NAIROBI, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Gunmen shot dead a Somali army colonel in Mogadishu in the latest in a string of assassinations of soldiers and policemen in the chaotic capital, residents said on Sunday. Col. Mohamed Mohamud Raghe was shot in the head, chest and stomach by three unidentified assailants on Friday as he walked to a pharmacy after noon prayers at a mosque, residents and relatives said by telephone from the coastal city. Raghe was the latest of about a dozen security experts murdered by gunmen in the past three months in killings seen by residents as signs of opposition to a Transitional Federal Government (TFG) set up at peace talks in Kenya last year. Raghe was helping to train militiamen recruited from around the Horn of Africa country by TFG President Abdullahi Yusuf in recent months in order to create a national security force following the government's relocation from Kenya. Experts argue the gunmen who have carried out the killings are exploiting a climate of confrontation and impunity created by months of bickering between Ethiopian-backed Yusuf and a group of Mogadishu-based cabinet ministers who dislike his rule. As long as political crisis continues to paralyse efforts to restore government to the country, the capital's lawlessness will fester, giving free rein to anyone who seeks to sabotage the peace process, diplomats and Somali commentators say. Somalia collapsed into chaos after the overthrow of military ruler Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991. Conflict and famine have killed hundreds of thousands of people since then.

Foreign NGOs map new route to African legitimacy By William Maclean Sat Oct 8, 9:55 PM ET To their critics, foreign aid workers in Africa serve a new form of imperialism: in their zeal to do good, the argument goes, they prop up a humanitarian system that perpetuates the continent's dependence on outsiders. To their supporters, international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) help the hungry and excluded, campaign for trade reform and take big risks to expose human rights abuses, often fostering African self-reliance in the process. One thing friend and foe agree on: for better or worse Africa's attempts to tackle the issues that govern its fate are influenced increasingly by a growing army of foreign NGOs. On trade, hunger, debt, disease, war or governance, foreign NGOs are busy both in Africa and in the rich world's corridors of power lobbying for more and better aid. "Deeper debt relief, the Ottawa Treaty on land mines, the global movement for women's rights and protection of the environment -- none of these advances would have happened without NGO ideas and pressure," wrote Michael Edwards, director of the Ford Foundation's Governance and Civil Society Unit. "(But) global NGO networks are dominated by voices from the rich world, a weakness that makes them easy targets for attack," he wrote in an article in London's Financial Times. The number of international NGO branches -- measured by the presence of an office or just an individual member -- in Africa rose 31 per cent to 39,729 between 1993 and 2003, the Center for Global Governance at the London School of Economics says. The rate of increase in sub-Saharan African was higher, at 40 percent. The number of international NGOs and NGOs with strong international links headquartered in Africa rose by 33 percent to 867 in the same period, its research shows. The study does not count the thousands of grassroots African NGOs which sometimes work alongside their foreign counterparts. VOICES FROM THE RICH WORLD Criticism of international NGOs has long focused on the issue of legitimacy: Clare Short, then Britain's International Development Secretary, was memorably unimpressed by a protest against globalisation at a Group of Eight summit in 2001. "They are all white people from privileged countries claiming to speak on behalf of the poor of the world and there is something a little bit wrong with that," she shrugged. Supporters of Western NGOs counter that the proportion of Africans in their operations is rising. Some are decentralising management and devolving authority to regional and country units to try to deepen their roots in the communities they serve. ActionAid has gone a step further and moved its global headquarters to South Africa from Britain to be based in the global "south." Its international board is headed by Noerine Kaleeba, a world renowned AIDS activist from Uganda. "The issue of who is speaking for who is at the core of this," Charles Abani, a Nigerian who manages ActionAid's Africa operations, told Reuters. The more that genuine representatives of the poor were involved in analysis and policy-making the more pragmatic, effective and politically astute NGO operations would be, he said. "Too often analysis is done in the abstract by intellectuals from academia unfamiliar with reality on the ground. Analysis is written, not 'with' poor people but 'of' poor people," he said. A more basic criticism leveled at the humanitarian system as a whole is that relief work undermines the political contract between a state and its citizens to prevent ills such as famine. Many years ago NGO workers' common response to that argument was to say that they are in Africa to work themselves out of a job. But it hasn't happened. The sector keeps growing and evolving, especially into the field of advocacy. TAKE THE HIGH ROAD "Over time NGOs tend to grow of their own accord and act less in the service of the people they are meant to help," said Sylvie Brunel, former head of Action Against Hunger. "There are too many institutions. Some NGOs have become 'little U.N.s' with their excessive focus on logistics, fund-raising and communication," she told Reuters. Rye Barcott, American founder of Carolina for Kibera, an NGO in a Nairobi slum, insists that all its American workers are volunteers while Kenyan staff receive a salary. "The goal of all NGOs should be to transfer ownership toward the community," he said. "The generation of employment opportunities is not only important for economic development, it is vital to have legitimacy in the eyes of the community." However, too many foreign NGOs remain reluctant to step back and let African groups take over their projects or give Africans more say in sectors such as fund-raising, experts say. It's not as if African NGOs lack a record of achievement. Examples are Kaleeba's work in Uganda, Nobel Peace laureate Wangari Maathai's environmentalist Green Belt Movement in Kenya and the vast civil liberties movement at the forefront of the Nigerian democracy campaign under former dictator Sani Abacha. "International NGOs are there to level the playing field and build capacity. But I sense a real reluctance among some NGOs to do that," Ford Foundation's Edwards told Reuters. Should international NGOs be more "Africanised?" "Definitely," Edwards said. "International NGOs currently agonise a lot (over that) but I'm not sure they act enough. "It's always difficult to hand over power and control because it may involve shrinking your organisation...But I think NGOS can and should live up to their best principles, and take the high road."

