Somali stooge fired by Meles

Medeshi Oct 8 , 2008

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AFP)--The president of Ethiopia's restive Somali region has been sacked for failing to curb a secessionist insurgency and implement development plans, state-media said Monday.
"The Somali Peoples' Democratic Party has decided to dismiss President Abdullahi Hassan following consultations in Jijiga (the Somali province capital city)," state-owned Ethiopian Radio said.
The agency didn't specify the exact date when the decision was taken.
"Regional officials took the measure after a three-month report highlighted a failure in implementing desired development programs, tackling drought and security threats," it said.
Ethiopia is a federal system and each provincial assembly chooses a leader. The SPDP is allied to Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's ruling party.
A regional official who asked to remain anonymous said however Abdullahi may have been given the sack for links with corrupt businessmen and for interfering in the trials of suspected insurgents.
The Somali province, which includes the troubled Ogaden region, has been hit by a series of attacks attributed to separatist rebels in recent years.
Abdullahi himself was injured in May 2007 when grenades were hurled into a stadium where some 100,000 people were gathered for a national celebration.
Eight members of the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front, or ONLF, were subsequently sentenced to death following the assassination attempt. Last year the army launched an offensive against the rebels after they attacked a Chinese- run oil venture and killed 77 people.
Earlier this month, four people were killed and 22 injured by a separate bomb explosion in Jijiga. The attack was attributed to the Islamist rebel group Al- Ittihad Al-Islamiya.

Source: Nazret

Watch out for the Somaliland Navy

Medeshi Oct 8, 2008

Watch out for the Somaliland Navy

Below is an article in harrysworldnews which carries the link to a videa of the Somaliland navy carrying exercise off the port of Berbera.

Recognition or without , Somaliland is set to go its way and build its future without the support of the international community that has been supporting the fragile TFG governement headed by warlords. People of Somaliland have survived the genocide of the late dictator Siyad Barre and will not never be lured to the the unity with the south.

Here is the article :

Arr! Pirates Better Watch Out For the Somaliland Navy!
The Republic of Somaliland, a state which has approximately 3.5 million people in a territory the size of New York state, has decided not to wait for international recognition to build a navy.This video shows off their gunships. Apparently, this is one part of Somalia that has taken steps to defend its coastline against illegal fishing and toxic waste dumping.

Watch video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8I3YNkrOMN4

I don't understand why the rest of the world doesn't just recognize these guys as an independent nation. Apparently the attitude is that there is a line in the sand around Somalia and we aren't going to allow anyone to be recognized until they conquer all of it.

Somalian 'ghost city' wracked by war

Medeshi Oct 7 , 2008

Video: In Somalia's danger zone
Somalian 'ghost city' wracked by war
Years of conflict in Somalia have left large parts of the country in the hands of warlords while its capital, Mogadishu, is contested by Ethiopian-backed government forces and armed insurgents.

(Photo: The face of war - this woman cannot afford the treatment for her daughter)
The city has been abandoned by at least half of its residents. The BBC's World Affairs Correspondent, Mark Doyle, sent this report from a war zone few Western journalists dare to visit.
The bombed-out buildings are shocking enough.
There are street after ruined street of them in the centre of Mogadishu.
Some have been reduced by shellfire to rubble. Others retain a building-like shape - the rough skeletons of once-ornate Italian colonial apartment blocks or shopping arcades.
But the really eerie side to many parts of Mogadishu is the lack of people.
The last 18 months of fighting have seen the population plummet in a way that even the infamous Black Hawk Down year - 1993 - did not achieve.
According to the United Nations, at least half of Mogadishu's population - perhaps 500,000 people - have fled.
In 1993 a joint United States/United Nations aid effort descended into war. Somali warlords resisted the international force partly because it reduced their racketeering of food aid.
The Americans then fell into the trap of thinking the flip flop-wearing "Skinnies", as the Marines disparagingly called Somalis, would be a pushover.
However, the "Skinnies" could fight, and fight well. The US and the UN withdrew in disarray.

But even back then - when tracer fire lit up the sky every night - the streets were still full of people.
Not any more. Parts of Mogadishu are now a ghost city.
The new situation has an intensity of street shelling and military atrocities that even this veteran war city has never seen before.
On patrol with AU troops in Mogadishu
The latest conflict is between a weak, though internationally-recognised Somali government, backed by troops from neighbouring Ethiopia - and armed insurgents who are a mixture of Islamists and nationalists.
The United States is still a key player, backing the Ethiopians. It accuses the Islamists of having links to al-Qaeda.
"Its getting worse and worse," said Sophia Hussein, a housewife turned refugee. "Now foreign governments are involved" - a reference to the Ethiopian presence.
Mrs Hussein was speaking in a Kenyan refugee camp, surrounded by nine children she had rescued from Mogadishu.
Grafted onto the traditional clan wars in Somalia are new disputes that pit Islamists and nationalists against the Ethiopians and their US allies.
These new wars may explain why Mogadishu has been emptied of people like never before.

The political landscape began changing in 2005 when armed Islamists joined forces with businessmen to oust a chaotic collection of warlords from Mogadishu.
By 2006 the Islamists/businessmen had won and a group known as the Union of Islamic Courts ran the capital.
"They were efficient; they ran the city quite well," said a senior Somali official with an international aid agency who requested anonymity.
In late 2006, the army of neighbouring Ethiopia intervened to oust the Courts and install the internationally-recognised government in Mogadishu.
It is widely believed that the US encouraged or participated in this move because of fears that the Courts had links to al-Qaeda.
Certainly, there was a long-range US missile attack at the time on fleeing Courts officials. The US later mounted other attacks on what it said were al-Qaeda operatives, and American drones still regularly buzz the skies of Somalia.
The Ethiopian army easily routed the Courts regime. But, in an echo of the early US military success in Baghdad, the Ethiopians then appeared unsure what to do next.
Gradually, the Islamists and nationalists regrouped.
There was a traditional clan aspect to the new war. But what might be called the "Islamist/nationalist clan" to some extent transcended this in the face of what many Somalis saw as "Ethiopian occupation".
'Indiscriminate reprisals'
Today the remnants of the Courts administration, backed by Islamist fighters known as al-Shabaab (Somali for "The Lads"), have made much of south and central Somalia a no-go area for the government and the Ethiopians.
Al-Shabaab and related fighters mount hit-and-run attacks aimed at government forces but which often also kill civilians.
However, a more common complaint among ordinary Somalis I spoke to is that the Ethiopians are "indiscriminate" in their reprisals - and that this is why Mogadishu has been emptied of people.
Stuck in the middle, and trying to inject some sanity into the situation, is the small and beleaguered 2,700-strong African Union peacekeeping Mission in Somalia, Amisom.
Its commander is Ugandan Major General, Francis Okello.
"I need more troops, I need more equipment," he said, repeating the common refrain of peacekeeping commanders.
But the diplomat-general was wise enough to add: "I also need more political support, I need more diplomatic support. You cannot impose a solution on Somalis, you can only encourage peace".
Tentative peace talks are taking place under a UN initiative but - as so often with peace processes - the talks are dominated by the moderates, not the radicals on all sides who are fighting on the ground.
Mark Doyle's full report on his trip to Somalia can be seen in the UK on BBC's Newsnight programme next week and elsewhere on Our World on BBC World News on Wednesday 8 October.

Rendition victims threaten to sue Kenya government

Rendition victims threaten to sue Kenya government
Mon 6 Oct 2008, 14:11 GMT
By Wangui Kanina
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Eight Kenyans who were arrested as suspected Somali Islamist fighters and covertly flown to Ethiopia threatened to sue the government on Monday if the officials they blame for their rendition are not charged.
The eight men were among suspected Islamists detained by Kenyan troops early last year when members of a Somali sharia courts group fled into Kenya after being driven from power.

