Medeshi
UN sees not yet time for Somalia blue-helmet force
Source: Reuters - AlertNet
Date: 16 May 2009
- British envoy: Security Council not ready to send troops
- "Conditions on the ground don't exist at the moment"
- Council to step up support for AU Somalia force instead
By Patrick Worsnip
ADDIS ABABA, May 16 (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council does not think conditions are yet right to send a peacekeeping force to Somalia but will step up support for African Union (AU) troops there, a senior Western envoy said on Saturday.
The Council, which has long been urged by African states to send blue-helmets to the turbulent Horn of Africa country, promised early this year to decide by June 1 whether to do so.
But after an annual meeting between the Council and the AU's Peace and Security Council, Britain's U.N. Ambassador John Sawers said: "The analysis of most members of the Council is that the conditions for that at present don't exist."
"The consensus within the Council is to continue our support for the African Union peacekeeping mission and to strengthen that support," Sawers told a news conference.
Battles between al Shabaab militants and pro-government fighters have killed at least 139 people and sent some 27,000 fleeing the Somali capital Mogadishu in the past week or so.
Some Western intelligence agencies fear Somalia, with its weak central government struggling against the Islamist insurgents, could become a beach-head in Africa for al Qaeda-style militants.
The U.N. special envoy to Somalia said on Friday up to 300 foreign fighters had joined the insurgents, and the Security Council voiced concern over reports that Eritrea has been arming the militants. Eritrea called this 'totally false'.
'UNDERPINNING' THE AU
Diplomats said several African delegates at Saturday's meeting again raised the issue of turning the AU force into a U.N. one. But U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said such a force could become a target for attacks.
Sawers told reporters a resolution to be considered in New York later this month would extend an existing support package for the AU force, known as AMISOM, for eight months.
"This is an unprecedented arrangement whereby through U.N. assessed contributions, we give the sort of underpinning to the African Union peacekeeping force to ensure its support arrangements are up to U.N. standards," he said.
Assessed contributions from the U.N. are obligatory and not subject to ad hoc fund-raising. One diplomat put a figure of $350 million on the value of the package but others said it was up to the General Assembly budgetary committee and could include goods and services such as transport.
There are currently more than 4,000 Ugandan and Burundian troops in AMISOM, but the force has been growing only slowly towards its planned strength of 8,000.
The presence of foreign soldiers backing Somalia's government has been a sticking point for opposition figures since Ethiopian troops intervened in 2006. The Ethiopians left earlier this year.
Hardline opposition leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys says he will not enter talks with the government until the AU peacekeepers leave. In an interview with Reuters this week he accused U.N. special envoy to Somalia Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah of "destroying" the country by supporting the government.
But diplomats said delegates at Saturday's meeting continued to back the government. "We support the government in Somalia because it has gone through the rigours of consensus building," said Ugandan U.N. Ambassador Ruhakana Rugunda.
The talks in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa also focused on Sudan, including the Darfur conflict.
Diplomats said an envoy from Burkina Faso, which is on the Council, told delegates there was no agreement in the body on deferring an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes in Darfur. The AU and Arab League support such a deferment.
The visiting team of ambassadors and top diplomats from the 15-member Council will also visit Rwanda, Congo and Liberia.
Somaliland strives to distinguish itself in troubled region
Medeshi
Somaliland strives to distinguish itself in troubled region
The breakaway republic hopes to become Africa's newest state, wooing international support with state-of-the-art elections. But it faces the corruption, injustice and tensions endemic to the region.
By Edmund Sanders
May 16, 2009
Reporting from Hargeisa, Somaliland — When it came time to register voters for a presidential election in Somaliland, this dirt-poor breakaway republic picked the most expensive fingerprint-identification technology available to prevent fraud.
Then it seemed everyone did their best to undermine it.
With many people using different fingers on a biometric scanning pad or other ways to fool the device, nearly twice as many as the 700,000 to 800,000 estimated eligible voters received voter cards. Under the new $8-million system, one polling station registered, astonishingly, nearly 14 times as many people as it had for a parliamentary election four years ago.
Now Somaliland's embattled election commission, aided by a European consultant, is scrambling to cull the list of voters by applying a second security layer, of facial-recognition software. If it works, the voter rolls in this relatively stable corner of northern Somalia stand to become among the most technologically vetted in the world.
The voter registration controversy says a lot about the challenges facing this Horn of Africa territory of 3.5 million people. Somaliland, after declaring its independence from Somalia in 1991, has hoped sovereignty would enable it to better protect its citizens, rebuild the economy and attract foreign assistance.
Just about everything Somaliland does -- from holding elections to chasing pirates -- seems aimed at currying international favor, portraying an image of stability and distancing itself from the chaos raging to its south. It dreams of becoming Africa's newest nation.
"It's the thing always in the back of our minds," said Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo, one of Somaliland's founding fathers and a leading opposition figure. "The only commodity we sell to the international community is that we are a stable country."
Yet as Somaliland tries to leapfrog from oppressed backwater to regional role model, it's facing the same ghosts -- corruption, injustice and ethnic tensions -- that have haunted its neighbors.
The election scheduled for September, which was intended to highlight Somaliland's democratic progress, is instead exposing institutional weaknesses and stirring domestic discontent.
Besides the voter-registration debacle, the election date has been twice postponed at the request of President Dahir Riyale Kahin. His term was extended over the objection of opposition parties, who now call his government unconstitutional.
Ethnic rivalry is on the rise as political parties court Somaliland's major clans, which yield considerable cultural and political clout in Africa. Many residents are bracing for what is expected to be a very close race. In 2003, the president was declared the winner by just 80 votes amid allegations of rigging.Civil-society leaders worry Somaliland could be headed toward the same kind of election turmoil that rocked Kenya last year after a disputed presidential vote ignited ethnic violence that left more than 1,000 people dead.
Longtime human rights activist Ibrahim Wais questioned whether Somaliland's political leaders respected democratic ideals enough to conduct a free and fair election.
"It's not a conviction with them," he said. "It's a pretense, a plaything to impress the international community."
President Kahin insisted Somaliland was on the right path to democracy and dismissed naysayers, noting that there have been three peaceful national elections since 2001.
"There's no [democratic] backsliding," he said in an interview in the reception hall of the presidential palace in Hargeisa. "A lot of people never believed elections could happen smoothly in this country."
But opposition leaders suggest they won't accept defeat as gracefully as they did in 2003.
"If I lose by the rules, I'll accept," said Silanyo, the leading presidential challenger. "If I don't, I'll fight it."
Silanyo said he wouldn't resort to violence, but others in the opposition aren't so sure. He and others accuse Kahin of clinging to power by repeatedly delaying the election. They also say that the president has hidden lucrative oil-exploration deals from parliament, arrested opposition leaders and journalists, monopolized state-owned media and bribed clan leaders and members of the Upper House.
The president denied the allegations. He blamed election delays on the faulty voter-registration system and last fall's triple suicide bombings in Hargeisa by Islamic extremists, which killed about two dozen people.
For most of the last decade, Somaliland's governance and human rights record have drawn praise, particularly compared with those of its neighbors. Somaliland boasts free speech and private newspapers. Its population voluntarily disarmed, reconciled and transitioned into an elected, civilian government.
By contrast, Somalia continues to struggle with no fully functioning government. Ethiopia has been accused of heavy-handed crackdowns against its citizens. Eritrea has no elections or free press.
"The government in Somaliland has a better human rights record than any other government in the Horn, including Kenya," said Chris Albin-Lackey, an analyst at Human Rights Watch. "But that's setting the bar pretty low."
British Somaliland, a protectorate of the crown, won independence in 1960 and merged with the Italian colony to its south to form the Republic of Somalia. Residents soon regretted unity when successive regimes marginalized, and eventually bombed, the northern areas.
Somaliland rebels helped bring about the collapse of the Siad Barre dictatorship in 1991 and promptly declared independence from Somalia. But the international community, including the United Nations and African Union, have feared recognition of Somaliland might have a domino effect by encouraging other disgruntled regions to assert self-rule.
Somaliland's leaders expressed dismay at the world's reluctance to recognize their progress and warned that they might not be able to hold the would-be nation together without more outside support.
"If, God forbid, things go haywire, it will be the fault of the international community," said Foreign Minister Abdillahi Duale. "We've done everything we are supposed to do."
The pursuit of international recognition has contributed to Somaliland's relative stability and democratic progress, experts say.
"It makes everyone behave a little better," said Ahmed Hussein Esa, a political activist in Hargeisa and director of the Institute for Practical Research and Training.
Government crackdowns are typically short-lived. Opposition groups are loath to organize mass protests or resort to violence.The drive for recognition is even fueling Somaliland's aggressive anti-piracy campaign. Hoping to receive international aid for its fledgling coast guard, which consists of just three speedboats, Somaliland has arrested 40 suspected pirates in recent months.
Many Somaliland citizens say they are committed to independence, but some accuse leaders of using the issue as an excuse to avoid addressing domestic problems.
Hargeisa is still a capital of mostly dirt roads. Unemployment runs about 90%. Remittances sent by family members living abroad keep the economy going.
"For 18 years they've been talking about recognition, recognition, recognition," said Abdulla Ali Ahmed, 26, a grocery store clerk in Hargeisa. "We need to develop the economy, improve schools and create jobs. When we do a better job with that, the rest of the world will recognize us."
Source: L.ATimes
Somaliland strives to distinguish itself in troubled region
The breakaway republic hopes to become Africa's newest state, wooing international support with state-of-the-art elections. But it faces the corruption, injustice and tensions endemic to the region.
By Edmund Sanders
May 16, 2009
Reporting from Hargeisa, Somaliland — When it came time to register voters for a presidential election in Somaliland, this dirt-poor breakaway republic picked the most expensive fingerprint-identification technology available to prevent fraud.
Then it seemed everyone did their best to undermine it.
With many people using different fingers on a biometric scanning pad or other ways to fool the device, nearly twice as many as the 700,000 to 800,000 estimated eligible voters received voter cards. Under the new $8-million system, one polling station registered, astonishingly, nearly 14 times as many people as it had for a parliamentary election four years ago.
Now Somaliland's embattled election commission, aided by a European consultant, is scrambling to cull the list of voters by applying a second security layer, of facial-recognition software. If it works, the voter rolls in this relatively stable corner of northern Somalia stand to become among the most technologically vetted in the world.
The voter registration controversy says a lot about the challenges facing this Horn of Africa territory of 3.5 million people. Somaliland, after declaring its independence from Somalia in 1991, has hoped sovereignty would enable it to better protect its citizens, rebuild the economy and attract foreign assistance.
Just about everything Somaliland does -- from holding elections to chasing pirates -- seems aimed at currying international favor, portraying an image of stability and distancing itself from the chaos raging to its south. It dreams of becoming Africa's newest nation.
"It's the thing always in the back of our minds," said Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo, one of Somaliland's founding fathers and a leading opposition figure. "The only commodity we sell to the international community is that we are a stable country."
Yet as Somaliland tries to leapfrog from oppressed backwater to regional role model, it's facing the same ghosts -- corruption, injustice and ethnic tensions -- that have haunted its neighbors.
The election scheduled for September, which was intended to highlight Somaliland's democratic progress, is instead exposing institutional weaknesses and stirring domestic discontent.
Besides the voter-registration debacle, the election date has been twice postponed at the request of President Dahir Riyale Kahin. His term was extended over the objection of opposition parties, who now call his government unconstitutional.
Ethnic rivalry is on the rise as political parties court Somaliland's major clans, which yield considerable cultural and political clout in Africa. Many residents are bracing for what is expected to be a very close race. In 2003, the president was declared the winner by just 80 votes amid allegations of rigging.Civil-society leaders worry Somaliland could be headed toward the same kind of election turmoil that rocked Kenya last year after a disputed presidential vote ignited ethnic violence that left more than 1,000 people dead.
Longtime human rights activist Ibrahim Wais questioned whether Somaliland's political leaders respected democratic ideals enough to conduct a free and fair election.
"It's not a conviction with them," he said. "It's a pretense, a plaything to impress the international community."
