invasion seized Mogadishu; the Lebanese resistance and national unity prevented the Israeli invaders from availing themselves of the same U.S. green light to achieve their goals in Beirut.

 

In both cases, Washington involved the UN as a fig leaf to cover the Israeli and Ethiopian invasions, repeating the Iraq scenario, and in both cases initiated military intervention to abort mediation efforts and national dialogue to solve internal conflicts peacefully.

 

In Somalia as in Iraq, Washington is also trying to delegate the mission of installing a pro-U.S. regime whose leaders were carried in on the invading tanks to a multinational force in which the neighboring countries are not represented, only to be called upon later not to interfere in Somalia’s internal affairs, as it is the case with Iran, Syria in particular vis-à-vis the U.S.-occupied Iraq.

 

The Bush administration has expressed understanding for the security concerns that prompted Ethiopia to intervene in Somalia. So once again U.S. pretexts of Washington’s declared world war on terror were used to justify the Ethiopian invasion as a preventive war in self-defense, only to create exactly the counterproductive environment that would certainly exacerbate violence and expand a national dispute into a wider regional conflict.

 

Real Security Concerns of Ethiopia

 

Regionally, the U.S. pretexts used by Addis Ababa to justify its invasion could thinly veil the land locked Ethiopia’s historical and strategic aspiration for an outlet on the Red Sea by using the Somali land as the only available approach to its goal after the independence of Eritrea deprived it of the sea port of Assab.

 

Agreed upon peaceful arrangements with Somalia and Eritrea is the only other option that would grant Ethiopia access to sea - whether to the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and Bab el Mandeb or the Arabian Sea, and through these sea lanes to the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. This option is pre-empted by the empirical dreams of Greater Ethiopia that tempted the successive regimes of Emperor Hailie Selassie, the military Marxist rule of Mengistu Haile Mariam and the incumbent U.S.-backed oppressive regime of Meles Zinawi, which were deluded by the military means of the only country with a semblance of a nation state and a military might in a regional neighborhood disintegrated into the poorest communities of the world by tribal strife left over by the British, French and Italian western colonialist powers; hence the Ethiopian wars with Eritrea and Somalia.

 

The Eritrean fear of an Ethiopian invasion of Assab via Somalia is realistic and legitimate, given the facts that Ethiopia’s borders are, like Israel’s, still not demarcated, its yearning for an access to sea as a strategic goal is still valid and its military option to achieve this goal is still not dropped because of the virtual state of war that still governs its relations with both Somalia and Eritrea. Hence the reports about the Eritrean intervention in Somalia, denied by Asmara, and the regional and international warnings against the possible development of the Ethiopian invasion into a wider regional conflict that could also involve Djibouti and Kenya.

 

Internally in Ethiopia, the successive regimes since Hailie Selassie were dealing with the demographic structure of the country as a top state secret and incessantly floating the misleading image of Ethiopia as the Christian nation it has been for hundreds of years, but hardly veiling the independent confirmation that at least half of the population are now Muslims, a fact that is not represented in the structure of the ruling elite but also a fact that explains the oppressive policies of the incumbent U.S.-backed regime.

 

Here lies the realistic fears of the Ethiopian ruling elites from the emergence of a unified Somalia and the impetus it would give to the ****** National Liberation Front, which represents the 1.5 million Muslim tribesmen of Somali origin who inhabit the 200,000-square-kilometer desert region occupied by Addis Ababa and led to the 1977-88 war between the two countries and remains a festering hotbed of bilateral friction.

 

A united independent Somalia and a liberated or revolting ****** would inevitably deprive Ethiopia of its desert corridor to the coast and have at least adverse effects on/or imbalance altogether the internal status quo in Addis Ababa. True the potential of infiltration by al-Qaeda is highly probable with such a development but it is only too inflated a pretext for Addis Ababa to justify its unconvincing trumpeting of the “Islamic threat” emanating from the ascendancy of the UIC in Somalia.

 

Ethiopia’s justification of its invasion by Washington’s pretexts of the U.S. war on terror is misleading and encouraging Addis Ababa to justify its invasion by the “Islamic threat,” leading some UIC leaders to declare “Jihad” against the “Christian invasion” of their country and in doing so contributing to turning an Ethiopian internal and regional miscalculations into seemingly “Muslim-Christian” war, which have more provocateurs in Addis Ababa than in Mogadishu.

