SOMALIA-RIFIUTI TOSSICI: ECCO DOVE SONO SEPOLTE LE PROVE ATTENTI AL TRAFFICO Lunghi preparativi. Poi due viaggi. E alla fine spuntano i testimoni: «Qui abbiamo sepolto i bidoni». Il magnetometro conferma: il ferro c’è. Adesso tocca a chi di dovere andare a scavare per stabilire di quali sostanze si tratta e di chi è la responsabilità . Garowe-Bosaso, Somalia L’indice punta il terreno arido: «I fusti sono qua sotto. I camion li abbiamo scaricati qui». Siamo nel letto di uno wadi, i torrenti della Somalia secchi per 10 mesi all’anno e in piena travolgente negli altri due. I due autisti si sono guardati intorno con attenzione prima di indicare il luogo preciso: dopo 18 anni non è facile ricordare il punto. All’epoca lavoravano alla costruzione della strada Garowe-Bosaso, opera italiana nei famosi anni del Fai, Fondo aiuti italiano, che poco fece e tanto sprecò. Per un momento dimentichiamo il caldo soffocante, la stanchezza e le tensioni della spedizione. Questa strada – che peraltro è diventata la vera spina dorsale per i trasporti di un Paese che non ha più alcuna rete viaria – è da anni l’indiziata numero uno. Tanti sono i "si dice" e le voci sull’ipotesi che lungo il suo tracciato siano stati sepolti materiali pericolosi o radioattivi. Di recente, è stato proprio un ingegnere della Lofemon, Vittorio Brofferio, a dichiarare che gli fu proposto di interrare container sigillati, e che lui rifiutò. E non si può dimenticare che questo è stato l’ultimo tragitto percorso da Ilaria Alpi e Miran Hrovatin, prima di essere uccisi a Mogadiscio il 20 marzo 1994. Le verifiche sul posto erano sempre state impossibili: la Somalia era in guerra civile, senza Stato e istituzioni. Adesso un Governo c’è, e le sue due massime cariche, il presidente Abdullahi Yusuf e il premier Ali Mohamed Ghedi, ci hanno assicurato (anche mettendoci a disposizione i rispettivi portavoce, Yusuf Bari-Bari e Abdullatif Mohamud Abdi) la più totale collaborazione delle autorità nazionali e locali del Puntland e del Medio Shabelle, dimostrando nei fatti la volontà di indagare a fondo su chi dove e quando ha smaltito rifiuti in questa parte del Corno d’Africa. Sono solo "vernici scadute"? Da Bosaso abbiamo percorso circa 140 chilometri verso Garowe. La strada dista poche centinaia di metri dal greto del torrente, dove i due autisti ci hanno guidato con sicurezza, lungo una pista laterale, che scende allo wadi passando accanto a un ex frantoio, dove si sminuzzavano le pietre per il fondo stradale. Montiamo con un po’ d’ansia lo strumento e il suo sensore. I due autisti hanno parlato di bidoni, era stato detto loro che si trattava "solo di vernici scadute". Se i fusti ci sono, il magnetometro (così si chiama lo strumento) di sicuro li rileverà , perché individua qualsiasi presenza ferrosa, e nel greto di un torrente somalo di ferro è difficile che ce ne sia. È l’ultimo giorno, è l’ultima misurazione. Il nostro lungo peregrinare attraverso il Paese volge alla fine. Per tre settimane abbiamo cercato di verificare le tante tracce accumulate nel tempo, che parlano di scarichi di rifiuti, in terra e in mare, di nuove patologie sconosciute, di fusti risputati a riva dallo tsunami. Il viaggio ha toccato molte delle zone pacificate della Somalia: l’area di Jowhar (oggi sede provvisoria del Governo); i 400 chilometri di costa a nordest di Mogadiscio; la regione del Puntland in tutta la lunghezza, da Galkayo a Bosaso. Realtà diverse: nel Centro-sud della Somalia occorrono 40 uomini armati per garantirci la sicurezza; per il Puntland, assai più tranquillo, bastano un paio di poliziotti. Così, abbiamo potuto ascoltare i pescatori del Medio Shabelle che dicono di aver visto bidoni sospetti sul fondo marino e che soffrono di sintomi sconosciuti. Medici, somali e italiani, che allargano le braccia di fronte a casi «incompatibili», come li definiscono, «con l’Africa e con le patologie tropicali». E i timori di sindaci e autorità locali per la salute della gente, che ci hanno condotto a vedere qualcuno dei bidoni spiaggiati nei pressi di Igo e Warsheik. Qualche anno fa il tema rifiuti era tabù. Oggi si è quasi all’eccesso opposto: sintomi ignoti e malformazioni spuntate qua e là hanno alimentano la paura, al punto che – avverte il prof. Mohamed Jama, neurochirurgo all’ospedale di Galkayo – «ora la gente attribuisce tutto all’inquinamento, anche malattie che la medicina conosce già ». Eppure, a sentire gli interessati, qualcosa non va. Ne citiamo alcuni fra i tanti. Hilowle Mohamed Omar, 37 anni, 22 dei quali passati a tuffarsi in mare per pescare aragoste. «Dopo lo tsunami ho visto sul fondo tre bidoni simili a questo», spiega indicando il fusto di Warsheik. «Due interi e uno rotto, con dei ganci ai lati e una catena che li lega. I miei colleghi in altri punti ne hanno visti altri simili. I pescatori», aggiunge, «lamentano spesso irritazioni cutanee e problemi respiratori». Proprio i sintomi patiti da Mohamud Ali Ahmed, che di anni ne ha 80, pescatore da sempre. La sua irritazione cutanea si è presto trasformata «in piaghe sempre più estese». Le cure non hanno sortito effetti, «finché», dice, «la malattia se n’è andata da sola, com’è venuta, dopo 5 mesi». L’unico medico di Warsheik annuisce: non sapeva di che si trattasse né come guarirlo. A Missigoweyn, 200 chilometri a nordest di Warsheik, c’è solo un piccolo ambulatorio. Gli ospedali più vicini sono a decine di chilometri. L’unica presenza sanitaria è Yusuf Mohamed Hussein, infermiere. Descrive patologie molto simili: «Eruzioni cutanee, problemi respiratori, qualche caso di emoraggia dalla bocca e dal naso. Nell’ultimo mese si sono rivolte a me 230 persone in tutto, 30 delle quali presentavano malattie di questo tipo, che non conosco». Malattie in aumento Psicosi da inquinamento? O effetti di veleni venuti da chissà dove? «Difficile a dirsi», commenta il prof. Jama. «Occorrono analisi e studi precisi, che non siamo in grado di fare. Qui a Galkayo, ad esempio, riscontro un aumento dei tumori al seno. Ma qual è la causa? I rifiuti tossici o gli antennoni piazzati di recente? Posso aggiungere che in 20 anni i casi di epilessia in Somalia sono passati da circa 300 a oltre 1.500. E abbiamo alcuni casi all’anno di gravi malformazioni nei bambini, specie all’apparato urogenitale. Ma è un fatto noto, che si verifica anche nel resto del mondo. I casi in Somalia stanno aumentando, o è solo che i genitori oggi si rivolgono più spesso al medico? Insomma, bisogna stare attenti al rischio di allarmismi». Nell’ultima settimana del nostro viaggio cerchiamo di individuare dei siti. Puntiamo al luogo su cui vi sono più indizi, la strada costruita dai consorzi italiani Lofemon (Lodigiani-Federici-Montedil) e Saces (Cogefar-Astaldi-Edilter), tra l’86 e l’89. La ricerca inizia a Garowe, attraverso il formidabile passaparola dei somali. Il primo a darci una mano è Aseyr Ghelle Mohamed. Ci conduce in due posti e ci spiega una cosa fondamentale: «Se il vostro strumento rileva il ferro, potete escludere che si tratti di bidoni vuoti o rottami innocui. Qui il metallo è prezioso. All’epoca, i fusti vuoti venivano addirittura tagliati e ci si passava sopra col rullo compressore, per ottenerne fogli di lamiera». Aseyr ci conduce da Mireh Hagi Ahmed, che 18 anni fa era capocantiere nel primo tratto, quello della Lofemon. Mireh ci indica alcuni siti "sospetti" dove c’erano fosse o frantoi, ora interrati («non sono stato testimone di sotterramenti, ma se il fatto è avvenuto, è probabile che sia successo là »). E i rilievi del magnetometro in due dei posti confermano la presenza di ferro. Mireh non s’accontenta: «Vi aiuto io a trovare gente che ha lavorato sulla strada». Alla fine dell’ultima nostra giornata disponibile si presentano i due autisti. Il loro racconto è asciutto: «Ci hanno detto di prelevare il carico di vernici scadute e di andare a scaricare in determinati luoghi». Ci portano: due greti di torrente, il primo – chiamato Dhud – a 90 chilometri da Bosaso, l’altro a 140, nello wadi Jiifis, vicino a Dalweyn. Entrambi nel tratto di strada della Saces. Adesso bisogna scavare «Nel primo sito c’erano cinque o sei cave scavate per il materiale della strada. Noi e altri autisti le abbiamo riempite con questi piccoli fusti di una ventina di chili ciascuno», raccontano. Nello wadi, però, il magnetometro non rileva nulla. Il letto del torrente è largo, di anni ne sono passati tanti, e basta sbagliare di 30 metri perché lo strumento non capti il metallo. Lasciamo il posto delusi, noi e loro. Ma il secondo sito è molto più identificabile. Gli autisti lo ricordano bene. Il magnetometro comincia a funzionare. E dopo pochi metri già non ci sono dubbi: c’è materiale ferroso. È la conferma al loro racconto: verso la fine del 1988 arrivò una nave che, come le altre, portava il materiale per la costruzione della strada. Il carico, però, questa volta era costituito da bitume e da piccoli fusti. «Prelevammo il carico», raccontano, «e come al solito lo portammo al magazzino dell’aeroporto. Poi altri camionisti, con mezzi più grandi trasportarono i bidoni nei pressi dei frantoi. Toccò di nuovo a noi scaricarli nelle buche. Avvenne di notte, tra dicembre ’88 e gennaio ’89. Erano buche profonde, col camion ci scendevamo dentro e scaricavamo tutto, alla rinfusa». Non sanno indicare il nome della nave («stava in rada», dicono. «Il materiale arrivava al porto sulla chiatta»), né da chi partisse l’ordine dato loro di effettuare il seppellimento. Queste cose, del resto, tocca ad altri accertarle. Abdullahi Yusuf Aden e Abdulkarim Said Osman, i due autisti, sperano solo che ora si possano portar via quei fusti, se sono davvero tossici. «Noi viviamo qui», sottolineano. «Allora, non avevamo la minima idea che potesse essere materiale pericoloso». Ora occorre verificare cosa indica quella presenza di metallo. Basta scavare. Luciano Scalettari COME È NATA LA SPEDIZIONE L’idea di un viaggio in Somalia era stata cullata da tempo. Famiglia Cristiana (con i suoi giornalisti Barbara Carazzolo, Alberto Chiara e Luciano Scalettari), insieme a Francesco Cavalli dell’Associazione "Ilaria Alpi" di Riccione, l’aveva progettato già due anni fa. Non solo per raccontare l’unico Paese al mondo che per 15 anni è sopravvissuto senza istituzioni, ma anche per provare a dare un ulteriore contributo sul caso Alpi-Hrovatin (ne parleremo nel prossimo numero) e sui traffici illeciti italo-somali.Tuttavia, si era dovuto rinunciare per l’insicurezza del Paese. Qualche mese fa, invece, si è aperto uno spiraglio. A una nostra richiesta, Yusuf Bari-Bari, portavoce del neoeletto presidente della Somalia, aveva risposto: «Ora c’è un Governo. Si può fare». Così, si è messa insieme la squadra: oltre a Scalettari e Cavalli, hanno partecipato l’onorevole Mauro Bulgarelli, dei Verdi, membro (autosospeso) della Commissione parlamentare sul caso Alpi-Hrovatin, e il regista e operatore Alessandro Rocca (che realizzerà con Cavalli alcuni reportage televisivi sul tema).Complessa è stata la preparazione e grandi le difficoltà . Tanto che i viaggi sono diventati due, in meno di un mese, per un totale di tre settimane in Somalia.Essenziale è stato procurarsi e imparare a usare il magnetometro (fattoci giungere dalla Codevintec di Milano dall’Inghilterra), uno strumento usato in geofisica capace di "leggere" la presenza di metalli nel sottosuolo. In questo modo, alle testimonianze di chi ci ha raccontato di aver seppellito rifiuti abbiamo potuto associare un dato scientifico e la posizione Gps. Chiunque potrà tornare nei luoghi e verificare: dati, testimoni e documentazione raccolti sono a disposizione. IL PARERE DELL’ESPERTO SUI RILIEVI Tre dei rilievi effettuati col magneto-metro hanno indicato la presenza di materiale ferroso nei siti. Uno di questi (Wadi 2) ci è stato indicato esplicitamente come luogo di occultamento di rifiuti. Sono evidenziati nelle foto qui accanto, con l’elaborazione grafica dei dati.Il magnetometro rileva l’intensità del campo magnetico. I colori mostrano quella normale (in giallo) e le "anomalie", ossia la presenza di materiale ferromagnetico. Il rosso indica l’intensità della parte positiva, il blu quella negativa. Abbiamo chiesto una lettura dei dati a uno dei maggiori esperti italiani nell’uso di queste tecniche a scopi di tutela ambientale, il dottor Marco Marchetti, dell’Istituto nazionale di geofisica e vulcanologia e consulente, fra l’altro, della Commissione parlamentare sui rifiuti.«Prima di analizzare le mappe», spiega, «c’è da considerare che i siti rilevati sono vicini all’Equatore. Il campo magnetico ha un’intensità minore rispetto alle nostre latitudini e un’inclinazione quasi orizzontale. Questo influisce molto sulla geometria e sull’intensità delle anomalie. A quelle latitudini le anomalie presentano due picchi positivi all’esterno e un marcato picco negativo all’interno».· Può commentare i tre rilievi? «Nel primo è presente una chiara anomalia magnetica, di modesta estensione; le masse ferromagnetiche non dovrebbero essere molto consistenti. Il rilievo 2 comprende quasi tutta l’anomalia, e manca il lobo a sud. Qui il materiale presente dovrebbe essere maggiore e l’intensità dell’anomalia è molto superiore. Potrebbe anche significare che si trovino a minore profondità . L’anomalia della terza figura fa pensare a un discreto quantitativo di materiale ferroso, anche se il rilievo manca della parte sinistra che, come riferitomi, non si poteva misurare a causa di ostacoli naturali».· Se ne può stabilire la profondità ? «Si dovrebbero elaborare modelli inserendo i parametri geomagnetici e geologici della località . Ma dovrebbero essere poco profonde. Non avendo casistica sulla Somalia, l’interpretazione ha qualche elemento di incertezza maggiore. Ma sono dati sufficienti, in ogni caso, ad accertare con uno scavo natura e consistenza delle masse».L.SC. ANCHE IL GOVERNO SOMALO VUOLE LA VERITÀ «Dobbiamo proteggere le risorse nazionali, tutelare il nostro ambiente naturale e rimuovere i rifiuti tossici e industriali che sono stati gettati sulle nostre spiagge». Sono parole pronunciate dal premier Ali Mohamed Ghedi al summit dell’Unione africana, nel luglio scorso. Il Governo somalo pone il problema fra le priorità , come conferma il portavoce del presidente Abdullahi Yusuf: «La nuova leadership somala è decisa a risolvere le contraddizioni del passato», dice Yusuf Bari-Bari, «pensando alle generazioni del futuro. Rientra in quest’ambito il tema dei rifiuti, che richiede un approccio razionale, scevro da strumentalizzazioni politiche». L’obiettivo immediato, aggiunge, è «realizzare un accurato monitoraggio nel Paese e una completa bonifica. E prevenire il ripetersi di simili attività illecite». «Sarebbe ingiusto», aggiunge, «che da episodi circoscritti emergesse l’immagine di una Somalia "discarica internazionale". Cosa non vera e inaccettabile».Monitoraggio e bonifica sono anche le parole d’ordine dell’onorevole Mauro Bulgarelli, dei Verdi. «Questo, ora, è compito della politica: il nostro Governo, l’Unione europea, l’agenzia Onu per l’ambiente devono dare il massimo sostegno al Governo somalo. Anche perché i rifiuti pericolosi vengono prodotti da sistemi industriali e produttivi che la Somalia di certo non ha. È un problema che noi, Paesi ricchi, abbiamo creato, e di cui dobbiamo farci carico».«Questa spedizione», conclude Bulgarelli, «realizzata con pochi mezzi e risorse, dimostra che si può intervenire, con efficacia e tempestività ».«È un impegno morale che possiamo prendere tutti, a prescindere da schieramenti e colore politico», insiste Francesco Cavalli, fondatore dell’Associazione "Ilaria Alpi", ma anche del noto premio giornalistico-televisivo di Riccione. «Gli indizi e le indagini giornalistiche svolte in questi anni sull’omicidio di Ilaria e Miran e sui traffici illeciti hanno oggi una conferma. Abbiamo qualche certezza in più. È quindi un punto d’arrivo, ma anche di partenza, che può dare nuovo vigore alle inchieste giudiziarie e parlamentari di casa nostra».

