Ainashe.net

Jeffrey 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.

Click here to view the article on NY Times.

According 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

“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.

Galal 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.

“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

Following 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.

The 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 »

This presentation may be of interest to Somali community in Columbus Ohio.

The Ohio State University (OSU) College of Public Health and the OSU Center for African Studies are pleased to sponsoring a presentation on:

“Health and International Humanitarian Assistance: 30 Years of Evolution”
Dr. Ron Waldman, MD, MPH
Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health
USAID, Team Leader, Pandemic Planning/Humanitarian Response

Date: Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Time: 3:30 - 5:00
Place: Younkin Success Center, Room 150
1640 Neil Avenue (across from the OSU Medical Center)

Somalis are running away from their country in despair, unfortunately, there is no place for many of them to go. Above picture shows Somali women heading to the closed Kenyan (Somali NFD) border.
Copy Right: Al Ahram Weekly-AFP.

Edith M. Lederer of the Associated Press writes:

Somalia’s transitional government urged the Security Council on Friday to speed up its planning for the possible deployment of a U.N. peacekeeping force to replace African Union troops in the war-wracked nation. Somalia’s U.N. Ambassador Elmi Ahmed Duale endorsed a recent appeal by African heads of state to the council “to urgently take steps for the early deployment of United Nations peacekeeping operations to further enhance peace in Somalia.”

Ms. Lederer went on by saying:

Somalia has not had a functioning government since clan-based warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other, sinking the poverty-stricken nation of 7 million into chaos. Its weak transitional government, backed by Ethiopian troops, is struggling to quash an Islamic insurgency that has killed thousands of civilians this year. The 1,800 Ugandan peacekeepers who arrived in Somalia in early 2007 are supposed to be the vanguard of an 8,000-strong African Union peacekeeping force, though only Burundi in December sent an advance team of 192 soldiers.

I think the TFG is riding on the wrong horse again! First they asked for Ethiopian troops with all destruction and mayhem that followed in the aftermath of the invasion. Unfortunately, the TFG does not seem to have learned from the mistakes of the past. The solution to Somalia’s tragic political conflict is not bringing more foreign troop to the country. The key to a lasting peace is open and sincere political dialogue whereby the Somali people can sort out their difference through Somali, Arab and Islamic channels!

As the saying goes, “Qofna intuu kuu jiro kuuma soo dhaafo”! Somalia must rediscover its cultural and religious roots.

Click here to view the full dispatch on the Miami Herald.

According to the United Nations News Srvice:

About 90,000 children in war-ravaged Somalia could die in the next few months without immediate supplementary nutrition and therapeutic feeding, an official with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said today, calling for stepped-up international support.

Due to a lack of adequate funding, the agency – which is urgently appealing for $10 million for nutritional, water and sanitation programmes – said it maybe be forced to close its nutritional centres and cease delivering drinking water in two weeks.

Click here to view the full story on the UN News Service.

African Union, briefing Security Council on Somalia, appeals for urgent steps to deploy United Nations peacekeeping force to replace Union’s mission
SC/9249.

Security Council
5837th Meeting (AM)

The representative of the African Union this morning conveyed to the Security Council her organization’s solemn appeal for urgent action to deploy a United Nations peacekeeping operation in Somalia, which would replace the African Union’s mission there, to help long-term stabilization and the rebuilding of Somalia.

Briefing the Council on the situation in Somalia, Lila H. Ratsifandrihamanana, Permanent Observer of the African Union, said that it was a cause of shared concern. During the last Summit in Addis Ababa, the Assembly of the African Union had endorsed the proposals of the Peace and Security Council in its communiqué of 18 January. A meeting of the International Contact Group in Somalia (ICGS) had been also organized on the margin of the Summit, and meetings had been held between African Union stakeholders and various groups and personalities, such as Jendai Praser, United States Assistant Secretary of State, a Finnish Member of Parliament and European Union officials, regarding the situation in Somalia.

Read the rest of this entry »

Xan Rice, East Africa correspondent of the Guardian News paper writes:

The Islamist-led resistance in Somalia is growing in scale and aggression, with insurgents openly taking on Ethiopian troops and African Union peacekeepers in the capital Mogadishu, in fighting that has killed dozens, possibly hundreds, in the past three weeks.

