I spent time most of the day today reading and studying for my next course of doctoral program. I did not know that the first ever PhD degree awarding university was established by the Muslim empire in Morocco. Indeed, the very idea of “PhD” (License to teach) originated from the education system the Muslims established. It is interesting to know how advanced the education system the Muslims established was while all of Europe were in the dark ages. I find my current course “History of Education” extremely informative and uplifting. Reading and watching today media dominated by West one is forced to believe that the history of the world is simply nothing more than the history of Europe, the fact, however, leads to a different kind of reality that is far more complex and more diverse. For instance, while “hunters and gatherer” dominated the European landscape, there were other civilizations with far more advanced technological and cultural developments that flourished in Africa, the Middle East, India and what’s now known as the Americas.
History of Education
February 28th, 2009SOMALIA: Press Release; UN Political Office
August 14th, 2008PRESS RELEASE 0020/2008
Nairobi, 13 August 2008 – The United Nations Special Representative for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, said he was very pleased that the two main Committees in the Djibouti Agreement are being convened this weekend. After consultations with the Transitional Federal Government and the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia, it was agreed that the Joint Security Committee (Article 8.) and the High Level Committee (Article 9) will meet in Djibouti from 16 – 18 August.
The two sides will have delegations attending each meeting. The Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein as well as the leaders of the ARS, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan plan to attend.
The international community, including diplomats from several countries and regional organizations including France (Chair of the European Union), the US, UK, the African Union, the League of Arab States, European Union, European Commission, Organization of Islamic Conference, IGAD and UNDP will be present. Representatives from civil society have also been invited.
In this context, the Special Representative calls on the Somali Parliament to suspend its work on certain political issues from 15 – 20 August to facilitate the participation of its members in the meetings of the two committees.
“I would like the Parliamentarians to show their full support for the peace process and for the plight of the Somali population,” said Mr Ould-Abdallah.
Source: UN Political Office for Somalia.
SOMALIA: FY 2008 HUMANITARIAN FUNDING
August 14th, 2008USAID/OFDA Assistance to Somalia – $47,077,637
USAID/FFP(2) Assistance to Somalia – $197,415,500
State/PRM(3) Assistance to Somalia – $20,100,000
Total USAID & State Humanitarian Assistance to Somalia:
$264,593,137
Click here to retreive the full report by the USAID, et, alt.
Source: RW
SOMALIA: Growing Food Emergency on Security
August 14th, 2008The Oxford Analytica released following report on “The effect of a growing food emergency on security in the Horn of Africa”.
SIGNIFICANCE: Poverty, drought and food insecurity are well known in the Horn of Africa. This latest emergency occurs at a time of global increases in the price of food and fuel and when regional conflicts threaten to destabilise the region.
ANALYSIS: The sharp increase in food and energy prices globally has hurt the poorest and most food insecure regions of the world particularly hard. According to the US Agency for International Development’s latest estimates, as many as 16.3 million people in the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and Djibouti) are in need of emergency assistance or face food insecurity. Hunger and security. This latest food security crisis arises in a context of increasing tensions within and between the states of the region:
1. Somalia. In Somalia, this is the third year that the rains have failed. The incredible scale of the food security crisis is overshadowed by the humanitarian emergency caused by the brutal insurgency and counter-insurgency which have persisted since early 2007. In June, the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the opposition Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS) signed a UN-brokered peace agreement in Djibouti. Under the Agreement, the TFG and ARS agreed to end their conflict and called on the UN to deploy an international stabilisation force. However, prospects for such a force are remote, violence continues, and a faction of the ARS based in Asmara has condemned the accord. Read the rest of this entry »
SOMALIA: Resigned Commander killed
August 8th, 2008Following is the latest news dispatch from the Somali besieged capital:
A former Somali commander and five other ministers, who had resigned after criticizing President Yusuf’s policies, have been killed. Colonel Ibrahim Hassan Isse, the ex-commander of Bali-Doogle Air Base and five other members of the cabinet who resigned four days ago, have been killed by masked gunmen in Afgoye town on Friday, Press TV Correspondent reported. Hassan Isse refused to work with the government on the grounds that the President was a puppet of the Ethiopians.
Source: Press TV
SOMALIA: Ethiopian Soldiers Killed in Mogadishu
August 8th, 2008The London based Iranian Press TV reports:
Four Ethiopian soldiers were killed in heavy clashes with the Union of Islamic Court (UIC) fighters north of the Somali capital Mogadishu. A Press TV correspondent, reporting from Mogadishu, says the fighting between the Ethiopian troops and the UIC fighters is ongoing in the Industrial Street. According to an eye-witness at least six mortars landed in the Pasta Base in north Mogadishu killing 4 Ethiopian soldiers and injuring several others. In a telephone interview with Press TV the UIC spokesman, Abdirahim Isse Addow, confirmed that the UIC has launched two strong attacks on Somali government troops backed by Ethiopian soldiers. Somalia has been without an effective central government since President Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991. In 2006, US-backed Ethiopian troops invaded the country in an attempt to back Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG). Thousands of civilians have been killed and displaced as a result of the continuous violence in the war-torn country.
Click here for more Somalia News compiled by the Press TV.
SOMALIA: EU allocates 13 Million Euros
August 8th, 2008According to a Press Pelease by the European Commision:
The European Commission has allocated a further €21 million in humanitarian aid for the Horn of Africa: Assistance is being provided to vulnerable populations in Somalia (€13m), Eritrea (€4m) and Ethiopia (€4m). So far in 2008, the Commission has provided nearly €120 million in humanitarian aid, including food aid, to needy people in the Horn of Africa (Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda). The funds are channelled through the Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO), under the responsibility of Commissioner Louis Michel.
The Press Release went on by saying:
The Commission’s assistance will focus on rural populations and internally displaced people (IDPs). It addresses core humanitarian needs, with emergency relief assistance for IDPs, host communities, the most marginalised groups and the chronically vulnerable, focusing on central and southern Somalia. The main needs identified are shelter and non-food relief items, health and nutrition, emergency food assistance, water and sanitation, as well as co-ordination of relief efforts. The Commission has also provided food aid worth €14 million so far this year. Humanitarian aid worth more than €56 million has been provided for Somaliasince 2006.
Click here to view the full Press Release by the European Commission.
GREATER SOMALIA: Food Security in Western Somalia
August 8th, 2008According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Agency (FAO):
The general food security situation in Somali Region has deteriorated over the last two months due to cumulative effects of three failed consecutive rainy seasons, poor terms of trade coupled with the progressing dry “hagga” season. Humanitarian partners and elders are comparing the current drought situation to that of 1999/2000. The recently completed DPPA led multi-agency pastoral assessment team reported critical food security problems with records of massive livestock and human migration, reduced livestock births and production as well as increased prices of food.
Click here to view the full report by FAO. You may also like to click here more FAO reports on Somalia.
SOMALIA: Aid delivery problems for rural IDPs
August 8th, 2008IRIN News reports:
Much of Somalia’s displaced population has scattered across rural villages, which are hard to reach because of rampant insecurity and limited resources, an international agency said, impeding aid delivery. CARE International, which distributed some 900MT of food to 12,000 IDPs in the southern town of Beletweyne two weeks ago, said its staff had failed to access rural areas. Instead, they relied on local partner agencies to do assessments. “The IDP population is mixed, with some households previously displaced from Mogadishu [the capital], and then there are [those] recently displaced out of Beletweyne town by fighting,” CARE said. Some of them were reportedly returning but others were moving farther away, as far as Tayeeglow district in Bakool region. Their situation was dire, according to local sources.
Click here to view the full dispatch on IRIN NEWS.
SOMALIA: Today’s Headlines (Yahoo News)
August 8th, 2008Here click here to view full index of today’s Somalia news from Yahoo News Service.
“SOMALILAND”: Vital Statistics
August 8th, 2008The Relief Web released following short statistical report on northern regions of the Somali Republic.
Investments by returning refugees and remittances from those still abroad provide a lifeline to millions in the breakaway Somaliland Republic.
Here are some details about Somaliland:
GEOGRAPHY: Somaliland is about the size of England and Wales with an area of 137,600 sq km (68,000 sq. miles). It shares borders with Republic of Djibouti to the west, Ethiopia to the south and Somalia to the east.POPULATION: The population of Somaliland is estimated at around 4.0 million.
CAPITAL: Hargeisa is the capital of Somaliland with an estimated population of 0.45 million. The other main towns are Burao, Borama, Berbera, Erigabo and Las Anod.
LANGUAGE: Somali is the official language. Arabic and English are the other official languages.
RELIGION: Islam (Sunni).
GOVERNMENT: Somaliland’s system of government consists of a house of representatives elected directly by the people and an upper chamber, or Guurti, consisting of traditional elders representing the different clans and sub-clans.
ECONOMY: The economy is mostly powered by $450 million a year in remittances from diaspora. The government’s annual budget is around $40 million — an amount the U.S. government spends every six minutes.– According to a European Union study, the region has substantial untapped resources of oil, coal and metals such as gold, platinum, copper, nickel and zinc. Read the rest of this entry »
SOMALIA: Acute Malnutrition Is a Chronic Emergency
August 8th, 2008According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs:
Acute malnutrition is a chronic emergency all over the country. Families who have been displaced for years due to the political conflict require urgent assistance. Pastoralists in some areas have lost half of their herds. In southern Somalia, historically the country’s breadbasket, production of staple foods (such as sorghum and maize) has fallen by up to 50 percent because of the protracted drought.
With a $3 million CERF allocation, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is treating acute malnutrition in displaced children under five and vulnerable host Populations by handing out Plumpy’doz (a compound of vegetable fat, peanut paste, sugar, skimmed milk powder, malto-dextrine, and complex vitamins and minerals) every two months at distribution sites. It is also providing emergency nutrition supplementary food and technical support to 122,000 children in the Shabelle and Bossaso IDP camps. Read the rest of this entry »
SOMALIA: TFG Troops under Fire in Mogadishu
August 7th, 2008TFG troops supporting the continuation of the Ethiopian occupation of Somalia “came under heavy fire in north Mogadishu as the country is thrown more into anarchy at the cost of more civilian lives”.
Click here to view the full dispatch by the Press TV.
Click here for further news dispatches from Somalia.
SOMALIA: Today’s Headlines (Yahoo News)
August 6th, 2008
World Bank: Global Food Crisis Response Program
August 6th, 2008A briefing from the World Bank’s Agricultural and Rural Development Department predicts the following:
High food prices are expected to stay high (fall 2007 levels) for one to two years (and stay above 2004 levels in real terms until at least 2015)
Increased food price volatility expected to continue for the presumable future
Increased input prices linked to oil a major concern, likely to discourage smallholders who supply most of the food in developing countries
Countries are in the process of reverting to the food policies of the 1970s (food self-sufficiency at any cost, costly strategic grain reserves, reversal of diversification policies, etc) which would eventually be harmful to both poverty alleviation and food security.
Click here to view the full briefing from the World Bank.
SOMALIA: Ethiopians Bomb Homes & Kill Civilians
August 6th, 2008The Missionary International Service News Agency reports:
At least 10 civilians, including a woman and a child, were killed after an Ethiopian attack in a northeastern quarter of Mogadishu. Witnesses said that 12 other people were wounded after a mortar shell exploded near a group of 40 civilians that were looking for refuge behind the home. Last night the nearby military base in Hurwa quarter was attacked. Today’s victims add to the nine from night in Mogadishu as fighting continued between armed militias and Ethiopian troops, backing the Somali transition government, which has been often denounced by human rights groups and by Somalis themselves of carrying out veritable reprisals against the population.
I think it is time to file war crimes case at the International Criminal Court against Melez and his henchmen in Somalia including the TFG members linked to the crimes committed against the somali people.
SOMALIA: Ethiopian shelling kills 10
August 5th, 2008The Associated Press reports:
Mortar shells slammed into a residential area in Somalia’s capital, killing at least 10 people — including a mother and her child, witnesses and a hospital official said Tuesday.
The bloodshed Monday came as Ethiopian troops backing Somalia’s shaky government battled Islamic insurgents who have been fighting an Iraq-style guerrilla war for more than a year. Thousands of civilians have been killed. Read the rest of this entry »
The Crisis in Somalia
August 4th, 2008Click here to view a transcript from a meeting held on 19 June 2008 at Chatham House, London, UK.
