Originally posted by AYOUB: Yeah right! Iraq must be on a highway to tranquillity as far as Capt. Anakunda is concerned. Biggest joke since Fat Muuse was given "good governance" award. Completely agree with Ayoub. It never ceases to amaze me how the opposite reality of events is true for some people, or is it crisis breeds opportunity?

Jacaylbaro, the current events in "Somaliland" rehearses you my aforementioned points

Ethiopia's dirty war Tom Porteous While the west agonises over Darfur, another humanitarian and human rights disaster is brewing in the Horn of Africa. In June, the Ethiopian government launched a major military campaign in the Oggaden, a sparsely populated and remote region on Ethiopia's border with Somalia. The counter insurgency operation was aimed at eliminating the Oggaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), a rebel group which has been fighting for years for self-determination for the Oggaden's predominantly Somali population. In less than two months, Ethiopia's military campaign has triggered a serious humanitarian crisis. Human Rights Watch has learned that dozens of civilians have been killed in what appears to be a deliberate effort to mete out collective punishment against a civilian population suspected of sympathising with the rebels. Villages have been attacked, sacked and burnt. Livestock - the lynchpin of the region's pastoralist economy - have been confiscated or destroyed. A partial trade blockade has been imposed on the region leading to serious food shortages. Relatives of suspected rebels have been taken hostage. Thousands of civilians have been displaced, fleeing across the borders of Ethiopia into northern Kenya and Somaliland. Last week, with little objection from the international community, the Ethiopian government expelled from the Oggaden the International Committee of the Red Cross, one of the few neutral observers of the crisis left in the region. This is not Darfur. But the situation in Oggaden follows a familiar pattern of a counter insurgency operation in which government forces show little regard for the safety of the civilian population and commit serious abuses, including deliberate attacks on civilians, mass displacement of populations and interference with humanitarian assistance. Unlike in Darfur, however, the state that is perpetrating abuses against its people in Oggaden is a key western ally and recipient of large amounts of western aid. Furthermore the crisis in Oggaden is linked to a military intervention by Ethiopia in Somalia that has been justified in terms of counter terrorism and is firmly supported by the United States and other western donors. Ethiopia has often justified military action in Somalia on grounds of cooperation between what it calls "terrorist" groups in Somalia and the rebellion in Oggaden. The ONLF certainly has strong ethnic and political links to Somali insurgents now fighting against the Ethiopian military presence in Somalia. It may have decided to escalate its rebellion in Oggaden in response to Ethiopia's full-scale military intervention in Somalia in December last year. Now there are reliable reports that, as a result of Ethiopian military pressure inside Somalia, Somali insurgents including members the militant Islamist al-Shabaab have sought refuge in Oggaden where they could be regrouping. Thus instead of containing and calming the situation in Somalia, the actions of Ethiopia's forces there may well be exacerbating the conflict and regionalising it. The emerging crisis in the Oggaden is indicative of an increasingly volatile political and military situation in the Horn of Africa. Predictably civilians are bearing the brunt of the crisis both in the Oggaden and in Somalia where hundreds of thousands have been displaced by fighting since the Ethiopian intervention. Predictably human rights abuses and violations of the laws of war are being perpetrated by all sides. It could all get a lot worse, especially if it leads to a resumption of the war between Ethiopia and Eritrea. So why isn't the international community doing more to address this crisis. Hasn't the UN being saying for years that crisis prevention is better than cure? The EU and the United States have significant leverage over Ethiopia in the form of foreign aid and political influence. They should use it instead of turning a blind eye to abuses carried out by the Ethiopian security forces in the name of counter terrorism. Western support for Ethiopia's counter insurgency efforts in the Horn of Africa is not only morally wrong and riddled with double standards, it is also ineffective and counterproductive. It will lead to the escalation and regionalisation of the conflicts of the region and may well help to radicalise its large and young Muslim population. Source: Guardian

Can anyone confirm that Shariif has denied the said meeting?

A Reality Check on Rayaale’s Somaliland By: A. Duale Sii'arag August 04,2007 The darkness drops again; but now I know Those twenty centuries of stony sleep Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle, And what rough beast, its hour comes round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? The Second Coming. By W. B. Yeats Greetings from Maan-hadal salon, one of the many happy watering holes in Hargeisa where everything under the sun is discussed and varied topics are skimmed through everyday with no explicit or implicit objectives. Loose, smooth debate and long chats are the inherent features of Maan-hadal. Many spirited conversations grace the eloquence and lively discourse of reasoned arguments and genial discussions that became the hallmark of Maan-hadal. It is sometimes referred to as the incubator of exhilarating and uplifting ideas. A talk-shop and crossfire par excellence! Self-styled political scientists and pundits fiercely exchange diametrically opposed views, with the very help of my beloved catalyst, the Awaday – that lubricates our social gathering and stimulates the intellect. Though vocal, voluble and loquacious in conversations and articulate arguments and discussions plied back and forth, penned expressions were not forthcoming from Maan-hadal, lately. Renowned Maan-hadal physicians and anthropologists, who have been engaged in exhaustive diagnostic assessment of Somaliland’s illnesses, deliberated the need for a reincarnated SNM for the second emancipation of this beleaguered people from the degrading hegemony of the recreated henchman of the notorious Siad Barre’s regime. In this piece, Maan-hadal would briefly ponder the state of health of Rayaale’s tyrannical regime. In 1997, the late Mohamed Ibrahim Egal handpicked Daahir Rayaale Kaahin as his new Vice President - a minion addition to his unwieldy and unpopular cabinet of Prima Donnas and mediocrities. He was sworn as a care-taker president after Egal’s death in South Africa on 3 May 2002. Rayaale won the presidential election held in 14 April 2003 with a margin of mere eighty votes. Rayaale’s election was clearly a protest vote against the Somali National Movement (SNM). As a resistance movement, the SNM had been successful in rallying the support of the populace against the repressive military regime. Notwithstanding its astounding feat in routing the unruly marauding forces of Siad Bare’s regime, the SNM tragically failed to come up with a viable political program to steer Somaliland towards the road to peace and recovery or to constitute a cohesive visionary leadership in the aftermath of the demise of the dictatorial regime. Taking advantage of the serious leadership deficiency that bedeviled the SNM, the remnants of the ousted regime and a jumbled assortment of cunning political prostitutes and crafty opportunists – locked in a marriage of convenience - took a firm hold of the newly-constituted authority. An apparent antithesis of the desired outcome of the peoples struggle for good governance Today Somaliland remains helplessly tethered and stifled under a tottering tyrannical regime that bore unmistakable resemblance to the one it ousted in 1991. Trampled human rights, brutal and corrupt dictatorship, rapid urbanization, economic stagnation, diplomatic isolation, environmental degradation, and abject poverty are triggering unsettling unease and anxiety, aggravating further the plight of the largely impoverished population. Ironically enough, the Somaliland administration has been commandeered by the remnants of the very regime with which the people had fought against it, gallantly. The high and mighty in present-day Somaliland administration, including the strongman - Daahir Rayaale Kaahin, and the all powerful minister of Interior - Abdillahi Ciro, were faithful stalwarts of the authoritarian regime that committed horrendous crimes against the people of Somaliland. Both were senior ranking officers of the feared and ubiquitous National Security Service (NSS) of Siad Barre’s regime which was modeled on another equally notorious secret police – the former East Germany’s Stasi. As devoted informants, both Rayaale and Ciro stayed clung to the dying regime of Barre till the end, hoping to administer the last rites to the dictator. Rayaale presides over a police state that routinely infringes on civil rights where the state of human rights continues to deteriorate at a rapid pace. His corrupt, repressive, and dysfunctional regime has the tendency to employ unsavory instruments to suppress dissent through kangaroo courts, press gags and detentions without trial. Rayaale and his large entourage of cohorts and cronies have not missed any opportunity to siphon off the locally generated meager revenue and stash the loot in foreign banks. They have demonstrated unrivalled ingenuity in exploiting the laws of the jungle to further their self-interest and detrimental hegemony in the most cynical way possible. A resurrected National Security Service (NSS) – the notorious and most despised instrument of oppression of the dethroned Barre’s dictatorial regime – has been recreated and unleashed to keep the unwary public under surveillance. Men with known passion for undercover work and the art of eavesdropping keep preying on the unsuspecting civilian population and of course, Maan-hadal. Similarly, the infamous Red Berets of Barre’s regime has been reincarnated to safeguard Rayaale’s tenacious grip to an increasingly unpopular and repressive power. The Rayaale administration regularly interferes and influences the performance of the judiciary system that persistently implements the Penal Code of the deposed regime. An omnipotent extrajudicial Security Committee – an exact replica of Siad Barre’s Guddiga Nabadgelyada, that comprises the Minister of Interior, the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Defense, the Commander of the Police, the Commander of the Armed Forces, the Governor, and the Mayor of Hargeisa, has the power to arrest citizens without court order and indefinitely. The Hargeisa Central Prison is overflowing with innocent persons arbitrarily detained by the unconstitutional Security Committee. The largely dilapidated cells are filthy and overcrowded while the communal pit latrines are full, oozing with foul smell. To satisfy Rayaale’s insatiable passion for punitive measures, the old Mandheera Prison has been designated as a detention facility for political prisoners. The prison population in Somaliland is increasing exponentially which may eventually force Rayaale to build more detention centers to lock up half the population, if the taxpayers could afford to foot the bill. Rayaale spared no one in his ignominious lust for incarcerations. Editors and journalists of the two prominent and widely-read newspapers in Somaliland, Haatuf and Jamhuuriya, are repeatedly arrested and intimidated with a view to silence and suppress the spirit of free speech. Rayaale has not spared even the most venerated religious Ulemas and eminent clan leaders from his unrestrained extrajudicial persecutions. A case in point is the humiliating treatment meted out to the prominent politician and traditional leader, Boqor Cusman Buur Madow, after aptly criticizing the belligerent policies of Rayaale towards the Sool and Sanaag regions. The latest victims of Rayaale’s coercive powers are non other than Dr. Mohamed Abdi Gabboose and Eng. Mohamed Hashi Elmi - two highly respected political luminaries with reputable track-records. Dr. Gabboose and Eng. Hashi together with Jamal Aideed, another prominent politician, were arrested and detained at Mandheera last week as prisoners of conscience, accused of forming an illegal political party. Would this incident herald the much-awaited coup de grace of the despotic regime? Somaliland is not strange to supreme ironies. Most of the innocent captives languishing in the overcrowded, untidy prison cells in Hargeisa and Mandheera are the yesterday’s heroes of the resistance war against the brutal dictatorship who spilled their blood for the cause of justice and freedom. With a new vicious dictatorship firmly implanted, history is repeating itself in Hargeisa today. How long would the people of Somaliland afford to tolerate the rule of the jungle and self-serving dictatorship? Lost in oblivion, the Somaliland intellectuals continue to maintain a stony silence on Rayaale’s unrelenting power abuse and human rights violations and their long-term ramifications on prevailing peace and stability and the delicate symbiotic relationships between the clans that commendably succeeded in burying the hatchet. For many intellectuals, healthy and constructive criticism towards Rayaale’s callous regime is a virtual taboo. Any justifiable sound criticism is erroneously feared to entail adverse effect on the quest for international recognition. Likewise, the threat of Rayaale using the ********** card- a unionist constituency prior to Rayaale’s ascent to power – perhaps terrifies the majority of the supporters of the secession option. The intellectuals are also losing sight of the downhill slippery slope that Somaliland is fatefully and gradually being propelled to. Alas, apathy and indifference are the order of the day. The best way forward for Somaliland is to unshackle itself from the yoke of dictatorship and solidify the pillars of democracy. Free press, independent trade unions and public accountability are sine qua non in ensuring the necessary checks and balances on arbitrary government. Certainly, Somaliland needs today the reincarnation of the SNM to liberate itself from the clutches of the re-born old tyrannical regime. By A. Du'ale Sii’arag, E-Mail: baxaal@yahoo.com WardheerNews Contributor at Large