SOMALIA: VERDI TROVANO ALTRI FUSTI TOSSICI AFFIORATI DOPO LO TSUNAMI La spedizione in Somalia guidata dal deputato verde Mauro Bulgarelli ha trovato su alcune spiagge della zona grandi fusti metallici che lo tsunami del dicembre scorso ha portato in superficie e depositato sulla sabbia. Sono grossi fusti metallici usciti dalle profondità marine, assicurati l'un l'altro con catene. Secondo gli esperti Unep l'urto del maremoto ha fatto riaffiorare sulle coste somale ingenti quantità di rifiuti tossici, alcuni dei quali di tipo radioattivo, da tempo sepolti nell'oceano indiano e, si presume, di provenienza principalmente europea come uranio, mercurio e cadmio. Rifiuti ospedalieri e di industrie farmaceutiche contenuti in cisterne adagiate sui fondali o appena interrate nella sabbia della battigia, a volte sigillate in maniera del tutto rudimentale, distrutte poi dall'urto violentissimo delle onde provocate dallo tsunami hanno causato insolite patologie, facilmente riferibili a gravi fenomeni di inquinamento ad alcune popolazioni della costa settentrionale somala. "Purtroppo, sappiamo che molte regioni dell'Africa sono state utilizzate per anni come pattumiera da molti Paesi europei, Italia compresa, per un'elementare quanto cinica valutazione del costo-opportunità : se in Europa smaltire una tonnellata di rifiuti tossici costa oltre 1.000 dollari, in Africa la cifra si riduce ad appena 8 dollari per tonnellata. Un affare di cui si conoscono molti dettagli fin dagli anni '90, che ha coinvolto faccendieri e malavita approfittando della latitanza o dell'inesistenza del governo locale e che probabilmente è anche una delle chiavi di volta per comprendere, ad esempio, il movente dell'omicidio della giornalista italiana Ilaria Alpi avvenuto proprio in Somalia", afferma Michele Candotti, segretario generale del Wwf. Secondo le ricerche effettuate dall’African stockpile programme, un programma internazionale che coinvolge numerose istituzioni internazionali tra cui Unep, Fao e molti Paesi africani per rimuovere migliaia di tonnellate di pesticidi stoccati da almeno 40 anni senza sicurezza, hanno svelato almeno 1400 siti tossici in Africa dove si concentrano sostanze ormai bandite. PS: Translation coming after exams!

