lol...I am sorry to say I told you so.

may be it is from Zimbabwe?

lol...MZanzi

Originally posted by Allamagan: ^ Should we dig down SOL archives! naga da ninyo ka soco WAXAAD HAYSO SOO DAA BAL NINKAY U DARAN TAHAY DUNIDU HA OGAATEE!!!

Biyo Sacabbadaadaa looga dhergaa...lol

Originally posted by Allamagan: Abwaan, sxb waxaadu critic kaliya maahane waxba ku weheliya ee dheesha nagala her sxb! lol...Allamagan...oo maxaa ii wehliya?

Originally posted by Gheelle.T: Nina, If like Siyad was fought in Xamar by different rebel groups. USC ayaa Xamar ina Siyad ka saartay oo waliba Somalidii daganeed nuskeed raacsiiyay. Marka calanbaa kuwa sameysteen minca badan ma laha.Haddii ay Kacaanka wax qabadkiisa ay ogaayeen maxaa iyaka waalay? I think mar haddii taariikhda Soomaaliya laga hadlayo inaan la inkiri karin khaladaadkii ay USC (xitaa kuwii tawradda dhulka la burburiyey baa shaar USC gashtay), maanafaysto, Dawladdii Kacaanka iyo ururrada kale ee Soomaaliyeed ee S-ta la wada baxay ku lahaayeen. Originally posted by Gheelle.T: Allamagan, kuwa qatanaa in a sense of rural development yes, but as for Landcruiser gado, dee naga daa Midda kale the same perception aad ka kaysato tii 60 ayaa tan "aabbe" Siyadna dad ka qabaan. Waa runtaa degaannada Allamagan ka hadlayo way qatanaayeen, laakiin dadkeedu jago iyo garaaddo kornayl aan wax akhrin karin, nin safaarad la geeyo oo safiirka ilaaliya iyo Land-cruiser kama qatanayn. Waa la qalday oo xitaa haddii wax la boobayo wax nacfi leh lama boobin. Balse runtii dalkan qabiil gaar ahi ma burburin, mana qabo in reer Allamagan oo dhan ay khalad galeen oo dad wanaagsan ayaa ka buuxa Soomaalinnimaduna ku dheertahay, laakiin xoogaa halla soo debco markii towradda wax laga sheego yaan ammaan loogu dhaqaaqin. Maxamed Siyaad (AUN) Ilaah baa kula xisaabtamaya wuxuu khalad geystey, taariikhduna way xusaysaa siduu hoggaankiisu u dhaqmay, qaybtii xumaydna dhaxalkeedii waan haynaa, qaybtii wanaagsanaydna lama inkiri karo.

Originally posted by Jimcaale: ^You got any videos of the horrible destruction Kacaanka led to the country? Ilaahay afka iyo faraha kuma gooyo...Waxyeelladii Kacaanka iyadana halla soo bandhigo.

Gabbal... war uma hayo waxa aad caadifad iyo qabyaalad ku cabbirtid, malaha halkaas cashar baad uga baahan tahay haddii aadan is-yeelyeeleyn. Maalinkaad aragto anigoo shakhsi, koox iyo beel difaacaya oo leh iyagaa dadka ka fiican laakin inta ka horraysa waxaagu waa iska hadal. Maa naga deysid meesha dood macno leh kuma haysid oo waad is ogtahee....Ma sidaadii baad rabtaa markaad boggan igu qancin weyso inaad sidaadii dariishadda soo xaluulato oo aad dhahdo sidaan kama wadin. Ninyahow ha i dembaajin ee fadlan iga leexo.

Xiin...and S@mali...waan idinku raacsanahay and I also beleive in la is cafiyo oo Ilaah loo daayo xisaabtanka Soomaali waayo dadkeennu inta badan caddaaladda dhegaha ayey ka furaystaan. Anniguna Mudanaha mucaarad kuma ahi dadkii u horreeyey ee wanaagga ku aqbalay ayaan ka mid ahay. Balse mashxaradaha qabiilka iyo taariikhda beenta ah ayaanan jeclayn. Waxaa keliya iga yaabiya goorta kuwa iskoollada aada ay ka baxayaan ciddeennu iyo adeeryaalkay waxba ma samayn oo waan is-difaacaynay. Soomaali oo dhanni is-difaac bay wax ku halleeyeen. Indhaha maa la iska ridaa? Soomaalidaa tiraahda "Waa beryey, sacabbo laguma dedi karo". Bal hadda fiirin midka Gabbal la baxay waxa uu meesha la soo istaagey, haddii aad iska dhicisay Farmaajo ayaad dad ka xigtaa oo aad difaaci kartaa ha kugu taagnaato. Soomaali isma taqaan, waxaa laga yaabaa inaan maanta qaraabo ahaan kaga sokeeyo Farmaajo.