Rights activists and Muslim groups accuse the Kenyan authorities of covertly rounding up scores of people who were sent to Mogadishu and Addis Ababa for interrogation. They say they were tortured.
The eight returned from Ethiopia on Saturday. On Monday, their lawyers demanded Kenya's Attorney General take action.
"We urge you to direct the police to immediately investigate the identity of the public officials who authorised the arbitrary kidnapping of our clients, with a view to arresting and prosecuting the officials for abuse of office," the lawyers said in a letter.
It said the eight had been subjected to mental and physical torture while in Ethiopia, where they had been interrogated and abused by investigators from several nations.
"Officers of the Somalia government, Ethiopian military, FBI officers and British officers frequently assaulted them and taunted them that they were al Qaeda terrorists destined to die at the American naval prison at Guantanamo bay in Cuba."
The lawyers said the eight had been undergoing medical checks in the port city of Mombasa, and that they planned to sue the government if they did not receive a reply from the Attorney General within seven days.
The Kenyan authorities deny sending their citizens abroad.
"Wild and unverifiable charges that the government deported Kenyans to Ethiopia are baseless," a statement from the government spokesman's office said on Monday.
"The government has been very clear that it repatriated combatants to Somalia after they, the combatants, said they were not Kenyan," the statement said.
Last week, U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said at least 150 men, women and children from more than 18 countries had been rounded up near the Somali border at the start of last year. It said most had been sent home, but that several were missing.

Lawless Kenyan Lawyer Kipkorir´s Militaristic Proposals

Medeshi Oct 7, 2008
Somali Commentator Adam Zayla Ridicules Lawless Kenyan Lawyer Kipkorir´s Militaristic Proposals

By Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis

In an article entitled ´Panicked Consultants Fuel Islamic Terror Expansion Throughout Africa – the Kipkorir Ricochet´ (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/76530), I explored the reasons for which Donald Kipkorir, an otherwise shadowy Kenyan lawyer and parasitic gambler, published a shameful text that opposes all concepts and rules of International Law that the lawyer in question should have first studied and second adopted.
The dependence on the Kikuyu militaristic gangs that control the Kenyan army and the paramilitary (the backbone of the dictatorial regime of the ill-fated East African country) prove indeed to be the reason for such a text (republished with my analysis).
Pending my refutation of the paranoid text that reveals only panic and ignorance, I will republish a pertinent rebuttal that an astute Somali commentator, Mr. Adam Zeyla, felt obliged to immediately elaborate and widely publish.
There is more to it, as the lawless lawyer´s friends reacted with threats and insults that help better reveal their ominous face; but this will be the topic of a separate article. For the time being, I was to express my congratulations to Mr. Adam Zayla, and hope that the panicked Kenyan ´authorities´ read twice his down-to-earth analysis.
Kenya's and Ethiopia's Fragile Glass Houses
By Adam Zayla
Amongst others:
http://www.ayyaantuu.com/Oromiyaa/NewsBlog/tabid/36/EntryID/3395/Default.aspx
As I was doing my usual google session in search of news on Somalia, I came across a very amusing article entitled " Why Kenya and Ethiopia ought to annex and divide Somalia" written by Donald B. Kipkorir who advocates as the title suggest the annexation of Somalia by Kenya and Ethiopia. The article is a poor patch work of misinformation and delusional grandeur. I personally feel it's important to bring Mr Kipkorir safely back to earth with a healthy dose of reality. The objective of this reply is to demonstrate how on multiple levels this deluded so-called solution to the Somali problem proposed by Mr Kipkorir has no chance of ever materializing and why Kenya and Ethiopia despite having had the chance to do so never attempted to annex Somalia since the collapse of the Somali government and the disintegration of the Somali army. Prior to the collapse of the former and the disintegration of the latter, both Somali institutions for decades were Ethiopia's and Kenya's worst nightmares. Fearing Somali military power both countries even the decided to sign a joint defense-pact in the 1970s. One therefore wonders why Kenya and Ethiopia after the death of both of these Somali institutions didn't simply walk into Somalia and implemented Mr Kipkorir's brilliant plan. The reason is very simple; they didn't because of the shaky foundations both countries themselves are build on. Kenya and Ethiopia despite having governments and a unlimited flow of western aid continue to walk on thin ice when it comes to their disgruntled ethnic groups and any policy that's not decided or supported by Washington has a zero percent chance of succeeding.
Ethiopia-Kenya's nightmare scenario; disintegration along ethnic lines
A civil war similar to what happened in Somalia in the early 90's in either Kenya or Ethiopia will be the end of both countries. Somalia had it's civil war - and is currently experiencing turmoil courtesy of the United States - but it's still not the end of Somalia. Even if all the many peaceful Somali regions in Somalia today became their own independent states, somewhere down the line when stability arrives to other sections of the country (which happened during the ICU period) it wouldn't take long before the union of the now independent and internationally recognized break away countries of old Somalia were re-integrated in a New Somalia especially when all the previous minor indifferences and mistakes of the past were settled. But for Kenya and Ethiopia a civil war resulting in all these different countries (currently held prison due to colonial interference) breaking free will mean they will never EVER return to their previous status i.e. part of either Kenya or Ethiopia. Eritrea is a good example of this; Ethiopia brutally annexed Eritrea in the 1960s and had decades to provide the Eritrean people with positive signs of development but because of the arrogance and superiority complex of the Ethiopian regime the Eritreans saw their situation and standard of living going backwards and so they decided to fight for their well deserved right for self determination. Today's Eritrea regardless what one might say of it's government is a progressing country with a young and optimistic population that is doing much better without Ethiopia and because of this will never EVER even entertain the thought of uniting with Ethiopia. Somalia on the other hand; if it's peaceful regions such as Puntland, Somaliland and other states were to become their own countries (as I noted before) the prospect of a new Union is far higher here than a new union for a disintegrated and collapsed Kenya or Ethiopia. Many of the ministers of these Somali States were part of the Pan-Somalist regimes of Somalia and therefore still have a soft spot for the Greater Somalia concept and same goes for their populations.
Let's start with Ethiopia a country full of ethnic armies with secessionist aspirations and large parts of the country have basically become war zones. In their quest to defeat the military state of Ethiopia these liberation armies represent legitimate oppressed countries such as Oromia, Sidama, the Afar and Ogaden regions that are currently locked up in the backwards prison called Ethiopia. These countries in a new Ethiopian civil war would follow the same path as Eritrea and would be gone forever once the prison doors are opened - either voluntarily or through force. Kenya has it's own inter-ethnic problems which made headlines world wide. Innocent people burned in churches, thousands of people killed and hacked to death, 200 thousand people displaced. One wonders how such unstable countries could ever solve Somalia's problems when there own problems are just as severe if not worse. Somalia has nothing to lose, all that could go wrong, went wrong and still Somalia has not and will not after a decade of Anarchy suffer the same destiny as a future Anarchy Kenya or an Anarchy Ethiopia would suffer - which could happen anytime of the year. Their many disgruntled and marginalized ethnic groups currently waging war is evidence of how fast the scenario of widespread Anarchy in both Kenya and Ethiopia could materialize into reality once the wealthy wells of the West have dried up.
Potential reality or simply a Pipedream?
This ridiculous article that was written by Mr Donald Kipkorir - who is trying very hard to emulate his western masters by attempting to walk in shoes to big for him - gives the impression that both Ethiopia and Kenya have the necessary resources to occupy Somalia. Nothing could be further from the truth. Both are extremely poor countries. Even with western support occupying Somalia is a pipe dream. Half of Ethiopia's current invading army that was nurtured and funded by the United States is buried in Somali soil and with all it's US military hardware it still cannot control a few neighborhoods in Mogadishu let alone Somalia. The Islamist army on the other hand is currently reigning supreme in Southern Somalia and is becoming stronger as each day passes by. How could the small and poorly equipped Kenyan army ever succeed where the heavily western backed Ethiopian army failed? Then you have Puntland and Somaliland who have their own military forces equipped with excellent Soviet military hardware such as Tanks and anti-aircraft from the now disintegrated military of Somalia, with a combined army size of 40-50 thousand men. How could Kenya that can't even cope with the Ethiopian military raids in Moyale, the Shiftas in the Northeastern region ever secure Somalia? How could Kenya that could not protect it's citizens from brutal hacking sprees during the election crisis and today still cannot protect hard working Kenyan merchants from the Munguki Mafia that is roaming free - ever secure a country like Somalia? This proposed annexation of Somalia could backfire terribly and see both Kenya and Ethiopia completely disintegrate and parts of it's territory swallowed up by Somalia. Another interesting question regarding Kenya is; what would the reaction be of high ranking Somali officers in the Kenyan army? Would Kenya's minister of defense who himself is a Somali tolerate such a suicide mission? Kenya was saved many times over the last decades from a horrible civil war due to the actions of a 'loyal' Somali officer case in point being; Major General Mahmoud saving Kenyan President Moi from a coup d' etat in the 1980s. This loyalty would disappear instantly if Mr Kipkorir's plan was actually realized and this loss of Somali loyalty could have severe consequences to Kenya's future as a country.

