J.B get of it you didnt say squat diddly and if you did so what simple logic would have made the question obvious it is there day, and you wish to rain on the parade. Stop calling them buglanders e.t.c than maybe your mea culpa would be acceptable. Brother you might be many things including a bit touched in the head but hypocrisy does not suit you leave that to those who have perfected the art.

But really whats the big deal it was a parliamentary vote won by a skilled political operator with the finances to hobble any other candidate. Some had already given up on the likes of Nuradiin because of the same reason. Would even Obama have won if it was the seeking of blessings from such a conclave? Let us be fair for the moment and stop with the hysterical jumping jacks, direct elections after all are not perfect and can easily be much more dangerous, rewind to the recount in somaliland and the scoffing at the 80 vote win, if not for the individual actions and leadership of one Silaanyo would not somaliland have been burning? Indeed in the long run you never know who might have trully won, I mean somaliland is ever in elections pouring resources down the drain and generating vitiriol and more internal enemies every couple of years to what purpose beyond strengthening the argument that democracy some how equals independence! In the end maybe some auctioning of votes and a laan dhere president is just what is needed.

Nuune damn you

Akhaas burco Berbera Hargeisa versus Bossaso Garowe Gaalkacayo Who cares.

Wasn't faroole the worst candidate? Corrupt Perverse And actually declared Puntland entity to be "dead" after his sacking. And actually lead a militia against the parliament that was making a vote of no confidence in him and his budget? Ah but he was the best candidate.

The reason why so many of us gave the caravan the benefit of the doubt was because of the higher ideals it aspired to. So many of us so the pitfalls and dead ends with crystal clear clarity but we chose to support the change in tactics simply because we felt that war with no end would a free and barren Somalia. Some of us might have been wrong but we had the right intentions how ever short sighted. The laundry list as yuo enumerated can be summed up with one line "what do the ethiopians want" in the end the negatives of reality outweighed the positives of unalloyed hope and the actions of outnumbered and outmaneuvered good hearted individuals. Indeed there was a ceasefire called because of Xiins character that is genuinely conciliatory and diffrent to the run of the mill triumphalism that so many hold be it for qaabil bantustans or individual relatives related to some on SOL. As such how ever much Baashi' and Xiins position might be mad then as Taban lo liyong might say I too wish to catch syphilis so we may all be mad. For this is a better madness than what has occured in somalia for the past few years. So lay off the guy it is our own collective failure as a nation that we must bemoan rather than the ululations being delivered. Personally I think that all the problems in somalia would end if A&T as well as Ngonge were beaten with sticks made of gelatin. They are the causes of cancer and pre mature birth o people of SOL beware

He emanates the elixir of peace

Sheikh Shariif is truly a cow

Recycling recycling that is all somali politics is about. :confused:

Not every one uses the logic of your group, some of us where against the principle of the TFG when it surfaced in mbagathi that the parliament would be warlord appointed. We will not support or disavow the TFG on the basis of the qabiil of the man at the helm, but rather on the basis and merits of his policies. period. On that where is the daylight between nur and yusufs position visavis the ethiopians in somalia? For me the fruit is poisoned. Wether it is yey or nur.

^^maad aragte i was most amused by ga'ma dheere's appointment as a political earthquake or tsunami or some such portentios event. Any way was the parliament ever an illustration of parliamentary democracy? Since the last session of the first republics parliament every vote in a legistlative setting in somalia has been by acclamation or a show of hands, a tradition brought to new lows by the TFG. Besides they can vote and acclaim as much they want it is over for them.

The shame is not with the kenyans or other intreasted parties, they have played their game and are consequently treating their stooges with all the lack of respect that they deserve. Instead the shame is with us for producing such an individual, but let us be honest there are so many venal characters out there that are willing to do what yeey did for a pittiance, that is why I have always found it hard to share the almost hysterical hatered that some have for yeey. Frankly I know that it is the mentality of qabilism that kills and poisons every somali endevour towards peace, if so yeey is just an individual manifestation maybe the purest and most lacking in shame manifestation, but a manifestation all the same. POst yeey politics will be the same as pre yeey politics namely a struggle between those who are trying to genuinely unite and uplift the lives of somalis and those that think kow towing to the wants and needs of members of the international community will lead to their own personal dictatorship. What will the next peace confrence hold? if it is another warlord fest like mbagathi expect another yusuf, repeating history as a farce the next time.