The Addis Regime’s Killing & Pillaging Intensifies on the Somali Nationality in Ethiopia By Ahmed H. Haile August 5, 2007 Since the Zenawi regime’s crimes became an international news to its dismay, sane-minded people in different places had expressed a hope that the Ethiopian government would halt its genocidal policies which resulted in the brutal massacre of thousands of innocent civilians in different parts of the vast areas of the Somali Regional State and the torching of over 40 (forty) mini-towns and villages. The Ethiopian government has decided to put ruthless measures into execution through starvation. According to western reporters the Ethiopian regime has blockaded the whole region by banning the use of trade routes, and orders were issued to the military to fire upon or impound every type of transport no matter where it came from. The disclosure of the regime’s dehumanizing and sadistic policies throughout the country but especially more severe in the Somali regions has so far, only intensified its rage. It has refined and made its methods more violent and indiscriminate in their application against the innocent civilian society as demonstrated by its military action in the town of Qoriile, in the eastern region of Wardheer. As reported in that township a large number of the army came, rounded up the town’s entire inhabitants and strangulated to death 9 men including 8-year-old using wire-strings. They followed it with torching houses and buildings in this important centre; the water-point which is the sole source of drinkable water in the area both for the humans and livestock. They shot also a mother of several children even though, for a reason unfathomable to the hapless people, was wounded in the arm but still remained alive. Furthermore, warnings were issued verbally to the terrified residents not to remain there without telling them the rationale neither behind the cold-blooded killing or where they should go to live if evicted from their own piece of land. The provincial capital, Wardheer, as of now, is no different from a concentration camp with no one allowed to exit or draw water from in town and nearby water-wells. The latest ominous news relates the stationing of Ethiopian rag-tag army detachments around the major wells of Waaf Dhuug, Garloogube, Uubataale, Walwaal and others which are the main water source for the whole region. They were declared clandestinely off-limit to both the nomadic population and their livestock; life has become hellish beyond description. However, most appalling news emanating from the area involves the neighboring Qorrahay zone where Ethiopian military and political cadres (the ruling party’s goons) have held meetings with elders in the area ordering that they assemble their fellow clansmen’s entire livestock at Qorahay valley, something the elders balked and stated their inability to carry out. This was preceded by the machine-gunning of thousands of camels. The inference drawn from their actions and demand was that there is a decision to decimate the livestock population in order to further accentuate the already existing dismal poverty in the region; poverty caused by deliberate policies of underdevelopment, neglect and a status of second-class citizenship. The Ethiopian regime remains totally defiant to the valid criticism addressed to it by prominent members in the U.S. Congress on both sides of the isle in reaction to the deplorable condition existing in the Somali Regional State. The Congressmen requested from Zenawi’s government to lift the un-called-for food and trade blockade and the cessation of all abominable activities directed against the innocent civilian population. Rather than relenting to this reasonable pressure, the Addis-Ababa regime resorted instead to denials and the issuing of sinister and alarming statements. Mr. Berket Simon, The Prime Minister’s Senior Advisor (and perhaps his Ambassador-at-Large to confuse the international community), in an answer to a question posed to him in regard to the disaster in the Somali Regional State, is quoted as saying: “If the abusive treatment said to have been meted out to the population is true, then it would mean that we are instigating the people to rise against us.” He neither denied nor confirmed the government’s mistreatment of the civilians and the destruction of the basic structure of their existence. The Prime Minister, on his part, at a news-conference in Addis Ababa, had furiously and negatively reacted to the American Congressional concerns by stating: “The Ethiopian government is Not a Banana Republic to be Controlled from the Capitol Hill meaning the U.S. Congress Building. It is indeed a very surprising and a galling statement. It is a rejection of an advice from the very country that his nation relies on for economic and military assistance. The country that provided him a waiver of few months to enable Ethiopia to purchase heavy military hardware from, of all countries in the world, Communist North Korea which is listed as a promoter of terrorism and thus a rogue regime. The Meles Zenawi’s and Berket Simon’s sophistry and trickery can no longer be off radar but that the regime had out-foxed the U.S. in its diabolical scheme based on dictatorship and refusal to even acknowledge the plain truths relating to its ugly and heinous crimes against innocent citizens under their control. It is, luckily, a matter that can no longer be hidden under the blanket of “fighting terrorism” and the inventing of “scapegoats.” After the serious human rights violations by the regime were rightly uncovered by the reputable U.S. newspaper for the record, The New York Times, rather than rectifying its regrettable policies, the regime seems to have been thrown into tailspin and contradictions. Deviating from the international norms governing international relations, the Addis Ababa regime ordered a powerless Somali Regional State official to announce to the world the immediate expulsion of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Committee (ICRC) headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. The ICRC had proven its efficacy through out the world in either meeting or heading off both natural and man-made disasters at global scale. The reason for the expulsion of this renowned humanitarian organization and the others that were included on the expulsion list attests to the evil nature of the Zenawi regime. The regional official had no credential to announce the expulsion since the Federal Government is the one responsible to deal with foreign countries as well as the international humanitarian organization(NGOS). THE CHARGE THAT the ICRC was paying money to “our enemy” without identifying “that enemy” or providing anything that could substantiate the concocted accusation is ridiculous to say the least . The order had something to do with the regime’s determination to extirpate the civilian populace in a clandestine manner and therefore the “need to boot out foreign organizations’ staff” from the Somali State. Another part of the hidden agenda is to accelerate the killing-rate and the destruction of the limited structure that serve the society to survive. The Ethiopian regime’s actions are counter-productive in every sense of the word. The humanitarian agencies they are expelling are the very ones that every year come to its aid in the provision of food-stuff and medicine in Northern Ethiopia’s yearly food crisis. So, it is also biting the hands that feed it attending to the concerns of the miserable. It is a high time for the United States, as the world’s preeminent power with close ties to Ethiopia, to confront the manipulative machinations of the elements in power in Addis-Ababa by taking concrete steps tailored to forcing it to accepting the rule of law and fully adhere, in action, to the contents of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Whole and Not Selectively. This 1949 internationally passed principles is at variance and in speedy collision with particular reference to Article 1 (Right to Equality); Article 4 (Freedom from slavery - irrespective of color); article 5 (Freedom from torture and degrading treatment); article 6 (Right to Recognition as a Person Before the Law); article 19 (Freedom of Opinion & Information). Ethiopia has, in fact, been ignoring the charter whenever it chose The calamitous policies pursued by the current regime have a parallel in world history unless it is checked by force or by persuasion through economic, social military means if necessary. History books are replete with the names of Auschwitz, Dachau, Treblinka and many others where millions of innocent Jews were either gassed, shot or met death by starvation. These were ghastly concentration camps designed and set up by the Nazis to carry out what was called ‘Final Solution to the Jewish problem.’ The tragic events in the second war are a reality haunting the world conscience as of today. The Addis apparatus, while lacking the technological capability to exactly carry out a type of such human disaster, is without question engaged in destroying the long-abused and long-neglected people in that country. Ethiopia’s position runs counter to American values and doctrine when, as a result of above mentioned tragedy, had publicly stated its firm commitment to avert any second holocaust or something akin to it anywhere on the globe. Today’s U.S.-Ethiopian-partnership that has been going on for sometime should not eclipse its declared opposition to genocide. The friendship based on flimsy convenience must be subordinate to the higher principle and cherished values inherent in a democratic society. Despite the world’s attention and obsession with the situation in Darfur Region in Sudan where camel-riding men of Arab origin play havoc on the region’s population, the Ethiopian atrocities in the Somali-owned regions in Ethiopia are far greater in enormity, scale and in terms of potential consequences. The immediate intervention of the international community and the United States in such a noble enterprise is indeed a need that can longer wait any further. As a U.S. citizen originally from the Somali Region in Ethiopia, I am morally bound to speak out against Ethiopia’s campaign to annihilate the innocent civilian population in the Somali region; I am proud to live in a country where I can express my views freely and responsibly and do the best I can to bring the plight of the Somali population in Ethiopia to the attention of the American public and Administration. Ahmed Hussein Haile E-Mail:ahmed_haile@myway.com http://www.wardheernews.com/articles_07/august/05_Addis_Regime_Haile.html

It is hard to believe. We shall see things to unfold in the next coming days.

It is very difficult to copy with what we read and hear regarding the systematic atrocities of Ethiopian troops on the civilians in all Somali inhabited areas. Many agree that our Conflict-ridden Somalia in the Horn of Africa owed its existence to our lack of internal cohesion reducing our nation into this unfortunate predicament that quickly facilitated the current occupation. We aren’t the only country but many other countries in the Horn of Africa are stuck with both external and internal conflict. But I mull over what condition factors bring out the third world’s state behavior and its radical military actions. Without the least doubt, Ethiopia was made to perceive itself as a Christian Island in a Muslim Sea, and it has its range radar systems focused mainly on both Somalia, Eritrea, and the diverse ethnic groups that make up its nation, but its forced struggle to fuse all these diverse groups and form one national identity is still difficult to achieve except if it changes its behaviour and the same aggressive policies that brought its predecessors down.. The west and AU should pressure the Horn of African states to take action programs that address such unresolved internal problems whose fundamental resolution is forcing those states to engage in a genuine dialogue with their opposition groups or forcing them to implement democratic institutions like independent judiciary and free press. Therefore, African states must start working on evolutionary approach of regime change as opposed to the constant revolutionary approach that are known and seem to define their governments. But it is obvious from historical role and interference that external powers perpetrate the escalation of both inter-state and within-state conflicts with ulterior motives to engineer our society into its current social dislocation and fragmentation. Kebede notes this glaring fact in his Security and Conflict in the Horn of Africa paper “External powers still make capital out of the tensions and conflicts which plague the states of the Horn of Africa. They fuel the fire of conflict by supplying weapons or support services, thus perpetuating the vicious circle in which local or regional instability brings about external powers’ interference which, in turn, increases instability (Chege, 1987).” http://diplomacymonitor.com/stu/dm.nsf/dn/dn181E3C6F43CC9DD2852572F7003C2D7F In the name of regional security, Ethiopia as well as many emerging African states have been forced to misplace many priorities of equal resource allocation and public services yet purchase sophisticated weapons for their own internal and external defense strategy, thus repeated vicious cycle of violence , intimidation, state terror on its citizens as long as the means justify the end—holding and maintaining power. However, we all know that Somalia with self-inflicted wounds presented lost opportunity for the United States and its chief client state to invade and illegally occupy. Viewing Somalia as a heaven for militant groups and a place suitable for subversive activities that can result in security challenges for Ethiopia and Kenya, invasion was inevitable, partly to deflect criticism of rising internal discontent for the former. Eritrea is also part of conflict through its sponsoring of inter-state subversive activities as a means to thwart potential insecurity challenges from both external and internal disruptions. An old edition of New York Times(1963) lit gleaming light on the complicated issues of Ethiopia and Somalia as countries that cannot coexist as two sovereign countries peacefully. “Ethiopians consider that , for their own safety, the entire seaboard of the horn of Africa should belong to them. They were invaded twice from the sea. They still remember the Italian occupation of 1935-41. They are not sure that the United Nations could restrain a united Somalia from aggression”

WardheerNews Editorial July 28 , 2007 While much of the world has focused its attention on Iraq, Afghanistan and Darfur, the lives of millions of battered Somalis are in danger of being permanently eclipsed. In the past three months, the Ethiopian government unleashed inhumane and brutal collective punishment against its own Somali population in the Somali region of Ethiopia. The government of Meles Zenawi ordered the implementation of a range of officially-orchestrated repressive and intimidating measures intended to terrorize the entire population in the Somali region of Ethiopia, although the worsening of the condition in the region was triggered by an assault of the ****** National Liberation Front (ONLF) on a Chinese oil exploration site that left 74 dead, including nine Chinese oil workers in April. The Ethiopian government has been fighting this pro-independence insurgency since early 1990s. State induced large scale starvation and other atrocities intended to inflict fear, terror and widespread displacement is jeopardizing the lives of an entire population encircled by undisciplined marauding Ethiopian military forces. Unabated terror reigns supreme as a result. Ethiopian troops, for example, mounted total blockage through a web of extensive roadblocks and checkpoints to stop all vehicular traffic, movement of commercial goods and population between the major towns with a view to impose economic strangulation that is likely to generate unprecedented large scale man-made famine. A Western humanitarian official talking to New York Times has aptly stated that “It’s a starve-out-the-population strategy. If something isn’t done on the diplomatic front soon, we’re going to have a government-caused famine on our hands.” The Somali region has already been experiencing rampant poverty, political and social injustices and chronic food shortages brought about by drought and limited agricultural activity prior to the current Ethiopian government imposed blockade to emergency food aid and choking of trade flows. Aggravating further the prevailing food and medical shortages, the Ethiopia government continues to forbid the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Somali region. Aid agencies, journalist and representatives of human rights groups are barred from traveling to the beleaguered region. In the past several months, the government forces have manifestly committed gross human rights abuses with impunity, including widespread gang-raping of women and pillage, torture, arbitrary arrest and detention of thousands of persons, disappearances, and burning of entire settlements and blocking of access to water wells for both the civilian population and their livestock. Thousands of villagers were forcibly displaced in what constitutes a tragic case of an all out ethnic cleansing. “Ethiopian troops are destroying villages and property, confiscating livestock and forcing civilians to relocate,” said Peter Takirambudde, Africa director of Human Rights Watch. “Whatever the military strategy behind them, these abuses violate the laws of war.” Civilian population in the major towns and cities has been stifled, harassed, and persecuted. Thousands of business traders, clan elders, politicians, students and women, perceived as dissidents were arrested and subjected to physical beatings and torture and thrown into illegal military punishment camps that notoriously resemble the Soviet Gulags. “Witnesses described Ethiopian troops burning homes and property, including the recent harvest and other food stocks intended for the civilian population, confiscating livestock and, in a few cases, firing upon and killing fleeing civilians” states a recent report of Human Rights Watch titled Ethiopia: Crackdown in East Punishes Civilians. Just this week, Mr. Abdullahi Hassan “Lug Buur,” the president of the largely dysfunctional Somali Regional State of Ethiopia - an acolyte of the Ethiopian government, had announced the expulsion of ICRC, the Swiss-based Red Cross, from the region. ICRC was the sole provider of health care in many parts of the state. Mr. Lug Buur accused ICRC, as he put it, of siding with “our enemy”. Furthermore the eastern provincial capital of Wardheer is now totally under quarantine with the military prohibiting even the use of water points, causing thousands to flee the city and outlying villages in the region. Similar human rights violations and all out atrocities have been perpetuated by previous Ethiopian regimes against the Somalis in this region (e.g., Aisha, Qorahay, Jigjiga Plains and Ina Guuxa in 1963) who have time and again expressed their intent for independence from Ethiopian rule. Like his predecessors, Meles wants to keep Somalis weak and divided. Emboldened by his recent conquest of Somalia, Meles is determined to turn into an Ethiopian sphere of influence the entire Somali inhabited regions in the Horn of Africa. The Western countries lip-sealing silence towards ongoing Ethiopia’s atrocities in the Somali region is indicative of West’s indifference to the plight of beleaguered civilians. The ongoing officially-orchestrated collective punishment in the Somali region of Ethiopia would only breed more hostilities and increased Somalis dissension towards the Muslim dominated but Christian ruled Ethiopia. WardheerNews would call upon the West to step up its efforts to have Mr. Zenawi restrained in his massive blockade of the region and ill-treatment of his own population and let humanitarian assistance reach the innocent civilians in the region. We also welcome Senator Patrick Laheay’s effort to stop all bilateral aid to Ethiopia and have Mr. Zenawi be accountable for his actions. Source: http://www.wardheernews.com/Editorial/editorial_42.html

Dagaal ka dhacay deegaanka Far-Shabeelo oo xiga dhanka Buraan iyo Dhahar oo ay iskaga hor yimaadeen ciidanka la dagaalanka Xaalufinta degmada Dhahar iyo Qowlaysato kasoo jeeda deegaanka Qardho iyo Bariga fog. Source: Dhahar

Troops loyal to the Puntland attempted to penetrate deep into places like Buraan in Sanaag for illegal production of charcoal. They machine-gunned one elderly nomad near the area after questioning who they were because of local awareness of environmental degradation raised by efforts of community initiatives and International NGOs. The elderly nomad, riddled with bullets and bleeding profusely, was taken to a hospital in Dhahar and was reported to be in life-threatening condition. Then, a Committee of elders along with the officials from the regional administration(Currently set up and named after the historic name of the region MAKHIR met and decided to immediately intervene by sending peace delegates and local troops served as on guard. They were again fired back from a distant sight without getting to heed the white flags raised by the elders. As a result, four of the Intruders from the outlaying settlements of Bari were killed on the scene and one technical was captured from them. Now the situation is intense and is on the brink of another clash for the simple reason that there are circulating reports that the defeated intruders are embarking on a retaliatory comeback. Despite the fact that there had been lobbying and advocacy efforts against the charcoal trade, the militia of Puntland, now self-clustered based on clan affiliation, are engaged in large number charcoal production and trade as a source of income for their livelihoods.

US, Ethiopia accused over Somalia By Mark Turner at the United Nations and Barney Jopson in Kenya Published: July 27 2007 18:01 | Last updated: July 27 2007 18:01 Ethiopia is accused of killing civilians with white phosphorus bombs, the US navy of attacking suspected al-Qaeda operatives in Puntland, and Eritrea of delivering surface-to-air missiles to Islamist militia, in a startling new report on Somalia by UN arms monitors. Warning that the number of weapons in Somalia now exceeds that during the early 1990s, when the failed East African state was engulfed in civil war, the UN monitoring group describes persistent instability in which anti-government Islamist forces are far from a spent force, and former warlords are reasserting themselves. From late last year to mid-June, the UN analysts – whose previous report courted significant controversy with its contested claims of weapons and personnel flows between Somalia and the Middle East – conclude that an Ethiopian invasion and African Union peacekeepers have failed to stop massive arms flows into the country. Furthermore, the latest period has witnessed a “drastic increase” in piracy off the Somali coast, and “pirate command centres” are operating “without hindrance” at many coastal landing points. “In brief, Somalia is awash with arms,” the report says. “There is no clearly established authority that has the capability of exercising control over a majority (of the weapons).” Some of the most dramatic claims implicate Ethiopia and Eritrea, who are believed to be conducting a proxy war in the country, through their respective backing of the transitional government and Islamist and clan-based militia. During a battle on April 13 between the Ethiopian military, which remains in the country, and the Shabaab, elite forces from the Islamic Courts Union, “Ethiopian military forces resorted to using white phosphorus bombs … approximately 15 Shabaab fighters and 35 civilians were killed.” Ethiopia denies the claims, saying it does not possess such weapons. The monitoring group obtained pictures of the area of impact of the bombs, and a soil sample analysed in Nairobi was consistent with their use. Meanwhile, despite its conventional defeat by Ethiopia in December 2006-January 2007, the Islamic Courts Union has switched to guerilla and terrorist tactics, including suicide attacks and targeted assassinations. Recent arms seizures by the government “represent only a small fraction of the total arms belonging to and hidden by the Shabaab”. Shabaab fighters shot down a Belarussian cargo plane in late March 2007 with an SA-18 surface to air missile, “reported to be a part of a consignment of six SA-18s that had been delivered by Eritrea”. The monitoring group has a video of the firing of the missile. Eritrea has denied involvement. The monitors also say they received reports that on June 1 this year, the US Navy “attacked by firing several times at suspected al-Qaeda operatives near the coastal village of Bargal, Puntland, Somalia.” When questioned, the US government said it had “conducted several strikes in self-defence against al-Qaeda terrorist targets in Somalia”. Also of concern is the panel’s finding that “warlords are now among the most important buyers of arms at the Bakaraaha arms markets”, in Mogadishu, “and are trying to regain control over their former fiefdoms (which they lost to the ICU in 2006).” “The warlords are currently trying to reconstitute and arm their respective militias, some of which consist of as many as 500 fighters.” Separately, a long-awaited peace conference has entered its second week in Mogadishu as organisers seek to reconcile the country’s myriad clans, political factions and former warlords. But its success is likely to be hampered by the absence of two key constituencies: representatives of the the Islamic Courts Union and the powerful ****** clan. They refused to attend in protest against the continued presence of Ethiopian troops in the country and the interim government’s perceived lack of willingness to engage with its opponents. Source: The Financial Times

A new report by the U.N arms monitoring concluded that a small soil sample taken from the area of impact analyzed in Nairobi was said to have been consistent with the accusation that Ethiopia used WP against residents in Mogadisho. For the first time since 1991, the Report also found Somalia is awash with arms, predicting chronic and continuous instability. Also important in the report is the new movement of the warlords in reasserting themselves and seeking to regain their lost fiefdoms and control. "“warlords are now among the most important buyers of arms at the Bakaraaha arms markets," the Report states it. We are on the path of extremely dangerous road.

