Originally posted by Taliban: quote:Originally posted by Caamir: Taliban, give it up and ask what you can do for our country. So, you are suggesting that I give up by accepting occupiers and collaborators instead of resisting? Let us say Ethiopians are occupiers but as to what extent that their assistance to the government be considered occupation. Ethiopian's position is that it went to Somalia for its own national security concern since the defeated ICU constituted threat to its sovereignty by making irredentist claims. It, furthermore, said that it entered Somalia to protect the TFG until it consolidates its authority over Mogadishu and Somalia. Upon the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops as the PM Zenawi reiterated and that AU troops come in to replace them, will the political landscape that features Mogadishu change for the better. It takes a reform of socialization to change the attitude of the opposition sub-clans to the TFG. AU troops will be considered also occupiers as well as the TFG itself, which in fact the view of it as an occupier(s) is the current quagmire that the government is working very hard to deal with, hence the call for reconciliation. Who is the real occupier? Is the TFG an occupier or collaborator, the leaving Ethiopian troops, or the incoming AU troops will be also occupiers? These complex questions could be the premises of your argument and the hasty conclusion that no one but us should establish government in Somalis but who is us is the other resultant but meaningless question.

Taliban, give it up and ask what you can do for our country. Pointing fingers is not going to help.

At least , he should have appreciated how the Somali refugees in Kenya have stimulated the market and overall economy of Kenya and some other eastern and southern Africa by flooding their market with cheap, quality products. Somalis are very productive and capitalist, but their only problem is clannism and nepostism as our great poet spelled it out on the eve of our independence, TimaAdde. Invention and Anarchy -- a Study by World Bank

Good list.

No we are not brother, unfortunatly we found ourselves and our country in this predicament, but if we self-reflect the predicament we are in ,we can make a difference and in the words our late prof. Ali Jimali, a daybreak is near. You can read this info to further expand your reasoning and final conclusion. Link

Manshaallah, I wish the best outcome for this conference. It is time we acknowledge our crisis and find ways to solve the root causes. This in a way neutralizes our hostility and discourages those of us who point fingers often to add fuel to the already burning fire. The government is trying to extinguish this fire and we all know this was the fire that forced us to flee to the West and other places far from our home. We can just recall how painful was that experience, but then relative depredation, transmission of informal and backward culture, the facade in the mirror in which you see yourself as capable politician/clanician lol, etc have changed us into malevolent wishers and saboteurs of every reconciliation. Also, we have to emancipate ourselves the frame of reference by which our people perceive and evaluate things. It seems normal to say whoever is the president of any Somali government runs everything that is in the government, or his clan runs the government's resources and future plans. war waa dowladii reer hebel. That is a common theme in Somali community even among our educated circles. I only hope we can see these obstacles on the path to the reconstitution of our state and purification our spirits of patriotism. Somalia is our country.