^^^ do not worry it seems I taught J.B who peter pham is and now we have to stand the noise of the new rattle. Besides that article is very dated if it did not affect anything in 2005-2006 what changes now??

A U.N trusteeship ...... think about it.

For the Somali supporters especially, it is also a form of peaceful protest against the true resistance without wanting to give proper support to the anti-resistance, or what we call the amalgamation of Ethiopia/TFG/clan forces. Hornow you hit the nail right on the head, I think this is the case particuarly in Baashis mind. Sometimes some one else articulates so well the apprehensions of another. Kudos. The elephant in the room as castro would say is and always has been the ethiopians. Even in providing a face saver to the ethiopians the caravan has failed. Consequently who else but the al-shabaab.

by J. Peter Pham Wednesday, December 17, 2008 The situation in the Horn of Africa is rapidly reaching crisis proportions and specifically United States policy towards the one time Somali Democratic Republic needs to be reformulated on the basis of something other than the series of unrealistic assumptions on which it has hitherto been predicated. Recent events have underscored the deteriorating security conditions faced by the international community as a whole as well as by the Somali and their neighbours, it is time to concentrate on Somaliland, the one part of that geopolitically sensitive space where there is still a peace to be preserved. As a headline of Jeffrey Gettleman’s news analysis in last Sunday’s New York Times proclaimed: “The situation in Somalia seems, improbably, about to get worse.” While there are reports that the Ethiopian National Defence Force, one of Africa’s largest and most seasoned conventional armies, were establishing new bases in central Somalia, those positions near the border town of Balanbal appear more to represent a strengthening of Addis Ababa’s ability to intervene as needed in the future than a reneging of the commitment to substantially pull out by the end of the year. The Ethiopians, with good reason, expect trouble from the steady advance of Islamist insurgents spearheaded by al-Shabaab (“the youth”), a radical group which was formally designated a “Foreign Terrorist Organisation” earlier this year by the US State Department which argued that it is “a violent and brutal extremist group with a number of individuals affiliated with al-Qaeda.” Three weeks ago, the US Treasury Department slapped travel and financial sanctions on three leaders of the group. But even as it is progressively being encircled, the TFG, which barely controls a few city blocks in Mogadishu – and that only because the Ethiopians have not withdrawn entirely – is continuing to tear itself apart in literal squabbles over scraps. Tensions remain high between TFG “President” Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed and “Prime Minister” Nur “Adde” Hassan Hussein. Thus the collapse of the TFG is not that far off; then the real problems begin. While al-Shabaab forces have been united in their desire to drive out the Ethiopians and the TFG, the group itself is internally divided into half a dozen or so factions that, despite the rhetoric of transcending regional or clan affinities, are divided along those very lines. The faction led by Mukhtar Robow is probably the largest, with several thousand fighters, but its composition is almost exclusively Habr Gidr clansmen from the ******. If in their last coming the Islamists were an annoyance to the lives of ordinary Somalis with the bans against watching World Cup football and chewing of khat, this time they have rendered themselves downright odious through their narrow-minded intolerance. Against this bleary landscape, the one relatively bright spot has been the Republic of Somaliland. As I have told many Somaliland officials, one of the two most important claims that make on the attention of the international community is their country’s democratic constitutional politics. Thus the significance of the upcoming poll for Somaliland’s future cannot be underestimated: take away the popular participation in and legitimacy of its institutions of governance, and the case for an independent Somaliland becomes that much less compelling. The other important claim which Somaliland puts forward is its role as a bulwark for the international community’s security interest in preventing the spread of the chaos emanating from the rest of the former Somalia. The creation, equipping, training, and deployment of a modernised Somaliland coast guard constitute a key component of any viable strategy for maritime security in the Gulf of Aden and adjacent waters. Furthermore, Somaliland is critical to humanitarian efforts throughout the region. However, because the international community does not recognise Somaliland’s claim to independent statehood, the Office of the UN Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has no mechanism in place to register these displaced Somalis while, for its part, Somaliland receives none of the bilateral assistance for relief and development which would ordinarily be forthcoming to a country which was trying to cope with a similar influx of refugees. The incoming Obama administration would be better advised to deploy its resources in a rough triage that privileges saving what can be saved, rather than vain attempts to preserve that which is already lost. To this end, a way must be found to engage Somaliland, supplying its under-resourced government and civil society with