^^^^ Cool it Nephthys. Xiin is somewhat right. This discussion is getting out of hand. This is entirely counterproductive. Deep breath everyone.

One million Somalis have now fled their homes - UN Tue 20 Nov 2007, 15:21 GMT MOGADISHU (Reuters) - The number of Somalis uprooted by fighting in their own country has hit a "staggering" one million, the United Nations' refugee agency said on Tuesday. UNHCR said 600,000 people were believed to have fled Somalia's lawless capital Mogadishu since February, when clashes pitting allied Somali-Ethiopian troops against suspected Islamist insurgents started to escalate. Nearly 200,000 people have streamed out of Mogadishu in the past two weeks alone, emptying entire neighbourhoods, UNHCR said in a statement. The numbers of displaced persons this year are in addition to 400,000 forced to flee their homes because of previous fighting. The Horn of Africa country has been in a state of anarchy since warlords toppled military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. The latest conflict flared when Islamist leaders took control of various towns in southern Somalia last year before being ousted in January by government soldiers and their Ethiopian allies. The interim government has since faced an Islamist insurgency, featuring roadside bombings and political killings, that has all but thwarted its attempts to restore central rule. Civilians typically bear the brunt of the violence. UNHCR said the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in more than 60 makeshift settlements along the 30 km (20 miles) stretch of road linking Mogadishu to Afgoye had soared to nearly 200,000 -- a 50 percent increase in the past two weeks. "Families continue to lack proper shelter and consistently resort to using any material -- mostly plastic bags and rags -- to patch up their 'tukuls' -- flimsy dome-shaped shelters," UNHCR said. "Although IDPs express confidence in security in the Afgoye area, we are increasingly worried about security incidents there in the last several days," it said. UNHCR said an aid worker was killed on Friday after she was hit by a stray bullet while distributing supplies. On Sunday, an explosion in Afgoye town killed six people, it added. CNN

^^^^ Brace yourself.

^^^^ That video brings you much nostalgia, eh? It was the closest your uncle came to ruling the "mooryan". Alas, it must really pain you to read how atheero and his devout followers sold their souls and still couldn't "rule" Somalia. Not even the devil kept his end of the bargain. All they managed to do was kill, maim, and displace women and children. I pity you walaahi.

^^^^^ It's not the drop of a pen but the drop of the pants, he speaks. He just forgot the step that comes after that: the bending over. Let the old man be. He's overdue for a vacation.

^^^^ Keep squirming old man. I have genuine advice for you: "af daboolani waa dahab". Silence is golden, awoowe.

^^^^^ Stop blowing things out of proportion. Ethiopia is our friend. It is here by the invitation of our legitimate and duly elected government. They are here to bring us the peace we obviously couldn't find on our own. How is Ethiopia doing this, you may ask? Well, for one, they're clearing Muqdisho of any terrorists. Using heavy artillery, half the population of Muqdisho, mostly women and children, the most vicious kind of terrorists, has been cleared of the city . Their terrorist counterparts in Somali Galbeed are also being cleared of their villages using war planes followed up by rapes and hangings. How will this bring us peace, you wonder? It will do so because when Ethiopia is done with us no one will be left and Somalis will all be resting in peace. Get it.