 

The sectarian war among Muslims fomented by the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq within the context of “divide and rule” policy could now be coupled with a “religious war” in the Horn of Africa to protect the U.S. military presence that is “defending” the Arab oil wealth in the Arabian Peninsula and Iraq against a threat to its mobility from the south, a war that could drive a new wedge between Arabs and their neighbors, in a replay of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, and in tandem with a 60-year old Israeli strategy of sowing divide between them and their Ethiopian, Iranian and Turkish geopolitical strategic depth.

 

However this U.S.-Israeli strategy is certain to backfire. Somalis could not but be united against foreign invasion in a country where Islamism is the essence of nationalism and where Pan-Arabism could not but be a source of support as the country is too weak and poor to be adversely affected by Arab League divides; they are in their overwhelming majority Muslims with no divisive sectarian loyalties and no neighboring sectarian polarization center as it is the case with Iran in Iraq; the “Christian face” of the invasion would be a more uniting factor and would serve as a war cry against the new American imperialistic plans because it is reminiscent of earlier “Christian” European colonial adventures.

[Saudi Ulemas Declare Jihad]

Somalie: des oulémas saoudiens s'en prennent vivement aux Etats-Unis

 

DJIBOUTI (ADI) – 29 Déc 2006- Quatorze oulémas saoudiens dénoncent violemment les Etats-Unis, l'accusant notamment de pratiquer le terrorisme international, pour son alliance avec "l'agresseur éthiopien" dans son "invasion" de la Somalie, dans un communiqué publié jeudi.

 

"L'agression de la part de l'Ethiopie n'est qu'une épisode dans le feuilleton de la campagne mondiale contre le monde musulman, sous la direction de l'alliance croisée avec, à sa tête, l'Amérique", selon le communiqué dont l'AFP a obtenu une copie.

 

Les oulémas dénoncent le silence des pays membres d'organisations internationales devant "le terrorisme international et la violation de la souveraineté d'un pays membre de l'ONU, alors qu'ils prétendent (eux-mêmes) combattre le terrorisme", en référence aux Etats-Unis.

 

"Les peuples musulmans doivent voler au secours de leurs frères en Somalie", poursuivent les oulémas, en soulignant que "l'alliance croisée et américaine, avec l'agresseur éthiopien, n'est que la continuation de leurs précédentes alliances avec les juifs sionistes et les rafidhas (terme péjoratif désignant les chiites) contre les musulmans".

 

"Ceci prouve la nécessité de poursuivre le djihad défensif contre ce gouvernement américain extrémiste et de faire échouer ses plans", ajoutent les quatorze signataires.

 

Parmi ces dignitaires, tous sunnites, figurent cheikh Safar al-Hawali, ancien professeur de théologie à l'université d'Oum Al-Qoura (La Mecque) et cheikh Nasser ben Souleiman Al-Omer, ancien responsable à la faculté de théologie à l'université islamique de l'imam Mohammed ben Saoud (Ryad).

 

Des troupes gouvernementales somaliennes, soutenues par l'armée éthiopienne, sont entrées jeudi dans la capitale Mogadiscio, désertée par les milices islamistes qui la contrôlaient depuis juin.

 

Les Etats-Unis ont apporté leur soutien à l'attaque éthiopienne tout en demandant au gouvernement d'Addis Abeba de faire preuve d'un "maximum de retenue" dans son intervention.

[A/Y is DEAD]

A. Yusuf Death: legacy and planned succession

 

29 December 2006

 

A Soviet trained colonel who attempted to overthrow Syad Barre regime through assasination and tribal collusion in the midst of the Somali forces debacle in 77, A. Yusuf could legitimely be credited with the start of Somalia civil war and the consequent mayhem as the paranoid regime disregarded his anti-discrimination progressive policies to coopt loyal kinsmen into strategic positions.

 

His SSDF unprincipled organization, as the first Addis sponsored rebel movement, not only sacrificed his clan to a terrible repression but soon fighted alongside the invading Ethiopian troops who claimed parts of Somalia territory proper; thus did he lost the remaining credibility, if it ever had any, of his tribal movement.

 

Particularly noteworthy is also the fact that this clan based militia, who served as a precursor to the other equally unholy movements characterized by clannishness, never fought for any particular, coherent agenda of social change as it simply recuperated the incongruous slogan of socialism a la Syad in a nomadic and strongly egalitarian society.

 

Later, the machiavelian colonel, reverted to his old ways when defeated through elections in his own Puntland fiefdom, by chasing literally out of his office the elected president, thanks to Ethiopian massive intervention.

 

By inviting the enemy into a martyrized and defenceless Somalia this time, the secular warlord secured again a most despicable place in Somalis historical annals, all the more more shameful given that Ethiopian MIGs took off from Galkayo and were able to target for the first time Somalis capital.

