Xamar is back. Alxamdulilaah.

Qaranka, I'am talking about the motherland and the enemy of the Somali state.

You should have seen how worried Meles' face looked when Clinton delineated what plans & sanctions are in store for the Somalia spoilers during her speech. Somalia's conflict is no longer domestic nor regional but an internationalized conflict. The West has to revive the Somali state with genuine and legitimate representative government for Somalis by the Somalis. This potential permanent and stable government will benefit the world from the scourges of piracy that disrupt the trade route as well as stop the spread of terrorism.

NONSENSE! Somalia's borders have nothing to do with greater Somalia vision. This is an utterly weak point secessionists use to discredit our blue flag & the borders of the proper Somali Republic. Get off the delusional horse you have been riding for the last 20 years and join the Somali peace & political process.

Hahaha

Good move!

Where are the audience?

Paragon, Welcome back. It's like the anniversary of that moment of truth when you spelled it out for them. Exact day!

This is way above the silly line. GalgalaNews awkward moments!

I actually loved the subtle warning the U.S. Secretary of State sent to those who chose to remain on the sidelines because of the prospect of securing clan hegemony in this age of 21st century, that they should join and work with the Garowe I&II roadmap. Veteran Silanyo's decision to attend the London conference shows a big shift for his region to take part in the constructive path of a stable and permanent Somali government . The post-transition international conference to be held in Istanbul will be another milestone for Somalia.

MMA, Good observation.

All 18 regions of Somalia should be part of the political process even those regions under al-Shabab control. Or else, this conference won't be much different from previous failed ones. The only subtle difference that this one seems to have is the application of inducements and sanctions to the so called would-be-spoilers. Granted that this policy approach has worked well against al-Shabaab and their global sympathizers, there has to be a holistic solution for Somalia such as lessening the influence of the so called 4 major stakeholders (Tfg, Pl, Gm, SL) whose common denominator is their close ties with Ethiopia and collaboration with the IC against the threats of al-Shabab.

