NAIROBI, Kenya (Reuters) -- Somalia's fledgling government signed a broad bilateral trade agreement with neighboring Kenya on Tuesday, the first since warlords overthrew military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and plunged the country into chaos. The deal is the latest sign of efforts by the lawless Horn of Africa country to rebuild its economy after an interim government was formed late last year in the relative stability of Kenya. "The very act that we are now witnessing shows the degree of confidence the international community has got in the new institutions in Somalia," said Somali Foreign Affairs Minister Abdullahi Sheekh Ismail. The broad agreement, signed by Ismail and his Kenyan counterpart Chirau Ali Mwakwere covers education, health, the economy, immigration, marine transport and security. Mwakwere told a news conference the two parties had yet to nail down the specifics of the agreement. "This agreement will see the rebirth of our development cooperation that was halted 14 years ago," he said. The deal comes two weeks after Somalia said it would be ready to start offering oil, gas and mineral concessions in a few months, opening up the economy to foreign investors. Despite the lure of untapped natural resources, insecurity fueled by rival warlords and their militias remains a major concern for investors to Somalia. The government was in the process of establishing security forces to bring law and order back to the country of 10 million, Somali Prime Minister Mohamed Ali Gedi said. The 53-member African Union has pledged a peacekeeping force to help the government relocate to a permanent base. "It is our responsibility to empower our national security forces because even if the African Union provides troops for a peace mission in Somalia, it will never be sustainable," Gedi said. _____________________________________________ Kenya, Somalia sign security agreement NAIROBI — Somalia’s transitional government and Kenya signed a framework agreement to work together on security and other issues yesterday, the first such agreement Somalia has signed with any country in 14 years. Somalia’s transitional government has been eager to get international recognition since it left its temporary base in Kenya in June to try to establish itself in the country, which has not had an effective government since 1991. Somali Foreign Affairs Minister Abdullahi Sheik Ishmail and his Kenyan counterpart, Chirau Ali Mwakwere, signed the deal in Nairobi. They said it provided only a basis for discussing how they would co-ordinate security along their long and porous border. Ishmail said other areas for co-operation are trade, education and health issues. Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi said other priorities for the collaboration were helping Somali communities devastated by more than a decade of conflict and setting up local administrations in the country. He downplayed differences within the transitional government over where the government should be based, saying: “The transitional federal institutions are one.†Sapa-AP-AFP Business Day

It seems to me that Abdirazak H. Hussen is really trying hard to say something meaningful; unfortunately, I do not believe that even he understands the incoherent and contradictory nature of his arguments.Perhaps there is a subliminal or coded political message that only he and his like-minded people could decipher. I cannot tell. Bill Ainashe. I agree with Bill Ainashe, Abdirizaq was very incoherent in his argument. He just made fool out of himself by contradicting himself so blatantly.

From the article: I have heard many of us blaming the existence of clannism on corrupt and divisive leaders. I agree that leaders have, in practicing a policy of divide and rule, exacerbated clan divisions. But our leaders were the product of our Society and they filled a gap unbridged by the “intellectualsâ€. Somalis generally but particularly those who have no shame to call themselves "intellectuals", should turn their mental faculties to this problem with a view to: (a) lessening clan tensions by desisting from inflaming passions either through their writings or orally; (b) ceasing to advocate clan solidarity; © reaching out to like-minded members of the other clans, and (d) engaging in informed and intellectual discussions on the eradication of clannism. When I was District Commissioner of Hargeisa in the mid-sixties the track record of British colonial administrators was still extant and I was amazed to discover from the files that British colonial officers in Somaliland had a very intellectually engaging and interesting discussion on how a Somali could 'detribalise' by opting out of the Xeer and I believe they passed a sort of legislation which allowed educated and urbanised Somalis to do so. I was under the impression, like everyone else, that ‘divide and rule' was an integral part of colonial policy and did not expect such enlightened and forward-looking policy discussions from colonial officers. By contrast, we Somalis, after so much education, economic advance, urbanization, experience in governance, and rubbing shoulders with more advanced societies have not tried in this day and age even to conceptualize the problem. It is a stark failure on the part of those of us who, by the mere possession of academic degrees, claim to be the intelligentsia of our society. Another great article. Thanks Makhir.

I just found this classic colonial literature too funny to share with someone else.

This is an excerpt from his book, written in 1855, "First Footsteps In East Africa" I swear it giggled me because this is a well-known supposition that circulates in every Somali men's corner. Even old men would tell you that Somali women are attracted to strangers who could be Somali or non-Somali. I can't myself surmise reasons as to why their preference transpires in a such a way. As a general rule Somali women prefer amourettes with strangers, following the well-known Arab proverb, “The new comer filleth the eye.†In cases of scandal, the woman’s tribe revenges its honour upon the man. Should a wife disappear with a fellow-clansman, and her husband accord divorce, no penal measures are taken, but she suffers in reputation, and her female friends do not spare her. Generally, the Somali women are of cold temperament, the result of artificial as well as natural causes: like the Kafirs, they are very prolific, but peculiarly bad mothers, neither loved nor respected by their children. The fair sex lasts longer in Eastern Africa than in India and Arabia: at thirty, however, charms are on the wane, and when old age comes on they are no exceptions to the hideous decrepitude of the East. Link

Suldaan, i am going to read the two other articles you posted should time permits. They seem voluminous.

Booming Business Beckons The Nation (Nairobi) August 30, 2005 Posted to the web August 29, 2005 Nairobi Relative peace has returned to Somalia, and so have the businessmen eyeing its oil, gas and mineral deposits. This follows a painstaking peace deal that was facilitated by Kenya, and which included hosting the Somali Government in Nairobi for one year. The price of peace has been enormous for Kenya, which had to foot a huge bill, not to mention hosting thousands of Somalia's displaced people. As happened in Sudan - which Kenya also helped bring back on the path of peace - business opportunities are opening up in Somalia, but Kenyan businesspeople have yet to take note. Besides lucrative oil or mineral deals, Somalia's reconstruction process will involve paving roads and rehabilitating buildings destroyed in the 14-year civil war. There are also issues of security to consider. Although there are warlords who profited from the chaos in Somalia, and who would possibly resist the restoration of order to ensure they continue to enjoy the spoils of war, the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) must demonstrate that they are in charge. The Prime Minister of Somalia says there have been efforts by Western firms to make advance payments to individuals to secure mining concessions. Apart from diverting crucial revenues needed by the the transitional government, such inducements and under-hand deals could trigger further anarchy, the sort that fomented the initial conflict. This is an issue that the African Union should monitor closely, and intervene if necessary. What our Government should be doing, in the meantime, is to strategise how Kenyan businessmen can be supported if they are keen to invest in Somalia and avoid a repeat of the Sudan blunders. Besides organising trade fairs and other expeditions to Somalia, the Government should provide a framework to facilitate investment there. For those eyeing reconstruction contracts in the Sudan, the Kenya Commercial Banks has demonstrated it is never too late by opening a branch in southern Sudan. This inspires confidence that political continuity will be possible, and that Sudan will survive the death of Dr John Garang.

The title given by Suldaan and the content of the document appear to be incongruous. Suldaan made it as if the author is painting the existence of historicity, in one particular place., yet the document is a comprehensive review of the Horn of Africa’s past study, parts of Asia, and the failure to be explored and developed by their own people as pride and heritage. Contrary to how the document is depicted in this thread, the substance of this document is that there has been a lack of concern or effort in delving into our past to write a history of our own (historiography) to objectively elevate our national consciousness, keeping in mind its subsequent corollary to pride, loyalty to one’s country, identity, and beautiful heritage. Unfortunately, up to this time, People in the Eastern part of Africa haven’t developed an interest for such things despite various archeological excavations that revealed ancient epigraphy, paintings, rock art, engravings, depictions of wild fauna, images of domestic animals and many other significant discovery that is still available at our own retrieval and use. For instance, an archeological research conducted in Karin Heagan, a small village between LasQorey and Badhan , which houses the biggest rock concentration in the entire Horn of Africa revealed evidence of human occupation and multitude styles of paintings and microloth artifacts , which can be used to retrieve behavioral information of human behavior. I have several documents under my possession giving contextual understanding of the prehistory of the Horn of Africa in general and Somalia in particular. However, the author seems to be missing an important point in regard to his small piece of reference in Somalia. He probably needs a crash course for the geographical areas of Cape Gurdufia, Punt, and present day of Somaliland. He is lumping all of them as one. His grave misunderstanding is his attempt to make a distinction between present day Somaliland and the rest of Somalia as two separate countries. His first supporting argument begins as this , “Delving into the Historical - Cultural Milieu of the Earliest Textual References to Somaliland†with none or extremely deficient amount of evidence except referring to the historical names of Punt, Cape Gurdufai, Ras Hafun, and the entire coast of Somalia as the proof he can establish. He stripped these historical landmarks of their significance as exclusive names of their own localities historically while quoting them as the Earliest Textual references to present day de facto Somaliland. Except for his errors, his points underscore useful information.

