The unholy alliance in Somalia: Media, donors and aid agencies

The season of giving has started — and it not even Christmas yet. Leading international aid agencies, including the United Nations, Oxfam, Save the Children and Islamic Relief UK, have launched massive campaigns to save the thousands of Somalis who are facing hunger in their own country and in refugee camps in neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has asked donors for $1.6 billion in aid for Somalia and the World Bank has already pledged more than $500 million towards the relief efforts. Read More

Pro. Amutabi teaches tribalism and hatred against ethnic Somalis at Catholic University of Eastern Africa

I don’t know this writer anyway but they call him professor Amutabi and he teaches tribalism and hatred against ethnic Somalis at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa.

His article in the Daily Nation recently titled ‘There’s urgent need to arrest Somali threat’ is just but another attempt to express hatred against ethnic Somalis.

He wrote ‘It makes many Kenyans feel nostalgic about Mzee Jomo Kenyatta’s resolve while dealing with border menaces’ meaning that the infamous emergencies and massacres against Somalis should continue even to this contemporary days.

By the way professor, you are talking of Somali threat, did you acquaint yourself with the security of Kenya. Did Somalis resulted the post-election violence, are Somalis the founders, financiers, ranks and files of militias like Sungu sungu, Mungiki, Baghdad boys, Chiafu and Saboat Land Denfence Forces.You are just but a hater. And your sentiments cannot influence the goodwill of Kenyans.

To read Amutabi’s ill-perceived resentments click here

Wajir: 'It's because of the drought'

Whether you ask about the carcasses of livestock baked white in the sun, the gaggle of people crowding around the district commissioner's door, or the wards of malnourished children lying listlessly in hospital beds, the explanation given is always the same.

"It's because of the drought", they say.

The failure of rains across arid parts of East Africa has brought misery to millions of people, affecting almost every aspect of life.

In this dry, dusty part of the world, every drop that falls helps people scrape a living from the land. If the rains don't come for a season people go hungry. If they fail twice in a row, as they have in Kenya's impoverished north eastern province, they begin to starve.

At the hospital in Wajir town, the paediatric ward is full of young mothers clutching the tiny, wasted forms of their children.

Doctors estimate admissions for severe malnutrition in children have risen by at least 25 per cent in recent months, and fear that the dozens of referrals they have seen could be the tip of a large and deadly iceberg.

"Some parents are reluctant to bring their children to the hospital because it is such a long journey, or they don't recognise the symptoms of malnutrition. Some think they can cure the problem by praying - they don't realise the children need treatment. Children could be dying because of this and we wouldn't know about it," says Dr Moses Menza, the chief medical officer at the hospital. Read more

writes Andrew Wander Save the Children's emergency media manager and a former  Al Jazeera Journalist 

Somalia: The worst places in the world for women

Fatima Osman Bulle lives in an internally displaced ppeople's camp in Mogadishu. Her makeshift house consists of cloths and sticks and has no running water, electricity or toilet. She and her husband, seven children and three relatives are crammed into one room.

Fatima Osman Bulle with her family. Photo/ Guardian

"I feel that I am a low-class member of the family," Bulle says. "I am the most disrespected person in the home."

The 35-year-old has been sexually harassed, tortured and abducted by people she worked for in the past . She now earns $40 (£24) a month as a housemaid and cook.

"I started working as housemaid when I was eight, I was married by force when I was 13 and I am a victim of domestic violence since then," she says.

"The abuses start from early childhood. I was circumcised when I was five. It is a lifetime wound that I live with all the time. I experienced child labour and forced marriage and I never went into a class."
Read more

ANALYSIS-Seizing Mogadishu will not end Somali conflict

African Union troops in Somalia are slowly tightening the noose around the nerve-centre of rebel operations in the capital, but seizing control of Mogadishu will not bring peace to the Horn of Africa nation.

A two-week offensive has seen the peacekeepers advance close to the southern and western edges of Bakara market, the capital's economic hub that has served as a human shield for the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamist insurgents.

Controlling Bakara is a crucial step towards expelling al Shabaab militants from Mogadishu, depriving them of a key source of funding and a base from which they can strike key government positions with mortars.Read More

By Richard Lough, Reuters

There is absolutely nothing Islamic about al Shabaab

The 7/11 bombings in Kampala have generated a huge debate in the media and social networking sites, with reference to Islam and terrorism. People are asking whether Islam teaches terrorism or not. Of course, Islam does not teach terrorism nor does it support the killing of innocent people.

I believe it’s healthy to have debates of this nature, because they will help educate both Muslims and non-Muslims alike, about Islam as a religion and its stand on terrorism. Unfortunately, some people engaging in these debates are largely informed by prejudice which is not good for learning, or even co-existence.

