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“Assalamu Alaikum” is an expression Muslims say whenever they meet one another. It is a statement of greeting with peace. The meaning of it is: “Peace be upon you.”

Muslims try to establish peace on earth even through the friendly relation of greeting and meeting one another.

The other forms are: “Assalamu ‘Alalikum Wa Rahmatullah,” which means:”May the peace and the Mercy of Allah be upon you,” and “Assalamu Alalikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh,” which means : “May the peace, the mercy, and the blessings of Allah be upon you.”

Other Commonly Used Spellings:
ASSALAMO ALAIKUM,ASALAMO ALAIKUM

Excerpts taken from the Glossary of Islamic Terms and Concepts home at the University of Southern California.

In an interview with the East African Standard, Mohammed Affey; the Kenyan Ambassador to Somalia said the following:

The Somalia transitional government was validly elected after a three-year struggle for peace in the war torn country. Kenya and other neighbouring countries played a key role in the formation of the transitional government, which is fully recognised by the international community. What is needed is for the international community to assist the transitional government in rebuilding the battered country so that it can operate like any other in the stable states. I deal with the leaders in the existing circumstances pending a final settlement of the Government.

The Ambassador went on by saying:

The Somalia government has shown willingness to fight piracy, but is plagued by lack of equipment and infrastructure. Funding is needed from the international community so as to make the necessary tools available, which could help the Somalia authority in stamping out piracy incidents and any kind of lawlessness.

Hung in there Mr. Ambassador! Things will get better in Somalia soon… Insha Allah!

Click here to view the interview on the East African Standard.

The London’s Independent newspaper writes:

A report into malaria research funding found stark inequalities between the amounts of money spent on predominantly Western illnesses and diseases that kill millions every year in developing nations. The authors measured such inequalities by comparing how many years of productive life are lost to a disease and the amount of money spent combating them.

For instance:

Diabetes, (….) receives 1.6 per cent of the total money spent on medical research, even though as a fatal illness it only accounts for 1.1 per cent of all the productive years of life lost to disease. Malaria, on the other hand, is responsible for 3 per cent of all lost years. In other words, despite the fact that diabetes is three times less deadly than malaria, it gets six times more money in research and funding.

Interesting report!

Click here to view the full article on The Independent.

Civiblog is a one-stop-site for global civil society, devoted to providing an avenue to broaden the discourse of global issues. You can create your own blog free of charge and fully hosted. It is also easy to set up and maintain.

Check it out by clicking here.

In its lead article today, The Guardian newspaper says:

Mr. Bush ought to have been out celebrating yesterday. The government reported the US economy growing by a buoyant 3.8% year-on-year to the third quarter. But the president has run out of luck for now. Already buffeted by Iraq, social security reform failure, Hurricane Katrina and the Harriet Miers debacle, Mr Bush now heads a White House under siege from Democratic and Republican critics alike. A man who prided himself as a good leader now sees his administration tainted by cronyism, incompetence and dishonesty. It has been the worst week of his presidency. Mr Bush will need more than luck to recover from it.

Click here to view the full article on The Guardian.

Traditionally, milk chocolate was made using cow milk; however, soon camel lovers like me will enjoy a piece of Chocolate made exclusively by using Camel milk! Read this:

A dairy farm in Al Ain is set to produce chocolates made of camel milk.The farm has set up a chocolate manufacturing plant in Al Ain in collaboration with the Vienna-based Chocolatier Hochleitner. Production starts from June 2006 — that’s just about eight months from now. Started by the Al Ain Dairy Farm, the plant will have a capacity of producing 50 tonnes of camel milk chocolate every month. An official told your favourite No. 1 newspaper Khaleej Times that it was the first farm in the AGCC that will produce chocolate from camel milk and honey. The milk from camels of the Al Ain Dairy Farm and honey from Yemen — healthy and delicious.

Click here to read the full article on the Khaleej Times.

Safi Abdi; A Somali author currently living in the United Arab Emirates writes in her first novel “A Mighty Collision of Two Worlds”:

Some people believe in Cupid; the popular angel of love and some people do not. Others have doubts. No matter how many times you think it over, one fact remains, love exists. However, is love only for those who have the same skin color, the same language or the same culture?

Click here to learn more about this book. Interesting read!

Here is a rather humorous weblog documenting Kenya’s bumpy road to democratic political system. Check it out on your own risk!

In an article on the Global Agenda magazine, Moeletsi Mbeki argues:

Africa’s political elites have undermined their countries’ economies. The region must give power to the private sector producers if it is ever to develop. When African and Asian colonies gained independence last century, their new leaders faced two main challenges: to consolidate quickly their political power while ensuring stability and, in the longer term, to transform their countries’ economies away from colonial era norms.