Our educated Yasmin summed it up Hirsi's agenda in her article "Hirsi the Stray bullet" dated on March 14 2006. Yasmin, an activist for women rights, runs NGO that raises funds for cultural dialogue of the empowerment of our women. Her NGO, CBGthe Center for Briding Communities informs citizens an upcoming conference in San Diego, MN and many other cities. CBG Hirsi Ali, The Stray Bullet! Yasmeen Maxamuud March 14, 2005 Many who watched the 60 minute story aired on March 13 about Ayan Hirsi's interview came away with the bewilderment and wonder as to the reason Ayan Hirsi has taken on the issue of Islam to defame and offend Muslim people around the globe. The film she has written and co-produced is provocative, distasteful, disrespectful and totally ignorant. Watching her interview, I came away with this, that this woman is calculated and manipulative with a personal agenda. We may not be privy to what looms in the mind of any human who holds such loathing and ill-bred views against any group, but one fact is clear, she is getting the encouragement, funding and support of anti Muslim propaganda machines who no doubt are celebrating to use a renegade Muslim to spread their anti Islamic rhetoric through lies and misinformation. She claims Muslim women in Rotterdam and Amsterdam suffer from violence abuses by their families. Are we to think in Holland , this is the only area where violence against women occurs? Does Ms. Hirsi know women around the globe are abused and suffer the wrath of society's social ills, but only Muslim women are accused of going thru such abuse with the blessing of their religion? Hirsi employs misinformation tactic where she reports unsubstantiated lies she claims exist in the Holy Quran. When non Muslim women around the world suffer abuse in their respective societies, that society is not accused of doing so in the name of their religion. In an environment that is ripe for oppressing Muslims and where the Muslim masses are suffering today solely for their religious affiliation, Hirsi is not helping but adding fuel to an already burning fire. As far as media outlets all over the western world is concerned, it is a free for all time for everyone to take limitless punches against Muslims, hence such a divisive ill-informed piece was totally publicized to further alienate Muslims in Holland as well as other countries. If a documentary film depicted images that were demeaning and disrespectful to other religions such as the Judeo-Christian religion, most media outlets would most likely not have given it space to air. It is a malevolent reality that issues confronting religion do not have an equal footing in the West and that the magnifying glass to scrutinize insult and degrade Islam is not used for other religions. Her agenda is clear, she after all got publicity she probably never dreamed of, but her fifteen minutes of fame will come to a halt, and the residual outcome will be that she contributed to the controversy and gross misinformation of Muslim women while most certainly not coming to the aid of any abused woman in her tenure. The biased Western media interpretations which Hirsi and her like subscribe to, stereotype Muslim women as one block homogenous group that suffer violence and human rights abuses. These media outlets fail to understand that variety exists through culture, custom and tradition, hence Muslim women around the globe are exposed to different life styles depending on their culture. These same media outlets would not lump up an American Roman catholic and French Roman Catholic women taking into consideration the difference in culture. The Sensational attention grapping Western media brand Islam as a backward “fundamentalist” religion taking few examples of unjust behavior by any Muslim government as a supreme example of all Muslim countries. Hirsi needs to educate herself before making such unproven, dangerous claims about the religion. Islam is the first religion that gave women equal rights through inheritance, marriage, law and equality to men in the eyes of God, while Jewish and Christian women were still considered inferior to men because they were considered the originators of sin and the property of their husbands. The bias media outlets also portray the Muslim Hijab as a suppressive force on Muslim women. Quite the contrary the Hijab is a freeing attire for the sole purpose of protecting women from violence. Islam is more concerned with the integrity of woman and the protection of her personality and dignity. Where morality is decreasing and crimes against women staggering, modesty in dressing such as Hijab would only contribute to the safeguard of women. Contrast this with western societies where women are subjected to stringent requirements to look and dress a certain way, but are not protected when violence occurs, always questioning the women's attire at the time of violence, with the insinuation that the woman must have invited the abuse because she dressed in a provocative and inappropriate manner. Hirsi is misinformed and purposfully seeks attention grapping sound bites that are logically, academically and intellectually flawed. Yasmeen Maxamuud E-mail: Yasmeen_maxmuud@yahoo.com

Djibouti fares worse than our anarchic country in terms of socio-economic impacts. It has high mortality rate, very low life expectancy rate, and higher percentage of preventable diseases because of corruption. I speculate that he had a high stake in the long-term strategy of maintaining the occupation of areas south of Mogadishu. Nevertheless, the TFG should give a high priority to what majority of Mogadishu residents need: Peace and security and creation of jobs.

Social Science is the least knowledge a person can master in his or her educatinoal career. There are hundreds of phsycians, scientists, and MDs, Finance, and a host of other Somali scholars in such fields, but they don't run and go every where to foreshadow political and social upheavals for their country. Instead, they advise and project concrete solution to Somalia taking the most important subject into account, that is a viable Somali government. They popularize themselves unbelievably ludicrous.

