lol@Alpha. Yes. I am not going to settle there. I'm going there for job-related visits on and off -- few weeks max -- for duration of the project (3 years). Just looking folks to socialize with when I visit there. Qallanjo Malika where are these nomads now? I've been busy with life and whatnot and didn't get to visit SOL often enough to know who's where now.. Northerner no it is not a relocation this time around. We're doing LNG project for Chevron in down under. Design is done in the states. I'm on the team in the states and when the design matures we're taking short trips to clarify and whatnot. I wanted to go back to Dubai so bad that I blew it...they picked Canadian from Quebec instead of me...ma caleesh. I missed Abu Ghureir mall and all the friends I met in that corner.

Is it because sugar daddy Melez is no longer with us and folks on the wheel now see things differently than former strongman? I am not well informed about the goings in this part of greater Somalia. It appears there is some fallout from Melez's departure. That beig said, Iley or anybody else it is the nature of the beast (occupation) to play ball with constituents under occupation. Empower this faction today and when they peak bring them down to their knees and empower their nemessis...and on and on. Addis will find useful to play this game and retain control until final settlement is reached. My heart goes out to Somalis there...they've been struggling with this beast for quite sometimes now. Iley is not the point. He was a placeholder anyway.

Do you know any?

We're turning the corner. I ran into a guy who just came back from Benadir. He said we still have miles to go before we will get this beast to safe landing. He emphasized the fact that clan is not an issue for ordinary people. He also said the class difference -- haves and have-nots -- is very visible and is a stark reality to be reckon with. There are two classes it seems side by side in the city and the new social stratification is based on wealth not on clan. Needless to say he is going back for his construction business he set up there.

Are there any nomads in this part of Australia? Any Somali restuarants? Any starbucks with fadhi-ku-dirrir corner populated with oldies there ? Are there any Somali soccer players you know off?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/newsweek-ending-its-print-publication-will-shift-to-online-format-job-cuts-expected/2012/10/18/1ffd2c6e-1919-11e2-ad4a-e5a958b60a1e_story.html SOL had a headstart in this terrain. Little overhead! Will it go places? Libaax to up his game

I don't knowabout this Libaax. He sure heck performed way better than last time. Whether his performance is good enought to stop the bleeding remains to be seen. I have uneasiness about his chances to pull it over this time. We'll see. Romney was disrepectful..the pundits had their cup of tea at how the two dislike each other. Libaax say what you must the fact remains that Romney is a tough cookie. He handed Obama his head first time around and he almost bulldozed him over in last one. War jiraaba cakaaro iman.

Everyone is not checking their 401K or their stock holdings. Some of them don't vote for their interest sometimes. Obamacare, abortion, race and whatnot have more sway than Dow Jones.

As you can see passions are high! Baajuuni community, Jareer-weyn and other Somalis with Arab-Indian-Persian heritage will have to be content with whatever competing "D" subclans decide. That's the height of injustice. For those nomads who are not familiar with the plight of these minorities let me fill you in. Are you familiar with Mogadishu? Imagine if you own properties in the Nes-café, Romano, Haw-Tako elementary School and Arbaco Rukun neighborhoods. Imagine if you own jewelry shops in the faras-magaalaha. Civil war breaks out and those of you who survive flee to Mombasa or Yemen instead of the West as like many other Somalis have done. Imagine again if you are not involved in the rough and tumble of nomadic Somali politicking, negotiations, back room deals and whatnot. Add the plight of Jareer-weyne and put yourself in a culture that lives off the land – couple of acres here and there, growing corn this season, sesame next one with orange or mango tree permanently planted beside the hut. That’s the total sum of your livelihood. Civil war breaks out and you fled with your dear life. You long the day when things stabilize so you can go back and rebuild your life. Imagine your tuulo let’s say Sanguuni near Jamaame is now under a “Z” subclan who is having a dispute over your plot with “Y” subclan. You don’t have the numbers, power, press or even education (the mighty pen) to fight back. Baajuuni’s are in the same situation. They are fishing communities and they make use of islands and shores between Kismayo and Ras-kambooni to repair their nets, fix their lashes, dry their fish and move on. That area has seen a gold rush kind of invasion by nomadic tribes from further inland. This conflict has a human dimension and when you guys face off and fight for clans please consider the big picture and the tragedy other less known and less powerful Somalis have to endure. This problem is more than political appointees and positions. This is a conflict that has deeper dimensions that will hopefully be addressed one day.