I agree entirely with what Mr. Mbeki is saying. Indeed, the economic, social and political realities on the ground in Africa validate his argument. Those African countries that have adopted communist economic and political systems after the independence are in dire economic hardships, while those that have opted for somewhat liberalized economic systems are in better shape today, relatively speaking. In addition, most of communist Africa have experience serious political instabilities and in most cases, civil war. Somalia, Angola, Mozambique, Ethiopia and Libya are tragic examples of the appalling political economies prevalent in much of Africa.

Click here to view the full column on the Global Agenda magazine.

Kevin Sites; the world renowned war correspondent has this to say about Somalia. There is also video for those with high-speed or Broadband internet connection.

Mr. Sites seems to have mastered his art!

According to Norway Statistics (Statistisk sentralbyrå-SSB), Somalis are the fifth largest foreign minority in Norway and largest none-western group totaling about ten thousand . As the saying goes, “allahayow dhib baddanaa nin ka tagay dhulkiisii”.

Majority of Somalis in Norway are under-age children.

Click here to view the full report on SSB. You may like to click here to find similar statistics for Somalis in Sweden. And here for Denmark.

According to a press release by Abdirahman Dinari; the TFG’s Spokesman, many members of the Somali transitional federal parliament who are currently in Nairobi will be heading to Jowhar to meet with the Somali President and his Prime Minister. It looks like the destructives Mogadishu warlords and Sharif Hassan’s political alliances are crumbling from within. This is really good news for the Somali people and bad news for the renegade Speaker.

Click here to view full Press Release on Yamayska.

On Open Democracy website, Elisabeth Porter writes:

To translate Resolution 1325 into reality, we must understand that there are gendered and cultural views on security, and include women in formal political processes.

Mr. Porter continued by asking the following question:

Does it really matter if women are present at negotiating tables or in formal peace processes?

(more…)

The following letter was sent to the “Dear Economist” column at the Financial Times.

Dear Economist,
Parents often find that some of their children turn out wealthier than others. Doting but logical parents have been seen to apportion financial help unequally in order to help the least successful of their children at the expense of the wealthier ones.
So is one is better off being lazy and a failure in life in order to maximize the potential help from one’s parents?
Yours truly,
Alexander Ross, London

Click here to view the response from the “Dear Economist”; Tim Hartford. Mr. Harford works for the IFC of the World Bank Group. His forthcoming book is titled: “The Undercover Economist”.

There is a vote going on the Open Democracy website regarding the “Bad Democracy Award”. Check it out and vote!

Click here to view Coastal and Marine Ecosystems data for Somalia by the Eathtrends of the World Resources Institute.

According to that data 55% of the Somali population live within 100km from the coast! Incredibly, we are hungry despite the abundance of marine resources in the Somali coast, which incidentally is the second longest coastline in Africa after South Africa! Something must be terribly wrong somewhere: In our brains, I guess!

Go fishing you fouls…… !!!

Here is a list and information of current development projects financed by the UK(2000-2005). You may like to click here to see more on UK’s foreign Aid.

Following are the top ten countries with the highest percentage of college graduates living abroad, including Somalia.

Haiti 84% (the poorest country in the western hamisphere!)
Ghana 47
Mozambique 45%
Kenya 38%
Uganda 36
Angola 33%
Somalia 33%
El Salvador 31%
Sri Lanka 31%

How could development and economic progress take place in countries with such dismal numbers?

Following is the summary of the World Bank Report on “International migration, remittances, and the brain drain”: (more…)

If Somalis come together, they can even mend a crack in the sky. (Somali proverb)

Well, I am not so sure about that anymore… but it gives hope to Somali nationalists like myself who believe in Somalia and the Somali people.

Thoraya Ahmed Obaid; Executive Director of the UNFPA was quoted as saying:

I am here today to say that world leaders will not make poverty history until they make gender discrimination history. (…..) We cannot make poverty history until we stop violence against women and girls. We cannot make poverty history until women enjoy their full social, cultural, economic and political rights.

She went on by saying:

Many leaders call for free trade to spur economic growth. It is time to call for action to free women of the discrimination, violence and poor health they face in their daily lives. (…..)And I can assure you that women all over the world are tired of promises, promises, and promises. The time has come; we have the means, we have the commitment. Now we need action.

Click here to view the full article on UNFPA website. You may also like to click here to view the view full on “The Promise of Equality: Gender Equity, Reproductive Health and the Millennium Development Goals”.

Did you know that:

Out of over 180 countries, only 12 are currently headed by women.
15.4% of members of national Parliaments worldwide are women.
7% of the world’s total cabinet ministers are women.
Only 1% of the world’s assets are in the name of women.
70% of people in abject poverty– living on less than $1 per day– are women.

Click here to learn more about this shocking statistics on Learning Partnership. You may also click here to view contact details of some women’s organisations world wide.

Dr. Michael A. Weinstein of the Power and Interest News Report writes:

With a burgeoning population of more than 77.4 million people that grows at a yearly rate of 2.4 percent, according to October U.N. estimates, Ethiopia is Africa’s second most populous country after Nigeria. Dwarfing its neighbors in the Horn of Africa in population and land mass, Ethiopia is also the major power center in a region that owes its strategic significance to its proximity to the Arabian Peninsula.