President Kahin insisted Somaliland was on the right path to democracy and dismissed naysayers, noting that there have been three peaceful national elections since 2001.
"There's no [democratic] backsliding," he said in an interview in the reception hall of the presidential palace in Hargeisa. "A lot of people never believed elections could happen smoothly in this country."
But opposition leaders suggest they won't accept defeat as gracefully as they did in 2003.
"If I lose by the rules, I'll accept," said Silanyo, the leading presidential challenger. "If I don't, I'll fight it."
Silanyo said he wouldn't resort to violence, but others in the opposition aren't so sure. He and others accuse Kahin of clinging to power by repeatedly delaying the election. They also say that the president has hidden lucrative oil-exploration deals from parliament, arrested opposition leaders and journalists, monopolized state-owned media and bribed clan leaders and members of the Upper House.
The president denied the allegations. He blamed election delays on the faulty voter-registration system and last fall's triple suicide bombings in Hargeisa by Islamic extremists, which killed about two dozen people.
For most of the last decade, Somaliland's governance and human rights record have drawn praise, particularly compared with those of its neighbors. Somaliland boasts free speech and private newspapers. Its population voluntarily disarmed, reconciled and transitioned into an elected, civilian government.
By contrast, Somalia continues to struggle with no fully functioning government. Ethiopia has been accused of heavy-handed crackdowns against its citizens. Eritrea has no elections or free press.
"The government in Somaliland has a better human rights record than any other government in the Horn, including Kenya," said Chris Albin-Lackey, an analyst at Human Rights Watch. "But that's setting the bar pretty low."
British Somaliland, a protectorate of the crown, won independence in 1960 and merged with the Italian colony to its south to form the Republic of Somalia. Residents soon regretted unity when successive regimes marginalized, and eventually bombed, the northern areas.
Somaliland rebels helped bring about the collapse of the Siad Barre dictatorship in 1991 and promptly declared independence from Somalia. But the international community, including the United Nations and African Union, have feared recognition of Somaliland might have a domino effect by encouraging other disgruntled regions to assert self-rule.
Somaliland's leaders expressed dismay at the world's reluctance to recognize their progress and warned that they might not be able to hold the would-be nation together without more outside support.
"If, God forbid, things go haywire, it will be the fault of the international community," said Foreign Minister Abdillahi Duale. "We've done everything we are supposed to do."
The pursuit of international recognition has contributed to Somaliland's relative stability and democratic progress, experts say.
"It makes everyone behave a little better," said Ahmed Hussein Esa, a political activist in Hargeisa and director of the Institute for Practical Research and Training.
Government crackdowns are typically short-lived. Opposition groups are loath to organize mass protests or resort to violence.The drive for recognition is even fueling Somaliland's aggressive anti-piracy campaign. Hoping to receive international aid for its fledgling coast guard, which consists of just three speedboats, Somaliland has arrested 40 suspected pirates in recent months.
Many Somaliland citizens say they are committed to independence, but some accuse leaders of using the issue as an excuse to avoid addressing domestic problems.
Hargeisa is still a capital of mostly dirt roads. Unemployment runs about 90%. Remittances sent by family members living abroad keep the economy going.
"For 18 years they've been talking about recognition, recognition, recognition," said Abdulla Ali Ahmed, 26, a grocery store clerk in Hargeisa. "We need to develop the economy, improve schools and create jobs. When we do a better job with that, the rest of the world will recognize us."
Source: L.ATimes
'Exiled for life' in Somali camp
Medeshi 15 May 2009
'Exiled for life' in Somali camp
Dadaab, in north-eastern Kenya, is the world's biggest refugee camp, home to 260,000 people. It was built in 1991 for Somalis fleeing the fighting that erupted with the collapse of Siad Barre's military regime. Eighteen years on, conflict is still raging and Somalis continue to seek safety there.
One of the earliest camp arrivals, Mohamed Nur Hajin, tells the BBC about his life in exile:
We fled our home in 1991, when the fighting first broke out.
It was very bad back then. There was killing and looting, so we had to come to Kenya.
I was a farmer in Gede district, in the north of Somalia.
“ I thought it would only be for a month or so, but nearly 18 yers later we're still here ”
In our village, there were a lot of armed militiamen who came to raid and molest and kill everyone who was living in that area.
I thought it would only be for a month or so, and then we would return to my country, so in the beginning we never built anything permanent.
We always planned to go home as soon as things settled down and became safe enough to return, but nea
rly 18 years later, we're still here.
Water shortage
I have no hope of returning now. I have to stay here. Every day there are 500 new arrivals, so it shows you that there is nothing to go back to.
“ It is especially difficult for the young people... there is no future for them here ”
People are still leaving. Nobody is going back and I don't think I ever will.
Our life here in the camp is peaceful, but it is still very difficult.
There is a severe shortage of water, and the food ration is not enough for everyone. It is very hard here.
I am the chairman of the camp, so I speak for the refugees.
It is especially difficult for the young people because there is no future for them here. There are no jobs, no industry, and no hope.
When I came here, my family consisted of three, but thanks to God, I have had six more children so now we are nine.
I have a big family and I can't take them back.
Forgotten land
There is no peace in Somalia for two reasons.
Firstly, it is because everyone has forgotten the country. The international community no longer gives Somalia the support it needs to solve the problems.
The other reason is that some countries keep arming the militias. That's why they keep on fighting. Without weapons they would have to talk and solve their problems.
'Exiled for life' in Somali camp
Dadaab, in north-eastern Kenya, is the world's biggest refugee camp, home to 260,000 people. It was built in 1991 for Somalis fleeing the fighting that erupted with the collapse of Siad Barre's military regime. Eighteen years on, conflict is still raging and Somalis continue to seek safety there.
One of the earliest camp arrivals, Mohamed Nur Hajin, tells the BBC about his life in exile:
We fled our home in 1991, when the fighting first broke out.
It was very bad back then. There was killing and looting, so we had to come to Kenya.
I was a farmer in Gede district, in the north of Somalia.
“ I thought it would only be for a month or so, but nearly 18 yers later we're still here ”
In our village, there were a lot of armed militiamen who came to raid and molest and kill everyone who was living in that area.
I thought it would only be for a month or so, and then we would return to my country, so in the beginning we never built anything permanent.
We always planned to go home as soon as things settled down and became safe enough to return, but nea
rly 18 years later, we're still here.Water shortage
I have no hope of returning now. I have to stay here. Every day there are 500 new arrivals, so it shows you that there is nothing to go back to.
“ It is especially difficult for the young people... there is no future for them here ”
People are still leaving. Nobody is going back and I don't think I ever will.
Our life here in the camp is peaceful, but it is still very difficult.
There is a severe shortage of water, and the food ration is not enough for everyone. It is very hard here.
I am the chairman of the camp, so I speak for the refugees.
It is especially difficult for the young people because there is no future for them here. There are no jobs, no industry, and no hope.
When I came here, my family consisted of three, but thanks to God, I have had six more children so now we are nine.
I have a big family and I can't take them back.
Forgotten land
There is no peace in Somalia for two reasons.
Firstly, it is because everyone has forgotten the country. The international community no longer gives Somalia the support it needs to solve the problems.
The other reason is that some countries keep arming the militias. That's why they keep on fighting. Without weapons they would have to talk and solve their problems.
In the beginning, it was a fight between tribes, between clans. In Somalia clans are very strong.
But now it has changed to be a fight over religion, and that is much harder to resolve. I'm very disappointed.
Al-Shabab (a militant Islamic movement fighting to overthrow the transitional government) is not a good group because they are imposing a religion that says everyone who disagrees with them must be killed.
But our religion says people must be respected, whatever their views, and their lives must be preserved.
It is difficult to talk about the future, but right now, the situation is getting worse, because every day more Islamic groups form, and things become more fractured.
Now my only wish is for resettlement in a third country.
Then, my children can come and get a better education and some hope for a decent future, because here the education facilities are really not very good.
Interview and photos: BBC's East Africa correspondent Peter Greste
The
children of Dadaab face a future without education or employment
Somaliland stable as brother nation unravels
Medeshi By Shashank Bengali
McClatchy Newspapers
Somaliland stable as brother nation unravels
HARGEISA, Somaliland — It might surprise you to learn that Somalia — that post-apocalyptic shell of a nation where Islamist insurgents, clan warlords and now pirates hold sway over a helpless government — has some nice parts, too.
In Hargeisa, a visitor can walk the asphalt roads at dusk and freely breathe the sharp mountain air. The street markets are busy and boisterous, and hanging out there isn’t likely to get you killed. Cell phone companies advertise mobile Internet service and the good hotels have wireless hot spots.
If this doesn’t feel like Somalia, residents say that’s because it’s not. This is Somaliland, a northern former British protectorate that broke away from chaotic southern Somalia in 1991, established an admirably stable government and hoped never to look back.
No country has recognized Somaliland’s independence, however. The argument has always been that to do so would further destabilize Somalia, even as Somalia seems to be destabilizing well enough on its own.
So for now, this quiet slice of land along the volatile Gulf of Aden is an undeniable, if very reluctant, piece of Somalia.
A territory of 5 million people, Somaliland is trying to be a good regional citizen, hosting tens of thousands of refugees from southern Somalia and, lately, trying and imprisoning pirates, which few governments anywhere have been eager to do.
At least 26 men are serving time in Somaliland prisons for piracy. Last month, a European warship stopped nine men who were attempting to hijack a Yemeni vessel but allowed them to flee in a lifeboat. The would-be pirates washed ashore in Somaliland, where police and the scrappy coast guard, which patrols a 600-mile coastline with two speedboats and a tiny fleet of motorized skiffs, chased them down.
“We are patient. We always feel like we are getting close” to recognition, said Abdillahi Mohamed Duale, the polished foreign minister, betraying just a trace of exasperation in his near-flawless English. “Time will put Somaliland where we belong.”
Yes, the territory has a foreign minister, along with liaison offices — don’t call them diplomatic missions — in a handful of countries including the United States. It has a president and a bicameral legislature, as well as feisty opposition parties. It issues its own currency — crisp bills printed in the United Kingdom — and its own passports and visas.
It can’t make deals with other countries for development projects, though, and no international banks have opened here. The economy remains mostly pre-modern and farm-based.
So you can understand Duale’s frustration: While Somalia is a country without a functioning government, Somaliland is a noncountry with a reasonably functioning government.
The president, Dahir Riyale Kahin, won the first free elections in 2003 and was rewarded last year with a visit by the then-ranking U.S. diplomat for Africa, then-Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer. This year, however, Riyale has sparred with opposition leaders over the timing of elections, which have been postponed twice and now are set for October.
Some foreign officials are worried that the young democracy is backsliding.
“They were a model for Somalia, in our minds, but now they’re having significant problems,” said a Western diplomat who closely follows Somalia and who wasn’t authorized to be quoted by name.
Experts regard the spat as temporary and expect foreign governments to keep funding Somaliland-based relief efforts and political reform projects, but Somaliland’s limbo status appears more enduring. While the United Nations urges support for the transitional Somali government in the south, African countries are leery of encouraging their own secessionist movements and the United States is unwilling to go out on a limb for the obscure little territory.
“Governments don’t want to be involved in the politics” of Somaliland’s independence, said Patrick Duplat of Refugees International, a Washington-based advocacy group. “But they have to be cognizant of the fact that it’s the only operating government in this place.”
From colonial times, Somaliland took a different path. In the 19th-century scrum over Africa, Britain acquired the territory mainly to supply its more important garrison in Aden, across the sea in Yemen.
Relatively few British expatriates settled here, leaving tribes and institutions intact, while southern Somalia became a full-fledged colony of Italy, complete with Italianate architecture and banana farms to supply the home country.
The British and Italian territories were joined at independence to form the Somali Republic, but in 1991, with the southern-based regime verging on collapse, a rebel government in Somaliland declared itself autonomous. After two years of fighting, a new government emerged that melded traditional clan structures with Western-style separation of powers, a hybrid system that some experts have called a prototype for the rest of Somalia.