Xiin anigoo netka dhexmeeraya ayaan ku dul kufay, dabcan whether qoruhu uu xag-jir yahay iyo hadduusan ahayna, waxaa muhiim ah warbixinta laga qoray inay jirto in la hubiyo arrintana halkaas laga ambaqaado. Runtii waa arrin murugo leh haddii ay caddaato inuu tawraddii sida la sheegayo u difaacay. Waa runtaa oo inkaar-qabeyaal badan ayaa dowladda ku jira balse haddii dadka laga dhaadhicin rabo inuu dhaamo balse isaga laftiisa xoogaa u qarsan yihiin in la iftiimiyaa ma xuma. "Hays oran cidi kuma arkaysee, qalin ku aarso"...Nin xil qaaday eed qaadyeey! Originally posted by Gabbal: quote:Originally posted by xiinfaniin: Abwaan, this DR. Peter Pham is a fraud of the first order. He has served as the hired pen for the sinister cause of dismembering Somalia on the basis of past colonial history. Excuse Abwaan, waxani caqli uma laha. Gabbal waxaa la yiri "Fallaar aad fileysey wax kaama dhibto" Adiga maba kaa sugeyn inaad maqaalkan caddaalad iyo caqli u cuskatid, mana qarsatid qabyaaladda qaawan ee aad hoggaamiyihii Soomaalida hagardaamadan u horseeday qabyaalad awgeed u difaadid. Indho-adaygaaga adigood dad kale ku dheganna waan ku arkay oo ku eedaynayaa adeerkaa baad la jirtaa, bal adigu muraayadda isku fiiri!