 

PM Meles feels now entitled to boast relentlessly about his "resounding victories" to gain the support of Ethiopian hardliner nationalists, mesmerized by the unexpected sight of Ethiopians troops parading in Mogadishu.

 

For all that, the man who promoted Addis meddling into Somali affairs for the last three decades, was solely motivated by his thirst for power and was even briefly detained by Mengistu, for not acknowledging Ethiopian rights on parts of Somalia territory itself in the eighties.

 

For Abdillahi Yusuf, Ethiopian interferings were acceptable only to the extent they permitted him to satisfy his irrepressible lust for the red carpet, which also prompted him to favor negociations with an eager Courts leadership.

 

Little doubt, therefore, that Meles took his precautions by appointing Ghedi as PM when he engineered the TFG in Nairobi and elected Yusuf through wholesale bribery and Kenyan connivance.

 

Earnestly sabotaging peace discussions by constantly relaying Washington and Addis-Abeba arrogantly violent and Islamophobic rethoric at the slightest opportunity, PM Ghedi effectively secured the all-out-war he deemed necessary to overshadow his flagrant lack of credibility, even among his closest fellow kinsmen.

 

Ghedi nomination, prompted by old familial ties with the Ethiopian autocrat, dealth a further blow to the chronically dysfunctional transitional institutions ravaged by its inherent contradictions when exaspered MPs voted to retire from him their confidence in the last summer.

 

Just in time, the TPLF number two and Addis Foreign Minister Seyoun Mesfin fled to Baidoa and "reconciled" the trio Ghedi-Yusuf-Sharif; hence, Meles took no risk by sending his longtime friend and prominent official of the Tigre oligarchy for such critical rescue mission.

 

It seems now that the natural death of the old colonel, who narrowly escaped Baidoa blast, pave the way for the long awaited succession for a most fidel arch-traitor, whereby the TPLF minority regime hope circumvate his soaring impopularity at home by annexing Somalia for all practical purposes and thus propitiate his hardliner Nationalists, still mourning the "loss" of Eritrea...

[Ghedi Misplaced Allegiance: A Very Singular PM]

Ali Mohammed Ghedi-Meles Zenawi's stooge and Somalia's Traitor

By Sophia Tesfamariam

Dec 28, 2006, 15:38

 

 

 

Meles Zenawi's war of aggression against the people of Somalia was not a surprise to folks like me who have been watching the developments in Somalia since June 2006 when the Union of Islamic Courts took over Mogadishu and restored peace in Somalia after 15 years of anarchy and chaos. It was obvious that the US State Department was not happy with the developments in the Horn and turned once again to its trusted ally and mercenary Meles Zenawi to help return Somalia to its chaotic past. Using the Security Council as its bully pulpit, the US got its proxy war in Somalia . That is another topic for another day, my interest today is Ali Mohammed Ghedi, the illusive Prime Minister of the Transitional National Government of Somalia. Very little is divulged about this man in the US led western media…I wonder why.

 

He got my attention when he openly vouched for the deceptive street smart Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia , and called for the invasion of Somalia . During a 5 December 2006 Press Conference in Addis Ababa , he justified Meles Zenawi's unprovoked war of aggression against Somalia by saying:

 

“…Terrorism is a global issue. But, the so-called UIC with their allies in Mogadishu clearly targeted the country and people of Ethiopia . Therefore, it is the duty of the government of Ethiopia to protect the interests of its people and country. That cannot be compromised. That is our decision…”

 

What about the interests of the long suffering people of Somalia ? I wondered how a leader of country, whose people have experienced untold suffering for 15 years, could openly call for war against them, and prolong their suffering. I was also surprised at his reluctance to create a more conducive environment for Somali reconciliation and dialogue.

 

When the entire world knows that it is Meles Zenawi's armed forces that were in Somalia , Ali Mohammad Ghedi harped about unnamed “foreign fighters” and “Eritrean forces” in order to cover up for his masters at Menelik Palace and divert attention from Meles Zenawi's criminal acts in Somalia . He refers to the Somalis who are fighting to defend Somalia 's sovereignty and territorial integrity as “Islamic terrorists”. Today, he is applauding the US backed Meles Zenawi invasion of Somalia , which has cost the lives of thousands of innocent Somalis, caused untold destruction to vital Somali infrastructure including its airports. Who is Ali Mohammad Ghedi and whose interests and agendas is he promoting?