Contrast that, Duale said, with the hundreds of millions of dollars the world has poured into Somalia’s feeble transitional government, including $213 million pledged last month to bolster security forces and African Union peacekeepers.
“It’s pure hypocrisy,” Duale said. “You have here in Somaliland a nation-building process that didn’t require massive expense by others. And yet we have everything the international community preaches: self-reliance, inclusiveness, stability.”
The troubles down south have spilled over, with more than 75,000 displaced Somalis taking shelter in Somaliland. On Oct. 29, coordinated suicide bombings struck the presidential residence, a U.N. compound and an Ethiopian political office in Hargeisa, reportedly killing 30 people.
The attack was immediately blamed on Islamist militants who are battling for control of Somalia, a reminder that for all its advantages, Somaliland remains yoked to that troubled land to the south.
“Everybody was scared that we could be targeted so easily,” said Mohammed Isak, a marketing manager for a mobile phone company. “You cannot enjoy peace while your neighbor is burning.”
In Hargeisa, a visitor can walk the asphalt roads at dusk and freely breathe the sharp mountain air. The street markets are busy and boisterous, and hanging out there isn’t likely to get you killed. Cell phone companies advertise mobile Internet service and the good hotels have wireless hot spots.
If this doesn’t feel like Somalia, residents say that’s because it’s not. This is Somaliland, a northern former British protectorate that broke away from chaotic southern Somalia in 1991, established an admirably stable government and hoped never to look back.
No country has recognized Somaliland’s independence, however. The argument has always been that to do so would further destabilize Somalia, even as Somalia seems to be destabilizing well enough on its own.
So for now, this quiet slice of land along the volatile Gulf of Aden is an undeniable, if very reluctant, piece of Somalia.
A territory of 5 million people, Somaliland is trying to be a good regional citizen, hosting tens of thousands of refugees from southern Somalia and, lately, trying and imprisoning pirates, which few governments anywhere have been eager to do.
At least 26 men are serving time in Somaliland prisons for piracy. Last month, a European warship stopped nine men who were attempting to hijack a Yemeni vessel but allowed them to flee in a lifeboat. The would-be pirates washed ashore in Somaliland, where police and the scrappy coast guard, which patrols a 600-mile coastline with two speedboats and a tiny fleet of motorized skiffs, chased them down.
“We are patient. We always feel like we are getting close” to recognition, said Abdillahi Mohamed Duale, the polished foreign minister, betraying just a trace of exasperation in his near-flawless English. “Time will put Somaliland where we belong.”
Yes, the territory has a foreign minister, along with liaison offices — don’t call them diplomatic missions — in a handful of countries including the United States. It has a president and a bicameral legislature, as well as feisty opposition parties. It issues its own currency — crisp bills printed in the United Kingdom — and its own passports and visas.
It can’t make deals with other countries for development projects, though, and no international banks have opened here. The economy remains mostly pre-modern and farm-based.
So you can understand Duale’s frustration: While Somalia is a country without a functioning government, Somaliland is a noncountry with a reasonably functioning government.
The president, Dahir Riyale Kahin, won the first free elections in 2003 and was rewarded last year with a visit by the then-ranking U.S. diplomat for Africa, then-Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer. This year, however, Riyale has sparred with opposition leaders over the timing of elections, which have been postponed twice and now are set for October.
Some foreign officials are worried that the young democracy is backsliding.
“They were a model for Somalia, in our minds, but now they’re having significant problems,” said a Western diplomat who closely follows Somalia and who wasn’t authorized to be quoted by name.
Experts regard the spat as temporary and expect foreign governments to keep funding Somaliland-based relief efforts and political reform projects, but Somaliland’s limbo status appears more enduring. While the United Nations urges support for the transitional Somali government in the south, African countries are leery of encouraging their own secessionist movements and the United States is unwilling to go out on a limb for the obscure little territory.
“Governments don’t want to be involved in the politics” of Somaliland’s independence, said Patrick Duplat of Refugees International, a Washington-based advocacy group. “But they have to be cognizant of the fact that it’s the only operating government in this place.”
From colonial times, Somaliland took a different path. In the 19th-century scrum over Africa, Britain acquired the territory mainly to supply its more important garrison in Aden, across the sea in Yemen.
Relatively few British expatriates settled here, leaving tribes and institutions intact, while southern Somalia became a full-fledged colony of Italy, complete with Italianate architecture and banana farms to supply the home country.
The British and Italian territories were joined at independence to form the Somali Republic, but in 1991, with the southern-based regime verging on collapse, a rebel government in Somaliland declared itself autonomous. After two years of fighting, a new government emerged that melded traditional clan structures with Western-style separation of powers, a hybrid system that some experts have called a prototype for the rest of Somalia.
Contrast that, Duale said, with the hundreds of millions of dollars the world has poured into Somalia’s feeble transitional government, including $213 million pledged last month to bolster security forces and African Union peacekeepers.
“It’s pure hypocrisy,” Duale said. “You have here in Somaliland a nation-building process that didn’t require massive expense by others. And yet we have everything the international community preaches: self-reliance, inclusiveness, stability.”
The troubles down south have spilled over, with more than 75,000 displaced Somalis taking shelter in Somaliland. On Oct. 29, coordinated suicide bombings struck the presidential residence, a U.N. compound and an Ethiopian political office in Hargeisa, reportedly killing 30 people.
The attack was immediately blamed on Islamist militants who are battling for control of Somalia, a reminder that for all its advantages, Somaliland remains yoked to that troubled land to the south.
“Everybody was scared that we could be targeted so easily,” said Mohammed Isak, a marketing manager for a mobile phone company. “You cannot enjoy peace while your neighbor is burning.”
SOMALIA: Heavy rains aggravating conditions for “poorest of the poor”
Medeshi
SOMALIA: Heavy rains aggravating conditions for “poorest of the poor”
NAIROBI, 14 May 2009 (IRIN) - Heavy rains have compounded the already difficult conditions for thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs), who fled fighting in Mogadishu for camps outside the Somali capital, civil society groups said.
“The rains have made their living conditions even more difficult; almost all the new arrivals are staying under trees with nothing to shelter from the rains,” Ahmed Dini of Peaceline, a Somali civil society group, who was visiting the IDPs at the Ceelsha camps (15km south of Mogadishu), told IRIN on 14 May.
He said many of those displaced by the latest fighting were first-time IDPs, residents of some of the poorest neighbourhoods of Mogadishu.
"These are people from the Siina'a, Arjantiina and Tookiyo [all slums in the north of the city]; they are the poorest of the poor," Dini said.
He said they had stayed put during previous clashes in the capital because they did not have the means to escape.
"It is an indication of how bad things are," he said. "This current displacement is affecting mainly minorities and others who have no clan support."
Dini said the civil society community was appealing to Somalis and donor agencies, "particularly to the United Nations, to urgently come to the assistance of these people who are living in the open and under trees".
Nadiifo Hussein, one of the displaced, fled her home in the Siina'a slum on 13 May following heavy fighting and shel
ling. She went to the Ceelsha camps where she is caring for eight orphaned relatives.
"I left my house with nothing except what I am wearing and these children," said Hussein.
She said they had taken advantage of a lull in the fighting to escape but she was worried about how she would feed the children. "I had a small stall in the market and that was our food; now I don’t know what I will give them."
Dini, whose group monitors children, said 60 of the 150 dead and 125 of the more than 300 injured were children.
Daily exodus
Despite a lull in fighting on 13 May, many people were still leaving the city.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said the rate of displacement was increasing on a daily basis.
"Between yesterday [13 May] and the day before, 10,000 people were displaced," said Roberta Russo, spokeswoman for UNHCR Somalia.
Russo said the agency had partners on the ground who were preparing for the immediate distribution of shelter material and sleeping mats, blankets and kitchen sets.
"In the warehouse in Mogadishu, we already have sets for over 100,000 people," she said. “We are also planning to appeal to all parties through radio and other mass media to spare civilians."
Renewed fighting
Meanwhile, the fighting in Mogadishu resumed on 14 May in the northern part of the city, according to a local journalist who requested anonymity.
"There are clashes going on at Afarta Jardiino [north Mogadishu]," he said. "It is not as bad as it was three days ago but it is forcing people out of the area," he added.
The UN Special Representative for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, has accused those who launched the recent at
tacks on Mogadishu of carrying out "an attempted coup d’état to topple a legitimate government using force.
"These extremists know that they do not have the support of the Somali people and that is why they have to bring in foreign fighters who are not connected to the situation in Somalia in any way," Ould-Abdallah said.
Forces loyal to the Government of National Unity are fighting an alliance of the militant al-Shabab group and elements of the Hisbul Islam alliance.
ah/mw
Theme(s): (IRIN) Conflict, (IRIN) Refugees/IDPs
SOMALIA: Heavy rains aggravating conditions for “poorest of the poor”
NAIROBI, 14 May 2009 (IRIN) - Heavy rains have compounded the already difficult conditions for thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs), who fled fighting in Mogadishu for camps outside the Somali capital, civil society groups said.
“The rains have made their living conditions even more difficult; almost all the new arrivals are staying under trees with nothing to shelter from the rains,” Ahmed Dini of Peaceline, a Somali civil society group, who was visiting the IDPs at the Ceelsha camps (15km south of Mogadishu), told IRIN on 14 May.
He said many of those displaced by the latest fighting were first-time IDPs, residents of some of the poorest neighbourhoods of Mogadishu.
"These are people from the Siina'a, Arjantiina and Tookiyo [all slums in the north of the city]; they are the poorest of the poor," Dini said.
He said they had stayed put during previous clashes in the capital because they did not have the means to escape.
"It is an indication of how bad things are," he said. "This current displacement is affecting mainly minorities and others who have no clan support."
Dini said the civil society community was appealing to Somalis and donor agencies, "particularly to the United Nations, to urgently come to the assistance of these people who are living in the open and under trees".
Nadiifo Hussein, one of the displaced, fled her home in the Siina'a slum on 13 May following heavy fighting and shel
ling. She went to the Ceelsha camps where she is caring for eight orphaned relatives."I left my house with nothing except what I am wearing and these children," said Hussein.
She said they had taken advantage of a lull in the fighting to escape but she was worried about how she would feed the children. "I had a small stall in the market and that was our food; now I don’t know what I will give them."
Dini, whose group monitors children, said 60 of the 150 dead and 125 of the more than 300 injured were children.
Daily exodus
Despite a lull in fighting on 13 May, many people were still leaving the city.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said the rate of displacement was increasing on a daily basis.
"Between yesterday [13 May] and the day before, 10,000 people were displaced," said Roberta Russo, spokeswoman for UNHCR Somalia.
Russo said the agency had partners on the ground who were preparing for the immediate distribution of shelter material and sleeping mats, blankets and kitchen sets.
"In the warehouse in Mogadishu, we already have sets for over 100,000 people," she said. “We are also planning to appeal to all parties through radio and other mass media to spare civilians."
Renewed fighting
Meanwhile, the fighting in Mogadishu resumed on 14 May in the northern part of the city, according to a local journalist who requested anonymity.
"There are clashes going on at Afarta Jardiino [north Mogadishu]," he said. "It is not as bad as it was three days ago but it is forcing people out of the area," he added.
The UN Special Representative for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, has accused those who launched the recent at
tacks on Mogadishu of carrying out "an attempted coup d’état to topple a legitimate government using force."These extremists know that they do not have the support of the Somali people and that is why they have to bring in foreign fighters who are not connected to the situation in Somalia in any way," Ould-Abdallah said.