Originally posted by Abwaan: A few years ago, perhaps realizing that even in New York the fiscal profligacy that permits his position to exist cannot go on much longer, Farmajo decided to branch out and enrolled in the graduate program at SUNY-Buffalo where, in June 2009, he was awarded a Master of Arts in American Studies for an 84-page thesis entitled "U.S. Strategic Interest in Somalia: From Cold War Era to War on Terror." This document, written just one year ago, gives more than a bit of insight into the mind of the new TFG prime minister. Understandably given how he benefited from it, even if nonetheless appallingly, Farmajo is apparently nostalgic for the Siyad Barre dictatorship. In his thesis, he incredibly declares that "a majority of Somali people welcomed the new military regime" and "popular acceptance helped facilitate Barre's initiatives like 'Scientific Socialism.'" In Farmajo's revisionist historiography, the dictatorship actually "won the hearts and minds of the people by promoting a new self-reliance and self-supporting mentality." No wonder he openly mourns the collapse of the despot as "another unfortunate page in an unfortunate epoch." The aspiring academic had difficulty keeping his clan biases in check. While he had not a word to say about the Siyad Barre regime's genocidal repression of the **** and other clans, he dedicates several pages in his thesis to lamenting the "revenge and ethnic cleansing against the innocent ****** clan family" which came in the wake of the dictator's fall. In particular he seems to have a bone to pick with the ****** clan-family which, in his view, "lacked discipline and a sense of purpose" and whose leaders "were confused as to what their priorities should be." In fact, he asserts "one thing that they did not care so much about was protecting the weak and vulnerable people of the capital." (With opinions like these, one wonders what kind of welcome Farmajo expects from the Mogadishu's well-armed ****** clansmen if his nomination is approved and he ever moves into the prime ministerial suite in the city's besieged Villa Somalia presidential compound.) This tendency to be gratuitously divisive will undoubtedly give no little comfort to the various Islamist insurgent factions fighting the TFG and its Ugandan and Burundian protectors from the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), including the al-Qaeda-linked Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen ("Movement of Warrior Youth," al-Shabaab) and their Hizbul Islam ("Islamic party"). While the insurgency is certainly riddled with internal divisions, none of its leaders, not even Hizbul Islam's notoriously cantankerous Sheikh Hassan Dahir 'Aweys, has gone about publicly picking fights with potential allies in the manner of Farmajo. In fact 'Aweys was recently reported to be in talks with Sheikh Mukhtar Robow, a.k.a. Abu Mansoor, the Islamist leader of Kismayo, over the formation of a new group unifying their followers. Also jaundiced is Farmajo's view of the Cold War. In contrast to the "opportunism [that was] a fixture of American foreign policy," Siyad Barre's pact with the Soviet Union was, according to him, "a prestigious treaty of friendship" which enabled "the ambition of a greater, stronger Somalia [to] come to fruition when Siad Barre invaded Ethiopia to liberate the ethnic-Somali ****** region in 1977." In any event, Farmajo has clearly imbibed deeply from the fever swamps of leftist American academia. His thesis is sprinkled with references to "George W. Bush's Christian ideology" (which he describes as "extremist" and regards as the moral equivalent to Islamic radicalism), "U.S. supporting ruthless dictators who commit atrocities," and an alleged "genocide neither mentioned in the American media nor addressed by U.S. policy makers in the George H.W. administration." Although he occasionally references well-regarded subject matter experts like I.M. Lewis and my colleagues Lee Cassanelli, Ken Menkhaus, and André LeSage, Farmajo relies on various "alternative news sources" like the Green Left Weekly for his information on the U.S. war against terrorism. (The Australian publication described its mission thus: "By printing the news and ideas the mainstream media won't, Green Left Weekly exposes the lies and distortions of the power brokers and helps us to better understand the world around us" by presenting "the views excluded by big business media" and "strengthening the anti-capitalist movements." Kool-Aid anyone?) Clearly Farmajo had been harboring ambitions to move beyond his job in state government for some time and was preparing the ground for his ascent in Sharif Ahmed's crumbling edifice when he waxed eloquent last year about the TFG head's supposed virtues: "Ahmed is very popular in Somalia and abroad, and many political analysts conclude that he is the best person for today's Somalia because of his communication ability as well and knowledge of Islam which draws the respect of radicals. He promotes peace and an end to violence." Unfortunately no one other than his new prime minister has seen any evidence of these thaumaturgical qualities. Clearly Farmajo had been harboring ambitions to move beyond his job in state government for some time and was preparing the ground for his ascent in Sharif Ahmed's crumbling edifice when he waxed eloquent last year about the TFG head's supposed virtues: "Ahmed is very popular in Somalia and abroad, and many political analysts conclude that he is the best person for today's Somalia because of his communication ability as well and knowledge of Islam which draws the respect of radicals. He promotes peace and an end to violence." Unfortunately no one other than his new prime minister has seen any evidence of these thaumaturgical qualities.

source Strategic Interests by J. Peter Pham, Ph.D. World Defense Review columnist Somalia's New Prime Minister: Not Quite What the Doctor Ordered Just when it seems things can get no worse for Somalia's dubiously legitimate, utterly ineffective, and wholly self-serving "Transitional Federal Government" (TFG), the embattled clique pulls a surprise by sinking even deeper into the mire and, in the process, prolonging the agony of the Somali people and threatening the security and stability of both neighboring countries and the international community as a whole. Such was the case last week with the announcement of the nomination of Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed "Farmajo" as prime minister of the phantom "government" that, even backed by more than 7,000 foreign troops, cannot even show its face in more than half of the sixteen districts of its putative capital city. If his record is anything to go by, the only people the new prime minister will hearten—other than members of the Islamist insurgency fighting the TFG—will be invincibly delusional outsiders who still stubbornly cling to the fantasy of restoring a united Somalia under the interim regime. If the fact that TFG head Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed took more than three weeks to find a new prime minister after forcing out the previous incumbent, Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, was not sufficient indication that something was amiss, the fact that his eventual nominee is a mediocrity with little experience in national politics—to say nothing of international relations—should have set off alarms. Certainly a closer examination of the new appointee's background raises some serious concerns for those who cared to look beyond the positive spin fed to media outlets that ran off with headlines like "New Somali Prime Minister's 'Experience' Praised by Analyst" (Voice of America) and gushed about the alleged "conflict resolution and leadership skills" of the "former diplomat" (Associated Press). Farmajo was born in Mogadishu in 1962. His family, members of the ******* clan of the ***** clan-family, was originally from Gedo. That lineage was to prove decisive, both for his career to date and, as will be evident, his geopolitical Weltanschauung. In 1969, less than a decade after the independence of the British Protectorate of Somaliland and the former Italian colony of Somalia and their union, the democratically-elected head of state, President Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, father of the man Farmajo replaces, was assassinated and Prime Minister Mohamed Haji Ibrahim Egal, later president of the restored Republic of Somaliland, imprisoned. A military junta under Muhammad Siyad Barre assumed power. A year after taking over, Siyad Barre proclaimed the "Somali Democratic Republic," an officially Marxist state which was initially aligned with the Soviet Union. While, Siyad Barre adopted "Scientific Socialism" with the professed goal of uniting the nation by eliminating its ancient clan-based divisions, in order to maintain power, the dictator soon fell back to calling on the very same kinship ties. With the exception of his defense chief, Mohamed Ali Samantar, whose humble Sab family background made it unthinkable that he could ever threaten his patron, Siyad Barre's most trusted ministers came from within the ***** clan-family: the dictator's own patrilineal ******* clan, members of the *********** clan of his son-in-law Ahmed Suleiman Abdulle, who headed the notorious National Security Service, or the ****** clan of his maternal kin. The two-decade long rule of the Siyad Barre regime was rooted in brutality, with the ever-increasingly use of arrests, detentions, and executions of dissidents to suppress political opposition, as annual U.S. State Department reports on Somalia country conditions regularly noted. After 1975, critical ministries and security posts were almost exclusively entrusted to relatives or in-laws of Siyad Barre. The regime targeted clans that it viewed as subversive. To cite on example that several colleagues and I noted earlier this in our brief as amici curiae before the U.S. Supreme Court in the human rights case involving Mohamed Ali Samantar: The Somali Armed Forces in June and July 1988 retaliated in a massive campaign of aerial and ground assaults on cities and towns in northwest Somalia. The aerial bombing of Hargeisa were one of the most bizarre war crimes in the annals of armed conflict: taking off from that city's own airport, the aircraft destroyed public buildings, the marketplace, and several residential areas, with no effort to distinguish between civilians and armed combatants. Livestock was confiscated and wells were poisoned. Africa Watch estimated that fifty to sixty thousand civilians were killed between May 1988 and March 1989, and some 400,000 civilians (predominantly *****) fled to Ethiopia as refugees. In the early 1990s, land erosion revealed the existence of mass graves on the outskirts of Hargeisa, suggesting the systematic execution of local ***** residents by government forces. As a result of his belonging to what the doyen of Somali studies, Professor Ioan M. Lewis, dubbed the "M.O.D. constellation," Farmajo prospered under the dictatorship. Despite only holding what he acknowledges in an autobiographical essay published the day after his prime ministerial nomination to be a secondary qualification from a technical school, the twenty-year-old Farmajo was appointed an archivist and, subsequently, auditor of the Somali foreign ministry in 1982. Three years later, that same cronyism saw him posted to the embassy in Washington as first secretary despite the lack of any postsecondary education, much less training in diplomacy. As his tour in America's capital was winding down, Farmajo was smart enough to realize that the days of his kinsman's regime were numbered, so he refused to return home. Instead he stayed on in the United States and earned a bachelor's degree from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo. By the time he had his degree in hand in 1993, the Siyad Barre regime had ignominiously fled Mogadishu—the old despot riding out of town in the last functional tank he possessed—and the erstwhile Somali Democratic Republic had descended into chaos with the exception of Somaliland in the northwest, which seceded, proclaimed the restoration of its former sovereignty, and has since developed a stable polity which earlier this year, as I reported here at the time, held multiparty elections which met international standards and led to a peaceful, democratic transition. Thus Farmajo extended his stay in America, eventually obtaining U.S. citizenship and landing himself a job working with public housing in upstate New York. Farmajo then began climbing the ladder of a twisted version of the American dream with a succession of public sector jobs, including stints as Minority Business Enterprises Coordinator for Erie County, New York, and Regional Civil Rights Manager for the New York State Department of Transportation where, by his own account, he was responsible for managing $80 million per year in "affirmative action" set-asides for minorities and other "diversity-enhancing" measures (no wonder the Empire State