Elbaadei's work was recognized worldwide in revealing the truth of any nuclear nonproliferation treaty violations by countries deemed dangerous to the world by U.S.A and its allies. He also stressed in an interview the importance of his organizations' objectivity and integrity to the world peace. He, therefore, clarified his position as a man who will never be impelled to give false reports in favor of the superpower countries. His report in Iraq was thoroughly accurate that Iraq discontinued its nuclear enrichment program. Elbaradei being a recipient of this award, Will the American policy in Iran be averted if he and his team are again assigned to investigate Iran’s nuclear? Whoever defies the illegal occupation of his country was an agitator of peace, during the colonial era. Now, whoever seeks the possession of nuclear weapon, with the exception of nuclear power countries, is also an agitator of world peace. The Nobel Peace Prize for 2005 Mohamed ElBaradei The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2005 is to be shared, in two equal parts, between the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its Director General, Mohamed ElBaradei, for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way. At a time when the threat of nuclear arms is again increasing, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to underline that this threat must be met through the broadest possible international cooperation. This principle finds its clearest expression today in the work of the IAEA and its Director General. In the nuclear non-proliferation regime, it is the IAEA which controls that nuclear energy is not misused for military purposes, and the Director General has stood out as an unafraid advocate of new measures to strengthen that regime. At a time when disarmament efforts appear deadlocked, when there is a danger that nuclear arms will spread both to states and to terrorist groups, and when nuclear power again appears to be playing an increasingly significant role, IAEA's work is of incalculable importance. In his will, Alfred Nobel wrote that the Peace Prize should, among other criteria, be awarded to whoever had done most for the "abolition or reduction of standing armies". In its application of this criterion in recent decades, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has concentrated on the struggle to diminish the significance of nuclear arms in international politics, with a view to their abolition. That the world has achieved little in this respect makes active opposition to nuclear arms all the more important today. Oslo, 7 October 2005

Originally posted by Paragon: In this forum, there is a great deal of dishonesty with one’s self. Our so-called minds are bent on impressing each rather than being intentioned to grow. In every line written in these pages, I cannot help but feel an oozing pretence scattered all around. There are only few individuals, if any, who honestly reason and reply to posts with the aim to expand their minds. The rest are impressionists. Many here cannot tell the difference between their own thoughts and the books they have read. The future, if we let our minds live under the slough of pretence, is truly dim. All that can be done now is to catch ourselves short from such pretences. We must honestly, genuinely think and reason, so as to kick-start the process of sloughing off. We must do this because there is no other choice open to us. We have had enough of pretence and it doesn’t yield any fruits. Are we ready to slough off our existence in pretence? Excellent point, thanks for contributing

^^ And clan is a family and only a family. Good article

Olol, You tend to differ your cognizance of the matter and your behavior as i perceived from your writings in this site. Knowing Somalia is a hostage to these war-lords, why do you strive to paint a gloomy picture of the TFG whose main priority is to reconstitute a government that would work in Somalia. I understand you are opposed to Abdilahi Yusuf individually based on prototypes that he is biased againt the main group in Mogadisho. It is the people of Mogadisho that he is building a working administration for, not the other way. And even if he is contriving for self-aggrandizement, advanced as a legitimate claim by the war-lords, he won't overstay his tenure. So, isn’t it important the we give peace a chance and support the government?

This is an archive news story but i find it very plaintive that a Somali man met his fate at the time when the racial discrimination/segregation was rampant in the West. Allaha ha u naxariisto miskiinka. Injustice casts a lifelong shadow By Carol Midgely Mahmood Mattan was cleared of murder 46 years after he was hanged. His family explains why compensation will never be enough This week a headstone was placed on the grave of Mahmood Mattan in a corner of Western Cemetery, Cardiff; the epitaph reads simply "Killed by injustice". Mattan's widow and his son Omar watched the proceedings quietly and then walked away to try to move on with their lives. But they cannot forget - and say they will never forgive. On the morning of September 3, 1952, Mattan, a young Somali sailor, was taken from his cell at Cardiff prison, marched to the gallows and hanged for a murder he didn't commit. Seven weeks earlier, in a parody of a trial, he had been found guilty of slitting the throat of Lily Volpert, a Cardiff shopkeeper. The hearing at Glamorganshire Summer Assize in Swansea was so steeped in racial bigotry that even Mattan's defence solicitor described him as a "half-child of nature; a semi-civilised savage". Despite his limited grasp of English, he did not have an interpreter and the jury did not know that the prosecution witness on whom the case hinged had altered his statement and been rewarded for giving evidence. It took 46 years and a dogged family campaign before the Appeal Court overturned Mattan's conviction and allowed his Welsh widow, Laura, to exhume his quicklimed body from its felon's grave at Cardiff jail and rebury it in consecrated ground. Recently it emerged that the Home Office had paid compensation of about £700,000 (not £1.4 million as was widely reported, say the family), which is being shared four ways between Laura and the couple's three sons, David, 53, Omar, 51, and Mervyn, 50. It might be expected that this, together with the erection of the headstone inscribed in both Arabic and English, a final act of dignity for Mattan, might enable the family to close the book on the miscarriage of justice that has blighted their lives. But the family say they feel that the money is tainted by their father's blood and that nothing will repair the damage caused by the decades of prejudice they suffered as "the children of the hanged man". They are seeking further compensation from South Wales Police for the arrest and unlawful execution of Mattan because it is the one card which they can play against the authorities: he cannot be brought back to life so they must try to shame those who helped to bring about his death. "Part of me feels like taking the money, putting it in a pile and burning it outside the prison where they hanged my father, to show how little it means to us and how it can never pay for what they did," says Omar, a quietly spoken man. Both he and his brother Mervyn have given most of their share away to their own children and relatives. "Our father believed absolutely in British justice. Right until the last minute he didn't think he would be hanged because he thought the police would get the right man. And look what they did to him." Nor does Laura, now 72, derive any comfort from the compensation. She still lives on the same Cardiff council estate and her face is drained of life - a legacy of 50 years of hardship and the loss of the man she calls her great love. "What does money matter really compared with the fact that he will never be able to sit down or go walking with his sons? It's nothing," she says. "I'm still devastated and I'll be angry until the day I die. This was a kind, gentle, loving father who respected me and loved this country and had so many plans for his family. He was an ordinary man but he was the best thing that had ever happened to me." Mahmood Mattan met Laura Williams, a 17-year-old girl from the Rhondda Valley, while he was a foundry worker in Tiger Bay and she worked in a paper factory. Born in British Somaliland, he had gone to sea and settled in Wales. Tiger Bay and its bustling docks, where Indians, Chinese, Africans, Jews and Arabs worked shoulder to shoulder, was regarded at the time as a model of racial harmony. But in reality races were expected to stick with their own, and when Laura and Mattan began courting there was outrage in the community. People threw buckets of water at Laura, calling her a "black man's whore". When the couple married three months later, few of their neighbours would speak to them. For a year - one which Laura describes as the "happiest of her life" - the couple enjoyed some respite from the racist taunts when they moved to Hull with their first two sons after Mahmood found work there. They should have stayed. On the evening of March 6, 1952, Lily Volpert, a 41-year-old unofficial money-lender, answered a knock on the door of her Cardiff shop. Soon afterwards she was found by a neighbour lying in a pool of blood, her throat cut from ear to ear. Nine days later Mattan was charged with the murder. Police raided the Mattans' flat and found a broken shaving razor but no bloodstained clothes or any sign of the stolen £100. Despite having alibis backed by witnesses, Mattan was convicted on microscopic flecks of blood on his shoes and the word of Harold Cover, a Jamaican who testified that he saw Mattan coming out of Volpert's shop. But the shoes had been bought secondhand and Cover was a violent criminal who was later jailed for life for the attempted murder of his daughter. The defence was not told that four witnesses had failed to pick Mattan out at an identity parade. Indeed one, a 12-year-old girl who had seen a black man near the shop at the exact time of the murder, told police that it was definitely not Mattan. They ignored her evidence. The weeks her husband spent on remand were traumatic for Laura, now a mother of three young boys. The family's house was so close to the looming prison that if she looked out of her window at an appointed time she could see her husband waving a handkerchief from the window. On the morning of September 3, Laura, still only 21, turned up at the jail as usual. As she stood outside the gate in torrential rain an official came out and pinned a notice to the gate. It stated that the execution of Mahmood Hussein Mattan had taken place at 8am and had "gone without a hitch". Laura had not even known it was going to happen. It was their son David's fourth birthday. Laura collapsed and was taken home by her mother. She was inconsolable and would not answer her door for nearly three weeks. Official reports say Mattan was 28 when he died, but the family insists he was only 24, having added four years to his age in Somaliland to enable him to go to sea. "All I remember about that time is my grandmother looking after us and being told that mother wasn't well," says Omar, a painter and decorator. "Up until I was eight I was told that my father had died at sea, and I believed it. Then one day the Salvation Army band was playing near our house and I went out to sing with them. One of the leaders said: ‘We don't need the sons of hanged men.' Until I was about 12 that knowledge felt like a cancerous growth in my head. I can still remember my Dad carrying me on his shoulders, and when he bought me a huge teddy bear." Omar spoke to the Imam who spent the final hours with Mattan in his cell before the execution. "He told me that he'd said to my father: ‘Now is the time to make your peace with God.' My father replied: ‘I have no peace to make. My conscience is clear.' " The boys had problems enough growing up as half-caste children in a racially intolerant era, but having a hanged man as a father increased the stigma. They lived in abject poverty. "We were incredibly poor. We had to rely on charity for our clothes and food and roll up pieces of cardboard for the fire because there was no coal," says Omar. But Laura always told her boys that their father was innocent and they fought a long campaign to clear his name. Their first attempt to have the conviction overturned was refused in 1968 by the then Home Secretary, James Callaghan. But in 1996 they achieved their first breakthrough when permission was granted to have the body exhumed and reburied. Even then, however, there was little dignity for the Mattans. "They wouldn't let us have a hearse," says Mervyn bitterly. "My father's body was carried in a dirty blue Transit van for the journey to the cemetery and his coffin was made of cheap plywood. The Home Office wanted it to be as low-key as possible. When they brought out the bodybag I touched it because I just wanted to feel close to him for a moment." In a further slight, the family, not the Home Office, had to meet the £1,400 cost of the exhumation. As the campaign gathered strength, witnesses started to emerge. The 12-year-old girl, now an adult, came forward a second time to tell the family's solicitor about the identity parade where she ruled Mattan out. Then in 1997 came the biggest victory. The Criminal Cases Review Commission was set up to investigate alleged miscarriages of justice. Mattan's case was the first to be referred to the Court of Appeal where, in 1998, three appeal judges overturned the conviction. What has upset the family most recently are reports that they are somehow living the high life on their compensation payments. They say that reports of them investing their money in property deals are rubbish. "I have given most of mine away," says Mervyn. "It wouldn't matter to me whether it was £50,000 or £2 million. It doesn't interest me. Money cannot buy back my father's soul and give us back the happy life he could have had with us." To this day Laura still talks to her husband. Omar says: "She still sits in the armchair speaking to him. Quite often she tells him: ‘See? You should have listened to me. If we'd stayed in Hull like I wanted, then none of this would have happened and you'd still be here.' " Shamefully for British justice, she is right. Source

