LOOOOOOOOL Do as you may, Cawke.

You don't need to use a website to calculate Somali shillings... nobody tracks that worthless paper anymore. The rough estimate for Somali shilling is between 30,000 - 32,000 shillings to the dollar. And for Somaliland shillings it is between 6,000 and 6,500 to the USD dollar. You can then calculate your exchange value from there.

^ 1 USD = 30,000 SOS 636,000,000 = $21,200 USD But I think the correct figure is: 63,600,000,000 (63 billion 600 million) - which is then roughly around 21 million USD.

^You beat me to it.. Nice green and cloudy day in Hargeisa... perfect looking day indeed.

As aussies say "Youuuuuuuuuuuuu Beauuuttyyy" UDUB is now an opposition party and Kulmiye is now the Government of the land. :=) Since UDUB didn't have anything to measure its progress with... Kulmiye's measuring stick is UDUB's old performances - will it exceed or will it fall short? As Hadraawi said in his eloquence words: Dadku maaha kii hee? maqli jiray daryeelkee arki jirey darxumadee saadaal ku degi jirey Dadku maaha kii hee dib waxay u eedaan marka hore ku dagan jirey Dadku maahe kii hee gudin lagu dulbaaxsado daabka looga dhigan jirey Dadku maha kii hee? Midho daray ah duuduub ku liqi jiray The people will be watching you.

Heestii "Onkod roobku ma daayo" ayaan soo xasuustay. Aaa Xiin Caravan ma daaayo, Sheekh Sherif Hotel ma daayo, .... ma sii wadaa

Waa sawir taariikhdu xusi doonto. Well done Team Rayaale.

Sheikh Atam is a threat to the region and so he should be liquidated.

Congratulations to new Graduate MDs. If I am not wrong, Amoud Uni had also produced its first patch of medical professionals last year.

Very interesting development.

It is labelled as flawed democracy because of the repeated delay in holding the election on time. I don't blame the Daahir Rayaale regime for the delay because there was some serious issues that needed to be resolved before a fair, free and transparent elections takes place. I am sure in the next revision of this map, Somaliland will be a FULL Fledged democracy.

^indeed, I couldn't agree more. A nationalist puts ethnicity/clanism, language etc etc before anything else. And they tend to put down other people because they don't belong the same suprior clan/ethnicity or of heritage. Whereas patriotism puts beliefs and values of a people first and foremost. If it wasn't because we were so intoxicated with blind nationalism, we wouldn't have made the biggest mistake of our time, the union of the 1960s. Instead of nationalism, if our people were patriots, they would have recognised that our values and beliefs in terms of relationship between the ruling and the ruled is so different. We valued traditional leaders and we belief in compromise and communal consensus. In the south, it was the Mafia style of politics and elite ruling class far removed from the community. These simple observations would have had us to double think of the union because as has happened we were not compatible in any way. Language and Ethnicity alone does not make a nation.

Hore u soco, Dib u soco Dib u soco, Hore u soco Halkii taagnow weeyan Alaylehe maxaa daal la korodhsaday

^ Oh, let me guess, Daallo is #3.

^ Ok, so Telesom is #1, who hold #2 and #3?

#85 Somaliland 5th Happiest African state. Not too bad at all.

This maybe be relevant to the political section than the general section. But this years' theme or topic of discussion at 2010 Mooge Festival is "Nationalism" - beyond waving the national flag - what does it mean? Here is legendary philosopher and poet Mudane Hadraawi talking about it breifly.

Remarkable progress.

This is the least we can do for a country that gave us the **** immigrants of the post World War II that played a key role in the spread of African entrepreneurship in the hinterland of pre-independence Kenya. Those were the days hopefully we will be back to the top in East African economic and political ladder in the not too distant future. Anyway, a lot of political figures in Africa are now waking up to the reality on the ground. [ July 23, 2010, 11:42 PM: Message edited by: Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar ]

Like Deputy chairman, mudane Baashe said, peace is the only way forward.

Redka lol Markuu noola Ina Qalinleh islaantu reerka waa u sacabin jirtee... markii reerkiina CG aad dumaali weydeen ayay anti-reerka noqotay. Great song btw, although it is like flogging a dead horse and asking too much of the "jiilka darwiishka" in this day and age. Btw, this song reminds me of Ina Qalinleh's last song "Jidkaan maraan jeedaliyaa.."

The UK's Economist breif intro to SL Dr. Adan Abokor .

Feingold Statement on Elections in Guinea, Somaliland and Burundi For the Congressional Record Thursday, July 1, 2010 Over the past few days, several important elections have taken place on the African continent. On Sunday, the people of Guinea participated in their country’s first free election since it achieved independence more than half a century ago. This election was all the more significant given the political crisis that rocked Guinea last year. The U.S. embassy has reported that the vote went “extraordinarily well,” although some of the candidates are now alleging that some fraud and irregularities occurred. The people of Somaliland, the autonomous region in northern Somalia, also held elections over this past weekend. I was pleased to learn that no major violence was reported during the voting, despite threats by al Shabaab, and that international observers found the vote to be free and fair. Given the grave deterioration of governance across the Horn of Africa and the continued crisis in south-central Somalia, the people of Somaliland deserve to be commended for holding a credible election. Burundians also went to the polls this Monday to vote for their president, although turnout was low as a result of an opposition boycott and heightened levels of violence. There have reportedly been more than 40 grenade attacks over the past several weeks, raising fears of a resurgence of conflict within the country. Burundi has made tremendous strides over the last decade to recover and rebuild from its civil war, but the peace remains fragile. The results from these respective elections will be released in the coming days. While the conditions and circumstances in all three of these places are different, we should pay close attention to the way that the results are handled and the ensuing transitions. We should speak out forcefully against credible reports of fraud or misconduct and press for them to be dealt with appropriately. At the same time, we should encourage political leaders to refrain from using any words or taking any actions that could instigate violence. In Guinea, the political climate is so precarious that any delay in releasing the electoral results or suspicion of fraud could ignite greater instability. The results of the election also run the risk of heightening ethnic tensions within the country. Similarly in Somaliland, disputed poll results could fuel tensions. We must not overlook the reality that al Shabaab could seek to exploit any transition-related instability. I am especially concerned about the situation in Burundi given the violence and disputes surrounding its elections. I expressed my concern earlier this year that despite the progress that has been made, many of the tensions and structures that fueled Burundi’s civil war are still there. The international community has invested a great deal in Burundi’s peace process and we should continue to work with Burundians to ensure that process moves forward.

Dr. Maxamed C/laahi comes across as being a very active and motivated man. Exactly the sort of person that we needed at the helm of the MoFA.

A damning report on the Pirate state.