Any video with educational value that should teach or remind us that we should rather fix or reform than destroy our institutions or what we already have built for the preservation of our values and improvement of our own society

Somali Commandos in defense of the Motherland Pls post any great video you may know of or seen it b4.

Soldier, thanks for the suggestion saxib, I'll try to find that book on Amazon..

It's a new video http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/06/13/world/africa/1247468038532/somalias-child-soldiers.html

Originally posted by General Duke: assassination since the fight was taken to Attam’s hideout.. [/QB] The rest of your post is pure hyperbole and clannish rant. However, it's important to note the recent assassination of the successful businessman Abshir Qodah Du'ale by the PIS operative reasonably proves of the dirty plots and earlier assasinations of PIS, not to mention another one in which an innocent man was gunned down on August 21. The murdered businessman, Abshir, was the brother of the slain Jama Du'ale in captivity.

Originally posted by Gallad: Xudeedi: Times like this, you dont need to point fingers, you need to start to help these people for the sake of Allah. Well said.. Totally agree with Gallad. Help the needy and the displaced.

Nina, I believe federalism as a solution was first promoted and discussed in detail at one of the prestigious publications by the scholar, Ali Fatah, back in the early 1992. Gen. Aideed also promoted and wanted federalism in the early 90s. Here is a background info on "Somaliland's" bloody internal conflict for your perusal. Abdirahman Tur, the 1st president of SL wanted to extend or establish federalism in Hargeisa, but it took on violent means and he and his camp, mostly clansmen were at last submerged by Egal and his coalition group. It might therefore be of general interest to briefly indicate, as objectively as possible, how each side portrayed the conflict situation around the time (November 1995) that the Peace Committee was about to start its field work. 8.1 In general terms, the Government publicly maintained that the opposition (i.e. the Garhajis fighting faction) was federalist, fighting on behalf of anti-Somaliland group (i.e. Messrs. Abdirahman-Tuur Ahmed Ali, Jama-Yare Mohamed Ghalib, Hassan Adan Wadaadeed and others) based in Mogadishu. and in league with Aideed Faction in Somalia and as such the opposition was bent to destroy the Somaliland State. In support of its claim, the Government pointed to the Mogadishu group's public acknowledgement of their support for the opposition. The Government saw the opposition as a clan rebellion which had to be dealt with accordingly. 8.2 The position taken by the opposition publicly was that the Government breached the National Charter, exceeded its authority and, in the eyes of the opposition, rendered itself illegal and therefore the opposition would not recognize it. The opposition saw the Government forces which faced its forces as illegally constituted militia that enabled all the clans in Somaliland to gang up on the opposition. The opposition's declared solution to the conflict was for all the Somaliland clans to get together (without the involvement of the Government) in a peace-making conference to first settle any disputes between clans..... From "Report on Peacemaking Somaliland"

Lander, good question but the people of Erigavo, Hargeisa and Burco all do share one thing: inimitable hospitality and a long history of peaceful co-existance. I recommend Governance by Ismail to see the marked difference of the historical, cultural and political systems btw the North & South. Whereas they humiliate and kill the elders, we have left meaningful roles for them. The repressive fascist governance of "Italian Somaliland" has a lot to do with the destruction of the traditional clan system in Southern Somalia.

What can he do in 4 months that he couldn't do in 2 years. Nice analysis, Ngonge. I agree the transitional government is the only hope for Somalis but not with Shariif at the helm. TIME for a new reconciliation conference and a change of leadership. This time, A Government of National Union (GNU) that appeals to all Somalis unlike federalism..

Lander, what would that new hobby be? Shouldn't Shariif restore his old Government of National Union (GNU). He sure missed a big chance in the beginning because to many it was believed that his government was a continuation of Yusuf's TFG. A new GNU can sure unite Somalis. The idea of Federalism has been a disaster thus far.

Originally posted by Jacaylbaro: ^ ^ ... We still maintain the Far from the best days saxib.. Quite close! JB, if it's day time, getta refrain from these videos.

Originally posted by Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar: Aad iyo aad u dhalaali jirtay ileen. Indeed, in her prime time, she, led in that category along with Saado & Qalanjo. Mida kale, qaran burburey baan nahey, we lost almost everything.

