US , India nuclear deal

Medeshi Oct 10, 2008

US and India to sign nuclear deal
The United States and India are due to sign a civilian nuclear co-operation accord to end 34 years of US sanctions.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Indian foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee will sign the deal in Washington after years of negotiations.
India will gain access to US civilian nuclear technology and fuel in return for inspections of its civilian, but not military, nuclear facilities.
India says the accord is vital to meet its rising energy needs.
Critics say it creates a dangerous precedent.
They say it effectively allows India to expand its nuclear power industry without requiring it to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as other nations must.
The US restricted nuclear co-operation with India after it tested a nuclear weapon in 1974.
'Natural partners'
US President George W Bush signed the accord into law earlier this week, after it had finally been approved by the US Congress.
NUCLEAR POWER IN INDIA
India has 14 reactors in commercial operation and nine under construction
Nuclear power supplies about 3% of India's electricity
By 2050, nuclear power is expected to provide 25% of the country's electricity
India has limited coal and uranium reserves
Its huge thorium reserves - about 25% of the world's total - are expected to fuel its nuclear power programme long-term Source: Uranium Information Center
The deal was first agreed three years ago and is regarded as a key foreign policy priority for both the Indian and US governments.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said the deal will help India to liberate itself from "the constraints of technology denial of 34 years".
Although India has said it retains the right to conduct nuclear tests, the US has said the deal would be cancelled in such an eventuality.
The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) recently lifted a ban that had denied India access to the international nuclear market.
India and France have also signed a major co-operation pact which paves the way for the sale of French nuclear reactors to Delhi.
France is the world's second largest producer of nuclear energy after the United States.
Russia has also been lobbying the Indian government hard on behalf of its firms.
Story from BBC NEWS:

Fear grips world stock markets

Medeshi Oct 10, 2008
Fear grips world stock markets
United States, European and Asian stock markets have plummeted, as lending rates between banks continue to rise despite this week's efforts by central banks to break the impasse in credit markets.
The Dow Jones industrial average of leading US shares in New York fell nearly 700 points on opening, briefly dropping below the 8,000 mark.
European markets were hard hit again, with Britain's FTSE-100 down 6.9 per cent, German's DAX down 8.5 per cent, and France's CAC-40 down eight per cent.
Asian stock markets had dropped sharply earlier on Friday, with the Nikkei 225 down 9.6 per cent and the Hang Seng lower by 7.2 per cent.
John Terrett, Al Jazeera's correspondent in New York, said: "The markets have come down more than 20 per cent in just seven days. This is a market crash by any other name.
"The markets are concerned about the banks... and are not seeing the global leadership they are seeking. All eyes are on today's G7 meeting in Washington."
Russia bailout
In Vienna, the stock exchange was suspended after stocks tumbled 10 per cent at the opening bell, and in Russia representatives of the MICEX and RTS exchanges said they had suspended regular trading until further notice under orders from financial regulators.
IN DEPTH
How the financial bubble burstQ&A: The US financial meltdownReacting to the financial crisis

Russia's Duma, the country's lower house of parliament, later announced it had approved two financial crisis packages worth a total of $86bn on Friday.
They include making available $50bn of state money to banks and companies who need to refinance foreign debt, and giving $36bn to Russia's key banks in loans.
Oleg Morozov, the Duma vice-speaker, said: "It's understood that those who play the stock markets, those who have taken big sums of credit in the West, the big companies, they are in a risk zone, the same as any financial and economic activity.
"Today we are helping them too by taking the decision [to ratify financial crisis measures], so I repeat again - today there is no reason at all for panic in the financial markets."Investor confidence
But efforts to thaw frozen credit markets and boost investor confidence, such as co-ordinated interest rate cuts by the world's central banks, have fallen flat as markets remain gripped by fears about the scale and depth of the likely global recession.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Jeremy Batstone, head of research at Charles Stanley Brokers in London, said: "What we have got to remember is that a stock market is essentially a bet on a future company's profitability, and company profits are under major pressure, as the world enters an economic recession, so says the IMF head.
"If that's the case, then clearly profits across a range of sections are under pressure, its not a great surprise then, that stock markets are selling off.
"The other problem is in the money markets where banks remain very wary and to some extent are unable to deal with each other, which in turn is fostering the fear that we're seeing spread around the world."
The latest woes in Europe came after the Dow Jones index in the US closed down 678.91 or, 7.3 per cent lower, at 8,579.19, on Thursday the first time it has fallen below 9,000 in five years.
Nikkei woes
Meanwhile, the global credit crisis claimed its first Japanese financial institution on Friday as the government looked to prop up the country's smaller banks.
Ministers played down the risk of contagion from the collapse of Yamato Life, an unlisted, small insurance company, but investors were spooked.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 881.06 points, or 9.6 per cent, to 8,276.43, marking its lowest closing level since May 2003.
It was its biggest one-day percentage loss since the stock market crash of October 1987 and meant that the Nikkei lost nearly a quarter of its value during the week.In Sao Paulo, South America's largest stock market, trading was automatically suspended after the market slid more than 10 per cent.
Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven industrialised nations are due to meet later on Friday in Washington to address the financial meltdown but market commentators are sceptical that they can do anything to soothe concerns about the world economy.
Speaking to Al Jazeera from Paris, Max Keiser, a financial analyst, said: "[This is] pure greed, pure hubris, the gods are punishing us humans. We are going to enter something like 1893 which was a lot worse than the 1929 [Wall Street crash].
"This is a catastrophe, these are suicide bankers ... they are almost completely out of control."
George Bush, the US president, is due to make an address on the economic situation to the American people later in the day.
Source:
Agencies

