Associated Press Mogadishu 06, July. 06 ( Sh.M.Network - A recruiting video issued by members of the fundamentalist Islamic movement in Somalia shows Arab radicals fighting alongside the local extremists in Mogadishu, and invites Muslims from around the world to join in their "holy jihad." The video, obtained by The Associated Press, provides the first hard evidence that non-Somalis have joined with Islamic extremists in Somalia. The Supreme Islamic Courts Council, which defeated U.S.-backed warlords in Mogadishu last month and is now the country's most powerful force, has repeatedly denied links to extremists such as al-Qaida. But the one-hour video appears to confirm U.S. fears - and al-Qaida's boasts. President Bush expressed concern last month that Somalia could become an al-Qaida haven like Afghanistan was in the late 1990s. And recordings attributed to Osama bin Laden portray Somalia as a battleground in his war on the United States. The videotape, produced to both recruit new fighters and raise funds, glorifies the Islamic victory over U.S.-backed, secular warlords in Somalia. U.S. officials cooperated with the warlords, hoping to capture three al-Qaida leaders allegedly protected by the Islamic council, especially three men accused in the deadly 1998 bombings at the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Those singled out by the United States include the courts council leader, Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, branded a terrorist by the Americans. Aweys, speaking on Somali radio over the weekend, said his movement had no contacts with bin Laden or al-Qaida. He also rejected accusations that foreign fighters were in Somalia. But the video, shot on a handheld recorder, shows Arab fighters preparing for a major battle on the northern outskirts of Mogadishu. Arabic anthems and poetry play on the audio track urging Muslims to join the global holy war to advance Islam and defeat its enemies. The video starts with a black flag featuring a Quranic verse and a saber fluttering in the wind. Such black banners have only recently appeared in Somalia but have been used by Islamic extremists in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon for years. After a few minutes of battle footage, the tape documents the Arab fighters' predawn preparations for battle, including prayers, a commander's speech to his troops and the preparation of weapons. The Arab fighters then climb onto two pickup trucks mounted with heavy machine guns, which the Somalis call "technicals." As the sun rises, the location of the Arab camp north of Mogadishu becomes clear and six more trucks loaded with Somali fighters come into view. A senior member of the Islamic group, Yusuf Indohaadde, is filmed walking among the men before the pickups roll out of an old warehouse compound. The rest of the footage follows one group of Somali militiamen as they battle troops loyal to warlords who controlled Mogadishu for 15 years and had ties to the United States. The tape ends with the capture of Essaleh, a small town with strategic air and sea ports three miles north of Mogadishu. Most of the tape's audio is filled with Arabic prose and songs urging Muslims to join the holy war against the West, or recordings of speeches given by Somali Islamic extremists. One of the voices speaking Somali is clearly not a native speaker. There are also subtitles in Arabic and Somali calling the battle part of "the sacred, holy jihad in Somalia" and "the holy war that began in Somalia." The tape is similar to other videos produced by Islamic extremists in Iraq and other countries where al-Qaida is active. Evan Kohlmann, an international terrorism consultant who closely follows statements and videos from militant Islamic groups, said the video has traits similar to those produced by Islamic militants elsewhere in the world. If it is confirmed that Arab militants fought alongside likeminded Somalis, it likely would affect how the international community treats the Islamic group. "I think it is tremendously significant and may be the determining piece of evidence that will decide U.S. policy on Somalia," he said. "Sounds a lot like al-Qaida when the Taliban were just getting started in Afghanistan." Since the defeat of the warlords, the United States has set up the International Somali Contact Group to coordinate policy toward Somalia with other interested nations. U.S. officials have said that counterrorism is the primary focus of policy toward Somalia. Shabelle Media Network, Somalia

Carab oo dhan waa naago Abaa Naagaha ha ceenin Wiilo.

