"The largest group of Somalians here don't support Yusuf," acknowledges Koshin Mohamed. He attributes that to a "propaganda machine" against the president. He portrays Yusuf as a "peacemaker," somebody who has reached out to enemies rather than kill them, and who is trying to get beyond clan ties and build up the country's infrastructure. Who will support a union of Morons, killers, warlords, anti-Islamic and ignorant clanists.

http://www.tvw.org/MediaPlayer/Archived/WME.cfm?EVNum=2006110099&TYPE=V Watch the Mbagathi mafia group spokesman speak.

Dubious Diplomacy Slade Gorton says that 28-year-old Seattle grocer Koshin Mohamed is an official Somali representative to the U.S. But the State Department says otherwise. By Nina Shapiro Koshin Mohamed: Fresh face of U.S.-Somali diplomacy, or pretender to the throne? Kevin P. Casey Extra Info Watch Koshin Mohamed speaking at a Discovery Institute event. In the little grocery store he runs next to a Pizza Time on 12th Avenue East, Koshin Mohamed gets worked up as he describes his efforts to prod U.S. officials into supporting the tenuous new government in his native Somalia. Mohamed has just returned from Washington, D.C., a place he goes so often that his cell phone number has a 202 area code. There, he gave State Department officials a $316 million aid proposal to help jump-start Somalia's newly formed Transitional Federal Government, of which he says he's an official representative. The three-page request includes funding for such things as 45,000 police, military, and security officers, as well as 500 employees in the executive and judicial branches. "It just gives me a stomachache," says the 28-year-old Mohamed, who wears jeans and a blue-and-white-striped turtleneck, and whose youthful face is framed by a well-trimmed beard. He acknowledges that the U.S. has encouraged Somalia's new government, which in late December seized the capital, Mogadishu, from an Islamic coalition that has been accused of links to Al Qaeda. But Mohamed says the U.S. has not backed up its words with money: "If the [somali] government doesn't provide services and build the police and security forces right away, it's going to lose respect in a heartbeat," he says. As he talks, sitting in front of a block of computers that he rents out by the minute, Mohamed is periodically interrupted by customers, who browse the shelves of couscous and curry powder and an ice-cream freezer packed with halal meat. It is an odd double life that he appears to lead. Last month, the Discovery Institute, a conservative local think tank with a budding foreign policy division, held a press conference for Mohamed at which it announced that the Transitional Federal Government had chosen the fresh-faced small businessman as its ambassador to the U.S.—or, rather, its "ambassador designate," since the U.S. does not as yet officially recognize the Somali government. Bruce Chapman, the Discovery Institute's director, says he was introduced to Mohamed through former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton, one of several influential advisers the young man has become acquainted with. While the local press dutifully reported Mohamed's appointment as fact, others were immediately skeptical. David Shinn, a former senior State Department official and ambassador to Ethiopia who now teaches African affairs at George Washington University, says that there's a standard diplomatic protocol that doesn't jibe with Mohamed's peculiar appointment. "Certainly, the Transitional Federal Government is going to have its primary representatives in Washington and New York," says Shinn. In fact, he says he's met current TFG officials who live in those cities. "What this man has been doing is bouncing around from person to person trying to find a way into this building," says a State Department official in a position to know Mohamed's status, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "This man has no bona fides. He's presenting himself with all sorts of different titles he doesn't have." As for the proposed aid request Mohamed says he submitted, the official says: "It would not be considered an official document. We deal with the government ofSomalia through our embassy in Nairobi." Yet even the official concedes that Mohamed's lack of official standing, in the State Department's eyes, does not mean he has no relationship with the Somali government. "He probably knows people," the official says. "He may know the president." Somalia is a country divided alongregionally based clan lines, so it is significant when Mohamed says his paternal grandfather hailed from the same northern province, Puntland, as current Somali (and former Puntland) President Abdullahi Yusuf. Both families belong to the *** clan, and because of this, Mohamed refers to Yusuf as "uncle." According to Mohamed, his grandfather cut an unusual figure in Puntland: Named Mohamed Ilmi Jama, he was a wealthy cattle farmer who developed an interest in women's rights, believing that true Islam afforded women more liberties than did Somalia's Muslim culture. Mohamed's father, Abdiaziz Mohamed, was purely a businessman, Mohamed says. Based in Mogadishu, he built a trade around importing and exporting. He was an early admirer, however, of now-President Yusuf, then a dissident leader who had defected from the army of dictator Siad Barre. "My father used to talk about him," Mohamed says, referring to Yusuf. "He used to say this guy is our future." Mohamed says he himself didn't think much about Yusuf until later in life. In 1991, amidst warlord-driven chaos, Mohamed's father sent him and his siblings out of the country. Mohamed stayed with relatives in Africa and the Middle East until 1997, when he ventured to Seattle to live with an older brother. Here, he