I have also sadly learnt that our local media, think tanks, and government have continuously used the word “Islamists” whenever they refer to the Harakat al Shabaab Mujahedeen fighters. It’s wrong to continue referring to al Shabaab as “Islamist” fighters because what they are doing is unacceptable by the teachings of the Islamic faith. Read more

By Hassan Isilow

Kenya: Cover-Up of Wagalla Massacre is Astonishing

“My earlier apprehensions that the TJRC process will be sandbagged as far as the Wagalla massacre incident is concerned is being confirmed as the hearings play out. Otherwise, why would the government pay for the legal expenses of the former and serving civil servants appearing before the commission? Why are the witnesses- who do not seem to understand the spirit of the truth seeking process- defending themselves as a group?”

The commission's credibility is being undermined by being denied access to vital government documents and there is a complete lack of political will to unearth the truth. The government is in fact actively fighting tooth and nail to undermine the TJRC. This is because, the powerful political and civil service class who condoned human rights violations in the 1980s are still holding the reigns of power. Any revelations of truth will lead to their embarrassment.”
Writes Salah Abdi. Read More.

The Five Worst Enemies of Somalia

It is true that so many countries in the world are enemies to Somalia; many Somalis do not understand their real friends and. This situation forced them to trust some hypocritical interventions to find peace and stability.

Somalia played an instrumental role in shaping the international geopolitics of Africa; it was indeed Somalia where an incumbent president handed over power peacefully to a democratically elected successor during the elections 1967.

It was thus the first country in Africa to embrace modern democracy, but that astounding history of a nation of great people could not be sustained as purported friends diluted the unity and the nation of the Horn of Africa nation.

Here I draw a list of Somalia’s real enemies who are mostly working on a bent mission to subjugate goodwill efforts to solve the longstanding conflict.

The International Community: This is group of nations headed by stealth of self-styled superpowers that are not really serious about the situation in Somalia. This community failed in more than 15 attempts to restore peace. When one option fails there should always be an alternative, but these nations have not provided alternatives measures and have been repeating the old ways, repeating the same old mistakes time and again.

The Arab League: No efforts whatsoever have this body of Muslim nations made in order to help the people of Somalia. Their leaders always twiddled their thumps and waited only to watch the unabated death and destruction. So it is like they said: ‘watch they are killing themselves’

The US: This is a nation that only serves its interest in protecting their citizens, as if the rest of the people in the world are not human beings. Thus the number of times the US made attempts to interfere with the Somalia crisis, it was always met with strident criticism. Many argue the purpose of US involvement in the Horn of Africa nation is solely to tighten the war on terrorism, but not to settle the people of Somalia.

The UK: Just like its master US, the Britons have not either spared any efforts to help the US in its lopsided interventions purportedly aimed at restoring peace in Somalia. This nation also helps in the fight against terrorism.

Ethiopia: is a nation that has been an enemy to the Somali people for a period exceeding some 500 years, so it is always good to reject any plan by Ethiopia to interfere with the republic of Somalia.

UNICEF, Japan Coordinate To Give An Education To Somali Refugee Children

In Somalia, a distant benefactor has provided education to a makeshift town of displaced refugees.

Contributors in Japan have coordinated with UNICEF's efforts in the Somali region to provide basic supplies and access to secure schools.
Since 2009, Japan has worked with UNICEF to provide an education to both boys and girls in the region. Since the initiative began, more than 400,000 kids have access to safe schools because of the country's contributions.
Huffington Post

International Contact Group on Somalia Says Needs $304 Million More in Aid

The International Contact Group on Somalia is seeking $304 million to deal with a humanitarian crisis resulting from drought and conflict in the war-torn African nation.

The group, consisting of mainly Western donors, has raised $226 million of $530 million needed to provide aid, it said in a statement distributed at a meeting today in Uganda’s capital, Kampala.

“Somalia is expected to slide deeper into crisis, leading to an increase in the number of Somalis in need of assistance from the current 2.4 million,” the group said.

Somalia’s government has been battling Islamic insurgents, including al-Shabaab, since 2007. The rebels control most of southern and central Somalia. Al-Shabaab, which the U.S. accuses of having links to al-Qaeda, and other terrorist groups continue to undermine peace in the Horn of Africa country, the Contact Group said. The conflict and drought has displaced 100,000 people, it said.

Uganda and Burundi are willing to commit another 3,000 troops to the country, adding to the 9,000 they already have in place, if the funding is secured, Augustine Mahiga, the United Nation’s special representative to Somalia, told reporters in Kampala.

Somalia hasn’t had a functioning central administration since the ouster of former dictator, Mohamed Siad Barre, in 1991.
Source bloomberg

Militarization Specter and Its Impact on Somali Women

Somalia, like many other African countries, has endured sustained militarization and armed conflict. This phenomenon has become a significant obstacle to Somalia's progress towards peace, justice, democratization, and development. As a rule of thumb: where militarization increases, so does death and destruction, and human rights abuses. And, yes, so does senseless wars.

