I can remember going to Galdogob, Mudug back in 06 and I couldn't believe how developed the town was. The diaspora had put so much effort into building schools and hospitals in the town that I was speechless. For starters, it took us a long time to get there since there are no paved roads that lead into the city and the ride can but quite rough at times. When I did get there I didn't expect to see such development. Bilan is correct the Puntland government with their limited resources cannot take credit for the vast majority of development that many most cities have experienced; it is the poeple living there and the diaspora that can. The aftermath of the most recent military campaign has been the killings by Puntland forces of innocent civilians, the abuse and torture of the inhabitants of the region, the murder of prisoners of war, government sponsored terrorism that targets innocent young Maakhiri men in Puntland cities just simply because of their clan affiliation leading to their arbitrary arrest. The Puntland Army has also burned and destroyed century old farms in the hills of Galgala. It has also caused the displacement of over 800 families from Galgala and surrounding areas to major Maakhir cities such as Badhan and Dhahar. This is why I call them radical diaspora! This misinformation has the sole purpose of causing conflict! The claims defy logic, would the people of these communities actually sit back and allow this to occur? I think the writer of this article should be criticizing and investigating those responsible for collecting funds from around the world that have gone missing for the Laasqoray port project, instead of making up stories about villages being burned down.

Archdemos, Its rubbish talk that has been going on since the former Dictator Siad Barre lost power. Jacaylbaro and I had a friendly bet in the summer whether or not former SL Leader Riyaale would campaign in Laascaanood - JB was certain that it would happen and said just wait! Well, he lost the bet. The last (s)elections they had only produced pics from 3 maybe 4 cities, the vast majority of their enclave was a no go zone. Anyways, the only thing left for secessionists now that all their supposed allies especially their closest one Ethiopia have shut them down is to just say "wait its coming."

Lol, ok, Talk is cheap!

What's coming? Finding atleast 1 country to recognize you?

Well, no one thought North Sudan would ever agree to allowing the South to hold a referendum, especially considering that is where the oil is. Yet the two found a compromise and agreed to share the Oil. As well, no one thought Ethiopia would agree to Eritrea doing the same, but with overthrow of Mengistu, things changed. The bottom line is that Africa and Europe are two different continents, Eritrea 91'and South Sudan 11' are proof that you need both parties to agree on holding referendums. If it wasn't needed in Africa then the west would have accepted South Sudan a long time ago; but Africa is different.

You cannot compare the politics of Europe with that of Africa. If you allowed African countries to break away without agreement from both sides it would undoubtedly lead to a domino effect - which is not the case in Europe. In 1991, Eritrea only had it’s referendum after Ethiopia accepted it and 20 years later in Sudan the Southern portion was only granted a referendum after the North agreed to it. Also, 74 countries recognize Kosovo as independent. Where as NW Somalia doesn't even have one country that recognizes them. The U.S in their last statement made it clear that the issue with NW Somalia has to be taken up with the AU (which is the same position with most Western Countries). NW Somalia has tried and failed to get even one country in the world to recognize them; so maybe it is time to take the hint that Johnny Carson and the Ethiopian FM have given and start working on strengthening the TFG so they can lobby them to hold an internationally recognized referendum.

Just the humble opinion of a fellow countryman.

Siilaanyo is showing his lack of political skill and an inability to grasp how a government should be run. The announcement to pay teaches wages was unrealistic and he should have known better. Then again, people should have called him out when he made this a campaign promise and they should have asked him how he could possible come through on this pledge.

Xaaji Xunjuf;689891 wrote: What will the pirates do if sharif gets another term for let's say another 2 years perhaps Cry harder You should be asking the same question for yourself, as you do remember your regional government agreed to the United States 2 track policy with Puntland for Somalia!

Phenomenal news! Focusing on education like this will insha'Allah improve the lives of people like nothing else!

Qodax Qorax;689178 wrote: Leave Faroole alone. He is a good leader and he has the support of his people, which you cant say of Siilaanyo. No Somalilander I know supports Siilaanyo nor Kulmiye. But all the Puntlanders I know support Faroole. That says something about the kind of leader Faroole is. Qodax, why are you ignoring this post? Can you please explain to us what you meant by it?

Somalina;689593 wrote: indeed! JB, how many threads do you need for this useless news? didn't you already post this? Waa rafaadsan tahay walee...and still NO AQOONSI for you!...lmao He doesn't have the number 1 amount of posts for no reason!!!

Indeed, I am quite interested in knowing what our countrymen in the NW of Somalia think of Erik Prince and this whole military training that is going on?