Is the UN going the way of the League of Nations? An illegal occupation and a silent world can only enhance Somalia’s Devolution By Ali H. Abdulla July 26 2007 With indifference, the world watches Somalia’s ongoing catastrophic slide towards a devastating civil war, and turns deaf ears to the cries of millions of Somalis as they cling precariously to dear life and anxiously wait for world attention while living in squalor under trees for whose shelter they often have to pay. Thousands more risk their lives in wooden boats to escape the inferno engulfing their country. The actual winners in the recent illegal and brutal Ethiopian invasion of Somalia are the warlords who have been presented to the world as a legitimate transitional government. The reality is that these same warlords have systematically and brutally destroyed Somalia and rendered it hell on earth for the past 15 years. The illegal invasion rewards them handsomely instead of prosecuting them for the war crimes that they had committed against their own people and country. Since the collapse of the Somali State, Ethiopia has consistently armed Somalia’s warlords in order to sustain and prolong Somalia’s civil war. Through it all, the killing and torture of innocent civilians, rape of women, starvation of children and the total chaos in Somalia have continued unabated. Ethiopia’s illegal invasion of Somalia is a gross violation of Somalia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and opens a new and ugly chapter for the United Nations and the African Union. Under the occupation, Somalia is bound to remain unstable, and her people unable to reconcile. The presence of Ethiopian troops on Somali soil is cause for aggravated resentment and hostility among the Somali people against their Ethiopian neighbors. It is in fact hard to fathom the silence of the International Community and their inability to condemn the invasion, which to Somalis is equivalent to the invasion of Ethiopia by Fascist Italy in 1935. The reaction of the UN and AU to the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia is similar to the reaction of the League of Nations to the Italian invasion. The acrimonious and bloody history between Somalia and Ethiopia alone should make it clear to all concerned that this invasion can only lead to a sharp escalation of Somalia’s plight and to the worsening of future relations between the two countries. Ethiopia’s historical role By arming the different warlords and using them to divide Somalia into fiefdoms that pose no threat to its expansionist policies, Ethiopia played a major role in bringing chaos and anarchy to Somalia during the reign of Mengistu and a bigger role in sustaining the anarchy during the reign of Zenawi. Even well before the current invasion, Ethiopia constantly violated the territorial integrity of Somalia by sending its troops across the border to hunt for suspected opponents of Znawi's dictatorial rule and to punish Somali villagers for allegedly giving sanctuary to these opponents. The atrocities committed in many Somali villages across the border from Ethiopia in the years of 1996 and 1997 attest to these illegal and brutal incursions. In geopolitical terms, landlocked Ethiopia has always perceived Somalia as a potential outlet to the sea. Imam Ahmad Gurey’s heroic campaigns of the early 16th century were an attempt to defend Somali territories and frustrate Abyssinian designs. In the late 19th century, Ethiopia collaborated with European powers to divide Somali territory, a process that continued through the mid 20th century and culminated in the illegal British handover of the Somali Hawd and Reserved Area to Ethiopia. For a few decades, it seemed that Ethiopia’s annexation of Eritrea and with it the major Red Sea ports of Assab and Massawa had put its eastward expansion into Somalia on hold. But Eritrea’s independence was nothing short of a disastrous blow to Ethiopia and its quest for dominance in the Horn of Africa. What was a blessing for Eritrea, however, was indirectly a misfortune for Somalia, for the bully of the Horn could only turn east, where collapsed Somalia lay ripe for the taking. Zenawi probably wants to rectify the shortsightedness portrayed by his predecessor Menleik when the latter rejected the British offer of exchanging the port of Zeila for the Hawd and Reserved area. This would have given Ethiopia direct access to the sea and allowed it to play an even bigger role in the affairs of the region. What Menelik could not achieve in his lifetime with British collaboration, Zenawi covets with military might and the collaboration of Somali puppets. Future ramification of the invasion and occupation A sovereign nation’s invasion by its neighbor has a far reaching ramification for both the invaded and the invading country. A current and clear example is the murky relationship between Syria and Lebanon as a result of Syrian intervention in the Lebanese crisis with the blessing of the Arab League. The consequences of that supposedly benign intervention became more visible with the 2005 forced eviction of Syria from the Lebanon. The Lebanese society has become polarized into pro-Syria and anti-Syria camps, which threatens the very fabric of the Lebanese society. Because of that polarization, Lebanon today is on the brink of a devastating civil war. In a similar fashion, Somali nationalists who oppose the Ethiopian invasion will always clash with those loyal to Ethiopia, leading to more bloodshed and more anarchy in Somalia. Making things even worse, Ethiopia will have in its satellite enclaves inside Somalia, which remain more devoted to Ethiopia than to Somalia, a sure weapon to keep Somalia weak, fragmented, and above all in bloody turmoil. Nothing serves Ethiopia better than a feeble Somalia dependent upon the good graces of Ethiopia for survival. The counter argument that Ethiopia is just too destitute and too stretched to effectively dominate Somalia misses the point given the fact that a superpower has opted to bankroll its misadventures. In the final analysis, the latest chapter in the saga of the Somali tragedy is a concurrence of an age-old Ethiopian interest in Somali territories and a misguided use of American might, which can only make Ethiopian dominance over Somalia a dreadful reality unless its people unite and stand-up to the aggressors. The Transitional Federal Government (TFG) As for the TFG and its role in this debacle, the verdict should not be in doubt. After its shameful collaboration with Somalia’s historical enemy, the Karzi style government has no credibility and lacks the support of the Somali people. The TFG which condoned the bombing of the very same people it is supposed to protect does not deserve to stay in power, and cannot be expected to bring back stability to Somalia. Legitimate questions must be raised as to its role in the cold blooded murder of the many innocent young Somalis and herdsmen by US jets that violated Somali Airspace. The cold blooded murder of innocent Somalis for the sake of a few wanted phantom radicals did not justify the crime. Both the TFG president and his Prime Minister are clients of the Ethiopian government and cannot be expected to be loyal to the Somali people. The TFG lacked legitimacy even before entering Mogadishu in Ethiopian tanks since half of the country opted to stay away from the Warlord dominated body. Those of us who see the TFG as the only solution should revise their stand and look with open eyes at the current situation. Warlords control the most important posts in the city of Mogadishu: office of the mayor, chief of the police and many other sensitive posts. A festering wound cannot be healed with an infected bandage. These individuals carry a dangerous virus that can only devour Somalia in the end. At the same time, there are elements in the Somali society who benefit from the continuous chaos in the country and spoil any attempts to form a viable government. Ordinary Somalis are caught in the middle of these spoilers and the Ethiopian backed warlords both of which are detrimental to their existence and progress. The role of the International Community The International community cannot afford to watch with indifference as Somalia slides into an unpredictable future that can only add instability to the region and exasperate a bad situation. Recent events in the southern port city of Kismayo and the resurgence of Piracy along Somali shores are testaments to the inability of the TFG and its Ethiopian backers to pacify Somalia. The AU, the UN and the Arab League have to play their proper role in Somalia and fulfill their obligations towards a member state. Some of the actions that they can undertake are: The speedy deployment of acceptable neutral peace-keepers after consultation with all the stakeholders regarding the composition and mandate of these forces. The immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Ethiopian forces from Somali after the deployment of the neutral forces. The convening of an all-inclusive reconciliation conference that is free from the interference and influence of regional countries such as Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Kenya. The conference should be held inside Somalia’s more stable cities such as Hargeisa and Garowe. The establishment of a Government of National Unity to prepare the country for free and fair elections. The establishment of an international tribunal to investigate the atrocities committed by the Ethiopian military, US special forces and the TFG soldiers against Innocent civilians The ongoing National Reconciliation Conference has been boycotted by the opposition and runs the risk of failing to achieve its purported goal. The conference can be salvaged by moving its venue to a location that is not under the occupation of Ethiopian forces. The perfect venue for the conference, in my humble opinion, is the city of Hargeisa, capital of Northern Somalia. It is not under the direct control of Ethiopia and can be safe for those opposing the TFG. Hargeisa was the first Somali city to raise the blue flag and many of its sons fought and died in the battles of Godey and karamardha in the 1977 war between Somalia and Ethiopia. It can most probably replay its historical role in uniting Somalia again and help its people get rid of the Warlords and their Ethiopian backers. Will the secessionist minded Somaliland politicians rise up to the occasion and safe Somalia like their ancestors did or continue to collaborate with Ethiopia indirectly to divide Somalia and its people? Ali H. Abdulla aliegeh@gmail.com Wardheernews.com

Sad Sad story. Many scholars have spoke out against this repressive adminstration and its wicked leaders who are now feasting on the blood of the people. Read Puntland on Life Support Part II http://wardheernews.com/articles_07/July/16_Puntland_Salah_Fatah.html Quote:- Puntland can not and should not be allowed any more to be run like a personal flea market. By now, even the most ardent supporters of the present administration, whose motto has been, Ilaahow Cadde Muse Xoolo sii aan ka xoogsannee, must come to terms with the dire and desperate conditions their fellow Puntlanders are burdened with and muster the courage to take the drastic measures this situation calls for.[/b] The author is refering to the specific clan of the governor of Puntland who are burdened with the same desperate conditions that he tasted on the people of Sanaag. Corruption in Puntland http://wardheernews.com/articles_07/July/18_Corruption_in_Puntland.html

The name of the region is censored in this site. You should be able to read the plight of this region from this current article featured today on NYtimes. Ethiopia Is Said to Block Food to Rebel Region July 22/07 Sunday NYtimes Villagers in the ****** recently counted sacks of grain while rebel fighters watched. The government is accused of blocking food aid to the region. NAIROBI, Kenya, July 21 — The Ethiopian government is blockading emergency food aid and choking off trade to large swaths of a remote region in the eastern part of the country that is home to a rebel force, putting hundreds of thousands of people at risk of starvation, Western diplomats and humanitarian officials say. The Ethiopian military and its proxy militias have also been siphoning off millions of dollars in international food aid and using a United Nations polio eradication program to funnel money to their fighters, according to relief officials, former Ethiopian government administrators and a member of the Ethiopian Parliament who defected to Germany last month to protest the government’s actions. The blockade takes aim at the heart of the Oggaden region, a vast desert on the Somali border where the government is struggling against a growing rebellion and where government soldiers have been accused by human rights groups of widespread brutality. Jeffrey Gettleman/The New York Times Jemal Dirie Kalif, above, in Germany, was a member of Ethiopia’s Parliament who defected to protest the government actions. Humanitarian officials say the ban on aid convoys and commercial traffic, intended to squeeze the rebels and dry up their bases of support, has sent food prices skyrocketing and disrupted trade routes, preventing the nomads who live there from selling their livestock. Hundreds of thousands of people are now sealed off in a desiccated, unforgiving landscape that is difficult to survive in even in the best of times. “Food cannot get in,” said Mohammed Diab, the director of the United Nations World Food Program in Ethiopia.

The name of the region is censored in this site. You should be able to read the plight of this region from this currentarticle featured today on NYtimes. Ethiopia Is Said to Block Food to Rebel Region July 22/07 Sunday NYtimes Villagers in the ****** recently counted sacks of grain while rebel fighters watched. The government is accused of blocking food aid to the region. NAIROBI, Kenya, July 21 — The Ethiopian government is blockading emergency food aid and choking off trade to large swaths of a remote region in the eastern part of the country that is home to a rebel force, putting hundreds of thousands of people at risk of starvation, Western diplomats and humanitarian officials say. The Ethiopian military and its proxy militias have also been siphoning off millions of dollars in international food aid and using a United Nations polio eradication program to funnel money to their fighters, according to relief officials, former Ethiopian government administrators and a member of the Ethiopian Parliament who defected to Germany last month to protest the government’s actions. The blockade takes aim at the heart of the Oggaden region, a vast desert on the Somali border where the government is struggling against a growing rebellion and where government soldiers have been accused by human rights groups of widespread brutality. Jeffrey Gettleman/The New York Times Jemal Dirie Kalif, above, in Germany, was a member of Ethiopia’s Parliament who defected to protest the government actions. Humanitarian officials say the ban on aid convoys and commercial traffic, intended to squeeze the rebels and dry up their bases of support, has sent food prices skyrocketing and disrupted trade routes, preventing the nomads who live there from selling their livestock. Hundreds of thousands of people are now sealed off in a desiccated, unforgiving landscape that is difficult to survive in even in the best of times. “Food cannot get in,” said Mohammed Diab, the director of the United Nations World Food Program in Ethiopia. Hundreds of thousands of people may face famine in the ******. The Ethiopian government says the blockade covers only strategic locations, and is meant to prevent guns and matériel from reaching the ****** National Liberation Front, the rebel force that the government considers a terrorist group. In April, the rebels killed more than 60 Ethiopian guards and Chinese workers at a Chinese-run oil field in the ******. “This is not a government which punishes its people,” said Nur Abdi Mohammed, a government spokesman. But Western diplomats have been urging Ethiopian officials to lift the blockade, arguing that the many people in the area are running out of time. “It’s a starve-out-the-population strategy,” said one Western humanitarian official, who did not want to be quoted by name because he feared reprisals against aid workers. “If something isn’t done on the diplomatic front soon, we’re going to have a government-caused famine on our hands.” The blockade, which involves soldiers and military trucks cutting off the few roads into the central ******, comes as Congress is increasingly concerned about Ethiopia’s human rights record. Ethiopia is a close American ally and a key partner in America’s counterterrorism efforts in the Horn of Africa, a region that has become a breeding ground for Islamic militants, many of whom have threatened to wage a holy war against Ethiopia. The country receives nearly half a billion dollars in American aid each year, but this week, a House subcommittee passed a bill that would put strict conditions on some of that aid and ban Ethiopian officials linked to rights abuses from entering the United States. The House also recently passed an amendment, sponsored by J. Randy Forbes, a Virginia Republican, that stripped Ethiopia of $3 million in assistance to “send a strong message that if they don’t wake up and pay attention, more money will be cut,” Mr. Forbes said. Ethiopia’s pardon on Friday of 30 political prisoners who had been sentenced to life in prison could ease some criticism. But Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, is pushing ahead with measures to more closely vet assistance to the Ethiopian military. According to human rights groups and firsthand accounts, government troops have gang raped women, burned down huts and killed civilians. American officials in Ethiopia said they were trying to investigate the situation but that the ****** was too dangerous right now for a fact-finding mission. American officials said they had heard persistent reports of burned villages and that the blockade was putting the area on the cusp of a crisis. Villagers say that anyone who criticizes the government risks getting killed. According to ****** Online, a Canadian-based news service that has been highly critical of the Ethiopian government and covers the region through a network of reporters and contributors, some equipped with satellite phones, four young men who were videotaped by The New York Times at a community meeting in an ****** village in May were later tortured and executed. The claim could not be fully verified independently, but their identities may have been discovered by Ethiopian soldiers who had arrested three journalists for The Times in the ****** and confiscated their notebooks, cameras and computers. “The army is out of control,” said Jemal Dirie Kalif, the member of Parliament who defected. The blockade has been in place since early June, and thousands of people have already fled on foot and by camel. Two weeks ago, Abdullahi Mohammed, a 17-year-old student, walked from his village deep in the ****** to the nearest town with a bus station. He carried with him a few pieces of bread. He said that when he stopped to ask villagers in the ****** for food, they asked him for some instead. “They had nothing,” he said. Though good rains this year have fed the few crops in the area and provided a little cushion, “The most these people can last without facing serious problems is one month, maybe two,” said David Throp, country director for Save the Children UK. Even if relief trucks are allowed in to all the critical areas, the food might not reach the people who need it. According to humanitarian workers and several former Ethiopian officials, including Mr. Kalif, food aid is embezzled in two stages. First, soldiers skim sacks of grain, tins of vegetable oil and bricks of high-energy biscuits from food warehouses to sell at local markets. “The cash is distributed among security officers and regional officers,” a former government administrator from the ****** region said in a recent telephone interview on condition of anonymity because he still works with government officials. Then the remaining food is hauled out to rural areas where the soldiers divert part of it to local gunmen and informers as a reward for helping them fight the rebels. The former administrator said he also knew of specific cases in which army officers stole food from warehouses and gave it to the families of women whom their soldiers had raped, as compensation. Several Western humanitarian officials estimated that 20 to 30 percent of the donor countries’ food aid to the ****** — aid that last year was valued at more than $70 million — routinely disappears this way. To cover their tracks, the soldiers and the government administrators who work with them tell the aid agencies that the food has spoiled, or has been stolen or hijacked by the rebels, humanitarian officials said. Relief workers in Ethiopia have known about these problems for several years, a humanitarian official said, and have tried to set up committees of local elders to oversee distribution. But that did not work either, and aid officials eventually concluded that as long as the majority of the food was getting through, they would not stop the shipments. When informed about these allegations, Mr. Diab of the World Food Program said, “This is the first I’ve heard of them.” Mr. Mohammed, the government spokesman, denied that Ethiopian troops were pilfering or mishandling foreign aid. “We don’t do that,” he said. As the food crisis looms, Western diplomats are also concerned about a separate plan by the regional government in the ****** to divert a share of its own budget for development projects — like schools and farming — to the Ethiopian military. This seems to be part of the Ethiopian government’s strategy to do whatever it takes to crush the rebels, who have deep popular support and, according to the government, are getting arms and training from neighboring Eritrea, Ethiopia’s bitter enemy. The people of the ****** are mostly Somalis and ethnically distinct from the highland Ethiopians who have ruled the country for centuries, and the long battle over the region has been steadily escalating this year. The country director of one Western aid agency, who recently returned from a field visit there, said he saw two villages that had been burned to the ground and several schools that had been converted into military bases, with foxholes. Humanitarian officials say the military is building up militias and setting the stage for clan-based bloodshed. The rank and file of the ****** National Liberation Front tend to be members of the ****** clan, and so the government has turned to other clans to form anti-rebel militias. In the past few weeks, thousands of men have been armed. “Those Ethiopians are smart,” Mr. Kalif, 32, said. “They know Somalis are more loyal to clans than anything else.” Tactics like these, he said, drove him to defect June 20 while attending a conference in Wiesbaden, Germany. He was affiliated with the ruling party, and had been representing an area in the eastern ****** for the past seven years. He described a scheme with a United Nations polio program, which was corroborated by two former administrators in the Ethiopian government and a Western humanitarian official, in which military commanders gave prized jobs as vaccinators to militia fighters, and in the end, much of the polio vaccine was never distributed. “Army commanders are using the polio money to pay their people, who don’t pass out the vaccines, so the disease continues and the payments continue,” said Mr. Kalif. “It’s the perfect system.” United Nations officials in Geneva said they did not know whether that was happening, but that they would investigate. When asked how he knew about the polio scheme, Mr. Kalif said: “Everybody out there knows. They’re just too scared to talk.” “If I don’t get asylum and they send me back to my country, I’m dead,” he added. “But I was sick of being a parrot. I have no regrets.” Will Connors contributed reporting from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