African Union opens Somalia office to push peace Sat Sep 24, 2005 5:58 PM GMT ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - The African Union (AU) said on Saturday it had opened an office in Somalia as part of its support for the latest attempt to bring peaceful government to the lawless Horn of Africa nation. The pan-African body, which also wants to send peacekeeping troops in, based its office in the provincial town of Jowhar, where Somalia's new administration has made its headquarters. "The initiative to open the office ... is in line with the need to put in place appropriate structures and institutions through which the AU could channel its support for Somalia," the AU said in a short statement from its base in Ethiopia. The AU urged President Abdullahi Yusuf's administration to accord its personnel esteem and cooperation. The statement did not say how many AU officials would be based in Somalia nor what their specific job would be. Yusuf's administration was formed in Kenya in 2004 under international auspices in the 14th attempt to restore government since warlords in 1991 ousted ex-dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. But since moving back earlier this year it has split into two factions -- based in Jowhar and Mogadishu respectively -- and struggled to impose any authority on Somalia. On one side, Yusuf and his Prime Minister Mohamed Ali Gedi have made their base in Jowhar, about 90 km (56 miles) north of Mogadishu, arguing that the capital is too unsafe. But Mogadishu-based warlords, like Osman Ali Atto and various others who are also cabinet ministers, say the leaders have reneged on the 2004 deal by failing to make Mogadishu their capital. The AU is requesting an exemption from an arms embargo on Somalia so it can equip a 10,000-strong peacekeeping force which would also protect the government.