Qodax, what's you opinion on it?

'Prince of Mercenaries' who wreaked havoc in Iraq turns up in Somalia Blackwater founder sets up new force to tackle piracy Erik Prince, the American founder of the private security firm Blackwater Worldwide, has cropped up at the centre of a controversial scheme to set up a new mercenary force to crack down on piracy and terrorism in the war-torn East African country of Somalia. The project, which emerged yesterday when an intelligence report was leaked to the US media, requires Mr Prince to help train a private army of 2,000 Somali troops who will be broadly loyal to the country's UN-backed government. Several neighbouring states, including the United Arab Emirates, will pay the bills. Mr Prince is working in Somalia alongside Saracen International, a murky South African firm which is run by a former officer from the Civil Co-operation Bureau, an apartheid-era force notorious for killing opponents of the white minority government. Related articles * Daniel Howden: In this endless war, the lines of battle are badly blurred * Search the news archive for more stories News of his latest project has alarmed, though hardly surprised, critics of Blackwater. The firm made hundreds of millions of dollars from the "war on terror", but was severely tarnished by a string of incidents in post-invasion Iraq, in which its employees were accused of committing dozens of unlawful killings. Mr Prince, a 41-year-old former US Navy Seal with links to the Bush administration, subsequently rebranded the company "Xe Services" and sold his stake in it. But he remains entangled in a string of lawsuits pertaining to the alleged recklessness of the firm. For most of the past year, he has been living in Abu Dhabi, where he boasts close relations with the government and feels better positioned to dodge lawsuits. In an interview with a men's magazine, he recently declared that the Gulf State's opaque legal system will make it "harder for the jackals to get my money." The exact nature of his sudden presence in Somalia remains unclear. The Associated Press said yesterday that the army Mr Prince is training will focus on fighting pirates and Islamic rebels. The leaked intelligence report which prompted the news agency's story was compiled by the African Union, an organisation of African nations. It claimed that Mr Prince's money had enabled Saracen International to gain the contract to train and run the private militia. However that element of the report was flatly contradicted by a spokesman for the Blackwater founder, who claimed that Mr Prince had "no financial role of any kind in this matter". In a written statement, the spokesman, Mark Corallo added: "it is well known that he has long been interested in helping Somalia overcome the scourge of piracy. To that end, he has at times provided advice to many different anti-piracy efforts." He declined to answer any further questions. Whatever the exact details of Mr Prince's role, his presence in Somalia will inevitably lead to renewed soul-searching about the growing privatisation of warfare. Critics of mercenary organisations, which are often prepared to operate where traditional armies fear to tread, claim they are often trigger-happy and lack proper accountability. In Iraq, Blackwater employees shot dead dozens of civilians; 17 people were killed in one incident alone in Nisour Square, Baghdad. Criminal charges were eventually brought in the US against five Blackwater employees. However, they were dropped in 2009 after a federal judge ruled that the defendants' rights had been violated during the gathering of evidence. Iraq's Interior Ministry subsequently expelled all contractors who had worked with the firm at the time of the Nisour Square shooting. Somalia, where the country's UN-backed regime is fighting a civil war against Shabaab, a group of Islamic insurgents with links to al-Qa'ida, is if anything a more volatile country than post-invasion Iraq. The government controls only a small portion of the capital, Mogadishu, where it has the support of 8,000 UN troops from Uganda and Burundi. It is training an army to extend its reach, but observers fear that its ranks will be weakened by the arrival of Mr Prince – who will pay his troops a far better wage. Meanwhile Saracen International's shady corporate structure has not inspired confidence in its accountability. In 2002, the UN accused its Ugandan subsidiary of training rebel paramilitaries in the Congo. Recently, the firm has claimed to be registered to a string of addresses in Lebanon, Liberia, Uganda and the UAE, some of which seemed not to exist when reporters tried to visit them this week. Over the years, the firm has consistently refused to comment on the source of its funding, prompting the US State Department to say in December that it is "concerned by [its] lack of transparency."

And 20 years later they are the founders of the SSC and are willing to fight to stay away from secession. I guess by forming the SSC they have made it clear how proud they are about being founders of your enclave as you say!

I have a mixed opinion on this to be honest. For starters, I think that it is good for Puntland's internal security to have a well trained security force - this is for obvious reasons such as fighting Al-Shabaab and more importantly fighting the pirates. Plus, I want to see a professional looking security force that is well financed and capable of defending the state. With that being said, I highly doubt that the ex-blackwater head Erik Prince is a person that we should be doing business with. Especially after the events a few years ago where his men were indicted for killing civilians in Iraq, this resulted in his company being banned by the Iraqi government for operating there. I think the man is not sincere and is looking to make a buck, and more concerning he seems to have hidden motives from what I have read. So yeah, if Puntland has a piracy issue than it would only make sense to have a strong anti-piracy force! However, dealing with Mr. Prince doesn't seem like a good idea.