Somali Pirates: Ocean Salvation Corps

Medeshi
Off the lawless coast of Somalia, pirates say they are merely patriots protecting their shores, the Tribune's Paul Salopek writes
By Paul Salopek
Tribune correspondent
October 10, 2008
JOHANNESBURG — Somalia's pirates want the world to know they are regrettably misunderstood.
They are merely "gentlemen who work in the ocean." Indeed, many are salty patriots risking their lives at sea while "protecting Somalia's shores." And the sea — ah, she is the pirates' beloved "mother."
Or so said a rueful pirate who telephoned a Somali radio station earlier this year, complaining about all the negative publicity surrounding the epidemic of boat hijackings, hostage-takings and thuggish attacks on UN aid ships that have made Somalia's coastline the most dangerous in the world.
The aggrieved buccaneer, calling himself a spokesman for the "Ocean Salvation Corps," said he and his men were merely exacting a tax for years of foreign poaching in Somalia's fish-rich waters. He even offered to embed reporters with his corsairs.
As the seizure of a weapons-stuffed Ukrainian freighter edges into its third week of a tense standoff between pirates and U.S. naval vessels off the coast of Somalia, the motivations of Somalia's notorious pirates would seem grimly clear: In this case, $20 million in hard cash in exchange for cutting loose the ship and its crew.
Yet for years, Somali pirates have wielded other, more self-serving justifications for their criminal activity on the high seas. Mostly, they say their attacks are tough payback for the world community's abuse of prostrate Somalia's territory and resources. And, surprisingly, some experts admit that these arguments, while never forgiving the terrors of piracy, may hold a grain of truth.
Somalia's lawless coastline has been ravaged by unscrupulous outsiders with impunity since the Somali government collapsed in 1991, experts say.
In the early 1990s, for example, Somalia's unpatrolled waters became a cost-free dumping ground for industrial waste from Europe. Fishing boats from Italy were reported to have ferried barrels of toxic materials to Somalia's shores and then returned home laden with illicit catches of fish. Rusting containers of hazardous waste washed up on Somali beaches as recently as 2005, after a powerful tsunami roared through.
But fish poaching has proved far more devastating to Somalis, environmental officials say.
"It's been like a long gold rush for Thai, European, Yemeni and Korean boats," said Abdulwali Abdulrahman Gayre, the vice minister of ports and fisheries for Puntland, a dusty, semiautonomous state in northern Somalia that is the bastion of the pirates.
"We have some of the richest fishing grounds in the world," said Gayre. "Scientists say it is like a rain forest of fish. But our fishermen can't compete with the foreigners in big ships who come to steal from our waters."
Somalia, like all maritime countries, has legal rights over an exclusive economic zone that extends 200 nautical miles to sea. And though it has no navy to enforce its control, it theoretically owns the fish and minerals in that area.
Many of Somalia's angry fishermen have picked up rifles and joined the pirate mafias that have seized more than two dozen vessels off the Somali coast so far this year, maritime security experts say.
"It's almost like a resource swap," said Peter Lehr, a Somalia piracy expert at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and the editor of "Violence at Sea: Piracy in the Age of Global Terrorism." "Somalis collect up to $100 million a year from pirate ransoms off their coasts. And the Europeans and Asians poach around $300 million a year in fish from Somali waters."
Lehr said at least 700 Somalis go to sea as pirates, usually in small speedboats that operate from mother ships. He said the criminal activity is bolstered by a massive shore-based infrastructure —boat repairers, food suppliers, security guards—that directly involves 10,000 to 15,000 people.
Experts worry that piracy's quick and dirty spurts of cash into Somalia's coastal communities will destroy the local fishing industry once and for all.
In the raw frontier port of Bosaso, which also doubles as a hub for smuggling migrants to the Middle East, shiny new mansions have sprouted amid smoldering garbage dumps. The millions of dollars raked in by pirates have trickled far and wide, through local clans, Somalia's Islamist rebels and even the leadership of the weak transitional government, experts say.
The Puntland authorities insist they are doing what they can. Seven pirates are serving time in the dilapidated Bosaso jail, a government spokesman said.

