| 2009 | | |||||||||| | | 2008 | | |||||||||||||||| | | 2006 | | |||||||||||||||| | | 2005 | | |||||||||||||||||||||||| | | 2004 | | |||||||||||||||||||||||| | | 2003 | | |||||||||||||||||||||||| | | 2002 | | |||||||||||||||| |
|
2 Killed in Mogadishu Violence, President Pardons Prisoners
Suspected insurgents launched a sneak attack on government soldiers standing guard at a key junction in central Mogadishu, killing one soldier, witnesses said.
Somali and Ethiopian troops had arrived at the intersection in Mogadishu's Wardhigley district overnight, with residents reporting that they awoke to find the soldiers and armed trucks in the neighborhood Monday morning.
Insurgents then launched their sneak attack, sparking a gunfight that lasted for 20 minutes.
Somali insurgents
Government soldiers killed one of the attackers before forcing them to disperse into neighborhood alleys, witnesses said.
Two civilians, including a woman, were wounded in the battle, according to hospital sources.
In a separate attack, Islamist rebels raided a government checkpoint in El Adde town, in the region of Middle Shabelle that borders Mogadishu.
Two soldiers were wounded in the attack, whereby insurgents briefly seized control of the checkpoint and confiscated tax money and documents, according to district officials.
Sheikh Abdirahman Ali Ahmed, the district commissioner of Warsheikh where El Adde is located, confirmed that a total of six people were wounded, including two government soldiers.
He said the town of El Adde was calm as of Monday morning after regional troops rushed in from the provincial capital, Jowhar.
Meanwhile in Mogadishu, Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf extended a pardon to seven prisoners accused of having ties with insurgent groups waging war on the government.
President Yusuf met with a delegation consisting of three lawmakers, including former Interior Minister Mohamed "Gamodheere" Mohamud, and Mogadishu Port Commissioner Said Siyad Shirwa before issuing the pardon.
Asked about his meeting with the President, Port Commissioner Shirwa said they asked the Somali leader to release this particular group of prisoners and he accepted.
Government spokesman Abdi Haji Gobdon told reporters that President Yusuf extended the pardon to the seven prisoners as part of ongoing efforts to bring peace to Mogadishu.
All seven men were released from Mogadishu Central Jail later Monday, as per the President's pardon.
Source Garowe online
Posted on Monday 31st March at 16:30:45 22 nabbed in Somali mosque, school raids
Somali government troops have raided a mosque and a Qur'an school in southern Mogadishu apprehending 22 of the attendants.
Mounting a so-called anti-terrorist operation in the Medina district south of Mogadishu, the heavily-armed troops beat the sheikhs attending the mosque before taking 14 of them away in military vehicles, according to Press TV correspondent.
They also raided a nearby Qur'an school and forced eight people, including seven students and their teacher, onto the vehicles.
The soldiers fired warning shots into the air to cause intimidation, and carried away the detainees to an unknown military base.
Posted on Monday 31st March at 22:22:34 Aid Group Criticizes US on Somalia
By TOM MALITI
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — U.S. attacks on Islamic extremists in Somalia are undermining attempts to find a peaceful solution for the troubled Horn of African nation, a Washington-based aid agency said Monday.
A shaky transitional government took over Mogadishu, the Somali capital, in the last days of 2006 with the help of Ethiopian troops, unseating an extremist Islamic movement that had reigned for six months over most of southern Somalia. Now remnants of the Islamic movement are waging an insurgency.
In the past year or so, the U.S. has targeted suspected terrorists using missile strikes and added the military wing of Somalia's Islamic movement to its list of foreign terrorist organizations.
"These military actions undermine the diplomatic push for political reconciliation and galvanize extremist elements, reinforcing the very threat that U.S. policy in the Horn of Africa is meant to address," Refugees International said in a report titled "Somalia: Proceed with Caution."
Its assessment came on the same day nearly 200 Islamic fighters armed with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns seized a central Somali town and attacked a military convoy in a nearby village, residents said.
Heavy fighting in the Somali capital killed at least four people, including two soldiers, and wounded five others, according to witnesses.
Officials in the U.S. Embassy in Kenya, which is also responsible for Somalia, were not immediately available for comment.
Refugees International "strongly encourages the U.S. administration to condemn human rights violations committed by the Ethiopian forces," the report says. The organization, "recommends that the U.S. Congress investigate any military support that was provided to Ethiopia to ensure it adheres to U.S. law."
Ethiopia has in the past denied that its troops have violated human rights in Somalia.
Refugees International also said a political agreement between the shaky Somali government and its opposition was "the principal prerequisite for greater military and political engagement from the international community."
Refugees International said U.N. agencies working in Mogadishu are "out of touch with the fast changing realities on the ground," where more than 1 million people have been displaced from their homes.
International staff are based in neighboring Kenya's capital, Nairobi, for security reasons and lack enough Somali staff on the ground, the report said.
Guillermo Bettocchi, the U.N. refugee agency's Somalia representative, said Refugees International's assessment of the U.N.'s working conditions in Mogadishu was "quite realistic."
"We are frustrated, but we are working to address these issues," Bettocchi told The Associated Press, adding that it has been a "very bureaucratic" process to get approvals for the staffing they need in Somalia.
Bettocchi said that the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees is building "almost a bunker" near a major airport 30 miles away from the center of Mogadishu that will allow his and other U.N. agencies to increase their staff in the city while keeping safe. Bettocchi said it would be completed in about two weeks.
Posted on Monday 31st March at 22:21:29 More Troops Needed to Stabilize Somalia
African Union peacekeepers in Somalia say the year-old mission needs at least 20,000 troops to stabilized the war-ravaged country, 12,000 more than the mission's original mandate. From the Somali capital, Mogadishu, VOA correspondent Alisha Ryu reports officials there believe as many as 10,000 troops may be needed just to secure the capital.
Ugandan army Major Barigye Ba-Hoku, a spokesman for the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia, known as AMISOM, says he is proud of what the mission has been able to accomplish in Mogadishu since its arrival in Somalia last March.
A vanguard force of about 1500 troops from Uganda has single-handedly secured an area of south Mogadishu that locals now refer to as the Green Zone, a relatively safe area that includes the city's main airport, seaport, and a thriving marketplace.
In December, a contingent of about 600 soldiers from Burundi joined the Ugandans, giving AMISOM a much-needed boost in troop presence in the capital.
But Major Ba-Hoku says the 2200 soldiers currently deployed here will not be able to make any more progress in the capital or assist other parts of the country without troop reinforcement well-beyond the 8,000 level approved by the African Union in January, 2007.
"I am afraid, today, it cannot be 8,000," he said. "We are looking at possibly 20,000. Why? If at that time, all the countries (had) contributed 8,000, then we would have seized the opportunity and gone into these areas and do the patrols and help facilitate people. But we did not. So what has happened? The opposing forces have gone and mobilized. They have equipped themselves. They have done their propaganda and so on. And so, it is now going to be more costly, both in terms of personnel and resources."
Islamist insurgents, opposed to Somalia's Ethiopia-backed interim government and the presence of Ethiopian troops in the country, have waged a violent, 15-month insurgency, especially in Mogadishu. In recent months, they have gained new recruits and have claimed more territory, turning several major districts into insurgent strongholds.
They have also spread out from the capital and established regional bases, using them to launch hit-and-run attacks on Ethiopian and government troops, military posts and government-held towns.
Major Ba-Hoku says the deteriorating security situation requires urgent action by the international community. He insists a stronger backing for the under-funded mission could enable several thousand more AMISOM troops to be sent here quickly.
"The 2,000 (soldiers) have only created a Green Zone in south Mogadishu," he said. "So, what happens in north Mogadishu, east and west Mogadishu? You may need a similar figure for each of those areas. Many countries by now would have been deployed. You know why they have not deployed? Lack of logistics. So, what you can do is support AMISOM. Give the contributing countries support, logistical support, and then, we will do the job."
AMISOM initially carried a six-month mandate to secure Mogadishu and help Somalia's internationally-recognized-but-weak secular government establish control after six months of Islamist rule. Islamist leaders abandoned the capital after an Ethiopia-led offensive routed their fighters in December, 2006.
African Union soldiers from at least half-a-dozen countries were supposed to have been deployed and then replaced by a U.N. peacekeeping force when the mandate expired.
Posted on Monday 31st March at 22:20:40 Somali Town Falls to Insurgent Raid
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
NAIROBI, Kenya — Islamist insurgents overpowered Somali government troops on Monday, seizing a strategic town and continuing their steady march across the country.
According to witnesses, several truckloads of Islamist fighters stormed Bulo Burti, a town north of the capital, Mogadishu, and killed eight government soldiers. Government troops then fled, and residents said that government offices, weapons depots and several armed trucks fell into the hands of the Islamists.
“Very quickly they took over,” said Islow Ahmed, who owns a small general store in Bulo Burti, which is located along one of the major north-south trading routes in Somalia. “We all want peace. But now we’re all afraid.”
Ever since it took over the capital in late 2006, Somalia’s transitional government has been struggling to suppress an Islamist insurgency. Thousands of Ethiopian troops helped install the transitional government in Mogadishu and oust an Islamist administration that had controlled the city for six months.
But the Islamists are fighting back, gaining ground and recruits, and the transitional government seems increasingly on its heels.
Government officials say they desperately need help to defeat the Islamists, who the government believes are getting weapons and money from Arab countries. The government has pleaded for the United Nations to send in peacekeepers, but the United Nations has so far seemed reluctant to do so.
In recent weeks, the Islamists have routed government troops in several towns, though their typical strategy is to inflict losses, snatch weapons and then melt back into the bush. It was unclear on Monday whether Bulo Burti was one of the first towns the insurgents had seized — and held. Some residents said that the Islamists stayed after the fighting, retaining control over the roads leading in and out of town. But government officials said that the insurgents had eventually withdrawn.
The Islamists seem to have a lot of local support in Bulo Burti. In the fall of 2006, the town’s clerics threatened to behead anyone who did not pray five times a day.
But Abdi Awaleh Jama, an ambassador at large for the government, contended that the loss was not the result of an organized Islamist movement, but rather an extension of the clan fighting that has plagued Somalia for the past 17 years since the central government collapsed.
“It’s a flea biting,” he said. “These are clan militias. They use the name Islamists to get attention.”
The Islamists have often teamed up with clan militias, especially those who have their own long-standing grievances against the government. The Islamists came to power in 2006 by uniting clan militias and driving away the warlords who had been preying upon the population.
Posted on Monday 31st March at 22:19:20 UNHCR Says Number of Somalis Seeking Asylum on the Rise
As many as 15,000 Somalis have sought asylum since the start of this year in neighboring countries such as Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Sudan to escape the violence engulfing many parts of their homeland, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said Friday.
“Growing numbers of asylum-seekers and migrants are now making their way to Djibouti, raising fears that the tiny Horn of Africa nation could become the alternative migration route for Somalis looking for better opportunities in the Middle East,” UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond said today.
Over 2,000 Somali asylum-seekers and migrants have crossed the border into Djibouti since January, compared with 700 people who went there in all of 2007. Once in Djibouti, many Somalis attempt to cross the Gulf of Aden to Yemen. Some 200 of them are intercepted daily and are detained in an old jail in the port city of Obock, which was built to hold 20 detainees but now houses 200 at a time.
According to UNHCR, there are limited resources to care for the intercepted Somalis who are served meals in flimsy plastic bags because there are no utensils. In the capital Djibouti City, Government offices are packed with large numbers of refugees. Once registered, these asylum-seekers are transferred to UNHCR-backed Ali Adeh camp sheltering 7,000 Somalis.
Kenya has received almost 8,000 Somali asylum-seekers, who have made their way directly to the Dabaab camps which house 184,000 people, mainly Somalis. Almost 4,000 Somalis have arrived in the eastern town of Jirga in Ethiopia, joining the 8,500 Somalis who arrived in the area last year.
The Tereri Ber camp with a 10,000-person capacity is almost full, and a new site is being sought. Meanwhile, 1,300 Somalis asylum-seekers – the majority of whom are single young men and women fleeing Mogadishu – have entered eastern Sudan so far this year, six times more people than all of 2007.
In a related development, the UN and World Bank – in tandem with Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government – are meeting in Nairobi to discuss the country’s economy. The two-day talks will cover the advancement of peace, economic prospects, investment in African nations, youth employment and job creation, among other issues.
On Thrusday, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) appealed to Somalia’s international partners to step up their humanitarian efforts.
“The international community must put Somalia at the top of its agenda and press for change before it is too late,” said Peter Goossens, WFP’s Country Director for Somalia.
“We call on all authorities in Somalia to help us reach those in need and urge donors not to give up on this country.”
In another development, the UN Special Representative for Somalia has welcomed the announcement by the country’s transitional government that it is ready to hold talks with the opposition.
Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah said the opposition had also informed him of their willingness to meet Government representatives
Posted on Saturday 29th March at 9:34:59 Civilians Shelled As Ethiopian Foreign Minister Visits
Government troops shelled a crowded market in the Somali capital on Saturday after suspected insurgents launched mortars at the presidential palace, where Ethiopia's foreign affairs minister met with the Somali president.
At least 10 people were killed and dozens wounded after several shells landed inside Mogadishu's main Bakara market, witnesses reported.
Five mortars slammed in and around Villa Somalia, the presidential compound where interim President Abdullahi Yusuf met privately with Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin.
Islamist guerrillas claimed responsiblity for the mortars on a Web site posting.
There has been no official statement regarding Mr. Mesfin's unannounced trip to Mogadishu, but government sources said the Ethiopian Foreign Minister' s discussions with President Yusuf centered around security and the reconciliation process.
Bakara market has been a source of insurgent attacks, with numerous government officials claiming that the market is a major base for insurgents.
Last week, a 100-strong private force funded by traders and approved by Prime Minister Nur "Adde" Hassan Hussein began security patrols inside Bakara market.
The Ethiopian government deployed its army into Somalia to save Yusuf's weak interim government from collapse, but the Somali government and its foreign military backers have faced a bloody insurgency since.
Thousands of civilians have been killed during the insurgency, which has displaced 1 million people from their homes, according to the United Nations.
Posted on Saturday 29th March at 9:25:09 At least 75 Somali migrants drown off Yemen
SANAA, March 28 (Reuters) - At least 75 Somalis have drowned off the coast of Yemen while trying to cross from Somalia to the Arab country, a Yemeni official said.
The official said the captain of the vessel carrying more than 250 migrants forced them to leave the ship and to try to swim ashore on Thursday. About 180 survived, the official from southern Abyan province told Reuters.
Many African migrants try to reach Yemen, which they see as a gateway to other parts of the Middle East, and the West. (Reporting by Mohamed Sudam; writing by Firouz Sedarat)
Posted on Friday 28th March at 9:52:27 Somali PM dismisses reports town captured
By ARGAW ASHINE
Somalia Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein has dismissed a report in the Ethiopian media that Islamists have taken control of the strategic Somali town of Jowhar, 90 kilometres north of Mogadishu.
Speaking to journalists in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Thursday, Mr Hussein said, “It’s not true; it was a hit-and-run attack against the administration in Jowhar this morning by an opposition group but Jowhar is now under our control and law and order have been restored.”
Earlier, Islamist fighters had announced that they had taken control of Jowhar after a bloody battle with Transitional Federal Government troops.
The prime minister, however, acknowledged that the humanitarian situation in his country is getting worse and is a challenge to humanitarian organisations.
Humanitarian crisis
“It is true that we have a large number of displaced and suffering people. There are certain obstacles hampering humanitarian operations.
‘‘The transitional government is trying its best to cope with the situation and to facilitate access to the affected areas despite the difficulties,” he said.
He also promised to facilitate access to the affected areas, as well as to establish a contact point for humanitarian operations in the country.
Forty aid agencies have called on the international community to give immediate attention to the situation in Somalia.
Italy has donated 10 million euros (Sh1.01 billion) to the African Union as part of the Italian-African peace facility package.
Posted on Friday 28th March at 9:51:54 PM Pledges Action in Face of Humanitarian Catastrophe
By Peter Heinlein
Somalia Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein is promising to help speed delivery of relief to desperately needy citizens, as humanitarian agencies warn of an impending humanitarian catastrophe in the war-ravaged nation. VOA's Peter Heinlein reports the Somali leader made the comment in Addis Ababa, where he was discussing security issues with African Union officials.
Prime Minister Hussein says he fully agrees with the assessment of 40 aid agencies that urgent action is needed to avoid a catastrophe in a country where one million people are displaced, two million need daily assistance, and half a million are totally reliant on humanitarian aid.
He gave no details, but pledged to appoint what he called a certain "mechanism" to speed aid deliveries hampered by security failures and coordination breakdowns.
"We definitely agree there are difficulties in relation to access," he said. "We will appoint focal point for humanitarian contacts, humanitarian assistance. Operations will be facilitated by a mechanism we will put in place, and agreement with the humanitarian operators."
The Somali prime minister acknowledged news reports that heavily-armed Islamic insurgents briefly seized control of the southern agricultural town of Jowhar in a surprise attack. The insurgents killed several soldiers before retreating.
Mr. Hussein said order has been restored.
"This morning there was a hit and run attack on Jowhar by a group opposing the government admin of Jowhar authority," he added. "They attacked, hit and run operations. The administration in Jowhar is there, and law and order was re-established and everything is going smoothly right now."
Prime Minister Hussein was in Addis to discuss security issues with AU officials on the eve of a U.N. Security Council meeting on Somalia. The African Union has a 2,300-member peacekeeping mission, known as AMISOM, supporting Somalia's transitional government, along with a slightly larger force of Ethiopian troops.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said last week it is unlikely U.N. peacekeepers will be sent to Somalia to support the strained African Union force already in place.
Prime Minister Hussein says he remains hopeful the Security Council will see progress that would bolster the case for establishing a U.N. mission in the near future.
"We are eagerly expecting to have these U.N. peacekeeping forces," he added. "Definitely. We are very happy that our AMISOM troops are providing security services, and Ethiopian troops are also helping us. Somali institutional security forces are being formed, trained and with the support of some friendly countries, Italy, we are trying to re-establish our security institutions and capacity."
During his visit, the prime minister accepted an Italian contribution of more than $50 million to train and equip Somali security forces. In presenting the contribution, senior Italian diplomat Armando Sanguini spoke hopefully of "light at the end of the tunnel" in efforts to establish security in Somalia. But he acknowledged that the transitional government in Mogadishu needs "substantial help" to establish an effective police force.
Posted on Wednesday 26th March at 19:44:59 Residents want Somali shop owners back
By Francis Hweshe
Some residents of Zwene-themba, outside Worcester, are calling on foreign shop owners - driven out of the area a few weeks ago to return as the area faces a shortage of basic supplies.
On Tuesday, Somali leaders and the PAC toured the area and were greeted by cheers by locals, who said they wanted the Somali shop owners to return.
Some community members hugged Somalis, pleading with them to come back - and expressed how much they missed them.
Children cheered and shouted: "Come back! Come back!"
"The moment they left we started suffering as we could not get basic foodstuffs close by," said a community member, who declined to be named.
At the moment the community had to travel 5km to Worcester to fetch basics such as bread.
Another resident said: "We have no problem with them, what happened is regrettable because now if we want to buy airtime we have to pay R6 to go to Worcester. And we cannot afford that."
Other community members said the attack on the Somalis and other foreigners had been the work of youngsters.
But some residents said the Somalis were not wel- come, despite the community "suffering".
More than a hundred Somalis and other foreigners, who were chased out of the community and had their shops burnt down, are now living on the streets of Worcester.
"Even if we go back we do not have the capital to start businesses and we are even struggling to find food," said one Somali who had his shop destroyed.
PAC president Letlapa Mphahlele condemned the attack on fellow Africans and the alleged participation of the police in the looting of the shops.
He said 90 percent of South African freedom fighters spent more than two decades living in different parts of Africa and were never threatened with death, and were treated with dignity.
Mphahlele said the attack on the Somalis was caused by what he called "xeno-afrophobia". "I personally feel guilty whenever our people direct their anger and frustration on fellow brothers and sisters who come here to seek our help."
He said locals should be educated on "xeno-afrophobia" to prevent attacks on refugees.
The Somalis, who lost 23 shops, have sought legal assistance from the UCT Law Clinic.
Posted on Wednesday 26th March at 19:42:23 Somali Insurgents Briefly Seize Town, Kill 7
Witnesses in Somalia say fighting between Islamist insurgents and government troops has killed at least seven people, including a small child, in the southern town of Jowhar.
Residents say the insurgents seized control of the town, north of the capital Mogadishu, early Wednesday, after a brief battle with government forces. They say at least four Somali soldiers were among the dead in Jowhar.
Witnesses say the insurgents also released prisoners from the town's central jail before withdrawing from the town.
The interim Somali government and its Ethiopian backers have been battling an Islamist insurgency for more than a year.
The fighting has killed thousands of people in Mogadishu alone and forced at least a half-million others to flee the city.
The insurgency began after a joint Somali-Ethiopian offensive drove a militant Islamist movement from power in southern Somalia in late 2006.
Posted on Wednesday 26th March at 19:30:44 Relief Groups Warn of Worsening Humanitarian Situation in Somalia
By Derek Kilner
A total of 40 international humanitarian organizations have issued a statement warning of the worsening humanitarian situation in Somalia and appealing for increased attention from the international community. The appeal comes ahead of a planned discussion of Somalia by United Nations Security Council members. Derek Kilner has more from Nairobi.
The agencies, which include Oxfam, Save the Children, and Care, say more than 1 million people are displaced in Somalia, with 20,000 more fleeing the capital, Mogadishu, every month.
The United Nations has called Somalia the worst humanitarian crisis in Africa, worse than in the higher-profile Sudanese Darfur region. The U.N. humanitarian office has said that the access that relief agencies have to the country's population has never been as restricted as it is today.
Verity Johnson, regional policy and advocacy coordinator for Oxfam's Nairobi office, described the challenges aid groups face in Somalia.
"There's general insecurity," she said. "There are administrative delays. There's restrictions or delays in movement of goods. But, in particular in the last couple of months, we've seen targeting of humanitarian workers and their assets, looting of aid, carjackings, piracy, roadblocks. All of these lead into an environment which makes it very difficult for aid agencies to do their job."
The aid groups are calling on the international community to step up its response in Somalia by putting more effort into reaching a political agreement and improving security conditions for humanitarian operations.
"As aid agencies, what we do is try to help people in need and what we're trying to bring attention to is the fact that we're unable to do that in the current circumstances," she added. "So we're calling on those with the power to address that situation to engage more to allow us to do our job."
Members of the U.N. Security Council are set to discuss Somalia this week. In a report delivered to the council last week, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon raised the possibility of deploying a peacekeeping force of as many as 27,000 soldiers. But the report acknowledged such a move would require a peace agreement of some sort and the deployment of a smaller interim international force to replace the Ethiopian troops currently in the country.
The current African Union force - with 2,600 peacekeepers from Uganda and Burundi - is widely seen as inadequate to control the violence.
Ethiopian troops backing the Somalia's Transitional Federal Government have been battling a growing Islamist insurgency based in Mogadishu since January 2007. The government and Ethiopians ousted the Islamic Courts Union from control of the capital in December 2006. However, they have been unable to enforce security and opposition to the Ethiopian presence has grown.
At least six people were killed in the latest round of fighting in the southern town, Jowhar, near Mogadishu, Wednesday.
The aid agencies also warn the threat of food and water shortages is only likely to increase in the coming months, with the rainfall that usually comes between April and June expected to fall this year.
Posted on Wednesday 26th March at 19:30:13 Families haunted by fear of gang war
Local journalist Saeed Mohamed looks at a Toxteth community torn apart by gang feuds, the scars of civil war and two generations desperate for help
STUDENT Ahmed Mohamed Ibrahim was battered to death in Sefton Park by a gang of fellow Somalis.
Local sources said the 17-year-old was the innocent victim of a simmering feud.
Another 17-year-old, believed to be Ahmed’s cousin, had his fingers chopped off in the same gruesome attack.
Today the ECHO looks at the south Liverpool community to try to establish how such hatred was born.
The city is home to one of the largest and longest-established Somali communities in Britain, which is facing uncomfortable questions with the emergence of gang culture and crime.
The recent murder has created unease among people unaccustomed to such violence.
Despite Somalis living in Liverpool for more than two centuries, little is known about them.
This lack of information obscures the serious difficulties they face in adjusting and integrating into the city.
The Liverpool Somalis have always been close-knit since arriving on these shores as seamen and traders.
Many people have forgotten, or are unaware of, the sacrifices they made in the two world wars , serving with distinction in the Royal Navy and the Burma campaigns.
But the situation changed with the arrival of refugees fleeing civil war in the 1990s.
After the collapse of the Somali government in 1991 much of the country descended into chaos.
Ever since, the east African country has been in a state of anarchy.
Many Somalis in Liverpool still recall the horrifying experiences they went through.
Shamsadeen Jama, 35, said: “I remember the war. I saw my neighbour killed.
“Everybody was a target, women, children, the elderly, the warlords made no exemption.”
Nobody knows exactly how many of the young Somalis have brought their traumatic experience of war with them.
Certainly some community leaders suggest the internal tribal disputes were not left behind.
Mohamed “Jimmy” Ali said he has witnessed the pain, and he said questions must be asked about how the city council helps integrates troubled minorities.
Two years ago the Liverpool social worker became Britain’s first Somali councillor, although he has since lost his seat.
He said: “Somali kids just don’t get any help. They come from a war zone and they have no idea about Britain.
“And that is why they need support.”
A large number of small Somali groups are directly competing with each other for the same funding – a pitfall avoided by other ethnic minority groups who don’t suffer from the same inter-communal differences.
It is in this vacuum of missing social networks some alienated young Somali men have forged a defensive gang identity.
According to academic Dr Jo Arthur, who conducted a research project on the community, there are clear tensions over cultural identity, social issues and education.
These tensions are linked to a gap between the older community and the younger generation.
Merseyside Somali community co-ordinator Insaf Hagelsafi said lack of investment was a major issue at the local centre.
She said: “The community relies on very few donations and the level of service we provide is huge.
“But we don’t get the money to cover the cost or expand the level of service.”
Everybody within the ever-growing Somali community seems to want more from the city council which last month announced it was to include Somali in the school timetable for the first time.
Mr Ali claimed the authority authorised the building of a new educational, cultural, and sporting facility while he was serving on the council.
He added: “The council approved the facility but since I left nothing has happened.
“They have neglected the Somali, and to a certain extent the Yemeni communities, and it’s high time they did something.
“I found children unofficially excluded from lessons, sitting alone in the corridor because teachers have effectively given up trying to communicate.”
His claims were denied by a Liverpool council spokesman who said: “What we said to the Somali community was that if land becomes available within the Granby area we would donate it for educational purposes.
“But the land never became available and we never promised anything.”
The blame game may go on, but locals feel progress can be made only if council and the community representatives come together and address the serious problems of alienation and frustration.
Youth worker Ali Warsame said: “This community is already behind other minorities. The gap will continue to grow.”
Local man Casey, 18, said: “The community doesn’t get anything jobs wise. That’s why there is high unemployment.”
Liverpool might call itself the “World in One City” but if it continues to neglect one of the biggest and oldest communities it might lose the colour, vibrancy and culture it brings.
The danger is the emergence of more gang culture.
There is a feeling the older generation within the Somali community must help and encourage younger members. The younger generation must step up and do more for their community, rather than expecting the community to do something for them.
Five men accused
FIVE men were charged in connection with the murder of Ahmed Mohamed Ibrahim.
Khadar Mohammed, 22, and Essa Mohammed Ismail, 21, of Ritson Street, Toxteth, both appeared at Liverpool magistrates’ court on March 14 charged with the teenager’s murder.
They were remanded in custody for a preliminary hearing at Liverpool crown court on March 28.
Ahmed Kayse Ahmed, 29, of London; Ali Mohammed, 19, of Ritson Street, Toxteth and Ibrahim Ahmed, 22, of Beaconsfield Street, Toxteth, were also charged with murder and appeared in court on Saturday, March 15.
Saeed Hassan Essa, 21, of Northbrook Road, Toxteth, was charged with violent disorder.
The ECHO revealed how teenager Ahmed fled his native Somalia to come to the city nine months ago.
His devastated family said he was recently reunited with mother Asiya who left war-torn Mogadishu two years earlier.
Ahmed remained behind in the capital before escaping the east African country.
He arrived in Liverpool last summer to join his family of four sisters and eight brothers.
Posted on Tuesday 25th March at 16:32:48 Families haunted by fear of gang war
Local journalist Saeed Mohamed looks at a Toxteth community torn apart by gang feuds, the scars of civil war and two generations desperate for help
STUDENT Ahmed Mohamed Ibrahim was battered to death in Sefton Park by a gang of fellow Somalis.
Local sources said the 17-year-old was the innocent victim of a simmering feud.
Another 17-year-old, believed to be Ahmed’s cousin, had his fingers chopped off in the same gruesome attack.
Today the ECHO looks at the south Liverpool community to try to establish how such hatred was born.
The city is home to one of the largest and longest-established Somali communities in Britain, which is facing uncomfortable questions with the emergence of gang culture and crime.
The recent murder has created unease among people unaccustomed to such violence.
Despite Somalis living in Liverpool for more than two centuries, little is known about them.
This lack of information obscures the serious difficulties they face in adjusting and integrating into the city.
The Liverpool Somalis have always been close-knit since arriving on these shores as seamen and traders.
Many people have forgotten, or are unaware of, the sacrifices they made in the two world wars , serving with distinction in the Royal Navy and the Burma campaigns.
But the situation changed with the arrival of refugees fleeing civil war in the 1990s.
After the collapse of the Somali government in 1991 much of the country descended into chaos.
Ever since, the east African country has been in a state of anarchy.
Many Somalis in Liverpool still recall the horrifying experiences they went through.
Shamsadeen Jama, 35, said: “I remember the war. I saw my neighbour killed.
“Everybody was a target, women, children, the elderly, the warlords made no exemption.”
Nobody knows exactly how many of the young Somalis have brought their traumatic experience of war with them.
Certainly some community leaders suggest the internal tribal disputes were not left behind.
Mohamed “Jimmy” Ali said he has witnessed the pain, and he said questions must be asked about how the city council helps integrates troubled minorities.
Two years ago the Liverpool social worker became Britain’s first Somali councillor, although he has since lost his seat.
He said: “Somali kids just don’t get any help. They come from a war zone and they have no idea about Britain.
“And that is why they need support.”
A large number of small Somali groups are directly competing with each other for the same funding – a pitfall avoided by other ethnic minority groups who don’t suffer from the same inter-communal differences.
It is in this vacuum of missing social networks some alienated young Somali men have forged a defensive gang identity.
According to academic Dr Jo Arthur, who conducted a research project on the community, there are clear tensions over cultural identity, social issues and education.
These tensions are linked to a gap between the older community and the younger generation.
Merseyside Somali community co-ordinator Insaf Hagelsafi said lack of investment was a major issue at the local centre.
She said: “The community relies on very few donations and the level of service we provide is huge.
“But we don’t get the money to cover the cost or expand the level of service.”
Everybody within the ever-growing Somali community seems to want more from the city council which last month announced it was to include Somali in the school timetable for the first time.
Mr Ali claimed the authority authorised the building of a new educational, cultural, and sporting facility while he was serving on the council.
He added: “The council approved the facility but since I left nothing has happened.
“They have neglected the Somali, and to a certain extent the Yemeni communities, and it’s high time they did something.
“I found children unofficially excluded from lessons, sitting alone in the corridor because teachers have effectively given up trying to communicate.”
His claims were denied by a Liverpool council spokesman who said: “What we said to the Somali community was that if land becomes available within the Granby area we would donate it for educational purposes.
“But the land never became available and we never promised anything.”
The blame game may go on, but locals feel progress can be made only if council and the community representatives come together and address the serious problems of alienation and frustration.
Youth worker Ali Warsame said: “This community is already behind other minorities. The gap will continue to grow.”
Local man Casey, 18, said: “The community doesn’t get anything jobs wise. That’s why there is high unemployment.”
Liverpool might call itself the “World in One City” but if it continues to neglect one of the biggest and oldest communities it might lose the colour, vibrancy and culture it brings.
The danger is the emergence of more gang culture.
There is a feeling the older generation within the Somali community must help and encourage younger members. The younger generation must step up and do more for their community, rather than expecting the community to do something for them.
Five men accused
FIVE men were charged in connection with the murder of Ahmed Mohamed Ibrahim.
Khadar Mohammed, 22, and Essa Mohammed Ismail, 21, of Ritson Street, Toxteth, both appeared at Liverpool magistrates’ court on March 14 charged with the teenager’s murder.
They were remanded in custody for a preliminary hearing at Liverpool crown court on March 28.
Ahmed Kayse Ahmed, 29, of London; Ali Mohammed, 19, of Ritson Street, Toxteth and Ibrahim Ahmed, 22, of Beaconsfield Street, Toxteth, were also charged with murder and appeared in court on Saturday, March 15.
Saeed Hassan Essa, 21, of Northbrook Road, Toxteth, was charged with violent disorder.
The ECHO revealed how teenager Ahmed fled his native Somalia to come to the city nine months ago.
His devastated family said he was recently reunited with mother Asiya who left war-torn Mogadishu two years earlier.
Ahmed remained behind in the capital before escaping the east African country.
He arrived in Liverpool last summer to join his family of four sisters and eight brothers.
Posted on Tuesday 25th March at 16:32:22 A prominent Somali singer passes away in Mogadishu
Mogadishu (Somali Press Review, March, 25)— Ahmed Nur Jango, a Somali singer and musician has died in Mogadihsu today. He suffered a heart attach and was rushed to Medina hospital where he died.The singer was one of the singers, playwrights and comedians who chose to remain in Somalia after the civil war broke out in 1991. Before the war he was a member of former Somali Army troupe Horseed. Before joining Horseed (Pioneer) Jango was a member of the former Waaberi ( Dawn) troupe. He had lead roles in famous plays and had put to music many songs such as Qalanjo sung together by Ahmed Ali Egal and Amina Abdullahi. “Ahmed Nur Jango is the Somali singer I admire most. He put to music my first song,” said Hassan Haji Mohamed ( Hassan Ganey), a popular Somali playwrignt. Among his popular songs is Daljir in which he imaginatively talked to past Somali heroes about national development, and Ladi waayey, sung with the late Amina Muse Milano. A funeral for the singer will be held today.
Posted on Tuesday 25th March at 16:15:26 Somalia declared free of polio
By Laura MacInnis
GENEVA (Reuters) - A vaccination campaign has rid Somalia of polio, encouraging hopes that the virus can be halted in other insecure regions, the World Health Organisation said on Tuesday.
No Somali child has been paralysed by polio in the past year as a result of a huge campaign to repeatedly vaccinate 1.8 million children in the Horn of Africa nation.
Somalia, where more than 10 percent of the population live as refugees after 17 years of conflict, had wiped out the crippling disease in 2002 but it reemerged three years later from a strain that originated in Nigeria.
Nigeria is one of four countries that have never stopped transmission of the virus. Polio, also endemic in Pakistan, India and Afghanistan, spreads through contaminated food and water and mainly affects young children.
Some 10,000 volunteers and health workers delivered multiple doses of oral vaccine to children in Somalia's hard-to-reach villages, nomadic communities and makeshift camps that have grown as a result of clashes between Islamic insurgents, warlords and Ethiopian-backed Somali government forces.
Bruce Aylward, director of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, said the campaign showed that the virus could be stopped in highly insecure pockets of Pakistan and Afghanistan, and densely populated corners of India where sanitation facilities are lacking.
"Somalia wasn't lucky the first time," Aylward said in an interview. "What this demonstrates is that this can be done in areas where there are a lot of things outside of your control."
There were 1,308 people crippled by polio worldwide last year, compared to about 350,000 yearly when the eradication drive started in 1988.
Without continued aggressive vaccinations, Aylward said the remaining reservoirs of polio could easily grow and spread, driving the global toll back up to around 200,000 cases a year.
"We need a permanent solution to this," he said.
The Canadian epidemiologist voiced particular concern about northern Nigeria, where he said too few children were being immunised despite an easing of local concerns about the safety of the vaccine.
Some 20 countries were re-infected with polio originating in Nigeria after regional leaders temporarily halted vaccinations in mid-2003, reducing immunity levels among children there.
Strains from India have also spread to other countries. At present, Niger, Nepal, Angola, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Sudan and Myanmar are all working to stamp out a virus that they had previously stopped.
Sanofi Pasteur, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis and Bio Farma all manufacture polio vaccine used in the eradication campaign, which is run jointly by the World Health Organisation, UNICEF, Rotary International and the U.S.-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Posted on Tuesday 25th March at 16:03:30 Fighting Kills 5 in Somalia Capital
By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Muslim militants briefly overran a police station Monday after violent clashes with police that killed five people, a day after the prime minister began new peace efforts, witnesses said.
The insurgent attack was the latest brazen move by fighters linked to an Islamic extremist group that was driven out in December 2006 by Somalia's Western-backed government and its Ethiopian allies.
Leyla Adow, a Mogadishu resident who said she witnessed the violence, said the police station was briefly overrun.
"Insurgents were firing machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades," she said.
Another witness, Nuradin Haji Madar, said the victims appeared to be three officers, one insurgent and a civilian. "I saw the bodies," she said.
In recent weeks, the insurgents have taken over government positions, marched into towns and even released prisoners from jail before retreating.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein met with elders of the highly influential Hawiye clan in a new bid to push reconciliation. Government and clan officials said the meeting was preliminary and would continue this week.
Somalia has been ravaged by violence and anarchy since warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on one another. The current government — formed with U.N. help in 2004 — has struggled to assert any real control.
Last week, Islamic militants here welcomed being added to the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations, saying they only wished the designation had come sooner.
Posted on Monday 24th March at 16:03:57 Six killed in Mogadishu fighting
MOGADISHU (AFP) — Four policemen and two civilians were killed Monday in the latest fighting in the Somali capital, witnesses and police said.
Islamist insurgents attacked policemen manning a checkpoint in southern Mogadishu's KPP neighbourhood, triggering a heavy exchange of fire, they said.
"I have seen three dead soldiers and a civilian near KPP intersection. They were all killed in the clashes," said said Mohamed Suge Ali, a witness.
Angry residents dragged the body of one of the policemen through the streets after the fighting subsided, said Omar Ali, another witness.
A policeman and a second civilian died in hospital, bringing the overall toll to six people. The pair were among a group of 10 people taken for treatment, said Ali Ade, a medical staff in the capital's Madina hospital.
A Somali policemen confirmed the deaths, a day after five fatalities occured in similar clashes in Mogadishu.
Over the past year, the city has been rocked by almost daily violence pitting Ethiopian-backed Somali forces against Islamist insurgents.
The guerrilla fighting has killed hundreds of civilians and forced tens of thousands to flee.
Posted on Monday 24th March at 13:30:40 Mogadishu port slowly changing lives in Somalia
By Guled Mohamed
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - African Union peacekeepers have turned Somalia's biggest port into a thriving business centre providing a vital lifeline to war-weary residents.
Speaking after a cargo ship chartered by the United Nations to deliver food aid docked in the Mogadishu harbour, the port's AU commander, Captain Cyprian Odong, said his soldiers had been able to turn it into one of the safest corners of a dangerous city.
"Ships are coming day and night," Odong told reporters, flanked by other officers from AMISOM, the AU mission in the Horn of Africa nation. "Security at the port has really improved since we took over in January. People move freely."
Nearby, soaked bare-chested porters swarmed over vessels to unload their cargos, mostly of food. A rickety white boat with Somali marine officials onboard acted as traffic controller, directing ships to anchor.
Two AMISOM dinghies mounted with heavy machineguns and carrying troops clutching AK-47 rifles patrolled further out at sea, while heavily armed soldiers on the shore guarded the gates into the harbour.
"We get cargo from Dubai, some from Indian, Pakistan and now from Mombasa ... The ships are bringing in food," Odong said, his head pressed to a radio telephone with a long aerial.
"Our mission in Mogadishu is to support the peace operation ... It is very hard but we are trying."
About 2,600 AU peacekeepers from Uganda and Burundi have been unable to stem a persistent Islamist insurgency in Somalia's capital -- and like the AU mission in Sudan's Darfur region, they complain of being under-funded and under-staffed.
"FIGHTING EVERDAY"
Built by the Italians before Somalia gained independence from Rome in 1961, the harbour is about 2,500 metres long with several piers where big ships anchor, and a sandy beach to the north that is often filled with swimming children.
Since closing to commercial vessels for nearly 15 years after former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown by warlords in 1991, the harbour briefly opened during a strict but relatively peaceful Islamist reign in June 2006. It closed down again after they were ousted at the end of that year.
Since then, continuing lawlessness in the white-washed city has deterred many would-be investors -- even though the run-down port and some determined businessmen have defied the anarchy.
In January 2007, several mortar shells fired by insurgents opposed to Somalia's interim government hit the harbour, killing at least 5 people and temporarily disrupting port operations.
Up to a million people out of Somalia's total population of nine million currently live as refugees after 17 years of war.
The United Nations says nearly 20, 000 people flee Mogadishu every month to escape Iraq-style attacks including assassinations, grenade blasts and roadside bombings that have left parts of city completely deserted.
Mustafa Al-Jendi, the captain of the Fade 1 cargo ship delivering 5,300 tonnes of food aid for the United Nations' World Food Programme, recalls the old days under the Barre regime when the city was at peace.
"Mogadishu was beautiful then. We used to dock and go to enjoy the city life. Nowadays, there is fighting everyday. At night you hear loud explosions. But the port is safe," he told Reuters, smiling as he steered the vessel towards the port.
(Editing by Daniel Wallis)
Posted on Monday 24th March at 13:24:09 Talks seek to end Somali violence
Somalia's interim prime minister, Nur Hassan Hussein, has met elders of the Hawiye clan, who are influential in the capital, as part of his peace efforts.
He discussed his recently-outlined plan to restore stability. Both sides described the meeting as a stepping stone towards reconciliation.
It is not clear how much influence the elders have with the insurgents.
The most powerful group, al-Shabab, has said it will continue fighting. Most of its members are Hawiye.
Over the past year, the capital, Mogadishu, has been rocked by almost daily violence between Islamist insurgents and Ethiopian troops supporting the Somali government.
In the latest violence, four people, including three government soldiers are reported to have been killed in Mogadishu after gunmen in a vehicle open fire on government soldiers stationed at a junction.
The meeting is the first between the government and members of the Hawiye Cultural and Unity Council, says the BBC's Mohamed Olad Hassan.
He says many of the elders have been sharply critical of government policies and came out of hiding to attend the talks at Mogadishu International Airport under the security umbrella of African Union forces.
Al-Shabab
Al-Shabab has become increasingly active, not only fighting in Mogadishu, but carrying out hit-and-run attacks throughout central and southern Somalia.
In the past few weeks, al-Shabab has attacked a number of strategic towns, including Dinsor in the south-west and Bur Hakaba, near the seat of parliament in Baidoa.
A pattern is emerging whereby the militia briefly occupy the town, often killing a number of people, then withdraw with arms, ammunition and military vehicles seized from Somali government and Ethiopian troops.
Al-Shabab denies links to al-Qaeda and has distanced itself from the Somali opposition based in Eritrea, saying it is too secular.
The prime minsiter is due to talk to business leaders in Mogadishu later.
Posted on Monday 24th March at 13:23:27 Ethiopian factor surfaces in Puntland oil dispute
GAROWE, Somalia Mar 23 (Garowe Online) - The Ethiopian government's role in an ongoing political row between the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the Puntland regional administration has been raised, following a secretive meeting last week between Ethiopian and Puntland officials.
The meeting took place at State House in Garowe, the administrative capital of Puntland, inside sources said.
The Ethiopian government delegation was in Garowe on March 19, as Puntland lawmakers voted regarding a controversial oil law introduced by the government of President Adde Muse. [ Full story]
Confidential sources in the port city of Bossaso, the heart of the Puntland economy, said the Ethiopian delegation of military officers spent Sunday night at a local hotel.
The exact nature of the closed-door meetings at the Garowe State House is not clear, but reliable sources told Garowe Online that the Ethiopian officials were traveling alongside a delegation from Africa Oil, a Canadian company contracted by the Muse government to explore for oil and minerals in Puntland.
Unconfirmed reports said Africa Oil and the Ethiopian government are working out security arrangements for future drilling plans in Puntland, which Africa Oil hopes to begin later this year.
According to the report, the Ethiopian army will be contracted as a security force in and around Africa Oil exploration sites inside Puntland.
But Puntland Petroleum and Minerals Minister Hassan "Allore" Osman rejected the reports, telling the BBC Somali Service during a Sunday interview that the Puntland government might hire nationals from Somalia's neighbors with expertise in the exploration field.
"Security [of drilling sites] will be left to the people of Puntland, or from other parts of Somalia," Minister Allore said.
He reiterated the Puntland administration's stance that the regional government has the legal right to manage its own resources, since the TFG does not currently control all of Somalia.
"Puntland began exploration activities before the Federal Government was established," said Allore, adding: "Puntland will function under its own laws."
He claimed that the government of Puntland has a memorandum signed by former Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi, clearly stating that Puntland is "independent" for the exploration and production of its natural resources.
Last week, Somali Energy Minister Mohamud Ali Salah issued a press statement rejecting the Puntland oil law, which has stirred controversy within the regional parliament.
According to Minister Salah, only the federal government has the constitutional authority to manage natural resources in Somalia. [ Full story]
But Puntland Oil Minister Allore was critical of his federal counterpart, saying: "His [Salah] statement might damage the relationship between Puntland and the Federal Government."
Minister Allore defended the Puntland government's foreign partners, namely Africa Oil, which he said is a "big company."
"It [Africa Oil] is a Lundin Company," Minister Allore said, referring to a Sweden-based oil company which, in 2007, was awarded exploration rights in Ogaden, a Somali-inhabited region of Ethiopia.
In April 2007, Somali-speaking Ethiopian rebels attacked a Chinese-run oil field, killing 74 people, mostly Ethiopian soldiers.
The attack shocked the world, but rang alarm bells about the dangers of exploration in the Horn of Africa, a region mired in ethnic conflicts, perpetual droughts and political instability.
Source: Garowe Online
Posted on Sunday 23rd March at 13:29:27 Fresh, Deadly Battles Reported in Somali Capital
Residents of Somalia's capital say six people were killed in fighting between Islamist insurgents and government troops.
Witnesses say the clashes erupted Thursday near a market in Mogadishu, in the Howlawadag neighborhood. At least two soldiers are reported to have been killed.
Residents say fighting Wednesday in northern Mogadishu involving Islamists and Ethiopian troops backing the Somali government killed at least eight people.
At the United Nations Thursday, the Security Council reviewed various options for increased U.N. involvement in Somalia, including the possible deployment of a U.N. peacekeeping force.
The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalizad, said the U.N. is not close to deploying peacekeeping forces to Somalia.
The U.N. assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping operations Edmond Mulet expressed concerns to the council about sending peacekeepers into Somalia while the security situation is volatile.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a report this week that he is prepared to recommend sending U.N. peacekeepers to Somalia if key conditions are met.
Mr. Ban said those conditions include an agreement by the country's major factions to cease hostilities and share power. He said another condition is the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops who currently support the transitional government.
The Somali government and its Ethiopian allies have been battling an Islamist insurgency for more than a year. The insurgency began after a joint Somali-Ethiopian offensive drove a militant Islamist movement from power in southern Somalia in late 2006.
The fighting has killed thousands of people in Mogadishu alone and forced at least a half million others to flee the city.
Posted on Friday 21st March at 11:56:35 Two million Somalis in need of humanitarian aid: report
NAIROBI (AFP) — Some two million Somalis are in need of humanitarian aid, the US State Department said Thursday amid increasing violence in the country.
"Up to two million people are in need of humanitarian assistance and livelihood support ... due to the cumulative effects of drought conditions, civil conflict, and large population displacements," it said in a statement, citing the UN Food Security Analysis Unit for Somalia.
"Insecurity, sporadic outbursts of violence and border restrictions continue to impede humanitarian efforts, particularly in southern and central Somalia.
"Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) cite pervasive harassment, intimidation, inconsistent taxation and registration policies, and increased delays at checkpoints as major obstacles to the delivery of emergency assistance," it added.
In October, the United Nations said some 1.5 million -- almost one sixth of the total population -- in need of humanitarian assistance.
Meanwhile six people were killed in the capital Mogadishu on Thursday as the government troops clashed with insurgents, the latest in a series of fighting in the hapless nation that has lacked an effective government since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
Over the past year, the city has been rocked by almost daily violence pitting Ethiopian-backed Somali forces against Islamist insurgents.
The guerrilla fighting has killed hundreds of civilians and forced tens of thousands to flee.
Posted on Friday 21st March at 11:51:02 Gunmen Open Fire On Puntland Finance Minister's Vehicle
A group of unidentified armed men opened gunfire on a convoy transporting Puntland Finance Minister Mohamed "Gaagaab" Ali as the vehicles drove through town in the port of Bossaso, witnesses said.
No one was reported hurt, but the incident underscored the growing trend of criminal acts in the relatively quiet regional autonomy in northeast Somalia.
Minister Gaagaab was quickly transported to his hotel in Bossaso, where extra armed police were deployed to keep guard.
Puntland police have not yet identified the attackers. Conflicting reports are emerging with regard to the identity of the gunmen.
One unconfirmed report said that the gunmen are members of the Puntland security forces, who are angry with the Ministry of Finance for the nonpayment of wages during the last five months.
Sources close to Finance Minister Gaagaab suggested that the gunmen who attacked his convoy are soldiers loyal to Abdullahi Said Samatar, the region's recently-appointed Minister of Security.
An internal dispute has lingered between Mr. Gaagaab and Mr. Samatar since January, when Puntland President Adde Muse appointed former police official Samatar to head the Ministry of Security.
Samatar has demanded that his Ministry's budget be independent of Gaagaab, who personally manages the government's finances, including all the ministries' budgets.
Government sources in Bossaso tell Garowe Online that the attack on Minister Gaagaab's convoy postponed the Minister's planned meeting with a group of businessmen aimed at finding lasting resolution to a dispute that has led to bloodshed.
President Muse selected Gaagaab to represent the Puntland administration in meetings with businessmen, who are reported to be owners of an illegal machine that prints counterfeit Somali Shillings.
The dispute is linked to the Puntland government's ban on the printing of counterfeit cash, following protests against hyperinflation across the region's main towns.
The businessmen reportedly halted their illegal operation, which they were licensed to undertake by the government of Puntland, according to our sources.
But other businessmen who are closely associated with the Muse administration continued printing the counterfeit currency in Bossaso, despite the ban.
This development angered the business group that stopped the illegal operation as per the government ban, the sources added.
The disgruntled businessmen vowed to restart printing the fake Shillings and organized clan militias towards the port of Bossaso, to help protect their machine from efforts by Puntland security forces to shut it down by military force.
But the clan militias, who left Garowe, were ambushed by Puntland soldiers mid-way on Tuesday night, sparking a gunfight that killed at least one clan fighter, local sources said.
It is not clear whether or not Gaagaab's efforts will lead to success, but the development underscores the Puntland regime's direct involvement in criminal enterprises operating throughout the region.
Posted on Friday 21st March at 11:50:23 Nigerian Military Officers' Mogadishu Visit Marred By Violence
A 10-man team of Nigerian military officers landed in the Somali capital Thursday to meet with government officials and African Union commanders on the ground, officials said.
A spokesman for the AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) told reporters that the Nigerian officers came to Mogadishu to assess the security situation for the possible deployment of a Nigerian battalion to join the 2,000-strong AMISOM peacekeeping force already in place.
The AU had approved an 8,000-strong force to help the Somali transitional government secure Mogadishu, which is reeling from a bloody insurgency that has killed thousands of people since early 2007
So far, only 1,600 soldiers from Uganda and roughly 400 Burundian peacekeepers have arrived in Mogadishu. AU officials have repeatedly expressed their desire to boost the AMISOM peacekeeping effort, but cite financial and logistical reasons for the shortage.
As the Nigerian officers met with AMISOM officials, suspected insurgents overran government security forces stationed near the city's main Bakara market.
Insurgents briefly seized control of two major intersections that lead into Bakara after heavy fighting, witnesses said.
Hundreds of civilians poured into the streets after the guerrilla fighters chased away the government soldiers, who reportedly left behind two armored vehicles, according to eyewitnesses.
At least 10 people, including several civilians, were killed during the fighting. The bodies of three dead government soldiers remained on the ground for longer than an hour.
More than 25 people were rushed to local hospitals for treatment, medical sources said.
Government troops returned peacefully to the two intersections they fled earlier, after the insurgents left the area.
Somalia's capital has been marred by guerrilla violence since January 2007, when Ethiopian troops helped the weak interim government overthrow Mogadishu's Islamic rulers.
The Islamists' young fighters, al-Shabaab, began a deadly insurgency to oust the government and its foreign backers from Somali soil, with the ultimate aim of restoring Islamic Sharia law in the country.
The AU has been pressuring member states to deploy peacekeepers to Somalia to replace the Ethiopian troops, who are widely unpopular across Somalia and commonly perceived as invaders.
Posted on Friday 21st March at 11:49:20 Energy Minister Rejects Puntland Oil Law
Mohamud Ali Salah, Somalia's minerals and energy minister, has rejected a natural resources law that is being considered by the regional government of Puntland under a shroud of controversy.
A press statement Energy Minister Salah sent to Garowe Online detailed his position and the position of the UN-recognized Transitional Federal Government (TFG).
The Puntland regional government's attempt to ratify an oil law is "unacceptable," the statement read, since the constitution states that "natural resources...are considered 'national property' and the TFG is the peoples' caretaker authority."
On Wednesday, the Puntland Parliament voted on "The Oil and Minerals Law of Puntland State Government," with legislators deeply divided on the issue.
The government of Puntland President Mohamud "Adde" Muse has been locked in political tangle with the TFG since 2005, when Muse unilaterally signed an exploration agreement without regional parliament oversight or approval from the federal government.
Former Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi, who resigned last October, vehemently opposed the Puntland leader's efforts to enact a law legitimizing his deal with Australia-based Range Resources, Ltd. Gedi's argument was that only the federal government has the constitutional authority to sign international agreements.
Energy Minister Salah's press statement is the first clear indication regarding the issue of natural resources that has emerged from the current government of Prime Minister Nur "Adde" Hassan Hussein.
The Muse administration in Puntland is dealing with rising insecurity across the region, including human trafficking, kidnappings and piracy, and official corruption.
Government employees remain unpaid and members of the security forces have either quit or joined criminal gangs for survival.
The region is also currently undergoing a period of drought and is dependent on foreign humanitarian aid to feed some of its own citizens.
Although Somalia does not have any proven oil reserves, industry experts consider the troubled Horn of Africa country a "speculative bet," especially for risk-takers.
Somalia's former dictator, Gen. Mohamed Siad Barre, signed legal deals in the 1980s with American and European firms to explore for oil in the country. But that effort was short-lived and ended in 1991 when clan warlords overthrew Barre and the country imploded.
By Yusuf Ali
Posted on Thursday 20th March at 9:33:02 Insurgents Force Ethiopian Soldiers to Vacate Army Base
eavy fighting erupted in the Somali capital early Wednesday morning after Islamist rebels attacked an Ethiopian army base in northern Mogadishu, our correspondent reported.
At least six people - three Ethiopian soldiers and three insurgents - have been confirmed dead during the battle, which lasted for nearly five hours, according to witnesses.
More than 10 civilians were wounded during the onslaught. Locals who live in and around Mogadishu's livestock market in Huriwa district said they could not leave their homes during the battle.
Ethiopian troops stationed at the Maslah army camp spread into the livestock market and were reportedly moving equipment and other military materials to the ex-pasta factory when they came under gunfire.
The fighting started off slowly, but gradually strengthened as more insurgents joined the battle and Ethiopian soldiers left their barracks at the former pasta factory base to reinforce troops at Maslah.
The Ethiopian army used tanks against insurgents who used mortars and rockets during the battle. Several shells hit neighborhoods but casualties could not be confirmed yet.
Military sources in Mogadishu tell Garowe Online that the Ethiopian troops stationed at the Maslah camp were being relocated to the pasta factory, citing logistical difficulties that impacted the supply route.
The latest reports indicate that Islamist gunmen had successfully captured Maslah camp after the Ethiopian troops withdrew towards the ex-pasta factory.
A bloody insurgency has gripped Mogadishu since January 2007 when Ethiopian troops helped install the UN-backed Transitional Federal Government in the Somali capital.
Thousands of people have been killed and more than half a million civilians displaced from their homes in Mogadishu since, according to human rights groups.
Posted on Thursday 20th March at 9:28:47 Nigerian officers in Somalia ahead of troop deployment
MOGADISHU (AFP) — Ten Nigerian army officers arrived here Thursday to assess conditions ahead of a troop deployment to bolster an undermanned African Union peacekeeping force, an official said.
The officers held talks with officials from the embattled Somali government and African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) in the capital Mogadishu, where security forces are battling Islamist rebels.
"This is an advance team of Nigerian peacekeepers. They are assessing the situation and deployment of their troops will follow later," said an AMISOM official. He did not give a timeline.
The AU has raised less than half the 8,000 peacekeepers it needs to deploy in Somalia to help restore stability in the country torn apart by internecine war for the past 17 years.
Burundi -- which has 850 troops in Mogadishu -- is expected to deploy a total of 1,700 soldiers in Somalia, alongside around 1,600 troops from Uganda who have been in the capital since March last year.
In early 2007, the Nigerian army announced plans to send troops to Somalia, but the deployment was delayed by worsening security in the country.
Over the past year, Mogadishu has been rocked by almost daily violence pitting Ethiopian-backed Somali forces against Islamist insurgents.
The guerrilla fighting has killed hundreds of civilians and forced tens of thousands to flee.
Posted on Thursday 20th March at 9:28:07 Somali shot, robbed at shop
A Somali man was shot and robbed of an undisclosed amount of cash at his tuck-shop at Reeston, outside East London, police said on Wednesday.
Spokesperson Captain Mluleki Mbi said Osman Bekov, 29, was alone in his tuck-shop when two armed men entered demanding money on Tuesday night.
"The man was shot in the face and the suspects fled on foot."
He was reportedly taken to hospital for treatment.
Mbi said no one had yet been arrested. - Sapa
Posted on Wednesday 19th March at 9:36:49 Deadly Battles Reported in Somali Capital
Residents of Somalia's capital say at least eight people have been killed in renewed fighting between Islamist insurgents and Ethiopian troops backing the Somali government.
Witnesses say the sides traded heavy gunfire Wednesday in northern Mogadishu in the Suqaholaha neighborhood. They say at least three Ethiopian troops and one insurgent are among the dead, along with civilians.
Tuesday, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he is prepared to recommend sending U.N. peacekeepers to Somalia, if key conditions are met.
Mr. Ban said those conditions include an agreement by the country's major factions to cease hostilities and share power. He said another condition is the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops.
Some members of the U.N. Security Council have called for greater U.N. involvement in Somalia.
The Somali government and its Ethiopian backers have been fighting an Islamist insurgency for more than a year. The insurgency began after a joint Somali-Ethiopian offensive drove a militant Islamist movement from power in southern Somalia in late 2006.
The fighting has killed thousands of people in Mogadishu alone and forced at least a half-million others to flee the city.
Posted on Wednesday 19th March at 9:35:54 Danish warship escorts food aid to Somalia
By Guled Mohamed
ON BOARD HDMS THETIS, March 19 (Reuters) - Bristling with heavy machineguns and computerised grenade launchers, the HDMS Thetis with its crew of Danish marines is shepherding vital food aid through one of the world's most dangerous waterways.
In the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia, pirates have attacked several vessels in recent months carrying relief supplies to the anarchic Horn of Africa country, holding the ships and their crews for ransom.
The United Nations has appealed for rich nations to help it get humanitarian aid to impoverished Somalis, and the militaries of France and Denmark have answered the call.
"This is the noblest mission I've ever been involved with and I'm ready to die," said one Danish commando on board the MV Fade 1, a Panamanian-flagged cargo ship trailing the Thetis and carrying 5,300 tonnes of aid for the U.N. World Food Programme.
"This operation is better than those useless political battles," said the soldier, clad in camouflage and toting an M16 assault rifle, a 9mm pistol strapped to his right thigh.
Piracy has been rife off Somalia since warlords there toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. But the attacks have reached unprecedented levels due to instability onshore as the interim government battles Islamist insurgents.
In the latest incident, hijackers freed a Russian ship on Tuesday that they captured last month. The crew were unharmed.
CRUCIAL MISSION
A local Somali official said a $700,000 ransom had been paid, but the vessel's owners said it would be "irresponsible" for it to give any details of contacts with the hijackers.
Doing so could encourage more attacks, it warned.
The 3,500-tonne, 112-metre Thetis is on its second humanitarian mission in the region since February, escorting food aid from Mombasa in Kenya to the Somali capital Mogadishu.
WFP hopes to feed close to 2 million Somalis by August.
Up to 1 million of Somalia's total population of 9 million are living as refugees after 17 years of conflict, and the United Nations has described the situation in Somalia as Africa's worst humanitarian crisis.
Sitting aboard the MV Fade 1, 56-year-old Syrian captain Mustafa Al-Jendi, is overjoyed with the Danish help.
"We are safe from pirate attacks," he told Reuters, smoking contentedly as he navigated the vessel weighed down with stocks of sorghum, peas, other vegetables and non-food items.
"Some areas between Mombasa and Mogadishu are not very safe. We are happy the troops are here to provide security."
After this mission, the Thetis will be sailing back to the northern hemisphere to resume its usual tasks of ice-breaking and monitoring fishing fleets.
A Danish sniper in his mid-20s keeping a watchful eye from the deck of the Fade 1 had a message for any pirates who tried to interfere with their important work.
"We will shoot at their engine to show them they are not wanted here," he said. "We're not interested in killing them." (Writing by Daniel Wallis; Editing by Charles Dick) (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/)
Posted on Wednesday 19th March at 9:31:02 Hundreds of cases of AWD reported in Hiiraan region
NAIROBI, 18 March 2008 (IRIN) - A number of people have died in the town of Beletweyne, the Hiiraan regional capital in central Somalia, following an outbreak of acute watery diarrhoea, medical sources said on 17 March.
"At least three people have been confirmed dead in Beletweyne," said Nahashon Erupe, the programme coordinator for the International Medical Corps (IMC), in Beletweyne.
Erupe said 516 cases of AWD had been recorded between 16 February and 9 March. Most were from the neighbourhoods of Kooshin, Hawallaq and Hawataco in Beletweyne.
The IMC, he added, had set up a treatment centre on 12 March and suspected it was dealing with an outbreak of cholera - being the lead humanitarian agency for cholera response in the area.
A local humanitarian worker, who requested anonymity, said the situation in Beletweyne was stabilising but expressed concern for outlying villages.
In the village of Omaad, 50km north of Beletweyne, four people in a family of 12 were reported to have died of AWD. "Unfortunately, we are having difficulties in accessing some of these villages due to lack of transport or insecurity or both," the aid worker said.
The outbreak, he added, had resulted from the poor condition of the water drawn from wells.
Erupe said water wells in the town were being chlorinated, adding that the situation was under control. "There are enough medicines and other materials to handle the outbreak on the ground," he said.
Posted on Tuesday 18th March at 14:24:42 Anger at Somali pirates' ransom
A Danish-owned boat has been freed after a ransom of $700,000 (£350,000) was paid to Somali pirates, a local government official says.
The Svitzer Korsakov tug was captured in February off Somalia's northern semi-autonomous Puntland region.
Puntland's Fisheries Minister Ahmed Said Aw-Nur told the BBC the British captain, Irish engineer and four Russian crew on board were safe.
But he condemned the fact that a ransom was paid to secure their release.
"It can only encourage piracy," he told the BBC Somali Service.
A London-based spokesman for Svitzer declined to comment about reports that a ransom was paid, AP news agency reports.
"Svitzer would like to thank the many parties, agencies and professionals involved for their outstanding efforts in achieving the release of the crew and tug," a statement on the company's website says.
Somali coastal waters are considered to be among the most hazardous in the world.
The US navy patrols Somali waters to try to stop pirates, who last year seized more than 25 ships.
The seizure of ships carrying food aid has made it difficult for donors to help those left homeless by 17 years of conflict and anarchy in Somalia.
Mr Aw-Nur said that he suspected Puntland security officials were working in collusion with the pirates.
If anyone was caught doing so, they would be brought to justice, he said.
He urged the US Navy to do more to try and stop the pirates.
The International Maritime Bureau advises merchant ships to stay at least 200 nautical miles from the Somali coast because of the risk of piracy.
Posted on Tuesday 18th March at 14:23:46 Blast kills three Somali children
MOGADISHU - Three children were killed and another wounded today in southern Somalia when the grenade they were playing with exploded, witnesses and medical sources told AFP.
The three were part of a group of young goat-herders who found an unused hand grenade near a small village southwest of the capital Mogadishu, local elders said.
"They were playing with an old explosive device which I believe was a hand grenade they found near Magurto village," Ahmed Sheikh Ali said. "It exploded, killing three boys and critically wounding a girl," he said.
Ado Mohamed, a medic in nearby Afgoye town, confirmed the deaths and said the three were aged between six and nine.
Somali children are highly exposed to mines and unexploded ordinance, after 17 years of almost uninterrupted conflict in the Horn of Africa country. Dozens of people died in accidental blasts in 2007, many of them children.
Posted on Tuesday 18th March at 14:23:12 Somali pirates release Danish-owned tugboat
MOGADISHU, Somalia: Somali pirates released a Danish-owned tugboat that was held for more than a month after a ransom was paid, local officials said Tuesday.
The British captain, Irish engineer and four Russian crew aboard the Svitzer Korsakov are "safe and healthy," said Ahmed Said Aw-Nur, the fisheries and ports minister in Puntland, a semiautonomous region of northeast Somalia.
Aw-Nur told The Associated Press that the ship was freed after its Danish owner "negotiated with the criminals and paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for ransom." A regional official, who asked that his name not be used because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said US$700,000 (about €440,000) was paid.
Aw-Nur condemned the paying of ransom "because it can encourage more piracy." Piracy already is increasingly common along Somalia's 3,000-kilometer (1,880-mile) coast, which is the longest in Africa and near key shipping routes connecting the Red Sea with the Indian Ocean.
Pat Adamson, a London-based spokesman for Svitzer, declined to comment on reports that a ransom had been paid.
"Seen from a Svitzer point of view it would be irresponsible to provide any details of the operational issues involved," Adamson told The Associated Press. "It could encourage would-be pirates."
He said the ship was being escorted to "an appropriate port," but refused to say where.
The U.S. Navy has led international patrols to try to combat piracy in the region. Last year, the guided missile destroyer USS Porter opened fire to destroy pirate skiffs tied to a Japanese tanker.
Pirates seized more than two dozen ships off the Somali coast last year.
The International Maritime Bureau, which tracks piracy, said in its annual report earlier this year that global pirate attacks rose by 10 percent in 2007, marking the first increase in three years as sea robbers made a strong comeback.
Wracked by more than a decade of violence and anarchy, Somalia does not have its own navy and a transitional government formed in 2004 with U.N. help has struggled to assert control.
Posted on Tuesday 18th March at 14:21:25 Nine Somalis killed in land clashes
MOGADISHU (AFP) — At least nine people were killed and 18 wounded in central Somalia when two clans fought Monday over land, hospital and local officials said.
The fighting erupted between the Sa'ad and Dir sub-clans over disputed land in Galkaio town in central Somalia, said Bile Mohamud Qabowsade, a government official from Puntland, Somalia's northern breakaway region.
"We received five bodies and 10 wounded (people)," said Feisal Ise Qondhe, a medical official in a hospital north of Galkaio, adding that four other bodies and eight wounded people were taken to a nearby hospital.
Qabowsade said government forces had been sent to the area and the feuding clans had been urged to reach a ceasefire.
Meanwhile in the Somali capital Mogadishu, Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein reiterated his call to government opponents, notably the Islamist militia, for dialogue to end years of turmoil in the Horn of Africa country.
"No group will be denied the right to negociate peace," Hussein told a press conference. "We will talk to everybody regardless of their political affiliations."
"The shababs (Islamist militia) are part of the Somali people and the government will talk to them in order to end the cycle of violence," he added.
Several bids to end the Somali violence that erupted after the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Bare have failed to restore stability.
Posted on Monday 17th March at 14:22:08 Somalis mourn shooting victim
Hundreds of members of Toronto's Somalian community converged on a north-end home Saturday to mourn the city's latest shooting victim.
The Toronto Sun reports 18-year-old Abdikarim Abdul Abdikarim - known as Kareem to friends - was the son of Somalian pro soccer star Ahmed Abdikarim. Family friend Abdi Warsame told the newspaper Kareem had never been in trouble with the law.
Warsame said the elder Abdikarim, known by his nickname Antar, "is to soccer fans in Somalia what Gretzky is to hockey fans here in Canada." He now drives a taxi in Toronto, Warsame added.
Abdikarim died of a gunshot to the head, while five other men in their 20s were also wounded at a housing complex in the violence-plagued Lawrence Heights neighbourhood Friday night.
Three remain in hospital but are expected to survive, while the other two have been released from hospital.
The newspaper reports surveillance video shows two men approached the six victims, when one pulled a gun without warning and opened fire. Police are still looking for the shooter.
Posted on Monday 17th March at 15:36:58 American Warships Should Leave Somali Coast Or Fight Pirates
A Cabinet minister in Somalia's Puntland State government has called on the United States government to withdraw its naval forces from Somali shores or help in the campaign against local pirates.
Said Ahmed O'Nur, Puntland's Fisheries and Ports Minister, told Voice of America' s Somali-language program that U.S. Navy warships have been watching a hijacked ship for nearly two months without taking any military action against the pirates on board.
He indicated that there is "no communication" between the U.S. Navy and the government of Puntland.
According to the minister, the U.S. naval warships "allow" the pirates to go to and from the ship - Russian-registered Svitzer Korsakov, which pirates hijacked on Feb. 5.
"Local fishermen are not allowed to take their boats to sea," Minister O'Nur said during the interview.
He stated that locals informed the Puntland government that U.S. sailors disembark from their warships and use small boats to fish, adding: "Who allowed them to fish along our [Somali] coast?"
The Fisheries and Ports Minister called on the U.S. Navy to withdraw its ships from the Puntland coast or "convince the [Puntland] government about what they are doing there."
He also indicated that there are "many rumors" about reports of nuclear waste being dumped along Somalia's shores, which the Puntland government is to investigate.
Minister O'Nur did not clearly answer a question regarding Puntland's ability to secure its coast when major crimes are taking place on land, including kidnappings and assassinations.
But he pointed the finger at the U.S. government and was openly critical of "ransom payments" received by pirates in the recent past, which only emboldened them to hijack more commercial ships, he added.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Central Command told Garowe Online the international naval operation along Somalia's dangerous coastline is targeted at stopping pirates from hijacking ships, including ships delivering humanitarian aid to the Somali people.
But the spokesperson declined to comment on the Russian-registered Svitzer Korsakov, which the latest reports said is still being held near Puntland's coastal village of Eyl.
Aid sources in Puntland and Mogadishu, the national capital, said U.S.-led naval operations off of Somalia's coast have helped reduce the number of pirate attacks.
Posted on Monday 17th March at 15:26:21 Somali Islamist leader rejects talks with gov't
By Aweys Yusuf
MOGADISHU, March 16 (Reuters) - A senior Somali Islamist leader rejected on Sunday an offer of talks by the interim government to end insurgent attacks, including beheadings, that have sparked one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
Somali Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein said last Wednesday his government was ready to negotiate with opposition groups to end a 15-month insurgency against government troops and their Ethiopian military allies.
Calling for international mediation led by the United Nations' special envoy to Somalia, Hussein said the government was willing to hold talks in any location to end fighting that local aid groups said had killed 6,500 people last year.
Islamist leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys dismissed the offer, saying his sharia courts movement and its fighters did not recognise the government of the war-ruined country.
"This is not a government. We believe they are people who brought the enemy forces to our country. They are criminals," Aweys, a hardline Muslim cleric, told Reuters in an interview.
"Our fight is against Ethiopia and as long as they are there Somalis cannot have dialogue," he said by phone from Eritrea, where he is living in exile after fleeing Somalia last year.
Aweys, who the United States says is linked to al Qaeda, said the Islamists were "freedom fighters".
"The country is under Ethiopian colonisation and must be liberated from the enemy," said the former army colonel who was decorated for bravery in a war against rival Ethiopia in 1977.
Many Somalis living in the shell-shattered capital fear the Islamists' refusal to accept talks unless historic foe Ethiopia withdraws its troops signals more attacks which are already forcing some 20,000 civilians to flee Mogadishu every month.
Islamist insurgents were accused of spreading terror by cutting the heads off three Somali soldiers last week.
The head of the U.N. refugee agency told Reuters last Thursday that Somalia's problem was "intractable" with no sign of improvement. Guillermo Bettocchi said Somalia was a "negelected crisis" which surpassed Sudan's Darfur region.
Sheikh Aweys led Somalia's Islamic Courts Council, which ruled Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia in the second half of 2006, before it was ousted by allied Somali-Ethiopian forces.
Aweys recognised Prime Minister Hussein as "humble and a peace lover".
"But we are very sorry that he has placed himself in this position," he added.
The Horn of Africa country has had no effective government since warlords overthrew dictator Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other, plunging the country into chaos.
The remnants of Aweys' movement is now blamed for an Iraq-style insurgency punctuated with roadside bombings, assassinations and grenade attacks.
Posted on Monday 17th March at 15:25:18 Somali MPs slam president's 'mistakes'
Somalia's parliament members say president has committed unacceptable mistakes, criticizing his unjustifiable use of military force.
The president (Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed) is only supposed to meet and sign contracts with high ranking officials from other countries, demanding more powers for prime minister, the deputies told Press TV on condition of anonymity.
They even went further and rejected president's trips abroad or participation in international conferences outside Somalia, arguing that power sharing allows the prime minister to serve as an executive power and organize everything.
The legislators called on Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein to stop the 'weakness', noting that unlike Yusuf Ahmed he has the right, for instance, to intervene in Somalia's peace process.
They said the president needed to maintain unity among the nation, accusing Ahmed of military-backed dictatorship and using force against rival factions.
The MPs called on the premier not to follow the steps of his predecessor, Salim Aliyow Ibrow, who was fired from office by President Yusuf Ahmed and his Ethiopian supporters.
Posted on Saturday 15th March at 17:20:28 Somalian's death: Three face court
Three men are appearing in court charged with murder over the death of a teenager in a fight between Somali immigrants.
Ahmed Mohamed Ibrahim, 17, was killed after a brawl on Monday night on Croxteth Drive, near Sefton Park, south Liverpool.
A post-mortem examination revealed the youngster died of "blunt force trauma", according to Merseyside Police.
Ahmed Kayse Ahmed, 29, of St Mary Street in Greenwich, London; Ali Mohammed, 19, of Ritson Street in Toxteth, Liverpool; and Ibrahim Ahmed, 22, of Beaconsfield Street, Toxteth, will appear before Liverpool City Magistrates' Court charged with his murder.
A fourth man, Saeed Hassan Effa, of Northbrook Close in Toxteth, has been charged with violent disorder and will also appear in court.
Two other men - 22-year-old Kadir Mohammed and 21-year-old Effa Mohammed Ritson, both from Toxteth - have also been charged with Ahmed's murder.
They appeared before magistrates on Friday and were remanded in custody.
One of the victim's friends, 17, also Somalian, is being treated in hospital for cuts to his arms and hands following the attack.
Police said it involved a large-scale disturbance between 12 and 16 men, all from south Liverpool's Somalian community.
Posted on Saturday 15th March at 17:18:21 Police raid blamed for baby miscarriage
A Somali woman reportedly suffered a miscarriage on Thursday night after a policeman allegedly kicked her in the stomach during a violent police raid on informal Somali traders in the Mitchell's Plain town centre.
Mayoral committee member for economic, social development and tourism Simon Grindrod, who was present, described the raid as "shocking and totally disproportionate".
About 40 other Somalis were allegedly assaulted and 220 city-owned stands, managed by the Somalis, were broken down when 30 armed riot police stormed the town centre at about 10pm.
Police also allegedly raided the Somalis' flats in the town centre, breaking down doors and gates and damaging and taking valuables.
Three Somali men were arrested for having expired refugee status permits and are at Mitchell's Plain Police Station.
Early on Friday, Grindrod, who was on the scene on Thursday night, condemned the attack.
"The degree of police brutality was shocking and totally disproportionate."
The city would lodge a complaint with police this morning, he said, and call an urgent meeting with Minister of Community Safety, Leonard Ramatlakane, to ask why undue force had been used against informal traders.
Grindrod said he had seen the incident involving the woman, who was about five months pregnant.
"We want an explanation from Mitchells Plain police," he said.
Grindrod said he had called Ramatlakane on Thursday night and protested "in the strongest way".
"We want to know who authorised this raid and on what grounds. The physical stalls broken down were city property and police had no right to break them down."
The chairperson of the Somali Community Board of the Western Cape, Abdulkader Karkoos, said last night's incident was "an apartheid-style operation".
"They broke down our stalls and then they went to our houses and kicked in our doors and broke our gates."
Karkoos said he was one of 40 people who had been assaulted by the police, who, he alleged, had hit them in the stomachs with rifle butts.
He said that when police had raided homes, residents had not been allowed to accompany officers into rooms and had been ordered to wait in lounge areas.
Apart from the woman who miscarried, two other women had been beaten in the face. One of the two had a cut on her right side.
"We feel very sad about this. We feel like we are being victimised," said Karkoos.
He said that when they went to the police station to lodge complaints, they had been turned away by a superintendent.
# Police had not responded at the time of going to press.
Posted on Friday 14th March at 17:25:25 Somalis demand to be repatriated
Scores of Somalis who were subjected to alleged xenophobic attacks in Worcester last week, are demanding that the government repatriate them to their country.
Crowding the UCT Law Clinic on Thursday the traumatised refugees, among them pregnant women, told the Cape Argus that the looting of their shops by locals in Zwenetemba village in Worcester had left more than 100 of them homeless.
"We ran away from the brutal killings in our country and we will die in our country," said pregnant Abdi Kaluma Hassan, 34, who could not contain tears.
"The UN is not protecting us in this country, the South African government lies to the world that we are in safe hands, but the truth is we have no place in this world - nobody cares.
When we were robbed last week the police joined in the looting of our shops, they took money from our Burundian friends, yet we have spent years building businesses in difficult times."
Fellow Somali Ahmed Dakane Omar said if the government did not want to send them home, its should imprison them.
He said the proceeds from their businesses were helping families and friends in Somalia.
"They (locals in Zwenetemba) said they do not want to see foreigners."
When the Cape Argus arrived at the Law Clinic, overwhelmed human rights lawyer Fatima Khan was frantically working out plans for overnight accommodation for dozens of homeless Somalis.
"They lost their documentation and we are working on replacing it," said Khan.
She said police had a duty to protect everyone in the country and her office would lodge charges against them.
Sheik Amir Hussein from the Somali Community Board of the Western Cape, said he would meet Zwenetemba community leaders today.
The looting and subsequent attack on Somalis and other foreigners in Zwenetemba is believed to have been sparked by the alleged killing of a suspected robber by a Somali shop owner.
Posted on Friday 14th March at 17:19:43 Top UN Envoy Welcomes Reaction to Government's Reconciliation Plan
The senior United Nations envoy for Somalia has welcomed the positive reaction to the announcement by the Transitional Government in the Horn of Africa country that it will hold discussions with the political opposition.
Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the UN Special Representative for Somalia, issued a statement today in Nairobi saying he was "very pleased" by the reaction from several Somali groups, especially the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia.
Mr. Ould-Abdallah said he would now discuss the timing, agenda and venue for the talks with all the concerned parties in Somalia, which has not had a functioning national government since 1991.
"I would like thank all the parties for finally thinking of the fate of the Somali people and for realizing that reconciliation can lead to a win-win situation for all sides," the envoy said, according to a press release issued by the UN Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS).
In recent months, Somalia has been wracked by violence which has displaced around one million people and has caused some three million others to flee the country as refugees.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says there are up to two million vulnerable people in need of humanitarian aid within the country. In addition, aid workers face difficulties and the transport and delivery of crucial items such as food is being impeded by roadblocks, taxes and banditry.
Posted on Friday 14th March at 17:17:44 Tributes paid to student killed by gang
FRIENDS and family today paid tribute to the Somalian student killed by an armed gang in a Liverpool park.
Ahmed Mohamed Ibrahim, 17, was battered to death in Croxteth Drive, Sefton Park, on Monday night.
Today the ECHO can exclusively reveal how the teenager fled his native Somalia to come to the city nine months ago.
His devastated family said Ahmed had recently been reunited with mum Asiya who left war-torn Mogadishu two years earlier.
Ahmed remained behind in the troubled Somalian capital before escaping the East African country.
He arrived in Liverpool last summer to join his huge family of four sisters and eight brothers.
Relatives said Ahmed was innocently caught up in a simmering feud in the city’s close-knit Somalian community in Toxteth and Granby.
Cousin Yousaf Mohamed, 32, described him as “a boy who loved everybody and who had a dream”.
He told the ECHO: “Ahmed wanted to make something of himself and wanted to work in computer science. He was one of those people who made friends just like that.
“He had become separated from his mother in Somalia.
“But when the two met up again in Liverpool they were so happy as they had thought they would never see each other again.
“Ahmed was an innocent boy who didn’t know what was going on. He is from a well-known family.
“He loved playing football and basketball. We are so sad about this.
“When they were about to attack him, he kept begging these evils and telling them that life was not about fighting, but they didn’t listen.”
A female relative called Fatima said: “This boy has never hurt a living soul in his life. Why is it always the good people who are taken away?”
Ahmed was studying at Liverpool Community Centre in Duke Street and worked part-time at medical nutrition firm SHS International, at Wavertree Technology Park, in the bakery section of the company.
A work colleague said: “Ibrahim was quiet and shy. He would not say a lot. I can’t believe what happened to him.”
Grieving relatives and friends visited the family home in Toxteth yesterday to pay their respects.
A number of cars were taken away by police for forensic examination including a vehicle smashed up outside Ahmed’s home on Sunday evening – a day before the murder.
The three men arrested on Tuesday night fled Liverpool and were picked up by police in Birmingham.
A huge area of Sefton Park today remained cordoned off as forensic officers continued to comb the area.
Floral tributes were left at the scene pinned to trees with messages in Somalian saying “Ahmed, may he drink from heaven. Amen”.
Six people, aged 19, 20, 21, 22, 22 and 23, today remained in police custody after being arrested on suspicion of murder.
Ahmed died of severe head injuries hours after the attack, in a Liverpool hospital. The post mortem revealed the cause of death as blunt force trauma.
A second 17-year-old boy, named locally as Abdulahi and said to be Ahmed’s cousin, had his fingers chopped off – possibly with a machete.
Area commander for Liverpool south Supt Steve Ashley said: “We have been talking to community leaders to provide reassurance.
“I would say that this is not a gang-related incident in that there are two well-established gangs in these areas.
“This was a one-off incident and we are speaking to people in the community to prevent any sort of retaliation.”
An incident room was set up by police. Anyone with information should call 0151-777 5376 or the anonymous Crimestoppers hotline on 0800 555 111.
luketraynor@liverpoolecho.co.uk
Posted on Thursday 13th March at 13:58:48 Somalia war creates 20,000 refugees a month
By Guled Mohamed
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Nearly 20,000 civilians are fleeing violence in Somalia's capital Mogadishu every month with little hope of peace and stability in the Horn of Africa nation, a senior United Nations' official said on Thursday.
"The problem with Somalia is intractable ... The situation seems to be deteriorating. We don't see any improvement," Guillermo Bettocchi, head of the U.N. refugee agency for Somalia, told Reuters.
"Nowadays, an average of 20,000 people are leaving the city every month."
Up to one million of Somalia's total population of nine million are living as refugees after 17 years of conflict which took a new turn since early 2007 with an Islamist-led insurgency against the Ethiopian-backed government.
Most of the recent refugees are from the capital Mogadishu, where Iraq-style attacks are a near-daily occurrence.
Many parts of the capital are destroyed and deserted.
Somalia now has the world's largest group of internally displaced people, Bettocchi said, on a small corridor between Mogadishu and Afgoye town to the west where 200,000 are camped in "very difficult conditions."
Reliant on handouts, many live in makeshift shacks made from sticks, boxes and tattered clothes.
"I have never seen anything like Somalia in terms of the suffering of people," said Bettocchi, a 54-year-old Peruvian, with experience in various global hot-spots from Iraq to Sudan.
"NEGLECTED CRISIS"
Aid workers say Somalia's humanitarian crisis is one of the world's worst but is not receiving the attention it deserves. In Africa, it has been overshadowed by the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region.
"The situation in Somalia is not the forgotten crisis but the neglected crisis," Bettocchi said.
"In terms of effect on the people, it surpasses Darfur ... The consequences of the violence in Somalia are much worse."
Trying to escape violence and economic hardship at home, some 10,000 immigrants -- from Somalia and elsewhere in the Horn of Africa -- have fled from Somalia to Yemen this year. They go via the shark-infested Gulf of Aden on rickety boats owned by ruthless smugglers who often throw refugees overboard.
"In 2008 ... we have reports of 200 people who have drowned and died and we have reports of over 250 people who are missing. We don't know what happened to them," Bettocchi said.
He cited the example of an Ethiopian woman who gave birth unconscious on a boat only for the smugglers to throw her baby overboard before she came round.
"That kind of abuse is unacceptable," he added.
The U.N. official said smugglers were shifting their bases from Bosasso, a port in the relatively peaceful region of Puntland in north Somalia to Djibouti, which is nearer to Yemen, due to lower costs.
Posted on Thursday 13th March at 13:54:01 Islamists behead three soldiers in Somalia
By Aweys Yusuf
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Islamist insurgents cut off the heads of three Somali soldiers south of the capital on Thursday and the U.N. special envoy said he would try to set up peace talks between the opposition and government.
It was the first case of beheadings since the government and its Ethiopian military allies ousted the Islamists from power in late 2006, sparking a bloody insurgency characterised by roadside bombs and hit-and-run attacks.
"This morning the mujahideen attacked the so-called government troops guarding the roads for the Ethiopian forces. We killed three of them," said Muktar Ali Robow, a senior commander of the Islamists' Shabab youth wing.
"We did what we promised to them. People travelling in that road can be asked how we killed them," he told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.
Witnesses in the area said they saw three headless corpses near Lego town, 130 km (81 miles) south of Mogadishu.
"We were terrified because we have never seen a human slaughtered like an animal," truck driver Hassan Mohamed Amin told Reuters.
At least 7,000 people have died, and hundreds of thousands been displaced in the 15-month insurgency, creating what aid workers call one of the world's worst yet most ignored humanitarian crises.
In a separate attack, gunmen killed a police official and two body guards, also wounding two local employees of Medecins Sans Frontieres-Spain, some 30 km (19 miles) north of Mogadishu.
"We do not know whether the attackers were insurgents or any other. Investigations are underway and we will determine whoever was responsible for the killings," Mohamed Weli Ugas, mayor of nearby Balad, told Reuters by telephone.
PEACE TALKS?
The government appealed again this week for its foes to join talks led by the United Nations.
"I have no doubt that all Somalis and their concerned friends, governments and organisations will support this move," said U.N. envoy to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah.
"As requested by the Somali parties, I will assume the leadership role and will contact all sides to propose the timing and modalities for future discussions," he added in a statement issued from his office in Nairobi.
Analysts believe, however, it is unlikely Islamist-led insurgents, many of whom view their attacks on the Western-backed government as a jihad or holy war, could be persuaded to join.
And an Eritrean-based alliance of Somali opposition groups
-- made up of former parliamentarians, Islamists and some members of the foreign diaspora -- is insisting Ethiopian troops withdraw before talks.
Ethiopia sent thousands of soldiers into Somalia in late 2006 to help the government, virtually encircled in the town of Baidoa, topple Somalia's Islamic Courts Council which had ruled most of the south from Mogadishu since the middle of that year.
The scattered Islamist fighters regrouped and have waged an Iraq-style insurgency.
Ould-Abdallah, who works from Nairobi due to insecurity in Mogadishu, said civil society organisations and Somalis in the diaspora were eager to join reconciliation discussions.
Posted on Thursday 13th March at 13:53:05 Somalis mourn killed peace cleric
Hundreds of people in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, have attended the funeral of a prominent preacher well known for his sermons against violence.
Sheikh Muhammad Ahmed Kashka, 55, was shot dead by two gunmen as he was returning home from a mosque on Monday.
In his last Friday sermon he condemned insurgents for targeting people who worked for the transitional government.
Ethiopian troops backing the government ousted the Union of Islamic Courts from Mogadishu in December 2006.
Since then many government officials have been assassinated by Islamist insurgents - including at least 10 of Mogadishu's 17 district commissioners.
All government associates are targets from tax collectors to businessmen felt to be backing the administration.
Correspondents say officials drive at break-neck speed through the streets of the city fearing attacks.
But a BBC correspondent in Mogadishu says it is not clear if the cleric, who was an imam in the Medina district of the city, was killed because of his sermon.
The UN estimates that violence in Mogadishu has forced 60% of the city's residents to flee and last month it warned that Somalia was the world's "forgotten crisis".
So far only 2,400 African Union peacekeepers have been sent to Somalia, of a planned 8,000-strong force.
Posted on Wednesday 12th March at 18:09:21 Somali government ready to talk with opposition
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia's government said on Wednesday it was ready to negotiate with any opposition groups to end a 15-month-old insurgency and called for international mediation.
The government and its Ethiopian military allies have waged an increasingly bloody counter-insurgency campaign against Islamist rebels and others since ousting Somalia's Islamic Courts Council from power in late 2006.
"The Somali government is ready to reconcile with any Somali citizen opposing it," it said in a statement.
"The government approves of any location for the negotiation to take place ... recommending that the international community led by the U.N.'s special representative for Somalia mediate the negotiations."
At least 7,000 people have died and hundreds of thousands been displaced in an insurgency characterised by roadside bombs and hit-and-run attacks.
An Eritrea-based alliance of Somali opposition groups -- made up of former parliamentarians, Islamists and members of the foreign diaspora -- insist Ethiopian troops withdraw before talks.
But Somali Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein said that would not happen. "I have repeatedly made clear in the past that issues of Ethiopian forces in Somalia can be settled when the government and its opponents agree on something, but negotiations should take place first," he told reporters.
© Reuters 2008. All Rights Reserved. |
Posted on Wednesday 12th March at 18:01:26 Explosion Kills Pregnant Mother, Wounds Her Two Children
A roadside bomb killed a pregnant mother in the Somali capital Tuesday and wounded four other people, including her two young children, witnesses said.
The dead mother, Ismahan Hussein, was walking along Maka-al-Mukarama Road at the heart Mogadishu when the bomb detonated.
The target of the bomb was an armored truck transporting soldiers and military officers to the Central Bank, security sources said.
The impact of the explosion caused damage to the back of the truck, but none of the soldiers on board was hurt.
Government troops rushed to the scene and sealed off the area, as they searched for the perpetrators of this horrendous crime. No one was arrested.
Hundreds of civilians have been killed in roadside bombings since last year, when Ethiopian troops toppled Mogadishu's Islamic rulers and installed the interim government in the capital.
Meanwhile, government security forces that vacated strategic roads near the capital's main Bakara market returned to their positions later Monday.
Bakara traders and customers said security forces were not stopping people from leaving or entering the market Tuesday morning, but reported a few isolated incidents where soldiers fired bullets in the air to stop some people.
Business has returned to normal in Bakara, with most shops reopening their doors for business after a week of nonstop insurgent attacks.
Posted on Tuesday 11th March at 18:06:05 Puntland Security Minister Resigns - Sources
The security minister in Somalia's semiautonomous State of Puntland has handed President Mohamud "Adde" Muse his official resignation papers, inside sources tell Garowe Online.
Abdullahi Said Samatar, who was appointed in January, resigned after facing stiff resistance from police commanders and some Cabinet ministers.
According to our sources, senior police commanders working at strategic locations in the port city of Bossaso refused to accept Samatar's order to report for training at Armo Police Academy, south of Bossaso.
These police commandants' refusal is linked to fear that Samatar aimed to replace them at their jobs if they reported to Armo, the sources added.
People who know Samatar well described him as a man with advanced knowledge of police operations, with plans to improve the Puntland police force from the officer level to commanders.
But he has faced resistance from the region's security establishment since his appointment nearly two months ago, including from police chief Abdiaziz Ga'amey who rejected Samatar's past attempts to replace several commanders.
Further, Puntland Intelligence Service (PIS) director Osman "Diana" Abdullahi has steadfastly refused to come under the jurisdiction of not only the Puntland Ministry of Security, but even the Somali federal government as a whole, sources said.
Mr. Diana reportedly told Ministry of Security officials that PIS comes under the direct authority of the American government, with sources linking his comment to CIA funding for the PIS.
Puntland government sources tell Garowe Online that domestic pressure that caused Samatar's resignation originated from Finance Minister Mohamed "Gaagaab" Ali, who opposed Samatar's appointment to the Cabinet from the beginning.
Mr. Gaagaab refused attempts to establish a separate budget for the Ministry of Security, which was designed to be independent of the Finance Ministry he leads.
Other sources pointed to Gaagaab's close relations with senior security officials leading the mutiny against Samatar's Ministry of Security.
Clan elders have held talks with Samatar in an attempt to reverse his decision to resign, but no reports emerged from that meeting.
Meanwhile, President Muse formally accepted Samatar's resignation Monday evening, sources said.
The Puntland government is expected to organize and hold presidential elections next January, but critics say the government has been crippled by overt corruption, nepotism and a weak leader.
The region's security has gradually deteriorated during the rule of the current administration, with organized crime activities including piracy, kidnappings and human trafficking on the rise.
Posted on Tuesday 11th March at 18:02:48 Situation in conflict-ravaged Somalia deteriorating
Geneva - The situation in Somalia was deteriorating exacerbated by further fighting as well as water and food shortages, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Tuesday.
The conflict and a lack of rain had made the situation worse in several regions, the organization told journalists in Geneva.
Doctors in hospitals in Mogadishu had treated 600 wounded in the first two months of the year, including 350 women and children.
Many families had fled the capital with no belongings and many were surviving on less than a meal a day.
ICRC representative in Somalia Daniel Gagnon said in Guriel, around 300 kilometres south of Mogadishu, people were living in 'shocking conditions.'
There was a lack of everything from basic sanitary facilities to food, water and kitchen utensils.
In the districts of Afgoye and Daynile close to the capital there had been outbreaks of malaria.
Mogadishu has been the scene of fighting since last year as Islamic militants battle with Somali and Ethiopian forces. The ICRC reminded all parties in the conflict of their duty to protect the civilian population.
Posted on Tuesday 11th March at 15:43:06 Somalis granted extension to live in U.S.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush administration has granted Somalis living in the United States under temporary protected status an extra 18 months in this country.
It's the second such extension granted by the Department of Homeland Security in the last two years. The first one was granted in 2006 and expires later this month. The new extension will apply through September of next year.
Generally, those eligible for temporary protected status are unable to safely return to their home countries because of armed conflict, environmental disasters or other extraordinary conditions.
Senator Norm Coleman pushed for the latest extension. Minnesota is believed to have the largest Somali population of any state.
The Minnesota Republican says the extension is necessary because Somalia has become an even more dangerous place.
Posted on Tuesday 11th March at 15:41:21 Somali President Seeks Truce with Islamic Courts
Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat- Informed Somali sources have revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf has been in contact with officials from Al-Hawiya tribe, the largest tribe which controls Mogadishu, in a bid to convince the military wing of the Islamic Courts organization in the capital to agree to a truce and a ceasefire between the two sides.
This comes at a time when the Al-Mujahidin Youth movement announced that it had penetrated the defense lines of the Ethiopian forces based in the capital Mogadishu, and that it carried out an operation that it said was unprecedented.
The sources said that the mediation efforts led by former Somali interior minister Muhammad Mahmud Guled were aimed at inducing the Islamic Courts to halt their military activity in Mogadishu in return for its participation in peace negotiations sponsored by the UN, the Arab League, and the European Union. They said there has been relative progress in the negotiations over the past two days but denied there have been direct talks between the military wing of the Courts and the Somali Government.
The sources added that the negotiations are taking place through the clan leaders of the Al-Hawiya tribe and that there was still a possibility of a positive outcome emerging in the coming period.
Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf meanwhile accused the Al-Qaeda organization of launching a wide-scale terror war against his Government in several parts of the country and of supporting the armed movements that oppose him.
Yusuf's aides who spoke with Asharq Al-Awsat on his behalf affirmed that Al-Qaeda has very active elements within Somalia. He said that Somalia is waging a ferocious war in an attempt to block what he called terrorist groups from continuing to shake the security and stability of the state that has been in a grueling civil war for the past 17 years.
The Somali President told Asharq Al-Awsat through his aide that the bombing carried out lately by US warplanes against the locations of Al-Qaeda and those affiliated to it in southern Somalia were undertaken with his knowledge and approval. "We and the Americans are partners in combating terrorism and our interests are identical in eradicating terrorists and preventing them from turning the country into a safe haven for terror," he said.
According to his aide, Yusuf also stressed that his security bodies had full information about the parties that finance those terrorists, the names of the terrorists, and the places where they were located as well as their nationalities as they try to hit the stability and to prolong the civil war in his country. He disclosed that there were foreigners from Al-Qaeda inside Somalia to bolster the abilities of the armed movements that are hostile to the Transitional Government he has headed since October, 2004.
Yusuf urged the international community to extend all the necessary financial and logistical support to his Government's efforts to combat terrorism, considering that without acquiring such support the terrorist danger increases in light of the limited capabilities at the disposal of his Government. The Somali President reiterated that he will not negotiate with any person whose hands are stained with the blood of the Somali people and who has worked to procure foreign terrorists from Al-Qaeda to come to his country, pointing out that the war on terrorism is long and complex and that it needs patience and biding of time.
Meanwhile the extremist Al-Mujahidin Youth movement, which is against Yusuf and the foreign military presence in Somalia, announced that it carried out yesterday a bold operation against the Ethiopian forces which it described as the first of its type. It said its elements penetrated the main defense line of the Ethiopian forces on Al-Thalathin Street in the Somali capital after a vicious battle along the length of the street and in the neighboring villages, according to a statement from the movement of which Asharq Al-Awsat received a copy. "We were able to eradicate a large number of Ethiopians from the first defenses between the crossing of Barabj and Black Sea (in the capital) stretching eastward to Libatgh and westward to the milk plant," it said. The movement provided no details on losses sustained by the Ethiopian Army or its elements, but it said that Ethiopian tanks responded by random firing without inflicting any casualties among its elements.
An African Union official who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat on the condition of anonymity said that the AU was facing a real problem in providing the necessary funds for the African peace forces in Somalia. He said this was a recurrent problem whenever the time comes to pay the salaries of the soldiers from Burundi and Uganda, adding that this impeded the task of these forces in preserving peace and restoring security to the Somali capital. Uganda's Defense Minister said yesterday in Kampala that his country cannot abide by its offer to assume full control of the peacekeeping mission in Somalia because "no one has extended the necessary funds ... Contrary to the promises made to us, there are no funds to transport the soldiers or assume peacekeeping in Somalia".
By Khaled Mahmoud
Posted on Monday 10th March at 9:56:29 Grisly Scenes as Ethiopian Troops Vacate 30th Avenue
Five dead bodies were discovered and buried Sunday in the Somali capital after Ethiopian troops vacated 30th Avenue, a major thoroughfare that runs adjacent to Mogadishu's main Bakara market.
The Ethiopian army contingent had been stationed at 30th Avenue for the past nine days, residents said.
A local who returned to his home after the Ethiopians left the area told Garowe Online that he saw the dead bodies, who were all men.
He described dead body parts bit off by wild animals after the corpses lay on the streets for several days.
The troops were dispatched to 30th Avenue last Saturday, when rebels and government troops fought for hours along the road and into Bakara market, killing scores of people.
Attacks
Police officers stationed at three locations inside Bakara market were abruptly withdrawn today, following several grenade attacks last night and today, officials said.
Casualty reports were difficult to confirm but the police withdrew to the outskirts of Bakara and took control of strategic roads leading into the market.
The free movement of people and traffic resumed after the security forces left the market, although stores did not open for business.
Police spokesman Abdullahi Shasha told reporters later today that security forces had detained several people for attacking the police at Bakara last night and this morning.
His claim could not be independently verified.
Somalia's Ethiopian-backed interim government has faced a bloody insurgency since early 2007, with daily shootings, roadside bombings and assassinations.
More than 6,500 people died in the violence last year, with another 600,000 civilians displaced by the conflict, according to UN figures.
Posted on Monday 10th March at 9:54:53 13 Somali soldiers killed in Mogadishu
Anti-government forces in Somalia have killed 13 government soldiers after they refused to leave their positions in Bakara market.
For the past four days, Ethiopian and Somali government soldiers had taken up positions in Mogadishu's Bakara market. After refusing to leave, they were attacked by insurgents. Thirteen soldiers were killed in the ensuing violence and looting followed.
Civilians are believed to be among the forces who fought against the soldiers after their businesses were demolished and looted.
Posted on Sunday 9th March at 9:58:31 Deputy Speaker Visits Refugee Camps Outside Mogadishu
Member of Somalia's interim parliament, led by Second Deputy Speaker Osman Elmi Boqorre, toured through a string of makeshift refugee camps in the outskirts of the capital Mogadishu Saturday, officials said.
The lawmakers were accompanied by Lower Shabelle Governor Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur as they visited families displaced by war.
Most of the families fled Mogadishu since the beginning of 2007 as an insurgency erupted following the arrival of Ethiopian troops backing the country's weak interim government.
"The Parliament should have come here before," Deputy Speaker Boqorre told a crowd.
He said that he personally saw what Somali and international media had been reporting for more than one year.
"We saw some refugee camps that have yet to receive food assistance," Boqorre said, describing his experience.
This is the first time a senior government official has visited the road linking Mogadishu-to-Afgoye, where an estimated 250,000 displaced people now call home.
Somalia has seen nothing but violence, displacement and food shortage since Ethiopian troops captured Mogadishu from Islamic Courts rulers, who had pacified the war-wracked capital and returned the rule of law for six months prior to the December 2006 invasion.
Posted on Sunday 9th March at 9:55:34 'Muslims Are Being Massacred' - Mayor
The mayor of a town in south Somalia which was the target of a U.S. air strike last week says that al Qaeda has never set foot in the town.
Ali "Dheere" Hussein, the mayor of Dobley, told the BBC Somali Service that the U.S. bombing killed innocent civilians.
"The only thing I see here is innocent people being massacred," Mayor Ali Dheere said, referring to a house hit by U.S. missiles on March 3.
The mayor said that the Somali Transitional Federal Government did not contact Dobley officials, even to send condolences to the families of the deceased.
He said there is no hospital in Dobley town to treat the wounded civilians, so "we took them to the pharmacy since the [Kenya] border is closed."
Mayor Ali Dheere said the U.S. bombing was "wrong and intentional," since the people of Dobley did not harm the U.S.
"I here about al Qaeda only from the U.S. government and the Somali President [Abdullahi Yusuf]," the Dobley mayor said.
Asked about the intention of the U.S. bombing, Mayor Ali Dheere said, in his opinion, that "Muslims are being massacred."
Hassan Turki, the commander of Islamist militias in south Somalia, was a target in the U.S. bombing of Dobley.
He told the BBC that the American government is being lied to by local opportunists, who are using the "terrorist card" to their own advantage.
He compared U.S. policy to a man who once loved a girl, but the girl refused him and so he gave her money every time he saw her.
"We are not terrorists. We are righteous fighters. [Former Somali President] Mohamed Siad Barre released me from jail in 1964 to fight the Amhara and now [Ethiopian Gen.] Gabre rules Villa Somalia," Turki said.
He dismissed Somali President Yusuf's allegations that al Qaeda fighters trained in Afghanistan were regrouping in Dobley.
"We were trained as children because the clans used to fight. All Somalis are trained," he said with a slight chuckle.
Turki said he does not know the three al Qaeda fugitives whom the U.S. government believes are being sheltered in southern Somalia.
"We don't know about them [three wanted al Qaeda operatives] but even if they did exist, is it right to kill all the innocent people for them?"
Posted on Saturday 8th March at 9:57:42 Violence claims 14 lives
A strong explosion kills five Somali government soldiers in the southern city of Baidoa, leaving dozens of civilians seriously injured.
In south Mogadishu, Ethiopian soldiers also killed at least nine civilians, including three women.
On Thursday, anti-government forces also attacked a police commander in Baidoa's down town, Press TV correspondent Ahmed Mohamed reported.
Government officials say the commander escaped from the scene unharmed, while independent sources claim he died in the attack.
Posted on Friday 7th March at 10:09:53 4 Civilians Killed After Insurgent Attack On Ethiopian Soldiers
Ethiopian army soldiers conducting routine search operations in a small village in south Somalia came under gunfire Thursday, sparking a battle that killed at least 4 civilians, witnesses said.
The fighting in Gobale, a village in Lower Shabelle region, wounded an unknown number of people, including civilians, Ethiopian soldiers and insurgents.
But the death toll on the Ethiopian army side or the insurgents could not be independently confirmed.
Unconfirmed reports said insurgents burned an Ethiopian army transport truck.
The Ethiopian soldiers used heavy weapons in squashing the resistance fighters, who were eventually forced to flee as the Ethiopians took full control of Gobale village.
Today's deadly attack follows a gunfight yesterday in the outskirts of south Mogadishu, which killed four soldiers and a civilian.
Insurgent attacks in the countryside, including in Lower Shabelle, Hiran and Bay regions where the parliament is based, have been on the increase in recent months.
A bloody insurgency has raged in Somalia since January 2007 when the Ethiopian army ousted Islamic rulers from Mogadishu and installed the secular, albeit weak, Transitional Federal Government.
More than 6,500 people were killed last year in Mogadishu alone, according to human rights groups.
Posted on Friday 7th March at 10:08:36 Somalis protest over US bombing
Hundreds of women and children have marched through the Somali town bombed by the US on Monday, chanting anti-American slogans.
At least four civilians were reportedly killed but an Islamist spokesman said none of their fighters were hurt.
The US said the attack was aimed at a "known al-Qaeda terrorist" but has not said whether its goal was achieved.
Islamist insurgents seized Dhoble town last week and reports said a leader, Hassan Turki, had been in the area.
Mr Turki is on the US list of "financers of terrorism".
The BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan in the capital, Mogadishu, says he has not been seen or heard from since the attack.
The Somali government has not yet commented on whether it gave the US permission to launch the air strike on its territory.
New strategy
One of the organisers of the protest in Dhoble told the BBC she feared that some people may still be trapped under the rubble of the buildings destroyed when three missiles landed on the town.
"We are complaining about the air strike by the superpower on civilians," said Ruun Sheikh Mohammed, who runs a local women's group.
There are reports that at least one of the blasts may have been caused by a cruise missile.
The town's residents also say they could see US planes flying overhead - these could still be heard on Tuesday morning, they said.
The Islamists have reportedly been regrouping in the area in recent weeks.
Our reporter says the Islamists have adopted a new strategy of launching attacks outside the capital.
Islamist spokesman Sheikh Mukhtar Robow said the buildings destroyed had all been inhabited by civilians.
They were ousted from the capital, Mogadishu in December 2006 by government forces, backed up by Ethiopia, with some intelligence from the US.
Dhoble was the last town they held.
The US has an anti-terror task force based in neighbouring Djibouti and bombed the area a year ago.
The US accused the Somali Islamists of harbouring those responsible for the 1998 attacks on its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
The Islamists denied this, as well as reports they had links to al-Qaeda.
Somalia has not had an effective national government since 1991.
Last month, a senior UN official told the BBC that Somalia was the worst place in the world for children.
Posted on Tuesday 4th March at 16:58:01 Somali elders say four civilians killed in US air raid
MOGADISHU (AFP) — An Islamist-held town in Somalia came under attack Monday from what local elders identified as a US Air Force AC-130 gunship, leaving at least four civilians dead.
Elder Abdullahi Sheikh Duale said the raid occurred in the early hours of Monday morning, and appeared to have focused on three particular targets in the Dhoble town.
"Four civilians were killed," said Duale.
There was no immediate US confirmation of the operation.
Sheikh Mukhtar Robow, a spokesman for the Islamist movement which is leading an insurgency against the Somali government, confirmed the attack.
"The Americans bombed the town and hit civilians targets thinking that they were Islamist hideouts. They used an AC-130 plane," Robow told AFP.
The AC-130 is a fearsome gunship bristling with side-mounted cannons that can saturate an area with devastating fire or strike targets with surgical precision.
The modified C-130 aircraft are used by air force special operations forces for close air support missions, strikes on select targets and to protect US forces in the field.
Carrying a crew of 13, it flies low and operates at night for concealment and surprise.
If confirmed, this would be at least the third time the US military has conducted operations inside Somalia since the start of 2007.
In June last year, a US Navy destroyer shelled suspected Al-Qaeda targets in mountainous and remote areas in northeastern Somalia where Islamist militants were believed to have bases.
Earlier the same year a US gunship bombed insurgent positions in southern Somalia, coming to the aid of the Somali government forces which had ousted the Islamists from most of the country's southern and central regions.
US officials said the previous attacks were aimed at "high-value" Al-Qaeda militants -- among them Comoran Fazul Abdullah Mohammed and Kenyan Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, blamed for the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people.
US Naval Forces Central Command in Bahrain, which oversees the Djibouti military base, referred calls to the US Department of Defense in Washington.
Since the Islamists were ousted from power in early 2007, they have been carrying out attacks against government officials, Ethiopian forces -- who are backing the Somali government -- and African Union peacekeepers.
Somalia has never really recovered since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre plunged the Horn of Africa nation into widespread clan fighting.
Copyright © 2008 AFP. All rights reserved
Posted on Monday 3rd March at 17:11:18 Counterfeit bills pour into Somalia
Planes carrying counterfeit Somali Shillings, printed in unnamed Asian countries, have landed in the country's port city of Bossaso.
At least seven airplanes, loaded with 21 billion to 25 billion false Somali Shillings each, were landed in the northern city, confidential sources told Press TV correspondent.
The huge counterfeit cash was made in some unnamed Asian countries which used to print such money for Somali rebel groups, the sources confirmed.
The airport, located in the commercial capital of the self-governing region of Puntland, is being heavily guarded by police forces and clan militias armed with heavy weapons.
The flooding of the new false currency into the local market is the worst thing Somalis could expect at a time hundreds of thousands of people are starving in the war-shattered country.
Currently, a single US dollar is being exchanged for about 28,000 Shillings, the highest rates the region has ever known. The country is also wrestling with hyperinflation and the counterfeit cash could worsen the situation and further destroy the already-battered economy.
The spike in prices of basic goods and food has adversely affected Somalis from all walks of life. The price of one kilogram of rice is around three dollars now.
Posted on Monday 3rd March at 17:09:19 Suspected U.S. missile strike in Somalia
KISMAYU, Somalia, March 3 (Reuters) - Two missiles hit a makeshift house in a remote area of southern Somalia on Monday and local officials and witnesses said they believed it was a U.S. air strike against Islamist insurgents.
If confirmed, it would be at least the fourth U.S. air strike on Somalia in 14 months.
Residents of Dobley, a Somali town 220 km (140 miles) from the southern port city of Kismayu on the Kenyan border believe the missiles were targeting senior Islamist leaders meeting nearby.
"Two U.S missiles hit a house in Dobley early this morning," one local politician, who asked not to be named, told Reuters by telephone, adding that shrapnel from the missiles had been found.
"The town is very tense. People have started fleeing because they fear there might be more attacks."
The U.S. 5th Fleet in Bahrain and the Pentagon in Washington had no immediate information on the attack.
Posted on Monday 3rd March at 17:01:11 Government forces raid three Somali radio station
MOGADISHU (AFP) — Heavily armed Somali government forces on Sunday raided three private radio stations in the capital, forcing them to cease broadcasting, the stations' journalists said.
Hundreds of troops stormed into buildings housing Radio Simba, Radio Shabelle and HornAfrik Radio, broke and confiscated equipment, and left without explanation.
The raid came a day after the Ethiopia-backed Somali forces heavily clashed with Islamist insurgents in southern Mogadishu, killing at least 11 people and wounding more than 30 others.
"They came to the station and ordered everyone to leave. We left the station and it is now off air," said HornAfrik journalist Ali Komeni.
"They entered the building and broke (into) the offices taking four personal computers, a mixer, microphones and three digital cameras," Abdirahman Qoje of Simba Radio said.
Government forces have in the past raided local radio stations, accusing them of fanning insurgent violence.
In November, Mogadishi mayor ordered off air three stations, including Radio Simba and Radio Shabelle, but they were later allowed to operate after signing an agreement.
Press watchdogs have chided Somalia for its heavy-handed crackdown on free press.
The war-wracked Horn of Africa nation is ranked as the world's second-deadliest country for journalists by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.
Posted on Sunday 2nd March at 17:03:48 Puntland President Sacks Mudug Governor
The leader of Somalia's Puntland State government issued a decree from his office in the administrative capital Garowe Sunday dismissing the governor of Mudug region and naming his replacement.
President Mohamud "Adde" Muse cited the prevailing situation in Mudug in his decree dismissing former Governor Abdirashid Dhubane.
Dhubane's replacement, Dahir "Aflow" Abdulkadir, is currently in Nairobi, Kenya. He is a former low-level regional official.
Mr. Dhubane is currently in Ethiopia, where conflicting reports are emerging from his trip.
Some unconfirmed reports said Ethiopian soldiers took away Dhubane from his home in Galkayo, capital of Mudug. Other reports said he is visiting family members living in Ethiopia.
Sources in Galkayo said Dhubane has close relations with Ethiopian intelligence services.
Posted on Sunday 2nd March at 17:03:11 80 People Hospitalized in Mogadishu After Yesterday's Battle
At least 80 civilians were admitted to three hospitals in the Somali capital Sunday, following deadly clashes the day before that killed more than 17 people.
Ali "Adde" Moallim, an official at Medina Hospital, confirmed to Garowe Online that 40 wounded victims were admitted in the last 24 hours.
"Ten of them [wounded victims] died in the hospital," Mr. Ali Adde said, adding that a family of six was among the wounded.
Keysaney Hospital director Ali Bile said 20 people were admitted to the hospital with various wounds, including children and old people.
Dr. Gutale of Daynile Hospital in the outskirts of Mogadishu said medical personnel were treating 20 victims of yesterday's bloody clashes.
Mogadishu residents said many wounded people have been unable to make it to a hospital, due to some city streets being blockaded by Ethiopian and Somali troops.
Posted on Sunday 2nd March at 17:01:46 Back
to the Top |
