Kenya says AU forces storm Somali rebel city of Kismayo The Somali government has had success with the recent surrender of al-Shabab militants Continue reading the main story Somalia - Failed State African Union (AU) forces have launched a beach assault and taken control of parts of Kismayo, the last major Islamist militant bastion in southern Somalia, Kenya's military says. The port city has been a stronghold of the al-Qaeda-aligned group al-Shabab. Al-Shabab spokesmen told news agencies that fierce fighting was now under way. The Kenyan troops are part of the AU's Amisom force, which is trying to wrest control of the country for the newly elected UN-backed president. Kenyan military spokesman Cyrus Oguna confirmed to the BBC that parts of Kismayo had been captured and the rest was expected to fall soon. Mr Oguna said the joint operation of Kenyan Defence Forces and Somali government troops had begun at 02:00 local time (23:00 GMT Thursday) and was "basically amphibious". Mr Oguna said: "We cannot give casualty figures at the moment, the damage has not been assessed, but I can tell you our forces are already in Kismayo." He told the BBC: "There are some parts that still will be under the control of al-Shabab because we only got there a couple of hours ago, and Kismayo is a big city." 'Lightning and thunder' Al-Shabab spokesmen said fierce clashes were taking place. Al-Shabab commander in Kismayo, Sheik Mohamed Abu-Fatuma, told Agence France-Presse news agency: "The enemy using military boats have deployed hundreds of soldiers in the coast late last night and the mujahedeen fighters are engaging heavy fighting now with them. God willing they will be defeated." Residents of Kismayo told Reuters news agency they could hear fighting outside the city. One resident, Ismail Suglow, told the agency: "Now we hear shelling from the ships and the [militants] are responding with anti-aircraft guns. "We saw seven ships early in the morning and now their firing looks like lightning and thunder. Al-Shabab have gone towards the beach. Many residents have taken their guns. The ships poured many AU troops on the beach," he said. There are also reports that helicopters are attacking the town. Earlier this week, Kenyan military jets had bombed the airport in Kismayo, destroying an armoury and warehouse used by Islamist militants. Some 10,000 people had fled Kismayo in the past week, the United Nations refugee agency estimated, as Amisom, government troops and pro-government militia advanced on the city. The BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse, in Nairobi, says that last week al-Shabab appeared to be making preparations for an exit, moving out fighters and equipment. He says Kismayo is a significant source of revenue for whoever controls it and its loss would be a serious blow to the Islamists. Kenya began its intervention in Somalia nearly a year ago after a spate of cross-border attacks blamed on al-Shabab. Al-Shabab has been forced out of the capital, Mogadishu, and several other towns over the past year but still controls much of the countryside in south and central Somalia. Since the overthrow of President Siad Barre in 1991, Somalia has seen clan-based warlords, Islamist militants and its neighbours all battling for control.

Today is the moment of the truth today is the day we will all know if our sources were correct:D

Kenya says Somali militant stronghold of Kismayo taken The Kenyan military says the last major Islamist militant bastion in southern Somalia has been captured. The port city of Kismayo has been a stronghold of the al-Qaeda aligned group al-Shabab. Kenya's military said it was taken by a combination of the Kenyan Defence Forces and Somali government troops. The Kenyan troops are part of an African Union force trying to wrest control of the country for the newly elected UN-backed president.

Kenyan forces 'capture' Somali rebel bastion Kenyan troops capture port city of Kismayo, last rebel stronghold of al-Shabab fighters, military spokesman says. Last Modified: 28 Sep 2012 05:59 Kenyan troops have captured Somalia's southern port city of Kismayo, the last rebel bastion of al-Shabab fighters, Kenya's military spokesman has said. "[Report that] Kismayo fell today to KDF [Kenyan Defence Forces] and TFG [somali government troops] forces is indeed very true," military spokesman Cyrus Oguna told Kenya's Citizen television. Oguna said that the troops had entered Kismayu early on Friday. Al Jazeera's Catherine Soi, reporting from Nairobi, said Kenyan forces faced "minimum resistance [but] have not yet taken the whole of Kismayo". There have not yet been any reports of casualties in the operation. Friday's move is part of a major offensive by Kenya against al-Shabab fighters.