What do Kenya or Ethiopia have to offer to Somalia economically?
Now that the military aspect of the proposed annexation has been refuted and utterly destroyed, let's just put that aside and just play along with Mr Kipkorir's pipe dream and imagine that both Kenya and Ethiopia have successfully annexed Somalia. Are Ethiopia and Kenya capable of feeding the population of Somalia and have they found a solution for their own immense food shortages? Facts on the ground look grim and both Ethiopia and Kenya are not self sufficient countries but rely heavily on foreign aid and subsidies from wealthy western countries to feed their populations and in Kenya's case most of the meat and agricultural products consumed there comes from Somalia. Somali livestock projection to Kenya saw an increase of 600 percent after the collapse of Kenya's domestic livestock market( so who's feeding who?). In the critically acclaimed economic paper entitled Somalia After State Collapse it is highlighted how Somalia's nomadic population fared much better than Kenya's nomadic population during periods of drought. Kenya's herders saw more then half of their livestock perish in drought. Again how could any sane person even dare to suggest Kenya which cannot support it's own nomadic and urban citizens - to annex it's neighbor Somalia that actually manages to take care of it's own population? Shouldn't Mr Kipkorir be more concerned with the fact that Kenya with all it's patron Western donors and with no serious war raging is still failing to provide for the nomadic Masai population, the Turkana population, the Somali population, the Borana population and the Kalenjin population within its borders?
Do both countries have anything to offer to the citizens of Somalia and is the standard of living in Kenya and Ethiopia higher than that of Somalia? facts on the ground again say a firm NO!; Somalia has a higher GDP per capita than Ethiopia. In the aforementioned paper, Somalia After State Collapse, Somalia is compared to 42 African countries where the economists eventually come to the conclusion that Somalia has made greater progress than most African countries with governments in the last decade and it's standard of living generally improved Somalia is the only country in East Africa to have increased it's life expectancy (only 3 countries in Africa managed to do this). Off all the countries in the Horn of Africa Somalia has the most universities in the top 100 of Africa. Somalia has the lowest HIV rate in Sub Saharan Africa which stands in stark contrast to Kenya and Ethiopia who are both suffering from AIDS epidemics. Somalia is far ahead of Kenya and Ethiopia when it comes to Telecommunications. Ethiopia a nation of 80 million people only has 100 thousand internet subscribers compared to the 10 million strong Somalia that has 500 thousand internet subscribers.[18] In Somalia it only takes three days to get a landline installed compared to Kenya where this process can take years.
But what about the refugees fleeing Somalia and it's impact on Kenya? well they have no other choice due to the wars instigated by western powers securing their own personal interests by arming warlords. These refugees return as soon as stability arrives in the regions they hail from as we have seen with the return of Somalis to stable regions such as Somaliland and Puntland and the Islamist take over in 2006 which saw a large influx of both expats and Somalis internally displaced during the 1990s returning to the capital. The current Islamist advance that's crippling the Ethiopian army and as a result directly frustrating the United States Africa Command plans on Somalia means it will take some time before stability resembling the brief period of ICU rule in 2006 returns and therefore people will continue to flee and southern Somalia will remain a hotspot. But Kenya has nothing to complain about; these same refugees are fueling the Kenyan economy. Somalis from Somalia have turned the previous slum called Eastleigh into a wealthy commercial center in Nairobi that according to experts is becoming Kenya's biggest entrepot for commerce and trade.
Conclusion
Kenya and Ethiopia have neither the military capability nor the economic self sufficiency to occupy or annex Somalia hence the whole concept being a pipedream. Kenya and Ethiopia face inter-ethnic strife that when fueled by a third party could turn into a ugly full blown civil war that could see both countries go the way of Yugoslavia or the more recent example being; the Soviet Union. With most of East Africa today being dependent on Somali merchants it's not hard to put two and two together and process who this third party might be. Kenya and Ethiopia in many sectors perform poorly compared to Somalia and policies that could see progress in these sectors and uplift the living standards of the average citizens of Kenya and Ethiopia are legitimate subjects Mr Kipkorir should write about.
The following popular saying is a very fitting end to this article: "Don't throw stones if you live in a glass house".

Note Picture: No one will prevent the rise of a Greater Somalia that will terminate the parasitic and tyrannical existence of the colonial relics, Abyssinia and Kenya.

Quitting Time in Somalia

Medeshi Oct 7, 2008

The End of Pax Zenawi in Somalia
(By Pro. Alemayehu G. Mariam) Quitting Time in Somalia:-

The situation in Somalia has turned Code Red. Things are deteriorating very fast for Zenawi’s troops. The Al-Shabaab “jihadists” have taken over southern Somalia, and are ravenously eyeing Mogadishu. It is no longer “hit-and-run” guerrilla warfare. It is capture-and-stay. They have captured Kisimayo, a southern port town. They are staying. They are being “flooded with money” from supporters and backers throughout the Middle East. They have shut down the Mogadishu airport. Now they are vowing to do the same with the sea ports. The 2500 or so African Union peacekeepers from Uganda and Burundi are holed up in their garrisons in Mogadishu as the insurgents rain rocket-propelled grenades on them at will. Bombings, assassinations, piracy, kidnappings and hostage-taking are a daily fact of life in Somalia.
There are no viable political solutions. The cost of the war both in terms of human lives and resources has become unbearable for Ethiopia, and Somalia. Zenawi’s forces are in full “strategic retreat” to Mogadishu. After nearly two years of intervention and occupation of Somalia, there are no signs of success; and an anniversary of total failure in the quicksand of Somalia awaits Zenawi this coming December. Could this be the end of Pax Zenawi in Somalia?