relief and development aid and security assistance needed to survive the wave of extremism and violence which will come to the region’s frontiers. Pham is director at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Statesmen ought to have a special prize just for themselves, like fools have the Darwin Awards. The Darwin Awards commemorate very ****** people who did a service to human evolution by accidentally removing themselves from the gene pool. The statesman’s equivalent could be called something like the Cheney-Zenawi Award. Ethiopian PM Meles Zenawi and US Vic-President Dick Cheney I mention this because the shining ********* of the US Vice-President and the Ethiopian Prime Minister are on special display this week, as the Ethiopian army prepares to withdraw from Somalia two years after its foredoomed invasion, leaving the country in the hands of precisely the people whom they wanted to eliminate. We need negative role models too, and you couldn’t ask for worse than this pair. I can’t actually prove that getting Ethiopia to invade Somalia was Dick Cheney’s brainchild, but it smells exactly like a Dick Cheney idea: crude, violent, and barking up entirely the wrong tree. Just like invading Iraq, in fact. As for Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, he had already distinguished himself by becoming obsessed with the stupidest border war in modern African history. It wasn’t his fault to start with: Ethiopia was attacked out of the blue in 1998 by the insanely aggressive regime in Eritrea, but Ethiopian troops drove the Eritreans back. By the ceasefire in mid-2000, Ethiopia had recovered all the ground it lost at the start. An international commission found Eritrea guilty of aggression, and another one arbitrated all the disputed stretches of border, granting Ethiopia most of its claims. Both sides said they would accept the rulings—and then Zenawi walked away from the deal. He has been getting ready for another war with Eritrea ever since. Going to war with Eritrea again would mean defying the United Nations ruling, so Zenawi needed the backing of some great power that could protect him from the UN’s censure. Who better than the United States, which has assiduously ignored and belittled the UN under the Bush administration? Now what could Ethiopia do for the Bush administration in return? Well, it could invade Somalia. Washington didn’t want to put American troops into Somalia again, having had its nose bloodied in 1993, but it did want to overthrow the civilian regime that was restoring peace in southern Somalia and put its favourite warlord in power instead. Ethiopian troops would do the job just as well. I think I can see the self-satisfied smirk on Cheney’s face as he closed the deal: another triumph for the subtle master of geopolitics. I can’t make out the look on Zenawi’s face, but maybe he was smiling too. Too clever by half, as the saying goes. The job was to overthrow the Union of Islamic Courts, a mass movement funded by local merchants in Mogadishu who wanted to end the constant robberies and kidnaps that made life impossible in the Somali capital. The UIC mobilised the desire of ordinary Somalis for an end to the violence that had ravaged the country for fifteen years, and the peace they brought to Mogadishu soon spread over most of southern Somalia. Unfortunately the courts were “Islamic” and they wanted to enforce sharia law, which in Washington’s book made them practically terrorists. They did have a few unsavoury allies, notably an extremist militia called al-Shebab, but they gave people in Mogadishu their first real hope of security and justice. They should not have been destroyed. The Ethiopian army invaded Somalia in December 2006, drove the Islamic Courts out of Mogadishu, and installed Abdullahi Yusuf, the president of the “Transitional Federal Government” (TFG) of Somalia, in power. Well, not exactly in power, since the citizens and militias of Mogadishu immediately began attacking the hated Ethiopians, who only controlled whatever was in their gunsights. As for Abdullahi Yusuf, he only controlled a suite of rooms and some telephones. He was originally chosen as president of the TFG, with ample US support, at a conclave of Somali warlords dignified with the name of “parliament” in Kenya in 2004. He would never have made it back to Mogadishu without the help of the Ethiopian army, and accepting that help made him deeply suspect in the eyes of most Somalis. The resistance has driven the Ethiopian army out of most of southern Somalia in the past two years, and now the Ethiopians are going home. Abdullahi Yusuf will have to leave too, since he has no supporters except the Ethiopians and the Americans. Which will leave Mogadishu in the hands not of the Union of Islamic Courts, alas, but rather of the extremist militias that have pushed the UIC aside during their struggle against the foreign troops. It’s almost as perverse as the Bush administration’s decision to eliminate Iran’s two great enemies in the Gulf, Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and the Taliban in Afghanistan. Ethiopia and the United States have not only plunged Somalia needlessly back into war. They have made it possible for the nastiest, craziest extremists, people who think it is their duty to kill other Muslims with “un-Islamic” haircuts, to take power in Mogadishu. The world needs a Cheney-Zenawi Award for Gross Political *********, and I know who the first nominees should be. Gwynne Dyer’s new book, Climate Wars, has just been published in Canada by Random House

