Originally posted by ThePoint: [QB] ^Hmmm - I would put the odds at better than that. Mainly because Somalia is starting off at such a low base - any incremental comprehensive improvement would be more than people have seen for a very long time. Man - if they could ensure that the Somali passport can become functioning again - many would be grateful. They're not starting at a low base. Muqdisho was in relatively good shape when these goons arrived. So I disagree. And a passport is only as good as the countries that recognize it. Printing rainbow colored passports does not a government make.

Islamists vow to continue fight in Somalia slamist leaders in Somalia vowed to continue fighting against pro-government forces today even as Ethiopian fighter jets buzzed over Kismayo, their last stronghold. The Islamists fled from the Somali capital, Mogadishu, 260 miles north, yesterday, after being surrounded by Ethiopian troops and fighters loyal to the Somali government. Hassan Dahir Aweys and Sheik Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the top two Islamist leaders, were joined in the southern port city by several thousand militiamen and scores of "technicals" - pick-up trucks with mounted machine guns on the back. “We will not run away from our enemies,” Mr Ahmed, head of the executive committee of the Somali Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC), told the Associated Press. “We will stay in Somalia.” Both Ethiopia and the Somali government have pledged to rout the Islamists, who had brought order to most of southern Somalia since they rose to power in June. Speaking from the government base of Baidoa today, President Abdullahi Yusuf said that the allied forces would “go there [Kismayo] and confront them”. At the same time, the government was pondering how to effectively take control of Mogadishu. After discussion with local clan elders, the Somali prime minister, Ali Mohamed Gedi, entered the capital in a 22-vehicle convoy this afternoon, visiting the main port and airport. But though thousands of people turned out on the streets, now patrolled by government troops, Ethiopian soldiers and clan-based militias, his arrival was scarcely one of a “liberator”. For while the Islamists enjoyed significant goodwill in the capital, the weak government is unpopular among the local population, who are mainly from the ****** clan. Mr Yusuf, a *****, is believed to have last visited the city in 1977, and even Mr Gedi, a ****** native of Mogadishu, narrowly survived an assassination attempt there last year. Ethiopia, which fought two wars against Somalia in the 60s and 70s and which accuses the Islamists of being terrorists, is even more widely reviled. In what may be an early sign of trouble to come, several thousand people staged angry demonstrations against Ethiopia’s role, burning tyres and throwing stones in at least two neighbourhoods, according to agency reports. “We do not need and clearly we do not welcome Ethiopian forces here or anywhere in Somalia,” Muhamoud Abdi, a local resident, told Agence France Presse. Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia’s prime minister, who has already broken his pledge that his troops would not enter Mogadishu, has repeatedly stated that his forces will withdraw swiftly from Somalia - within “weeks”, he said last night. But this is unlikely to happen. Without Ethiopia’s firepower the Somali government may not be able to keep control of the territory it has captured in the past week of fighting. Furthermore, Mr Yusuf’s fractured administration has no money - ministers’ salaries and transport costs are paid by the UN - and no capacity to administer a city like Mogadishu, let alone an entire country. Its strategy of using “friendly” warlords, many of whom were kicked out by the Islamists, to help in the short term is unlikely to increase its support among the population. Even if the Islamists are routed in Kismayo, analysts say that the potential for a long-running guerrilla-style conflict remains. Many of the SCIC fighters did not flee south from the capital, but simply melted back into the population, discarding their uniforms but not their guns. The hardline fighters, particularly the Shabaab youth wing, who are well-trained and highly committed, may see an insurgency as the ideal outlet for their ambitions. And countries like Eritrea, which backed the Islamists as a way of agitating its arch-foe Ethiopia, are unlikely to stop their meddling, analysts say. The Guardian

Originally posted by ThePoint: ^Is there any point to this baseless rumour mongering? :confused: It's therapeutic. How could "ThePoint" be asking what's the point? :rolleyes:

He's mad at the "victor's justice" atheer, not the person of Saddam. With over half a million Iraqis killed in just three years, those victors have no moral, legal or any other grounds for hanging anyone.

There's a slim chance the TFG can pull off the biggest upset of all and bring the country back on its feet. But seeing how they got to where they are now, that chance is so slim it's practically nil.

Didn't he just give an interview on the BBC? Or was that General Duke?