Zenawi realizes the jig is up in Somalia. For the past several weeks, he and his officials have been consistently dropping hints and insinuations of withdrawal. In his Ethiopian “new year” video interview last month, Zenawi declared triumphantly that he had fully achieved his primary objective of destroying and neutralizing the “jihadist” threat to Ethiopia. Success in stabilizing the Somali transitional government and bringing some measure of peace and reconciliation was “not 100 percent”. But Somalia is ready to host international peacekeepers, and he is ready to take out his troops. For Zenawi, the question is not whether to withdraw from Somalia, but “whether keeping Ethiopian forces in Somalia in the longer term would make a difference”? In other words, Zenawi wants out ASAP, but he needs to save face. He wants the U.N., the African Union or some other peacekeeping body to take over so that he can say he stabilized and brought peace to Somalia and is now withdrawing victoriously and honorably. That is unlikely to happen because there is no one out there willing to help him cover up the folly of his quixotic, imperial and hubristic misadventures in Somalia. Zenawi has no place to run but face the music.
The Way It Was…
Back in mid-December 2006, Zenawi denied any direct military involvement in Somalia. In an interview with the Washington Post, Zenawi explained that he had sent a few hundred soldiers into Somalia to provide training. “It is true we have troops in Baidoa, the capital, who are there to train forces of the transitional federal government, who are an internationally recognized government and who have officially asked for support from Ethiopia. . . . Now, if the transitional government does not want our trainers, we’d be happy to withdraw them. . .” He warned that “There is a group in the Islamic Movement in Mogadishu that is not interested in democratic secular government in Somalia, that is hell-bent on establishing a Taliban regime in Somalia. Now, you can facilitate the Talibanization of Somalia through dialogue. If that is the intention, it perhaps makes sense….” In early January, 2007, a triumphant Zenawi declared that his forces would remain in Somalia “for a few weeks” while the transitional government stabilizes the situation. “It is up to the international community to deploy a peacekeeping force in Somalia without delay to avoid a vacuum and a resurgence of extremists and terrorists.”

In May, 2007, Zenawi told Al Jazeera that he was not only providing training in Somalia, he had been invited by the transitional government to assist in fighting terrorists. “I think we should get the facts straight first. We did not invade Somalia. We were invited by the duly constituted government of Somalia, internationally recognized government of Somalia to assist them in averting the threat of terrorism. We did so.” Even though he had argued at the outset of the invasion that Somalia was the central front in the battle against Al Queida and international terrorism in the Horn of Africa, he denied any U.S. role in the invasion: “We did not fight a proxy war on behalf of the United States. Indeed, the United States was very ambivalent about our intervention, once we intervened of course the United States and much of the international community was supportive but in the initial phase before we intervened, everybody, including the United States was warning us that we might walk into a trap and a quagmire and that we should think twice before taking steps.” In October, 2007, he told his parliament: “So, rushing to pull out the army immediately would have entailed a situation for the already dismantled forces of terror in Somalia to regroup, and thereby to render void the sacrifices already made by the Ethiopian army.”
The Way it Is Now….
Today, things are going downhill in Somalia, and getting worse by the day. The Somali jihadist-talibanist-terrorists refuse to be vanquished. They have launched an Iraq-style insurgency. The civilian war casualty continues to increase by the day. An estimated 20,000 Somalis have died, mostly civilians, since the invasion. Over 1 million Somalis have been displaced. Upwards of 5 thousand of Zenawi’s troops are estimated to have been killed or severely injured in the Somali war. Amnesty International has documented massive human rights violations by Zenawi’s troops in Somalia including extrajudicial killings, torture, rape, beatings, arbitrary detentions, forced disappearances and collective punishments. Zenawi says it is all a “total fabrication”. There is no accountability for what Zenawi does in Somalia. As one opposition leader recently complained, “The government has irresponsibly refused to account on these two pertinent issues relating to the Ethiopian army’s deployment to Somalia. Every country’s parliament, even the public at large, has a right to know what its involvement is costing in terms of life and resources. We have been kept in the dark.” Under Zenawi’s watch, the “jhihadists” and “terrorists” in Somalia have not only grown stronger militarily, they have also expanded into new fields of terroristic operations. The Somali coast has become Piracy Central. Carrying cell phones, RPGs, speedboats and assorted small arms, the high tech Somali pirates are making it hazardous for commercial navigation on the Indian Ocean. Last week Zenawi complained: “We are very concerned about the level of piracy on the seas. It is related to the instability in Somalia. They could be used to destabilize the region and the whole situation on the high seas is a matter of great concern for all of us. We very much hope the international community will respond.” His foreign minister last week called upon the U.N. to deploy peacekeepers in Somalia “as soon as possible” or provide resources to strengthen the current African Union mission.

The Somali war has never been popular in Ethiopia. Unlike the war in Iraq, there was no one in Ethiopia who was for the Somali war before they were against it. Everybody was against it. Now there is even talk that “Ethiopia’s fractious political opposition is planning a unified parliamentary campaign to demand a complete withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from Somalia.” VOA reported recently that “opposition parties” have sent a letter to Zenawi “saying the sacrifice of lives and scarce financial resources had become unbearable.” Bulcha Mideksa stated matter-of-factly that the Somalis “resolved to fight against us, and they are fighting, and in my opinion they are winning.” But Zenawi’s official policy remains: “We can get out any time. We will not. We are not in a quagmire. But we cannot abandon the transitional government and Somali people. We have to see progress in reconciliation so we do not want to abandon them in middle of crisis in Somalia.”
Pax Zenawi (Zenawi’s Peace)
Zenawi’s invasion of Somalia was reckless and irresponsible. He glibly assured the world at the beginning of the invasion, “we will be out in a few weeks.” Now he realizes that the business of war is unpredictable, expensive and uncertain. After nearly two years, he has found that the Somali war has sapped the strength of his troops and depleted the limited resources of the country; and he has no diplomatic leverage over the various warring Somali elements to impose his quixotic vision of a Pax Zenawi on the Somali people which he can manipulate through a puppet client regime.

It is really hard to imagine what Zenawi had in mind where he decided to invade Somalia. From his public statements, one can infer that he must have had visions of a mini-empire in the Horn. He certainly had megalomaniacal visions of bringing peace, freedom and stability to Somalia (something he has been unable to bring to his own country over the past 17 years). He seems to have envisioned himself as a “Supercop” with the self-appointed responsibility of keeping law and order in the Horn. In December, 2006, he asserted a unilateral right to act as a Horn policeman and contain terrorism, and casually invited the world to join him after he kicked the rear ends of the “jihadists” in “a few weeks”. The potential implications of a Pax Zenawi in Somalia are as dangerous as they are laughable. Today Zenawi finds himself in Somalia like the frontier marshal portrayed by Gary Cooper in “High Noon” facing some nasty and wicked outlaws without help from the townsfolk. He stands alone against a vicious phantom “jihadist” enemy; and none of the Somali townsfolk, the Ethiopian people or the international community wants to help him fight them.

The fact of the matter is that Somalis are not interested in any peace imposed upon them by Zenawi. The gift of secular government Zenawi wants to offer the Somalis has few takers. For the last 17 years, the Somalis have been unable to come to terms with the basic facts of their national life. Maybe they prefer tribal and clan associations over an elected democratic national government. Maybe they’d rather have a theocratic state than a secular transitional government whose authority is more widely denied and held in contempt than recognized. They regard the members of the transitional government as collaborators. It’s up to them what they want. It is not up to Zenawi to impose upon them. Yet in his recent statements, Zenawi is implicitly threatening the international community that if they don’t send troops and/or provide resources, he may just quit and walk out. That would presumably embolden the Al-Shabaab and the local and foreign Islamist extremists; and Somalia would be swiftly consumed in a civil war and become an incubator for terrorists. That was the same plea he made back in December 2006. It is falling on deaf ears now. For nearly two years, he has been begging for more African Union for troops, and with the exception of Uganda and Burundi, none of the estimated 6,000 AU troops are likely to show up. The lame duck Bush Administration is bogged down with its own problems. Nobody seems to care much about the anticipated consequences Zenawi’s withdrawal from Somalia.