About 100 migrants are feared to have drowned after being thrown overboard by smugglers

Medeshi Oct 10, 2008

Migrants 'feared dead' off Yemen
About 100 migrants are feared to have drowned after being thrown overboard by smugglers in the Gulf of Aden, the UN refugee agency says.
The migrants were attempting to flee to Yemen from war-torn Somalia but were forced off the boat about 5km (3 miles) from the coast, a UN official said.
About 47 migrants managed to swim to shore and alert the authorities.
The UN says about 32,000 people have made the perilous crossing to Yemen this year, and 365 have gone missing.
The boat had left Marera in Somalia, close to the port of Bossasso, on Monday with 150 people on board, according to Ron Redmond, a spokesman for UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).
"Survivors said they counted a total of 47 people reaching the beach and later saw Yemeni authorities burying five bodies," Mr Redmond said at a press conference.
UNHCR estimates that in addition to those missing, at least 230 people have died attempting the crossing this year.
Piracy rife
Last month, the agency said that despite the burden on the Yemeni authorities, they were still maintaining an open door policy towards refugees.
But they said that global action was needed to tackle the problem.
Piracy is also rife in the busy shipping lanes of the Somali coast, where dozens of ships have been hijacked this year.
The Nato military alliance has said it will send warships to combat the piracy and help escort aid deliveries off Somalia by the end of the year.
Somalia has experienced almost constant civil conflict since the collapse of Mohamed Siad Barre's regime in January 1991.
Islamist militants are currently fighting government and Ethiopian troops, with frequent bombings and shelling in the capital, Mogadishu
Story from BBC NEWS:

Largest wind farm in Africa

Medeshi Oct 9 , 2008

Ethiopia signs deal for largest wind farm in Africa
ADDIS ABABA ,Ethiopia on Thursday signed a 220-million-euro (300 million dollar) deal with a French company for the construction of Africa's largest wind farm.
The contract was inked by representatives of the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPC) and French wind turbine manufacturer Vergnet.
The wind farm is expected to produce 120 megawatts within two and half years, making it the largest such project on the continent.
"This is a very strategic project for us. The first (largest) in Africa for wind energy production with 120 megawatts, that is to say 15 percent of our present capacity," EEPC chairman Meheret Debebe said.
"This project will help us to fill the gap of hydrological risks we are facing in Ethiopia with the droughts," he explained.
Ethiopia has been chronically hit by droughts, affecting the humanitarian plight of millions as well as crippling its electricity production, which is heavily reliant on hydroelectric dams.
The landlocked Horn of Africa country -- Africa's second most populous -- is currently experiencing a severe drought and has been plagued by incessant power cuts in recent months.
"This contract is a very important one cause with a budget in excess of 200 million euros it will be the largest wind farm in Africa," French Minister of State for Foreign Trade Anne-Marie Idrac said at the signing ceremony.
"It is also very symbolic of France's commitment to developing renewable energies," she added.

Somaliland: A New Manual for Peace?

Medeshi

‘Responsibility to Protect’: A New Manual for Peace?
Thursday, 09 October 2008
Gareth Evans, International Crisis Group president, has launched his book ‘Responsibility to Protect’ (R2P) in Brussels and UNPO was present to gauge its reception.
Below is an article written by UNPO:
7 October 2008, Brussels – Gathering at the international Press Center in Brussels, UNPO joined other NGOs, press, and officials for the launch in Europe of Gareth Evans’ book, ‘Responsibility to Protect: Ending Mass Atrocity Crimes Once and For All’.
Mr. Evans, one of the driving forces behind the emergence of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine, was joined on a panel by Ms. Emma Bonino and Mr.Joschka Fischer who each took the opportunity to comment briefly on the book and the state of the R2P doctrine in the world today.
Mr. Evans developed their references using recent case studies that, in his opinion, showed some of the confusion over the correct application and implementation of the R2P doctrine. Spanning continents, each case study showed the wide applicability of the R2P doctrine, but also the need for international actors to be schooled in its application.
Starting with the ethnic violence that swept Kenya in the wake of presidential elections in December 2007, Mr. Evans cited this as a classic instance of R2P and one that “fell far short of military action”. Although it was a case where the failure to protect had gone unnoticed, international diplomatic pressure and the threat of sanctions had led to a resolution of the crisis. This welcome resolution stood in sharp relief to the international community’s failure to act in Rwanda in 1994.
Unfortunately there was still much confusion over the terminology of R2P and Cyclone Nargis’ impact on Burma and the “instinctive” response to the junta’s obstruction by some quarters of the international community had shown this all too clearly, Mr. Evans regretted. This response, threatening unilateral air drops of food aid for instance, was “very counterproductive” and ran this risk of reinforcing perceptions among the global South of R2P being another instrument of regime change which had been seen in Iraq in 2003.
Looking to more current situations, Mr. Evans remarked that Darfur was “clearly a R2P in my view” and a situation where there had been a clear failure to prevent, protect, or create a situation for stability. The recent decision by the International Court of Justice to indict Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir appeared to indicate a shift in this position, and it was far too early to consider it a failure of R2P by any means. Mr. Evans concluded that one alternative, invasion, would inevitably be a catastrophe and one that no-one was considering with any seriousness.
Taking the opportunity to raise the issue of Somaliland in the context of the instability facing the Somali state, UNPO’s General Secretary, Marino Busdachin, asked Mr. Evans whether he saw a role for the unrecognized de facto state as a launch pad to rebuilding security in Somalia. Responding, Mr. Evans noted the successes Somaliland had been able to achieve since it had been able to break out of the “implausible marriage” that had united it disastrously with Italian Somaliland in 1960.
Concluding the question and answer session at the close of the event, Ms. Bonino declared her belief that it was important international figures “don’t play grandiose” with crises and use R2P responsibly and as it was designed. Making his own conclusions, Mr. Joschka Fischer saw the need to reinforce the integration and unity of the European Union so that it would be better placed to react to future crises and fill the current gaps in capability that could be seen in the African Union and other regional bodies.
Significant gaps remain in the implementation of R2P as a doctrine, but Mr. Evans expressed the hope that this latest text will reinforce the progress already made. The establishment, by Mr. Evans, in 2008 of the Global Centre for Responsibility to Protect (GCR2P) is another step which he hopes will educate and inform decision makers about the implementation and utility of the R2P doctrine.