Martin Fletcher December 30, 2006 ETHIOPIAN troops, with Washington's tacit approval, have routed the Islamists who seized power in Somalia last June. The official Government forged by the international community in 2004 can take power. Good news, surely? As one of the few journalists to have visited Mogadishu recently, I fear it is not. Far from restoring stability to Somalia, this week's developments could plunge the country back into the protracted anarchy from which it only recently emerged. What struck me most forcefully during a week in Mogadishu this month was the gulf between the White House's view of the Council of Islamic Courts and that of the Somali people. To Washington, the council is - or was - a new Taliban: al-Qa'ida sympathisers who were turning Somalia into a haven for terrorists including those responsible for the US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. That may or may not be true, but most Somalis welcomed the rise of the council because it banished the warlords who had reduced their country to chaos during 15 years of civil war. For the first time in a generation, people could walk the streets in safety. Gone were the ubiquitous checkpoints where the warlords' militias extorted and killed. Guns were banned. The Somalis who had fled the violence were returning from abroad. The council did reintroduce public executions, ban the narcotic qat, and discourage Western music, films and dancing, but that seemed a small price to pay. Most Somalis detested the official Government, which was created after two years of tortuous negotiations in Kenya between rival Somali factions, but was stranded in the town of Baidoa until this week because it dared not return to Mogadishu. The so-called Transitional Federal Government contains some of the warlords the Islamists drove out in June. It has relied for its survival on thousands of troops from US-backed Ethiopia, Somalia's most bitter enemy, whose Christian Government feared the Islamists would foment trouble among its own sizeable Muslim minority. Washington backed the warlords in their losing battle against the Islamists. And it tacitly approved Ethiopia's military intervention to support the TFG. It has even been passing aerial surveillance reports to Addis Ababa, according to US news reports. Preoccupied with the spectre of Islamic terrorism, the White House is thus party to an attempt by a repressive regime in Ethiopia to replace a popular de facto government in Somalia with a widely reviled official one. It is a dangerous gamble. The best - but least likely - outcome is that the TFG offers some sort of power-sharing deal to the leaders of Somalia's powerful Abgal and Habar Gidir clans. A more likely scenario is that the TFG fails to impose its authority, and Somalia returns to the clan warfare that has plagued it since 1991. Equally possibly, the Islamists may have made a tactical retreat before launching a long and bloody guerilla war against the TFG and the Ethiopian troops that back it. There are plenty of jihadists from Iraq, Afghanistan and the rest of the Islamic world eager to open another front in their holy war. Some regional experts believe Washington should have encouraged any regime that brought stability to Somalia, even an Islamic one. Their fear now is that if Somalia is not already the terrorist breeding ground Washington claims it is, it will quickly become one if reduced once more to lawlessness. The Australian

The impact of conflict on UK Somalis By Jacqueline Head BBC News website The conflict in Somalia is having a heavy impact on the thousands of Somalis living in Britain. Many are watching on anxiously as the situation develops. There are approximately 43,000 Somalis in the UK, according to the 2001 census, but some experts put the figure higher, at up to 250,000. The majority of these immigrants are from the breakaway territory of Somaliland in the north of Somalia, whose independence has not been internationally recognised. Many came to Britain as asylum seekers, escaping after conflict broke out after the collapse of military government in 1991, but keep close ties to their homeland. 'Worried' Khadar Ahmed, a 35-year-old Somali living in north London, came to Britain in 1990, seeking political asylum after fleeing the civil war. "After I saw the pictures of what is going on in my country for the last few days - all the nightmares, killings, suffering - I honestly feel devastated," he said. "My community is very concerned about what is going on in Somalia right now. "I have contacts with my family and there is little I can do to stop their suffering." Ethiopia recently admitted its troops were in Somalia, fighting alongside government forces. In July, the Islamic court leadership in Somalia ordered a "holy war" against Ethiopians in the country. Asked whether many Somalis in Britain would respond to calls to join an Islamic holy war, Mr Ahmed replied it would be "tempting" for some people "to return home to stop Ethiopian troops coming to Somalia". "I don't want the Ethiopian troops coming to my country because this is illegal." Hussein Yusuf, a 37-year-old business manager at the Croydon Somali Community Association, also came to the UK as an asylum seeker, 14 years ago. He says the current situation is "terrible". "It's absolutely disturbing. I don't like to see people killing and dying," he said. "People here are worried about the war and about their families. There was peace and now it's chaos again and nobody knows who is in control. It's back to square one." But he says the conflict has not triggered tension between Somali groups in Britain. "There is no tension between groups here. Maybe they exchange ideas but there is no violence". Psychological impact Shamis Hussein, an international consultant on development, who lives in London, came to the UK from northern Somalia 19 years ago with her father, as a student. I don't think there is any friction between Somalis and Ethiopians in this country because they are away from their own country and their own people Allin Dirir She agrees that the problems in Somalia are not working to divide the community here. "It is nothing to do with the clan issues, it's not a problem. We all relate to one another regardless of clan. The issue is the Ethiopians fighting." But she says the war is having a strong impact on Somalis in the UK. "It will make a mark on the Somalis. It will have a big psychological impact." Allin Dirir, 66, a retired parish councillor in Warrington, came to Britain as a student 44 years ago. He believes Somalis are unified on their views over what is happening in the Horn of Africa. Community relations "Somali people on the whole feel that Ethiopia has occupied their land. "They are not happy to see Ethiopia bombarding Somali cities. Nobody is happy about it at all." But he says this is not being reflected in relations between the Somali and Ethiopian communities in Britain. "I don't think there is any friction between Somalis and Ethiopians in this country because they are away from their own country and their own people. "Because of the government at the time - they didn't feel their lives were safe. So we are in the same boat." But despite being against Ethiopia's actions, Mr Dirir believes Somalis in the UK will not join in the fighting. "I never found any person who says they are going to Somalia to go fighting," he said. "I don't think that will happen at all. This (UK) is their own country. I feel this is my country, my children were born here, my wife was born here. This is what I feel in my heart, I'm British." Story from BBC NEWS: BBC

