@Kashafa, you and i know most Somalis(interested ones) won't be able to make it to Asmara. That is probably a good enough reason. As for Asmara not occupying Somali lands, it is the perception and the image that counts. You don't say that "No Eritrea is not supporting us, these are all lies" on Al Jazeera and then permanently set up camp in the same capital city of the mentioned state. But we will see what this conference achieves in Eritrea, which will probably be not much I suspect.

Attacking nabadoons and clan elders always backfires on those that fight occupations. Thes nabadoons and clan elders hold prestige and respect over large groups of people. This is something the Alqaeda in Iraq are finding out, something the boys in Muqdisho who want emulate Zarqawi should think about......

quote:You people amaze me. What's the alternative? Let Ethiopia do as it may while shouting the word TRAITOR at its allies. Is this your idea of ending the occupation? If you don't agree with the coalition in Asmara, then tell us what they ought to be doing instead of dismissing every initiative from your pc couch. Asmara is the wrong place to hold such a conference at this time. Many analysts argued that the war in Somalia was essentially one between Eritrea and Ethiopia. Sheikh Shariff even emphatically claimed that he wasn't receiving any support from Eritrea on Aljazeera. Now the man is permenantly camped in Asmara hotel. What sort of message do you think this sends out? We have group of Somalis holding a meeting guarded by Ethiopian Tanks and another in Asmara under the watchful eye of the cousin of Zenawi. It sends out the message that Somalia is under a proxy war and both sides are being used for others political gains. Sheikh Shariff can travel to Qatar, Dubai and other places without any restrictions. In my opinion he could have called a conference at a later date. The current one is hastly called and only attempts to mimick the one in Muqdisho. Holding it at another timr in a better location would have given delegates and other parties more time to attend. I suspect the outcome of the meeting will be the usual one of;" wadanki waa la haysta, we have to liberate it from the Ethiopians and everybody must fight". The power of politics in Somali lies with Clan elders not former parliamentarians or wadaads. Those who go by the name of anti occupationists will either have to unite all or the majority of the clan elders and their militias under one umbrella. We already see that some Somalis in Muqdisho are fighting under clan name not for Somalia, Islam or another noble cause.The solution in Somalia and end to Ethiopian occupation will not come through only fighting. Somalis have already inflicted heavily losses on their army and they are desperate for a way out. Thus Sheikh Shariff and co have to attempt to unite the people of Gedo, Bay and Bakool, Benadir and others in order to throw the Xabashis out or force them to negotiate to the right the conditions. If not then they have to "Negotiate" with the T.F.G in order to come an agreement whereby the Xabashis leave and they have some sort of power sharing formula. But I suspect both are very far of, in the current closr. Therefore the conferences, the bombs, the assisinations, the looting and the suffering of the Somali people will continue. Regardless of whether or not Sheikh Shariff holds a conference in Asmara or Beijing.

Puntland, I.C.U, Alitixaad, O.N.L.F etc were/are more of a threat to Somaliland interests than Ethiopia.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/video/page/0,,2125978,00.html The Guardian's award-winning photographer and filmmaker Sean Smith spent two months embedded with US troops in Baghdad and Anbar province. His harrowing documentary exposes the exhaustion and disillusionment of the soldiers, and the fatal mistakes this has led them to make. Funny how the media are spinning the word "surge", which is in real english a light term for sending more occupation troops for a country one can't tame.......

Source; The Spoof is one of the leading satire newspapers on the internet. lol

Wrong place, wrong time and they will say the same thing they have been saying for the past few months(wadaanki waa la haysta).

- quote:Wuxuu ka adkaaday ICU Was it really him?

http://allafrica.com/stories/200707120475.html

will he save us from their bombs?