 

If you rely on the spin being repeated over and over again in the US led western media, you will not get much. It is as if they are bending over backwards to create a clean slate for the man. Whilst so many genuine African leaders who have stood beside their people have been unnecessarily maligned and vilified by the Western media and their coteries, Ghedi, who has betrayed the people of Somalia over and over again, is getting a makeover. Here is the often repeated phrase about Ghedi:

 

“…He has not been involved with the factional fighting of the past 13 years…a qualified vet, Mr Ghedi is relatively unknown in political circles, and was only sworn in as a member of Somalia's parliament-in-exile hours before his appointment, after a Mogadishu warlord gave up his seat for him…”

 

I suppose that means he is being cleared of any wrong doing, or responsibility for the anarchy and chaos that has plagued Somalia for the last 13 years. How does a “relatively unknown in political circles” get a seat in Somalia 's parliament? Who is the Mogadishu warlord that “gave up his seat” for Ghedi? Why did he do that? Obviously, no one is telling, for good reasons. Here is an excerpt from a 5 November 2004 IOL article under the title “ So who is Ali Mohamed Gedi ”:

 

“…Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed plucked the former lecturer in livestock at the University of Mogadishu from the African Union and assigned him the responsibility of forming the first recognised government in 14 years…Friends describe Gedi as a soft-spoken leader with a humble personality and one without political skeletons in his cupboard, a characteristic of several armed leaders, including Abdullahi Yusuf…All the warlords, except Mohamed Omar Habeb, who controls the Middle Shabelle and Mogadishu faction leader Bashir Raghe, have yet to throw their weight behind the new premier…”

 

Neither the Transitional National Government of Somalia, nor Ghedi enjoys popular support in Somalia . As for Mohamed Omar Habeb, he is after all Ghedi's relative with a vested interest in the TNG, as we will see later when we unravel Ghedi's true identity and provide a more complete dossier on the man behind Meles Zenawi's unprovoked war of aggression against the people of Somalia. As for Abdullahi Yusuf, his reign will soon be over, if Ghedi and Meles have their way.

 

Background

 

Ali Mohammad Ghedi was born in Mogadishu , Somalia in 1951. He is from the Abgal subclan ***** Abgal and sub-sub clan Warsaageli. After his mother's divorce, his step mother Hewa R. from Ayr-habergedir clan raised the young Ghedi. His father was a Colonel in the Somali National Security Service ( NSS ). Ghedi was recruited by the NSS while he was in secondary school and worked for them throughout his college days. He also completed military service training in the 70s. Ghedi was given the task of spying on his fellow secondary and university students. During the Barre regime hundreds of students were arrested and tortured “on the basis of reports given by Ghedi”.

 

After completing secondary school at Jamal Abdul Masic Allah in Mogadishu in 1974, he went to veterinary school at the University of Mogadishu and graduated in 1978. From 1979-1981 he was in Italy at the University of Pisa on a two-year scholarship. He returned to the University of Mogadishu 's Veterinary School and served as assistant lecturer in 1982. He was soon appointed as its Head, and held that post until the collapse of Siad Barre's regime in 1991.

 

The fall of Siad Barre's regime brought the era of the warlords. Ali Mahdi Mohammed is one of the two main warlords to have emerged after the fall of Siad Barre; Mohammed Farah Aideed was the other. Ghedi worked with Ali Mahdi as head of the logistical section. The power struggle between Aideed and Mahdi in 1991-1992 was one of the deadly turning points in Somalia 's history. During that time Ghedi was working as Assistant Defense Secretary with Ali Mahdi. That civil war cost the lives of 50,000 Somalis of which Ghedi is accountable.

 

Link with Meles Zenawi

 

In the mid 80s, Professor Ghedi's father was assigned to assist Meles Zenawi, the then head of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), to provide for Meles' basic needs. Eventually he was appointed as the coordinator between the Somali government and TPLF. The assistance given to Meles Zenawi was facilitated by Ghedi's father. It was during this time that Ghedi's relationship with Meles Zenawi flourished.

 

Trail of Betrayal

 

After the failure of UNOSOM operations in March 1995, Ghedi's father made a courtesy call to his former friend Meles Zenawi. Colonel Mohammed, Ghedi's father requested political support and assistance to elevate his son, to play more prominent and key roles in Somali politics. It was after Colonel Mohammed's visit to Addis Abeba that Ghedi began to distance himself from Ali Mahdi and his organization and began to openly challenge him. This began Ghedi's trail of betrayals of the Somali people in general, but also of the people that assisted him in his rise as a prominent figure in Somali politics.