Well, what Dr. Weinstein failed to mention is the fact that at least one third of the land mass he is talking about belongs to the Somali people who do not want to be part of a system that denies their right to self-determination and political freedom. I think Dr. Weinstein is mistakenly exaggerating Ethiopia’s geographical importance. After all, Ethiopia is an isolated and a land locked country after Eritrea went its own. (more…)

Waxaan gabayga deelka iyo laftiyo, diirka uga qaaday
Dadka waxaan ogaysiinayaa, dowgu suu yahaye
Soomaaliday dayaya wanaag, idinka doorsoonye
Docda bari, dorooriga baddiyo, Seylac deriskeeda
Dusha koonfureed iyo ilaa, wabiga daaciisa
Degmadeena oo idil haddaan, dayey abwaankeeda
Nimaan duubiyadu naafo noqon, deelka laga waaye
Dul iyo hoosba waan ugu dhigaye, waa dix-dhagaxeede
Anuunbaa damqanayee dheguhu, uma daloolaane
Dadkaan la hadlayaa baan lahayn, dux iyo iimaane
Bal inay dalfoof tahay caqliga, dooni laga saaray
Wixii hore usoo daashadaay, degashanaysaaye
Doc hadday u wada jeedsatooy, dhowrto danaheeda
Ooy duul walaala ah tahaooy, duunka ka heshiiso
Dadka kama yaraateene ways, dabar jaraysaaye
Dubba madaxa wayskala dhacdaa, daa’in abidkiise
Goortay is wada dooxatay baa, daad u soo geliye

Cabdillaahi Suldaan Timacadde

Courtesy of Aftahan

I am sure Timacadde is having “sleepless nights” in his grave! We somalis do not seem to learn our past mistakes! This prophetic Gabay is as accurate as it was fifty years ago!

Prof. Joseph Nye of Harvard University writes:

According to President Bush, one of the reasons he went to war in Iraq was to transform the Middle East through democracy. The roots of terrorism in the Middle East were seen as growing out of the undemocratic nature of the regimes in the region. Removing Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship and creating democracy in Iraq would address the root causes of terrorism.

Does increasing democracy diminish terrorism? Some analysts are skeptical. Violent extremists exist in nearly all societies. After all, the terrorist attacks in London were carried out by British citizens in one of the world’s oldest democracies. And Timothy McVeigh, an American citizen, carried out the Oklahoma City bombing. Moreover, skeptics argue that even if democracy might reduce terrorist recruitment, the Iraq war was the wrong means to promote democracy, and may have increased the recruitment of new terrorists.

Click here to view the full article on The Christian Science Monitor newspaper.

You must be the change you wish to see in the world.

Mahatma Gandhi (Indian Nationalist/Leader of the None-Violence Movement)

Thanks to Ismail Ahmed (Univ. of Southern Maine) who sent this to us.

On October 5th, 2005, the Chairman of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 751 (1992) concerning Somalia released its report. Following are some extracts from that report:

Members of the opposition who committed arms embargo violations during the current mandate period — some of them dissident members of TFG — are the same individuals who have been identified in past reports of the Monitoring Group as warlords who have demonstrated through their actions and activities that they do not want to see a Government established in Somalia that would infringe or overturn their personal political and economic vested interests. A number of these same individuals have well-established and entrenched local administrations that are a reflection of their vested interests.

Well, as everyone knows the UN is a slow moving bureaucratic monster which is, at best, several years behind the world public opinion. So when the UN finally realized what we all know, which is that the destructive Mogadishu warlords do not want to see successful installation of the transitional Somali federal government in Mogadishu, is in itself a big news! Hurrah for the UN! (more…)

Here is a map showing agricultural land use and mineral resources in Somalia. Our people should not be starving; we have so many different kinds of precious minerals including Uranium!

By the way, can you believe that Somalia is almost as big as the entire southeastern States of United States including part of Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland, the entire State of Pennsylvania, a large portion of Ohio and a small part of State of Michigan! Yet, we are starving! I hate to say it, but I think there is something terribly wrong with our people; including you and me!

Click here to see the full Map.

On Open Democracy, Hazem Saghieh & Saleh Bechir argues that:

Europeans’ tendency to view immigrants from Algeria and Turkey, Pakistan and Iraq as belonging to a single, homogeneous “Muslim community” reflects an essentialist, neo-colonial view of the “other” which carries negative political consequences.

Well, I do not agree entirely with above argument. I believe there is, indeed, a “Muslim community” in Britain and else where. More importantly, the notion of Muslim community predates the European colonialists! It is what sewed together millions of ethnically diverse people to feel as brothers and sisters and form the Muslim empire that ruled more than half of the world for centuries. (more…)