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.
Click here to read full article

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.”
Click here to read full article

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.


Click here to read more

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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.

Click here to read the full article

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.

Click to read the full article

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.

Click here to read the full article

Shift attention to Somaliland

Fikirka Xorta ah - The situation in the Horn of Africa is rapidly reaching crisis proportions and specifically United States policy towards the one time Somali Democratic Republic needs to be reformulated on the basis of something other than the series of unrealistic assumptions on which it has hitherto been predicated.

Recent events have underscored the deteriorating security conditions faced by the international community as a whole as well as by the Somali and their neighbours, it is time to concentrate on Somaliland, the one part of that geopolitically sensitive space where there is still a peace to be preserved.

Click here to read the full article

Chasing Pirates Into Somalia Gets Approval From UN

Fikirka Xorta ah - The U.S. will take the lead in coordinating efforts to combat piracy coming from Somali territory, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said after the United Nations authorized the inland pursuit of brigands.

The Security Council voted 15-0 to adopt a U.S.-drafted text that permits all nations and regional organizations -- with the consent of Somalia’s provisional government -- to “take all necessary measures that are appropriate” to deter piracy.

Click here to read the article Or watch report below.

Somalia’s President Appoints New Premier: Kenya to impose sunctions on Somali President

Fikirka Xorta ah - Somalia’s transitional government plunged into deeper turmoil on Tuesday when the country’s president defied the Parliament by appointing a new prime minister and the Kenyan government reacted by threatening sanctions.

President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, a former warlord who is steadily losing credibility among diplomats and foreign officials, had tried to unseat the prime minister earlier this week. The parliament overwhelmingly rebuffed him. So on Tuesday, Mr. Yusuf announced that he had unilaterally selected another prime minister, who would be in charge of forming a new government, which Mr. Yusuf would swear in himself.

Click here to read the full article

Analysis: To Beat Somalia's Pirates, Fix Their Country

Fikirka Xorta ah - One of the world's worst humanitarian disasters, Islamic terrorism and rampant human trafficking have all failed to draw the world's interest to Somalia. The return of piracy to the high seas, however, has.

The Somali pirates have attacked more than 100 vessels in the waters leading to and from the Suez Canal this year, and earned tens of millions of dollars in ransom. Today they are holding 17 ships with around 300 crew members off the Somali coast.

And at a weekend security conference organized by the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Bahrain, headquarters to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, opinion appeared unanimous: to fix the pirates, fix Somalia. "We haven't been as involved in Somalia as we should have been," Britain's Defence Secretary John Hutton told the BBC. "This is the consequence."

Click here to read the full article

Terror suspect's case drags on 5 years after arrest in Minneapolis

Fikirka Xorta ah - Mohamed Abdullah Warsame's pretrial detention is one of the longest for a terror-related case since 9/11, raising questions about how the courts handle such cases.

On a cold December morning five years ago, FBI agents knocked on the door of a basement apartment in northeast Minneapolis, and Mohamed Abdullah Warsame answered.

He let the agents in to talk, and later they took him to another location to talk more. He hasn't been home since.

Click here to read full article

Pirates in Skiffs Still Outmaneuvering Warships Off Somalia

Fikirka Xorta ah - ON THE ARABIAN SEA — Rear Adm. Giovanni Gumiero is going on a pirate hunt.

From the deck of an Italian destroyer cruising the pirate-infested waters off Somalia’s coast, he has all the modern tools at his fingertips — radar, sonar, infrared cameras, helicopters, a cannon that can sink a ship 10 miles away — to take on a centuries-old problem that harks back to the days of schooners and eye patches.

“Our presence will deter them,” the admiral said confidently.

Click here to read to full article

Somalia's MPs back sacked premier: They gave him vote of confidence

Fikirka Xorta ah - Somalia's parliament has declared the sacking of the prime minister illegal and passed a confidence vote in him by a huge majority.

President Abdullahi Yusuf sacked Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein on Sunday, saying he had failed to bring peace.

But the president said he would comply with any decision by parliament.

Hundreds of people have also demonstrated in the capital Mogadishu in favour of Mr Nur, carrying his portrait through the streets.

African Union Commission head Jean Ping condemned the dismissal and Mr Nur said it was an attempt to derail UN-sponsored peace talks with Islamists.

Read full article

Somalia President Fires Prime Minister

Fikirka Xorta ah - Somalia's government was near collapse Sunday as Islamic insurgents accused of having ties to al-Qaeda vowed never to negotiate or share power with the Western-backed administration.