Cabdullaahi Yuusuf: Maya, ciddii sidaas jecel baa sidaas iska jecele, ma guul-darreysan dowladdu, hawlana waa socdaan, dowladdiina gudaha iyo dibaddaba waa ka shaqeynaysaa, hawlaha haddii ay wax dhiman yihiinna, waa la kala qeybsan yahay uma xayirna ee yaanan lagu khaldin. Raggaan Xamar ayey joogaan aad leedahay, Xamar awood kuma laha. Anigu waxaan ku leeyahay iyaga laftirkoodaan waxba garanine waa laga qabsan doonaa, qolaa joogta Xamar iyaga ka itaal roon oo ula bareeroo ku tiraahda hubka nagu soo wareejiya adinku waxba qaban weydeene ee annagaa wax qabanayna. Qoladaasna kuwa ay yihiin waa la yaqaan. Bal iyaga waxaad weydiisaan maxaad gacanta ku haysaan, qof waliba meel yar buu ku oodan yahaye, maxay ka hayaan Xamar horta. Annaga qaarkeen baa jooga Xamar, ra'iisal wasaare ku xigeenkii ahna wasiirka arrimaha gudaha ayaa madaxtooyadii jooga, wasiiro kale ayaa jooga, shacabkii baa Jowhar noogu yimaada. Nimankaas wax ay gacanta ku hayaan lama arko. Midna Dayniille ayuu ku oodan yahay, midna meel uu yiri xero uu maleeshiyo isugu geystay ayuu dhex seexdaa, Cismaan Caatona waxaan ku soo maray Nairobi iyo Sharifka labadaba. Reading this statement, i acknowledge that the president has a great viable plan for his government. I think he is well-prepared by being cautious of the adminstrative errors that failed previous TNGs and skillful of time management. After all he is a president who will not , as he vowed, abdicate the responsibility of his public duty.

Somalian govt crisis 'not permanent' Mail $ Guardian online 17 August 2005 Nairobi, Kenya---Somalia's influential parliamentary speaker said on Wednesday he is working to resolve a crisis over the seat of the lawless country's transitional government and expressed confidence it will not be permanent. Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden, who represents one side in the bitter rift over where the government should be based, said the disagreement is only "political" and perhaps to be expected in a country trying to emerge from 14 years of anarchy. "I am making efforts to bring the political groups within the federal government together," Aden told reporters in Nairobi at the start of a visit at the invitation of his Kenyan counterpart, Francis Ole Kaparo. "The divisions are not permanent, they are only differences of political views on the rebuilding and setting up of a functioning administration, which we have not had for the past 14 years," he said. The crisis centres on where in Somalia the transitional government should base itself following its return to the country from exile in Kenya, where it had been located since its creation last year. Aden is part of a faction comprised of Mogadishu warlords, some MPs and Cabinet officials who insist the government make the capital its home, while transitional President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed and Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi say it is unsafe there. Yusuf and Gedi are now hunkered down in the provincial town of Jowhar, north of Mogadishu, where they believe the government should be located at least temporarily until the security situation in the capital is stabilised. Several efforts to end the stand-off have failed amid threats that the deadlock could lead to clashes between the two sides. -- Sapa-AFP

Interestingly educational info. Tip-toeing across countries you won't find on a map Simon Reeve August 20, 2005 news@newstoday.com.sg The detention cells in the KGB secret police headquarters in Transniestria, a country between Moldova and Ukraine, are not the ideal place to spend a Saturday night. Perhaps I have seen too many Cold War thrillers, but after being detained by the Transniestrian KGB for spying last autumn, I had visions of being held for years in a dark cell and having to write escape plans in blood using my toenails for nibs. . Fortunately the KGB dispelled these fears by offering me a tasty salad, giving me a KGB cap-badge as a souvenir of my incarceration, and eventually setting me free. It was a strange experience. But then Trans-niestria is a fairly strange country. Stuck in a Soviet time warp, it is not actually a "real" country at all. According to the international community and most maps of the region, Transniestria does not even exist. . There are almost 200 official countries in the world, but there are dozens more independent breakaway states like Transniestria. They have parliaments, armies and passports, but are not recognised as countries by the rest of the world. So in a bid to find out more about these obscure countries, a BBC film-crew and I spent many months travelling to a group of countries that don't officially exist. . Somaliland . Although rarely found on maps, Somaliland sits next to Djibouti. It used to be "British Somaliland", but locals think Whitehall has long since forgotten they exist. After joining with Somalia in the 1960s to form one country, Somaliland had to fight a bitter war for independence against the Somali dictator in the 80s during which thousands died. . On the way there we stopped in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, perhaps the most dangerous city in the world. Twelve gunmen provided protection and I bought a Somali diplomatic passport from a man called Mr Big Beard. . Somalia has no real government, but is recognised as a proper country. Somaliland, by contrast, has a government, president, lively parliament and traffic lights, but is not recognised as a proper country by any nation in the world. Lack of recognition means Somaliland has trouble getting foreign aid to help with a terrible drought. . Tens of thousands of people were at risk of starvation. . The Somaliland President said he runs the country on just a few million pounds a year, or "whatever we can get". Edna Ismail, his dynamic Foreign Minister, also doubles as head of the maternity hospital. . Because no country recognises their government it cannot get loans, which at least means Somaliland is not burdened by foreign debt repayments. . Transniestria . After the Soviet Union collapsed two-thirds of Moldova wanted closer ties with Romania and neighbours to the west. But the area of the country to the east of the Dniestr river wanted to stay close to Ukraine and Russia. War broke out, and the east split to form Transniestria, a country which remains unrecognised by the world. . Soviet statues still stand in Transniestria, and a mysterious firm called Sheriff — headed by former Red Army officers — runs much of the economy. . Independence Day was being celebrated when we visited. The Soviet-era army goose-stepped along the main road, and small children in uniforms sang "our army is the best army" with evident pride. . At least we ate heartily on the day they celebrated. The rest of the time, Transniestrian cafes were the slowest on earth, and I regularly waited hours for food to be served. Sadly that gave time for repeated karaoke rehearsals of the uplifting Transniestrian anthem. . As the Europen Union expands, Transniestria will soon be on the eastern edge of Europe. It is a haven for smuggling and has a Wild West feel. . Rumours suggest it is a major producer of illegal arms, and guns from Transniestria have turned-up in conflicts around the world. . International investigators claim they are unsure what is going on in Transniestria. Hardly surprising when there are no foreign embassies and few foreigners visit this extraordinary little nation. . Taiwan . Lack of international recognition is not limited to poor countries. Taiwan has one of the most powerful economies in the world, but it has no seat at the UN and no major state recognises it as a proper country. . When Mao's Communists defeated their Nationalist rivals, they fled to Taiwan and took over. Taiwan has since become a stable democracy. But Beijing views Taiwan as a renegade province, and wants it back. . Taiwanese cities feel like locations in (sci-fi film) Blade Runner. Neon signs light skyscrapers and night-markets, where stalls serve snake blood and girls from the Chinese mainland sit outside obvious brothels. . We went to see a Taiwanese boy band, who sang of their pride at being Taiwanese, not ethnic Chinese like their parents. The Taiwanese President flew us to see a fireworks concert, but refused to speak to us, and then dumped us in a muddy field. . Guides took us to a Taiwanese island just off the Chinese coast, from where the Taiwanese bombarded the mainland with propaganda from the world's loudest and largest loudspeakers. Taiwanese soldiers on the island also fought a 20-year artillery duel with the Chinese, but eventually both sides came to a gentleman's agreement to bombard each other on alternate days. Times have changed and local shops now melt old artillery shells into kitchen knives for Chinese tourists. . South Ossetia, Ajaria and Abkhazia . Three parts of Georgia all declared their own independence when the Soviet Union collapsed. In the ensuing conflicts thousands were killed and the whole region has suffered ever since. . In South Ossetia — which has had its own government and army for 12 years, Ossetes told me they speak a different language to Georgians. Tensions were high and the Ossetes were suspicious of foreigners, partly because my government guide kept telling people I was from London, America. . After explaining I had nothing to do with George Bush locals warmed-up, and young soldiers shared drunken birthday toasts. They all vowed to fight again rather than rejoin Georgia. . Ajaria and Abkhazia are on Georgia's western Black Sea coast. The former is a Soviet-era holiday destination which has now rejoined Georgia. The new governor kindly took us to a restaurant which was cleared of other customers as we arrived by extras from the Sopranos. . Abkhazia may well be a lovely place to visit, but the government kicked us out before we could explore. . Elsewhere in Georgia we found a former secret Soviet military base containing thousands of tonnes of unguarded high-explosives, and scores of powerful missiles capable of destroying skyscrapers. A local scientist trying to dismantle the explosives had rung the US embassy to warn them, but nobody returned his call. . Nagorno-Karabkh . Historically this breakaway mountainous area of Azerbaijan was mainly Armenian Christian. War erupted when it wanted independence after the Soviet collapse, and Armenian troops helped the Karabkh army push-out the local Muslim Azeris. . Azerbaijan is still officially at war with Armenia over Karabakh, and our journey started in Azerbaijan on the frontline. . In might be 2005 in the rest of the world, but on the border between Karabakh and Azerbaijan young soldiers are still manning trenches. We had to sprint across open ground to avoid sniper fire. . Thousands of Azeri refugees from the war still live in appalling conditions. Children and the elderly survive in rusty train carriages. Everyone mentions the war, even the country's top pop star — a crackshot with an AK-47. . The border between Azerbaijan and Karabkh is closed, so to get there we took a massive detour across the border into Georgia, over stunning snowy mountains into Armenia, then south over icy mountain passes into Karabakh. . Inside the breakaway state we were welcomed with organic mulberry vodka, but found bombed-out Azeri villages and abandoned buildings. British-based mine-clearance charity The Halo Trust is trying to improve lives. But in one village, locals shrugged and walked through a minefield in front of me. . Despite mines and war, the people of Karabakh claim they would have the world's highest rate of longevity, if only they were recognised as an independent country. . About Simon Reeve . Simon Reeve is the author of the New York Times bestseller The New Jackals: Ramzi Yousef, Osama bin Laden and the future of terrorism, and the writer and presenter of Places That Don't Exist, a five-part series which starts on BBC World on Saturday (StarHub Cable TV Channel 13, 10.10pm). More information at www.shootandscribble.com. Simon Reeve news@newstoday.com.sg

