A brutal dictator oppresses his own people made up of many different clans - People rise up against the dictator "by any means necessary" - Dictator refuses to give up power and vows to "die here" - Dictator's clan and loyalists rally behind him fearing for their own existence - Government system slowly breaks down in the process - Dictator is eventually chased out of the capital after much death and destruction - Vicious power struggle breaks out among the clans vying for the top price - Dictator eventually destroys country for not giving up power peacefully and earlier. The first i highlighted did not happen in chronogical order, Siad Barre at the time did not oppress his people sxb. Secondly people did not rise up until 1988 or in Mogadishu 1991, long after the rebels caused harm to the nation. I may have been an unfair critic in the past at Siad Barre, but history shows that Barre did all he could to suppress the clanish tendencies that existed back then, this is not to say that he didnt create mistakes in the process.

Is this suposed to be news, bro;)

indeed faroole was right to worry about somaliland cashing in on the galgala issue.... Any evidence that Faroole was worried about Somaliland taking advantage of the galgala issue.

The insinuation that the Dervish were solely responsible for the death of Somalis in the early 20th century is just a Victor’s version of history. They never inflicted as much damage on Somali herdsmen as the Ethiopian armies had done, they never inflicted as much economic damage on Somalis as the artificial borders that cut apart our centuries old Civilizational Matrix by multiple foreign powers had done, nor did they tax Somalis at the ports they controlled, the way the British did. They never initiated a policy of arming several clans and allowing them to murder and raid other towns the way the British and Italians had done. Indeed the Dervish crimes pale in comparison, yet the revisionistic pen of history wants to convince us that they were the ultimate bad thing that happened to Somalis? I agree with most of your points that he was a Somali nationalist hero, on the downside his jihad did cause more suffering for Somalis than it did foreigners atleast in proper 'Somalia territories'. I read past British reports of the civil war in the North actually caused the death of approximately of 1/3 of the Male population. Secondly i dont believe Somalis were at the gulf of colonization there are examples of ressistance to colonialism. For example the main 'clan' in Sool (today ssc) did not come under British rule whatsoever, similarly the long existing Maakhir Sultanate although had a treaty but it also exercised complete sovereignty over their land, The North eastern sultanates also only had a treaty with the Italians and their lands were free of foreign control. However im sure his standing legacy of being a freedom fighter overshadows those actions, well put!

;)

The events of the past 100 years tells us that Communism is a failed system of governance.

