Every week, we publish selected postings to the New Vision website’s Discussion Board where online readers debate topical issues. Uganda should steer clear of Somalia politics. Politics in Somalia has always been a dirty game played by a very dirty people. Believe me, Uganda politics is far better than that of Somalia. This is because unlike Somalia, Uganda politics is not based on tribal lines. Please don’t send our sons and daughters in harm’s way. Thanks. - Holo (Concerned Somali) srt90@yahoo.com What is going on is Somalia is not a game. It is a dirty war where the enemy is killed. The warlords do not care about human life. Uganda knows how hard political warfare of that magnitude can be. The USA is having a hard time in Iraq. They went to Somalia during President Bill Clinton’s term and it was a disaster. It is good to help, but Somalia is more than anyone can handle. Please do not risk lives of innocent soldiers. - Laura Singletary morotogirl22@yahoo.com The Bible notes that you should not think of removing a speck in your brother’s eye before removing the log in your own eye. No to Somalia. Instead, let us first deal with our own bandits such as Kony’s LRA before deploying outside. - David Okiring davidmoking@yahoo.co.uk To all those not aware of what is going on, the West cannot be seen interfering especially after Iraq. So why not pay countries like Uganda to do the dirty job for you? The last time America went in Somalia they were humiliated beyond belief. Let the Somalis sort themselves out and if they have to fight to extinction then let them do it. We are not at peace with ourselves so let’s not get involved with someone’s dirty war. - Godfrey Iga godfreygiga@aol.com For a long time Uganda has been sending troops in places where there is absolutely no national security interest. In Somalia, the situation is becoming very complicated; there is a wider issue than just stabilising the country. The Western governments are deeply involved in Somalia. While Uganda wants to position itself in the wider global diplomatic circles, we must first put our house in order. We should not ignore the problem in northern Uganda problems which has cause death and pain to many, especially in Acholi. President Museveni must forget the kind of his macho attitude. Our problem is just like the Somalis’; we also need peacekeepers. If Uganda does not have enough troops to wipe out the rag-tag LRA, where are the extra troops to be sent to the Horn of Africa? - Mike Aziz mikeaziaz@yahoo.com l would urge the leadership in Uganda to help in ending the civil war in Somalia. Any failure to stop the mayhem may lead to massive destruction of lives, property and economic structures. Leaders of the Great Lakes countries should come up with a solution immediately. My concern is to prevent a genocide which is imminent. - Semal mcs2bb@yahoo.ca Hi Ugandans! Is 20 years of war in Uganda not enough to let us build and consolidate peace in Uganda? Where do we get the resources for sending and sustaining UPDF in Somalia if we cannot pay our own lecturers the little they are requesting, buy cars for our honourable MPs, resettle IDPs in their ancestral homes, disarm the Karimojong warriors, repair the pathetic roads or provide wealth for all Ugandans. Do we have excess resources as after funding our requirements? The Somalia war is not a simple issue. It has global and regional perspectives. It is linked to the infamous war on terrorism, which America and the Arab countries are very sensitive to. The war is between Eritrea and Ethiopia. There is also an element of Christianity versus Islam. Why can’t Uganda first re-organise its own house before pretending to settle the mess in another’s house? Is the North as peaceful as other parts of Uganda? Are the wounds from DRC being forgotten very fast? Our brothers and sisters should not be sent into a death trap. - Abura Vincent va.uganda@dca.dk New Vision

LePoint, you do see the irony in all of this, don't you? Sooner, rather than later, it will all come crashing down. Will it make me happy? No. Can I prevent it? No. Will I say I told you so then? No.

Originally posted by Jimcaale: Who would've thought Khalaf would cheer for ex-warlord. Khalaf has no conflict of interest here. Leave him alone.

^ How can a stinking veterinarian (and a Banadiri at that) tell the blue-blooded Buntlanders what to do? What is this world coming to?

He's not all that important. When his senior citizen @ss dies soon, another will be propped up by the puppeteers. And so it will go on.

^ A/Y is the head. If it was Caydiid, I'd be accused of hating that blood, Geedi, same thing, Hiraale, same thing. Can't you see all of them are a pig and his hooves to me?

Originally posted by General Duke: ^^^CC, you do protest too much, just admit it and then we can take your hard work of late seriously. Admit what? That I'm clannist? But aren't you already sure of it? Why do want me to admit it. LOL. I don't ask you to admit anything. I know what you're made of.

^ lol. I dunno if I could be bribed by Yeey. If I get anywhere near him I might go crazy and choke the bast*rd.

He's asking you if you're looking for an ambassador's residence in Ottawa. Kinda rude of Che if you ask me.

^ I could reject A/Y based on his actions or on his lineage. I'm clearly justified in the former, not so the latter. Pray tell, LePoint, on what basis do the worshipers of Yeey do so if it's not based on lineage? And in direct rejection of his actions. So, even if I reject him for his lineage, I'm just another clannist Somali who has every right to do so. But there's enough reasonable doubt in my case (based on Yeey's record) to swing a jury the other way. In the case of GD (and his day care), I'm not sure you even need a jury. Either way, accuse me all you want. Yeey is a criminal warlord and the head of a puppet government installed by the west. "Put that in your pipe and smoke it."

By Salim Lone, TomPaine.com. Posted January 8, 2007. The Bush administration, undeterred by the horrors and setbacks in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon, has opened another battlefront in this oil-rich quarter of the Muslim world. The stability that emerged in southern Somalia after 16 years of utter lawlessness is gone, the defeat of the ruling Islamic Courts Union now ushering in looting, martial law and the prospect of another major anti-Western insurgency. Clan warlords, who terrorized Somalia until they were driven out by the Islamists, and who were put back in power by the U.S.-backed and -trained Ethiopian army, have begun carving up the country once again. With these developments, the Bush administration, undeterred by the horrors and setbacks in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon, has opened another battlefront in this volatile quarter of the Muslim world. As with Iraq, it casts this illegal war as a way to curtail terrorism, but its real goal appears to be to obtain a direct foothold in a highly strategic area of the world through a client regime. The results could destabilize the whole region. The Horn of Africa, at whose core Somalia lies, is newly oil-rich. It is also just miles across the Red Sea from Saudi Arabia and Yemen, overlooking the daily passage of large numbers of oil tankers and warships through that waterway. The United States has a huge military base in neighboring Djibouti that is being enlarged substantially and will become the headquarters of a new U.S. military command being created specifically for Africa. As evidence of the area's importance, Gen. John Abizaid, the military commander of the region, visited Ethiopia recently to discuss Somalia, while Chinese President Hu Jintao visited Horn countries a few months ago in search of oil and trade agreements. The current series of events began with the rise of the Islamic Courts more than a year ago. The Islamists avoided large-scale violence in defeating the warlords, who had held sway in Somalia ever since they drove out U.N. peacekeepers by killing eighteen American soldiers in 1993, by rallying people to their side through establishing law and order. Washington was wary, fearing their possible support for terrorists. While they have denied any such intentions, some Islamists do have terrorist ties, but these have been vastly overstated in the West. Washington, however, chose to view the situation only through the prism of its "war on terror." The Bush administration supported the warlords -- in violation of a U.N. arms embargo it helped impose on Somalia many years ago -- indirectly funneling them arms and suitcases filled with dollars. Many of these warlords were part of the Western-supported transitional "government" that had been organized in Kenya in 2004. But the "government" was so devoid of internal support that even after two years it was unable to move beyond the small western town of Baidoa, where it had settled. In the end, it was forced to turn to Somalia's archenemy Ethiopia for assistance in holding on even to Baidoa. Again in violation of the U.N. arms embargo, Ethiopia sent 15,000 troops to Somalia. Their arrival eroded whatever domestic credibility the government might have had. The United States, whose troops have been sighted by Kenyan journalists in the region bordering Somalia, next turned to the U.N. Security Council. In another craven act resembling its post-facto legalization of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, the Council bowed to U.S. pressure and authorized a regional peacekeeping force to enter Somalia to protect the government and "restore peace and stability." This despite the fact that the U.N. has no right under its charter to intervene on behalf of one of the parties struggling for political supremacy, and that peace and stability had already been restored by the Islamists. The war came soon after the U.N. resolution, its outcome a foregone conclusion thanks to the highly trained and war-seasoned Ethiopian army. The African Union called for the Ethiopians to end the invasion, but the U.N. Security Council made no such call. Ban Ki-moon, the incoming secretary-general, is being urged to treat the enormously complex situation in Darfur as his political challenge, but Somalia, while less complex, is more immediate. He has an opportunity to establish his credentials as an unbiased upholder of the U.N. Charter by seeking Ethiopia's withdrawal. The Ethiopian military presence in Somalia is inflammatory and will destabilize this region and threaten Kenya, a U.S. ally and the only island of stability in this corner of Africa. Ethiopia is at even greater risk, as a dictatorship with little popular support and beset by two large internal revolts by ******is and Oromos. It is also mired in a military stalemate with Eritrea, which has denied it secure access to seaports. It now seeks such access in Somalia. The best antidote to terrorism in Somalia is stability. Instead of engaging with the Islamists to secure peace, the United States has plunged a poor country into greater misery in its misguided determination to dominate the world. AlterNet