Mr. Rice went on saying:

Few people believe that the situation is about to get better. Several experts interviewed by the Guardian say that the insurgents are becoming more powerful. A military analyst and a western diplomat to Somalia, neither of whom wished to be named, warned that the angry mood and conditions that allowed an Islamist movement to defeat a gang of warlords and take power in Mogadishu last year were returning. “We are on a merry-go-round and it’s back to 2006,” said the analyst. “The insurgents are gaining not only in physical strength, but in moral strength too.”

Mr. Rice concluded by saying:

Analysts say that the situation reflects a chronic miscalculation by the Ethiopian prime minister, Meles Zenawi, who sent his troops into Somalia late last year, and by the US, which backed that decision. The goal was to rout the Somali Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC), which had brought a measure of calm to Mogadishu for the first time in more than a decade, but which was accused by Washington and Addis Ababa of close links to al-Qaida.

Click here to view the full dispatch on the Guardian.

I am saddened that the independent media is being oppressed. (…)These [media organizations] have worked for the Somali people for the past 17 years and they are loved by the people.

Seynab Mohamed Amir, MP
Somali Transitional Federal Parliament

Following is an announcement by The Islamic Relief.

Islamic Relief Worldwide is delighted to announce a conference entitled Islam and HIV/AIDS that will, God willing, take place in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 26 to 30 November 2007. It will comprise of five days of consultations that aim to generate practical responses to the HIV and AIDS pandemic from an Islamic perspective

There are around 40 million people living with HIV and AIDS in the world. The disease devastates individual lives as well as communities, and is increasingly affecting Muslim populations. This conference aims to contribute to halting the spread of the disease and to ensuring appropriate care for people affected by it. The Muslim world has been silent about the issue of HIV and AIDS for much too long, and it is hoped that these consultations will help to change that.

Click here to view a flyer for this conference.

Anna Husarska of the International Rescue Committee says:
Somalia’s internal conflict is propelled by a combustible mix of religion, politics and clan rivalry. Civilians are killed daily in Mogadishu, there are roadside bombs and mortar attacks, and politicians and journalists are targeted. Making matters worse, the country has suffered this year from both floods and drought. This combination of insecurity and natural disasters has displaced huge numbers of people and caused suffering on a scale painful to behold. According to the most recent UN figures, 400,000 people, or roughly one-third of Mogadishu’s population, have fled the city.

She continued by saying:

Yet Somalia still rarely gets into the headlines. This partly reflects the near impossibility of gathering news. Few foreign journalists venture in — it is too difficult and too dangerous for them to work inside the country — and local reporters are harassed by the authorities. And, even when there is news, the world’s capacity to absorb bad and sad stories from yet another hellish place is limited.

I agree entirely with Ms. Husarska that the world is comply ignoring the tragic events taking place in Somalia. I think it is time the world to wake up and help poor Somali to put their lives together and restore some sort normalcy.

Click here to view the article on Taipei Times through Project Syndicate.

Ramzy Baroud writing for the Pan Arab Al Jazeera Television Network says:

The people of Somalia are enduring yet another round of suffering as Ethiopian forces wreck havoc in the capital, Mogadishu. Apparently in response to an attack on one of its units, and the dragging of a soldier’s mutilated body through the city’s streets, an Ethiopian mortar reportedly exploded in Mogadishu’s Bakara market on Nov. 9, killing eight civilians. A number of Somalis were also found dead the following day, some believed to have been rounded up by Ethiopian forces the night before.

Ramzy Baroud went on by saying:

Of course, one cannot realistically expect the international community to take on a constructive involvement in the conflict. Various members of this community have already played a most destructive role in Somalia’s 16-year-old civil war, which fragmented a nation that had long struggled to achieve a sense of sovereignty and national cohesion.

He concluded by saying:

This situation leaves Somalia once more under the mercy of foreign powers and self-serving internal forces, foreshadowing yet more bloodshed. Our informed support is essential now because the Somali people have suffered enough. Their plight is urgent and it deserves a much deeper understanding, alongside immediate attention.

It looks like that Somalia is finally getting the attention it deserves from the Arab world.

Click here to view the full article on Arab News.