Arms Ship - UN Okays Commando Attack

Medeshi 9 Oct, 2008

Arms Ship - UN Okays Commando Attack
The Nation (Nairobi)NEWS

By Alphonce Shiundu And Dominic WaballaNairobi
The United Nations has authorised force to free the hijacked Ukrainian ship.
The UN Security Council resolved that states with warships and planes in the area should attack the ship "on the high seas and airspace off the coast of Somalia".

(The 20-man crew of the hijacked Ukrainian vessel, MV Faina, stand side-by-side along the ship's deck after the US Navy asked the Somali pirates to prove the hostages were being well looked after. One hostage has reportedly died since the stand-off began two weeks ago.)
Military experts believed the most likely option was a commando style raid to overpower the pirates on board, rather than a direct attack on the ship.
Shelling the vessel could cause a catastrophic explosion and kill the hostages as well as losing the entire cargo, they said.
The Security Council resolution was described by the UN as necessary to repress piracy, consistent with the 1982 UN Convention on the law of the Sea.
The vote to attack the pirates holding the ship that has been moored off Somalia since September 26 came as the Kenya Government through Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetang'ula backed the use of force to repossess the ship.
The Government has insisted the controversial 33 T-72 tanks, rocket propelled grenades and spare parts on the MV Faina belong to Kenya's Defence ministry although other reports maintain the cargo was destined for South Sudan.
Approval for force came as a Reuters report quoted an associate of the pirates holding the ship as saying an $8 million (Sh576m) ransom deal was in the offing, which may enable the boat to be freed within days.
"A boat will carry the money from Djibouti and pirates are expected to release the ship in the coming two nights," a business partner of the pirates, who identified himself only as Farah, told Reuters.
"I think the Americans are aware of the deal because there is no other alternative to release the ship," added Farah, who has given reliable information in the past about piracy.
"If the warships threatened, pirates would die in a last-ditch fight and risk the hostages."
Tuesday's UN resolution poses a challenge to Kenya's ability to secure the tanks to which it has laid claim.
Restore order
The 15-country UN Security council has on more than one occasion called for the deployment of military vessels and aircraft to restore order in the lawless Gulf of Aden.
On Wednesday, Mr Wetang'ula said: "We will fight the pirates anywhere and everywhere to keep the high seas safe."
However, the resolution only applies to pirates off Somalia, whose 1,880-mile coastline is the longest in Africa and near key shipping routes that connect the Indian Ocean with the Red Sea.
Addressing a news conference at his office, Mr Wetang'ula insisted that ransom should not be paid. "The more you pay, the more you empower them," he said.
It is estimated that the pirates have made between $30-50 million from ransom payments over the past year.
They have been demanding $20 million to release the ship that was hijacked with arms from Ukraine enroute to Mombasa.
The minister disclosed that the Kenya Navy will patrol Somalia's territorial waters to secure the Indian Ocean coast.
The pirates, he said, were "part of an organised international criminal syndicate" that would have grave consequences on the maritime route to the Mombasa port.
"There is a real risk of merchant ship owners shunning the region," Mr Wetang'ula said.
He insisted that the UN resolution gave "extra-territorial powers", but could not explain if this meant an invasion of Somalia to pursue the pirates on land.
But Somalia's Foreign Affairs minister Ali Ahmed Jama called for caution before using force.
He said that even though the threat "was serious and unacceptable," the safety of crew being held hostage must be taken into consideration.
Mr Wetang'ula also refuted media reports that the arms were destined for Southern Sudan.
He termed the reports as "unhelpful speculation".
Cabinet meeting
Other sources said the issue is likely to be discussed at a Cabinet meeting to be held on Thursday.
Analysts say Southern Sudan could be building up its military power ahead of a 2011 referendum on whether it should secede from the Khartoum Government.
The Faina, captured with 33 T72 tanks and anti-aircraft guns, is moored at the Somalia coast near Hobyo port under surveillance from Kenyan and US forces.

Dossier of Crimes Against the People of Ethiopia and Somalia

Dossier of Crimes Against the People of Ethiopia and Somalia
October 9th, 2008

''In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up a thousandfold in the future. When we neither punish nor reproach evildoers… we are ripping the foundations of justice from beneath new generations." - Aleksander Solzehnitsyn

Ethiopian Review continues to work on a dossier of crimes that documents the crimes of Meles Zenawi's regime against the people of Ethiopia, Somalia and Eritrea. We need help from every one in making this dossier comprehensive and factual that can be admitted to future judicial proceedings against the Meles criminal gang. Please participate in this important documentation by posting here any information of crime you may have been informed about that have been committed by the brutal dictatorship of the Tigrean People Liberation Front (Woyanne) and its opportunist allies.
Click here to see the information documented so far.