Remember, you are crossing a part of Somalia that facilitate the welcoming of its people anytime. There is no Somali-land (North West of Somalia) passport that is recognized by Djibouti. The news you posted is clearly from a biased source: Somali-land site, yet it re-affirms as its main source two or three persons who did crossed the border. It is every hard to determine the veracity of their statement or the legality or illegality of their crossing of Djibouti border. I would take the news credible if the head of state of Djibouti declares in a statement the recognition of this passport or any press release from the republic of Djibouti. My own cousin crossed the border of Djibouti with a passport of Puntland Therefore, i don't see Djiboutians insulating its border from its own people (Somalis) unless they are threat to the country's security... Djibouti only recognizes one passport, Somali passport, an umbrella for all the autonomous regions under the transitional federal government: Somaliland, Puntland, and the rest of Somalia.

She is very articulate based on how she is answering the questions. She is highly qualified for the job . She can also be the spokesperson for the government, i think.

Unity by Peaceful means is an Exploit that Deserves a Millennium By The Roobdoon Forum Posted to the Web Jul 16, 06:36 In severely divided societies, ethnic [clan] identity provides clear lines to determine who will be included and who will be excluded. Since the lines appear unalterable, being in and being out may quickly come to look permanent. In [clan] politics, inclusion may affect the distribution of important material and non-material goods, including the prestige of the various [clan] groups and the identity of the state as belonging more to one group than another. Donald L. Horowitz, Professor of Political Science at Duke University. The Somali communities were never before approached on a democratic basis. Nevertheless, in four months in 1993, fifty nine district councils were formed, as well as five regional councils. Aideed had wanted to use this to control the eventual Transitional National Council. When he couldn’t, the Pakistani soldiers were killed. In January 1994, the district council and regional council formation process halted. It now exits only on paper. Former UNISOM official, Human Rights Watch interview, Nairobi, January, 1995. At the time the above observations were made, the Puntland Regional State of Somalia did not exist. And today, it is still too early to assess the contributions of this new Regional State, in terms of creating or maintaining harmonious inter-clan relations among its component clans and sub-clans. Our pre-occupation then is with the evaluation of the Administration’s recent attempts and proposals for the district council-making procedures in Bossaaso district, and its near-future implications on the Puntland State as a single geo-political entity. In this retrospect, there are landmarks to warrant a cursory performance appraisal. Has the Puntland Administration been able to satisfy those yearnings, aspirations, and fears expressed at its inception, especially among its minority groups? Our approach to this question is an empirical investigation of the patterns of electoral allocations – particularly the distribution of seats in Bossaaso district councils. This is with a view to determining which sub-clan actually gets what and why. The focus of this paper is how the electoral seats allocated to Axmed ***** clan hamper the process of democratizing our society; and therefore, the Roobdoon Forum calls for greater entrenched district-council power sharing. Axmed ***** clan (otherwise known as the indigenous clan of Bossaaso and its environment) constitute a significant percentage of the total population of Puntland State. They are mainly found in Bari-Karkaar region. I. Historical Background We, the Forum, are aware of some “triumphalist†clannish quasi-historiography in the making since the collapse of the Somali State. The city of Bossaaso, through its demographic history, was a city established and populated mainly by Axmed ***** sub-clans. The 1990s Somali civil war has brought rapid refugee influx, and the city population has more than quadrupled in less than ten years, ensuing sub-clan tensions and clan clash possibilities. Bossaaso is a historical settlement and seaport for nearly two centuries (see footnote). Throughout its historical period, the seaport was commercially dynamic. The city, traditionally known as Bandar Qaasim, is socio-culturally identified as Axmed ***** enclave, an identification similarly given to ****** clan in Muqdisho and its environs by the current Transitional Government of Somalia – by appointing its mayoral office to a member of ******/Mudulood clan, without universal suffrage. The genesis of this clan-territorial identification originated from the nomadic culture of the Somalis, whereby a sedentary settlement, even if it becomes a metropolitan, is still identified as the constituency of the earliest communities who laid its foundations. We do not need to resort to the ancient history of Bossaaso and its inhabitants for the simple reason of proving whose ownership/ or constituency it was in our history. However, as is the case in Kismaayo (another contested seaport in southern Somalia), Maxamed ***** elites often not shy away from pushing back the history of Kismaayo to decades or more, in order to justify and form the ownership rights of that constituency. For that reason only, we will not avert to address what is largely hitherto an Axmed ***** ’s neglected theme – namely the conceptualization of territorial ownership through alien (i.e. colonial) discourse and maps. In his monograph which was published in 1909, an Italian traveler, Giulio Baldacci, affirms Axmed ***** sub-clans (Gabtaanle and Deshishe) as the founders of Bossaaso (also known as Bandar Qaasim) when he states: About 3 ½ hours’ walk from Bet Nur, we came to Bander Kasnin (also called by the Arabs: the native name is Bosaso), which was built about sixty years ago, the Kaptallah (a seafaring tribe, now almost extinct) being the first to build few huts there. They were joined by, not long after, by the Deshishe. For centuries, Axmed ***** coastal people (Bossaaso inhabitants) exploited marine resources for food and an early engagement in overseas trade, linking parts of Somalia with the Arabian Peninsula, Persia, and Sub-continent India. After few decades of stagnation and bad governance, the seaport again recuperated; its trade has grown in scope. Its geographical advantages now include: its proximity to the “the Manhattan of Arabia†(Dubai). Thus, in the clan-based contemporary politics of Puntland, the control and management of this vital seaport seemingly became the primary functions of the sub-clan-oriented President, Maxamuud Muuse Xersi. For the President, Axmed ***** ’s numerical strength in the district of Bossaaso served him as a major opposition platform to rally against Bossaaso inhabitants and a threat to the economic gains of his sub-clan. This unconstructive outlook has recently been a major obstacle to harmonious inter-clan relations that Bossaaso enjoyed for a decade. In the 1990s, the International Community became aware of the very crest of the great immigrant wave towards Bossaaso. For the first time, the city’s tradition of tolerance was noticed by the Western press, dominating the headlines of many prominent newspapers. Canada’s national newspaper, the Globe and Mail (May 17, 1996) reads its International News: “Somali city a refuge from anarchyâ€. The newspaper elaborated well why Bossaaso became the ultimate “final destiny†for many people: Left to fend for itself, Bosasso has become a refuge from anarchy. Even those from other clans other than ***** , who have long dominated the northeast, say they are welcomed. “These people if you tell them you are hungry, they give something,†said Abdalla Essa, a wrinkled old man who came from Mogadishu six months in a shanty town along the garbage-strewn shore of the shimmering blue Gulf of Aden. Gabriel Ali, 37, a builder who lost eight relatives in the war, braved highway bandits to move to his family from the capital. “In Mogadishu, if you work and get some money they take it by force or kill you. But here, I can keep what I earn,†he said. Now he earns about $100 a month. Consequently, at the turn of the new millennium, ½ of Bossaaso’s inhabitants are displaced people and immigrants seeking opportunities, and the fraction is increasing rapidly – as long as Bossaaso is viewed as save, hospitable, and an economic opportunity district. Not only to judge the headlines of Western media but also the large refugee influx that the city has welcomed from as far as Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda deserves to be acknowledged. In the midst of anarchy Somalia, Bossaaso inhabitants wholeheartedly received their brethren. II. The District Council System: a development asset or an impediment In the past 15 years, Somalis have paid dear prices and suffered unprecedented catastrophe. Since the collapse of the Somali State, many regions have tried the path of re-organization of some sort to form a Central Authority; and subsequently, the northeastern regions of Somalia set the course towards that direction. The compatriots, especially the elders and intellectuals, from those regions have increasingly longed the Somali unity and thus decided to establish a regional central authority as a stepping stone for the task of national unification – believing that Somalis will ultimately unite as one people. In 1998, the compatriots of Bossaaso played a major role in the formation of a regional state named Puntland. Their focus was to create a “bottom-up†side approach to restore democracy, freedom, progress, and prosperity of Somalia’s recovery base. As Richard P. Werbner concluded his research on Small Man Politics and the Rule of Law, “Protection against misrule and oppression can never be automatic, a matter of necessary constitutional devices only.†The elders of Bossaaso, the traditional authority structures, agreed therefore on all the efforts for political participation; and early this year, the formation of district councils began. Theoretically, the system is intended to allow the formation of local structures which reflect the composition of the local population. Political scientists refer to the system as a form of “proportional representation†and therefore view it as a form of democracy. The establishment of local councils, whose members selected through a “broad based selection in accordance with Somali traditionâ€, was first introduced to Somalia by the United Nations’ UNISOM operations in 1993. “It is important to noteâ€, as Yemi Osinbajo affirms, “that the concept of councils in this form was unknown to Somali law before the war.†At first, the concept of district council possessed a resonance, and in fact made many Somalis very excited. However, in 1993, when the United Nations’ UNISOM program attempted to use this system as a basic building block to restore the Somali State, the system collapsed immediately. Human Rights Watch observed that: The lack of consultation with traditional authorities in each district, and the way council seats were allocated to various communities – allocations that among other things sometimes failed to take into account recent major population movements, leaving the original inhabitants of a district potentially without a representation. More commonly, district councils were seen to have been easily packed or intimidated by war leaders of the more powerful clans. Another unimpressive experiment on this system has been the formation of local structures in Puntland Regional State, particularly the State’s largest city, Bossaaso. The administration of Puntland considers the allotting affairs of the system as perfect, successful democratization process; and therefore, any district or clan that opposes this plan is a renegade district/clan. Puntland’s Minister of Municipal and Rural Development, Cali Cabdi Awaare, is recently exercising controversial powers over who can be a district council in Bossaaso, claiming to fulfill a constitutional decree. His arbitration and judgment activities regarding on the selection of local councils seem limited to Bossaaso; the decree which focuses the establishments of local structures overturned only the existing traditional power-sharing of Bossaaso district. Surprisingly, Garoowe, the capital of Puntland (and the place that ought to be a “neutral†place for all Puntlanders) and Galkacyo was not affected by this decree. Both these cities, despite their large number of newcomers, mainly allocated council seats to its traditional/original inhabitants. Clearly, Minister Awaare has been given a go ahead signal from the top brass officials of Puntland; and he seems to enjoy overriding the proposals of traditional Bossaaso elders and implementing the allotting affairs solely to Bossaaso district. The people of Bossaaso are concerned about the effects that this unbalanced representation could have on businesses and outside investment, which are vital to Puntland economy. Furthermore, the besieged and odd minister, Awaare, has even tried to calm the uproar by pointing out that the new council seats will stay, and arresting prominent figures in the community. This is the dilemma that the inhabitants of Bossaaso are experiencing; and also, this allocation of district seats system is attributed to the failure of United Nations program in Somalia in the early 1990s (see Human Rights Watch Report, April 1995, p.33). Therefore, how do we cope with these crises? Firstly, there are now some fundamental questions that we must seriously address our minds to, if the idea of council formation is not to become another “UNISOM farce†– failure. The question that has informed us of the handling of Bossaaso local structures is the real problem that we need to address: how do we ensure that the process is safe from manipulation of the current ruling clan in Puntland? Secondly, is the current process of selection merely a clan hegemonic exercise (“vengeance†clan-politics) or will it gain ground and take off? These questions will supply us a scale for weighing the problems and prospects of clan-legal basis for the establishment of local districts in Puntland. In fact, the short history and controversies surrounding the concept of proportional representation in cities such as Bossaaso provide us with a chart for navigating the murky waters of district council manipulation process. Some scholars stress that the concept is passing fad; that is, “in the long run, its usefulness is highly questionable because it crystallizes and perpetuates communal differences plus the fact that, in cases where communities are not geographically divided as in Cyprus, it is unworkable.†Yet, the concept cannot and should not be dismissed as completely worthless. In at least one form, district council formation may have some values – for example, the problems of sub-clan tensions and suspicions, often at the lower levels, may not have serious political implications on the power of the Central Authority. Now, what could be the prescriptions for Bossaaso? Puntland Administration should vow to defend the independence and the integrity of clan territories; and at the same time devise (and not simply import foreign ideas) a comprehensive policy to help and protect the electoral rights of groups that have recently being overwhelmed by major movements of population in the towns such as Bossaaso. The recent district council selections in Bossaaso harmed the chances of Axmed ***** power-sharing by unfairly diluting their council votes in mayoral electorate. Therefore, the Administration should strive for the direct elections (i.e. universal suffrage) of all mayoral and governorship offices, and all council seats in all Puntland regions and districts. If the Administration is not ready yet for one-person-one-vote, as we expect, then it should maintain the traditional way of power sharing and should respect historical aspects of clan territories. III. The Emergence of a New Civil Society: The Roobdoon Forum As political philosopher Frantz Fanon pointed out, “Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it.†Hence, many concerned Puntlanders have been lately exchanging ideas and thoughts relating to the salvation of the unity and prosperity that Puntland is relatively enjoying. People began to assemble a network in Bossaaso and elsewhere in the Diaspora, very soon increasing from a group of few to hundreds. After e-mail and telephone exchanges, the Axmed ***** in Diaspora decided to hold a flurry of brass meetings and teleconferences, as students, elders, women, and intellectuals of the community discuss the new “vampire†administration of Puntland and its implications. In Bossaaso, people already gathered to resist the injustices of the Administration, which appears not noticing the unfolding of kacdoonka Bossaaso (Bossaaso uprising). However, numerous Somali websites have continuously covered the cycle of unrest and agitation pouring in the streets of Bossaaso. Clearly, the expectations generated by the founders of Puntland Regional State have been confounded. There is a widespread feeling that the current Administration has patently failed to be fair to all Puntlanders. Moreover, there is a general consensus that stresses this new social organization can curb the inefficiencies and clannish nature of this Administration, and can also exploit the more progressive forces of Puntland societies. Roobdoon Forum is also aware of the approaches taken by many Somali civil society – assuming that Somali political culture can be equated to that of the Northerners (the West). Although we are pushing for change in the right direction, we don’t call ourselves a “sunlight civil societyâ€, a term referring to a civil society that contributes positively to its community – the term was coined by a Northern (Western) scholar Gordon White. In our environment, what we lack most is rain (Roob) and not sunlight; thus, the Roobdoon Forum (the rain-seeking/making Forum) just advocates and prays to rain – the Forum translates, with careful analysis, the present condition of Bossaaso inhabitants. The new advocacy group, the Roobdoon Forum, simply highlights the nature of Bossaaso uprising – an uprising that translates of local people simply taking charge, with full powers, and assembling all relevant sectors to discuss countermeasures, and start a dialogue with the current Administration. Too be truthful, Bossaaso elders stated that they are exhausted in negotiation and their advices have met deaf ears. They therefore informed the forum that there is not much to say for an Administration that initiates a campaign that stresses vengeance politics. An Administration which constantly demands in their meetings that other clans (Axmed ***** etc) should inform themselves about the importance of regional stability and the feelings of a certain group (probably the ruling sub-clan), and then does not even know what Axmed ***** grievance is about!! Not to mention the fact that Axmed ***** elders had informed to the Administration more than once issues that concerns them. Furthermore, certain clan affiliation with Puntland administrative sectors is clear. The men who acquired nearer blood lineage with the President came to fill positions of power, seeking in a number of ways to differentiate themselves from their lower ranking co-workers and assuming the task of the administration as sub-clan family affairs. The individuals and organizations controlling all major Puntland government posts are ‘well-tied’ to exercise power within civil servant ranks. The clipping of real authority and clan status (and nothing in between), and the reliance by the President on his sub-clan officials to be the sole decision makers for their fellow Puntlanders, formed a hegemonic structure, whereby the relations between different clans are likely to be a powder keg. Should we not consider this a dereliction of duty on the part of the President, Maxamuud Muuse Xirsi? The Roobdoon Forum thus announces that its members expressed alarm and dismay at the “junta-type†activities made by the Administration’s security forces, which have come in the wake of opposition comments (printed or posted on the internet media). The security forces have so far arrested or detained temporarily prominent elders and journalists. It seems that the Administration passed judgment on the motives of the elders and journalists. We regret that Puntland President failed to comment publicly on these issues. We wish to assure Puntland Administration in this public manner that the Roobdoon Forum has no ulterior motives, but it has an obligation to its people in Bossaaso and its environment to perform the role of an effective and constructive social organization that is pushing for change. The Forum has a public duty to ensure that those entrusted with public power use it lawfully. We want the Puntland Administration to clarify its position on whether it is right for any journalist to be punished or detained for a long period of time when no one has been found guilty. In addition, the Forum representatives put forth the following specific demands:  Since the constitution of Puntland state that people have rights and government has capabilities, the government should adhere to it and exercise self-government. Since its top official were elected by the Legislative Body and national policies are decided by public opinions, all Puntlanders (including Bossaaso inhabitants!) should enjoy all the rights and freedom guaranteed by the constitution and everyone is equal before the law.  The release of all journalists who were arrested, since freedom of expression is by no means an anti government activity.  The Puntland security forces should refrain from persecuting/or detaining temporarily the participants of protests and freedom of expression in peaceful means.  We propose the continuation of negotiation between the two sides, so that all sides could relinquish previous ill will and jointly accomplish the great task of Puntland unity and prosperity. The only way to promote “unity by peaceful means†is to implement and promote the following empirical approaches to clan accommodation, drawing some of these approaches from the techniques of conflict regulating measures argued by political scientist Eric Nordlinger : ï¶ Thwart the plots and actions of subverting another group/clan in order to dominate/or displace; replace hatred with benevolence; replace clan hegemony ambitions with mutual co-operation; replace totalitarianism with freedom; and replace dictatorship with democracy. ï¶ Abandon the current distribution venues for sharing Bossaaso district seats, which has been spurned by Axmed ***** and many other clan groupings, but oddly is currently adhered to by the Puntland Administration. ï¶ The need to scrub the new drawings of regional boundaries (for example, the recent splitting in Bari and Sanaag regions) around clans which created new minorities with ties to another group that felt separated. We regard these new regions as a factor that intensifies the conflict. ï¶ The need for the de-politicization in the spheres where conflicting sub-clans agree not to involve government because it might touch on clan values. ï¶ The need for “compromise†that entails mutual adjustment of interests and “concession†(by a “stronger†to a “weaker†clan). ï¶ Revive Somali and Islamic culture, restore morality and ethics, protect the traditional clan territory system, and establish a harmonious society. ï¶ Completely erase and cleanse the pernicious influence of one sub-clan in Puntland Administration. Abolish all the control and ration systems of monopoly policy makers; abolish privileged rights of some groups, and realize the goal of equitable distribution of government posts. ï¶ Finally, practice democratic constitutionalism and restore people’s land rights, according to both the constitution of Puntland State and the existing traditional, clan-based land claims. In conclusion, Puntlanders be aware of the clannish opportunists masquerading as politicians, who champion the cause of dismemberment of the Puntland unity, creating systemic tension and friction within neighboring clans, all in their bid to consolidate and promote their ulterior economic and political interests. Puntlanders should inform their leaders the need to bring government nearer to the people, the need for unity, and the need to reduce clan tensions. All of these sums up opportunities for political, spiritual, and economic development coupled with greater share of government resources. Remember, Puntland unity by peaceful means is an exploit that deserves a millennium. The Roobdoon Forum Toronto, Canada. Roobdoon2000@yahoo.ca

