Somalia is a sovereign nation whose territorial integrity is preserved in the United Nations Charter, so the idea that Ethiopoia might redraw the map of Somalia is , quite effectively, a sham uttered only by sanctimonious demagogues parading as patriots to galvanize the public into Anti-TFG sentiment. Indeed this blanket accusation that Ethiopia has enough of a push to annex Somalia exacerbates the president and his prime minister's effort in bringing peace and prosperity, integrate all Somalia territories through peaceful means from Hargeisa to Mogadisho to Bosaaso to Kismayo. As of now the president is walking on high political tightrope across perilous rocks since his nation is infected with hostility to extreme views and unquenchable aggressiveness. He has the wherewithal to bridge the unbridgeable intellectual and emotional division.

Good move by the former warlord.

I beg to differ. I believe the very act of adjudicating Sadam's case and determining his execution was all a matter of superiority, one race is superior to another. This is a brutal philosophy that is destroying Mankind on earth. News Media and analysts are trying to convince the bovine public that he was brutal dictator. How was he? His war with Iran was greatly supported by the United States and he had every right to defend his country from being invaded by Iraqi's arch enemy, Iran. Iraq lived in prosperity before the Americans invaded. It sustained itself through years of coercive economic sanction for the simple pretext that he invaded Kuwait regardless that he pulled his troops out. The question is how many children died of malnutrition, starvation, and preventable diseases during that embargo. The murder of Hussain is to scare Arab leaders that their fate will be like Sadam if they do not serve the dictates of the West. It sends a subtle message that Arabs leaders should be submissive and docile to the West. Waa Bahdilid, tan ugu xun oo dad bini aadima lagu sameeyo sida ay cadaawadaan lagu abuurey dadka Iraaq ay u shiiqdo way adag tahey. May Allah rest him in Janna.

Originally posted by samuraiW: Waan ogahay in in dhawaale dhawaaqa dhallintu uu dhimbil ka dhanaanaa, laakiin bi'i waaye -- hubsiimo halbaa la siistaa! Oo dee baaluqna waa tahaye, wax isu la har!

FiqiKheyre, Bandwith limit exceeded, is there another site ?

Let the Premier do his national duty. We shouldn't portend a vicious return of the warlord era, that is past the reason and conceals an agenda to undermine the institution of the government's noble services to the people. Our people in Mogadisho need a final solution to the 16 years of anarchy and misery.

^That is raw accusation, isn't it? Iam exposing The lost ICU's politico-critical orientation. I am for the survival of Somalis and it is now right before your eyes. You can make a change by promoting dialogue and bringing Somalis to the table. ICU threatened evryone with naked power. Your country needs you.

http://www.laasqoray.net/view_article.php?articleid=1441

Is that his first time in Afgoi since 1977.