THE RATIONAL AND THE IRRATIONAL IN THE SOMALI NATIONAL RECONCILIATION Ismail Ali Ismail September 23, 2005 Introduction Much ink has been spilt on analyzing the reasons as to why the Somali State , having been re-established in Nairobi last year, is still unable to stand properly on its own feet, and grave doubts have been expressed in some quarters as to whether the reconciliation will take root this time. Contributions to the discussion of the issues have been numerous and the wide spectrum of opinion has ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous. I have been unable, I must confess, to keep pace with the flow of articles and I want to add my own contribution keenly aware that I may be running the risk of repeating some of the salient points which might have already been made. I am consoled, however, by the fact that views formed independently may converge and reaffirm or strengthen each other. The fourteenth Somali National Reconciliation Conference held in Kenya avoided to a great extent the pitfalls of its precursors having taken a long time to hammer out the issues, suffer setbacks, take corrective measures and arrive at a number of grand compromises. The patience of the organizers was proverbial and their generosity in funding the Conference for so long was unparalleled. The Conference was all-inclusive and no group was left out or ignored. Indeed one of the fatal mistakes of its immediate precursor which was graciously hosted by Djibouti was to ignore the warlords (who controlled large territories including Mogadishu) altogether and to think naively that they would be swept away by the tide of public opinion which would provide a legitimacy so strong as to rob them of their raison d'etre . To be sure, popular support, though confined to Mogadishu , was both massive and unequivocal, but it did not bring the war-lords to their knees: it would have been quixotical to think that they would lay down their arms, go down on their knees and beg for mercy. The government was unable to keep its eyes on the supreme and all-encompassing purpose of the national reconciliation: the reconstitution and revival of the Somali State . The war-lords were surely as defiant as ever. But, more than that, the government suffered debilitating internal problems: it lacked a cohesive, farsighted and politically skilful leadership; critical issues were maladroitly handled; serious accidents of personality were too many and surfaced very early; and the generous financial assistance received from sympathetic Arab countries ended up in private pockets thereby deepening the mistrust and therefore the rifts. Internal conspiracies were rife and the first prime minister was sacked by parliament while he was out of the country, abandoned even by his own ministers. Within a very short span of time – three years to be exact – three prime ministers changed hands and by the time the last conference was opened in Kenya (Eldoret, Mbegathi and Nairobi) that government had lost even the name onto which it so timorously hang. Achievements of the Kenya Conference The fact that the Conference, with all its ups and downs, including frequent threats of withdrawal, finished with the adoption of a national charter which is an interim constitution, the formation of a national parliament, and the election and inauguration of the President is truly a great accomplishment. The fact that parties that were implacably hostile to each other were brought together and sat together for so long in order to discuss, haggle, agree and disagree and agree again and finally mould together the elements of their new State is indeed a singular achievement. There was, after so much hard work, much cause for celebration in Nairobi when the President (elected in a fair and free competitive process acknowledged by the defeated candidates and widely recognized as such by the international community) was inaugurated. The mood was euphoric and it was thought that the ship of State would sail smoothly thence forward without a storm, it being able to withstand any ripples. The first sign that such would not be the case became evident when the Prime Minister was appointed, and announced his government. Parliament was so rebellious that it dismissed the government unceremoniously and insisted that it should first approve the Prime Minister's appointment and then – and only then –could he form his government, which would itself be subject to parliamentary approval. A lot of time was wasted in these difficult processes which were really the creation of disgruntled members who were either not given ministerial posts or did not get the portfolios they had expected. In the end, a new government was formed and approved. The Prime Minister had really a very difficult task as he was dealing with a parliament the vast majority of whose members wanted to be in the government, and he was expected, at least by the public, to meet two requirements which appeared to be mutually exclusive: a broad-based government of national unity but severely limited number of portfolios – the latter requirement being for the multiple purposes of quality, efficiency and economy. It was argued that for a government without resources of its own the economy factor was most important. It turned out, however, that, in the final analysis the political factor was even more important since reconciliation dictated the formation of an all-inclusive government. The first public outcry for rationality was heard when the participants agreed on a unicameral Parliament comprising 275 members. It was argued, and rightly so, that the country – poor but impoverished further by the protracted civil war - could ill-afford to maintain financially so large a legislature. The counter-argument that reconciliation required an all-inclusive parliament did not really hold much water because it was possible to reduce the representation of individual clans and yet have all clans and communities represented. The current parliament is, nevertheless, much better than any other parliament we had in our history in that small communities – the so-called ‘others' - that would not have won even a single seat in a general election are in fact represented; by the same token women would have scarcely been represented in a fair and free general election. This parliament is so patently a cross –section of Somali society that there can be no doubt that it is democratic in its composition. But creating a ridiculously large number of ministerial portfolios in order to satisfy as a huge number of parliamentarians as possible has brought about an element of irrationality in the form of splitting functions. This hairsplitting exercise has created both wasteful duplication and a lot of confusion as to the delineation of ministerial boundaries. Much criticism has been levied in this regard against the President and Prime Minister. But, both of them promised to consolidate related functions so as to thereby reduce the number of ministries when emotions subside – a move which seems to have placated the critics. For now the effect of this deliberate proliferation of ministries is yet to be properly digested because the government is yet to be fully operational; it is more than likely that when it is we will most probably see ministers stepping on each other's toes and quarrelling about encroachments upon their respective provinces. Perhaps then will be time when good sense will prevail. No other significant problems surfaced however until it dawned upon the government that it was abusing the hospitality of the Kenya Government and people by unduly overstaying in Nairobi . After all was done and the dust has settled there was the stark reality of moving to Somalia; for despite everything that was done thus far in Nairobi the acid test for the success of the reconciliation was whether the government would be accepted by its own people and could function in its own country. Moreover, the government was supposed to pass that test in order to qualify for external assistance. But, relocation proved to be a most difficult hurdle since it meant that Mogadishu had to be cleared of militias and pacified before the government could settle there. This hurdle was the straw that nearly broke the camel's back The government's approach to this problem was to ask IGAD and the AU to provide a military force which would perform a trilogy of functions in Somalia, viz. (a) to serve as a neutral force in whose care the military hardware to be collected as a result of voluntary demobilization would be entrusted until a national army and police are formed; (b) to help in the training of the national army and police being reconstituted; and finally © to provide security, in the interim, to such vital institutions as the presidency, the ministries and the banks. The deployment of foreign troops in Somalia became a thorny issue, the Mogadishu warlords fearing that they might be used against them. The approach of the government to the pacification of Mogadishu was sound and it seemed that there was no feasible alternative to it given the depth of prevailing suspicions and mistrusts which explain the fears of the war-lords. However, when these latter understood the terms of reference of the African force they accepted their deployment in principle provided that ‘front-line states' (which meant Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya) would not contribute militarily to such force. But the President insisted on the participation of Ethiopia and this undoubtedly fueled further the suspicions of the ward-lords in view of the fact that he enjoys excellent relationship with the leadership of that country. The Cabinet approved overwhelmingly the deployment of IGAD and other African troops in Somalia without excluding the so-called front line states. The two sides began to drift apart and their verbal exchanges became more and more acrimonious. The Mogadishu war-lords decided to walk out of the Cabinet session and decided to boycott further meetings without resigning their ministerial portfolios and the President and Prime Minister decided not to worsen the situation by dismissing them fearing that the gains made thus far in advancing the national reconciliation will not be reversed. The two sides drifted apart, their verbal exchanges getting more and more acrimonious. Here was a most peculiar situation in which cabinet ministers were flouting the principle of collective responsibility and openly attacking the government without resigning or being dismissed. But keeping them in government was an irrationality dictated by the greater good of national reconciliation. The two sides took their fight to the Parliament where they hoped it would be settled by voting. The Speaker, as it turned out, had a left-handed alliance with the war-lords and their sympathizers and it so happened that the parliamentary process for settling the issue tabled by the government was stifled by insults and fighting and we saw on the screens the pictures of bleeding deputies. In the midst of this scuffle the Speaker announced that the motion of the government was defeated and that it was decided by majority vote that the ‘front-line' states should not participate in the deployment of troops to Somalia . The Prime Minister denounced the Speaker and protested that the situation could not have and did not permit voting and that therefore no votes were taken. That session also spelt out the splitting of Parliament – a situation which exists to this day and is worsening by the day; so we now have a bi-polar parliament although its two poles are far from being equal. Much Ado about Nothing A lot of efforts have been made by IGAD, the EU and individual countries such as the Yemen and Kenya to mediate between the two parties and help them sink their differences. Unfortunately, all these efforts were unsuccessful, the minority party led by the Speaker himself, being intransigent. Upon relocation to Somalia this group went to Mogadishu together with three ministers who are zonal war-lords in that city; the other group led by the First Deputy Speaker went to Jowhar together with the rest of the government including the President and the Prime Minister. The geographical separation is significant as it indicates that they are some distance apart in terms of their thinking and ideas. I personally think that when one looks closely at the bones of contention one will see that the gulf separating the two camps is really artificial. There are three areas of disagreement: (a) whether parliament and government should settle in Mogadishu now or at a later stage when peace and security can be assured; (b) whether African forces should be deployed in Somalia ; and © whether contingents from the neighbouring countries, particularly Ethiopia , should be included. The Speaker and his group have stated repeatedly in their rhetoric that the President and the government had flagrantly violated Article 5 of the Charter by moving to Jowhar instead of Mogadishu which the article states as the national capital and that they (the Speaker's group) would not be a party to the violation of the law by abandoning the capital and joining the President, the Prime Ministers and the others in Jowhar. Instead, they called upon the President and his group to move to the national capital forthwith. However, President Abdullahi Yusuf and the government of Ali Mohammed Geeddi find this demand or invitation a most preposterous one since it means that they should go to Mogadishu without the means to protect themselves and should stay there at the mercy of the war-lord's militias and the uncontrolled others who are armed to the teeth, and on the same terms as former President AbdulQasim Salad Hassan and his government. The war-lords inviting the President and the government to Mogadishu are themselves armed, the so-called Islamists who control large areas of the city and its environs are armed, the big businessmen have their own armed militias and there is a substantial number of free lance others who are also armed and make their living by looting and pillaging and killing for hire or even for their pleasure: it is common knowledge that former army and police officers – among them, the Chief of Police - who raised their voices in support of the government have been assassinated, and the assassinations continue to this day and have in fact become a matter of daily occurrence. As a matter of fact one of the Speaker's own guards – a relative of his – was recently killed in a cold-blooded fashion and a brother of a prominent deputy was also similarly killed shortly after. It is important to note that they were both easy targets because neither the Speaker nor the deputy has a militia of his own: such is the fate of any prominent person who dares move around in Mogadishu without protection. The war-lords-turned-ministers had, together with the Speaker and their supporting deputies, exerted a great deal of efforts to show that Mogadishu could be pacified and that peace could be restored to it. President Abdullahi Yusuf and Prime Minister Geeddi hailed their efforts and acknowledged that that was a positive and encouraging move. And their initial success in managing to gather some militias and keep them in camps outside the city provided a ray of hope. Sadly, however, they failed in their next step which was to lift the numerous road-blocks (some of which were their own) from the streets in Mogadishu and thereby relieve motorists from the extortion money they were paying to the owners of those road-blocks. The dreadful security situation in the capital remained immutable and remains so to this day. The Speaker, the war-lords and their supporting deputies must have been really out of their minds to think that President Abdullahi Yusuf, Prime Minister Ali Geeddi , the entire government and Parliament would be so gullible as to believe that they would be secure in Mogadishu without a protection force of their own. The security situation of Mogadishu aside there is no substance whatever in the claim that those who moved to Jowhar have flagrantly violated the Charter which clearly states in Article 5 that Mogadishu is the capital of the country. But, nowhere in the Charter does it give a time-frame within the President and government should move to it. Nor was it considered a violation when the legislature, the President and the government were functioning from Nairobi for many long months. Furthermore, there is nothing in the Charter which prohibits the government or the legislature from establishing themselves elsewhere in the country if it is impossible for them to operate from the Capital as is the case now. The preceding article (Article 4) of the Charter in fact states, inter alia, that “Charter shall be interpreted in a manner:- ( a ) That promotes national reconciliation, unity and democratic values;†The Charter does not therefore require literal and narrow interpretation that defies logic and common sense. But the irony of it all is that those who oppose and want to paralyse the government on spurious points of law are the same people who themselves have been outlaws for the last fifteen years and continue to live outside the laws of common decency. The Charter is in effect the ad interim constitution of the country (Article 3) and when a charge is made that the Charter had been violated a constitutional question is raised. But the legislature is not the right authority to pronounce itself on constitutional matters; that power is vested in the Supreme Court which has not yet been set up. All this, however is much ado about nothing since no one disputes that Mogadishu is the capital. The real issue is whether the government should move to the capital city now or at a later stage when the security situation improves and the government is confident enough that it can deal with the criminal elements that terrorise the population. After all, the most important function of a government is to ensure that people – citizens and foreigners alike – live in peace and tranquility. On the question of Ethiopian troops the President has already agreed to the demand of the war-lords and he said it publicly (in an interview with the BBC Somali Service) that he had given in to the Mogadishu faction on this issue. There remains then the deployment of IGAD/AU forces only. But this is now a dead issue, it having been killed by AU's stipulation that the government must be unanimous in its request for such forces, and by the UN Security Council which renewed the arms embargo on Somalia . Having been denied the protection force they were banking on the President and the Government decided to take refuge in Jowhar where there is a powerful but supportive war-lord and to proceed in the meantime with the reconstitution of the Army and Police having made recourse to bilateral sources for training and provision of essential supplies. I understand that interclan and interregional militias have been merged and are now being trained and equipped. The Army and Police being separately trained will obviate the need for the deployment of foreign troops. The President had rightly argued that there could be no law and order without the legitimate forces of the law to enforce them. But the faction in Mogadishu views such a development with alarm because they see it as a potential threat to their position. Their fears have not been allayed by the President's public assurances that the army and police are not being reconstituted to launch an attack. These assurances seem to have fallen on deaf ears as evidenced by the fact that the war-lords in Mogadishu are planning a pre-emptive strike. The soi-disant Islamists who also see the government as a threat might coordinate (it is unlikely that they would join forces) their attack with the war-lords. Their aim is undoubtedly to chase the government out of Jowhar before the army is ready for combat. But they also think, and rightly so, that even if they fail the political cost of the break of hostilities would be incalculable to the Government, and then they can gleefully say ‘goodbye' to the national reconciliation. This is where matters stand now. But, in my view, these posturings are much ado about nothing because, as we have seen in the foregoing analysis of the issues, there is really no rational basis for the division and the quarrel: the only aim of the war-lords is to kill the new Somali State at its infancy. The Facilitators, the Complicators and the Spoilers Our national reconciliation has been facilitated, complicated and even spoilt by the neighbouring governments, IGAD, the AU, the UN and the EU. They all wanted it to succeed, I believe, but they all had their different approaches and different policies dictated by different interests. And our Somali participants being impecunious and divided and at daggers-drawn have often played into their hands; I have heard, while the Conference was in progress, many of the complaints and accusations. There