was in good company: The Seattle-area Somali community is believed to be the third largest in the U.S., after those in the Minneapolis and Columbus, Ohio, vicinities. Local activists estimate that about 30,000 Somalians live here, their presence most visible in the long-skirted, veiled women commonly seen on the streets in Rainier Valley, South King County, and other hot spots. Upon arrival, Mohamed would go on to major in ethnic studies at the University of Washington. At the time of his press conference, he said he graduated from UW, but university records indicate otherwise. Producing pictures of himself in a cap and gown, Mohamed explains that he went through commencement ceremonies but was not recognized as having graduated because of financial holds placed on his records. But UW spokesperson Bob Roseth says that theuniversity would not prevent anyone from graduating because of financial holds; that, in fact, Mohamed had not completed the necessary course work to matriculate. Shortly after concluding his studies, Mohamed became president of a Somali social service group, one of several in town that go by the name Somali Community Services. At the same time, he says, he started thinking about the situation back home. "I realized that a lot of the thingsmy father said about Yusuf were true," Mohamed says. "He was the most capable leader Somalia had." At this point, he says, he simply called up the then--Puntland president in early 2001, when Mohamed was 23. Over a month's worth of conversations, Mohamed says Yusuf told him that he couldn't afford representatives in D.C., where he was considered an authoritarian figure—if not a warlord. "You know, Koshin, I know your family," Mohamed recalls Yusuf telling him. "You can represent me." Mohamed quickly showed a knack for bending the ears of important people. "I was trying to educate myself and get mentors," he says. John Calvin Williams, a D.C.-based economic consultant and former International Monetary Fund official specializing in Africa, recalls that Mohamed came up to him a few years ago after he participated in a forum at George Washington University. "I tried to help him in any way I could," Williams says. "He was obviously—and I hate to use the word—articulate." Ensconced in his high-rise office at the Seattle headquarters of law firm K&L Gates, former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton describes a similar reaction when Mohamed walked in after arranging an appointment five or six years ago. "I felt that I liked this young man," the 79-year-old Gorton recalls. He also felt like Yusuf, whatever his limitations, had the best chance of uniting a country that had been without a government for more than a decade. Accepting the role of Mohamed's adviser on a pro bono basis, Gorton and colleagues at the firm began trying to set up meetings for him with officials in D.C. In 2002, Gorton and Mohamed planned to bring Yusuf to an event at the Sea-Tac Doubletree Hotel. But Yusuf's trip to the U.S. was held up by his participation in peace talks in Kenya, where he was ultimately chosen to lead the new Somali government that just assumed power. But Yusuf remains a tough sell in the Somali immigrant community. At Banadir Super Store, a sizable Rainier Avenue establishment filled with vividly colored headscarves and flowing Islamic robes, a fierce, anti-Yusuf sentiment prevails. "We call it a made-up government," says owner Nordin Wassame. "Our people didn't elect that government. Some people in Kenya elected it." Yet Wassame and two friends at the store don't put much stock in democracy. "We're Muslims," proclaims Mohamed Ali, a young man wearing a black leather jacket over a long white Islamic-style tunic. "We need our rules—Islamic rules, not democracy. That's a Western tradition." What they want is Sharia, the code of Islamic law imposed by the Islamic Courts coalition that Yusuf ousted. Down the street, in a ramshackle office bedecked with posters of Mogadishu's perch on the Indian Ocean, a stopped clock, and a map from 1930 that shows colonial Somaliland divided among the French, Italian, and British, a young man named Abdo Mohamed says he absolutely supports democracy. "I don't trust any government not based on votes," says Mohamed, acting president of the Somali Banadir Community Services (not the organization Koshin Mohamed once led). But he, too, is skeptical of Yusuf's Transitional Federal Government. "How can they run the country when everyone in the government has a history of promoting violence?" he asks. "The largest group of Somalians here don't support Yusuf," acknowledges Koshin Mohamed. He attributes that to a "propaganda machine" against the president. He portrays Yusuf as a "peacemaker," somebody who has reached out to enemies rather than kill them, and who is trying to get beyond clan ties and build up the country's infrastructure. Mohamed has had an easier time selling this viewpoint to mentors like Gorton. The former senator has not been directly exposed to other opinions among Somali immigrants, having not met any besides those introduced to him by Mohamed. Nor,Gorton concedes, has he done much digging into his young friend's relationship with Yusuf. "He just told me [he represented Yusuf]. I accepted it." He produces, however, a copy of a 2006 letter that purports to be from Yusuf's office and declares Mohamed a "special assistant to the president." "I'm guessing that probably the Transitional Federal Government sent letters to a number of people," says Shinn. The former ambassador maintains that, as a Seattle resident, Mohamed is not in a position to influence policy formulated in D.C. But, Shinn notes, "He can influence the African diaspora, and that, I suspect, is the point." nshapiro@seattleweekly.com