Zenawi’s dilemma in getting out of Somalia revolves around several issues: First, he believes that if he withdraws “precipitously” there will be civil war in Somalia. That is not convincing as Somalis have been in a state of clan wars, virtual civil wars, since the fall of the Barre regime in 1991. Second, an immediate or even a phased withdrawal will encourage and embolden the “jihadists” terrorist. The “jihadists” are already emboldened by the fact that they now virtually control most of southern Somalia. The only thing the continued occupation will do is increase their determination to get rid of the occupation forces. Third, the security and military capability of the transitional government must be strengthened or it will be overrun by Islamist forces. The problem with that argument is that it will take years to enhance the military capability and combat readiness of the transitional government forces. There are issues of clan loyalty, shifting clan alliances and resources that make such a thing nearly impossible. Fourth, an unscheduled withdrawal will undermine “Ethiopia’s credibility” and expose “our supporters in Somalia” to extreme danger, and damage the morale of Zenawi’s troops. Those supporters are in extreme danger now as attempts are being made almost daily to assassinate and attack them. The war has no popular support and morale has been down from the beginning. If Zenawi’s troops were given a choice between staying in Somalia and fighting a losing war or risking damage to their morale, they would take the latter, as would the Ethiopian people.

The painful fact is that invasion of Somalia was not in the national interest of Ethiopia. The invasion was illegal under international law and a colossal political mistake. It was morally wrong to invade a country and cause so much civilian death and displacement. At the time of the invasion, Somalia was in no position to militarily threaten Ethiopia. Today, the counterinsurgency is getting tougher by the day and is recruiting more fighters. It seems increasingly clear that it is well-funded and well-equipped to inflict maximum damage and sustain the insurgency for a very long time. The only real option is getting out of Somalia immediately and without preconditions.
No Exit Strategy
There are no good options left for Zenawi. His dream of creating a stable, pluralist, democratic, unitary state with strong constitutional protections in Somalia is as real as the mirages in the Somali desert. He has not been able to create a pluralist democratic society in Ethiopia in 17 years; it is unlikely he could do so in Somalia in 2 years. He also seems to have overplayed his hand in Somalia in trying to use the same old divide-and-rule strategy that has worked for him so well in Ethiopia. He found out that Somali history and the history of Ethiopian-Somali relationship can not be undone by a wave of the magic wand of divide-and-rule.

At this late stage in the game, Zenawi’s choices are limited. First, he can withdraw immediately, a strategy less affectionately known as “cut and run”. That would be the most rational thing to do. In other words, cut your losses in a lost war and run for the border. Zenawi says that would plunge Somalia into civil war and expose the transitional government to certain doom. But what he needs to realize is that much of the violence, insecurity and instability in Somalia today is a direct reaction to his occupation forces and his support for the transitional regime. Somalia has also been in a state of anarchy since 1991. Immediate withdrawal will more likely result in a decline in violence than a spike in it. The way things are shaping now, Zenawi will be forced to cut and run from Somalia. Analysis of his recent public statements seem to suggest that he is slowly building up courage to do just that. A phased withdrawal may also be an option. Perhaps a reassurance that occupying forces will leave Somalia might bring the warring factions together to hammer out a working arrangement.

His second option is to continue the occupation, that is an open-ended anti-jihadist counter-terrorism mission that will prove to be increasingly bloody, costly, and counterproductive. But even that is becoming more difficult as the “jhihadists” retake and control more territory and tighten the noose on Mogadishu. There are few occupied areas in Somalia where Zenawi’s forces or the transitional government can enforce their political rule, exercise civil authority and/or maintain law and order. If there exists any “government” in Somalia at all, it seems to exist in the form of non-political traditional social institutions such as clan elders, tribal militias, religious clerics, etc. Generally, the anecdotal data from composite news and published intelligence sources shows that Zenawi’s troops can no longer operate as an effective occupation force. They have been forced to abandon towns and strategic locations and go into virtual “force protection mode”. They remain in their fortified bases and are making little effort to go out and aggressively pursue the “jihadist terrorists”. They have been effectively neutralized by the “jihadists”.

Third, Zenawi can work to intensify regional/international diplomatic offensives. The problem is that no one seems to be interested. The AU has been unable to deliver on the promised peacekeepers and the U.N. has not been able to provide much more than moral support. So far he has only been able to engage in a diplomatic parlor game accusing opponents, “jihadists” and others of distorting his intentions and aims. He has not been able to get real commitment for a power sharing arrangement among the various factions. For whatever reasons, the Somalis do not appear interested in diplomatic solutions engineered by Zenawi.

Fourth, dump the transitional government and work with the “jihadists”. The fact of the matter is that the transitional government exists in name only. It can not provide the most basic functions and services. It has few units with any capability for sustained combat operations. It is unlikely that the government’s troops can be trained and equipped in such large numbers to become an effective fighting force in their own right in the foreseeable future. There is not much evidence to suggest that the forces of the transitional government are contributing significantly to the fight against the insurgents. It is also unlikely that Somali clan and militia leaders will make difficult compromises so long as there are foreign troops on their soil. Religious and nationalist opposition is on the rise and there is no support for the occupation forces and very little for the transitional government. After nearly two years of fighting in Somalia, it is clear that the insurgents are at least as strong now as they ever have been, and most likely much stronger as they now control large swaths of the country. Maybe it’s time to talk to them and cut a deal; perhaps cobble together a basis for a very loose “national” government and carve out territories for the various clan leaders to administer on their own. Then leave Somalia!

Fifth, Zenawi can maintain a prolonged strategic stalemate with the “jihadists”. Obviously, this is a very risky strategy. The presence of foreign troops in Somalia will always provoke resistance; and at best Zenawi can expect a bloody stalemate that will result in more civilian deaths, military casualties and incur huge costs. But it may be possible to continue to mount selective operations to keep pressure on the insurgents.
End Game: Time to Get the Hell Out of Dodge
The questions Zenawi needs to face are clear: Is Ethiopia or the international community safer from the threats of terrorism today than in December 2006? If he disengages, will Somalia be plunged into its former state of clan warfare (civil war) and politics? In as much as Zenawi has tried to fan the flames of terrorism in the Horn to get international support for his interventionary actions, support for his dictatorship in Ethiopia and avert sanctions for his massive human rights violations, his strategy for war and peace in Somalia has failed completely. As the old saying goes, “You can start a war whenever you want, but you can not stop it whenever you want.” That is Zenawi’s problem: How can he stop the war and get out of Somalia? The ultimate question is how to help Zenawi withdraw from Somalia without losing face, not how many Ethiopians or Somalis are dying or displaced. It is unlikely that he will admit defeat and error and pull the troops out. That is just not going to happen. The invasion of Somalia was a colossal misadventure. There will be no peace with honor to exit out of Somalia. Zenawi will leave Somalia in disgrace in six months, one year or however long it takes. That is the price of arrogance and hubris. As Scriptures teach: “When pride comes, then comes disgrace.” And “pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall.” (Proverbs 11:2, 16:18.)

What Nobody Wants To Know About Somalia And Why; And What That Means

Medeshi Oct 6, 2008
What Nobody Wants To Know About Somalia And Why; And What That Means
A huge war crime -- a massive crime against humanity -- is going on right now in Somalia, courtesy of (but only indirectly traceable to) the Bush administration and Washington's bipartisan power elite. But, aside from Chris Floyd and a few other internet madmen, nobody knows -- or even wants to know -- much about it.

