^Malika, let's support the fishermen aka Bari. Sool Vs Bari in the finals, I predict.

Mogadishu as the capital of Somalia is no more important than Hargeisa was prior to Independence and D-jibouti as it is. We made Mogadishu in post-Political Independence the seat of our Republic in a bid to unite our territory, commit to a nation-building process and size up our place in the community of nations. However, the capital is not what it used to be; its urbane demographics, its elite and educated have been displaced or killed by the endless contours of its conflict, thus leading to the brain drain and a continued cycle of voilence that has griped it in firm hands and devalued its image for decades. A neutral and provisional capital can be selected probably after the current TFG's mandate, which will end less than two years, and a new constitutional conference for this purpose and further reconciliation. I believe the International community will accord the new government(as an ideal solution) both recognition and legitimacy just as it did to the former one. What contributes the TFG to become a contested power struggle between the various players in conflict is the recognition it has from the world despite its fragile position and limited public support. The capital can be moved temporarily to a peaceful area like Hargeisa, build on new institutions under a platform of compromise and equally power-sharing based on clan representation for the time being. Once the strategy works, the anti-government groups will simply be marginalized even if they shift their guns and underhanded tactics to where the capital is temporarily relocated. It happened in Baydhabo when the Islamists held it under siege, not to mention the first explosion that ripped one of the cars of the former President and his guard.

So Puntland seem to advance the best model of governance for Somalia. And the issue of piracy has been quite dealt with by the Admin so effective that the pirates are forced to shift their operation in South-Central Somalia and beyond. With the repeated provocation of the secessionists in beating up the drums of war, PL has quite been a voice for sanity and reason. Only corruption and clannism might impede its model, and such inevitable social and political issue can be dealt with by strong institutions led by qualified and experienced leaders.

General Duke, I agree with the secessionist's failed strategy that is a primitive political orientation that the modern free world shun in its entirety, but the other two camps you identified are also different in outlook and objectives. The South is still the tragic replay of decades of warlordism and brutish life under an anarchic situation where only the strongest is free to kill, rape and loot to be followed by those who advance extremism for narrow political agenda. However, the struggle of the occupied Somali region comes from the universal belief that an alien rule creates deep resentment within an ethnic group. To free a society from the harsh rule of those with strange language, religion and culture, they have an alienable natural right to liberate their land and select the form of government they choose to be part of. The leadership could have settled with the now defunct WSLF and its appeal of nationalism, besides it is a name that is laudable and recognizable in the history books if a sympathetic IGO or a de jure sovereign state wishes to extend its moral and financial support to the struggle. So I think the name issue is solvable and we can also subscribe to the fact that the support of a majority group in one political Territory matters in all the criterias of decision making since they can supply the manpower to defend the nation, for instance a notion expressed in Rausseau's philosophy of civil disobedience.

Rudy, update me on the Lakers' progress and Staples Center.

The Makhiris will always support reer Somali-Galbeed/****** however you wonna call the region. This is also another good one by abwaan Saalax, Guuleed song. Somaaliyeey hooy waa laguu digayaa ********** iyo shisheeye bay soo daadihinayaan.

Paragon, this is an unbelievable song. I'll have to write something about Somalia's rising stars InshaAllah.

Indeed! "Gacalooy waan kula dardaarmayaa Intey duulkaan igu kaa dirin. Ka dab'oolo dhegahaagoo, kana deyso hadalkaaga" "My love, I offer my life-learned lesson Before this crowd took us apart Calculate your words and close your ears from the ill-will of others" In the video, there's a time the lead singer is at the cafe, studying. He finishes up his work and leaves but he learns later that he forgot his cell at the desk, so he comes back to recover it. Meanwhile, his future girl repeatedly calls only to be ignored by the circumstance, & not the intended recipient. And this anamoly unfortunately gives those who surround her the opportune time to corrupt the happy times of the two. In the end, they bid each other adieu over a simple stuff. Lol

Another great song by abwaan Saalax Doonyaale. Enjoy it.

Originally posted by Jacphar: I like the idea of hijabi dancing to the music. Good stuff. That's a nationalist song from a Maakhiri abwaan, so be careful.

Tuujiye, saxib it's all about long gone memories, mostly in my childhood years. I'm sure you recall such good memories. Qurbani & Sholay, are two great classic Indian movies in par with some of the household names of Hollywood. But I've developed a quite detached interest from any type of movie into politics and academia. I see that you and KoolKat have fallen for that trendy music orientation along the lines of distinct listeners. A&T, you wlc.