Protracted wars, civil or otherwise, victimizes predominantly women and children; and nowhere is this fact more pronounced than in Somalia. Whether in refugee camps, or in the streets and neighborhoods of Somali cities, the grim images of women and children in profound state of anguish are evident. Nevertheless, their stories are seldom the dominant narrative.

Writes Sadia Ali Aden, Human rights advocate and freelance writer. Read More

Somalia: Manifestation of stealth trusteeship

Somalia is currently under what James Fearon and David Laitin of Stanford University call "a neo-trusteeship system". Various external powers, while disagreeing among themselves, make the important decisions for the Somali people.

On January 30, 2011, the Ethiopian-dominated Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional organisation comprised of seven East African states, called for an extension of the Somali parliament's mandate. The dysfunctional Somali parliament duly understood the message sent by Addis Ababa and within three days unilaterally extended its mandate for three years.

The US and UN rejected the unilateral extension, with James Steinberg, the US deputy secretary of state, arguing that it would strengthen al-Shabab and Augustine Mahiga, the UN special representative for Somalia, joining in the chorus of criticism. The disagreement within the international community over Somalia was exposed, with Ethiopia and IGAD lining up on one side and the US and UN on the other.

The fact that agencies within the US have at times pursued different policies in Somalia adds another layer of complexity. The defence department views Somalia through the lens of the 'war on terror' and, as a result, allies itself with Ethiopia, while the state department is aligned more closely with the rest of the international community.

Writes Afyare A. Elmi who teaches international politics at Qatar University and is the author of Understanding the Somalia Conflagration: Identity, Political Islam and Peacebuilding. READ MORE

Western analysts iron only corrugated pieces of Information about Islam and Muslims

I don’t know this writer but he is just among a biased group of western analysts who are scathing Islam and Muslims by spreading bigoted analysis and commentaries. Most of the guys like him are talking and writing about a topic that they know nothing to write about. Should they learn about Islam and live with the people before deciding to write corrugated pieces of information sourced from the diluted Web.

Click here to read to about him

Somalis are not safe even in the Mosques

In the past few hours mosques have been attacked in Southern Somalia where gunmen are indiscriminately aiming Muslim congregations. In what appears to be a new level of bloodlettings, targeting mosques is undoubtedly a testimony to how sour the conflict in Somalia had gone.

The billion dollar question is, who will be safe in Somalia, where even Mosques have seen a sharp rise of attacks. It will indeed be a matter of wait and see.Read more

Kenya’s evil hand spoils the broth in Azania

Azania has been created by the forces of evil, to destroy the efforts of innocent Somalis living and surviving in Gedo, Middle and Lower Juba regions. For now, these forces would want to see more mayhem and an exacerbation of the endless conflict in Somalia.

Does it help Kenya to extend its unyielding political interference to Somalia? The Sobbing Somali asks you to take part in its poll to show the unstoppable solidarity to safe the people of Jubaland.

Read More

The Sapping Strength of Al Shabaab

By Abdullahi Jamaa
(Adopted from Somalia Report)
It is apparent from the events of recent weeks that Somalia’s radical Islamist group, Al Shabaab, is losing strength and ground due to the recent Transitional Federal Government (TFG) offensive, casting doubt on their ability to continue to control much of southern Somalia.

Following recent intensified fighting, Al Shabaab lost strategic towns in the south and a number of its military bases in the capital of Mogadishu. The latest loss of the towns of Bulla Hawa and Luuq is a powerful testimony to the sapping strength of the Islamists, both militarily and ideologically.

Even as Al Shabaab consolidates its power in large swathes of the land in Somalia, there is a growing concern over whether the group can still hold the power of its strongholds given the rising military opposition from the authority of Sheikh Sharif, backed by the international community and supported by African Union (AU) peacekeepers.

Al Shabaab provides the only significant opposition to the fragile western-backed Somali government, but if the current emerging signals are anything to go by, the present military onslaught seems to be an acid test for the group that has vowed to rule Somalia under Islamic sharia law.
Read more

The War On Piracy Hits a Dead End

By Abdullahi Jamaa(Adopted From Somaliareport)

Indonesian Bulk Cargo Carrier MV SINAR KUDUS is the latest victim of a rash of hijacking conducted by Somali pirates on the 16th of March. Hijacked approximately 320 nautical miles North East of the island of Socotra in the Somali Basin, the attack bears a transformed hallmark of the dreaded Somali pirates who are carrying out more brazen attacks than ever before.

The escalating raids on vessels voyaging along the Gulf of Aden, East Coast of Somalia, Southern region of the Red Sea, Bab-El-Mandeb strait and the East Coast of Oman remains an enigma that envelopes one of the most strategic waterways of the world.

It is indeed a problem of huge monumental proportion that had stunned world leaders, policy makers and pressure groups who hitherto finds themselves unable to draw a clear battle line and a better strategy to win the war on piracy.