Interesting Report.. Could Al-Shabab Attacks Bring Down Somalia's Government? By Nick Wadham UPDATED: 08/26/2010 Somali government forces walk outside the Muna Hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia, Tuesday Aug, 24, 2010. Just a few months ago, the going story on al-Shabab, an Islamic insurgent group in Somalia, was that it could carry out well-coordinated, very deadly attacks, but posed no existential threat to the country's central government, weak as it may be. Now, after a series of bombings on Tuesday that culminated with the brazen killing of at least 30 people, including six members of parliament, al-Shabab has shown itself to be far more powerful than that, and Somali state officials tell TIME they fear the Western-backed government could fall any time. Tuesday's attack saw just two al-Shabab fighters storm the Muna Hotel in Mogadishu early in the morning, gunning down bystanders outside and hotel staff, armed guards and parliamentarians inside before blowing themselves up. The fact that they succeeded in killing so many people at a hotel frequented by security forces and politicians, many of them armed themselves, was a striking symbol of the government's impotence. "The government does not have enough power to defeat al-Shabab and to secure the safety of Mogadishu," Ali Osman, a senior official in the Ministry for Industry, tells TIME. "This is shameful for the TFG [Transitional Federal Government] and I cannot really say there is a government - it is just a name." The Transitional Federal Government was formed in 2007 with the backing of the international community. It remains in power thanks mostly to 6,000 African Union peacekeepers who protect Villa Somalia, home to President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, as well as the airport, the docks and a few city streets around them. Last week, the AU announced that the first of 2,000 additional troops had begun to arrive - part of plans to fulfill an earlier AU promise for 8,000 soldiers - but that didn't stop al-Shabab from launching a new offensive on Monday in which 40 people were reportedly killed. After the massacre at Muna Hotel on Tuesday, 10 more people were killed Wednesday in a third day of fighting. Al-Shabab leaders have vowed more attacks soon. "Al-Shabab will attack the enemies of Allah in our country and will continue until they are removed and Somalia comes under Islamic rule," al-Shabab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohadum Rage told TIME. "There will be many other places that will be attacked both in the country and, if necessary, outside the country. Al-Shabab will not be stopped." Such words might once have been seen as empty threats, but no longer. Al-Shabab has gained strength with surprising speed since it emerged in 2006 from the ruins of a more moderate Islamic government that had brought some stability to Somalia until Ethiopia invaded late that year. The group now controls much of southern Somalia, including the lucrative port of Kismayo, and seeks to impose Taliban-style sharia law across the country. Last December, al-Shabab claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a medical-school graduation ceremony in Mogadishu, killing 24 people including three government ministers. Then, in July, bombers staged double attacks in Kampala, Uganda, on the night of the World Cup final that left 74 people dead. Uganda has supplied about half of the AU peacekeepers in Mogadishu. Analysts and members of the government attribute some of al-Shabab's bloody success to an influx of money and training from foreign fighters linked to al-Qaeda. On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. now believes a branch of al-Qaeda in Yemen is working closely with al-Shabab. The trouble is figuring out the best way to respond. The U.S. and other allies of the Transitional Federal Government have often said that the TFG represents Somalia's best hope for peace, but are reluctant to send the sort of military or financial support that would allow it to turn the tide against al-Shabab. In July, the former U.N. representative for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, said the Somali government had only received $3.5 million of $213 million pledged at a donor conference in 2009. But whether there's much foreign governments could do, short of sending huge numbers of troops into Mogadishu, is up for debate. The TFG is riven by internal fighting, defections, corruption and financial bankruptcy. It holds a tiny piece of the Somali capital and, without the thousands of AU troops stationed in Mogadishu, would fall quickly. Somali officials - many of whom also receive their salaries from foreign governments - say that such a state of affairs cannot last, if only because al-Shabab will make good on its threats and oust the government from power. "We aren't getting the international support that we were promised," Mohammed Omar Talha, the deputy speaker of parliament, tells TIME. "If we do not attack them in their places, they will attack us in the presidential palace. So we cannot wait." That sentiment was echoed by another MP, Mohammed Abdi, who predicted the TFG would fall soon without help. "The situation is worse than before, let's not hide the truth," Abdi tells TIME. "If the AU and the international community don't come in the next few weeks to help us I don't think we'll have a government of Somalia. Source: TIME

MMA, waayo waayo, but the best days are yet to be born. Caawa alaabtan aa suxuurta ku sugaa.

^Duke, don't be such a clan zealot. Peace is the dividend that which drives the engine of Puntland. Why gamble on it saxib. I've called for peace, unity and reconcliation and the onus rests on all of us to explore the range of all possibilities in the attainment of that goal. Btw, PL actually didn't outsmart or outmuscled "them" saxib. The war still continiues with no victory in sight except enhanced levels of insecurity, not to mention defections of high ranking officers, the resignation of Tuutawayne, the commander assigned for the Galgala front, repression of the freedom of the press and the arbitrary arrest of the director of Horseed Media, and last but not final, the portrayal of Puntland as a weak administration. If you call that outsmarting and out-running and out-sleeping them, then Good Luck Duke aka the Cyber Warrior/General of Puntland.

Given the lack of a central government, it becomes normal for self-appointed individuals to break ranks with their former allies out of political discontent. It has been the phenomenal aspect of the personality features of the Somali clan leaders or warlords locked in a power struggle. It happens to “Somaliland” itself whose leaders visit Mogadisho back and forth. Consequently, Abdirahman Tur, the founder of Somaliland, upon his conversion to the unionist camp, was denounced by Igaal and condemned to death in absentia on grounds of “seditious” activities. However, and to Igaal’s disbelief, Tuur returned to Burco and challenged Egal (RIP), in an overweening opinion of his power base derived from the support of his clan, that he was free to capture and arrest him. You have also witnessed the famous Buubaa, the former TFG foreign affairs minister and his conversion from a die-hard secessionist to a zealous advocator of Somali union. I think reer Borame shouldn't let any other clan entity dictate who can visit their region.

