Joyce Mulama | Kenya, Nairobi 15 May 2004 09:54 A third and final round of peace talks for East Africa’s most beleaguered country, Somalia, is scheduled to begin on May 20 amid funding shortfalls and frustration at the antics of faction leaders. The talks, to be held in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, are taking place under the auspices of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad), a five-member regional organisation. Somalia is currently the only country in the world without a central government, having been ruled by faction leaders since January 1991 when dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled. To the anger of some negotiators, Igad has invited only 203 of the previous 366 official delegates to the final round of talks. “This undermines the role of the official delegates who were the bedrock of this conference from [its] inception,” a group of negotiators from the Somali Leaders Committee told journalists towards the end of April at a press conference in Nairobi. The committee does not claim to represent the views of all delegates. “The ownership of the process is not in our hands any more but in the hands of Igad, which is [involved] in the plot of sidetracking the formation of a broad-based government in Somalia,” the group added, threatening to convene a separate round of peace talks elsewhere -- perhaps even Somalia. (The committee members declined to answer an IPS query about how they would finance such a move -- or what Igad’s motives might be in allegedly undermining the creation of a “broad-based government” in Somalia.) The situation has even prompted a number of key delegates to return to Somalia ahead of time -- including Mohammed Omar Dheere, Mohammed Hirsi Morgan and Abdulahi Sheikh Ismail, all of whom are said to control parts of the country. However, Kenyan Foreign Affairs Minister Kalonzo Musyoka, who is also chairperson of the Igad ministerial facilitation committee, explained that the reduction in delegates was due to budgetary shortfalls. The extent of these shortfalls was highlighted at an Igad ministerial meeting that took place earlier this month (May 6 to 7) in Nairobi, where it emerged that the deficit was as high as 52% of the costs of the peace process. According to Igad’s special envoy to the talks, Bethuel Kiplagat, this amounted to a shortfall of $10-million. The talks have been funded by the Igad Partners Forum (IPF), which includes the United States, Sweden, Norway, the United Nations, the European Union and the Arab League. Money for the negotiations ran out at the beginning of this month -- although Igad media coordinator Guled Muhammed said in an interview that the EU and Sweden has since pledged “more money”. Observers warn that an underfunded peace process could be more destructive than helpful. “This is not usually a fruitful process. When conclusions are hurriedly reached and people are forced to sign a deal quickly on the basis of cutting down on costs without the necessary step-by-step consultations, the outcome is a fake agreement which will not have teeth to stop the war in Somalia,” said political analyst Khalif Hassan Ahmed. But, sources within the IPF have also blamed the funding crunch on bickering among Somali delegates, which has slowed negotiations. “The unending wrangling, especially among faction leaders, has left donors wondering whether they [the leaders] have a heart for peace or not. They have proved to be a pain in the neck of donors and as a result, donors are getting tired of pumping money in a process that is unable to bear fruit,” an IPF representative said in an interview. Awadh Ashara, a senior official of the Somali Restoration Rehabilitation Council (SRRC), maintains that most delegates are eager to conclude the talks and create a new Somalia. The SRRC comprises 17 leaders. “The ball now is in the leaders’ courts, and they have committed to speak in one voice, forget their differences and come back for the final phase,” he said, adding: “Most of the leaders have indicated they will be there on time.” If the May 20 talks go ahead as planned, delegates will elect 275 people to a new Parliament. These legislators will, in their turn, select a Cabinet and president. Although the size of Parliament was endorsed by negotiators at the beginning of the year, certain delegates have since demanded that more parliamentarians be chosen -- something Ahmed ascribes to personal ambitions. “Every leader wants his deputies and assistants to also form part of the Parliament. They believe by doing this they will have more clout and control of the areas they will represent.” The first phase of the Somali talks ended on October 27 2002 with the signing of a cessation of hostilities declaration. The second phase was concluded on January 29 this year when delegates endorsed a transitional national charter that serves as the country’s draft Constitution. Foreign affairs ministers who met at last week’s Igad meeting also expressed concern about what appears to be an ongoing influx of arms into Somalia. The officials -- from Kenya, Djibouti, Uganda, Ethiopia and Eritrea -- called on the UN to investigate this matter. “We are urging the UN Monitoring Group on the Arms Embargo in Somalia to investigate reports of the continued flow of arms into Somalia and report accordingly,” the ministers said in a joint communiqué issued at the end of the two-day meeting, which focused on the Somali peace process. The UN imposed an arms embargo on Somalia in 1992 on the grounds that instability in the country risked arms being exported to other states in the region -- and perhaps even further afield. The monitoring group was formed to check violations of this embargo. The Igad ministers further called for a final peace deal to be in place for Somalia within the next three months. “The process should come to a successful conclusion by the end of July 2004. We are deeply concerned that Somalia, an important member of the Igad family, has had no central government for over a decade,” they noted in the communiqué. -- IPS