The most positive news I've heard in weeks. Here's my favorite part: The state is asking counties to figure out why Somalis and other recent African immigrants are moving off welfare rolls faster -- which might lend clues to why other groups aren't. LOL.

Originally posted by mystic: The man is dead it has being comfirmed. Source, please?

This is the first time I read Mr. Gaildon, and like Horn, he put all of my sentiments in words. I think these mixed feelings (and those of helplessness) are normal in these times. And we still don't have to suffer any hardship like our brethren who have to dance to a new pack of wolves every few years.

The headline in an Ethiopian newspaper drew familiar, if unflattering, comparisons to another nation's faster-than-expected victory in a war abroad. "Mission Accomplished," blared Addis Ababa's Daily Monitor in a story about Ethiopian forces' triumph over Somalian Islamists this week. In 2003, the same phrase adorned a banner behind President Bush as he declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq, though the battles and bloodshed proved far from over. Just as the Iraq invasion has divided Americans, Ethiopians are split over their government's decision to get involved in Somalia's brewing civil war by sending troops across the border. After just a week of fighting, Ethiopian troops have enabled Somalia's transitional government to gain control of a vast swath of southern Somalia that had been seized by the fundamentalist Islamic Courts Union over the last six months. By Thursday morning, Ethiopian and Somalian government troops had reached the outskirts of the capital city, Mogadishu, with Islamic forces there apparently having disappeared into the populace. Ethiopian leaders are calling the military intervention a smart preemptive strike against the spread of religious extremism in the Horn of Africa. They say the world should thank Ethiopia for defeating a coalition of militant Islamists that U.S. officials have accused of having links to terrorists, including Al Qaeda. Others here worry that the incursion could backfire over time by stirring political instability at home or driving Islamic militants to set their sights on this nation. Ethiopia has no opinion polling to measure public attitudes, and recent government crackdowns against opposition leaders and journalists have made some citizens afraid to express their views. But nearly everyone, including Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, agrees that the issue has sparked debate. "It's natural to have disagreements on fundamental issues," Meles said Thursday in a televised news briefing. Yet he stressed that the Ethiopian people "overwhelming" support the action in Somalia. About three-quarters of Ethiopia's parliament voted this month in favor of military involvement in Somalia. Though the vote suggested a resounding endorsement, opposition leaders said it was the closest tally they've had in a legislative body heavily dominated by Meles' party. One parliament member who is part of Meles' political coalition abstained, a rare act of defiance. Noting that Islamists have threatened to resort to guerrilla tactics against Ethiopians, opposition leader Beyene Petros said he was not convinced that the threat posed by the Islamic courts merited Ethiopia's declaration of war. "Ethiopia should not be bogged down in a problem that is not ours," he said. "This is not Ethiopia's problem. It's all of Africa's." He also expressed concern that the government might use the perceived threat of terrorism to crack down against political enemies. After last year's disputed election, Meles was criticized for his response to large student demonstrations. Nearly 200 people were killed, mostly civilians, and many elected opposition leaders remain in prison awaiting trial for treason. Supporters of the intervention in Somalia point to the Islamists' declaration of a "holy war" against Ethiopia. "It's self-defense," said Amare Aregawi, editor of the Reporter newspaper and a former rebel fighter. "People always say, 'Don't touch the terrorists. You'll aggravate them.' What are we supposed to do? Flatter them?" Others said the Islamists in Somalia were merely a front for international militants or other enemies of Ethiopia. "I believe this whole thing came from Eritrea," said Michael G. Kirstus, 29, a customs house worker. International experts have said that Eritrea, Ethiopia's chief rival, has dispatched 2,000 troops to aid the Islamists, though the government in Asmara has denied it. Allegations of U.S. involvement have been another hot-button issue in Ethiopia. Many believe the United States used Ethiopia to launch a proxy war against the Islamists. "This was an