© Rake Publishing, Inc. | visit www.rakemag.com October 2005 Who Are the American Muslims? In Rochester, a unique Islamic community struggles with assimilation and identity—and builds a $4 million mosque. A Saturday night in late summer and downtown Rochester was completely dark except for an exceedingly lively block of First Avenue Northwest. At one end, a tall Somali man leaned into the window of a black Chevy Cavalier and spoke with a woman wearing a red silk hijab, or headscarf. Behind the Cavalier, three Somali teenagers, one in a UNC basketball jersey, clustered around a Jeep Cherokee, inadvertently blocking cars trying to emerge from a parking lot. Meanwhile, men in their twenties chattered loudly in the lot while older men conversed on the corner of Broadway. Around nine o’clock, the street-side conversations began moving toward the entrance of the Rochester Islamic Center, a nondescript former VFW hall distinguished now only by the sweep of Arabic across a sign over the door. In the tiled entryway, the thin face of a Somali woman in a purple hijab peeked down from over the rail on the second floor. Inside are cubbyholes filled with footwear, and then a long, open space defined by a large window, several support columns, and strips of red carpeting angled in the direction of Mecca. A Somali man sat up front, a copy of the Koran propped between two worn blue velvet cushions in front of him. A dozen other Somalis in various states of repose listened intently to his lecture. Other men arrived and arranged themselves in line with the carpet strips. Some stood and prayed, hands clasped over their stomachs; others sat silently or chatted. Shortly after 9:30, a young Somali in a Fubu basketball jersey stepped to a microphone at the front of the room and turned toward Mecca. “Allahu akbar,†he began, chanting the call to prayer. When the call was finished, Sheikh Elsayed Mahmoud, a thickly bearded, light-skinned thirty-six-year-old in an emerald green thobe (an ankle-length cotton garment), entered. He took a seat on a rolling office chair and looked out at the congregation. Three older Somali men approached him, and they chatted amiably. Around 9:50 they drifted away, and Mahmoud rose and turned toward Mecca. Approximately a hundred and fifty men rose with him, standing in straight lines along the carpet. Young boys stood next to their fathers; teenagers stood with their friends. At the front, older Somalis in skirts and turbans held dark wooden prayer beads, next to robed, stately Arab men whose faces were weathered in ways mostly unknown in Minnesota. Islam is America’s fastest growing religion, and it seems especially apparent in Rochester. In the early 1990s there were fewer than fifty observant Muslims living in the city, most of whom were South Asian; organized prayers were held only on Fridays, in makeshift accommodations. Today approximately five thousand Muslims live in the city, the vast majority of whom are Somali; they have the option of praying five times daily in a mosque owned by their community, presided over by an esteemed imam trained in Islam’s most distinguished university. Yet aside from the now-commonplace sight of Muslim women in hijabs and other coverings in Rochester’s public spaces, Islamic practice and tradition has largely been invisible to non-Muslims in Rochester, hidden behind converted spaces with distinctly American contexts such as the old VFW hall. That will soon change. Next year, the Rochester Islamic Center will be demolished to make way for a four-million-dollar mosque designed to hold eighteen hundred worshippers. Funded by a Saudi Arabian visitor to the Mayo Clinic and designed by a Syrian architect, the three-story building will be topped by a large dome and flanked by minarets that, at 180 feet tall, will rise prominently on Rochester’s skyline. Inside, ample and desperately needed classrooms, a library, and meeting areas are planned, along with a two-story prayer hall. When complete, it will be the first new mosque ever constructed in Minnesota. The Rochester Islamic Center is already unique due to the international community of Muslims who worship there. “Other Islamic communities will have national mosques,†explained Zaid Khalid, the president of the Rochester Islamic Center’s board. “In the Twin Cities, for example, there are Somali mosques.†That is largely a result of demographics: The Twin Cities are home to more than a hundred thousand Muslims. “But we only have enough Muslims for one mosque in Rochester,†said Khalid. An equally important factor is that the Somali population of Rochester fluctuates on the basis of job opportunities; as a result, educated professionals from South Asia and the Middle East, like the Pakistani-born Khalid, have largely assumed the leadership of the center. “But even with so many different cultures, we are quite unified,†Khalid concluded. Since 1994 the Rochester Islamic Center has been a religious institution concerned exclusively with spiritual matters. Though it has been asked, on occasion, to help assimilate immigrants, its leaders have neither the desire nor the means to do so. “That is something for the social services,†Khalid said. “And one-on-one contact.†Yet immigrant Muslims have quickly become an important and permanent part of Rochester’s cultural and civic life. And while many Americans question whether Muslims can ever truly assimilate, Rochester’s Muslims have spent the last ten years developing specifically Islamic approaches to being Americans. Thus, as the new Middle Eastern-style mosque rises over Rochester’s staid downtown, the city’s Muslims hope that the structure—like them—will not be viewed as something to be feared or avoided, but approached as a resource. “We hope that it will attract people to learn more about us,†said Shareef Alshinnawi, a spokesman for the Rochester Islamic Center. “We hope it means guests, speeches, classes, and understanding. We’re part of this community, and this new building in the middle of downtown will be one symbol of that fact.†Sheikh Elsayed Mahmoud swept into the library of the Rochester Islamic Center in his green thobe and handed me a Diet Pepsi. “Please,†he said, and gestured for me to sit. At first we spoke a bit of English, which he is studying, but while being interviewed he preferred his native Arabic, and a translator soon arrived. “From the beginning, there is one thing that I would like to explain a little deeper,†he said. “The word ‘imam’ can fit anybody who memorizes the Koran and can lead the prayers. But that person doesn’t need to understand the Koran.†As Mahmoud explained it, an imam differs from a scholar. “The scholar is the person to be asked if you have something to know about Islam, its texts and laws.†He paused and chuckled, his dark eyes offset by a high brow and a wry, cocked smile. “Actually, the first time that I was called an imam was in America.†Mahmoud was born in Cairo, the oldest of six children, and grew up in a religiously observant family. “It was one of my father’s wishes that I become a scholar,†he recalled. “He used to invite scholars to the house, befriend my teachers, buy books for me. But in the end it was God’s will.†Mahmoud received an intensive religious education, in addition to a secular one, before entering Al-Azhar, the world’s oldest university and still the most distinguished source of scholarship in Islam. There he excelled in studying fiqh, or Islamic law. He graduated with a degree in High Islamic Studies and began serving at a Cairo mosque. “I wanted to continue with my studies at some point,†he recalled. “But circumstances prevented it.†Soon after, Mahmoud met an Egyptian physician who was then in the midst of a Mayo Clinic fellowship. At the time, the Rochester Islamic Center was looking for an imam to lead its prayers and serve as a scholar to guide the mostly Somali congregation. And so, upon returning to Rochester, the physician apprised the board of the young scholar’s qualifications. An invitation was soon extended. “At first, I decided not to come,†Mahmoud admitted. But then he was praying with one of his teachers and mentioned it. “Do you think that they can profit from me? That I can give them something?†His teacher, a renowned scholar, answered: “Definitely, with all assurance.†Mahmoud smiled bashfully as he recounted this. “So that made the decision.†He arrived in Rochester in January 2001. Fortuitously for his followers in Rochester, one of Mahmoud’s scholarly interests is a branch of fiqh concerned with applying Islam to the particular place and circumstances in which a Muslim lives. “The main point is not to have rigidity in religion, to remain flexible enough to be practical for everyone,†he explained. “So long as it doesn’t distort or alter or suggest improper interpretations of the Arabic text.†The caveat is a sensitive one, particularly in light of the extreme political interpretations to which Koranic verses have been subjected in recent years. But Mahmoud, as a graduate of Islam’s greatest university, has the standing and credential to make those judgments. In his modesty, Mahmoud waves off the suggestion that he has achieved the status of scholar, but the reality is that his congregants in Rochester treat him as one, bringing him questions of religious importance. “To an extent, I also serve as what would be called an Islamic judge back home,†he explained. “Performing marriages and also resolving conflicts and disputes.†Unlike an Islamic leader in the Middle East, Mahmoud has the added responsibility of teaching his followers how to reconcile their religion with aspects of American culture with which it is incompatible. In general, Mahmoud tends to discuss assimilation more in terms of cultural assimilation—for example, the incompatibility of certain Somali social mores with American ones. And on the particulars of how American culture interacts with Islam, he tends to emphasize the commonalities: “If something is prohibited in Christianity, then it is prohibited in Islam, too, with only a few exceptions of law.†Mahmoud’s ecumenicism has its limits, though, particularly when Islam disagrees with what is allowed in Christianity, or in American culture. “For example, yesterday an Egyptian asked to me to authenticate his wedding to an American woman,†Mahmoud recalled. “It was a new situation for me, because most of the marriages that occur in the mosque are Somali.†He attended the wedding, “but the moment I saw the champagne bottle, I immediately said, ‘Thank you’ and left.†He sighed with exasperation at the overt transgression of Islam’s prohibition of alcohol. “It is their tradition, it is a free society, and it is up to them. But by Islamic law I had to leave the moment I saw the champagne.†Twice a week, Mahmoud is tutored in English by an elderly Franciscan nun at the Assisi Heights convent. “We don’t speak much about religion,†he said. “Mostly we study English.†His four-year-old son, meanwhile, has entered Rochester’s public schools “so that he can learn English better and become assimilated.†Mahmoud has reservations about the American public school system—“there is no religious teaching, and a lot of times there is no moral or even ethical teachingâ€â€”but he is adamant that the best way to teach Islam to his children is by example. “If you tell them to do things, maybe they’ll do it,†he says with a father’s knowing smile. “But if they see you doing it, they’ll follow your example.†The call to prayer was suddenly audible through the wall that separates the library from the prayer hall. “Of course, we cannot really live Islam completely or to the fullest except in a Muslim society. And we will never be able to fully enjoy the mercy and the fruits of Islam except in a Muslim society.†There is a long pause and he smiles broadly before continuing. “Although that’s the case, we can also live in a non-Muslim society and by the will and grace of God still remain on the straight path and practice our religion to the fullest extent possible.†He paused to check his watch. “I do not believe that there is a perfect society in this world,†he concluded. “You always have good and bad people in every society. And you must always try to get the good part.†Rana Mikati answered the door of her split-level home on the north side of Rochester in a flowing black abaya. Her eyes were nearly as dark as its silk, contrasting with her red lipstick. She is forty-one years old, the mother of three children, but her fine skin and charm suggested a much younger woman. “Come in, come in,†she said, gesturing into her living room. Mikati served Turkish coffee spiked with cardamom. “I was born in Tripoli to an Islamic family,†she recounted in lightly accented English. “We were conservative, but not fanatic. We respected the rules of the religion.†They were also distinctly modern. Like other women in her family, Mikati wore the hijab primarily when she entered the mosque. Yet today, in America, Mikati welcomes strangers to her home wearing a garment that covers everything but her face, hands, and the exquisite jewelry on her wrists and fingers. “It is true,†she said with a nod. “I came to America and became more Islamic. It is how I remained connected to my culture.