The paper ran another editorial too today. _____________ Ottawa's rabbit hole The clock is ticking for Toronto traveller Suaad Hagi Mohamud, and not in a good way. Stranded in Kenya because Canadian authorities have declared her an imposter and voided her passport, she must face charges in a Kenyan court on Friday. Like Alice in Wonderland, Mohamud has disappeared down a rabbit hole of shifting reality since being arrested by Kenyan police at the Nairobi airport two months ago because an official claimed she didn't resemble her passport photo. The Somali-born woman was returning to Toronto from a visit with her ailing mother. Canadian consular officials were quick to insist, on undisclosed evidence, that she was a fake. After weeks of stalling, Canadian officials in Nairobi agreed to take Mohamud's fingerprints for definitive identification, but only after her case surfaced in the media. That was almost two weeks ago. Since then the government has not revealed the results or the reason for the delay, although there are hints that the earlier prints Mohamud had taken as a refugee may now have been deleted from Ottawa's files. Mohamud, a Toronto resident with a 12-year-old son, now faces charges of identity fraud, in a country Amnesty International says is in need of "fundamental judicial, police and security sector reform." A fingerprint match could be the crucial evidence needed to acquit her. Without Ottawa's help, Mohamud will likely be convicted and sentenced to time in one of Kenya's brutal jails for a crime of which she may be entirely innocent. Or she may be deported to Somalia, a failed state that is in the midst of a bloody civil war. Meanwhile, a Toronto lawyer has filed a motion in court to demand that Ottawa hand over any evidence it has on Mohamud's identity. To date, both Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan and Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon have remained silent on this matter, which has only served to increase speculation that they are trying to cover up for an embarrassing mistake. To clear the air, they should end their silence forthwith. Koronto Star

Sheekadaan wey kasii dareysaa. Maskiinta dhab ayaaba loogu dhigooyaa inay meeshaas ku raagto. Wey ku ciyaaroyaan maskiinta. ______________ Ottawa urged to rescue Nairobi detainee Mother, 31, stranded in Kenya since May 17 after being told she didn't look like passport photo A Toronto lawyer is going to court tomorrow to prove Suaad Hagi Mohamud is Suaad Hagi Mohamud. Raoul Boulakia filed an application in federal court yesterday seeking immediate government help to get his client home from Nairobi. "We're asking she be repatriated and the government provide her with travel documents and pay for her travel," said Boulakia. He also filed six signed statements from Mohamud's family members and friends vouching for her identity. One of the key issues has been fingerprints. When Mohamud was detained, she insisted her fingerprints be taken so they could be matched with those taken when she applied for Canadian citizenship. But yesterday, a spokesperson for the Canadian Border Services Agency said they don't even have her earlier fingerprints. The spokesperson, who cited privacy laws in declining to comment on Mohamud's case, said fingerprints are only requested on citizenship applications if there is some question of criminality. "Fingerprints are then destroyed once a citizenship application is closed," Patrizia Giolti said in an email to the Star. "Then why is the high commission (in Nairobi) pretending they are waiting for fingerprints?" said Boulakia last night. "Why are they wasting our time?" Mohamud left Toronto on April 29 to visit her mother. She says she was trying to return here May 17 when a Kenyan officer stopped her at the Nairobi airport and said she didn't look like her four-year-old passport photo. Her other pieces of Canadian photo ID were also rejected. She spent eight days in jail and was released on bail with no travel papers. Kenyan officials sent her passport to Canadian consular officials, who said she was an "imposter," voided the passport and sent it back to the Kenyans for prosecution. The Somali-born Mohamud will be in a Nairobi court on Friday where she could face a jail sentence or even deportation to her lawless native land. "I have only a few days left – they (her family and lawyer) have to come up with something or I'm doomed," the 31-year-old mother said by phone from Nairobi. At that time, she didn't know the Canadian Border Services Agency had revealed that her earlier fingerprints were no longer available. If there were no earlier prints to compare with, then why did authorities bother to take new ones? The Canadian Border Services Agency did not answer that question yesterday. But one possible reason might be to try to match them with another set in the database, as a check for a criminal record. Boulakia is hoping to get some answers in federal court tomorrow. "This can't go forever," said the Toronto lawyer. "Imagine being overseas and having no way to prove your Canadian citizenship. It's a nightmare." He wants to know why government agencies haven't checked Mohamud's identity claims with her 12-year-old son, other family members and friends. Meanwhile, Liberal MP Dan McTeague came down heavily on the Conservative government saying Mohamud's case "devalues" Canadian citizenship. "She's done her due diligence. I'd like to know what the holdup is," said the MP. "I know the machinery of government can move a lot quicker if it has to," said McTeague (Pickering-Scarborou gh East). "It requires intervention at the top end. Where is the foreign minister?" Instead, federal officials are leaving Mohamud in diplomatic limbo, unwilling to get to the bottom of the potential confusion around her identity, he charged yesterday. Yesterday, there was confusion in the government ranks over what department was handling the issue. Staff for Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon referred questions to Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan. A spokeswoman for Cannon said she had "nothing to add" even though the department had said little previously. By the end of the day, Van Loan's staff was referring queries back to Cannon's office. Toronto Star

