Somali diplomat gives up Kenyan passport

Medeshi
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Somali diplomat gives up Kenyan passport
Somali diplomat gives up Kenyan passport
By NATION Reporter Posted Wednesday, May 20 2009
A Kenyan passport issued to Mr Hassan Sheikh Aden Issak has been withdrawn. Immigration and Registration of Persons minister Otieno Kajwang’ said the Somali diplomat had become a Kenyan citizen by registration when he was issued the passport.
However, Sheikh Aden was appointed a diplomat when the Somali government was installed. “We realised he had a Kenyan passport when his name registered in our systems when he returned to the country, and withdrew it. He had not even renounced his Kenyan citizenship,” Mr Kajwang’ said.
Dual citizenship
The minister told the Nation in his Nyayo House office in Nairobi that Sheikh Aden’s children had also become Kenyan citizens. He said since the law currently does not allow dual citizenship, his ministry usually confiscates Kenyan passports.Mr Kajwang’ said his ministry also discovered a number of Somalis who had acquired genuine Kenyan travel documents as they were just about to board a plane to their destinations. “We refused them exit after we realised they were not Kenyans but Somalis from Somaliland.” Somaliland is an autonomous region in Somalia.
The minister said his ministry was facing challenges using birth certificates and national IDs as primary documents for the issuance of national passports. Following reforms in the ministry, Mr Kajwang’ said, it now took three days for one to renew a passport, and 14 days for fresh applicants to acquire one.
He said it took 20 days for applicants in Nairobi to acquire national ID cards, 30 days for those living in non-border areas and 40 days for those coming from border regions. The minister regretted that many eligible Kenyans were yet to apply for national IDs even though there was no backlog.
www.medeshi.com

Somali football team to get teenagers off the Cambridge Estate

Medeshi
Somali football team to get teenagers off the Cambridge Estate
18th May 2009
By David Lindsell »
Medeshi
Somali teenagers have started a five-a-side football team to keep them out of trouble and improve their footballing skills.
The 16 to 25 year olds approached Somali community organisers asking them to help set up a club.
The project is set to be awarded £750 by Kingston Town Centre councillors this week toward pitch hire, coaching, publicity and football equipment.
Organiser Mohammed Ali said: "They hang around the Cambridge Estate and we feel that we have to keep them off the estates and give them something to do.
"They are good players. Some have experience but the others are getting healthy through it. They do like to show off their skills."
The 54-year-old said his legs would no longer stretch to training with the team on Saturday afternoons at Kingsmeadow but he hoped to build a squad of 22 players for an 11-a-side team.
While the Kingston Somali football team goes from strength to strength, the national team has struggled in recent years because of the ongoing civil war. Their star striker Ayub Daud plays for Juventus but the Somalis are forced to play all their games away from home.
The Kingston Somali Community Association was set up in December 2006 with an office in the United Reformed Church offering advice and assistance.
Medeshi

Somaliland clans in ceasefire over disputed farmland

Medeshi

Somaliland clans in ceasefire over disputed farmland

KALABAIDH, 20 May 2009 - Two clans in Somaliland's Elberdale farmland in Gabiley region, who have fought intermittently in the past five months over disputed farmland, have agreed a ceasefire, a mediator said.

(Photo: Abdirahman Warsame, a member of the mediation committee seeking to reconcile the two clans)
Abdirahman Warsame, a member of the Somaliland's Guurti mediation committee, told IRIN on 17 May that 25 elders from each clan had sworn to end fighting and to reconcile the two clans.
However, talks aimed at resolving the dispute, which started in mid-April between the Hared and the Nour clans, are ongoing in Kalabait.
The government sent military and police troops to Elberdale last month in a bid to stop the fighting.
On 14 May, elders visited patients admitted to hospital in Gabiley and Dila areas who had been injured in previous fighting over the Elberdale farmland.
"We went to Gabiley Hospital and to Dila Hospital to see all those who were injured in the conflict; we also ascertained the number of those who have died," Aden Elabe, one of the elders, told IRIN.
Elabe said the team of elders also visited areas where farmers from Elberdale had fled, such as Geed Diqsi, Jaldhabaha, Satile and Da'walay, to reassure them the conflict would be resolved.
However, local officials have expressed concern over farmers missing the present planting season.
Elabe Mohamoud Hufane, the mayor of Dila district in Awdal region, said: "This is the season when farmers grow sorghum and maize but here in Dila district, we have more than 120 families who fled the conflict in early April and are yet to return to their farms in Burdi and Geed Diqsi areas."