Somalia Worst Humanitarian Crisis in Africa, U.N. Says November 20, 2007 By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN AFGOOYE, Somalia, Nov. 19 — The worst humanitarian crisis in Africa, several United Nations officials said, may not be unfolding in Darfur, but here, along a 20-mile strip of busted-up asphalt. A year ago, the road between the market town of Afgooye and the capital of Mogadishu was just another typical Somali byway, lined with overgrown cactuses and the occasional bullet-riddled building. Now it is a corridor teeming with misery, with 200,000 recently displaced people crammed into swelling camps that are rapidly running out of food. Natheefa Ali, who trudged up this road a week ago to escape the blood bath that Mogadishu has turned into, said Monday that her 10-month-old baby was so malnourished she can’t swallow. “Look,” Ms. Natheefa said, pointing to her daughter’s splotchy legs, “her skin is falling off, too.” United Nations officials said that Somalia has higher malnutrition rates, more current bloodshed and many fewer aid workers than Darfur, which is often publicized as the world’s most pressing humanitarian crisis and has taken clear priority in terms of getting United Nations-backed peacekeepers. The relentless urban combat in Mogadishu, between an unpopular transitional government — installed partially with American help — and a determined Islamist insurgency, has driven waves of desperate people up the Afgooye road, where more than 70 camps of twigs and plastic have popped up seemingly overnight. The people here are hungry, exposed, sick and dying. And the few aid organizations willing to brave a lawless, notoriously dangerous environment cannot keep up with their needs, like providing milk to the thousands of babies with fading heartbeats and bulging eyes. United Nations officials working on Somalia are trying to draw more attention to the country’s plight, which they feel has fallen into Darfur’s shadow. They have recently organized several trips, including one on Monday, for journalists to see for themselves. “The situation in Somalia is the worst on the continent,” said Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the top United Nations official for Somalia. “Many of these kids are going to die,” said Eric Laroche, the head of United Nations humanitarian operations in Somalia. “We don’t have the capacity to reach them.” He added: “If this were happening in Darfur, there would be a big fuss. But Somalia has been a forgotten emergency for years.” That emergency has included floods, droughts and locusts, as well as suicide and roadside bombs, and near-daily assassinations. United Nations officials say the recent round of plagues, natural and man-made, coupled with the residual chaos that has consumed Somalia for more than a decade, have put the country on the brink of a famine. In the worst hit areas, like Afgooye, recent surveys indicate the malnutrition rate is 19 percent, compared with about 13 percent in Darfur, with 15 percent being the emergency threshold. But unlike Darfur, where the suffering is eased by a billion-dollar aid operation and more than 10,000 aid workers, Somalia is still considered mostly a no-go zone. Just last week, two people were shot to death at an aid distribution center in Afgooye. United Nations officials estimate that total emergency aid is less than $200 million, partly because it is so difficult just getting food into the country. Pirates lurking off the coast of Somalia have attacked more than 20 ships this year, including two carrying United Nations food. The militias that rule the streets — typically teenage gunmen in wraparound shades and flip-flops — have jacked up roadblock taxes to $400 per truck. To make matters worse, the transitional government last month jailed a senior official of the United Nations food program in Somalia, accusing him of being a terrorist, though he was eventually released. United Nations officials now concede that the country was in better shape during the brief reign of Somalia’s Islamist movement last year. “It was more peaceful,” Mr. Laroche said. “And much easier for us to work. The Islamists didn’t cause us any problems.” Mr. Ould-Abdallah called those six months, which were essentially the only epoch of peace most Somalis have tasted for years, Somalia’s “golden era.” Somalia’s ills have always come in waves, starting in 1991 when clan-based militias overthrew the central government and the country plunged into anarchy. That fighting, like the fighting today, disrupted markets, kept out aid shipments and led to rapid inflation of food prices. As a result, hundreds of thousands of people starved. The United States tried to come to the rescue in 1992 and sent thousands of soldiers to Somalia to assist with humanitarian operations. NY Times

Originally posted by Baashi: What is happening in Benadir today is no different from what happened to some segment of Benadir residents in early ninties. In some way that was worse for the tribal expulsion as some called had been carried out by neighbors of the victims. Duke and folks who share his view have not forgotten that event and their lack of sympathy is understandable. Understandable? Forgive me awoowe for I understand not. Even if some have been directly affected by the abominable atrocities of the nineties, condoning, nay cheering for, what happens today is neither excusable nor understandable. Even worse, some of the animals who engineered the tribal expulsions are today being hailed as statesmen and part of the "government". Exactly against whom is this revenge being exacted? Hypocrisy may not know any bounds but whatever happened to your calling a spade what it is? :confused:

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- The mayor of Somalia's capital has ordered the country's oldest human rights group to shut down, the group's chairman said Monday. Sudan Ali Ahmed said his group was accused of spreading "exaggerated and false information" about the country's fragile government. Mogadishu Mayor Mohamed Dheere ordered Elman Human Rights, an independent Somali group, to close its offices on October 8, Ahmed said, adding he had waited more than a month to go public as he tried and failed to reach senior government officials. Dheere's cell phone went unanswered and he could not immediately be reached for comment. Others government officials were also not immediately available for comment. Don't Miss * Somalia's children of war live in fear * Children among Somalia violence's victims "I'm a wanted person," Ahmed said by phone from an undisclosed location in Mogadishu. "Government soldiers are searching for me everywhere. I stay in different places in the capital. The world should stand up and intervene to save Somali people from their own government that abuses the basic rights of its citizens." Elman Human Rights has 116 staffers who work across the country. The group has tracked the killings of civilians during Mogadishu's near-daily violence this year and has also reported on violations in recent years. Several human rights groups have accused the government, insurgents and Ethiopian troops of committing abuses. Ethiopia came to the aid of Somalia's fragile government in December to rout an Islamic group called the Council of Islamic Courts. The Islamic group's fighters then threatened an Iraq-style insurgency, and thousands of Mogadishu residents have been killed this year in the capital's near-daily round of gunbattles and grenade and mortar attacks. In a separate development, the two local radio stations left broadcasting in Mogadishu said on Monday that they would go off the air for 24 hours in solidarity with other radio stations closed by the government, HornAfrik Radio's acting director, Said Tahlil, told The Associated Press. Last week, the government shut three private radio stations for allegedly airing inflammatory broadcasts and ordered all media companies in the country to seek registration or face closure. Somalia has not had a functioning government since a group of warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, then turned their heavily armed supporters on each other. CNN

Anyone who can't see this as part and parcel of what's happening in Muqdisho and the rest of Somalia is a bona fide simpleton. Ethiopia 'bombs' O-gaden villages Separatist rebels in Ethiopia's O-gaden region say days of air attacks on civilians have caused many casualties. Helicopter gunships have been used to attack villages in the remote area, says the O-gaden National Liberation Front (ONLF). Aid workers say an estimated 1,500 O-gaden refugees crossed into Kenya to escape renewed fighting last month. Ethiopia has not commented but last week, the army said it had killed some 100 rebels in the past month. Since April, when rebels attacked a Chinese oil exploration unit killing 74 people, the O-gaden has been the scene of continuous clashes. International agencies, including the Red Cross, have been expelled from the O-gaden and there is little chance of independently verifying the conflicting claims from the government and rebels. O-gadenis fleeing into northern Kenya have given harrowing description of government assaults on their villages. More than 500 families reached different parts of Kenya's massive Dadaab camps in October - many gave similar accounts of a sustained campaign of rape and brutality, with men hanged from trees. In separate interviews reported by the Reuters news agency, the O-gadenis claimed Ethiopian soldiers had been entering villages over and over again to kill, rape and burn in a campaign to flush out ONLF rebels. Ethiopia has dismissed similar accounts as "rebel propaganda". The ONLF, founded in 1984, says it is fighting for the rights of the local Somali-speaking population. BBC

Iran leader dismisses US currency Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has suggested an end to the trading of oil in US dollars, calling the currency "a worthless piece of paper". The call came at the end of a rare Opec summit, and was opposed by US ally Saudi Arabia. The Iranian president had wanted to include the attack on the dollar in the summit's closing statement. The communique made little mention of the dollar, however, focusing instead on energy security and the environment. The summit in Saudi Arabia was only Opec's third in 47 years. During the talks, Opec members revealed differences about the future direction of the exporters' group. But Opec leaders ended with a pledge to provide the world with reliable supplies of oil. Unfair trade? Speaking after the end of the summit, Mr Ahmadinejad said all leaders at the meeting were unhappy with recent falls in the value of the dollar. The dollar has weakened considerably against the euro and other currencies in the past 12 months. Its decline has affected the revenues of Opec members because most of them price and sell their oil exports in the US currency. Mr Ahmadinejad said that all Opec countries had showed interest in converting their cash reserves into other currencies. "They [the US] get our oil and give us a worthless piece of paper," he told reporters. But Saudi officials were against including any such language in the declaration. One is reported to have warned that it could add to the pressure on the dollar. However, in the communique Opec did make a reference to the debate, by committing itself to studying "ways and means of enhancing financial co-operation". Iran's oil minister said that this would allow the formation of a committee to study the dollar's affect on oil prices and investigate the possibility of alternative trading currencies. Political agenda The summit was also marked by divisions over the role of Opec in the world oil market. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his Ecuadorean counterpart, Rafael Correa, whose country rejoined Opec at the summit, both argued for a more political agenda for the group, but ran into opposition from US ally Saudi Arabia. King Abdullah, the head of state of the host nation, Saudi Arabia said: "Those who want Opec to take advantage of its position are forgetting that Opec has always acted moderately and wisely. "Oil shouldn't be a tool for conflict, it should be a tool for development." President Chavez had opened the meeting with a warning that oil prices could double if the US attacked Iran. Oil has been hitting record peaks of well over $90 a barrel as markets believe the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries will not boost production, despite calls from oil-consuming countries such as the US to do so. Venezuela's president said the price of crude could reach $150 or even $200 a barrel. BBC