July 19, 2007 On July 15, the long awaited, thrice delayed and seriously compromised National Reconciliation Conference (N.R.C.) -- aimed at beginning to resolve Somalia's multiple conflicts -- was kicked off, only to be abruptly adjourned, as eight mortar rounds were fired at the meeting's venue, a refurbished former police garage in the country's official capital Mogadishu. The chair of the commission that organized the conference, Ali Mahdi Mohamed, said the adjournment was due to the fact that only half of the 1,325 anticipated delegates had arrived; local and international media, however, traced it to the mortar attacks. The conference is scheduled to reopen on July 19. The N.R.C. is the brainchild of Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, the president of Somalia's weak Transitional Federal Government (T.F.G.), which was pressured by international donor powers -- the United States, Western European states, the European Union and the United Nations -- to initiate an inclusive reconciliation process in the wake of the Ethiopian intervention in Somalia in December 2006 that ousted the Islamic Courts Council (I.C.C.) from its control over most of the country south of the semi-autonomous sub-state of Puntland. Addis Ababa had acted in the belief that its intervention would establish the T.F.G. as a pliant authority and eliminate a perceived Islamist threat, but its result was the emergence of a multi-faceted political and armed resistance against the Ethiopian occupiers and the T.F.G. Although the donor powers, particularly Washington, were pleased to see the Courts movement, which sought to create an Islamic state in Somalia based on Shari'a law, defeated, they were appalled by the resulting instability, which threatened to drive Somalia back into the chaotic statelessness that had prevailed there before the rise of the Courts movement. Their preferred solution was an inclusive reconciliation process, held under their supervision, that would bring together the T.F.G. and its non-violent political oppositions in a dialogue that would isolate the Islamist insurgency and pave the way for a national accord. The T.F.G. executive saw the donors' plan, which would eventuate in its sharing power with the oppositions, as a threat to its interests in preserving its control of formal institutions and the perquisites that went along with it. Yusuf responded to international pressure by devising an alternative plan: a conference that would be organized by a T.F.G.-appointed committee and would be based on clan membership and representation rather than on political divisions, would not be mediated by external actors, and would exclude bargaining over the structure of the T.F.G. or its personnel. The donor powers reacted coolly to Yusuf's version of reconciliation, but they were unwilling to impose their plan on him and confined themselves to repeated appeals for "inclusiveness," which were not heeded. Trapped by their decision to support the T.F.G. as Somalia's legitimate authority despite its weakness, unpopularity and dependence for its existence on the Ethiopian occupation, the donor powers acquiesced in the N.R.C. Yusuf had scored a decisive tactical victory, having finessed the external actors. During the month since PINR released its last report on Somalia, the country's politics has been dominated by the run-up to the N.R.C. On the ground, violent attacks on Ethiopian forces and T.F.G. militias, including mortar fire, targeted assassinations of officials, roadside bombings, shoot-outs and grenade assaults, have been a daily occurrence. In response, the Ethiopian and T.F.G. forces have engaged in indiscriminate return fire, imposition of a curfew, intensive weapons searches, arrests of suspected insurgents and their supporters, and raids on media houses, civil society organizations, mosques, businesses and schools -- all in an attempt to secure Mogadishu ahead of the N.R.C. On the political front, the T.F.G.'s opponents have continued their process of coalescing into a bloc and have refused to participate in the N.R.C. through their clans. The run-up to the N.R.C. and its truncated opening confirm PINR's consistent assessment since the Ethiopian intervention that Somalia has entered a devolutionary cycle marked by regional, local and clan fragmentation, with the addition of political and ideological divisions, and a revolutionary Islamist insurgency. The T.F.G., which admits that it needs external financial, military and diplomatic support to survive, might have scored a tactical success in evading serious negotiations on power-sharing, but in the long run it has only bought some time in a deteriorating situation. The Basic Situation Even if the N.R.C. restarts and runs through its projected 45-day course, it will be compromised from the outset by Somalia's devolutionary cycle. The most incisive analysis of the country's political situation during the past month appeared in an interview published by the International Committee of the Red Cross (I.C.R.C.) with the head of its delegation for Somalia, Pascal Hundt, who reported that the country is so insecure that "no really effective [humanitarian] action is possible, whether with regard to protection or detention." Hundt observed that the "new phenomenon of insurrection" had rendered a military solution to Somalia's conflicts impossible, leaving only the possibility of a political accord, and concluded that "the solution has to come from the Somalis themselves with massive and unified support from the international community." He was unwilling to predict any outcomes. In his most telling comment, Hundt said that he had trouble "understanding the complex, varied and ever-changing chains of command" among the contending groups in Somalia -- a precise characterization of the volatility that characterizes devolution and fragmentation. The I.C.R.C.'s judgments are in line with those of PINR. When there is a power vacuum, as there would be in Somalia were Ethiopian forces not filling it temporarily, uneasily and imperfectly, there is a retreat to more primary solidarities. The absence of regularized relations among the sub-groups leads to incipient conflicts that break out sporadically or chronically. In the general condition of instability, the balance of power continually shifts, prompting leaders of sub-groups to switch allegiances in response to short-term calculations of advantage. Even when the conflicts become aggregated and polarized, the contending sides are divided internally, rendering long-term stability problematic and compromises tenuous. As the devolutionary cycle in Somalia deepens, the conditions for successful reconciliation become far more difficult to meet. In the absence of "massive and unified support" from external actors, which has not been forthcoming and is unlikely to be provided, fragmentation proliferates and polarized opponents become more unwilling to compromise. As a tactic contrived in response to the pressure of donor powers that is aimed at avoiding a political solution, the N.R.C. does as much or more to exacerbate devolution as it might conceivably do to arrest and reverse it. The Players Take Their Positions Put in the bluntest terms -- and they are justified -- the N.R.C. is a nuanced yet simple power play by the T.F.G. executive to maintain its position by keeping international financial, military and diplomatic support; keeping the Ethiopian occupation in place barring the deployment of an adequate African Union (A.U.) or preferably U.N. peacekeeping force; and controlling the electoral process that is supposed to result in a permanent government and is mandated to take place in 2009. It is in the T.F.G.'s interest to ride out the remainder of the transition period and to prolong itself into any permanent arrangement. Part of staying in the saddle is to frame the reconciliation process to accord with its interests, which it has done for the time being, and to drag it out, attempting to use clan negotiations to build support and, if necessary, to divide and rule. Given the T.F.G.'s weakness and dependence on an unpopular occupation, and the cool reaction of donors to its reconciliation plan, it was an achievement simply to mount the N.R.C. In its last report on Somalia, PINR was doubtful that the conference would be held. The insurgency had become chronic and rooted in Mogadishu, there was no indication that delegates were being selected and the conference had no agenda. The ****** clan family, which is dominant in Mogadishu, had rejected participation in the N.R.C. unless a long list of demands was addressed, and the political oppositions were flatly rejectionist. What changed the picture was the judgment of the donor powers that a severely flawed reconciliation process was better than none at all, given the severe strains placed on Addis Ababa by the occupation, the failure of force to crush the insurgency, the reluctance of African states to contribute troops to a peacekeeping mission without a peace to keep, the growing danger that Islamist terrorist cells would form in Somalia, a mounting humanitarian crisis and a slide into the instability that accompanies devolution. Increasingly desperate to halt the devolutionary cycle, the donor powers, which control the purse strings of the impoverished T.F.G., were divided on how to approach the transitional executive, with Washington adopting a qualified favorable line toward the N.R.C. and Brussels deepening its skepticism about it. On June 15, Washington released US$1.5 million to fund the conference -- well short of the $32 million requested by the T.F.G. and the $8 million that it had been reported that donors had decided to provide. On the same day, the U.N. Security Council issued a presidential statement carrying no binding authority that expressed "grave concern" over attacks by "extremists" and "all attempts to undermine" the N.R.C., and called on all U.N. member states to cease support of "extremists and spoilers." The statement went on to emphasize the "urgent need" for the United Nations to plan for a possible peacekeeping mission and urged African states to contribute to the A.U. peacekeeping mission (AMISOM), which has only 1,600 Ugandan troops on the ground out of a projected 8,000 multi-nation force. The presidential statement accorded with Washington's position that armed resistance to the T.F.G. is the work of "extremist" jihadists supported by Eritrea, which has a simmering border dispute with Ethiopia and has provided safe haven and a base for the political oppositions to the transitional authority, and by Arab states, which have interests in limiting Addis Ababa's influence in the Horn of Africa. Although Washington got the presidential statement that it wanted, other external actors expressed reservations. The U.N.'s undersecretary-general for political affairs, B. Lynn Pascoe, said that he would be "concerned" if the N.R.C. were delayed yet again. The E.U.'s commissioner for development and humanitarian aid, Louis Michel, was more emphatic, stating that the N.R.C. was "not working satisfactorily" and that there was no excuse for postponing the conference. On June 16, U.S. Senator Russ Feingold criticized the failure of the Bush administration and the international community to pressure the N.R.C. to undertake genuine reconciliation, saying that the concerned external powers should stop sending mixed messages to the T.F.G. and should specify "clear expectations" for the N.R.C., including the requirement that the conference produce "an outcome document laying out a roadmap for a sustained and pervasive [reconciliation] process" that would include "all stakeholders" and incorporate international organizations as observers. On June 18, the European Union enhanced its diplomatic presence by appointing Georges-Marc Andre as its special envoy to Somalia. In the last week of June, the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that violence in Mogadishu had spiked since the June 15 opening of the N.R.C. was delayed, hindering delivery of aid. Washington shifted its position to bring it more into line with the E.U.'s, with the U.S. State Department issuing a statement warning the T.F.G.'s prime minister, Ali Mohamed Gedi, that efforts to undermine dialogue were "unacceptable" and that arrests and detentions of "prominent citizens" and harassment of "respected NGOs" undermine efforts "for a national dialogue and political reconciliation." Washington's growing skepticism peaked in a BBC interview with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer, who said that it was "difficult to frankly say" that Somalia was currently better off than it had been before the Ethiopian intervention. The picture changed abruptly on July 3, when Andre praised the T.F.G. for "reaching out" to the oppositions by including "political issues" on the N.R.C.'s unspecified agenda. On July 11, Andre led a delegation of the Contact Group (C.G.), which brings together Somalia's Western donor powers, to Mogadishu to meet with T.F.G. officials and leaders of the ****** clan. He commented after the discussions that "we received good news and are going back happy." Taking the lead on the diplomatic front, the E.U. held a joint meeting with the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (I.G.A.D.) -- the regional cooperation organization of Horn of Africa states, in which Eritrea has suspended participation -- on July 13, firming up the consensus of external actors that there is only a "political solution" to Somalia's conflicts and that an "inclusive" N.R.C. that only leaves out those who do not renounce violence is the means to achieve it. Although the intensive behind-the-scenes diplomacy that led to the consensus of donor powers to support the N.R.C. has not been reported, it is clear that Washington had joined Brussels in demanding concessions from the T.F.G. and that Brussels was satisfied with what the T.F.G. offered. On July 16, the N.R.C.'s organizing commission reported that it had received $4.5 million for the conference and pledges of $8.2 million that would be given in staggered allotments dependent on the conference's "progress" in achieving reconciliation. Still, on July 18, a day before the conference was to reopen, Gedi criticized the donor powers for failing to provide adequate funds even to transport delegates to the venue, warning that unless more aid was made available, the N.R.C. "might fail." In PINR's judgment, the concessions made by the T.F.G., which will be discussed below, do not ensure that the N.R.C. will result in political reconciliation and inclusive dialogue. The T.F.G. can be expected to fight to keep control of the conference, and the political opposition has thus far refused to participate in it. Determined to remain in the saddle during the remainder of the transition period and under pressure to include all "stakeholders" in a political discussion, the T.F.G. responded to the donor powers by making mainly symbolic moves to placate them. On June 17, the transitional parliament, based in the town of Baidoa, discussed a proposal to pardon members of Islamist militias and to release former fighters and opposition politicians from jail. On June 19, Yusuf signed an amnesty decree, making clear that it did not apply to "those with direct links with the internationally wanted terrorists and those who continue to pursue violence." Since then, the U.N. has reported that the amnesty has had no effect on the level of the insurgency, and the I.C.C.'s political wing, led by Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, has rejected it, with Ahmed claiming that it is the T.F.G. that needs to beg for pardon due to its "grave crimes against Somalia's people, God and the country." On June 24, the transitional parliament's speaker, Sheikh Adan Madobe, said that the N.R.C. organizers were "reaching out" to the Islamists and dissident members of parliament based in Eritrea, who could attend the conference if they were chosen by their clan elders, and reaffirmed the clan-representational formula of the N.R.C., which he claimed was "inclusive." On June 27, the commission chair Mahdi announced that he had invited "some members" of the I.C.C., mentioning its former foreign affairs chief, Ibrahim Hassan Adow, specifically, to attend the N.R.C. On June 28, Adow said that Mahdi had contacted him and other I.C.C. leaders in Sudan, Eritrea and Qatar, and insisted that it was "impossible for even one Courts official" to participate in the N.R.C. as long as it was held under the Ethiopian occupation. On July 5, in an interview with Ghana's Accra Daily Mail, Gedi clarified the nature and purpose of the N.R.C., saying that the conference "will start with the wider social reconciliation," taking the "first step" of "sorting out the internal differences of the clans and sub-clans of the Somali people." He insisted that the T.F.G. was not ignoring the political dimension of reconciliation, which would be dealt with at the end of the transitional period when political parties would be formed. On July 9, Mahdi echoed Gedi, saying that the purpose of the N.R.C. would be to "settle all grievances and grudges that each and every Somali tribe harbors against one another." At the truncated opening of the N.R.C. on July 15, Yusuf announced his intention to remain in his post until the end of the transition period. Press reports claimed that the conference agenda would include disarmament, a T.F.G. priority; clan reconciliation; compensation for past abuses stemming from inter-clan conflicts; and resource sharing, none of which address political issues directly. On July 17, Awad Ashara, chairman of the transitional parliament's Committee for Information, Guidance and Culture, said that the N.R.C. would produce a "binding document" based on a "declaration of commitment to a future of peace and tranquility" embodying justice, democracy, fairness and equality -- the T.F.G.'s conception of a roadmap. It appears that the T.F.G. has come out with the edge in its sparring match with the donor powers. Its refusal to make the conference "political" rendered the T.F.G.'s amnesty and its overtures to the I.C.C. and parliamentary dissidents symbolic. The one success of the T.F.G. in reaching out to the oppositions was to engineer a split between the *** and Abgal sub-clans of the ******, persuading the Abgal to send representatives to the N.R.C., which left the ***, from which the I.C.C. gained its strongest support, in a more deeply rejectionist position. The oppositions to the T.F.G. represent a diverse array of groups and positions that are incipiently strained and have coalesced around resistance to the Ethiopian occupation and the transitional institutions, which they consider to be Addis Ababa's illegitimate pawns. The military opposition to the T.F.G. is centered in the militant wing of the Courts movement -- primarily the al-Shabaab militia, which now calls itself the Youth Mujahideen Movement (Y.M.M.) -- that is committed to the establishment of an Islamic state in Somalia through armed revolution. The Y.M.M. has claimed responsibility for many attacks in Mogadishu, most recently the shelling of the N.R.C.'s venue during the conference's opening day, and has vowed to continue to disrupt the proceedings. The Y.M.M. rejects not only the N.R.C., but the political process itself, and is the most important trigger for international pressures to hold the N.R.C. and get a political process underway that might isolate the militant jihadists. The Y.M.M.'s most prominent supporter is Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, the leader of the militant wing of the Courts movement who is in hiding from the T.F.G. and Ethiopians. In an interview with al-Jazeera on June 23, Aweys vowed that the resistance would overthrow the T.F.G. and set up an Islamic state. On June 26, Aweys presented his analysis of the situation in Somalia to al-Jazeera, stating that the U.S. and European states are propping up the T.F.G. through their Ethiopian proxy because they fear "the destruction of their system." According to Aweys, Muslims face "a world war against the possible establishment of an Islamic government in the world." The political oppositions to the T.F.G. include the political wing of the I.C.C., dissident members of the transitional parliament led by former speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan, nationalists opposed to a clan-based formula for Somalia, sectors of the Somali diaspora concentrated in the Somali Diaspora Network (S.D.N.) and the *** sub-clan of the ****** family, which has not joined the coalescing political bloc that includes the other opposition groups. All of the opposition groups fault the N.R.C. for its clan formula, its nontransparent selection process and its siting in Mogadishu, which is occupied by Ethiopian troops. They argue that the clan formula allows the T.F.G. to evade serious power-sharing negotiations, that the selection process has been controlled by the T.F.G. to its advantage, and that the presence of the Ethiopian forces in Mogadishu would subject opposition figures who might attend to arrest and intimidation, and renders free expression and discussion impossible. Some of the opposition groups also argue that the insecurity in Mogadishu will not allow the N.R.C. to function effectively. They say that if a reconciliation conference is held, it must be sited at a neutral venue and be based on political rather than clan divisions. Beyond their points of agreement, the political oppositions diverge on their aims and strategies, with the I.C.C. remaining committed to an Islamist formula, the nationalists to an ethnic-Somali state and the S.D.N. to a reconciliation process in which the T.F.G. has no control over the selection process and does not host the conference, and which would lead to a "legitimate unity government that would prepare the way for democratic elections in 2009." Although the nationalists would prefer a unified opposition movement, the I.C.C. is insistent on maintaining its organizational independence, rendering the oppositions a coalition rather than an incipient party. Nevertheless, on July 12, the oppositions made their decisive break with the N.R.C. by announcing that they would hold their own "constituent congress" on September 1 with the aim of "liberating Somalia from the yoke of the Ethiopian occupation." On the same day, the spokesman for the *** sub-clan, Ahmed Diriye, announced that the *** would not attend the N.R.C., summarizing the general opposition objections to it: "The conference would make sense if it was bringing rival politicians and armed groups to the same table. But if the idea is to talk about non-existent tribal conflict, it's a waste of money and energy." The announcement of the oppositions' constituent congress marks the failure of the T.F.G. to mount an inclusive reconciliation process aimed at a "political solution." Like the T.F.G. executive, the oppositions are likely to attempt to ride out the transition period, attempting to marshal resources, build support and "undermine" the T.F.G. If that scenario plays out, the devolutionary cycle in Somalia will deepen. The only thing that would change the picture would be the highly unlikely success of the N.R.C. in drawing broad public support based on "progress" in reconciliation; were that to happen, some of the opposition factions might join the process. The prospects for reconciliation through the N.R.C. became even more dim on July 18, when Somalia's civil society organizations, whose participation in the conference is essential according to the donor powers, announced that they would not attend. The coordinator of the civil-society groups' council, Abdikafi Hilowle Usman, stressed that Somalia's conflicts are political disputes, not clan rivalries, concluding that "there will be no outcome" from the N.R.C. and that "it is important to postpone it." Conclusion On July 14, McClatchy Newspapers published parts of a recent U.S. intelligence briefing on Somalia, to which it had gained access. The report stated that the T.F.G. is perceived by Somalis as "little more than a pawn of Ethiopia, yet its continued survival, certainly in Mogadishu, remains dependent on the support of the Ethiopian military." Under those conditions, the report goes on, extremists are able to "regain their footing and heighten inter-state tensions." On July 13, in an interview with Agence France-Presse, Roland Marchal of the Center for International Studies and Research in Paris, commented that Somalia's conflicts are not rooted in clans, but in political and military divisions. For Marchal, the N.R.C. is a product of international pressure on the T.F.G., yet "the international community has been deficient on the political issue." He continued that there would be no cease-fire in the absence of "politically inclusive talks," offering that "alternatively you can pretend to have won, like it was done in Iraq and Afghanistan." PINR has reached the same conclusions as Marchal and the U.S. intelligence report, based on data from its own monitoring project. The N.R.C. is a tactical victory for the T.F.G. executive, yet it represents not a "first step" up in the reconciliation process, but another step down in Somalia's devolutionary cycle. Report Drafted By: Dr. Michael A. Weinstein Source: Pinr

If I were to give an apt description of the personal but grieving story presented by our brother Faisal, I would just compare it to the grim history of the halacaust. The genocidal Ethiopian regime was reported to have cut off all the communication lines in the Somali region of Ethiopia, cordoned off the borders, and militarized the region to systematically slaughter innocent civilians. This regime views the civilians as the pipeline that supplies ONLF with the life support, thus clogging the pipeline to eliminate the support base is a noble national interest. In a recent article published at Chicago Tribune dubs it as an old American counterinsurgency tactic deployed in Vietnam. Here is what it reports, The Ethiopian army has locked down immense swaths of the ******, blocking all roads and smuggling trails to commercial traffic, and thus triggering desperate food shortages in a desert already prone to famines. A teacher from the central ****** town of Kebredehar said most shops in that area had closed for lack of stocks. The prices of remaining foodstuffs such as rice, he said, had rocketed 400 percent -- far out of reach of ordinary ******is. ------------------------ Tragedies of the “War on Terror” comes close to home Faisal Roble July 15, 2007 recent Chicago Tribune article ( Fallout from the war on Terror hits Ethiopia, July 9, 2007 ), and a call-in (town-hall style) program of the BBC Somali Section, which featured the Regional president of the Somali autonomous region, in Ethiopia, Abdullahi Hassan “Lug Buur” (July 13, 2007) are both troubling. The gory and inhumane way Somalis are treated (e.g., Nur Osman, 25, who was still “clamping a hand to his stitched up neck,” cut by the Ethiopian soldiers) is in a way a small part of the results of the “war on terror.” As an American of Somali origin from that region my family and I have been deeply impacted by the story in the Chicago Tribune article. Listening to the many call-ins, with harsh words for the government, I felt somewhat sad for my good friend and the president, especially the position he has found himself in. Abdullahi Hassan is basically a good man with a good heart (not to mention that he is as one caller said, a distant relative of Sayid Mohamed Abdulla Hassan), but he is in the middle of a storm that he/his government cannot do much about. The Somali question in Ethiopia is old, and as complex as the conflict of the Palestinians & Israelis, and is very difficult for the outside world to comprehend; it’s human and personal tragedies have been often overlooked for many years. It is only now with western reporters taking a good look at it that our conditions are humanly shocking to human eyes: Ethiopia treats us as sub-human; our largely reserved and private women are raped at will; our books of faith are burned or soaked in urine and in human waste by Ethiopian soldiers as part of their prison torture machine; family belongings (livestock, farms and anything else that we own) are looted, confiscated, or burned with impunity. Collective punishment is a mainstay in the Somali region, a reminiscent of “Zaraf Somali,” meaning “wipe out Somalis,” a favored slogan for Ethiopian soldiers while carrying their indiscriminate total scourge policy. Different Ethiopian regimes have been doing to us similar things since the Paris Conference in1884 that placed our community under this excessively cruel feudal rule of ancient empire. This time, with the world becoming a "global village," small parts of our blight is being noticed, thanks to some American papers. Some of us escaped the rape, torture and mayhem, often physical like that one imparted on Nur Osman. Although the Chicago Tribune witnessed the young man still “clamping to his stitched new neck,” the Minister of Information, Bereket Simon, a Tigre in ethnicity, who is a close advisor Meles Zeanawi, denied any culpability But Nur, who may most likely get killed in the very hospital bed he is supposed to rest, told the western reporter that Ethiopian soldiers did it to him. The added tragedy of this story is that Nur may as well be the cousin of the president of the region, but they are both helpless in the hands of this government. And each would try to survive the best way they know. I left Ethiopia while I was still in my teens for a temporary safe haven to Somalia en route to America. Just like my countrymen, the psychological scars that I sustained from the Ethiopian rule is complex, but the most immediate one for me involves the last leg of my father’s life, Abdi Roble. I have been a naturalized US citizen, thankfully achieved the “American middle-class dream,” and always longed for the day my father comes here and plays with my sons in the backyard of my suburban home. In 1996, I secured an immigrant visa. But days before he departed Jigjiga for Addis Ababa, he was taken from his home to the Jigjiga jail at the frail age of 86, and was instantly transferred to Harar where he remained until April, 2003. There he joined among other elders his long time friend Bashir Sheikh Abdi, the grandson of Sayid M. Abdulle Hassan. Unlike my Dad, Bashir could not withstand the dilapidating conditions of advanced diabetes and died there. My Dad told me that dragging Bashir’s dead body represented the lowest point of his community. “Nobody threw a single stone,” became his post prison mantra. Sooner I learned that he was out than I travelled to Jigjiga (in May of 2003), and spent time with him, sickly with a soul of 92-years-old that still wanted to visit America. For the month that I was with him, we talked small talks. I once told him how old-age is a mitigating factor, even for hard criminals. He laughed at me, implying I was naive, and added: “son, you are telling me about the country where real human beings live; you know real freak animals live here (sow ma ogid in uu halkan dugaag cirfiid ahi ku nool yahay?). He told me that it was his dream to visit America to see all his children and grandchildren (all together 29); and for once lay his eyes on this magically magnanimous country called America, which gave to his children the chance to seek education and succeed in life. My father’s dream was denied and he could not travel to America because his health was failing by the time he was released. Exactly 30 days to the day I arrived in town, he saw me to the dusty airport in Jigjiga with a final and ultimate sojourn saying: “Son, only Allah knows whether we will meet again, but go to your new and safe [adopted] home.” Uncommon to Somali men, I felt tears streaming down on my cheeks uncontrollably, only to be countered by his fatherly gaiety and cheerful pronouncements: "son, be a man and be happy for me to leave this world for good and for the better place that we will all end up sooner or later." I gave that man a huge and rare hug, holding his bony body tightly against mine for as long as I could, and quickly turned away to not look backward. I was sure I could not handle any more emotions. The last thing I wanted to see was tears streaming on those frail and fried cheeks. My Mom recently told me he indeed wept. I am glad I did not see that for going through that would have killed me! My Dad passed away five days after I got back in LA. No body explained to me to this day why my Dad languished in that jail in Harar that they call "alam-baqay," meaning, I am finished with this world. I talked to many top officials (powerless ministers) in the region and everyone talks about my Dad as the great patriot that he was. I only surmise that they all are as helpless as their community under occupation is. For a while I used to have nightmares of an American court, where my attorneys would grill Ethiopian officials on human rights abuses. Who knows what the future holds for us, especially that now a lot of us are US citizens, and live in places like San Diego, Minneapolis, Chicago, Columbus, Toronto where many conscientious lawyers are in abundance. In my consoling prayers I remind my late father to hang on! As a tax payer, it angers me, though, that millions of our hard-earned dollars would go to this dictator to kill and torture relatives of our own US citizens –something of freak duplicity in American foreign policy that my late Dad could not understand. Faisal A. Roble E-Mail: fabroble@aol.com Source: www.Wardheernews.com