By Stephanie McCrummen Washington Post Foreign Service Thursday, December 18, 2008; Page A20 NAIROBI, Dec. 17 -- Somalia's parliament voted Wednesday to begin impeachment proceedings against President Abdullahi Yusuf, another sign that his U.S.-backed government is unraveling. "This is the end of the government. This is it," said Mohamed Amin, a member of an opposition coalition that has a majority in parliament. Yusuf's government began disintegrating almost from the start two years ago, when it was installed with the might of the Ethiopian army and help from the United States. At the time, the United States and Ethiopia viewed Yusuf -- a warlord known as a tough and wily survivor -- as a viable alternative to an Islamist movement that had taken over the capital of Mogadishu and that they accused of having links to al-Qaeda. The transitional government and its elaborate system of clan representation was to be Somalia's first functioning central government since 1991, when warlords overthrew a dictator and then turned on one another. But Yusuf quickly proved to be a brutal leader devoted to the interests of his own clan, and his forces have killed and kidnapped political opponents, among the human rights abuses that other parties to the conflict also carried out. Yusuf and his Ethiopian backers have faced a relentless insurgency made up of clan militias and, increasingly, a radical Islamist faction known as al-Shabab. The group, which the United States has designated a terrorist organization, has in recent months advanced on cities and towns across a swath of southern Somalia and much of Mogadishu. Yusuf's forces control just a few blocks in the capital. Now the president is losing what tenuous political support he had. The Ethiopians announced last month that they would withdraw from Somalia at the end of the year. U.S. and U.N. officials appear to be shifting their support to his main rival, Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein, who helped broker a peace deal that in theory gives substantial power to an opposition coalition. Yusuf fired Hussein this week, but the parliament rejected the move and voted to extend his term. On Wednesday, lawmakers accused Yusuf of blocking the reconciliation process and voted to begin the process for his removal. "He is committing suicide in terms of his political calculation," said Ali Said, director of the Center for Peace and Democracy, a Somali group operating in exile in Nairobi that promotes democratic government and human rights. "He will become isolated." One U.S. official put it more bluntly. "Yusuf is finished," the official said on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned this week that Somalia could descend into "chaos" when the Ethiopian troops leave the country, and efforts to rally a U.N. peacekeeping force to replace them have been unsuccessful. The looming question is what happens next in Somalia, where more than 1 million people displaced by two years of fighting are now facing drought, hyperinflation and a dearth of humanitarian assistance. Across the border in Kenya, the Dadaab refugee camp is bulging with tens of thousands of Somalis as busloads of newcomers arrive almost every day. On Wednesday, Somali lawmakers signed what is known as the Djibouti agreement, which substantially increases representation in parliament of moderate Islamists who were pushed out of Mogadishu by the Ethiopians, as well as members of the vast diaspora, intellectuals, clan elders and others. The leader of the opposition coalition, Sharif Ahmed, recently returned to Mogadishu after nearly two years in exile and is trying to persuade clan elders and their militias to stop fighting and back him. "He is there selling the Djibouti agreement," Said said, adding that support for the Shabab would plummet after the Ethiopians withdraw. Others see the situation as far more bleak. "The military situation on the ground is completely different from the political picture," the U.S. official said. "It's just a matter of time before the Shabab move into Mogadishu." If that happens, the next phase of Somalia's perpetual conflict would probably be a bloody power struggle between various clan militias and the Shabab. The rise of a radical Islamist group in Somalia would amount to the very scenario that Bush administration officials had sought to avoid by backing Yusuf. The Shabab has thrived under the banner of fighting the Ethiopians, whom it views as proxies for the United States. But other than the exit of the Ethiopians and an end to U.S. involvement in Somalia, its goals are unclear. In some areas it controls, the Shabab is demanding strict adherence to its brand of Islamic law. Two months ago, for example, Shabab militiamen stoned to death a 14-year-old girl who had been raped after accusing her of being promiscuous. Special correspondent Mohamed Ibrahim contributed to this report.