NAIROBI (AFP) — Ethiopia's air force has been "carpet-bombing" villages and nomadic settlements in its oil- and gas-rich O-gaden region, leaving a trail of casualties, separatist rebels in the restive eastern area said Sunday. "Since Friday the Ethiopian air force has carried out continuous air sorties on the area of the lakes called in Somali Haro Digeed," O-gaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) spokesman Abdirahman Mahdi said. The air force "has been carpet-bombing the villages and nomadic settlements," an ONLF statement said. "Many people are hurt or dead and lots of animals have been killed," he said, but did not say whether the fatalities were rebel fighters or civilians. "The army decided to change tactics and use air assault because they realised their ground forces could not make it," he said, adding the air force was still pounding the region late Sunday. "Some ONLF fighters were hurt in the air bombardments, but the air force targeted civilian settlements and livestock," the spokesman said, adding that locals were fleeing the region amid bad weather. On Friday, the Ethiopian army said it had killed some 100 rebels and captured hundreds others in O-gaden, near the frontier with lawless Somalia, over the past month. But Mahdi said army has an "habit of summarily executing civilians and then counting them as ONLF dead." "The Ethiopian Army had killed hundreds of civilians are imprisoned thousands and we believe that this is a ruse to fool the UN mission who are starting to investigate the situation in the O-gaden." The rebels say they have made military gains in the recent months. In October, the UN announced that it had been allowed to collaborate with regional authorities to supply relief food, medicine, and veterinary services as well as setting up offices in a key town there. Addis Ababa has expelled Doctors Without Borders and the International Committee for the Red Cross from O-gaden for allegedly meddling in politics, a charge both deny. The rebel and army reports could not be independently verified as journalists and aid workers have repeatedly been blocked from accessing vast swathes of the volatile region in recent months. The Ethiopian army launched a crackdown in the region after ONLF rebels attacked a Chinese oil venture in April that left 77 people dead. Many refugees have since fled to Somalia, saying authorities have imposed a trade blockade, with few goods -- including food -- permitted into the area. Human rights groups said the crackdown resulted in numerous human rights violations in the region and subsequent UN fact-finding mission called for an independent investigation. Addis Ababa routinely rejects rights violation claims, saying its troops are pursuing "terrorists." The barren O-gaden region has long been extremely poor, but the discovery of gas and oil has brought new hopes of wealth as well as new causes of conflict. It is about the same size as Britain with a population of about four million. Ethiopia accuses arch-foe Eritrea of supporting O-gaden separatists, which the authorities in Asmara have denied. Formed in 1984, the ONLF is fighting for the independence of ethnic Somalis in O-gaden, whom they say have been marginalised by Addis Ababa. AFP

Xan Rice, East Africa correspondent Monday November 19, 2007 The Guardian The Islamist-led resistance in Somalia is growing in scale and aggression, with insurgents openly taking on Ethiopian troops and African Union peacekeepers in the capital Mogadishu, in fighting that has killed dozens, possibly hundreds, in the past three weeks. Early on Saturday two groups of rebels fired grenades at Ugandan peacekeepers and briefly entered their post before being repelled. The attack, which coincided with an internet call by a Somali Islamist extremist, Adan Hashi Ayro, for peacekeepers to be targeted, came after two weeks of fighting and reprisals between insurgents and the allied Ethiopian and government troops that caused a massive exodus from Mogadishu. Article continues The UN estimates that 173,000 people have fled the city since October 27, adding to the 330,000 already displaced from the capital this year. Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of civilians were killed, as both sides fired shells indiscriminately into residential neighbourhoods. Ahmedou Ould-Abdullah, the UN secretary general's special representative for Somalia, said last week that the huge displacement, coupled with high child malnutrition rates and extreme difficulty in delivering aid, had made this Africa's worst humanitarian crisis. Few people believe that the situation is about to get better. Several experts interviewed by the Guardian say that the insurgents are becoming more powerful. A military analyst and a western diplomat to Somalia, neither of whom wished to be named, warned that the angry mood and conditions that allowed an Islamist movement to defeat a gang of warlords and take power in Mogadishu last year were returning. "We are on a merry-go-round and it's back to 2006," said the analyst. "The insurgents are gaining not only in physical strength, but in moral strength too." African Union commanders told diplomats last week that the insurgents were actively fighting in 70% of Mogadishu's neighbourhoods. There are also signs that the resistance has spread beyond the capital. Islamic courts are reported to have taken control of two towns in the far south, while Hassan Al-Turki, a radical Islamist on the US terror list, is understood to be expanding his influence up the coast from his base near the Kenyan border. Analysts say that the situation reflects a chronic miscalculation by the Ethiopian prime minister, Meles Zenawi, who sent his troops into Somalia late last year, and by the US, which backed that decision. The goal was to rout the Somali Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC), which had brought a measure of calm to Mogadishu for the first time in more than a decade, but which was accused by Washington and Addis Ababa of close links to al-Qaida. Ethiopian troops easily swept through the Islamist fighters and installed the weak and unpopular Somali government in Mogadishu. The calm did not last long. Remnants of the SCIC's military wing, the Shabaab, launched a low-scale insurgency, using hit-and-run tactics and remote-controlled bombs to target Ethiopian and government troops. Many ordinary Somalis also resented the presence of tens of thousands of troops from Ethiopia. Soon warlords, clan leaders and businessmen were aiding the resistance with money, arms and their own militias.

This Gorilla is fond of bosoms. Most Gorilla's are, and rightly so. He does put a little theater on it and that is a bit of fresh air, if I may say. As you were.

Originally posted by peacenow: What is the cause of this astounding failure and shame? Peacenow, history is much longer than the past 30 years. To answer your question, most of our current ills can be traced to one or more (or combinations) of the following: Qaad, Qabiil and Abyssinia.

^^^^ Aamiin indeed.