There is an air pollution, water pollution, light pollution, noise pollution -- and then there is visual pollution. Look at that leaning power line in the second picture, which is a recent post-war picture from Suuqa Bakaaraha. The other one too is from Bakaaraha. It is almost collapsing. Only Eebbe knows goortii la suray, probably 30 years ago, qof dib u fiiriyina maleh ka ahayn inay kor suraan anything. They [waa ganacsatada kuwa ah] put it on anything -- electricity lines, phone lines, internet lines... Those power lines are not only an eyesore to look at how ugly they are, it is also be very dangerous during rainy season, when a heavy downpours occur, some of those fiilooyin maasooyin iyagoo wato dhulka kusoo dhacaan because the power line is not that strong enough to hold. Maasooyinkaas dad badan ayee baabisay. Yea, yea, you are probably wondering this is the current Soomaaliya and its reality, so what do you expect? Those pictures tell us how the afarjeeble fat bellies do not care about their business, only u daran the short term profits. Soon or later, those power lines will give up and completely fall.

Maskiin. Awkuuku was one in a million. No, one in a millions. Eebba ha u naxariistee walaalkeen laga maarmaanka ahaa. Reerkiisa ha u samraan, iimaankana ha badsadaan. Tacsi ayaa u taalo Soomaaliweyn dhan.

Hambalyo iyo boggaadin. Ha noqoto mid teeda iyo dhamaan ummadda Soomaaliyeed wax u tarto, ka sakoow ehelkeeda iyo waalidkeeda. ----------- Kuusha, how is the little princess A. doing? Is she as shabeel as this said new Libaax's baby?

How do you say transgender in Somali? Mushakal? Labeeb? Taas lee amee tahay.

Stuff Soomaali People Dislike # 2: Calling a Soomaali "black" They have their unique, degrading, pejorative words for them, from every region: Adoon, jareer, xabash, boon, sankadhuudhi -- you just name them. [Not to mention the equally belittling phrases of caqli lix saac, waa shuqul afrikaaneed...] Call a Soomaali any of the derogatory words mentioned above. One would think one insulted his faith. That is how far Soomaalis try to disassociate one of their own fellow human beings, whom additionally they also share with the skin colour and some more. Some more? Try telling that to a fellow Soomaali. That itself would be taken as an insult. Even the hint of sharing any of the skin colour is frowned upon. ----------- Next entry: Reasonable, sensible debate

If only kuwa Dhalinyarada la baxayna iyagana saan camal sameyn lahayeen. Af macaan dadka lagu soo jiidanaayo, ka fiirsasho wixii ka dhici doono qaraxa la tuuro ma la rido ma la duugo. Afhayeenkaan Suuleey dhowr jeer aqriye wuxuu yiri, hadaladiisana waa kuwa aad u wanaagsan, soo jiidasho leh. Kuwa Dhalinyarada la baxay haku tusaalo qaataan ninkaan.

Originally posted by Dabshid: JC, u know something we don't knw Yes, he does. Dabshid, waa iloow dhowdahayee.

If a community that wadaago hal af, hal isir, hal dhaqan, hal hiddo, hal diin, hal dhul isku wareegsan -- intaas haddee midnimo, wadajir, iskaashi, isku xirnaan, isbiirsi, isbaheysi keenin, what else gives? All other options, also, macquul ma'aha as well. It just does not make sense, not logical dad intaas wada wadaago in ay kala go'aan, particularly in this new modern era oo adduunweynihii dadkii deganaa isku soo wada dhawaanooyo. Maxaa isku haayo Hindiya oo wada wadaagin waxaa wadaagno? Maxaa isku haayo Shiinaha iyagana? Maxaa ku kalifay Reer Yurub inay iskaashadaan, and their ultimate goal being a complete unity? Maxaa awoodaas Mareykanka gaarsiiye, Eebbaa awood lahee? You'd think Mareykanka would be this powerful had their civil war resulted their country's bitter division? Midnimo waxee kaa celisaa cadowgaaga -- it is a natural law. Hal qof ma sameyn karo ama awoodo in u sameeyo waxee laba qof sameeyaan. Kun quraanjo isku tagtay baranbaro dhimatay inay qaadaan wey awoodaan, and it is a maahmaah shisheeye. Waxaan midnimo lagu keenin, wax kale laguma keenaayo. That is a fact.