Amelia....Unfortunately Portugal is out. France vs Italy it is.But yes we did enjoy the German misery Sharmaake....Yup, the Azzuris were excellent. For me the turning of the match is when Lippi brought in Del Piero and Gilardino. Lippi- Great tactician. I guess we will see if the French maestro (Zizi) will lift up his second cup or if the Italian tenacity will win the cup for the fourth time.

Maybe there is just two predetermind parallel paths ( one good and one bad) that Allah chooses for each one of us. The free will is simply having the ability to recognize, differentiate and choose between these paths.So, regardless what path you choose, God already knows your past, present, and future.

Story by MUCHEMI WACHIRA Daily Nation Tuesday, July 04, 2006 Her dream of living a comfortable, hassle-free life after marrying a rich man has turned out to be just that – a dream. Fifteen-year-old Asha (not her real name) married a man she thought would be dependable and responsible, having got a job in the US. He had been proposed to her by her parents, but the wedding took place in his absence. "I thought I was running away from poverty which, coupled with the harsh climate at home, had made life very difficult," says the woman from Garissa District in North Eastern Province. She had, on the instruction of her parents, abandoned school to get married. The Somali husband who still works in the US, paid a dowry of $3,000 (about Sh219,000). And the happy couple proceeded to organise a colourful wedding conducted by a local sheikh in line with the Islamic law. A marriage certificate was subsequently issued by the local kadhi. But when the man arrived from the US, Asha says they did not get along well with each other for long. "He was not prepared to take me to the US where I later discovered he had another wife," she recalls. "And during the few days we stayed together in Garissa Town, he would always attempt to have sex with other girls. I realised he was not my choice." The couple have since had a divorce granted by the kadhi’s court. Booming business to residents Hundreds of other young women in the district have found themselves in a similar predicament. Parents are literally selling their underage girls to men working abroad, especially in the US, Canada, the UK and South Africa. What is tantamount to sex trade has become booming business for the residents. Nation investigations have established that the trade is spearheaded by middlemen in Kenya and abroad. The broker in a foreign country enters into a deal with a man desiring to have sex with or marry a beautiful Somali girl in Kenya. The broker sends the message and money to a fellow middleman in Kenya with the instruction that he take video pictures of a group of girls either dancing or just walking around. So the Kenyan broker goes to a function such as a wedding ceremony where dancing takes place, or he organises a dance and invites girls and young women. The videotape is then sent to the broker in the foreign country who delivers it to the man who has hired him for the job. And when the man finally identifies the girl of his choice, he asks the broker to deliver the message to her parents. The message is delivered through the Kenyan middleman, who informs the girl's parents and tells them how much money their daughter’s suitor is willing to offer as the bride price. Of course, the negotiations take place without the girl's knowledge. This is the point at which most parents find themselves victims of the conspiracy hatched out by the rich Somali young men who have found greener pastures overseas. And, as it has turned out, the sole interest of these men is sex. "Of course, if one proposes to pay me more than Sh1 million to give him my daughter for marriage, I can’t decline to take the offer," a parent says, adding that it is impossible to earn such big money in the region where poverty is endemic. "Or how else can I raise a million shillings while my income is only from my few livestock? The lure of instant wealth has forced some parents to withdraw their children from school and marry them off to the rich, young men. And they gladly pocket the loot, not giving a hoot whether or not they have seen the face of the men soon to have a relationship with their daughters. At least one wedding ceremony is held in Garissa Town everyday between a Somali girl and a strange man who does not have to attend it, such as in Asha’s case. Most of the weddings which take place in the evening, begin with a convoy of vehicles which cruise around while hooting continuously. The honking alerts the local girls who flock to the venue for a dance in the hope of hitting a gold mine for the parents and possibly for herself. A video picture of the procession and the entire bridal party is taken. Eventually, the motorcade of about 10 hired vehicles stops at the hired hall, hotel or private home where the wedding is to take place. Although the wedding is somewhat private as only a few people are allowed