Eric Wilson, was the oldest living holder of the Victoria Cross

Fikirka Xorta ah - LONDON — A British World War II hero who fought in North Africa despite severe wounds has died 68 years after he was "posthumously" awarded the nation’s highest combat honor by officials who thought he had been killed.

Eric Wilson, 96, who had been the oldest living holder of the Victoria Cross, died Dec. 23 in Stowell, where he lived.

Mr. Wilson had been reported killed in North Africa in 1940, but was later found alive and trying to tunnel his way out of a prison camp.

His family was notified in August 1940 that he was killed while staying with his machine gun, though wounded and ill, in a futile effort to repel a larger Italian force. The Victoria Cross was awarded two months later. Mr. Wilson was commanding a company of the Somaliland Camel Corps when Italian forces attacked their position in what was then British Somaliland. Italy had declared war the day before.

Mr. Wilson later served in North Africa as adjutant of the Long Range Desert Group, a motorized force that harassed Italian positions; he later served in Burma as second-in-command of the 11th King’s African Rifles. Two years ago, Mr. Wilson said: "What is bravery? I don’t know. You just did what you had to do."

Somalia's president to quit after 4 years in power

Fikirka Xorta ah -MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Somalia's president said Monday he is resigning as the head of his country's U.N.-backed government after four years of leading one of the most violent, impoverished countries in the world.

Abdullahi Yusuf made the announcement in a speech Monday before parliament in Baidoa — one of the only towns controlled by the weak government. The speaker of parliament will stand in as acting president until elections are held, he said.

"When I took power I pledged three things," Yusuf said in his address, which was broadcast on radio across the country.

"If I was unable to fulfill my duty I will resign. Second, I said I will do everything in my power to make government work across the country. That did not happen either. Third, I asked the leaders to cooperate with me for the common good of the people. That did not happen," he said.

He said he would hand in his resignation letter later Monday.

Yusuf's administration failed to bring security to the war-ravaged nation and now only controls pockets of the capital, Mogadishu, and Baidoa. A powerful Islamic insurgency controls most of the country.

The most aggressive Islamic insurgency group, al-Shabab, have made dramatic territory gains in the past few months.

The U.S. State Department says al-Shabab's leaders have links with al-Qaida and are harboring men who conspired to blow up American embassies in Tanzania and Kenya 10 years ago, killing hundreds.

13 years old Somali girl raped and later accused adultery then killed. Please help her family

Fikirka Xorta ah - We all heard the news about the 13 year old Somali girl (Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow) raped and later accused of adultery and killed in Kismayu, Somalia, by Al-Shabaab and supporters.

Some of you may view this news as propaganda to discredit the Islamists ruling the area. But my colleague Fathia Absie of VOA Somali Services had spoken to the father of the victim and confirmed the details of the report to be true.

We have several volunteers helping the girls family to move to a safe place, away from those in charge of the area, as they were threatened after spoken to the media.

A young Somali immigration lawyer from Atlanta has taken the case and we would like to have a fund raising dinner in Washington DC area in few weeks. My friend Fathia has written letters to different places including OPRAH and we are hoping to get some responses.

Please spread the word and help us pressure those in charge of the area to never do such a horrible act again.
To get updates for upcoming events, plans, or to read the background stories, please visit the blog that I have created for Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow. You are welcome to comment, write and/or otherwise send relevant materials electronically or digitally.

Also, if you would like to be part of th team or to volunteer in anyway you can send an email to vteengirl@gmail.com

Click here to visit: http://justice4duhulow.blogspot.com/

Recipients of the 2008 STARS Impact Awards Announced

Fikirka Xorta ah - The STARS Foundation, a London-based charitable foundation which works to improve the lives of disadvantaged children around the world, is pleased to announce the three recipients of the 2008 STARS Impact Awards.
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Somali President to Resign, Officials Say

Fikirka Xorta ah - The president of Somalia’s beleaguered transitional government, a former warlord who has been steadily marginalized over the past few months and widely blamed for his country’s deepening crisis, is expected to resign over the weekend, several Somali officials said on Wednesday.

President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed faces a litany of challenges: a powerful Islamist insurgency; a rancorous Parliament that is threatening to impeach him; a united front of Western diplomats who say he has gone from the being the solution for Somalia to being the problem; and neighboring countries, such as Kenya, that have gotten so fed up with him for blocking peace efforts that they are preparing sanctions against Mr. Yusuf and his family.

“Yusuf was an obstacle to peace,” said Ibrahim Isaaq Yarow, the transitional government’s deputy information minister. “The parliamentarians were congratulating one another today when they heard the news that the president is resigning.”
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Frazer Meets With Feuding Somali Leaders -

Fikirka Xorta ah - Jendayi Frazer held separate meetings with Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf and Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein at the airport in Kenya's capital, Nairobi Monday.

There was no immediate word on what was discussed.

President Yusuf attempted to fire the prime minister a little over a week ago. The prime minister rejected the move, and the Somali parliament voted to support Mr. Hussein the next day. However, a group of about 80 lawmakers today declared that the vote was illegal.


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African Union holding talks on Somalia chaos

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — The African Union is holding talks on the violent chaos in Somalia.

The AU says its peace and security council is discussing Monday how to boost the group's peacekeeping force in the country.

The AU has fewer than 3,000 peacekeepers in Somalia — there are meant to be 8,000.

Ethiopia has troops in the country protecting the weak Somali government, but it recently announced it would withdraw by the end of this month. That will leave the government vulnerable to Islamic insurgents, who began a brutal insurgency in 2007.

Somalia's lawlessness also has allowed piracy to flourish off the coast.

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Somalis may be leaving Minn. for jihad, USA Today reports

Fikirka Xorta ah - MINNEAPOLIS — Mohamud Ali Hassan once told the Somali grandmother who raised him that he'd become a doctor and care for her.

The Somali immigrant, who moved to the "Land of 10,000 Lakes" when he was 8, had good grades at the University of Minnesota and called Muslims to prayer at his mosque, where he also slept during the holy month of Ramadan.

But on Nov. 1, Hassan disappeared, as have a dozen other boys and young men here — two days after another young Muslim from Minnesota blew himself up as a suicide bomber in Somalia.

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A short path, from Gaza to Somalia

Fikirka Xorta ah - As the defined period for the Gaza cease-fire comes to an end today, preceded by a new cycle of violence, Israelis are being treated to a predictable dose of political posturing and chest-thumping. "We must do something, exact a price," we hear. Yes, the rocket fire needs to stop, but there is no military answer to this predicament.

To recap: For most of the six months of the cease-fire, relative quiet prevailed, and life returned to near-normal for the residents of Sderot and environs (though not for Gazans, who remained under siege). Then on November 4, an Israeli operation sparked a new round of dangerous, if controlled, violence - characterized by occasional Israeli strikes and incursions, matched by Palestinian rockets and shooting across the border.

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Impeachment Proceedings Begun Against Somali Leader

Fikirka Xorta ah - Somalia's parliament voted Wednesday to begin impeachment proceedings against President Abdullahi Yusuf, another sign that his U.S.-backed government is unraveling.

"This is the end of the government. This is it," said Mohamed Amin, a member of an opposition coalition that has a majority in parliament.

Yusuf's government began disintegrating almost from the start two years ago, when it was installed with the might of the Ethiopian army and help from the United States.

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