What's happening? And why doesn't anybody want to know? These are troubling questions for anyone who cares about the soul of America, and even more troubling for anyone who's beginning to suspect that America has no soul at all.
Chris Floyd:
Somalia is the invisible third front of the Terror War, an American-backed "regime change" operation launched by the invading army of Ethiopia and local warlords in December 2006. In addition to helping arm, fund and train the army of the Ethiopian dictatorship, the United States has intervened directly into the conflict, carrying out bombing raids on fleeing refugees and nomads, firing missiles into villages, sending in death squads to clean up after covert operations, and [...] assisting in the "rendition" of refugees, including American citizens, into the hands of Ethiopia's notorious torturers.
Bombing raids on fleeing refugees? Oh, yes. And much more, too. These people look hungry. We'd better kill them!

Read more at: http://winterpatriot.blogspot.com/2008/10/what-nobody-wants-to-know-about-somalia.html

Somalia is 'most ignored tragedy'

Medeshi )ct 6, 2008

Somalia is 'most ignored tragedy'
By Mark Doyle BBC World Affairs Correspondent
The world should be shocked at the systematic destruction of Somalia's capital Mogadishu and its residents, says lobby group Human Rights Watch.

(Photo: Ghost city wracked by war : Video: In Somalia's danger zone)
The organisation told the BBC the city had become a zone of free-fire between government and insurgent forces.
It said if such a situation was happening anywhere else in the world, like Georgia or Lebanon for example, it would be considered a travesty.
Instead Somalia was the most ignored tragedy in the world today, HRW said.
Mogadishu is dying; it is a city on the Indian Ocean coast that used to be one of Africa's trading hubs with the Middle East.
Now whole swathes of it are rubble or skeletons of buildings without doors or windows or roofs.
The most shocking, eerie aspect of it is that in many parts of the capital all the people have fled.
Aid vacuum
The fighting is between the US-backed government and Islamist and nationalist insurgents, who Washington accuses of having links with al-Qaeda.
The Somali government has no capacity to count the number of people who have fled and there are no international aid workers left to do the job because they would be kidnapped for ransom or murdered.
But the fighting has been worse for the ordinary residents of Mogadishu than even the infamous period in the early 1990s that spawned the film Black Hawk Down, a portrayal of American troops killed in Somalia at that time.
Today is worse than Black Hawk Down for the people of Mogadishu, much worse.
I was in the city in the early 1990s. It was an extremely violent time.
Not a night passed without explosions lighting up the sky but even that did not empty the capital of Somalia like the daily fratricidal confrontations now taking place between the government and its armed opponents.
Story from BBC NEWS:

Ethiopia must release rendition victims: HRW

Medeshi Oct 6 ,2008

Ethiopia must release rendition victims: HRW
Ethiopia must release rendition victims: HRW
Submitted by WW4 Report on Mon, 10/06/2008 The Africa Front
Human Rights Watch Oct. 1 called on the Ethiopian government to release rendition victims in custody or prosecute them in an open court. The renditions were the result of a US-backed Ethiopian military intervention in neighboring Somalia in late 2006. The fighting caused thousands to flee across the border into Kenya, which detained at least 150 people from more than 18 countries. In early 2007, Kenyan authorities "renditioned" dozens of these individuals back to Somalia, where they were handed over to the Ethiopian military and questioned by US and Ethiopian agents.
The governments of Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia have all denied illegally transporting and jailing people, claiming they have only taken action against legitimate suspects. According to HRW, the rendition victims were denied access to their embassies, their families and international relief organizations. Former prisoners have complained of solitary confinement and accused Ethiopian authorities of torture, including the pulling out toenails, holding loaded guns to their heads, the crushing of genitals, and being beaten to the point of unconsciousness.
Human Rights Watch initially raised the Horn of African renditions issue in March 2007 when it claimed that the US, Kenya, and Ethiopia were cooperating with the transitional government of Somalia to detain refugees. Canada, Sweden and Eritrea subsequently pressured Ethiopia to reveal details regarding foreign nationals it has allegedly detained in secret prisons run in collaboration with the FBI and CIA. In August last year Kenyan Muslims in Nairobi protested that suspects detained in Kenya had been flown on secret rendition flights to Ethiopia, where "aggressive interrogation" took place at the hands of US agents. (Jurist, Oct. 2)

Somali pirates stare down global superpowers

Medeshi Oct 6, 2008
NAIROBI, Kenya With a Russian frigate closing in and a half-dozen U.S. warships within shouting distance, the pirates holding a tanker off Somalia's coast might appear to have no other choice than to wave the white flag.
(In this picture released by U.S. Navy, Sunday, Sept. 28, 2008, Somali pirates in small boats are seen alongside the hijacked "Faina". Armed pirates aboard fast-moving skiffs have increasingly turned the shipping lanes off Somalia into a lucrative hunting grounds: commandeering vessels large and small and leaving the world's maritime powers frustrated about how to stop the seafaring bandits. )
But that's not how it works in Somalia, a failed state where a quarter of children die before they turn 5, where anybody with a gun controls the streets and where every public institution has crumbled.
The 11-day standoff aboard the Ukrainian MV Faina begs the question: How can a bunch of criminals from one of the poorest and most wretched countries on Earth face off with some of the world's richest and well-armed superpowers?
"They have enough guns to fight for another 20 years," Ted Dagne, a Somalia analyst in Washington, told The Associated Press. "And there is no way to win a battle when the other side is in a suicidal mind set."
In Somalia, pirates are better-funded, better-organized and better-armed than one might imagine in a country that has been in tatters for nearly two decades. They have the support of their communities and rogue members of the government - some pirates even promise to put ransom money toward building roads and schools.
With most attacks ending with million-dollar payouts, piracy is considered the biggest economy in Somalia. Pirates rarely hurt their hostages, instead holding out for a huge payday.
The strategy works well: A report Thursday by a London-based think tank said pirates have raked in up to $30 million in ransoms this year alone.
"If we are attacked we will defend ourselves until every last one of us dies," Sugule Ali, a spokesman for the pirates aboard the Faina, said in an interview over satellite telephone from the ship, which is carrying 33 battle tanks, military weapons and 21 Ukrainian and Latvian and Russian hostages. One Russian has reportedly died, apparently of illness.
The pirates are demanding $20 million ransom, and say they will not lower the price.
"We only need money and if we are paid, then everything will be OK," he said. "No one can tell us what to do."
Ali's bold words come even though his dozens of fighters are surrounded by U.S. warships and American helicopters buzz overhead. Moscow has sent a frigate, which should arrive within days.
Jennifer Cooke of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington said hostage-taking is the key to the pirates' success against any military muscle looming from the U.S. and Russia.
"Once you have a crew at gunpoint, you can hold six U.S. naval warships at bay and they don't have a whole lot of options except to wait it out," Cooke said.
The pirates have specifically warned against the type of raids carried out twice this year by French commandos to recover hijacked vessels. The French used night vision goggles and helicopters in operations that killed or captured several pirates, who are now standing trial in Paris.
But the hostages are not the bandits' only card to play.
Often dressed in military fatigues, pirates travel in open skiffs with outboard engines, working with larger mother ships that tow them far out to sea. They use satellite navigational and communications equipment and an intimate knowledge of local waters, clambering aboard commercial vessels with ladders and grappling hooks.
They are typically armed with automatic weapons, anti-tank rocket launchers and grenades - weaponry that is readily available throughout Somalia, where a bustling arms market operates in the center of the capital.
They also have the support of their communities and some members of local administrations, particularly in Puntland, a semiautonomous region in northeast Somalia that is a hotbed for piracy, officials and pirates have told the AP.
Abdulqadir Muse Yusuf, a deputy minister of ports in Puntland, acknowledged there were widespread signs that Puntland officials, lawmakers and government officials are "involved or benefiting from piracy" and said investigations were ongoing. He would not elaborate.
Piracy has transformed the region around the town of Eyl, near where many hijacked ships are anchored brought while pirates negotiate ransoms.
"Pirates buy new luxury cars and marry two, three, or even four women," said Mohamed, an Eyl resident who refused to give his full name for fear of reprisals from the pirates.
"They build new homes - the demand for construction material is way up."
He said most of the well-known pirates promise to build roads and schools in addition to homes for themselves. But for now, Mohamed says he has only seen inflation skyrocket as the money pours in.
"One cup of tea is about $1," he said. Before the piracy skyrocketed, tea cost a few cents.
Piracy in Somalia is nothing new, as bandits have stalked the seas for years. But this year's surge in attacks - nearly 30 so far - has prompted an unprecedented international response. The Faina has been the highest-profile attack because of its dangerous cargo. The U.S. fears the arms could end up in the hands of al-Qaida-linked militants in a country seen as a key battleground on terror.
The United States has been leading international patrols to combat piracy along Somalia's unruly 1,880-mile coast, the longest in Africa and near key shipping routes. In June, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution that would allow countries to chase and arrest pirates after attacks increased this year.
But still, the attacks continue. Dagne, an analyst in Washington, said that unless the roots of the problem are solved - poverty, disease, violence - piracy will only flourish.
"You have a population that is frustrated, alienated, angry and hopeless," Dagne said. "This generation of Somalis grew up surrounded by abject poverty and violence."
Associated Press writers Salad Duhul and Mohamed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu, Somalia, contributed to this report.