And to contain the situation they have tried their level best but in vain, the International community left nothing to chance in dealing with the piracy issue for instance various states and international organizations are actively engaged in stopping piracy.

There are currently three navy missions in the Gulf of Aden: Operation Atlanta under the European Union Naval Force, the US led Combined Task Force 151 and NATO’s ‘Operation Ocean Shield”. These missions have been aided by the presence of warships belonging to China, Japan, Iran, India and Russia.

Despite the presence of about 20 warships comprising of the world’s most powerful navies, the trouble of piracy is still huge and its predicament is mind-boggling than it was a few years ago and before the naval operations have began. Merchant vessels have now been put to the expense of passing through an endangered waterway where Somali pirates prowl mercilessly.
Read more

Kenya accused of delaying piracy trials

Adopted from the Daily Nation

A Kenyan magistrate has accused the State of dragging an appeal on whether Kenya can try piracy suspects.

This had made it difficult for lower courts to expedite trials and address the concerns of suspects, Mombasa chief magistrate Rosemelle Mutoka said.

As a result, many cases have been adjourned indefinitely, awaiting the verdict of the Court of Appeal on the High Court ruling that the country does not have jurisdiction to try suspected Somali pirates.

Mr Justice Mohamed Ibrahim ruled last year that magistrates had no jurisdiction to try suspected Somali pirates charged under Section 69 (1) of the Penal Code.

By the time the ruling was made, there were seven cases involving 57 Somalis at different levels of trial.

Several others had been dispensed with, a dozen suspects found guilty and jailed.

Ms Mutoka said the seven cases had been stopped indefinitely following the appeal.

The magistrate asked why the State was not acting with the same zeal it applied to some cases that came from the magistrates’ courts to the High Court for revision.

Somalia’s tribal media pulls the country yet to a dangerous abyss

Commentary by Abdullahi Jamaa

Somalia’s airwaves have been spoilt, much like the devastated environment where gun battles have left a great deal of destruction, the medium through which news and information reach the poor and helpless Somalis have been damaged to an alarming degree.

The proliferation of a formidable number of media outlets has not yet yielded to the insatiable demands of the conflict-hit population, instead the media developed to be a blood-sucking monster whose monstrosity spawned hatred and animosity that is spreading like a malevolent fire only to claim more death and destruction.

The unhinged press failed to transcend catastrophic human suffering and opted to blatantly diminish Somalia’s slim chances of emerging from the current conflict. From one end, troubled civilians endure the raging daily gun battles and from another unexpected end their hidden enemy-the media – intimately destroys the minds and ears of the listless and depressed audience. The media joined the conflict from one important side-the centre. Ought to have been the pillar of peace.

By spoiling the airwaves through its lopsided tribal influence the Somali media ostensibly fronts for the destruction of a nation already devastated by clan rivalry and hostility.
Over the years, every strong and rich Somali clan came up with a media machinery to spread and pursue their palpable propaganda aimed to offset the interest of some members of the community.

One Somali writer Mohamed-Khadar Farah describes Somalia as a nation under siege by the spell of evil influence; Mohamed describes what he calls ‘Somalia’s prê-tuned audience’
and I quote: “If you are not writing what is expected of you as a priori by your pre-tuned bunch that surround you either physically or influentially, then you must be silent. What I have unfortunately learned is that I belong to a nation where people are pre-tuned, tribally-steered, regionally-programmed and intellectually confined”

Somalia's breakup is reflected in its media, which is embryonic, disjointed and often partisan. Presenters and journalists operate in an atmosphere far from the required free expression, and often pursue regional or clan politics.

In a country beleaguered by conflict, the immense role played by the media cannot be underestimated, the local press has been instrumental in escalating the situation on ground.
Somalis have been craving for stability for more than two decades yet Somali politicians and war lords have been roaming to win the rat race in all those years as Somalia’s tribal mass media failed to spearhead the peace process.

Both the local and Somali international media has lost ground as the watchdog of the endangered community which has never known any respite from the endless conflict ever since the ouster of dictator Siad Barre in 1991.

The media had apparently been fueling the conflict failing to hit a contented medium for both the grandmasters of bad-politics and the helpless poor civilians. More often than not it turned to be a mouth-piece for those who hold the country’s power nod.

The conflict is not highlighted with intent to awaken the people about what needs to be done in a modern society but rather it nurtures detestation and enmity among various sections of the community.

This hype is actually having a negative effect on Somalis. Masses are seeing only how specific media houses are targeting the political elimination of certain people as every clan tries to liberate their own airwaves in a bid to settle political scores. But all in vain.

The negative effects on the Somali conflict is manifested in its tribal setup and the declining quality of professional practice both in print and electronic media.

The information medium is having an acid tongue to further move Somalia into the edge of a dangerous abyss leaving the country’s peace plans to precariously hang in the balance for ever.

The major media players are the BBC Somali service and the Voice of America Somali service both of which are currently enjoying a huge number of Somali audiences.

The London based BBC Somali Service has for years been the sole provider of news and information to millions of Somalis in and outside the Horn of Africa nation but it is currently grappling to counter cut-throat competition from the VOA.

The two giant broadcasters however took certain political shape and form. Even hiring and employment of their staff is based on tribal appointments. They have become experts in propaganda and venomous divisions taking advantage of an audience that cannot control of their choice of information due to lack of central media regulatory institutions.

In 2010, Ms. Farhia Absie a Somali journalist resigned from VOA citing tribal editorial policies that she said made the federal broadcaster a battle zone for journalists. In her letter she accused her editor Mr.Abdirahman Yebarow for failing to remain impartial to what is happening in Somalia.

The head of the BBC Somali service Mr. Yussuf Garad is equally regarded by Somali bloggers, journalists and Somali professional as a man who has failed the community. They argue that he turned the service from an icon among the Somali broadcasting stations to a mediocre platform.
One blogger describes Mr. Garad as a journalist who is pursuing personal whims in support to the warlords. “Mr Garad eviscerated, some would say vandalised, the BBC Somali Service soon after his appointment as its Chief Editor” said the blogger.

The content of talk shows in both the BBC and VOA Somali services are negatively critical always bent on one side of the argument, the language and the tone of the hosts’ suggests their individual estimations and feelings.

But as both the BBC and VOA struggled to misinform their divided audiences in and outside Somalia, a number of mushrooming radio stations and online portals within the failed state had by far the potential to escalate the conflict.

More than 20 tribal radio stations are believed to be operating inside Somalia. Most of these stations have developed editorial policies that only allow narrow-minded and opinionated information to get to the ears of their listeners. More than 400 Somali websites have also created a web of untrue information.

The media environment as of now presages evil in Somalia where peace and stability remains a hard nut to crack. Players in this critical sector of development have seemingly decided to waylay the entire Somali community only to serve the interest of few political bigwigs and warlords.

Pro-democracy protests reach Djibouti

(Adopted from the Financial Times)

At least one person has been killed as pro-democracy demonstrations have taken hold throughout the strategic, small north-east African coastal state of Djibouti, echoing waves of protest seen throughout the Middle East.
An estimated 30,000 Djiboutians protested against government on 18 February

Opposition parties said more than 30,000 people protested on Friday against the dynastic rule of President Ismail Guelleh, who last year scrapped a two-term constitutional limit to allow him to stand for re-election at polls due in April. Government officials say less than a thousand people took part.

Ismael Guedi Hared, an opposition leader who was arrested and released with two others on Saturday, told the Financial Times that protests have continued in seven towns throughout the tiny state of 850,000 people and that more organised demonstrations will go ahead soon.

“The people are protesting against dictatorship, bad governance, lack of democracy and dynastic succession,” Mr Hared told the FT. “The opposition has formed a coalition and we have decided to do everything to make sure the protests continue.”

Kibaki’s nomination press-statement today was a bedtime story that has no value for the majority of Kenyans

Kibaki’s political frustration continues to pull him towards a dead end, his press-statement today in trying to respond to the speaker’s ruling shows that he is a cheap politician that serves the interest of few individuals who want to hold the country’s nod in 2011.

The unadulterated optimism of Kenyans towards the implementations of the new constitution continues to be rebuffed by one man not anyone else but this emerging dictator.

Frustrated Kibaki

He is usurping the will and integrity of the overwhelming majority of Kenyans by imposing dictatorial nominations which are seemingly bent on encouraging tribal appointments.

Today in his press-statements he has tantalizingly justified that his nomination were constitutional. He said that the process of nomination of the Chief Justice, the Attorney General and Director of Public Prosecutions were all according to the constitution. But we know that they were all unconstitutional, and the high court supports this.

He said “In my actions as your President, I have at all times acted in accordance with the Constitution and the Laws of Kenya”

But the question is where on earth he has acted in accordance with the laws; unprocedural nominations are not actions of constitution.

The fact that an overwhelming majority of Kenyans including a large section of the civil society groups have condemned his nominations is only enough to tell Kibaki that he has done it in the wrong.

Respecting the will of the majority is part of the constitution but Kibaki had failed to read the mood of the country by siding with few grandmasters of bad-politics to use his powers and impose on the people of Kenya nominations that do not represent their interest.

We therefore as Kenyans see that he is serving the interest of the so called KKK alliance and not the interest of the majority.

This day and time, in agony we mark Somalia’s 20th year of war and the bloodlettings continue

(Adopted from the Associated Press) – Jan 26, 2011

MOGADISHU —Aweys Abdullahi Ali has never known a day of peace in Somalia. Gunmen have killed his mother, set his home on fire, driven away his friends. Ali, who is 20, sees no end to the violence.
Young Aweys and his troubled face, no more resilience

Wednesday marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of Siad Barre, Somalia's socialist dictator whose overthrow ushered in years of brutal clan-based conflict. This arid Horn of Africa nation is now home to a generation of people who have known nothing but war. Some have seen neighbors beheaded by al-Qaida linked insurgents or killed in U.S. missile strikes.

"I've woken up to the crack of gunfire ever since I was young," said Ali, a dark-eyed young man with a wisp of a beard. "I never believed Somalia was ever peaceful and I used to wonder what my parents were talking about when told me about the old days."

Ali, like most of Somalia's 8 million citizens, was born after Barre's fall. Even though Barre had his opponents imprisoned and tortured, Ali imagines the dictatorship as a long-vanished golden age compared to the anarchy that is now affecting all of Somalia except for the northern regions of Somaliland and Puntland.

Government forces and al-Qaida linked insurgents have carved up the battle-scarred capital of Mogadishu. Temporary roadblocks, some just rusting barbed wire stretched across the cratered roads, mark constantly shifting front lines.

Gunmen scan the waiting citizens: Are their beards too long? Not long enough? Are that one a spy? What clan are they from? Do they have any money? The lucky passers-by are just told to pay a bribe.

"Once I refused, and they showed me the body of a dead young man and said if I don't pay something they will kill me," Ali recalled.

Not even home is safe. Last year, the gunmen came to rob Ali's neighbors. The woman screamed. Ali's mother ran outside to help. They shot her.

"We rushed her to Medina hospital but she died," Ali recalled. Medina, considered one of the better-equipped hospitals in Mogadishu, is frequently so full of war casualties that the overflow of patients are treated in tents outside.

These days, Ali and his father live in a ruined house near an African Union peacekeeping base. There's no water or electricity. The afternoons are sweltering and dull. There are no jobs. They have no money for school. Those with money fled long ago.

"Imagine being 20 and never having been to school," said Denise Shepherd-Johnson, a spokeswoman for UNICEF. More than two-thirds of Somali children have not completed even primary school, she said.

"Imagine in the future you're asked to run a country and you have no idea what a government even does. Imagine trying to dream when the world of possibilities is so limited you are just trying to survive," she said.

Ali can't picture a better future or remember a better past. He can't imagine the nightclubs his parents described on the Mogadishu beach front or the cool grass of the lawn in their old comfortable house before it was shelled. The old Catholic cathedral, built by Italian colonialists, is roofless and gutted.

Ali doesn't think the war will end anytime soon. Corruption, clan politics and regional rivalries fuel the conflict. Somalia's U.N.-backed administration doesn't account for the cash it's given by foreign donors, then begs them for more. Archenemies Ethiopia and Eritrea fund opposite sides in the conflict. An Islamist insurgent movement called al-Shabab has attracted foreign fighters, some with experience in Afghanistan.
Men and women alike, children and the aged alike, their suffering seems endless

The U.S. and its allies hunt down suspected members of al-Qaida but can't stem the flow of volunteers. They come from Pakistan, Chechnya and even America to join the insurgency. Western intelligence agencies fear Somalia will become a training ground for terrorists like Afghanistan was during the 1990's.

In response, the U.S. and other donors are offering military aid and funding an extra 4,000 African Union peacekeepers to beef up the 8,000 who are already deployed.

What happens next is unclear. The mandate of Somalia's government, which has failed to provide security or services, is due to run out in August. No one knows whether it will be extended.

Even the memory of what a government is supposed to do is fading. New administrations are increasingly forced to draw on the diaspora to fill positions, but many of those who spent years abroad to come back as administrators have no power base in the country and can't enforce their decisions.

"I do not know what a government is or what it does for people," Ali said. The only future he sees is more fighting.

"This war will not end before my son is grown," he said. "And I will be a very old man."

Muslim brotherhood should take over power in Egypt

Muslim brotherhood should take over power in Egypt. Mubarak is Zionist and should go with Zionists; at least Egyptians are doing the right thing as at now. No body should leave the liberation square until Mubarak resigns.

The Koreans have started killing the Somalis

In an attempt to free a commercial oil tanker (ship), the South Korean military have murdered in cold blood several Somali pirates on Friday.

There is no law in heaven and in earth that allows the Koreans to murder Somali pirates whatsoever in their own waters. There is no law in my mind and in the minds of common people that allow the killing of criminal suspects in anyway.

The Koreans are aggressors who have not learnt lessons from the infamous 1993 Mogadishu battle. They have started to interfere and kill the civilians of Somalis who are protecting their waters from the growing cartel of illegal fishers.

This is an indication that confirms to us that even the EU Naval force in the Somali waters are all killing and maiming Somali pirates…they have never admitted to killing a single pirate and they will never admit it.

The Koreans have killed several in only one day and only God knows how many Somali pirates have been murdered inside the Waters over the past few years.

What does Russia and Somalia Have in Common

What does Russia have in common with countries such as strife-torn post-war Iraq, unpredictable North Korea, crisis-ridden Pakistan and the failed state called Somalia?

Why I will never vote for the KKK alliance

The trio leaders of Kenya’s Kikuyu, Kamba and Kalenjin alliance are tribalists who do not deserve to be even mere county representatives, leave alone presidency. They are propagating politics of patronage which will lead to tribal animosity in Kenya, a country that is just emerging from the edge of an abyss.

If it happens that these guys are voted to rule this country, then the future of Kenya hangs precariously in the balance. Their alliance is simply irrelevant to the needs of the overwhelming majority of the local citizens.

It is so unfortunate that many innocent Kenyans may be blackmailed into this unpromising alliance of tribal kingpins.

For all the reasons why I will never vote for the alliance is because there is one emerging development which has exposed the incurable poverty of leadership in the KKK formations and underlines the irretrievable irrelevance of the three men to Kenya’s political history and future.

It is their astounding inability to understand the meaning and context of national heroism and their shocking readiness to unashamedly wave ethnic flags to justify their opportunistic tribal nonsense under the deceitful cover of the so-called inclusive contemporary politics.

The attempt by the trio formations to use a tribal card to declare their leadership interest is insulting not only in national terms but to the people of Kenya who deserve to be treated with respect without being put into political pockets of individual politicians who have hidden personal agendas that have nothing whatsoever to do with community or national development.

This alliance is a threat to the unity of the country. The three men are coming to inadvertently push unethical political practice, and their leadership behaviour is bereft of values of good and of decency.

Is it not self-evident that these political capitalists are going no where? They are not the kind of leaders we as Kenyans want to have at this time round.

Kenya, the land of capitalists

I remember reading the 1979 accounts of the Iranian revolution, the book ‘No More Lies About Iran’ by Chief Musamaali Nangoli listed an intriguing tale of the Islamic Republic of Iran and how this country had survived until now the endless animosity from both the West and the East.
The 1979 Iranian revolutionary spiritual leader Rohullah al-Mosawi al-Khomeini

The book contains a message by the then Iranian revolutionary spiritual leader Rohullah al-Mosawi al-Khomeini. The speech in 1986, a few years after the revolution, addressed the plight of the Iranians and the Muslim world. A short part of it reads like this:

“…………….Despite the vast natural resources and fertile lands of the world, its waterways, seas and forests, the common people have been reduced to a state of poverty and helplessness, while the communists and money-hoarding capitalists develop friendly relations with imperialists and deny the people of their land, the right to live and the chance to take initiative into their own hands. By setting up monopolies and multi-national cooperation they in fact hold the economic pulse of the world in their hands and command all the channels of distribution, supply, demand, prices and even banking.

Through their fabricated notions and biased research they have managed to suggest to the disinherited masses the notion that they must either live under their influence or be doomed to abject poverty, that nature and human societies have determined that the majority should hunger for a morsel and starve to death while few perish from over-consumption, over-spending and over-indulging. At any rate this is the sort of calamity the imperialists have imposed on humanity…………………………………”
*******
Leave alone the French and the Russian revolution, the world has ever known one revolution, and that was the Great Iranian Revolution. Prior to 1979 on the 10th and 11th of December 1978, between 6 and 9 million took part in anti-Shah demonstrations. This was the largest protest the world has ever seen, in terms of percentage of population involved.
Kenya needs search revolution………

Djibouti: Ahmednajad rubs salt in the wound of Obama yet

(Adopted from the Semi-Official Fars news in Tehran)

Iran and Djibouti agreed to boost mutual cooperation in naval fields, including training the Djiboutian army.

The call for mutual cooperation was raised by visiting Djiboutian Army's Joint Chief-of-Staff Fathi Ahmad Hossein in a meeting with Commander of the Iranian Navy Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari.

Iran's Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayarri

The two sides agreed to cooperate in counterterrorism, fighting against smugglers and pirates in the Gulf of Aden as well as ship repair and maintenance .

The Djiboutian top military commander pointed to the dispatch of the Iranian fleets of warships to the Gulf of Aden, and said, "The Iranian Navy can render cooperation to Djibouti in personnel training, ship guarding and protection, logistic affairs and naval equipments."

Rear Admiral Sayyari, for his part, said the Iranian Navy is ready to cooperate with the Republic of Djibouti in antipiracy efforts.

In December, Iranian and Djiboutian officials inked two Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) to boost mutual cooperation and bilateral ties between Iran and the East African state.

The MoUs were signed by the two countries' high-ranking officials in a ceremony attended by Iranian First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi and visiting Djiboutian Prime Minister Mohamed Dileita Dileita here in Tehran.