loool raga afka ka xumbayn jiray ee odhan jiray aduunka oo dhan ayaa nala jira maanta waxaa kasoo hadhay in ay yidhaahdaan aduunka waxba nagama galin. How pathetic! Hehehe. Now after four years of not attempting to build any sort of coalition with the people they govern, after four years of substituting the goodwill of their citizens with the mild dis-intreast of the west, now after four years of panegyrics on the super duper abilities of Abdulahi yusuf that even the guulwaadeyaals of Siads era would have blushed at uttering, after four years now that the west have found a better stooge and the Ethiopians a better face saver, now that the rug has been pulled out from under them. It is only understandable that they should be suffering withdrawal symptoms. What I personally find most amusing is the attempts to cloak the actions of their imbecile in chief with the aura of somalinimo i.e how yusuf is standing up to meles and Co. how mesfin is being outmaneuvered e.t.c e.t.c Abdullahi supporters have been relevant only in their ability to stand against every patriotic and/or peace loving somalis aspirations and in their sheer ability for destructive intercourse and dialouge always distinguished ofcourse by the mendacity of supporting intoto the illogical whimsies and prejudices of this sick man. But again we must understand because even in this there is so much less to say. Expect a general tilt on more postings about federalism poorly understood, puntland elections and in general more eagerness to just plain be bombastic on all things puntland. For bombast and buffoonery must be channeled some where and some of us must keep on posting

Kenya to impose sanctions on Somali president Posted 25m ago | Comment | Recommend E-mail | Save | Print | Subscribe to stories like this NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya's foreign affairs minister says his country is imposing sanctions on the Somali president and his family. Moses Wetangula says Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf is an obstacle to peace in Somalia. The sanctions will include a travel ban and freezing any of his assets in Kenya. Tuesday's announcement is a strong public rebuke and it comes as Somalia's government is in turmoil. Yusuf fired the prime minister this week, but parliament soundly rejected the decision. It's not clear what will become of Somalia's U.N.-backed administration — particularly as it wields virtually no authority(WHICH IS THE POINT FOR ALL YOU BUDDING CONSTITUTIONAL LAWYERS ) in the face of powerful Islamic insurgents who have taken over most of the country. Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

UPDATE: Somali Parliament Backs PM Over His Dismissal By President (Adds quote, details.) BAIDOA, Somalia (AFP)--Somalia's parliament Monday overwhelming backed the government of Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein, a day after the war-wracked country's president announced his dismissal. "143 lawmakers recognized the existence of the government, 20 rejected it and seven abstained," Speaker Aden Mohamed Nur said after counting the votes during a special parliament session in the town of Baidoa. "Therefore the government of Nur Adde (Hassan Hussein) is legitimate," he said. On Sunday, President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed announced he was sacking the prime minister and the entire cabinet because they had failed to bring security to the nation, but the premier challenged the move as unconstitutional. According to the transitional federal charter, the president needs parliament's approval to sack the prime minister. Speaking to parliament before the vote, Hussein said: "It was difficult to work with the president, who disapproved of the peace process. "The president was interfering with the activities of the prime minister and parliament," he said. "It's up to parliament to make a decision in order to save the transitional federal institutions and the rule of law." Yusuf had said Monday he would comply with parliament's decision and gave no hint he would resign. Hussein was sworn in November 2007 but has been at loggerheads with Yusuf in recent months, notably over efforts to strike a reconciliation agreement with the Islamist-dominated Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia, or ARS. "The president abused the power of his office and undermined the legitimacy of parliament...the president was attempting to sabotage peace efforts between transitional federal government and the ARS," the premier said. The U.N. mediator of the talks warned the latest row risked hindering reconciliation efforts and African Union Commission chairman Jean Ping also voiced concern. (END) Dow Jones Newswires 12-15-080850ET Copyright © 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

^^ lool "he is immortal and not even human"

^^ they would have access to the sea and a couple of somalis who want to get away from other somalis, since they are understandaly tired of waiting for godot let them get away by being annexed by the amhara.

Everything every where might lead to somali lands recognition aint that right?