War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity in the Ogaden area of Ethiopia’s Somali Region

This 130-page report documents a dramatic rise in unchecked violence against civilians since June 2007, when the Ethiopian army launched a counterinsurgency campaign against rebels who attacked a Chinese-run oil installation. The Human Rights Watch report provides the first in-depth look at the patterns of abuse in a conflict that remains virtually unknown because of severe restrictions imposed by the Ethiopian government.

Click here to read the full report.

Somalia Crises is Worsening

IRC Responds in Somalia, but Says Crisis is Worsening
08 Oct 2008 - The International Rescue Committee and 51 other aid organizations have expressed concern about the worsening humanitarian crisis in Somalia.

(Photo: Children outside a temporary shelter in Somalia )
In a statement issued October 6, the agencies said, "Nearly half of Somalia's population, or 3.25 million people, are now in need of emergency aid. This is a 77 percent increase since the beginning of 2008."
A destructive combination of extreme drought, record-high food prices and "the indiscriminate and disproportional use of force by all armed parties to the conflict" are responsible for the escalating crisis, the statement said.
The 52 agencies call upon all parties to the conflict to allow aid agencies unhindered access to those in need of emergency assistance, and for the international community to make the protection of Somali civilians a top priority. The IRC is responding to the rapidly deteriorating situation by providing urgent water and sanitation for tens of thousands of displaced people and the communities now hosting them.
IRC's emergency water, sanitation and hygiene programs — including the rehabilitation of a strategic water borehole that provides for 30,000 people — are situated in the central Mudug region, where thousands have fled Mogadishu.
IRC's Somalia country director Bruce Hickling says the growing insecurity is making it increasingly difficult to meet the needs of the population.
"Our activities are continuing but we are not able to operate at full capacity, which means that increasing assistance to meet the growing needs is going to be very difficult to achieve," said Hickling.

Somaliland Independence

Medeshi Oct 9 ,2008

Somaliland Independence

By Jeremy Sare
The recent spate of piracy off Somalia's coast is yet another symptom of the country's collapse of stability and some of its peoples' intense desperation. Reports that the pirates or hijackers of the Ukrainian vessel had begun shooting each other formed a perfect microcosm of Somalia's brutal inner turmoil.But in the northern half of the country, known as Somaliland, there is no such mayhem. Given its close proximity to the ravaged "failed state" of Somalia, it is astonishing that Somaliland should be stable, safe, democratic and largely crime-free.
To most people, Somalia is synonymous with bloody anarchy – simply one of the most dangerous places in the world. Only the few people with an active interest in the Horn of Africa seem aware of Somaliland's peaceful existence. The leading authority on the region since the 1950s is Professor Ioan Lewis – his book, Understanding Somalia and Somaliland, published in July, leads you to the conclusion. In comprehending the unending enigma of the Horn, one course of action is clear – the peaceful north must be allowed to declare independence from the endless chaos of the south.
That view is privately shared by many governments in Africa and in the wider world, but Somaliland's declared independence of 1991 is still yet to formally recognised by any nation and it remains an "invisible" country.
Diplomatic recognition is the perpetual obsession of the Somaliland government; without it, the country remains starved of foreign investment and aid. In all probability, it would take just one country, such the US, to move on the issue and the rest, with a handful of exceptions, would be bound to follow. However, none of the main players wants to be first, so they are engaged in a multiple "Mexican stand-off".
The few countries who openly oppose recognition (Egypt and Italy) argue "former colonial boundaries should not be redrawn". But Somalilanders agree. The country was a former British protectorate which became independent in 1960 and simultaneously joined in union with the former Italian colony of Somalia. By the mid-1980s the union was rapidly disintegrating; the mass bombing in 1988 of Somaliland's capital, Hargeisa, where 50,000 civilians were killed extinguished any thoughts of reconciliation.
The collective policy of finding a peaceful solution in the southern half of Somalia has not progressed even after 15 peace conferences in as many years. One Somali commentator called this apparently pointless exercise, "the policy of following a blind camel". A Senlis council report published in April says, "the international community needs to be reawakened from its torpor on Somaliland".
But Ted Dagne from Washington's congressional research service argues: "Somalia must develop a federal structure that gives regional autonomy." For the Somalilanders in the north this political theorem is plainly non-sensical. They see the failed union like two brothers who went into business together – while one brother was sober and hard-working, the other went off the rails, destroying the company's stock along with its reputation. Yet it is to the "reckless brother" the international community relentlessly turns to for a solution.
The Somaliland president Dahir Riyale Kahin visited the US in April in the hope of broadening support towards the goal of recognition. Somaliland has certainly passed any democratic test set by Washington in establishing a multi-party system, holding free and fair elections and upholding freedom of speech.
There is now a division of opinion at the top of the US government on this issue. Pentagon chief Robert Gates sees Somaliland as "an entity that works". But Dr Jendayi Frazer, second in command at the state department said: "The US will not take the first step to recognising Somaliland before the African Union."
A change of president in January may alter that position, or before that Bush may be persuaded that Somaliland recognition could be part of his "African legacy". The military see the strategic importance of having a base in the Gulf of Aden as a bulwark against al-Qaida and the deep-water port of Berbera could be ideal.
Ultimately, these are the factors which are likely to determine Somaliland's chances of gaining equal nation status under the UN and not its efforts, against the odds, to create a democratic and free society.

Kenya deports anti-Obama author

Medeshi Oct 8, 2008

Kenya deports anti-Obama author
afrol News, 8 October - The American author of a book that seeks to tear down the Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was on Tuesday deported by Kenyan authorities.

Jerome Corsi, the author of the best-selling book titled "The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality," was deported few hours before he had launched the controversial book in the capital Nairobi.
Senator Obama has had his roots from Kenya where his popularity is unquestionable. Many people believed Corsi chose Kenya to advance his negative agenda against Obama whose popularity has been on the increase barely less than a month before the 4 November presidential polls.
Kenyan immigration officials confirmed the detention of the critical author for lacking a work permit before his deportation.
Both the government of Kenya and Obama's spokesman reserved comments on the issue. His Kenyan uncle, Said Obama, said he was not aware of the case and also refused to comment.
Earlier, the Illinois senator's campaign committee referred Dr. Corsi "a bigot peddaling rehashed lies to hurt Obama in the presidential race against Republican senator John McCain."
A product of a Kenyan father and a white American from Kansas, Obama was born and brought up in Hawaii. Obama's last trip to Kenya, in 2006, drew thousands of Kenyans who thronged every stop of his tour.
Dr. Corsi's book, which described Obama as "a dangerous and radical candidate for president," contains innuendos and false rumors that he was raised a Muslim and attended a radical black church.
By staff writer

Press Release: Invading troops must leave Somalia without any delay

Medeshi Oct 8, 2008

Invading troops must leave Somalia without any delay

Press Release

EPRP
Leave aside the increasing violence and mayhem in Mogadishu and other places, the recent report that the Somali Transitional Government is to be moved out of Somalia to Nairobi is enough proof that the invasion by the troops of Meles Zenawi has turned into a complete fiasco.

The Meles Zenawi regime sent troops to invade Somalia and fell into the marsh even as it boasted of fast and lightning victory over the Islamic Courts militia there. It was an ill advised move that was destined to further complicate the Somali civil strife and, as a consequence, also to aggravate the insurgency in the Ogaden region. The EPRP condemned the invasion and called on immediate withdrawal, to let the Somali people solve their own problems by themselves, to seek a better global solution to the ongoing war. The Meles regime refused to heed the voices of reason and prompted by its own political need to toe the line and get support from a foreign power whose foreign policy in the region has proved a failure, it sent in troops and is not only bogged down in Somalia but is committing atrocities that would spoil the relations between the fraternal peoples of Somalia and Ethiopia. In the Ogaden too, the regime is engaged in a scorched earth anti-insurgency campaign that has brought death and suffering on the people there.

Now that Somalia is in a deplorable situation thanks to the invasion and the violence of the invading troops it is obvious that the solution for the Somali conflict demands first of all the withdrawal of the invading troops of Meles Zenawi. There is absolutely no justification for Ethiopians to die in dozens in Somalia, no justification for atrocities to be committed by the soldiers against the people of Somalia. That this horrible adventure has little or nothing to do with the so called anti terror war has also been proved by its failure in this so called mission. The people of Ethiopia are suffering under a big famine, economic penury, the lack of good governance and gross violation of human rights under the Meles regime. This is their primary problem and not any militia in Somalia.

Invading troop must withdraw from Somalia without any delay. The atrocities in the Ogaden must stop.
Nazret

Saudis deport while the West grants asylum to Somalis

This is the irony. The so called Saudis who are supposed to be our brothers deport our people to unsafe and occupied Somalia while the west grants asylum to those who seek. Please read the the following article and post your comments:

(Photo: Hargeisa Airport)

Somaliland: Plane Carrying Deportees Refused Permission to Land
Posted on: Tuesday, 7 October 2008,
Excerpt from report by independent Somaliland newspaper Waaheen on 7 October
A plane from Saudi Arabia which was carrying Somalis who had been deported from that country is said to have been denied clearance to land at Hargeysa airport.
The plane is said to have tried to land at Mogadishu airport but aborted after being informed that Mogadishu airport was insecure. It then proceeded to Hargeysa to offload its human cargo. However, airport officials declined to have it land there forcing it to fly back to Saudi Arabia.
Reports say the plane was carrying Somalis who had been deported from Saudi Arabia and was told about the insecurity at the airport after it was established that it was carrying the Somali deportees.
Somali migrants in Saudi Arabia are usually deported back to the country soon after they are arrested by Saudi police.
Reports say Jeddah prisons are bursting at the seams with illegal Somali migrants who cannot be deported back to the country.
This comes at a time when thousands of migrant Somalis are flocking to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They risk their lives by travelling by sea to Yemen. Hundreds die every year [passage omitted].
Originally published by Waaheen newspaper in Somali 7 Oct 08.
(c) 2008 BBC Monitoring Africa.