in, all the Somali rites are performed, including slaughtering a camel or a bull. And amid applause and cheers from the small crowd of relatives and friends, the bride is given a standing ovation as she says: "I do" to an absent bridegroom. After the ceremony, the bride is led to her new matrimonial house where she will be forced to spend lonely nights until the groom arrives. There are, however, other men who travel from abroad and conduct their weddings privately in big hotels in the town and leave immediately with their newly wedded wives. But who really are these men? And why do they target only Somali girls? The trade is peculiar to the Somalis, and has flourished for the past decade when the resettlement abroad of a large number of Somali refugees started, especially in the US and Canada. This was after the political turmoil in the Horn of Africa country in the early 1990s, which saw the overthrow of President Mohammed Said Barre. This was also when Somalis started being settled in Kenya by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), especially at the Hagardere, Ifo and Dagahley camps in Garissa District. Over the years, UNHCR has been resettling the refugees in the US and Canada as political instability continued to rock the country. A civil rights activist in Nairobi says that some of the young men who have found their way to the US have limited education. "They are earning thousands of dollars in a month and they feel it is prestigious for them to marry all the beautiful women in the Somali community," he adds. These young men, he says, want to be regarded as belonging to a higher class by compatriots at the refugee camps. Thus, when they offer such a large amount of money to a poor family in Garissa, Wajir or Mandera as bride price, how many parents will turn it down? The province is one of the poorest in Kenya as it is dry throughout the year, and the people depend entirely on livestock. And to compound their misery, the stocks were depleted by drought that ravaged the country last year, leaving most families depraved. For such a family life has not been easy, making it easy prey for the predators from overseas. Like in Asha’s case, most of the relationships do not last long. The man may come for his wife after two or three years of marriage. And even if he comes immediately, as happened to Asha, he will first expose the naïve girl to all sorts of perversion. And he may not necessarily continue making love to his bride who, in any case, is a stranger. Once he has his fill he moves over to the next victim. So the unions invariably end in separation. As happened in Mandera Town early this year, a civil servant married off her two secondary school daughters to young Somalis working in the US. A resident recalls: "After the wedding, the men came and started doing all sorts of bad things to the girls. They would drink with them and mess up in public. The two guys then divorced the girls and went back to the US." She explains that the girls could not go back to school as they had been stigmatised. This forced their mother to move to another area. The residents say the woman bought a house in a big town with the money paid to her as bride price. Several other girls are said to have turned to prostitution after being dumped by their husbands in the US, Canada, the UK and South Africa. The same fate has befallen their colleagues in Garissa Town. Some have hired rooms in the sprawling slums of Windsor, Bosnia and California on the outskirts of the town which they use as brothels. The trade has become so sensitive in the region that few leaders wish to discuss it. It is the mayor, Mr Siyad Osman, who blew the whistle. He was quoted in the media as condemning parents who had fallen prey to the international cartel. Since Mr Osman's remarks many other leaders have come out to condemn the sale of girls by needy parents. But the local kadhi, Mr Osman Abdi, says that although he has of late handled several divorce cases, he does not see anything wrong with a marriage between a young woman and a wealthy man. "As long as there is love between a man a woman, marriage between the two is allowed by the Islamic law," he says. "It does not matter where such a marriage takes place – whether in Kenya or in London." The Government has not taken action against the parents either. And provincial commissioner Kiritu Wamae defends the impassiveness: "No one has been able to prove that the girls are being sold out." But Ms Fatuma Kinsi, the executive director of the lobby, Pastoralist Girls Initiative, is worried: "What worries me is that these people who come to marry our girls do not go to the VCT centres to be tested for their HIV/Aids status." Additional reporting by Issa Hussein in Garissa Source: Daily Nation, July 4, 2006 source. Hiiraan.com

Originally posted by WaTerLily: Germany will win it, unless that is they get stoped by Brazil, but even that is looking unlikely now. Lily-I told you that they will be stopped!!!

