^^Aha, Horn, ninkii wax garad ah taa waa iska ogyey. There're regions that were/are under defacto Ethio rule even before the raise of the ICU (e.g. Gedo, Bakool) But, the pull out from Mogadishu is significant in itself. Afterall, Mogadishu was the mother of the ICU. Are the Xabashis upto something? i.e. keep'n the ICU in check and keeping the TFG in troubled waters? ps How is Barre doing in Kismaio?

^^is this b/c the Xabashis are leaving.

In terms of his appearance, Kai Lühr seems out of place. Lühr, who is kneeling between bearded men in white robes and bowing in the direction of Mecca, is clean-shaven and wearing jeans and a gray jacket. He might pass as a member of the Christian congregation next door, sent here to cultivate inter-faith dialogue. But he clearly knows the Islamic prayer ritual too well for that to be the case. He bends over and prays in Arabic: "Allah listens to him who praises Him. Our Lord, to You is due all praise." Lühr bends over, stands up again, takes another bow — up and down, 33 times. Kai Lühr, a practising doctor, converted to Islam with his wife two and a half years ago. Since then their names have been Kai Ali Rashid and Katrin Aisha Lühr. The 43-year-old regularly attends Friday prayers in the courtyard mosque in Frechen, near Cologne, where he prays together with Moroccans, Palestinians and two other German converts — a former boxer and an engineer. "You'll meet a few German-born Muslims in any mosque these days," says Lühr. A soon-to-be-published study on Islamic life in Germany confirms the Cologne doctor's impression. The study sheds light on a phenomenon that may seem surprising given the image of Islam in Germany, where the religion is often associated with terrorism, forced marriages and honor killings: In Germany, some 4,000 people converted to Islam between July 2004 and June 2005. The study, which was financed by the Interior Ministry and carried out by the Soest-based Muslim institute Islam Archive Germany, reveals that the number of converts increased four-fold in comparison to the previous year. The figure of 4,000 conversions means the usual explanations for why Germans convert are no longer sufficient. The annual number of converts remained constant — at about 300 — until three years ago. The converts were mainly women "who married a Muslim partner," Muhammad Salim Abdullah from the Islam Archive points out. Today, people are increasingly converting "of their own free will," he says, adding that the converts still include many women, but also plenty of university graduates — middle-class citizens like Kai Lühr. Baptized and raised as a Christian, Lühr studied at university and then opened a general medical practice with an additional specialization in naturopathic medicine. His income was good, he married Katrin, a professional dancer, and they moved into a loft apartment together. However, at some stage the couple realized something was missing. "When critically-ill people come into my practice after already having been sent from pillar to post, it makes you despair sometimes," Lühr says. He developed an interest in Christianity, Buddhism and the Dalai Lama. But he found no answers. "People want to be different." Lühr's conversion process seems typical. Many converts were originally practising Christians who began having doubts about their religion at some point, says Mohammed Herzog, a Berlin imam who used to be a Protestant minister until he converted to Islam in 1979. The number of German-speaking converts in his mosque has also risen noticeably, Herzog says. Some 10 years ago, the annual number of converts was about 50 — now it is double that. "Only rarely do the converts include people who were complete atheists before," Herzog says. Monika Wohlrab-Sahr, a sociologist of religion, has investigated converts in Germany and in the United States. She says the "overcoming of a personal crisis" is often a prime motive, frequently in combination with a search for the Other: "People want to be different," she says. While fundamentalist Christianty also offers these possibilities, Islam allows a person to stand out from the crowd to a greater degree, in Wohlrab-Sahr's opinion. Moreover, Islam has become a perennial theme in the media thanks to today's frequent debates on Muslims. "Islam is more visible as a genuine alternative," Wohlrab-Sahr says. It's hard to find a common denominator for what exactly makes Islam so attractive to people from a Christian background. Salim Abdullah speaks of "defiant reactions" in the face of the constant criticism brought against Islam, although he's also familiar with converts who appreciate the "clear rules for behavior" provided by the Koran. Lühr, who always carries a prayer mat in the trunk of his Alfa Romeo GT, laments the "decline in values" that Western society, in his view, has suffered: "In Islam, values still count for something Sometimes the newly-acquired Muslim values can clash with Western principles, in the opinion of some. The key question is how literally Islam's holy book is interpreted. "Converts tend to practise their religion in a more puritanical fashion," says Wohlrab-Sahr. "Born Muslims are often more liberal." A Hamburg lawyer's office provides an intriguing example of what she means. Thirty-six-year-old Nils Bergner prays to Allah five times a day. The German convert works together with a Turkish friend Ali Özkan, also a Muslim. The two visit the mosque together, but it's only in the German's office that the prayer rug is regularly rolled out. "I just can't manage it," says Özkan. "The first prayer is at 6:00 a.m. — much too early." Recently, they were invited to dinner. The desert was tiramisu. Bergner hesitated because of the alcohol in the recipe. "I said, you can't be serious," Özkan recalls. "Go ahead and eat it, I said. It's just a flavoring." But Bergner left the tiramisu untouched. Speigal Online international

Originally posted by Caamir: Sultan, this is actually a nation wide plan on the reconstruction of Somalia. I don't know how much money was earmarked for the feasibility of these projects and It is not limited to "Somaliland" contrary to how you interprated. Those same envoys attended meeting in Bosaso coordinated by the vice president of Puntland yesterday Source The main issue for Somaliland were: 1. Respect for its Soveriegnty and Independence by dealing directly with the Government of Somaliland 2. The development programme for Somaliland should be one focused on "Development and Reconstruction" instead of on "Security" and "Institutional Building" like the other areas. These two issues have been respected and that is what matters.

Those are the losers Do you mean the nobodies. They used to put few good arguments in the old days but now they are heading straight towards silly street.

^^ Yaabka yaabkiis Ayuubow. For those interested here you can find the related documents about this programme. Somali-JNA

the transitional federal government under which both "Somaliland" and "Puntland" are part of its system. Since when? :confused:

Duqa magaalada, I already made a deal with general duke, he will write me a letter of recommendation understood. Done deal weeye. So, what are your other plans. Sow caleemo quyan ku soo dhawayn masid?

^^ when AY comes to Hargeysa So "Me", what are you plans when "AY comes to Hargeysa"?

^^ Waa godob mayeedhaan waxa loo danleeyey

^^ Are you sure that is Cawke? Amina is the best. Cawke iyo Amina oo isla jeexjeexaya kaftanka ayaa ugu qosol badan. "wasiirka socdaalka Xaaji indhoole oo maanta soo DHAGADHAGEEYEY meelo badan oo kamid ah dalkeena hooyo".LOOL LOLz soo Dhegodhegeeyey Waxaan maqlay Siyad Barre ayaa bari uu waraysi ka qaadayey ku yidhi "Aabe Cawke waad Codwayntay halkee codkan ka keentay". Cawke replied "Aabe ninba meel u wayne ilaaqda inaga daa"

Here is another good news from Awdal. Australian Scientist on a Short Visit to Amoud University. Good read. indeed, refreshing news. The very first Doctors are graduating soon from Amoud Medical School. That will be a golden milestone.

Excellent. Well done to rer Awdal. Hardworking fellas. Thanks to them, now we have many universities throughout the land. Boorama is far from being a dusty town. It is located in a greenish farming area with overlooking hills. Very beaufitul. But the name could be from the somali word "Booraan"/canyon plural "Booraamo".

^^ 1 hour long showers did you say? :eek: Back in Africa it was when the taps stopped that people would run around talking about water problems. Here with its 24/7 running water it could sometimes lead nomads to question the validity of the Water Shortage problems. Rokko "100s of somalis marched through Bourke st today singing allow roone roobkeen rays qaboobe.. roobkeen" Are you serious?

Cong'tions Al Burcaawi for finishing the marathon. Good effort. I will be depositing my few cents into the Dahabshil account soon b'idnilaahi kariim. Again, well done.

It’s unlikely to have anything to do with press control and more to do with official sanctioning of the press. Get them to come down, register and pay some fees is what the plan is I think. They surely were too specific in that if they were about registering and paying fees. They overlooked the Puntland Media which is operating without a hitch. This is a targeted step to shutdown anything they think opposses the occupation or they think will report the crimes that are being committed on daily basis against the people of Banadir Region. I wouldn't be surprised if they also shutdown the Communications Companies in an attempt to crack down Internet Websites as well. It reminds of what happened in Addis Abeba in mid 2005 when Meles ordered all foreign media including VOA and BBC to shutdown their offices and also began to close all sort of communications for one whole week till he finished his "Red Terror" against the CUD opposition party. At the end of that week, all of CUD's elected members including its opposition leader were put behind bars, including over 15,000 dissident supporters. Countless numbers were killed or unaccounted for till this day.

The gov't is the National and legitimate gov't of somalia. They have every right to register the media with them So, what about the Puntland Radio Stations? Shouldn't they be off Air as well till they get registered?

I was refering to the Muslim name. Abdulfattah is a genuine Muslim name. Allah knows best, though.

For the warlords it was Business As Usual as the bodies of dead young men are litred on their doorsteps. Warning graphic picture source

Steve has done it again Baashi, didn't know Steve's dad was Muslim from Syria.

Rokko Roobdoon would be a great idea. TV'ga ayaynu ka soo bixi lahaynba. Rahima You are right walal, I was always a Melbournian. For some reason Rokko wants me to go to Sydney.

rokko I reckon it could. The Big Dry now alamtrana soo dhaaf ayuu maraya.

^^Castrow Care to expand on that a little?

Climate Control, Beijing-Style The rainy season has come to northern China, and it’s a brave new world out there. Actually the natural rainy season doesn’t start until July. But the season of man-made rain is upon us, and Chinese rainmakers have been busy. Over the past month they've mobilized cloud-seeding aircraft, artillery and rockets to enhance rainfall. "We've ordered technicians to try to make it rain again today, but so far they haven’t reported back on the results," says Zhang Qiang, a businesslike woman who heads the Beijing Weather Modification Office (yes, that’s the official name of a real Chinese government agency). "We did it many times last week to increase the rainfall." Not content with simply making it rain, now China's weather modifiers have taken on another meterological mission: to help guarantee perfect weather when Beijing hosts the Olympic Games in 2008. "In China, we haven’t done this type of thing on a very large scale yet," says Zhang during an interview in a west Beijing compound housing five antiaircraft guns used to shoot chemicals into the clouds. "The Russians have experience creating good weather, and we can learn something from them. We still have two more years for testing. I’m sure our preparations for the Games will go well." Zhang's office, which employs 30 people, is part of the Beijing municipal government and the nationwide China Meteorological Administration. Her unit uses two aircraft and 20 artillery and rocket-launching bases to help modify weather around the city. Springtime is the busiest season for agricultural purposes. But more and more, Zhang and her colleagues are experimenting with weather modification to try to create blue skies. Toward this end, they’ve spent nearly a month and a half total researching the effects of certain chemical activators on different sizes of cloud formations and at different altitudes. Chinese meteorologists claim that similar efforts helped create good weather for a number of past VIP events in China, including the World Expo in Yunnan, the Asian Games in Shanghai and the Giant Panda Festival in Sichuan. And why not? The central-government leadership—dominated by engineers—has been messing with Mother Nature ever since the Chinese Communist Party came to power. They’ve built the world’s biggest dam, the world’s highest railway and even the world’s biggest Ferris wheel (in Nanchang, still awaiting verification from the Guinness World Records). Why not perfect the science of climate control? Well, um, there is the small political question of what happens to apparatchiks if they get it wrong. At least that’s what was on Zhang’s mind on Sept. 30, 1999, as Chinese leaders frenetically prepared for Beijing’s National Day celebration the following morning. Marking the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Oct. 1 was slated to be a bash with a full-on military parade, goose-stepping militiawomen in red miniskirts and a flyover of aircraft and helicopters buzzing Chinese VIPs on the rostrum above Tiananmen Square. But there was one problem: a storm system threatened to make it rain on Beijing’s parade. China’s rainmakers debated whether to induce a strong downpour just before the gala, increasing the chances of blue skies on the big day. “I was on duty,” recalls Zhang. “I intended to modify the weather by using artillery.” But Zhang understandably fretted about Mother Nature’s unpredictability. “I worried that if the techniques I used weren’t good enough, there would be a big problem. I could make things even worse,” acknowledges Zhang, inferring that she could have lost her job. “So I didn’t dare do anything.” To everyone’s relief, the rain stopped of its own accord. In the beginning, the idea was to improve harvests for Chinese farmers, who still comprise nearly three quarters of the nation’s 1.3 billion people. Chinese scientists began researching man-made rain in 1958, using chemicals such as silver iodide or dry ice to help produce condensation in moisture-laden clouds; such efforts can enhance rainfall during planting seasons or minimize the destructive effect of hail. Firefighting is another function; last autumn, authorities in northeast China induced artificial rain to assist 10,000 firefighters battling a massive forest fire in Heilongjiang province. Today Chinese rainmakers are among the world’s busiest. Beijing's nationwide weather-modification budget exceeds $50 million a year. The communist regime’s 11th Five Year Plan, which kicked off this year, calls for the creation of 48 billion to 60 billion cubic meters of artificial rain annually (somewhere between 12 trillion to 16 trillion gallons of water). Beijing needs it. Right now is when fruit trees and crops need life-giving water; the parched North China plain has been stalked by drought since 1998. Normal precipitation is between 22 and 24 inches annually, says Zhang, but Beijing had only 18 inches last year. And drought continued around China’s capital city this spring, “so we’re increasing rainfall using our own means,” says Zhang. “But man-made efforts can’t solve the drought problem altogether; they can increase rainfall by only 10 to 15 percent.” And tampering with Mother Nature has been known to backfire. Cloud-seeding shells and rockets have sometimes gone astray, damaging homes and injuring inhabitants. City dwellers have raised concerns about environmental pollution, though meteorologists insist the silver iodide is used in such tiny quantities that it brings no negative health consequences. And the rainmaking scramble became so intense in 2004 that five Henan province villages reportedly squabbled over “cloud theft” after they all seeded the clouds simultaneously but only one district received the lion’s share of rain. Still, Chinese authorities have discovered weather micromanagement can bring psychological relief from heat and dust. In 2004, when Shanghai’s sweltering temperatures soared above 95 degrees in July, weather modifiers induced rain to break the heat wave and reduce demand on the city’s overstretched power grids. “Shanghai was the first city in China to use man-made rain to cool down temperatures,” boasted Yu Zhaoyu of the city’s Meteorological Bureau. This spring Beijing suffered from unusually fierce dust storms, which swirl out of the Gobi desert each year and coat the capital in fine yellow grit. One day in April a monster dust storm dumped 300,000 tons of sand on Beijing, according to local media. The city was still shrouded in gritty powder when temperatures and pollution levels began rising a week ago. To dispel the haze, technicians of the Weather Modification Office fired rocket shells packed with cigarette-size sticks of silver iodide into the clouds. It worked. Beijing enjoyed its heaviest rainfall of the year, which helped “alleviate drought, add soil moisture and remove dust from the air for better air quality,” reported the official Xinhua news agency. The idea of creating good weather received political support from China’s former party head Jiang Zemin after he attended a 2000 celebration in Russia marking the 55th anniversary of the end of World War II. Jiang was impressed when the Russians induced rain to successfully clear up clouds for the ceremony. “When he came back, Jiang said China should do the same thing,” says Zhang, “We’re trying our best to be ready for the Olympics. Already we’ve succeeded in clearing up small cloud formations.” Dissipating larger formations that cover hundreds or thousands of square miles remain a challenge, she says. At any rate, heavy rains typically aren’t so prevalent in August, the month when the 2008 Games are scheduled. So when the time comes, China’s weather modifiers may ironically get a little help from Mother Nature.

Castrow Guess who gave the Go Ahead? ----------- Meles gives qualified approval to US air strikes on Somalia Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 01/11 - Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said here Wednesday he had no problem with American air strikes on Somalia so long as the strikes did not compromise the planned African Union (AU) operation for peace support in the troubled Horn of Africa country. " To the extent that the Americans keep their operation limited to such targets of opportunity and to the extent that the target is precisely a well-defined terrorist target, I personally have no problem with it ," Meles said at a press conference. "It is only when it (the operation) goes beyond that target that it becomes a problem. So far it has not gone beyond that (and) my priority is to make sure it does not go beyond that," the Ethiopian leader said. The US carried out air strikes Tuesday against fleeing suspected Al-Qaeda terrorists in southern Somalia. Meles expressed the hope that the US would not expand its operation in Somalia so that Ethiopian and Somali troops on the ground could deal with the situation. To sceptics who expect Somalia to degenerate to a situation comparable to Iraq or Afghanistan, he said: "Their seeking out of such signals will be in vain." "The prospects for peace in Somalia primarily depend on the Somalis and their capacity to reconcile with each other. That`s our optimism," the Prime Minister stressed. He pointed out that Ethiopian troops backing the Somali Transitional Federal Government forces against terrorists were not involved in policing the Somali capital Mogadishu. "Somali people are capable of stabilizing Mogadishu. Somalis will sort out the problems of Mogadishu and the rest of the country quickly. "I believe Mogadishu today is less violent than many African capitals," Meles said, adding that "presently there was no sign of significant violence in the city." According to him, the US air strike hit a group of 20 suspected terrorists, killing eight of them and wounding five, but the whereabouts of the remaining seven are unknown. He explained that had the air strike been delayed for ground troops to reach the target area, the terror suspects would have escaped. "International terrorists have been in Somalia for a very long period and their numbers increased dramatically since the takeover of Mogadishu by the UIC (Union of Islamists Courts). "They (terrorists) were attracted to Somalia by the fact that there was a permissive environment for them," Meles explained. He dismissed false reports about Ethiopian soldiers being attacked in Mogadishu. "I am sure some grenades have been thrown around. As far as Ethiopian soldiers are concerned, there has been not a single casualty in Mogadishu so far," Meles assured.