Three in the first four days. Three in 85 minutes last night. The Great British gold rush just keeps gathering momentum at these European Championships. Jessica Ennis played a captain’s innings on the penultimate night in the Montjuic Olympic Stadium, clinching the heptathlon title with a championship record score, after Dai Greene had won the 400m hurdles in commanding fashion. Then came the man whose Midas touch had started the British ball rolling on the opening night.  Last Tuesday night Mo Farah won the 10,000m at his leisure, toying with the opposition before putting them out of their misery by sprinting clear with 300 metres to go. Last night, with the 5,000m crown on the line, the burgeoning golden boy of British athletics brought his Midas touch to bear with the class of the truly great distance runner that he has become.

At the last European Championships in Gothenburg four years ago, Farah was beaten to the gold in the 5,000m by a tantalising 0.09sec – by the fast-finishing Spaniard Jesus Espana. Last night, the Somali-born Londoner could hardly have avenged that painful defeat in a more emphatic fashion.

Taking the lead with three laps to go, Farah ratcheted up the pace by degrees. It was the kind of thumbscrew treatment administered by the Inquisition in these parts once upon a time. It condemned poor Espana to a long, slow defeat, and silenced the Spanish crowd

Farah was away and clear before he swept into the home straight. He crossed the line in 13min 31.18sec. Espana was almost two seconds behind. Farah had grabbed his title, and completed the 5,000m and 10,000m double – the first British runner ever to do so at one of the four major championships: Olympic, world, European and Commonwealth Games. As he sank to his knees on the track, Farah was finally overtaken. Emotion succeeded where Espana had failed. The tears came flooding down. And with good reason.

In the 66-year history of the European Championships, before last night only four men had been strong enough to achieve the men’s distance double on the track: the great Czech soldier Emil Zatopek in 1950, Zdzislaw Krzyszkowiak of Poland in 1958, Juha Vaatainen of Finland in 1971, and Italy’s Salvatore Antibo in 1990.

“In the home straight, I just dug and dug,” Farah reflected, confessing that he had been unaware of the winning gap that he had created. “Four years ago, it was at that point where Espana came past me,” he said. “I didn’t want to look behind. I was telling myself to just dig and dig, and push and push. I’m just so happy that I’ve won.”

Ennis, meanwhile, had to push and push to add the European heptathlon crown to her expanding portfolio of titles, after lining up for the seventh and final event, the 800m, with a lead of only 18 points. Having won World Championship gold by a whopping 258 points in Berlin last summer, and the world indoor pentathlon title in Doha in March by 86 points, it was unfamiliar territory for the Sheffield woman who has established herself as the planet’s leading female all-rounder by some distance over the course of the last 18 months.

Sure, the gold was still hers to lose. Natalya Dobrynska would have to beat her by 1.25sec to snatch it from her, and on previous best times the Ukrainian was some three seconds slower over the two-lap distance. Still, the pride of the Steel City needed to show her mettle. Having failed to mount a sustained challenge to Ennis in either Berlin or Doha, in the preceding six events in Barcelona Dobrynska had suddenly rediscovered the kind of form that propelled her to Olympic gold in Beijing two years ago.

When the gun fired for the start of the 800m, Ennis shot into the lead and pushed the pace from the front. The gold looked to be in the bag. But then Dobrynska went for broke, sweeping past with 250 metres to go – only for Ennis to respond with interest. Regaining the lead with 180 remaining, the Briton sprinted to a clear victory in 2min 10.18sec.

Ultimately, Ennis pocketed the gold with 45 points to spare and with a lifetime best tally of 6,823 points, eclipsing Carolina Kluft’s championship record but missing Denise Lewis’s 10-year-old British record by a measly eight points. “I am so happy and so relieved,” Ennis said. “It has been a really tough couple of days. I’ve been pushed all the way and it’s a brilliant relief to have crossed that line and won the gold medal.

“On the start line for the 800m I was so nervous, knowing that if Dobrynska got ahead of me it would cost me the gold. With everyone doing so well and us winning so many medals, I kind of thought, ‘I don’t want to let anyone down’.”

There are high hopes of a seventh British gold medal on the final day today, courtesy of the men’s 4 x 400m relay quartet. There would also have been hopes of another from the men’s 4 x 100m relay team had their challenge not come to grief with a cock-up in the baton-passing department between Marlon Devonish and Mark Lewis-Francis in the semi-finals yesterday.

Still, there are also strong medal chances today for Lisa Dobriskey in the 1500m and the women’s 4 x 400m relay team. Another three medals of any description would eclipse the record British haul, the 18 gleaned in Split twenty years ago.

There were five medals in total last night, including a silver medal lining for Michael Rimmer in the 800m. With 250 metres to go, the Southport athlete had eased into the lead and was starting to wind up the pace. As he was doing so, however, he was being closely shadowed by Marcin Lewandowski, the other major contender. As Rimmer rounded into the home straight, the Pole moved alongside him and the pair were locked in a neck-and-neck duel until the last 10 metres.

At that point the Briton finally buckled. Lewandowski edged past to claim the win in 1min 47.07sec. Rimmer finished second in 1:47.17, his face unable to disguise his disappointment. “I gave it my all,” he said. “But fair play to Lewandowski. I dearly wanted to become the first British winner for 20 years.”

A graduate in history, Rimmers could not quite close the gap back to Tom McKean’s golden run in Split in 1990. Still, the 24-year-old joined one all-time British great in having to settle for 800m silver on the European Championship stage. Steve Ovett finished second to the Yugoslav Luciano Susanji in Rome in 1974 and to the big, barrel-chested Olaf Beyer of East Germany in Prague in 1978.

Euro stars

In Barcelona, the British team have so far won 16 medals: 6 golds, 6 silvers and 4 bronze. As well as yesterday’s victories for Jessica Ennis in the heptathlon and Dai Greene in the 400m hurdles, Mo Farah won the 5,000m and the 10,000m, Andy Turner took the 110m hurdles title and Phillips Idowu won the triple jump. At the 2006 European Championships in Gothenburg, GB bagged 11 medals – one gold, five silvers and five bronze. The 4×100m relay team took gold. In 2002 in Munich, Britain collected 12 medals – five golds, two silvers and five bronze. The winners were Paula Radcliffe in the 10,000m, Colin Jackson in the 110m hurdles, the 4×400m relay team, Steve Backley in the javelin and Ashia Hansen in the triple jump.

Giles Lucas

Final-day medal hopes

Chris Tomlinson

7.10pm: men’s long jump

After 10 attempts, Tomlinson has yet to win a medal at a senior outdoor championship. Could it be 11th time lucky tonight for the towering Teessider who broke Lynn Davies’s ancient British record eight years ago? He jumped a season’s best of 8.20m on Friday, the third-longest jump in the qualifying round, behind the 8.27m achieved by both Eusebio Caceres of Spain and Christian Reif of Germany. The field also includes the injury-plagued Andrew Howe, the defending champion from Italy.

Past GB winner Lynn Davies, 1966

Lisa Dobriskey

8.15pm: women’s 1500m

At the World Championships in Berlin last summer, Dobriskey executed a tactical race of near perfection to take the silver medal behind Maryan Jamal of Bahrain, missing gold by a tantalising 0.01sec. Three weeks ago the woman from Ashford in Kent was sitting pretty at the top of the European rankings and No 1 contender for Barcelona. Then Anna Alminova returned from a drugs ban to clock a stunning 3min 57.86sec in Paris. The Russian will start favourite. Hannah England and Steph Twell also go for GB.

Past GB winners None.

Best GB performance Kelly Holmes, silver 1994

Women’s 4×400m relay

8.40pm

The British squad travelled to Barcelona without Christine Ohuruogu, the injured Olympic 400m champion, but in the first round yesterday the GB quartet – consisting of Nicola Sanders, Vicky Barr, Marilyn Okoro and Lee McConnell – finished second in their heat, behind Russia, the red-hot favourites for gold. With Perri Shakes-Drayton, winner of the 400m hurdles bronze medal on Friday, likely to replace Okoro for the final, a medal becomes a realistic possibility.

Past GB win 1969

Men’s 4 x 400m relay

8.55pm

A run of five British triumphs was brought to an end by the French in Gothenburg four years ago but the historical trend looks likely to be restored. With a quartet of Martyn Rooney, Michael Bingham, Conrad Williams and Rob Tobin, Britain will start as the team to beat. The Belgians might run them close, with Kevin Borlée – who win the exciting individual 400m final ahead of Bingham and Rooney on Friday night – and his twin brother, Jonathan, to draw upon. Nonetheless, the championships should finish as they started on the track on Tuesday: with gold for Great Britain.

Past GB wins 1950, 1958, 1974, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002

The Inter-governmental Authority on Development member countries yesterday agreed to immediately deploy 2,000 troops to restore sanity in Mogadishu under siege by Al Shabab militants.

A Somali political analyst told VOA the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional organization, is incapable of resolving the ongoing crisis in Somalia.

Afyare Abdi Elmi, a professor of international affairs at Qatar University, said there are reasons to believe that Ethiopia is making efforts to inject itself into the ongoing Somali peace process by using IGAD’s mandate to achieve its objective.

“IGAD to me is a very weak regional organization, which is often dominated by the regional power, which is Ethiopia. So, basically, Ethiopia is trying to re-insert itself by using IGAD and it is trying to dominate the peace process in general,” he said.

IGAD’s Assembly of Heads of State and Government kicked off a two-day summit in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, Sunday

The summit, among other things, discussed the way forward in attaining a lasting solution for security and political problems that have plagued Somalia for decades.

The two-day summit was also scheduled to review the 36^th Extraordinary Session of the IGAD Council of Ministers, a report of the IGAD Military Experts’ Mission to Somalia, and consideration of the draft communiqué of the 15^th Extraordinary Summit of IGAD Heads of State and Government.

But, professor Elmi said the regional bloc has demonstrated its inability to resolve the Somali crisis.

“It (IGAD) cannot pay even its own budget, let alone resolve the conflicts that are taking place in the region. So, it’s almost impossible to even expect as little as helping the region or, perhaps, some of the countries within the region,” Elmi said.

He further said that whenever a regional power such as Ethiopia tries to push its agenda in the Horn of Africa region, it usually uses IGAD as an instrument to attain its objective, a charge Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s government denied.

Ethiopia has often said that it is committed to working with the Somali government, as well as the international community, to help resolve the escalating crisis in neighboring Somalia.

Established in 1986 with its headquarters in Djibouti, IGAD members comprise Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda.

Prime Minister Zenawi is currently the chairman of the IGAD Assembly of Heads of State and Government.

Professor Elmi said the international community should have seized “precious” moments to help resolve the Somali crisis.

“The international community has missed so many opportunities in the past. There were times that the momentum was on the side of the international community, and those who (were) willing to ginger (make more lively) the situation, and obviously we have missed that. The international community should be firm and talk to the leadership of the TFG (Transitional Federal Government) and tell them that this cabinet is way too large,” Elmi said.

Source: VOA

Eritrean Ambassador to Qatar Ali Ibrahim Ahmed and Djibouti’s Ambassador to Qatar Mahamadi Ali Mahamade exchange the minutes of the agreement, signed in Doha yesterday, in the presence of  HE the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Ahmed bin Abdullah al-Mahmoud

Doha -The minutes of the agreement to resolve the border dispute between Eritrea and Djibouti were signed at the Foreign Ministry headquarters here yesterday.�

The agreement was signed in Doha on June 6 this year by Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki, Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh and HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al- Thani as a mediator and witness. �

The minutes were signed by Eritrean Ambassador to Qatar Ali Ibrahim Ahmed on behalf of the government of Eritrea, and Djibouti’s Ambassador to Qatar Mahamade Ali Mahamade on behalf of the government of Djibouti. 
The minutes were also signed by HE the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Ahmed bin Abdullah al-Mahmoud, on behalf of the government of Qatar as the mediator and witness.

Ciidamada Booliiska ee Koonfur Afrika ayaa xiray afar qof oo loo heysto isku daygii dil ee lagu toogtay General u dhashay Rwanda oo masaafuris u jooga Koonfura Afrika.

Afhayeen u hadlay ciidamada booliiska ayaa sheegay in laga yaabo in dad kale loo xiro dhacdadaasi.

General Kayumba Nyamwasa ayaa laga toogtay caloosha xilli uu ka soo laabtay dukaan uu wax ka iibsanayay.

Xaaska Generalka ayaa ku tilmaantay in ay ahayd isku day dil oo ay ka danbeysay dowladda Rwanda.

Wasiirka arrimaha dibedda ee Rwanda ayaa beeniyay eedeyntaasi.

General Nyamwasa ayaa magangelyo u tagay Koonfur Afrika bishii February, kadib markii ay isku dhaceen Madaxweynaha Rwanda, Paul Kagame.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Augustine P. Mahigao of the United Republic of Tanzania as his Special Representative for Somalia and Head of the United Nations Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS).  Mr. Mahiga replaces Mr. Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah ( Mauritania) who has served in the position from September 2007.

Mr. Mahigabrings to this position many yearsof both Government and United Nations experience.  He combines extensive experience in conflict management, mediation, humanitarian and recovery/development activities.  In particular, Mr. Mahiga has lengthy and pertinent experience in the Horn of Africa and other parts of the continent, which will be invaluable in his new position.

Since 2003, Mr. Mahiga has served as the United Republic of Tanzania’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York.  In this capacity, he has been actively involved in various United Nations reform initiatives, including co-facilitating negotiations on establishing the Peacebuilding Commission (2005) and co-chairing intergovernmental consultations on System Wide Coherence reforms, including Delivering as One in eight pilot countries (2008).  Ambassador Mahiga has been engaged in intergovernmental and informal working groups on issues of development, peace and security, human rights, and strengthening the partnership between the United Nations and the African Union.

Before joining the Tanzanian Foreign Service in 1983, Mr. Mahiga worked in the President’s Office as Acting Director General and Director of Research and Training from 1977–1983.  He served in various capacities with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), including as Chief of Mission to Liberia, Coordinator and Deputy Director of the humanitarian and refugee crisis in the Great Lakes Region, and UNHCR Representative in India, Italy, Malta, the Holy See and the Republic of San Marino.

Mr. Mahiga holds a PhD in Philosophy and International Relations from the University of Toronto, Canada.  He was born on 28 August 1945 and is married with three children.

The Secretary-General expresses his deep appreciation to Mr. Ould-Abdallah for his dedicated service and exemplary leadership on Somalia over the last three years.  During his tenure, Mr. Ould-Abdallah has worked hard to bring international attention to Somalia — one of the world’s worst humanitarian and political crises.  Through his efforts, the people of Somalia have the Djibouti Peace Agreement, on which current peace and reconciliation efforts in Somalia are built on, as well as the recently adopted Istanbul Declaration that serves as a political pact between the International community and the Somali people on political, security, development and reconstruction issues.

Source: UN, Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York

Russia releases captured Somali pirates: official
ATTENTION – ADDS quotes from Russian officials, detail ///

MOSCOW, May 7, 2010 (AFP) – The Russian defence ministry said Friday that it had released a group of Somali pirates who were captured in the Gulf of Aden by its naval forces after seizing a Russian oil tanker.
“This is connected with there being an incomplete international legal basis” to keep them detained, the defence ministry’s chief spokesman Colonel Alexei Kuznetsov told the Interfax news agency.
A Russian defence ministry spokeswoman contacted by AFP confirmed the report but declined to give further information on the pirates’ current location.
Russian investigators had said Thursday that the 10 captured pirates would be brought to Moscow to face charges.
The pirates were captured when marines from a Russian warship stormed the tanker, called the Moscow University, in a dramatic rescue mission.
The tanker’s 23-person crew had avoided being taken hostage by barricading themselves in a secure cabin and were unharmed.
Russian officials on Friday urged the international community to develop legal procedures for dealing with pirates.
“In our view, the international community should take effective and urgent measures on this,” Russian foreign ministry spokesman Igor Lyakin-Frolov told Echo of Moscow radio.
“One of the difficult parts of countering maritime piracy is the problem of establishing jurisdiction over those suspected of piracy and armed sea attacks, as well as investigating such people and bringing them to justice.”
Moscow’s ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, said he would raise the issue of creating a “unified legal basis for fighting piracy” at a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council on May 19, Interfax reported.
The Kommersant daily, citing sources close to the investigation, reported that the problem which had forced Russia to release the pirates was that some of the captured pirates claimed that they were actually hostages themselves, who had been forced to raid the oil tanker by real Somali pirates.
Some Russian media reports suggested that the captured pirates could have been released to Puntland, a semi-autonomous region of Somalia where local authorities could put them on trial.
ao/sjw/boc

Dadaab, Kenya (ECHO) -As conflict and the break-down in law and order continues in Somalia, an increasing number of Somalis are fleeing the insecurity across the country. Many end up in the Dadaab refugee camps in the east of Kenya, which now host around 270,000 people. The European Commission Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO) is a major funder of the camps. ECHO’s Director General, Peter Zangl, has recently visited Dadaab to make his own assessment of the humanitarian needs there.

Question: What is the current situation in Dadaab?

Peter Zangl: According to figures released by the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, there are around 270,000 refugees now living in Dadaab. The number of new arrivals increased dramatically from the beginning of 2008 following an intensification of fighting in Somalia. In 2008 more than 61,000 new refuges were registered while in 2009 over 72,000 arrived. In the first quarter of 2010, the arrival rate has averaged over 4,800 per month.

Q: What are conditions like for refugees in Dadaab?

PZ: One of the most striking aspects of life in Dadaab is that on the surface, it seems so normal. But that normality masks the reality of over-crowding. The three camps, Dagahaley, Ifo and Hagadera which make up Dadaab were built for just 90,000 people around twenty years ago. There is now more than three times that amount. Inevitably, with such overcrowding, the services are stretched. Water delivery is a key issue. The Dadaab area has a plentiful supply but it is becoming increasingly difficult to supply it to all the refugees. The infrastructure of the ageing water network is nearing the end of its useful life and the increase in refugees is putting further pressure on the system.

Q: What support is ECHO providing?

PZ: In 2009, ECHO provided €10 million (US$13.2m) to fund a variety of interventions in Dadaab including food aid, water and sanitation services as well as health care. Already this year, we have provided an additional €3 million (US$4m) in funding. I visited a food distribution centre, a hospital and a latrine construction project all of which ECHO is funding.

Q: What is being done to deal with the overcrowding issue?

PZ: The Kenyan government recently agreed to allocate extra land to extend the Ifo camp and it is expected that ECHO will be involved with UNHCR in the expansion programme. I visited the site of the new extension, which will accommodate around 80,000 people. This should ease the congestion considerably.

Q: What is the future for the refugees of Dadaab?

PZ: Some of the refugees, I spoke to have been living in Dadaab for over 17 years. They told me that they would not return home until the fighting has stopped. The outlook for their return in the short term is not good. In the meantime, it is important that education in the camps is looked into in order to provide a better future for the children who are living there.

The humanitarian interventions, towards which the European Commission Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO) contributes, have ensured the basic needs of this very vulnerable population are being meet. The challenge in these situations is to go beyond providing the conditions for basic survival and ensuring that the refugees have a decent standard of living.

Source: European Commission Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO)

As far as The Southern Somalis are concerned, the people who are destroying Somali are from The Break away republic OF Somaliland who wants to entertain international recognition. Perhaps the Southern Somalia´s woes and wars; are the efforts of people from Somaliland who want to achieve international recognition for Somaliland. There has been no time for political settlement in the south, rehabilitation or reconstruction. The- population from southern Somalia have scattered around the world and Most do not know where their loved ones are and whether they are still living or dead. They live in fear under a heavy Shabab military presence, led Axmed Cabdi Goodane, also known as Moktar Ali Zubeyr Godane the Amir of Shabab who is from Somaliland. according

Ahmed Abdi Ow Mohamud Godane was born in Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland 10 July 1977. • He is from Arab sub-clan in Isaq clan, one of the dominant clan in northern Somalia . • He had received a scholarship in Pakistan funded by Saudi blind millionaires. • He used to visit in Afghanistan during holidays

In 2001, physically tin, Godane returned to Hargeisa, Somaliland . He began preaching in Abu-Bashir mosque in central Hargeisa between 2002 and 2003.

He was working for Ex-Barakat Telesom, Somaliland .

Later Godane left from Somaliland follwing a row with some of his group over a large amount of money they roped from an Ethiopian businessman and then come to southern Somalia. Godane and Afkhani both had trainings in Afghanistan and made friends in southern Somalia where they diverted their mission and doubled it.

When the Islamic Courts Union came to power in southern Somalia in 2006 Mr. Godane who gave himself the name ´Abu-Zubeyr became the general secretary for ICU.

During the start of the war with Ethiopia late 2006, Godane got wounded and flown to Sudan for medical treatment. • He was brought back in southern Somalia February 2007 where he continued his terror mission.

In southern Somalia, People suffer a continued armed Shabab presence, and daily human rights violations that are perpetrated with impunity and with no independent investigation of these crimes.

According to reliable sources, then the former business man and man with money coming from Somali land is definitely the evil in southern Somalia. But should the Somali Landers covertly be backing him as their candidate to insatiability in Southern Somalia? Which I don’t think so; he is implicated in war crimes and crimes against humanity. These men and many other Somalilanders in Shabab ranks were largely responsible for the instability of the South Somalia and kin and for the destruction of Somalia.

They should be brought to court to answer for their crimes and, given that, I believe it is morally and ethically impossible to throw one’s monetary or material support behind either of these criminals from Northern Somalia.

Southern Somali have always been at warlord sponsored wars. However this war is different and it has to be one that is getting monetary and material support from Northern Somalia and other State sponsors. The international community should monitor this situation closely.

Mahdi Haile
E-mail: somalisolutions@gmail.com

MANKATO — You could see it in the face of the little girl in the traditional Somali dress as she smiled shyly and handed him a bouquet of flowers.

You could see it in Lul Ahmed, a Somali immigrant and 11-year resident of Mankato, whose slightly trembling hands fussed over vats of sambusa, rice and chicken that he’d soon be tasting.

And it was clear that when Somali immigrants got off the elevator, their eyes scanned the room for a most unusual guest.

The man of the hour was Abukar A. Arman, Somalia’s special envoy to the United States, and perhaps one of the most important Somalis to ever step foot in Mankato.

He was in town Friday to visit city and community leaders, and leaders from the local Somali community.

Arman, whose office is in Washington, D.C., made a trip to Minnesota this week to visit Somali leaders in the Twin Cities. Minnesota, Arman said, has the largest Somali population in the nation.

And while Arman was here, Hashi Shafi, executive director of the Somali Action Alliance in Minneapolis, convinced him he should take a drive south to visit the ever-growing Somali community in southern Minnesota.