Somaliland Diaspora : Half-day conference on promoting partnership

Medeshi Oct 6 ,2008
Somali Week Festival 2008
Tuesday 14th October
14:00-18:00
Half-day conference on promoting partnership between Somaliland Diaspora
organisations, UK development organisations and their counterparts in
Somaliland
Oxford House in Bethnal Green, in partnership with Somaliland Diaspora
organisations, including Somaliland Societies in Europe (SSE), Somaliland Umbrella
Group (SUG), Somaliland International Recognition Action Group (SIRAG),
Somaliland Focus (UK) and Somaliland West London, is organising a half-day
conference on Tuesday 14th October 2008 from 2pm
We are inviting you to attend this important conference with the theme: promoting
partnership between Somaliland Diaspora organisations, their local
counterpart organisations and other international NGOs.
The primary objective of the conference is to discuss the roles and contributions that
can be played by both Somaliland and Diaspora organisations in the human and
economic development of Somaliland, and ways in which the necessary networks
can be improved to support those activities. The conference will also consider
specific experience in Somaliland with a view to informing discussion on future
initiatives.
We believe that the debates and discussions held during the meeting will help to
contribute to the improvement of communications networks amongst Somaliland
organisations in the UK and back home, as well as with international counterpart
organisations.
Conference Programme
14:00-15:00 Registration and Refreshments
15:00-15:05 Welcome from Chair of SSE
15:05-15:15 Introduction by Michael Walls, Chair of Somaliland Focus
15:15-15:30 Local NGOs and their contribution to Somaliland development; Omar
Sheikh, Director of Havoyoco (Horn of Africa Voluntary Youth
Committee)
15:30-15:45 The integration, effects, and situation of Somali refuges from
Mogadishu in Somaliland by Anna Lindley, University of Oxford
15:45-16:05 Local NGOs and their contribution to peace, democratisation
processes and latest update on Somaliland election and voter
2
registration by Boobe Yusuf Duale, Programme Coordinator, Academy
for Peace and Development, Somaliland

16:05-16:20 Somaliland Diaspora organisations and their contribution to
Somaliland development by Dr Saad Ali Shire, Burco University

16:20-16:40 Building partnerships between Diaspora and local NGOs and bilateral
donors by Jonathan Hargreaves/Cindy Berman, DFID

16:40-17:00 Discussion

17:00-17:20 Tea/Coffee Break/Networking

17:20-17:40 Dialogue, collaboration, learning and information exchange between
local and Diaspora NGOs and international organisations and
Diaspora organisations; improving our ability to work together by Dr
Michael Brophy, Director, Africa Educational Trust

17:40-18:00 Sum up and close of conference.

Insurgents in Somalia Issue a Warning to 2 Western Aid Groups

Medeshi 4 Oct, 2008

Insurgents in Somalia Issue a Warning to 2 Western Aid Groups
A spokesman for the insurgents accused CARE and the International Medical Corps of having committed “crimes against Islam and the jihad.”
Since this feed article is very short, here's an excerpt from its web site: MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of Somalis have been left without basic health care after Islamic militants forced one Western aid group to suspend some operations and threatened another on Friday. Meanwhile, Somalia’s civilian death toll continued to climb.
The last two weeks have been especially bloody, with the United Nations estimating that more than 80 civilians have been killed in Mogadishu, the capital, alone. Elisabeth Byrs, a spokeswoman for the United Nations humanitarian office in Geneva, said that more than 100 people had been wounded in the same period.
...
In recent months the insurgents have staged a series of hit-and-run attacks on several towns, and they hold Somalia’s third largest city, Kismayo. On Friday, a statement by a spokesman for the insurgents, Sheik Muqtar Robow, accused the Western aid agencies, CARE and the International Medical Corps, of having committed “crimes against Islam and the jihad.” The statement warned the agencies to leave areas controlled by the Islamists.
...
“I am warning other agencies in Somalia to not get involved in areas outside their job,” Sheik Robow said. “If they are found, they will face suspension of operations.”
A spokeswoman for the International Medical Corps, Margaret Aguirre, said that the agency had suspended work in southern Somalia last week after insurgents looted four of its offices in the regions of Bakool and Bay. No staff members were hurt in the attacks, she said.
“We’re deeply concerned about the impact of these incidents on people who are already suffering,” said Ms. Aguirre in a telephone interview from the agency’s headquarters in California.
The agency’s medical clinics in the region serve more than 370,000 people, 53,000 of whom are children under the age of 5. Ms. Aguirre, citing security concerns, declined to say how many staff members worked for the organization in Somalia.
CARE did not return phone messages seeking comment. Its Web site says that CARE provides clean water, sanitation and health programs, and that it seeks to improve agricultural practices.
Both the insurgents and the government have threatened Western aid agencies previously, although it is unusual for particular agencies to be singled out. Twelve aid workers have been killed this year in Somalia and nearly 20 have been kidnapped.
Even peacekeepers have found themselves to be targets. On Thursday night, insurgents attacked a contingent of African Union peacekeepers from Burundi, killing two civilians and injuring 19, said Ruqiyo Shafi’i, who lives near the African Union’s base in southern Mogadishu. A spokesman for the African Union, Barigye Bahoku, said no peacekeepers had been killed or wounded in the attack.
...

Fine for illegal fishing , arms smuggling and human catestrophe in Somalia

Medeshi
Pirates of the 21st century
Today's swashbucklers wield high-powered weapons and demand millions in ransom.
By John S. Burnett October 4, 2008
High seas piracy has emerged from the history books -- and things are much more terrifying than yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum.
Ten days ago, Somali pirates hijacked the Ukrainian cargo ship Faina, with a crew of 20, which was transporting 33 battle tanks and assorted heavy weaponry. This dangerous cargo, booty far beyond the expectations of the pirates, has drawn rare international attention to the growing crisis of piracy at sea. U.S. Navy ships have surrounded the Faina for fear the weapons, if unloaded, will fall into the hands of Islamic insurgents. The Russian warship Neustrashimy, with marines and commandos aboard, is en route. The European Union has finally moved to set up an anti-piracy security operation in the region, and the United Nations may vote on an anti-pirate resolution next week.