I especially like this part. Brain harvesting versus harboring tribal hatred<O:p< p O:p </O:p <O:p< p O:p Youth of my people, as you can see the world as your fathers knew it has changed; technological explosions of volcanic proportions have created new realities, new cultures and new societies. Anyone who denies swimming with the flow or sits on the sidelines will be either crushed by the waves or left to rot on the banks. The pastoral life of your forefathers that was based on herding livestock, small subsistence farming and a primitive culture of small groups of family bloodlines huddling together against perceived enemies is no more sustainable and may soon disappear as the urbanization advances consuming all available land for modernized agriculture and industrialization while climate change takes its toll as well.<O:p< font O:p The most precious asset that you have in today’s world is indeed your brain. I reflected on this in my poem DAWAN which I wrote on 4th November 1998 on the inauguration “…Waxa maanta dunidani La isku daba furaayaa Dirirtuna ka joogtaa Waa maadh dahsoonoon Daymo lagu arkayn iyo Dal waliba aqoon iyo Inta uu garaad da’o…” (Dawan, November 4, 1998) Yes, this is what you have to invest in and harvest, not rearing camels in barren lands or continuing internecine and outdated clan wars. That was the life of yester years, the life of your nomad forefathers. That does not mean that you cannot go back to the countryside and modernize the way the nomad and farming communities live, but to do so you must first gain education and shape your destiny not only with the aim of getting more income but also by shaping and advancing your thinking and your culture. As the Somali adage says: “Dhar magaalo sida loo xidhaa way dhib yartahay, dhal magaalo sida loo noqdaase way adag tahay.” (It is easy to dress like city people, but it is difficult to get the character and values of city people – meaning civility)”. If you think that by going to school, living in a city and dressing like city people you can become a civilized person think again. Education should change your mental attitude, your philosophy of life and should open up your mind to evaluate issues on their moral grounds and not on inherited cultural and tribal mindsets. Baffled by why Somalis do not learn from their interactions with other cultures, Jama Duale, a poet whose reflections I admire, not only comes to the same conclusion but also satirizes about the futility of the Somali claim of brainstorming through Qat sessions in the following lines of a poem he wrote in the 1950s: “…Maraakiibta way raacayeen, reer masar ahayde Mijilisyada way garanayaan, laga macaashaaye Maroongigana way daaqaayaan, maalin iyo layle Mirqaankeeedu Soomaali sow, meela uma sheego…” There is a simple test to do to assess whether education has changed you or not. Your nomad cousin comes to you crying and tells you that the clan’s homestead has been attacked by enemies who just happened to be your mother’s brothers. What will you do? I say this because how you react to this issue will determine whether your education has changed you and made you a better person or whether your brain remains fossilized in old times. If you would rather jump to your gun and follow your illiterate nomad cousin to shoot the hell out of his enemies, in this case your maternal uncles, instead of telling him to go to the authorities and file a case, then you should know that you are only dressed like city people and your education has failed to change you and make you a law abiding citizen. Unfortunately, most of us, Somalis, are so imbibed with the culture of revenge and empty pride that the passion for Tollaayey takes the best of us and we react impulsively to the tribal call. Tollaayda qabiilku , Maxay dad qareen ah, Xumaan qabasiisay (My poem Qiiro, December 10,1984.) Youth of my people, if you look at the revenge-based Tollaayey culture that many of us are so beholden to and defend with pride; you will see that there is indeed no pride in it. What pride is there in killing your maternal uncles? What pride is there in killing of any human being at all, let alone a close relative? Have you ever stopped to ask yourself since when did your paternal ancestry become more sacred than your maternal one; since when did your father become more sacred to you than your mother to the point that you can easily kill your mother’s brother but defend your father’s brother to death. Youth of my nation, you are the cyber generation and the world is your oyster, it will be unfortunate if you limit your ambitions, your careers, your future and your innovation capacity to the clan horizon. Why should you insult your intelligence by narrowing your opportunities while technologies invented by your peers around the world are broadening your horizon and proving to you that there are no barriers to the outreach of the human mind? You do not need to shorten your lives on fighting for clan farms; camels or water wells when all you need to own is a computer to unleash your creative abilities. Why do you allow yourself to fall into the tribal vortex that sucks you to the bottom, dehumanizes your personality and reduces you to your basic animal instincts of revenge and bloodletting? Think about how you can connect half a billion people around the world, break all barriers of culture, time and distance, and create your cyber community like Mark Zuckerberg instead of succumbing to age-old traditions and spending your energy and your talents on scheming how to kill your uncles. </O:p</O:p

worse yet puntland jet fighters Lol.

Edited.

Double post.

Idi*ts

^^ War how the hell can a 25 year old look like that? JB which planet are you on? Watch the video the father is interviewed not the boy you may have been misled by the way they writ it, perhaps. http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Ottawa+gang+member+deported+Somalia/3978260/story.html Quite Baffling that the ones who deported could not tell the difference between the two cities, maybe it was a way of punishing? They don't know what they're doing," he said. "Imagine: Mogadishu is the worst place on Earth — it's like Afghanistan. That boy has no experience."

Doing this is a political necessity considering the kind of situation the TFG is in.

This should be done a lot more, nevertheless its a good development.

Wow, ive been having fun with the gallery and forum; i have changed my avatar atleast 6 times now.

Forgot to mention that after numerous attempts at failing to loggin had to resort to reseting the password, now stuck with an overcomplicated password.

Love the new style, gives a unique refresh to the experience and actually feels modern here. Good job whoever organised it and loving the new Avatars too.

2012 Olympics all the way.

Like it.

I wonder if this was the Muslim country thats funding the anti-piracy force?

He had a nice welcome over there

QQ Do you hail (originate) from the Awdal region of Somaliland?

Ill keep it simple. 1) In ****** region what you have is a direct occupation where the civillian population is oppressed and in Somaliland its the opposite; your attempt is to use a justification to show a parallel situation when the differences could not have been more clear morally and in legality. You could argue in the case of Somaliland that the Hargeisa regime wishing recognition is exerting its powers and an occupation on other lands because of this Somaliland lacks the legal requirements to become a state, Ethiopia similarly also lacks to legal stance to hodl on to the ******.

Your anology is deeply flawed.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Somalia_map_states_regions_districts.png