†Then a young girl strode into the family room in her pajamas. She glanced at her mother, yawned, and left. Mikati laughed, shook her head, and continued. “When I took the oath of citizenship the judge told me, and everyone at the ceremony, something very important,†she recalled. “He said, ‘Assimilate, but never forget your heritage. Because that is what makes this country rich.’ †She sipped her coffee. “This is what we call jihad,†she said, her accent softly melodic as it glided over the Arabic word. “The real jihad. To find your identity. And to fight for that identity.†Mikati’s experience as an American and a Muslim is not uncommon. In many ways, in fact, it is distinctly American: Generations of immigrants to America have strengthened their faith as a means of maintaining a connection with their native culture. “When people ask me how I accommodate my life to America …†Mikati shrugged with a bewildered smile. “I don’t know how to answer. Islam is just a way of life. And I don’t see it as incompatible.†Mikati left Lebanon in 1993 when her husband, Amer, a pharmacist educated in the United States, was offered a job in Ohio. Like others before them, the Mikatis formed some of their first social bonds around an immigrant religious community. “We attended a mosque that had a very international following,†Mikati recalled. “And that was interesting because I always thought of Islam as being Middle Eastern.†The mosque was not just faith, but also social connections and, for Mikati, a place to maintain her “native Arabic tongue.†It was a catalyst for her evolving sense of her ethnic and religious identity, and she began to consider wearing the hijab. “The most important thing is to have the courage,†she explained. “Especially in a culture where it is not common.†Her husband encouraged her, but with two caveats: “He said, ‘Don’t change the way we live, and don’t cocoon yourself.’ †On the first day of Ramadan in 1998, Mikati dressed in an abaya and went to the mall. “I felt more exposed than if I was naked,†she said. But whatever defensiveness she felt soon gave way to a distinctly Islamic female identity. “I avoid fashion entirely—how much more liberated and feminist can I be?†Indeed, for Mikati, the hijab is hardly a symbol of separateness or isolation. “Look, there is much more to being American than wearing cowboy boots,†she said archly. “And Hawaiian shirts.†She retrieved an issue of Rochester Women magazine that featured her on the cover in a black abaya, and Arij, her sixteen-year-old daughter, dressed as an American teenager. “When I was sixteen, I was not covered, so the choice is hers,†Mikati said. “And I pray for her.†When Arij Mikati enters a room she walks with a smooth confidence, even if she is stepping on the cuffs of her extra-long jeans. Her hennaed hair falls to her shoulders; in bearing and features, she is her mother’s twin. For her, the decision to cover herself is a matter of timing and courage. “You know, there’s already so much drama in high school,†she said, rolling her eyes. “And I don’t know that I’m really ready to add this drama, too.†Yet Arij hopes to cover herself before she begins college. She will do so mainly because it is a requirement of her religion; yet, in a uniquely American way, Arij also says that it is partly a matter of principle. “I really like being respected for who I am, not for how I look,†she said, sounding like any other irritated, individualistic American teenager. “So if I’m covered I know people will judge me for who I am.†Nonetheless, Arij is keenly aware that the hijab alters how a Muslim woman is perceived in her adopted culture. “It won’t make a difference for the people who knew me before,†she said. “But others are probably different.†The Mikatis moved to Rochester in 1998, when Amer accepted a job at the Mayo Clinic. Rana soon took a part-time job as a translator at the clinic and also became deeply involved in Rochester’s public schools. “Muslims in Rochester will tell you that raising their children in the way that they want is their number one concern,†she explained. “It is a constant challenge.†In meeting that challenge, she has what she calls “my red linesâ€â€”rules restricting her daughters’ participation in certain rites of American adolescence. Though Arij’s friendships with both females and males are not restricted, the teenager is prohibited from having a boyfriend or dating. “It is not our way,†Rana Mikati said. “And it must be very hard upon her.†The conflicts between her daughter’s faith and events like prom can be especially trying. “This year she was invited by three different boys,†Mikati said with just a trace of pride. “But she was not allowed to go.†She took a deep breath. “And it was just heartbreaking.†There are approximately a thousand Muslim children in Rochester, and by force of their numbers they have transformed aspects of the city’s public school system. According to Mikati, most of teachers are at least aware of the cultural needs associated with Muslim students, including dietary restrictions, space and time for prayer, and staying home on Muslim holidays. In those instances where understanding does not exist, Mikati has become adept at finding solutions. “There are Muslim families who don’t want anything to do with America because they think the American kids are ‘too loose,’ †she explained. “But if you think that they are too loose, I say, ‘Don’t isolate yourself. Go to the school board.’ †At six o’clock on a weekday evening, the second floor of the Rochester Islamic Center rang with the voices of fifty Somali children dashing around the room. Boys occupied the far end, clustered in small, loud groups mostly unconcerned with study; at the opposite end, girls dressed in a rich palette of abayas sat in study circles with a few older, willowy Somali women. Siyad Lohos sat in his beige thobe at an old card table in the middle of the room, where the students formed two lines—one for boys, one for girls. As they waited, some chatted and played, while others practiced reciting whatever they were asked to memorize for the day. When they reached Lohos, they handed over their notebooks and recited for him, often two at a time. Even though Lohos seemed focused on a group of roughhousing boys, he corrected the errors of the students as they recited, almost automatically. “I had memorized the Koran by the time I was fourteen or fifteen,†he recalled as he reclined on the floor after class. “I started when I was six.†A native of Somalia, the wiry twenty-nine-year-old received his high school education and two years of college in Egypt and then joined his family in Rochester in 2000. Since then, Lohos has taught Koran to the children of Rochester’s Somali immigrants. When I asked him the difference between teaching in Somalia and Rochester, he shrugged and looked around the room. “They are different.†When pressed him, he smiled broadly, stretching the goatee on his chin. “Look, in Somalia they are more serious because there are not so many distractions. They will learn Koran nearly full-time.†In Rochester, however, Lohos might see the students twice per week for a couple of hours during the school year. He is well aware that their public school education is a priority. “In Somalia, they might memorize a page per day,†he explained. “But here, if I teach them one aya [verse] today, they’ll maybe forget it tomorrow.†He shrugged. “When they grow up, maybe they will lose the Koran.†Across the street in a Somali cafe, Mahmoud Hamud, a board member of the Islamic Center, nodded when I mentioned the less intensive Islamic educations received in Rochester. “Back home, kindergarten was Koranic,†he acknowledged with crossed arms. “But here you want the kids to be ready for school because this is where they will live.†According to Hamud, it’s necessary to find a balance. “If your kid becomes too American, you might say, ‘What happens to me when I’m old?’ †His eyes widened and the fifty-one-year-old shook a finger at me. “In Somalia we don’t put people in nursing homes. So the older people worry what will happen to them if the kids walk away from their culture.†From Hamud’s perspective, this is not necessarily an issue of religion so much as culture. He acknowledges that many Somali Muslims feel uncomfortable with aspects of American culture that they perceive as incompatible with Islam and Somali standards of social modesty—but then again, according to Hamud, they also keep in mind who provided them with refuge during and after their Civil War. “What is closer to Somalia: America or the Middle East?†he asked rhetorically. “Well, the Somalis remember that it was the United States who helped them, and not the Middle East.†Hamud’s story is not that of a typical Somali immigrant. After moving to the United States in 1974 to attend Cornell University, he spent most of his early career running relief and development operations in Somalia. In the early 1990s, however, the civil war that drove refugees to the United States resulted in Hamud suspending his work in Africa and focusing his efforts on social services in Rochester. In that capacity, he was deeply involved in nearly every aspect of assimilating Somalis, including efforts to find them homes and jobs and reduce tensions in the public schools. “Things are much better than they used to be,†he said. “But still there are language issues and cultural issues, and the school district isn’t addressing them.†In September, 120 Somali youths in Rochester began to attend a Somali charter school. “Isolation is a concern,†he acknowledged. “But the alternative is worse. The reason these families moved to the United States is for a better life, and if the children are dropouts they won’t get a chance for that better life.†Significantly, Hamud and other Somali leaders in Rochester do not view religion as a serious impediment to assimilation. “Islam covers a lot of cultures,†Hamud explained. “Each has its own baggage, and often the baggage is the issue.†He stares across the room at a dozen mostly elderly men drinking tea and having animated conversations in Somali. “It’s really no different than if they were sitting in Mogadishu. Nine guys, and only one, the one who works for the clinic, knows English.†In a corner, a pretty Sudanese teenager with a bright red kerchief around her head rose from a prayer mat. Hamud turned and spoke to her in Somali. “I don’t speak Somali,†she answered in perfect English spoken with long, Minnesotan vowels. For Sheikh Elsayed Mahmoud, the new mosque is not a momentous religious event. “From a spiritual point of view it has no significance,†he said, smiling, seated in the Rochester Islamic Center’s library. “The importance is that it will last longer than the current building.†He laughed loudly and glanced around the cramped library before continuing in a more serious mode. “The new building will draw more attention to the Muslims than it will to the structure itself,†he added. “So it will be more important to exemplify the proper teachings for our children, and to exhibit the correct attitudes to other people.†As the spiritual leader of the mosque, Mahmoud appeared perfectly comfortable with his role in shaping that more public face of Islam in Rochester. “Whether we like it or not, accept it or not, we are a part of American society,†said Mahmoud. “We work in American society. We pay taxes in American society. All of the American laws apply to us.†A Somali man walked in unannounced, but when he saw the sheikh was engaged, he quickly backed out. “But the Somalis—and all of the Muslims—they are trying to keep the cultural background that they came with.†He became animated. “So they have these groups of Somalis, or Southeast Asians, just as you—if you are a fourth- or fifth-generation Minnesotans—might have a German or Scandinavian group.†He raised his brow. “The difference is that a Scandinavian does not have all the restrictions that a Muslim has in the way that we get to know, and get close to, people.†Mahmoud is explicit that those restrictions are primarily related to interpersonal contact, and do not extend to civic engagement. When asked whether he believes that members of his community should be active in Rochester’s civic life, including serving as elected officials, he answers immediately: “We live here, so we should be involved and integrated,†he said. “It is important for us.†In January, Rochester Mayor Ardell Brede asked the City Council to consider beginning its sessions with a prayer offered by rotating members of Rochester area religious communities. The proposal was not adopted, but Brede plans to introduce it again, and if and when it is adopted, he intends to invite Sheikh Elsayed Mahmoud. When asked whether he would accept, Mahmoud tilted his head skeptically: “There is a big cultural and religious difference in what we consider to be prayer,†he explained. “In general, we Muslims we start our prayers with ‘Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Raheem’ [“in the name of Allah the most merciful, the most graciousâ€]. That is how we are ordered to commence everything, every event. What we do is formal, and a heavily religious prayer.†There is a long pause and then he continues with renewed enthusiasm: “I’m ready to make any prayer that would be of benefit to Muslims, Christians, whoever! Humanity in general!†He opened his hands wide and smiled. “We are members of this community.â€