SOMALIA: Destruction and Landmine Clearance
August 4th, 2008According to the U.S. State Deaprtment:
The Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the U. S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs has launched a $1.4 million conventional weapons destruction program, which will also include the clearance of landmines and explosive remnants of war throughout heavily affected areas of northern Somalia.
This initiative is being carried out through grants to MAG America and The HALO Trust. Read the rest of this entry »
Islamic Courts Union Better to Pacify Somalia
August 4th, 2008Dominic Pkalya of the University for Peace writes:
When the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) was driven out of Mogadishu in December 2006 by a combination of Ethiopian and the Transitional Federal Government forces, many pundits were quick to note that Somalia has once again squandered another chance of pacification and statehood.
This was based on the understanding that for the six-month period starting in June and ending in December 2006 in which the ICU was in control of Mogadishu and much of central and southern Somalia, a hitherto unprecedented period of peace, order and security was realized. In other words, the security situation was getting much better in this swathe of land that had only known and lived with over 15 years of statelessness, insecurity, clan feuds, thriving warlordism and lawlessness. Read the rest of this entry »
Qoute of the Month
June 27th, 2008If the world could only have one father, the man that we would choose to be our father would be Nelson Mandela
Peter Gabriel, British Pop artist and political activist.
SOMALI: “Government Teeters on Collapse”
March 29th, 2008Jeffrey Gettleman of the New York Times sent a dispatch from the Somali caiptal and says:
The trouble started when government soldiers went to the market and, at gunpoint, began to help themselves to sacks of grain last week. Islamist insurgents poured into the streets to defend the merchants. The government troops took heavy casualties and retreated all the way back to the presidential palace, supposedly the most secure place in the city. It, too, came under fire. Mohamed Abdirizak, a top government official, crouched on a balcony at the palace, with bullets whizzing over his head. He had just given up a comfortable life as a development consultant in Springfield, Va. His wife thought he was crazy. Sweat beaded on his forehead.
“I feel this slipping away,” he said.
By its own admission, the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia is on life support. When it took power here in the capital 15 months ago, backed by thousands of Ethiopian troops, it was widely hailed as the best chance in years to end Somalia’s ceaseless cycles of war and suffering.
The TFG has been a life support for far too long…It is time for it to accept failure and disband.
SOMALIA: UN Warns Humanitarian Crisis
March 29th, 2008According to the United Nations:
High levels of malnutrition and the difficulties of delivering aid make Somalia the world’s most pressing humanitarian crisis, the U.N. refugee agency’s representative there said on Tuesday. More than 1 million people have fled their homes in Somalia, which is convulsed by fighting between Ethiopian-backed government forces, Islamist insurgents and an assortment of warlords. “I’ve never seen anything like Somalia before,” Guillermo Bettocchi, representative of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said during a visit to London. “The situation is very severe. It is the most pressing humanitarian emergency in the world today — even worse than Darfur,” he told reporters, referring to the war in western Sudan, which has driven 2.5 million from their homes. A bomb attack which killed three foreign aid workers in Somalia on Monday underlined the difficulty in delivering aid in the anarchic country that has been wracked by clan violence for 17 years, he said. Fifteen percent of the population suffer acute malnutrition while health services are very limited and sanitation, water and shelters are extremely poor, Bettocchi said.
Source: UN News Wire
Thought of the Day
March 29th, 2008“The international community must put Somalia at the top of its agenda and press for change before it is too late. We call on all authorities in Somalia to help us reach those in need and urge donors not to give up on this country.”
Peter Goossens,
WFP’s Country Director for Somalia.
SOMALIA: Ethiopia’s Risky Adventure
March 29th, 2008Galal Nassar of the Egyptian Al Ahram Weekly writes:
US bombers began pounding away at Somali positions as battles escalated between the Somali resistance and the combined forces of the invading Ethiopian army and the Somali interim government. Hardly a day passes without a bombing or assassination in Baidoa, capital of the interim government. The Americans are using their usual excuse: they are trying to kill Al-Qaeda leaders. Somalia’s Islamic resistance seems to have mastered the art of guerrilla warfare, taking control of small towns then abandoning them and disappearing into the population. It is a tactic designed to baffle and frustrate a regular army trying to fight a symmetric war. Where exactly is the enemy? Meanwhile, the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) and the Eritreans are waiting for the right moment to assault the Ethiopians.