Here is the root of the problem Duke. The remnants of the ICU can hardly forgo the illegal assets they have held for all these years. Now that they are defeated and feel powerless to the new authority that is on the pursuit of returning peace and correcting past wrongs against defenseless, unarmed clans, the last tactic they can take to resist the return of normalcy to Somalia is to target civilians, government personnel, and its institutions. It is for them a desperate measure for desperate time. They could care less if the whole nation building process and reconciliation collapses any day. They pray for the old status quo. ----------------------- Guelleh’s political debacles The least educated and the most talkative President of Djibouti has made countless political debacles in the past decade. Guelleh’s political record is riddled with numerous instances of inconsistencies and flip-flops and backstage manipulations. In early 1998, before ascending to power, in a letter addressed to the Ethiopian Government of Meles Zenawi, he proposed a confederation of Djibouti and Ethiopia, to the surprise and chagrin of the Djiboutian public. His proposed merger “and intention to seek an economic and political federation with Ethiopia” was later rejected by Ethiopia. During the Ethio-Eritrea war in 1999 he instantly sided with Ethiopia and severed his country’s diplomatic relations with Eritrea “on grounds that the latter provoked conflict with Ethiopia”. In 2000, in an absolute volte-face, Guelleh resumed his relationship with Eritrea. In 2001, Eritrean President Isaias Afework visited Djibouti and Guelleh made a reciprocal visit to Asmara to normalize relations. TNG Pres. Abdiqasim S. Hassan & Pres. Ismail O. Guelleh In early 2000, Guelleh snatched and “clanized” the Somali peace initiative spearheaded by IGAD. In what seemed as a major departure from the preceding peace and reconciliation conferences, Guelleh transformed the nature of the Somali peace process from reconciliation of warring factions to reconciliation of clans. This seemingly straightforward proposition embodies a mystifying element of paradox. The civil war in Somalia, as manifested in its ugly discourse over the past decade, has been characterized by a power struggle between rival warlords vying for influence over state structures and national resources. Though the warlords rallied support from members of their clans, the factional fighting that flared up in southern Somalia has neither evolved into an all out inter-clan confrontation nor progressed into a country-wide conflict. As a matter of fact, there has been more infighting within each and every major clan, invalidating the superficial notion of a cohesive, homogeneous clan. With generous funds from Al-Ittehad Al-Islami (AIAI), an extremist Islamic organization believed to have ties with al-Qaeda, and backstage manipulations, Guelleh convened a large gathering of Somali politicians and clan elders in Arta, Djibouti, in 2000. The Arta conference formed an Islamist dominated Transitional National Government (TNG) for Somalia, under the presidency of his firm favorite, Abdiqasim Salad Hassan, a leading Islamist politician and a member of the leadership of the Al-Islah wing of Al-Ittehad Al-Islami. If the purpose of conceiving the TNG was to promote peace and reconciliation in Somalia, as purported by its sole architect, Guelleh, the performance of the TNG was to the contrary. From the onset, the TNG has become a mouthpiece and sanctuary of Islamic extremist groups such as the Al-Ittehad Al-Islami. At least, one-third of the 245-strong TNG parliament was believed to have comprised leading members of Al-Ittehad. It is also an open secret that Al-Ittehad’s militia and Islamic courts in Mogadishu rallied behind the TNG. Subsequent to its formation, areas of relative stability and self-governing regions became victims of a destabilization campaign waged by the TNG. Guelleh and the Islamist dominated TNG coalesced for the purpose of implementing a coordinated strategy aimed at undermining the prevailing relative stability and functioning governance in Puntland and Somaliland entities. Through concerted persuasive engagements and pressure tactics, the shared strategy was to force these entities to join the TNG, or to effectively destabilize and make them crumble from within. Similarly, to prolong the hegemony of the Habar-Gidir clan - the clan of the president of the TNG that form the backbone of the mushrooming Islamist groups in chaotic Southern Somalia - on “conquered territories” in southern Somalia and forcibly appropriated private estates in Mogadishu, Merca, Kismayo, Juba Valley and in the inter-reverine areas, Guelleh, Abdiqasim and AIAI espoused a coherent strategy aimed at sustaining the Habar-Gidir occupation through the TNG channeled Islamist-petrodollar. As Lewis aptly puts, “this policy has been coupled with pursuing arms procurement, contrary to the official UN arms embargo and TNG propaganda proclaiming its ‘peaceful mission’”. “The UN has turned a blind-eye to these violations” says Lewis. “With these weapons, such militia units as the TNG have been able to recruit, have been sent to maintain the Habar-Gidir hegemony of farms, seized from their owners along the lower Shebelle, and to assist clan allies in Merca and Kismayu”. Link