Analysis: Somalia May Fall Back to Chaos By CHRIS TOMLINSON Associated Press Writer January 8, 2007, 2:07 PM EST NAIROBI, Kenya -- Militiamen haunt Somalia's streets again, warlords have moved back into their mansions and the internationally backed government doesn't have the police or troops to maintain the peace. The call has gone out for an African cavalry to ride into town and save the day. But will it arrive in time? Diplomats from around the world are scrambling. After Somali government forces backed by Ethiopian troops drove a rival Islamic movement out of the Somali capital and most of its other strongholds in the south, Jendayi Frazer, America's top diplomat for Africa, set out for the region to see what could be done to shore up the government. When she boarded a U.S. Air Force plane that would take her to four countries in three days, she knew two simple truths about Somalia. First, the people badly need help. Almost one in four Somalis require outside assistance to survive and the Islamic militants who imposed security, while demanding piety, are gone. The warlords are ascendant and aid workers are afraid to go back in. Second, the United States can do little by itself. A botched intervention in the early 1990s left 18 U.S. servicemen dead and the legacy of the "Black Hawk Down" battle still weighs heavily on both countries. American boots on the ground is not an option. "An African peacekeeping force is a good start to bring about stability," said Frazer, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Africa. She took that message to the presidents of Somalia, Uganda, Djibouti and Yemen, as well as Ethiopia's prime minister and the African Union's deputy chairman. A meeting of U.S., European Union, African and Arab diplomats ended in Kenya on Friday with a call for a peacekeeping force envisioned at 8,000 soldiers. Uganda has promised about 1,500, but only time will tell if they meet Frazer's request to deploy before the end of January. Kenya's foreign minister, Raphael Tuju, set off Monday to visit five Africa countries to see who else might be willing to contribute troops. He declined to name them, but the only nations possibly willing and able are South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Benin and perhaps Senegal. "It won't be easy," Tuju said. "But I am optimistic that there is enough willpower among African heads of state that want to solve this problem after so many years." Willpower, though, may not be enough. All of those countries already provide peacekeepers to operations around the world, and South Africa and Nigeria are especially spread thin at the moment. And no country will send peacekeepers into Somalia if there is fighting. "If there is no improvement in security, it will make it difficult," said Francois Lonseny Fall, the top U.N. envoy to Somalia. The key to improving security, Frazer said, is to hold political talks that bring together all segments of Somali society, including moderate religious leaders who backed the militant Council of Islamic Courts. "I think it's important to talk to the Islamic courts, or whoever are the moderates within the group," Frazer said. "They did bring a certain degree of order to Mogadishu. They have experience." On Sunday, Frazer met with the speaker of Somalia's parliament, Sheik Sharif Hassan Aden, who has close ties to the Islamic leadership in Somalia. He urged Somalis not to attack the Ethiopian troops and to welcome peacekeepers. He also called on Islamic leaders to come to the negotiating table. "It has to be the Somali people themselves who are running this and we as the international community need to support that process by getting a stabilization force in that can give them the space to have the dialogue," Frazer said. Frazer has put $40 million on the table for Somalia, including $14 million for the peacekeepers. The U.S. Navy has a task force patrolling the Somali coast to intercept terrorists. The U.S. is also using its diplomatic power to build support for the Somali government and the peacekeeping mission. Yemen has tried to broker numerous peace deals between dozens of factions in Somalia over the years. Over a seafood feast for Frazer on Saturday, Yemeni Foreign Minister Abubakr Al-Qirbi offered some advice. "We have many Somalis in Yemen and a long experience with them and there is one thing we have learned," he said. "If they have a fight, you don't get between them." AP