Israel 'deaf' to two-state solution

Medeshi May 19, 2009
Israel 'deaf' to two-state solution
US calls for a two-state solution "fell on deaf ears", the Palestinians' chief negotiator with Israel has said.
Speaking to Al Jazeera on Tuesday, the day after the first official meeting between Barack Obama, the US president, and Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, Saeb Erekat indicated that Palestinians had low expectations of the outcome.
In their talks in Washington, Obama told Netanyahu to stop expanding Jewish settlements and grasp the "historic opportunity" to make peace with the Palestinians.
"We appreciate very much what Mr Obama said ... [But] I'm sure this fell on deaf ears. Mr Netanyahu will continue to be in a state of denial," Erekat told Al Jazeera.
"He will not accept the two-state solution, he will not accept agreements signed. He will continue with settlement activities and he thinks he can beat about the bush by more vagueness and linguistics and public relations campaigns."
In four hours of talks with Obama, Netanyahu refused to publicly commit to an independent Palestinian state.
He told Obama that Israel was "ready" to resume negotiations with the Palestinians, which stalled during Israel's 22-day offensive in the Gaza Strip, but avoided endorsing the two-state solution.
"If we resume negotiations then I think the Palestinians will have to recognise Israel as a Jewish state and also enable Israel to have the means to defend itself," Netanyahu said.
Following the meeting, Netanyahu said: "I did not say two states for two peoples."
He also said that Israel did not want to govern the Palestinians.
"We want them to govern themselves [minus] a handful of powers that could endanger the state of Israel," Netanyau said.
But Erekat rejected this as rhetoric.
"Really, when he [Netanyahu] says that he wants Palestinians to govern themselves by themselves - Mr Netanyahu I have a question for you: How can I govern myself by myself under your wall, settlements, incursions, assasinations, roadblocks?" he told Al Jazeera.
'Nothing but wishes'
Hamas, the Palestinian faction that controls the Gaza Strip, was sceptical of the meeting, saying it offered nothing new.
"The statements by Obama are nothing but wishes on which we do not much count," Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, said in a statement.
He said that statements by Obama that "are not accompanied by pressure on the Zionist occupation and concrete measures do not reflect a radical change of American policy toward our people".
Sherine Tadross, Al Jazeera's correspondent reporting from Jerusalem, said that Israel officially remained up beat about the meeting but that the press saw the two leaders as finding little common ground.
"The official line is that it was a very good meeting, that there was a lot of chemistry between the two leaders and there were a lot of common interests expressed ... now that is a world apart from how the Israeli press has read the situation," she said.
"Certainly, it seems, the line that is often given to US presidents by Israeli leaders - 'listen I need more time because domestically I'm not in a situation where I can press my fragile coalition government to dismantle settlements and establish a two state solution' - was not bought by Obama."
Settlement concerns
Despite Obama's call for a halt to settlement building, there were reports that Israel was moving ahead with construction of a new settlement on the east side of the West Bank, where Israeli officials have already issued tenders for housing units in the area.
David Elhaiini, a local Israeli government official, said the timing of the construction was not intended to make a political point as it was initially approved in 2008 by Ehud Barak, the Israeli defence minister, the Associated Press news agency reported.
The Palestinians say settlements, which the World Court has deemed illegal, could deny them a viable state.
Netanyahu and Obama also discussed the issue of Iran's nuclear programme, which the West and Israel believe is a disguised weapons drive but which Iran says is for purely civilian purposes.
Obama warned that the US was "not going to have talks forever" on the issue, but reinforced his earlier position that he offered an "outstretched hand" to Tehran.
Netanyahu, speaking separately to reporters, insisted that Israel "reserves its right to defend itself".

AusAID: Australian Assistance to Somalia

Medeshi

AusAID: Australian Assistance to Somalia
May 19, 2009
Australia will provide $2 million to support efforts to restore peace to Somalia after almost two decades of conflict and humanitarian crises.
The United Nations estimates that over half the population of Somalia is in need of humanitarian assistance and that one in six Somali children under five is acutely malnourished.
Essential services have collapsed and around 1.3 million Somalis are displaced.
Australia will contribute:
- $1.5 million to the United Nations Humanitarian Appeal
- $500,000 to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).
The UN's humanitarian appeal for Somalia is 70 per cent underfunded - the worst shortfall of any UN appeal. This is having a major adverse impact on the provision of essential services, including education and health, to Somalis affected by conflict, economic collapse and famine.
Maternal and infant mortality rates are amongst the highest in the world, and women and children are most vulnerable to violence. Australia's contribution to UN agencies will support vital health services for women and children, and security for humanitarian workers so that they can deliver aid to the people who most need it.
Australia's contribution will also support AMISOM's operations in Somalia, including the provision of medical support and supplies to local communities.
Australia commends the African Union for its commitment to improving security in Somalia through AMISOM and contributing to the improvement of the humanitarian situation. It faces a challenging mission helping Somalia's Transitional Government stabilise the situation in the country and has paid a heavy price in the lives of personnel lost on duty.
Resolution of the conflict in Somalia is essential to relieve the humanitarian crisis and strengthen stability in the Horn of Africa. It will help tackle the root causes of Somalia-based piracy, which continues to threaten shipping and maritime security in the Gulf of Aden and off the East African coast.

Eritrea awards more mining licences

Medeshi

Eritrea awards more mining licences
Tue May 19, 2009
By Andrew Cawthorne
ASMARA (Reuters) - Eritrea said on Tuesday eight more foreign firms had entered its mining sector with a clutch of new exploration licences in a nation seen on the cusp of a minerals boom that could motor its needy economy.
Alem Kibreab, director general of mines for the Energy and Mines Ministry, added the Horn of Africa nation's first and flagship project -- the Bisha mine -- should start producing gold by the third quarter of 2010.
"Despite its small size, Eritrea is going to be on the map of mining countries," he told Reuters, adding that reserves identified so far were only the "tip of the iceberg."
Foreign miners agree on the potential, but Eritrea insists the sector must be developed slowly and carefully to prevent the so-called "resources curse" where oil and minerals have spawned corruption and violence elsewhere in Africa.
A new round of licences awarded earlier this year had brought the total number of foreign companies exploring or about to explore in Eritrea to 14, Alem said.
He named the newcomers as Britain's Andiamo Exploration and London Africa; China's Land and Energy and Zhongchang Mining; the Eritrean-Libyan Mining Share; Australia's South Boulder and Gippsland; and India's Spice Minerals.
Gold, copper, zinc and potash are the main interest.
"We know that the juniors are the ones who aggressively come for exploration," he said. "We are comfortable not only with the size but the diversification of countries."
Eritrea's most advanced project, run by Canada's Nevsun Resources Ltd with a 40 percent stake for the state, is Bisha. Its 27 million tonnes of ore are believed to contain 1 million ounces of gold, 700-800 million lb of copper and 1 billion lb of zinc.
"Construction has started. Most of the workers' quarters are ready. We strongly believe that by the third quarter of 2010, we will start production," Alem said, adding that feasibility and environment impact studies had been lengthy.
For the first two-and-a-half years it will produce gold, with output of 450,000 ounces a year expected. Then it will turn to copper, followed by zinc in a probable 10-year life.
"Bisha is unique. You rarely find a project with gold on top, then copper, then zinc, like that," Alem said.
"If we get the gold price at today's price, it will be beneficial, obviously," he said, adding the mine was planned with a lower price of between $400-600 an ounce in mind.
MINISTERIAL RE-SHUFFLE
Next up will be the Zara project, run by Australia's Sub-Sahara Resources, and the Asmara belt, headed by Canada's Sunridge.
Zara is believed to hold 1 million ounces of gold.
Asmara belt has some 70 million tonnes of ore thought to contain between 500,000-1 million ounces of gold, 2 billion lb of zinc and 700-800 million lb of copper, Alem said.
"It is a very difficult time because of the credit crunch. If all goes well, though, we should have feasibility studies finished by 2011 for both, then construction would start, and production would be a year or two years after."
Mining company sources said those targets were not over-ambitious, but may shift according to global economics.
Alem said Eritrea did not have any estimates for total national reserves, but the potential was clear and the economy -- one of the world's smallest -- had much to gain.
"As well as the revenues, it can provide a big support to other sectors," Alem said.
Apart from small-scale, artisan mining and some minor extraction by Italians during the colonial era, Eritrea's mining potential is unexploited. Some bigger miners were scared off by the 1998-2000 border war with Ethiopia.
President Isaias Afwerki recently moved long-serving Energy and Mines Minister Tesfai Ghebreselassie to the environment portfolio, replacing him with Ahmed Haj Ali who had been running the fisheries ministry.
Ahmed had experience in the sector from a stint as deputy energy and mines minister, Alem said. And while foreign companies would be reassured by Tesfai's move to the environment, he would be no pushover, he added.
"It is a plus to the industry. That is how the companies take it ... I am sure, though, that he will be even tougher in protecting the environment because a lot of people will say he will have a weakness there. Even when here, he was very strong on the environment."