There are no defenders, nor advocates, either. As a judge, I have to default the case.

Qofkuu daba galo waa u dhameeyaa ninkaan. No wonder yaraantey ayaan wargeysyada daraadiisa u gadan jiray, back in '91-'92 in Xamar. Shabeelle Press lagu soo daabici jiray sawirgacmeedkiisa siyaasadeed. C/raxmaan Jaamac Barre ayuu eber ka dhigay jiray, asagoo ugu yeeraayo "Buluqbuluq."

To watch a whole movie online and on a monitor. That is a bit madax wareer, I think, xataa on a laptop.

I used to watch his extensive documentaries about Afrika and Nubia's history on PBS in late '90s.

Kamoon ninyahoow. You didn't have to be that nuanced and write an essay. Yes, it was a yes-or-no question. You think if Riyaale threatened tomorrow that he wouldn't ask Xabashi help. Don't you think he is in their hands already? Doesn't he perform what they ask of him, without any questions uu weydiiyo. He hands out Reer Soomaali Galbeed; he secretly allows them to use Berbera. He doesn't raise a word when they cross the so-called 'border.' Shariifka is trying to secure and get Koonfurta that elusive 'security' and 'safe' Waqooyiga has and Koonfurta hadn't had for almost 19 years. Godane and his likes are not giving him that opportunity. Again, for Godane, it is not about security or such. To Godane and his likes do not differentiate between Waqooyi or Koonfur. They are in Koonfur now because it offers more fursad, oo meel lagu gambado, meel qaracan, meel ee safe ku yihiin and can operate. So, say, if he and his cohorts 'tamed' Koonfurta, he will have your full support markuu his isqarxis and other imported ideologies he sets forth to Waqooyiga? Your full welcoming of that will be imminent, no?