Peter Heinlein of VOA writes:

Washington’s top diplomat on African issues says regional leaders must do more to ease simmering tensions in the Horn of Africa. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer made the comment after leading a team of senior U.S. officials on a tour of Ethiopia’s tense Ogaden region bordering Somalia.

I think the US Government is asking the wrong group of countries to get involved in the tragic Somali political conflict. Neither Kenya nor Ethiopia is an honest peace broker. These countries have strategic and security interests that can only be achieved by keeping Somalia weak and fragmented for many years to come. Hence, it is not only illogical but counter-productive to expect those countries to pull Somalia out of the current quagmire. The US Government should ask Arab and Islamic countries to assist Somalia!

Engaging the Egyptian and Saudi governments could be a good start!

Click here to view the full dispatch by Peter Heinlein.

“I would like to leave behind me the conviction that if we maintain a certain amount of caution and organization we deserve victory[….] You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness. In this case, it comes from nonconformity, the courage to turn your back on the old formulas, the courage to invent the future. It took the madmen of yesterday for us to be able to act with extreme clarity today. I want to be one of those madmen. […] We must dare to invent the future.”

Thomas Sankara
African Revolutionary

The Guardian newspaper reports:

Rising tensions in the Ogaden region of eastern Ethiopia, combined with chronic instability in neighbouring Somalia, Eritrean enmity, and human rights concerns, are testing US support for the Addis Ababa government led by Clinton-era good governance pin-up Meles Zenawi.

The paper continued by saying:

Keeping a firm hand on ethnically Somali, Muslim Ogaden, the scene of a cold war-era proxy conflict, is a long-standing US objective.

The paper continued by saying:

Eritrea, its bitter border dispute with Ethiopia still simmering, is shipping “huge quantities of arms” to insurgents in Somalia, according to a UN report. Concerns about a spreading humanitarian and refugee emergency grow, even as international aid targets undershoot. And now, far from being “defunct”, Somalia’s Islamist movement may be gaining friends and influence in an increasingly isolated, radicalised Ogaden.

I wonder why so many different US Administrations would side with Ethiopian and deny the people of Western Somalia their right to self determination. After all, the US claims to be “beacon” of freedom in the world!

Could someone explain?

Click here to view the full report on The Guardian.

In a Press Release issued recently, the World Bank says:

The Horn of Africa is one of the regions that has been most prominently impacted by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. This area is characterized by sizeable mobile populations of transport workers, migrants, refugees, internally displaced persons, and cross-border populations, populations that are most vulnerable to contracting HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases.

However, the Horn of Africa is also where there is hope that something can be done to bring about change. Countries like Kenya and Uganda are bringing down their HIV/AIDS prevalence rates — from 15% and 18.5% respectively in the 1990s to about 6.1% and 6.7% today. The efforts that have seen these figures come tumbling down have been mainly at country level.

The Press Release went on by stating:

Recognizing that movement of vulnerable populations is a major challenge in the region, on June 28, 2007 the World Bank and IGAD signed a $15 million grant to support the IGAD Regional HIV/AIDS Partnership Program (IRHAPP). The program seeks to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS among cross-border and mobile populations in IGAD’s member states: Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda. The four-year project, which aims to reduce the vulnerability of these mobile populations, was initiated with the support of the World Bank and will be the first to be financed by the Africa Catalytic Growth Fund (ACGF).

By the way, it is worth noting that very little is known about the actual number of HIV/AIDS infected people in Somalia. However, many Somalis went to Eastern African countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia as refugees and those who have returned may have brought the disease to the country. Also, Ethiopian soldiers in Somalia have high number of HIV/AIDS infected among their ranks and that is probably the biggest threat facing the nation at the present time.
Click here to view the full PR on World Bank’s External Website.

According to the French News Agency; AFP the International Monetary Fund (IMF) board on Thursday agreed on a procedure to select the next IMF chief….