Galaal Nassir went on by saying:
The Islamic Courts have something in common with both the Palestinian and the Iraqi resistance movements: religious zeal. But they are more clannish than the Palestinians and less sectarian than the Iraqis. So far, the Somali resistance has managed to put so much pressure on the Ethiopian occupation forces that current battles are likely to develop into a full- fledged war. Factor in the Eritrean-Ethiopian border rivalries, the resurgence of the ONLF, and Ethiopia’s efforts to stir up inter- tribal conflicts in Somalia, and the future seems to be rather dim for the Ethiopians. First of all, Eritrea is likely to escalate things on the borders with Ethiopia. Second, Ethiopia will have to deploy more troops against the ONLF. And third, the scale of resistance in various parts of Somalia may prove too much for the Ethiopians. So why is Ethiopia refusing to withdraw from Somalia?
Galal Nassir concluded by saying:
For starters, Ethiopia wants an access to the sea. Since Eritrean independence, Ethiopia has been landlocked. Should Ethiopia pull out of Somalia and recognise the independence of both Eritrea and Somalia, it would have to learn to live without sea access or regional clout. It is not only money or trade Ethiopia is worried about, but influence and power. Still, if Ethiopia decides to stay in Somalia while being challenged on other fronts, it may be risking utter defeat. At one point, the Somalis may start demanding the Ogaden region back. A protracted war in Somalia may therefore lead to profound changes in Ethiopia’s politics and geography. Ethiopia, let’s keep in mind, is not exactly an ethnically or religiously homogeneous nation. And some local clans may just be tempted to secede or grab power from the central government.
It goes without saying that Galaal Nassir’s analyis are right to the point!
Click here to read the article in its entirety on the Al Ahram Weekly.
Thought of the Day
March 23rd, 2008“I was amazed and impressed with the hopefulness of the people that I met during my stay in Somalia. Somalia is a conservative Muslim nation and I was impressed to see that in some areas women are being empowered, thanks to investments in education. For example, the women in this photo rose to the top of their class and, despite many obstacles, decided to join the first ever female police unit.”
Elizabeth Latham,
Executive Director
UNDP-USA
SOMALIA: Women’s Scholarship Fund
March 23rd, 2008Following is a note from UNDP-USA Somalia section:
Somalia has been without an effective government for over fifteen years and because of this public education has been almost non-existent. As education costs rose fewer and fewer people, especially women, were left without the most basic education. Since women are disproportionately affected by the shortage, they are often left unable to advance into higher education. Just two years ago, a number of Somali women were recruited into the journalism program at Puntland State University. Almost all the women were forced to drop out because they could not afford tuition! Since education and women’s empowerment are some of the necessary backbones to development it is essential that this change.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with the African Virtual University (AVU) are working to make huge strives in the education of Somali women. They realize that only through education can real change happen and can an effective government take hold. $1000 is all it takes to cover a Somali women’s full tuition and her course materials for a one year training program. This small donation can help provide women with a variety of skills ranging from medicine to communication business and help them create a new stable Somalia.
Help give Somali women the opportunities they deserve.
To donate, please click here. For more information on UNDP-USA, please click here.
World Bank: African Diaspora Mobilization
March 23rd, 2008The African Diaspora Mobilization Team of the World Bank Group says:
We are writing to seek your assistance in launching an initiative aimed at registering Firms owned by members of the African Diaspora on a World Bank database called eConsultant, so that these Firms become eligible for consulting opportunities within ongoing Bank projects in Africa.
This is further to the Diaspora Open House in Washington DC last November, where one of the commitments we made to participants was that we would provide them with opportunities to be considered for consulting roles with the World Bank. We continue to remain excited by this because we believe that the African Diaspora’s unique perspective, combined with specialist skills, will add immense value to our work on the continent. Read the rest of this entry »
SOMALIA: Indiscriminate Shelling Kills Children
August 6th, 2008According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ “Situation Reports” (No. 30, 01 Aug 2008):
Posted in Africa, Cali Maxmed Geedi, Col. Cabdullaahi Yuusuf Axmed, Commentary, Ethiopian Invasion, National Security, News, Somali Islamic Revolution, Somali Peace Process, Somalia Islamic Courts, Terrorism, Warlords, Western Somalia (Ogaden) | No Comments »