Somalia's president fired the prime minister Sunday, saying he failed to bring security to a nation struggling with a violent insurgency and political turmoil. (See TIME's top 10 news stories of 2008)

Click here to read the news

U.S. military considers options to deal with Somali pirates

Fikirka Xorta ah -- The Pentagon is looking at options, but there are no plans for U.S. forces to go ashore in pursuit of pirates in Somalia, a spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Friday.

Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently asked the military to look at "what options and alternatives are available from a purely military perspective" to deal with piracy off the coast of Somalia, Capt. John Kirby told CNN.

Pentagon officials are shying away from a direct endorsement of a proposal the United States is circulating at the U.N. Security Council that calls for countries to "take all necessary measures ashore in Somalia, including in its airspace," to counter piracy.

However, Kirby said the Pentagon is not doing any current planning to launch attacks against pirates on land or in the air.

"We are not looking at how to implement the resolution," Kirby said.

The developments come after Somali pirates release a Greek chemical tanker they have held since October, a piracy monitor said Saturday.

"The MV Action was released by pirates," said Andrew Mwangura, head of the Seafarers Assistance Program in Mombasa, Kenya. "She is currently limping to safe waters (and) it is feared that three crew members lost their lives under questionable circumstances."

Circumstances of the release were not immediately known.

Pirate attacks in the waters off Somalia have shot up this year, with pirates staging increasingly bolder attacks on ever-bigger targets. So far this year, pirates have attacked almost 100 vessels off Somalia's coast and successfully hijacked nearly 40, according to the International Maritime Bureau.

Freight and cargo ships, cruise liners and private yachts have all come under attack. In many hijackings, pirates take the crew and passengers hostage while they demand a ransom.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the military is still looking for an international solution to the piracy crisis. One top U.S. priority, according to U.S. military officials, is new legal measures that would ensure anybody detained by the U.S. military could be turned over to a country in the region for prosecution. That could be a meaningful new deterrent, according to the officials.

Senior U.S. officials said the United States wants a United Nations force, not a multinational force, in Somalia. A multinational force requires manpower, resources and money which are not available right now, the officials explained. In addition, no nation has come forward to meet the requirements of a multinational force. A U.N. peacekeeping operation, the officials said, is a more realistic option.

The United States is working on text for a second U.N. resolution which would authorize the stabilization force, two senior U.S. officials told CNN. Some countries, and the U.S. military, are having problems with the wording. The resolution calls for a force to replace the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), the officials said. It would be used in Mogadishu and the surrounding areas to help stabilize the government to allow it to deal with the piracy issue.

The force would not be explicitly set up to go after pirates, according to the officials. Some countries (including the U.S. military) have problems with the idea and are still discussing language on composition and deployment rules of engagement, according to two senior U.S. officials.

In the past, the United States has conducted air strikes in Somalia to pursue suspected al-Qaeda targets. However, to go after pirates in the same manner would take a new U.N. resolution. Piracy is a criminal activity but is not considered terrorism.

Ethiopia - Interview with Ambassador Brook Hailu Beshah*

Fikirka Xorta ah - The African continent has witnessed several critical events this year that have escalated political tensions and increased security concerns. In Zimbabwe, despite losing an election for the first time in the country’s history, President Robert Mugabe and his ruling ZANU-PF party are holding onto power, by cracking down on the opposition and refusing to cooperate in a peace agreement for unified governance.

In Somalia, lawlessness continues to dominate the land -- and the seas. Several attacks on ships off the coast of Somalia have captured the attention of the international community. Tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea over the border grew as the UN peacekeeping mission withdrew. And in Sudan, the political conflict between the north and the south continues to boil.

Additionally, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has returned to war, and Kenya is learning the hard lessons of keeping together a heavily divided government.

"We live in the 21st century where self-determination and independence of peoples is respected. My expectation is Somaliland will be accepted—recognized by African, the USA and by the European countries in the immediate future." Says, Ambassador Brook Hailu Beshah in the interview.
Click here read the whole interview with the Ambassador

World Spy Agencies: What do you know?

Fikirka Xorta ah - We have compiled small info about the current active spy agencies that areworld stage players. Our Sirdoon or Intelligence gathering blog has this list.

Click here to read

Somalia: "War Crimes Devastate Population", Human Rights Watch

Fikirka Xorta ah - All parties in the escalating conflict in Somalia have regularly committed war crimes and other serious abuses during the past year that have contributed to the country's humanitarian catastrophe, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Human Rights Watch urged the United States, the European Union, and other major international actors to rethink their flawed approaches to the crisis and support efforts to ensure accountability.

The 104-page report, "So Much to Fear: War Crimes and the Devastation of Somalia," describes how the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG), the Ethiopian forces that intervened in Somalia to support it and insurgent forces have committed widespread and serious violations of the laws of war. Frequent violations include indiscriminate attacks, killings, rape, use of civilians as human shields, and looting. Since early 2007, the escalating conflict has claimed thousands of civilian lives, displaced more than a million people, and driven out most of the population of Mogadishu, the capital. Increasing attacks on aid workers in the past year have severely limited relief operations and contributed to an emerging humanitarian crisis.

Click here for: summary and recommendations
Click here to download the report
Click here for: Summary and recommendations in Somali

Dhalinyaro Somalida Minnesota oo laga cabsi qabo inay dagaal u dhoofeen

Fikirka Xorta ah - Wararka ku saabsan in dhalinyaro Somali ah oo ku nool dalka Maraykanku ay ka tagaan gobolka ay u badan yihiin ee Minnesota oo ay dagaalka ka holcaya dalkooda ka qayb qaataan oo qaarkood is qarxiyaan ayaa soo badanaya.

Waxaba ay ciidanka dembi baadhista ee federaalka ee FBI loo yaqaan caddeeyeen in ku jiraan baadhista arrintaas.

Waxay soo celiyeen maydkii intii ka soo hadhay nin is qarxiyay oo lagu sheegay Shirwac Axmed. Waxa la leyahay wuxuu ka mid ahaa kooxdii bishii Oktober 29-keeda ee sannadkan saddexda meelood ka qarxiyay Somaliland. Waxana halkaas ku dhintay ama ku dhaawacmay dad aad u badan.

Haddaba waxa toddobaadkan la aasay ninkaas dhallinta yar oo ka mid ah tiro dhallinyaro la layahay oo waalidkood iyo qaraabadoodu ay maalintii Sabtida ee bishan December 6 ku kulmeen xarun Bryant Cole la yidhaa oo jaaliyaddu ku shirto. Magacyada meesha laga qakhriyay ayaa waxa ka mid ahaa saddex dhalinyaro ah oo laba jaamacadda hadda galeen mid kalena uu dugsiga sare ku jiray. Iyadoo si dadban loo eedeeyey koox aan la magacaabin oo madaxa ka xadday dhallintaas.

Waxa halkaa ka hadlay dad badan oo cadhaysan oo runtii u badan garab ka mid ah ggarabyada siyaasadda Somalida isku haya. Waxana ay si cadho ku jirto u sheegeen in ay dawladda Maraykanka iyo hayadaha nabadgelyada ka codsadeen in carruurtoodii loo soo celiyo.

Tirada dadka maqan ayaa lagu muransan yahay. Waxa dadka qaar ay qabaan in dhallinyaro ku dhaw 40 ay dhoofeen qaarkoodna soo noqon doonaan dhowaan. Waxase hadda runta u dhaw lambar intaas ka yar oo aan toban gaadhayn.

Waxa la soo xiganayaa warar sheegaya in dhallinta maqani ay badankoodu ka wada tirsan yihiin masaajidka Abuubkar Al Sidiiq oo ay ku socoto baadhis. Waxana la sheegay in Iimaamkii Masjidka iyo dad la socday loo diiday inay xajka u dhoofaan oo lagu daray liiska dadka aan duuli karin.

Haddaba arrintan oo murgisay nolosha dadka Somalida ah ee ku dhaqan gobolkaas Minnesota iyo guud ahaan dalka ayaa waxay sii kicisay xiisadda tartanka loollanka siyaasadda ee qabiilka ku salaysan ee Somaliya oo si toos ah u taabatay nolosha dadkan ka fog safka hore ee dagaalka sokeeye.

Is aamin la'aanta sii fogaanaysa ayaa waxay Somalida ku abuurtay colaad raagta oo aan tanaasulaad lahayn. Taasoo taabatay dad deggan meelo aad uga fog goobaha dagaalada.

Xaalka Somalida ayaa aad looga hadlaa beryahan oo jaraa'idka iyo television nada caalamiga ahina ay qaadaa dhigaan. Arrinta colaadda Somaliya ka taaqan oo muddo badan socotay kolbana weji yeelanaysa ka sokow, waxa mashaqada Somalida iftiinka ku shiday budhcad badeeda oo si badheedh ah u afduubta maraakiib waaweyn. Waxayna indhaha adduunka u soo jeediyeen markay qabaseen markab weyn oo saliid u siday dalka Maraykanka iyo mid sida hub culus oo taangiyo ku jiraan.

Waxa toddoaadkan oo keliya maqaallo ka qoray New York Times oo ka mid ah wargeysayada ugu magaca, akhriska iyo awoodda badan adduunka. Isagoo xaaladda Somaliya ku tilmaamay mid ka sii daraysa.