The board said it would accept nominations from any of the IMF’s 185 member countries and would weigh the choice of candidates in September, before IMF Managing Director Rodrigo Rato steps down at the end of meetings in October. ‘The nomination period will commence immediately and will close on Aug. 31, 2007,’ the board said in a statement, saying the successful candidate must have a record in economic policymaking and have managerial and diplomatic skills. … ‘The objective is not to take it away from Europe but to make the process merit based,’ said one IMF board director. …”

AFP reports went on by saying:

“… The IMF added that ‘although the Executive Board may select a Managing Director by a majority of votes cast, the objective of the Executive Board is to select the Managing Director by consensus.’ …”

The Chinese News Agency; Xinhua reports:

The 14th general conference of the Arab Towns Organization (ATO) opened in Marrakech, on the theme of ‘Effective Partnership for Sustainable Development of Towns,’ according to the Moroccan News Agency (MAP). The ongoing meeting is being attended by about 400 officials from member-towns of the ATO, representatives of the World Alliance of Towns, UN Habitat Program as well as the Arab League.

You may like to click here for more on this.

SALIM LONE writes:

In the wake of the awful attacks of September 11 2001, Tony Blair’s passionate denunciation of impoverishment in Africa as “a scar on the conscience of the world” convinced many that the west would propel the issue of mass poverty and injustice to the top of the international agenda in the cause of a more stable world.

This week’s news only confirms that it was a misplaced hope. Not a single country in sub-Saharan Africa has met the criteria set by the UN’s millennium development goals on poverty alleviation, the centrepiece of the project. Some observers believe the number of poor, and the intensity of the poverty, has actually risen in almost all countries.

Read the rest of this entry »

Salahuddin Kasem Khan writes:

An Islamic Common Market is a concept which has a firm basis in Islamic History. The establishment of the Islamic State in Medina founded the first Common Market. The dismantling of tribal, cultural and racial barriers by Islam led to a society based on religious brother-hood which transcended geographical boundaries, and as a natural collorary, economic barriers were also simultaneously removed. This new system was to unleash the entrepreneurial and trading energies of the Muslim Arabs, who with the passage of time were determined to establish the greatest economic organisation the world has seen stretching from Morocco to Indonesia.

Click here to view the full report on the Islamic Economic Forum.

The Somalia Prime Minister; Cali Maxamed Geedi was quoted as saying:

We are very grateful for the sacrifice made by the Ethiopians. Ethiopia is the number one friend of this country.

This is where Cali Maxamed Geedi and the fast majority of the Somali people, including myself turn sharply to different and opposing directions. Contrary to what the Prime Minister said, and I must say, with all accounts, Ethiopia has always been, and continues to be Somalia’s worst enemy. Unless one is blind-folded by myopic tribalist agenda, personal greed or irrational self hate, no one need to be a brain-surgeon to understand that Ethiopia is far from being Somalia’s “best friend” as the Prime Minister ignorantly stated. Read the rest of this entry »

Speaking at the World Islamic Economic Forum on Monday, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the Indonesian president was quoted as saying:

We appear weak because we have been told we are weak and believed it.

In an equally encouraging remark, Abdullah Badawi, Malaysia’s prime minister said:

The loss of knowledge and innovation within the Muslim ummah [people] eventually led to the loss of sovereignty and empire.

Abdullah Badawi went on by saying:

We must rediscover our ability and passion for knowledge and innovation … we must reclaim this legacy.

Click here to view the full article on the Pan Arab Al Jazeera TV network.

Dr. Khaled Batarfi writing for the Arab News Online says:

Our governments are suppressing the rights and freedoms of their peoples. Between those who take away our right to think and innovate and the ones who deny us the right to practice our religion, most of us are living in fear, depression and desperation.

Dr. Batarfi went on by saying:

If we have any chance of getting back to our glorious days, when we ruled and enlightened the world from the walls of China to the gates of France, and from the jungles of Africa to the summits of Samarkand, we must change. You know your path is wrong when every step brings you down and takes you closer to a dead end. We have been down this road for ages. Isn’t it about time we doubted our direction?

Interesting?

Click here to view the full column.

The Gulf News reports:

As Arab efforts to stop the war intensified, the UAE yesterday called on Ethiopia to withdraw its troops from Somalia. The appeal was made by Mohammad Hussain Al Sha’ali, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, during a meeting in Abu Dhabi with Mahmoud Ahmad Jaz, an envoy of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who delivered a message to President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Voicing the UAE’s concern over armed hostilities in Somalia, Al Sha’ali urged Addis Ababa to “halt this war” and called for “the withdrawal of foreign forces from Somalia,” WAM reported. He urged Somalia’s neighbours to “encourage reconciliation among Somali factions”.

Click here to view the full report