QUOTE:Thanks brother for the contribution, the same groups that commited this crimes and starved generations of young Somalis are out there trying to fight and destroy any form of governance, sadly and ironicly in the name of "Insurgency", "Clan" and "Somali resistance". Saxiib, most of the young men that fought the Ethiopians and Warlords were/are in their late teens or early 20s. Most of them would have been born then or were toddlers. Even the one in their 30s were probably around their 30s. As for all the other culprits, they are all the same to me regardless of their clan.........

but these guys were kidnapping ppl from brothels etc and trying to enforce their own law. Secondly they were armed. Marke it is not a surpise that they were stormed. I suspect they themselves wanted this to happen. The Mullahs told the Ciyaal if they fought the army they would be Shaheed, whilst one of them ran away in a Burqa. As much as I don't like the regimes in Pakistan, Lebanon etc...One can understand why they would storm places were there are armed ppl who are willing to kill the national army.

I think these guys had it coming to them. Just like those guys who wanted created a global caliphate from a Palestinian refugee camp(Lebanon). Why don't they just go to Iraq and Afghanistan?

According to some everything Ethiopia has done or is doing should be overlooked. Because they have given us the sacred "G" word, no not god. But "Government", because we backward nomads can't form a government.

maybe it's for the raisins and banana's in the bariis, plus the colouring oops don't forget the khat(provided by Ethiopia and Kenya) that should $10 million dollars.

thanks, akhi

quote:Ethiopia's impoverished Muslim east that appears to be worsening thanks, at least in part, to the global confrontation between the U.S. and Islamic radicalism. This is complete rubbish. These Western journalists are trying to portray the situation in Somali Galbeed, which has been ongoing since hte time of Menelik as a meer fallout from the I.C.U war. With or without the war in Muqdisho, the situation would still be the same.

saxiib. am trying to find pictures of Burhakaba, any help? what about Sheikh moutains, would say that is a wonder?

Cade Muuse painted him self as progressive reformer and that is why he won against Maxamed Abdi Xashi a former president known to be a little inflexible. You make it sound like the man was elected by the people.......

Site of the first aerial bombardment in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Anglo-Somali War 1901-1920 or "How to get rid of a rebel" During the last years (after the defeat of French and US forces in Indochina) there has been much interest shown to earlier battles between well equipped armies and resistance movements, fifth-columnists, rebels, etc. Mohamed Abdullah Hassan Although the British annihilation of the Somali leader, Mohamed Abdullah Hassan - in England normally known as "the mad Mullah" - took twenty years and was finally made utilizing an independent air force unit, this war is not well known to the public. And yet this is the story of one of the first examples of the utilization of modern arms against a powerful people's army, who had the nearly total control of an immense area with strong-points which could not be overrun without extremely severe losses, and with utilization of the sanctuary on the other side of international borders. The parallel with Vietnam is obvious. It was decided to dispatch a self contained RAF unit "Force Z" to Berbera under the command of Group Captain R. Gordon in the last half of 1919. The group had 12 DH9 aeroplanes out of which one was an ambulance plane, 36 officers (incl. 4 medical officers) and 189 other ranks (incl. 25 medical personnel) and had rations, fuel, spare parts, ammunition etc. to operate independently for 6 months 3). In November 1919 Gordon arrived at Berbera together with his aerodrome engineer and his supply-officer as an advance party. In order to keep the plans secret, they wore no RAF insignia, but came as the advance party for an oil-exploring company. They started up with preparing an aerodrome ("site for drilling equipment") at Berbera. Next an aerodrome was made near Burao, 140 km. from Berbera and 150 km. from Eli Dur Elan fort, where the Mullah was suspected to be. During December more than 20 tons of supplies as well as 2.000 camels were moved to the aerodrome at Burao - a 6 day's ride. On 30th December, the main force, with the aeroplanes, arrived by Royal Navy to Berbera. The same day the Governor, F. G. Archer, sent a flysheet to "the Dervishes of the Mullah Mohamed Ben Abdullah Hassan of ******" carried by British Officer "who like the birds in the air flies fast and far" granting safe conduct for the followers of the Mullah if they surrendered and offering a reward for the capture of the Mullah: 5.000 piaster, 500 to 1.100 for his brothers and 250 to 500 piaster for his sons and some of his leaders. On the 19th January, Force Z was ready in Burao and two days later it was ready for the first phase: to locate and bomb the Fort of Medish and Jid Ali. The first bomb hit next to Mohamed Abdullah, and his sister and the man standing next to him were killed Phase 2 - Combined Operations After 4 days of bombing and strafing where a great part of the camels and cattle were killed, it was decided to go on to the second phase, a combined operation with the Camel Corps. On the 27th, the camel corps was at Jid Ali Fort and after bombing by RAF the fortress fell with no losses on the British side. The Mullah had fled towards the east, presumably to Taleh. On the 29th the RAF found Taleh: no sign of troop movements, but the aerial photographs taken on the 1st of February revealed a huge fort complex The main fort was 100x200 yards and had 12 turrets more than 10 meters high, with grain silos for each turret and accommodations for more than 5.000 soldiers with camels. It was decided to make a new aerodrome at Gaolo. This would take approximately 3 weeks but after a bombing of Taleh on the 3rd where the forts were bombed with 112 20 and 2-lbs. bombs, the village was bombed with incendiary bombs and the cattle and camels strafed with machine guns. Phase 1 - Air Attacks http://www.chakoten.dk/mad_mullah.html