Xudeedi, xaalada hala dejiyo. Let the promotion of peace, unity and reconciliation be our guiding principles. Brothers disagree and fight, but they do also reconcile and right the wrongs. No one wins in a war if pushed further and further. We'll all lose in the long run.

^Differences aside, PL is our state and we do support its vision and goals, but any individual provided he or she is rational and fair-minded is obligated to condemn raw aggression and wrong policies that can ruin the state. The whole stalemate could have been ended by the esteemed elders if given sufficient time and resources.

Duke, Xudeedi and Thankful, I think it's time to drop the blame game and the familiar politicking. It's time to promote peace, unity and reconcliation. Without stirring further incitement or painting the whole Galgala issue with one broad brush, We can simply turn to peaceful channels. Look at the bigger picture, that is the overall peace within PL's borders and the political and economic leverage it has maintained over SL and other entities.

Zack, JB is enjoying or rather exploiting the little Galgala conflict. But SL aint alone among the excited audience/viewers of this Galgala movie. Add analysts like Adan Makin and others. They don't know that Puntlanders are one sub-clan of a larger ethnic group (settlers of 75% of Greater Somalia) and that they can sort out their political differences in one single day.

Ina lilaah waa inaa ileehi raajicun. Isaga iyo inta ku dhimatay qaraxaas Naxariisti Alle ha gaarsiiyo. RIP to all MPs and innocent folks killed in that cowardly attack.

Bilan, I saw the facebook and blog reviews and they all seem to hold the book with high regard. The author deals well with this subject of Somali Diaspora, culture shock, women rights, religioius values, the battle of the sexes or gender communication, marriage and the issues of assimilation with mainstream America. Yasmeen Maxamuud’s Nomad Diaries By Muslimah Media Watch In Yasmeen Maxamuud’s novel, Nomad Diaries, Maxamuud tells the story of an upper-class Somali woman, Nadifo, who comes to Minneapolis as a refugee in the mid-1990s during a time of civil unrest in Somalia. Maxamuud highlights the challenges Somali women face as they transition to life in America as the story follows Nadifo and her family’s life. Maxamuud tackles a range of complex issues the women of the book face: interpersonal relationships (including polygamy, marital infidelity, abuse, and rape), generational differences, educational attainment, race relations, and economic freedom, to name a few. These issues are presented as the women navigate differing cultural expectations of identity from their Somali and American environments. The novel, which clocks in at an epic length of 454 pages, quickly drew me in to the profound challenges and circumstances faced by so many immigrant groups in the United States, especially issues surrounding generational assimilation and shifting cultural beliefs and lifestyles. While I am familiar with contemporary Asian fiction and memoir that address the challenges of “becoming American,” Nomad Diaries is the first book I have read that looks at the issue from an African refugee Muslim woman’s point of view. Maxamuud here presents an engaging story of a refugee family’s journey to the United States from Somalia. Nadifo and her granddaughter, Idil, are presented as flawed characters who are driven to accomplish their goals. Nadifo’s early life in the United States is characterized by her contemptuous interpersonal relationships, the saddest instance with one of her daughters—a survivor of rape—whom she cruelly shuns for her “shameful” encounter. By the end of the book, however, Nadifo commits herself to being a present grandmother as she recognizes the damage of her antagonistic relationships—and comes to regret her actions—with her children. Idil, a successful entrepreneur at 13, recognizes early in life the damaging situations her fellow Somali women face and resolves to not become a “statistic”: She kept a mental list of the statistics she was not going to become: she was not going to become a pregnant teen, a doomed Gedi woman, a confused Somali girl with no other choice but marriage, and definitely not a young black woman without a future. She was adamant to change her future and began turning her life around at sixteen. She took school seriously, minded her tongue, and saved herself.” (440) The women of Nomad Diaries are strong, independent women who face their challenging situations with tenacity and a strength of resolve; for Nadifo, her religious practice is a source of strength that is embedded within her everyday life—it is one among the numerous aspects that characterize her, not an aspect that singularly defines her. Islam is not a nuisance or the cause for the afflictions of life, the way Islam is far too often presented by another prominent Somali author. Instead, Islam is the source of peace and strength to carry on with life in a world rife with the damaging cultural expectations women are faced with everyday. You can purchase Nomad Diaries on Amazon. Tags: Nomad Diaries, Somali women, Yasmeen Maxamuud

God Bless Somalia...

Originally posted by muriidi: lol@Muriidi

Gheelle, aniga inaanan Atam raacsaneyn waad la socotaa. (see my records) I've been only critical of how Puntland handled the situation while giving my insight and analysis as to the real picture that created the crisis. But the narrow-minded (though you belong to esteemed elders in here) readership of SOL took it as though i am for the destruction of Puntland.