 

When civil war broke out in Somalia , Ghedi remained in exile, mostly in Ethiopia and Kenya . He served as consultant in various regional livestock bodies in East Africa . From 2003-2004 Ghedi worked for the Red Sea Livestock Trade Commission ( LTC ). The RSLTC is a USAID funded autonomous body operating under the African Union's Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR), making Ghedi a USAID employee. A luxury hotel in Nairobi , Kenya served both as his office and residence. According to news reports:

 

“…From Nairobi he also oversaw an internationally funded animal disease control programme for Somalia …”

 

The truth is that he used his profession and his position to undermine the thriving Somali livestock export market in order to help his godfather and mentor Meles Zenawi. In 1996 a USAID funded livestock export project which was given to Ethiopia , instead of Somalia based upon Ghedi's recommendations. None of the media reported that Ghedi was singularly responsible for the ban on export of Somali livestock. When Ghedi was working with the Italian NGO Terra Nuova, he issued a certificate saying that Somali livestock was infected with Rift Valley fever, resulting in the ban on Somali's livestock by the Gulf States , costing Somalia millions in export revenues. This erroneous claim was repeatedly denied by international organizations and Somali herdsman. This opened up a short lived opportunity for Ethiopian livestock to monopolize the livestock market in the Gulf States and other Arab countries.

 

After 14 trials to form a Transitional Government for Somalia failed due to Ethiopia 's interference, the current Transitional National Government was formed in 2004 in Kenya with Abdulahi Yusuf as its head. Following Meles Zenawi's orders, Yusuf chose Ghedi as the Prime Minister. He faced problems because Ghedi was not a member of the Transitional Federal Parliament (TFP) and a request for a Constitutional amendment to allow non-members to serve in the Somalia government was rejected. Mohamed Omar Habeb "Muhammad Dheere” the Jowhar based faction leader is Ghedi's relative and a Meles loyalist. He was an elected member of the TFP but stepped down in favor of Ghedi, allowing Yusuf to name him Prime Minister.

 

In the mid 90s, Ghedi's relationship with the minority Tigrayan regime in Ethiopia tightened and he was subsequently recruited as the regime's spy. He was paid a monthly salary for his contributions of confidential intelligence to Meles' regime. Ghedi continues to put the interests of the minority regime in Ethiopia ahead of that of the Somali people and has worked aggressively to scuttle any peace talks, calling instead for the invasion of Somalia by his godfather's forces.

 

The US led international community has emboldened Meles Zenawi, the mercenary leader of the Tigrayan minority regime in Ethiopia, to defy international law, invade sovereign territories of neighboring countries, trample and violate the human rights of the Ethiopian people. They have once again proved that when it comes to Africa , African lives are dispensable, and the end justifies the means. The real question is to what end…

 

Therefore, the reports about Ghedi being a political novice, having no skeletons in his closet etc. etc. are not only erroneous and self serving, but they are also a futile attempt by his handlers to clean up his corrupt and traitorous history against the people of Somalia . His acts of treason will continue to be exposed and history and the Somali people will judge him harshly…there is no where to hide. He will have to answer to the Somali people sooner or later.

 

Finally, Meles Zenawi and Jendayi Frazier can use force and install Ghedi's puppet regime in Mogadishu , but they cannot force the people of Somalia to accept him as their leader. The US led international community may have shattered the hopes and aspirations of the Somali people temporarily, but no amount of fire power can kill the spirit of a people fighting for justice forever.

 

The rule of law will prevail over the law of the jungle!

 

___________

[A Democracy Model In Practice]

Obese may be denied priority NHS care, The Independant

 

Patients with 'self-inflicted' illnesses face discrimination

 

By Andrew Grice, Political Editor

Published: 26 December 2006

Smokers, people with alcohol problems and the obese could be denied priority treatment on the NHS if they do not try to change their lifestyle.

 

The Cabinet is discussing the controversial idea as part of a drive by Tony Blair to secure his domestic political legacy by pushing through a final round of public service reforms before he departs next year.

 

Ministers will confront a panel of 100 ordinary people with some of the "tough choices" facing the Government under a consultation exercise giving the public a direct say in the new policies. One question will be whether people whose lifestyle makes them ill should get the same priority as other patients. This would mean changing NHS guidelines saying that people should not be discriminated against "even if their illnesses are to some extent self-inflicted".

 

A Cabinet review group on public services was shocked by the scale of the burden caused by people's lifestyles. "Ministers were shocked by the fact that half of all years of healthy life are lost as a result of behavioural factors (e.g. smoking and diet)," a Government source said.

 

Ministers want a "cultural change" in public services so the state can support and encourage people to change their behaviour to improve their life chances and well-being.

 

They also want to extend the number of "contracts" between the citizen and the state, such as the £30-a-week education maintenance allowances paid to over-16s who remain in further education.

 

Experts warned this month that obesity, which costs the NHS £7bn a year, could bankrupt it if left unchecked and predicted that the proportion of obese adults would rise from one in five to one in three by 2010. Smoking-related diseases cost an estimated £1.7bn a year, with the same amount spent on alcohol-related problems. The treatment of alcohol-related harm, such as violent crime and traffic accidents, costs an estimated £20bn.

 

Downing Street sources said no decisions had been taken on whether to change the guidelines and stressed that the public would be asked their views on the issue first. The suggestion is bound to provoke criticism. Forest, the pro-smoking group, has claimed that some smokers have already suffered discrimination. It argues that tobacco revenues, which bring in £7bn a year for the Government, dwarf the cost of smoking-related illness.

 

The cabinet group, one of six drawing up the Blair Government's last policies, will also look at how public satisfaction measures can improve state-run services. Ministers will try to learn lessons from retailers like Tesco, which has used the technology behind its Clubcard system to offer a more personalised service.

 

The 100 people, a representative cross-section of the British public, will be recruited across the regions in the new year and organised lobby groups will be excluded. In February, they will see the papers discussed by the six cabinet groups and, in March, a public services summit will be held in Downing Street at which the "people's panel" will reach decisions. These will be presented to the Cabinet in mid-March.

 

Hazel Blears, the Labour Party chairman, is looking at other ways in which the public could influence government policy and the way that services are run.

 

A Blair aide said: "This process of public engagement recognises that politics is changing. The public level of expectations is rising both in terms of the provision which they receive and the right which they have to influence those services. It will identify in more detail the areas which the public want us to focus on and develop a series of radical and progressive solutions."

 

The cabinet reviews have already provoked controversy. A paper for the security, crime and justice group, leaked at the weekend, suggested that crime could rise for the first time in more than a decade as economic growth slows, and that the prison population, already at a record 80,000, could rise to 100,000 over the next five years.

 

The Government has promised an extra 8,000 prison places but it is not clear how they will be funded. The Treasury has frozen the Home Office budget in real terms from 2008-11 other than for spending on security and anti-terrorism work.

 

Yesterday David Davis, the shadow Home Secretary, challenged the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, to address the "chronic shortage" of prison places. He said: "All we have seen from Gordon Brown has been a miserly approach which, as well as putting the public at risk, is short-sighted. The cost of having a serious criminal free on the streets to commit crime far outweighs the cost of imprisoning and rehabilitating that individual."

 

[/b]'Self-inflicted' illnesses

 

* 114,000 of the 12 million smokers in the UK die each year as a result of their habit.

 

* 20% of adults in the UK are obese, and one in four children are overweight, making Britain the fattest country in Europe.

 

* 8,386 people died from drink-related illness in the UK in 2005. Rates have nearly doubled for 35 to 54-year-olds since 1991[/b]

 

....................................................................................................

 

 

Also, the death toll of alcohool related car accidents, comparable to that of alcohol related disease has not been taken into account.

 

Likewise, suicide rates, drugs/ alcohool related mental illness and social problems, smoking effects on non smokers ect are missing, not mentioning the economic and environmental damages, especially in Third World countries where locally produced drugs and liquors work havoc on populations without adequate health promotion services.

 

And, on top of that, TFG high officials have announced and promoted khat use resumption as a truck load has been delivered to Beled Weyne alongside the Ethiopians troops

[Liberal market or state run you]

Privatizing infrastructures is highly recommended for chronically corrupt countries; else, there is little point in talking about "developpment" as epitomized in our region.

 

For instance, Djibouti port and airport have been privatized and are now much more competitive, not least through staff discipline and motivation (khat ban in the port premises, dismissals uncompromized by "special interventions" ect).

 

Likewise, Kenya scandalous economic underachievement, despite its varied opportunities and constant flow of aid or foreign direct investment, could largely be explained by World leading corruption standards.

 

But shouldn't such countries privatize their duties & tax collection prerogatives as well?

 

However, the context is diametrically different in a Shariah compliant State where corruption is fought against severely as a priority and only deserving managers are nominated to sensible posts...

[Common reasons for supporting the ICU]

17) The Islamic Courts have restored our dignity as a nation and provided Somali with much-needed hope when least expected; the moral & motivational factor is by no means negligible as everything stem from it.

 

 

18) Shariah implementation is the only sincere remedy against the enduring evils of tribalism/ regionalism or the deep-seated prejudice against the so-called "minorities"; these most immoral plagues should, therefore, be adressed by any means necessary.

 

Moreover, such divisions paralyze the Somali society and are manipulated ruthlessly by our ennemies.