ran a $21 billion deficit last year and is expected to run up another $8.5 billion in debt during the current fiscal year). Farmajo's duties as a civil servant were evidently not especially onerous as he had time to supplement his taxpayer-funded salary with another taxpayer-funded gig teaching courses like "The Art of Thinking," "Leadership Skills," and "Conflict Resolution" to students at Erie Community College. A few years ago, perhaps realizing that even in New York the fiscal profligacy that permits his position to exist cannot go on much longer, Farmajo decided to branch out and enrolled in the graduate program at SUNY-Buffalo where, in June 2009, he was awarded a Master of Arts in American Studies for an 84-page thesis entitled "U.S. Strategic Interest in Somalia: From Cold War Era to War on Terror." This document, written just one year ago, gives more than a bit of insight into the mind of the new TFG prime minister. Understandably given how he benefited from it, even if nonetheless appallingly, Farmajo is apparently nostalgic for the Siyad Barre dictatorship. In his thesis, he incredibly declares that "a majority of Somali people welcomed the new military regime" and "popular acceptance helped facilitate Barre's initiatives like 'Scientific Socialism.'" In Farmajo's revisionist historiography, the dictatorship actually "won the hearts and minds of the people by promoting a new self-reliance and self-supporting mentality." No wonder he openly mourns the collapse of the despot as "another unfortunate page in an unfortunate epoch." The aspiring academic had difficulty keeping his clan biases in check. While he had not a word to say about the Siyad Barre regime's genocidal repression of the **** and other clans, he dedicates several pages in his thesis to lamenting the "revenge and ethnic cleansing against the innocent ****** clan family" which came in the wake of the dictator's fall. In particular he seems to have a bone to pick with the ****** clan-family which, in his view, "lacked discipline and a sense of purpose" and whose leaders "were confused as to what their priorities should be." In fact, he asserts "one thing that they did not care so much about was protecting the weak and vulnerable people of the capital." (With opinions like these, one wonders what kind of welcome Farmajo expects from the Mogadishu's well-armed ****** clansmen if his nomination is approved and he ever moves into the prime ministerial suite in the city's besieged Villa Somalia presidential compound.) This tendency to be gratuitously divisive will undoubtedly give no little comfort to the various Islamist insurgent factions fighting the TFG and its Ugandan and Burundian protectors from the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), including the al-Qaeda-linked Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen ("Movement of Warrior Youth," al-Shabaab) and their Hizbul Islam ("Islamic party"). While the insurgency is certainly riddled with internal divisions, none of its leaders, not even Hizbul Islam's notoriously cantankerous Sheikh Hassan Dahir 'Aweys, has gone about publicly picking fights with potential allies in the manner of Farmajo. In fact 'Aweys was recently reported to be in talks with Sheikh Mukhtar Robow, a.k.a. Abu Mansoor, the Islamist leader of Kismayo, over the formation of a new group unifying their followers. Also jaundiced is Farmajo's view of the Cold War. In contrast to the "opportunism [that was] a fixture of American foreign policy," Siyad Barre's pact with the Soviet Union was, according to him, "a prestigious treaty of friendship" which enabled "the ambition of a greater, stronger Somalia [to] come to fruition when Siad Barre invaded Ethiopia to liberate the ethnic-Somali ****** region in 1977." In any event, Farmajo has clearly imbibed deeply from the fever swamps of leftist American academia. His thesis is sprinkled with references to "George W. Bush's Christian ideology" (which he describes as "extremist" and regards as the moral equivalent to Islamic radicalism), "U.S. supporting ruthless dictators who commit atrocities," and an alleged "genocide neither mentioned in the American media nor addressed by U.S. policy makers in the George H.W. administration." Although he occasionally references well-regarded subject matter experts like I.M. Lewis and my colleagues Lee Cassanelli, Ken Menkhaus, and André LeSage, Farmajo relies on various "alternative news sources" like the Green Left Weekly for his information on the U.S. war against terrorism. (The Australian publication described its mission thus: "By printing the news and ideas the mainstream media won't, Green Left Weekly exposes the lies and distortions of the power brokers and helps us to better understand the world around us" by presenting "the views excluded by big business media" and "strengthening the anti-capitalist movements." Kool-Aid anyone?) As for Somalia's neighbors, Farmajo is likewise suspicious of their role: "The Kenyan and Ethiopian governments had vested interests and influence in Somalia." Given the Ethiopian government's consistent support for the TFG and its combative response to any suggestion of dropping the interim regime, officials in Addis Ababa will undoubtedly bristle that the new TFG prime minister discourses so easily about "Ethiopian aggression in Somalia" and has an understanding attitude concerning "Islamic radicals and Muslim moderates [who] were fighting on the same side, for they had to drive out Ethiopia at any cost." He clearly doesn't like Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi who, according to him, "facilitated the instability in Somalia in order to reduce its threat which may spill over to Somali-inhabitant region in ******." Moreover, Farmajo asserts, "It must be understood that Ethiopia is fragile and its survival depends on the political situation in its neighboring countries including Somalia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Kenya, and Sudan. Somalia has been the primary threat for Ethiopia in centuries and Meles Zenawi always will look out [sic] any political outcome of Somalia." Clearly Farmajo had been harboring ambitions to move beyond his job in state government for some time and was preparing the ground for his ascent in Sharif Ahmed's crumbling edifice when he waxed eloquent last year about the TFG head's supposed virtues: "Ahmed is very popular in Somalia and abroad, and many political analysts conclude that he is the best person for today's Somalia because of his communication ability as well and knowledge of Islam which draws the respect of radicals. He promotes peace and an end to violence." Unfortunately no one other than his new prime minister has seen any evidence of these thaumaturgical qualities. In fact, the president's popularity is such that of the 9,000 troops which the United States and the European Union have trained at not inconsiderable expense to support the TFG, no more than 1,000 have resisted the temptation to desert. What Sharif Ahmed desperately needs is a truth-teller, not another praise singer in his over-bloated peripatetic entourage. One could even overlook all these defects if Farmajo actually brought something to the TFG, but he doesn't. Having lived outside Somalia for nearly half his life and visited the country only once in the last quarter-century, it is highly doubtful that he brings much to the regime by way of actual political constituency or military strength. His ancestral region of Gedo—where he has never lived—lies outside the control of the TFG, although expect the regime's propagandists to make a great deal of the fact that forces aligned with it took the deserted border village of Bulo Hawo there from al-Shabaab over the weekend. President Abdirahman Mohamed Mohamud "Farole" of autonomous Puntland in northeastern Somalia, where the bulk of the ***** clan-family is based, has let it be known widely that he was not consulted by Sharif Ahmed on the appointment, a fact which, when coupled with the fact that the new prime minister replaces a native son of the territory, will make it all the more difficult to restrain the region's growing secessionist impulses. In fact, Farole's minister of state planning and international cooperation, Abdulkadir Abdi Hashi, complained on the BBC's Somali Service that far from forming a government of national unity, Sharif Ahmed had consolidated control of the three highest offices—president, prime minister, and parliamentary speaker—within the former Islamic Courts Union and among southerners in violation of the traditional national consensus. As for Somaliland, given his unabashed admiration for its citizens' erstwhile chief persecutor, Siyad Barre, Farmajo is unlikely to make much headway conciliating with them even if they were predisposed to reenter the Somali charnel house—and they are not. Abroad, what positive impact the appointment might have is likewise questionable. Certainly the "former diplomat" will need to be much more diplomatic in his choice of words if he is not to alienate the principal regional and international backers of the TFG. To be successful, any aspiring Somali leader had best be on good terms—or, at the very least, have a decent working relationship—with his Ethiopian and Kenyan counterparts. Someone who describes Soviet arms shipments to Siyad Barre as "military hardware to protect the Somali population in Kenya and Ethiopia" and asserts that "the main dream" of Somalis is "to be unified, including those living under Ethiopian and Kenyan rule"is unlikely to reassure Somalia's neighbors that he has moved beyond the sort of Somali irredentism that has historically proven so poisonous to regional integration. Apart from the dubious personal merits of the new prime minister, there remain questions about his legal qualification for the job (article 47 of the Transitional Federal Charter requires that he be a member of parliament), whether the requisite quorum of the 550-member parliament can even be mustered to approve Farmajo's appointment as prime minister as well as ministers of his cabinet (on any given day, more TFG parliamentarians are wandering the globe than anywhere near Somalia, although one can certainly understand why they would not want to be there), and the prospective length of his tenure (the most generous reading of the constitutional document says that the mandate of the entire "transitional" structure expires by August 2011 at the latest). More importantly, however, there is or ought to be a serious reexamination of the entire approach of constantly trying to impose a Somali government from the top down. I have repeatedly argued, most recently in this column space three weeks ago: The most realistic strategy for dealing with the many challenges arising from the spectacular collapse of the Somali state will likely be the one that eschews any ambition to rebuild a centralized state from the top down like the current TFG has repeatedly tried and failed to do. Instead, adapting to the decentralized nature Somali social reality and privileging "bottom-up" approaches are likelier to achieve the desired outcomes: buying Somalis the time and political space within which to make their own determinations about their future political arrangements, while at the same time still being flexible enough to allow their neighbors and the rest of the international community the ability to achieve their legitimate security objectives, including the curtailment of maritime piracy and the containment and eventual eradication of terrorist and other extremists elements. Last month, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson announced a subtle, but significant, shift in U.S. Somali policy that would include not just more active engagement of the governments of Somaliland and Puntland, but also outreached to "groups in south central Somalia, groups in local governments, clans, and sub-clans that are opposed to Al-Shabaab, the radical extremist group in the south, but are not allied formally or directly with the TFG." This week he is expected to deliver a major policy speech further detailing the "dual-track" approach. The rearranging-of-the-chairs-on-the-decks-of-the-Titanic nature of the new TFG prime minister's appointment underscores the need to strengthen the second track of U.S. policy in order to secure viable pathways for achieving America's strategic objectives and those of its allies. While, for the sake of security in Somalia, stability in the Horn of Africa, and overall international order, one hopes that Farmajo may actually accomplish more than his hapless predecessors in the fifteen interim Somali regimes that have existed since 1991, in statecraft it is generally not prudent to count on miracles happening. And, given the enormous challenges the new prime minister faces—to say nothing about his rather flawed record to date—a backup plan is definitely called for. — J. Peter Pham is Senior Vice President of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy in New York City. He also holds academic appointments as Associate Professor of Justice Studies, Political Science, and African Studies at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and non-resident Senior Fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington, D.C. He currently serves as Vice President of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA) and Editor-in-Chief of its refereed Journal of the Middle East and Africa. Dr. Pham has authored, edited, or translated over a dozen books and is the author of over three hundred essays and reviews on a wide variety of subjects in scholarly and opinion journals on both sides of the Atlantic. In addition to the study of terrorism and political violence, his research interests lie at the intersection of international relations, international law, political theory, and ethics, with particular concentrations on the implications for United States foreign policy and African states as well as religion and global politics. Dr. Pham has testified before the U.S. Congress on numerous occasions and conducted briefings or consulted for the U.S. and foreign governments as well as private firms. He has appeared in various media outlets, including CBS, PBS, CBC, SABC, VOA, CNN, the Fox News Channel, MSNBC, National Public Radio, the BBC, Radio France Internationale, the Associated Press, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, USA Today, Le Monde, National Journal, Newsweek, The Weekly Standard, New Statesman, and Maclean's, among others. © 2010 J. Peter Pham J. Peter Pham story archive