*Blessed;793899 wrote: That was a curious conference. ' We won't tell Somalis what to do' but we're going to give them a task list. An interesting piece from the BBC.. Now that the world's leaders have swept out of Lancaster House in their shiny black limousines, all we are left with is two pieces of paper, printed on both sides. This is the final communique, and it is time to take stock. There appears to be something of a contradiction in the communique. On the one hand, in bold type, it says "decisions on Somalia's future rest with the Somali people". As Britain has constantly reiterated, and as Prime Minister David Cameron said after the London meeting, "this is not about telling people in Somalia what to do". However, much of the final communique and many of the words spoken in Lancaster House seemed to be precisely about telling Somalis what to do. The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, was almost bossy in tone when she said there would be no negotiations with al-Shabab and that the time for political transition was over. The final communique details several areas where the outside world will have control over Somalia. Watching funds A Joint Financial Management Board, staffed by Somalis and non-Somalis, will ensure "transparency and accountability in the collection and efficient use of public revenues, as well as international development aid". Mr Cameron said the conference was not about telling Somalis what to do Somalia's budget will, to some degree, be managed by outsiders. Mr Cameron said foreign powers would ensure that there was no more political transition, and that they "would hold Somalia to this". The communique said the international community would "incentivise progress and act against spoilers to the peace process". This is not leaving Somalia to the Somalis. Mr Cameron seemed very pleased that, the day before the London Conference, the United Nations Security Council had voted to increase the number of African Union peacekeepers from 12,000 to 17,7000, to expand its mandate, and to secure funding. Although the peacekeepers have helped clear much of the capital, Mogadishu, of the Islamist group al-Shabab, they are a foreign force, something Somalis have not taken to kindly in the past. Kenya and Ethiopia also occupy substantial parts of the country, and it is likely that if they stay for too long, even those Somalis who currently tolerate them will turn against them. A two-pronged policy now seems to have been adopted towards al-Shabab. On the one hand, smash them militarily, on the other, lure them away from by inviting those who abandon the movement into the political process. Al-Shabab, which was not invited to the conference, issued a press release on the day of the gathering. It accused the conference of "carving up Somalia" and "bolstering the invading African forces that are prolonging the instability in Somalia". Distant dream It is not only al-Shabab that is worried about the "carving up" of Somalia. Other Somalis are worried that the conference has given too much prominence to the more stable northern areas such as Puntland and Galmudug, let alone the self-declared republic of Somaliland. A new Stability Fund has been established to increase foreign support to these areas. There has been explosion of mini-states in Somalia, some, perhaps not coincidentally, established just ahead of the London Conference, maybe because they want a share of the new money. Somalia may be entering another phase of violence and instability, this time between its regions. There were no less than four Somali presidents at the conference, one representing the transitional federal government, the others the more stable regions in the north. And outside the conference there were no less than three small but noisy demonstrations, all shouting and singing for different causes. This suggests that peace and unity may be still be a distant dream. Some Somalis I spoke to expressed unease that the final communique gave a lot of attention to ending impunity for pirates, and setting up a new Regional Anti-Piracy Prosecutions Intelligence Co-ordination Centre in the Seychelles to track pirate money and help prosecute what it described as "the kingpins of piracy". "What about ending impunity for the war-lords who have killed so many of our children? What about the African Union peacekeepers who shelled residential areas in Mogadishu? What about al-Shabab and even our transitional government soldiers?" asked one man. Although the conference was, as Mr Cameron said, "the largest and most influential gathering that has ever come together" on Somalia, it is unclear how much will change in the country as a result. Doubtless there has been real progress in the fight against al-Shabab and piracy. The expiry of the transitional government's mandate in August offers an opportunity to establish a better kind of politics for Somalia. But there is a huge amount to do before what the final communique described as a "new era of Somali politics" that "supported by the international community, will bring peace to Somalia". The delegates from 55 countries and international institutions said they "looked forward to the day" when an international conference could be held in Somalia. It is not clear that this will happen in their lifetimes. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17144557#TWEET84514 Very good analysis. Thanks for sharing!

Where's the clan-man, Oodwayne?

Ma af-Fransiis buu ku hadley?

President Shariif should repeat for a second term. His religious credentials and less-clannish credibility shall defeat the rest of supposed candidates. He is my favorite and I am sure Somalis would not hesitate to give him a second term. Besides, as transitional president, he has accomplished a lot

Wow How I missed seeing the arrivals of the dignitaries. But I am very happy and optimistic for my motherland.

After Al Shabaab At the preparatory meetings for London, Amisom`s recent military successes were celebrated but European diplomats did not hide their concern that there was no credible plan to fill a political vacuum left by a defeated Al Shabaab. The expansion of Amisom may result in more targets for the enemy than in more security, as in Afghanistan. IGAD countries have already divided south-central Somalia into zones of influence with little consideration for history or Somali views: military planners do not factor in such niceties. Kenya will hold sway over Lower and Middle Juba, where the ****** clan is dominant, as it is in Kenyan Somali politics. Gedo is associated with Bay and Bakool and would constitute the best possible buffer zone for Ethiopia. Apart from Beled Weyne, which is currently allocated to Amisom`s Djiboutian contingent, the least warlike of them, the Central Region will not benefit from an increased Amisom presence. The proxy forces there get substantial support from Ethiopian and Western security services. Kenyan troops` inability to take over Kismayo or even Afmadow, plus the many clashes in Beled Weyne, could encourage a fight-back by Al Shabaab. If it successfully takes on the Kenyan and Ethiopian forces, together with their local proxies, Al Shabaab could regain some of the popular support it has lost. As for the TFG, the sole option offered for discussion is a new constitution. In any other country, the presence of four foreign armies, an ongoing civil war and the lack of a legitimate government - many see the TFG as a gang of looters - would not be the best moment for a highly polarised population to discuss a constitution. The SRSG and UNPOS downplay such limitations. Yet the institutional framework limits interaction with any Somali actors apart from the TFG. The question of who will enforce this new dispensation is unresolved, too. By making the constitution the only option available, the international community risks becoming hostage, again, to a chaotic constitutional process that cannot succeed in such a short time. This will also offer new opportunities to Islamist militants. The London Conference will announce sanctions against spoilers intent on derailing the processes and corrupt officials. This is likely to fail and will trigger anger in Somalia, since the main targets are the more than 300 members of parliament who sacked the Speaker, Sharif Hasan Sheikh Adan, last December, although UNPOS still invites him to all international gatherings. For years, the international community has threatened to take action against corrupt TFG ministers and MPs. None have ever come before a court although many pay tens of thousands of US dollars into their bank accounts in Western countries (especially Britain and the US) and buy property. Some of the spoilers may not be Somali but regional states. While IGAD presented itself as unified in the preparatory meetings, beyond the 1964 mutual Defence Pact against any Somali aggression, Ethiopia and Kenya do not share the same view of solutions. Will other governments sanction Addis Ababa or Nairobi because they put their own clients in charge in their `liberated areas` instead of genuinely local representatives? The Somaliland government is invited but will face bitter criticism if its delegates return with the usual set of pledges and counter-terrorist cooperation projects. Somalilanders and their backers in the UK, may resent that Galmudug (South Gaalkaayo) is ranked in protocol at the London Conference with Somaliland. In her excellent new book, Getting Somalia Wrong, BBC journalist Mary Harper points out that international conferences on Somalia `have produced a succession of weak transitional governments which have paid lip-service to federalism but have tended to be highly centralised. They lack popular legitimacy because Somalis tend to see them as entirely foreign creations.` The London delegates will struggle to buck the trend.

No Great Expectations Africa confidential February 19, 2012 Feb 19, 2012 (Africa Confidential) -- After two decades of political mayhem, Somalis and more perspicacious foreign diplomats are intensely sceptical about high-level conferences. Many approach the London Conference on Somalia on 23 February with muted hopes of any political advance and say that its most important contribution will be to raise the profile of Somalia`s internal political and social crisis, plagued by intermittent conflict and chronic food shortage. British Prime Minister David Cameron and his Foreign Secretary William Hague have evidently succeeded on the promotion front. Thanks to the Foreign Office`s invitations to Arab countries, it is the first big Somalia meeting in which several Muslim states are seriously involved. The challenge to the London conference will be to go beyond the recent International Contact Group (ICG) on Somalia or the United Nations Security Council. Both those meetings endorsed policies decided elsewhere and seemed unable to assess why those policies are not working. Delegates in London could start the search for a strategy. Announced by Cameron in late November 2011, the London Conference was supposed to offer fresh thinking on Somalia`s current political dynamics. It promised to broaden the international representation in efforts to tackle Somalia`s crisis and to strengthen the role of the UN there. Central to that is Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG), veteran Tanzanian diplomat Augustine Philip Mahiga. Mahiga has held the fort in difficult times but is reticent about spelling out any vision of an eventual solution. He may take comfort from the support he receives from the East African Community but he is prisoner of a dysfunctional UN Political Office on Somalia. UNPOS suffers from internal inefficiencies and rivalries, we hear. The Deputy SRSG, Austrian diplomat Christian Manahl (who worked in Congo-Kinshasa and Sudan), attempted reform but was outmanoeuvred and recently recalled to UN headquarters in New York, says a diplomatic source. The UN Office is also obliged to pursue a political strategy that cannot survive the end of the transition period, when the writ of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) ends on 23 August. What happens after that should - but may not - be central to discussions in London. Neither UNPOS nor the SRSG have spelled out how the future institutions might work nor have they publicly identified the emerging leaders who could manage the political transition. The dual-track approach There seems to be a deep ambiguity about the `dual-track` approach in Somalia. Pushed strongly by the United States, it involves recognising the so-called central authority of the TFG in Mogadishu but also showing a willingness to work with the local and regional entities in Somaliland and Puntland. Although the devolved authority of those two entities is widely accepted, UN officials have been slow to engage with them. It is diplomatically delicate: Somaliland is petitioning the UN for statehood but cannot get the African Union to recognise it, despite open support from South Africa and Ghana, and covert support from Ethiopia. Most critically, the UNPOS lacks a political strategy to confront the Haraka al Shabaab al Mujahideen and translate recent military advances into political gains. Nor has it got a clear policy toward the encroachment of Kenya`s and Ethiopia`s armies in Somalia. Neither Nairobi nor Addis Ababa saw fit to tell the UN that they were sending their armies into Somalia, and have no interest in coordinating their plans with the UN. The London Conference is not going to change any of that. The draft final communique, we understand, is nearly identical in substance to that of the ICG meeting in Djibouti on 5-6 February. The Conference appears to have been prompted by concern over the recent famine in Somalia and the Horn of Africa and by worry about the radicalisation of one of Somalia`s largest diaspora communities just before the Olympic Games in July. The Conference lacked the preparatory groundwork needed to generate a new direction for international policy on Somalia, say its diplomatic critics. As Africa Confidential went to press, the 53 delegations expected will discuss the future of Somalia up to August, with little idea of what is to happen afterwards. There is no strategy on how to confront Al Shabaab beyond the usual military and security policies. This includes a proposal to raise the number of troops in the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) to 17,000. Nothing has been said about the unhealthy polarisation between the West and the Muslim countries (Qatar, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates) which are being put forward as new sources of funding. They complain they are under pressure to endorse strategic priorities that favour Ethiopia and the USA. Although the preparatory meetings may not produce a groundbreaking conference, they did table important issues and obliged states to make their positions clear. The most striking example was the debate on Al Shabaab. Qatar, Turkey, the UAE and Scandinavian countries favoured engagement, and Britain and some other European countries looked interested. The USA, however, firmly opposed any further discussion of the idea, with strong backing from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD, where Ethiopia has great influence). As has happened before, Britain immediately lost interest and the debate closed. Therefore, countries such as Qatar (which has been accused by UN investigators of covertly arming Al Shabaab via Eritrea) may be moving towards negotiation but in the absence of any international framework. The announcement of a conference in Istanbul in June to focus on development issues is a small consolation prize for interested Muslim governments. It risks being as irrelevant as the spring 2009 conference organised by the then SRSG, Ahmedou Ould Abdallah. Conferees were planning the reconstruction of Mogadishu in a five-star hotel in Istanbul as bloody war blazed in the Somali capital. As daily clashes demonstrate, security in Mogadishu and towns liberated from Al Shabaab may not improve enough to allow ambitious reconstruction. The timing is also problematic. Western states, led by the US and Britain, seem to be rerunning their policies of early 2007 when they celebrated the Ethiopian intervention and the return of the TFG to Mogadishu. Then, Western states were not inclined to consolidate the TFG`s return with the economic help which might have provided it with a sliver of legitimacy. If progress is to be made, the population needs to see quickly that economic benefits will follow any defeat of Al Shabaab. Complex institutional and political developments will not enthuse Somalis: after two decades of mayhem, they want financing for schools and clinics, as well as jobs.

Feb 22, 2012 The US is mulling the possibility of imposing sanctions on "spoilers" blocking political progress in Somalia, a US official said Wednesday on the eve of a London conference to address the country's troubles. "We would contemplate imposing both travel restrictions and visa bans on individuals who serve as spoilers in the political process," the senior US State Department official told reporters under the cover of anonymity. These sanctions could involve officials within the Somali transitional government (TFG), he added. "We are saying very clearly that individuals who undermine political progress" towards the implementation of basic structures intended to replace the TFG by August "should be held accountable," he stressed. "We have indicated (this) in various discussions with TFG officials and also with other Western partners," he added. Another US official said sanctions are likely to be discussed at the London conference, which kicks off on Thursday. The US official called the summit: "One of the largest and most important international conference held on Somalia in recent years. "Our objectives are to underscore and maintain high level international attention on Somalia's multiple problems; Piracy, counter terrorism, humanitarian responses and issues related to state failure," he explained. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the US representative at the talks, arrived in London late Wednesday, an AFP journalist reported. Somalia has had no central authority since the collapse of President Siad Barre's regime in 1991. "What we want to see is for the political process to match the security progress we've seen on the ground," said the official, highlighting the military setbacks suffered by the Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents in Somalia in recent months. "We are also determined to galvanize better financial support for AMISOM," the African Union force in Somalia, he said. The UN agreed on Wednesday to increase the African Union force in Somalia from 12,000 to 17,731 troops. Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali said Wednesday he would welcome European air strikes against Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents, as long as they did not hurt civilians. As his government announced a strategic victory against the rebels, Ali told reporters on the eve of the major conference that the Shebab were a "global enemy, not only a Somali enemy". The Islamist group already faces the threat of US drone attacks, but Britain's Guardian newspaper reported on Wednesday that Britain and other EU countries were considering military air strikes on Shebab training camps.

Horta ka faalooda dadka masaakiinta waxa ay soo qoreen. Waxaan u maleynayaa inaydanbal aqirin.