Kenyan troops enter last Somali rebel bastion of Kismayu Fri Sep 28, 2012 5:02am GMT Print | Single Page [-] Text [+] NAIROBI, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Kenyan troops crossed into the southern Somali port city of Kismayu on Friday, the al Shabaab militant group's last major bastion in the Horn of Africa country, as part of a main offensive to drive out the rebels. "KDF (Kenyan defence forces) troops have landed in Kismayu and very soon Kismayu will be under the control of the KDF," military spokesman Cyrus Oguna said. "So far there has been minimal resistance," Oguna said, adding that the troops had entered Kismayu early on Friday.

Its just happening stay tuned for more development on this.

Somalia is very rich by design i agree it can sustain its self in the long term with the right economic policies poverty and lack of basic infrastructure is because of the war and bad political leadership.

This victim mentality needs to stop ASAP. How long baad ku haynaysaan wala na laayey this is embarrassing.

Wiil Cusub;874887 wrote: Don't forget she is women at age of grandmother and she drive politics like the way every granma talks to her disappointment of one of her grandchildren "Qayrkii ka hadhaad tahay aan waxba qabsanayn oo meesha jiifa" ama "naf ma lihid wax ma tare yahow" imisay kugu tidhi ayaydaa ama hooyadaa iyadoo is leh ha dadaalo. I am sure that she loves more than every body that Mogdisho goes well. Wiil cusub ayeeyda maxay ku canaanatay:D

Stoic you are correct i do not think she hates any one her choosing her words slightly wiser would've been a bit better. How ever i can understand she is not angry at the poor masses in Somalia. But rather frustrated with the international community those angry words were indirectly directed to the international community. Another point is Edna is from the older generation she lived under Colonial Somaliland she witnessed Somaliland gaining independence from Britain she and her husband carried out the union but she regrets the union not back than but now and she kinda feels guilty when explaining to the younger generation of Somaliland that it was her and her generation that buried the Somaliland statehood. So when ever she kicks against Somalia its not personal she just feels sick that she made a bad mistake a few decades ago and that mistake is still hunting her. I believe when Somaliland is recognized she will sing this song and dedicate it to Somalia and the people of Somalia.

I know but that's politics , she than speaking as a politician and it can sometimes come over as very coarse. Not as Edna the woman that takes care of the sick in her hospital or the edna who opens clinics and betters the health situation of Somali Woman.

Dont follow that that's just political talks that's not what she is all about.

Why do you say that Oba.

By Joanne Butcher, BA Politics, University of Sheffield Born in Hargeisa in 1937, Edna Adan Ismail is one of Somaliland’s most prominent public figures. From 1954 to 1961, she studied in Britain – the first Somali woman to do so – to become a nurse and midwife. After working as a civil servant, she held the position of Minister for Family Welfare and Social Development and most notably held the title of Somaliland’s Foreign Minister from 2003 until 2006. Throughout the 1980s, she served as advisor to a range of councils at the World Health Organisation before retiring in 1997 when she dedicated her life to her most recent project: the Edna Adan University Hospital. Alas the gravity and magnitude of Ismail’s career is lost in simply detailing her achievements. It’s important to remember that Edna Adan, as a young girl growing up in Somaliland, was not expected to go to school or acquire any qualifications. “Britain used to select boys from secondary schools to study in England and in 1952 or 53. The very first school for girls was opened in Somaliland and I was a pupil-teacher at the time,” she remembers. It was a year of waiting before she and another girl were finally sent off to study nursing. “We were the only two [somali] girls in London at the time. It was very challenging; it was a great opportunity to study something that I certainly felt very passionate about. I loved learning, I loved studying and to be given this opportunity was a great gift, and I loved every minute of it.” However, on returning to her homeland, she found her dreams of making a Florence Nightingale debut were squashed by the newly independent Somaliland government. “I was the only woman, the only qualified female nurse running all the female section of the hospital,” she explains. “So that was challenging, and of course there were very few doctors and many of the emergencies and the medical care that was needed was beyond the training of a nurse. Very often I just had to substitute for what a doctor would have done, because there would be no doctors. So, very often you just had to do what you had to do.” It took the government nearly two years to finally concede defeat. “I refused to quit,” she declares. “I just worked for 22 months without a salary. I just stuck to my guns and eventually, they had to give in. I was appointed to the civil service. So, to me, that was a victory because that opened the door to women to be appointed to the senior civil service.” While working for both the World Health Organisation and the United Nations, Edna Adan had made several attempts to set up a hospital of her own. However, efforts were often thwarted by the political climate. The civil war with Somalia had left Somaliland completely ravaged. Medical professionals had either fled the country during the conflict or been killed by enemy forces. Hospitals had been destroyed in the fighting, leaving the country with one of the highest maternal and infancy mortality rates in the world. “I just recycled my whole life,” she explains. “I just turned everything I could dispose of into cold cash and started to build a hospital.” Edna Adan’s credentials as a nurse, a midwife and a health advisor, made her one of the most qualified people to set up a medical centre. But, according to Ismail herself, it was the memories of her father that truly stirred her to establish the Edna Adan University Hospital. “My father was someone who was known as the father of healthcare in Somaliland,” she recalls. “As a teenager I would be home for the holidays, from school in Djibouti, and I would be hanging around the hospital, giving him a hand. And I would often hear him complaining about a piece of equipment, and I just made a kind of mental, subconscious promise that one day I would build the kind of hospital my father would have liked to work in.” The Edna Adan University Hospital started life as a maternity hospital. After four years building on what used to be a garbage dump, the hospital was opened in 2002. For over a decade, the hospital has taken in literally thousands of patients and, to this day, continues to expand. Despite her position as both the founder and director of this monumental institution, Ismail remains humble about her contribution. “I’m doing less and less legwork,” she notes. But Ismail is kept busy by the cascade of political issues that still flood the hospital. Gender politics still lie at the heart of what she does in Somaliland. The hospital, along with educating women to become nurses and midwifes, is using its influence to try and stop female genital mutilation - a tradition still practised in parts of Somaliland. “The more we do, the more we see that more needs to be done,” she admits. “What we’ve done now is a drop in the ocean.” However it’s not just within the walls of the hospital that women are treated unequally. Ismail remains as passionate about gender equality as she was as a little girl. It’s important to note that when she was young, only boys were educated in Somaliland. “At that time, education was considered undesirable for a girl,” she explains. “Friends and relatives would come and say ‘God has given you one daughter and you are teaching her to read and write? What good will come of it? She will disgrace you!’ I grew up with that and I was always trying to prove to them that education was good.” When she sat in Cabinet in the new millennia, she was the only female minister around the table. Even now there are only two women elected to Parliament and just one female in the Senate. “This is what I’ve had to fight all my life and we continue to fight because it needs to be fought. Somebody’s got to speak for these voiceless women. Somebody’s got to stand their grounds. If I had that opportunity to do that then I must do it. It’s a responsibility that I must accept.” There’s no doubt that progress has been made. Once upon a time women were not even allowed to drive cars, and Ismail agrees that the changes that have occurred have made her optimistic about the future for women in Somaliland. “I would like the change to be bigger and I would like more women to keep that pressure going,” she says. “The world needs both men and women. Because it’s not a question of men or women, it’s a question of both men and women doing a job together to make the world a better place for humankind. That’s all.” Throughout her life, education has been at the core of everything she’s accomplished. Her thirst for learning has fuelled her career and now she intends to impart her wisdom onto others in hopes that they will continue her mission. “My real gift that I wish to leave for my people is the gift of knowledge; for them to love knowledge – to encourage them to seek more knowledge." As always Ismail practices what she preaches and has dedicated her later life to encouraging young women to join the profession. She notes that it is still hard to persuade Somali families to let their daughters study but over time Ismail has persuaded masses of girls to take the opportunity to become a nurse or midwife. “These are exciting years,” she exclaims. “I am proud that the first lady of Somaliland today was one of those young students, young women who we talked into taking up nursing in those days. There’s still a mountain ahead for Edna Adan Ismail, but she’s still enthused by the belief that people need change and its these young women who are able to deliver it them. “I want to be a role model, to show them that anyone can do it and so can you,” she explains. Her love for what she does and her ability to convey such a wealth of knowledge onto others is what has made Edna Adan such an influential and compelling teacher. “I feel blessed at 74 that I can still do that. An old woman following her lifelong passion. And loving every minute of it.”