I think that is enough for today

I wasn't been sarcastic about being good looking

Hint: this thread was a sarcastic response to another thread.

Laas Gaal Laas Gaal or Laas Geel (Somali Laas Geel) is a complex of caves and rock shelters in Somaliland famous for its recent discovery of cave paintings. The caves are located in a countryside outside Hargeisa. They contain some of the earliest known art in the Horn of Africa and the African continent in general, dating back to somewhere between 3,000 and 8,000–9,000 BCE. The Laas Geel site contains granite caves sheltering about ten rock alcoves decorated with Neolithic cave paintings. The caves are located outside Hargeisa, in an area encompassing a nomadic village, the Naasa Hablood hills. The site overlooks a wide district of countryside, where nomads graze their livestock and wild antelopes roam the vast landscape. The local nomads used the caves as a shelter when it rained and never paid much attention to the paintings. Recently, a troop of monkeys were based there, but have since been chased away. The site is now guarded by the local villagers and the Ministry of Tourism.[2] During November and December 2002, an archaeological survey was carried out by a French team in Somaliland. The reason for this was to search for rock shelters and caves containing stratified archaeological infills capable of documenting the period when production economy appeared in this part of the Horn of Africa (circa 5,000 and 2,000 BCE). During the course of the survey, the French archaeological team discovered the Laas Geel cave paintings, encompassing an area of ten rock alcoves (caves). The paintings, in an excellent state of preservation, show ancient humans of the area raising their hands and worshipping humpless cows with large lyre-shaped horns. [1] Furthermore, during November 2003, a mission was planned to go back to the Laas Geel cave paintings. The team undertook a detailed study of the paintings and their prehistoric context.[3 The cave paintings are thought to be one of the best preserved cave paintings in Africa. The paintings represent cows in ceremonial robes accompanied by stocky humans (believed to be inhabitants of the region). The necks of the cows are embellished with a kind of plastron, some of the cows are even wearing decorative robes. The paintings not only show cows, there are also an image of a domesticated dog, several paintings of canidae and even a giraffe. The paintings are excellently preserved; even under the scorching sun and the past wars that occurred in the region, the paintings have survived intact, and retain their clear outlines and strong colors. So far, there has been no worldwide publicity considering the Laas Geel cave paintings, hidden from the hustle and bustle of modern life. However, the caves are threatened by people coming to the caves and destroying the peace and serenity, although a reasonable amount of tourists and locals visit the caves. One famous journalist and author visited the caves with Somaliland's Minister for Culture and Tourism Osman Bile Ali. Simon Reeve went to the cave paintings as part of his television programme called Places That Don't Exist.[3]. He was amazed at the sheer preservation and vibrant colors of the paintings. He quoted: “ Laas Ga'al, it transpires, is probably the most significant Neolithic rock painting site in the whole of Africa and few people know that Somaliland is home to such treasures. ” Somaliland's Minister for Tourism Osman Bile Ali who showed Simon Reeve the site, described the Laas Geel cave paintings as beautiful.[4] The paintings are now part of the future tourist attractions of Somaliland and they are considered by the Somali people as a national treasure and a major tourist attraction. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laas_Gaa'l

Why don't we all commit collective suicide? Venue:Hyde Park, London Organiser:Peacnow