The pirates reportedly demanded $35 million to free the ship, then $20 million -- and may have dropped their price to $5 million. But they don't call it ransom. Their leader told the New York Times that the money was a "fine" for transporting arms in Somalia's waters and for "unauthorized and unsanctioned fishing and for the humanitarian catastrophe in Somalia."
If the Faina hijacking serves any useful purpose, it may be that it has alerted the public to the scale of the problem. If terrorists hijacked a FedEx cargo plane with a crew of two, the news networks would be following events minute by minute. But few have expressed concern for those captured at sea, as if pirates really were romantic, swashbuckling rogues who swing through the rigging rescuing damsels in distress.
Right now, Somali pirates hold more than a dozen hijacked ships. Nearly 400 men and women from the vessels are being held at gunpoint in some Somali fishing village or aboard a ship that is running low on food and water while negotiations are underway with ship owners that will determine if they live or die. My own sailing vessel was attacked by pirates in the South China Sea, and I can attest there are few situations more terrifying than staring down the barrel of a loaded assault rifle held by a nervous pirate, knowing that no one is coming to your rescue.

Pirates attack merchant vessels, cruise ships, oceangoing tugboats, yachts and support vessels with impunity nearly on a daily basis -- often as warships from Combined Task Force 150, the multinational naval fleet that patrols the Horn of Africa for terrorist threats, watch the attack in real time on radar. Other than scaring off a few pirates, task force ships have not intervened.
The alarming increase in piracy off the coast of Somalia is not unexpected. Somalia has not had a functioning government since the ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. During the subsequent years of tribal conflict, foreign fleets took advantage of the vacuum and fished the tuna-rich Somali waters without check. In the southernmost port of Kismayo, where I served as a relief worker in the late 1990s, foreign fishing boats captured by angry local fisherman lie rusting against the pier, serving now as a place for young militiamen to relax in the sun during their stoned-out Qat break.
Today, however, those former fishermen have found that piracy is far more profitable than pulling up half-empty fishing nets. According to the International Maritime Bureau in London, which monitors piracy at sea, the average ransom paid for a ship and its crew is about $1 million. The bulk of the money is spread through the coastal communities where the hijacked ships are taken and funneled to transnational crime syndicates. But pirates are still better off than their countrymen, who wonder where their next meal is coming from. Two years ago, there were a reported 100 pirates working the coast; today, according to Andrew Mwangura, who heads the Seafarer's Assistance Program in Mombasa, Kenya, there are an estimated 1,200. And the list of volunteers to join them is long.
Hijacking a huge cargo vessel or cruise ship is not difficult. The pirate boats, small fiberglass skiffs, are launched from mother ships stationed far offshore that have plotted the course of their unsuspecting prey. Pirates are armed with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns, and they are equipped with satellite phones, GPS and small-boat radar. Merchant vessels -- the lumbering, slow-moving beasts of world commerce -- are soft targets; except for a few fire hoses blasting outboard, they are defenseless.
Pirates surround the target vessel like a pack of wolves, shoot up the ship, and if the master of the vessel is unable to evade capture, they swarm barefooted and screaming over the vessel and take control. With a gun at his back, the master is ordered to steer the ship into a den along the Somali coast.
To date, no ship owner has refused to pay ransom to release its ship and employees. No one wants blood on the decks. Yet it is the payment of ransom -- $30 million so far this year just to Somali pirates -- that encourages more attacks and fuels Somalia's fastest-growing industry.Colin Darch, master of the Svitzer Korsakov, and his crew were held for 47 days after his vessel was hijacked this year in the Gulf of Aden, the vital sea lane north of Somalia through which 20,000 ships pass annually. His company paid a $678,000 ransom. Reached at sea, he told me that "without money, the militia would have carried out their threat to kill us and wreck the ship. ... Their patience was running out [and] perhaps the next step would have been to kill or mutilate one of us." When a U.S. Navy destroyer appeared on the horizon like the cavalry, Darch and his crew huddled in the anchor locker, expecting they would be rescued. Instead, the warship fired its guns over the Svitzer Korsakov at a terrorist target on land.
Thus far, only the French have taken any military action against pirates. Following the hijacking of the luxury yacht Ponant in April, French President Nicolas Sarkozy sent commandos into Somalia, resulting in the capture of six pirates. It was a unilateral act that was applauded by many in the maritime industry. Such Rambo tactics, however, are undeniably risky when hostages are being held.
The sole military option is to take out the mother ships from which most of the pirates' attacks are launched. Their identities and positions are known. Many seafarers wonder how serious piracy must become before action is taken.
John S. Burnett is the author of "Dangerous Waters, Modern Piracy and Terror on the High Seas." modernpiracy.com

Ethiopia's Opposition demands bring the troops home from Somalia

Medeshi Oct 3 , 2008

Ethiopia's Opposition demands bring the troops home from Somalia
Ethiopia's fractious political opposition is planning a unified parliamentary campaign to demand a complete withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from Somalia, the Voice of America reports. Almost all of Ethiopia's varies opposition parties have been against the invasion of Somalia from the onset and the war in Somalia is costing Ethiopia enormously both in blood and treasure.
Almost two years after the invasion of Somalia by Ethiopian troops, the situation in Somalia is getting worse by the day.

(File Photo: Ethiopian Troops in Somalia)

Analysts have been writing recently that the insurgents are getting the upper hand and Ethiopia is making the situation worse.
According to VOA, Ethiopian Democratic Party sent a letter to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi saying the sacrifice of lives and scarce financial resources had become unbearable. Party President Lidetu Ayalew says after nearly two years of propping up Somalia's weak transitional government, it is time for Ethiopian troops to go home and demand international organizations such as the United Nations and the African Union take responsibility.
"We are sacrificing a lot. It takes our expenses, we are losing many soldiers there, when you see the international media, our image is in danger ... There must be one point to end our presence in Somalia. We believe the A.U. and U.N. should play their role, but now it is Ethiopia that is holding the whole burden," he said.
"The government has irresponsibly refused to account on these two pertinent issues relating to the Ethiopian army's deployment to Somalia," he said. "Every country's parliament, even the public at large, has a right to know what its involvement is costing in terms of life and resources. We have been kept in the dark."
Beyene Petros (United Ethiopian Democratic Front)
"No Somali would consider Ethiopia as a savior. They all thought, all of them thought Ethiopia was invading Somalia and they would fight Ethiopia as long as they could," Demeksa said. "They resolved to fight against us, and they are fighting, and in my opinion they are winning."
Bulcha Demeksa (Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement)
"I am saying cut your losses and get out. The international community is not going to rescue the Somali people, they have had three years to do so, everybody has stood on sideline and watched the people and defense forces suffering, and we think it is never too late, and the PM [prime minister] is looking for ways to withdraw forces, and my advice is to do it as quickly as possible, and not wait for the international community to react,"

Temesgen Zewde (Unity, Democracy and Justice Party)
"I do not believe we are mired in Somalia. We can get out any time. We will not. This is what the prime minister said. We are not in a quagmire, can get out anytime,"
Foreign Ministry spokesman Wahide Belay

Source : Nazret

Failure of seasonal rains in Ethiopia

Medeshi Oct 3 , 2008
Failure of seasonal rains in Ethiopia
Maso Aliyi mourns his dead child, Shibre Aliyi, at his home in the village of Kararo in Ethiopia on Thursday. Shibre had spent almost a month at a therapeutic feeding center. A lack of rain in the main February to April wet season has left at least 75,000 Ethiopian children under age 5 at risk from malnutrition, according to the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which also asserts that some eight million people need urgent food relief and another 4.6 million need emergency assistance.
(Stephen Morrison / EPA)