American-made war," said Akmel Negash, 22, a student. Meles on Thursday denied that U.S. soldiers or weapons were being used in any battles, though he noted that Washington and Addis Ababa have a long-standing agreement to share intelligence. "We are not fighting anybody's war," Meles said. "We are fighting to defend ourselves." Meles said that during a visit this month by U.S. Gen. John P. Abizaid, the top American commander in the Middle East had advised against a Somalia invasion. "He shared his experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan with us, and he indicated that we have, to the maximum extent possible, to avoid direct military intervention in Somalia," Meles said. The war against Somalia's Islamists has been a touchy topic in Ethiopia's Muslim community. The country is about evenly split between Christians and Muslims, though Christians have dominated the government and Muslims were often oppressed. Though the communities have largely coexisted in peace, Muslim and Christian villagers clashed this year in southwestern Ethiopia in a conflict over religious holidays. More than a dozen people were killed and churches were burned. "Muslims in Ethiopia are angry," said Isaac Eshetu, 25, a student. "For 2,000 years they've been living as strangers in their own motherland." He said he opposed violence or imposing his religion on others, but "as a Muslim, I would like to live under an Islamic government." Some Muslims questioned whether Ethiopia's Christian leaders launched the attack because they feared an Islamic government in Somalia might encourage Ethiopia's Muslims to seek the same. Other Ethiopian Muslims said they supported the war. "I'm Muslim, but I don't identify with them," said Mohammed Arab, 33, a waiter in Addis Ababa, the capital, referring to Somalia's Islamic courts militants. "They believe in holy war. I don't." LA Times

Indeed, Xoogsadow. Xiin is rare among all Somalis let alone any one clan. If there were more of him, we wouldn't be nose deep in this shit.

Today, many Somalis are celebrating. After sixteen long years, they are celebrating. Mogadishu is about to be pacified, the Somali state restored, the country unified. I wish I could share in the euphoria. I wish I could visit Atlanta’s Somali teashops and laugh and joke and poke fun at others, as many of my country folk are doing. But I cannot. And it is not from lack of trying that I cannot. No matter how hard I rack my brain; no matter how many times I toss and turn in bed; no matter how far I part my lips and show my teeth to affect a smile; no matter how well I try to blend and please the crowd, I fail to rejoice and dance. It feels miserable to be alone. It makes me feel queer, out of place, alone and lonely, an outcast. I can only say to the spirit that has suddenly taken hold of my people: Why have thou passed me? Fellow Somalis, if our history of celebrations is an indication, we are in for a sharp letdown. In October of 1969, we celebrated the end of a Democracy. In January of 1991, we celebrated the destruction of the Somali State. And now we celebrate Ethiopia’s occupation of our country. Let’s see what comes next. Do not fool yourselves; there is no way to make this what it is not. You cannot sugarcoat it; you cannot put a positive spin on it; you cannot sweet talk your way out of it. It is occupation, and an Ethiopian one at that. Put it in your pipe and smoke it. A few years after our independence, Emperor Heile Selase of Ethiopia visited the [Oggaden] and claimed that Somalia could not survive without Ethiopia. At the time, Somalis scoffed at the tyrant as they should have. We scoffed at him because we had a strong national will and a just cause. Can anyone now imagine that in 1964 our very small army stood up to the bully that Heile Selase was and fought valiantly to defend our infant nation? And now, more than four decades later, we fall without even a whimper! We Somalis are a strange lot: We have a way of making prophets out of our tormentors, the way we are turning our conqueror Meles into a Savior. I am not a fan of the UIC. I think, as many of you do, they provided Meles with a pretext to invade Somalia (not a legitimate pretext, but a pretext nevertheless). I also acknowledge our utter failure to take matters into our own hands and put our house in order. After all, we had sixteen years to do it. This realization, however, falls far short of soothing my pain. Today, I hurt deeply for the lives of so many of our young who came from all corners and all clans of Somalia, and I feel humiliated, subjugated, violated. I suffer a nagging sense of dread that I cannot shake off, and I see the beginnings of a long and dark night. Mohamoud A Gaildon magildon@aol.com