Iran and the African state signed an MoU to encourage and support mutual investment and another MoU to establish a joint investment committee.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's administration has striven hard to maximize relations with the African continent. Ahmadinejad said after a three-nation African tour on February 23, 2009 which took him to Djibouti, Kenya and Comoros that expanding Tehran's relations with the African countries sets a priority in Iran's foreign policy.

Eritrea Ruler: Tyranny Is There To Stay!

(Adopted from Eritrea Daily)

Speaking via his personal emissary in Israel, Mr. Tesfamariam Tekeste, Eritrea ruler, Isias Afewarki, reiterated that the Status Quo in Eritrea, out-and-out tyranny is there to stay and that he is not ready for democracy! Afewarki made the statement in a special interview with the Israeli media outlet Ynetnews posted to the web today.
Eritrean President Isias

"One mustn't force democracy on those who are not ready," "We are building ourselves now. We want to rely on our own resources and become independent."

"We are being blamed for not being a democratic country and having no free press. But one must work on education, clean water and employment to be ready for democracy, and that's what we're working on now." the ambassador told Ynetnew.com.

Eritrea tyrant and his foot soldiers consider declaring Eritrea as 'not ready for democracy' as bravado when such declaration is only testimony to the oppressive and suppressive nature of tyrant Afawarki's stronghold on our country!

Moreover, Mr. Tesfamarian told Ynetnews that Eritrea tyrant will not accept Eritrean citizens who are deported against their will from Israel!

“Eritrean Ambassador to Israel Debbas Tessamariam Tereste told Ynet that Israel should have turned away the first infiltrator as early as 2006, adding that his country will not accept citizens who were deported from Israel against their will.”

"if someone is forced to return from Israel against their will we shall refuse."

"These are people with different dreams and expectations, they will undermine national morale and bring back with them frustration and bitterness resulting from the great cultural differences" Mr. Tesfamaiam added.

Eritrea tyrant's refusal to accept Eritrean refugees to their own homeland is equally not a bravado either but fortifies and validates Eritrean refugees political asylum claims against the tyrannical reign of Afewarki. Only in Eritrea is that possible. How do you deny people of their own Homeland? No one applies for political asylum against his own Homeland but against the government? And if refugees are deported to their country of origin willingly or against their will, there are laws that regulate their behaviour and activities? Bad behaviour, moral cultural differences cannot be grounds to deny refugees of their own homeland!

Drought destruction in the Horn comes hot yet

The catastrophic and endless drought in the Horn of Africa region yet opens its jaws in red; the victims are always the listless and depressed herders. It is death and despair for millions of famine-famished pastoralists. Read the story at Onislam.net of how the drought torments the region.

Anybody should expect the downfall of an arrow shot towards the sky

Over the past few weeks many commentaries and analysis have been written about the prospects of a new state in the Horn of Africa, the post-referendum Sudan and the secession of Southern Sudan.

An analysis on IRIN website weighs the secession with the title: Securing A Peaceful Divorce In Sudan, Daily Nation writes ‘Bashir has no choice but to lose South” and Uganda’s New vision says : “African Union must keep an eye on Sudan's referendum”

But of all the commentaries I read, I like the far-away piece from the Middle East, Al-arabiya’s Mostapha El Mouloudi who albeit briefly, covered his research analysis with a great title: ‘Sudanese need to maintain bonds’

Mostapha argues that it should be noted that the self-determination referendum in Sudan is important to settle outstanding internal issues, but it can also have regional and international repercussions.

It is a matter of days though, before we will see how things will turn in Sudan, one thing for sure is, Sudan has already witnessed the worst of wars it could. It is a country that lost over two million of its citizens in decades-long instability.

And a referendum like any other election in Africa can result a fresh civil war as issues in Sudan are so delicate and can result an endless conflict.

Much to may dismay, the international community, most critically Sudan’s neighbors like Kenya and Uganda are meddling in the affairs of the country more than it is necessary.
Sudan’s referendum will never be free and fair, if the level of interfering of these two countries is anything to go by.

Kenya takes advantage of its hosting of the Sudanese peace process. Kenya’s politician are seemingly playing a pivotal role to force the South to secede from the North, rather than waiting for a fair secession. It is possibly arguable that Kenya is arming the South to govern itself by all means, by hook or by crook. The recent controversial shipment of tanks is a clear indication.

Museveni’s Kampala has not been without blames, with reports indicating that his forces trooped towards the Sudanese border. Whatever interest Uganda is pursuing, it is expressly understandable that it is interfering with the prospect of a peaceful referendum.

In the real politics, there seems to be serious religious dichotomy, Neighbouring Christian countries are seemingly supporting the South more than the North. Although the South has realized more suffering over the years, it is not a reason enough for the international community to deviate all its attention to the South.

A smooth secession is the ultimate goal for both the North and the South, But the seemingly absence of that will greatly result bloody incursion.

The arrow will obviously hit back the ground and the resulting devastation will spare neither Kenya nor Uganda.