http://www.2012presidentialelectionnews.com/2012/10/town-hall-presidential-debate-tonight-at-9pm-et-6pm-pt/

Gedo is and has always been under the domain of Gedo clans. Stop the cantrabaqash for once. Had Barre looked after them in terms of investing Gedo, they wouldn't felt the need to put emphasis on Kismayo. Fertile Buur-dhuubo, Luuq and Baardheer would have been more than enough. Carafaat;880354 wrote: Baashi, Carafaat is content on some of the developments in Somalia. The build up of foreign troops and their influence in Kismaayo worries me though. Second we could have organized our own Jubba peace Conference, no need for IGAD's involvement. Unless you lack confidence that tolka cant make peace without mediation from Amxaaro or Kikuyu's? I think they can if one leaves things to community leaders rather then Generals and militants Sheicks. Right. True. No one in their right mind would like to have foreign interference in their internal affairs. Awoowe don't forget Somali conflict has regional and international dimensions. AS presence in Somali soil has upped the stakes. Right or wrong Kenya today sees its security interest contingent on the "pacification" of territories of its northern border. According to the age old geopolitical tactics Kenyan wants to “contain” Somali “threat” inside Somalia. Competing sub-clans are scrambling to get Kenya on their side. At the moment Kenya has the luxury of choosing which group is a right "fit" for its plans for the region. The ball has been rolling for sometimes now and your call for process “ownership” is noble and correct but not feasible at this environment. Besides if your worries are foreign interferences of Somali affairs you have a whole lot mess in every zone to contend with. Foreign troops are in the seat of the government, Upper Juba and Hiiraan as well. Foreign navies dock at Berbera and Las Qoray quite frequently. Join the realist side and be a bit practical. In this case tolka should leverage new admin in Benadir against the overwhelming Kenyan influence. As of today, that tactic is working. Benadir admin makes noise and Kenyan gets a call from the West to make the right balance in terms of clan composition. So far negotiation is weapon of choice. Somalia has a recognized government and IGAD coalition have difference of opinion. All these factors will ultimately balance things out.

Tonight is do or die for Barack. Romney is slick, hungry and desperate for a win. He changed his colors and moved to the middle. Libaax our man has to perform or else. He has to do well. After the debate tonight pls share your two cents...don't wait the talking heads appraisal of the face-off. We want you to make the call aight

Carafaat must be happy. Somalia is coming back bit by bit. Conflict is being resolved slowly but surely Jubba issue being a textbook example. Things imperfect as they may be are going forward. Our brother in Somaliland are making progress. Puntland and Galmudug are on their way. Benadir is shaly but under control. Bay and Bakool are recovering. Hiiraan and Galgaduud are bit difficult but in due time they will find their footing. Shabelle is stable. Looking good awoowe. You should be happy the third republic is getting its sh*t together.

There will be new administration in the region. Kenyans want it so bad they won't let anyone spoil it. Madoobe has the full weight of Kenya behind him. Shekhal, Galjacal and Gedo folks have the new admin in Benadir looking after their interest. Faroole is so polarized Hart folks don't want him to be part of the negotiation. From the feeds I'm getting they succeeded extracting concessions beyond their bottomline and they are quite happy with it. All sides are happy with the final communique as it is written now. However, Somali politiking being what it is --unpredictable -- things could go south anytime. The bottom line is D block gets the most prized land in the republic -- Jubba (or Ganaane as is know in the region) river in its entirety except east bank of Bakool area. In the Somali clan balance that's huge in every aspect. The task is to finalize the deal before cowboys (Gedo and OG) ruin the whole thing Lets wait and see.

Carafaat, Jubbaland includes Gedo therefore Gedo community is at the table Capisce? Gedo folks are now in Lower Jubba too. It is a reality to be taken into account. The civil war has changed the balance of many communities and Kismayo is no exception. Remember the urban elite of block regardless of which subclan they belonged to fled to Kismayo and Gedo urbanites found Kismayo more appealing place to settle than their Gedo hometowns Gabbal and et al will tell you that Lower Jubba is their historical hometown too Considering how convinced Gabbal seems to be and how passionate he is about the issue, one has to call quits and let the man be. But that's irrelevant now. Gedo boys are force to reckon with. boys have many enemies in Benadir and elsewhere and everyone feels the need to undermine them (including in the neighboring 'country") the odds are staked against them. Still boys will get a sizable share of three combined Jubbaland state. Not bad eh! Not bad at all.

Leezu, Awwowe what you make of whites, blacks, asian races in the states, Canada or even Australia . Clearly the land all these folks in these nation-state reside in belong to Indigenous people. Should all these non-Indigenous races get deported too? How about Somali refugees in the West who are now nuetralized citizens in their host countries? Should they be getting the boot too?

Kismayo is in the news again. Partisan nomads will post news tidbits and tell tall tales in effort to enforce fabricated narratives. This post is meant for silent readers who are confused about all the competing narratives and claims and counter claims. Don't buy what the snake oil salesmen are selling. They're all pushing their own fanatsy in an attempt to claim the far side of the moon. To them history started 1990s.

Will see. I guess Obama is sick and tired of being president . They (constituents) are not showing him love anymore. The thrill is gone:) He is very able debater if he put his mind into the contest. I give him that. But aaa...that...that...aaa...he gave us the other night won't cut it. Uncle Joe too was too much at times. Not to be immodest but I screamed at the screen and said out loud ..."I can do better than that...":

Leezu, Jareer are ethnic minority who are Somali citizens. Yes they are Somali. Please refer to the definition of citizenship in Somali constitution. I don't understand where the xenophobia is stemming from!

Awoowe Libaax your man is in deep trouble. Waa loo yaabaa marakan

Lower Juba Province (Jubbada Hoose) is an important administrative region of Somali Republic. It is one of the eighteen administrative regions of Somalia. Lower Juba consists of five districts (Afmadow, Xagar, Badhaadhe, Jamaame and Bajuni islands). Kismayo is the seat of the provincial government. It is also the commercial capital of the region. Kismayo used to be one of the most developed urban centers of the country. It was known for its diversity (i.e. ethnic minorities such as Bajunis, Jareer-Weyn, Arabs, Persians, Indians, and Italians). It had a mature tourism industry. It’s signature Waamo hotel used to sport a zoo with elephants, leopards, lions, etc.). Its natural beaches - Liido and Calanleey -- were tailored for both local and tourist use. Lower Juba was also the second most productive region of the republic in terms of agricultural output – only second to great province of Lower Shabelle. Lower Jubba region exported livestock, canned meat, banana and mango. It also produced rice in Mugambo fields managed by the Chinese – between Kamsuma and Jilib). Mareerey sugar canes used to be under Lower Jubba before Barre Administration redistricting move to appease his MOD clan base and ceded to the newly created Middle Jubba. Lower Jubba lost one of the most prized district of the nation Jilib district in eighties redistricting effort (managed by the socialist party powered by presidential decree). The city didn’t produce generals and known politicians but it had great sport teams. It won majority of the national football tournaments (actually Lower Jubba won more national tournament than all of other Somali provinces combined). Lower Jubba’s women basketball team was also strong and only second to Benadir women’s team. Today Kismayo is a disputed city. There are scores of clans and sub clans vying for control of the strategic port of the city. I’ve searched the history of the city. Mighty Google search returned several links Wikipedia being one of them. I guess Wikipedia (imperfect as it is) is starting point for those who want to know the facts of the city http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kismayo. Lewis and et al could also shed light on demographics of the area and who resides where. Irrespective of the clan squabbles the region has the capacity to accommodate tens of millions (folks with the right skill and temperament). Injustice, outright looting and marginalization will begot resentment and backlash. I know all other stakeholders can fend for themselves. However, minorities such as Bajunis, Jareer-Weyn and other Somali-Arabs, Persians, and Indians will be victims of dispossession, looting and marginalization. Who is going to look out for them?

Frontline’s two-hour documentary The Choice 2012 goes behind the spin and the slogans to look at who the men running for president really are. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/choice-2012/ The program was on local TV last night. The political junky I am I watched the full two hour.

