Somalia does not need even more foreign soldiers on its soil, and reconciliation is not just a word, it is a requirement that requires sacrifices to be made. Stability, peace and safety all depend on reconciliation but it cannot just happen on its own. You can't bring together leaders and just wait for reconciliation to happen. Making peace is not the same as making cheese. Reconciliation means those in power and wealth giving up much of that power and wealth to their enemies, even those who wronged them terribly in the past or hold views that the USA or Ethiopia or the African Union condemn and demand to be crushed. As long as the powers that be refuse this, no amount of reconciliation conferences will ever be successful, and Somalia will be plagued with fighting until the end of time.

Puntland still controls parts of Sool, so I don't see why this is so absurd. Sool is not just Las Anod.

It is Somalis who are ultimately responsible for the tragedy of Somalia. They support leaders who take resources from other communities and give them to themselves, demand members of their community are preferentially appointed to high offices, and encourage them to exact vengeance upon their enemies. For peace to occur, Somalis need to actually care about other Somalis outside of their community, and help each other even if they don't have very much themselves. They must appoint the best man for the job, and criticize corruption even if it benefits you, and they must learn to forgive their enemies. It is a much more difficult and courageous path to take, as it exposes you to hardship, political uncertainty and the fickle nature of their neighbors, who may not be so forgiving themselves.

#1: Poverty One reason for the constant fighting and injustice is Somalia's resources are all controlled by closed communities and barely enough to make those closed communities survive. Due to this an impoverished Somali has no possibility of peacefully advancing his situation in life, and the slightly better off have no reason to help them. This alone sets the stage for disputes over water, grazing rights, land and dominance over weaker agricultural communities, and the willingness of Somalis to steal from other communities and callously ignore their sufferings. #2: Corruption Due to the nature of Somali communities, corruption and nepotism is rewarded with backing and support from his community while merit-based appointments and advancement exposes the progressive appointer to the loss of support of his community. It does not take a mathematical genius to realize that this state of affairs will lead to all honest and unbiased leaders being deposed or pushed aside and corrupt leaders gaining power. These leaders are however incapable of leadership outside of their community, and when pushed above leading their community into leading a group of communities or the whole country, prove to be the worst leaders imaginable. #3: Old Grudges Worst of all however is the inability of Somali society today to do what their ancestors learned long ago had to be done, to sit down under the acacia tree and stop the endless cycle of revenge. The craving for revenge, rather than being pushed aside as the evil all-devouring creature that it is, is rather nursed and kept alive, generation after generation, and becomes its own motivation. When Somali leaders today find themselves in a position of power over their old enemies, they simply cannot resist its allure. Despite the fact that they, at long last, have the chance to end the cycle of revenge, they instead engage in the next turn of the cycle with no regrets. Each of these, taken by themselves, would be enough to keep a civil war going. Somalia has all three.

The fact that the state dept. referred to him as the "President" of "Somaliland" is recognition by the way. Such things are not trumpeted to the skies, but rather subdued actions such as these.

Baidoa has become, ironically, more dangerous for politicians than Mogadishu, what with all the assassinations lately. Ironic because they didn't want to move to Mogadishu due to security concerns. The government of Somalia is only safe if the Ethiopian military is there. They cannot trust their own citizens not to kill them.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Somalia_map_states_regions_districts.png Qansah Dere is a fair ways from Baidoa, but it's important as it's the administrative seat of that district. Qansah Dere falling into Mukhtar Robow's hands puts both Baidoa and Bardaale within striking distance. The strategy of the UIC in the Battle of Baidoa was to capture Bardaale, cutting off the highway to Ethiopia from supplies, then encircling Baidoa from all directions. That's why, aside from the main thrust towards Baidoa, a second force attacked and took Dinsoor and Qansah Dere, where the TFG/Ethiopian force met them en-route to Bardaale. That critical battle, outside of Baidoa and Qansah Dere, which the Ethiopian army won, was the deciding battle of the war.

The time for this "let's all get along" talk was 15 months ago, when the speaker of the TFP signed a peace treaty with the UIC. It's actually even beyond too late. * Shabbab has gotten its own support and powerbase now, they don't need the UIC and so the UIC can no longer stop them even if they wanted to * Ahmad Diriye is dead, killed in an Ethiopian prison. His clan will never forgive them or the TFG * The opposition political leadership is safe in Eritrea and can coordinate weapons and money for the resistance indefinately, while the TFG leadership based in Baidoa is looking more and more tenuous. The TFG screwed up. They fumbed the ball.

It's fine to arrest an author for specific charges, if they are actually crimes, but that's not what these men are in prison for. They are in prison for writing articles that the TFG does not want anyone to learn about.

After 25 days in Jail, Puntland has released Awale Jama Salad on bail. http://allafrica.com/stories/200801161136.html No charges were ever filed against him. Also, Ayanle Husein Abdi was released this evening. http://allafrica.com/stories/200801161133.html They were released right after I posted this. Does the TFG read this forum?!? First post updated to reflect this.

Egypt and Russia's attitude towards Arbitrary Arrest and Detention is Barbaric. So is the USA's "Extraordinary Rendition" of prisoners to barbaric countries who do not respect the rule of law, and their own arbitrary detention in Guantanamo Bay. Somalia was under the rule of law between 1960 and 1969, and between September to December 2006. Under the UIC one could take disputes to the law to be resolved through the law. One had protections under the law from abuses, and could appeal decisions. Regardless of anything else you can say about them, there was the rule of law. Without the rule of law, there is only barbarism.

So you're saying that the TFG is too barbaric to respect the rule of law? The UIC respected the rule of law, and their administration was given the same population, economy, society and challenges. What's wrong with the TFG?

The following journalists are being held without charge by the TFG police forces, in violation of habeas corpus. Habeas corpus and/or protection from Arbitrary Arrest and Detention is guaranteed in: * The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) (Article 9) * The Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (1990) (Article 20) * The Constitution of the Somali Republic (1960) (Article 16) * The Transitional Federal Charter (2004) (Article 16, the same as the original constitution) These are the journalists held illegally, without charge or crime: * Mohammed Shidane Daban (Radio Banadir) * Bashir Mohammed Abdulkadir (Radio Somaliweyn) * Abdirahman Mohamed Hudeyfi (Radio Somaliweyn)

Let us take a trip down memory lane shall we? "BBC 19 Oct 2005 Somali anger over Swedish arrest The biggest demonstration was in the capital, Mogadishu There have been demonstrations in Somalia's capital in protest at the arrest in Sweden of a Somali colonel. Col Abdi Qeybdid was in Sweden to attend an international conference when he was detained at the weekend for alleged involvement in war crimes. Under Swedish law, its courts can try suspects for genocide committed abroad. Col Qeybdid has been appointed as Somalia's police chief by one faction of the split government based in the capital, Mogadishu. President Abdullahi Yusuf has made Jowhar, 90km north of Mogadishu, his temporary capital as he says Mogadishu is unsafe. But the speaker of parliament, Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden, has set up operations in the capital, along with former Mogadishu warlords who are now members of the new government. Angry The BBC's Hassan Barise in Mogadishu says thousands of people and heavily armed militia gathered at a parade ground to protest about the arrest on Sunday. The angry crowd was then addressed by cabinet ministers. There has been serious armed confrontations, and we can say that Abdi Qeybdid was not the worst Mohamed Ibrahim Habsadeh "The government of Sweden should release [Col Qeybdid] as soon as possible and apologise for their wrong-doing," Homeland Security Minister Mohamed Qanyareh Afrah said. Sweden would not be able to deliver justice as they don't understand Somalis "and their differences", he said. Our correspondent says the Mogadishu faction accuse their opponents in Jowhar of being behind the arrest. Another speaker, Mohamed Ibrahim Habsadeh - who controls Baidoa town, said the arrest would not help reconciliation efforts. He urged the international community to understand that many Somalis had become embroiled in the last 14 years of conflict. "There has been serious armed confrontations, and we can say that Abdi Qeybdid was not the worst," he said. Col Qeybdid was a commander of troops loyal to the late warlord Mohamed Farah Aideed, who fought US American peacekeepers in Mogadishu in the early 1990s. The Jowhar-based government does not recognise Col Qeybdid as Somalia's head of police and has appointed another man, Ali Madobeh, to the role. This indicates the seriousness of the political differences between the two sides, our correspondent says. Somalia has been without a functioning national government for 14 years and a transitional parliament and government, sworn in last year, has failed to end the anarchy."

The killing of Martin Adler was condemned by the UIC, and the killer was caught and executed. He was killed because he was Swedish, not because he was a journalist, due to Abdi Qeybdiid's war crimes charges in Sweden. Abdi has since become chief of police in Mogadishu, and oddly enough the murder of journalists has skyrocketed. Coincidence? Where is the condemnation for the dozens of journalists killed and hundreds wrongfully imprisoned, harassed and intimidated by the warlord Mohamed Dhere, the TFG's strongman in Mogadishu? Why have the killers of the journalists under TFG rule not been brought to justice? The TFG's silence is deafening on this issue.

The peacekeeper's mandate and rules of engagement won't let them do much good. Peacekeepers are only useful in situations where both sides generally want to keep the peace, but have hotheads and troublemakers in their ranks. IE a peace treaty has been signed but factions and elements within the signatories want to renew fighting. Somalia is a long way from this.

The TFG should really stop giving cushy ambassadorial posts to Yusuf's old military buddies, family members and friends. Half these guys aren't even diplomats.

All Afro-Asiatic languages (Somali, Arabic, Amhara, etc) are extremely difficult for Europeans to learn and understand, because it is a very subtle language, and was not a major economic or diplomatic focus for most of the 20th century. This combined with a very low demand for translation work in Somalia due to its relative economic and diplomatic isolation has led to a virtual lack of any translation services available to news organizations. During the UIC rise and fall, journalism did not suffer because Somalia was full of very eloquent Somali journalists who were free to do their jobs across the country, and were fully fluent in Somali and English. These journalists began to be viewed as a threat to the Powers That Be earlier this year. After the killings, arrests and intimidation of the last 12 months, only the bravest journalists, or those with the strongest clan affiliations remain in Somalia, and their English is often severely lacking.

They're running out of journalists in Mogadishu. The articles are suffering as a result.

It's true, the TFG army and TFG police are fighting over checkpoints. The checkpoints are in reality extortion-roadblocks and are highly profitable, and the TFG army and police are severely underpaid. It's actually a three way battle between the Federal Army under Yusuf, the Federal Police under Qeybdiid and Mohamed Dhere's Benadir Police. The only money they have access to is from these roadblocks, and I bet the higher ups do nothing to stop them, so they are competing for funds basically. http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jGfglG4oQcbM3twPBeRmuKHYS7VA It's absurd really. Not only are the police and army doing nothing to take down roadblocks set up by tribal militias and gangsters, but they are setting up their own. It's reasons like this why the local people hate the TFG army and police.

Bad sign, the US wanted to stay out of Somalia. Looks like desperation time for the TFG.

I agree that they should have done more research, and their ignorance of the situation led to the deaths of many people. They may not have been complicit, but that doesn't excuse their lack of due diligence.

Originally posted by Dabshid: You must be one of the westerns trying to profiteer the resources of the poor people,Range Resources, will have to pay the conpensation of the citizens of Maakhir killed in Majihan. Ps, and Melbourne, New South Wales, Australia ~~~Melbourne is in Victoria, not NSW! Oops my bad. It was Puntland militias who killed the poor folks in Majihan. Range was just the excuse. Range didn't even know about it, and when they found out they suspended all operations in Sanaag, so Range actually acted honorably there.

Actually there could easily have been lots of progress. It's not the political situation that caused problems, but: a) Politicians selling things that they don't own b) Politicians making deals they aren't authorized to make c) Politicians ignoring important issues (stability of the TFP, UIC invasion of Bay, etc) and in fact taking advantage of that distraction to make backroom deals with foreign companies while noone is looking. Researching this article has confirmed my suspicion that Gedi, Yusuf and Adde Musa are all corrupt kleptocrats out to get as much money out of this as they can.

Ceyrow is a good military commander, but Ceyrow is like Hussein Aidiid in front of a microphone, he makes a gaffe every time he opens his mouth. Never put either one of them in front of the camera or microphone.