The 'greasy" Italians have won. Take dat Deutschland. Sharmakee....Your boys have made it. SomaInc...I guess it is Italy vs France

A woman's breasts are like a journey, and her feet is the destination. Nothing wrong with little something to fight the gravitional pull.

Originally posted by MC Xamar: I don't know about you, but I sure as hell don't say such things!! An ignorant minority of Muslims believe this is an Islamic practice, while the other 99% don't, and many Muslims have spoken out against it. Yet, it's still the ignorant minority who the media listens to and talks about on the news and in the paper. Why? [/QB] 99% ...lol You r kidding..right? . N by majority, do you mean the Muslim populace in the west or the masses throughout the world. If you are saying majority of Muslim worldwide acquiesce with your view that FGM is not Islamic practice, then you are darn wrong. I can't make sweeping statements about all Muslims, but I could tell about the cultures that have been exposed. As Somali, I know majority of my people back home associate FGM with Islam. I also had the pleasure of growing up in Pakistan where honor killings are very prevalent. Majority of men that murder their daughthers/sisters use Islam to justify their actions. n As to why the media talks only to ignorant, It is just good TV, period and granted that there is Muslim bias, but dats given!

Sharmakee....All the teams that I wanted to see in the semis are knocked out . I was hoping atleast one latin powerhouse would make to the finals to beat the Germs at their turf. But that's not to be. Italians would do I guess. The Azzuris are already mad at German media for running racist articles in their papers. web page Both teams will be playing for national pride. It should be fun. As much as I dislike the Azzuris, I hope they do beat da Germs.

somali somali ayay u yihiin, mana kala saarayaan somalis.... True...Amxaar mu kala jecla. It is unfornate Nin Somali ah oo Tigray horboodayso inuu isku dayo Somali Dhulkeeda iyo Dadkeeda Qabso. Having siad that, Somalis have little reason to trust each other since Is aamin iiso jirin. Disagreeing with each other views shouldn't translate into being branded traitor. Eventually, all sane Somalis will see that there is benefit in having an occupying force in your land.

Tanug Yu guys. Happyt Birthday , Somalia Hopefully, brighter days are days ahead. Sorry we have failed you.

Come on, the Azzuris have been lucky so far. With all match fixing in Serie A, who knows, Maybe Shevchenko and his boys were baugth off As for England, with Deco out of the Portuguese line up, their chances look better.

Originally posted by Tyjwania: Why don't these retard boneheads flat iron young boys penises? Ironing penises...lol Come on now, wat woman would wanna a man with retarded minnie johnson..Besides two wrongs don't make rite. Da story reminds of the Padung women in Burma/Nepal & Thialand web page and Chinese foot binding web page . Young gals are made to wear brass rings around their necks in the case of Padung women. The brass rings elongate their necks. The Chinese foot binding once considered as status symbol in imperial China was crippling practice. Still today, elderly Chinese women can be found with severe foot binding deformaties, ironically a lot of them in western China where there is significant Muslim population. There are many wierd cultures in this world. They are all diffirent but they share one thing in common. They victimize women just to amuse men. lucky, times are changing for the better. MC Xamar...You are beginning to sound like typical Muslim. Blame the infidel instead of owning upto our crimes/faults. True, there is western bias, but Muslims do little to dispel these biases. If anything we reinforce these prejudices by proclaiming Allah sanctioned a practice like FGM.

They will be stopped!

^^^I really thought Argies had it. Damn it. I guess the Germs would be through to the finals. Italy or Ukraine would be no match. Hopefuly they will see Ronaldinho and Adriano in the finals.