By. Abdirashid Khalif Hashi Why is it that we Somalis seem indifferent to our nation's plight and senseless self-mutilation which made us the laughing stock of the whole world? Also, why have we failed to rise to the challenge and halt our nation's bleeding and political disintegration? Is our civil war unique and the only one which erupted in the whole world in the recent past? What makes our conflict unsolvable? The answer to these questions and many more could be summed up in one phrase: lack of leadership. The only reason that our nation's troubles seem intractable to us and mind-boggling to outsiders is simply that Somalis in general and our elite in particular failed quite miserably to rise to the moment and rescue the nation – when the nation needed us the most. Throughout world history, true leaders assumed illustrious roles during their nations' hour of need. As a consequence, some leaders become known as great revolutionaries who cleansed their countries of corrupted systems; others are referred to as vanguards who led armed revolts and liberation wars; while some leaders are viewed as visionaries who had the foresight to devise suitable ideologies and organizational mechanisms needed for their national struggles; whereas other leaders are revered as national heroes and nation builders who paid the ultimate price for the liberty and sovereignty of their people. All the leaders of the world – both the past and present – have one exceptional attribute in common: when true leaders identify a national predicament they tackle it with maximum force and stay focused till they successfully complete their undertaking. The skill and talent of transforming ideas, aspiration and vision into a full-fledged realities and the ability to execute visionary strategies with precision is what distinguishes leaders from ordinary folks. It seems apparent that Somalia is having a considerable difficulty in conceiving a semblance of leadership let alone giving birth to worthy national heroes. What we must do in the meantime – as citizens of this sterile motherland - is to consult with one another and see if we could come up with an interim national consensus -a sort of a way forward. Therefore to set the stage for a genuine dialogue and a national consensus building deliberation – for at least those who consider themselves as good Somalis - I would like to present in the following paragraphs four possible strategic policy options that we must evaluate. Each option is applicable to the ongoing (or stalled) Somali national reconciliation conference in Nairobi , Kenya or future national dialogues. Both the participants of the Nairobi conference and those monitoring their moves via the cyberspace need to consider which option they and other Somalis should take. • Option One: We need to consider if we would like to accept the fact that Somalia has literally been hostage for the warlords / faction leaders / political leaders / signatories or whatever you want to call them. These are the men who have the guns and control (or at least claim they have power over) different parts of Somalia . The reality on the ground and the fact that these mischievous men proved time and again that they will not settle for anything less than a total pre-eminence in Somali politics should convince the rest of us to accept their dominance and lordship over us and our country. We should make it clear to them, to ourselves and to the entire world that we voluntarily subordinate our rights to the unstoppable ambitions of our “leaders” and as such we should work with these leaders and hope the best. Simply put: shall we appease our “leaders” and declare a total capitulation. • Option Two If option one is a bitter pill to swallow and our ego is a bit too inflated to accept this appalling scenario, then we can opt to negotiate with the men who hold our country captive. To make the best out of this quagmire, what we could try is to find a compromise between the “leaders ”and the rest of us. Under this bargain - which in fact will be a lopsided one – we shall be ready to be junior partners in this unholy matrimony dominated and designed by the warlords / faction leaders / political forces or shall I say our LEADERS because they will instruct us to address them with that title when we join forces with them. • Option Three: Another option, which we can consider, is to accept that the warlords are destructive by nature and they cannot rebuild the Somalia that they themselves presided over its demise. As a consequence our duty and that of every sane Somali should be to end the illegal manipulation of our destiny by the thugs known as warlords. Such a world-view and appraisal of our current circumstance would require a new thinking or a paradigm shift, for an undertaking of this nature is nothing short of a declaration of war of liberation. And the fact of the matter is, the “leaders” whose defeat we might deliberate on would not wither away; they will rather strive to swiftly eliminate any challenger to their leadership and domination. Option four is a very dangerous proposition and it could cause its advocates both life and limb. Anti-warlord revolt will also require the formation of a national liberation front whose adversaries will include multi-headed home-grown monsters as well as external opponents who will declare from the get go that they will not allow a new mysterious phenomenon to sweep unchecked in their sphere of influence or backyard. • Option Four: The last option, which we must consider, is to accept that Somalia – the good old Somalia that is– is gone for good and is not coming back, therefore we must accept this sad reality and move on. Some might convincingly contend that the Somali nation – which we are pointlessly hunkering after – has long been dismembered and destroyed. To indulge in a lofty idea such as the notion of a Somali nation is more like an illusion than reality. The proponents of this brutal realism stress that we have already gave up NFD, we also have relinquished Djibouti , and we - in all practical purposes - surrendered the ****** region. They further point out that Ethiopia has a strong grip on Puntland, Somaliland as well as Bay, Bakool and Jawhar regions – and they contend it will take decades if not generations to reverse this grip. The realists who subscribe to this view further argue giving up the dreams of Somalia should be as painless as abandoning the defunct fantasy of Greater Somalia has been. The brutal and blunt message of the proponents of this notion is: accepting the defeat already written in bold letters on our foreheads would enable us to focus on our primary responsibilities – our families and they further suggest that we - like the gypsies - should only worry about putting bread on our tables. Without mincing words, I think we need to decide which of these paths we want to take. We sometimes waste our time when we waver with regards to where we want to go from here. The question everyone needs to ask is: what is the colour of his or her brochette. Each of these alternative points of reference has both prerequisites and consequences and the road ahead is filled with piercing bricks and penetrating thorns. I will be satisfied, if this opinion piece contributes towards terminating the futile and excessive arguments known as fadhi ku dirir or sitting warfare – and lead us towards action-oriented solutions and objective analyses to our national ailment.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY? *sobs* Not the UAE! Noooooooo! NOOOOOO! Loool very sarcastic, and anyway did they not already ban the passport :confused:

NEVER DO IT

^^^^thats just an excuse to get at the indian doctors. By the way the doctor are in somalia as part of an NGO or is it a commercial enteprise, also from which country are they?

Thank you for the piece puntman, there was also a good i half remeber from the somalinet online magazine while it was still up and running

South Africans cheered, blew trumpets and jumped for joy on Saturday following the announcement that they would be hosting the Football World Cup in 2010 with thousands lining the streets in celebration. Waving the multi-colored South African flags, clapping and singing, South Africans were immediately swept up in euphoria at events organised in downtown Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and in the black township of Soweto. In Soweto, Tebogo Sihlandu wore a South African football jersey and was wrapped in a South African flag as he watched the announcement from the FIFA football federation broadcast from Zurich on a big screen set up in a local stadium. "This is the best feeling in the world. I've been so nervous before but now I can relax -- the World Cup is in the bag," said Sihlandu, 26. "This is the best day of my life," said Phindile Nxumalo, 27, also from Soweto. "We can only thank Nelson Mandela for making this possible for us." Although frail at 85, Mandela traveled to Zurich to make the final pitch for South Africa to win the right to host the 2010 tournament, saying there would be no "better present" for the country as it celebrates ten years since the end of apartheid. In the township's streets, tens of thousands of people milled about, blaring car horns and blowing the "vuvuzela" -- a trumpet-like instrument which emits a similar sound to that of an elephant. Earlier, before the announcement, the township seemed quiet and at the Mofolo bowl, fans slowly trickled in. "It's because most people are at home. They are nervously watching the television," one fan, Lerato Matolong told AFP. But as the hour grew closer, more people, many dressed in red South African bid T-shirts and wrapped in South African flags gathered. Onlookers cheered as Mandela and FIFA President Sepp Blatter arrived at the World Trade Centre in Zurich where the announcement was being made and a kwaito band - a township music style which combined "house music" and hip-hop with traditional African rhythms -- burst into song. "iWorld Cup iza eSouth Africa (Zulu for 'The World Cup is coming to South Africa')," the group sang. "Madiba siyakuthanda (We love Madiba)," they said, using Mandela's clan name. In Johannesburg, drivers honked their horns, sidewalk vendors showed the V-for-victory sign with their fingers, and traffic was momentarily jammed after the announcement. "We did it," proclaimed the headline on a special afternoon edition of the Johannesburg-based Saturday Star newspaper. In Cape Town, champagne corks popped, as South Africans of all colours hugged each other amid light and sound shows. The World Cup 2010 will be the biggest international event ever organised in South Africa and a multi-billion dollar injection into its economy. Coming after the disappointment of losing out to Germany by a single vote in the controversial race for the 2006 finals, the victory of the 2010 bid was sweet. This time around, South Africa faced fierce competition from Morocco, which proposed a "risk-free" tournament backed by France and Spain. Apart from the financial spin-off, the nod from FIFA also meant that South Africa's acceptance on the world stage had come full circle. As the result of its racist policies, introduced by the white nationalist government that came to power in 1948, South Africa by the seventies had become a pariah state, including in sports. In Pretoria, President Thabo Mbeki smiled broadly as he appeared before a crowd and declared: "It's time now that we go out and celebrate." Mbeki said that the 2010 World Cup in South Africa would be an "African Cup" that would be welcoming to all. "When we say this is an African cup, that includes all the other countries and also those who competed against us -- Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt - we want to see them as partners and participants in the World Cup," said Mbeki speaking to a crowd of jubilant South Africans in Pretoria. "Other Africans in the Caribbean, United States and Brazil - We want them also to feel part of the African Cup," the South African president said. "For this, South Africa will be a home for all Africa," he said.

A doctor and a lawyer got into a car accident, on a small country road. The lawyer had figured that nobody else would be on the road, and had raced through a stop sign. The doctor, on a cross street, had no time to react and couldn't have missed the lawyer if he had tried. Fortunately, neither driver was hurt. The lawyer, seeing that the doctor was a little shaken up, helped him from his battered car and offered him a drink from a hip flask.The doctor accepted, took a deep drink, and handed the flask back to the lawyer. The lawyer held the flask for a minute or two, and gave it to the doctor again. The doctor took another swig. He again returned the flask to the lawyer, who closed it and put it away. "Aren't you going to have a drink yourself?" asked the doctor. "Not now," answered the lawyer. "I'll have something after the police leave."

^^^^^^lol^^^^^ Weger, Ayoub takes his girl out for a walk after a day of ironing his very loud hawai shirts {No bleach, woman} his girl says, ''Look, a dead bird.'' And Ayoub looks up and says, ''Where?''.

Took me three hours to download the thing. Not very colourfull.

Idil said: lol as far as I knew Somali passport have been easy to buy since the 90's. lol My friend got me a fake passport ages ago...it's lying somewhere back at home...birth certificates are just as easily purchasable So you can see why I am suprised by the nomads response to this issue. The politics i get but why the funny :eek: look on every ones face?

Disclaimer: I am not trying to offend any one and her these joke's last night and just had to laugh: What do you call a basement full of somali women: A WHINE cellar How does a somali try to kill a bird?: By throwing it off a cliff.

Thats too soon, sorry sis but the fellow is a stalker or at best has the emotional maturity of an liver fluke

:mad: . Wont effect the warlords, not this nor anything else.

Welcome back yada, yada, Where is my money before i ask you what the hand said to the face Great to see you back sis. And congrats on graduating.

Bismillahi rahmani rahim. Xalimos room is the size of a large closet. I tell you this because I don’t live in it, and due to threat enviable trait of human nature, to get used to and finally to not be able to live with out the usual, Xalimos has grown to think her room large spacious and refined. No pictures of genuine or usher adorn her walls, they are plastered with cheap still lives and pictures of her families home in Somalia. Also cheap. She is woken up b her mother tumbling and muttering towards the toilet for fajr prayers, in her old age she has taken up praying, more out of boredom than anything else. Although it is hard to understand, she has realized that by praying she has something to wake up for and do five times a day, Xalimo is amused by her mother, she is old and having taken to prayer late, talks to GOD as if he owes her a firm and direct response to questions she deems of utmost importance. Xalimo does not pray, at least not regularly, not in the morning or during lunch hour {bad for the digestion}. Her jeans are draped over her chair and she checks her e-mail, the room illumined by a screen that reflects the world off her reading glasses. She slips into her T-shirt, on it there is a picture of an egg with a caption asking it to beaten and puree machine asking to be whipped. The shirt has given her the reputation of having a sense of humor, although to tell you the truth it was the cheapest in the store. She slips on her running shoes {sensible, reliable, not branded} and pauses at the door to watch her mother gradually get engrossed in a tennis match between two Slovakians, and listens to her mother mutter about the length of the men’s shorts {hyper criticality apparently is a virtue in those newly introduced to the Somali brand of Islam}, her mother says her farewells and for the umpteenth time wishes her daughter would get married. That’s an argument neither wins and so early early morning walk to the bus stop continue with a prayer of safety and love. It had to occur sometime and I am not less Somali than you, with the mention of marriage a description of Xalimo is called for if not a, must. 5,4 [WHICH IS SHORT FOR THOSE THAT DO NOT KNOW], black skin, and a shy smile that shows milk white teeth, she is not beautiful, rather cute in a gone by 30 kind of way, well that is to quote Aswad, who said this loud enough she could hear. She draws her shawl closer to her body as she walks down a cement path. Fifteen lights to the bus stop, the last is blown out, Xalimo cannot decide, what is worse, the blown out light or that she noticed and it bothers her that her routine has been broken. The bus stop luminescent and gray at the same moment is by passed as she runs to the bus that has been waiting for her. As the doors slam shut, a cigarette is lit, and a scent comes out of the bushes like an animal stirred from slumber, it moves out and walks to the light looks up at it and the stone that blew the light out. It smiles, takes a drag of the cigarette and moves on scuffing its feet against the wall and smiling as it passes by a person it recognized. Xalimo smiles at the bus driver, if he had known her for longer than he does, he would have know that it was the smile of neutrality, one a woman learns to flash quickly in her life and one the men still don’t seem to understand. Reilly waits for xalimo everyday at the bus stop for her just to see her smile. Xalimo can’t decide what she thinks about riley, she remembers how he argued with her not believing she was African, and the monkey faces he drew on the windshield to denote how other African women look like. Once he good naturedly guessed she was 27 not a bad considering he only thought her older by five years. Looking at the back of his head and watching him scratch his fine white hair into place. She still can’t decide. Neither can I. She is walking out of the tutor’s room and pulls a funny face at Aswad, who was sleeping through out the tutorial, the sweet smell of pot hanging around him like an invisible straitjacket he smiles back, and points over to a group of people who are clustered around someone. Xalimo walks over to the commotion and smiles when she recognizes who is railing against Sharon and all he has done to the world. Faiza smiles back and presses her hand against her lips, the women noticing the shine of her bangle the men the lips the hand has touched. People sing about having jewelry that costs more than a house, Faiza’s costs about the same as a medium sized retirement village. Xalimo and Faiza giggle at the assignments and how they wont ever hand it in, Xalimo is joking, but Faiza is in earnest, she is betrothed to a man who pops different color pills to keep him self from seeing afrits and other assorted genii wink at him, he is the owner of the aforementioned ring so please ignore the pills part, every one else does. Aswad is a Somali boy, name of Farah, but Aswad means black in Arabic and during his political phase he acquired it, the political phase has since passed slipping from his shoulders like a loud t-shirt, but the name has stuck like a tick. He stands at the record store, removing the filter from his bonds, waiting for Xalimo to arrive. He is fascinated by Xalimo, for she is the only woman apart form close relatives that he has never been able to think about sexually. She comes in and walks over to get the till keys, he waits for her to come close and offers her a cigarette; she smiles declines grabs the keys and walks to the till. He breathes her in, looks at her tongue flicker out of her mouth, revels in it and asks himself why he she never looks back when they exchange keys. He is good looking. But every fat person thinks so. Wearing his sweater, Aswad steps out of the shop. Ismail wakes up and kisses his mother on the cheek, walks down a block crosses a road, and enters the mall. He checks his change and watches Xalimo serve a client, he pulls his cap down to his ears and takes any old C.D from the rack. Says his affirmations, and remembers what his mother told him, and for the twelfth time stands infront of her, is served is looked at and walks out of the shop not having asked xalimo her name or her phone number. A week later: At xalimos house her mother is shocked to see a handsome woman with tears in her eyes sitting on the couch, xalimo is up stairs and her mother sits down and listens to the ladies story. “Ismail told me he loved your daughter” “He never was the most popular or the, most outgoing but he used to write poems, in Somali for her” “Every week he used to work up the courage to talk to your daughter, and used to come back with a C.D “ “I laughed with him, and used to be happy that he had something other than the chemotherapy to think about” “He passed away two days ago” Xalimos mother is distressed for the lady, who obviously is not used to crying, and gets up to touch her elbow. “Last night I was cleaning out his closet and got to open C.D’S he had not even listened to, in every one there is a note from your daughter” “Asking him his name” “Telling him that she really liked him” “And that she would be up for a date” He wrote her poetry in broken Somali, she wrote him notes in broken Somali. Upstairs xalimo is on her bed. She cannot begin to cry. Yet like an ant caught on a tire that is beggining to move. She knows she must. A.S.S

Qudhac its getting boring...real mind numbling boring. And although the article started off well it talks like we dont get hargeisa radio. Genocide hope not..

They’ll all be burning their “garbasar” any minute now. Heh. Aslong as it's a free show i will be elbowing my way to the fron seat

lol. Brother i will leave the perusing through dusty historical tracts to you, the article and your responses make it clear what puntland is based on, which is in a sentence, more of the same. As for the rest I think the above reponses make it clear where "the young intellectuals" or the nearest approximation of them in the west think about the whole idea. P.s People who were caught in the crossfire in xeraale and areas adjacent to balanbal where treated in dhusamareb and dayniile hospitals. Just another itchy statement you throw around hoping for the kersone to light

War Balaayo ! That is a prejudiced opinion. sorry If I'm impressionable but the rebuilding of a Somali state would signify A united somalia and not a united Mudug....Correct? Sis Word people have even by passed mudug today and extended their maamul into galgaduud.... Liqaye, a better question would be, what does Caabudwaaq have in common with Dhuusamareeb? Well certainley not the clan affiliation that puntland is based on, but abudwaq is neither contigous to "puntland" territory nor are they intreasted. Somaliland wants to build a state based on a seeceding clan whilst puntland wants to build it up from the bottom clan by clan. Where is the remote diffrence? As for what Dhuusamareeb has to do with abudwaq... If you even know where abudwaq is figure it out...

lool at Xalimo [i hope that piece of bile made you a happier person] Khayr bro i will paint you a picture, Paris 1980 Mother representing womens JUDO team of djibouti Daddy representing Karate team of somalia She liked his spin kick and he could not keep his eyes off her footwork. Love at first injury.

Any body remeber the island of ras chambione [sp?] were the local fishermen found Monitoring equipment?

^^^^^ i get it bro but just shows the way topics get hijacked like a b-rated film on somaliaonline. Mobb_deep stop disowning jamac he got the pic and everything Suldankaa said: The fact is many Somalilanders are not in particularly proud of the current affairs of their beloved country. The Somaliland of today is far from the one the people dreamed for. We dreamed about a Somaliland which is a model for the region, a democratic one, one with a government which is accountable and delivers services to the people, one which is just, free and fair for all of its citizens... and so on and so forth. Substitute somalia, puntland, djibouti the governate of somali galbeed and you get my point. Somalis were ever they are same problem, and I am concieted enough to think futher lands aint the solution.

amazing liq wow a man who comes to power by a coup and holds that tittle for 21 years is better then a group of people that control captiol hill and have not done on thing to re-stablize the country after the fall of the "dictator" and still wish to occupy it! never seen such embrassment! ceeb calayk On a forum maybe a topic On a topic maybe a post On a post maybe a point In that a point a way of thinking The way of thinking smells to high heaven.

Adam smith's free hand of demand and supply is pointing a middle figure at the third world. Bro vanquish i get the separation between the theory and whats actually going on in every hamlet and village in the third world, but the every theory lives or dies by its practicality. Otherwise communism would have been a great idea if it wasnt for all that happened in china and russia.......