Caamir...I hate warlords unlike many charlatans here. I can sense hypocrisy and I know how double dealing and insincere most Somalis are. Yeey is by far the most cunning and ruthless tribalist, the epitome of clannish autocracy. He is good in manipulating and dividing Somalis, telling them what they want to hear,clan bashing & regional arrognace. He has no leadership quality and is an awful man. He already decieving and changing naïve honest people into zombies for the realization of his clannish objective. This man is a true Somali Machiavelli. Unlike his ****** opponent warlords, Yeey has a long-term goal built on clannish ascendancy for entrenched plunder and the reemergence of primitive nepotistic clannish rule. I can't accept the rule and supremacy of certain clans whose whole mentality is so backward and so provincial. Somalis fought with Siad because of what Yeey and his clique are dreaming of. I am suspicious of the unreserved backing by his clansmen, specially, the ones in the Diaspora who all of sudden became brainless cheerleaders for a warlord. I won’t lie to myself in believing the unattainable. Somalia needs no more tribalism and warlords will never bring peaceful end to our quagmire. I am so proud of the people of Somaliland and congratulate them for their progressive peaceful attempt to get recognition and to attain peace.

camel -- bro don't expect these illiterate and ruthless warlords to aside their petty differences. They are the product of a primitive culture and sick society. There is no hope for Somalia. Just look at us here in this forum and how we are so obsessed with tribalism. Every one of us is cheering for one warlord or the other simply because of clan allegiance. We have all these "Paste & Copy" cheerleaders recycling clannish hogwash from clannish sites. We are so revolting and so pathetic that we know nothing else but to quarrel and fight about ....for what ? such a primitive sickness as tribalism.? we are doomed .... We are fooling ourselves and we are not even learning anything from the civilised world. It is shame! it is hopeless! it is so sickening and so depressing! Somalis will never ever stop this insanity. Ilaahaa noo maqan....We have to ask him to send us a prophet cos we live in Jaahilyah!! I know am blaspheming but I am questioning my whole ****ed-up mentality and the mentality of my primitive people! F.U. ..ATO, QANYARE...YEEY, PUNTLAND, JOWHAR..MUQDISHU...DUKE ...JUMA...DAYNIILE, GAROOWE...QABIIL ..THIS FORUM....to Eff with you all!!