Magaalada Afgooye laga mamnuucay in lagu qabto ciyaaraha hiddaha iyo dhaqanka ee Istunka iyo Dabshidka ee sanad kasta la qaban jiray Maamulka Degmada Afgooye Gobolka Sh. Hoose ee ururka Xisbul Islaam ayaa soo saaray amar lagu mamnuucayay caado dhaqameed sanad kasta halkaasi lagu qaban jiray kaasoo ahaa ciyaaraha oo yaqaan Istunka iyo Dabshidka waxaana looga digay dhamaan shacabka ku dhaqan degmadaasi iyo meelaha ku xeeran inay falkaasi sameeyaan. Madaxa arrimaha diinta ee ururka Xisbul Islaam Sheekh Cali Cumar Xaaji Cabdi oo saxaafada u akhrinayay dekreetada ka soo baxday maamulkooda ayaa sheegay inay mamnuuc tahay in caado dhaqameedka Istunka iyo Dabshidka degmadaasi lagu qabto madaama ay diinta Islaamku waafaqsaneyn ayna tahay caado jaahili ah. "Waxaan uga digeynaa cid kasta oo lagu arko ama lagu maqlo iyadoo caado dhamameedkaasi wada in laga qaadi doono talaabada ay muteysato hadii Alle idmo" ayuu yiri mas'uukaasi Ciyaarahaani Istunka ama Dabshidka ayaa mudo ka soo jiray degmadaasi waxayna ku soo beegeysaa mamnuucidaani xili sidaan oo kale ururka Xarakatu Shabaabul Mujaahidiin uu isna dhawaan ka mamnuucay gobolka Shabeelaha Dhexe in lagu dhigo isu imaadka Sanaha loo yaqaan ee beelaha gobolkaasi sanad kasta sameystaan kaasoo wax yar ka harsan yihiin islamarkaana dadkii isu diyaarinayay ay ka war heleen waqti dhow inaan Shabaabku ogoleyn sameynta xuskaasi oo xoolo badan ay ku qashaan beelaha kala duwan ee Gobolkaasi kuwaasoo xiliyo isku dhow oo kala duwan ay beel kasta dhigato. Xigasho

Pimp wax la yiraahdo Soomaaliya kama jiri jirinee beenta naga yareeya. Ereygaana Afsoomaali kuma jiro, too. Dhilonimo, yes. Buurkaroole oo Waaberi ku taalay ayee ahayd xaruntooda. Dumar kaskooda iyo maagooda u shaqeysanaayo ahaayeen, pimp iyo waxaas ku dhex jirin.

Baddacas, su'aal ayaan ku weydiinaa, haa ama maya ugu jawaab. Su'aal wax ku qarsana ma'aha, waa su'aal caadi ah. Su'aasha oo ah: Ninkaan Godane la yiraahdo hadduu beri Hargeysa tago, kagana dhawaaqo 'jihaad,' uguna waco kuwa meesha ka taliyo 'murtad' iyo wixii lamid ah, maku raaci lahayd aragtidaas? Haa mise maya ku filan jawaabta.

Xaq buu u leeyahay in uu dalkiisa ku noqdo, Soomaaliya ayuu ku noqday ee Soomaaliya kama imaan.

Originally posted by Indhoos: is it called family motel? .

What a load of crap he is writing, hadduu qoray waxaan. Koley wax la micneeye u egtahay. Suu u twist gareynaayo Eebbe's words igu sii daranba, though, misinterpreting them to suit his sick political views. Yahuud this, Yahuud that. What do Yahuud people have to do waxa ka socdo Soomaaliya maanta? Ma iygaa isku qarxiyo maati, ma iyagaa masaakiin qoorta ka gooyo, ma iyagaa dadka hub soo siiyo isku diro. And does he ever ask meesha uu ka keensado hubka uu ku dagaalamo? Madaxweynaha Eritareeya Muslim wanaagsan waaye miyaa. Then he has the audacity to claim dadka la shaqeynaayo AMISOM waa 'munaafuq.'

Wadkooda, wad Eebba ayaa haayee, ayaa soo galay haddee gacanta kuwaas u galeen. Knowing dowladda Reer Faransiiska, though, balaayo ayee isku tijaabin doonaan inay kusoo dhacsadaan.

Originally posted by rudy-Diiriye: I use to be a big supporter of TFG, but u know how they lost me and many others!! by kissing the Amxaar azz. Now for the shabaab, they are the lesser of 2 evils. For some reason, me wadaads dont get along that said, i amna be the bigger brotha these days and count them as brothers. So far, i see them pple fighting for their country and freedom. I havent seen any clue so far that their are foreign fighters with them! All i hear is cia said this and that! Show me the proof! i mean this pple are fighting every day and u cant show us a proof of what u claim to be foreign fighters among them. Also, mm u been told that this plane was fired on? Can you verify that with pictures?? Plz dont believe everything that tfg propaganda media says. They just cry wolf to much to get lil more dollars. You're at least making sense these days. I can, for once, understand waxaa qortid, albeit and in spite of your support of so-called Dhalinta and their misguided ways. And I guess you didn't read the article, did you? This quote answers your last paragraph's question: "We fired on the airport to target the so-called democratic congressman sent by (U.S. President Barack) Obama," Sheikh Hussein Ali, a spokesman for al Shabaab, told Reuters. They targeted him, regardless whether he was inside the plane or in the airport. The admission was from their own mouth.