^^^Are you sure saxib? You kidding. I expect anything from the coward.

Xagee Dagi Doonaa C/lahi Yusuf Marku Ku Laabto Somaliya? Afgooye?!!! Madaxweynaha dowladda Embagathi C/lahi Yusuf ayaa hada ku sugan magaalada Adis-Ababa isagoo kasoo laabtay baaris caafimaad oo lagu soo sameeyay beerkiisa. Mudo ku dhaw laba bilood ayaa dibada wareegayay madaweynuhu, waxana aad u kordhay weerarada lala beegsanayo dowladiisa intii uu maqnaa. Dad badan oo taageera mad. C/lahi Yusuf iyo la taliyayaashi ayaa walwal ka muujiyay hadii uu ku noqdo Muqdisho waxa uu kala kulmi karo halkaas. http://www.wadanka.com/ Xuseen Caydiid Oo Ku Hanjebay Inuu Soo Bandhigayo Qorshaha Cabdullahi Yusuf 404 Reads Wareysi u Cabdullahi Yusuf siiyey BBC waaxda Afrika (Focus o­n Africa) ee ku baxda luqada Ingiriiska ayuu ku tilmaamey in Xussen Caydiid u yahay "nin waalan" marki u yiri Somaliya iyo Itoobiya waxay yeelan doonaan hal bassaboor, iyo in aysan jiridoonin xuduud kala qaybisa labada Dal. Wariyaha ayaa dhowr goor ku celiyay "sow dowladaada kama tirsana wasiirka aad waalida ku sheegaysi". Wuxuna madaxweynuhu ku adkaystay in wasiirkiisu uu yahay "nin aan fiyoobayn" http://www.wadanka.com/

Col.C/lahi Yusuf Oo Magaalo Kale Uguuraya.... News(Baydhaba}26.02-07 Warar lagu kalsoonyahay oo aanu ka helnay Magaalada Baydhaba ayaa sheegaya in Madaxweynaha dowladda Soomaaliya uu go'aan ku gaadhay in uu u guuro Degmada . ............................... Afgooye oo 30 KM u jirta caasimadda Soomaaliya sida laga soo xigtey Ilo wareedyo ku sugan magaalada Baydhaba ee xarunta gobolka Baay Magaalada Afgooye ee gobolka Sh/hoose oo 30 KM dhanka koonfureed kaga began caasimadda Soomaaliya ayaa waxaa ku soo qulqulaya ciidamo Ethiopian ah oo ka imaanaya magaalada Baydhaba, kuwaasi oo aad u hubeysan isla markaana ku difaaci raba Madaxweyne C/laahi Yuusuf magaalada Afgooye. Dadka degan Jaamacadaha Lafoole iyo dhismayaashii dowladda ayaa lagu war galiyay in ay isaga baxaan halkaasi, iyadoo durbo ciidamada Ethiopianka ay bilaabeen in ay dagaan dhismayaashiid dowladda sida xeradii carbiska. Ciidamadan ethiopianka ah ee degay magaalada Afgooye ayaa waxaa la sheegay in ay yihiin kuwo Comandos ah oo qaba tababar gaar ah. Madaxweynaha Soomaaliya ayaa ujeedka uu u dagayo magaalada Afgooye ay tahay ka dib markii uu ka cabsaday weerarada hoobiyeyaasha ah ee kooxaha ka soo horjeeda dowladda iyo ciidamada Ethiopia ay ku qaadeen xarunta Villa Soomaaliya. Widhwidh Online News Desk....Media Center http://www.widhwidh.com/html/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=6767