Kismayo is the news again! Let’s see who the players are: Government forces and AMISOM forces Kenya military and its proxy clan militia (Ras-Kambooni faction) AS forces Other clan interest groups Kenya assembled three regional clan reps in Nairobi and asked them to share the region under the auspices of its military (not civilian government). AMISOM stated that their mission is to improve security situation and assist Somali government take control over its domains. AMISOM is in sync with Somali forces. Government forces have pledged their neutrality to the competing clans and promised they will consult clan reps in parliament in establishing regional government. AS forces will continue waging guerilla war and make life in the region in a living hell. Of all the forces jockeying influence in the region, Ras-Kamboni militia and its leadership are in a position to dominate Kismayo politics at this time. The militia is from the region and belong the majority clan in the region. The NFD is populated by their kin and Kenya military is led by a man from their clan. Of course Kenya’s security interest is above and beyond clan squabbles in Somalia. Still Ras-Kamboni is the proxy Kenyans chose to employ in the Ganaane and Waamo region. Aminta ducadaiyo Alle-bariga mooye arrin kale ma haynee; - (chorus sympathizing with and appreciating Inna Ali Sharmake’s difficulties in 1968) Aaminta ducadaa, aaminta ducadaa, aaminta ducada iigu soo dadaalaa - (singer depicting Inna Ali Sharmake) The new president has a huge mess at his hand in the wee hours of his presidency. This is truly a test of leadership

I didn't see your post Mario. Moderators may merge the two threads. Very nice of you posting the article. I suspect nomads are truth-seekers and would like to know the truth of the news at hand. As always NYT has done a marvelous reporting on the multi-faceted piracy issue.

Private Army Formed to Fight Somali Pirates Leaves Troubled Legacy By MARK MAZZETTI and ERIC SCHMITT October 4, 2012 WASHINGTON — It seemed like a simple idea: In the chaos that is Somalia, create a sophisticated, highly trained fighting force that could finally defeat the pirates terrorizing the shipping lanes off the Somali coast. But the creation of the Puntland Maritime Police Force was anything but simple. It involved dozens of South African mercenaries and the shadowy security firm that employed them, millions of dollars in secret payments by the United Arab Emirates, a former clandestine officer with the Central Intelligence Agency, and Erik Prince, the billionaire former head of Blackwater Worldwide who was residing at the time in the emirates. And its fate makes the story of the pirate hunters for hire a case study in the inherent dangers in the outsourced wars in Somalia, where the United States and other countries have relied on proxy forces and armed private contractors to battle pirates and, increasingly, Islamic militants. That strategy has had some success, including a recent offensive by Kenyan and African Union troops to push the militant group Al Shabab from its stronghold in the port city of Kismayu. But with the antipiracy army now abandoned by its sponsors, the hundreds of half-trained and well-armed members of the Puntland Maritime Police Force have been left to fend for themselves at a desert camp carved out of the sand, perhaps to join up with the pirates or Qaeda-linked militants or to sell themselves to the highest bidder in Somalia’s clan wars — yet another dangerous element in the Somali mix. A United Nations investigative group described the effort by a company based in Dubai called Sterling Corporate Services to create the force as a “brazen, large-scale and protracted violation” of the arms embargo in place on Somalia, and has tried to document a number of grisly cases in which Somali trainees were beaten and even killed. In one case in October 2010, according to the United Nations group, a trainee was hogtied with his arms and feet bound behind his back and beaten. The group said the trainee had died from his injuries, an accusation disputed by the company. Sterling has portrayed its operation as a bold private-sector attempt to battle the scourge of piracy where governments were failing. Lafras Luitingh, a senior manager for the project, described the October 2010 occurrence as a case of “Somali-on-Somali violence” that was not indicative of the overall training program. He said that the trainee had recovered from his injuries, and that “the allegations reflect not the professional training that occurred but the fact that professional training was needed,” he said. A lawyer for the company, Stephen Heifetz, wrote an official response to the United Nations report, calling it “a collection of unsubstantiated and often false innuendo assembled by a group with extreme views regarding participants in Somali politics.” Sterling officials have pointed out that in March, a United Nations counterpiracy organization — a separate entity from the investigative group that criticized Sterling — praised the semiautonomous Somali region of Puntland for creating the program. Moreover, the company argues, Somalia already is a playground for clandestine operations, with the C.I.A. now in the midst of an extensive effort to arm and equip Somali spies. Why, they ask, is Sterling Corporate Services singled out for criticism? Concerned about the impact of piracy on commercial shipping in the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates has sought to take the lead in battling Somali pirates, both overtly and in secret by bankrolling operations like Sterling’s. American officials have said publicly that they never endorsed the creation of the private army, but it is unclear if Sterling had tacit support from parts of the United States government. For instance, the investigative group reported in July that the counterpiracy force shared some of the same facilities as the Puntland Intelligence Service, a spy organization answering to Puntland’s president, Abdirahman Farole, that has been trained by C.I.A. officers and contractors for more than a decade. With the South African trainers gone, the African Union has turned to a different security contractor, Bancroft Global Development, based in Washington, to assess whether the pirate hunters in Puntland can be assimilated into the stew of other security forces in Somalia sanctioned both by the United States and the African Union. Among those groups are a 10,000-man Somali national army and troops of Somalia’s National Security Agency, based in Mogadishu, which is closely allied with the C.I.A. Michael Stock, Bancroft’s president, said a team of his that recently visited the camp where the Puntland force is based witnessed something out of the Wild West: nearly 500 soldiers who had gone weeks without pay wandering the main compound and two other small camps, an armory of weapons amassed over two years at their disposal. Although the force is far from the 1,000-man elite unit with helicopters and airplanes described in the United Nations report, Mr. Stock and independent analysts said the Puntland soldiers still posed a potential threat to the region if left unchecked. “Sterling is leaving behind an unpaid but well-armed security force in Puntland,” said Andre Le Sage, a senior research fellow who specializes in Africa at the National Defense University in Washington. “It’s important to find a way to make them part of a regular force or to disarm them and take control of them. If that’s not done, it could make things worse.” Mr. Stock, whose company trains soldiers from Uganda and Burundi for counterinsurgency missions in Somalia under the African Union banner, said Bancroft would not take over Sterling’s counterpiracy mission. The Sterling operation was shrouded in a degree of secrecy from the time Mr. Luitingh and a small group of South Africans traveling in a private plane first touched down in Bosasso, Puntland’s capital, in 2010. The men worked for Saracen International, a South African private military firm hired by the emirates and composed of several former members of the Civil Cooperation Bureau, the feared paramilitary squad during the apartheid era. The following year, after The New York Times wrote about the operation, Saracen hired a prominent Washington law firm to advocate for the mission at the State Department and the Pentagon, and a rebranding campaign began. A new company, Sterling Corporate Services, was created in Dubai to oversee the training in Puntland. It was an attempt to put distance between the Somalia operations and Saracen’s apartheid-era past, but some of the officers of the two companies were the same. Two well-connected Americans were also involved in the project. Michael Shanklin, a former C.I.A. station chief in Mogadishu, was hired to tap a network of contacts both in Washington and East Africa to build support for the counterpiracy force. More significant was the role of Mr. Prince, who had become an informal adviser to the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheik Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Former company employees said Mr. Prince made several trips to the Puntland camp to oversee the counterpiracy training. At the time, Mr. Prince was also involved in a project to train Colombian mercenaries at a desert camp in the emirates to carry out missions at the behest of the Emirati government. But the emirates’ refusal to publicly acknowledge their role in the operation, or to make a formal case to the United Nations Security Council to receive permission to build the army under the terms of the Somalia arms embargo, drew the ire of United Nations arms monitors, who repeatedly pressed the emirates to shut down the mission. Lawyers for Sterling gave extensive briefings on the program to the State Department, the Pentagon and various United Nations agencies dealing with piracy. Yousef Al Otaiba, the emirates’ ambassador to Washington, declined to comment for this article. American officials said they had urged Sterling’s lawyers, from the firm of Steptoe & Johnson, to have the operation approved by the Security Council. Mr. Heifetz, the company’s lawyer, said Puntland and other Somali authorities did receive permission to build the police force. A spokeswoman for the State Department said the United States government never approved Sterling’s activities. “We share the monitoring group’s concerns about the lack of transparency regarding the Saracen and Sterling Corporate Services’ train-and-equip program for the Puntland Maritime Police Force, as well as the abuses alleged to have occurred during the training,” said Hilary Renner, a State Department spokeswoman, referring to the United Nations Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea, the investigative arm. For Sterling, the beginning of the end came in April, when one of the South Africa trainers, Lodewyk Pieterson, was shot dead by one of the Somali men he had been training to chase pirates. Sterling said in a statement that the death was an isolated occurrence and that the trainee accused in the killing had been arrested. “The murder was an aberrational incident involving a particular trainee who was not well suited” to the police force, the statement said. After the death, it said, Sterling tightened its screening of applicants for the Puntland force. But there would be no need for that. By the end of June, Sterling whisked the rest of its trainers and their equipment out of the country, and the Puntland force was left on its own. Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/05/world/africa/private-army-leaves-troubled-legacy-in-somalia.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20121005