If the president's camp with the new PM now on their side thought that Sharif Xassan would not retaliate against trying to mess with him and calling the parliament to meet while he was in Nairobi, forcing him to come back to Mogadishu within hours, they were wrong. Sida muuqata ninkaan siyaasadda Soomaaliya saamayn aad u ballaaran oo aan la inkiri karin ayuu ku leeyahay. Rag badan oo isku dayey inay hor-istaagaanna badda ayuu ka cabsiiyey, bal aan aragno waxa xiga Insha ALlaah.

Originally posted by AYOUB: [/qb] [/QB] look closely at Sharif's lips...Amin Amir, wax waalan...Madaxweynaha muxuu af-guduud uga dhigay?

Originally posted by Beer-Gaal: waa bilaabatay !!indeed he is confused man. U-Turn on the first day...haye...Shariifkaba soo tii ka simbiriirixatay oo intuu yiri PM Omar Cabdirashiid waan casiley haddana dhahay markii aan dastuurka fiiriyey waan ka noqday oo tush la ima dhaho.

halkaan ka akhriso

I thought in warlordism laga tegey Soomaaliya. Waxaan qabsanayaa gobol fulaan ku lehe. Shariifka iyo dowladdiisa Itoobiyaanka ma sidaan bay uga baqayaan inay dad soo hubayso oo ay dhahaan gobollo qabsada?

Originally posted by Gheelle.T: How could he ignore the same system that brought him in the first place. The whole TFG is based on this and till the whole system is demolished,it will be hard to over pass. It's a bold move though I doubt the 4.5 parliament that he wants its approval would pass anything less then qabiil based cabinet. That is true. Altough I would be more than happy to see this useless formula gone, I think it is a bit naive that he starts with a move like this. Even if his intention was to minimise the use of 4.5 he shouldn't have said it publicly. Whoever is advising him has mislead the guy on this issue. He is a complete newcomer and that itself is a challenge to win an apprval from the 550 MPs, who the majority of them care nothing more than clan, money and other personal interests than serve the nation and now this...Good Luck to Mr. Farmaajo.

Originally posted by Ducaysane: Soo Joog ninkii laga waayo. Soo jiifsaa laga helaa. Waa billaabatay! Siyaad Barre ayaa dembi galay maba la dhihi karo miyaa? Malaha sidaad iskula saxantahay markii aad rabtid inaad ka sheekeysid wixii 1991-kii iyo ka dib dhacay, wixii ka horreeyeyna aad indhaha ka saabato. Ilaah ha u naxariisto intii Soomaali xaqdarro ku dhimatay oo dhan xilligii Siyaad Barre, Kii ka horreeyey iyo kii ka dambeeyeyba. Runtii Elite badan oo maanta Soomaali u baxsan lahayd isagaa baabi'iyey wixii ka dambeeyeyna intii hartay bay raaciyeen.

It wasn't only Omar Abdirashid's cabinet but all the TFG cabinets since Arte had it... This minister is in charge of Madaxweynaha, PM, Wasiirrada, iyo Xildhibaannada dalxiiska iskaga jira iyo dadka jago-doonka, qabyaaladda dowladda ula jira ee xarumaha dowladda dalxiiska ku imaanaya... Waa shaqo weyn ee la socda...

Why does where he comes from really matter as long as he can do his job? i don't seem to know him but I am sure we will know more about him within the next few days Insha Allah. I wish him good luck. He needs our (Somalis) support. Ilaah ha u fududeeyo xilka. I really hope kuwii xilkaan wada raadinayey, kuwii la rabey, kuwa taageersanaa raggaas xilka PM waayey iyo kuwa wasiirrada u hanqal taagaya oo aan heli dooninba amase aan liiska lagu darinba inay taageeraan mudanahaan cusub. Soomaalida waxaa beryahaan aad ugu batay haddii aanan jago kaa helin ku taageeri maayo. Kulligeen ma jagaa naga carartay? Waa Yaab!

I can't see the pictures you posted right now Somalicentric, but I will hopefully see them later. Males is an amazing country. Never been there but I will one day insha Allaah. I love their music specially the Famous Ali Farka Toure and Oumou Sangare.

Abu S. I also heard about this guy early this morning. Is he Abdiwali or Abdiwahab? A former Agriculture minister?

Originally posted by Abu-S: Abwaan, Spoke to a senior person in Mog today; friday'da lama dhaafeyso odeyga. S lol..Abu - S. Waan la socdaa si fiican baad xog u haysaa, haddii nin uusan Xariif Xassan raalli ka ahayn la keeno meeshaan, Shariifka laftiisa soo looma yaabo? Xariif Xassan was humilated by the Aala-Shiikh group, when they told Adan Madoobe to hold a meeting for ministers and the Parliament was told to come for a meeting in order to speed up the process to get rid of Omar Abdirashid, while both Omar and Xariif Xasan were out of the country. Xariif Xassan tried his best to convince Sharif not to let Omar go but he was ignored. This guy xarash buu ugu fadhiyaa Sharif. Sharifkana wuxuu is leeyahay haddii aad qof aad ku qanacsan tahay keentid amaa Baarlamaanku afka ciidda u daraa oo adigana kula tagtaa!