were even charges of corruption. But all is well that ends well – so far as Nairobi is concerned. However, as soon as the Nairobi phase of the process was over our benefactors took there hands off and from then on we were left to our own devices. Instead of being part of the solution the benefactors became part of the problem. First, IGAD and the AU developed cold feet as soon as some factions based in Mogadishu said they would not welcome the deployment of the military force agreed upon earlier; in fact both IGAD and AU stipulated the unanimous agreement of the factions prior to sending that force; the EU even said that such forces were not necessary; the AU on its part made no diplomatic effort whatsoever to lobby the member countries of the Security Council so that the embargo would be lifted specifically for the multinational force for the purpose of deploying them in the country. It did not even make an effort to make a convincing presentation to the Council. In the event, the Council renewed the embargo and made no exception whatsoever. But the Council's resolution was merely perfunctory and hypocritical because it was commonplace knowledge that the embargo has had no effect at all because the Council never enforced. As fifteen years of civil war had attracted all types of weapons into the country it was ludicrous to impose an embargo on a country which was already awash with all kinds of weapons. The Security Council's resolution had the effect of only frustrating the AU and denying the Somali factions a chance of handing their weapons over to a neutral party. The Council far from being on the side of peace in fact torpedoed the peace effort and was therefore a spoiler. But whilst the AU took the laudable step of opening its Somalia office in Jowhar Ambassador Fall, the Secretary-General's Envoy to Somalia , is sitting on the fence, not knowing what to do. It is a fact that longer the situation remains unchanged the longer he will stay on his lucrative post. The root cause of the complication is the tendency to treat the Mogadishu camp and the Jowhar camp equally. These are not by any stretch of the imagination equal. Only a handful of ministers out of the forty-two-member cabinet and only a quarter of the 275 legislators are in Mogadishu . The President, the Prime Minister, his deputies, all the other ministers including the senior ones such as Foreign, Interior, Finance, Planning and International Cooperation, and Regional Cooperation all belong to the Jowhar camp. Jowhar is for all intents and purposes the current seat of the Somali government. The tendency to be even-handed in the treatment of the two camps equally has actually encouraged the minority camp to remain adamant and even to ignore the concessions made by the President. The government has been further crippled by the lack of financial support which again has been made contingent upon it agreeing with the minority camp. It is astonishing that donor countries whose very basis of their democracies is majority rule are condoning a situation whereby a tiny minority holds the vast majority to ransom. Indeed contumacy and lawlessness are sometimes rewarded in the interest of the greater good and I fully agree with Shakespeare that “To do a great right you may have to do a little wrong†(I am not sure if these were his exact words - but nearly, I suppose). I appreciate such wisdom but a concession to someone whose aim is to destroy the greater good itself is self-defeating. However, the government has been diplomatically active and is not without friends. The Jowhar camp is busy trying to create the basic institutional infrastructure necessary for a government to function and is making progress by the day. By contrast, there is nothing going on in Mogadishu except killing, looting, pillaging and raping - and of course the daily invective of the war-lords. The war-lords and the Speaker are really scared to death about any progress made by the government particularly in the areas of financial and military assistance. The members of Parliament have not been paid any salaries or stipend since the government is in dire financial straits. Once money and other resources become available to the government the grass will be greener in Jowhar than in Mogadishu and members of Parliament will flock to the former. I am not talking about bribes to the deputies and money is not the only resource. The cold and hard fact is that in politics power emanates from the capacity to manage and allocate resources. That is why it was said that “Politics is a market place where resources are exchanged for supportâ€. Assistance to the military and police will enable the forces of law and order to ensure the safety and security of the people. Because of these fears the Mogadishu camp is playing a negative role by deploying all possible efforts and by knocking on any door in order to block any and all assistance to the government; in so doing they are encouraged and helped here in the United States by individuals who want to settle old scores with Abdullahi Yusuf even at the cost of destroying this last chance of erecting the Somali State on its feet. The ICG has also tried, with some success, to paint a gloomy picture of every opportunity of promise and in so doing distorted the facts. There was general agreement – almost unanimous – among Somali legislators on the deployment of African forces. The point of disagreement was only the participation of Ethiopia . The ICG, however, reported that there was strong opposition by ‘powerful war-lords' and it contended that there would be a renewal of the civil war if the troops were deployed in Somalia . The ICG in fact has no credibility among Somalis and it is commonplace knowledge that at least one of their leading ‘experts' is committed to the dismemberment of Somalia and would not want to see a functioning national government in it. But, IGAD took the ICG to task on the matter of false reporting. I sometimes really wonder whether the ICG is meant to create crises where there are none; they are, as prophets of doom and gloom, the negative force that discourages the international community from coming to the aid of Somalia . Conclusion The World agrees that no one in his right mind would go into Mogadishu thinking that he would be safe. Both EU and UN missions trying to talk to the war-lords were recently instructed not to go beyond the airport and to return to Nairobi well before nightfall. Those wreaking havoc in Mogadishu have said in no uncertain terms that they would target the government should it come to the city. The war-lords have taken some militias out of the city but they did not demobilize them and are within call. All efforts by the Mogadishu group to pacify the city and restore peace in it have failed for two reasons: first, the war-lords themselves have not been sincere as evidenced by the fact that they returned to and maintained their own road blocks in their previous sites; secondly, they are merely zonal war lords and much of the city is controlled by the so-called Islamists, merchants who have their own private militias, and other war profiteers and criminal elements. All this must, logically, have the effect of settling the question of immediate relocation to Mogadishu . The deployment of African forces has now become a dead issue and no one talks about it any more. That being the case the Mogadishu group has only one leg to stand on and, unfortunately for them, this last leg of theirs happens to be an artificial one. It is their use of Ethiopian military involvement as a red herring. These latter-day ‘nationalists' want us to believe that Ethiopians violate and occupy Somali territories at will and that President Abdullahi Yusuf is a quisling: they even said they would bring charges of treason against him. But, if Ethiopia has proved to be an enemy violating Somali territory there is all the more reason to support the reconstitution of the Somali Army and close ranks with the group in Jowhar; for this should be the time when internal differences should be shelved away. The war between the two camps is being fought, unabated, on two fronts: the diplomatic and the propaganda fronts. Certainly, the Mogadishu camp is winning the latter thanks to the BBC (note for instance how the BBC completely ignored the visit of the President to New York as compared with the complete coverage it gave to the visit of the Speaker), and the many radio stations owned and manned by their supporters. The government does not, as yet, have any propaganda machine of its own. But it is leading on the diplomatic front and is likely to succeed – and succeed it must. In my view there is only one solution available, and that is not a military one. The two camps are so diametrically opposed that they cannot be both right. Nor, in my view, are they both wrong. In our own native wisdom we say “ gari laba kama wada qoslisoâ€; the party deemed to be wrong will surely be angry and will cry “foulâ€. Parliament broke in two and the Shariif – being a real Shariif – should have either gone with the majority or resigned. We know that as a speaker he has not been neutral and he failed in his most important function of keeping order and ensure the unity of House. Now, it so happens that he has no Parliament over which to preside; for instead of being neutral he is a partisan in the extreme and a saboteur to the cause of reconciliation. Those who say that this is Somalia 's last chance may very well be right and I am inclined to agree with them. I have heard such words from some of the most implacable foes of President Abdullahi Yusuf . But to them his downfall together with the government is the supreme goal which cannot be subordinated to the Somali people's burning desire to have once more a state of their own. I think that the international community and we Somalis should, irrespective of our political complexion, clan affiliation and prejudices, personal enmity to the President or Prime Minister should support the government in Jowhar, exert pressure on the Mogadishu group to join them or at least work with them in order to ensure the survival of our newly reconstructed State. I think a massive support to the group in Jowhar will bring the Mogadishu faction to their senses and help them see the light. This is the rational course to take. Short of this we are in for a long dialogue of the deaf and our national reconciliation will become sterile. Ismail Ali Ismail E-Mail: geeldoonia@gmail.com

Qumane you right but with one exception. I plan to live in Sanaag, another southern like region.

The president looks good on these pictures, right?

Beautiful pictures. Thanks Duke

An Old article! She is really determined to run the gauntlet of Africa's traditional rigidities of gender distinctions. Many of us are very receptive to the subliminal message that women's place is at home, but her role in Somalia's politics led to an approval of 25% representation of women in the parliament by IGAD. I hope she sees her dream. She is indeed very confident and energetically assertive.

I guess she is one of the speakers and organizers of the event. She seems an erudite person. SRADO deserves recognition. I have to open this thread for them.

His internal locus of control was outstanding, an extent to which a president believes he can influence the events in which he is part of. He seemed relaxed, imaginative, agreeable, assertive and broadminded.

A new development makes the prospect in Jowhar somewhat uncertain. ________________ Somalia militia take over UN offices in Jowhar Mon 12 Sep 2005 9:12 AM ET NAIROBI, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Militia loyal to a warlord who gave refuge to Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf's fledgling government in Jowhar have taken over the offices of the U.N. children's agency (UNICEF) in the makeshift capital, disrupting humanitarian activities, a UN official said on Monday. UNICEF was operating several projects in Jowhar run by local staff following the evacuation of 13 international UN staff last week after militiamen arrived in Jowhar raising the potential for fighting between rival factions of the new Somali government. UNICEF's head of mission Christean Balslev-olesen told Reuters that Mohamed Omar Habeeb, a close ally of Yusuf and Jowhar's administration chairman, had ordered 18 UNICEF local staff to vacate their office and hand over the keys. "Yesterday Mohamed Dheere and his police took control of our compound and insisted that the staff hands over the key to him," Balslev-olesen said, referring to Habeeb's commonly used nickname of Mohamed Dheere. Somalia's transitional federal government is deeply split over where to base while security is restored in the anarchic Horn of Africa nation. One faction led by President Yusuf is in Jowhar and another in Mogadishu, leaving the 14th attempt to restore government Somalia since 1991 stuck in a stalemate that has grown acrimonious. Balselv-olesen said UNICEF programmes in Jowhar included water, education, HIV/AIDS and youth projects.

SOMALIA: Xildhibaan Cawad Axmed Casharo oo eedeeyey xubnaha Muqdisho ku sugan Posted to the Web Sep 10, 09:50 Xildhibaan Cawad Axmed Xasharo oo isagu ku sugan Magaalada Nairobi ee Dalka Kenya ayaa ku tilmaamay xubnaha ku sugan Magaalada Muqdisho waxyaabaha ay ku hadlayaan wax lala yaabo. Xildhibaanku waxa uu sheegay in Ciidamada lagu xareeyay Gobolka Shabeelada Dhexe Caasumada ku meel Gaar ka ah ee Soomaaliyeed ee Jawhar ay yihiin Ciidankii Qaranka. Waxa uuna sheegay Xildhibaan xasharo in Camadaa ay dan wayn u tahay Qaranka Soomaaliyeed, loona uruurinayo dalka iyo Dadka, mana ahan Ciidan dagaal Meesha la isugu geeyay, waana ka soo horjeednaa eedayntaas aan salka iyo baarka lahayn. Xildhibaanku waxa uu sheegay in Xaalad dagaal aysan ka jirin Jawhar ee ay tahay xaalada ka jirta mid lagu abuurayo, Dal burburay oo aan lahayn Difaac dibadeed oo xuduudihiisa ilaaliya iyo Mid gudaha ah, oo shacabka Soomaaliyeed ka ilaaliya Maleeshiyaadka dhaca iyo boobka ku haya umada Soomaaliyeed. Xildhibaanada Dawlada Federaalka ah ee Soomaaliyeed ayaa 85% waxa ay doonayaan in Dalku uu hagaago, balse waxaa is hortaagaya Danaha Dawlada, xubno iyagu dana gaar ah leh, kuwaasoo doonaya in Shacabka Soomaaliyeed ay lahayste u ahaadaan Hogaamiye Kooxeedyada Magaalada Muqdisho ku sugan. Magaalada Muqdisho oo ay ku sugan yihiin Hogaamiya kooxeedyo gashaday Shaar Diimeed, oo uu ugu Horeeyo Xasan Daahir Aways, iyo Hogaamiya Kooxeedyo iyagu Isbaarooyin u dhigtay Shacabkii Soomaaliyeed, ayaa u baahan in laga bad baadiyo Dalka iyo Dadka. Iyaga oo 15kii sano ee la soo dhaafay Shacabku ay la hayste u ahaayeen ayaysan marnaba doonayn in Dawlad Soomaaliyeed Dalku uu yeesho. Source: Idimaale News

Originally posted by Sky: any Somali inhabited city can top what Godey just showed. Do you mean no Somali city can top what Godey has just showed? Yasin, oh man, they are so beautiful. I swear if Somalis in Ethiopia work to better their community in stead of fighting an established state, there would have been tangible progress. They remind me of U.S Condos? Woow.