You know something is wrong when Boston is warmer than south Texas in January.

Ubah sings country music? The whole business of show is tough. The things you have to do just to succeed may not be worth it. Good luck to her whatever she does.

Originally posted by Socod_badne: The only problem with that is this government and the leaders comprising it are the epitome of incompetence, corruption, warlordism, clanism, nepotism and all the other isms you detest. Few personafy it more than Warlord/clanist extraordinaire C/Yuusuf. And how is it you and others accuse TFG detractors of being motivated by clanism? The TFG is clanist government, divvying up power and parlimentary seats along clan size. How odd and bizzare that those who oppose the TFG outright or some of it's leaders are accused of clanism when the entire government, it's leaders are there for no reason other than to represent a particular clan. Strange indeed. What's even more strange is that many of these so-called clan representatives can't even show their faces to their clans. These men simply arrived at the Nairobi hotels where the conference was being held and claimed to represent their clans. Clans didn't send delegations to these conferences. It's the people who were career politicians or those who just happened to be in the neighborhood at the time that showed up.

^ I like the name too.

Originally posted by Sophist: Castro, my suspicious mind leads me to believe that your painful loathing isn’t directed primarily towards Ethiopians or Abdulahi Yusuf!! It is the blood running through the veins of AY that you wholly dislike or dare I say hate? This my dear boy is what a lot of us are suspicious about. If by blood you mean the treacherous blood he shares with Geedi, Caydiid Jr. and many others, then it's a no brainer, yes. Yeey went even further then the veterinary and others in his regime by "fighting" the Ethiopians twice only to fight for them now. So he holds a special position among the traitors. I have a feeling, however, you have another type of blood in mind. Suppose I loathe A/Y for that. Yes, suppose someone hates A/Y simply for his DNA make up. Would they then not hate the genes themselves no matter who carried them? Think about the implications of your "suspicion" here. But even if they did hate every person that carried those genes, that's neither here nor there. Neither General Duke's adulation of A/Y nor my "loathing" of him make any difference. What our brethrens in Mogadishu and rest of Somalia need is peace; without it we shall all suffer. I would rather have unjust occupation than the demise of thousands of Somali muslims . Perhaps the peace brought about by the ICU wasn't enough of a peace? Did it have the wrong DNA? And you accuse others of loathing? Did I miss reading what you wrote in the fall of 2006 about how important peace is no matter who brings it? Now you'd "rather have an unjust occupation" to save "the demise of thousands of Somali Muslims"? Well these thousands of Somali Muslims had their peace and those whom you're supporting now took it away from them. So forgive me if I take your crocodile tears for what they are. Somalia Ha noolato soon after the occupiers and their puppet regime is ousted.