^No, I'm not a Khad salesman nor am I Khad chewer. Wariyaa SYL stop those pics sxb, wallh dhareerkii aa nagakentay. It was long since i saw such a fresh kilo of GIZA.

Ciidamada dowladda KMG ah oo maanta dhacay gaari caasi ah oo uu khaad shaaran yahay agagaarka dekadda weyne ee magaalada Muqdisho, iyadoo haweenkii lahaa ee gaariga la socdayna xabado lagu riday. Hobyonet. Muqdisho Axad Feb, 25 2007 Gaari Cabdi Bile ah, oo uu saaran yahay qoray dhashiikaha loo yaqaano, ayaa waxaa abaarihii 11:00 barqanimo wuxuu rasaas culus oodda uga qaaday gaari caasia ah oo khaad siday, taasoo keentay in darawalkii gaariga uu si degdeg ah ku joojiyo, kadibna lagu amray haweenkii lahaa khaadka ee la socday in ay ka daataan. Ciidamadaan dhacay khaadka oo ka soo jeeday gobolada Punt-land, ayaa waxaa la sheegay in ay gaarigii la aadeen dhinaca dekadda weyn ee magaalada Muqdisho, halkaas oo ay ku sugan yihiin ciidamada Itoobiyaanka ee xoogga ku jooga dalka. Rasaas ay u fureen ciidanka dowladda ee khaadka dhacay, ayaa waxa ay keentay in goobihii ganacsiga ay si degdeg ah ku xirmaan, iyadoo ilaa iyo hadda qaybo ka mid ah goobaha ganacsiga ee degmada X/weyne ay xiran yihiin. Xaawo Cabdi oo ka mid aheyd haweenkii khaadka laga dhacay ayaa Hobyonet u sheegtay in ay la xiriireen saldhigga ciidanka Booliska ee degmada X/weyne balse loogu jawaabay waan dabagali doonaa. Waa markii labaad muddo todobaad gudahii ah, oo ay ciidamada dowaldda khaad ku dhacaan gudaha degmada X/wqeyne, iyadoo taliyaha ciidanka Booliska gobolka Banaadir uu ka gabsaday in u arrimahaan ka hadlo.

No wonder why Kenya happily joined the Ethio-American invasion of Somalia.

Waning exports The Kenyan farmers who grow the mild stimulant khat, which is banned in some countries, have had a tough year. Exports dropped by 40% when its consumption was banned in Somalia, their main market, by Islamists during their six-month rule of the south and centre of that country. But after Somalia's transitional government, backed by Ethiopian soldiers, defeated the Islamists, daily khat flights from Kenya to Somalia have resumed. Flagging sales Traders at Murugene market say sales are still nothing special. One trader who used to sell 20kg a day says he now only sells half because exports to Somalia have not yet returned to normal. And the women who sell banana tree leaves, that are used to wrap the khat, have not been earning much either. The leaves often dry up after staying for too long at the market. "When business was good I used to earn about $20 a day, but now I hardly get $10," says Jennifer Kabithi. Prolonged use of khat has been linked to increased violence and mental illness. The general anarchy in neighbouring Somalia is often attributed to khat's widespread popularity there. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/07/africa_growing_khat/html/8.stm

^Sxb, have patience, you will be liberated from Tigree slavery soon IA.

YAA ISAGA WAX WEYDIINAYA MAA CABDILHAYA BEER BAKAYLE UU MALAYN MAYOO. Sharif_seylaci, ilaa COMEDIAN ayaad aheeyd.

Xaalad adag ayaa la geliyay Cusmaan Caato oo ka mid ah Ragga sida weyn uga soo horjeeda Siyaasada Madaxweynaha iyo raysal Wasaaraha, isagoo lagu amray inuusan ka bixin Magaalada Baydhaba. Tuug Caato, a potential threat to Tuug Yeey.

Cusmaan Caato Oo Ay Xaalad Adagi Ku Soo Wajahday Magaalada Baydhaba News(Baydhaba}24.02-07 Xildhibaan Cusmaan Xasan Cali Caato (Ex Wasiirkii Howlaha Guud) ayaa xaalad aad u adag ay ku heysataa Magaalada Baydhaba, kadib markii Saraakiisha Sirdoonka Dowladda iyo kuwo Ethiopia ay aad u xakameeyeen dhaq dhaqaaqiisa. .......................................... Wararka laga helayo Magaalada Baydhaba ayaa sheegaya in Xildhibaan Caato uusan ka bixi Karin Magaalada Baydhaba, iyadoo mar uu isku dayay inuu Muqdisho soo gaadho, markii Maxaakimtii laga saaray, isla markaana ragii kale ee Hogaamiyeyaashi ahaa ay soo gaadheen, ayaa laga hor istaagay. Saraakiil ka tirsan Ciidamada Dowladda ayaa la sheegay in ay si gaar ah ula socdaan dhaq dhaqaaqyada Hogaamiye Kooxeedkaas hore ee siyaasadiisu lagu sheego in ay tahay mid is bed bedel badan. Saraakiil Ethiopian ah ayaa ka dalbaday Xildhibaan Caato inuu Hubkiisa ku soo wareejiyo Dowladda Federaalka Soomaaliya, maadaama uu ka mid ahaa Hogaamiye Kooxeedyadii Muqdisho mudada dheer ku amar taagleynayay. Laakiin Cusmaan Caato ayaa waxa uu sheegay in uusan heysan wax hub ah, isla markaana uu hubkiisa dhamaan uu hore ugu wareejiyay Maxkamadihii laga adkaaday. Xaalad adag ayaa la geliyay Cusmaan Caato oo ka mid ah Ragga sida weyn uga soo horjeeda Siyaasada Madaxweynaha iyo raysal Wasaaraha, isagoo lagu amray inuusan ka bixin Magaalada Baydhaba. Warar raad raac lagu sameeyay ayaa sidoo kale sheegaya in Sirdoono ka tirsan Ciidamada Dowladda ay il gaar ah ku hayaan dhaq dhaqaaqyada uu Mr Caato ka wado Magaalada Baydhaba. Dhowaan ayuu Cusmaan Caato ka yimid safar Magaalada Nairobi ee Dalka Kenya, waxaana markii uu soo gaadhay halkaas, loo sheegay inuu hubkiisa soo wareejiyo. Xildhibaan Caato oo xilkii Wasiirnimo ee uu hore uu hayay uu Raysal Wasaare Geeddi ka xayuubiyay, ayaa ka mid ah Hogaamiyeyaasha ay Dowladdu ka cabsi qabto in ay dib isu abaabulaan, Iyadoo Saaxibadiisii Hore la sheegay in Muqdisho ka wadaan howlo hub uruursi ah.

XUUUUUUUUUUX S/Land A/Y is coming,,,,, well said Xalane On a Tigree tank. And the far worse of it, is that to this day, they could not bring themselves to settle their differences with others who bested them in broad daylight, without them being a retained men for others, such as that of Tigrean's boys in Ethiopia. AAH. What a good legacy.

also, the xabashis have been hit tonight as well with unknown number of casualties. More sleepless nights for Xabashi and their Somali collaborators.

The stench of your stagnant intellect is too much to endure. SYL leaders were not traitors but liberators and bringing any occupation forces to Somalia is unforgivable disrepect to them and to Somali people as a whole.

^Mbagathi orphans like you must be pising on their pants as the gumeeysi diid forces increase their deadly targets on the occupation forces hoping and praying the masters safety. I suggest you to do more milk-shakes to bring the long-awaited Ugandan boys to protect you from the wrath of the Somali people.

A gift from North-Eastern militia and their Ethiopian masters to the people of Mogadishu. Fighting erupts in Somalia 23/02/2007 20:16 - (SA) Mogadishu - Fierce fighting between Ethiopian forces and unidentified gunmen erupted on Friday in Mogadishu after an attack on Ethiopian troops based in the south of the Somali capital, said reports. "Some gunmen have attacked an Ethiopian base in the former ministry of defence building. They fired mortar shells and machine guns and the Ethiopians responded heavily with anti-aircraft weapons," said witness Ali Nur Said. http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,9294,2-11-1447_2074237,00.html

Don't you think, Mbagathi orphans here desperate for approval would have bombarded us with images of such meetings.