Intuu ku dambeeye ninkaan? Ma qaxay taloow, juuqdiisaba wax maqlo maleh lately.

And what, pray tell, do you call kii Xabashi keenay, Xamarna ugu soo horseeday? The standard-bearer of Soomaali nationalism? *Shaking head*

Waa yaab. Gabdho haddee isku afxumaadaan la kala qaban jiray la ogaa, wax rag sheeganaayo u kala hiilinaayo gabdhaha, kuna dhex jiro. Ceebtaas yee nasoo marin. Ceebeey tacaal. The least any real rag can do is kala celiyo gabdhaha, hadduu awoodina banaanka ka joogo. And why Adminka loo heystaa? Muxuu galabsaday? Only because in uu dadkii dhex galo damcay, oo qilaafka joojiyo from behind the scenes? Isku dirka ma dhamaado miyaa, oo ciyaalnimadaan ma laga koro miyaa? It is getting quite ridiculous isku dirkaan ka socoto SOL lately. Qofkii shaley la dirdiraaye, lagu diraaye dad kale ayaa maanta qof kale lagu soo diraa isla qofkaas shaley loo camiraaye. Dad baaba caadi ka dhigtay waxaas. What an infantile behaviour. Heestii Shimaali kusoo xasuustay, ahayd, "Kaa sheegee, kaa sheekeeyee, kuu sii sheekeeyee, kaa sii sheekeeyee..." Sheydaanka iska naara, gabdho. Hana la kala roonaado. Haddii la kala roonaan roob ma da'o.

Xabash baa dalkii wada qabsaday, oo dadkiina dhameeye, asagana Indhamadoowe ayuu la taaganyahay. Do you consider Indhamadoowe, who is not even in the political picture now, your enemy today and Xabashi dadkaaga leynaayo, gumaadaayo your saviours? Acuudi bilaahi.

Why not try the opposite. Let's start caawa. Stuff Soomaali People Dislike # 1: EEY From the strongest reer magaal woman to weakest reer miyi man -- and both physically and mentally -- there is not any Soomaali that breathes who does not dislike, nay abhor, heck loathe a creature by the name of dog. It is almost repugnant to them. If they could afford it, they would have completely eradicated it from the face of earth. Their disliking is mainly said has to do with religious reaosons. However, this point is silenced and moot considering there is a billion and half Muslims around the world, and yet there is not any community among those that abhor fearfully eey than Soomaalis. ---------- Next entry: Calling a Soomaali "black"

Originally posted by AYOUB: ^^ If you say so commandante. Who were you cheering for in January 1991, surely not SNM. MMA does not want to answer that.. Maxaa ka hadloysaa? Is that a serious question asking me what side of Soomaali people fighting in a civil war I was cheering for? Probably you didn't even get why aan u doortay the title 'dhiig sokeeye for you.' Dib u aqri title, micnaha aan ka wadayna ka dhuux. For your information, I was a boy, siyaasad [worse, qabyaalad] iyo waxaasna shuqulkeyga ma ahayn xiligaas. Secondly, qof mise group waligey uma cheer gareynin; it may be new to you, believe or not, however, dad saas jiro haddaadan waligaaga aadan sameyn saas. Worse is cheering one side Soomaali walaalaha ah isla dhashay wada dagaalamaayo because of qabyaalad. Thirdly, I stand for xaq. Not any group, any individual, any clan, any whatnot, but I do stand for xaq, caddaalad, sinnaan iyo midnimo Soomaaliyeed oo Soomaalinimo ku jirto. Any Soomaali that stands for those four criteria isku meel ayaan wadaagnaa.

And if it was called Soomaali Republic, as it was indeed the case in the official papers, would this minor detail satisfy separatists goosasho doonka ah? Ma magaca Soomaaliya ayaa saas u dhibaayo? What will be next? Ereyga "Soomaaliyeed" since the 'y' letter ku jirto this too la dhibsado?

