Maaddeey;867735 wrote: Tmor, waa kaa qaldan tahay, Ictisaam aka Itixaad iyo Islaax waa arch enemies. The post was taken from an article. I believe you are wrong here though. Al-Ictisaam is peace-loving, and only contains a few Al-Itixaad elements. In Puntland, Al-Ictisaam works together with Al-Ictisaam. And the Al-Islaax supporters in Garowe and Bosaso call themselves Al-Ictisaam, I am not sure if it happens in Xamar too. When Al-Itixaad broke apart, some of their members even joined Al-Islaax, but that does not mean they run the whole organization.

Polanyi;867732 wrote: No detAILS of of where the "professor" got his PHD? Did you even read it? Nowhere in the article does it say he earned a PhD.

If we are talking about patriotic fanaans, Saado Cali trumps anyone. At a time when her clan was achieving historic favoritism among the ruling regime, she broke off and began the earliest artistic dissent against the president's corruption. That, to me, is the definition of patriotism. But of course, there are plenty of Secessionlanders who hate her for her clan despite the fact that she risked her career to sing about their struggle. I digress.

^ You've got it wrong my friend, but you're on the right track kind of. Al-Islaax in Yemen and Al-Islaax in Somalia were independently formed at different times, with nothing to do with each other. The only things they have in common is that they have the same name and that they are both chapters of the worldwide Muslim Brotherhood organization, just like Hamas in Palestine or the Renaissance Party (Ennahda) in Tunisia. Even the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood sometimes calls itself Ennahda like their Tunisian counterparts. The names can be similar since they all share the same slogans (Ennahda means Renaissance, Islah means Reform). Al-Islaax in Somalia is not a political group, although originally they wanted to join politics. After the war, Al-Islaax became a philanthropy organization. Almost every single university in Somalia was built by Al-Islaax, even schools across Somaliland. Al-Islaax built Mogadishu University in Xamar, Simad University, Mogadishu University in Bosaso, East Africa University, Puntland State University, the colleges in Gaalkacyo, and probably any other school you can think of that was built in post-war Somalia. Al-Islaam almost single-handedly kept all of Somalia's educational institutions running. Wadaads and religiously-inclined figureheads have gotten a bad reputation in the country because of a few violent extremist morons, but the original ikhwan in Somalia were people like Al-Ictisaam and Al-Islaax (Ictisaam is the local term for the Puntland-based supporters of Islaax but they operate as one unit). If someone in Somalia is related to any of those two organizations, Ictisaam and especially Islaax, they are usually a person of good standing. I hope that answers some questions.

Not more than an hour ago from this moment Somalia walked away from 21 years of civil war and the complete absence of central governance. A heated electoral race between the final four candidates left Somalia’s former president against a dark horse who would go on to win the last round by a landslide in what would usher in the rebirth of the Somali Republic. The man declared president today was a stranger just the night before. He came from humble roots and for the duration of the civil war paid no mind to politics and kept his focus on serving the people of his broken nation. Professor Hassan Sheikh Mahamud was born in 1955 in the farming town of Jalalaqsi, in Somalia’s central Hiiraan province, where he would complete his basic religious and secular education. In 1978, Hassan Sheikh left his small community and moved to the bustling Somali capital Mogadishu to obtain a post-secondary education. After three years at the Somali National University, he completed his undergraduate requirements and obtained a degree. Upon exiting the Somali National University he left his country for India to further his education with the hope of one day returning to serve his people. In 1988, Hassan Sheikh received a Master’s Degree from Bhopal University, but his plans to return to Somalia were shattered by the outbreak of an abrupt and brutal civil war. For the years following, he would only hear about his beloved Somalia through news reports describing it in worsening terms with every passing season. After a brief exile, Hassan Sheikh left the comfort and security of Indian cosmopolitan life and put his professional development on hold to serve the dire needs of his people back home. He joined the United Nations Children’s Fund in 1993 as the director of their education program in the central and southern regions of Somalia; at the time and still today the hardest-hit regions of the country by conflicts and famine. He had only the desire of delivering a curriculum and a sense of normality to the war-weary youth of the country. In 1999 Hassan Sheikh took his love of learning to a new level when he co-founded the Somali Institute of Management and Administration (SIMAD) with like-minded individuals in the turbulent capital Mogadishu. Simad University, as it would be known, would later grow into becoming a leading educational institution in Somalia. He stayed with Simad University, first as a professor and later as the dean of faculty until his departure in 2010. The following year, Hassan Sheikh turned his attention to the political activism after the announcement of national elections originally slated for August 2011 and founded the Peace and Development Party, which he would serve as chairman to this day. For twenty years Professor Hassan Sheikh Mahamud educated young Somalis across the country at the cost of his own time, health, and property. When it was wise to wait the war out in a distant land, he flew home to Somalia. When the entrepreneurial and intellectual strongmen of the Somali nation were jumping ship to stake out new opportunities overseas, he sought solace in relieving the anguish of his people. And even when powerful powerful warlords and politicos were fleeing with their own caravans full of wealth and influence, he chose to stand his ground and build towards a better day for all Somalis. The good professor’s cooperative work with the Al-Islah philanthropy network has helped build primary schools, secondary schools, universities, and research hospitals in almost every one of Somalia’s 18 provinces. The combined efforts of Hassan Sheikh and his close colleagues has placed hundreds of thousands of young Somalis in competent educational facilities across the country, while providing scholarships to students wishing to further their schooling. Though he is one among many, Professor Hassan Sheikh Mahamud is nothing short of a hero. And to have a man of his quality leading Somalia is either the greatest and most random stroke of luck for the downtrodden Somali nation, or simply a miracle from Almighty God. Our gentle professor has given the youth their right to an education, and the moment has come for him to give service to the rest of Somalia. On this day, no other man or woman among Somalis is more worthy of our respect, praise, and attention than President Hassan Sheikh Mahamud. Prof. Mahamud has sacrificed his entire professional career to provide the gift of knowledge to young men and women in Hargeisa, Kismayo, Mogadishu, Bosaso, Beletweyn, Galkayo, and elsewhere he and his colleagues could profess. Now it is time for him to receive warmth and attentiveness from the people whose advancement he has devoted his life. The Somali people salute you, our dear professor. Sleep well in your new home, for we will be at your service come the next morning. God bless Hassan Sheikh Mahamud, the most righteous heir to the democratic throne of Somalia. DissidentNation.com http://dissidentnation.com/profile-of-somalias-newly-elected-president/ After reading this I am fully convinced he is the right man for the job, not simply for his qualifications, but because of his character as a man. Indeed may Allah bless our president.

http://puntlandnews24.com/akhriso-siyaasiyiinta-ugu-codadka-badan-ee-doorashada-berito-ku-guuleysan-kara-xog/ The day before the election they stated that Hassan Sheikh would win as the result of a major coalition in support of him. They said he made an agreement with the nearest non-"H" clan candidate, which was Cabdiweli, to split the PM/Presidency depending on who goes through to beat Sharif. I would say place my bets on Dr. Gaas. He gave the most support from his clan bloc to Hassan's final assault on Sharif, he has familiarity, and he's qualified.

Sharif or Abdiweli. They're so close in terms of momentum that I can't decide. None of the other competitors will come close.

BoldNewSomali;865181 wrote: Nice and all, but what does the fact that the fat cats in Addis bought a shiny new toy do for the poor in the dusty corners of the country? That's a very ignorant and jealous statement to make. Ethiopia had one of the fastest growing economies in Africa the past few years, and that affects everyone. If a big company makes big money, that means big taxes, and a bigger national budget. Ethiopia as a whole is moving forward - what you need to remember is that Ethiopia is not like Kenya, Nigeria, or other African countries where the elite take everything. Ethiopia's top business leaders give back a lot to the country.

What is happening in 3 days, isn't the election on September 10?

Tillamook;864379 wrote: Now its time for the Puntites to get their prediction nullified...lol That's not going to happen my friend. Somalis love Puntland, and the Somali people want a Puntlander in power.

These are 60+ year old people who languished in Nairobi until they decided to lose as one unit instead of individually lol. If ten people with zero dollars put their money in a bag, does it equal ten dollars or zero dollars? That's the idiocy of this pointless "bloc" that the article mentions. None of them were going to get a single vote, so it won't change. But I encourage these candidates anyway, it's a free $10,000 fee towards the Somali government.

Somalia;864332 wrote: There's no victory here, we won't disappear like the likes of you did if our main candidate loses. Galayr is a perpetual loser sxb, that's why we like him, he's playing with the wrong forces and may he continue to be a failure. :cool: Spot on, Galayr has become the ultimate sign of failure in Somali politics. Whichever side he picks always manages to tumble. I'm hoping that Galayr sides with Sharif so we know that Abdiweli will win.

