I'm absolutely convinced that there are much powerful forces than warlords and ethiopians in this game. Whoever lies behind it the intentions are to perpetuate the anarchy status in Somalia.

Duufaan, It's a quote mentioned by someone, don't remember who right now. I haven't read that in a book so far.

BoiBoi The fact of the matter is that it hasn't been told that there - aren't any oil reserves - in Somalia. If you take previous researchs made by UN among others, which tell that there are commercially exploitable oil reserves, into consideration along with the long lasting petition made by a number of oil companies - I think the equation becomes pretty clear. If the oil reserves really weren't that interesting - they would make it official. I understand though that the potential oil reserves won't be of such magnitude of the Saudi one's but possibly like the Yemeni reserves. Regarding the Top Cat deal - what is it really all about? Are the TFG and Top Cat just scamming each other publicly? Is it the first episode of the much longed-for reality TV show starring the Somali PM's and their fake contract frenzy adventures?

P.S a funny anecdote is that almost all contracts signed by somali "government officials" is on $50m dollars. Also, given the fact that there is a multinational naval task force off the Horn of Africa looking for "terrorists" - whats the need of TopCat?

The Sizzle and share issuing lies in that in case the results are garbage - they all share the costs. It's simply a way of financing.

I believe there is some dirty business going on the topic of oil-searching and contract-writing in Somalia. The Conoco (now named ConocoPhillips after a merger) contracts should have expired by now since it only was limited to exploration rights (as far as I have understood). French Totalelf however, still do business in the country (Hargeysa mainly), even though it (officially) isn't of the ConocoPhillips kind of activity. Totalelf works mainly as a supplier of oil. They have however during year 2001 done some oil explorations, critized by locals, in the northern areas of the country. However, no information on the outcome of this exploration has been available to the public. I believe that there are several oil companies, including chinese one's that keep an eye on Somalia. I wouldn't be surprised either if some of those already initiated negotiations or worked out preliminary agreements. Another interesting factor to take into account is the so called $50m "TopCat deal". Are the intentions to implement a pseudo somali coast guard to secure the waters surrounding the country, or to secure future searoutes for oil tankers? As a final point, I would like to give you SOL readers a quick summary of the method of working for oil companies, conducting exploration: In most cases, Its not a one man's show. ConocoPhillips alone wouldn't not run the hole project through - unless their various examinations show very good results that they do not wish to share with any potential co-partner. The reason why they wouldn't do it themself is that they might fall short of their expectations (based on surveys). That would mean that they had drilled 100's of sites (which I presume a company of CP's size would consider) for nothing as the oil reserves wouldn't pay for the production costs. It simply wouldn't be a feasible combination. In general, an oil company, CP for instance, works up an exploitationprogram which they then offer other oil companies they find attractive (and capable) to take part of - they issue shares. ConocoPhillips, as the holder of the prospect (expl. rights) handles everything from leasing the land, price negotiations, work out basis for decisions, supervise the drilling and later on put the oil/gas in production (transportation) and negotiate a market price with energy- and refinery companies. The basis for decision could be everything from geological maps, electromagnetic logs, 2-D seismic analysis and historical numbers from oil production in the area/country (some drill outside Mogadisho produced 10 000 barrels/day, now closed). Then there are some adminstrative fee's and other less interesting info.

This is old news and has been around for a while. But its still good to make sure students don't worry on money when it comes to applying for Harvard. Just study hard and work on your EC's.

For further information, please send me a PM.

Greetings everyone. I just wanted to inflict on your heavy political debatings by announcing the birth of a new somali holding company, solely established to invest a substantial share of its yield in Somalia. The investments will be made in various industries as well as provide infrastructure such as roads, houses, buildings, hospitals, schools etc. This not a naive saying or fabricated scam. I am for the moment seeking somali lawyers or economists for further discussions (since were working on setting up the core for the board of directors). The procurement of capital will come mainly from somali people being allowed to buy stocks. Remittance money from the diaspora somalis to the homeland reaches 1 billion dollars annually. It's time that these money make some real use instead of remaining to be aid only. Lets all remember the old saying: It's better to learn a man how to fish then give him a fish. *OBSERVE* The investment company does not take any specific clan proposal into account when making it's decisions of investments. --------- Send me a PM for further discussions. Thanking you, Ismael Muminsson

Hows the network going so far? I need some partners for an oil prospecting project soon.

For what use?

Yes I agree with rudy. Set up a global network. Start with a homepage and forum and announce it at Hiiraan for example. There are alot of somali business companies worldwide even in China. Could be a first brick to a somali business conglomerate!

Originally posted by qumane: your link is dead try again I beg my pardon, here is the working link: http://www.focusmedia.cn/en/ It takes some time loading though, I think it's because they got the site on some chinese server. There is also one american company we know of that is doing well, Captive Indoor Media which you can find here: www.captiveindoormedia.com

There is a new media company about to be born in Stockholm Sweden. The company, which is best described as a "digital signage firm", is planning to take a market-leading position in the country (which not yet has any outstanding DS-firm.). For an example of how these kind of companies work, take a look at: www.focusmedia.com/cn/en - a chinese based american digital signage company listen on Nasdaq. This might seem to be an unserious invitation but it's because I (one of the founders of the firm) are of somali descent that I decided to give all somalis here the opportunity to make this major draw in the Swedish media business branch. For more information on this, please send me a PM here on Somaliaonline.com Thank you/ TSE

Originally posted by Alle-ubaahne: Brother Haruun, let's define first what we call university. I think we have the world's pioneering best Universities in Somalia. Even no Muslim country can beat it. They know that from the graduates who memorized the whole Quran by heart. Even the University of Medina in Saudi Arabia is astounded by the sheer number of Somali graduates from the best Quranic universities in Somalia. What other university would you select over Quranic universities, when they serve for the best purpose to making this chaos world peaceful? For that reason, we have world-class universities, in a place where the dearth of material seems the joy and motivation to excell for learning real knowledge. That is how it supposed to be when ranking Africa's best universities, by bringing Somalia's educational institutions on the first place. With all due respect to the somali pupils that learn how to recite the whole holy Qu'ran but what Somalia need's even more is pupils with exams useful in this world too. "Work like an immortal, pray and trust on Allah like tomorrow was your last day" We somalis fully accomplish the last-mentioned in the above sentence. But whatever concerns daily livelihood and success/development here in earth life, we have abandoned. Truly pathethic that is.

Not a positive news article... Im loosing my homeland commodities

Not a positive news article... Im loosing my homeland commodities

Originally posted by NNC: Harvard and Stanford aint shit...I graduated from DEVRY...and yeah i'm elite...okay... My father graduated from Harvard in 1978...ya consider him an elite..? I have an Uncle who is from Cornell..and i personally think he is a loser...small minded brick... The point is...it dont matter where ya get your education, what matters is what you do with the Education ya get, how ya use it? zozo More important - what you did with the contacts and networks you built up during you'r stay in the Ivy-league school.

Where are all the Harvard/Oxford/Stanford/Cambridge Ivy-league somalis?

Originally posted by Mombasa_QUEEN: I honestly dont know if it's true but studing law is haraam right? i hear people saying. thats why not a lot of muslim people are in law school and its expensive to. Wrong. There was an article in Hiiraan Online written by a somali teacher in US who even was an active muslim member of his community. He declared, with the help of some verses from the Qur'an, that there is no such prohibition in the Islamic religion for one to learn law and become a lawyer. It's contrary rather obligated to become a lawyer in this judeo-christian society most of us are living in, in order to survive, increase our status and in that way reach higher grounds. So study on all somalis, we need more lawyers.

Please stop building up aggressions. We as somalis have to stay united in the case of state-building. If Abdullahi Yusuf can build and maintane a government that let's the country deveope, it's all good. It's of great importance that we keep us calm and try to be as democratic as possible in this matter, especially us somalis living in the diaspora.

Very nice indeed. Makes one deeply glad to see these kind of investments in our motherland. This is however not making a greater impact in the short run and may even more likely get into a longlasting setback since most people are unemployed and can't enjoy these kind of facilities (except as employees). Whit this I do not wish to disregard this man's work, I'll rather light him up as a man that settled one of the first bricks towards a booming economy in Somalia.

I'm a somali student living in Sweden, soon to start at Sthlm School of Economics. My point with this thread is to gather other somali students worldwide specialy in the fields of law, economy and engineering for a project I had in mind. To start with my short-term plan was to change ideas and thoughts, visualize and calculate briefly on wins and losses that can occur etc. regarding this project. Later on if our sessions succeeds with a positive outcome I should be taking care of the financing part (wich I have a decent assurance of at the moment). This project deals with in short the following: - To overlook the potential of implementing an industry in northern Somalia, and later on appoint one. Industry fields can vary from mineral, oil to agriculture and fishing. - To get local and regional decision makers willing to the projects goal; discuss ways of reaching this goal. - Point out and oversee potential hindrance to development or setbacks that can occur while dealing with this project. I hope you all will take this inquiry serious and realize that now is the time to act. We (somalis) don't have time to wait until warlordism will sort it self out, or until government will restore order. We somalis living in the diaspora can't just look back at our country and get satisfied with the neverending decadent-arted work of aid-organisations. Now is the time to act. I would be more then happy if you at least could pinpoint or get me in touch with persons that fulfill the comitted requirements & that you might find interested of this issue. *Pardon me for eventual grammatic mistakes. Thank you / TSE

Very beautiful indeed. We somalis should invest more in this beutiful fertile soil. Daryeel contruction company is doing a great work and setting the first brick towards a potential blooming infrastructure in this region.