Shafi’s decision was helped along by Ahmed, a tireless advocate for Somali interests in the Mankato area.

“We asked him to come to southern Minnesota,” Ahmed said. “We don’t want everything to go on in the Twin Cities, we want to play our role. We want to be leaders, not followers.”

Arman said he’s interested in hearing what every Somali community in the United States has to say, and that’s partly what prompted his visit.

Somalia’s recent history has been tumultuous. And, ever since the infamous “Blackhawk Down” incident in which American lives were lost in an environment of civil unrest, Arman said relations between Somalia and the U.S. have been strained.

But the Somalian government, he said, is in the process of trying to improve relations with the U.S, and of trying to encourage Somali immigrants to be good representatives of their country.

“My effort has been to rally different communities and get them involved in that process, and to get them to become productive members of the communities where they live,” Arman said.

Also part of his visit, he said, is to provide a morale boost to Somali immigrants who may have become disenchanted with their homeland.

“In the past few years, it’s been dangerous to even visit Somalia,” Arman said. “Somalians, by and large, have been deprived of that love of country.”

Things are trending the other way now, he said, and he’s hoping Somali immigrants can soon be proud again of where they come from.

Bukata Hayes, executive director of the Greater Mankato Diversity Council, said the envoy’s visit was historic.

“I think it’s critical,” he said.

For years, Somalians didn’t even have an envoy to the U.S. Now they do, and he came to Mankato, which has a vibrant Somali population.

“This is very significant,” he said. “We’re making global connections.”

Ahmed said she was excited to show Arman the strength of the local Somali community, how they work together, how their students have adapted to American public schools and have succeeded at Minnesota State University and South Central College

Mohammed Ali Samantar is the only living vestige of the Barre regime, the last government in two decades to exercise central control over Somalia and, not coincidentally, the last that was impudent enough to try. When Siad Barre was finally overthrown in 1991, Samantar, who had served as defense minister and prime minister, fled, in a storm of bullets, to Italy. He eventually made his way to Fairfax, Va., where he lived in suburban obscurity until a group of Somali nationals discovered him, hired a lawyer, and sued for damages.

According to his accusers, the Barre regime committed unforgivable acts of violence against them and their families, offenses spanning a range of brutality from arbitrary detention, to torture, rape and extrajudicial killing. Samantar was allegedly aware of the crimes being perpetrated against civilians and yet failed to stop them. The suit was dismissed by a federal district court and then reinstated by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. It is now pending before the Supreme Court, where a peculiar coalition of defenders is urging reversal.

Among them, to the confusion of some observers, are five prominent pro-Israel organizations. In joint amicus briefs, the groups insist that as a former government official, Samantar should be immune from suit. To hold otherwise, they warn, would violate international law and set an inviting precedent for Israel’s enemies and their supporters in the human-rights community.

The arrival of the Israel lobby adds geopolitical intrigue to a case that already read like a Ludlum thriller. And because it speaks to real and immediate consequences, it lends concreteness to a discussion that would have otherwise carried on in the abstract. It is one thing for a lawyer to appeal to legal authority for the proposition that the courts of one nation ought not sit in judgment of the acts of another; it is quite another for five groups purporting to represent the interests of the Israeli government to advise that doing so in this case would be to declare open season on Israeli officials in U.S. courts.

It is not without some irony that organizations claiming to represent Israel, a state conceived in the wake of unprecedented state-sponsored violence, find their wagon hitched to the cause of an alleged war criminal. Nor does the position square, at least not at first glance, with less expansive interpretations of sovereign immunity advanced by the lobby’s constituents in the past. Just this year, Israeli victims of rocket fire on the Lebanese border sued the Iranian government, by way of its central banks, on the theory that it provided material support to Hezbollah, the source of the rockets. Last December, a pro-Israel group in Europe sued leaders of Hamas in a Belgium court, invoking what it described as the court’s “universal” jurisdiction over cases arising from war crimes. In both cases, sovereign immunity was an obstacle standing between Israeli interests and a favorable judgment; here, in Samantar’s case, supporters of Israel invoke it as a shield.

Nearly 1,000 suits against Israelis
In fact, Israel is far more likely to find itself on the receiving end of a human-rights suit. According to one report, nearly 1,000 suits have been filed globally against Israeli officials and military personnel alleging war crimes and other abuses. The defense ministry expects some 1,500 more will follow, many stemming from military operations in the coastal territories, but also some taking aim at the less violent aspects of Israeli anti-terror strategy, including one suit describing the security fence as a “crime against humanity.” An Israeli newspaper published a “wanted” list of current and former officials who are among the common named defendants. The list, which was republished in briefs to the court, reads like a who’s who in Israeli political and military history.

The forums for these suits vary, but they commonly feature developed Western countries that have lowered the drawbridge for human-rights litigants. Steering many of the cases are nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), some based in the Middle East with ties to the Palestinian government, others based in the West. In these suits supporters of Israel see pretext. They describe a more sinister objective, a coordinated effort to bring Israeli officials into federal courtrooms: The idea is to delegitimize Israel, but not before dragging officials through an invasive and costly discovery process. Do it enough and Israeli officials will start thinking twice before traveling to the United States, or, worse yet, before assuming roles that could expose them to suits.

In the immediate term, the briefs warn, relations between the United States and Israel will suffer. Like any partnership, the US/Israeli alliance benefits from a rich and ongoing exchange of people and ideas. For the exchange to thrive, current and former Israeli officials must be able to travel to and within the United States without fear of being served with a lawsuit. By way of illustration, the American Jewish Congress recounts the story of Moshe Ya’alon, a retired Israeli general who was recently summoned to court upon arriving in Washington for a think-tank forum. The complaint, which sought damages for civilian deaths resulting from a battle on the Lebanese border between Israel and Hezbollah, was perfunctory. With respect to Ya’alon, it alleged only that he served in the army chain-of-command during the relevant period. The district court dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds and the D.C. Circuit affirmed, concluding that the immunity of a foreign state extends to its former officials. Ya’alon never had to step foot in a courtroom.

Now suppose that instead of Washington, he had been served with the suit 15 minutes away, in Arlington, Va. In that event the dismissal of his suit would have been appealed to the Fourth Circuit, which, as we learned in Samantar’s case, does not share the D.C. Circuit’s view on official immunity. In other words, had Ya’alon booked a hotel across the river, he might well still be there today.

A statutory nightmare
Naturally, US-Israeli relations didn’t figure into the Supreme Court’s questioning at oral arguments. The justices had assembled to resolve a disagreement among the federal circuit courts over whether sovereign immunity extends to officials. Accordingly, they trained their focus on Samantar and his theory of the case, which rests on the off-stated maxim that one equal has no dominion over another equal. That this saying, which encapsulates the principle of sovereign immunity, is most commonly recited in Latin suggests something about its vintage. It is as close to a truism as a proposition can come in a foggy discipline like international law, and it is an animating principle of the Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act (FSIA). That law changed the way U.S. courts process suits against foreign governments. Before 1976, a court needed the go-ahead from the State Department before docketing such cases. When this approach proved unwieldy, Congress vested gate-keeping authority in the federal courts and then cabined it by stripping them of jurisdiction over suits against foreign states that don’t fit within a narrow set of exceptions.

Until recently it was generally accepted that these same protections applied to foreign officials. After all, a suit against a foreign official acting on behalf of a state is effectively a suit against the state. True, the caption may list the Minister of Defense rather than the Ministry of Defense, and the plaintiff may have his sights set on a personal bank account rather than the national treasury, but in either case the court is sitting in judgment of the state’s actions. It has intuitive appeal, this idea. It also has the support of the majority of the federal circuits.

But as the Fourth Circuit pointed out below, the argument is without support in the one place it needs it most — the text of the FSIA. FSIA extends sovereign immunity to “foreign states” as well as their “agencies and instrumentalities,” but it remains silent on the matter of foreign officials. For supporters of broad immunity, this omission is proof that the identity of interests between a foreign sovereign and its officials is self-evident. Congress, they argue, had no reason to split hairs, to try to distinguish the indistinguishable. Opponents insist that if Congress wanted to extend immunity to foreign officials, it would have said so.

Another wrinkle
The theory that foreign officials are immune from lawsuits encounters a more mystifying problem in the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA), a federal law that permits victims of state-sponsored torture to bring suit in the United States against culpable foreign officials. The TVPA is one of the statutes supplying the cause of action in the suit against Samantar, but that’s not why it’s important. Rather, as Justice Kennedy pointed out during oral arguments, the text of the TVPA appears to make a mockery of the proposition that foreign officials are never amenable to suit in U.S courts. To read the law any other way would be to watch it evaporate, an entire congressional enactment rendered useless, leaving torture victims a right without a remedy. The court, Justice Kennedy reminds, is not in the business of reading entire statutes out of existence.

Supporters of immunity for foreign officials counter that allowing the case to proceed against Samantar would be just as devastating for FSIA. As a preoccupation of Justice Breyer’s, this argument soaked up a fair amount of the court’s time. The consensus is that opening officials to suits would allow litigants to undermine the intent of the FSIA without actually violating it. In Ya’alon’s case, instead of suing the Ministry of Defense, a lawyer with his wits about him would simply name Ya’alon, the former head of army intelligence, and the suit would survive. “What you are saying,” Breyer concluded, “is that FSIA is only good against a bad lawyer.”

Hedging, counsel for the plaintiffs reminded the Court that jurisdiction is not the only hurdle between a foreign official and liability. Once a plaintiff establishes jurisdiction, there are other age-old immunity doctrines that shield foreign officials from suit. There is the head of state doctrine, for instance, which protects current and former leaders from prosecution and civil liability, or the doctrine of diplomatic immunity, a similar, if more controversial, safeguard for diplomats and their staff. But there is no small difference between immunity from suit and immunity from liability. To have the former without the latter is to have comfort without convenience; it is, so to speak, the difference between putting up and showing up.

The Supreme Court is thus left to choose between two seemingly impossible outcomes. Extend sovereign immunity to foreign officials and the Torture Victim Protection Act is gutted, along with U.S. credibility in the human rights community. Expose them to suit and make hash of one of the core objectives of the Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act—saving key allies the expense and embarrassment of defending national security decisions in US courts. To the extent possible, courts generally try to read conflicting statutes in a way that gives effect to both. But even with so much hanging in the balance, coexistence between the TVPA and the FSIA appears impossible. Unimpressed and evidently undecided, the justices took the case under advisement.

Sam Singer is a 2009 graduate of Emory Law School and a staff law clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

Canadain Somali Congress

The Canadian Somali Congress recently hosted a community town hall meeting in Ottawa in order to discuss issues of importance to the Canadian Somali community with the Federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and Transport Minister John Baird.  The main issues that were brought up included immigration issues as well as problems that are constantly faced by Canadian Somalis at borders and airports.  The event also provided the community with an opportunity to hear from Minister John Baird on his recent trip to Ethiopia that was undertaken by him to try and secure the freedom of Canadian Somali Bashir Makhtal.  For the benefit of those community members that couldn’t attend this important event, here are the main points that were raised by the community and the two ministers in the meeting:
�
Opening remarks:
�
Transport minister John Baird spoke to the community about his ongoing efforts to secure the freedom of Canadian Somali Bashir Makhtal from illegal Ethiopian detention.  The Minister told the community that one of the results of his recent trip to Ethiopia is that he is now working to meet certain requirements that the Ethiopian government has put in place before they agree to finally release Bashir.  He concluded his remarks on this subject by promising that he will continue to work hard on this case until Bashir Makhtal comes home.

