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Will the Dubai hit increase Israel's global isolation?

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These are the known facts: The Dubai police claim that 26 visitors entered and exited the emirate over the past year on false British, Irish, Australian, German and French passports. Some or all were involved in the assassination of senior Hamas operative Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, who also entered Dubai under a false identity. The Dubai police chief has accused the Mossad of the January 19 hit. He has presented no proof, but more than half of the fake passports in Dubai bore the names of Israelis.

The European Union and the countries whose passports were counterfeited have criticized the misuse of their identity documents without mentioning the names of those responsible. French President Nicolas Sarkozy termed the assassination utterly unjustified – “nothing more than a murder.” Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement in Mabhouh’s killing or in falsifying the documents, but former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Dan Halutz said that such actions attributed to Israel “deter terror organizations.”

It is unclear whether terrorist groups are more deterred than in the past. What is clear is that the plot is thickening as more suspects are uncovered. If the claims of Israel’s responsibility are correct, what appears to be cumulative damage is getting worse.
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The main question pertains to the planning of the operation, or operations, in which the 26 holders of false passports were involved. It seems that the planners did not take into consideration Dubai’s ability to cross-reference information from surveillance cameras in the airport, hotels and malls with computerized information from its passport control. Even if none of the suspected agents were caught in the act, clearly they will have difficulty taking part in similar actions in the future. It’s also possible that the investigation will lead to the exposure of other suspects or other operations. A week before the hit on Mabhouh, a nuclear scientist was killed in Tehran, and Iranian leaders accused Israel.

The group that took out Mabhouh was exposed due to one weak point: the use of false passports from Western countries bearing the identities of real Israelis with dual citizenship. From now on, it will be much more difficult to use such passports, and all Israelis with dual passports will be suspected of being intelligence agents. There is no doubt that this revelation endangers, or at least complicates, other operations.

Did Mabhouh’s assassination justify taking such a risk? Was there negligence or contempt for the adversary on the part of the planners, the commanders and those who approved the operation (Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to foreign reports)? Were other operations compromised, that were even more essential than the killing of a Hamas weapons smuggler? Is criticism by countries whose passports were falsified just for the record, or will it limit operatives’ freedom of action in other hits? Will the affair increase Israel’s international isolation and present it once again as a lawless state?

If foreign reports are true about Israel’s responsibility for the Mabhouh hit and the forged passports, then a thorough clarification is warranted, which can lead to conclusions about both organizations and individuals.

Source: Haaretz, 26th January 2010

Somaliland: "Vice President is Doing Fine" Says the Government

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HARGEISA, 25 February 2010 (Somalilandpress) – Somaliland government strongly denied reports say the vice president passed away in Paris. Today, some of the media reported that the Somaliland’s Vice President, Ahmed Yusuf Yassin passed away this morning while he was at a hospital in France.

According to a press release from the government’s spokesman, Said Adani Moge, said the Vice President is doing fine and getting his medications in a hospital in Paris. He said those reports are bias and aimed at creating confusion among Somaliland citizens.

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Few weeks ago, the Somaliland’s Vice President was taken to France for medical treatment and being admitted in a hospital. Since then, there are uncertain reports about the VP’s health as there was no official statement about his health situation from the government.

Mr. Moge said the media should not circulate such reports before they make sure the reality.

This is the first time that Somaliland government officially speaks about the health status of the Vice President.


Somalilandpress

Nigeria stablity depends on 2011 poll planning: US

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WASHINGTON (Somalilandpress) — The United States pressed Nigeria’s caretaker president on Tuesday to revamp the oil giant’s tattered election machinery, saying it must hold credible polls in 2011 or risk increased instability.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Johnnie Carson said acting President Goodluck Jonathan, who stepped in this month to fill the power vacuum left by President Umaru Yar’Adua’s near three-month absence in a Saudi hospital, was making a good start but that Africa’s largest oil producer remained in dangerous political territory.

“We’re not out of the woods yet. We won’t be out of the woods until Nigeria holds its next presidential election, until it has a president that all of the people have had an opportunity to select and vote for,” the top U.S. diplomat for Africa told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
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Carson said that during a trip to Nigeria this month, he urged Jonathan and other political leaders to start serious preparations for national elections due in 2011, saying these could be a crucial turning point.

“They must be a significant improvement over the country’s 2007 presidential elections, which were deeply embarrassing and deeply flawed,” Carson said. The 2007 election was marred by vote-rigging and intimidation.

The race to succeed Yar’Adua in the West African nation of 140 million people appears wide open, although Jonathan could win broad support if he performs well.

Carson said the United States was heartened by Jonathan’s commitments to tackle stalled oil reform plans, domestic gas supply shortages and instability in the Niger Delta, where militants have threatened to resume attacks on oil installations if the government does not quickly act on an amnesty program agreed to last year.

DELTA REMAINS ON EDGE

Attacks on oil and gas installations in the Niger Delta in recent years have prevented the OPEC member from pumping much above two-thirds of its 3 million barrels per day (bpd) installed capacity, costing it an estimated $1 billion a month in lost revenues, according to the central bank.

Nigerian crude is favored by refiners in the United States and Europe because it is light and easy to process into fuel products. The instability helped push world oil prices to record highs near $150 a barrel in 2008.

Among companies concerned by the situation are Royal Dutch Shell, U.S. giant Chevron, France’s Total and local firm Oando.

“Security has improved considerably in most areas of the Delta,” Carson said. “But a resumption of violence cannot be ruled out if the government does not follow through.”

Nigerian officials have said the elections could be held as early as November — although analysts say an accelerated timetable could increase political uncertainty.

Carson said it was crucial that Nigeria improve its INEC electoral commission, which he said “needs new and improved leadership if elections are to have any real meaning.”

Carson said the United States would continue to take a strong line on Nigerian corruption and would seek to help Nigeria’s government work to forestall the spread of militant Islam in Muslim areas of the country’s north. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently characterized the corruption in Nigeria as “unbelievable.”

Nigeria found itself in the spotlight following the December arrest of Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who is accused of trying to blow up a U.S. airliner as it approached Detroit from Amsterdam on Christmas Day.

The United States included Nigeria on a list of 14 countries whose travelers would be subject to increased security scrutiny after the attempted bombing, drawing fierce complaints from Abuja.

But Carson said U.S. officials at present saw “no direct linkages” between Nigerian militants — which he said were largely motivated by local concerns — and groups such as al Qaeda’s North African wing, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

By Andrew Quinn

Source: Reuters, 24th February 2010

The Somali Community Needs To Learn To Deal With The Reality of Mental Illness

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Mental health is a very real and difficult issue which many in society face. Mental health concerns how those with mental illness think, feel and consequently behave. According to the National Health Service (NHS) of Great Britain one in four people in the UK have a mental health problem at some point in their lives that affects their daily life, relationships or physical health.

The simple fact is that mental ill health is not exclusive to one group or people within society and it is not linked to any individual characteristic or personality traits. Mental health problems can affect anyone and at any time during their life and without the correct support and treatment, mental health problems can effect and seriously damage individuals sufferers, their families and those around the sufferer. According to the NHS every year over 250,000 people are admitted to psychiatric hospitals and around 4,000 people commit suicide as a result.

Mental health disorders take many different forms and affect people in differing ways. Some of the most common and best known mental disorders are depression, stress, personality disorders and schizophrenia. Mental disorders can also include dementia which usually is associated with old age and eating disorders which are more common in young people today.

The reasons for mental health development in individuals are complex and personal and contrary to stereotypical prejudices, there is no one single cause. However, mental health issues are more prevalent in some groups than others and members of these groups tend to be the most vulnerable in society. These include the homeless, those from ethnic minority backgrounds, the disabled and those subject to immigration control or who are seeking asylum in the UK. Key events such as loss of family member, family breakdown, being made redundant from employment and long term alcohol and drug abuse can also lead to poor mental health.

Due to their vulnerability and a lack of understanding of their social issues, people with mental health problems are widely discriminated against in wider society and this is detrimental to the effected individual’s recovery as it worsens their mental health problem and slows down or even hampers their potential recovery.

Many Somalis in the UK suffer from mental illness and need support, advice and guidance in order to recover from it. Even if they cannot make a full recovery, they can be supported to enable them to cope with their mental illness. Thanks to medical advancement and innovations there are various treatments available free on the NHS. Among these are medication, counselling services and psychotherapy. However, despite all this, one of the key reasons why mental illness is so prevalent among Somalis in the UK and wider world is because of the stereotypically negative way it is viewed within the Somali culture.

Traditionally Somalis did not know about mental illness and even the limited few that might have known about it were ignorant to it. The reason for this is because in the Somali culture those with mental illness, regardless of how minor, are seen as weak, problematic and a shame on the family. The whole concept of been mentally unwell was and still remains, with a large section of the Somali communities worldwide, a social taboo which could potentially bring individual families perceived honour into question. As a result of this, many mentally ill Somali’s living in the developed world, despite the support and medical treatment available, seek no help or are fearful to even reveal they are mentally unwell in case they are marginalised by their own families and community. Many family members who are aware of their relative’s illness selfishly do not speak out or seek help on their behalf for fear of ruining a perfect family image at the cost of the mentally unwell relative’s recovery.

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The vast majority of Somalis living in the West have immigrated to their new respective Countries of residence as a result of a violent and deadly civil war which rages on today, nearly twenty years after it first started. Many of these immigrants are now settled in their new Western homelands and some even have children who are considered first generation Somali westerners. However, the traumas associated with war such as losing family members, losing one’s livelihood, wealth and starting all over again in an alien foreign land as a refugee have taken their toll on many members of the Somali Community members living in the West. Even some of those who have come to the western countries as children and have grown up there and have no recollection of Somalia suffer from common mental illnesses such as stress as a result of discrimination, unemployment and lack of opportunities.

Not surprisingly, more and more Somali women suffer from mental illness in the Western countries where they have settled as a result of family breakdown and lack of a support structure in the form of the traditional extended family which they were used to back in Somalia. Whereas the extended family support network offered them support, guidance and advice on bringing up their child(ren), family breakdown and all the ills that accompany it such as poverty, has trapped them in isolation, fear and social exclusion. To some Somali women seeking support for mental illness is more than a taboo, it is an indication that they are not fit parents and are not able to adequately deal with the responsibilities been a parent brings.

Many People who were asked about mental health for the purposes of this article were reluctant to speak about it. When asked if they knew what mental health was most said they did but could not define it. However, all were sure it involved a certain amount of mental imbalance in individuals who suffered from the illness. Lastly, when asked if they knew where to seek support and advice for mental illness if there ever was a need for it or if one generally needed information, most did not know. One person amusingly said, “The Police.”

Poor education about mental health and intolerance as a result of a macho culture has left many Somalis suffering from mental health in the West. Here in the UK where medication and treatment is free, it is rare to see Somalis seeking the support they are entitled to without been sectioned under the Mental Health Act. The fact is that mental health is an international problem which will or has the potential to effects everybody at some point in their life. It is not something that is unique to anybody or group and it is not something to be ashamed of. Many people recover from mental illness every year and go on to lead successful and fulfilling lives.

The Somali community must recognise this and move away from this macho culture which does not allow for good members of the community to be mentally unwell. The western governments and local and international mental health charities must also do their part to tackle the ignorance and the stereotypes that embed this dangerous level of ignorance by providing better education and training to the Somali community. Furthermore, the training and employment of Somali mental health advocates, trainers and advisers will go a long way in bringing mental illness as an issue out of the shadows and into the centre of the Somali community’s minds.

Liban Obsiye (libanbakaa@hotmail.com)
and Yusuf Salah (ylucknow@hotmail.com).
Yusuf Salah is a mental Health trainee advocate in Bristol.

The Mourning Tree – An Autobiography and A Prison Memoir by Mohamed Barud Ali, February 2010

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In 1993, as a Minister of the Republic of Somaliland, “I was given the same office that the National Security Service interrogated me in the first night I was arrested [in 1982]. What can I say? All the demons have been exorcised from my life”. So ends, in characteristic modesty and generosity of spirit, the memoirs of Mohamed Barud Ali. The memoirs titled “The Mourning Tree – An Autobiography and Prison Memoirs” were launched on 20th February – an eventful date for the author and one which has since been commemorated in the Republic of Somaliland. The memoirs which have been published as the well chosen first book in a series titled “men and women” of Somaliland, is not just the story of a man, but also reflect the tale of a nation.

Born, in British Somaliland of the 1950s, under a tree (the Mourning Tree of the title) which was steeped in clan folklore, Barud attended one of the few elementary schools in Somaliland and joined the successive generations which left nomadic life. After independence, Barud attended the prestigious Sheikh Secondary School which was still staffed by redoubtable British teachers, and then, as one of the brightest pupils, he came to the United Kingdom for university education. With a keen eye for detail, Barud narrates amusing vignettes about the inevitable but innocent culture clashes and about the invidious racism of the 1970s seaside town “skinheads” who had never faced before young Somalis jealously guarding their honour.

I can attest to the fact that the curious incident of the “black magic” (hot pepper) powder which reduced the tough Brighton “bovver boys” into sopping jellies has gone down in the annals of UK Somaliland students’ folklore!
Unlike many other Somaliland students completing their overseas studies abroad in the 1970s, Barud returned to the Somali “Democratic” Republic, as the country was known then, at the end of 1978. By then the so called “bloodless” military coup of General Siyad Barre has already shed much blood. On his return, Barud had no choice but to go to Mogadishu “because it was the only place where there was an opportunity for employment in the country”. In 1980, however, he was lucky enough to find employment in his home town, Hargeisa, and soon a new chapter of his life unfolded.

Barud and other young professionals were concerned about the dire state of the British built Hargeisa Group Hospital. With no adequate electricity supplies, relatives of expectant mothers were asked to switch on the headlights of their cars so that midwives and doctors can deliver the babies. A voluntary committee started to improve the state of the hospital and the streets and kept the local officials apprised of their work. The dictator’s extensive security apparatus could neither countenance any voluntary welfare activities that might be seen as highlighting the government’s failings nor would it allow any meetings or gatherings of such volunteers.

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The dictatorship’s idea of voluntary self help “iskaa wax u qabso” was neither organised by volunteers nor undertaken voluntarily. Barud is very characteristically modest about his role and that of his colleagues, but both the nature and symbolism of their actions to the regime, on the one side, and to the long suffering “Somalileyn” people, on the other, set in train the events that followed and are narrated in the remainder of the memoirs.

It started with a portentous nock on the door late at night in November 1981. Five fully armed National Security Service soldiers took Barud away from his home. They reassured his anxious wife “with disarming civility” that he will be back home within the hour – an hour that stretched to eight and half years! 28 other Hargeisa professionals were arrested during the ensuing months. Barud describes the torture and the inhumane treatment to which he was subjected over a period of four months. This included indiscriminate and repeated beatings, various water torture, sensual deprivation, and hunger. In their continual efforts to extract confessions, the teams of interrogators even tried to condemn Barud and the others for absurd inferences drawn for their traditional names – Barud (gunpowder in Somali); Olad (struggle); Abby (defence) and Dagal (war)! Barud retorted by pointing their other names, such as Warsame (glad tidings), Dualeh (blessed) and Madar (nourishing rain)!

On 19 February 1982, Barud was served, for the first time, with a charge sheet alleging that he committed offences under Siyad Barre’s Security Law, which were punishable by death. Barud already knew that the people accused of serious offences were executed promptly with or without short “trials” in special security courts and states that this was indeed the worst week of his life. On the following day (20th February 1982), Barud heard from his prison cell gun fire that continued spasmodically for three days. This was the regime suppressing and killing unarmed students and young people who came on the streets when they learnt that Barud and 28 other detainees were to be sentenced by the dreaded National Security Court. Young students (and others) in Hargeisa and other cities came out into streets in defiance of the might of the dictatorship, and their stones and pebbles were answered with a hail of bullets, and reportedly some artillery fire. 45 were killed and a considerable number were arrested.

The ensuing show trial of Barud and the other 28 men took only 10 hours, including a break of one hour for lunch. The lawyers brought for them from Mogadishu two days.

Somaliland Thwarts Attack on Military

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LAS ANOD (Somalilandpress) — Somaliland military said it thwarted a Puntland militant attack on members of it’s 12th division stationed in east of Las Anod on Monday morning.

Mr. Saleban Guled, Somaliland Defense minister, said there were no casualties on either side but the militants fled back to Puntland.

The attack came as Somaliland prepares the last leg of voter-registrations in the region.

According to an eyewitness, a search operation was also conducted in Tukaraq, a town some 50km south of Las Anod, against miscreants involved in terror activities. They said arms and cash were seized.

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Earlier this month, the security forces nabbed at least 20 suspected militants and Quranic teachers from Las Anod, who were accused of having ties with Somalia’s Al Shabab militants.

On the 29th of January, Mr. Ali Sundale, Somaliland’s Postal and Communication minister, suspended all communications in the town after reports suggested that mobile phones were used as ‘bomb triggers’.

Since the security measures were introduced there has not been any attacks in the region.

Somalilandpress, 23rd February 2010

Somaliland: Two girls kidnapped from Puntland, Sri Lankan arrested

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HARGEISA (Somalilandpress) — A Sri Lankan citizen of Russian native was detained for questioning after he was caught attempting to smuggle a 13 year old girl from Puntland, Haatuf reports.

Asha Mohamed Hassan, 13, from Qardho in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, went to her usual work on Friday 5th of February in one of the local beauty salons where girls occasionally get their hands and feet decorated with henna. On that same day, an Italian woman, also a regular client, whose mother is said to be Somali came to the salon.

Asha told Haatuf, the Italian woman lured her with the promise of a job in Hargeisa that was paying $600 per month. She was told she will be working for a family as a housemaid, doing basic household chores.

“The Italian woman, who I met before asked if I wanted to work in Hargeisa, I told her, I tried before to go to Hargeisa to find a job but did not work out for me. However I told her if she would pay for my journey I was ready to go,” she said.
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After getting her clothes, Asha was forced into the boot of a car to avoid being seen by her sisters who run their own stalls in one of the central markets.

“She then asked me to get my belongings and be ready, there was a car leaving for Hargeisa tomorrow. After getting all my belongings she took me to a house in the out skirts of the city where she lived, a moment later a Mark II car approached us and she told the driver to hide me in the boot from my sisters and the guards at the check-points,” she told Haatuf.

Once they left the town of Qardho, Asha said, she was moved to the front seat of the car and crossed the border after few hours.

While traveling through the city of Buaro, Somaliland’s second largest town, the driver was contacted by a man who stated that the girl was to be delivered to him.

Once they arrived in Hargeisa, Asha claims, she was delivered to a ‘white man with damaged skin’. The man is actually a Sri Lankan who suffers from leprosy, a chronic skin disease. She added she was in a state of shock, disbelieve and distressed as she thought she would be working for a family not a man.

“I told him, I don’t know you and I will not go with you, he then requested I speak to my sister referring to the Italian woman,” she said.

The driver took the girl to one of his relatives in Hargeisa where she is currently staying. Later she find out that the Sri Lankan man was detained by the police and is said to be in prison.

Asha has since contacted her family and his in good spirit.

In a press conference in Hargeisa today, Somaliland police Chief, Col. Mohamed Shiil Dibar said they have detained a Sri Lankan man of Russian origin. He said, the man, who lived in Qardho for five years wanted to take the girl to Russia. He warned Somaliland parents to be alert and at all times monitor their children.

No one knows if the driver will face any charges and Puntland has not commented either and no one knows if the Italian woman in the centre of the trafficking is detained.

In a similar incident, a young girl is currently held in Burao by the regional authority after she was kidnapped by an Oromo lady (ethnic group in Ethiopia) and sold her to two Ethiopian men.

Halima Osman Bile, the mother, said her daughter went missing midday in the town of Bandar Bayla in Puntland, near the northern tip of Somalia, where pirate base Eyl is more popular.

The little girl was taken to Puntland’s commercial town of Bosaaso before she was smuggled into Somaliland.

She is currently held in Burao by the local authority as police investigate the matter. The case is still under review.

No one knows the number of children trafficked, kidnapped or smuggle each year between Somaliland and Somalia but there has been a sharp increase in recent years due to the lack of border patrols and influx of immigrants. Child smuggling was unheard of in Somaliland and Puntland but in recent years there have been an influx of immigrants displaced in Ethiopia and Southern Somalia, where kidnapping children is more common.

It was not long ago, when a lady from Southern Somalia also kidnapped a two year old child from the town of Las Anod before her family informed the police.

In early February of this year, Somaliland’s minister of Family Affairs and Social Development, Ms. Fatima Sudi voiced her concern about the new problem of human trafficking.

“This is something new to us but widely known in the war torn places. It is called human trafficking,” she said.

Ms. Sudi said her Ministry has been working hard in finding a viable solution to the issue and dealing with the tremendous immigration problem.

“We thank [the] UN & NGOs, who had assisted us with the problem of human trafficking. We extend special thanks to the government of Japan, who funded IOM to assist us on these matters,” the minister said.

“There are people who are experts on carrying out human trafficking activities. They lure people, they tell them that there are better places with better life, but at the end those innocent lives will be exploited.”

Ms. Sudi said they will be launching massive awareness campaign and very soon huge billboards will go up in the regions of Awdal, Hargeisa, Sahil, Togdheer and Baligubadle.

According to an analyst, most of the trafficking involve immigrants or foreigners in the country.

Source: Somalilandpress, 23 February 2010

The Somaliland Independent Scholars Group: The Long March Forward to Presidential Elections"

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HARGEISA, 23 February 2010 (Somalilandpress) – On 16 February, the ISG members held their regular monthly meeting at the Academy of Peace and Development (APD) to discuss and assess the overall progress made on the six-point Agreement. The meeting was sponsored by the Social Research and Development Institute (SORADI). It was moderated by its Acting-Director, Haroon H Ahmed Yusuf. The Somaliland Independent Scholar’s Group (ISG) members are all long-term participants of Somaliland rebuilding and democratization process, who are considered to be highly competent to provide an objective analysis and strategy to address the issues at hand. The ISG members are: Abdi-shakur Sh Ali-Jowhar (Psychiatrist and political analyst: warkamaanta.com), Amina Mohamoud Warsame (Executive Director of NAGAAD); Abdilkadir H Ismail Jirde (Ex-Deputy Speaker and Member of Parliament- now travelling), Shukri H. Ismail (Former National Electoral Commissioner and Member of African Democracy Forum and Chair of Candle Light); Ibrahim Jama Ali –Raite (Member of Parliament and Lawyer), Fawsi Sh. Yonis (Somaliland Lawyer’s Association); Abdi Ahmed Nour (Forum for Peace and Governance-FOBAG), Bobe Y. Duale (Research Coordinator, APD), Haroon H Ahmed Qulumbe (SORADI), Jafar Mohamed Gadaweyne (SONSAF); Mohamed Hassan Ibrahim (Researcher-APD), Suad Ibrahim Abdi (Researcher-APD); Wais Muse (Executive Director of Samatalis Coalition of Human Rights)), Dr. Mohamed Fadal, Director of (SORADI);Muse Abdi Elmi (U. of Hargeisa; Dean Academic Affairs) Dr. Yusuf Kariye (Researcher in Anthropology; Hinda Mohamed Jama (an Associate of Burao University); Dr. Aden Abokor(Progressio Country Rep.)..

II. The Current political atmosphere

The national political mood continues to be focused on the much awaited Presidential Election. And though every stakeholder would like to hear a date set for the election, yet no one is willing at this stage to push the National Electoral Commission (NEC) to set a hasty date, which can lead to a situation like the past disappointments.

As the momentum gained after signing the six-point agreement (on 30th September, 2009) is slowly dissipating, the goodwill it created among the parties is also being slowly eroded. Furthermore, the public is evaluating the effect and influences each of the recent political disputes within the Somaliland’s key national institutions may have on the all encompassing presidential election.

These include the recent dispute among the Chairman of the Guurti and his two deputies, which threatened to open up a whole set of other problems, which could derail the preparation for the elections. The Guurti quarrel is alleged to be over power-sharing among the chairing team. If so, they are encouraged to put their acts together and solve their internal problems.

On the other hand, present practice of all political parties launching thinly veiled political campaigns could be violating Somaliland election laws and existing codes of conduct and may lead to increased tensions before we even reach the official campaign period.

A further source of concern for Somaliland’s fragile democracy is when the key Government institutions do not cooperate. The primary purpose of Parliament in a democratic society is to oversee the performance of the Executive Branch. Recent experience from the Parliament and Executive Branch is not in any way helping the credibility of the Somaliland institutions. Lack of overall cooperation among these institutions coupled with the increasingly evident institutional weaknesses in both Houses of Parliament may lead to a constitutional crisis of serious proportions if not dealt with sooner than later.

III. On the NEC Performance

The NEC is still enjoying the trust of all stakeholders and is making good progress in the preparation for the election. They have re-built good working relations with the international donors and started filling their organisational capacity gaps. Their strategy is to implement activities in parallel to safe run up time to the Presidential election. Some of NEC’s most significant accomplishments to date include;

* Approval of the terms of reference for the independent expert assessment.

* Participated in and supported the independent assessment, carried out jointly by NEC and the Electoral Reform International Service (ERIS), as called for by the 6 point Agreement.

* Managed to get funding green light from donors to start the implementation of key activities while the overall budget is still being finalized and agreed upon.

* Established and operationalized the recruitment and tender evaluation panels

* Developed recruitment policies and procedures, and hired key Headquarters staff, as well as, 90% of the regional and district staff..
* Supported the recruitment of International election specialists, eleven of which have been recruited.

* Developed a Voter Education concept paper to be presented to the international and NEC specialists for their use.

* Developed and discussed the NEC By-Laws, which are currently in the final stages of approval.

* Drafted the political parties Code of Conduct, which will be shared and negotiated with the parties.

IV. Action Awaited From NEC

1. NEC needs to address the following issues as soon as possible:

– Though no one is advising NEC to rush into hasty elections, there are legitimate concerns that need to be noted. Setting the date of the presidential election is not only central to the six-point agreement, but will also give some kind of perspective to the elections of the other national institutions. Setting the presidential election date is also important for the mobilization of international election observes.

– The launching of campaigning of political parties is a legal issue. Therefore, all stakeholders need to analyse and agree what constitutes a political campaign before it becomes a problem and causes damage to NEC’s credibility. And if any particular party is found to be breaching the laws and the existing codes of conduct, it should face sanctions.

– NEC is expected to address also the issue of Election Monitoring Board. Is there need to activate it now?

– The Media plays a critical role in the conduct of elections process. NEC needs to engage the media and to push through their updated press code of conduct.

2. Voter registration (Server)

Publishing a final voter registration list is a very important milestone for Somaliland that needs to be crossed, in order to hold the Somaliland presidential election. The experts have done an initial evaluation of the server containing the electoral list and they have started the clean up process. However, there are a number of sensitive issues that need to be addressed carefully by NEC.

* In a recent press conference the NEC indicated that the voter list preparation can take 2 to 3 months…. there has been some cautious but clearly itchy reactions from the political parties

* A voter list display period at the polling stations is also planned: each voter will be told that he/she will vote only once despite the illegal multiple or double registration the person has done during the registration.

* There are also plans for some of form of validation process, which may include NEC issuing new ID cards.

Therefore, NEC needs to:

* Inform the public with VERY LARGE letters about these plans and their objectives – there should not be any chance given to misinterpretation and misinformation.

* Consider the repercussions (if any) of an open-ended election period. How long would the immediate stakeholders and the public at large wait?


V. Recommendations for the way forward

1. Let the NEC take its time in the preparation for the election, but be transparent about it plans

2. Voter education should start early

3. Ballot papers need to be ordered as early as possible to safe time.

4. NEC should apply sanctions defined in the Electoral Law for offences committed against it and against other agreements reached by stakeholders

5. The House of Elders needs to settle its internal dispute and attend to other urgent national matters awaiting it.

6. The legitimacy and legality of current Local Councils, whose original and additional terms ended, need to be addressed.

7. The House of Representatives needs to start amending its Election Law, to lay the ground for its approaching election

“I Nearly Become a Somali Pirate”: Dji

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Mogadishu, 22 February 2010 (Somalilandpress) – “I nearly became a pirate,” 28- year-old Dji told Xinhua correspondents Saturday at a clinic run by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), in the capital city of a country which has not seen an effective central government since 1991.

Dji is the name this young man invented for safety reasons. He came to the AMISOM’s medical services to get medicine for his family members. Being a journalist, Dji is among the very few Mogadishu residents that can speak English.

Dji told Xinhua he likes his profession. “I like this job, if the militants stop me I can tell them I am a journalist.”

However, this young guy could have become a pirate, a profession that this Horn of Africa nation is internationally famous for these days.

“I know some people who are in this trade, some are even my relatives,” Dji said. He mentioned that one of his uncles is with the pirate network and has actually offered Dji a job in the condemnable but sometimes highly lucrative business.

“Two years ago, my uncle came to Mogadishu and asked me to join them. I was totally astonished then. I had no idea what a pirate is like but by instinct I trust my uncle,” he said.

Dji also heard rumors that this uncle is very rich, with big house, servants, and even some property in neighboring Kenya. What amazed this young man the most was that Uncle Rich only have to work for once in months.

“That is attractive, and the job could be so easy for me. They need somebody to negotiate in English, I can speak English,” he said. Further more, his uncle provided for him a “trusted link”, without which it would be very hard to step into the network.

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After serious consideration, Dji gave up this offer. “I am badly in need of money, but I know money should not be earned in that way.”

He explained that the pirates initially operated under the banner of “driving off foreign fishing ships”, but gradually they did whatever they could to grab money.

“Now what they care about is money, they can even kill people for that,” he said.

Instead of falling into the ditch of notorious piracy, Dji now becomes a journalist, a job that enables him to tell the true happenings of this war-ravaged city and a country deeply submerged in crisis.

Somalia, the Horn of Africa nation, has been plagued by civil strife since the overthrow of military strongman Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. Islamist rebels run much of south and center of the country while the Somali government control small parts of the restive capital Mogadishu.

Some less than 5,000 AU peacekeepers, mainly contributed by Uganda and Burundi, are being based here to help Somalia’s transitional government to control key sites as the airport and sea ports, as well as important government buildings.

The lack of a strong central government and long-lasting conflicts have provided breeding ground for pirates, who have made the Somali waters one of the world’s most dangerous sea routes for commercial ships.

Source: Xinhua

Video: K'naan ft David Bisbal world cup official song

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K’naan’s single ‘Waving flags’ has been chosen as the official anthem of 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Coca Cola has just released the latest version featuring David Bisbal, a Latin Grammy-winning Spanish pop singer.

Why don’t you tell us who you think will win the World Cup. Do you think any African team out off the five (South Africa, Algeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Nigeria) will make it to the final leg of the competition?

Congratulations to K’naan!

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Chipmunk version:

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