Well, it means, in a nutshell, striving purely for worldly gains, in the end, will be for naught -- kabahaaga iyo waxa kale aad ka tagtay ayaa kaa qiimo badnaan doono. One needs aakhiro wax uu kasbado ugu horeeyaan.

Nairobi mystery deepens Aid workers hit wall of silence around woman's baffling detention in Kenya A human-rights organization wishing to help free a Toronto woman in Africa stepped into her Kafkaesque nightmare yesterday. A case worker for German-founded Ecoterra International, in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, spent five hours phoning the Canadian High Commission, and nobody called him back. "We might be able to shed some light and help the lady," a more senior Ecoterra officer, Aina Seering, had written the Star optimistically the day before. "(We have) established links with the Kenyan authorities as well as the Canadian High Commission over many years." But so far the assigned worker has merely glimpsed the surreal world of unstated charges, confiscated passports and faceless bureaucracy that has become all too familiar to the woman insisting she is Suaad Hagi Mohamud of Toronto. "(The worker) was complaining to me, `They don't want to answer,'" the woman said by cellphone from a Nairobi hotel. "Me too – I'm still waiting and nobody calls me." One week has passed since the Canadian High Commission – at the woman's insistence – took fingerprints to settle her identity after her passport was questioned by Kenyan police. Since then, nothing. No results, no explanation of the delay, no returned calls. In Toronto, dozens of people vouch for her. She works the overnight shift as a mid-level supervisor at ATS courier in Etobicoke. Colleagues speak of her affectionately, keep in touch by phone and sometimes send money – $1,100 in the case of one colleague who asked not to be named. Twelve-year-old son Mohamed Asbscir speaks to her every few days, as does neighbour and babysitter Shukri Abdi. There is no mistaking the woman, say her many friends, some who have known her from childhood in Somalia. "We went to the same school," neighbour Fartun Mohamed said this week. "I was friends with her older sisters, Luul and Markaba. I know all the family." Mohamud, 31, left Toronto on April 29 to visit her mother. She was ready to return May 17 when she says a Kenyan officer stopped her for not looking like her four-year-old passport photo. "Kenya's police force is known to be the most corrupt of Kenya's public institutions," a Human Rights Watch report in February. When dealing with Kenyan police, Transparency International reported in 2008, the chance of being asked for a bribe is 93 per cent. Mohamud did not offer a bribe. She spent eight days in jail and was released on bail with no travel papers. Kenyan officials sent her passport to Canadian consular officials, who labelled her an "imposter," voided the passport and sent it back to the Kenyans for prosecution. She faces court next week. Why Canada does not repatriate the woman and charge her with a passport offence remains unknown. "The first order of business is to get verification of those (finger)prints," federal Liberal critic Dan McTeague said yesterday. The process should take "a lot quicker" than a week. In Nairobi, the woman maintains her poise. "I'm lonely," she said yesterday. "I'm scared," she had said the day before. But she answers her phone, keeps appointments and always ends a call with this wish: "Have a great day." A week of phone calls to government offices yielded one enigmatic riddle from Patrizia Giolti of the Canada Border Services Agency. "The information you have received is not consistent with that provided by the person we have interviewed," she wrote by email. Asked over voice mail yesterday if the agency still holds that position, Giolti did not reply. Xigasho ______________ Poor sister, she suffered more than loo dulqaadan karo maskiintaan.

Laakiin the Dhalinta you do support did this to him: Somali rebels fire mortars near U.S. politician MOGADISHU, April 13 (Reuters) - Militant Islamist insurgents fired mortars toward U.S. congressman Donald Payne as he left Somalia on Monday after a rare visit by a U.S. politician to the anarchic Horn of Africa nation. The attack came a day after U.S. forces killed three pirates in an assault off Somalia that freed an American hostage. The al Shabaab insurgents, whom Washington accuses of being al Qaeda's proxy in Somalia, claimed responsibility for the mortar attack, saying it was a message to the United States. "We fired on the airport to target the so-called democratic congressman sent by (U.S. President Barack) Obama," Sheikh Hussein Ali, a spokesman for al Shabaab, told Reuters. "Let him go back with the message of our strength and enmity towards the U.S and its allies. No single group can claim control of Mogadishu, and al Shabaab will continue its attacks." Payne was unharmed. Somalia's capital Mogadishu is one of the world's most dangerous places. U.S. officials and politicians have shunned travel to the battle-scarred city due to constant violence. Somali Internal Security Minister Omar Hashi Aden told Reuters that Payne's plane was just airborne when the mortars fell. A police officer, however, said one mortar struck the airport before Payne left and five others impacted after. Residents said insurgents and African Union (AU) peacekeepers exchanged fire after the attack, killing three civilians and wounding 12 other people near a market. Ahmed, a local mechanic, said mortars came into the area where the insurgents had fired from. "I cannot make out if those injured ones are the civilians or the ones who fired," he said. Payne spoke with the interim government's president and prime minister during the short visit. He brought six bodyguards with him, and AU soldiers provided extra security.

Bacyadaas ma'aha miyaa kuwii xirada qaxootiga Otaanga lagaa soo siiye markaa soo baxeysay, UNHCR ku qorneyd. Haye, haye, haddana anaga maa nagu cabee?

Acuudu iga dheh. Xirtaan Ururka Islaamka kuwa la baxay ka socdaan, Shabaab ma'aha aan filaa. Suu bareelo ciyoow u noqday igu daran. Bahasha kululaa. Minankiisa hadduu iska joogi lahaa waxaan ma dhaceen. Saa horey u iri hadduu noolyahayba by now meel ayaa lagu tuuray, makeshift isbitaal probably, kuna ildaranyahay, alone, kana shaleynooyo.

Buuxooy, I guess I should've written: Inta ayee degantahay. Waa soo gaabiye, 'intee degantahay' u qoray, which loo micneysan karo 'where does she live.' Reer Koronto waaye, saas u lahaa inaa la kulmo fiicnaan lahayd..

I've come across these images years ago on JSTOR website. (You need to have an account to access.) The images waxee la socdeen an article that was published in 1913, dealing about Soomaalis, Oromos and Booni people. "Raw Soomaali," my gadaal. Waxaaba usii daran kii shisheeyaha ahaa dhar wada cad isku taagay, Soomaalidiina u giliye dhar madoow oo qaab lahayn. More interesting is that when he landed on the land, Soomaali go'yaal wada cad oo dhalaalaayo gishnaayeen.

Leg-cutting funeral home to close A judge in the US state of South Carolina has ordered the closure of a funeral home where an employee cut off the legs of a 6ft 7in (2m) body. The worker used an electric saw to sever James Hines's legs at the calf to make his body fit the coffin in 2004. The owner had contested the revocation of his licence, saying he was absent when the incident happened and pointing to an otherwise unblemished record. But after a brief hearing, the judge confirmed the business should close. Earlier this year the owner of the funeral parlour in Allendale admitted that his father, who helped with cleaning and embalming bodies, had sawn off Mr Hines's legs. The admission came after a former employee told police about the incident, four years after it happened. In April South Carolina's funeral board exhumed the body and found the severed legs in the coffin. Mr Hines has since been reburied in another coffin. Beenbeensii

Maxaa la qeylineysaa? Is your keyboard stuck in Caps Lock key?