Forces loyal to the Government of National Unity are fighting an alliance of the militant al-Shabab group and elements of the Hisbul Islam alliance.
ah/mw
Theme(s): (IRIN) Conflict, (IRIN) Refugees/IDPs
Free Bashir Makhtal
Medeshi
Free-Makhtal Working Coalition Town Hall Meeting: RESOLUTION
Posted 14th May 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact information
Posted 14th May 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact information
Said Maktal
Edmonton, AB (May 11, 2009)
Free Makhtal-Working Coalition, a coalition of citizens and residents of Canada, held a town hall meeting on Sunday, May 10, 2009 to raise awareness about the plight of Bashir Makhtal. Mr. Makhtal, a CanadianCitizen has been held in an Ethiopian military prison for over two years. Much of that time, he has not hadaccess to legal representation nor where the charges against him ever been placed in front of a judge until early 2009, as a result of consist pressure the Makhtal family and the Free-Makhtal Working Coalition.It is important to note that under the guise of the war on terror, Mr. Bashir Makhtal of Toronto, was illegally detained by the Kenyan Government in 2006 and without any court proceeding, was transferred to a military prison in Ethiopia. This type of secret and extraordinary rendition where any country can imprison anyone at anytime without any legal protection is against the laws and conventions of the international community. The Canadian people and government must come to the aid of their fellow Canadian.
Present at the town hall meeting were dignitaries such as the Honourable Laurie Hawn, Professor HusseinWarsame, Ms. Fowsia Abdulkadir, Chairperson of the Free-Makhtal Working Coalition of Ottawa, Mr. Obang Metho of the Solidarity Movement for New Ethiopia, and Mr. Said Makhtal family member and representatives of Somali communities of Calgary, Edmonton and Fort McMurray, who collectively spoke of the need for the Canadian government to act. All the participants of this Town Hall meeting showed that they stood in solidarity with the Free Makhtal-Coalition, shed light on Mr. Makhtal’s condition and covered what can and must be done.
Free Makhtal-Working Coalition, wishes to also commend the participants and offer our sincere thanks to the Honourable Minister of Transport, John Baird, for his thoughtful open-letter and his continued leadership on behalf of Mr. Makhtal. We look forward to future cooperation with him and his office.
All of our elected officials deserve special thanks for bringing a level of hope to the community that showedthat Canadian leaders are paying close attention to this case.
It is with resounding unanimity that the attendees, participants and organizers hereby resolve:
That Wednesday May20, 2009 become the designated Action Day for Free-Makhtal, a day to mobilize all concerned Canadians to call, e-mail and/or write to their Members of Parliament to bring Bashir Makhtal home.
To mobilize all concerned Canadians to lobby the Canadian Parliament to leverage aid to Ethiopia to meet acceptable human rights standards for the Ogaden region, the Gambella region and for all Ethiopians.
To work towards strong constituencies that advocates, and reach out to mainstream Canadiancommunities for justice for all Canadians.
For questions or press information, please contact Yassin Kassim at (780) 914-2226 and jawaabo@yahoo.com.
Present at the town hall meeting were dignitaries such as the Honourable Laurie Hawn, Professor HusseinWarsame, Ms. Fowsia Abdulkadir, Chairperson of the Free-Makhtal Working Coalition of Ottawa, Mr. Obang Metho of the Solidarity Movement for New Ethiopia, and Mr. Said Makhtal family member and representatives of Somali communities of Calgary, Edmonton and Fort McMurray, who collectively spoke of the need for the Canadian government to act. All the participants of this Town Hall meeting showed that they stood in solidarity with the Free Makhtal-Coalition, shed light on Mr. Makhtal’s condition and covered what can and must be done.
Free Makhtal-Working Coalition, wishes to also commend the participants and offer our sincere thanks to the Honourable Minister of Transport, John Baird, for his thoughtful open-letter and his continued leadership on behalf of Mr. Makhtal. We look forward to future cooperation with him and his office.
All of our elected officials deserve special thanks for bringing a level of hope to the community that showedthat Canadian leaders are paying close attention to this case.
It is with resounding unanimity that the attendees, participants and organizers hereby resolve:
That Wednesday May20, 2009 become the designated Action Day for Free-Makhtal, a day to mobilize all concerned Canadians to call, e-mail and/or write to their Members of Parliament to bring Bashir Makhtal home.
To mobilize all concerned Canadians to lobby the Canadian Parliament to leverage aid to Ethiopia to meet acceptable human rights standards for the Ogaden region, the Gambella region and for all Ethiopians.
To work towards strong constituencies that advocates, and reach out to mainstream Canadiancommunities for justice for all Canadians.
For questions or press information, please contact Yassin Kassim at (780) 914-2226 and jawaabo@yahoo.com.
Note: Medeshi group fully supports this initiative to release Bashir Makhtal who has been unlawfully kept by the Ethiopian regime for the last two years.
1909 Egyptian Sirdar in Somaliland
Medeshi
1909 Egyptian Sirdar in Somaliland
ADEN
The interest in British Somaliland at present centres mainly round the visit of Sir Reginald Wingate, who has proceeded with his staff from Berbera into the interior and commenced his investigation of the political and general military situation there, on which he is to report to the Government. Various rumors are in circulation as to the outcome of this visit, the most prominent of which is that the country in question may ultimately be placed under Egyptian administration. H.M.S. Philomel has been temporarily removed from the blockade along the Somaliland coast and remains at Berbera in attendance on the Sirdar and will act as his despatch ship between there and Aden whenever the necessity arises.
www.medeshi.com
1909 Egyptian Sirdar in Somaliland
ADEN
The interest in British Somaliland at present centres mainly round the visit of Sir Reginald Wingate, who has proceeded with his staff from Berbera into the interior and commenced his investigation of the political and general military situation there, on which he is to report to the Government. Various rumors are in circulation as to the outcome of this visit, the most prominent of which is that the country in question may ultimately be placed under Egyptian administration. H.M.S. Philomel has been temporarily removed from the blockade along the Somaliland coast and remains at Berbera in attendance on the Sirdar and will act as his despatch ship between there and Aden whenever the necessity arises.
www.medeshi.com
Pastoralists hardest-hit by drought in Somaliland
Medeshi
Pastoralists hardest-hit by drought in Somaliland
ERIGAVO, 13 May 2009 (IRIN) - A severe drought that has gripped Somaliland's Sanag region in the past months has hit pastoralists hardest, with hundreds of families moving to urban centres after their animals died, officials said.
"We estimate that up to 400 families [2,400 people] have been displaced to Erigavo [the region's capital], after they lost their animals in the recent drought,” Yasin H Nour, the mayor of Erigavo, told IRIN.
"Hundreds of families are now in a serious situation due to the drought that has hit the region. Their cattle and donkeys have already died; now their camels and sheep are dying daily," he added.
The drought has also affected regions surrounding Sanag in both Somaliland and the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland.
The region has suffered consecutive rainfall failure in the past three years.
Officials in the El-Afweyn, Hulul and Dararweyne districts of Sanag said 60 percent of pastoralists' animals had died in the drought.
The most affected areas are in the eastern regions of Sool, Sanag and Togdheer, according to Mursal Askar Mire, the mayor of El-Afweyn district.
"WFP [UN World Food Programme] and its partners used to supply food to the district and other rural surroundings but they stopped at the beginning of this year," Mire said. "Now the situation has deteriorated and the people are facing shortages of food and water."
Mahamud Hassan "Guled", senior public information assistant, WFP Somalia, told IRIN: “We have no relief operations at the moment due to the last FSAU [Food Security Assessment Unit/Food and Agriculture Organization Somalia] assessment, which did not warrant any relief programmes. WFP distributed 86 metric tonnes of food to 5,064 people in the district four months ago before the FSAU assessment."
Disease threats
Salah Yusuf, the mayor of Dararweyne, said the nearest water point in some areas was about 120-130km away, while most animals could only walk about 60km a day.
Yusuf and Mire called for help, saying Dararweyne was the worst-affected district.
"We are calling on the government of Somaliland, as well as the international community, to come to the aid of the people hit by the drought in the districts of El-Afweyn, Gar-adag, Hulul and Dararweyne,” the mayors said.
Yusuf said: "About 40 families [200 people] have moved to urban areas of Dararweyne District after they lost all their animals and, last week, 20 people were hospitalised for diarrhoea.
"The problem is not only lack of food and water but also some diseases have erupted in the areas, such as malaria, flu and diarrhoea." Trucking water
Ahmed-Kayse Hussein Mohamed, a data collection officer with Candle Light, a local NGO, said a team toured the remote areas of the affected districts on 10 May and found hundreds of families who had moved out of their home areas to the urban centre of El-Afweyn after losing all their animals.
Mayor Nour said the local government was trucking water to some of the affected areas in the district.
"We send eight to 10 water trucks daily to the remote areas of Erigavo, particularly the areas to the southeast and southwest of the district," Nour said.
Local officials said if the rains - expected any time now – are delayed, more pastoralists would lose their last remaining animals.
"We are worried that if the rains do not start in coming weeks, more animals may die, and even if the rains start, we fear the animals may not adapt well to the wet conditions because there is no pasture," Nour said.
maj/js/ah/mw
Theme(s): (IRIN) Food Security, (IRIN) Natural Disasters
Pastoralists hardest-hit by drought in Somaliland
ERIGAVO, 13 May 2009 (IRIN) - A severe drought that has gripped Somaliland's Sanag region in the past months has hit pastoralists hardest, with hundreds of families moving to urban centres after their animals died, officials said.
"We estimate that up to 400 families [2,400 people] have been displaced to Erigavo [the region's capital], after they lost their animals in the recent drought,” Yasin H Nour, the mayor of Erigavo, told IRIN.
"Hundreds of families are now in a serious situation due to the drought that has hit the region. Their cattle and donkeys have already died; now their camels and sheep are dying daily," he added.
The drought has also affected regions surrounding Sanag in both Somaliland and the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland.
The region has suffered consecutive rainfall failure in the past three years.
Officials in the El-Afweyn, Hulul and Dararweyne districts of Sanag said 60 percent of pastoralists' animals had died in the drought.
The most affected areas are in the eastern regions of Sool, Sanag and Togdheer, according to Mursal Askar Mire, the mayor of El-Afweyn district.
"WFP [UN World Food Programme] and its partners used to supply food to the district and other rural surroundings but they stopped at the beginning of this year," Mire said. "Now the situation has deteriorated and the people are facing shortages of food and water."
Mahamud Hassan "Guled", senior public information assistant, WFP Somalia, told IRIN: “We have no relief operations at the moment due to the last FSAU [Food Security Assessment Unit/Food and Agriculture Organization Somalia] assessment, which did not warrant any relief programmes. WFP distributed 86 metric tonnes of food to 5,064 people in the district four months ago before the FSAU assessment."
Disease threats
Salah Yusuf, the mayor of Dararweyne, said the nearest water point in some areas was about 120-130km away, while most animals could only walk about 60km a day.
Yusuf and Mire called for help, saying Dararweyne was the worst-affected district.
"We are calling on the government of Somaliland, as well as the international community, to come to the aid of the people hit by the drought in the districts of El-Afweyn, Gar-adag, Hulul and Dararweyne,” the mayors said.
Yusuf said: "About 40 families [200 people] have moved to urban areas of Dararweyne District after they lost all their animals and, last week, 20 people were hospitalised for diarrhoea.
"The problem is not only lack of food and water but also some diseases have erupted in the areas, such as malaria, flu and diarrhoea." Trucking water
Ahmed-Kayse Hussein Mohamed, a data collection officer with Candle Light, a local NGO, said a team toured the remote areas of the affected districts on 10 May and found hundreds of families who had moved out of their home areas to the urban centre of El-Afweyn after losing all their animals.
Mayor Nour said the local government was trucking water to some of the affected areas in the district.
"We send eight to 10 water trucks daily to the remote areas of Erigavo, particularly the areas to the southeast and southwest of the district," Nour said.
Local officials said if the rains - expected any time now – are delayed, more pastoralists would lose their last remaining animals.
"We are worried that if the rains do not start in coming weeks, more animals may die, and even if the rains start, we fear the animals may not adapt well to the wet conditions because there is no pasture," Nour said.
maj/js/ah/mw
Theme(s): (IRIN) Food Security, (IRIN) Natural Disasters
Somaliland MPs in Uganda
Medeshi
Somaliland MPs in Uganda
Tuesday, 12th May, 2009
By Milton Olupot
MEMBERS of the parliament of Somaliland are in Uganda to study the budget system and the role of parliament in the budget distribution.