Somalis resist U.S.-backed occupation

As warships move into area: Somalis resist U.S.-backed occupation
By Abayomi Azikiwe

Editor, Pan-African News Wire
During the last week of September, unprecedented fighting took place in several areas of the east African nation of Somalia. This rising tide of armed conflict is directly related to the resistance efforts of the Somali people against the occupation of their country by the military forces of neighboring Ethiopia. The Ethiopian invasion in December 2006 was fully supported, financially and militarily, by the U.S.
(The escalation of fighting in Somalia, both on land and in the waterways surrounding this Horn of Africa nation, must be blamed on the foreign policy role of the U.S. Under the guise of “fighting Islamic terrorism,” the U.S. has heightened instability in Somalia and throughout the region.

An important dimension to the recent fighting is the role of African Union (AU) “peacekeeping” units. They consist largely of Ugandan troops who have operated in a fashion that has drawn increasing attacks from the resistance movement in the capital, Mogadishu. The resistance is fighting against the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), which has been kept in power by Ethiopian troops working in collaboration with the Pentagon.
In the early hours of Sept. 29, Islamic resistance fighters fired on Ugandan, Ethiopian and TFG troops in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, resulting in the reported deaths of at least four people.
Eyewitness Hamad Ali Ahmed said three people, including a Somali government soldier, were killed in a series of gun battles “near Villa Baidoa when two mortar shells struck buildings.” (Agence France Press, Sept. 29)
During the same time period, in the Holwadag district of the city, another person was killed in a crossfire and at least seven were wounded.
Islamic resistance members confirmed that the attacks on the military bases of the pro-U.S. forces are the result of a new offensive aimed at driving the Ethiopians, Ugandans and their Somali allies in the surrogate government out of the capital. According to Commander Mohamed Mohamud Dulyadeyn of the resistance, “We attacked the bases of Ugandan forces, Ethiopians and Somali stooges. Five of our men were wounded, but they sustained heavy casualties.” (AFP, Sept. 29)
At the same time, a roadside bomb struck Ethiopian troops in Mogadishu. The device exploded while the soldiers were leaving an area near the presidential palace. In the aftermath of the blast, Somali surrogate troops arrived at the scene and randomly opened fire on commuters who were gathering in the area. No casualties were reported in the incident.
The escalation of fighting between Sept. 20 and 29 has sparked another large-scale exodus from Mogadishu. “From Sept. 20, our figures show that 18,500 people have fled their homes due to the fighting and shelling,” said Ali Sheikh Yassin, acting chair of the Elman Human Rights Organization in Mogadishu.
“Heavy fighting and shelling went on in Hodan and Holwadag districts in south Mogadishu,” Yassin said, adding that many families could be seen on the roads, moving rapidly out of the area.
Journalists confirmed the severity of the situation. “The area is emptying. Those who had not left before are on the move now. It is not going to be a very happy Eid [festivities after the month of Ramadan] for many.” (Integrated Regional Information Network [IRIN], Sept. 29)

One of the important resistance organizations, the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia, led by Sheikh Sharif Sheih Ahmed, is currently engaged in discussions with the TFG. It said that the actions of the Ethiopian and Ugandan troops and their local counterparts are totally unacceptable.
The alliance condemned the Ugandan troops, accusing them of brutality and indiscriminate use of excessive force in areas occupied by civilians not involved in the fighting.
In a statement on Sept. 29, the alliance stated that “AMISOM (the African Union Mission in Somalia) used unnecessary force and targeted heavily populated quarters and markets far away from the fighting areas, which can only be taken as a deliberate mass killing.”
In response to the statement by the Alliance, AMISOM spokesman Barigye Ba-Hoku told IRIN that the accusation of indiscriminate targeting of civilians “was nonsense.” Ba-Hoku said that the AU forces did not initiate these attacks. “We only defend our positions when attacked,” he said.

However, the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR claims that Somali refugees are flooding the Dadaab camp in northeastern Kenya. “This year alone we have registered more than 45,000 new asylum-seekers at Dadaab,” the agency said in a statement. On average about 5,000 Somalis reach the camp every month.
In other attacks, the Al-Shabab organization, which is a spinoff from the Union of Islamic Courts, has carried out operations against four International Medical Corps (IMC) offices in the Bakool and Bay regions of Somalia. In a Sept. 26 statement, the IMC said that the group “is deeply concerned about the impact of these attacks on the health of already suffering Somali people, especially children.”
Ongoing talks in neighboring Djibouti between the opposition forces and the TFG have failed to reach agreement on ending the fighting. According to a civilian activist close to the talks in Djibouti, “The main stumbling block is the withdrawal of Ethiopian forces.”
The activist told IRIN on Sept. 23 that the TFG “seemed to be trying to find a way for a less hurried withdrawal, while the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia was demanding that the Ethiopian military withdraw from the country within 30 days.”