Jacaylbaro;689234 wrote: The SNM Part of the show ended in 1991 and Somaliland was the result of the Burao conference. The idea of reclaiming independence was the agreed concept during that conference signed by all the attendees including those Garaads who are now refugees in Garowe. What nonsense! Not only were the people excluded from voting. But by your logic if those allegedly Garaads who are “refugees in Garowe” voted back in 1991 as you say…..wouldn’t that mean that they are now obviously against your enclave? So wouldn’t it make the so-called Burco conference decision null and void? Also, if people agreed than why would the last NW Somalia leader who visited Laasaanood almost a decade ago be chased out of the city and for half the decade Puntland controlled it? The Burco conference happened in 1991, so why did all these things happen over ten years after it? Or Sool and Sanaag still don't allow ballot boxes? Let’s say for arguments sake that the Garaads agreed on the illegal Burco conference to secede, than wouldn’t they have the right to decided to unite again? Or is the Burco conference the end all and be all? Of course not, and if you claim you have the right to break-away, than communities within your enclave have a right to make their own choices! If the Garaads agreed like you said, well now they obviously disagree and that is why there is armed resistance to secessionism.

Lol , the way it looks Faroole might be the one you will have to go to in Mogadishu!

Leaders don't have to be elected! Teachers, Trainers, Elders, etc are all leaders! I am just saying you believe strongly in your secessionist cause and since you guys have found no success in your recognition goal from a single country. I think the Ethiopian FM has given you a great hint as to what you should to! I.E the TFG! Old guys like Siilaanyo (and before him Riyaale) are thinking too far in the past! The youth need to bring a fresh face to the cause - that's where you come in.

JB, you are the most devote leader of the secessionists. If your enclave is serious about independence and since your brother neighbour Ethiopia made it clear that you have to ask the TFG for permission...I suggest that you lead the delegation from Hargeysa and try and plead your case to Sharif or whoever may be the President!

Of course it is! Why do you think the Ethiopians had funded and trained the SSDF, SNM and USC separately to destroy our nation? They want Somalia to be fragmented and weak! That’s why they won’t recognize you!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110120/ap_on_re_af/af_somalia_military_force

AP Enterprise: Blackwater founder trains Somalis NAIROBI, Kenya – Erik Prince, whose former company Blackwater Worldwide became synonymous with the use of private U.S. security forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, has quietly taken on a new role in helping to train troops in lawless Somalia. Prince is involved in a multimillion-dollar program financed by several Arab countries, including the United Arab Emirates, to mobilize some 2,000 Somali recruits to fight pirates who are terrorizing the African coast, according to a person familiar with the project and an intelligence report seen by The Associated Press. Prince's name has surfaced in the Somalia conflict amid the debate over how private security forces should be used in some of the world's most dangerous spots. Blackwater, now known as Xe Services, became a symbol in Washington of contractors run amok after a series of incidents, including one in 2007 in which its guards were charged with killing 14 civilians in the Iraqi capital. A U.S. federal judge later threw out the charges on the grounds that the defendants' constitutional rights were violated. Last year, Iraq's Interior Ministry gave all contractors who had worked with Blackwater at the time of the shooting one week to get out of the country or face arrest for visa violations. Though Somali pirates have seized ships flying under various flags, most governments are reluctant to send ground troops to wipe out pirate havens in a nation that has been in near-anarchy for two decades and whose weak U.N.-backed administration is confined to a few neighborhoods of the capital. The forces now being trained are intended to help fill that void. They will also go after a warlord linked to Islamist insurgents, one official said. In response to requests for an interview with Prince, his spokesman e-mailed a brief statement that the Blackwater founder is interested in "helping Somalia overcome the scourge of piracy" and has advised antipiracy efforts. Spokesman Mark Corallo said Prince has "no financial role" in the project and declined to answer any questions about Prince's involvement. Prince's role revives questions about the use of military contractors. Critics say it could undercut the international community's effort to train and fund Somali forces to fight al-Qaida-linked Islamist insurgents. The European Union is training about 2,000 Somali soldiers with U.S. support, and an African Union force of 8,000 Ugandan and Burundian peacekeepers is propping up the government. By introducing contractors, "You could see the privatization of war, with very little accountability to the international community," said E.J. Hogendoorn, a Nairobi-based analyst with the International Crisis Group think tank. "Who are these private companies accountable to and what prevents them from changing clients when it's convenient for them?" Although Hogendoorn's concerns are shared by some U.S. officials, the director of one private security company welcomed the effort and Prince's involvement. "There are 34 nations with naval assets trying to stop piracy and it can only be stopped on land," said John Burnett, director of Maritime Underwater Security Consultants. "With Prince's background and rather illustrious reputation, I think it's quite possible that it might work." Prince, now based in the United Arab Emirates, is no longer with Blackwater. He has stoutly defended the company, telling Vanity Fair magazine that "when it became politically expedient to do so, someone threw me under the bus." Last month, the AP reported that the Somalia project encompassed training a 1,000-man antipiracy force in Somalia's northern semiautonomous region of Puntland and presidential guards in Mogadishu, the ruined seaside capital. The story identified Saracen International, a private security company, as being involved, along with a former U.S. ambassador, Pierre Prosper; a senior ex-CIA officer, Michael Shanklin; and an unidentified Muslim donor nation. Prosper and Shanklin confirmed they were working as advisers to the Somali government. Since then, AP has learned from officials and documents that Prince is involved and that a second 1,000-man antipiracy force is planned for Mogadishu, where insurgents battle poorly equipped government forces. Lafras Luitingh, the chief operating officer of Beirut-registered Saracen International, said the company had sought to keep the project secret to surprise the pirates. He said his company signed a contract with the Somali government in March. He declined to say whether Prince was involved in the project and said he was not part of Saracen. Since the signing, a new Somali government has taken office and has appointed a panel to investigate the Saracen deal and others, said Minister of Information Abdulkareem Jama. He said he had not been aware of Prince's involvement. Separately, the U.N. is quietly investigating whether the Somalia projects have broken the blanket embargo on arms supplies to Somali factions. The money is moving through a web of international companies, the addresses of which didn't always check out when the AP sought to verify them. There are at least three Saracens — the one registered in Lebanon, and two run by Luitingh's business partner and based in Uganda, where government office employees told the AP the registration papers have disappeared. An AP reporter in Beirut could not find the address Luitingh's company provided in the Somali contract. Lebanese authorities had no address listed for Saracen in Lebanon and said it is based in the United Arab Emirates. Afloat Leasing, which owns two ships that have been working with Saracen, said it was Liberian-registered, but an AP reporter didn't find it at the address given or in Liberian records. The force's mission may be more than just curbing piracy. A former U.S. government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he isn't authorized to talk to the media, said that besides targeting pirates, the new force in Puntland will go after a warlord who allegedly supplies weapons to al-Shabab, Somalia's most feared insurgent group. Luitingh said he had never heard of such a plan. Luitingh was a founding member of Executive Outcomes, a controversial South African mercenary outfit linked in the 1990s to conflicts in Sierra Leone, Angola and as far away as Papua New Guinea. He said Saracen will ensure it does not recruit child soldiers, will pay recruits regularly, and will be legally answerable to the Somali government. One group of 150 recruits finished training in November in Puntland and a second batch will soon complete the training course there. Training has not yet begun in Mogadishu. Saracen has declined to disclose the source of its financing. A person familiar with the project, insisting on anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said Prince is overseeing the antipiracy training. The intelligence report, in which the United Arab Emirates was identified as a funder and Prince as a participant, was given to the AP on condition its author and agency not be disclosed because the document was confidential. Several Western security officials said in interviews that those findings were trustworthy. Pirates use long stretches of Somali coastline as a base to prey on busy shipping lanes in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. Al-Shabab controls most of south and central Somalia and much of Mogadishu. Western governments fear Somalia could be used as a base for attacks on the West. Some American officials worry that the Saracen projects encourage the idea that more guns and money — rather than better governance and transparent defense training — can defeat the insurgency. The Somali army has been weakened by defections because a series of corrupt administrations has been incapable of paying its soldiers. The Somalis being trained by the European Union are supposed to earn $100 a month. A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media, said Saracen is offering $300 a month during training and $500 a month after graduation. That could lure the best trained people away from the Somali army, the U.S. official said, and lessen the burden on the government to follow higher standards. Many nations, including the Gulf states, have offered Somalia assistance. Several Arab nations who gave cash then found that the money could not be accounted for, said Hogendoorn, the Somalia analyst. That could be one reason for Arab rulers to support the Saracen project, he said.

We are Somali, so of course any Somali land will be our concern!