Somalia;863065 wrote: The rig is being moved to Nugaal and we are moving offshore, Reer Bari failed us all. More drilling should take place in Dharoor in the future. Mujahid Somalia is correct. The oil companies are now trying to get further security permissions to enter Nugaal. Dharoor was simply a litmus test to see if drilling was even possible in Somalia. Nugaal block is much larger and was the original target, but politics got in the way. Somali philosopher;863075 wrote: Nugaal huh, so does that mean my mudul in burtinle would go up in price The rig is moving to some villages south of Garowe and later the coast of Eyl, I'm not sure how that will affect the folks in Burtinle.

Brother Mooge, who will become president, and whom will he appoint as premier?

You are correct Mooge, both wells of the the Dharoor valley basin are being sealed off. Now it is time to explore the Nugaal valley basin, which is far more prospective than the wells of Bari. Let's see how that plays out, I am very excited for it.

Two wells empty? I think you guys read that wrong. Only the second well came up empty, they never tested the first well. They will now test the first well, Shabeel-1, and move the drill to Nugaal as they finalize the offshore agreements.

Our country is just a day away from ushering in a new leader. And with this moment will come new opportunities for businessmen, doctors, students, and mothers. I want to use this moment to speak to Somalia’s leaders and the masses whose destinies they will inherit the power to control. Let’s imagine for a moment that myself, the reader, and whomever is elected president are all banished from the country for a period of twenty years. When that time expires we will be allowed back into Somalia to see the fruits of the republic. Upon returning, whatever scenario we experience on the ground will be a simulation of the policies of the nation’s first post-transitional government. We will encounter one of two outcomes, resulting from the divergence of the reforms ushered in by our next president. Somalia 2032: scenario one We’ve touched down on a smooth asphalt runway, with a view of the capital’s burgeoning skyline; Mogadishu looks like an alien city, and in the best possible way. Inside the modern airport terminal we are greeted by college-aged employees who chat among each other in-between tasks, complaining about exam schedules. At the terminal’s exit we are driven off in a late-model taxi into the city. For a half-hour we ride through the city’s wide-but-pristine boulevards and finally approach a stop after many green lights. A healthy young man escorts a band of little girls in bright-orange school uniforms across the street before returning to his station as the neighborhood scout. Away from the city’s outer suburbs we enter the heart of the business district and drive right into a parade. Businessmen in Mogadishu are riding in a convoy of convertible coupes with a trophy in hand; the city is defending its fourth straight title as Africa’s most competitive commodities market. The three of us sit in the cab, confused and wondering where the ‘real’ Mogadishu went. Our driver takes a sharp turn and says to us, “Next stop is Hamar Jabjab.” We all breathe in a sigh of comfort, hoping to see the sights of ruins we had gotten used to. The cab drives for an hour by what almost looks to be a picturesque magazine cover photo. We sit through row after row of glistening modern highrises with rooftop gardens. On every fifth row of buildings for at least a mile is a large glassed-out library, visibly packed with diligent students inside. The driver stops outside a massive concrete slab that stretches for almost a mile out into the sea. We ask the driver, “What about Hamar Jabjab?” He looks back and says, “We just passed it.” Somalia 2032: scenario two Eight hours off-schedule we land in K50 air strip due to the closure of Aden Adde International Airport following years of factional infighting over aviation revenues. After an additional four hours of sitting on the cracked and dusty air strip we hitch a ride in the bed of a busted-up thirty year old Toyota Hilux Surf. We drive by the skeleton of Mogadishu University’s once-hopeful campus on the edge of town. We are stopped at a checkpoint by an emaciated young fighter before reaching our destination at the Ministry of Agriculture. The young man extends his frail arm out as if to beg rather than to demand extortion money. We continue to drive along a pockmarked stretch of road and approach a hollowed-out ministry building. The ministry’s rooms and halls are now occupied by dozens of families peering through the shelled-out frame of what once stood the stomping ground of the men and women who would fight hunger and drought. Before we can finish our journey through the retrograde capital our driver turns around to rain on our tour. “You don’t want to go further,” he says while tucking khat back into his cheeks with his pale, dry tongue. “The port is a no-go zone, all of the ministries are destroyed or slummed-in, and the cutest children you’ll see are probably some pimp’s property. Your tour stops here until you can cough up another $50.” At this point we nod and ask to be driven back to K50 to hitch a ride out of the country on a khat transport plane. Dilemma The most painful part of writing this piece is that the above scenario has already happened. I left Somalia as a teenager in 1986. That year our president received two options from the public; to either step down or deliver reforms. He did neither. His policies over the next few years allowed for the permeation of the environment that enveloped Somalia for the following three decades. I returned to Mogadishu 19 years after the day I left. The country I returned to was identical to the events and imagery I described in the second scenario. Part of my experience were checkpoints manned by starved teenagers, government ministries occupied by the urban displaced, and young children forced into work on every level of the city’s very visible criminal underbelly. I have already seen what twenty years of bad policies have created in Somalia. But despite what I saw seven years ago I am optimistic on this day. I want to be able to close my eyes today and return to a functioning Somalia in twenty years time. Neither I nor our readers control that destiny. Somalia’s fate is between its people today and their hopeful leaders. On this note, I am pleading with Somalia’s next roster of leaders. There is a very open window for Somalia to succeed. A very big opportunity to vastly improve millions of lives and bring about astonishing change in a deserving nation. War-ravaged Grozny was rebuilt entirely in half a decade, and China is able to create entire cities at the blink of an eye. Turning Mogadishu into a modern city and providing the Somali people with a respectable and dignified place to call their home and capital is not a monumental task by any means, but the intention has to be there. With intention, anything can be delivered, and delivered well. Twenty years is plenty of time to either build a nation from scratch, or to thoroughly destroy what is left of it. Please take this inheritance seriously and deliver a miracle. DissidentNation.com http://dissidentnation.com/a-message-to-somalis-on-the-eve-of-presidential-elections/