Somalia has became the butt of joke of the world. I hope that this blog will open the eyes of those Somalis obsessed with clan-nism. Just read the postings on how people see us as primitive savages who are so ignorant and so backward and who do't deserve any sympathy at all. I am ashamed of this and I can't do nothing about it. Cos it is an inescapable truth. Just even here we are still perpetuating the same ignorance and clannish mentality that have destroyed us. And please spare me of clan bashing and so on for we did this to ourselves collectively. http://hotzone.yahoo.com/ http://hotzone.yahoo.com/ http://hotzone.yahoo.com/

If this doesn't change your primitive clannish thinking and how we Somalis became the joke of the civilised world, then, Somalia is doomed forever. We have gone down so low on human history and it is all because of the ignorance of tribalism, our leaders. We are a punch of primitive and sick people. http://hotzone.yahoo.com/ After you read the blogs, please check the postings and what they wrote about us. It is really our fault and we shouldn't blame no one.

Waxaan idin sheegeeynaa in gabadhii yareyd ee buradu dhabarka kaga tiil ay ku saqiirtay xamar. ilaahey samir iyo iimaan ha naga wada siiyo ... Qof walba waqtigeeda ma dhaafeyso - gabadhaas dad badan ayaa isku dayay ineey wax u qabtaan laakiin waa laga daahay - laakiin waa saqiirtay oo janadii fardoowsa ayey aaday.... waxaa u maleeysaa in dhaqso dad badan eey ku bilaabatay donor fatigue oo maalin kasta internet-ka waxaa la soo geliyaa ilmo soomaaliyeed oo aad iyo aad u jiran- oo dhamaantood tumor iyo wax ka daran qabo- hadda waxaa jira wiil isha cancer ugu so baxay oo ku jira hiiraan.com Koo kalena waxuu ku yaal dayniile oo paralysis ku dhacay.... Please kuwaasna hala la tacaala. Gabadhii Austria la geeyayna weli isbitaalkeey ku jirtaa oo daawo aa u socoto.

Deputy Assistant Secretary Yamamoto welcomed the Speaker of the Transitional Federal Assembly of Somalia, Shariff Hassan Sheikh Adan, to the State Department on September 14, 2005. He underscored this U.S. support and urged the Speaker to continue his efforts towards finding a peaceful solution to current disagreements between Somali leaders. During the UN General Assembly in New York City on September 16, 2005, Deputy Assistant Secretary Yamamoto met with Somali Transitional President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed. He again underscored the above U.S. support and urged President Yusuf to take immediate steps to reduce tension and engage in a constructive dialogue with other members of the Transitional Federal Institutions to find a peaceful solution to current disagreements. They asked Shariifka to continue his efforts of bringing peace and urged Yeey to reduce tension and engage in dialogue. What does this tell you? If you are well versed in diplomatic lingo, you will easily decipher from this statement how the State Department is skeptical of Yeey. You will also come to recognize the confidence the US officials have on speaker of Parliament. Diplomats can without difficulty discern who is serious about peace and who is not.

May Allah bless his soul - President Dr. Abdirishiid Ali Sharmaake was perhaps the second best Somali leader after Aden Adde. So was Abdullahi Isse( May Allah bless his soul too!) The most nauseating thing is that most of Yeey’s cheerleaders are all from his immediate clan! I wonder why you don't see any one else who is so fanatically promoting this warlord. The people who are cheerleading for Yeey are blinded by clannish hogwash. I must confess that I have been stunned by the fanfare of some of these cheerleaders, specially in this forum. I doubt if they share at least one thing in common with the rest of us- average people - i doubt if they have the desire to see an end to the suffering and despair so rampant in Somalia today. These people are driven by clan creed , which is to dominate others and be leechers on the government dispensation....Call me a naysayer, Call me whatever you wish but when it comes to politics and the behavior of certain folks, I take my calling from history and experience. It is also depressing to see people who are likely to be of common sense failing to see the idiocy of their clan obsession. They are all on your face, giving support to a warlord and villain like Yeey , whose whole clan mindset is to wreak more havoc in Somalia today. I think their gestures of nationalism and patriotic flag waving are phony. they are not interested in peace. Those individuals from other clans who are still counting on this ruthless tyrant are either desperately naïve or are careless opportunists. I am telling to those who want to jump on the bandwagon and praise this cunning autocrat to sit back and take a deep breath. Anyone who thinks that Yeey is serious about peacefully resolving the Somali conflict must be hallucinating.

Asha Abdalla: Africa's first woman president? By Cathy Majtenyi When Asha Ahmed Abdalla was a teenager in her native country of Somalia, she used to daydream about what it would be like to be Somalia's first lady, and decided to set her sights on achieving that goal. But Abdalla grew up, and so did her dream. After a lifetime of humanitarian and political activity, the 45-year-old mother of three has set her eyes on the ultimate prize: to become Africa's first woman president. "Women should use their power," she says, a warn grin lighting up her youthful features. "I've always loved politics. I love to fight for people's freedoms. Also, I like equality, especially women's equality." These days, Abdalla is campaigning for the presidency at the Somalia National Reconciliation Conference, a peace process that has been going on in Kenya for the past year. The conference, organized and facilitated by the seven-nation Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), brings together the country's warlords, traditional elders, and others to find a peaceful solution to the bitter war that has rocked Somalia since 1991. Analysts say that the war in Somalia is primarily a struggle between 23 or so clan and sub-clan-based factions fighting with one another to maintain control of particular areas. Technically, the country is being led by the Transitional National Government (TNG), an interim government that was put together at Somalia's last peace conference, held in 2000 in Arta, Djibouti. In reality, the TNG only controls sections of Somalia's capital Mogadishu and other small parts of the country. Conference participants spent long months discussing and debating such subjects as conflict resolution and reconciliation, disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration, land and property rights, and economic recovery. They have put together a constitution and are now in the process of selecting a 351-member parliament that will ensure that all four of Somalia's clans and civil society will be represented. The Members of Parliament, in turn, will elect a president who will lead the interim government for four years until an election can be held in Somalia. At the moment, observers say Somalia is still too unstable and volatile to be able to host elections. According to the conditions of the Arta conference, the current TNG's term expires next month. Abdalla is currently the TNG's Minister of Demobilization, Disarmament, and Reintegration. She has some stiff competition in her bid to become president. More than 40 big-name contenders are running for the position, including Hussein Aideed, son of former faction leader General Mohammed Farah Aideed, former International Football Federation official Farah Adow, and Dr. Najib Abdulkarim, a lecturer in a U.S. university. But the energetic and enthusiastic Abdalla - whose campaign poster says "Give Somalia a Mother's Nurturing!" - is not worried about her heavyweight rivals or the fact that she's the only woman running in a society that has traditionally shunned her sex from the political arena. "[The decision to run] came from my friends," she says, adding that during her term in office, she acquired the reputation of being tough but fair-minded and law-abiding. "If I become president, I will bring law and order back, and things will come back to normal." She has come up with a "Twelve Point Agenda" that commits herself to taking action on issues including disarmament, rehabilitation, judicial reform, healthcare, regional governance, economic revival, universal education, employment creation, and, of course, women's empowerment. Asha Abdalla was born in 1958 in Ergaro, a city on the tip of Somalia stretching into the Gulf of Aden. She spent her early childhood in Yemen and returned to Somalia in the late 1960s. That was around the time that Abdalla's uncle was running for Member of Parliament. His young niece, who helped him manage his campaign, was impressed by the flurry of activity, attention, and discussions on issues. It was then that her political ambitions were born. A decade later, while attending Latole University in Mogadishu, the student was caught up with the causes and effects of the ****** War, a bloody conflict between Somalia and Ethiopia. She saw her people suffering, and got into heated discussions and debates about how to stop the war and help its victims. It was also during this time when Abdalla met her future husband. They married and immigrated to the United States. There, she led a life packed with educational and humanitarian achievements that included: a BSc from La Guardia College in New York; a Master's from the City University of New York; and the chairmanship of the Washington-based Somali Relief Agency, which also dealt with Somali refugees' welfare in the U.S. In 2000, Abdalla - who by this time also had her American citizenship - was persuaded to attend the Arta conference where, because of her pivotal role, she was elected Member of Parliament in the TNG and then was later named minister. She hasn't looked back since, even though during the course of her work, she has received several death threats from those angry at her policies. Abdalla credits her family - particularly her father, who died last year - for who she is today. "He taught me to be honest, to be straightforward, to believe what I believe, and to work with others for good things. [He taught me] never do what somebody else tells you to do if it's not right."

AMIN AMIR IS NOT A BARAWAANI BUT A YEMINTE-SOMALI FROM HAMAR-WEINE

DARYEEL – A YOUNG MP – ONE OF FUTURE LEADERS OF SOMALIA. POET LAUREATE OSMAN – A GENIUS PLAYWRIGHT ASHA & DARYEEL WITH DIGNITARIES THE TEACHER & HIS PROTÉGÉ ZAKARIA HAJI MOHAMOUD – CURRENT MP, AN ACCOMPLISHED AGRARIAN ANDVSOMALI’S EX-INFORMATION MINISTER – A TRUE PATRIOT!

DARYEEL, MUSTAPHA, ASHA, GALAYR, SIFIR, ZAKARIYE, AHMED & INTELLECTUAL ADDOOW ON THE MIC. SOMALI-AIRLINES MOST EXPERIENCED JET PILOT IBRAHIM ABIIKAR JURIST DOCTOR/MUSLIM SCHOLAR –IMAM. HASSAN JAMI’I

Marwo Asha Abdalla – Somalia’s & Africa’s First president? Dr. Ali Khalif Galayr –a university of MN professor, is the former prime minister a one- time minister of industry for Somalia. He teaches courses on the politics of public affairs, strategies for economic development, and the role of nongovernmental organizations in governance Mustapha, Asha, Galayr, Sifir , Zakariye & Ahmed Abdirahman SIFIR & ATTORNEY GENERAL MIKE HATCH MUSTAPHA DHUHULOOW- SOMALI’S YOUNGEST PARLIAMENTARIAN REPRESENTING THE YOUNG GENERATION DARYEEL – ANOTHER YOUNG SOMALI PARLIAMENTARIAN

Nice! witty and hilarious "Tix Gabay " but you should have spared us of the clan names -It kind spoils the fun!

Cry Me.... Cry Me ......Abdiqasim!! is the Bogeyman..I wonder why? Yeey’s hopes are dwindling and his clannish aspiration is being challenged by all, now the loyalists and cheerleaders have the misery of disappointment and are littering unfounded rubbish everywhere. They can’t tackle the hurdles in front of them in their hope to ascend into some kind of aristocracy. Yeey’s coterie, hired shameless liars and spin masters have to find a bogeyman to blame for their failures, and it is no wonder A/Qasim has become their first victim nemesis, the man who benevolently handed the baton of clannish armor (the seat of presidency ) to Yeey in Nairobi. But there is an underlying rationale for this and it has to do with an innate antagonism these wakcy clannish cheerleaders have for A/Qasim's immediate clan, an influential and prevailing faction that they see as an obstruction to their ambition. This is what tells apart the lions from the cattle! As for us, we do not depend on Uncle Yeey for bread and future therefore, we are able to see the sheer hypocrisy of defeatist old hags who don’t see the “writing on the wall†Somalis are tired of this clannish blame game and are now engaging each other with “unorthodox†argument of how to eliminate this clannish mentality.

This is a "Rough Excerpt" of a informal dialogue I had with an elderly Somali gentleman whom I met in Caribou Coffee. From his accent, I could tell he was from Xamar. I was reading-through news from the many clannish sites when he came up to me unswervingly to shoot the breeze since I was the only Somalis in Coffee joint. He was very social and chatty. As usual, we discussed Somalia' messy affairs. The photo (of the Warlords )that was the catalyst ice-breaker of the ensuing conversation Adeer: " Waa kuwaas qabqablayaashii dagaal ee dalka ka degi waayay 15 sano ee la soo dhaafay sawirka isku gacan qaadayo iyagoo wada faraxsan......Mujirnimadooda ka sakoow, waa kaas Hiiraale gacan qaadaayo Morgan. Muse Sudi, Qanyare, Caato, Indha-Cadde Seeraar iyo dhamaantood waa isku koox oo isku dhan." Yaa ka maqan meesha? Adeer: "Shaati-Gaduud, Aden Madoobe, Ina-Ceydiid, Abdulaahi Yusuf & Maxamed Dheere ..nimanka Soomaaliya ka degi la'dahay waa intaas oo kaliye..." Aaway Somaliland? Adeer: "Reer waqooyigana iyaguna meel sidaa u sii dheer ma jiraan oo waa imaan hadeey kuwan koofurta hishiiyaan" Waxaan su'aalay maxaa la isku heeystaa? Adeer: "Wax la isku heeysto ma jiraan. nimanka jowhar jooga baa Amxaara wata oo haddana ciidamadaan qabiil dib soo dhisayo. Ineey iska dhaafaan taas ilaah ha tusiyo hadeey ku soo darsamaan saaxibadood shaydhaamiinta ah - shan sano ka dib waxaa hubanti ah ineey wadankaan u soo bixi doonaan dad wanaagsan oo mutiqiin ah oo wax soo baraty 'sidaadoo kale' oo soomaalinimo aaminsan." Maxaad hadda ka socda meesha? Adeer: "Jowhar iyo Balcad oo 30 KM oo kaliya isku jira baa la kala fadhiyaa. Madaxweeynihii iyo ra'iisul barlamaankiina waxeey joogaan New York." Xamar-na maxa ka socda ? Adeer: "Waxaa labadan maaalmood Xamar ku soo qulqulmayay wiilashii cabdulaahi qoryaha u soo dhiibay oo ka soo cararay kaneecada iyo Malaria-da dhoobeeyda - ayagoo qoryahoodii Ak47 lacag siistay si eey isku daaweeyaan. ilaa hadda 50 wiil oo dhilmaanyo heeyso ayaa daawo u soo raadsaday Xamar oo cid sidaas u fiirisay eeysan jirin...." Maxaa isbaaradda xamar looga qaadi la'yahay? Adeer: "Xamar waxaa yaalay 45 isbaaro, waxaa la qaaday 41 - Afarta hartay waxaa laga leeyahay Jowhar" Maxaa u maleeynee, ma dagaal kale baa dhacaya oo nimanka qabqablayaasha ma isku dagaali doonaan? Adeer: " Yaa raba dagaal sokeeye? bal ii sheeg? Soomaali dagaal uma baahna oo xiligan dad iyaga iskaaga dhow ma jirto marka qolyahan dagaal baan qaadeeynaa leh waa ka booto, kuwa raba amxaarka ineey soo hogaamiyaan rabana waa ka hanjabaad. Cid maanta rabta dagaal ma leh, Shacabka uun baa la maaweelin. Nimankan wax kale ma baran oon ka aheeyn ineey kolba dhinac isku raacaan oo is qabqabsadaan. Soomaali ineey ka tashato baa haboonaan laheeyd, sidaas beeyna ku socotaa! " Ka waran hadii iyaga oo dhan meel la iskuugu keeno oo bam lagu qarxiyo? Adeer:" waa wanaagsanaan laheeyd...kuwan ilaah uun ba naga qaban karo. " ........ other mudane stuff... He then told me about the delegation of Somali parliamentarians in the city led by the speaker.

sorry

and here is the speech by the foreign minister... so bad ....so butchered and so irrelevant to the summit...this is so embarrassing! so speedy ....so unintelligible...it would have been even worse if Yeey delivered it. http://webcast.un.org/ramgen/ga/summit2005/worldsummit050916pm.rm?start=%2203:38:40%22&end=%2203:49:59%22

SATURDAY September 17, 2005 MR YUSUF MISSED TO ADDRESS THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY: BAD PROTOCOL 16 September, 2005 Today the 60th UN General Assembly as well as the 5th anniversary of the UN Millennium Development Goal (MDG) meeting was concluded. Where thousands of world leaders gathered at the UN headquarters in New York to address the most complex issues facing our planet: Poverty and hunger eradication: to free mankind from hunger and diseases. Sustainable management of the environment and its resources. Halting the spread of AID/HIV. Gender Equality. The creation of Human Rights Council that will replace the existing HR Commission. The reform of the Peace and Security of the UN and the creation of a Peace-Building Commission. Etc. Tonight, the President appointed, Mr. Yusuf was scheduled to address the GA and he missed the opportunity to speak as a LEADER. http://www.un.org/webcast/summit2005/statements.html# Instead the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Ismail replaced him on the last minute. This is bad news for the TFG – bad protocol. In general, the speaker who addresses the GA on behalf of his people is the highest officer of the country who is present at the GA platform. There was no excuse for the absence of the President at the speakers’ podium. Mr. Ismail speech was garbled and he did not tackle the issues and the purpose for which the 60th UN General Assembly was convened. He spoke of the TFG’s national/internal problems and the dispute between its Institutions, which was irrelevant. The speech was so narrowed and it was “politically incorrect†to speak of internal problems between Jowhar and Mogadiscio to a worldwide audience. Mr. Ismail confirmed that the TFG of Somalia is a PROVINCIALLY RUN GOVERNMENT. “.As we speak now the new State Institutions are operating from within Somalia, from Jowhar temporarily, the provincial capital of the lower Shebelle region, situated only 90 kilometers from Mogadishu, the capital city of Somalia….†Here is the text of his speech and by tomorrow you can view the video. http://www.un.org/webcast/summit2005/statements16/som050916eng.pdf It seems that the TFG Executive Branch and its cabinet are out of touch of the world and out of touch of their own people. It is evident that the Somali people are living in a world full of structural violence, poverty, drought and famine, inner confinement, destruction, and helplessness and on top of that we are still divided and we are distancing ourselves from the world. Somalis needs good leaders who can bring them out of poverty and perpetual violence. We need a government that provides: safe drinking water, delivers public goods and services, protects the most vulnerable groups of the society and promotes reconciliation between communities and clans. WE NEED A GOVERNMENT THAT APPEALS TO THE WORLD TO ERADICATE POVERTY, POLIO, INJUSTICE AND DISEASES THAT ARE AFFECTING OF OUR PEOPLE. Somalis need to build a society that seeks remedy to the injustice done to thousands of unarmed civilians, a society that does not tolerate impunity and a society that does not honor men like warlord Abdullahi Yusuf. How can this warlord who start killing, looting and murdering people 60 years ago in the Mudug region be given an opportunity to speak to civilized people around the world Amina Abdi Mohamud DonnaSomala@yahoo.com

I would have done and gone to Eritrean Forums but I know nothing about Eritrea, the land of my great-great grandfathers. I am more Somali than you all. My loyalty is to Somalia and Somalia alone. I prescribe to no clan and fortunately all of my grandmothers are from different Somali clans. This makes me the most unflustered Somali national. I prescribe to no clan nonesense and but I despise certain clans because of their clannish attitude. I have neighbors from Puntland and Mogadishu. Guess what? The “Reer Baadiye from Qardho and God knows where that is†ones are on our face all the time bragging, disseminating fictitious lies, and obsessively talking about clan all the time and engaging in a reproachful ruffian’s commotion on other neighbors in our own living room. As a matter of fact, I can hear Eedo Caasho's earsplitting chatter. We call her Auntie "Tahniyo iyo Dhambaal" Xishood ma leh, ma taqaan dhaaf faanka, dadkaan ma u baxeyso waxaa sheegeeyso, daris-nimo eey kuugu xishmeeynaayaan maahinee, mar horeey kaa taqalusi lahaayeen. And worst of all, we are fed up with her Taxi-driver son, the biggest show-off charlatan on earth, whose first greetings is " Maxaa la sheegay maanta" and who boasts of becoming an Ambassador or a minsiter in Yeey's kingdom.... Hence, a question that one has to ask is why people from certain regions all are deemed to be so monolithic and all gripped by the same clannish hogwash.Other Somalis seem more conditioned to have broadminded different views and their life doesn’t revolve around tribalism all the time. why is it only people from " Gobol" are all obsessed with clan nonesense?

From New York to Minnesota, Somali leaders rally support Greg Gordon, Star Tribune Washington Bureau Correspondent September 15, 2005 SOMA0915 WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Somalia's new president mingled with U.N. figures in New York on Wednesday, while his country's new parliament speaker huddled with State Department officials in Washington. But President Abdullahi Yusuf and Speaker Sharif Hassan didn't talk with each other, and haven't for weeks. They head groups locked in a power struggle that Somali experts fear will derail the strife-torn, East African nation's most auspicious attempt at forming a government in the past 14 years and possibly set off a new civil war. "Another outbreak of violence would be disastrous," said Ali Galaydh, a University of Minnesota public policy professor who was picked to be prime minister in an earlier, failed attempt to create a Somali government. "I think it's fair to say the situation is delicate," said Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., who joined Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., in meeting late Tuesday with Hassan and several other parliament members. Hoping to return The outcome carries high stakes for thousands of Somalis in the Twin Cities, home to the nation's largest population of refugees from the African nation. Many of them are hoping that their country will at last be stabilized so they can return home. Omar Jamal, director of the Minneapolis-based Somali Justice Advocacy Center, said he traveled to New York along with about 400 Twin Cities Somalis to seek Yusuf's support Wednesday. Jamal said Yusuf met briefly with the Minnesota Somalis and plans a more extensive meeting with them tonight in New York. Meantime, five parliament members siding with Hassan plan to fly to Minnesota today to seek support from the Somali community, Gov. Tim Pawlenty and state legislative leaders. A deputy prime minister, Mohamud Jama, plans to join them Friday. The potentially incendiary impasse developed when it came time to set into motion the transitional government created during two years of exhaustive talks in Kenya -- negotiations that involved everyone from statesmen to warlords. After hundreds of officials were elected and appointed, Hassan and the 275 members of parliament traveled to Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, and began setting up offices. But Yusuf, a former military commander who led a failed coup attempt in 1978 against then-Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre, felt that Mogadishu wasn't yet safe enough to be the seat of government. The city for years has been a haven for armed militias and, in recent months, the scene of bombings and the murder of a peace activist. Tensions rose several months ago when Yusuf instead set up operations in the outlying city of Jowhar. The situation turned volatile when reports circulated that he had accepted military assistance from neighboring Ethiopia, which has fought a series of border wars with Somalia. Use of Ethiopian troops in an attempt to control Mogadishu "would inflame the situation, not only in Somalia, but also would have regional implications," said Galaydh, a Hassan backer. "Mogadishu is a city of about 1.5 million to 2 million people. Everybody is armed. This is going to be house-to-house fighting ... really bloody." Watching closely The Bush administration weighed in this summer, urging Somalia's neighbors to stay out of any conflict. And the U.N. Security Council issued a statement in July warning that any party persisting "on the path of confrontation and conflict, including military action, would be held accountable." U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has assigned a special representative to try to mediate the dispute. Jamal said Yusuf met Wednesday evening with new U.N. General Assembly President Jan Eliasson of Sweden. Jama, the deputy prime minister and a former University of Wisconsin student, said Hassan's group has spent months improving the climate in Mogadishu by persuading about 2,500 young men from rival militias to move into camps miles from the city, where they are being trained by police officers. He blamed the distrust between Yusuf and parliament figures partly on the "series of competitions" in deciding on a government, each of which "left a legacy of conflict." Coleman said he is urging the State Department to do what it can to keep both sides talking. If Somalia can't be stabilized, he said, "then you run the risk of it being a haven for terrorism. That's the real concern." Greg Gordon is at ggordon@startribune.com. Somalia: A recent history review Somalia gained independence from Britain in 1960, and Mohamed Siad Barre became president in 1969. Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991, sending the country into 14 years of civil strife. Many attempts were made during those years to form a national government, but all failed because of clan warfare. Various regions are dominated by warlords and militias. In June 2003, the Somali National Reconciliation Conference started meeting in Kenya. In 2004, an agreement was reached by warlords and politicians to create a transitional parliament. Abdullahi Yusuf was elected president. This was seen as the best chance for the formation of a lasting centralized government, but it is now in danger of falling apart. The parliament is based in the capital of Mogadishu, but the president has set up in the small city of Jowhar and says he does not feel safe going to Mogadishu. The United Nations is working with various factions trying to save the government.