Report: U.S. troops engaged in secret campaign in Horn of Africa www.chinaview.cn 2007-02-23 22:33:05 WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 (Xinhua)-- The U.S. military quietly waged a campaign from Ethiopia last month to capture or kill top leaders of Al-Qaeda in the Horn of Africa, the New York Times reported on Friday. The U.S. Air Force made use of an airstrip in eastern Ethiopia to mount airstrikes against Islamic militants in neighboring Somalia, the newspaper quoted unnamed U.S. officials as saying. The close and largely clandestine relationship with Ethiopia also included significant sharing of intelligence on the Islamic militants' positions and information from U.S. spy satellites with the Ethiopian military. Members of a secret U.S. Special Operations unit, Task Force 88, were deployed in Ethiopia and Kenya, and ventured into Somalia, the officials said. The counter terrorism effort was described by American officials as a qualified success that disrupted terrorist networks in Somalia, led to the death or capture of several Islamic militants and involved a collaborative relationship with Ethiopia that had been in development for years. It has been known for several weeks that U.S. Special Operations troops have operated inside Somalia and that the United States carried out two strikes on Al-Qaeda suspects using AC-130 gunship. However, the New York Times noted the extent of U.S. operations with the recent Ethiopian invasion into Somalia and the fact that the Pentagon secretly used an airstrip in Ethiopia to carry out attacks had not been previously reported. The secret campaign in the Horn of Africa is an example of a more aggressive approach taken in recent years by the Pentagon taken to dispatch Special Operations troops globally to hunt high-level terrorism suspects. U.S. President George W. Bush gave the Pentagon powers to carryout these missions after Sep. 11, 2001, which previously had been reserved for intelligence operatives, the newspaper said. So far, the tally of the dead and captured does not include some Al-Qaeda leaders, such as Fazul Abdullah Mohammed and Fahid Mohammed Ally Msalam, who the U.S. is hunting for their suspected roles in the attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-02/23/content_5765748.htm

U.S. hunted al Qaeda suspects from Ethiopia: paper February 23, 2007 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military used bases inside Ethiopia last month to capture or kill top al Qaeda leaders in the Horn of Africa, The New York Times reported on its Web site on Thursday, citing U.S. officials. Article Tools The Times said the campaign included the use of an airstrip in eastern Ethiopia to conduct air strikes against Islamic militants in neighboring Somalia. Officials were quoted as saying the clandestine relationship with Ethiopia also included significant information-sharing on the militants' positions and information from U.S. spy satellites with the Ethiopian military, the newspaper reported. Members of a secret U.S. special operations unit, Task Force 88, were deployed in Ethiopia and Kenya and ventured into Somalia, the officials added. But Ethiopia denied the report. "Ethiopia has not provided any air base for the Americans to strike Somalia," said Bereket Simon, close adviser to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. "The New York Times has fabricated this story and if there is any Pentagon official whom they are quoting, then that official does not have the slightest knowledge of the region or Ethiopia," Simon, a minister without portfolio, told Reuters. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman declined to discuss details of the operation with the Times, but the paper said some officials agreed to provide specifics because they considered it relatively successful. They said the campaign disrupted terrorist networks in Somalia and led to the death or capture of several Islamic militants. The mission was in support of Ethiopian troops' recent drive to enter Somalia to help the government oust the militant Islamist movement. According to the Times, Washington resisted an official endorsement of the Ethiopian invasion, but U.S. officials from several agencies said the Bush administration decided last year an incursion was the best way to remove the Islamists from power. The United States has been seeking two al Qaeda leaders -- Fazul Abdullah Mohammed and Fahid Mohammed Ally Msalam -- for their suspected roles in the attacks on the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. The sharing of battlefield intelligence on the Islamists' positions was a result of an Ethiopian request to Gen. John Abizaid, then the commander of the U.S. Central Command. John Negroponte, then the director of national intelligence, also authorized spy satellites to be diverted to provide information to Ethiopia, officials told the Times. The secret operation in the Horn of Africa is an example of a more aggressive approach the Pentagon has taken to send Special Operations troops to hunt high-level terrorism suspects. President George W. Bush gave the Pentagon powers after the September 11 attacks to carry out such missions, the report said. The newspaper said that Ethiopian troops have received U.S. training for counterterrorism operations for several years in camps near the Somalia border. (Additional reporting by Tsegaye Tadesse in Addis Ababa) © Copyright 2007 Reuters. Reuters content is the intellectual property of Reuters or its third-party content providers. Any copying, republication, or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/articles/2007/02/23/us_hunted_al_qaeda_suspects_from_ethiopia_report/