I was always of the opinion that Somalia was poor because of the visible issues, with the conflict of the last twenty years at its core. But looking beyond the superficial causes of poverty, such as war and war-driven famines, Somalia is poor for reasons deeply engrained in its people. In a recent conversation with a colleague from out of town he said to me, “Somalis have accepted poverty, that’s where the problem lies. It’s like a cancer victim who has accepted the ailment as part of their permanent identity, rather than to see it as a temporary condition of their being.” And he was absolutely right. The Somali people have accepted their destitute position and the meager conditions that surround them. Looking beyond the conflict, which is very limited in its scope and by no means should serve as an excuse for the poverty of an entire nation, ordinary Somalis are simply not demanding enough in terms of life quality. By no means is Somalia alone. This open acceptance of poverty and helplessness is a common theme in South Asia and all over Africa. The poor in these societies don’t believe they can do much better, and in the extreme case of South Asia, the poor often believe it is their rightful position in society to live in the margins. Somalia is poor because few Somali leaders let their people know that they deserve better. Few still will ever attempt to make that elusive dream come true. This is just a microcosm of the wider poverty-acceptance problem in Africa. What was it that made the oil-rich ‘sheikhs’ of Arabia dole out benefits to their people at the first sight of oil, yet equally rich African states like Nigeria, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea make no attempts to share this public wealth? What instinctive behavioral pattern compels an emir in Dubai or a sultan in Oman willing to secure healthcare, education, and wealth for all citizens of his country but is completely missing in these aforementioned African societies? Some say it is pride. There is a common saying among Arabs; that you will never find a Saudi or Libyan woman working in a foreigner’s home. This was born out of the perception that a Saudi or Libyan would never be compelled to leave their own country for work because the incentives were too good at home. Pride is a major factor in Arabian cultures, and the hit to a self-titled emir’s ego to see his countrymen slaving abroad is enough to make him pull all the stops to prevent such things from happening. But prideful leadership alone is not enough to explain the massive public treasuries in Arab oil-producing states that go towards human development. Unlike those in India, or Somalia, or Nigeria, the ordinary Emirati or Qatari expects to live just as comfortably as his or her monarch. Not just he, but his entire tribe demands to live like the king or emir. And if the people of a neighboring kingdom enjoy refrigerators and modern schools, he too will demand it in his own kingdom. This culture of demanding wealth distribution (‘social change’ by another name) rather than simply pondering over it, is completely missing in African societies and most South Asian societies. Equatorial Guinea has the same reserves of oil as the remaining quantities of Oman, but with less than half of Oman’s population. And yet while the Omani state can equitably deliver quality public services throughout all of its 119,500 square miles, Equatorial Guinea cannot penetrate even a small portion of its population within the confines of its modest and easily accessible 10,830 miles of territory. It is not through the kindness of the sultan’s heart that Omanis enjoy the wealth of their nation, it is a mix of Omani pride at all levels and a non-negotiable expectation of better living by the ordinary Omani. There are obvious micro-management explanations for why the aforementioned problem exists among African oil-producing nations and not among their Arab counterparts, but they are superseded by the social reality behind these patterns. Back on the topic of Somalia and its struggle with poverty, it can be argued that Somalis don’t demand anything because there is nothing yet to demand. However, what a society demands doesn’t have to be what it sees in its vicinity, it can be the things that Somalis may see among their neighbors and in the world around them. Somalis obviously know from experience the kind of wealth that exists in the nearby Persian Gulf states. Thousands of Somalis live in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, and Kuwait. But those Somalis and the ones back home equate the prevalence of Arab wealth distribution to birthright rather than the actual reforms that created those conditions. While it is true that birthright is what gives the average Kuwaiti or Saudi citizen a high standard of living, the ancestors of those Arab individuals demanded a better life for themselves and their future generations. In that same manner, it is up to today’s Somalis to demand food, shelter, clean water, and even late model cars and glass penthouses. Why not, especially if the funding is possible. Some may argue that such luxuries are a privilege and not a right, but if the state’s budget comes from the resources of a land that the collective Somali people worked to occupy together, citizens deserve fully what profits come out of the soil. I believe that is the lesson that our Arab neighbors took to their emirs and sultans when demanding equitable distribution of their respective nations’ resources. Just as water is treated as a collective public resource, anything else that comes out of unclaimed ground belongs to the public. Oil, natural gas, and all minerals belong to all of the people of the land, not just the private outfit that claims it, and most certainly not the state alone. The same colleague of mine who started this conversation also told me this: “I have never desired to fight for ideas, nor do I believe in nationalism. But as a citizen of Somalia, I am entitled to fair access to that country’s water and its oil. If any declared leader of mine does not give me and my family our share of this wealth I will take up arms and finally fight for something. I believe that’s a just war that everyone should fight.” Somalis must understand fully that their future depends on what they are willing to settle for. They don’t have to fight or die for any of the comforts or luxuries that await them. The Somali people should do as the Emiratis and Omanis did before them. Somalia’s people must simply reject poverty. They have to show a bit of arrogance, and they need to pout their lips and crinkle their noses at any offenses to their prideful senses. When the government offers a new fleet of used Toyotas for the local police force, the Somali people should assess the wealth around them and demand new Land Rovers instead. And when their government says that they can only provide schooling for half of the children in the country, the Somali people should demand that all of their children go to school and that the government throw in free healthcare and a sewage plant to that package in rebuttal. Only when you expect the best can you get the best. Anything less you get is entirely telling of what you’ve settling for. Egypt’s people recently protested their way into a revolution, Somalis can do much less and get so much more if they so choose to give themselves the respect that dignified people carry. DissidentNation.com http://dissidentnation.com/what-makes-somalia-so-poor-and-broken/

MoonLight1;856047 wrote: Also I thought you advocated Shariah, and as far as we know Sheikh Zaid never implemented it, but he was a rich man with lots of sky scrapers, in that case we just need oil. Sheikh Zayed was much more than that. He was a man who cared for his people, now let's just hope Somalia can find one individual among its 10 million who actually wants to change the country.

Jacaylbaro;855280 wrote: You Mean Water ?? In case you forgot, Somalia includes your beloved khat-consuming region, but perhaps you are too high to digest that piece of information.

Exactly. Everyone has their eye on Puntland when in reality there is a huge stakes game going on in the coast of the Indian Ocean, mainly off the coast of the Jubbas. Recently Tanzania and Mozambique broke records for natural gas reserves, and Somalia is a major part of that East Africa coastal rift - I see no problem with Abdillahi's figures.

Somalia;855215 wrote: What's wrong with the interview? But no way 80 billion, the guy is dreaming not enough has been researched to make that statement. The guy is not misguided in any way, some Somali government guys told Guardian the same thing a few months back. I think the brother knows what he's talking about. Check out this hour-long presentation he did a while back.

Dissident Nation: What is your background in oil and natural gas? Abdillahi Mohamud: I have worked the past several years in the North American petroleum industry as an exploration geophysicist and drilling engineer specializing in tight reservoir oil and gas extraction. Dissident Nation: What is your educated estimate of Somalia’s total oil and natural gas reserves? Abdillahi Mohamud: The EAEF’s team of engineers are currently working on our own internal estimates for the country’s total in-place reserves, likely in the 40-80 billion barrels recoverable range. This project will provide the Somali people and government extra ammo at the negotiating table by knowing beforehand what their resources are worth. It also will force foreign oil companies to be transparent and non-corrupt in their estimates. http://dissidentnation.com/exclusive-interview-with-the-east-africa-energy-forum/

That's not the mafia, it's the motorcade of Chechnya's federal president, Ramzan Kadyrov.

A dark day for Puntland.