I agree but still they can play a role by providing the financial resource required by the government. It is a long process for the Somalis to have a final solution to their problems. TFG requires another Five year mandate and a constant stream of aid to continue making progress. The country has been in civil war for 16 years with all of the state institutions and infrastructure in much ruin of biblical proportion. It is going in the right direction as of now.

All these ICU remnants in the shaddow are doing is to derail the peace mission of the UN and TFG, but the government should not be distracted by such minor incidents here and there at the expense of innocent civilians. Instead, they have to continue pushing for the consolidation of its power and evaluate the effectiveness of the upcoming reconciliation meeting that will be held in the country. Indeed it is a cowardly act.

UN Prepares For Takeover Of Somalia Peacekeeping Mission By Peter Heinlein United Nations 03 February 2007 The United Nations is sending a mission to Somalia to prepare for the eventual takeover of a planned African Union peacekeeping force. VOA's correspondent at the U.N., Peter Heinlein reports. U.N. Political Affairs chief Ibrahim Gambari says an African Union peace mission being recruited for Somalia is only a stopgap measure. Gambari told the Security Council Friday that A.U. leaders expect the world body to assume control of the operation within six months. At a summit in Addis Ababa this week, the A.U. agreed to assemble an eight-thousand strong peacekeeping force for Somalia. But troop contributor countries have offered only four-thousand soldiers. There are also questions about how to finance the operation, which is expected to cost about $34 million a month. Gambari told a closed-door Council meeting he is dispatching a small team of experts to the region next week to study the feasibility of a U.N. takeover of the mission. The current Security Council president, Slovakia's Ambassador Peter Burian said the latest deadly mortar attacks in Mogadishu underline the urgent need for a peacekeeping presence. "Members of the Security Council supported the rapid deployment of a U.N. technical assessment mission with a view to making recommendations to the Security Council on future security needs in Somalia," he said. Burian emphasized the need for an urgent deployment to help create conditions for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Somalia. Neighboring Ethiopia sent troops across the border in December to drive out an Islamic movement that had controlled much of Somalia for months. But the continued presence of foreign troops is deeply unpopular, and the Ethiopian force is withdrawing. That pullout has raised the possibility of a power vacuum. Ethiopian authorities are urging the African Union to begin deploying replacement troops in the next two weeks. A U.N. takeover of the Somalia mission would further expand the world body's growing peacekeeping role. The organization operates 18 peacekeeping missions worldwide, most of them in Africa, with a combined strength of 100,000 blue-helmeted troops.

What a nostalgia! “In the Old Days” Sung by Mohamed Jama Joof and Maryan Mursal: (late 1960s). In English He: In the old days it was custom that a girl perfumed her hair and braided it. She wrapped around her waist a wide cloth belt with fringes and an ornamental cord, and wore a white dress. But something has changed. Something weird with long horns they wear as hats on their heads and run all over the market. [Refrain:} You women have destroyed our culture. You have overstepped the religious law and destroyed our religion. Girls, won’t you behave? She: What was custom in the old days and a hundred years ago and what has been left behind, don’t make us go back to that well-worn road, for we have turned away from it with effort. Now we expect to run and compete for the sun and the moon and to lead people. [Refrain:] First get some education and learn how to read and write. Don’t try to turn back, you country hick, people who have woken up! He: In the old days it would happen that a girl would not address you for one or two months, and the men who went out looking would not see her for days. But something has changed. In the evening a whole gang of them goes out, carrying fat purses, wandering about outside like robbers. [Refrain] She: God allayed the waters of sea and river and made them come together. And he put in order the wide earth and the mountains and created his human beings each in a different way. You are a loser. No one is asking you to come along. [Refrain] He: In the old days it was custom to pay as bride wealth for a girl a whole herd of camels and the most exceptional horse, and a rifle on top of that. But something has changed. You are self-absorbed and ignore the advice of the family in which you were born. [Refrain] She: Girls used to be exchanged for a herd of camels and short-legged goats. But the religion we learned and the Qur’an do not allow this. Today we have no need for those who deal in what they do not own and for this old-fashioned dividing up of women. [Refrain:] First get some education and learn how to read and write. Don’t try to turn back, you country hick, people who have woken up! In Somali He: Beri hore waxaa jiray, inan timaha diibtoo, baarkana u tidhicdoo, boqorkiyo dhaclaha iyo, maro baylah xidhatee. Wax beddelay kuwii hore, balo geesa dheeroo, buul madaxa saarto, suuqa baratamayee. Naa bi'ise dhaqankii, sharcigii ka baydhoo, diintii burburisee, hablow maad is badh qabataan? She: Boqol sano horteed iyo, beri hore wixii jiray, ee layska baal maray, budulkii dib ha u qaban, laga soo baqoolee. Hadda baratan iyo orod, bisha iyo cadceeddiyo, beesha loo horseedoo, aannu beegsanaynaa. Horta baro tacliintiyo, buuggiyo dhigaalkoo, badowyahow dib ha u celin dadka soo baraarugay He: Beri hore waxaa jiray, inan aan bil iyo laba, hadal kaaga bixinoo raggu baadiggoobaa, beri arag ku weydaa Wax beddelay kuwii hore, casarkii dar baxayoo, kiish buuran qaatiyoo budhcad dibedda meertee. Naa bi'ise dhaqankii, sharcigii ka baydhoo, diintii burburisee, hablow maad is badh qabataan? She: Ilaahii bad iyo webi, biyahooda dhaarshee, meel kula ballamayee, dhulka baaxaddaliyo, buuraha rakibay baa bani aadmigiisana, ruuxba cayn u beeree waad baafiyoodee, cidi kulama baydhinee. Horta baro tacliintiyo, buuggiyo dhigaalkoo, badowyahow dib ha u celin, dadka soo baraarugay He: Beri hore waxaa jiray, inan baarax geeliyo, faraskii Baxdow wada, yarad looga bixiyaa, bunduqana la raacshaa. Wax beddelay kuwii hor, isu bogan badh maqanoo, bahdii ay ka dhalatiyo, baylihisay waanee. Naa bi'ise dhaqankii, sharcigii ka baydhoo, diintii burburisee, hablow maad is badh qabataan? Source --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Somaliland Dilema and the Rayaale Factor Faisal A. Roble February 02, 2007 The Rayaale factor in Somaliland is more complex than meets the eye. Just as Ali Mazrui’s rhetorical phrase described the Buganda factor in the Ugandan society that “Uganda can not be ruled with or without the Buganda tribe,” politicians in Hargeysa have realized that Somaliland is not attainable with or without Rayaale. Due to the complexity and the unpredictability of Somalia’s clan politics, the ever-shifting clan interest may have prompted a flurry of commentators, most importantly a controversial lead article by the Hargeysa-based Haatuf News paper, to pan damning assessments of Rayaale. By far, Rayaale is belatedly, yet correctly, painted as another proverbial African dictator and corrupt who has taken human rights abuses to new heights. Yet Somaliland can’t live with or without him. Cursed past of the secessionist vanguuard (the SNM) Understanding the Rayaale factor in the affairs of Somaliland would require a quick glance at the background of the most recent history of the main proponent of the secession ideology. The vanguard of pro-secessionist quarters in the north, the Somali National Movement (SNM), passionately argued for some time now that the crimes exacted selectively against some of the northern clans by the Barre regime and his state apparatus were the main causes of their struggle in the 1980s and the ultimate call for a unilaterally ill-advised, clan-inspired call for secession in 1991. (I do not by any degree intend to