I recall and still like the great songs of this classic Indian movie. Nostalgia overwhelms me. Remember leila o leila And Aap Jaisa Koi by the late world acclaimed Pakistani singer, Nazia Hassan. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7znkj9ZcDo

Thanks for the update.

Red Sea, I can see how a desperate attention-seeker comes across to other, self-respecting individuals on a sluggish enquiry like this but for the sake of your benighted position before us, it's better to let this trivial matter of bickering rest in peace. As for the Makhiris, they have already proved in their indefeasible contemporary history to keep their borders and cities off the ill-trained ad hoc tribal militias of "Somaliland" and won't budge to repeat the same unforgettable lesson should you attempt a similar adventure. Therefore I don't see "somaliland" as much of a threat to the rest of PL either in militiary or political parlance but rather an ephemeral project on which to salve the wounded conscience of a self-declared minority group in a small, infecund pocket of Somalia.

Waryaa Koore, that's a great song saxib. Thanks.

Unbelievable story. Thanks xiinfanin. A friend just braught this article to my attention through my sms.

The ONLF struggle is our struggle. Their pain is ours and their blood is our blood. Mr. Somalia, SSC is an organization for the people of Sool and that's what Zack implies in his statement. I don't understand your proclivity to stretch it further to include the people of Makhir. The debacle in Sool Region is partially created by the locals if you discount the "mercurial manipulation" of Haabsade and similar elites, to borrow the columnist Frank Rich's phrase of today's NY Times/OP-ed, (which eloquently tapped the fierce and unease sentiment of American people towards their merciless corporations) and that is the chief reason the Sool issue is unresolved and at a gridlock situation. On the update of Maakhir, its unwritten constitution now says it has agreed to form consociational democracy model with Puntland.

What happened to the indomitable lions of Sanaag this year. They have been eliminated. I heard the Bari team is expected to win it all. Thanks Xudeydi for the pics.

The Erigavo+Badhan(Sanaag) and Dhahar+Hingalool(Haylaan) regional teams have quite performed poorly this year. Nevertheless, while potential talented players seem to emerge from such regional soccer competition, this is also a good way of promoting peace and communal integration among the youth.

Identity: African Sub-Identity: Cushitic aka Afro-Asiatic group Ethnicity: Somali Religion: Muslim Country: Greater Somalia Republic: Somalia

Great Prediction, but you are wasting the very gifted side of yours to an ungrateful, ignorant society. Better channel that energy into at home where charity is said to originate and sanctioned. Then and there, Somalia shall emerge from its self-inflicted wounds.

What a co-incident Gen.Duke. I used the same term "Monster" not coming across your post up until now. Thanks for the reminder. Though the media plays a big role, the internet is quite shaping the views of the public with regards to the double-standards of some well-known figures. Someone once disclosed an MP3 recorded speech of Abdiqasim Salad endorsing a foreign intervention when he was an Interim president in stark contrast to his position at the time of Yusuf's term, backpedaling on the same subject, a reflection of the deep-seated distrust and enmity that define Somali politics.

It was the TFG of Abdillahi Yousuf and now it's al-Shabaab, that is the enemy. The al-shabaab did not arise out of accident, they were created for a temporary objective but one without plan B should it metamorphose into a Monster or any balanced consideration of the long-term consequences of the introduction of Political Islam championed by global non-state actors. Now we have to pay the price, it seems: but it is always the hapless masses, not the leaders whom we carry under our own wings, that suffer the most.

Brother, PL just like SL is a bargaining chip of the national pie, and WardheerNews has always been in favor of the secessionists, even publishing a conpiracy theory from an unidentified Ethiopian freelance (who could be one of their own)that the former Italian Somaliland would be divided into a four states, inclusive of Puntland, whereas the current "Somaliland" would be recognized as a state of its own. A potential dicey situation! I blame our self-interested elites, elders, and Sultans and their chronic silence in an important issues where their lands are either tagged "disputed" or claimed by any group in the world, does it matter if it's clan. In other words, the bankruptcy of leadership for this Sanaag and western Bari community is very manifest despite "Ilka-jir" being paraded as the one who would fill the vacuum. Here I did comment on a similar case.