I said it was very grim injustice. May Allah take him to the Janna. He was very brave. " what surprised me is that I could not see any remorse from him or any apology....no patronizing remarks, no humiliation in his face" a witness who described his execution. ---------------- A letter written on 5 November by Saddam Hussein has been released by the former Iraqi leader's lawyers. Here are some key excerpts. In the past, I was, as you all know, in the battlefield of jihad and struggle. God, exalted by He, wished that I face the same again in the same manner and the same spirit in which we were before the revolution but with a problem that is greater and harsher. Oh beloved, this harsh situation, which we and our great Iraq are facing, is a new lesson and a new trial for the people by which to be judged, each depending on their intention, so that it becomes an identifier before God and the people in the present and after our current situation becomes a glorious history. It is, above all, the foundation upon which the success of the future phases of history can be built. In this situation and in no other, the veritable are the honest and faithful and the opposing are the false. When the insignificant people use the power given to them by the foreigners to oppress their own people, they are but worthless and lowly. In our country only good must result from what we are experiencing. To the great nation, to the people of our country, and humanity: Many of you have known the writer of this letter to be faithful, honest, caring for others, wise, of sound judgement, just, decisive, careful with the wealth of the people and the state... and that his heart is big enough to embrace all without discrimination. His heart aches for the poor and he does not rest until he helps in improving their condition and attends to their needs. His heart contains all his people and his nation, and he craves to be honest and faithful without differentiating between his people except on the basis of their efforts, efficiency, and patriotism. 'Sacrifice' Here I am speaking today in your name and for your eyes and the eyes of our nation and the eyes of the just, the people of the truth, wherever their banner is hoisted. You have known your brother and leader very well and he never bowed to the despots and, in accordance with the wishes of those who loved him, remained a sword and a banner. This is how you want your brother, son or leader to be... and those who will lead you (in the future) should have the same qualifications. Here, I offer my soul to God as a sacrifice, and if He wants, He will send it to heaven with the martyrs, or, He will postpone that... so let us be patient and depend on Him against the unjust nations. In spite of all the difficulties and the storms which we and Iraq had to face, before and after the revolution, God the Almighty did not want death for Saddam Hussein. But if He wants it this time, it (Saddam's life) is His creation. He created it and He protected it until now. Thus, by its martyrdom, He will be bringing glory to a faithful soul, for there were souls that were younger than Saddam Hussein that had departed and had taken this path before him. If He wants it martyred, we thank Him and offer Him gratitude, before and after. 'The enemies' The enemies of your country, the invaders and the Persians, found that your unity stands as a barrier between them and your enslavement. They planted and grounded their hateful old and new wedge between you. The strangers who are carrying the Iraqi citizenship, whose hearts are empty or filled with the hatred that was planted in them by Iran, responded to it, but how wrong they were to think that they could divide the noble among our people, weaken your determination, and fill the hearts of the sons of the nation with hatred against each other, instead of against their true enemies that will lead them in one direction to fight under the banner of God is great: The great flag of the people and the nation. Remember that God has enabled you to become an example of love, forgiveness and brotherly co-existence... I call on you not to hate because hate does not leave a space for a person to be fair and it makes you blind and closes all doors of thinking and keeps away one from balanced thinking and making the right choice ... I also call on you not to hate the peoples of the other countries that attacked us and differentiate between the decision-makers and peoples... 'Forgiveness' Anyone who repents - whether in Iraq or abroad - you must forgive him... You should know that among the aggressors, there are people who support your struggle against the invaders, and some of them volunteered for the legal defence of prisoners, including Saddam Hussein... Some of these people wept profusely when they said goodbye to me... Dear faithful people, I say goodbye to you, but I will be with the merciful God who helps those who take refuge in him and who will never disappoint any faithful, honest believer... God is Great... God is great... Long live our nation... Long live our great struggling people... Long live Iraq, long live Iraq... Long live Palestine... Long live jihad and the mujahideen. Saddam Hussein President and Commander in Chief of the Iraqi Mujahid Armed Forces

Islamic forces retreat in Somalia; government offers conditional amnesty to militia The Associted Press December 26, 2006 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Islamic fighters using irrigation canals as fortifications battled advancing Somali and Ethiopian government troops at dawn Wednesday with artillery, mortars and heavy machine guns as they defended a major town on the road to the capital, witnesses said. The militia, which wants to rule Somalia according to Islamic law, stopped what their leaders called a tactical retreat in the village of Jimbale, 140 kilometers (87 miles) north of Mogadishu. They were defending the major town of Jowhar, residents said. "The fighting has started, the two sides are using heavy weapons we have never heard before," Naimo Abdi Aden said by telephone. Hundreds of people began fleeing Jowhar on Wednesday, anticipating major fighting, but others seemed resigned to it after suffering from drought and flooding over the last two years. "We do not know where to escape, we already suffering from floods, hunger and disease," said Abdale Haji Ali from Jowhar. "We are awaiting death." Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said he had been given unconfirmed reports that as many as 1,000 people had died and 3,000 were wounded. "Some of them are Somalis, but a very significant proportion of them are not Somalis," Meles told reporters Tuesday in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, referring to foreign Islamic radicals who have reportedly joined the fighting. The International Committee of the Red Cross reported 850 people injured at hospitals supported by the relief agency, but had no figure for fatalities. Meles said his forces, which entered Somalia in large numbers Saturday, had completed about half their mission. He said there are only 3,000 to 4,000 Ethiopian troops in Somalia — "but no more." Ethiopia sent fighter jets across the border Sunday to help Somalia's U.N.-recognized government push back the Islamists. Ethiopia bombed the country's two main airports and helped government forces capture several villages. Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, a senior leader of the Islamic group, said he asked his troops to tactically retreat in the face of superior Ethiopian firepower. "The war is entering a new phase," Ahmed said from Mogadishu. "We will fight Ethiopia for a long, long time and we expect the war to go everyplace." Ahmed declined to elaborate, but some Islamic leaders have threatened a guerrilla war to include suicide bombings in Addis Ababa. He also accused Ethiopian troops of massacring 50 civilians in the central town of Cadado. At the United Nations on Tuesday, Francois Lonseny Fall, the U.N. secretary-general's special representative to Somalia, told an emergency meeting of the council on Tuesday that fighting has expanded across a 400-kilometer (250-mile) wide area, forcing the U.N. to evacuate and halt assistance to two million people in the south and central regions affected by the conflict and recent floods. "Unless a political settlement is reached through negotiations," Fall said, "Somalia, I am afraid, will face a period of deepening conflict and heightened instability, which would be disastrous for the long-suffering people of Somalia, and could also have serious consequences for the entire region." The security council failed to agree on a statement and decided to meet again on Wednesday. While the Islamic militias have been retreating, they could switch to hit-and-run tactics the government and Ethiopian troops will have difficulty defending against. Many fear a guerrilla war could drag on and leave thousands dead. Meles has privately threatened for months to send troops into Somalia to fight terrorists, defend Ethiopian interests and prop up the besieged government, which has a very small military force. He has also said he aims to severely damage the courts' military capabilities and allow both sides to return to peace talks on an even footing, but would not send troops into Mogadishu. Instead, he said, Somali forces would encircle the city to contain the Islamists. If he sticks to his plan, the transitional government and the Islamic courts would take peace talks more seriously because neither side would have the upper hand militarily. Any attempt by the government or Ethiopia to enter Mogadishu would likely end in a disaster similar to the U.S. intervention to create a Somali government in 1992. That U.N.-sponsored mission ended in 1993, when militiamen shot down a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and 18 servicemen were killed in a subsequent battle made famous in the book and movie "Black Hawk Down." What is unclear is how clan politics, which have traditionally dominated Somali society, will shift with the Islamic movement's changing fortunes. Clan elders tend to take the victor's side in the interest of minimizing violence in their villages. The 11 courts that make up the Islamic council are based on clan, vary widely in their interpretation of Islamic law and do not always get along. Somalia has not had an effective government since warlords overthrew longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, pushing the country into anarchy. Two years ago, the United Nations helped set up an interim government for the arid, impoverished nation on the Horn of Africa. ____

You mean the Islamist militia?

Originally posted by General Duke: Why spare Mogadishu and not KISMAYU? Why spare Mogadishu on a press release then hand heavy wepons over to the streets? They talk a good game but their actions differ. There where the men who used to parade children and women and make idle threats against everyone. When it came to it they ran away? You folks have not honestly understood their aim of fighting in Kismayo. I have personally conceived they are harbouring vengeance and desire to wreak their biggest havoc on the locals of Kismayo who will bear much of the brunt of Kismayo's urban warfare. The locals in the city of Kismayo as well as villages in the countryside such as of Bula Haji and Halima Adey up to Joore whose cousins by kinship also reside in Puntland will be subject of their target using them as a human shield and destroying their property. Whoever supported the Clan courts will now realize what was their ulterior motives. However, Allah is there for us Somalis and punishes imposters.

Thanks Duke, A lot has to come.

Hypocritical comments and mud slings that we hurling at each other are indeed counter productive. In fact, they won't give us the chance to have our government function fully in the entire country. Making predictions as well of our tribal conflicts in the future also adds insult to our injury. Only pessimists succeed in this endeavor. Yes TFG endorsed the deployment of peacekeeping troops to help it end the stalemate and threats from an unknown fronts driven by an invisible and envious hatred to a government that is assisting its country. Instead of staying honest and true to their country, [they] undermine every effort that can stride our country to peace and prosperity. However, the Government had a plan on its own that none of us could make disuse of it, but it will move on with its national policies regardless of what some of us scrawl here. The paradox is and was that some are exploiting our traditional base source of enmity to nurture dissent against the TFG and kill any hopes it might try to achieve in its future objectives. I hope it doesn't happen, but such reactions would have been better served had it been channeled from the proper and genuine sentiment to the right direction. Our people in the Somali region of Ethiopia, in my days of Somalia online, have never been given the attention they deserve. Their voices were stifled and hardly debated over their plight and neither Somali sites gave much coverage, except WardheerNews. In fact, I posted several articles in regard to their plight and mulled over ways to convince our people to compromise over the disputed issues, promote communication and preserve relationship. However, no one was interested and the most sentimental Nomad here sent only abstract sympathy and empathy. Let us now be true to our selves and refrain from hypocrisy and absurd claims of cry and hue for the so called invading troops. They are not invading us, for they could have invaded us long time ago, but the pretext to enter our country was made possible by the Islamic courts in their attempt to destroy the TFG, which is a popular transitional government that has five years mandate from United Nations. Asalamu Calykum

Indeed he was well aware

Caano Geel, I don't know why we are so impatient to everything. Even the late courts were so impatient that it rushed into a big war unprepared. Jimacale, you misunderstood me. I was comparing the erstwhile ICU and the government and their respective influence on the people. Besides, most people who protested against the ICU were people of Bula Haji and Halima Adey. Thus, they were appointed for the mayor of the city before the ICU retreated and emptied the city.

Centurion, some of you underestimate the power of the government, but these pictures might shed a light. http://news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/events/wl/051006somaliaunrest/im:/061227/ids_photos_wl/r2669272492.jpg

Smear campaign is not going to help the TFG nor Somalia. Let the governmnet establish itself on the capital and see it how it progresses. I know there will be a change in the future, a change that would be positive in the direction of the TFG.

Talban, have you forgotten the public protest in Kismayo, Merka, Barawe, and all these areas that used to be under the control of the ICU. On the other hand, How many times Duke posted pictures of a large people in the five regions of Puntland, Bay and Bakool converging at the main streets and avenues of the main cities in full support of their government. But your eyes are blind to it and your ears don't want to hear such news because you oppose the TFG and campaign for the Taliban-rule Style. As of now, there are thousands of people on the streets of Mogadisho waiving pictures of the president and his Prime Minister Geedi. Just give time to the TFG and be patient.

Somal-Friend, you have more inside knowledge than most of us here. We rely on what clannish sites write on their boards for our daily propoganda intake against a politician made to be our foe, invisible Foe. The president is an invisible enemy to many ingrained in their heart and mind, but he has been patient and receptive to all suggestions and the Way Forward. Let me quote, a Veteran scholar of ours and his views on the TFG and its Somali adversary. --------------------------------- The Federal Government The verbal onslaught on the TFG has been ferocious and unprecedented and it began before the government even managed to secure a foothold in the country. Mogadishu was burning and was patently unsafe for a government that did not have the means to defend itself let alone return normalcy to the city. While the government was being severely scathed there were those of us who were condoning or even praising the actions of the warlords who were playing havoc in the city despite being members of the government. And there were those who wanted the TFG to jump into the fire by moving to Mogadishu. But, the government had a plan of its own. It was to bring in an AU or an IGAD intervention force to protect key government institutions; collect weapons voluntarily surrendered; and help reconstitute and train the police and the army........... Sometimes when your own internal system cannot cope with pain you have to swallow a bitter pill to relieve the pain. In civil war a foreign intervention force may represent that bitter pill. We must remember that the civil wars in the Balkans, Siera Leone and Liberia were all settled by outside powers. In our case Ethiopia, Eritrea, Libya, Egypt and even Iran are said to be involved, but the key to ending external meddling in our affairs is in our own hands. Ismail Ali Ismail

Peacful coexistance will not be a thing of the past. I am not that pessimistic.

Ethiopia entered Somalia with the approval of the government in bringing to an end the anarchic situation in the South. Such demonstration does not interpret the full support of the Somali people. As a matter of fact, most of Somalis do support their government's defensive action and the assistance lended by our neighbour, Ethiopia.

^Xogsade, I hope that friction to be healed by the government through reconciliation efforts and by collecting all the weapons in the hands of the civilians and recruit more local troops. Let us give time to the government and see their progress. Tahlil just as Somali-Friend said and I said it again that President Abdullah Yusuf is not a simple man and does not allow to be navigated like a puppet on a string, but he is the recognized transitional president of Somalia. More importantly, he recognizes Ethiopia's borders since venturing in this dangerous endeavor will cost him disastrous consequences just it happened to Mohamed Siyad Bare and Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke.

Ahmed, Puntland and Somaliland aren't different states but part of Somalia. Since the question was about Somalia, these adminstrative blocks knowns in the United Nations circles as "local level" adminstrations is aided for maintaining stability and policies that cater to the needs of the people. They are creations of the anarchy and thus a temporary panacea for the anarchy.