minimize the carnage that Barre and his dictatorial regime caused in the north). In “Blood and Bone, The Call of Kinship in Somali Society,” I.M. Lewis, who was given an unparallel access to the mind-set and ideology of the formation of the SNM, gives an account of a movement that: 1) was a clan-based; 2) had no modern and central ideology; and (3) failed to unite itself with the rest of the clans in the area. He particularly mentions the SNM’s failed effort to convince the clans in the Buuhoodle district, Sool and Sanaag regions, to join the movement as junior players. One would never know how a successful unity between the SNM and the clans who hail from said districts would have impacted the outcome of secession. Nonetheless, there are a number of critics who maintain that such an alliance would have had more serious impact on the search for secession for the north (Ali Guled and et al). More seriously, one could only surmise that Somaliland, say headed by Mohamed Said Gees, Mahmud Salah Nur "Fagadhe" or Qaybe from Sanaag and Buuhoodle, respectively, would have made the secession agenda more potent, provided that any one of them could rearrange the current equation as did Rayaale Jamac Mohamed Ghalib’s "The Cost of Dictatorship adds a forth point: the SNM failed to seize the moment when the United Somali Congress (USC), a southern based insurgency led by the late Mohamed Farah Aidid, had approached Silanyo through the late Ali Jumale, a prominent H-awiye lawyer, to form a junior partnership with SNM. Missing the opportunity to create and lead a united front against the Barre regime seems threw a permanent curse on the SNM to ever remain or be identified as a one-clan insurgency. Its failure to diversify itself geographically or tribally doomed its entire goal--to liberate its constituents from the rest of Somalia. Thus, the Somali adage of “Alif Alxamdu kaaga xumaada Albaqra ayuu ku dhibaa,” or, when loosely translated, “a missed opportunity in early stages to master the ABC comes back to haunt you in your senior years” fittingly applies to SNM. With such a missed opportunity hanging in the back, the elites of the SNM movement later on opted for a strategy to (a) galvanize the already angry multitude of the northwest clans; (b) organize each diya-paying segment (sub-clan) for money collection and fund-raising and for mobilization, especially from the Diaspora community. By blessing the SNM with manpower and material to carry the insurgency, this strategy at its early stage looked attractive. However in the early years of 1990s and onwards, community relations had gotten strained in the bifurcated sub-clans of the Issaq community and the intra-clan rivalry based on diya paying segment (sub-clan) became virulently violent, ultimately resulting in several serious conflicts, the most memorable of which was the Burao blood path. The lessons gained after the Burao experience, however, was instructive enough that clan solidarity, even within a given tribe that belongs to the same paternal genealogy, was not sustainable. Shifting Strategies And The Search for secession Cognizant of the inherent fragile nature of clan politics, after Hargeysa declared a unilateral secession in 1991, its leaders soon had embraced another theory, a victim’s theory, as the central guide in search for international recognition. It was believed that an argument that centered on the fate of the thousands of victims killed in the Barre years would earn sympathy from peace-loving, mainly western, countries, for the declared secession. Yet, the same leaders recognized the difficulty in securing recognition from the world, let alone from neighboring Ethiopia, for a seceding region that is endorsed by only one-single clan for the sole purpose of addressing clan grievances. Somalia is, if not a land inhabited by one feuding family, a largely homogenous country. The suspicion that the north’s grievances can perhaps be addressed in a different manner than complete secession constantly and unsurprisingly hit in the face the leaders of the breakaway districts. Explaining to neighboring countries - especially to Ethiopia and Kenya, two countries with enough latent but wide spread grievances registered by several groups - the notion of one tribe seceding becomes all the more insurmountable. Thus, in order to sell and get wider endorsement for the secession agenda regionally as well as globally, bringing at least more than one tribe to the secession plate became an inescapable strategic question. Incorporating the Gadabursi clan, who chocked in the past on the very mention of endorsing secession agenda became an unavoidable political reality. Before Rayaale came to power in Hargeysa, bringing the Gadabursi clan to endorse the secession vision was nearly impossible. Even the lone and former SNM member, a rebel without a cause, Abdirahman Aw Ali, nicknamed endearingly, “Tolwaa,” or, “he who does not have a clan to count on,” could not bring his clansmen into the fold of the SNM insurgency then or afterwards. Thus, succeeding to campaign for Rayaale to assume the mental of the secession agenda gave it a multi-clan façade (two clans for secession versus three that oppose). On his part, he has