the author accusses someone of unprofessionalism, yet he is submerged by an emotional diatribes. He belches disgruntled voice of discontent that deviates from the normal thinking of a sane person. Much to his dismay and foolish denunciation, Wardheernews has published it for him to show impartiality of publications. Is he a Somali or an Indian?

To: Mr. Mark Thompson Director BBC World Service Bush House London From: Former Announcers BBC Somali Service Date: June 20005 Dear Mr. Thompson We the undersigned are former staff members of the BBC Somali Section who served at different times, from the early years of the Service in the 1960s to the new millennium. We belong to different age groups and come from different clans and from all regions of Somalia . If the present-day realities of strife-torn Somalia are anything to go by, such background differences as exist amongst us would ensure lack of commonality and no meeting of minds. Happily, that is not the case with us. What brings us together above all is what binds us together: our common, shared BBC experience, in particular our loyal association with the Somali Service and our determination to raise our voice in its defence whenever its integrity and reputation are on the line. Sadly, such is the situation now. The BBC Somali Service has been until recently the paragon among Somali broadcasting stations inside and outside Somalia . Its high standards, built over a period close to half a century, have been true to the BBC's well-known reputation for impartiality, fairness and objectivity. Unfortunately, that reputation has been dealt major blows since Mr. Yussuf Garad Omar was appointed as head/editor of the Somali Service. Needless to say, complaints among listeners that we had come to know from different sources in our different ways are pervasive and are in our view well-grounded. We believe that these complaints could be dealt with sufficiently and satisfactorily by your complaints Department. For the purpose of this letter, we would like to focus on two areas that are core to most complaints raised, including ours. The first concerns the staff of the Service and the second the quality of the programmes in terms of impartiality and fairness. Regarding the staff, Mr. Yussuf Garaad Omar, on taking charge of the Somali Section, is considered by almost all the announcers at the time and ourselves to have masterminded the termination of the services of more than half of the announcers based at Bush House-highly qualified men and women who were very popular with listeners- only to replace them with inexperienced novices almost all from his clan. He also recruited correspondents/stringers inside and outside Somalia-again almost all of them from his clan. Taken together, these actions are seen by most listeners as patently both clan substitution and clan nepotism. We are aware that this action has been sanctioned by the management of the BBC % ly we would like to believe) but the Service has yet to recover from the ing damage done to its reputation in this regard. As for the programmes, the BBC Somali Service, under Mr. Yussuf Garaad Omar' supervision, has been turned into a platform that would support his favoured political and clan factions against others in the struggle for power and resources in Somalia . Numerous cases of bias in this respect can be cited but one glaring example is the different treatments given to the elections of former President Abdulqasim Salaad Hassan and the recently elected President Abdullahi Yussuf Ahmed. When the former, a relative of Mr. Yussuf Garaad Omar, was elected president in 2000 at a Somali peace conference organized by the government of Djibouti , he was given full supportive coverage by the BBC Somali Service, support which still continues. When, on the other hand, Mr. Abdullahi Yussuf , who is from another clan, was elected President in the Nairobi Somali peace conference, only scant and mainly negative coverage was granted to him and his government. Instead, his opponents-a group consisting of warlords, dissident MPs and Ministers almost all from Yussuf Garaad's clan- were given generous publicity. This is the group who destroyed the capital Mogadishu and Southern Somalia for the last 14 years and who are still united to keep it that way. Most Somalis would like them to be tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity like other warlords in Africa and the Balkans. In giving lop-sided supportive publicity to the warlords and their associates, Mr Yussuf Garaad Omar has again done another major damage to the reputation of the Services. In the eyes of the Somali listeners, the BBC is seen to have clearly condoned Mr. Garaad biased actions entailing his support to his political favourites. What we are advocating ourselves is not uncritical support for one side or the other but the maintenance of the BBC's well known principles of impartiality and even-handedness. As we have mentioned earlier in this letter, these observations we have mentioned are only selected spotlights on an overall malaise that has been inflicted on the BBC Somali Service. What saddens us most is that this problem has been allowed to build over some years with apparently no action(s) taken by the BBC to redress it despite countless complaints by listeners. We ourselves are aware that many listeners had complained to the former Head of the African Service, Ms. Kari Blackburn, without receiving any response let alone any action taken to address their concerns. It is for this reason that we, the former staff members of the Somali Service, have come together to raise this matter with you. In this regard, we appeal to you to look into the running of the Somali Service and save it from those who may willy-nilly ruin it. The BBC Somali Service after all is the most cherished heritage that the British had left the Somalis for all the hundred years of its colonial rule. Please accept, Sir, the assurances of our highest considerations 1 Mohamed Abshir Yussuf Staff member from 1961-66 Nairobi , Kenya 2 Osman Hassan BBC Somali Service 1962 -1977 United Nations 1977-2004 Geneva , Switzerland 3 Osman Suguleh BBC Staff member 1965-1981 London 4 Idris Hassan Deria Staff member 1969-1995 London 5 Sulemaan Dahir Staff member 1970-1976 Hargeisa , Somaliland , Somalia 6 Said Farah Mohamoud Staff member 1977- 2000 London 7 Mohamoud Hassan 1976-2000 London 8 Mohamoud Abdi Ali Dualeh Staff member 1984-2000 London 9 Shamsa Abdullahi Ahmed Until 2000 London 10 Mustafa Abdi Hussein “ Shafi †Until 2000 London 11 Mohamed Omar Ahmed “Hydra†Until 2000 London 12 Suleiman Hussein Barkhadle Until 2000 13 Mohamed Hamud Sheikh Until 2000 14 Jawahir Suleman Elmi Until 2000 London 15 Abdullahi Hassan Fadal Until 2000 16 Mohamed Ali Mohamed London (All signatures are attached with the original letter sent to the BBC World Service)° CC: Mr. Jerry Timmins Head, Middle East and African Services BBC S World Service Bush House Source: WardheerNews

The SYL had been established and was flourishing under British rule in Somalia and the British had every right for all the cogent reasons to expect its leaders to choose Britain as the administering power. But the leaders were so shortsighted and inept that they feared that Britain, being a world power, would use every subterfuge and stratagem to overstay well beyond its mandate or even deny the country its independence; they were so obsessed with the single goal of independence that they were blind to all the benefits accruing from British rule: the unification of Somali territories; development of a unified administration, a unified educational system; a common colonial heritage; a common outlook; and of course the integration of the economy. These are all problem areas which proved to be debilitating and even pernicious to the Somali state. The leaders thought that Italy would by contrast be a better choice because, being vanquished and weak, they would be able to wrest independence from it if it tried to create obstacles. But the Italians also lobbied hard to return to Somalia , albeit in a different capacity, and managed to gain the sympathy of the United States particularly since they were in dire straits after the war and had shown their contrition by the public hanging of their fascist leader, Il Duce Mussolini. Only few Somalis see the light at the end of the tunnel. This man, Ismaciil is one of them. I am left with nothing but sublimity every paragraph after paragraph and I am still musing on how long that this man has kept this priceless info behind the curtain. He indeed sparks sincere judgment and offers historical erudition for our people and their land, and the enemies that encircle our highest purpose.

Another Great article by Ismaaciil. Originally posted by Samurai Warrior: If ever there was one with a tad bit of intellectual prowess in reaching deep down where many in that ill-foresaken status had failed, Ismail surely had scored the hattrick in his reflections and observations. I particularly wish to challenge the ersatz nationalists in the forum who regard Dr Ghalaydh, former Premier Abdirazak H Hussein & Co saviours and great heroes of the hour to dig deeper in their cognitive particles and search the thinking muscle for cerebral perspective. This author has been insightful in his articles and most importantly inspiring. He challenged many Somali dignitaries to write their version of history and past experiences as that would help advance conspicuously our distorted history. He challenged former PM Abdirizak Haji Hussen, Mohammed Ali Samatar, to write their version of history because they were indeed overly qualified since they have been there, had seen and done many things and events that went wrong and right.

Originally posted by Jason: Xoolaha iyo wixii maskaxdooda leh ayaa nationalist ah. jason, yaryaruuracii la sheegaayey armaa tahey ninyahoo? anaaba iska shakinaayey laakiin adiga waaba cadeysatey.

It is no problem that we can reconcile our religion with science. Religion itself is a science and the prelude of scientific thinking and questioning in our sense of seeing what is in the world and beyond--hereafter. But there is a new book that argues that the West needn't to console with the suffering of Africans or help them out of their miserable lives. In fact, they are causing the widespread sufferings of Africa with the help of state institutions that foster the rise of poverty and retrogression. In Ghana, the GDP of its prior colonization and today shows no variations. Some are worse than their back adminstration then. The new book, a masterful and inspiring one, argues that the West, supposedly the helpers, can get rich by selling to the poor. This is what it says, " If we stop thinking of the poor as victims or as a burden and start recognizing them as resilient and creative entrepreneurs and value-conscious consumers, a whole new world of opportunity will open up," states the University of Michigan professor, C.K. Prahalad, in his book, "The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits". The African continent and its inhabitants are rather creative and survivalists but the constant meddling of the West in their mission to keep the retrogression intact instead of lending unwavering support of progression is the root cause of Africa's benighted sufferings. Remember, the First AIDS case was found in NY City from a number of gay individuals and a subsequent study of postmortem revealed several other gays had died of the disease. It was later portrayed as if the virus was first seen in Africa. SA then mounted malicious, secret campaign to root out the Africans in SA because of them being the majority. They planted the virus in Vaccines and injected into children and pregnant mothers under the banner of governmental health programs. I suggest little familiarization of the world politics will help answer your questions.

General, I suggest you shouldn't use the word "Expansion" in your topic because that implies that the government is worthless and operates in only tiny area. The government of Abdiqasim earned that phrase hence you shouldn't portend the same fate for this one.

Let me remake myself by disregarding my last comment. Yes i am Nationalist. We need to be nationalists first to become democrats and and socialists. We need to stamp out tribal consciousness and replace it with national consciousness first.. The concept is simple, "We won't let any foreigners push us around"

Singing into a vacuum : the torment of a Somali playwright Bashir Goth July 2, 2005 Editors Note: Eloquently orated, this piece writen in Augost 04, takes us back to days of glory, when shawled with dignity we walked tall in familiar streets to the tunes of many National rhythms. Mr. Goth in this piece takes our nostalgic culturally thirsty self by way of many anecdotal, poetic and historic moments. Mr. Goth's words could be a wake up call to educate our youth who have been robbed of their culture. A culture rich and expressive that is resilient and ever evolving, the culture of their forefathers. For the melancholy adult who finds the self yearning for the yesteryear of familiar tunes, it is a painful reminder of a beautiful country and culture abandoned and fed to the wolves. “Af qalaad aqoontu miyaa? Maya, Maya! Maahee af qalaad, aqoontu miyaa? Maya, maya! Mahee, waa intuu qofba Eebbe gashaa Ayey nala tahay anagee, ma ogtahay Dib looma abuuro dadkee.. With these prophetic words, the celebrated Somali playwright and lyricist Ali Sugule had decried the adoration of the educated class for foreign languages and their utter despise for their mother tongue, not aware at the time that his words would haunt him in his old age. The power of the lyric's words are accentuated by Sugule's shock therapy style of starting his song by a question, thus bringing the listener's senses to a full attention and inviting him to a moment of contemplation “Af Qalaad aqoontu miyaa? Is knowledge nothing more than speaking a foreign language†. And bang, comes the answer before the listener awakens from his initial awe with an emphatic repetitive “Maya, Maya… No, No.â€. He then heightens the effect of the words to further ensure the complete mental engagement of the listener by questioning the truth of his emphatic ‘No', saying “Maahee, afqalaad aqoontu miyaa? Are sure, knowledge is nothing more than speaking a foreign language?†He finally offers deliverance to the listener from his bewilderment by giving the answer though not without cautioning him/her that such could only be his view â€Mahee, Waa intuu qofba Eebbe gashaa…Ayey nala tahay anagee.. . No, never, (knowledge) is nothing but whatever God gives to each and everyone..†but again not without rounding it up with a no-further-argument-allowed statement of “Ma ogtahay, dib looma abuuro dadkee.. Don't you know that people are not created twice..†Little did Ali Sugule know at the time that these forceful and profound words he wrote in 1965 would be staring at him in the face after 40 years. History they say repeats itself, and surely it did at least for Ali Sugule and for a tormented crowd of mothers who grew up singing his lyrics without the least anticipation that a time would come when the Somali language and the whole culture and heritage that it enshrined, let alone Ali Sugule's literature, would be alien to their own children. This was a tormenting and in fact a soul-searching moment for a crowd of UAE-based Somali expatriates who gathered at the Arab Cultural Club in Sharjah to honor more than 30 high school graduates who scored between 95% and 99.6% in their final GCE exams. At the outset, things looked normal with the guests and proud mothers and fathers arriving with their beautiful and enthusiastic daughters and sons, their faces radiating with happiness for their exam achievements. If not for a few men wearing the white Arab robes, one would not have suspected of being in a foreign land. It was also delightful to see several young Somali women working tirelessly as members of the organizing team, welcoming people and leading them to their seats with the finesse and charm expected of a professional emcee. Caught by the spell of the melodious recitation of the Quran, few if any of the audience had noticed that the ritual incantation in which the teenager Mohammed Abdul Karim had recited the verses, despite his excellent voice and exceptional mastery of the Quranic incantation rules, was not quite in terms with the traditional straightforward and quick recitation style of the Somalis . Due to their nomadic life which depends on urgency and frequent movement of animals and homestead, the Somali Quranic students neither had the time nor the leisure or the need to spend long hours practicing and imitating the Arab cantillation of the holy Quran, a vocalization which itself is quite alien to the auricular faculties of the Somali people. Hence, came the unique and more native Somali style of reading the Quran which lends more weight to the correct enunciation of words and meaning rather than the slow, prolonged, tedious and rather preposterous intonation of the Arabs. With the recitation of the holy Quran over, two young members of the organizing team took the podium. Nasra Abdi, an educated young lady dressed in western style but with a traditional Islamic headscarf, was the first to come to the microphone. Speaking in impeccable Somali, she gave the audience, at least the nervous elderly folks, the reassurance that they were on familiar ground and that the evening would be comprehensible to them. It was then seen as quite fair though a bit awkward when her co-presenter Ahmed Shire translated what Nasra had so eloquently put in simple and quite basic Somali into Arabic for the benefit of the young generation for whom the ceremony was being held in their honor. Distress, however, struck, when Ali Sugule, a distinguished playwright and a house-hold name in Somali literature, was invited to the podium to recite a poem he wrote for the occasion. A man whose appearance on the stage caused rapturous applauding and admiration beyond belief back home, Ali Sugule had shuffled towards the stage almost unbeknownst to the young audience, who surely never heard his name. Though wearing a white Arab robe (dhishdasha) itself did not augur well for his role as an African cultural icon and as a symbol for the foreign-born Somali youth, Ali Sugule took the microphone with the confidence of a masterful artist and had uttered a few wise words about the importance of the homeland , “haybad waxad ku leedahay dalkaaga – you have a dignity only in your own countryâ€, culture and heritage before he started his poem. After the recitation of his poem, Ali Sugule left the stage with a sense of loss and bewilderment visibly seen in his gestures and movement. No applaud, no laughter, no nodding of the head in agreement or admiration of the profound truths, images and humor he had marshaled in his verse, no delight, no wonderment, no emotions at all. Even when he tried to simplify and descend to a baby's language saying “Aabbo iyo hooyo, Abaal gudkiina, Ilaabi mayno – dad and Mom, never shall we forget the debt we owe to you†the young audience remained silent. As if oblivious to his plight, Ali Sugule told the audience that it was time for music and had given a signal to Salem Saeed Salem, a renowned musician and former member of the Waaberi National band, to start playing a lyric he wrote about the importance of higher education and universities.Though lulled by the musical notes, it was obvious that Ali Sugule's words in the song just like his lines in the poem before it had rained on a barren land. . The first lines of the lyric called “at the university's campus†read as follows: Waxaynu dooneynaa, Rag iyo dumarba U doodeynaa, u doodeynaa Ineynu dab shidnaayoon, Dhammaan ku diirsanaa… With a non-literal translation, the foregoing lines could be interpreted as “ What we all want as men and women, what we advocate, is to ignite a fire that we can all feel its warmth.†The music, the words of the lyric and the sonorous voice of Salem which otherwise made quite an exciting and inspirational blend, stirring nostalgic emotions among the older folks, failed to touch the heart of the young girls and boys in the auditorium. Apart from a courteous clapping as the song came to an end, the audience didn't show any interaction whatsoever with the music. At this point, Ali Sugule couldn't hide his frustration and disappointment when he involuntarily climbed the stage and lamented the audience's lack of response: “what happened? You were supposed to sing, clap and be enchanted by the music?†But to no avail. This is the man who inflamed the Somali people with his nationalistic lyrics at the time of independence and beyond. The man who wrote unforgettable plays such as Himiladeena (Our Aspirations) 1960, Indho Sarcaad (Illusion) 1962 which included the famous lyric ‘Nin lagu seexdow ha seexan', Ma Huran (Destiny) 1965 which included Afrikaay Hurudooy (Oh! sleeping Africa) , Dhagax iyo Dabka (Fire and Stone) 1966, Midnimo (Unity) 1967 which included ‘Waa baa beryey', Kala Haab (Antipodal views) 1967 which included ‘Ma hadhin hadal la is yidhaahdaa' and finally Sheeg iyo Shareer (Exposure and Concealment) 1969. This is the man who tortured the conscience of the educated class with his “Afrikaay hurudooy – Oh! Sleeping Africa†resonated on the airwaves by none other then the legendary voice of Magool, a woman described by the Sudanese as the Umm Kalthoum of black Africa. Almost half a century after he came into the Somali theatre with his ground-shaking plays and at the twilight of his life and career when he was supposed o be venerated as a national treasure, Ali Sugule was today singing into a vacuum. Being a poet and an ardent lover of Somali literature myself, I could feel Ali Sugule's torment as he left the stage and went out of the auditorium. I joined him outside and we together consoled each other on the death of the role of the Somali poet, at least among the growing Somali community in the diaspora. The cultural torment became manifold when the key Speaker of the evening Ahmed Sheikh, Chairman of the Somali Youth Committee in Sharjah, and an undergraduate student in Sharjah University, delivered the main speech in Arabic, a language that he rather fittingly thought would have a better appeal to the young honorees of the night. This was topped by a poem written and recited in Arabic by one of the youth in which he forcefully expressed his nationalistic feelings towards his homeland in the hyperbolic style of the Arabic language, ending it with the following emotional outburst: “Wa Raka'tu Uqabilu Arda A Soomaal… And I bowed kissing the soil of the land of the Somalis…†which is a rather befitting tone to a young man born outside his country and longing to see it and to the youth in the audience who after excelling in the final exams found the doors of the country's universities shut before them, thus yearning for a peaceful and prosperous homeland where they could call themselves citizens after carrying the stigma of being a “wafid – expatriate†in a country in which they were born, raised, educated and excelled academically, proofing that given the same circumstances as their peers, African children can attain excellence in any field and any language. Of all the places to which the Somali people migrated, it may sound ironic and somewhat a tragedy to know that it is only in Muslim countries, and particularly Arab states that they found themselves as the most alien, the most discriminated and the most unwanted. Arab countries are one of the few if not the only places on earth where one packs up his bags and leaves unwanted and unappreciated after 30 years of service without any rights of citizenship for himself or for his children who never knew any other home. Just as Ali Sugule was haunted by the lines he wrote 40 years ago, I was also haunted by the first lines of a poem I wrote many years ago on being an expatriate in an the Arab world: “Cumarow ma faaraxo ninkii, Carab fadhiistaaye Nina kama fanaanco intuu, Liidka fidiyaaye Faruuryaha ma leefaan kuwii, Fiiftigii yimiye Nin bidaari ugu foodhisoo, Ganucu foocaaray Oo tusbax fasaasa ah watiyo, Carabi foojaysan Oo faraha taagaya ka tega, Foodhi (forty) dabadeede…†The torment that Ali Sugule and I had shared, reached its pinnacle when an Arabic song by the late Egyptian Abdul Halim Hafiz was played at the interval and the whole audience erupted into a festival on hearing the first words: “Yaa hayaat albi wa afraaxu… the life of my heart and its delightâ€. At this point I couldn't help but survey the auditorium left and right and finally look at my friend Abdillahi Ali Bahal, who was sitting next to me and like me bewildered by the plight that befell our people. Though proud of the achievement of his daughter Rahma, who politely sat beside him, and was the second top honoree with a percentage of 99.1% in the science stream, he was well aware and worried about the cultural erosion that benighted her generation. A generation that had grown hearing only bad news and seeing depressing images about Africa. A generation that had no idea of how beautiful, how prosperous, how lush and green and how rich culturally and materially Africa was in the past and easily could be in the future if only it found proper leadership. A generation that grew up with foreign nurseries, foreign music, foreign clothing and foreign perspectives of their homeland. A generation that had no experience of sitting in a Somali theatre and listening to “Habeen iyo dharaar, hadaladaan dhisnaa, Afkeena hooyo oo horumaraan, ku hoos caweynaynaa, Hagaaajinaa, had iyo jeer hagnaa, ma hagranee, waan u hawl galnaa' the customary choral theme of Somali artists written by the renowned playwright Hassan Sheikh Mumin Gorod as part of his immortal play ‘Shabeel Naagood – Leopard among the women'. A generation that never had the opportunity to hear a mother or grandmother singing to them traditional Somali children songs such as: “Roobow waa, dhiishaydaa, muska taallaa, biyo maahee, waa caanee, ii buuxi, ii buuxi, riyo dararis, adhi dararis, geel dararis…' Or “Reerka guuraaya, ee galab carraabaaya, ee dhoobo gaadhayaa, ee dhebei ku toosaaya, reerka guuraaya…†Nursery rhymes which apart from their rhythmic, musical and imagery richness, are educative and reflect the lifestyle of the Somali nomad which depends on rain, water and milk as well as his reliance on movement in pursuit of grazing areas and good weather. It is such songs that make a lasting impression on the tender mind of growing children and give them a memory treasure that gives them direction and sense of identity later in life. Being lucky to have got the chance to teach these songs to my son, I can see how his face lights up, even in his teenage years, when we sometimes remember them and sing together. Although, he is not yet fortunate enough to see Africa, I can imagine what kind of images these rhymes conjure up in his mind. Most likely an image of Africa of his own. I find it befitting here to quote a paragraph of an old writing of mine, lamenting such loss of identity: “…it is not only the politico-economical situation that has degenerated to these horrible ends, but the centuries-old culture of Africa is also disappearing at an alarming rate. The new generations no longer understand the legendary language of the African Drum. The history-moulded traditional folklore dances have become obsolete; and western hypnotized minds of the young intellectuals no longer listen to what they consider the primitive and superstitious folk tales of the Ayeeyo (grandmother) and the hyperbolical stories of the Oday (Griot). This has produced a multitude of youth who have lost self respect and all sense of national pride. Their eyes are mesmerized by the dazzling lights of New York, Paris and Montreal. Their ears seek consolation in the albums of Michael Jackson, Madonna and Whitney Houston, and their skin is itching for the fashion designs of Christian Dior and House of Chanel. They are Africans in look, but are Americans, Europeans, Australians, and Canadians in-waiting. They want to escape from the Big Refugee Camp, which is Africa, to become roaming refugees in the streets of the vast cities of the west. To live as parasites on the extra fat of the western economy as I so humbly expressed in my poem “Afrikaay Warlaay†– Introduction, Awdal Phenomenon, 1989. Despite this linguistic tragedy and cultural bankruptcy, the event was not completely without luster. It had its rewarding and inspiring moments. Ebyan Ladane Salah, a visiting Canadian doctoral candidate of Somali-origin, has uplifted the morale of the youth, the majority of whom were her womenfolk, by narrating her personal odyssey in search of education. Not only did she impress the audience by the determination and hard work she manifested to reach her goal, but also by her self-confidence and her eloquence in the Somali language, thus breathing a fresh life into the nerves of the elderly audience benumbed by the bombardment of the Arabic language and by setting a shining example for not only being a highly educated mother but also a lucid speaker who can snap out lines of Somali poetry and anecdotes. She received the greatest applause when she quoted the following lines from an old poem written by Osman Yusuf Kenadid in 1945, illustrating that given the same opportunities, girls were as capable as boys. “..Hadday gabari waagii beryaba, Wax u eg yeelayso Wareeggaa ku ceeb ehe hadday,Weligeed diidayso Wargeyska iyo Raadyaha hadday, Wada aqoonayso, Maxaa wiilku dheer yahay hadday, Wadato hawsheeda…†I could see the delight on Ali Sugule's face and I myself couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief like receiving reassuring news from a doctor on the health of a patient assumed to be critically ill. Even Ebyan's condescending apology to the audience for her Somali language not being perfect, could not spoil Ali Sugule's joy who promptly repudiated her for uttering such sardonic mea culpa. Ebyan said that she went to Canada with a mission – to acquire knowledge and she did. She narrated a story of an elderly man she and her folks had met on their way to North America. Seeing their enthusiasm for going to the land of milk and honey as he thought they assumed at the time, he asked them: “Are you going to North America?†“Yes,†they answered in a tone not bereft of pride. “Well,†he sighed with a sense of pain, “ listen, you will go to North America, you will find freedom, you will go to clubs, you will learn drugs and you will end up as drop outs, the scum of the society.†“No, we will not, we are going to study and make a good future for ourselves†said Ebyan and her folks. “ This is my address,†he said in a voice of defiance and challenge, “ call me after five or so years and let me know how your life turns up.†Ebyan said that she had remembered the man's challenge and having his address in hand she called him after 10 years. She reminded him of their encounter, which he remembered, and she told him of her progress and that she earned her post graduate degree. This was a moment of joy and encouragement for the youth in the audience and was received with a standing ovation. Ebyan's story called to mind lines of a poem I wrote in 1984, in which I forewarned a friend, a woman by coincidence, who was going to the United States that the aim of her sojourn should be one to fulfill her longing for education and should not be wasted on transient luxuries: “…Aniguba tabaaladan mar dhow, Waan ka tegayaaye Tacliin meesha lagu sheegay iyo, Qalin tawaadiisa Tiriigaa ka baxayaan Oroob, Tiigso leeyahaye …Texas baan u jeednaa dhammaan, Toorantiyo Boone Waxan tiigsanaynaana waa, Rugo tacliineede Tumasho uma jeedniyo inaan, Tooxinaa Yurube Himilada ku taagnow intay, Talo hagaageyso.†Another heartwarming story of success was told by a lady, Zahra Jama Saleh, who said that she had worked hard to educate herself without going to the west. She said she had taken executive secretarial courses and had landed covetous jobs in reputable companies. Not satisfied with only working, she said she had perfected her English language and as a result had written her first book which was about to be published. “…Nin deeqba haween leh baan ahay, haddana dafiraaya baan ahay, dabeecado jaanle baan ahay…†It was also rather ironic and painful at the same time to hear a young man expressing the plight of his generation in a halting Somali. In a spirit of defiance and patriotic determination to use his mother tongue albeit with great difficulty, he rejected seeking refuge into either Arabic or English. Through torturous but thought provoking moments, he struggled, stuttered, mumbled and finally managed to convey his message. Saying that after he graduated from high school, his only ambition was to migrate to North America. And to quote him verbatim, he said “I had it in my mind that I had to reach North America. By air, by land, be sea, doesn't matter. My only aim and ambition was to reach North America. I went there and saw the reality was quite different from what I had imagined. I had to return to the UAE. I am now here with my mother and have made my life. I realized that one doesn't have to be in North America to make a decent living. One can make life anywhere if one strives for it.†Several of the honored girls had also enlivened the audience with burgeoning patriotism and longing for their homeland. One of them commented that she imbibed the love of the motherland from her mother's breast. The most testing and anguishing statement to the audience and particularly to a group of Somali medical doctors who were there to lecture about the benefits of education, came from one girl who said “ you are all telling us to learn and acquire knowledge and skills. You are telling us that our country needs us, and we know that we cannot go home. Do we have to work all our lives for other people?†Finding this as a slap in the face, the doctors decided to pass the buck by delegating the answer to Hussein Abokor, the most elderly man in the crowd and also the Chairman of the Somali Community in Sharjah, who tried in vain to mitigate the guilt that the older people and the doctors had felt before the eyes of the younger generation. If I try to sum up the mood of the night, I can say it was one of hope rather than despair, an ending of the long wait for the beautiful dawn as I have written in one of my poems in 1999: “Dalkaygow wallaahiye Warwarkiyo waxyeeladu Cidna lama walaaloo Qofna weerka dhiilada Wehel looma siiyoo Kuma waaro ciilkee; Waxad wayda haysaba Waagii dhawaayoo Walaacani ku haystiyo Walbahaarku wuu tegi; Wallee maalin dhow waqal Weelka loo dareershiyo War caloosha deeqoo Gaajada badh wiiqoo Wadnaha ii qaboojiyo Weedh aan ku diirsado Waayeelka hirarkiyo Ababshaha wardoonkiyo BBCiidu way werin…†Looking in the eyes of the aspiring and outstanding high school graduates, I kept pondering whether these were the future forces that would liberate our homeland, and the whole of Africa in that matter, from its current doom. Once again, I may have been covertly passing the blame, but there is no way one can be pessimistic before the powerful appetite of youth for life and change. And once again I found myself humming lines from another poem of mine, written in 1984: “…Dirirka bilan waayey Hadhuudhka ka baaqday Qaxootiga baahay Bishiishin xumaanta; Hayaayda baxaysa Bacaadka la jiifo Harraad bakhtigeena Bariis heli waaga; Balaayo halkeede; Dadaalka bilowday Barbaarta kacaysa Baajuuri xambaarka Tacliin bismilaynta Wixii balageena Baraaq jabinaaya Baddaan ka galaaye; Biciidku dhankiisa Qofkuu ka baxaayo Bakayle qaleenku Bahdeenaba maaha..†It is not without a feeling of melancholy, however, that I have to leave this piece of writing, knowing that none of the young girls and boys who were present that stimulating evening would understand the slew of verses I have quoted above. I may have to invite them though to a moment of reflection that, as they all had bluntly expressed with their youthful honesty, it is only by learning their own language and working hard to perfect it that they would be able to overcome their identity crisis. It is the language and the wisdom it enshrines that heals people, gives them hope and makes them soar in beautiful dreams at times of despair. It is only in our beautiful language that we can get our bearings when we are lost. It is our language that can mitigate our pain, soothe our fears and welcome us to weep in its lap and not anywhere else. I have to admit though that given the place and circumstances in which they grew up, our children did their part and did it well and with proper parental guidance they surely will also excel in learning their culture and language. All that we need to do as parents is to remind them over and over again “Af Qalaad aqoontu miyaa? Maya…Maya..†Bashir Goth bsogoth@yahoo.com Source:WardheerNews

Jason, yes Somalis enslaved people from Tanzania and Zanzibar. Nasib Bundo was a hero just like Denmark's slave revolt in Charleston, U.S.A before his coup to take over the whole city was foiled by one of his friend. He and his followers were later executed.

Botanical journey "Exploration of the island of Socotra" Socotra Island - Yemen The Indian "dvipa sukhatara" ("the island of happiness"), the Greek Dioscoride, located at less than 250 km from the Horn of Africa and some thousand kilometers from Aden, the old capital of South Yemen. The island has the shape of a stretched crescent and has a length of 130 km and a width of 40 km. Mountainous, it culminates at 1,500 meters above sea level, and is exposed to two monsoons. The island doesn't have safe anchorage places and is often difficult to reach. Its position places Socotra on the Arabian dhows routes, from the South Arabic coasts to East Africa and South India ; positioned at such a crossroads, it was subject to varied cultural influences, from India as well as from Africa. The island population, whose cosmopolitan character had already struck the ancient travellers, counts ca. twenty thousands inhabitants : Arabs, Indians, Somalis, ... Age-old refuge of the world strangest plants, on the 850 plants species listed on Socotra, nearly a third are unique. Many of these endemic species are the remains of old floras which have disappeared on the African continent, a long time ago. Due to this singular vegetation, the island of Socotra is the tenth richest island in the world with regard to the endemic plants species, according to the World Conservation Center. The Island of Socotra is located more than 1,000 km south-east of Aden and 250 km off Guardafui Cape in Somalia. The island (3,580 sq. km) only had 15,000 inhabitants at the beginning of 1990, living from fishing and pearls searching. Because of the dryness, agriculture is limited to dates and condiments productions. Isolated for a long time, the lack of substructures (few dhows and the landing strip is very recent), as well as the few interest expressed by the land authorities, maintained this isolation. Today, and more recently, a airline regular service of Yemenia has been establishes between mainland and island. However, the interest for the island is obvious, historically, ethnologically and ecologically, the flora is exceptional, one discovers there, tropical plants and trees with surprising proportions and forms. The infrastructures are modest, except a "small funduk" (kind of inn with few comfort), in Hadiboh, the capital city, everywhere else, we can only rely on our camping gear (imported tents and gear from France). Overnight at Hadiboh in "funduk". World of Islands