Argentina just lost :mad: :mad:

Osama Bin-laden oo ku goodiyay in Mareykanka uu kula dagaalamayo Somalia Mogadishu - 30 June. 06 ( Sh.M.Network) Hoggaamiyaha ururka Al qaacida Osama Bin laden oo soo diray fariin uu kaga hadlayay dilkii Mareykanka uu u geystay Hoggaamiyihii Al qaacidada Ciraaq Abu Muscab Al zarqaawi, ayaa waxuu mareykanka uu ugu goodiyay in Al qaacida ay Mareykanka kula diriri doonto dalal ay ku jirto Soomaaliya. Osama Bin-laden, Cajaladan codka ee Osama Bin Laden oo la soo dhigay Shabakadda Internet-ka ayaa Bin Laden waxuu hanjabaad toos ah u ugu jeediyay Madaxweynaha Dalka Mareykanka George W. Bush Isaga oo yiri Bush "si aad ha u farxin, Calanka Al qaacida Ciraaq ma uusan dhicin laakiin waxuu ka wareegay hal libaax iyadoona uu u gudbay ama uu qabtay Libaax kale†"Waynu wadi doonaa dagaalka haddii Allaha awooda lihi yiraahdo, waxaan adiga iyo isbaheysigaagaba kula diriri doonaa Ciraaq, Afghanistan iyo Soomaaliya iyo sidoo kale waddanka Sudan ilaa aan aan khasaaro u geysano lacagtaada oo aan dilno askartaada waxaadna u laaban doontaan Mareykanka idinka oo guul dareystay sidii aan horayba aan guul daradda kuugu geysanay Soomaaliya marka aad joogteen†Osama sharaxaad ama faahfaahin kama uusan bixinin khasaaraha ururka Alqaacida uu horay ugu geystay Mareykanka dalka Soomaaliya balse horraantii Sagaashamaadkii ayay aheed markii Mareykanka loogu dilay 18 askari Magaaladda Muqdishu. Hase ahaatee Ameerikaanka ayaa dhowr jeer ku celcliyay cabsi ah in Soomaaliya ay hoy u noqoto Ururka Alqaacida oo dagaal culus uu kala dhaxeeyo Mareykanka, dhowaanahan waxaa soo kordheysa hadal heynta Mareykanka ee arrimaha Soomaaliya. Shabelle Media Network, Somalia web page

Batistuta was great player. Sad , he didn't get world cup under his belt. I guess we will see today if the Argentine can repeat the success of 86, and beat da Germs or if Klinsman could repeat the success of 1990 only this time as coach. It should be a great match!!! web page

Fighting temptations..lool I guess sista it really depends on you. The person will only go by how you react to his advances.So first figure what you want!!!!! Once you do that, setting ground rules should be easy. Create your own borders , and set da limits there.If the guy is geniunely interested in you. He will be patient, and will understand where you are coming from. P.S If he is Somali/Muslim, he should know your reasons. Just one thing though...Don't be over cautious.

Originally posted by Viking: As fo rape, isn't the punishment 100 lashes if the rapist is unmarried? Was the rapist a married man? NO 100 lashes for the violation and humuliatation of women, You are kidding me!!!! It is death I beleive. Anyone who rapes should be shot!!!....Their actions are deliberate, and it is not hunger and starvation that is driving them to violate men. For bleeding hearts, Just how do you intend to police a place like Somalia. Do you have alternatives?

Soma_Inc...The man is sore loser. He is now along with Puyol accusing Theiry of diving to get a free kick. You got beaten. Leave it there!!! The Spanish was good team, and sadly comes short at every world cup venue. The two teams that don't deserve in the next stage is definately Italy and Ukriane.Lucky, they get to face each other next. I think the semis would be Italy vs Argentina ( I know Germans are good, and have home advantage) England vs Brazil

The refereeing gets more interesting, but I think the better team won here. I guess it is France vs Brazil next. It was good run though....Better luck next time Ghana!!!!!

Zidane and the French do move on. That should shut up the racist Spanish coach. It would have been nice if Theiry scored all three french goals

Already down a goal :mad: ... Ronaldo breaks the records for most goals at the world cup. Come on Ghana!!!