Dr. Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, TFG Prime Minister’s Letter to the Somali Diaspora: A Response… By Ali A. Fatah Feb. 22, 2012 In the interest of full disclosure, Professor Abdiweli M. Ali is a friend, whom I have known for many years as decent man and a highly credentialed academic. He has been active in Somali affairs, especially Puntland state, long before he assumed the Premiership of the TFG. As member of the Somali Diaspora that he addressed in his letter that was published in WardheerNews.com, let me say a word about that throng before examining his message : The Somali Diaspora is quite an eclectic mass of people—now numbering in hundreds of thousands and scattered in all four corners of the world—sharing four basic common denominators: 1) Somali ethnicity, 2) the Islamic faith, 3) living as emigrants in different countries, mainly in the West, and 4) an abiding desire, by overwhelming majorities of its members to see Somalia restored to its former glory (before the troubles began during the reign of the past military dictatorship). Beyond that the group is politically and socially heterogeneous amalgam comprised of an ideological potpourri, including Islamists of various stripes, small “d” democrats, self-described secularists, as well as small band of incorrigible secessionists who wish to split the country asunder to create clan hegemony in parts of the North. It is a milieu to which the Honorable Prime Minister needs no introduction due to his many years of living and working in the Diaspora. That is why his message to this sundry mass of people cries out for a thematic policy approach and an overriding vision that would appeal to their patriotism. Instead, random activities emanating from various power bases, mostly from outside the country were offered as a panacea; a mode that can be hardly relied upon as a rallying point or a source of inspiring the multitudes living outside Somalia proper to respond enthusiastically to the TFG’s tentative message asking them to redouble their efforts. This is particularly significant when you consider that the Diaspora population has become jaded due to years of receiving groundless declarations and nebulous promises from successive TFGs. If, however, the Honorable Prime Minister’s message contained subtlety that sufficiently appealed to the better angels of Somalis living abroad, it went totally above this writer’s head! To his credit, though, Dr. Abdiweli’s report is in an improvement over some of the previous TFG reports that were in the main spin documents and poorly crafted ones at that; it contains many kernels of truth about the emergence of a new environment that is pregnant with possibilities. The situation in which years of uninterrupted disasters consistently gave way to conditions of more devastation and hopelessness seems to be ebbing. Still the situation too dicey for anyone to run victory laps anytime soon. There are now as the Honorable Prime Minister alluded to tentative opportunities for progress in the horizon. Whether the so-called Front Line states, the AU, the TFG, the UN, the International Community or all of the above take credit for any improvements that may come to Mogadishu—the epicenter for the struggle for the soul of Somalia—is immaterial at this point in time; history will sort out those whose contributions made the difference for the long-suffering Somalis in the nation’s capital and elsewhere in the country. My main problem—and it is not a small one—with the Honorable Prime Minister’s letter to the amorphous Somali Diaspora grouping is this: while, as mentioned above, the letter contained good, hopeful points, however vague, it also showed gaping holes concerning what was not mentioned; an omission that, I’m sure, left many Somalis confused about the glaring inconsistency contained therein if not the veracity of the message as a whole. For example, the Honorable Prime Minister made a point to the effect that the TFG (and its partners) are engaged in a life and death struggle with religious zealots who would stop at nothing in their repeated attempts to impose their extremist ideology on the country exclusively through violent means. It is a clear statement of principle and an apparent commitment to defend the country, at least from domestic foes. However, Dr. Abdiweli went mum regarding the equally dangerous and potentially catastrophic 20 year campaign that is been waged by secessionists aimed at dismembering the country to fulfill their chauvinistic agenda of establishing clan hegemony in the North. Now, here is a group that organized state apparatus solely to cede part of the country into an independent, one clan state called “Somaliland”. Not only that, those secessionists are trying to forcibly grab the lands of neighboring pro-union communities to expand their enclave, and according to some of their politicians, evict the people there, as the population is not interested in joining their unlawful secession scheme voluntarily. Granted, the secession project is doomed to failure. But the question remains: what or who is keeping Somalia’s Prime Minister and his colleagues at the TFG, from making a clear, unambiguous statement condemning that illegal and unjust plot on the part of those campaigning to establish the illusory “Somaliland” enclave as an independent country. After all, their surreptitious operations are not without victims. On the contrary, they are hell-bent on forcibly taking pro-union communities with them, kicking and screaming! This is what makes those rebels clearly dangerous, even when their campaign is pound to lose! The Honorable Prime Minister is praiseworthy when he states that his administration is advancing reconciliation in the Ximan and Xeeb area of Somalia, among other places. Again, people have the right to know, where have the TFG leaders been when Mr. Siilaanyo’s militia was dispatched from Hargeisa to attack and kill many civilians in the northern town of Buhoodle and its environs for the crime of supporting the newly inaugurated Khaatumo—a courageous stance of a besieged community standing its ground to defend its basic liberty and at the same time supporting Somalia’s national unity and territorial integrity? Also, what or who kept the honorable PM and the other TFG leaders from speaking out when the same clan-based, “Somaliland” militia gunned down unarmed civilians in cold-blood in the occupied City of Las ‘Anod? Where is his righteous indignation regarding Mr. Siilaanyo’s tyrannical repression on peace-loving, pro-union communities? Lastly, silence can be a political option. But what are Somalis supposed to make of their national politicians turning deaf ears and blind eyes to the atrocities being committed, time and again, against unarmed men, women and children by the illegitimate, rouge regime calling itself “Somaliland”. It seems as though the leaders of the TFG are nonplused by the massacres of innocent Somali civilians by the clan militia based in Hargeisa. Yet these same TFG leaders are quick to claim to represent the nation as a whole, while attending the serial international conferences on Somalia, such the mysterious one taking that is taking place in London as of this writing. The situation calls for vision and clarity of purpose. And I’m certain that given the opportunity to reconsider, the Honorable Prime Minister is up to the job. Ali A. Fatah E-Mail: amamakhiri@aol.com

Many from Boosaaso tweets express their heart-felt grievances about the loss of lives and properties in the recent market inferno. Sympathy and Empathy!

Taleexi, At least Premier Farmaajo would have done something and braught the atrocious acts of "SL" to the attention of the international community. President Yusuf had warned the secessionists of its self-destructive, violent militias in Las Anod once. It's high time we hold the TFG responsible. Why is it so quick and so excited to condemn of every little action taken by al-Shabaab yet choose to be silent on SL's atrocities or other issues of much importance. Should its policies be coached always to defend and respresent Western regional interests? Somali Diaspora are disproportionately in favor of the restoration and unity of the Somali republic and they remit over $1 billion a year to sustain livelihoods in Somalia. And they demand a legitimate and responsible government.