No such thing as United Nations

Medeshi Jan 6, 2009
No such thing as United Nations

By Linda Heard
I NEVER imagined I would one day agree with that bizarre neoconservative warmonger John Bolton, who was briefly the US ambassador to the United Nations. In 1994, Bolton was quoted as saying "There's no such thing as the United Nations. If the UN secretary building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference". I differ from Bolton only on one point. The entire expensive and useless organization founded in 1945 to prevent wars and pursue human rights should be demolished because it has failed to live up to its charter over and over again.
On Saturday night, the UN Security Council met in a closed-door emergency session so as to agree a resolution on Gaza, where more than 520 Palestinians have been murdered and over 3,000 wounded. But due to American pro-Israel bias, hypocrisy and double standards its members couldn't even come up with a joint statement calling for an immediate cease-fire.
For once, Britain broke with its joined-at-the-hip US ally and demanded an end to the aggression whereas only last week it, too, had blocked UN calls for a cease-fire. It seems that Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown has decided he is no longer willing to provide Washington with moral cover but unfortunately this is too little, too late.
Saturday's stalemate is a repeat of attempts in the summer of 2006 to end Israel's war on Gaza that robbed the lives of 1,200 civilians. Then, the US and Britain, both veto-holders, stood together against the rest of the world and allowed the carnage to go on until it looked like Israel was receiving an unexpected bloody nose.
The council's current inaction was too much for the president of the UN General Assembly Miguel d'Escoto Brockman, who termed it "a monstrosity". "Once again, the world is watching in dismay the dysfunction of the Security Council," he said, while blaming certain countries for playing politics.
Article 1 of the UN Charter headed "Purposes of the United Nations" calls for the body "to maintain international peace and security, and to that end: To take collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace; and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes..."
Article 73 states members of the UN which have responsibilities for the administration of territories whose people have not attained a full measure of self-government must recognize the principle that the interests of the inhabitants of these territories are paramount and must ensure, with due respect for the culture of the peoples concerned, their political, economic, social and educational advancement, their just treatment and their protection against abuses".
The UN has failed on all the above points and more. It does not maintain international peace and security. It does not suppress acts of aggression or settle international disputes and it does not censure Israel's willful failure to hold the interests of the occupied Palestinians paramount and protect them against abuses.
The charter is further based on the sovereign equality of all its members. This fine sentiment has turned out to be a huge joke. There is no equality amongst members and there cannot be as long as the five permanent members of the Security Council have veto power - a power, by the way that cannot be withdrawn unless the five veto-holders agree.
In reality, the 192 member states are under the boot of the five veto-holders. This situation makes a mockery of the term United Nations. There are the five bosses and then there are the others.
To be precise, there are six bosses, one unofficial. Israel and the US are practically one when it comes to foreign policy and, thus, Israel receives carte blanche to produce undeclared nuclear weapons, carry out a policy of extrajudicial assassinations as well as bomb and invade neighboring countries at will. The US vetoes most resolutions critical of Israel and blocks all resolutions binding under Chapter 7.
No wonder Israel feels free to publicly confront the veracity of UN representatives who say there is a severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza and expel those it doesn't like such as UN Special Rapporteur Richard Falk, who says he was treated like some sort of security threat locked in "a tiny room that smelled of urine and filth". Falk received such appealing treatment all because he had spoken out against Israel's violations of international humanitarian law.
A fair and just world formed by the true will of all the international community requires a nonelitist body where all nations are empowered with a vote that counts. Moreover, such an organization should not be headquartered in the US where delegates are vulnerable to being browbeaten, threatened, bribed and monitored as occurred in the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Instead, a neutral home such as Switzerland or even Dubai should be considered.
In the meantime, Israel continues its bloodletting in Gaza unimpeded while the United Nations will continue to be nothing more than an empty debating society, to borrow an expression from George W. Bush. It needs either a shake-up or a demolition squad. As it stands it shames us all.

The Kenya-Somalia border : Eastern crossing

The Kenya-Somalia border
Eastern crossing
Jan 6th 2009

From Economist.com
Where paradise and purgatory meet

Monday

(Paradise ?)
THIS is a diary of a week in paradise. Not heavenly paradise, or Eden, but a third usage of the term: tropical paradise. Today, I am in Lamu on the north coast of Kenya. This narrow, blistering archipelago has been on the posh end of the hippy trail since the 1970s. For centuries before that, a mongrel mix arrived on the trade winds: Omanis, Yemenis, Persians, Indians, Malays, Comorians, Somalis, Africans from the length of the Swahili coast, Portuguese, Germans, and British. Some added to the rich Sufi traditions of Lamu’s mosques; all played a part in fashioning an urban culture alternately pious and decadent, which even now has no need for cars and is only incidentally electrified.
For tourists, Lamu is what happens when “Arabian Nights” meets “The Blue Lagoon”, with Africa looming planetary and red just across the tidal channel. For the rich, it is a playground at the donkey-shit-littered end of a circuit that starts with Gstaad. Some of the same hippies who were here in the 1970s have since come into money and returned to build palatial villas along the Shela beach, on the ocean side of Lamu Island.
Lamu tolerates a seamy undertow of sex and drugs, with rock-hard beach boys doing some of the delivering, as long as it stays behind closed doors. And during the Christmas season, when the weather is hot and clear, a few of the wealthiest families in Europe congregate at Shela to swim, snorkel, fish, and, especially, to party. Lights of the social scene, such as Prince Ernst of Hanover, bring with them a peculiarly modern court of nobles, financiers and supermodels.
ShutterstockParadise?
My plan is different. I am interested in the proximity of purgatory to paradise. I want to head north to the Somali border and find out what the villagers—hunter-gatherer Boni people—and Kenyan border patrols in the remote Kiunga district think about the resurgence of jihadist fighters in the mangrove swamps just across the border. Might they invade Kenya? What then?
These were the same fighters, the Shabab (Youth), who formed the armed wing of the Islamic Courts Union, which in 2006 briefly ruled much of south and central Somalia, before being cut apart by United States and Ethiopian air strikes. Somalia is too dangerous now for me to do any useful reporting. Yet it is the world’s worst humanitarian emergency and, I believe, one of its most pressing strategic concerns. If Somalia is allowed to fail, there will be no intervention for other failing states in Africa.
First, though, I have to get up there. A speedboat is the only way, leaving in the morning between the tides. That gives me an evening in Lamu. I meet a friend, Andrew, who has turned his back on a career in London publishing to restore and sell houses in Lamu town. After a couple of drinks we push past absent donkeys and wind through the narrow alleys to his splendid home for dinner. The best town houses have four floors, with a courtyard below and a roof garden to catch the ocean breeze.

In Andrew’s study, so suspended, are piles of books, journals, and maps. We find Ras Chiamboni, the village on the Somali side of the border where jihadist fighters have been trained, on a colonial-era nautical chart. This was a time when Chiamboni was Italian. It might have been for that reason, or in reference to the phallic spit of land extending out from the village, that the British knew it as Dick’s Head.
Later, when Andrew walks me back to my hotel, the town has become labyrinthine. An open sewer trickles alongside, choked here and there with dung and fetid strips of plastic. We pass men bedding down in the doorways of their homes, the better to watch the stars above and the passers-by. Other perfectly restored homes await their owners’ return from Zurich or Antwerp. With such contrasts between the intimately local and the showily global, Lamu would be a fine place for a modern nativity.

Tuesday
A BLINDING dawn in paradise. I sip mango juice and take notes as the paramount chief of Lamu district, Jamal Fankupy, explains some of the challenges of his job. The chief’s office is where the desperate pitch up. It is at the centre of almost every African soap opera, even if in reality the stories are demeaning and sometimes horrific: a girl whose insides are ripped up by an illegal abortion, a case of incest, illiterate men swindled by documents they could not read, and endless land disputes.
I ask Jamal about the attentions of the United States, which has a military base an hour’s speedboat ride away from Lamu town, on the African mainland. The base’s overt hearts-and-minds mission may be a cover to allow a secret commando unit, Taskforce 88, easy access to speedboats and a helipad for “black ops” insertions into Somalia. Jamal says the Americans are good friends. He is grateful for the primary schools they build.
AFP
The Lamu archipelago was the hiding place for Fazul Mohammed , a Comorian believed to be a leader of al-Qaeda in east Africa. The FBI believes Fazul was one of the operatives responsible for the 1998 bombing of the American embassy in Nairobi, which killed 213 and wounded 5000, nearly all of them Kenyans. It also accuses him of carrying out an attack on a hotel in Mombasa in 2002, which killed 15. He is one of the FBI’s most wanted, with a $5m bounty on his head. He moves between Somalia and Kenya at sea on shark fishing boats or trading dhows. He may also have entered on foot through the bush. He holds several passports under different aliases. He was nearly caught in a recent raid in Malindi, further down the Kenyan coast.
Even if Fazul is caught, intelligence types in Nairobi will remain nervous about Lamu. It is impossible to track the movement of radicals into and out of Somalia. Some think a terrorist attack on the town is only a matter of time.
Jamal thinks such fears are overdone. He does not believe jihadist fighters in Somalia will cross into Kenya. “They would lose more than they could gain.” Nor is he concerned about a Mumbai-style attack, aimed at killing some foreigners and scaring the rest away. “Lamu is one of the greatest centres of Muslim learning and culture in Africa,” he says. “It is a Muslim town. Muslims would suffer more than anyone. They would have to think very hard about such an attack.”
We turn to the day-to-day challenges of life in paradise. “The main problem is transport. Just getting access to remoter villages is hard. You’re always trying to catch the tides. If you delay you get stuck.” He checks the time on his mobile phone. “Speaking of which, it is time for you to go. I will walk with you to the jetty.”
Jamal introduces me to Ali Mzungo, a speedboat captain. After some negotiation, Ali agrees to take me north to Kiunga district and to sleep out for a night or two on the boat while I stay ashore. He is in a hurry. “The tides,” he says. I throw my bag into his Miami blue skiff and jump down. Ali hands down a box of papayas, white bread, and margarine.
We pound away over the tidal channel and up the dredged course between the mainland and Manda island, which elephants cross at low tide, then north along the western shore of Pate island. We rip past the shark-fishing boats then out into open waters, smacking hard into the swell.
Ali is concerned. We’ve waited too long. The water is sluicing out of the mangrove swamp like the last grains from a sand-timer when at last we reach Kiwaiyu Island. We need to somehow work our way through the swamp now or wait until the night for the turning of the tide. Ali jumps out and beckons me to follow. Together we push the boat through knee-deep shallows towards the infested narrows of the swamp. We hop back in. Very slowly, with extreme caution, Ali edges forward down the channel and across the still sinking waters of a wide lagoon, until at last we reach an azure cut of deep water on the far side. We blur then past Kiwaiyu’s dreamy “eco-lodges”, pound north, and come to a halt on a white beach south of the border at Kiunga, a spot chosen partly because it is the end of mobile-phone reception in Kenya.
I wade ashore. The sun is sinking but still the sweat pours off me. Paradise is as hot as hell. What I need now is a slug of water and a hut to hang my mosquito net.

Dropping the Ball? US Policy Towards Somaliland

Medeshi Jan 6, 2009
Dropping the Ball? US Policy Towards Somaliland
By Scott A Morgan
Currently the main focal point regarding US Interests towards Somalia just happens to be Piracy. A Close second just happens to be restoring a functioning Centralized Government. But there is one group that has been reaching out to Washington but it is apparent that the reply is Silence.
Since the collapse of the last Somali Government back in 1991 the country has been plagued by Anarchy. Several Attempts to restore order have failed. On more than one occasion Ethiopian Forces have been introduced into the situation in a vain attempt to restore law and order. At this time the neighboring country is pulling out its forces.
Unlike Puntland and the Area around the Capital Mogadishu the Republic known as Somaliland has been relatively peaceful. A previous attempt by a Transitional Government saw the Regional Capital Hargeisa attacked by the pro-Government Militias. Since that time this particular region has prospered economically.
Unlike the rest of the impoverished and decimated parts of Somalia reports indicate that Somaliland has not been a source of or targets of the piracy that plagues the Gulf of Aden. French Special Forces used the former US Naval Base at Berbera to launch a successful rescue mission on a hijacked luxury yacht.
In 2007 the President of Somaliland and his Prime Minister made a visit to the United States. They were attempting to get the United States to determine that Somaliland was an independent state and to send Financial and Military Aid as well. In 2008 the US Undersecretary of State for African Affairs paid a visit to the Somaliland Capital and that is the last we have heard of any contact.
So why should the US be interested in Somaliland ? First of all there are Elections scheduled to take place during the first part of this year. The Fact that democratic elections will be taking place and that they are multi-party elections should be heralded inside the beltway. The Registering of independent political parties should also garner the interest of both the IRI (International Republican Institute) and the NDI (National Democratic Institute.)
This Electoral Cycle in what has the potential to be an emerging Democratic State in a Region that is plagued by Islamist radicals has to be taken at face value. The Defense Department is currently the only part of the Government that has any contact with the Somaliland Government. So this factor could lead to attacks by those who have sympathy to Al-Qaida.

What has to be an area of concern is what appears to be a lack of movement by the Bush Administration. Why no action regarding any potential contact has been taken in 10 months is mind-boggling. This ,however , could become a viable solution when/if it is determined that supporting the Transitional Government in Baidoa is a Fool’s Errand.
It is believed that the situation in Somalia will be one of the first Foreign Policy tests for the incoming Obama Administration. I pray that He passes this one.
The Author publishes Confused Eagle on the Internet and comments on US policy towards Africa. Confused Eagle is at morganrights.tripod.com

Kenya, Uganda look on nervously as 2009 heralds Somalia chaos

Medeshi Jan 4, 2009

Kenya, Uganda look on nervously as 2009 heralds Somalia chaos

(Photo: Somali al-Shabaab insurgents arrive in Mogadishu on Decemcer 27, 2008. The insurgents have vowed to continue waging war until Somalia becomes an Islamic state.)

By FRED OLUOCH
Does Somalia have any chance of ever returning to peace?
That is the question on everyone’s lips as debate rages over whether the recent resignation of president Abdullahi Yusuf could further destabilise Somalia or present an opportunity for a fresh, workable realignment of forces in the country.
Abdullahi, who was elected to head the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in 2004 in Nairobi, has achieved very little in the years since and was of late seen as a stumbling block rather than an agent of the restoration of peace in Somalia.
While the withdrawal of Ethiopian forces, beginning Friday last week, has also added to the anxiety, the situation is further complicated by the fact that the mandate of the TFG is scheduled to end by December 2009 and attempts to renew the mandate of a government that does not enjoy legitimacy in the eyes of the people will only lead to further divisions.
Experts in Somali affairs such as Bethuel Kiplagat are now urging all interested parties in Somalia, especially the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad), to move quickly to ensure that the Somalia peace process holds.
However, Mr Kiplagat — the Kenyan diplomat who was the chief mediator in the Somali peace talks — is optimistic that the TFG can pick up from where Abdullahi Yusuf left off if the Somalis stick to the Charter that was agreed upon in Nairobi in 2004.
That Charter (constitution) stipulates that a president can either resign or be impeached, to be replaced by the Speaker of parliament; and the Speaker, Sheikh Aden Madobe, has duly taken over.
Mr Kiplagat’s view is in line with those who see the exit of Abdullahi Yusuf and the withdrawal of Ethiopian forces as an opportunity to re-launch a credible political process that could bring together the TFG and the Islamic moderates, the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia, which signed the Djibouti Accord in August last year.
The question is whether the parliament will remain intact or disintegrate, given that it is composed of former warlords, including Abdullahi Yusuf himself, who were all included as Members of Parliament to block them from returning to their clan or sectional enclaves and resuming fighting among themselves.
Once the Ethiopians complete their withdrawal, the small, ill-equipped African Union force may well follow suit if other African states do not quickly send more peacekeeping personnel to Somalia.
The hardline militants, al-Shabaab, have vowed to continue waging war until Somalia becomes an Islamic state.
There may be brief anxiety following Abdullahi Yusuf’s resignation and the Ethiopian withdrawal, but if the Somalis can hold on to the Charter, then stability could just be attained.
“The point is that you cannot continue to have a government that does not enjoy the support of the people and it is time the parties embrace the Djibouti Accord if the peace process is to succeed,” said Mr Kiplagat.
The Djibouti Accord was signed in August 2008 and brought together the TFG and the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia, led by Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, the former leader of the Union of Islamic Courts.
The objective was to create a powerful political alliance, capable of stabilising the country, marginalising the radicals and stemming the tide of Islamist militancy.
One of the major aspects of this agreement was the decision to increase the number of MPs from the current 275 to 500, making room for the moderate Islamists and other interest groups.
Mr Kiplagat believes that the expansion of parliament is possible provided they follow the constitution on how to appoint extra MPs, using the agreed 4.5 formula.
This means, the appointments must take into account the four major clans, and the five smaller clans grouped into one unit.
Their selection will involve traditional and political leaders, the question being whether this selection can be done before or after the Islamists agree to a power-sharing arrangement. The MPs will then elect a new president.
Still, the focus will be on Abdullahi Yusuf, who immediately after resigning retreated to his former base in Puntland, raising fears that he is planning to entrench himself in the semi-autonomous region and could refuse to co-operate with the future leader of the TFG.
He has been blamed for failing to transform TFG into a government that enjoys legitimacy among the population.
He has had a shaky relationship with top officials of his government, beginning with his differences with the former speaker, Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden.
A former warlord in the semi-autonomous Puntland, Abdullahi Yusuf was always considered too close to Ethiopia to bring the rest of the country together.
Ethiopia and Somalia have a historic rivalry going back centuries and Abdullahi Yusuf was basically seen as a stooge by many who still harbour deep suspicion of Ethiopia’s designs, especially Addis Ababa’s policy in the Ogaden region, with its ethnic Somali population.
Under Abdullahi Yusuf’s leadership, the TFG failed over four years to create a broad-based government, with the president facing accusations of marginalising large parts of the population and exacerbating existing divisions.
No part of the mandate that the TFG was given in 2004 has been implemented.
This mandate included peace and reconciliation through a structured national healing programme, the strengthening of the federal regions and the democratisation of Somalia through a national general election.
The nadir of his inability to govern and lead the reconciliation process came with his botched last-minute attempt to sack Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein.
The challenge for the next TFG leader is that a section of Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia, led by the controversial Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, had earlier maintained that it would not join the peace process when the Ethiopians go, nor work with TFG.
Mr Aweys, who is based in Eritrea, refused to participate in the Djibouti talks and Somali observers suspect that he is more sympathetic to al-Shabaab, which he credits for defeating the TFG.
Equally significant is what steps the US takes following the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops and the resurgence of the Islamic militants.
In late 2006, Ethiopian troops, with the support of the US, entered Somalia to oust the Islamic government, which the Pentagon suspected of harbouring Al Qaeda operatives.
Today, the Islamists are back, waging a brutal insurgency that has killed thousands of people and steadily gained ground against the Ethiopians, the TFG and their allies.
Taking advantage of a power struggle inside the transitional government, al-Shabaab has already pushed within a few kilometres of Mogadishu, previously an Ethiopian and TFG stronghold.

Withdrawal of Meles Zenawi's troops from Somalia

Medeshi

withdrawal of Meles Zenawi's troops from Somalia
January 4th, 2009
After 2 years of wreaking havoc in Somalia and suffering a humiliating defeat, the Meles regime in Ethiopia this week is forced to withdraw its invading army.
Ginbot 7 believes that the invasion of Somalia was unnecessary, and the result has been devastating for both the people of Somalia and Ethiopia in terms of losses of lives and scarce resources.
Humanitarian agencies estimate that over 10,000 Somali civilians have been killed and 2 million were made homeless as a direct result of the invasion of Somalia by Meles Zenawi's regime. Thousands of young Ethiopians who were sent to fight the senseless war in Somalia have been wounded and killed in vain. Hundreds of millions of dollars were spent in the war that could have been used to feed starving children. In short, the decision by the Meles dictatorship to invade Somalia had been extremely harmful to Ethiopia and the whole Horn of Africa region.
Meles Zenawi and all the government officials in Ethiopia who had planned and executed the Somalia invasion must be held accountable for not only harming the short and long term interests of Ethiopia in the region, but equally importantly for committing war crimes, including torture, rape and mass murder against Somali civilians.
Ginbot 7 is thus demanding the immediate resignation of Meles Zenawi and his regime. We urge all Ethiopian civic and political groups to come together and work to bring an end to the TPLF devastating rule that is the root cause of most of the suffering in Ethiopia today

Ginbot 7

US fails to break Somali Insurgents

Medeshi Jan 4 , 2009

US fails to break Somali Insurgents

By Martin Plaut BBC News
The Ethiopian army is preparing to leave Somalia almost two years after it invaded to oust Islamists who had taken control of large areas of the country.
The Ethiopians are withdrawing without having broken the power of what Prime Minister Meles Zenawi described in 2006 as the leaders of the jihadist movement, responsible for "terrorist outrages".
But the Ethiopian departure also marks a reverse for US President George W Bush's policy in the Horn of Africa.
It was the bombing of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania by al-Qaeda in 1998 - attacks that left hundreds dead and thousands wounded - that transformed Washington's approach towards the Horn of Africa.
America was convinced that Somalia, having been without a government since 1991, was an ideal conduit through which al-Qaeda could advance into the region from the Arabian peninsular.
At first, the US response was cautious, with memories of its previous intervention in Somalia in 1993, when the dead bodies of its troops were dragged through the streets of Mogadishu in an incident made famous by the film Black Hawk Down.
But after President Bush came to power in January 2001, all this changed.
In 2002, Washington established what was called the Combined Task-Force, Horn of Africa. Based in Djibouti, its 1,700 troops were there to fight terrorism in the region.
A year later, Washington allocated $100m (£70m) to an East African Counter-Terrorism initiative, described as an inter-agency task force working across the region.
But it was after 2005 that the United States really became directly involved in Somalia.
'Extremists'
Concerned about the rise of the Union of Islamic Courts, America supported the creation of the Alliance for Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism.
This brought together a group of Somali warlords who aided the US by snatching alleged al-Qaeda operatives taking refuge in Somalia.
The US is reported to have paid the warlords around $150,000 a month to support these operations.
In June 2006, the Islamic Courts took power in Mogadishu and attempted to reach an accommodation with Washington.
This failed after hardliners in the Courts movement declared holy war against Ethiopia, following Addis Ababa's incursions into Somalia.
The senior US envoy to Africa, Jendayi Frazer, said publicly that the Islamic Courts were controlled by members of al-Qaeda.
"The top layer of the Courts are extremists. They are terrorists," she said.
Despite this, Washington attempted to prevent a full-scale Ethiopian invasion.
General John Abizaid was sent to Addis Ababa in 2006 to warn Prime Minister Meles that an invasion would be disastrous. It will become Ethiopia's Iraq, he is reported to have said.
The warning was brushed aside, and Ethiopian troops went in, driving the Islamists out of Mogadishu.
Failed strategy
Whatever Washington's misgivings, there is little doubt that once Ethiopia was committed to an invasion, the US provided intelligence, military targeting and logistical support to Ethiopian forces in Somalia.
Ethiopia managed to install the internationally-recognised, but weak Transitional Federal Government.
At first, it appeared as if the strategy had succeeded. The Islamists were routed and continued to be harassed by Ethiopian forces.
But the Islamists, bolstered by some of the most powerful hardliners in al-Shabaab, regrouped and fought back.
The US military attempted to hit the hardliners whenever they emerged - using aircraft, warships and special forces to attack al-Shabaab on at least five occasions.
But the strategy has failed to break the hardliners.
When Ethiopia invaded, al-Shabaab had around 600 fighters. Today, intelligence sources suggest they number between 2,000 and 3,000.
Washington has said little about its covert war in Somalia, but it has little to show for years of effort and hundreds of millions of dollars.
With Somalia now without a president or an effective parliament, and with the Islamists stronger than before Ethiopia invaded, American policy towards the Horn appears to have run into the sand.

Uganda mulls exiting Somalia

Medeshi
Uganda mulls exiting Somalia

Sat, 03 Jan 2009
Uganda has warned that it may withdraw its troops from peacekeeping duties in Somalia, as insurgents appeared to begin seizing territory.
"Uganda is going to consider withdrawing its troops from Somalia and it will do so as soon as possible after weighing the risks on the ground," Deputy Foreign Minister Henry Okello Oryem said on Saturday.
Uganda has demanded a UN peacekeeping force of 8,000 troops, but UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has rejected the calls, saying there is "no peace to keep."
Somalia has been embroiled in chaos ever since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
The crisis deepened after the Ethiopian invasion sparked a bloody insurgency that has killed over 10,000 civilians and displaced around 1 million.

Somali fighters fill Ethiopia vacuum

Jan 03, 2009

Fighters from different opposition factions in Somalia have begun expanding their territories as Ethiopia quits the violence-hit country.
On Saturday, Gunmen affiliated with the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) as well as others with alleged links to the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS) started armed operations in different parts of the Somali capital, a Press TV correspondent reported.
The UIC gunmen seized the Mogadishu bases recently vacated by the Ethiopian soldiers. The soldiers had intervened in 2006 to support the country's trouble-ridden caretaker government.
The Ethiopian entry was hoped to cure the perennial instability in the country which has done without a functioning government since 1991.
The UIC, in the saddle at the time, were ousted by the Ethiopians. They, however, have managed to seize control of most of Somalia struggling ever since to push the Ethiopians back.
Mostly as a result of their opposition, the government's span of control has also been restricted to some parts of Mogadishu and Baidoa, the seat of the Somali parliament.
"Our mission is not to fight anyone or begin a new round of fighting but to restore peace as we did in 6 months of 2006," the spokesman for the oppositionists, Abdi Rahim Isse Addow was reported as saying.
"Our troops are right now in control of three strategic military bases vacated by Ethiopian troops in Mogadishu," he added.
Amid the escalation of attacks on the Ethiopians and the growth of the soldiers' unpopularity among the Somali public, the country's leadership and the ARS strongmen voted for their withdrawal during Djibouti peace talks.
Other armed men, believed to be associated with the ARS, also reportedly took control of 9 outposts in Hodon and Howlwadaag districts south of the capital.
Joint Somali security forces are supposed to fill the power vacuum. Ethiopians, though, recently disarmed and demobilized many government soldiers fearing they would join the resistant groups.

Saudi Minister : Saudis are “arrogant and racist,”

Medeshi Jan 03, 2009
Gosaibi vindicated

Saudis are “arrogant and racist,”

Samir Al-Saadi Arab News —
JEDDAH: The majority of Saudis and non-Saudis agree with Labor Minister Ghazi Al-Gosaibi’s statement that Saudis are “arrogant and racist,” according to an Arab News survey. Al-Gosaibi made his controversial comments on Dec. 28, while addressing the heads of labor departments in Saudi provinces. (Photo: Labor Minister Ghazi Al-Gosaibi )
“In the past we adulated foreigners for they would be doctors from whom we sought treatment, or teachers from whom we sought knowledge, or accountants who we’d ask to organize or run our businesses,” said Al-Gosaibi, who was criticized by some for the comments.
“It is disappointing that we have been infiltrated by some arrogance and even more racism. We have started to picture ourselves better than those who come to participate with us in our development,” he said.
In a survey conducted by Arab News, 8 out of 10 non-Saudis (including Arabs, Asians and Westerners) and 9 out of 10 Saudis agreed with Al-Gosaibi’s statement that Saudis are “arrogant and racist.” However, a similar number of respondents disagreed with the minister’s view that there has been a shift in Saudi attitudes toward foreigners: that professional non-Saudis who were treated with respect in the past are now treated as if they are laborers.
Those surveyed said Saudis trust non-Saudi doctors, especially Western doctors, more than their Saudi counterparts.
Ahmed, a Saudi physician, said, “Yes, we have to admit that some arrogance and racism has entered Saudi society. One cannot generalize but it’s there. It’s sensed.”
Hamed, a Kenyan national of Yemeni background who has lived in the Kingdom for more than 30 years, said, “Discrimination hasn’t always been the case ... but over the past years it isn’t the case that just the one-on-one treatment that has changed, even the system has. You feel it whether you’re buying a water truck or getting your iqama renewed. This contradicts Islamic teachings, which the Kingdom’s supposed to represent.”
Hadi Al-Fakeeh, managing editor of Okaz newspaper, agreed with Al-Gosaibi. “In the past, the majority of Saudis were illiterate and so people looked at foreign professionals with the utmost adulation. They used to settle for anything. Today, with the power of knowledge and public awareness, citizens have a more critical eye. Therefore, their bar of standards has raised and they do not settle for anything but the best,” he said.
Badr Al-Mutawie, a prominent Saudi journalist, described the minister’s comments as “harsh.” He suggested the comments should be the topic of discussion in a future national dialogue.
“You’re shown attitude even when going through standard procedures,” said Salim, 43, a foreigner who has been married to his Saudi wife for 14 years. “When my wife’s traveling alone and is passing through immigration and customs, I have to be present even though she has a document permitting her to travel. Why? Because her husband isn’t Saudi. It’s as if being non-Saudi makes me a non-man.”
The survey showed that 9 out of 10 non-Saudis agreed that all non-Western foreigners are presumed to be laborers or are treated as such. All 10 stated that non-Saudis are treated differently according to their nationalities with Westerners getting preferential treatment when it comes to attitude and jobs.
“Almost 10 years ago, while working in a private communication company, a colleague and I had exactly the same job. He, however, was paid double my salary. He was German and I was Indian,” said Imran, 39.
“I’m now back in the Kingdom working for another company but I’ve obtained a Western nationality. The difference in treatment and in package is vast. But I see other Indians suffering the same situation I was in years ago. It’s unfair. It’s merit that matters, not nationality.”
A Saudi advertisement agency recently launched a series of TV and newspaper advertisements, entitled Rahma (Mercy), encouraging people to show mercy to foreign workers. One newspaper advert showed a housemaid crouching on the floor with a dog bowl in front of her and a woman’s shoe heal dangling near her face.
The adverts were controversial with some Saudis agreeing with the theme and others disapproving saying they were exaggerated and presented a bad image of Saudis who treat workers with respect.
The Human Rights Watch issued a report in July 2008, entitled “As If I Am Not Human,” about the abuse of Asian domestic workers in the Kingdom.
The report stated that while many domestic workers enjoy decent work conditions, others endure a range of abuses, including nonpayment of salaries, forced confinement, food deprivation, excessive workload, and instances of severe psychological, physical and sexual abuse. Human Rights Watch documented dozens of cases where the combination of these conditions amounted to forced labor, trafficking, or slave-like conditions.

From the archives: Berlin's View of Somaliland dispute- Dec 29, 1938

Medeshi Jan 03, 2009
Berlin's view of Somaliland dispute - Dec 29, 1938
It is stated in all quarters here, with remarkable unanimity, that there is not the slightest danger of the Franco-Italian dispute developing into war.
There seems to be a general conviction in Government circles that Signor Mussolini, with the support of Germany, will obtain some sort of satisfaction.
At the same time, the possibility of a Four-Power conference between Germany, Italy, France and Britain to discuss Italy’s demands in Somaliland and the Mediterranean is being talked about and was the subject of conversations in German Government quarters to-day.
It was emphasised that everything would depend on the result of Mr. Chamberlain’s talks in Rome, but, failing an earlier settlement, it was suggested that a conference on the lines of that at Munich might be the best way of dealing with the dispute.
PRESS ATTACKS
Meanwhile the German and Italian Governments will remain in close contact. If the situation at the end of January does not justify a visit to Rome by Field-Marshal Goering, a meeting may, it is stated, take place between Herr von Ribbentrop and Count Ciano, the German and Italian Foreign Ministers.
The German press to-night attacks various British newspapers, including THE DAILY TELEGRAPH AND MORNING POST, for printing reports about the alleged massing of Italian troops within the French Somaliland frontier and other disturbing developments.
[The statement published in THE DAILY TELEGRAPH AND MORNING POST from a French Correspondent was not that Italian troop were massing in French Somaliland, but that six posts in French territory had been occupied by 400 or 500 Italian soldiers for the last 12 months, and that certain Italian military movements were now in progress in Abyssinia.]
This “agitation,” as it is called, is compared with the reports about the alleged landing of German troops in Morocco which led to the tension between Germany and France two years ago.
“FIVE OFFENSIVES”
The foreign Press is also taken to task in an interview with Herr Dietrich, Reich Press Chief, published in the “ Voelkischer Beobachter “ this morning.
He said that five great “ Press offensives “ had been launched against Germany in 1938. They were:
The “atrocity” campaign about the changes in the German army announced on Feb. 4;
The attempt to prevent the incorporation of Austria into the Reich;
The reports about the alleged German mobilisation against Czechoslovakia on May 21;
The attacks at the time of the September crisis; and
The “all-Jewish offensive” in November.
All these “ Press lies,” declared Herr Dietrich, had only played into Germany’s hands.

Khat -- is it more coffee or cocaine?

Medeshi
Khat -- is it more coffee or cocaine?

The narcotic leaf is a time-honored tradition in Africa but illegal in the U.S., where demand is growing.
By Cynthia Dizikes

January 3, 2009
Reporting from Washington -- In the heart of the Ethiopian community here, a group of friends gathered after work in an office to chew on dried khat leaves before going home to their wives and children. (FLOWER OF PARADISE’: In East African countries like Somalia, khat leaves have been used as a stimulant and social tonic. But in the U.S. khat is illegal, and increased demand is leading to clashes between narcotics officers and immigrants.)Sweet tea and sodas stood on a circular wooden table between green mounds of the plant, a mild narcotic grown in the Horn of Africa.
As the sky grew darker the conversation became increasingly heated, flipping from religion to jobs to local politics. Suddenly, one of the men paused and turned in his chair. "See, it is the green leaf," he said, explaining the unusually animated discussion as he pinched a few more leaves together and tossed them into his mouth.

For centuries the "flower of paradise" has been used legally in East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula as a stimulant and social tonic.
But in the United States khat is illegal, and an increased demand for the plant in cities such as Washington and San Diego is leading to stepped up law enforcement efforts and escalating clashes between narcotics officers and immigrants who defend their use of khat as a time-honored tradition.
In the last few years, San Diego, which has a large Somali population, has seen an almost eight-fold increase in khat seizures. Nationally, the amount of khat seized annually at the country's ports of entry has grown from 14 metric tons to 55 in about the last decade.

Most recently, California joined 27 other states and the federal government in banning the most potent substance in khat, and the District of Columbia is proposing to do the same.
"It is a very touchy subject. Some people see it like a drug; some people see it like coffee," said Abdulaziz Kamus, president of the African Resource Center in Washington, D.C. "You have to understand our background and understand the significance of it in our community."
Increased immigration from countries such as Ethiopia, Yemen and Somalia has fueled the demand in this country and led to a cultural conflict.
"We grew up this way, you can't just cut it off," said a 35-year-old Ethiopian medical technician between mouthfuls of khat as he sat with his friends in the office.
In the Horn of Africa and parts of the Middle East, khat is a regular part of life, often consumed at social gatherings or in the morning before work and by students studying for exams. Users chew the plant like tobacco or brew it as a tea. It produces feelings of euphoria and alertness that can verge on mania and hyperactivity depending on the variety and freshness of the plant.
But some experts are not convinced that its health and social effects are so benign. A World Health Organization report found that consumption can lead to increased blood pressure, insomnia, anorexia, constipation and general malaise. The report also said that khat can be addictive and lead to psychological and social problems.
"It is not coffee. It is definitely not like coffee," said Garrison Courtney, spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration. "It is the same drug used by young kids who go out and shoot people in Africa, Iraq and Afghanistan. It is something that gives you a heightened sense of invincibility, and when you look at those effects, you could take out the word 'khat' and put in 'heroin' or 'cocaine'."
Khat comes from the leaves and stems of a shrub and must be shipped in overnight containers to preserve its potency. It contains the alkaloid cathinone, similar in chemical structure to amphetamine but about half as potent, according to Nasir Warfa, a researcher in cross cultural studies at Queen Mary University of London.
The United Kingdom determined last year that evidence does not warrant restriction of khat. In the United States, the substance has been illegal under federal law since 1993.
But the world supply of khat is exploding. Countries such as Ethiopia and Kenya now rely on it as a major cash crop to bolster their economies. Khat is Ethiopia's second largest export behind coffee.
Khat usage has grown so much in San Diego that Assemblyman Joel Anderson (R-San Diego) wrote a 2008 bill that added cathinone and its derivative cathine to California's list of Schedule II drugs along with raw opium, morphine and coca leaves.
As of Thursday, Anderson's bill made possession of khat a misdemeanor in California, punishable by up to one year in county jail and a $1,000 fine. Possession of the leaf with intent to sell is a felony that carries a three-year maximum sentence in state prison.
In some cases, khat seizures have resulted in warnings and probation. In other instances, like New York City's "Operation Somali Express" bust in 2006, which led to the seizure of 25 tons of khat worth an estimated $10 million, the perpetrators were sent to jail for up to 10 years.
"In my mind, [such arrests are] wrong," said an Ethiopian-born cabdriver who was arrested in November in a Washington, D.C., khat bust and spoke on condition of anonymity. "They act like they know more about khat than I know."
Khat leaves are sold attached to thick stalks or dried like tea leaves. A bundle of 40 leafed twigs costs about $28 to $50.
The plant's cost has been linked to family problems, including domestic abuse, said Starlin Mohamud, a Somali immigrant who is completing a dissertation on khat at San Diego State University.
In fact, within the East African community in the U.S., there are many who welcome the khat restrictions.
"I have seen what it does," Mohamud said. "Families who are trying to make ends meet on a daily basis cannot afford it. It just creates so many problems between a husband and wife to the point where a broken family is going to be the result."
Not all lawmakers, however, support the increased efforts to prosecute khat sellers and users. California state Sen. Gloria Negrete McLeod (D-Chino) called khat use "a minor problem that may be nonexistent and little understood" and voted against Anderson's bill.
"The Legislature cannot continue to add on penalties and punishments filling up critically overcrowded prison system without weighing the consequences on how this will affect California," she said.
Even though khat smuggling continues to grow in the United States, the level is nowhere near that of drugs like marijuana, cocaine, heroine and methamphetamine. Still, law enforcement officials worry that in a refined, stronger and more portable form, khat could spread outside the immigrant communities.
In Israel, a pill known as hagigat (essentially Hebrew for "party khat"), has emerged on the club scene.
"I don't think we are going to see American teenagers chewing the plant," said Phil Garn, a U.S. postal inspector in San Diego. "But based on what I saw with meth and how it spread across the country, I can absolutely see how khat in a refined form could be a major problem."

Interview with Republic of Somaliland foreign minister

Medeshi

Interview with Republic of Somaliland foreign minister
There is no way that we will unite with Somalia in the future

Reporter, Ethiopia
Sunday, 21 December 2008
Mr. Abdulahi Mohamed Duale is the foreign minister of Somaliland. Mr. Duale had also served as finance minister.The foreign minister spoke to Getachew Nigatu about the current situation in Somalia and Somaliland.

Excerpts:
Recently, Ethiopian trade office in Hargessa and UN offices there had become targets of terrorist attacks. Who is responsible for the attacks? And can you tell us about the investigation?
Somaliland suffered a serious terrorist attack unprecedented in the Horn of Africa. The government is doing its best to apprehend those responsible for the attack and bring them to justice. We have no doubt that Al-Shabab is behind those attacks.
The terrorist attacks carried out by Al-Shabab in the name of Islam are unacceptable. Islam is not about suicide and killing others. Islam is a peaceful religion; it doesn’t condone the killings of civilians. We are Muslims. The government of Somaliland is combating terrorism. We are working hard to bring the terrorists to justice.
How strong is the relationship between Ethiopia and Somaliland?
The relationship between Ethiopia and Somaliland in very much strong, beyond what anyone expects. Our president, Mr. Kahin, maintains constant contact with PM Meles Zenawi and discusses bilateral issues. I, too, work closely with my Ethiopian counterpart Seyoum Mesfin and his deputy Dr. Tekeda Alemu. The two countries cooperate on trade, diplomacy, security and democracy. The relationship between the people of the two countries is based on mutual respect.
Ethiopian Airlines has suspended its daily flight to Hargessa due to security concern for the time being. Our government shares this concern. Ethiopian Airlines has never flown to Somalia for business. But it has been flying to Somaliland for years. We are proud of that. Not only Ethiopia but also South Sudan can use the port of Berbera in the future. The fact that Ethiopia’s interests and UN offices were attacked is an attempt to attack Somaliland itself.
Peace has eluded Somalia for the past 17 years. What is your assessment of the current situation is Somalia?
We feel sorry for our Southern brothers. We think that we can share our experience with them on how we achieved peace. The international community must still give big attention to Somalia. The politicians in Somalia could not see or act beyond clan politics. The international community has made efforts to bring peace to Somalia. You can only take a horse to the river but you can’t make it drink. The world had repeatedly tried to bring the different factions to peaceful negotiations. Somali leaders couldn’t do anything for their people. We feel sorry about that.
The Somali transitional government and others in the former Italian ruled Somalia do not accept the formation of Somaliland. They always ask the international community not to give you recognition.
After Somaliland first declared independence from Britain, it willingly united with Somalia. This union brought us nothing useful. We had no peace when we were with the Southerners. We didn’t have any kind of big institutions then. Now we have five universities and five colleges. Now there is peace and democracy. There are many development endeavours going on in Somaliland. The city of Hargessa is growing rapidly. The idea of building Greater Somalia was insane. The reason why Somalia’s flag had five stars was to express the dream to rule Somali speaking people from five countries, i.e. Italian Somaliland, British Somaliland, French Somaliland (Djibouti), Ethiopia and Kenya under one flag. That is a nightmare.
So we took ourselves out of this nightmare and established our own country. But they didn’t wake up from that dream. There is no way that we will unite with Somalia in the future. What we want to advise our southern brothers is that if they want to build a stable country, they should abandon the Greater Somalia dream.
They should abandon the five-star flag. The five Somali speaking people will never be united. Somalia went to war twice with Ethiopia and once with Kenya. It was an exercise in futility. They have to open up their eyes. They should not dream of uniting with Somaliland. Somaliland is a sovereign country. We are very poor. Our annual budget is not more than USD 55 million. But we have built a peaceful and stable country.
A peace initiative has been taken by Djibouti. Although there are hopeful signs, there are also frustrating conditions?
It is the wish of the government of Somaliland to see the successful completion of the peace process. We wish success to the Djibouti initiative. But the peace process will be successful if all parties agree to accept the independence of Somaliland. All of them have to understand that Somaliland is now a sovereign country, and that the people of Somaliland have made a choice to live separately from the rest of Somalia.
We are ready to talk to any administration in Mogadishu which is willing to accept our sovereignty. But if Southern Somalis could not establish peace among themselves, it doesn’t mean that Somaliland’s peace, security or recognition by others must be held hostage. We are not hostage to the chaos in Somalia. The world must recognize this fact. Let them know that Somaliland’s internal peace and security will not crumble as a result of pressure from forces in Mogadishu.
It’s been more than a decade and half since you asked for international recognition. Is there any hope that you will get that recognition?
Somaliland is doing everything it can to get international recognition. One is that we are trying to achieve economic development, build democracy and show the world what kind of order we have built. The second thing is to intensify our diplomatic effort to secure that recognition. A lot of countries are giving attention to us. For instance, the African Union (AI) is closely working with us. Former AU commissioner Alpha Oumar Konare had sent a delegation that visited four of our provinces. He showed us that he is truly a son of Africa.
He presented our case to the AU Summit in Sirt in Lybia. Currently, the AU is closely monitoring the situation in Somaliland and Somalia by assigning a special envoy. This encourages us. Africa has lost something because it failed to engage Somaliland. There is a lot that Somaliland can contribute to Africa.
Which country do you think should recognize Somaliland first?
We will be very happy if any country gives us recognition. When the government of Bangladesh was first established, it was the neighboring country, India that first recognized it.
Nations unite and separate. Somaliland’s case is no different. African leaders have a moral obligation to recognize Somaliland. Because they have failed to do that, Somaliland citizens who live under reign of democracy and peace are facing problems. History will judge in favour of Somaliland people. The leaders should open their eyes.
We believe that one smart African leader will break the taboo and give recognition to Somaliland. How long should the Somaliland people be denied recognition? Because we have no recognition, we couldn’t secure loans from IMF and World Bank.
If countries give recognition to us first, we can then become members of AU and UN. The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and AU could not accept us as members because individual countries were reluctant to give that recognition.
What does the implication of lack of peace in Somalia mean to Somaliland? How much have you been affected?
If peace reigns in Somalia, everybody will benefit. What our Southern brothers have done has made them the laughingstock of the world. They plan to fail. If they plan to fail, they won’t achieve anything. They failed to aim to succeed. The reason why we beg the world to help Somalia is that if peace is achieved there, Somaliland will benefit, too.
Ethiopia is withdrawing its troops from Somalia after two years. What will be the implication for peace in the sub-region?
All Africans should thank the government of Ethiopia for its role in Somalia. Not only Africans, the international community should also be grateful for what Ethiopia has been doing.
Ethiopians have shed their blood for the sake of Somalia. Ethiopia has paid a lot of sacrifices in Somalia. The government of Somaliland holds Ethiopia’s role in special regard. Although Ethiopia has exerted a lot of effort to achieve peace in Somalia, the international community has failed her by not sending peacekeeping troops to Somalia.
The government of PM Meles Zenawi had contributed a great deal to Africa and the world. It has guarded the peace in the sub-region at least for the time being. Had Ethiopia not gone to Somalia, it would have been impossible to imagine what the extremists could have done. The region would have been in chaos.
If Ethiopian troops leave Somalia, the transitional government will face immediate danger. In my opinion, if there is no peacekeeping force in Somalia, a much more serious problem would surface in that country.
I can’t decide what Ethiopia should do. But in my opinion, Ethiopia’s withdrawal from Somalia will create a vaccum on an unprecedented scale. The result could be disastrous. But we can defend ourselves from Somali extremists.
If the government of Ethiopia decides to withdraw its troops from Somalia, there must be an orderly withdrawal. The international community shouldn’t be negligent. It must send in peacekeeping troops very quickly.
Pirates have endangered the international trade route off the coast of Somalia. What are you doing to limit the dangers that these pirates pose?
Somaliland has never been attacked by pirates, not even an attempt was made. We are closely guarding our coastline. The government of Somaliland has long experience in fighting pirates. There is no way that pirates can base their operations in Somaliland.
If the international community desires to learn how we successfully manage to control pirates, we are willing to share our experience. Piracy has become a real danger to international trade. We can cooperate with the international community to contain this danger.
The other secessionist Somali territory is the Puntland where some of the pirates have their base. What is your relationship with them?
We have some sort of relationship with Puntland authorities. For instance, we jointly patrol our common border. They are also trying to learn from our experience at forming a proper government. We want to cooperate with them because they are our neighbours, just like Djibouti and Ethiopia.
There is illegal human trafficking in Puntland. Many Somalis and Ethiopians lost their lives while they were being smuggled out of Puntland via the sea. As in any country, there are corrupt officials in Puntland whose activities endanger the interests of their country. They have to refrain from doing that. There is also illegal arms trade in Puntland. But that’s not the case in Somaliland.”
Western diplomats hail Somaliland’s democratic order as an example to the rest of Africa. You will also be holding the second presidential election shortly. Is there a possibility that you will face a post-election crisis just like other African countries?
We have created Somaliland out of nothing. The people are led by leaders of their own choice. Last time, the first presidential election was held. The opposition party claimed fraud in the election. But the number of votes that were allegedly rigged is only 80, even according to the opposition party. The case was taken to the Supreme Court which had the final say on the matter. All parties consented to the Supreme Court decision.
Currently the party in which I’m a member is administrating the country. There is real competition in our democracy. The ruling party has only nine more seats than the opposition in parliament. Although the ruling party could form a government on its own, it included opposition parties in the cabinet.
We make improvements to our democracy from time to time. Somaliland has a constitutional order. The fact that we avoided clan politics enabled as to get where we are now.

Laden Ethiopian convoy seen leaving Somali capital

Medeshi Jan 2, 2009

Laden Ethiopian convoy seen leaving Somali capital

By Ibrahim Mohamed
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A convoy of trucks loaded with Ethiopian soldiers, mattresses and other equipment left Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Friday, witnesses said.
Ethiopian soldiers have been propping up Somalia's Western-backed government for the past two years but say they will withdraw in the next few days -- potentially leaving a dangerous power vacuum in the Horn of Africa nation.
It was not immediately clear whether the troop movement was the start of a withdrawal, or a deployment of soldiers elsewhere in the country where they are fighting Islamist insurgents.
"We have seen Ethiopian troops moving to Afgoye from Mogadishu," said resident Omar Abdi Nur, referring to a town 30 km (19 miles) southwest of the capital.
"Their vehicles were carrying mainly equipment and soldiers. Nothing happened and they passed safely," he said, adding that the main road from the capital to Afgoye had been closed to other traffic this morning.
Ethiopian military officials in Mogadishu were not immediately available for comment.
The end of Ethiopia's two-year presence in Somalia and this week's resignation of President Abdullahi Yusuf are seen by diplomats and analysts as an opportunity to forge an inclusive government which can work for peace.
But some Islamist insurgents have vowed to keep fighting the government even when its military allies leave, and a hardline opposition group seen as key to lasting peace is snubbing the idea of power-sharing and said Somalia risked a new civil war.
While there are frequent Ethiopian troops movements in and around the capital, residents said the soldiers did not usually move with items such as mattresses and cooking equipment. Other Ethiopian soldiers remained in Mogadishu.
"I have seen 28 Ethiopian vehicles entering Afgoye town, said Afgoye resident Husein Moalim. "Some soldiers were walking on high alert and others were on the vehicles."
Ethiopian troops in Mogadishu were targeted by a large explosion earlier on Friday on the road to the airport. Witnesses said two soldiers and a number of civilians died.
There are an estimated 3,000 Ethiopian soldiers in Somalia and the international community has been scrambling to beef up a separate African Union force there of 3,200 troops, but the United Nations has ruled out any quick deployment.
African Union officials say some 2,500 soldiers from Uganda, Burundi and Nigeria are ready to deploy but financial and logistical obstacles have so far prevented them from effectively replacing those Ethiopian soldiers left.

Ethiopia Says Final Troop Pullout From Somalia Under Way

1-2-09

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AFP)--

Ethiopia's final troop pullout from Somalia has started and will last several more days, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's spokesman said Friday.
"We have already started to implement our withdrawal plan. It will take some more days. It is a process and it will take some time," Bereket Simon told AFP.
Ethiopia invaded neighboring Somalia in 2006 to rescue an embattled transitional administration and oust the Islamic Courts Union, which had taken control of most of the country and started imposing a strict form of Sharia law.
Addis Ababa announced late last year that it would have fully withdrawn from Somalia in the first days of 2009. It had already significantly reduced its troop presence but the exact timetable for the final pullout remains unclear.
Ethiopian forces were still operating in Mogadishu Friday. Two soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb explosion in the capital, prompting retaliatory fire that left seven civilians dead, according to witnesses.

France captures 'Somali pirates'

Medeshi Jan 02, 2009

France captures 'Somali pirates'

French warship has intercepted two suspected pirate boats in the Gulf of Aden and arrested eight Somalis on board, the French navy says.
International naval patrols are credited with helping deter most recent hijack attempts off Somalia, with only two ships captured last month.
But pirates still managed to hijack a cargo vessel with 28 Egyptian crew members on board on Thursday.
Somali pirates still hold about 15 ships with more than 200 crew members.
The suspected pirates were captured as they attempted to seize a Panamanian-registered cargo ship on Thursday, according to Christophe Prazuck, a spokesman for the French armed force.
"Resistance was impossible when faced by a well-armed warship," Mr Prazuck told French television.
He said the eight men, who were found with weapons and munitions, would be taken to Somalia for trial.
The International Maritime Bureau told the BBC on Thursday there had been a sharp drop in the number of ships seized by pirates off Somalia in December.
Among the latest incidents, a Malaysian military helicopter saved an Indian oil tanker from a pirate attack.
There were more than 100 pirate attacks in 2008 in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, in what is one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.
The French are part of an EU anti-piracy naval task force set up last month in the waters in the first such naval operation of its kind. India, Iran, the US and China also have naval forces to deter pirates in the area.

Somalia facing further power struggles

Medeshi Dec 30, 2008
Somalia facing further power struggles
By Peter Greste

With few friends at home and abroad, Abdullahi Yusuf had little choice but to quit as Somalia's president.
His decision to go could not have come at a more critical point for Somalia.
In his nationally broadcast resignation speech, Mr Yusuf reminded Somalis of the promise he had made when he was elected more than four years ago.
"When I took power, I pledged three things," he said.
"If I was unable to fulfil my duty, I will resign.
"Second, I said I would do everything in my power to make government work across the country. That did not happen either.
"Third, I asked the leaders to co-operate with me for the common good of the people. That did not happen."
There is no doubt President Yusuf failed on all of those counts.
The radical al-Shabab rebels now control almost all of central and southern Somalia, apart from a few districts of Mogadishu and the town of Baidoa where the government is based.
Power struggle
But it is the third pledge - to get the support of parliament - that ultimately triggered his departure.
President Yusuf had been locked in a bruising power struggle with his Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein for months, particularly over the prime minister's attempts to draw moderate Islamists into the government.
Two weeks ago, he tried to sack Prime Minister Nur, only to have parliament declare the dismissal unconstitutional, and then pass a vote of confidence in the prime minister.
At the same time, Somalia's neighbours turned on the president, accusing him of being the chief obstacle to peace.
On 5 January, Ethiopia is due to withdraw the last of its troops from Somalia.
Along with a handful of African Union troops from Uganda and Burundi, they have been one of the few shields protecting the Somali government from the al-Shabab rebels.
There is still no sign that the Ethiopians are packing up, and they may yet decide to delay their departure once more.
But publicly at least, they are still sticking to the 5 January deadline, and assuming they are going, diplomats have sensed an opportunity.
"If there's one thing that al-Shabab has been able to use to get support, it's the Ethiopian presence," said one western diplomat who declined to be named.
"Nobody in Somalia trusts their motives, so it's been easy for al-Shabab to use them as a rallying point. But if they go, it will make it much harder for [the Islamists] to hold on to that support.
"Yusuf's resignation also makes it much easier to build a new, more moderate and inclusive government which is what Prime Minister Nur has been trying to do all along."
In a statement, the UN's Special Representative for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, pointed out that: "It is the first time in Somalia's modern history that a president has decided to leave office peacefully."
It was, he said, "a patriotic and courageous decision".
But he also invited Somalis both inside the country and abroad to "take this opportunity to rise above their differences".
He said it is a time for unity and solidarity.
That is largely because both the president's resignation and the Ethiopian withdrawal also present a great danger for Somalia.
Power vacuum
There is now a real danger that unless the international community led by Mr Abdallah can build a solid and stable government soon, the rival factions will once again tear the country up in a new struggle to fill the power vacuum.
It may already be too late.
On Monday, a relatively new group, Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca was engaged in fighting al-Shabab after it seized two towns in central Somalia over the weekend.
Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca presents itself as a moderate Islamic organisation, and it has pledged to oust al-Shabab altogether - something that some analysts say points to a growing resentment of the hardliners.
But experienced observers say the newcomers look more like a cover for a collection of clan-based warlords trying to exploit the current political and military upheaval than a genuine force of clerics.
Either way, Somalia is faced with yet another period of violence that is far more likely to hurt the civilians already struggling with some of the worst humanitarian conditions in the world, than it is the politicians.
Story from BBC NEWS:

Somalis Reportedly Welcome President Yusuf’s Resignation

Medeshi Dec 30, 2008

Somalis Reportedly Welcome President Yusuf’s Resignation

By Peter Clottey Washington,

Somalis have reportedly welcomed the resignation of President Abdullahi Yusuf of the transitional federal government after he was accused of being the stumbling block to the peace process. Some Somalis have also reportedly accused the former President of being the biggest warlord in the government, which they said has energized the support base of the Islamist fundamentalist group Al-Shabab. The international community reportedly pressured former president Yusuf to resign after he unilaterally sacked Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein, which nearly led to the collapse of the transitional federal government. Ibrahim Nur is a Somali parliamentarian and a member of the transitional government. He tells reporter Peer Clottey there was no need for the Somali parliament to rush in choosing the successor to president Yusuf.
"When the president resigned, automatically the speaker of parliament takes over as a temporary president until we elect a new president. In our constitution, states that in 30 days and within those 30 days, we have to elect a new president. But this comes at a time when we are already in the process of the Djibouti Peace Agreement and if that process is finished within that month then maybe we would go to Djibouti and elect with the reconciliation a new president, from the Somali opposition and the Somali government," Nur noted.
He said there was no need to rush into electing a new president.
"You know, we don't just want to hurry automatically, but we want to see if the opposition would all come together because we need all the opposition to be part of the Djibouti process. Until we reach that stage, we want our speaker to be the temporary president and we want to really go into real reconciliation so that the speaker would continue to be the temporal president as we continue to resolve problems in the country," he said.
Nur said Somalis want all hands on deck to resolve the country's problems.
"We are saying that anyone who has Somalia at heart and any opposition is welcome to join us in finding solutions to this country's needs," Nur pointed out.
He said Somalia would have to go through the process in order to get back on its feet after a long time without a functioning government.
"You know for Somalia it has been 18 long years of civil war. It is not automatically going to be resolved with only one conference. We need to gradually and step by step move forward as a position and we want all the opposition on board the Djibouti process. And the TFG (Transitional Federal Government) we want to say welcome to anyone who wants to be part of the Djibouti process and we want to say welcome," he said.
Some political analysts say Abdullahi Yusuf's resignation, after reportedly coming under deepening international pressure, could usher in a period of more chaos as Islamic militants scramble for control of the country while the transitional federal government controls only pockets of the capital, Mogadishu, and the seat of parliament in Baidoa.
Meanwhile, Washington supported Yusuf's resignation and praised his efforts to bring peace and stability to Somalia. A statement by acting deputy spokesman Gordon Duguid urged officials in Somalia to intensify efforts to achieve a government of national unity and to enhance security through formation of a joint security force.
Source: VOA, Dec 30, 2008
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