delivered to the secession table one of the most hitherto ardent northern unionists and made them holier than names like Silanyo and Mohamed Hashi Elmi in owning the very secession cause. If the SNM fought and died for what it called Somaliland, the Rayaale factor complicated the political equation, and he currently decides who dines on the largess of this chronically impoverished and unrecognized region of Somalia (Somaliland has a mere $20 million dollar annual budget with a disproportional higher appetite for corruption). Whether this is too of a high price to pay is at the center of the debate. Somaliland: A Hostage To Rayaale Rayaale undeniably changed the landscape of clan balance in the equation of who is pro-or contra-secession. He brings many his clan to the fold of secession, of course with notable exception of names like the Samatar brothers, Dr. Ali Bahar, Nur Hirsi Bahal, to name just a few. But at the same time he is part of the apparatus that is indicted to have butchered the residents of Berbera district. As such, his meteoric rise to the highest office has offended the former SNM leaders and their constituents. Whereas his acceptance of secession diversifies the constituents for the cause, his membership of the notorious NSS, a Gestapo organization, that Barre used to purge his critics weakness the moral basis for secession argument. The Rayaale factor is both an asset as well as a liability in the politics of secession. It gives the secession agenda a multi clan façade (two clans for secession versus three that oppose). In the same vain, Rayaale’s ascent to power has discredited the hitherto morally-based argument of the secessionist vision even within the Somali community. Although this clear contradiction in the body politic of Somaliland slaps in the face the thousand of victims killed in the north by the Barre regime, it is undeniably arguable that Rayaale expanded the constituent base for secession beyond one clan. Thus, reconciling such internally contradictory phenomenon poses a political conundrum in Somaliland. Moreover, Hargeysa today is not that much different from the days of Barre. The very notion of Rayaale as the head of Hargeysa, not to mention all the well documented attacks and violations he has so far committed against innocent civilians (like the human rights case of Zamzam Duale, the wanton arrests of journalists, the killing Khadar Dhabar, an innocent man from the minority clans and the failure to prosecute those who murdered him) eroded any sense of morality in Hargaysa. Hargyasa, it may seem, is trying to have its cake and eat it. To add insult to an injury, during his relatively short reign in Somaliland, Rayaale has reinstituted everything (from run-away corruption to human rights abuse, to placing his old NSS comrades in sensitive positions Link ) that Hargeysa loathed about the Barre regime. Yet, time and again, he has proven to be untouchable and he outfoxed the old guard of the SNM. With all this baggage, Rayaale can not easily be discarded, or even held responsible, for the crimes committed against humanity in the past or present as charged in a report Rakiya Omar authored for Africa Watch in the late 1980s. Rather, he would stay exactly where he is at least for now and continue dragging and destroying with impunity the entire effort mounted by the secessionists, because touching him would amount to pushing his clan to the unionist side. Leaders in Hargeysa are well aware of the infamous overnight switch of Rayaale’s clan from the unionist camp and their willingness to do the same complete reversal of political migration in the event that anyone threatens their now powerful “son.” Despite the inflammatory and condescending bravados that one often hears from hardliners (a case in point is the recent statement by Kahin, an SNM hardliner, that he will chase Rayal out of the state house by whipping him with his cane – in somali, Dhangad baan kaga saari madaxtooyada), Rayal has crafted his political niche that is totally untouchable. In the words of one commentator who requested to remain anonymous, “Rayaale has Hargaysa and Rer-Sheikh Isaxaaq exactly where he wanted them to be.” On his part, Rayaale is the first from his clan who effected global change on his clan’s political outlook and caused them migrate, of course there are notable exceptions, from their long held unionist ideology to a more vocal secessionist advocacy. Thus helping rearrange the clan balance where now two clans (Issaq and Gadabursi) support secession and three (Dolbahante, Warsangeli and Issa) oppose it is not a small feat. In political parlance, Rayaale has delivered to the secession camp. As a well placed resident of Hargaysa told me recently, when it come to the Rayaale factor in the politics of Somaliland, he said “haddaan hadalno waa noo hadal baas, haddaan aamusnona waa afsalax ku dhagayagii,” that is to say, as they say in English, “if we do we are damned, and if we don’t we are damned too.” Rayal has permanently dented the moral basis of the secessionist cause. To bank again on Mazrui’s rhetorical saying, Somaliland can not live with or without and that is its dilemma. Faisal A. Roble E-Mail:fabroble@aol.com Wardheer News

Originally posted by Abu_Geeljire: Will Ethiopia and Kenya ask Somalia to remove the five points on the Somali star representing "N.F.D" and Zone 5 Ethiopia........ The star symbol is unity. It might be subject to different interpretations. You can say it stands for territorial unification, unity by the people to end clan feuds and hostility, or unity in the sense of democratic principles and patriotism. Our late PM Egal signed the Arusha Memorandum which gave away NFD, one of the reasons Bare hardly pursued this dream.

You right progressive tax system works best in developed countries, for it redistributes in a way the high income of the rich to the poor. I will recommend that these four raising revenue mechanism dimension. 1)Tax revenues from production sectors (i.e. livestock, agriculture and fisheries). (2)Tax revenues from private investment and commercial and trade activities. (3)Revenues levied from import and export duties at all ports. (4)Levy on land users, road users and port users to meet service charges.

He represents as an elected Foreign Minister of Somalia the people of North Western Somalia or "Somaliland". Good interview!

nabadshe, that article is truly an insult. Is the author suffering from dementia? It requires a substantial amount of editing or it must be discarded to the trash pin. I can't believe you posted such type of article. That man can learn from good authors of "Somaliland" who can put together an academic opinion. He seems like a total literate Geeljire.

More other false predictions are being projected by self-appointed geo-political pundits. Most likely from now on,their regional predictions will fall on a deaf ear unless they look closely into the situation and conduct interviews with competent experts and historians like Said Samatar or Ismail Ali Ismail. They can learn from their scholarly articles as well.

You should edit the N word.

Great development Xoogsade, you are in a state of self-denial. You accuse some people here of supporting TFG for clannish aim. In fact, people in Mogadishu and their main vocal leaders are in full support of Ethiopian's assistance to the TFG. You have optical defect of seeing the reality and your judgement is hampered by that tribal lenses with which you see things. If your only fear is the overstaying of Ethiopia in Mogadishu, I tell you that Ethiopians will withdraw from Somalia on the mid Feb or until the government consolidates its power and enhances its institutional capacity.

Originally posted by rudy: the dude must eating to much chaat yo!! where the hell did u pull this stuff from!! holly smoke. lool, rudy . Do they have chat in LA?

Originally posted by Libaax-Sankataabte: Hmmm ... It wasn't there before? Lol it was already there and nothing to be suprised about it but I was delighted to see it hoisted and flying with many other flags of Africa. It felt good for all of us esp when the news of its desecration is still reeling in our mind. The Somali flag is indeed the only remaining symbol for the pride and identity of the Somali people. You wlc.