Immigration minister Kenney spoke at length about Government of Canada’s engagement with the Somali community here as well as with the nation of Somalia.  He spoke about the fact that it was the government of Brian Mulroney that opened the doors to thousands of Somali refugees as they made a new home in Canada in the late 80s and early 90s.  The minister also hailed the strong leadership shown by Ahmed Hussen of the Canadian Somali Congress on the issue of the deaths of Canadian Somalis in Alberta and the integration of young members of the community into the mainstream

Questions and Answers:
�
Issue of bringing a large number of Somali refugees to Canada

There were numerous questions from the audience that asked the immigration minister whether the Canadian government is willing to bring hundreds or even thousands of Somali refugees that are living in refugee camps around the world.  For example, Ahmed Hussen pointed out that the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya is now the largest camp in the world and has families there that have been living in it for two decades.  Minister Kenney in principle said that he is willing to bring a large number of Somali refugees to Canada if certain conditions are met.  He said that if the community through an organization like the Canadian Somali Congress reached an agreement with the Government of Canada in terms of contributing to some of the settlement costs of the refugees, he would be willing to work with the community to bring a large number of Somali refugees to Canada.  He urged the Canadian Somali Congress to follow up on this issue by talking to the Vietnamese community and learn about how they successfully brought thousands of Vietnamese refugees to Canada. �

�
Problems encountered by Canadian Somalis at borders and airports:
�
Many people at the event asked the two ministers questions regarding difficulties experienced by Canadian Somalis at the US border and at airports.  Transport minister John Baird answered this question by stating categorically that Canada does not engage in racial profiling.  He told the community that if they have documented proof of cases where they have been racially profiled then the community should bring these cases forward so that those officials who engage in racial profiling can be removed from those positions.  The minister also noted that there are now many Canadian Somalis who work at the Ottawa airport.
�
Immigration backlogs and delays in sponsorships faced by Canadian Somalis:
�
There were some questions that dealt with the issue of immigration backlog and delays faced by Canadian Somalis in spousal and family reunification sponsorships.  Immigration minister Jason Kenney answered this question by speaking about the enormous backlog faced by Canadians and foreign nationals from all parts of the world and that this was not a problem that is peculiar to the Somali community.  He spoke about the fact that Canada is the second-most desired destination of immigrants around the world.  He added that he would be willing to work with the community through the Canadian Somali Congress in order to look at ways to improve services and speed processes at Canadian diplomatic missions that are used by Somali refugees and by Canadian Somalis when they travel abroad.  The minister said that he is willing to consider hiring more staff if that is what is needed to solve this problem facing the community.  As an example, the minister revealed that he will soon undertake a trip to Nairobi, Kenya in order to see for himself whether there are ways to improve consular services at the Canadian High Commission in Nairobi.

The National President of the Canadian Somali Congress, Ahmed Hussen, concluded the meeting by thanking the two ministers for taking time off their busy schedule to meet the community on a Sunday afternoon.  He spoke about the challenges facing the community but also pointed out the success and dynamism of the Canadian Somalis.  For example, he pointed out that the entrepreneurial spirit of our community has resulted in the revitalization of Alberta avenue, an area of Edmonton that was previously known for crime and destitution.  Ahmed also spoke about the fact that the vast majority of the Canadian Somali community are no longer immigrants and that most of them no longer need immigrant settlement services.  What they need is for the Government of Canada to work with the community in order to make sure Canadian Somali youth who are the majority of the community, get access to adequate jobs and professions.  In short, the Canadian Somali community wants to integrate quickly so as to enjoy the fruits of the mainstream

MOGADISHU, Somalia — A veiled female journalist (who also happens to be wearing a snug denim skirt) sits in a soundproof studio with a fuzzy microphone in front of her face.

“Salaam Aleikum,” she says, greeting a man who has called in to the radio station.

� Jehad Nga for The New York Times (Enlarge image)The station is a beacon of freedom for reporters, editors, technicians and disc jockeys all across Somalia.

“Yes, hello,” he replies anxiously. “I want to talk about pirates. These guys aren’t being treated fairly.”

In a booth next door, news producers prepare the daily diet of mayhem and more: three bodies found in Bakaro market; President Sheik Sharif preaches reconciliation at a mosque; Islamic scholars speak out about the Shabab insurgent group cutting off hands; the livestock market is looking up and the price of goats, thank God, is steadily rising.

Good Morning. . .Mogadishu!

This is a typical day at Radio Mogadishu, the one and only relatively free radio station in south central Somalia where journalists can broadcast what they like — without worrying about being beheaded. The station’s 90-foot antennas, which rise above the rubble of the neighborhood, have literally become a beacon of freedom for reporters, editors, technicians and disc jockeys all across Somalia who have been chased away from their jobs by radical Islamist insurgents.

Whoever controls Mogadishu, controls Radio Mogadishu, and since the station opened in 1951 that has meant nattily dressed Italian administrators, a short-lived democratic government, a military dictator, various warlords and assorted thugs, Islamist sheiks and now a weak but internationally recognized transitional government that does not have a grip on the capital but is ensconced in the hilltop neighborhood where the station is.

Radio Mogadishu’s 100 or so employees are marked men and women, because the insurgents associate them with the government. The journalists eat and sleep here, rarely venturing out. Most get paid a few hundred dollars a month. Some, like the station’s senior political correspondent, Abdi Aziz Mahamoud Africa, strut around the compound in baggy jeans and Western-style jerseys that could get them killed in other parts of town.

A platoon of Ugandan soldiers, part of the African Union peacekeeping mission here, is hunkered down behind sandbags at the station’s gate, the business end of their rifles trained on the warren of shot-up streets and blasted-out homes outside. Few people even live here anymore. Somalia has become one of the most dangerous places in the world to practice journalism, with more than 20 journalists assassinated in the past four years. “We miss them,” Mr. Africa said about his fallen colleagues.

He cracked an embarrassed smile when asked about his name. “It’s because I’m dark, really dark,” he said.

Mr. Africa used to work at one of the city’s other radio stations (the city has more than 10) but decided to move on after fighters with the Shabab dropped by and threatened to kill the reporters if they did not broadcast pro-Shabab news. Mr. Africa called the Shabab meddlers “secret editors” and now he carries a gun.

“I tried to get the other journalists to buy pistols,” Mr. Africa remembered. “But nobody listened to me.”

Another reporter, Musa Osman, said that his real home was only about a mile away.

“But I haven’t seen my kids for months,” he said.

He drew his finger across his throat and laughed a sharp, bitter laugh when asked what would happen if he went home.

The digs here are hardly plush. Most of the journalists sleep on thin foam mattresses in bald concrete rooms. The station itself is a crumbling, bullet-scarred reflection of this entire nation, which has been essentially governmentless for nearly two decades.

One of the buildings on the compound is a heap of pulverized rubble with a blown-out ceiling. “Black Hawk Down,” one young journalist explained, almost proudly. The building was apparently bombed in 1993, when the station was run by Gen. Mohammed Farah Aideed, a notorious Somali warlord whose militiamen fought against American troops in a vicious street battle later immortalized by the book and film, “Black Hawk Down.”

Mr. Aideed’s mustachioed, almost goofy-looking visage still gazes from a wall, along with sepia-toned photographs of Somalia’s last dictator, Gen. Mohammed Siad Barre. Nearby is an old dog-eared timetable for Somali airlines titled, “The White Star Service.” The White Star has not flown for years.

In a city where relentless small-caliber gunfire has reduced just about every monument, library and place of note to a pile of sun-bleached concrete block, Radio Mogadishu may be one of the last surviving repositories of Somali history. In a shadowy back room, past ancient turntables and gutted speakers with wires shooting out, are miles and miles of reel-to-reel tapes stacked floor to ceiling in 10-foot-high racks. They are carefully labeled in fading ink: old speeches, cultural songs, patriotic songs, interviews with nomads and other mementos of a vanishing culture. Every week, some of the tapes are dusted off and played on a show called “Reminisces.”

“This place is a cultural treasure, believe it or not,” said Mukhtar Ainashe, a presidential adviser.

The United Nations is trying to help the Somalis convert the vintage tapes to compact discs before humidity and time overtake them. The fledging Somali government is also pouring in resources, like a new transmitter that will expand coverage from a few miles to more than 60, because Radio Mogadishu is seen as a key piece of its hearts-and-minds strategy to pull the public over to the government’s side.

But the journalists here insist they are not merely public relations agents.

They air the speeches of insurgent leaders, they say, and stories about government soldiers robbing citizens.

“If the government does something bad,” Mr. Africa said. “We report it.”

Kenya serves as “a major base” for Islamist groups battling Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government, the United Nations says in a recent report that also details the Kenyan government’s training of TFG forces — in apparent violation of a UN embargo.

Kenyan nationals account for about half of all foreigners fighting in Somalia under the banner of the Al Shabaab insurgency force, the report says.

Many of these fighters are recruited through a support network in Nairobi consisting of “wealthy clerics-cum-businessmen, linked to a small number of religious centres notorious for their links to radicalism,” the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia states in its March 10 report.

Leaders of Al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam, the other main insurgent group in Somalia, “travel with relative freedom to and from Nairobi, where they raise funds, engage in recruitment and obtain treatment for wounded fighters,” the Monitoring Group finds.

Some African and European diplomats based in Nairobi meanwhile engage in visa fraud that enables the smuggling of illegal migrants into Europe and other destinations for fees of about $12,000 for a man and $15,000 for a woman, the UN says.

The ambassador of an African country to Kenya reportedly plays a key role in this visa fraud scheme, the report adds.

The Nairobi embassy of another country in the Horn of Africa is said to funnel cash on a monthly basis to insurgent forces inside Somalia. “An estimated $1.6 million of such funding may have passed through Kenya alone in 2008,” the report says.

The Monitoring Group criticises the Kenyan government for its failure to co-operate with UN investigations of breaches of the arms embargo established by the Security Council in 1992.

“One notable exception,” the report adds, “was the Kenya Police Criminal Investigations Division, which provided valuable assistance to the Monitoring Group.”

The report also cites Kenyan authorities’ denials of “sanctions-busting” activities that the UN charges they have carried out or abetted.

The Monitoring Group points in particular to military training that Kenya conducted last year on behalf of the TFG for some 2,500 youths recruited from inside Somalia and from northeastern Kenya, including the Dadaab refugee camps.

Kenyan officials have acknowledged training TFG police officers, but “initially denied any other type of training,” the Monitoring Group notes.

In the absence of authorisation from the United Nations, such training initiatives are in violation of the arms embargo.

The Monitoring Group further confirms that Kenya’s training of TFG recruits involved numerous “irregularities,” including recruitment of children and Kenyan citizens as well as “false promises of financial remuneration.”

The Mosque connection

In detailing connections between Somalis in Nairobi and insurgent fighters in Somalia, the Monitoring Group names several mosques in the Kenyan capital.

“The networks organised around these institutions have long provided both ideological leadership and a resource base for Somali militants,” the UN report states.

It describes a 31-year-old cleric “believed by the government of Kenya to have obtained Kenyan nationality under false pretences,” as a key leader of one such mosque. The cleric issued a fatwa in February 2009 calling for attacks on the TFG and Amisom troops, the report says.

It identifies another leader of the same mosque, “who travels freely between Nairobi and Mogadishu.”
He regularly engages in online forums with Al Shabaab recruiters and trainers in Mogadishu, the report says.

Source: The East African

* Djibouti president hopes for third mandate starting 2011
* Sees Somalia situation improving
* Expects up to 6 pct GDP growth in 2010
* Chinese to transform port into region’s shipping hub

The president of Djibouti Ismail Omar Guelleh signalled in an interview that he was prepared to run for a third six-year term if lawmakers amend the constitution in the small Horn of Africa nation.

The national assembly is expected to decide next week on an extension of presidential terms in office and speculation has surrounded his plans to run for a third mandate.

“This is a demand from our population and this will be next year. Let us wait for the outcome of the national commission that is working on the subject,” Guelleh said in an interview on Saturday at the 19th century French colonial presidential palace on the shores of the Indian Ocean.

Asked if he would accept the parliament’s decision to approve a third term, he said: “If it’s God’s will.”

Guelleh took office in 1999 and his second mandate expires in April 2011

Djibouti, a former French colony which separates Eritrea from Somalia, hosts France’s largest military base in Africa and a major U.S. base. Its port is used by foreign navies patrolling busy shipping lanes off the coast of Somalia to fight piracy.

Guelleh said he believed the situation in Somalia was improving.

“I think the situation is better than before. There is some sort of fed-up (mood) among the Somali people especially of Mogadishu’s citizens which suffer from this opposition. I think that (President) Sheikh Sharif (Ahmed) will prevail,” he said.

Since 2007, fighting between pro-government militia and the Islamist al Shabaab group — which Washington sees as al Qaeda’s proxy in the region — has killed more than 21,000 Somalis and driven 1.5 million from their homes.

Ahmed joined a Western-backed peace process and was voted president of Somalia in January 2009 in an election which took place in Djibouti.

Guelleh said he was not planning to send more troops to Somalia on top of the 450 Djibouti has pledged to boost a 5,000 strong African Union force there.

Relations between Djibouti and neighbouring Eritrea under President Isaias Afwerki remain hostile.

The U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions on Eritrea in December, accusing it of destabilising the region by providing funds and arms to Islamist insurgents in Somalia. Eritrea has denied the allegations.

“We are now in the process of implementation of the resolution which we hope will make this guy more flexible to the international community,” Guelleh said, referring to Isaias. “He must abide by international law.”

Guelleh said he expected Djibouti’s 2010 gross domestic product (GDP) to come in above a 5.4 percent estimate by the International Monetary Fund.

“We have not so much been affected by the financial crisis. We hope that there will be an influx of foreign direct investment which will boost our economy. We hope that we will achieve 5.7 or even 6 percent,” he said.

Chinese will be Djibouti’s biggest investors next year and in 2012, Guelleh said. “The Chinese will help make the port of Djibouti the biggest hub in this region. That will cost nearly half a billion U.S. dollars,” he said.

“We’ll have an electrified railway from Djibouti to Addis Ababa — also by the Chinese. And we’ll have geothermal energy. And we are in discussions with French investors (about) wind farms.”

(Reporting by Martina Fuchs; Additional reporting by Abdourahim Arteh; Editing by Noah Barkin)

The Embassy of the Somali republic in Kenya has nothing to do with corrupted Visas, thus, the existence of the Embassy and the integrity of its Ambassador must be respected at all. Its completely deplorable such a baseless and falsified allegations against the Embassy to disgrace its Ambassador Hon. Mohamed Ali Ameriko who is the only Somali representing diplomat with tangible services for his country and fellow citizens.

“I have seen the report and astonished with the content, the authors of this report have no knowledge of what they did, they cannot classify the responsibility of the embassy and the access of the ambassador for outside activities, our responsibility is only to serve for the country and people we represent with respect for others”, Ambassador Mohamed Ali said.

“If we get a Visa application letter from members of our government, our duty is simply to attach an official letter from our embassy to it and pass to the concerned embassy so that we don’t have the power or decisions to either offer or reject the Visa, it’s the requested embassy that will have such decisions”, he said.

“There is no any substantial evidence in the falsified report  that Somali embassy in Kenya offers entry Visas  for Europe or other continents, this information is totally baseless and organized lies by some elements working with the foreign individuals who wrote the report to disgrace the Embassy”, he added.

For the last four years the embassy worked, it showed relentless diplomatic efforts connecting Somalia to the international community, the embassy also returned Somalia back to the international relations forum.

The biased report with its unfounded and appalling contents  have nothing to do with Ambassador Mohamed Ali (Americo)and the reality he stands for, but only revealed the fact that some elements are still working hard to disgrace the foreign diplomatic missions of Somalia and its representatives operating  in Kenya.

The Somali transitional government made its stance clear on the baseless allegations by the so called UN monitoring team whose unfolded investigations on corrupt Somali officials cast shadow over the respect the government had for the UN team prior to its allegations.

“Publishing and disseminating such a false report is a patent violation against the international conventions of the United Nations and its security council”, Somali government said in a statement made recently.

The shocking report seems to be prepared by individuals with no cooperation with the transitional government, but instead associating with the terrorists and opposition of the government whose intention is to derail the existing Somalia administration in order to pave the way for a new reconciliation conference to establish another government. Their sources of information could be given as a prove for aiming to keep Somalia in the long-lasting anarchy, they only listened to violent unpatriotic elements in Kenya and other countries outside Somalia, to give packing for what they wrote as monitoring team report. One also asks about the impartiality of the report when it does not mention any foreign individual who illegally benefited from the financial aid contributed to Somalia by the international community while we know there are many.

We are aware that the financial aid never gets directly to the intended Somali government and its people; most of the finance goes directly to the accounts of foreign individuals working with the UN offices like UNDP, and WFP.

Somalia ambassador to Kenya Mohamed Ali is also remembered with his efforts towards humanitarian sects apart from his diplomatic duties, Mr. Ali personally extended humanitarian assistant to Somali refugees fleeing from Mogadishu clashes, he established study center in El-Arfid, a tiny village outside Mogadishu where thousands of displaced families escaping Mogadishu clashes reached for the past two years and also extends permanent visitations at the overcrowded Somali Refugee camps in northeastern Kenya to monitor their livelihood situations.

An opinion poll conducted just two days after the report showed the Ambassador had been victimized with baseless allegations with most people interviewed defending Mr. Ali as the only decent diplomat out here for serving his nation and fellow citizens without corruptions in his work. Hence, the United Nations must investigate the report and take suitable stapes against its authors as soon as it makes the conclusions.

“There are many foreign actors who benefit from the lawlessness of Somali country and the head of the UN monitoring team that prepared the report is not less than one of them, he always tends to divide Somali society by having links with individuals inflaming Somalia wars” Mohamed Husein Ali, a Somali intellectual in Nairobi said.

“There is no need to listen from such a man with history of exploiting human sufferings”, he added

“The European countries can offer Visas or reject and that is their responsibility but why Somali Embassy has anything to do with that? They are completely wrong”,

The report is not only destructive defaming Somalia but also damages other European embassies in Nairobi which it mentioned manipulated for their diplomatic missions by the Somali embassy.

Finally, I call upon the United Nations to apologize for the Somali people by offending their diplomatic integrities outside the country while in the other hand it has to compensate on the ambassador for its disgraceful and shameless report that personally damaged his fame.

Nuradin M.M

 Date: 18th March 2010

PRESS_Release_ST3

For immediate release: 16 March 2010 On 10th March 2010, the United Nations Monitoring Group on Somalia published its report pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution 1853 (2008). In doing so, the Monitoring Group made very serious allegations against Mr Adaani and Swift Traders. Mr Adaani and Swift Traders are dismayed by the allegations made against them and categorically deny any wrong doing. It is noted that the Office of the Prime Minister of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia has itself raised serious questions over the validity and credibility of the Monitoring Group report. Mr Adaani and Swift Traders intend to take all steps available to refute the allegations made against them.

Managing Director

Abdulkadir Abukar Omar

PRESS_Release_ST3

Somalia speaker Sheik Adan Mohamed Nur strongly denied the context of recent report by the UN monitoring team which accused Somalia contractors to have links with the Al-Qaida inspired Shebab group.

The speaker said the report by the UN monitoring team lacked credibility with no substantial prove of what it accused against the Somali traders whom the UN contracted for transporting the humanitarian food-aid to the needy.

A draft of the report which was passed to the UN Security Council was recently published by the New York Times.

“I can tell you that this report is completely baseless, we know Sheik Ibrahim Abdulahi had two stores handed over to him by the Somali transitional Government close to our headquarters so that this reports is totally false”, the speaker told reporters in Nairobi.

The speaker said the truth must not be mixed with the baseless information and called on the United Nations to consider its reports with great care by not publishing baseless reports.

He said Sheik Ibrahim and the other accused individuals had been delivering emergency food aid to the Somali society by taking great risks and thay never belong to what the baseless report is accusing against them.

Sheik Adan said the United Nations need more investigations before publishing such reports by reaching relevant people in the ground and local non-governmental organizations. He said the report was collected by irrelevant individuals who do not know the situation in the country.

“I know Sheik Ibrahim personally, he is a decent dude with no links to the political stake holders in the country and had been a trader for 45 years so that I can say this report victimized him”, he said before leaving Nairobi.

Somalia president had earlier defended Abdulkadir Enow, one of the contractors accused by the UN report. The president wrote a letter to the UN secretary general on September defending Mr. Enow as a good person who with his efforts rescued many Somalis

By UNITED NATIONS, March 15 — A UN-promoted joint Law of the Sea filing by Kenya and those Somalis the UN works with, about Somalia’s offshore rights, has finally been acknowledged by the UN as rejected by the Somalia parliament.

  On March 12, 2010, the UN web site quietly added the notation that the “Memorandum of Understanding” about the filing, pushed by Nairobi based UN envoy Ahmedou Ould Abdallah and funded by oil drilling Norway, “has been rejected by the Parliament of the Transitional Federal Government Somalia, and is to be hence treated as non-actionable.”

  Inner City Press has reported extensively about this controversial MOU, which despite rejection in Somalia has been defended by the UN, Ould Abdallah and Norway. Another analysis by some Inner City Press sources is below.

  But the UN’s quiet admission that its plan for the Somali coastline was rejected by Somalis comes as the UN’s Sanctions Group on Somalia is promoting its findings about widespread diversion of aid to Al Shabab. As Inner City Press reported, the Sanctions report has subject last week to a staged leak, first to the New York Times and then to wire services. Some UN correspondents reported did not appreciate the exposure of how the document was shown. But it is relevant, and should have been reported in the initial stories

Here now is an alternative telling of the UN – Somali story, an update to Inner City Press’ previous reporting on the MOU:

From the [beginning, many] Somalis were furious about the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), saying “Somali territorial waters would have been lost had this MOU succeed”. And any where that the Somali TFG delegations travel they were confronted by angry citizens asking them “why did they sign that MOU” and demanding answers from them.

While many Somali lawmakers (MPs) were criticizing the government about the controversial MOU with Kenya, and hand full of TFG ministers were shying away from defending it, Deputy Prime Minister ( he is also Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources) Abdirahman Adan Ibbi (AKA Prof. Ibbi) became the biggest lobbyist for the MOU – Weird huh!

Prof. Ibbi fought very had so that the MOU would go forward. In doing so he wrote a letter* to Ban Ki Moon on August 19, 2009 supporting the MOU – it was after the Somali parliament rejected the same MOU (and voted down on August 1, 2009).

What is serious about that letter was: it was signed by him, Prof. Ibbi, but is says it was written by TFG Prime Minister Omer Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke who was out of town at the time. When that letter became public Prof. Ibbi started to fade away into the background.

Prof. Ibbi had a backing of the TFG president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, who also defended the MOU .

When the Somali PM Sharmarke realized that his deputy used his name, he (Sharmarke) wrote his own letter to Ban Ki Moon on October 10, 2009, supporting the Parliament decision. The funny thing is, Sharmarke’s office did not send that letter to The Secretary-General of UN as they should. Much later, realizing again, Sharmarke handed the letter to Somalia’s Foreign Minister, Ali Jama Jangali so that he could hand deliver to Ban Ki Moon or at least send through appropriate channel.

Nobody knows whether Jangali handed that letter to The Secretary-General – at least it was not posted at the UN website as they did the previous letters regarding the same MOU.

While all these were going on, a group of Somali lawmakers, who were fed up with government, sent their own letter to Ban-Ki Moon asking him not to accept the controversial maritime deal between Kenyan and Somalia and remind him that Somali Parliament rejected it. Again that letter also was not posted at UN website and as far as we aware of, The Secretary-General of the United Nations did not respond the Somali MPs’ letter – at least he did send reply back.

We do not know what did it or which letter reached at the Ban Ki Moon’s desk. But we do know that there was an update at UN website on 12 March 2010 stating that: “The MOU has been rejected by the Parliament of the Transitional Federal Government Somalia, and is to be hence treated as non-actionable.

This has been a huge relief for Somalis in general as they realize that the MOU between Somalia and Kenya is non-actionable – which in legal term means NULL & VOID.

Somalis think this is very good statement from UN headquarters, why? The MOU between Somalia and Kenya had a backing of UN Somalia Office (based mainly in Nairobi Kenya). This has been a concern for Somali people. And that is why many believe that UN Headquarters did not acknowledge quickly when Somali Parliament rejected the same MOU.

This is also a news dawn for Somali political system, some say, as members of parliament realize that they can overrule any law (for Somalia) even if the president doesn’t approve it. There had been even a talk to impeach the Somali parliament speaker, Sheikh Aden Mohamed Nur (AKA Aaden Madoobe) as he did not act swiftly when the TFG government started the maritime MOU between Somalia/Kenya.

* Below is the link of Prof. Ibbi’s letter (at UN website)

http://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/submissions_files/ken35_09/som_re_ken_clcs35.pdf

You can compare with the Somali PM’s signature at following link (UN website).

http://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/submissions_files/preliminary/som_2009_letter.pdf

We’ll have more on this

A Somali Islamist leader who opposed his group’s merger with the al-Qaeda aligned al-Shabaab movement was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in the capital, Mogadishu.

Bare Ali Bare, a military commander of the Ras Kamboni Brigade, was gunned down inside Bakara market, an Islamist stronghold in the center of the city, Sheikh Ali Ahmed, an official from Hisbul Islam, said in a phone interview today.

“This is a big issue because Bare was one of our top officers and we should apprehend the masterminds soon,” Sheikh Ali Ahmed, a commander of the nationalist Hisbul Islam group, said in a phone interview today. “The criminals will be brought to justice.”

The Ras Kamboni militia merged with al-Shabaab earlier this year, having previously belonged to Hisbul Islam, according to Stratfor, an Austin, Texas-based intelligence group. An alliance between al-Shabaab and Hisbul, which together began an unsuccessful attempt to dislodge the Western-backed Somali government from power in May 2009, has deteriorated into open confrontation between the two sides, Stratfor said on Feb. 1.

Bare said at the time of the merger that those who had joined al-Shabaab were “individuals and didn’t represent our name.”

Somalia’s government has been battling Islamist insurgents, including al-Shabaab, since 2007. The rebels control most of southern and central Somalia. The U.S. accuses al-Shabaab of having links to al-Qaeda, which has said it aims to establish a caliphate, or Islamic government, in the Horn of Africa country.

Stratfor said Ras Kamboni’s absorption into al-Shabaab could be seen as a public recognition by Ras Kamboni leader Hassan al-Turki of al-Shabaab’s dominant position in Somalia’s southwest, both political and militarily.

Somalia hasn’t had a functioning central administration since the ouster of the former dictator, Mohamed Siad Barre, in 1991.

To contact the reporter on this story: Hamsa Omar in Mogadishu via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin in Johannesburg at asguazzin@bloomberg.net.

Somalia’s government would welcome U.S. air support for an expected offensive aimed at retaking control of areas from al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab rebels, President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed said on Tuesday.

Speaking on a visit to Britain, Sheikh Sharif added that international aid for reconstruction would be needed to secure any areas gained in the push, expected in coming weeks in a test of attempts to restore stability in the Horn of Africa nation.

The New York Times reported on March 5 U.S. forces could get involved by providing airstrikes and Special forces Operations if the offensive succeeded in dislodging al Qaeda fighters.

Asked to comment, Ahmed said: “If the U.S. government provides us with the air support, it will help the situation.”

“If that is true, as written in the New York Times, then we would welcome it,” he told a news conference through an interpreter.

It was not immediately clear whether Ahmed was referring to the possibility of air strikes or of supporting aerial surveillance. U.S. forces are believed to have conducted aerial reconnaissance of parts of Somalia for several years.

FOREIGN FIGHTERS “ROAMING”

Asked whether he also saw a role for U.S. ground forces in the push, Ahmed said: “I cannot answer that.”

Any direct use of U.S. military power would be sensitive. American troops who were part of a U.N. humanitarian mission to Somalia in 1992 and 1993 were forced to pull out after Somali militia killed several marines in an attack on a U.S. helicopter.

Ahmed’s U.N.-backed administration intends to oust the rebels from the capital and possibly other areas of the country, which has had no effective central government for 19 years.

His government has struggled to establish its influence, something that has been whittled down by a three-year-old revolt against his administration, which only controls parts of the capital.

Asked how he planned to hold any areas gained in the offensive, a critical task to establish authority, he said: “Our strategy is to mobilise the people, to secure the environment, to return the services and to start reconstruction.”

“Our forces have prepared well,” he said, but added: “We will need international assistance in the form of humanitarian aid and reconstruction after the liberation of these areas.”

The offensive did not close off reconciliation efforts, he said, but he described al Shabaab as having a direct tie to al Qaeda and said both groups cooperated with Somalia’s pirates.

The government says hundreds of foreign fighters have joined the revolt from countries in south Asia and the Gulf region and Western nations such as the United States and Britain.

Ahmed said it was hard to tell put a number on al Qaeda fighters in Somalia. “But it’s also hard to exaggerate the presence of al Qaeda. It can be seen openly by people inside Somalia — foreign fighters who are roaming,” he said.

“The announcements by al Shabaab and al Qaeda make clear their presence in force. Recent events in Yemen are also a clear indication of the presence of al Qaeda in the area”.

He denied reports that Somalis in nearby countries were being recruited to join the offensive, explaining there were plenty of Somalis in Somalia who wanted to serve in the army.

A Somali mother-of-four is entitled to claim thousands of pounds in benefits because two of her children are attending UK schools, EU judges ruled today.

Nimco Hassan Ibrahim was denied housing assistance because she and her estranged husband – a Danish national – failed to qualify for residency rights.

She appealed the decision by Harrow Council in north-west London, claiming that as her children’s ‘primary carer’ she should be allowed to stay on in Britain and qualify for state handouts.

Today the European Court of Justice directed the Britain’s Appeal Court to find in her favour

It said that parents of children in school have the right of residence even where they cannot support themselves.

The ruling paves the way for Ms Ibrahim to claim thousands of pounds in benefits each month.  

Cllr Barry Macleod-Cullinane, Harrow Council’s portfolio holder for adults and housing, said: ‘We are very concerned with this outcome, as it appears to establish a major new legal precedent over benefit claims.

‘Harrow Council is studying the full implications of the ruling but it could well prove to be a floodgates judgment in that people who have not yet contributed to this country or who do not have the means to sustain themselves can now seek immediate help from state welfare services. 

‘Rather than having a proper open and public debate about what our immigration policy should be, with that policy voted upon by our MPs in Parliament, we are now seeing a European Court determining British immigration policy.

‘This judgment would seem to make this policy of free movement impossible unless one greets new migrants at Heathrow with sizeable welfare handouts.’

Ms Ibrahim arrived in the UK in 2003 to join her husband, named in court as Mr Yusuf.

As a Danish national, he counted as a ‘migrant worker’ from another EU country, with UK residency rights. This also applied to his wife.

The couple have four children of Danish nationality, aged from one to nine.

The three eldest arrived in the United Kingdom with their mother and the fourth was born in the United Kingdom.

The two eldest have attended State schools since their arrival.

After working in the UK for five months, Mr Yusuf claimed incapacity benefit, and left the country after being declared fit for work in March 2004.

He then ‘ceased to satisfy the conditions for lawful residence’ in the UK, said the judgment.

Ms Ibrahim remained in the UK, separated from her husband, and, said the court, ‘was never self-sufficient, and depends entirely on social assistance’.

‘She does not have comprehensive sickness insurance cover and relies on the National Health Service,’ the judgment added.

Her application for housing assistance for herself and her children was rejected by the London Borough of Harrow on the ground that only people with a right of residence under EU law could apply.

At that time neither she nor her husband were considered resident in the UK.

Today’s judgment said: ‘A parent caring for the child of a migrant worker who is in education in the host Member State has a right of residence in that State.

‘That right is not conditional on the parent having sufficient resources not to become a burden on the social assistance system.’

EU rules say that members of the family of a migrant worker who is a national of one EU country and employed in another have residency rights with that worker, whatever their nationality – a right that continues even if the migrant worker no longer lives or works there.

The same judges also backed the case of Portuguese Maria Teixeira, divorced from her Portuguese husband, who was turned down for housing assistance on the grounds that she had no right of UK residence because she was not working and was not therefore self-sufficient.

She argued that she had residency rights because her daughter – the child of an EU national who had moved from one EU country to another – was continuing education in the UK.

The EU judges said the right of residence of the ‘primary carer’ parent normally ends when the child reaches 18, ‘unless the child continues to need the presence and care of that parent in order to be able to pursue and complete his or her education’.

It was up to the national court to assess whether that was actually the case.

Source: Mail Online

A Somali man convicted of attempted murder is seeking a new trial because the prosecutor in his case allegedly posted derogatory comments about Somalis on her Facebook page.

Ahmed Ali’s lawyer filed a motion Tuesday seeking a hearing on several grounds including prosecutorial and juror misconduct. Early this month a jury convicted Ali of first-degree attempted murder and first-degree assault in an Aug. 14, 2008, shooting that left three people wounded at the Cedar Riverside Plaza in Minneapolis.

The lawyer, Robert Lengeling, said in his motion that assistant Hennepin County attorney Gretchen Gray-Larson posted objectionable comments on Facebook during the trial.

“The posts concerned derogatory statements about people from Somalia, and that she felt comfortable with her case because of a juror who attended St. John’s University,” the motion said.

The motion, scheduled to be argued at 1:30 p.m. Monday in front of Judge Patricia Karasov, provided no additional detail about the alleged comments or the significance of the St. John’s affiliation.

Deputy County Attorney Pat Diamond would not discuss the alleged Facebook postings, but he hinted there’s another side to the story. He said the hearing on the defense motion will have “real evidence with sworn testimony … I’m confident the motion for a new trial will be denied.”

Diamond also would not say whether Gray-Larson faced discipline, but he said she had not been suspended from her job — a rumor at the courthouse. She was at work late Tuesday.