Axdigan waxaa ku cad in dal iyo dawlad la yidhaado Somalia (Soomaaliya) ay ugu danbeysey 30/06/1960, wixii ka danbeeyey waxaa dalka la odhan jirey Jamhuuriyadda Soomaali y eed (Somali Republic) ee ma aha Somalia ama Jamhuuriyadda Soomaaliya. How many times lasoo celcelinaa tan? How many times been aan laga leexan lala soo shirtagaa? Soomaaliya, as a name, as a noun did exist and it predates colonial gumeysidoonka. That author's very paragraph, which I quoted, especially at the bolded letter, proves my point. Soomaalida as a community waa ummadda Soomaaliyeed, not ummadda Soomaali or Soomaaleed. It is against Soomaali language structure and its foundational grammar. If the community -- Soomaalida as a jaaliyad ahaan -- is called Soomaaliyeed, then our country is Soomaaliya. Yes, there were not a formal organized nation-state pre-colonial Soomaaliya, it does not mean inay Soomaaliya as a name jirin. Soomaaliya, as a noun, follows the grammatical structure of Cushitic languages, including afka Oromada, whose people call their occupied land Oromiya [or Oromia]. It was not influenced any foreigner, it was a local name ugu wacaan dhulkooda by Oromada. So is Soomaaliya by Soomaalida.[Taloow amee dhahaan haddana ereyga "Soomaalida's" suffix -- waa "da" ee -- Ingiriis ayaa alifay. ] Some aanan maqli karin magac Soomaaliyeed iyo dalkeena suuban Soomaaliya ayaa rabo inay confusion ka bilaabaan meel aan jirin since aqoonsigee raadinayeen meel walba kasoo xirmatay, now lasoo shirtagaan inayba magaca Soomaaliyeed jiri jirin. They are purporting the very Soomaaliya name did not exist taking advantage of very few history ku saabsan dalkeena qoran, especially in Afsoomaali. Afsoomaali qoritaankiis only a few decades kasoo wareegatay. Naceyb ayaa gaarsiiye heerkaas, inay taariiqda ka been sheegaan, though. Most articles from 19th century, pre-colonial times, one cannot find them online. Only few are scanned into online. Nevertheless, here is a screenshot image of a Scottish paper, dating 1868, long before Talyaaniga soo cag dhigay dalkeena, mentioning the word "Somalia": The newspaper might or might not referring to Soomaaliya, but the word exists, same as Sansibaar it mentions. It seems all this trouble loo maraayo, it seems again is to legitimate magacaas Ingiriiska alifay ee "Soomaalilaan," because si kale uma arko. Waxaa ka dhaadhacsan if the suffix in "Soomaalilaan" Ingiriis alifay, so Soomaaliya's suffix must be mid Talyaani alifay. Unfortunately for separatists, labada magac ma isku eko. Mid waa local, dadkooda aliftay, afkoodana ku jiro. Waa Soomaaliya. Kan kalena micneyn uma baahno, for it is wax aanan qarsaneen, umana baahno xaqiiq iyo dabaraacid. Pure rubbishka naga yareeya, baliis.

Maxaa ku qoslee?

Peace'action, that was selection, saaxiib, not election. The hand-picked gobol xildhibaano might have selected him, laakiin su'aasha waxee tahay who elected them, the xildhibaano that is? The general public? Since jawaabta no tahay, then they themselves were selected, and whoever they pick is selected in a selection progress.

Jimcaale, the corrupted Cadde Muuse was not "foreigner" markuu Ottawa kasoo ordaaye in early years of this decade. Dadka kale ayaa "foreigner" loogu wacooyaa maanta, maka yaabtay? And election -- iskaba dhaaf re-election -- see ah? Soomaalida election iyo selection iskaga dhuntay. Yaa doortay awal ninkaas to begin with? A few, possibly bribed, selected men or the general public of Reer Bari?

In Somali Capital, Shrapnel Reigns; Civilians Pay Heavy Price In Artillery Duel for Power Aideed : We are seeking to arrest Ali Mahdi Ali Mahdi : Aideed is no different from Siad Barre ------------- Measured against the daily violence in this battle-scarred capital, Wednesday was a quiet day at Benadir hospital. One child arrived with his fingers blown off by a stray grenade. Two small children were burned over most of their bodies in an explosion. There was the usual assortment of torn abdomens from shrapnel. The shelling was light that day, with only a few rounds of artillery exchanged around noon. Hospitals on both sides of the divided city reported fewer than the average number of wounded. In many ways, there was an eerie air of normality, with a few street vendors selling cigarettes, mangoes, bananas, even some meat. The calm, however, was only a momentary respite from the orgy of brutality that has turned this once-quaint seaside capital of white villas into an urban nightmare of war, lawlessness and impending famine. People here talk of the shelling - now in its eighth week - like people elsewhere might discuss the rain: not too heavy today, but likely to pick up again tomorrow. No one thinks it will end anytime soon. Two men are largely responsible for the death and destruction being rained on this city. One claims to be president, but he has no real power, he is confined to a few blocks of the city, and the country he supposedly rules, Somalia, has in many ways ceased to exist; the other is an army general seeking to oust him. They are similar in many ways. Both claim to represent democracy and say they are trying to prevent Somalia from returning to the dark days of dictatorship. Both are stubborn and uncompromising. And since Nov. 17, when their war of words erupted into a war of artillery, the entire city has been caught in the middle. On one side is Ali Mahdi Mohamed, the nominal president. In a small room laid out with a red Persian carpet, he described in an interview Wednesday the current state of chaos in the capital. His voice was being drowned out by the heavy thud of artillery shells outside, first in the distance, then growing closer. "There is no economic entity prevailing in this country," he said over the explosions. "Everything has collapsed. . . . Anarchy is prevailing also. With no police or military, it is very difficult to run the country." His last sentence was punctuated by a burst of automatic weapons fire from just outside the window. An aide told the president's visitors to relax. The villa was safe, he said, for the time being. Besides, at least some of the explosions were caused by outgoing artillery shells, headed across town. The president himself said he was not afraid. "As a Muslim," he said, "I know my fate is predestined." On the other side of the city, across barricades of old tires and twisted metal - and a barren stretch of highway known locally as No Man's Land - the president's antagonist also entertained visitors, in a more spacious and heavily fortified villa that had the official air of a military command center. In a relaxed, soft-spoken voice, Gen. Mohamed Farah Aideed offered his explanation for the high level of violence in a city where it seems every male adult and child is armed. "Traditionally, Somali people love three things," he said. "One is keeping small arms with them. Another is their camel. And finally their horse. Somalis love horses." He laughed at his own humor, and continued. Somalia, he said, did not need outside intervention to solve this ongoing conflict because he, the general, was "already taking action to solve our problem." "We prefer to solve our own problems," he said. Aideed sees Ali Mahdi as the "problem," and his solution has been a relentless artillery barrage on the northern section of the city called Karaan, where the president is clinging precariously to his position. And Ali Mahdi has responded in turn, shelling the areas controlled by the general - and hitting anything in the vicinity of the general's headquarters. This week, the crowded Benadir hospital was hit, for which Ali Mahdi offered an apology. "Maybe we missed and killed some civilians," he said in the interview. "I'm very sorry about that." Their personal duel has been brutally played out in the streets of the capital. They have carved up the city into warring camps. Artillery shells have wrecked streets and buildings. Burned-out and mangled cars litter largely empty highways. In the absence of any kind of authority, armed militias have taken to roaming the streets in jeeps outfitted with rockets, mortars and antiaircraft guns. There has been no electricity in the city since anyone can remember, and the highway is marked by holes from which scavengers have removed underground cables. Water and fuel are scarce. An estimated 300,000 people have fled the capital to outlying areas to escape the carnage. The city is also on the edge of famine, according to the few relief workers still here. Although some food was being sold by street vendors Wednesday, the aid workers said most people have no means to buy the few goods still being brought in. The last major relief agency foodstocks to arrive were reportedly looted from the warehouse before they could be distributed, and aid workers said bringing in food now without some kind of organized system to distribute it would lead to riots. A relief worker for the international aid agency SOS-Kinderdorf said he was afraid he might lose his entire project in Mogadishu - a maternity care clinic and adjacent pediatrics clinic - because people were getting so desperate for food in the capital that he could not guarantee the safety of his facility from looters for much longer. In one incident already, a hungry woman with a gun came to the clinic gates demanding food. Workers at the pediatrics clinic, in the area controlled by Aideed, said they can gauge the extent of the day's artillery barrages by the number of malnourished children who show up at the gates. When the shelling is light, the clinic receives about 450 new children every day, they said. During the heaviest shelling, in the week before Christmas, the figure dropped to about 60 a day. The number is back up to about 200 a day, workers said, reflecting a slight lull in the shelling. The human toll of the continuing violence can be seen at the city's hospitals and makeshift clinics, on both sides of the capital. So far, the war has left an estimated 5,000 people dead and twice as many wounded. Hundreds of victims, mostly women and children hit by shrapnel, take up most available bed and floor space each day. The city is suffering from an acute shortage of even the most basic medical supplies. At Benadir hospital on the side of the city controlled by Aideed, about 50 people each day are treated for gunshot and shrapnel wounds, some of which were caused by bombs and grenades that litter the streets, said Omar Bile, a doctor. On Wednesday afternoon, two small boys were being treated for burns over their entire bodies after some kind of incendiary device they were playing near exploded. As they were being treated, two young girls, both with amputated arms, looked on curiously. A makeshift hospital set up in a villa on the Ali Mahdi side has treated about 3,575 people since Nov. 17. Prof. Abdullahi Sheik Hussein, dean of medicine of the Somali National University, said the hospital receives about 40 victims on a day of light shelling, and about 100-a-day when the fighting is most intense. "War should be between militaries," he said. "Shelling only hurts civilians. That's not war." Like virtually all Somalis, the doctor has chosen sides in this conflict. He called Aideed "a psychopath" who would establish another military dictatorship like that of former U.S.-backed ruler Mohamed Siad Barre, who was ousted a year ago. "We have kicked out one general," Hussein said, referring to Siad Barre. "We don't want to put another dictator in. . . . This is a battle between dictatorship and democracy." In the current tragedy of Mogadishu, it is difficult to tell between the president and the general who is the democrat and who the would-be dictator. Ali Mahdi is 52, and Aideed 56. Both come from the same ****** clan, and claim the same political grouping, the United Somali Congress. Ali Mahdi is a businessman by profession, who ran a hotel (now destroyed) in the capital during the Siad Barre regime. Aideed is an Italian-trained officer who once served as ambassador to India. Ali Mahdi claims he is the rightful ruler, since a group of clans meeting in Djibouti selected him interim president after Siad Barre fled the capital. Aideed, he said, "is no different from Siad Barre." "There are two forces," Ali Mahdi said, "forces that want democracy and peace and free elections, and forces that want a return to military dictatorship." He called himself a reluctant ruler, a businessman who would just as soon step aside because "I don't like to be president." Aideed called Ali Mahdi a "criminal" and said he is corrupt. He said he launched his campaign to oust Ali Mahdi because he considers him an illegitimate ruler who was enriching himself and his cronies. "They have committed a lot of crimes," Aideed said of Ali Mahdi and his administration. "We are seeking to arrest him." Both men say they are ready to accept a cease-fire, and each accuses the other of rejecting the terms. Ali Mahdi said he will accept a United Nations peace-keeping force, since, in his view, such a force would help prop up his own, legally installed administration. Aideed rejects foreign intervention, saying he has the "problem" well in hand. It is difficult to determine which side is winning, since they both claim to control the major portion of the city. From a one-day visit, however, it appeared that Aideed's forces controlled most of the capital, including the site of the now destroyed American Embassy compound, most hospitals and the international airport. Ali Mahdi appears confined to the Karaan section of the northeast. Most of the few flights into and out of Mogadishu land on the Aideed side under his protection. As Nairobi-based journalists were leaving the city at dusk after their day-long visit, their van was met at the airport gate by a sentry with an automatic rifle strapped around his shoulder. The sentry was a boy of no more than 10. Washington Post [ Janaayo 11, 1992 ]

