Not all Somalias are created equal

[Mintid Farayar]

Not all Somalias are created equal

 

 

By Shashank Bengali | McClatchy Newspapers

Thu May 14, 6:20 am ET

 

 

 

The money-changing market in Hargeisa, Somaliland

 

 

When I've gone to Somalia, the first question I've had to grapple with, as a foreigner and therefore ransom bait, is how many armed bodyguards to hire. Not so in Somaliland. The first serious question asked of me after I landed recently came from the helpful young clerk at the cell phone company.

"Do you want to get Internet on your phone?" he asked.

 

Somaliland was almost a pleasure to work in -- not as hot and pirate-infested as Puntland, not as likely to be fatal as Mogadishu . Walking through the main market there, I didn't get that heavy pulse-pounding you usually feel in Somalia, like someone could be after you or the car in front of you could explode . And yet Somaliland is still, technically, Somalia.

 

The regional government has been trying to get African and Western countries to recognize its independence, but so far in vain. While this irks experts and aid workers, African countries are still trying to maintain the rhetoric of a unified Somalia -- and the U.S. and other Western countries aren't going to take the lead in recognizing Somaliland.

 

This is unfortunate. Somaliland has earned the right to decide its own fate by doing an admirable job governing itself, creating relatively robust economic and political systems in the midst of chaos. This hasn't exactly sat well with the extremists in the south, who staged coordinated suicide bombings in the capital, Hargeisa, last October -- the most shocking violence here since the civil war of the early 1990s.

 

The government swiftly instituted security measures, and now buildings frequented by foreigners and top officials are barricaded and most expatriates don't venture outside after dark.

 

The economy is stable but sluggish, which is what you get when foreign banks aren't free to open branches, and officials insist they need access to direct foreign investment to decouple it from the rest of Somalia. Shipments are regularly delayed because the main port, Berbera, still registers for insurance companies as part of Somalia. When I was there, the main cell phone company, Telesom, had run out of SIM cards.

But, they assured me, they could put Internet on my phone. I sat in the airy second-story customer service center, surrounded by a whirring bank of computers, while the guy worked on my phone. He fiddled with it for 10 minutes before I realized he had no idea what he was doing. When I walked over he was staring at the keypad blankly.

 

"Have you ever programmed one of these before?" I asked.

 

"No," he said finally, and handed the phone back apologetically. So the BlackBerry has yet to reach Somaliland. But it will.

[MZanzi]

faaan iyo faatu dhug weynaaa

[Mintid Farayar]

Link

 

Only in Somaliland

[Mintid Farayar]

Originally posted by Fu-Fu:

faaan iyo faatu dhug weynaaa

Put down that bottle of Hater-Ade immediately

[Kashafa]

^^Good for you. I hope you're prepared for the homecoming party of Ina Godane and Abu Bakar Al-Zaylaci. No matter how much you try to distance gobolada Waqooyi Galbeed from the rest of Somalia, Ina Godane and Al-Zaylaci will be painful reminders that all of Somalia is forever inextricably bound by: One Deen, One Language, One God.

 

There is no escaping the Islamist tsunami that is now engulfing Mogadisho.

[Mintid Farayar]

We're well aware of that, my friend. Just tell them not to wear Diric's this time (when they're attempting to sneak away). It's very unbecoming

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

But, they assured me, they could put Internet on my phone. I sat in the airy second-story customer service center, surrounded by a whirring bank of computers, while the guy worked on my phone. He fiddled with it for 10 minutes before I realized he had no idea what he was doing. When I walked over he was staring at the keypad blankly.

 

"Have you ever programmed one of these before?" I asked.

 

"No," he said finally, and handed the phone back apologetically. So the BlackBerry has yet to reach Somaliland. But it will.

 

Soomaalida qaarkood indha'adeygooda. Inay qirtaan wax aynan garaneynin habeenkii xaley tagay.

[MZanzi]

Originally posted by Kashafa:

There is no escaping the Islamist tsunami that is now engulfing Mogadisho.

war bal dadka indhaha wada la'a ila arka...What do those men have done so far in our country other than killing innocent pple wadaad nimo iyo sheikh nimo walaahi meel looga dhacay Did they have the knowledge horta ...ragan gabdhaha dhiciska ah inta kufsado hadana dhagaxa kudilaayo ...And even if their actions aren’t illegal, the utter hypocrisy that comes from some of these guys is mind-boggling.

[Goodir]

Originally posted by Kashafa:

^^Good for you. I hope you're prepared for the homecoming party of Ina Godane and Abu Bakar Al-Zaylaci. No matter how much you try to distance gobolada Waqooyi Galbeed from the rest of Somalia, Ina Godane and Al-Zaylaci will be painful reminders that all of Somalia is forever inextricably bound by: One Deen, One Language, One God.

 

There is no escaping the Islamist tsunami that is now engulfing Mogadisho.

The sole Kaligii Muslim of SOL is desperately playing a little god now. Getting angry at yourself for seeing SL and PL enjoy some stability? Your words remind me of that ayah, "waduu-law-takfuruuna -kamaa-kafaruu-fatak uunuuna-sawaa'aa" "They wish you would disbelieve as they did, so then you and they would be equal in disbeliving" You've gone out of your ways making the blood of Muslims halal, and then you wish SL and PL does the same thing?

[Kashafa]

^^ Magaca horta sax. It's not SL or PL. It's the Xabashi Protectorate of Smelly,land and the Tigray Colony of Pissland.. It's very important that we use accurate terminology when referring to the two Ethiopian puppet entities, in the interests of honest discourse.

 

You're not the first to declare: "My Tol-land will never fall to the terrorists." Many others have said that before you and watched in disbelief as their Tol-towns and Tol-lands crumbled like crackers before the battering ram of Mujaahideen'ta Soomaliyeed.

 

I suggest you drop the fake humanitarian posturing. Else, you're gonna force me to dig through the archives and show the world how much of a caring, loving soul you were when you and your Yusufite scum cheerleaded the Xabashi genocide in the spring of 2007.

[NASSIR]

Mintid, The author's underlying assumption is that where there is a modicum of stability and progress, the inhabitants are superior, which means his folks are also superior. His is the route of Newtonian physics based on the constrained view of the world in which all events happen in A-->B-->C sequence--a myopic and outdated assumption of reality.

[NGONGE]

^^ What's that in ENGLISH?

 

Heh@Mintid. War leave Puntland alone.

[NASSIR]

Well the South is the bread basket of Somalia. It's more strategic and more populated than the whole North. Resource wars coupled with regional and international meddling contribute to its instability and choas. Resilient and progressive people if you solve the choas variable!

[NGONGE]

^^ I know that and you know that. But the author, who is not Somali, is judging matters by what his eyes can see. He sees peace; he expects progress. He sees war; he expects carnage. He has a point, don't you think?

[Malika]

^What point? It's common sense leh!

 

Is it me seeing things,or have these kind of threads,being posted more and more the last couple of day,and not only from the SLanders but PLanders as well.

 

May I ask what is the aim? If its to boast, ya all dont need that,WE get it,your enclaves are at peace,erm there is Democracy[ ], maxaa kale yaa all very pretty too..What I am I missing here. :rolleyes: