NAIROBI- Somali militants linked to al Qaeda urged Muslims to boycott Kenya’s presidential election on Monday and wage jihad against the Kenyan military which sent troops into neighboring Somalia in late 2011 to help crush the rebels.
The Islamist al Shabaab rebel group told Kenyan Muslims, who account for about 11 percent of the population, that the Nairobi government treated them as foreigners and second-class citizens.
“Your regions are the least developed in Kenya and have the least facilities. You have been misled by the false promises of the presidential candidates and the same empty promises are repeated on every election campaign,” al Shabaab said in a statement cited by the U.S.-based SITE service on Monday.
“What is incumbent upon you now is to … boycott the Kenyan elections and wage jihad against the Kenyan military for they cannot afford to continue fighting an invasion abroad as well as an internal conflict at home,” it said.
Kenya, voting for a new president on Monday, has suffered a wave of violent attacks since it sent soldiers into its anarchic neighbour in October, 2011, which Nairobi has typically blamed on al Shabaab and local sympathisers.
Most of the attacks have occurred in the capital and close to the Somali border
In Garissa, a largely Muslim town with a significant ethnic Somali population, two civilians were shot dead late on Sunday, local officials said. Earlier, the head of Kenyan police said the incident had been a grenade attack. A bomb also exploded in the Mandera area, near the border, wounding four people.
Under pressure from an African Union-led military offensive, al Shabaab has steadily lost territory and influence in Somalia over the past 18 months, but remains the biggest threat to regional stability. It has, however, failed to deliver on threats to carry out a spectacular attack in Kenya.
Kenya’s military intervention in Somalia earned widespread popular backing at home and has barely registered in election campaigning.
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A Somali appeals court on Sunday dropped charges against a woman who alleged she was raped by government security forces and had been convicted of defaming the government.
Mogadishu appeals court Judge Mohamed Hassan Ali said there wasn’t enough evidence to substantiate the prosecutor’s charge. A court in February had sentenced the woman to one year in prison after medical evidence entered into the record showed that the woman was not raped. Some experts questioned whether Somalia has the medical expertise to make the kind of judgment.
A journalist who interviewed the rape victim and was tried alongside her had his sentence reduced from one year to six months. The judge said the interview was not conducted according to journalism ethics or Somali law.
The February verdict against the two provoked international outcry by human rights groups, and Human Rights Watch on Sunday said it wasn’t satisfied with the appeals court’s decision.
“The court of appeals missed a chance to right a terrible wrong, both for the journalist and for press freedom in Somalia,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The government has argued that justice should run its course in this case, but each step has been justice denied.”
Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon welcomed the decision concerning the rape victim and said “we are a step closer to justice being done.”
“However, I was hoping for a different outcome on the journalist. I note his sentence has been reduced from 12 months to six, but I do not believe journalists should be sent to prison for doing their job. We must have freedom of expression, which is guaranteed in our constitution,” Shirdon said.
The Somali capital has moved past the violence that engulfed Mogadishu for much of the last two decades. In a sign of its progress, the United States earlier this year officially recognized the country’s government for the first time in two decades.
Despite the progress, Somali government institutions remain weak and corrupt, and the government relies heavily on the security provided by 17,000 African Union troops in the country. Allegations of rape against government security forces are common, especially around the sprawling camps for internally displaced people in Mogadishu.
Rights groups decried the case against the woman and the reporter — freelance journalist Abdiaziz Abdinur — as politically motivated because the woman had accused security forces of the assault. Abdinur was convicted despite never having published any story based on the interview with the woman.
On Jan. 6, Universal TV, a Somali television station, reported that armed men in police uniform had raped a young woman. The same day Al Jazeera published an article which described rape by security forces in camps for internally displaced people in Mogadishu.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had expressed deep disappointment over the sentences and urged the Somali government “to ensure that all allegations of sexual violence are investigated fully and perpetrators are brought to justice,” U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said.
Experts in confronting violence against women said the original verdict would discourage Somali women from reporting rape even more than they are already in the conservative Muslim society.
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The U.N. Security Council is considering lifting an arms embargo on Somalia’s government for one year so it can beef up its army to combat Islamist fighters, according to a draft resolution that is due to be voted on by the divided council on Wednesday.
The Somalia government has asked for the arms embargo to be lifted and the United States has been pushing the council to agree, but Britain and France have been wary of removing the ban in a country already awash with weapons, diplomats say.
The draft resolution, drawn up by Britain and obtained by Reuters, appears to propose a compromise: lifting the arms embargo for one year but keeping restrictions in place on heavy weapons such as surface to air missiles, howitzers and cannons.
The draft resolution says the arms embargo shall not apply to the deliveries of other “weapons or military equipment or the provision of advice, assistance or training, intended solely for the development of the security forces of the federal government of Somalia and to provide security for the Somali people.”
It says that these weapons and equipment “may not be resold to, transferred to, or made available for use by, any individual or entity not in the service of the security forces of the federal government of Somalia.”
The 15-member council imposed the arms embargo in 1992 to cut the flow of arms to feuding warlords, who a year earlier ousted dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and plunged Somalia into civil war. Somalia held its first national vote since 1991 last year to elect a president and prime minister.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon earlier this month suggested the Security Council consider lifting the arms embargo to help rebuild Somalia’s forces and consolidate military gains against al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab militants.
But some council members are concerned about the security risks involved with removing the arms embargo and one council diplomats said the proposed move “sends shivers down the spine.”
MILITANT INFILTRATION
The Security Council’s Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea, an independent panel that reports on compliance with U.N. sanctions, have warned that the Islamist militants in Somalia are receiving weapons from distribution networks linked to Yemen and Iran, diplomats have told Reuters.
A U.N. diplomat also said the U.N. monitors had reported that some al Shabaab militants had infiltrated units of the Somali security forces.
The council is scheduled to vote on the draft resolution on Wednesday before the mandate of the 17,600-strong AU peacekeeping force, known as AMISOM, expires on Thursday. The resolution would renew AU peacekeeping force for one year and reconfigure the U.N. mission in the Horn of Africa country.
AU troops from Uganda, Burundi, Kenya and Ethiopia are battling al Shabaab militants on several fronts in Somalia and have forced them to abandon significant territory in southern and central areas of the country.
The militants, who affiliated themselves with al Qaeda in February last year, launched their campaign against the government in early 2007, seeking to impose sharia, or strict Islamic law, on the entire country.
The Somali government believes lifting the embargo will help it strengthen its poorly equipped, ill-disciplined military – more a group of rival militias than a cohesive fighting force loyal to a single president.
The draft resolution requires that the Somalia government or the country delivering assistance notify the Security Council “at least five days in advance of any deliveries of weapons and military equipment … providing details of such deliveries and assistance and the specific place of delivery in Somalia.”
It also asks the government to report regularly on the structure of the security forces and the infrastructure and procedures in place to ensure safe storage, maintenance and distribution of military equipment.
The removal of the arms embargo would be reviewed in one year, according to the draft resolution.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — One of Kenya’s most vilified institutions — its police force — will be in the spotlight next week during its efforts to prevent the same type of post-election bloodbath that Kenya suffered during its last presidential election.
Kenya on Monday holds its first presidential vote since the 2007 election devolved into tribal violence that killed more than 1,000 people. At least 405 of those people were killed by police when citizens took to the streets to protest a flawed election because they did not trust the judiciary to fairly resolve problems. Kenya has since revamped its judiciary, and in December a new inspector general of police was appointed — David Kimaiyo.
Kimaiyo acknowledged, in an interview with The Associated Press Thursday, that he has not had enough time to carry out all the needed police reforms ahead of the election. But he said the police are ready to tackle any election security challenges. One way to do that is to get people to leave polling areas after voting, he said.
“They should vote and go straight home and wait for results from the television and radios and celebrate the next day. We have noticed before the people waiting around the polling station cause problems when results are announced that they do not like,” Kimaiyosaid.
Kimaiyo said his role as inspector general is to redeem the police force’s name. Kenya’s police force has long been accused of abuses. A United Nations expert, a government-funded human rights group and other rights groups accuse the police of extrajudicial killings. The groups have said the police ran death squads, which killed suspects they are unable to build cases against. The latest killings last year, attributed to the police, were the disappearances and executions of five terrorism suspects.
The police have been ranked as Kenya’s most corrupt institution for more than a decade, according to the local chapter of the anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International.
A culture of shake-downs is endemic in the force, former police spokesman Eric Kiraithe admitted last year. This culture has made enforcement of traffic rules difficult because the public choses to give police bribes instead of paying hefty court fines.
But the police have not been given the resources to succeed. Police are under-equipped, poorly paid and live in deplorable conditions, a combination of factors which have led to low morale. The country’s emergency number — 999 — does not work because its telephone bills have not been paid.
And experts say the years of political interference have led to breakdown of professional standards. This was exposed in January when a man was arrested because he had pretended to be a senior police officer for at least five years and allegedly robbed residents.
Unlike previous police chiefs, the office of inspector general has been given autonomy that shields it against political interference. But for now the immediate challenge for Kimaiyo is to ensure peaceful elections.
A government report on what caused the post-election violence of 2007-2008 said that police were not only overwhelmed but were also seen to have taken sides of the dispute on who won the election between Raila Odinga, then the leading opposition figure, and President Mwai Kibaki.
The police have several election-related security threats to deal with this year. One is tribal violence, especially between the tribes of the two top presidential candidates. Other threats include the possibility of attacks by Somali militants and by a secessionist group on Kenya’s coast known as the Mombasa Republican Council.
Another threat is intimidation: Kimaiyo said leaflets are being circulated across the country warning people of consequences if they vote for certain candidates. Two people were killed on Thursday following fighting between ethnic Somali clans due to politics in Kenya’s north, he said.
Kimaiyo said enough manpower had been allocated to monitor and quash the threats; 99,000 police will be helping to secure the vote.
Kimaiyo has given orders that might appear to infringe on a person’s rights. No one will be allowed to hold public demonstrations for the election period, he said.
“We must realize that there will be another election … and life must continue as normal. If you feel aggrieved, the courts have assured the public of a speedy hearing of those cases,” Kimaiyo said.
As for police reforms, Kimaiyo said although progress has been made on response times, human rights trainings and an improvement in police attitudes, fighting corruption, other major reforms will have to wait until three months after the new government takes power.
1. An inspiring, impressive and influential foreign policy:
No doubt that the Somaliland’s current foreign policy is absolutely determined and committed to serving and securing the interests and reputation of our country as the Beacon of peace, stability and democracy in the Horn of African Region. It is a policy that never assumes a retreating and hesitant posture but rather remains proactive on all diplomatic fronts. It is a policy that gives a different turn and twist on how the contemporary foreign policy of the Somaliland Republic should be waged. It is an inspiring, impressive and influential foreign and international cooperation policy that has put our country on the right track. Somaliland’s current foreign policy is a policy with audacity and confidence that breaks the barriers of self-imposed exclusion and limitation of the last two decades.
To keep pace with transnational security, economic and diplomatic relevant matters in the Horn of African region and beyond, a kind of thoughtful foreign policy with courage and daring instinct is of a paramount importance. This is the only way to serve and safeguard the ever more shifting geopolitical interests of our country and people. Before President Ahmed Silaanyo came to power, Somaliland was a completely out of sight, remote and anonymous country that no one missed or noticed of its presence at regional and international policy levels. Years and years of self-imposed exclusion rendered to our country neither player nor spectator in relation to an active involvement and participation in the regional and international political, economic and diplomatic platforms.
Within a short period, the government of President Silaanyo has formulated a different but smart foreign policy approach which undoubtedly will contribute to the long-awaited recognition of our country. The current Foreign Policy of Somaliland’s approach is a promising and an encouraging sign for all peace and development loving Somaliland citizens, which is already resulted that our country makes overtures to the right direction. With the mind into the historical facts of our country and the errors and misjudgements made in the past by Somaliland’s political elites, the current Somaliland’s foreign policy focuses on the future and the way forward.
2. A competent and talented Minister:
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Somaliland Republic has beyond every doubt demonstrated throughout his diplomatic vision and skills and sustained achievements a belief in a constructive policy of engagement in international issues for peace, democracy and security relevant developments. He highlighted Somaliland’s democratic achievements and experiences that will serve as an example and provide useful lessons for all other African countries to learn and would certainly serve as a model in enhancing stability, democracy and development in the Horn of Africa. The Minister has succeeded in to export the best product of our country to abroad. He convinced to everyone the benefits and the need why the rest of the world should cooperate with our country.
With full of confidence and conviction, I should clearly underline that the integrity, sense of duty and determination of the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Dr. M.A.Omar) towards his country has never been under discussion. He is someone with a far-reaching diplomatic understanding, a competent and talented top diplomat who is equipped with common sense of doing diplomatic business. By right decision at the right time, by convenient approach and pre-emptive performance he avoids in advance any surprise or diplomatic failures. As a result, to all intents and purposes the Minister of Foreign Affairs proved his critics emphatically wrong.
3. Scurrilous and Biased Media Outlets:
It is deplorable to see the almost permanent and unfounded hostility of some biased media outlets towards the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International cooperation. They are continuously spreading false and damaging stories; they lie or twist the truth about the Minister and his national duties, with the sole intention to hurt him. They miss every sense of nationhood and patriotic responsibilities towards their own country and people. They (some media outlets) adopt the same state of mind and strategies as the enemies of Somaliland Republic who seriously want to destabilize the hard won peace and stability of our great nation.
Nevertheless, those unsubstantiated negative noises will never be able to stop the Foreign Minister doing his job. They will never succeed to discourage or distract him from realizing his ambition and goals. In fact, he is determined and committed more than ever before. He is adamantly eager to follow the courage of his conviction so that he will be able to serve and safeguard the geo-political interest of our country and people. No matter how much hatred and enviously are written and published on some scurrilous and biased media outlets (TVs, websites and newspapers), Somaliland’s cause, democracy process and its efforts for self-determination as a sovereign State will prevail.
May ALLAH (SXWT) protect the true and genuine patriot!
By |Architectural-Eng. Hussein Adan Igeh |Hussein Deyr |UK|
The aftermath of the allegedly rigged parliamentary elections, which took place last Friday, 21 February 2013, have encountered unprecedented public response that go unabated.
The Union for the Presidential Majority (UMP) declared victory saying to have won 49 seats out of the possible 65 National Assembly seats, which is rejected by USN, the united front of the opposition.
Following three days of unrest and arrests of senior Imams the situation seems to get out control and there appears to be no sight of stability.
Mr Abdouraham Boreh, an influential businessman and a member of the opposition who fell out with Djibouti authority and was forced into exile said: “I am disappointed and deeply concerned about the wellbeing of the politicians and senior Imams who have been arrested, beaten and tortured”. Mr Boreh advice the Djibouti government to release these respected moderate Imams with immediate effect
“Freedom loving Djiboutian’s have demonstrated courage and a great willingness to observe peace and stability. For the first time we witness votes being counted till the early hours of the following day, which is great testament of the peoples’ willingness for change”.
Further, Mr Boreh advices the authorities including the police and the military to restrain and abstain from using force to silence the peace people of Djibouti. Change is inevitable and after 36 years of one party rule it is time the Mr Ismail Omar Guelle goes”.
Finally, Mr Boreh encourages peace-loving Djiboutian to join the Djibouti National Demonstration Day, which will take place Friday, 1 March after Salaatul Jumah.
Integrating aid into UN, AU political and military strategy will threaten humanitarian effort New York/Paris/Nairobi, 28 February 2013 – Efforts underway at the United Nations to integrate humanitarian assistance into the international military campaign against opponents of Somalia’s government will further threaten the safe delivery of independent and impartial aid to Somalis struggling to survive ongoing war, the international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) warned today. The United Nations Security Council is currently deliberating the future structure of the UN’s mission in Somalia. Under discussion is the possible inclusion of humanitarian assistance within the broader political and military agenda for Somalia. Such an approach, in a country where the ability to provide relief is already severely compromised, could generate distrust of aid groups. “As many Somalis continue to struggle to obtain the basic necessities for survival, such as food, healthcare, and protection from violence, humanitarian assistance must remain a priority and it must remain completely independent of any political agenda,” said Jerome Oberreit, MSF Secretary General. “The humanitarian aid system must not be co-opted as an implementing partner of counter-insurgency or stabilisation efforts in Somalia.” Ensuring the safety of patients and medical staff remains a major challenge. Aid must therefore remain independent and impartial so that humanitarian organisations can try to negotiate access to populations in need with all parties to the conflict and mitigate security risks as much as possible. Attempts to further politicise humanitarian aid will put patients and aid workers in even greater danger, MSF said. “As we’ve seen previously in Somalia, and in places like Afghanistan, Iraq, Sierra Leone, and Angola, when military stabilisation or peacekeeping efforts integrate humanitarian aid as a tool to advance political and security objectives, aid actors, including health workers, are invariably delegitimised and prevented from reaching populations trapped in conflict,” said Oberreit. “In extreme cases, aid has even been denied to populations to serve political interests of stabilisation efforts. Humanitarian assistance must be driven purely by the actual needs of a population, and not predicated upon any other agenda.” Large segments of the Somali population throughout the country require basic assistance, many in active conflict areas and in zones controlled by armed groups, such as in south-central Somalia, underscoring the need for independent and impartial humanitarian aid. Access to food and adequate medical care is severely limited. More than 730,000 Somalis have sought refuge in camps in Kenya and Ethiopia. Overall levels of assistance in Dadaab, Kenya, home to hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees, itself remain insufficient. Calls by Kenya for the return of refugees are premature as long as the security situation remains perilous in Somalia. More than one hundred Somalis cross each day into Ethiopia to escape the deprivation, stating food shortages and insecurity as the main drivers for fleeing. In a recent survey of MSF patients, more than half (424 out of 820) reported being displaced within Somalia or to Liben, Ethiopia. More than 187,000 Somali refugees are living in Liben, according to the UN High Commission for Refugees. Direct or feared violence were the main reasons for displacement (46 per cent) followed by food shortages due to drought and limited access to assistance (32 per cent). “I have been displaced more than 10 times in my life,” a 25-year-old woman from Lower Juba region told MSF. “My husband died in an attack, and two of my children died because I was not able to give them food. I try to stay strong but this situation that our county has been facing for too long is killing us.” MSF has already had to curtail its activities in Somalia due to security risks. In October 2011, two MSF aid workers, Montserrat Serra and Blanca Thiebaut, were abducted in the Dadaab refugee camp and taken to Somalia, where MSF believes they are still being held. Following the abduction and until the safe release of the two aid workers, MSF has limited its operations in Somalia to strictly lifesaving emergency work. ________________________________________
MSF has worked continuously in Somalia since 1991, and continues to provide lifesaving medical care to hundreds of thousands of Somalis in ten regions of the country, as well as in neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia. Over 1,400 staff, supported by approximately 100 people in Nairobi, provide a range of services, including free primary healthcare, malnutrition treatment, maternal health, surgery, response to epidemics like cholera or measles, immunisation campaigns, water and relief supplies. During the first half of 2012, MSF treated nearly 30,000 severely malnourished children and vaccinated 75,000 against infectious diseases. MSF teams also assisted in over 7,300 deliveries and provided close to half a million medical consultations within its health facilities.
The government of United Kingdom has today announced the launching of a new Somali Language website ahead of the upcoming Somalia conference which is expected to begin on the 7th of May 2013 in London, UK.
The aim of launching the a Somali Language website is to inform and educate citizens of both Somalia and Somaliland including important issues such as setting out the priorities and aims of the Somalia Conference on 7 May 2013.
The Governments of the UK and Somalia will co-host an international conference on Somalia on 7 May in the UK. The conference aims to provide international support for the Government of Somalia as they rebuild their country after two decades of conflict.
The website will also provide a podium in which Somali’s from the broad spectrum of society will have the opportunity to get involved and help shape the debate.
UK government expects to engage with Somali authorities, civil society and diaspora at all levels ahead of the upcoming Somalia conference.
You can follow the debate on the Conference and engage with both the Somali and UK Governments through the following channels.
Commentary: Continued backing of weak government in Somalia is a mystery.
LEWIS CENTER, Ohio — Recently the Obama administration recognized the United Nations-backed nominal Somali government.
The so-called government was the by-product of a UN-sponsored peace process that has been going on for more than 10 years. It involved billions in foreign aid, and some 17,000 African soldiers, who are the proxy of the United States military in Somalia. Yet Somalia is not better off than when the US intervened in the early ’90s.
Somalia’s agony continues. Today, 3 million people are desperately in need of food, 1.6 million have been displaced from their homes. In Mogadishu alone, 300,000 people survive on humanitarian relief. In addition, many people are suffering from chronic violence, the government’s inability to curb the unpaid and undisciplined soldiers who terrorize, loot and rape the population more than they protect.
Recent promising signs are present, such as Al Shabab, Al Qaeda affiliate militant group, retreating from urban centers in south central Somalia. Mogadishu, the capital, is also less dangerous than it was a year ago.
Survival of the-US backed weak government still depends on African troops, despite significant training and equipping of the Somali army by the US. Its leader Sheikh Mahamud, like his predecessor, Sheik Sharif, has absolutely no power and little following.
In contrast, out of the gaze of international media, the Somaliland entity, the former BritishSomaliland in the north, has shown all of the attributes of nationhood since 1991. These include a functioning government, constitution, defined borders and a flag. It even had two presidential elections, in 2003 and 2010, with a peaceful transfer of power.
Tragically, the US has not recognized Somaliland independence, because the UN and the African Union (AU) bias toward preserving artificial and inherently unstable states like Somalia and Congo.
The decision of the Obama administration to recognize a fictional government is more likely to complicate US efforts to stabilize Somalia. This position only rewards Somalia’s rapacious politicians and their militias at the expense of the 3.5 million Somaliland people that have largely managed their own affairs — not only to avoid to avoid chaos, terrorism and piracy, but to build a functioning democratic state.
Somalia’s tragedy will continue unless the new secretary of state, John Kerry, or the US Congress addresses this futile new policy of dictating political outcomes in this war-torn country.
Kerry also could contribute by defining the US long-term political objective in Somalia.
Outsiders have always made things worse by supporting the wrong groups for their own strategic interests. During the Cold War, America put nearly $1 billion in arms and economic aid into Somalia to prop up a cruel dictator, Siad Barre, who held power for 21 years through brutal military domination. The US-backed Ethiopian invasion six years ago created the environment in which Al Shabab is still wreaking havoc on south central Somalia.
Today, a weak government that cannot protect itself wants to monopolize Somalia. Sheikh Mahamud wishes to strengthen his Al Shabab-infiltrated military made up of rival local clan militias, and he is seeking more money and arms from the US and Turkey.
The more the US contributes to reconstituting a Somali government dominated by one faction of Somalia’s previous civil war, however, the greater the chance of dictatorship and bad governance returning to Somalia. It would be a grave mistake for the US to lift the arms embargo from Somalia.
Somalia needs a genuine political reconciliation, not more arms. The conflict and its politics in the country are always local. There is no military solution for this conflict.
Yet the Obama administration continues its deadly drone attacks against suspected militants in Somalia, which have caused collateral damages of civilians or even deaths.
Moreover, the options for US in Somalia are very limited; everything hinges on how Mogadishu’s politicians, warlords and war profiteers cooperate with Sheik Mahamud’s government. However, many Somalis are skeptical about the chance of a functioning regime emerging in Somalia with Mogadishu as its capital.
Rather than reinforcing a central government with no legitimacy, the US should support the only sources of strength in the area, democratic Somaliland and Puntland, an autonomous region. These entities have functioning political institutions that are organic, having organized by the local people.
More investment and trade instead of aid would offer the Somalis more opportunities to rebuild their shattered economy. America could also help Somaliland to create a free-trade zone with eastern Ethiopia at Berbera port — on the Gulf of Aden. These efforts, with the US forcefully supporting freedom and democracy in the region, would help to diminish or defeat radicalism.
However immensely difficult the mission of fixing Somalia might be, the US must engage and help the Somalis lift up from the agony. Only by following their aspirations and desires and not dictating the political outcomes would end Somalia’s tragedy. Moreover, diplomatic recognition of Somaliland is long overdue.
Ali Mohamed is co-founder of the Horn of Africa Freedom Foundation, a grassroots organization, located in Lewis Center, Ohio, that advocates for the advancement of freedom and democratic values for the indigenous people of the Horn of Africa.
USN Call’s for simultaneous rallies in the Djibouti capital and in the main towns of the region
* Call for Thursday, February 28, 2013 show at noon in front of U.S. embassies in Ottawa and France
Hi National Union for Canada (USN)
Bureau of the Movement for Democratic Renewal in North America (MRD)
Djiboutian Diaspora Association in Canada (ADDC)
Anxious to see the country slide down a slippery slope by the fault of President Ismail Omar Guelleh which makes the country’s situation more explosive, the National Union for the Hi in Canada (USN), the Office of the Movement for Renewal Democratic North America (MRD) and the Djiboutian Diaspora Association in Canada (ADDC) launched a call for protests Thursday, February 28, 2013 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. Ottawa hours before the U.S. Embassies and France.
Through their diplomatic representations in Canada, we urge the Administration of President Obama and President François Holland to intervene and put pressure on Ismail Omar Guelle to accept the verdict of the polls in recent parliamentary elections Friday, February 22 2013 that gave the majority of seats in the National Assembly opposition Djibouti, stop now resorting to police repression against civilians and unconditionally release all those arbitrarily arrested and detained by the police and the gendarmerie .
Democrats and friends Djibouti Nationals in Canada are expected to say no to many the harsh dictatorship.
Event Date: Thursday, February 28, 2013 in Ottawa (Canada)
12h-12h30 Embassy of the United States 490 Sussex Drive (Ottawa)
12:30 Departure to the Embassy of France (15 min walk max)
12:45 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. in front of the Embassy of France 42 Sussex Dr. (Ottawa)
* For reasons of efficiency related to the current context, Ali DEBERKALE, which is widely supported by his friend Dimitri Verdonck, which is introduced in Belgium and to the EU, has been appointed representative of the USN in Belgium to the EU.