^ While you look for the source, here's another rumor ( ), the old man developed a conscience, anonymous sources said, when he heard of the Ethiopian jets bombing Somali cities. He then had a change of heart and phoned Zenawi to call the whole thing off. Zenawi, of course, told him to STFU and that his new b!tch Geedi was running the show. He also told him, the anonymous source tells us, that they had no more use for him. Soon after that phone call, the source tells us, the personal butler assigned to him by Zenawi fed the old man a bowl of soup laced with a large dose of Polonium-210. Other witnesses later confirmed the old man was glowing neon green and hovering full 5 inches above his bed when they last saw him.

^ Are you people serious? There's not an iota of news on this anywhere. I hate rumors. But if this is true ( ), it would actually be very sad in one aspect. To have died when he was all set to spend his first night in Villa Somalia after trying for forty years is the ultimate irony of all. If he's dead, good riddance.

^^^

Originally posted by Che-Guevara: The arrival of the Ethiopians are merely symptom of disease that's virulently passed down to every Somali generation. Fix the diseased people and the syptoms should disappear. Are you saying the Ethiopians are bringing Herpes? Why that has no cure, good Che.

^ You'd look smashing in them.

You all, the Ethiopians are here to stay. They'll be riding us, thanks to our brethren, for a while so get used to it. Wear something nice. Put on some perfume. Look good for the visitors.

What is Martial Law? Martial law is the system of rules that takes effect when the military takes control of the normal administration of justice. Usually martial law reduces some of the personal rights ordinarily granted to the citizen, limits the length of the trial processes, and prescribes more severe penalties than ordinary law. In many countries martial law prescribes the death penalty for certain crimes, even if ordinary law does not contain that crime or punishment in its system. Wiki

Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamad Gedi says the country's parliament will declare martial law on Saturday for a period of three months. "This country has experienced anarchy and in order to restore security we need a strong hand, especially with freelance militias," he told reporters in Mundul Sharey, his home village, some 40km southwest of Mogadishu. It was Gedi's first visit to his village since 2002 and came hours after Ethiopian troops and Somali government forces pushed Islamist fighters out of the capital they had controlled for six months. Earlier, Somali government forces and their Ethiopian allies marched into Mogadishu after Islamist rivals abandoned the war-scarred city they had held for six months. The flight of the Islamists was a dramatic turn-around in the volatile Horn of Africa nation after they took Mogadishu in June and spread across the south imposing sharia rule. Terrified of yet more violence in a city that has become a byword for chaos, some Mogadishu residents greeted the arriving government troops, while others hid. "People are cheering as they wave flowers to the troops," said resident Abdikadar Abdulle, adding scores of government military vehicles had passed the Somalia National University west of the city centre. Parts of Mogadishu shook with the sound of gunfire and there were outbreaks of looting after leaders of the Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC) fled its base early in the morning. Some fighters ditched their uniforms to avoid reprisals. "We have been defeated. I have removed my uniform. Most of my comrades have also changed into civilian clothes," one former SICC fighter told Reuters. "Most of our leaders have fled." The fall of Mogadishu came about 10 days after the Islamists sought to march on the government base of Baidoa. That prompted Ethiopia to come openly into the war, proving the decisive factor in saving the government and pushing back the Islamists. But it was unclear what the SICC's next step would be, and analysts feared they could launch a protracted guerrilla campaign. Experts also questioned whether the weak Somali government could maintain security if the Ethiopians left. "The idea that the Ethiopians can just bring this government from outside, plonk it down in the capital and walk away and everything will be solved, I think that's very, very unrealistic," Richard Dowden, director of the Royal African Society, told Sky News in London. The SICC had brought a semblance of stability to Mogadishu after chasing US-backed warlords from the city in June. Residents said order had collapsed with their departure. "Mogadishu is now in chaos," Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed told Al Jazeera television. Ahmed said the Islamists were united and determined to push out Ethiopian forces, but retreated to avoid more bloodshed. Islamist defence lines were routed by a joint force of Ethiopian armour and government fighters. But SICC leader Ahmed said his side's hasty withdrawal was a just tactical move. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi vowed to pursue the Islamist leaders. "We will not let Mogadishu burn," he added. While the African Union (AU) has called for him to withdraw his forces "without delay", Meles is believed to have the tacit support of Washington in his push against the Islamists. More than a week of mortar and rocket duels between the Islamists and the Ethiopian-backed government spiralled into open war 10 days ago. The UN refugee agency said on Wednesday thousands had fled and were in a "desperate situation". On Thursday it said at least 17 people died and about 140 were missing after boats in which they were fleeing capsized off Yemen. With Eritrea accused of backing the Islamists, many had feared the conflict would engulf the Horn. Ethiopia, like the United States, says the Islamists are supported by al Qaeda. UN experts have accused 10 nations of providing arms, expertise and men to both sides. An al Qaeda-backed group in Iraq posted a statement on the internet this week urging Muslims to support the Islamists. The SICC has depicted the conflict with Christian-led Ethiopia, which has one of Africa's most effective armies, as a holy war against "crusaders", tapping into decades of rivalry. Government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said the Islamists had fled to the southern port city of Kismayu and the administration controlled 95 per cent of the country. Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi landed at Afgoye in an Ethiopian military helicopter, 30 km west of Mogadishu, where he was met by cheering crowds and clan leaders. The Age

At this point, I hope not. For if he is, we're stuck with the Ethiopians with no lubrication. Ouch!

Boats with Somalis, Ethiopians capsize THE ASSOCIATED PRESS GENEVA -- Two boats filled with Somalis and Ethiopians capsized off the coast of Yemen after Yemeni patrol boats chased one of them and fired on two other vessels. At least 17 people drowned and some 140 were missing, the U.N. refugee agency said Thursday. The incident took place late Wednesday in the Gulf of Aden when Yemeni authorities spotted four boats smuggling 515 people approaching the coastline, the Geneva-based U.N. High Commission for Refugees said. The two boats that Yemeni security forced fired on had just offloaded in Yemen and only smugglers were on board, UNHCR said. The smugglers returned fire, according to Yemeni officials, and two other boats still filled with refugees waiting offshore tried to escape to sea in the darkness. Officials said one of those two boats capsized after passengers became agitated. The other boat was pursued by two Yemeni coast guard vessels and a helicopter and was forced to head back to shore. But about 300 yards from the beach, it capsized in rough seas. Some of the missing are believed to be trapped under one of the capsized boats, the agency said. The UNHCR said many of the Somalis claimed they were fleeing the fighting in their country between government forces backed by Ethiopian troops and an Islamic militia. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres indicated some may have been fleeing persecution and violence while others may be poor migrants who were seeking better economic conditions. advertising "I am deeply saddened by this latest tragedy involving smugglers' boats carrying desperate people across the Gulf of Aden," Guterres said. "Brutal smugglers continue to prey on the desperation of poor people fleeing persecution and violence and those looking for better economic opportunities elsewhere," he said. The refugee agency said the Somalis claimed to be fleeing Baidoa and areas of central Somalia, where fighting has escalated in recent days. UNHCR said 357 surviving refugees were taken to its Mayfa'a reception center in Yemen where they were given food and medical assistance. Yemeni authorities were searching for survivors, the UNHCR said. The agency said Yemeni officials claimed to have captured all 17 smugglers and their four boats. On Wednesday, UNHCR said it was preparing for a possible mass flight of refugees from Somalia to neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia. The agency has asked neighboring countries to provide sanctuary to civilians fleeing the fighting. Earlier this month, two people were killed when Yemeni authorities fired on smugglers' boats. According to UNHCR figures more than 25,800 people have fled to Yemen from Somalia this year, and at least 330 people have died and nearly 300 have gone missing during the perilous crossing. Out of 88,000 registered refugees in Yemen, about 84,000 are Somalis, UNHCR said Associated Press

Originally posted by peacenow: 6) Open talks with Somaliland Open a can of worms, more like. Do you fancy sautéed worms? LOL.