Sophist, How are You, I heard Mr. Bloomberg , the owner of the Bloomberg terminal, has shed off his Republican shirt and embraced an Independent one. He is in the presidential race along with Edward, Hilton, Mcain and Obama, marking the first Chewish to have run for presidency in the United States. He has so far reportedly done a great job as a mayor of New York.

Not bad actually.

Puntland – On Life Support? Salah Fatah July 07, 2007 Bosaso City, the financial capital of Puntland, used to be one of the safest places in all of Somalia until recently, when a rash of murders, rapes, robberies and kidnapping of children for ransom became all too common. What is even more alarming about this crime spree is the fact that many people are convinced that some of the perpetrators are the very people tasked to maintain law and order. It is no secret that the Police department is largely disgruntled due to lack of payments of their salaries, sometimes months on end, among other reasons. While the current escalation is causing a great deal of anguish and uncertainty amongst the citizens, it was predictable and directly attributable to an ongoing rampant corruption, negligence and misplaced priorities. The blame for the deteriorating security situation is squarely on Cade Muse and his administration. It is their responsibility to safeguard the wellbeing of all of Puntland’s communities so long as they choose to remain part of his administration. On the other hand, the stakeholders are not entirely blameless as long as some of them remain silent and continue to offer tacit support – perhaps out of consideration for a senior clan member deeply embedded with the administration (a case of strange bed fellows). With that said, the question remains: Is Puntland today as important to all of its member communities as it was a decade ago? I believe the time has come to reassess this partnership. The status quo is not acceptable and may even be to the determent of some communities given their legitimate grievances including lack of developmental support as well as unfair distribution of resources amongst the partners. Additionally, conflicts in the recent past drove home the point to certain communities, that Puntland can not be considered a reliable partner where matters of security are concerned. It seemed like a good idea at the time! Absent any representative national government, creating Puntland as a regional administration that protects and serves the interests of its constituents was and remains to this day, the next best thing. The hopes and aspirations of the people were riding on this new administration for a peaceful and prosperous region that plays a lead role in quelling the deadly internecine conflicts throughout the country, as well as contributing to the restoration of the Somali nation. These were indeed lofty goals and an ambitious undertaking, towards which Puntland’s previous administrations made tangible progress. They were successful in providing stability throughout the region and at the same time created a business friendly environment that attracted merchants from as far as the northwestern states of Somalia and Ethiopia. These are significant achievements by any standard and the key ingredients for building a viable society. It was entirely unexpected that rather than building on the successes of their predecessors, the painful, slow process of unraveling the hard earned progress began soon after the current administration took the reigns. They have shown a propensity for entering into questionable contracts with obscure companies at a tremendous disadvantage to Puntland. These deals raise some troubling questions regarding their failure to seek appropriate input from experts and ignoring professional and legal advice when offered. Therefore, one can only surmise that there must be more to these contracts than meets the eye! The selling out process, and there is no politically correct way to characterize this, covers the most important national resources, i.e., fisheries, minerals, hydrocarbon assets and the mother of all giveaways, a contract signing away exclusive rights to all life stock exports from Puntland to a foreign merchant at the expense of the people of Puntland. I was able to obtain a copy of this contract, which I would like to share publicly; it illustrates the handy work of unrestrained greed and a glaring lack of accountability (see attached pdf). Finally, the haste in which these damaging deals were made leads one to believe that a looting scheme is afoot, designed to line the pockets of individuals before a national government with enforcement capabilities is in place. It is evident that crime, corruption, cronyism and incompetence have taken their toll – perhaps causing the Puntland administration to crumble under their cumulative weight. Whether or not it can survive the current downward spiral is anybody’s guess. Salah Fatah E-Mail:sfatah2@yahoo.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Gerdon, to get an IPO means that this OIL Raider has already secured contract with an investment bank like Morgan Stanley or Merill Lynch that underwrites their stocks, basically buying them by taking a high risk and then selling it to outside investors. However, the so called deal that the Oil Raider signed with the warlords in Puntland is technically defunct because they have no authority inside the territories where the bulk of this potential oil resides. The last conflict between the Puntland militia and the local army attests to this fact. Again, your suggestion coincides with the author of the posted article that big Oil Company either Chevron or Shell will overtake the OIL Raider in a takeover bid, an event he reckons will surely come to pass and which will drive up the value of the stocks of this mysterious company. The Deal is NUll and Void. Until a government of national union is established ,which I think will not come any time soon, people who think they can profit from Somalia's crisis, esp. in the Energy sector, will be proved wrong. Just Imagine the recent showdown between a powerful Ethiopia and ONLF. ONLF , as we all know, pre-warned the Chinese Oil company from proceeding with the deal. They got their first severe punishment only during the exploration phase.

A critique to Mr. Goth’s editorial piece: Somailand’s hedgehog attitude will prevail Ali Artan June 2, 2007 Somaliland, is it a state, a renegade region, in between or none of the above? Obviously, the term “Somaliland” creates more confusion than it elucidates; thus, it is one of the most puzzling names in the world today. It means different things to different people and its meaning very much depends on whom you ask. Regardless of your take, these following paragraphs aim to bring to the surface both the legal and logical fallacies found in the prolific writer Mr. Goth’s latest editorial piece published in awdalnews.com. In addition, “Somaliland” name will be used in this context as Mr. Goth wanted for the sake of clarity and simplicity. Without further reservations, a legit question would be; what is the definition of a state in the eyes of international community, be that nations or international organizations?. According to the international system enforced by the UN, a state is a political entity with legal and political personality; that represents a defined territory, stable population and government exercising sovereignty. The principle of International law recognizes and calls under the UN Charter for sovereign equality of all states (its actors) of which Somalia is a member. Sovereign equality means protecting political independence, territorial integrity and national unity of the actors. If that binding contract is breached by any actor, then the entire concept of sovereignty would have collapsed and the jungle rule would be revisited. Nonetheless, does the current Somaliland fit the aforementioned definition, I question? One should consider the following facts before making hasty, monolithic judgment about this critical issue. First, Somaliland lacks both the monopoly to exercise force to bring inline those northerners who are averted to the dismemberment of Somalia and the political influence to win the minds and hearts of the Eastern pro-union northerners. Clearly, this is an essential component for the survival and normal functionality of any government, because the lack of it will make Somaliland a Failed State even if the much-pursued elusive recognition is ever achieved. Moreover, a significant portion of northerners question the legitimacy of Somaliland administration. This is the reality on the ground as evidenced by the periodic press releases, publications, and the recent conference of Northern Somalis for Peace and Unity (NSPU) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC. In one of their highly read publications “The Illusory Somaliland: setting the Record Straight” states how the rudderless regime in Hargeisa evolved over the years, and as they suggest, if ignored as the evidential proof contained in that publication clearly states, will definitely be a recipe for a fresh civil unrest and anarchy in that relatively stable part of the country, along with Puntland. Secondly, Somaliland not only lacks the monopolistic power and international legitimacy but it also has no control over 40 % of the territory it claims, the eastern regions of Sool, Sanaag, and Cayn (SSC). This is one more reason why the international community is extremely cautious to meddle and exacerbate to the already complicated Somali state of affairs. the International community has also been on the learning curve over the last 17 years or so in regards to Somali political evolution. As a result, they acknowledge the threat it engenders by not being even-handed in Somalia’s National Reconciliation process. It is even becoming more and more apparent by the day to everyone who has an interest in the Somali political discourse, much of it, must be a home grown initiative and when that is achieved then the international community will be put onto the test whether they come up with a holistic approach that brings a lasting peace in Somalia or not. Somaliland portrays itself endlessly to be the oasis of democracy in the Horn of Africa, yet its actions, since its inception, states otherwise. For instance, torture, censoring media and intimidating journalist are the norm in the areas administered by the Somaliland administration. The life of minority clans are not spared there, its military aggression against the peace loving people of SSC was counter productive and as of today the militia of Somaliland and Puntland are on each others’ throat. Basically there is a Demilitarized Military Zone (DMZ) similar to that of Koreas. It is also paradoxical that Somaliland argues that they are just pursuing their divine self-determination goal while they believe that this is their right and others in the north are not the chosen people therefore they should be very happy with whatever socio-status that is given to them. More importantly, self-determination actually is something that they can’t claim because Somalis are homogeneous with one religion, language and culture, hence we are not peoples rather than people (one people is eligible to have a mere self-determination under the UN Charter not multiple). If there is a major tribe in a country which is so distinct from another, like southern Sudanese from the northerners, then we can say it is a self-determination. The secessionists, nevertheless, employ these terms unaware of its implication and political context and usually compare apples and oranges. While Somalia is at the crossroads and experiencing many challenges including the Ethiopian occupation, a genuine citizen is expected to invest his time and vigor promoting peace and unity unlike Mr. Goth whose remarks are definitely calling for division and the continuation of Somali political impasse. Finally, if some people’s aspirations are more superior and sacred than others’, as Mr. Goth believes or at least suggests remains to be seen. Ali M. Artan San Diego, Ca E-Mail: aliartan@gmail.com source: wardheernews