Uganda vows training, security for Somali government By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN Associated Press MOGADISHU, Somalia — Uganda's top military officials promised to help train a national army for Somalia and help provide security for its government, a Somali official said today. The Ugandans traveled to Somalia ahead of a planned African Union peacekeeping deployment, a day after Islamic extremists threatened suicide attacks against Ugandan and other foreign troops. "We expect the troops to be here in two weeks," Hassan Abshir Farah, who represented the Somali government at one meeting, told The Associated Press. Uganda's Defense Minister Crispus Kiyonga and Chief of Defense Forces Aronda Nyakairima said their forces would help train a Somali army and provide security to Somalia's transitional government, said Farah, who represented the Somali government at one meeting. AU officials say they have more than $70 million through donations from the European Union, U.S. and Britain to pay for the Somali peacekeeping mission. The AU force is planned to include 8,000 troops. Somalia's government, backed by Ethiopian troops, drove out a radical Islamic movement that had gained control of the capital Mogadishu and most of the south. The U.N. Security Council on Tuesday unanimously approved its deployment. Ethiopian troops have started to leave, to be replaced by the peacekeeping force, which will have to confront the growing violence that has plagued Mogadishu since the interim government took over. Insurgents have staged near-daily attacks since the Islamic militants were driven out, with Mogadishu's civilian population suffering the worst of the violence. Hundreds of families have begun fleeing the coastal city of 2 million people, and hospitals are struggling to cope with the daily influx of wounded. Somalia has not had an effective national government since 1991, when warlords overthrew a dictator, carved the capital into armed, clan-based camps, and left most of the rest of the country ungoverned. A transitional government was formed in 2004 with U.N. help. Weakened by clan rivalries, it struggled to assert authority, leaving a vacuum the Islamic movement moved to fill. The Islamic movement chased the warlords from Mogadishu last year and was credited with restoring order in areas of southern Somalia it controlled. But some Somalis chafed at its fundamentalist version of Islam and the U.S. and the Somali government accused it of harboring al-Qaida suspects. Meanwhile, an Ethiopian official today denied a report that U.S. troops used Ethiopia as a staging ground for attacks against al-Qaida leaders in Somalia last month. The report in The New York Times citing unnamed American officials from several U.S. agencies said U.S. soldiers used an airstrip in Ethiopia to mount strikes against Islamic militants in Somalia. "This is simply a total fabrication," Bereket Simon, special adviser to the Ethiopian prime minister, told The Associated Press. The report went on to say that the U.S. and Ethiopia relationship included the sharing of intelligence on the militants. U.S. officials earlier acknowledged two airstrikes over Somalia in January, but had given few details. The strikes were reported to have been conducted by U.S. forces based in another Horn of Africa country, Djibouti, though officials had not confirmed that. U.S. ships had also patrolled off Somalia's coast in search of al-Qaida members thought to be fleeing Somalia following Ethiopia's December invasion.