The delegation, led by Eng. Nasir Hagi Ali, was yesterday received by deputy clerk Chris Kaija Kwamya.
Kaija took the MPs through the budget process. The group is also scheduled to attend various parliamentary committees.
Addressing journalists at the Speaker’s Boardroom, Nasir gave the background of the country that has remained unrecognised as a sovereign state internationally, despite assuming independence about 20 years ago.
Nasir said the African Union recently sent into the country a fact-finding mission.
“We are a de-facto state. Many countries do not recognise us, but we deal with many like the US,” he said.
“Somaliland has been named Africa’s best kept secret by scholars. This is the fourth parliament since we claimed our independence in 1991,” Nasir added.
The country has a republican form of government. The legislative assembly is composed of two chambers - an elected elder’s chamber, and a house of representatives.
It has three political parties, the ruling UDUB Party, Kulmiye Party and UCID.
The next presidential elections are slated for Sept. this year.
Somaliland MPs in Uganda
Tuesday, 12th May, 2009
By Milton Olupot
MEMBERS of the parliament of Somaliland are in Uganda to study the budget system and the role of parliament in the budget distribution.
The delegation, led by Eng. Nasir Hagi Ali, was yesterday received by deputy clerk Chris Kaija Kwamya.
Kaija took the MPs through the budget process. The group is also scheduled to attend various parliamentary committees.
Addressing journalists at the Speaker’s Boardroom, Nasir gave the background of the country that has remained unrecognised as a sovereign state internationally, despite assuming independence about 20 years ago.
Nasir said the African Union recently sent into the country a fact-finding mission.
“We are a de-facto state. Many countries do not recognise us, but we deal with many like the US,” he said.
“Somaliland has been named Africa’s best kept secret by scholars. This is the fourth parliament since we claimed our independence in 1991,” Nasir added.
The country has a republican form of government. The legislative assembly is composed of two chambers - an elected elder’s chamber, and a house of representatives.
It has three political parties, the ruling UDUB Party, Kulmiye Party and UCID.
The next presidential elections are slated for Sept. this year.
Torture Tape Implicates UAE Royal Sheikh
Medeshi May 12, 2009
Torture Tape Implicates UAE Royal Sheikh
Police in Uniform Join In as Victim Is Whipped, Beaten, Electrocuted, Run Over by SUV
By VIC WALTER, REHAB EL-BURI, ANGELA HILL and BRIAN ROSS
A video tape smuggled out of the United Arab Emirates (Watch the tape here: http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=2688465)shows )a member of the country's royal family mercilessly torturing a man with whips, electric cattle prods and wooden planks with protruding nails.
A man in a UAE police uniform is seen on the tape tying the victim's arms and legs, and later holding him down as the Sheikh pours salt on the man's wounds and then drives over him with his Mercedes SUV.
In a statement to ABC News, the UAE Ministry of the Interior said it had reviewed the tape and acknowledged the involvement of Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al Nahyan, brother of the country's crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed.
"The incidents depicted in the video tapes were not part of a pattern of behavior," the Interior Ministry's statement declared.
The Minister of the Interior is also one of Sheikh Issa's brother.
The government statement said its review found "all rules, policies and procedures were followed correctly by the Police Department."
"If this is their complete reply, then sadly it's a scam and it's a sham," said Sarah Leah Whitson of Human Rights Watch.
"It is the state that is torturing them," she said, "if the government does not investigate and prosecute these officers, and those commanding those officers."
The 45-minute long tape was smuggled out of the country by Bassam Nabulsi, of Houston, Texas, a former business associate of Sheikh Issa.
Nabulsi is now suing the Sheikh in federal court in Houston, alleging he also was tortured by UAE police when he refused to turn over the videos to the Sheikh following their falling out.
"They were my security, really, to make my case that this man is capable of doing what I say he can do," said Nabulsi in an interview to be broadcast Wednesday on the ABC News program Nightline.
Nabulsi says the video tapes were recorded by his brother, on orders from the Sheikh who liked to watch the torture sessions later in his royal palace.
The Sheikh begins by stuffing sand down the man's mouth, as the police officers restrains the victim.
Then he fires bullets from an automatic rifle around him as the man howls incomprehensibly.
Sadistic Torture by Sheikh
At another point on the tape, the Sheikh can be seen telling the cameraman to come closer.
"Get closer. Get closer. Get closer. Let his suffering show," the Sheikh says.
Over the course of the tape, Sheikh Issa acts in an increasingly sadistic manner.
He uses an electric cattle prod against the man's testicles and inserts it in his anus.
At another point, as the man wails in pain, the Sheikh pours lighter fluid on the man's testicles and sets them aflame.
Then the tape shows the Sheikh sorting through some wooden planks. "I remember there was one that had a nail in it," he says on the tape.
The Sheikh then pulls down the pants of the victim and repeatedly strikes him with board and its protruding nail. At one point, he puts the nail next to the man's buttocks and bangs it through the flesh.
"Where's the salt," asks the Sheikh as he pours a large container of salt on to the man's bleeding wounds.
The victim pleads for mercy, to no avail.
The final scene on the tape shows the Sheikh positioning his victim on the desert sand and then driving over him repeatedly. A sound of breaking bones can be heard on the tape.
Sheikh Issa's lawyer, Daryl Bristow of Baker Botts in Houston, told ABC News "the tape is the tape."
The torture victim was identified by Nabulsi as an Afghan grain dealer, Mohammed Shah Poor, who the Sheikh accused of short changing on a grain delivery to his royal ranch on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi.
The UAE government, in its statement, says the matter was settled privately between the Sheikh and the grain dealer, "by agreeing not to bring formal charges against each other, i.e., theft on the one hand and assault on the other hand."
Nabulsi says Sheikh Issa became increasing violent and sadistic following the 2004 death of his father, the UAE's first and only president until that time, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
"It's like you flipped a switch and the man took a wrong turn in his life and started getting violent," said Nabulsi.
Sheikh Issa is one of the country's 22 royal sheikhs but does not hold an official position in the UAE government.
Man Says U.S. Embassy Officials in Abu Dhabi Knew of Torture Tape
Nabulsi first met Sheikh Issa when he traveled to Houston for medical reasons. Nabulsi provided hotel and limousine services and their relationship grew into a business partnership, he says.
Nabulsi, in his lawsuit, says he was falsely arrested on narcotics trafficking charges by Abu Dhabi police when he refused to turn over the tapes and mistreated in prison, where he was held for three months.
"They would stick a finger up his anus and say, 'this is from Sheik Issa, are you going to give us the tapes,'" said Nabulsi's Houston lawyer, Tony Buzbee.
"They would keep him from sleeping, deny him his medications, tell him they were going to rape his wife, kill his child. They made him pose naked while they took pictures," the lawyer alleges.
The UAE government said its review "also confirmed that Mr. Nabulsi was in no way mistreated during his incarceration for drug possession."
After a short trial, Nabulsi was convicted of having prescription medicine without a prescription from a local doctor. Evidence at the trail showed his doctor in Houston had prescribed the medicine.
Nabulsi was expelled from the country and his passport is stamped with the notation "Not Allowed to Return to the UAE."
Nabulsi says officials at the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi were aware of the torture tapes but took no action to protest the Sheikh's action.
The UAE is considered a stalwart U.S. ally in the region, with close cooperation in working against al Qaeda. The U.S. Navy has an important base outside Dubai.
Nabulsi says he even showed portions of the tape to a Department of Homeland Security official stationed in Abu Dhabi to train UAE police, Bill Wallrap.
Nabulsi says after the U.S. official watched the tapes, he advised Nabulsi to "gather your family and get out of the country as soon as possible for your own safety."
A spokesman for DHS said neither Wallrap nor the DHS would have any comment on the torture tapes.
In its 2008 Human Rights report, the U.S. State Department referred to "reports that a royal family member tortured a foreign national who had allegedly overcharged him in a grain deal." The State Department made no reference to the video tapes played for the U.S. official.
Rep. McGovern Weighs In
Other U.S. embassy employees did help, says Nabulsi, who credits them with keeping him alive by their visits to the prison.
Asked why neither he nor his brother didn't report the torture he saw on the tape to authorities in the UAE, Nabulsi said, "I mean the whole government is all brothers. I mean the president is al Nahyan, the crown prince is al Nahyan, the foreign minister is al Nahyan, the foreign minister is al Nahyan. What can you do?"
The co-chairman of the House Human Rights Commission, Rep. James McGovern (D-MA), said the existence of the tape requires the U.S. to take action.
"Granted that they're strategically located in a key part of the world, but it's hard to imagine that we're going to keep going on as if it' business as usual when this kind of stuff happens," said McGovern. "My guess is that this is just the tip of the iceberg."
Sheikh Issa's lawyer, Bristow, has moved to have the case, which also involves allegations surrounding their business dealings, transferred to courts in the UAE.
Wherever it is heard, said Bristow, "You may be assured that in due course the one-sided "story" being told to ABC by the Nabulsi's and their lawyers will be completely addressed and the Nabulsi's will be discredited," he said in a letter to ABC News.
The "'story that we think ABC is being told is grossly misleading; it is in large measure demonstrably untrue; and it is defamatory to Sheikh Issa." Bristow represented George W. Bush in the Florida recount case in 2000. Among the firm's partners is former Secretary of State James Baker.
Torture Tape Implicates UAE Royal Sheikh
Police in Uniform Join In as Victim Is Whipped, Beaten, Electrocuted, Run Over by SUV
By VIC WALTER, REHAB EL-BURI, ANGELA HILL and BRIAN ROSS
A video tape smuggled out of the United Arab Emirates (Watch the tape here: http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=2688465)shows )a member of the country's royal family mercilessly torturing a man with whips, electric cattle prods and wooden planks with protruding nails.
A man in a UAE police uniform is seen on the tape tying the victim's arms and legs, and later holding him down as the Sheikh pours salt on the man's wounds and then drives over him with his Mercedes SUV.
In a statement to ABC News, the UAE Ministry of the Interior said it had reviewed the tape and acknowledged the involvement of Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al Nahyan, brother of the country's crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed.
"The incidents depicted in the video tapes were not part of a pattern of behavior," the Interior Ministry's statement declared.
The Minister of the Interior is also one of Sheikh Issa's brother.
The government statement said its review found "all rules, policies and procedures were followed correctly by the Police Department."
"If this is their complete reply, then sadly it's a scam and it's a sham," said Sarah Leah Whitson of Human Rights Watch.
"It is the state that is torturing them," she said, "if the government does not investigate and prosecute these officers, and those commanding those officers."
The 45-minute long tape was smuggled out of the country by Bassam Nabulsi, of Houston, Texas, a former business associate of Sheikh Issa.
Nabulsi is now suing the Sheikh in federal court in Houston, alleging he also was tortured by UAE police when he refused to turn over the videos to the Sheikh following their falling out.
"They were my security, really, to make my case that this man is capable of doing what I say he can do," said Nabulsi in an interview to be broadcast Wednesday on the ABC News program Nightline.
Nabulsi says the video tapes were recorded by his brother, on orders from the Sheikh who liked to watch the torture sessions later in his royal palace.
The Sheikh begins by stuffing sand down the man's mouth, as the police officers restrains the victim.
Then he fires bullets from an automatic rifle around him as the man howls incomprehensibly.
Sadistic Torture by Sheikh
At another point on the tape, the Sheikh can be seen telling the cameraman to come closer.
"Get closer. Get closer. Get closer. Let his suffering show," the Sheikh says.
Over the course of the tape, Sheikh Issa acts in an increasingly sadistic manner.
He uses an electric cattle prod against the man's testicles and inserts it in his anus.
At another point, as the man wails in pain, the Sheikh pours lighter fluid on the man's testicles and sets them aflame.
Then the tape shows the Sheikh sorting through some wooden planks. "I remember there was one that had a nail in it," he says on the tape.
The Sheikh then pulls down the pants of the victim and repeatedly strikes him with board and its protruding nail. At one point, he puts the nail next to the man's buttocks and bangs it through the flesh.
"Where's the salt," asks the Sheikh as he pours a large container of salt on to the man's bleeding wounds.
The victim pleads for mercy, to no avail.
The final scene on the tape shows the Sheikh positioning his victim on the desert sand and then driving over him repeatedly. A sound of breaking bones can be heard on the tape.
Sheikh Issa's lawyer, Daryl Bristow of Baker Botts in Houston, told ABC News "the tape is the tape."
The torture victim was identified by Nabulsi as an Afghan grain dealer, Mohammed Shah Poor, who the Sheikh accused of short changing on a grain delivery to his royal ranch on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi.
The UAE government, in its statement, says the matter was settled privately between the Sheikh and the grain dealer, "by agreeing not to bring formal charges against each other, i.e., theft on the one hand and assault on the other hand."
Nabulsi says Sheikh Issa became increasing violent and sadistic following the 2004 death of his father, the UAE's first and only president until that time, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
"It's like you flipped a switch and the man took a wrong turn in his life and started getting violent," said Nabulsi.
Sheikh Issa is one of the country's 22 royal sheikhs but does not hold an official position in the UAE government.
Man Says U.S. Embassy Officials in Abu Dhabi Knew of Torture Tape
Nabulsi first met Sheikh Issa when he traveled to Houston for medical reasons. Nabulsi provided hotel and limousine services and their relationship grew into a business partnership, he says.
Nabulsi, in his lawsuit, says he was falsely arrested on narcotics trafficking charges by Abu Dhabi police when he refused to turn over the tapes and mistreated in prison, where he was held for three months.
"They would stick a finger up his anus and say, 'this is from Sheik Issa, are you going to give us the tapes,'" said Nabulsi's Houston lawyer, Tony Buzbee.
"They would keep him from sleeping, deny him his medications, tell him they were going to rape his wife, kill his child. They made him pose naked while they took pictures," the lawyer alleges.
The UAE government said its review "also confirmed that Mr. Nabulsi was in no way mistreated during his incarceration for drug possession."
After a short trial, Nabulsi was convicted of having prescription medicine without a prescription from a local doctor. Evidence at the trail showed his doctor in Houston had prescribed the medicine.
Nabulsi was expelled from the country and his passport is stamped with the notation "Not Allowed to Return to the UAE."
Nabulsi says officials at the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi were aware of the torture tapes but took no action to protest the Sheikh's action.
The UAE is considered a stalwart U.S. ally in the region, with close cooperation in working against al Qaeda. The U.S. Navy has an important base outside Dubai.
Nabulsi says he even showed portions of the tape to a Department of Homeland Security official stationed in Abu Dhabi to train UAE police, Bill Wallrap.
Nabulsi says after the U.S. official watched the tapes, he advised Nabulsi to "gather your family and get out of the country as soon as possible for your own safety."
A spokesman for DHS said neither Wallrap nor the DHS would have any comment on the torture tapes.
In its 2008 Human Rights report, the U.S. State Department referred to "reports that a royal family member tortured a foreign national who had allegedly overcharged him in a grain deal." The State Department made no reference to the video tapes played for the U.S. official.
Rep. McGovern Weighs In
Other U.S. embassy employees did help, says Nabulsi, who credits them with keeping him alive by their visits to the prison.
Asked why neither he nor his brother didn't report the torture he saw on the tape to authorities in the UAE, Nabulsi said, "I mean the whole government is all brothers. I mean the president is al Nahyan, the crown prince is al Nahyan, the foreign minister is al Nahyan, the foreign minister is al Nahyan. What can you do?"
The co-chairman of the House Human Rights Commission, Rep. James McGovern (D-MA), said the existence of the tape requires the U.S. to take action.
"Granted that they're strategically located in a key part of the world, but it's hard to imagine that we're going to keep going on as if it' business as usual when this kind of stuff happens," said McGovern. "My guess is that this is just the tip of the iceberg."
Sheikh Issa's lawyer, Bristow, has moved to have the case, which also involves allegations surrounding their business dealings, transferred to courts in the UAE.
Wherever it is heard, said Bristow, "You may be assured that in due course the one-sided "story" being told to ABC by the Nabulsi's and their lawyers will be completely addressed and the Nabulsi's will be discredited," he said in a letter to ABC News.
The "'story that we think ABC is being told is grossly misleading; it is in large measure demonstrably untrue; and it is defamatory to Sheikh Issa." Bristow represented George W. Bush in the Florida recount case in 2000. Among the firm's partners is former Secretary of State James Baker.
Amnesty International Urgent Action - woman sentenced to death in Puntland, Somalia
Medeshi
Amnesty International Urgent Action - woman sentenced to death in Puntland, Somalia
PUBLIC
AI
Index: AFR 52/003/2009 12 May 2009
UA 123/09
Imminent execution/unfair trial
SOMALIA
Ifraah Ali Aden (f), aged 30
Ifraah Ali Aden is in imminent danger of being executed for the murder of another woman, Suad Mohamed Aware, who was another of her husband's wives. She was convicted after an unfair trial. The warrant for her execution does not set a date, and it appears that she could be put to death at any time.
She was sentenced to death by the Court of First Instance in the city of Bossaso, on the coast of the north-eastern region of Puntland. She is four or five months pregnant, according to sources close to her. The court does not appear to have ordered any medical tests to confirm the pregnancy. International human rights law and standards prohibit the execution of pregnant women or new mothers.
Ifraah Ali Aden has a cell to herself in a prison in Bossaso which is only for prisoners under sentence of death. Relatives of the woman Ifraah Ali Aden killed have apparently been able to get into the prison, as have members of the security forces, to taunt her about her imminent execution.
Ifraah Ali Aden was sentenced to death on 27 April, less than 24 hours after the killing of Suad Mohamed Aware. She had no time to prepare her defence, as required under international law. The verdict says that she was represented by a lawyer during the trial, but it is not clear whether she had adequate legal representation, or whether she has the right to appeal to a higher court, as per Article 41(5) of the Transitional Constitution of the Puntland Regional Government.
Ifraah Ali Aden and Suad Mohamed Aware appear to have been in dispute for some time. There are conflicting reports about the killing, with some (including her relatives) saying that Suad Mohamed Aware was attacked by Ifraah Ali Aden with a knife in a medical centre in Bossaso. According to relatives of Ifraah Ali Aden, she was confronted by Suad Mohamed Aware and two other women; there was a struggle, during which she killed Suad Mohamed Aware in self-defence. Suad Mohamed Aware was seven or eight months pregnant when she was killed.
Ifraah Ali Aden’s relatives also say that she complained to the police several times that she had been threatened by Suad Mohamed Aware, once with a gun, but that the police did nothing; some of her relatives, including her seven children, were intimidated by Suad Mohamed Aware's family before the killing. This intimidation continued after the killing, and they had to flee Bossaso, and have been unable to visit Ifraah Ali Aden in prison, where she is said to be in a "state of shock."
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The Puntland region declared its autonomy from Somalia in 1998, and has its own government. Although there is no effective or competent system of administration of justice in Somalia, Puntland has functioning courts, based on three legal systems: the judicial system of the former Somali state; shari’a (Islamic law); and customary law, as traditionally administered by elders. The system applied will depend on the matter under consideration as well as the region in which the issue arose. Several people have been sentenced to death in Puntland since it came into being, and at least one person was executed in 2008.
While the death penalty is not in itself a violation of international law, there is an increasing international trend towards its abolition and international law and standards place strict limitations on its use in those states where it is still used. These limitations include a prohibition on the execution of pregnant women and new mothers; a requirement that people charged with crimes punishable by death are entitled to the strictest observance of all fair trial guarantees required by international human rights law; and that they should have the right to seek pardon or commutation of sentence.
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty unconditionally and under any circumstances, as a violation of the right to life and the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Somali or English or your own language:
- calling on the authorities to immediately suspend the warrant of execution against Ifraah Ali Aden, and give her immediate access to a doctor, to confirm whether she is pregnant;
- stating that international human rights law and standards prohibit the execution of pregnant women and new mothers;
- urging the authorities to ensure that Ifraah Ali Aden has adequate legal representation and that her family is able to visit her;
- urging the authorities to ensure that Ifraah Ali Aden is able to appeal to a higher court in proceedings which comply with international fair trial standards, and that her rights to legal representation, to adequate time and facilities to prepare her defence, to challenge evidence brought against her and to call her own witnesses, and to seek clemency, are upheld;
- stating your opposition to the death penalty as a violation of the right to life and the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment;
- calling on the authorities to commute all death sentences and to establish a moratorium on executions.
APPEALS TO:
President Abdirahman Mohamed Mohamud (Farole) President of Puntland
Email: plpresidencyg@hotmail.com
info@puntlandgovt.com
Salutation: Dear President
COPIES TO:
Mrs Asha Ghele Dirie
Minister of Women Development and Family Affairs
Ministry of Women Development and Family Affairs
Fax: +2525434501
Email:
mowdfa@puntlandgov.net
ashagelle@yahoo.com
mowdafa_punt@hotmail.com
mailto:mowdfa@puntlandgov.net
and to diplomatic representatives of your own government in Nairobi, Kenya.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 22 June 2009.
Amnesty International Urgent Action - woman sentenced to death in Puntland, Somalia
PUBLIC
AI
Index: AFR 52/003/2009 12 May 2009
UA 123/09
Imminent execution/unfair trial
SOMALIA
Ifraah Ali Aden (f), aged 30
Ifraah Ali Aden is in imminent danger of being executed for the murder of another woman, Suad Mohamed Aware, who was another of her husband's wives. She was convicted after an unfair trial. The warrant for her execution does not set a date, and it appears that she could be put to death at any time.
She was sentenced to death by the Court of First Instance in the city of Bossaso, on the coast of the north-eastern region of Puntland. She is four or five months pregnant, according to sources close to her. The court does not appear to have ordered any medical tests to confirm the pregnancy. International human rights law and standards prohibit the execution of pregnant women or new mothers.
Ifraah Ali Aden has a cell to herself in a prison in Bossaso which is only for prisoners under sentence of death. Relatives of the woman Ifraah Ali Aden killed have apparently been able to get into the prison, as have members of the security forces, to taunt her about her imminent execution.
Ifraah Ali Aden was sentenced to death on 27 April, less than 24 hours after the killing of Suad Mohamed Aware. She had no time to prepare her defence, as required under international law. The verdict says that she was represented by a lawyer during the trial, but it is not clear whether she had adequate legal representation, or whether she has the right to appeal to a higher court, as per Article 41(5) of the Transitional Constitution of the Puntland Regional Government.
Ifraah Ali Aden and Suad Mohamed Aware appear to have been in dispute for some time. There are conflicting reports about the killing, with some (including her relatives) saying that Suad Mohamed Aware was attacked by Ifraah Ali Aden with a knife in a medical centre in Bossaso. According to relatives of Ifraah Ali Aden, she was confronted by Suad Mohamed Aware and two other women; there was a struggle, during which she killed Suad Mohamed Aware in self-defence. Suad Mohamed Aware was seven or eight months pregnant when she was killed.
Ifraah Ali Aden’s relatives also say that she complained to the police several times that she had been threatened by Suad Mohamed Aware, once with a gun, but that the police did nothing; some of her relatives, including her seven children, were intimidated by Suad Mohamed Aware's family before the killing. This intimidation continued after the killing, and they had to flee Bossaso, and have been unable to visit Ifraah Ali Aden in prison, where she is said to be in a "state of shock."
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The Puntland region declared its autonomy from Somalia in 1998, and has its own government. Although there is no effective or competent system of administration of justice in Somalia, Puntland has functioning courts, based on three legal systems: the judicial system of the former Somali state; shari’a (Islamic law); and customary law, as traditionally administered by elders. The system applied will depend on the matter under consideration as well as the region in which the issue arose. Several people have been sentenced to death in Puntland since it came into being, and at least one person was executed in 2008.
While the death penalty is not in itself a violation of international law, there is an increasing international trend towards its abolition and international law and standards place strict limitations on its use in those states where it is still used. These limitations include a prohibition on the execution of pregnant women and new mothers; a requirement that people charged with crimes punishable by death are entitled to the strictest observance of all fair trial guarantees required by international human rights law; and that they should have the right to seek pardon or commutation of sentence.
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty unconditionally and under any circumstances, as a violation of the right to life and the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Somali or English or your own language:
- calling on the authorities to immediately suspend the warrant of execution against Ifraah Ali Aden, and give her immediate access to a doctor, to confirm whether she is pregnant;
- stating that international human rights law and standards prohibit the execution of pregnant women and new mothers;
- urging the authorities to ensure that Ifraah Ali Aden has adequate legal representation and that her family is able to visit her;
- urging the authorities to ensure that Ifraah Ali Aden is able to appeal to a higher court in proceedings which comply with international fair trial standards, and that her rights to legal representation, to adequate time and facilities to prepare her defence, to challenge evidence brought against her and to call her own witnesses, and to seek clemency, are upheld;
- stating your opposition to the death penalty as a violation of the right to life and the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment;
- calling on the authorities to commute all death sentences and to establish a moratorium on executions.
APPEALS TO:
President Abdirahman Mohamed Mohamud (Farole) President of Puntland
Email: plpresidencyg@hotmail.com
info@puntlandgovt.com
Salutation: Dear President
COPIES TO:
Mrs Asha Ghele Dirie
Minister of Women Development and Family Affairs
Ministry of Women Development and Family Affairs
Fax: +2525434501
Email:
mowdfa@puntlandgov.net
ashagelle@yahoo.com
mowdafa_punt@hotmail.com
mailto:mowdfa@puntlandgov.net
and to diplomatic representatives of your own government in Nairobi, Kenya.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 22 June 2009.
US Soldier allegedly kills 5 American Soldiers in Iraq
Medeshi May 11, 2009
US Soldier allegedly kills 5 peers at ‘stress clinic’ in Iraq
Shooting happened at sprawling Camp Liberty base outside Baghdad
Shooting happened at sprawling Camp Liberty base outside Baghdad
BAGHDAD - An American Army sergeant shot and killed five fellow soldiers following an altercation at a counseling center on a military base in Iraq Monday, officials said. The attack drew attention to the issues of combat stress and morale among soldiers serving multiple combat tours over six years of war.
The suspect had been disarmed after an earlier incident at the center but returned with another weapon, according to a senior military official in Washington, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation into the shootings was ongoing.
Attacks on fellow soldiers, known as fraggings, were not uncommon during the Vietnam war but are believed to be rare in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A brief U.S. statement said the assailant was taken into custody following the 2 p.m. shooting at Camp Liberty, a sprawling U.S. base on the western edge of Baghdad near the city's international airport.
Names not releasedPresident Barack Obama, who visited a base adjacent to Camp Liberty last month, was shocked by the "terrible tragedy," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. Obama planned to discuss the shooting with Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
After a meeting with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Obama said he would make sure "that we fully understand what led to this tragedy" and will do everything possible "to ensure that our men and women in uniform are protected as they serve our country so capably and courageously in harm's way."
The military statement in Baghdad said nobody else was hurt, but military officials in Washington said one person was wounded. The names of the victims and shooter were not released.
Pentagon officials said the shooting happened at a stress clinic, where troops can go for help with the stresses of combat or personal issues. Soldiers routinely carry weapons on Camp Liberty and other bases, but they are supposed to be unloaded.
The military official told The Associated Press that the sergeant had been involved in a verbal altercation at the center. His service weapon was taken from him for his own protection and he was driven back to the center later in the day.
The official said that when the sergeant returned he had another weapon. It was unclear whether he was returning under orders or of his own volition.
Another senior military official said the shooter was a patient at the clinic. The official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity because of the probe, did not know what relationship the shooter had to those he killed. It was unclear whether the victims were workers at the clinic or were there for counseling.
At the Pentagon, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the shooting occurred "in a place where individuals were seeking help."
"It does speak to me about the need for us to redouble our efforts in terms of dealing with the stress," Mullen said.
The U.S. military is coping with a growing number of stress cases among soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan — many of whom are on their third or fourth combat tours. Some studies suggest that about 15 percent of soldiers returning from Iraq suffer from some sort of emotional problems.
With violence declining, many soldiers face new challenges trying to shift from fighting a war to supporting the Iraqis — tasks that often require skills in which they have not been trained.
Troops under fireAdding to the stress, there have been several incidents recently when men dressed as Iraqi soldiers have opened fire on American troops, including an attack in the northern city of Mosul on May 2 when two soldiers and the gunman were killed.
Rep. Harry Mitchell, a member of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, said the Camp Liberty shooting underscores the "critical need" to reach out to soldiers suffering from "the effects of combat stress and post-traumatic stress disorder."
"Many troops are under great psychological strain and are not receiving the treatment they need," said Paul Rieckhoff, founder and head of Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America. "Much more must be done to address troops' psychological injuries before they reach a crisis point."
The death toll from the shooting at the counseling center was the highest for U.S. personnel in a single attack since April 10, when a suicide truck driver killed five American soldiers with a blast near a police headquarters in Mosul.
"Anytime we lose one of our own, it affects us all," U.S. spokesman Col. John Robinson said. "Our hearts go out to the families and friends of all the service members involved in this terrible tragedy."
There have been several previous fragging incidents in the Iraq war.
Last September, Sgt. Joseph Bozicevich, 39, of Minneapolis was detained after allegedly killing two members of his unit south of Baghdad. The case remains under investigation.
In April 2005, Army Sgt. Hasan Akbar was sentenced to death for killing two officers in Kuwait just before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
In June 2005, an Army captain and lieutenant were killed when an anti-personnel mine detonated in the window of their room at the U.S. base in Tikrit. National Guard Staff Sgt. Alberto Martinez was acquitted in the blast.
Spc. Chris Rolan, an Army medic, was sentenced to 33 years in prison in 2007 for killing a fellow soldier after a night of heavy drinking in Iraq.
In 2008, Army Cpl. Timothy Ayers was sentenced to two years and four months in prison after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the fatal 2007 shooting of his platoon sergeant in Iraq.
In other violence, the military announced Monday that a U.S. soldier was killed a day earlier when a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle in Basra province of southern Baghdad.
In the northern city of Kirkuk, a car bombing killed two people Monday, including a 10-year-old boy, and wounded 10 others, police Brig. Gen. Sarhat Qadir said.
In Baghdad, a senior Iraqi traffic officer was assassinated on his way to work. It was the second attack on a high-ranking traffic police officer in the capital in as many days.
The suspect had been disarmed after an earlier incident at the center but returned with another weapon, according to a senior military official in Washington, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation into the shootings was ongoing.
Attacks on fellow soldiers, known as fraggings, were not uncommon during the Vietnam war but are believed to be rare in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A brief U.S. statement said the assailant was taken into custody following the 2 p.m. shooting at Camp Liberty, a sprawling U.S. base on the western edge of Baghdad near the city's international airport.
Names not releasedPresident Barack Obama, who visited a base adjacent to Camp Liberty last month, was shocked by the "terrible tragedy," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. Obama planned to discuss the shooting with Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
After a meeting with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Obama said he would make sure "that we fully understand what led to this tragedy" and will do everything possible "to ensure that our men and women in uniform are protected as they serve our country so capably and courageously in harm's way."
The military statement in Baghdad said nobody else was hurt, but military officials in Washington said one person was wounded. The names of the victims and shooter were not released.
Pentagon officials said the shooting happened at a stress clinic, where troops can go for help with the stresses of combat or personal issues. Soldiers routinely carry weapons on Camp Liberty and other bases, but they are supposed to be unloaded.
The military official told The Associated Press that the sergeant had been involved in a verbal altercation at the center. His service weapon was taken from him for his own protection and he was driven back to the center later in the day.
The official said that when the sergeant returned he had another weapon. It was unclear whether he was returning under orders or of his own volition.
Another senior military official said the shooter was a patient at the clinic. The official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity because of the probe, did not know what relationship the shooter had to those he killed. It was unclear whether the victims were workers at the clinic or were there for counseling.
At the Pentagon, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the shooting occurred "in a place where individuals were seeking help."
"It does speak to me about the need for us to redouble our efforts in terms of dealing with the stress," Mullen said.
The U.S. military is coping with a growing number of stress cases among soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan — many of whom are on their third or fourth combat tours. Some studies suggest that about 15 percent of soldiers returning from Iraq suffer from some sort of emotional problems.
With violence declining, many soldiers face new challenges trying to shift from fighting a war to supporting the Iraqis — tasks that often require skills in which they have not been trained.
Troops under fireAdding to the stress, there have been several incidents recently when men dressed as Iraqi soldiers have opened fire on American troops, including an attack in the northern city of Mosul on May 2 when two soldiers and the gunman were killed.
Rep. Harry Mitchell, a member of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, said the Camp Liberty shooting underscores the "critical need" to reach out to soldiers suffering from "the effects of combat stress and post-traumatic stress disorder."
"Many troops are under great psychological strain and are not receiving the treatment they need," said Paul Rieckhoff, founder and head of Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America. "Much more must be done to address troops' psychological injuries before they reach a crisis point."
The death toll from the shooting at the counseling center was the highest for U.S. personnel in a single attack since April 10, when a suicide truck driver killed five American soldiers with a blast near a police headquarters in Mosul.
"Anytime we lose one of our own, it affects us all," U.S. spokesman Col. John Robinson said. "Our hearts go out to the families and friends of all the service members involved in this terrible tragedy."
There have been several previous fragging incidents in the Iraq war.
Last September, Sgt. Joseph Bozicevich, 39, of Minneapolis was detained after allegedly killing two members of his unit south of Baghdad. The case remains under investigation.
In April 2005, Army Sgt. Hasan Akbar was sentenced to death for killing two officers in Kuwait just before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
In June 2005, an Army captain and lieutenant were killed when an anti-personnel mine detonated in the window of their room at the U.S. base in Tikrit. National Guard Staff Sgt. Alberto Martinez was acquitted in the blast.
Spc. Chris Rolan, an Army medic, was sentenced to 33 years in prison in 2007 for killing a fellow soldier after a night of heavy drinking in Iraq.
In 2008, Army Cpl. Timothy Ayers was sentenced to two years and four months in prison after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the fatal 2007 shooting of his platoon sergeant in Iraq.
In other violence, the military announced Monday that a U.S. soldier was killed a day earlier when a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle in Basra province of southern Baghdad.
In the northern city of Kirkuk, a car bombing killed two people Monday, including a 10-year-old boy, and wounded 10 others, police Brig. Gen. Sarhat Qadir said.
In Baghdad, a senior Iraqi traffic officer was assassinated on his way to work. It was the second attack on a high-ranking traffic police officer in the capital in as many days.
Somali pirates guided by London intelligence team, report says
Medeshi May 11, 2009
Somali pirates guided by London intelligence team, report says
The Somali pirates attacking shipping in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean are directed to their targets by a "consultant" team in London, according to a European military intelligence document obtained by a Spanish radio station.
The document, obtained by Cadena SER radio, says the team and the pirates remain in contact by satellite telephone.
It says that pirate groups have "well-placed informers" in London who are in regular contact with control centres in Somalia where decisions on which vessels to attack are made. These London-based "consultants" help the pirates select targets, providing information on the ships' cargoes and courses.
In at least one case the pirates have remained in contact with their London informants from the hijacked ship, according to one targeted shipping company.
The pirates' information network extends to Yemen, Dubai and the Suez canal.
The intelligence report is understood to have been issued to European navies.
"The information that merchant ships sailing through the area volunteer to various international organisations is ending up in the pirates' hands," Cadena SER reported the report as saying.
This enables the more organised pirate groups to study their targets in advance, even spending several days training teams for specific hijacks. Senior pirates then join the vessel once it has been sailed close to Somalia.
Captains of attacked ships have found that pirates know everything from the layout of the vessel to its ports of call. Vessels targeted as a result of this kind of intelligence included the Greek cargo ship Titan, the Turkish merchant ship Karagol and the Spanish trawler Felipe Ruano.
In each case, says the document, the pirates had full knowledge of the cargo, nationality and course of the vessel.
The national flag of a ship is also taken into account when choosing a target, with British vessels being increasingly avoided, according to the report. It was not clear whether this was because pirates did not want to draw the attention of British police to their information sources in London.
European countries have set up Operation Atalanta to co-ordinate their military efforts in the area.
Somali pirates guided by London intelligence team, report says
The Somali pirates attacking shipping in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean are directed to their targets by a "consultant" team in London, according to a European military intelligence document obtained by a Spanish radio station.
The document, obtained by Cadena SER radio, says the team and the pirates remain in contact by satellite telephone.
It says that pirate groups have "well-placed informers" in London who are in regular contact with control centres in Somalia where decisions on which vessels to attack are made. These London-based "consultants" help the pirates select targets, providing information on the ships' cargoes and courses.
In at least one case the pirates have remained in contact with their London informants from the hijacked ship, according to one targeted shipping company.
The pirates' information network extends to Yemen, Dubai and the Suez canal.
The intelligence report is understood to have been issued to European navies.
"The information that merchant ships sailing through the area volunteer to various international organisations is ending up in the pirates' hands," Cadena SER reported the report as saying.
This enables the more organised pirate groups to study their targets in advance, even spending several days training teams for specific hijacks. Senior pirates then join the vessel once it has been sailed close to Somalia.
Captains of attacked ships have found that pirates know everything from the layout of the vessel to its ports of call. Vessels targeted as a result of this kind of intelligence included the Greek cargo ship Titan, the Turkish merchant ship Karagol and the Spanish trawler Felipe Ruano.
In each case, says the document, the pirates had full knowledge of the cargo, nationality and course of the vessel.
The national flag of a ship is also taken into account when choosing a target, with British vessels being increasingly avoided, according to the report. It was not clear whether this was because pirates did not want to draw the attention of British police to their information sources in London.
European countries have set up Operation Atalanta to co-ordinate their military efforts in the area.
Ships held by Somali pirates
Medeshi
Ships held by Somali pirates
May 10, 2009
May 9 (Reuters) - Somali pirates freed a British-owned ship on Saturday after its Italian operator paid a ransom, Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry said.
The 32,000-tonne bulker Malaspina Castle was hijacked on April 6. Bulgarian government officials have said the ship had a total of 24 crew, including 16 Bulgarians.
Here are details about some ships believed to be under pirate control and some facts about the increase in piracy:
YENEGOA OCEAN: Seized Aug. 4, 2008 - The Nigerian tugboat, with around 11 crew aboard was hijacked near Bosasso.
JAIKUR-I: Seized Oct. 2, 2008 - The 21,040 tonne general cargo ship was detained after a dispute with the owners over damaged cargo. Most of the 21 crew were released last month.
MASINDRA 7: Seized on Dec. 16, 2008. The Malaysian-owned tugboat, was seized with a barge off the Yemeni coast. The tug has around 11 Indonesian crew.
SERENITY: The catamaran sailing for Madagascar from the Seychelles with three people aboard, was seized in early March.
NIPAYIYA: Seized on March 25. The Greek-owned and Panama-registered vessel was seized by pirates 450 miles from Somalia's south coast.
INDIAN OCEAN EXPLORER: Seized March 2009. The 35-metre boat was built in Hamburg as an oceanographic research vessel. It accommodates around 12 passengers.
HANSA STAVANGER: Seized April 4, 2009. The 20,000-tonne German container vessel was captured about 400 miles off the southern Somali port of Kismayu, between the Seychelles and Kenya. The vessel had a German captain, three Russians, two Ukrainians and 14 Filipinos on board.
WIN FAR 161: Taiwanese tuna boat, Seized on April 6, 2009.
SHUGAA-AL-MADHI: Seized April 9, 2009. The fishing boat was seized with 13 crew aboard.
MOMTAZ 1: Seized April 10, 2009. Egyptian fishing vessel was detained with 18 crew.
BUCCANEER: Seized April 11, 2009. The Italian tugboat, owned by Micoperi Marine Contractors, was carrying 10 Italians, five Romanians and a Croatian, and was seized towing two barges while travelling westbound through the Gulf of Aden.
IRENE E.M.: Seized April 14, 2009. The St. Vincent and the Grenadines-flagged Greek-owned bulk carrier was hijacked as it travelled through the Gulf of Aden. 22 Filipino crew unharmed.
POMPEI: Seized April 18, 2009. The Belgian dredging vessel and its 10 crew was hijacked about 600 km (370 miles) from the Somali coast en route to the Seychelles. It has two Belgian, four Croatian, one Dutch and three Filipino crew on board.
ARIANA: Seized May 2, 2009. The Ariana was seized north of Madagascar en route to the Middle East from Brazil. The 24-strong Ukrainian crew are said to be unhurt. The ship, flying a Maltese flag, belongs to All Oceans shipping in Greece. A Ukrainian ship was hijacked on the same day in the Indian Ocean with a cargo including U.N. vehicles. Maritime officials were unable to confirm this seizure.
VICTORIA: Seized on May 5, 2009. The Antigua and Barbuda- flagged cargo vessel was hijacked by eight pirates in the Gulf of Aden whilst proceeding toward the Port of Jeddah. The 146-metre ship had a crew of 10.
MARATHON: Seized on May 7, 2009. The 2,575-tonne boat, carrying up to 18 crew, is both owned and flagged from the Netherlands. It was carrying coke fuel.
* PIRACY KEY FACTS:
-- In 2008 there were 293 incidents of piracy against ships worldwide -- 11 percent up on the year before. Attacks off Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden almost trebled.
-- In January 2009, one in every six vessels attacked was successfully hijacked. This increased to one in eight for February 2009 and one in 13 for the month of March.
Nearly 20,000 ships pass through the Gulf of Aden each year, heading to and from the Suez Canal.
Sources: Reuters/Ecoterra International/International Maritime Bureau Piracy Reporting Centre/Lloyds List/Inquirer.net
Ships held by Somali pirates
May 10, 2009
May 9 (Reuters) - Somali pirates freed a British-owned ship on Saturday after its Italian operator paid a ransom, Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry said.
The 32,000-tonne bulker Malaspina Castle was hijacked on April 6. Bulgarian government officials have said the ship had a total of 24 crew, including 16 Bulgarians.
Here are details about some ships believed to be under pirate control and some facts about the increase in piracy:
YENEGOA OCEAN: Seized Aug. 4, 2008 - The Nigerian tugboat, with around 11 crew aboard was hijacked near Bosasso.
JAIKUR-I: Seized Oct. 2, 2008 - The 21,040 tonne general cargo ship was detained after a dispute with the owners over damaged cargo. Most of the 21 crew were released last month.
MASINDRA 7: Seized on Dec. 16, 2008. The Malaysian-owned tugboat, was seized with a barge off the Yemeni coast. The tug has around 11 Indonesian crew.
SERENITY: The catamaran sailing for Madagascar from the Seychelles with three people aboard, was seized in early March.
NIPAYIYA: Seized on March 25. The Greek-owned and Panama-registered vessel was seized by pirates 450 miles from Somalia's south coast.
INDIAN OCEAN EXPLORER: Seized March 2009. The 35-metre boat was built in Hamburg as an oceanographic research vessel. It accommodates around 12 passengers.
HANSA STAVANGER: Seized April 4, 2009. The 20,000-tonne German container vessel was captured about 400 miles off the southern Somali port of Kismayu, between the Seychelles and Kenya. The vessel had a German captain, three Russians, two Ukrainians and 14 Filipinos on board.
WIN FAR 161: Taiwanese tuna boat, Seized on April 6, 2009.
SHUGAA-AL-MADHI: Seized April 9, 2009. The fishing boat was seized with 13 crew aboard.
MOMTAZ 1: Seized April 10, 2009. Egyptian fishing vessel was detained with 18 crew.
BUCCANEER: Seized April 11, 2009. The Italian tugboat, owned by Micoperi Marine Contractors, was carrying 10 Italians, five Romanians and a Croatian, and was seized towing two barges while travelling westbound through the Gulf of Aden.
IRENE E.M.: Seized April 14, 2009. The St. Vincent and the Grenadines-flagged Greek-owned bulk carrier was hijacked as it travelled through the Gulf of Aden. 22 Filipino crew unharmed.
POMPEI: Seized April 18, 2009. The Belgian dredging vessel and its 10 crew was hijacked about 600 km (370 miles) from the Somali coast en route to the Seychelles. It has two Belgian, four Croatian, one Dutch and three Filipino crew on board.
ARIANA: Seized May 2, 2009. The Ariana was seized north of Madagascar en route to the Middle East from Brazil. The 24-strong Ukrainian crew are said to be unhurt. The ship, flying a Maltese flag, belongs to All Oceans shipping in Greece. A Ukrainian ship was hijacked on the same day in the Indian Ocean with a cargo including U.N. vehicles. Maritime officials were unable to confirm this seizure.
VICTORIA: Seized on May 5, 2009. The Antigua and Barbuda- flagged cargo vessel was hijacked by eight pirates in the Gulf of Aden whilst proceeding toward the Port of Jeddah. The 146-metre ship had a crew of 10.
MARATHON: Seized on May 7, 2009. The 2,575-tonne boat, carrying up to 18 crew, is both owned and flagged from the Netherlands. It was carrying coke fuel.
* PIRACY KEY FACTS:
-- In 2008 there were 293 incidents of piracy against ships worldwide -- 11 percent up on the year before. Attacks off Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden almost trebled.
-- In January 2009, one in every six vessels attacked was successfully hijacked. This increased to one in eight for February 2009 and one in 13 for the month of March.
Nearly 20,000 ships pass through the Gulf of Aden each year, heading to and from the Suez Canal.
Sources: Reuters/Ecoterra International/International Maritime Bureau Piracy Reporting Centre/Lloyds List/Inquirer.net
Somali pirates receive $2 mln for British-owned ship
Medeshi
Somali pirates receive $2 mln for British-owned ship
Sun May 10, 2009
BOSASSO, Somalia, May 10 (Reuters) - Somali pirates said on Sunday they had received a $2-million ransom for the release of a British-owned vessel and its 16 Bulgarian crew.
Pirate attacks, fuelled by large ransoms, have continued almost unabated despite the presence of an armada of foreign warships patrolling the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden.
"We got a $2 million ransom for the release of the British-owned ship," pirate Mohamed Saleh, from the Somali coastal village of Eyl, told Reuters on Sunday.
"A helicopter brought the money."
The 32,000-tonne bulker, Malaspina Castle, was released on Saturday after being captured more than a month ago. Its Italian operator paid the ransom, according to Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry, which gave no details on the amount.
Analysts say the only way to stop bandits on the high seas is to resolve Somalia's political crisis on land where pirates profit from lawlessness as Islamist-led rebels fight government troops and African Union peacekeepers. (Reporting by Abdiqani Hassan; Writing by Jack Kimball; Editing by Jon Hemming)
Somali pirates receive $2 mln for British-owned ship
Sun May 10, 2009
BOSASSO, Somalia, May 10 (Reuters) - Somali pirates said on Sunday they had received a $2-million ransom for the release of a British-owned vessel and its 16 Bulgarian crew.
Pirate attacks, fuelled by large ransoms, have continued almost unabated despite the presence of an armada of foreign warships patrolling the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden.
"We got a $2 million ransom for the release of the British-owned ship," pirate Mohamed Saleh, from the Somali coastal village of Eyl, told Reuters on Sunday.
"A helicopter brought the money."
The 32,000-tonne bulker, Malaspina Castle, was released on Saturday after being captured more than a month ago. Its Italian operator paid the ransom, according to Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry, which gave no details on the amount.
Analysts say the only way to stop bandits on the high seas is to resolve Somalia's political crisis on land where pirates profit from lawlessness as Islamist-led rebels fight government troops and African Union peacekeepers. (Reporting by Abdiqani Hassan; Writing by Jack Kimball; Editing by Jon Hemming)
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