It depends how these clan governments are about to be constructed on regional level whether the government in Mogadishu has a say in the regional federal structure of the state or the region it self must come forward and establish a state. We yet have to see how it goes, and if the federal constitution rejected by the people what do you mean mudug border will be secured mudug is still divided.

Somalia what if in 4 years time no states have been established than what and the situation in the middle regions is still the same Where u have ASWJ allied to the government and Oday Qeybdiid controlling half of Mudug. What is the government than suppose to do. Do you think its the task of the government to create federal states for the regions, or is it the task of the subclans all over the country?

Somalia , you are not seriously comparing Germany with Somalia , Germany is a country of 81 million people a country which had a German empire for centuries. By the way Germany was not dealing with subclanish rivalries and divisions their provincial federal states are based on normal regional constituencies. Their division was eastern Berlin was under the rule of communist Russia while the western Germany at that time was capitalist Germany. Somalia is dealing with other problems Somalia needs a strong decentralized state which delivers basic services to its people instead of being busy building more Qabil states. But we shall see how it goes in 4 years time if there is more progress in building another Qabil state in another part of Somalia time will tell so far after 21 years we have one federal state.

I don't think its about ICU threats or Alshabaab if these people really wanted to organize themselves as a federal state they would've came together and talked about it not talking about districts sh sharif named referring to the stuff you posted. But a huge conference of state building i yet have to see that Galmudug and Ximan iyo xeeb are clan cousins why did they choose to have two separate clan states instead of one.This is a question we should ask our selves. Now federalism is a good thing on paper if Somalis understood the concept of federalism if Hiiraan gets divided into two regions. Than other regions in Somalia want to divide their regions so that they can have their own sub clan state instead of a bigger clan state that is more inclusive do you see where its heading Somalia.

Carafaat;874711 wrote: clans should do what they want. But The goverment of Somalia should focus on security snd not on phantom states. where is Azania. Carafaat that's the illusion of clan governance this is the 21 century one would think people would move on.

Somalia;874698 wrote: Xaaji why you keep saying that, the people of central regions are capable of forming a state, I think you are very insulting towards these good people, I am almost speechless! I am not insulting any one they are Somalis and good people in my book but i dont see it Somalia, federalism was introduced in 2004 and i never seen any one enthusiastic about forming blocks and states in those regions have you? Ximan iyo xeeb and galmudug are basically from the same sub clan yet they cant agree to form a state. Hiiraan its self was suggested by the hiiraan people to be divided into 2 regions i dont see where this is heading.

General Duke;874699 wrote: XX, the Juba communities as a whole have agreed to form a State that brings together Gedo, Lower & Middle Juba with Kismayu as the comercial capital and another City as the Political capital. The formula is simple that all the clans will settle their differences and create an all inclusive admin that will develop this very important regional State. You are just being hateful and want these communities to kill each other. They are all now together fighting Al Shabaab and many have learned from the failures of the past. Bay, Bakool and Lower Shabeele is a natural State dominated by the D&M sub clans and minority groups. This leaves South Mudug, Galgaduud, Hiiraan and Lowr Shabelle to form a State. Of course there needs to be talks but all states need to be self sufficient and sustainable. Than how come they have different stakeholders different political entities Jubaland and azania and different political leaders gandi vs ducaale raskambooni vs aswj we yet have to see how this unfolds when kismayo is captured we have to wait and see Duke ,Its to early for conclusions. The same with bay and bakool these communities have yet to come together and talk about a federal state i haven't seen them do that though have you?

The central regions consist of ASWJ galmudug and ximan iyo xeeb and Hiiraan i dont see them forming one state any time soon do you Duke? As for the Juba regions lets see who captures the city kismayo first the ASWJ and Ducaale supported by the Gedo clan or Kenya and the Azania troops supported also by Axmed Madoobe raskambooni militia. When there is a winner in the Juba regions we can talk about forming a state or not.

isbaaro business never gets old but that should not be a reason for the greatest Mayor of Mogadisho to be fired Tarzan is a man who loves Xamar i cant think of a better mayor.

^^^What does this have to with Clan A khadar na waxa la gaadhay xiligu Qabil meel walba ka dhex arki jiray:D