Waxa sidoo kale ka hadlay wargeysa toddobaadlaha ah ee loo yaqaan NEWS WEEK MAGAZINE oo isagu soo jeediyay maqaalkiisa ah, "Libaax Badeedka Biyaha" oo qoray, "Sida kama dabaysta ah ee budhcad badeedda biyaha Somaliya looga tiritiri lahaa."

Siyaasadda Somalida ee murugsan ee aargoosi aano qabiil iyo dhakhso u dhereg iyo maxaad boobtaa ku xididaysan ayaa adduunku maanta aad uga soo taagan yahay. Waxana la sheegay in maamulka cusub ee Madaxyenaha la doortay ee Barak Obama ay Somaliya ku jirto liiska wax qabad ee siyaasaddiisa srrimha dibadda ee ku wajahan Afrika.

Waxana taas ka markhaati ah ballan qaadka uu sheegay in maamulkiisu la shaqayn doono Qaramada Midoobay si loo xalliyo arrimo badan oo gurrucan oo ay Somaliya ku jirto. Taasoo Safiikiisa cusub ee dalka USA u fadhiyi doona UN-ta Marwo Susan Rice ay tahay mid aaminsan in xalka Somaliya ku jiro wax qabad buuxa oo u dhexeeya xubnaha Qaramada Midoobay.

Haddaba xiisadaha kala duwan ee Geeska Afrika ee ay shidayaan danaha is jiidhaya ayaa waxa la arki doonaa in isbeddel weyni ka soo baxo marka u shirka siyaasiyiinta Somaliya ee dalka Djibouti ku gorgortamaya dhammaado. Iyo goorta uu maamulka cusub ee Obama qaado tallaabooyin wax ku ool ah oo ku saabsan siyaasadda Geeska. Waxa kaloo arrinta wax ka beddlei kara dalalka Midawga Yurub oo arrinta budhcad badeedda waxqabadkeeda u xusul duuban.

Halkan ka daawo aaskii Shirac Axmed ee Minnesota, USA


Maxay kula tahay? Fikirkaaga si cilmiyaysan u cabbir.

Strategic Interests: -- Somalia: "The Times They Are A-Changin"

Fikirka Xorta ah - What is heartening is that a wide number of analysts, practitioners, and advocates have come around to a similar assessment of the realities on the ground in the Horn of Africa. Writing two weeks ago in The New Republic, Dr. Jonathan Stevenson, a professor of strategic studies at the U.S. Naval War College and author of the authoritative case study of America's 1990s intervention in Somalia, suggested that:

"Perhaps U.N.-sanctioned special political status for Somaliland that could qualify it for international aid and protection, in recognition of its largely self-generated order and viability, should be on the table to create incentives for the more unruly militias in southern Somalia to reach political compromises."

Likewise Bronwyn Bruton of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) suggested the United States should examine several nontraditional strategies, including the previously explored ‘bottom-up' and/or ‘building block' approaches."

Even the nongovernmental aid organization Refugees International has chimed in with a policy bulletin. While the concerns of the NGO were primarily focused on what it termed "the world's worst humanitarian disaster," it also criticized the international community for its "schizophrenic approach to Somaliland" by "treating it as an independent state when it's politically or operationally useful…but otherwise maintaining the rhetoric of a unified Somalia."


To read the full article, please click here.
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J. Peter Pham is Director of the Nelson Institute for International and Public Affairs at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Disturbing News Continues: "'Missing' Somali man is brought home"

Fikirka Xorta ah -- The first evidence that Somalis in Minnesota may have taken part of the suicide bombing in Somaliland were released by the FBI today when they returned the remains of what believed to be Ahmed Shirwa of Minneapolis to his family. Shirwa was one of a six young men disappeared from Minnesota over the past year.

The US government is not saying much as the investigation continues, but Somalis in Minnesota is divided as fear of government crackdown on some suspected worship mosques were reported.

Somalis political support depends on their tribal allegiances. That is why some of the weak Somali Government supporters quickly blame the members of the opposition for recruiting and sending jihadist elements to Somalia/Somaliland to fight Ethiopian forces in Somalia.

The Somali Government supporters motive of blaming the oppistion maybe questionable and US Government agencies need to consider the clan factor and the deep mistrust among Somalis in Minnesota. But the fact that some Somalis are leaving the US to fight is damaging to the community's efforts to assimilate. The rest of Minnesotans may regard Somalis suspiciously or prejudge all of them as terrorist sympathizers. If that happens, whether tribe A is opposing tribe B would be irrelevant and all Somalis would be the victims of their own creation.

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Watch ABC News' report on Somalia: A Safe Haven for Terrorists?