Ethiopia troops 'back in Somalia'

Medeshi May 19, 2009

Ethiopia troops 'back in Somalia'
Ethiopian military forces have crossed back into Somalia, four months after leaving, witnesses told the BBC.
Their reported return comes as Islamist militants continue to seize towns from the fragile Western-backed government.
One resident said he saw Ethiopian troops digging trenches in Kalabeyr, a town 22km (14 miles) from the Somali-Ethiopian border.
An Ethiopian spokesman denied the reports. Its troops left Somalia in January after two years in the country.
They entered Somalia in 2006 to help oust Islamist forces from the capital Mogadishu but withdrew under a UN-backed peace deal.
“ They stopped me and checked my car and then ordered me to move ” Farah Ahmed Adaan Bus driver
When its troops left, Ethiopia made it clear it did still reserve the right to intervene in Somalia if its interests were directly threatened.
There have been several reports of the Ethiopian military crossing into Somali territory for hot-pursuit operations, or to check vehicles moving in the border area.
The BBC's Elizabeth Blunt in Addis Ababa says the latest reported troop movements may well be part of a similar, limited operation.
But Ethiopian government spokesman Bereket Simon told our correspondent the reports were "fabricated".
He said at the moment they believed events in Somalia presented no immediate threat to Ethiopia and their troops were not contemplating going back there at this point.
Language
However, Kalabeyr resident Fadumo Du'ale told the BBC's Mohamed Olad Hassan on Tuesday: "They have crossed the border late last night and they are here now. They look to be stationing here."
Another resident, Tabane Abdi Ali, told the BBC: "We recognise them because of their military uniform and the language they were speaking."
Bus driver Farah Ahmed Adaan told our correspondent he had spotted "a lot" of Ethiopian troops with 12 military vehicles.
"Some of them were digging trenches while others were guarding the whole area," he said.
"They stopped me and checked my car and then ordered me to move."
On Sunday, fighters from the al-Shabab group, which is linked to al-Qaeda, took the key town of Jowhar from government forces.
This is the home town of President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and now that the country's rainy season has arrived, Jowhar is the only passable route into central Somalia from the capital.
Since withdrawing at the beginning of the year, Ethiopian troops have kept up a strong presence along the Somali border.
Ethiopia, a US ally, invaded its war-torn neighbour in December 2006 to prop up the transitional government and initially everything went according to plan.
Rebel resistance melted away before the 3,000-strong Ethiopian advance and the Somali government was able to set up in Mogadishu.
But the government did not extend its control and the Islamists continued to launch deadly attacks on both Ethiopian and Somali government forces.
About 4,300 Ugandan and Burundian peacekeepers from the African Union have arrived in Mogadishu, where they have taken up positions vacated by the Ethiopians in January.
But analysts say they are only in effective control of the presidential palace, airport and seaport in Mogadishu, while the Islamist guerrillas control chunks of the capital, along with swathes of central and southern Somalia.
Story from BBC NEWS:

Q&A: Somalia's conflict

Medeshi May 17, 2009

Q&A: Somalia's conflict
Somalia has experienced almost constant conflict since the collapse of its central government in 1991.
It was hoped the election of moderate Islamist Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmad as president of a transitional government in January and the departure of Ethiopian troops would stop the violence, but Islamist insurgents are keeping up their almost daily attacks.
Who are the insurgents?
The main fighters are from al-Shabab, a radical faction that emerged from the remnants of the Union of Islamic Courts, routed by the Ethiopian forces that invaded Somalia in 2006.
AU's MOGADISHU QUAGMIRE
AU force in Somalia (Amisom) was mandated in January 2007
Supposed to be 8,000-strong but currently has only 4,300 troops
Comprised of soldiers from Uganda and Burundi
Sierra Leone has offered battalion, which would take force over 5,000
Restricted by security situation to operations in Mogadishu
The group, which is on the US terror list and is said to have links with al-Qaeda, now controls much of southern and central Somalia and has imposed strict Sharia law in those areas.
They see President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, a former UIC leader, as having sold out for agreeing to head a government backed by the international community.
This view is shared by another group of Islamist fighters - Hisbul-Islam - formed after Mr Ahmed become president in January.
One of its main leaders is Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, who together with Mr Ahmed headed the UIC in 2006.
Unlike previous divisions in Somalia, these groups are not based on the clan system.
So what do they want?
Power - so that Somalia is ruled by Sharia.
President Ahmed's recent introduction of Islamic law has not appeased them.
They are followers of the Wahhabi school of Islam, which is based on a more rigid and literal interpretation of Islamic texts, rather than mainstream Sunni faith practised by most Somalis.
The Islamists also want the African Union peacekeepers, based in Mogadishu, to leave.
Mr Aweys, who recently returned from exile, says he will not enter peace talks with the government and his former ally until these "invaders" have gone.
Will the government survive?
Not necessarily. Military and intelligence sources say many government troops have defected to the insurgents.
One assessment reckons the government can only rely on some 4,000 fighters against 6,000 from al-Shabab.
Meanwhile, the AU peacekeepers, in the capital to bolster the government, do not have the mandate to pursue the insurgents.
Only 4,300 troops of a planned 8,000 strong force have deployed.
What is the international response?
There is little appetite for international intervention given Ethiopia's recent experience, which gave rise to the current insurgency.
Ethiopia initially intervened in late 2006 to save the interim government and to prevent the spread of fundamentalist Islam in Africa, a concern shared by America.
But they suffered daily attacks - and at the worst of the fighting the bodies of dead Ethiopian soldiers were dragged through Mogadishu, bringing to mind similar events when the US intervened in the 1990s - made famous by the film Black Hawk Down.
The UN backed the peace process which led to the election of Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed as president.
In April, the international community pledged more than $200m to Somalia to beef up its security.
Most of this is for the embattled AU to help them with equipment and the training of Somali forces.
They are intended to oversee the creation of 10,000-strong police force and the training of 6,000 soldiers.
How are ordinary people coping?
The latest fighting is said to have forced about 20,000 people from residential areas of the capital, where the battles are being played out by pro-government forces and insurgent groups.
And over the years hundreds of thousands of Somalis have fled to neighbouring countries.
More than one million people, in a nation the UN estimates to be of nine million, are internally displaced.
Drought is further exacerbating the situation, with more than one third of the population reliant on food aid.
Many Somalis depend for their survival on money sent home by their relatives abroad.
Story from BBC NEWS: