I like the way terms like "Puntland" and "Somaliland" are used to cover up for clan names.

Things like this will continue to happen so long as the foreign troops are there. Our TFG should tell the foreigners to leave. We have enough trouble getting along among ourselves as Somali people, how do they expect us to get along with foreigners?

Just watch for more things like this to happen. This is 4th generation warfare my friends. No ones knows who's doing what. The best way for Somalia to get out of this situation? The TFG should sent the Ethiopians and Americans home!

Things in Somalia are going to get a lot worse if the Ethiopians and Americans don't leave and more foreign forces enter the country. This retarded TFG thinks by courting the USA, Ethiopia and other foreign forces they can bring peace to Somalia, but all they are doing is laying the ground work to turn Somalia into another battlefield between gaalo and groups like alqaida. Al Qaida might not be in Somalia now but give it some time and they'll come out of the woodworks. My advice for peace in Somalia; the TFG should send the foreign forces home and work out peace between the Somali people. Mark my words; it will not take much for the situation in Somalia today to go from bad to unlivable. Just look at Iraq... do we really want Somalia to become like Iraq? I sure don’t! There is nothing the foreigners can do for us that we can't do for ourselves. Keeping the foreigners in Somalia and inviting more will have grave consequences. The US doesn't have an interest in a peaceful and prosperous Somalia; Ethiopia doesn't have an interest in a peaceful and prosperous Somalia. Kenya doesn't have an interest in a peaceful and prosperous Somalia. Al Qaida doesn't have an interest in a peaceful and prosperous Somalia. The only people that have an interest in a peaceful and prosperous Somalia are the Somalia people. So let the TFG work with (and for) the Somalia people!

http://www.hiiraan.com/news/2007/feb/wararka_maanta7-717.htm Isbaaro are back in Muqdisho. There is crime like kidnapping, there is shelling and bombing every night, people are being killed by unknown armed groups.

Why should he talk to them? What power do they have? Yeey holds all the cards, anyone that stands up to him must face the foriegners firepower! But I think if he is killed the TFG will die like the rat he is. Am surprised he is still alive; is the ICU so weak they can't even kill this old man? Maybe he is not a rat after all, maybe he is a cat with nine lives

^^Taako man, my point is Qanyaras boys got killed in Mogdishu by Yeeys boys and there was nothing he could do about it. Just goes to show you the balance of power.

How will all this power grabing effect the delacate clan balance that made the TFG?? marshal law, 10s of mp leaving governmet, a failed vote of confidece, revalt against the speacker, and now yet another (the 3rd one?) power shift in the cabinet... this tfg is a totally different tfg then the one we had 6 months ago (except for yeey and geedi ofcource )

^^no they dont know about the outbreak and they dont care. cambarro the only law they need is the law of the jungle, and we somali people have mastered that law

^^What about the 10s of other "heros" in jawaano?? The game is simple, the TFG has the foriegners firepower, the can do whatever they like! Think of this, remember the day when Yeeys militia killed 9 of Qanyaras boys, in MOQDISHO?? What did Qanyara do? NOTHING! Because there is nothing he can! The people of xamar have 2 choices 1. bend over for yeey 2. face the foriegners firepower

Sacdiya Aden contributed the following piece to the BBC's "Have Your Say" section. I fully share her anxiety about the country's future. Somlia needs a home grown peace, that respects peoples rights, and a government that works for the good of the Somali people (NOT for the evil of Meles Zenawi). We do not know what tomorrow holds and we are only capable of false predictions. Nevertheless, I will say the future of Somalia as well as that of the horn of Africa looks very grim. I am a Somali-American and I see Iraq of Africa written all over this Ethiopian invasion. For those Somalis who think Ethiopia is after the Courts, we are WRONG! Ethiopian machine guns do not know the difference between us and them, but for sure they know what a Somali looks like. The intelligence our western governments are using to condemn the Courts, is intelligence provided by Prime Minister Meles's government. This is tantamount to condemning India on intelligence collected by its arch-enemy Pakistan and vice versa. How ironic is that? Those of us who closely monitor the status of Ethiopia understand very well that Prime Minister Meles is simply trying divert attention from the 2005 election he rigged that was won by the opposition groups whose over 200 peaceful demonstrators were killed and thousands more locked up in prisons including Ethiopian opposition leaders. With all the poverty, AIDS epidemic increasing. and human rights violations committed in Ethiopia under his watch, Meles like any other African dictator tightens his grip by instilling fear in people's hearts and deflecting attention from his dictatorial behaviors. Wanting peace and saying NO to Ethiopian invasion of Somalia DOES NOT mean [we are] against the TFG or supporting the Courts. What it means is, that there is a dead body that lies upon all of us peace lovers, waiting for a burial, and to have a debate over it and watch it rot is a sin. It reminds me of Rwanda, where 800,000 Tutsi's were massacred in 3 months while the world debated whether it was a GENOCIDE or not. The African Union's (AU) ill advised backing of the bombing of Somalia further complicates the crisis. If the AU was any help, or for that matter capable of easing the pain of the burden carried by African women and children, it would ease that of Darfur. From the drought of April 2005 to the severe floods that devastated Somalis, Somalia is on her knees, desperately waiting for a helping hand. Somalia stands naked, striped of her dignity on the highway of horn of Africa. What all Somalis want will come, but we must realize that we can not furnish a burning house. We should put out the fire, allow home grown peace to take root, meet every Somali's basic needs and then call for the real thing, ELECTIONS. Remember what Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. correctly said decades ago: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." The history we always hear and read about is tantamount to the one before us today. Hence, history is in the making and I know with all my being that it will not be kind to many of us. May peace, justice and equality remain our foremost conviction.

Originally posted by MKA Yoonis: Allahu Akbar a good move by our honourable President who called today for a reconciliation conference taking place inside Somalia inshallah scheduled in two weeks time! Let's hope for the best outcome possible inshallah as I believe that reconciliation is the only way forward for this country! A great step and move towards lasting peace in our country inshallah! MKA, am glade to see that you realize there is a need for reconciliation. You’re not like some people here who seem to think everything is just great and that we have no problems. It’s sad that the government that was created to reconcile our people only agreed to such a step so that they can get a measly $15 million from some foreigners. Some people in the TFG think that they are there to get a free meal and live in hotels in foreign countries paid for by foreign counties. Some people in the TFG are there only to fill their stomach.

Wow! Imagine the sights he experienced!

This just shows that we should work out our differences amoung ourselfs... Carab and xabash will not fix anything in Somalia.

Is the TFG moving us forward or backward? Unless things change they are moving us backwards! The TFG is littered with the worst Somalia has to offer (warlords and **********) and are based on the most destructive ideology in Somalia (the qabiil ideology).

I think he already did... I saw a picture of him in a niqaab

The TFG needs to win peoples hearts. They are associated too much in our collective mind with foreigners and warlords. But how do you change that? After all, the TFG is made up of warlords and the TFG is sustained by foreign firepower and foreign money. A strange dilemma. They need the support of the people for the future, but they need the support of the warlords and foreigners now. They can’t have both.

General Duke, first of all it's not for the TFG to "reconcile" will any clan, after all the TFG is not a clan. The job of the TFG is to reconcile the clans. The fact is people are being targeted and killed for their clan affiliations and for religious believe right now in the areas formally controlled by the ICU. Clan tensions are very high all over the country (for example between the people in the Puntland and Somaliland regions). I personally hope this does not turn into full-scale clan wars but the situation is not good. The TFG needs to get away from all this business of begging the world for money and troops and get to the business of reconciling the clans so that we can have real peace.

^^Those that will result in an end to the bloodshed. Like the removal of foreign troops.

The TFG is a "Temporary" government. A "Transitional" government if you will. It has a mandate and a list of things it has to do in a set time. It was created for this purpose. Some of those items on its list of things to do are to lay the groundwork for a referendum on a new constitution that will form the bases for our permanent government, Inshallah. See Chapter 4 and Chapter 14 of the charter.

Originally posted by General Duke: the TFG does not have enough troops, and enough indigenous trainers. The performance of the clan courts and the warlords also shows the weakness of the Somali sodleir to cope with todays reality. The TFG does not troops, it needs a political solution. There is peace in Somaliland, there is peace in Puntland, there was peace in the south during ICU times... All this peace without foreign troops. I wonder why? I think it might be because in all those cases where there is peace, there is a political settlement among Somali people. I hope the TFG succeeds! But am not going to just let their mistakes go and defend all their bad actions. I think Somalia should have a government for the Somali people... not a government for foreign or Clan interests.

The TFG is a clan-based government based on the 4.5 formulas. The only purpose the TFG has is to reconcile the Somali people and create state Institutions. If the TFG cannot achieve this then it has failed. The foreign occupying troops that are in the country are there to provide firepower for the TFG. Without this foreign firepower the TFG will not function. The proof of this is that the TFG was dysfunctional before the occupation. Will the TFG become dysfunctional once the occupation ends? Yes, unless they reconcile the Somali people!

Originally posted by General Duke: ^^^Trust me they need these troops for training purposes. As for how long they will last, they have outlasted the warlords of Mogadishu, infighting, and of course the can courts..Thus they will last insha Allah. Salaam to you General. You always speak with such authority. As in "trust me they need these troops for training purposes". Why should you be trusted, do you have access to information that the rest of us don’t have access? Are you here pontificating like the rest of us or as a government spokes person? I ask questions because I want to know... Occasionally when I have a thought or fact that I think might benefit others, I express it. If I see good in the TFG, I will support them. If not, I will not. It will all depend on them. Right now it really will not make any difference if I support them or not. If in fact you are a government spokes person who is simply towing the line and reading from a list of "speaking points", then make your case why the TFG is good for Somalia and why TFG actions are justified. "Trust me" will not cut it.

We need to solve our problems among ourselves. For one party to go and get foreigners to fight along side them against another Somalia group will only create more problems. Don't forget what happened the last time foreign troops entered Somalia and the crimes they committed. (Warning: disturbing crimes of the foreigners against Somalia) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somalia_Affair

why is his name written in English? "Abdullahi Yussuf Ahmed" and, why does it say ""Lab/Dheddig" then Male?