 

 

19) By denying the enemy the opportunity to divide and rule, an Islamic State may finally liberate our colonized Somali/Muslims brothers by empowering them morally and materially; this is not only about realizing our common dream but we can only increase our political/economic influence through unity.

 

 

20) By thus indirectly/directly promoting colonized local Muslims and Somalis rights, the ICU is also defending our vital interests, eg the flow of our only two perennial rivers in a desertic region menaced by Ethiopian unilateralism.

 

Given that many barrages constructions on our shared rivers are planned by Addis-Abeba, irrespectively of any ethical/environmental consideration, and that the battle for water is predicted to be the ultimate one thanks to the global warming mainly caused by Western irresponsibility, especially in our region, we can understand why the oppressive minority regime is so nervous.

 

 

21) Even more important, we have increasing evidence by the day that sincere Shariah implementation is not only an Islamic fundamental obligation but the only way towards a truly holistic approah toward Sustainable Development by protecting the Environment and Human Health & Welfare against addictions, corruption, prejudices and frivolous consumerism.

 

In fact, not only do Islamic teachings and discipline protect and optimize the productivity of our bodies and minds but it also constitutes a most coherent framework whereby substantial progress could be achieved with extremely limited capabilities and durably.

 

For instance, Interest-free Finance has been adopted by many progressive groups worlwide such as the Swedish JAK bank (Jork, Arbete, Kapital or Land, Work and Capital), while the concept of ethical investment has been privileged by The Norwegian Government Pension Fund - Global (Statens pensjonsfond - Utland). , albeit to a limited extent given the inherent limites and contradictions of secular governance, for this is the only rational approah toward Human Welfare by maximising economic efficacity while limiting environmental damages...

[US Biais Against Islam/Somalia Revealed]

How memories of Black Hawk Down cast shadow over hopes for peace

 

 

Martin Fletcher in Mogadishu

Sunday, December 17, 2006

 

Fears of war between Somalia's Islamists and Ethiopia are rising as a rift develops between Western powers trying to avert it

See more of Richard Mills' pictures from Mogadishu

 

 

One of the many Somali men who are taking up arms for the Sharia Islamic Courts Council, which claims that war with the Government is imminent (Richard Mills/The Times)

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

At a primitive training camp 30 miles up a crumbling highway north of Mogadishu, just past the rusting hulk of a Soviet tank, 70 young, ragged, would-be soldiers march proudly through the bush chanting “Allahu akbar” (“God is Great”). As they recede, other wannabe warriors, helmets festooned with vegetation, wriggle through the scrub clutching AK47s. They cheer and punch the air as a baby-faced 18-year-old, Abdulm Kadar Muhammad, declares: “I am ready to die for my religion and my country.”

 

 

 

 

The performance is obviously stage-managed for a visiting journalist, but it makes the point. Somalia is girding itself for war.

 

The Sharia Islamic Courts Council (SICC) that forms the country’s de facto government has given Ethiopia, its traditional foe, until tomorrow to withdraw the thousands of troops protecting Somalia’s official Government, holed up in the town of Baidoa, 150 miles from the capital. The imams of Mogadishu, in lorries with loudspeakers, exhort Somalis to prepare for battle. Newspapers carry photographs of Somali women dressed in niqabs and brandishing AK47s. Businesses contribute the heavy weapons used for security. A hospital has been commandeered for casualties. Ethiopia and the United States are denounced at mass rallies for supporting a Government that most ordinary Somalis detest.

 

 

“War is imminent . . . the guns are loaded,” said Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, the council’s pre-eminent leader. He also appealed for a last-minute intervention from Europe to persuade Ethiopia to withdraw.

 

The stakes are high. A war between Muslim Somalia and Christian-ruled Ethiopia could rapidly engulf the entire Horn of Africa, sucking in neighbouring Eritrea, Djibouti, Kenya, Sudan and even Yemen. It would give Islamic jihadists the chance to establish a new front in Africa after Iraq and Afghanistan, and to wage another proxy war between East and West. For ordinary Somalis, war would shatter the first six months of peace they have enjoyed in 15 years, the result of the council’s banishment of the warlords who had turned Somalia into one of the world’s most dangerous and lawless countries.

 

The chances of a last-minute compromise have been seriously undermined by a deepening rift between the US and governments in Europe over the nature of the problem and how to address it. “The Americans are simply not prepared to listen to anyone else’s point of view,” one diplomat complained angrily. “They have made their mind up.”

 

The US, still haunted by memories of Somalis triumphantly dragging American corpses through Mogadishu after shooting down two Black Hawk helicopters in 1993, says that the council is run by Islamic extremists, a new Taleban that will turn Somalia into a haven for terrorists.