^ Perhaps Duke himself (a self-proclaimed history buff) could learn a thing or two. Cheering for the occupation, as he has been doing, shows that although he's a history buff, he many not understand the significance of events in the past and how they relate to and influence current events. But you go right ahead and get your popcorn. Protected by his own soldiers and Ethiopian troops who helped the government drive out the Islamists, the 72-year-old veteran soldier made his first visit to Mogadishu since taking office in 2004 and ruled out talks with his foes. "The President has arrived. He is now in Villa Somalia," government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said. "He urged all Somalis to forget the past and prepare to build their country and support the interim government." Reuters He made it after 40 years. Tears of joy, duke? LOL.

^ Keep writing my name while you blend in with the background. Ngonge, really? I've been doing a lot of (passionate) cutting and pasting lately. How you could mistake that for anger is beyond me . Nevertheless, my short term mission on these boards is to expose this puppet regime and the occupation forces that brought it for what they really are: pawns in a larger scheme of domination.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf said on Monday there would be no negotiations with Islamists who ruled the capital Mogadishu and large parts of southern Somalia before they were ousted late last month. "With regard to holding talks with the courts (Islamists), this will not happen," he told Al Jazeera television in an interview before he flew to the Somali capital for the first time since he became president in 2004. Yusuf's entry into Mogadishu on Monday capped a remarkable turn-around in the capital after Islamists were routed by advancing Ethiopian and government troops on December 28. Some Islamists have vowed to fight on. But others meeting in Yemen have offered the prospect of talks to ease the country's latest crisis and Washington's top envoy to Africa has promoted dialogue as a way to secure a lasting peace. But Yusuf seemed to rule out this possibility. "We will crack down on the terrorists in any place around the nation," he added in remarks dubbed into Arabic. African and Western diplomats are working on a plan to send African peacekeepers into Somalia to fill a security vacuum when Ethiopian forces who helped drive out the Islamists leave. "We are waiting now to replace the Ethiopian troops with international forces," he said, adding he had no objections for both Arab and African troops to join. Reuters

I'm sure he dreamed of a more ceremonious and climactic return to Muqdisho. You reap what you sow.

7 Jan 7, 2007, 19:23 MOGADISHU, Somalia Jan 7 (Garowe Online) - A religious Somali man was forcibly taken out of his Mogadishu home Sunday by masked gunmen, according to his wife. The incident happened in Ifka Halane area of Mogadishu, which was a former stronghold of the defeated Islamist movement. The man was later found dead with gunshot wounds. His wife said he was not killed for clan reasons, but that he was "targeted" for his religious beliefs and his support for then-ruling Islamist forces. Its the first time such a murder happened in Mogadishu since allied Somali and Ethiopian troops took over the capital. Residents worry the murder could begin a series of revenge killings aimed at supporters of the Islamists. With their takeover of Mogadishu, Somali and Ethiopian forces have returned the Islamists' arch-enemies, Mogadishu's ex-warlords who are said to be rearming their militias in different parts of town. Garowe Online News

^ Don't worry. Every few years, the shoe is on the other foot. Here's an article from Nov 19, 1981 whose headline reads: Ethiopia Says U.S. Maneuvers Encourage Aggression by Somalis An excerpt of that article in the Washington Post reads: ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, Nov. 18 -- Ethiopia today denounced American military maneuvers in the region as encouraging "aggression" by neighboring Somalia and hinted that relations with Washington, already at an all-time low, might be broken. I bet you Zenawi (and of course dinosaur Yeey) are old enough to remember this. Of course, neither of them has the capacity to see the irony in what they're doing now. History repeats itself. Sometimes, even, with the same fools doing the same mistakes. LOL.

"The interim Government in Somali was born on Kenyan soil and the MPs elected and sworn in here...how could they have been terrorists overnight?" Nyong'o posed. Kajwang' said: "We are shocked that Foreign Affairs minister Raphael Tuju said last week that the lives of more than 400 refugees sent back last week were not in danger." Since the orders come down to Tuju as they do to Zenawi or Geedi, one can't really be shocked at what they utter. It's getting harder and harder not to notice the puppet strings attached to these men.

A good article that sheds tremendous light on the current Ethiopian occupation and how it fits into the ongoing (decades old) efforts by the United States to ensure client-statehood for Somalia.