Humanitarian situation worsens
As a result of the intense fighting, the main hospital in the capital of Mogadishu has been overwhelmed by people caught up in the clashes. “We are receiving more injured people than we can reasonably handle; we are completely swamped,” Abdi Mohamed Hangul, a doctor at Medina Hospital, told IRIN on Sept. 24.
Hangul said that the numbers of injured people were increasing daily. “Last night alone [Sept. 23] we had 30 people within an hour. I worked as a doctor throughout the civil war and I have to say this is one of the worst times for the population. It is a disaster.”
Hospital beds were completely filled and people were being treated for various injuries in the corridors and outside the facility under trees. “We have more people outside than inside,” the physician said. Making the situation worse is the fact that some staff members are unable to come to work at the hospital due to the intense fighting.
Despite the shortage of workers at the two main hospitals, Medina and Keysaney, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) spokesperson Pedram Yazdi said, “For the time being, the capital hospitals have enough medical supplies to cope with the influx of wounded, and we will re-supply them if more is needed.” (IRIN, Sept. 24)
U.S. Navy off northern Somalia
While the fighting was growing in Somalia, a Ukrainian ship carrying a large-scale arsenal was seized on Sept. 26 by so-called pirates in the Gulf of Aden. The vessel and its crew are reportedly being held for a $20-million ransom.
The Gulf of Aden, located between Yemen and northern Somalia, is a major artery utilized by approximately 20,000 vessels every year traveling to and from the Suez Canal. Somalis have reportedly seized 30 ships there since the beginning of the year.
According to Reuters press agency, the Ukrainian ship was transporting grenade launchers and ammunition as well as T-72 tanks. The U.S. military, which is very active in this region, has sent the USS Howard destroyer and other boats of the Gulf-based Fifth Fleet to the area, supposedly to confront the hijacked Ukrainian ship.
“There are now several Fifth Fleet ships in the vicinity,” said the fleet’s deputy spokesman Lt. Nathan Christensen. “Our goal is to maintain a vigilant and visual watch over the ship while negotiations take place.”
One of the main Islamic leaders in Somalia, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, told Reuters on Sept. 29 that his organization—which was associated with the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), the front that was consolidating its power in 2006 when the U.S.-backed invasion occurred—was not involved in the ship seizures.
“Piracy is not our hobby and we are sorry for being linked to everything that is bad,” said Aweys. He noted that during the rule of the UIC piracy was substantially curtailed, but “no one congratulated us” for these efforts.

U.S. role must be condemned
The escalation of fighting in Somalia, both on land and in the waterways surrounding this Horn of Africa nation, must be blamed on the foreign policy role of the U.S. Under the guise of “fighting Islamic terrorism,” the U.S. has heightened instability in Somalia and throughout the region.

It was the Bush administration that engineered the invasion of Somalia by Ethiopia in late 2006, after the Union of Islamic Courts had made significant progress in organizing the population and establishing community development projects. Since the UIC efforts were taking place independently of U.S. foreign policy imperatives, the imperialists set out to occupy the country, utilizing a military surrogate under the leadership of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia.

Since this time Ugandan troops, operating ostensibly on behalf of the African Union, have been sent into the capital to back up the Ethiopian occupation.
The increasing attacks on vessels in the Gulf of Aden are now providing another rationale for U.S. naval operations. However, these efforts are doomed to failure.
Anti-war and anti-imperialist forces inside the U.S. must condemn the Washington-organized intervention in Somalia as a further manifestation of the bogus “global war on terrorism.”

Judging from the current situation in Somalia, the first steps toward normalization and stability in the Horn of Africa will be the immediate withdrawal of U.S. and surrogate forces so that real negotiations can resume among the various political forces inside the country and the region.

Displaced Somalis hit by heavy flooding

Medeshi Oct 8, 2008

Displaced Somalis hit by heavy flooding
This is a summary of what was said by the UNHCR spokesperson at today's Palais des Nations press briefing in Geneva. Further information can be found on the UNHCR websites, www.unhcr.org and www.unhcr.fr, which should also be checked for regular media updates on non-briefing days.
Torrential rains and strong winds have hit a string of settlements for hundreds of thousands of internally displaced Somalis between Mogadishu and Afgooye, destroying makeshift shelters and leaving many homeless once again. Ten hours of heavy rain fell overnight Sunday, flooding many shelters and forcing many people to return to their homes in war-torn Mogadishu, despite the dangers.
Many people are once again homeless, although we don't have exact numbers. Some 300,000 displaced people have been staying in flimsy, temporary shelters along the Afgooye corridor, west of Mogadishu. Most of them fled fighting in the capital in 2007 and earlier this year. More than 40,000 have received shelter assistance from UNHCR.
Initial reports indicate that rains and wind mainly struck IDP settlements in the Kurtunwarrey district, near Afgooye, and in Marka district near Mogadishu.
UNHCR is now planning to distribute 3,500 assistance kits for 21,000 people. The kits contain plastic sheeting, blankets, kitchen sets and sleeping mats.
The sudden and heavy flooding is worsening an already dramatic situation in war-torn Somalia, where over 1 million people are displaced. Some 700,000 people fled Mogadishu last year alone. Since the beginning of the year, another 170,000 people were forced to leave the Somali capital, including over 35,000 in recent weeks. People are currently escaping fighting described as the worst since the beginning of the latest insurgency in February 2007.