The organizers of SRADO held a fundraiser dinner in Ottawa Pace Magazine Sahan Relief and Development Organization is a non-profit organization based in Ottawa, Canada. Its main purpose is to facilitate and promote sustainable improvement in the social and economic conditions of the Sanaag region. The objectives of Sahan Relief and Development Organization relate to improving the livelihood and social conditions of the population in the Sanaag region of Somalia, a country where there has been no central government for over a decade. These objectives are being achieved through local manpower and limited financial resources, along with assistance from the international community to the civil society in the region. The organizers of SRADO held a fundraiser dinner in Ottawa to raise money for a new hospital in the Sanaag region of Somalia. The event marked their first annual fundraising event for the year, and the proceedings of the event are going to support the Badhan Hospital in Badhan, Sanaag, Somalia, and it is designed to pay the salary of the only doctor in the hospital. The management of the SRADO also told us that half of the money was contributed by the eastern Sanaag community in Toronto. They had prominent community members attend the event, including non-Somali community service providers. There were four keynote speakers at the event. When the guests arrived, there was a video playing on the screen which had pictures and video clips from the regions, accompanied by traditional Somali music, played in the background. The guest chit chatted, while they had their appetizers. Afterwards, food was served and there were many chooses and dishes to choose from. The food was amazing and real tasteful. The first speaker of the event was Abdi Jarik is the President of Sahan Relief and Development Organization and also an International Development Consultant. Mr. Jarik proceeded on early retirement from the African Development Bank where he worked for almost 30 years. Mr. Jarik obtained his MPA at Harvard University; he also received a Postgraduate diploma in management at the American University in Cairo; a postgraduate diploma in Development Planning from the Arab/UN Planning Institute, in Kuwait, and B.Sc in Economics through a joint program between University of Cairo and American University in Cairo. Mr. Jarik spoke about the progresses SRADO achieved so far and their future projects in the region. He also thanked the guests for their support and the volunteers for organizing the event. Mr. Abdi Jarik was followed by Dr. Mohamed Nuh Ali. Dr. Ali is a prominent Somali scholar who received his PhD. in African History from the University of California, Los Angeles. Professor Ali teaches African History at Carleton University and is often called on to teach and speak about Somalis and their history. Dr. Ali’s speech revolved around the notion of community consciousness. In particular he was advocating community activism within the Ottawa community. He touched on elements of the Somali culture that had been abandoned when we left Somalia. He pointed out that when Somalis traditionally migrated, they didn’t see themselves as being divided clans, but they saw themselves as being one clan. Often times they were dealing with natural threats such as the weather and etc. He was advocating that Somalis in Ottawa should get organized to benefit the greater community. Dr. Ali was followed by Dr. Abdullahi Gas. Dr. Gas is a distinguished physician with over 30 years experience. Dr. Gas received his medical doctorate form Texas Tech University; postgraduate medical degree in Russia and bachelors degree in medical science from Kiev in Russia. Dr. Gas talked about his experience in the region and informed the audience about his observations. In a joint effort between UNDP and SRADO, Dr. Gas undertook training/health awareness workshops as well as health needs' assessment in four localities in the eastern Sanaag region of Somalia. The last speaker of the event was Saadia Nuh who is a well know community activist whose hard work and dedication was noticed by the Mayor of the city of Ottawa who on 23 February, 2005 awarded her with the highest honour the city of Ottawa bestows on its citizens The Key to the City of Ottawa. Having seen from first hand experience Saadia was able to communicate the desperate need of the people she met on her last visit to the region recently. She strongly believes in the role and responsibility of the Somali Diaspora to take the lead on the development and re-building of the institutions in Somalia. Like Dr. Gas, Saadia spoke about her trip and informed the guests how difficult conditions were, and what needed to be done to transform the region. Community activism is very important, and everyone has a responsibility to help those who are suffering wherever they are. The Somali community, especially those in the Diaspora have to help those who are left back home. These people are facing many social, political and economic problems. The institutions for social, health and educational assistance are not set up in place. SRADO is there to help set up these institutions that are necessary for a positive social change in the long run. It is about saving lives and educating people. While many other mainstream non-governmental organizations focus on political issues, SRADO focuses on pressing issues such as healthy living and educating the young. Indeed hospitals are necessary to treat the sick and it’s equally important to educate the young. We are clearly in need of more organizations such as SRADO, meaning organizations that deal with the establishment of health and educational intuitions for betterment of Somalia. SRADO plans to stay in the region and focus on the health and education assistances for the time being due to financial barriers, however, their intentions are to expand into other sectors in the near future. Ahmed Hussein Pace Magazine

UN to continue work in Somalia News24.com NAIROBI, 9 Sept. 2005 - Despite the relocation of some international staff from Somalia's temporary seat of government, the United Nations said on Friday it would continue to work in Somalia. "The relocation was due to security concerns, but it is only a temporary measure," said a spokesperson for the United Nations development programme for Somalia. Reports of a troop build-up in Jowhar have raised fears of a standoff. But, Somali parliamentarian Awad Asharah played down the incident. "The 2 000 troops in Jowhar are undergoing training as part of efforts to form a national army," he said. He denied the presence of reported Ethiopian troops in the town. President Abdullahi Yusuf's fledgling government has insisted on operating from Jowhar, about 90km north of Mogadishu, after relocating from the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. Yusuf says Mogadishu is still too unsafe for the installation of a central authority. A powerful faction led by parliamentary speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden and warlords in Mogadishu are resisting the president's attempts to move the government's location, saying Mogadishu is the only recognised capital. War-battered Somalia has had no central government since the 1992 overthrow of ruler Mohammed Siad Barre, and has been carved up into fiefdoms by warlords. -

Great News.

Somalia has more beautiful landscape than Ethiopia. It is understandably that some of us knew not. Cal Madow, Sanaag. Cal Madow Sanaag. Cal Madow, Sanaag Cal Madow, Sanaag

Please keep doing the valuable work you have been doing. "The organizers of SRADO held a fundraiser dinner in Ottawa to raise money for a new hospital in the Sanaag region of Somalia. The event marked their first annual fundraising event for the year, and the proceedings of the event are going to support the Badhan Hospital in Badhan, Sanaag, Somalia, and it is designed to pay the salary of the only doctor in the hospital. The management of the SRADO also told us that half of the money was contributed by the eastern Sanaag community in Toronto. " srado.org. More Pictures

Break the promise? Sister, It is unethical to break a promise and ask strangers about an important decision you have to make, esp one which depends on the life of a young man who has waited you for that long. I would say just marry him and reap the blessings and benefits that your marriage should bring forth. I bet you won't get nothing but happiness and it will surely enhance your performance at school.

It is just a humor ladies and gentlemen. No one found the sayings of Richard serious. Thanks Salahu Din.