An Internet search turned up no similar instances of alleged misconduct through Facebook postings by prosecutors. However, legal blogs and publications are replete with examples of jurors getting in trouble and causing mistrials by failing to stay offline. A court in Rapid City, S.D., overturned a product liability verdict in favor of a seatbelt manufacturer after it came to light that a juror did Google searches on the company. In New York, a juror allegedly tried to “friend” a witness in a case involving the death of two firefighters as they tried to escape a burning building. In another case, defense attorneys tried to get a multi-million-dollar civil verdict thrown out after learning that a juror commented on the case via Twitter during the trial.

Juror felt pressured

Among the other issues for the defense in the Ali case, Lengeling said a juror contacted him a week after the verdict and said he wanted to discuss deliberations. The juror told a defense investigator he “was pressured to vote guilty and that he was very uncomfortable with the verdict.” The juror, identified as Jerry Douglas, said “other jurors threatened to force him off the jury” if he held out for a not-guilty verdict.

Lengeling also argued that the facts didn’t justify the conviction.

Gray-Larson, 51, has been with the county attorney’s office since 1990. She makes $115,000 a year.

Ali, 21, is scheduled to be sentenced March 11. He is not the man of the same name who is accused in the triple-killing at a Franklin Avenue market in January.

Rochelle Olson • 612-673-1747

A year ago there were hopeful signs that after the withdrawal of Ethiopian forces from Somalia and the resignation of President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, Somalia factions would rally around their new leader, President Sheikh Sharif, and start the process of reconciliation.

2 women and children injured by indiscriminate shelling have been admitted to Daynile Hospital, Mogadishu, Somalia

As fierce fighting once again grips Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, the medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has admitted 89 people suffering from blast injuries to its hospital in the Daynile area of the city between 29th January and 2nd February. Of these, 52 were women and children

“The numbers of injured women and children that we received in just over 72 hours is not ‘collateral damage,’ it’s a total lack of regard for the safety of civilians.” says MSF head of mission Axelle de la Motte St. Pierre. “The situation in Mogadishu is incredibly complex and all parties are to blame for the high numbers of deaths and injuries, but indiscriminate shelling into densely populated areas is totally unacceptable.”

In 2009, just under half of the 1,137 people admitted to Daynile Hospital suffering from blast injuries were women and children under the age of 14.

MSF calls on all belligerents, including the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), the African Union Peacekeeping force (AMISOM) and opposition groups to take all measures to minimise the risk of civilian casualties through a full implementation of the principles of distinction and proportionality.

For more information, please contact MSF UK press officer, Olivia Blanchard on

44 207 067 4217 or 44 7770 235 740

MSF is an independent medical organisation with projects in eight regions of Somalia. Over 1,500 Somali staff, supported by approximately 90 staff in Nairobi, provide primary healthcare, malnutrition treatment, healthcare and support to displaced people, surgery, and water and relief supply distributions in some locations. MSF does not accept any government funding for its projects in Somalia – all funding comes from private donors

Prime Minister Raila Odinga has assured the Somali community they are not targets in the crackdown on illegal immigrants.

The PM also assured those in legitimate businesses would be protected by the law and urged them to lodge complaints when their interests as citizens or legal immigrants are threatened.

Raila also appealed the US Government to mobilise international support for the Transitional Federal Government in Somalia, saying stability in the Horn of African nation would curb terrorism and piracy

In a separate meeting with US Assistant Secretary of Defence for International Security Alexander Vershbow, the PM said piracy and terrorism threats would not be resolved in the high seas or abroad if Somalia were unstable

He promised Kenya would continue playing its role in Somalia and Sudan, but expressed concern the international community has not accorded the Somalia crisis the attention and support it deserves.

Mr Vershbow, who paid a courtesy call on the PM, said he was in Kenya to get a better understanding of the situation in Somalia and Sudan.

He also delivered US President Barack Obama’s promise of support to the reform process in Kenya.

No ill-motive

Earlier in the morning, Raila told officials of the Eastleigh Business Community and Somali Leaders Forum who visited his Treasury office, that the ongoing operation aimed at ensuring security.

“The Government does not have any hidden agenda against the members of the Somali community. We welcome the investment you have put in the country and if the current operation appears to be getting abused, we will investigate and take necessary action,” he told them.

The officials said they do not condone the presence of illegal immigrants or defend their arrests and deportation.

They backed the move to rid the country of criminals, but expressed concern the crackdown appears to be targeting Somalis and their businesses.

Police have arrested more than 1,000 illegal immigrants. The move appears to have been prompted by the deportation of Jamaican cleric Abdullah al-Faisal, last week

Yemen’s Interior Ministry on 18 January announced that all unregistered refugees in Yemen must register with the authorities within two months. It justified the move saying illegal immigration was a real threat to the country’s security.

“Illegal immigrants from the Horn of Africa were found to be engaging in the war waged by Houthi-led Shia rebels against the government in the northern province of Saada, as well as in other violent acts and crimes,” Abdussalam Jawhar, head of Refugee Affairs Department (RAD) at the Interior Ministry, told IRIN on 19 January.

“When those immigrants have legal status, this will help us identify their residence addresses, observe their movements in various parts of the country, and recognize their IDs,” Jawhar said.

He warned that immigrants who are still unregistered after the deadline expires, will be deported.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is coordinating the registration process, supporting the government with equipment and funding, and handing out forms at its reception centres, but it is the government which issues refugee IDs.

UNHCR supports the government’s right to ensure that everybody is accounted for, provided that Yemen’s obligations under international law are respected, Rocco Nuri, UNHCR’s Aden-based external relations officer, told IRIN.

Registration

According to Jawhar, the Interior Ministry and UNHCR run three refugee registration centres – two in southern Aden and Lahj governorates (Basatin and Kharaz camps respectively), and one in Sanaa.

“Further centres will be opened in Taiz, Shabwa, Hadhramaut, Hajjah and Hodeidah governorates,” Jawhar said. “The cost of refugee registration is covered by UNHCR.”

“The total number of immigrants in the country is estimated at 740,000. However, only about a quarter have [refugee] status,” he said.

At the end of 2009, there were 170,854 refugees registered with UNHCR – including 35,000 registered since March 2009 by the government’s permanent registration centre in Sanaa (funded by UNHCR) – according to Andrew Knight, UNHCR’s external relations officer in Sanaa.

Knight said “refugees can register with the government and thereby legalize their stay in Yemen.”

According to the 2010 UNHCR country profile – Yemen, Yemen has a generous open-door policy for Somalis, granting new arrivals prima facie refugee status, but many Ethiopians are arrested and either detained or deported. Some migrants are fearful of the security forces and go underground as soon as they reach the country, avoiding assistance and advice available at UNHCR reception centres.

The UNHCR in Yemen received 77,802 new arrivals from the Horn of Africa in 2009, a 55 percent increase over 2008, and for the first time Somalis were not the majority nationality. The number of Ethiopians making the perilous boat journey across the Gulf of Aden more than doubled to 44,814.

Discrimination?

Some experts say that while Somalis are unlikely to have problems regularizing their status, non-Somali African immigrants might find it difficult to do so.

Ame Addu, aged 34, currently living in Safiya zone in Sanaa and originally from the Oromia region of Ethiopia, fears being deported as a result of the new measures. “I went to the UNHCR office in Sanaa several times in an attempt to get a refugee ID but couldn’t. Had I been from Somalia, I would have got an ID,” he said.

Addu, who fled his home country in early 2008, said: “I fled to Yemen in order to survive. There is nothing in Oromia except poverty, drought and famine”.

“I make some YR 700-900 (US$2.5-3.5) a day cleaning cars in Sanaa’s streets, but in Oromia I used to go for months without any money,” he said.

Source: IRIN

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minneapolis mayor and police chief say another teen has been arrested for the triple murder at the Seward Market on Wednesday.

Mayor R.T. Rybak and Police Chief Tim Dolan held a press conference at City Hall Sunday afternoon to announce the latest arrest.  Dolan says the suspect, a 17-year-old boy from Minneapolis, turned himself in while accompanied by relatives late Saturday night. 

“They did come to the Third Precinct last night and brought him forward because they wanted to do the responsible thing,” said Capt. Amelia Huffman of the Minneapolis Police Department. 

Early Saturday morning, police arrested the first suspect, also a 17-year-old Minneapolis boy.

The brother of Anwar Mohammed, one of the victims, said the news is good, but he wants more information.

“Just how and why,” Fethi Mohammed said.  “Is the reason now robbery?  We don’t know yet exactly what happened.” 

Police are releasing no other information about the suspects or a motive.  They say that will come after the suspects are charged, which will be soon, according to Dolan.

Police say more charges may be filed in the case, but they say the 17-year-old boys were the only suspects inside the market at the time of the shooting.

The three men were shot to death Wednesday night at Seward Market and Halal Meats at East Franklin Avenue and 25th Avenue South.

The medical examiner’s office said Saturday all three were shot multiple times.

The men were Anwar Mohammed, a customer, Abdifatah Warfa, a store worker and Warfa’s cousin, Mohamed Warfa.

Hundreds of people attended their funeral Friday in Burnsville. 

The Seward Market is in a middle-class area with a substantial population of Somali immigrants.

The shooting was initially reported as a robbery, but police say they’re investigating other motives.

Omar Jamal has been an advocate for Somalis in Minnesota.

He says the arrest is a relief to the community and victims’ families

Militancy simply means having a combative character; aggressive, especially in the service of a cause. Adding Islamic adjective signifies that certain interpretation of Islam is used as the guiding ideology of that militancy. The first such militancy in the history of Islam was labelled “al-Khawarij” ["the Seceders" or "the Rebels"] because of their rebellion [khuruj] against fourth Imam of Islam ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib. In the opposite stands the terminology of moderation “balanced” “al-Wasadiyah” which signifies being within reasonable limits; not excessive or extreme, and not violent or subject to extremes.  In general, Islam calls for moderation in everything: in belief, warship, conduct, and legislation; and warns against all forms of extremism: ghuluw (excessiveness), tanattu’ (meticulous religiosity) and tashdid (strictness). Moderation, or balance, is not only a general characteristic of Islam, it is a fundamental landmark. In the Qur’anic verse (2:143) Allah says: “Thus, have we made of you an Ummah (Nation) justly balanced, that you might be witnesses over the nations and the Messenger a witness over yourselves”. The phenomenon of Islamic extremism was well articulated by Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qardawi in his booklet “Islamic Awakening between Rejection and Extremism” which is very useful to briefly understand current militancy in a balanced way.

Looking into the history of Somalia in the 18th and 19th centuries, the revival of Islam was carried by the Sufi Brotherhood movements and legendary Sufi scholars belonging to the three main Sufi Orders: Qadiriyah, Ahmadiyah and Salihiyah had emerged. The names of Sheikh Madar, Sheikh Abdirahman Al-Zayli, Sheikh Aweys al-Baraawi, Sheikh Mohamed Guleed, Sayid Mohamed Abdulle Hassan, Sheikh Ali Maye, Sheikh Sufi and many others are well known teachers and respected Islamic Scholars in Somalia. Sufi brotherhoods are generally moderate and use peaceful means of propagating Islam that offer due consideration to the norms and customs of the people. Often, they use innovative means to assimilate and absorb the pastoral and illiterate masses and mobilize them into common action.  Bloodlettings being the most heinous crime in Islam, Islamic scholars usually abstain from recurrent clan fighting in the harsh pastoral environment. Their role is limited to conflict resolution, community education and conducting various religious functions. However, there were three historical events in the history of Somalia when Islamic militancy emerged and certain Islamic scholars led internal fighting to gain politico-religious hegemony. Such historical events have historical importance and constitute precedents for current Islamic militancy and extremism in Somalia. It offers lessons that doctrinal differences and political ambitions may develop into violent wars under the leadership of charismatic and ambitious scholars. 