Originally posted by Che -Guevara: ^Actually USC in-fighting before 94, I was still in Mogadisho it started. Of course, it was less intense then. Che, ma yaabantahay yourself as well how history is sliced, distorted, rewritten and fabricated history is now? Revisionism wey dhaaftay now, heerkaas ayee dhigtaa qabyaalad qurunkeeda. Dadkii Xamar ku sugnaa ayaa la leeyahay dagaalkii Caydiid iyo Cali Mahdi '94 ayuu bilowday. Been intaas la eg. Dagaalkaas afarta bilood socday, hence loogu magacdaray since then "Dagaalkii Afarta Bilood" started Nofeembar of 1991 and sii xoogeystay early Janaayo, 1992. Kuwa badan skirmishes ka horeeye kaas, oo a few days socday. But that Afarta Bilood war was a complete non-stop battle of Xamar. It eventually cooled down in Abriil of 1992. Anagaa xaadir ka ahayn meesha, oo u qaxnay first to Dayniile, then to Afgooye. We were at Afgooye until Maajo [May] of '92, markee Xamar safe enough noqotay lagu noqon karayna. Dad badan ku noqonaaye markaas. The inter-clan war wali ma istaagin, it only cooled off and it was unofficial ceasefire itself ku timid. Until then ayuu Caydiid fursad moooryaantiisa ku habeeye bilaabay, oo intee isku mashquulsanayeen asaga iyo Cali Mahdi ka war helay haraagii Kacaanka oo kusoo dhawaaday Afgooye, whose forces were not fought really with until ay Afgooye usoo dhawaadeen. Labadaas dhinac dhiiga maatida Soomaaliyeed daadinaaye waxba ma iga galin, wax ee kusoo faa'ideyeena ma jirin dalkeena iyo dadkeena. Laakiinse waxaa igu daran the sheer audacity of lying. A complete rewriting of factual history, a pure fabrication, a sheer distortion, falsification of facts ayaa igu daran. Anagee sheekadii kutiri kuteenta ee tolkaville again meesha noo keenayaan. Again, a dhibic of xishood kuma jirto miyaa, beenta maalin cad la wado. Eebboow heybada ha naga qaadin, oo beena hana barin. But then akhlaaq waa lagu dhashaa, not wax la iska dhigo.

Mr Qariiridle wuu ka daray. I don't know wuxuu ugu dan leeyahay posting this. And he claims to be a "non-Soomaali," yet quite so interested, so devoted creating artificial maps of where Soomaali clans live[d] of each era. Dan buu leeyahay ee maxee tahay dantiisa taloow. PS - Link your maps where clans are imposed on, instead of posting them on here. It is against SOL's rules to post clan names.

Khaalidoow, see ii tahay igaarka? Laakiin what 'standards' is he setting? Maba fahmin anigee. Standing on a jaraanjar and doing sacbis iyo faro isku dhufasho is a new standard miyaa? LoL. That dance wey ii dhimaneyd.

Educated Black people like CNN. With the state of the affairs these days, educated Black people love to stay abreast of current events by watching CNN. Of course, educated Blacks have to stay on top of their current events. They never know when they will have to school someone on the state of the union. Above all, they tire of watching the local news because they are sick of hearing repeated stories about all the uneducated Black people that murder, rape, and rob members of the community. Educated Black people can always count on CNN to put world issues into perspective. CNN features stories, shows, and commentary that quenches their thirst for knowledge. Educated Black people have the opportunity to catch breaking news and other stories all day, every day. That’s a plus because, at the top of each hour, they can always learn something new. That sure beats watching rebroadcasts of the local news from 5 a.m. Another plus for educated Black people is CNN.com. They can get live news updates and breaking news even when they are away from the television. In fact, they probably get news feeds sent directly to their phones. Being able to quote news at the same time that it’s happening will make them look especially smart and the envy of their friends and co-workers! That always makes an educated Black person happy!