 

The US believes that the council is harbouring the al-Qaeda cell that bombed the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and a Kenyan beach resort used by Israeli tourists in 2002. The Bush Administration backed the warlords in their losing battle against the Islamists last spring, and now tacitly backs Ethiopia, an increasingly repressive state that fears that the council’s success in Somalia would foment trouble among its own rapidly growing Muslim population.

 

“The SICC is now controlled by al-Qaeda cell individuals,” Jendayi Frazer, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, declared last week, calling the council’s leaders “extremist to the core”.

 

The problem with the US approach is that it ignores the will of the Somali people. Most Somalis approve of the council because it restored peace and security to their country. And they detest the official Government because it includes many of the war lords who were banished in June, including President Yusuf, widely regarded as the original Somali warlord and an Ethiopian stooge.

 

The official Government — the product of the international community’s 14th attempt since 1991 to restore order to Somalia — was cobbled together in 2004 after two years of tortuous negotiations in Kenya between rival Somali factions. Unwilling to return to war-torn Mogadishu, the Government moved to Baidoa, where it was overtaken by events on the ground, and now sits impotent, crippled by mass desertions and sustained only by the forces of Somalia’s blood enemy.

 

A prominent Somali journalist said that any attempt to impose the official Government on the Somali people was bound to fail. “It’s like going to New York and saying openly, ‘I will back the Mafia, and the Mafia will bring back law and order’.” European diplomats contend privately that the Bush Administration’s preoccupation with Islamic terrorism is distorting its judgment. “The Americans see an extremist under every Muslim stone,” one protested. They say that the US should accept reality, engage with the council’s leaders as the Europeans are doing, and attempt to broker a compromise between the council and the official Government.

 

This month Britain pointedly refused a request from Washington to co-sponsor a United Nations resolution partially lifting an arms embargo on Somalia so that a regional force could enter to protect the official Government. The council called the resolution an act of war.

 

Whether the council is really run by a bunch of Islamic extremists is a matter of intense debate. It has been praised by Osama bin Laden and Sheikh Aweys, a former army colonel known as the Red Fox, appears on both the US and UN lists of terrorist supporters. A recent UN report alleged that fighters, weapons and trainers were pouring into Somalia from Syria, Iran and Hezbollah as well as neighbouring Eritrea and Baidoa has recently suffered two suicide car bombings reminiscent of al-Qaeda- style attacks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In his interview with The Times, Sheikh Aweys — who sports a tuft of henna-stained red beard, has 20 children by four wives and believes he is about 60 — angrily denied all such charges. “Americans say all Muslims are al-Qaeda and terrorists,” he snapped, before launching into a lengthy defence of attacks such as 9/11 on the grounds that they were the only way Muslims could hit back at a country that deprives them of freedom, sovereignty and weapons.

 

He also urged the West to accept Somalia’s right to pursue its faith, and argued that Bin Laden could, like Nelson Mandela, eventually come to be seen as a freedom fighter, not a terrorist.

 

The council does undoubtedly harbour Islamic hardliners, including the Shabbab, a band of militant young ideologues led by a man called Aden Hashi Ayro, who allegedly trained in Afghanistan.

 

European diplomats and other neutral observers say that the West’s priority should be to boost the relative moderates who presently hold sway with the apparent blessing of Sheikh Aweys — men such as Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, a former teacher who heads the council’s executive, and Ibrahim Hassan Addow, an American who is the council’s foreign minister.

 

The real concern is that the Bush Administration’s charges could become a self-fulfilling prophecy. A war against Ethiopia, which Somalis regard as US-inspired, would play into the hands of radicals and hardliners, said a European diplomat. Ali Sharmarke, who runs HornAfrik, Somalia’s leading independent radio station, said: “If the West’s concern is international terrorism, its priority should be to bring security to Somalia, not keep it in chaos.”

 

Sheikh Aweys and Sheikh Yusuf Muhammad Siad Inde’Adde, the council’s military chief, told The Times that in the event of war, the council would welcome Muslim fighters of any sort to Somalia, and would expect them to come in large numbers.

 

“If Ethiopia is supported by the Americans, why should we not get support from the Muslim world?” asked Sheikh Inde’Adde, adding: “If you shut a cat in a room and beat it, it will jump at you.”

 

Sheikh Abdurahim Mudday, the council’s information minister, told The Times an old Somali story to reinforce the point. A mad woman runs through a village of straw huts with a burning torch. An alarmed villager warns her not to set the village alight. “You’ve just reminded me,” the mad woman said. And she starts burning down the homes.

 

 

Source: Times Online, Dec 17, 2006