1. The first event occurred around Baardheere town in the southern Somalia as a confrontation between the Bardheere religious settlements (Jamaaca) and the Geledi Sultanates at Afgoye. The Bardheere settlement was founded in 1819 by Sheikh Ibrahim Yabarow, introducing some Islamic reforms such as outlawing tobacco and popular dancing and prohibiting ivory trade. They began to implement some elements of Islamic Shari’a, such as the wearing of decent Islamic dress for women. In the mid-1930s, receiving strong adherents, the Jamaaca decided to expand its sphere of influence to other regions during era of Sharif Abdirahman and Sharif Ibrahim from Sarmaan in Bakool. By 1840, the Jamaaca warriors reached Baidoa area and Luuq and finally sacked Baraawe, the historic seat of the Qadiriyah Order where both Sultan Ahmed Yusuf of Geledi and Sheikh Maadow of Hintire clan learned, the most powerful leaders who together reacted to the Baardheere expansions. The town of Baraawe accepted their capitulation conditions that include prohibiting tobacco and popular dancing, adopting the Islamic dress code and so on. They also agreed to pay an annual tax of 500 Pessa. This action provoked a concerted response from the clans of the inter-river areas under the charismatic leadership of Geledi Sultan Yusuf Mohamed. The Sultanate mobilized an expedition force of 40,000 from all clans, stormed Bardheere and completely burned it.  Professor Cassanelli characterized this conflict as between the rising power of Islamic reformists and the established traditional power of the Geledi. Moreover, he adds the economic factor of curbing the lucrative ivory trade as well as a clan aspect, which stemmed from the armed immigrant nomads, the followers of the Jamaaca, being perceived as a threat to the local population. The external actors’ role in this conflict was not well researched, however, it is said that Sayid Bargash, the Sultan of Zanzibar, was on good terms with the Geledi Sultanate in the confrontation, perceived to be a Wahabi “Salafia” penetration into Somalia.

2. The second event is connected with the arrival of Sheikh Ali Abdurahman (Majertain) (1787-1952) in Merca in 1946 and his confrontation with the dominant Geledi Sultanate. Sheikh Ali Majertain was born in Nugal region between Growe and Laas-Aanood in the current Puntland. He traveled to Mecca and Baghdad for further learning where he met “with the disciples of Mohamed Abdulwahab” and came back to his home area. He established an Islamic education center at Halin (Xalin) wells near Taleex. However, he emigrated from his home after conflict with his clan and moved to the eastern region under the tutelage of Majertain Sultan Nur Osman. Here also, Sheikh Ali found it unacceptable to live with the overt violation of Islamic Shari’a by the Sultan Nur of Majertain, forming an alliance with Haji Farah Hirsi, a rebel Sultan of Majertain who attempted to establish a new sultanate or to overthrow his cousin, similar to the Saudi style where Haji Farah would take political responsibility and Sheikh Ali would administer religious affairs. To achieve this goal, Sheikh Ali sent a letter to the ruler of Sharja Sheikh Saqar al-Qasimi offering his allegiance and requesting his support. However, Sheikh Saqar could not respond promptly and, dismayed, Sheikh Ali traveled to Zanzibar and remained there for 15 months under the custody of Sultan Said al-Bu-Saidi. Having in mind to establish an Islamic Emirate, Sheikh Ali had arrived in Merca in 1946, three years after the defeat of Baardheere Jamaaca and the dominance of Geledi Sultanate over the vast southern regions. However, Biimal clan, the major clan of Merca, was rebelling against the Geledi sultanate at that time. Sheikh Ali Majertain had arrived in Merca in alliance with Biimal clan, with 5 boats carrying 150 followers and substantial quantities of firearms and ammunition. He settled near Merca with the consent of the Biimal clan and began his activities and education programs. First, he attempted to play the role of a peacemaker between Sultan Yusuf and the Biimal clan and sent a letter to Sultan Yusuf requesting that he accept his reconciliation efforts. However, when Sultan Yusuf refused his offer, he arbitrarily declared war against him.  Sheikh Ali’s followers confronted the Geledi sultan in 1846 without the support of Biimal clan and were easily defeated. His expectation of receiving assistance from Sultan of Zanzibar was dashed, and instead the Zanzibar sultan helped the Sultan of Geledi to confront what was perceived as the threat of the “Wahabis”.  The doctrinal inclination of Sheikh Ali is evident in the letter he sent to the clans of Brava showing that he considered the Geledi Sultanate to be a deviated sect (firqa dalah).  Commenting on the outcome of war, Sheikh Ali stated according Aw Jamac Omar Iisse that “in reality ours [deaths] are in paradise and theirs are in hell” and “if you are among the deviated sect whom Sultan Yusuf leads, there is no relation between us, and your blood will not be saved from us”. The intolerance of Sheikh Ali to the propagation of Islam among his people, his mobilization of armed followers and his siding with the Biimal clan against the Geledi sultanate, all indicates that he belonged to a militant ideology similar to that of Bardheere Jamaaca.

3. The third significant event was the arrival in Berbera in 1895 of Sayid Mohamed Abdulle Hassan, which was not only the beginning of armed encounters with the colonial powers but also initiated internal conflict among the Somali Sufi Orders. Upon his arrival in Berbera, Sayid Mohamed challenged the authority and credentials of the Qadiriyah establishment, setting up the competing Salihiyah Order. He publicly criticized some practices of Qadiriyah Sheikhs, and introduced new verdict (fatwas) on some issues, such as prohibition of chewing Qaad and tobacco, although tolerated by other scholars. However, Qadiriyah scholars succeeded in overcoming these challenges through religious debates. Scholars, like Aw Gas and Haji Ibrahim Hirsi, invited Sheikh Madar from Hargeysa, the head of the Qadiriyah Order in the region, and Sheikh Abdullahi Arusi, the teacher of Sayid Mohamed, to participate in a meeting held in Berbera in 1897 to discuss issues of lawful and prohibited in Islam raised by Sayid Mohamed. However, after heated discussions on the major disputed issues, followers of Qadiriyah in Berbera rebelled against Sayid Mohamed and the British authorities intervened to maintain public order. As a result, Sayid Mohamed was compelled to emigrate from Berbera, carrying with him doctrinal enmity against Qadiriyah. This deep-rooted conflict between Qadiriyah and northern Salihiyah had two dimensions, political and doctrinal. First, Sayid Mohamed was aiming to establish an Islamic Emirate under his leadership without consulting other prominent scholars. His unilateral, authoritarian and violent approach annoyed many scholars and clan leaders. Second, Salihiyah questioned the doctrinal credentials of the rival Qadiriyah Order, condemning them as heretical and claiming that only Salihiyah was authentic and original.  This theological controversy escalated into the trading of polemics and then developed into bitter propaganda against each other. For instance, Sheikh Aweys al-Baraawi, the famous leader of Qadiriyah in southern Somalia wrote poems vilifying Salihiyah Order. Here are some selected excerpts from the poem, translated by B.G. Martin:

The person guided by Mohamed’s law, will not follow the faction of Satan [Salihiyah]
Who deem it lawful to spill the blood of the learned, who take cash and women too: they are anarchist
Do not follow those men with big shocks of hair, a coiffure like the Wahabiya!
Publicly, they sell paradise for cash, in our land; they are a sect of dogs
They have gone astray and make others deviate on earth, by land and sea among the Somalis
Have they no reason or understanding? Be not deceived by them
But flee as from a disaster, from their infamy and unbelief.
�
 This verbal polemic was countered by a similar diatribe of poems by Sayid Mohamed, which he concluded as Professor Said Samatar related:
“A word to the backsliding apostates, why have gone astray, from the Prophet’s way, the straight path?  Why is the truth, so plain, hidden from you?” This developed into physical attacks on the leaders of Qadiriyah, and on April 14, 1909, followers of Salihiyah murdered Sheikh Aweys al-Baraawi at Biyooley. Unfortunately, when Sayid Mohamed heard of the death of Sheikh Aweys he recited a victory hymn saying “behold, at last, when we slew the old wizard, the rains began to come!” (Candhagodoble goortaan dilaa roobki noo da’aye). The implications of this conflict in Somalia were tremendous, affecting anti-colonial resistance and tarnishing the image of the Salihiyah Order among the population.

On other hand, before the arrival of Sayid Mohamed in Northern Somalia, there was the Dandarawiyah Order, an offshoot of Ahmadiyah, in the towns of Sheikh and Haahi. It was introduced into Northern Somalia by Sayid Adan Ahmed, a disciple of Sayid Ibrahim Al-Rashid. Sayid Mohamed Abdulle Hassan claimed to be the sole authorised legitimate heir of the al-Rashidiyah Order in Northern Somalia and demanded that Dandarawiyah Order in the town of Sheikh and Hahi (Xaaxi) follow him, which they have utterly refused to do.  Against this background, Sayid Mohamed’s forces burned the Ahmadiyah centers in the town of Sheikh as reported by Abdirisaq Aqli in his book “Sheikh Madar”. Sayid Mohamed’s bright points were romanticized by the Somali nationalists in their efforts to nurture national consciousness by narrating glorious past and reconstructing symbols, heroes and myths. In this approach, self inflicted wounds, civil wars, massacres, and human atrocities are downplayed and belittled. However, in tracing the background for the current extremism in the name of Islam, it is necessary to bring up other episodes of the Sayid Mohamed that suggest the historical roots of the current extremism in Somalia.

In conclusion, the early militancy in the name of Islam resembles current militancy in (1) the exclusion of other Islamic groups, (2) monopoly of religious legitimacy; (3) excessive use for violence against other Muslims; and (4) selective and haphazard application of Shari’a. All these forms of militancy have its roots, connections and influences of the Salafia (Wahabi) school of Saudi Arabia. The current extremism and militancy, however, is rooted to the emergence of Al-itihad al-Islami in 1980s and its militaristic adventure in 1990s which ended in the disastrous defeat in Kismayo, Puntland and Gedo in 1991, 1992 and 1996 respectively.  Moreover, although current extremism in the name of Islam is a recent phenomenon and an expression of anger responding to various internal and external tensions, it is not without precedence in Somalia and the above stated three episodes attest the occurrences of similar phenomenon despite the fact that it happened in different context and conditions. Furthermore, all the three events ended with military defeat and massive human suffering which most likely will be the fade of current militancy in Somalia.

The Canadian government needs to help set free Canadian businessman Bashir Makhtal after three years in custody in Ethiopia, Makhtal’s cousin says. 

Makhtal’s cousin, Said Maktal, who spells his name slightly differently, insists his cousin never received a fair trial in Ethiopia after being arrested at a Kenyan border post three years ago last week and transported to Ethiopia, The Ottawa Citizen reported Saturday.

“His only hope now is the government of Canada,” Maktal said.

“The government told us to follow the rules and regulations, but we didn’t see a fair trial at any stage. The message now is: We need action.”

Makhtal was convicted last August on terror-related charges amid allegations he is the leader of the Ogaden National Liberation Front separatist group and received a life prison sentence.

His supporters maintain the businessman was simply targeted because he is ethically Somali, the Citizen said.

John Baird, Canada’s minister of transportation and infrastructure, said he is planning on traveling to the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa this month in hopes of resolving the conflict regarding Makhtal’s case