Enough is enough for the Somali people By Jibril Ibrahim Al-Jazeerah, February 22, 2007 How many Somalis will have to die before the so called TFG (former warlords who held Somalis hostage for 16 years) gives up their quest for power? How long will the international community allow members of united nation (the Ethiopia and their sponsor the US) to violate the sovereignty of another member of the United Nations? It is time for the international community to recognize they cannot impose illegitimate government on the Somali people, It is also time for Meles to give up for his quest for greater Ethiopia because it has not happen in the past and will not happen in the future. As to the Transitional federal government, former warlords hand picked by ruthless Ethiopian regime, it is time for them to swallow their pride, give up their quest for power and let the Somali elders and intellectuals run the country. The international community specially the United States must respect the will of the Somali people. Somalis have had so many trials and tribulation for the past sixteen years and don't need more wars. One lesson that was learned from Somali conflict for the past sixteen years is that no outside force can suppress the will of the Somali people no matter how strong they think they are. It was not long time ago when the UN under the name UNISOM lead by the US tried to create client government in Somalia and everybody knows what the end result of that exercise was. The international community must let the Somali people decide who should they chose to run their county. Even though Somalis held numerous demonstrations both inside and outside Somalia against deployment of outside force, our fellow Africans sponsored by the warmonger in Washington are still insisting on the deployment of their forces in Somalia. The advice to my fellow African people is to stay away from the Somali conflict. You don't seem to understand the root cause of the conflict .By taking sides in the Somali conflict you will be seen as an invaders rather than peace keepers. If you don't listen and deploy your troops in Somalia against the will of the Somali people, Somalis will resort anything they can to drive you out of their land. A government that seeks protecting against the citizens it was suppose to govern should not be protected. As to the United States, Somalis don't have history on being terrorists. the Union of Islamic Court was grass roots movement who decided to take the country out of the crisis. They came from different tribes united the Somalis under the banner of Islam, pacified Mogadishu, and eliminated the piracy that terrorized the international ships for the first time in 16 years. The international community including the United States must realize that the only way to end and find a solution to the current Somali problem is to let the Somalis have the environment to sit and talk (stop the interference). The international community also need to withdraw their support from the warlords sitting in baydhabo warehouse who turned the clock back to where the Somalis were sixteen years ago. As to the Ethiopian government, you brought the most despised warlords to Mogadishu but you cannot impose them on the Somali people. It is better for you leave soon and abandon your quest to install client government in Mogadishu because Somalis both inside and outside will never accept that kind government. If you don't leave soon all Somalis will rise up and drive you out of their land. As to this illegitimate government (TFG), please give up your quest for power that will never materialize for the sake of the Somali people and the country. If the current conflict continues, Somalia will empty soon. Please swallow your pride and step aside and let the Somali elders and intellectuals run the country. You have lost the confidence of the Somali people when you brought Ethiopian army to every corner of Somalia. You know you cannot survive without your sponsor, the Ethiopian army even single minute. Why then would you want to hold the power by the thread? Even your sponsors are being barricaded in Mogadishu and attacked from every corner on a daily basis. Please for the sake of the Somali people step a side and let the Somali elders and intellectual bring the country some kind of normalcy. Once normalcy is brought back to the country then we can talk about reconciliation conference. Please stop fooling the Somalia people by telling them you will hold reconciliation conference in the country when everybody knows the country is occupied. You have been in Mogadishu for more that a month and so many lives have already been lost under your so called government. We Somalis know that 4.5 Ethiopian formulas will not work in Somalia. You must have seen it already in your own eyes that no one is taking orders from you. You have nominated so many administrations in many parts of southern Somalia where the people who live in that area rejected your nomination. In order to solve the current Somali conflict the following things have to happen: 1: Ethiopia must leave Somalia without delay and no outside force should be deployed in Somalia. 2: The international community must withdraw their support from this illegitimate government and respect the will of the Somali people to choose their destiny. 3: The TFG to step aside and let the Somali elders and intellectual take over the country in order to bring normalcy to the country. 4- Once the occupiers leave the country, reconciliation conference to be held in Somalia and let the Somalis decide what kind of government you will chose. It is time to stop these senseless killings in Somalia because our people have had enough wars already. Jibril Ibrahim, Mechanical Engineer Alberta, Canada engineer1@shaw.ca

"Apology to my beloved Somali brothers/sisters in Mogadisho. " The 2+ million citizens of Mogadishu and the many thousands of Somali visitors from abroad were enjoying life free from the terror of the Ethiopian sponsored warlords for the first time in 16 years. Everyone was hoping the horror days are finally coming to an end. Then on December28, the Ethiopian armor and troops for the first time in history entered Mogadishu Dark day with their few collaborators/dabadhilifs/traitors and terror once gain returned to the city. And now a ********** kid here is defending the Ethio occupation and is blaming the violence on the peacefull citizens of Mogadishu and those gumeysi diid brothers and sisters defending the country. Apology not accepted! ama afeef hore lahaaw ama adkeeysi dambe! Be proud of your milk-shake for bringing all the Ethiopian boys to Mogadishu yard.