Economics is definitely a science, anybody who saids other wise is a quote "hata" or simply under-estimates the use of economics. So most theories in economics cannot be proven with 100% certainty but the same could be said for many other "scientific" fields. Plus, economic theories are often supported by real life or practical scientific data as in statistics. All those economists who manage to derive new economic theories or make significant progress for already existing ones, deserve that noble prize. Anybody who's ever studied the field can appreciate the complexity and the multitude of factors considered in economics. I currently take a course in economic research methods and it ain't a cake walk I'll say that much whitout boring you people to death. Think about your everyday life role economist play in it, as in determining fiscal and monetary policies or in lame terms if your going to get that mortgage or if you got enough loot to cop that cadillac financing , whether your money is worth investing in short term debatures such as bonds or your better off just spending it, you will come to realize that economists make the WORLD GO ROUND! Some ppl assume the united states president rules the world but really when it comes to the $, its homeboy Allan Greenspan an economist.

Originally posted by OG_Girl: ^What about Jigjiga to be the Capital of Somali Where is the Beled Weyne anyways? Salam I'm with you OG_girl, Jigjiga all the way

Originally posted by Sultan Sa'd ad-Din: quote:Also, It must be my familiarity with the warm reception some northerners have for the Ethiopians for reasons you are aware of. Well, that is one of the symptoms of that disease sxb... no need to hide it, you can be honest and open, let it all go. Iska nafis sxb. Seriously, Somaliland's policy is to be friendly to ANYONE that is friendly to its cause, which from now on includes you . So, I see no particular favour here... The only links we may have with Ethiopia is nation to nation links (e.g. politics, security and of course trade). Compare that to your neck of the woods? Where it meddles with your internal affairs, where it makes and destroys warlords by her own will and even worse it occupies and intrudes parts of Southern Somalia. I don't think you are one of those il-informed chaps that blindly argue that Ethiopia is the brainchild behind "Somaliland", they couldn't be far from the truth. Somaliland was there and alive before Senawi even came to Addis Abeba. Somaliland is a local idea, born and bred by its people. Kuwa cudurka ka qaba, well what can I say: Gafuur cadho nimuu ku yaalo ayuu dhibaa. ... the caravan will march on. certainly, the only people that can make or destroy Somaliland are its own people, NO ONE ELSE. Ninkii meelahaas ka cabaada, alaylehe, wuxu ka dhiganyahay, "GUDCUR MAGANGOOYO, NIN INDHA CADEEYEY, ISAGAA ISKA CADEEYEY". Well put.

1st) Why do the statements of this Sangub merit such attention? So he's an entertainer, not a reknown poet, community elder or any other position of prominence. The thread is titled "Hargeisa's reaction", as if really the entire people of Hargeisa put any relevance to this man's opinions. 2nd)At least he is being honest and straight forward. He seems to have somewhat backtracked with the unwarranted attention he received from the BBC, diverted the direct questioning with respect to his comments on Hargeisa to "the defense of Samatar", nevertheless his views are still palpable. Anyway, point being this man only expressed a view shared by many others, the only difference is that his hatred is candid while others put on masquerades.

Some of you raised some interesting questions in this thread. I am no Geography expert by any means, but I do know Djibouti and berbera are both located on the "mouth" of the red sea and that Bossasso and the Bari region is surrounded by Indian Ocean waters or Gulf of Aden which in itself is compromised of the similar waters to the ocean. That is to answer the statements below. What makes the red sea so unique, that is besides the historical significance it carries, well I'm sure all of you can look up this information but to make it short it has a very unique marine life. Some of the life found under the red sea exist no where else in the world. Also it is distinctive because of water depth levels, composition, temperature because the red sea is warm and it is heated by volanic activity that takes place on the sea bed. Its waters are rather tranquile compared to the violent indian ocean waters etc...So you see it is no wonder this area was Jacques Cousteau favorite for exploration. Originally posted by Ambassador: [QB] damn that looks good.check out my picture when i was in swimming in the red sea,but in boosaaso beach I would like to ask the geography experts in SOL; Is the Gulf of Aden part of the Red Sea, Indian Ocean or is it separate from both? I always believed it is a separate entity, with different waters and currents. Because I don't think we can say Somalia, or Somaliland have Red Sea coasts. I believe the Red Sea ends in Djabouti. Nabad! Further more, I was wondering could their be an exact point where the Red Sea waters and Gulf of Aden (Indian Ocean waters) meet? For that I decided to look it up a little and eventhough I didn't find a definite answer I ran into some interesting information and words that I might have heard in the past like déja-vu. Anyway I'll those of you who are interested read on to some of the sites. http://91.1911encyclopedia.org/B/BA/BAB_EL_MANDEB.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bab_el_Mandeb plus skim through this book if you have time:Coral Reef Guide Red Sea: The Definitive Diver's Guide To Over 1,100 Species Of Underwater Life (Coral Reef) by Robert Myers, Ewald Lieske

Originally posted by Action Jackson: He's dogsledding canadian....there aint nothing we could do for him saxib.. [/QB] I did my own taxes once in high school (no software just paper forms)and I never bothered to do it ever again. It is the most boring S***, you can ever do. I'd pay enough money to spare me the boredom. Fortunately us dogsledding canadian students have free tax clinics in most canadian Universities . Either that or you give it to one of your C.A friends (CPA as you yanks would say). P.S. the national game is Hockey mista AJ, get it straight homes.

Originally posted by bilan: i heard dhagax-tuur was not one person,but he is a symbol of all people who died in 1936(not sure the date)in mogadisho, they(somalis) were demanding independence and they did not have a weapon except stones, that is where the name came from. that is what i haerd. lol....You're right Bilan, at least to my understanding dhagaxtur was an event more than a persona, so alle-ubahne all there is left for you to do is find some random girl in mogadishu, maybe sit down with her grand-father and ask if he got in a couple stones during that period and you should be set! good luck

In such global sport as Football is and with so many diverse superstars of the game, it's still amazing how much racism exists in the game, particularly among european fans. I think the players and specially the black or non-european players should start taking a tougher stance against the racist acts and should start a perhaps even make a players football union (Which I'm not sure they already have like in North America) where all players would support each other and demand for example that coaches who make racists comments be fired right away. For instance you would never see this kind of non-sense in the NBA or any other north american league. Any coach or player or manager who dares make any racist comments or for that matter any comments that might be deemed racist would find themselves in hot waters and more often than not out of a job. You can also forget about "monkey chants" in an NBA game, unlike "soccer" its not the hooligan fans that will run on the field and take on the players it is the crazy black men like Ron Artest (well over 2m tall and 230 pds) who will jump your little skin head hitler *** kissing hooligans . B-ball, gotta love this game! maybe you europeans should just convert to basketball and make it your national sport.

Bambina are you also going to take part in the cultural show and dancing coming up in OT?

Wish I could see the pogram, they probably won't air it in Canada. There are some entities I haven't heard in the places he visited, would be definitely interesting. You ppl in the UK are very fortunate, I envy the documentaries you watch in that country.

Originally posted by Muad: Adal was a sixteenth century sultanate located in East Africa north of Ethiopia, in modern Eritrea and Djibouti. At its height, the country controlled large portions of Ethiopia and Somalia. QUOTE] [/QB] hmm..Eritrea? I don't know if this is accurate. From what I remember reading, Adal Kingdom was located in the somali Area south-west of the gulf of Aden and stretched into what is modern day Somaliland, Djibouti and Ethiopia. The two main cities were Zeila and Harer. The kingdom consisted mostly of Somalis and Danakils and the populations of modern day Eritrea are not descendants of either of these ethnicities to my understanding.(except for the minority Afar in Eritrea)

Haseena, the real enemy of the ppl indeed is not so much the American imperialist but those arab regimes who betray their own. Until Bandar Bush and co. are brought down, this calacal the arabs seem to demonstrate time and again against the Americans in my opinion is misguided. They should turn their attention inward first, before they start blaming external forces which they have no hope of stoping. The Irony I see in our arab brethren is sort of like the somali old-age habit of blaming ethiopians for internal somali issues.

Originally posted by PlayMaker: I see sujui people(: ! Where? They are everywhere! lol...playmaker its the takeover homeboy didn't you know?.......at least thats what my boy SUJUI MC saids. " S-U-J we runnin this SOL sh** Takeova, breaks ova skinny "

Nuclear Waste On Somali Coast/ Yemen Takes Nuclear Waste Precautions Yemen Times — Sanaa, Yemen — 18 January, 2005 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sanaa, Yemen, 16 Jan. 2005 (UPI) -- Yemen said Sunday it has implemented precautionary measures following the discovery of nuclear waste off the shores of nearby Somalia. While the government sources did not specify what actions were taken, they said a team of U.N. experts arrived on to test the waste, believed to be highly toxic. Sources told the daily September 26, which has close ties to the presidential palace, the waste was found in the past two days. The unidentified sources said authorities had information that some ships had dumped the waste into regional waters after the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami Dec. 26. They said tidal waves might have carried the waste to Somalia's shores, prompting the Yemeni authorities "to take the necessary measures to prevent the waste from coming" to its own shores. Opposition newspapers last week claimed foreign vessels had emptied nuclear waste off Yemen's shores in the Red Sea. Read also the following story published by Inter Press Service on 8 May 2001 Poor Countries - the North's Radioactive Dump= by Jorge Piña ROME - The developing South has become the dump for hundreds of thousands of tonnes of radioactive waste from the world's rich countries, a colossal business which is linked to money laundering and gunrunning, say lawmakers and activists in Italy. ' 'The trafficking of radioactive waste, a large part of which goes to countries of the South, constitutes a business of gigantic proportions, amounting to more than seven billion dollars a year in Italy alone,'' Massimo Scalia, the chairman of an investigative commission set up by the Italian parliament, told IPS. Scalia said that every shipload of nuclear waste represents around five million dollars in profits. The Italian justice system is investigating the trafficking of radioactive waste to the developing South, particularly African countries like Somalia, Sudan, Eritrea, Algeria and Mozambique. The information gathered in the two main legal probes, carried out in the northern Italian cities of Milan and Asti, and the data compiled by the parliamentary commission demonstrate that two of the methods for getting rid of such waste are dumping it into the sea in special metal containers designed to sink to the bottom, or purposely sinking the ship carrying the waste, and reporting it as an accident. Some of the shipwrecks are being investigated by Lloyd's, the British insurance company. Maurizio Dematteis with the Italian environmental umbrella Ligambiente 2001 said there were already more than 600,000 tonnes of radioactive waste on the floor of the Atlantic ocean along the coast of the western Sahara. He also said there were three enormous illegal dumps - among the largest in the world - in Somalia, where workers handle the radioactive waste without any kind of safeguard or protective gear - not even gloves. The workers do not know what they are handling, and if one of them dies, the family is persuaded to keep quiet with a small bit of cash, the activist added. Dematteis believes the murder of Ilaria Alpi, a young journalist with Italy's state TV station RAI, was linked to the trafficking of guns and radioactive waste. Alpi was killed in Somalia on Mar 20, 1994, apparently after she discovered too much about those illegal activities. Meanwhile, Italy's Chamber of Deputies has not yet passed a bill that has already made it through the Senate. Once it is passed, the new law will make ''the illegal trafficking of waste'' a specific offence in the criminal code. Today, that activity is only subject to administrative sanctions. Italy's legislature is in recess prior to the May 13 parliamentary elections. The current legislation does not allow the justice system to effectively clamp down on the trafficking of radioactive waste, because the violations expire three or four and a half years after they are reported. Prosecutor Giovanni Tarditi explained that those found guilty of engaging in such activity are generally fined. Moreover, the fines are not high, he said, especially when compared to the huge profits involved in trafficking nuclear waste. Judicial police inspector Gianni De Podestá, who is waging a determined struggle against the ''eco-mafia'', said ''we are often forced to resort to charges of tax evasion to arrest the traffickers. "The evidence accumulated throughout months of investigations is frequently not enough. But that will change once trafficking is made a crime,'' he added. Mozambique is the final destination for many of the new routes for trafficking toxic waste from industrialised countries, according to the Scalia commission, which takes its name from its chairman. Experts say another area that will increasingly accept such waste in the future is eastern Europe, where nuclear waste has already been found at the bottom of the Black Sea, off the Rumanian coast. A report by Ligambiente 2001 indicates that Italy is a source and transit country for radioactive waste that is shipped to Somalia, Malawi, Zaire, Sudan, Eritrea, Algeria, and Mozambique. The trafficking of radioactive and other waste is merely a corollary to other illegal activities like money laundering and the trafficking of arms and drugs, warns Ligambiente. Poor countries are victims of that illegal trade, which constitutes a threat to their biodiversity and culture, and hurts their chances for development, said Dematteis. The trafficking of nuclear waste once again reveals the capacity of criminal organisations to continually develop new activities which the international community is not prepared to combat, he added. http://www.somaliland.org/ns.asp?ID=05011800

Originally posted by Baashi: With this background, the question becomes how can one go about denouncing this deep-rooted social structure. Mere declaration of how primitive and backward this system is won’t do any good. The dramatic and symbolic funeral former regime staged comes to mind. In that historic state funeral, the leadership at the time buried the qabiil six feet under. They were motivated and inspired by the communism and its egalitarian ideals. They ignored the social dynamics of the society they were ruling. In the end, they employed the negative tribalism to stay in power! You mean the fake revolution. Where they really motivated by egalitrianism? or was it simply rhetoric to gain and maintain support from the USSR? Originally by NGONGE: The Arabs of the Gulf States were fiercely into tribalism but once they found wealth and each man was able to fend for himself, tribes have been relegated to mere folklore and something to boast about (like owning a nice car or house). Yemen though is the closest example to Somalia. The tribes there still exist, still wield some power in government and parliament (cardboard parliament of course). However, nationality to them comes before tribe! This might be due to the huge efforts the government put into glorifying the unity of the country without demeaning or belittling the tribal concepts. Wealth might have quelled some of the tribalism, but tribal allegiance is far from irrelevancy in the arab states. For example Iraq is a tribal society, specially within its central population where even Saddam Hussein only trusted immediate members of his small tribe from Tikrit. Another example would be Syria where the same tribe is said to enjoy the highest rankings of government structure due to their tribal ties with the Al-Asad family. Yet another example might be the UAE, although wealth might have blurred some of those tribal boundaries, I think the emirates themselves are divided up in a family/tribal concept. So to say that economic welfare might put an end to tribalism, is not quite accurate or at least history hasn't shown it to be so. What wealth does is give people less to argue and fight over all the while maintaining there usually mistrust and rivalries.

Originally posted by HornAfrique: Ali believe me that letter has more then once made its way into this forum. I'll tell you one single reason to dismiss it as a farce. Mohamed Ibrahim Igaal (ilaahay ha u naxariisto) never actively campaigned "Somaliland"'s independence to the world. It was widely known and acknowledged that he hoped a Somali government would be born while he was still the "president" of the secessionist regions. He planned to use Hargeisa as a stepping-stone Muqdisho, but alas he did not live long as time went up. ^ New lies.

Originally posted by Sophist: As suspected "reer sool and Ceyn" had deserted thier "own" man. He had only got 5 votes out of 18-- just got a call from Garoowe!. Anyhow, democracy prevails and I hope the King will lead the people of Puntland to green pastures of peace and prosperity. Sophist democracy? can anybody elaborate on the democratic process that took place. Thanks.

From what little I know about british politics, it seems to me the interests of muslims lie with the Liberal-Democrats. Surely they have no chance of winning the election, but they are closest to representing the values and interest of muslims in the UK. the O'brien mp might have had a case if Tony Blair steped down as leader of the labour party, but since he is running once again I see him as nothing more than a conservative cloaked in liberal ideals. I hope the muslims will not be shaken by this fear mongoring and make the same mistakes by electing someone who really is a torrie in disguise.

Fellows, housing is a positive devellopment indeed and has been so for the past decade, but I don't get why it needs to be posted on the politics forum. If your adeer just so happens to work for one of the contractors and your a trying to get a PLUG, I suggest the general section to get the most BANG for your free advertising dollars .

Originally posted by QUANTUM LEAP: Hmmmm My IDOL! Hell whatever rocks ya world player lol

I find it Ironic that the western countries are rightly concerned about peaking oil reserves with respect to demand and yet the very countries whos economies depend souly on oil exports seem to be layed back and less concerned. UAE out of the gulf countries seems to have done the most to try and diversify its economy, but even they have done very little to meet the coming depletion of major oil reserves. If it were to happen today, our arab friends would find themselves in a predicament similar to any third world country in a hurry. Maybe these tall sky scrappers will serve as tourist attractions when all the major business will have left and they look like deserted haunted buildings. Who knows exactly what their rational is, but they better get their act togheter in the next few decades. http://www.oilcrisis.com/ http://www.economymodels.com/oil.asp Oil The rise of oil production (and oil consumption) has coincided with the industrial revolution. Some go as far as attributing our rapid growth in the last century to easily accessible and cheap oil. Historically, expensive oil has tended to cause or coincide with recessions, and cheap oil has coincided with growth and prosperity. Not quite what one would expect if the oil price were determined mainly by demand variations. No doubt, oil has been and still is very important to the global economy. Up until the seventies, oil production and consumption tended to increase at a rapid pace. Then came oil sheiks, the oil crises and increasing oil prices. The immediate effect was economic and political turmoil. The longer term effect was increased exploration efforts and energy savings. The oil consumption has gone up somewhat since the seventies, but the peek of oil consumption per capita is far behind us. One of the results of the oil crises was feeling that oil might run out. Known oil reserves would only last for a few decades into the future. But time passed by and oil did not run out. In fact remaining oil reserves seemed to increase each year rather than deplete. Today the general consensus is that oil will not run out, at least not in the foreseeable future. Anyone who thinks differently is a crackpot or a doomsayer. History has taught us that we will find as much new oil each year as we pump from the ground. Yet, this will not go on forever. Oil is a limited, non-renewable resource. Every time we burn a barrel, there is one less barrel left. Eventually oil will run out, or at least become scarce enough and costly enough so that we won’t burn it all. Before oil runs out, there will be a peek in production. We have not passed that peek yet, but growth in production tends to be slowing. A lot of facts tell us that we will soon see the peek in oil production. We know a lot more about geology and the forming of oil now than we did in the seventies. The easily accessible potential oil fields have been explored, and the most likely places have been drilled. It is becoming increasingly harder to find new oil. There is also indications that remaining oil reserves are not as large as are officially stated. One reason for exaggerating reserves is the OPEC rule that oil quota are determined based on the size of reserves. A likely outcome of a future reduction in oil supply would be a rising price to the point where it would not be economical to use oil as energy anymore. Other outcomes are possible as well. One might think that it would be rational for the oil producing countries to restrict production in anticipation of a significantly higher oil price. There are, however, a number of reasons why they don’t. As mentioned before, world oil consumption per capita has dropped from the peak value. This is mainly due to saving and alternative energy sources. In many countries there have been government efforts to reduce the dependency on oil. The high oil prices in the seventies acted as a catalyst to this process. Many OPEC countries, especially in the Middle East, with decades of oil production still in the ground are afraid that increasing oil prices will speed up this process. Also, a drastic rise in oil prices might throw the world into a recession, and many oil producers have major investments in the world stock markets. A more sinister explanation could also be contrived. Maybe the Middle Eastern oil producers anticipate a drop in world oil supply a few years from now. If oil is allowed to be cheap for a few more years, the rest of the world may not notice that oil supply is drying up. After several years, there would be no competition left, and the world would still be heavily dependent on oil. There are other explanations as well. Many of the oil producing countries need money now. Either they are poor, in war or have gotten used to steady incomes from oil production. Especially for the democratic countries, there is usually no incentive for the politicians not to maximize oil incomes. These countries tend to call for higher prices and cuts in production and then produce as much oil as possible anyway. Basically, the key to long term prediction of the oil market is to determine whether oil supply or oil demand will dry up first. A joker might be the environmental movement another interesting link, an overlook from Hubbert's Peak: The Impending World Oil Shortage By Kenneth S. Deffeyes http://www.countercurrents.org/peakoil-deffeys270204.htm

first things first, ZO is the biggest name Toronto got, and he's not washed up just got some health problems. Otherwise Toronto didn't even get one single star player in return for vince. Yeah they got some size upfront no doubt cause they needed it, but no star players still. I thought they could've shopped around for a scorer but overall the trade was fair. Those first round draft picks are conditional so if ever another Lebron comes along, New Jers can tell Tdot to hit tha road. But look at the situation now for New Jers, they are already an athletic team that likes to run and now they have Jason kidd back and he can tag team with Carter and Jefferson. Damn! thats gonna be exciting to watch look for some high flying action coming from the nets cause I think they've become one of the more exciting teams to watch now with Carter's addition. Thats off course if the cry baby can live up to his potential .

Che, First things first, the above article is opinion based. If you go to the website itself you will not find it as an editorial created by the site Somaliland.org itself and there is no attempt for it to be confused as such. Matter fact it’s clearly marked in the opinion section of the website. Secondly, it seems the view of one individual and doesn't necessarily reflect the views of either the particular site or the broader Somaliland media. If you would like to paint all sources of media concerning Somaliland or Puntland with the same brush than feel free to do so. But examining sources on a case-by-case merit would be more equitable. For example the author Farah Jama in my book had very little credibility for day one when Samurai and others were trumpeting him here because he was making many presumptions before obtaining any clear facts, mind you he is likely doing the same with this follow up article that seemingly takes a 180 degree turn. You gotta wonder sometimes what information these people actually have, given they live abroad, that the rest of us are not clearly privileged to obtain. Could it be hear say? Probably, since hear say seems to make credible news for many a Somali people. If we do agree on a matter, it's that none of this is factual. Given the tendencies in somali media, your 100% right Che an audio interview with parties related to or representing the girl would go a long way in clearifying all this.

MY SINCERE APOLOGY TO THE SOMALILAND CID Farah Ali Jama — Ottawa , ON Canada — 16 December, 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MY SINCERE APOLOGY TO THE SOMALILAND CID I would like to take this opportunity to set the records straight, right a wrong, and to sincerely apologise to the Somaliland Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for unfairly lambasting them in regards to my article titled, Who is the Somaliland CID?, which was dated on October 17, 2004. Also, I would like to state here that I have decided to distribute this apology to the various Somaliland and Somalia websites, which initially posted the above stated article on their websites and hope that they will post my apology too. According to the above stated article, I regret to have unnecessarily used an inappropriate language and tone in which I unfairly assailed our ever vigilant security forces who did nothing other than carrying out their duties and maintaining law and order as usual in order to keep the peace in our cities and country. Moreover, when eventually the dust and the brouhaha sorounding the alleged rape and torture against Ms. Samsam settled down, it turned out, that these security forces have done nothing wrong and that they had all along been conducting themselves in an honest, professional, and responsible manner in the handling of the alleged victim in person and her case. But the problem in this case occurred when the Police or the CID bungled up in countering or clearing the damaging rumours that have permeated the atmosphere and kept on building up from within and without the country in relation to the fate of the alleged victim. As a result, the authorities shot themselves in the foot because they failed to nip the issue in the bud as they kept the public in the dark thereby allowing for this malicious rumours to drag on and on. It is this lack of information, transparency, and the silence that existed that fueled a kind of a mystery that shrouded the entire case and allowed for people to jump into unfound conclusions in order to explain what has happened. And this is what later mushroomed into a colossal national and international criticism and condemnation. I think the government got burnt in this case and hope that they will learn something out of their colossal mistakes and failures in the handling of the case and that they will avoid similar ineptness, recklessness, and embarrassments in the future. On the other hand, I must state that my intentions and involvement in the Samsam’s saga was not to simply pick a fight with the Police or the CID or just criticize or condemn them for no reason or to merely oppose the current administration for the sake of tarnishing their reputations and good deeds, but one that genuinely arose from the need to come forward strongly in order to criticize and discourage such a horrendous crime to ever take place in our peaceful country. That is why I called for a swift accountability and some harsh measures including the death penalty against those who may be implicated for committing the would be barbaric atrocities that clearly falls under the categories of Gross Violations of Human Rights, and Crime Against Humanity against Ms. Samsam who was, at the time, widely reported as being an innocent minor or an under aged girl. As you are aware, we were all disgusted by the alleged crime against a young girl in Hargeisa, the capital of the peaceful and democratic Somaliland. The alleged crime alarmed us all and seemed, at the time, as the first of its kind since no such crime have ever taken place in our country since the restoration of our independence in May 1991. These kinds of crimes were crimes of the past that seized to exist following our independence. In fact, this kind of horrendous crime has never surfaced in our country since the humiliating defeat and expulsion of the fascist regime of Somalia led by Dictator Siad Bare. For this reason, the recent incident in which Ms. Samsam was alleged to have suffered had tremendously shocked the people and nation of Somaliland for these were the kind of crimes, which the toppled fascist regime committed against our people during the period 1980 to 1990. It was the norm for this fascist regime to commit gross violations of Human Rights, Crimes against Humanity, War Crimes, genocide, and had the culture of targeting young girls, women, mothers, grandmothers for gang rape, torture, and other forms of physical and psychological humiliation. And that is why others and I were all abhorred and disgusted when we heard of or read about the alleged rape and torture of Ms. Samsam. Whatever the case, we now know that the whole allegation was a concocted malicious lie, a fabrication, and a callous propaganda exercise that were intended to cover-up for the bungled espionage and terrorist operations against the peaceful and democratic Somaliland. And the floating of this disgusting accusations of rape and torture against the Vice President’s Guards and the CID officers occurred immediately after Ms. Samsam who, in this case, was the main espionage and terrorism related agent was caught red handed by the Somaliland authorities. We also know that the source of this allegation originated from an article by www.puntlandpost.com website. And that the malicious allegation of rape and torture was indeed an act of desperation on the part of the terrorists in order to divert the attention of the public and deflect blame from the source of terrorism and to cover for the terrorists themselves. But now we know that these terrorism operation originated and was mounted from Bosaso city,Puntland ,Somalia ; where some of the terrorist mastermind and others have been identified be residing and named by Ms. Samsam, the agent in custody. Also, this terrible allegation had also another value, that is, to unfairly tarnish the reputation and international standing of the Republic of Somaliland . Furthermore, we also know that the four different medical sources that the government referred to Ms. Samsam Ahmed Duale, the alleged victim of rape and torture have after conducting thorough medical examination found no trace of rape, torture, and other forms of physical harm that were committed against the alleged victim and have further certified of her overall physical wellbeing. Also, during the early part of this week, Mr. Abdisalaan Mohamed Said, MP; Mr. Abdi Farah Duale, MP; Mr. Abdrashid Sheikh Abdullahi Adan, MP; and Mr. Mohamed Hersi Muslin, MP; all of whom are Members of Parliament (House of the Representatives, and the Guuti (Senate)) and the kin of the alleged victim came forward to publicly refute the allegation of rape and torture against the girl by holding a press conference in which they publicly declared that, “Ms. Samsam has certified to them that the Vice President’s Guards and Officers of the Vice President have not caused her any problem or harm.†There were also earlier reports in which the mother of the alleged victim was allowed to visit her daughter and examine her. And that the mother also confirmed that her daughter was neither raped nor tortured and confirmed that she is physically sound. For these reasons and many more, I would like to state here that I have taken back the entire content of my article title, “ Who is the Somaliland CID?, which was dated on October 17, 2004. It is evident that I have unnecessarily used inappropriate language and tone and have unfairly lambasted and wronged the Somaliland CID as well as the Vice President’s Guards. It is neither a shame or a defeat to realize one’s wrongs and to rectify and to apologise for it. I believe that it is the right thing to do. Therefore, I would once again take this opportunity to sincerely apologise to these security officers and their institutions for the pains, shame, and inconvenience I have caused them and would encourage others who have wronged them to come forward and do the same. And that is the right thing to do. Farah Ali Jama, Ottawa , ON Canada . http://www.somaliland.org/opinions.asp?ID=04121604 hmm...what to make of this now? Farah Ali Jama is indeed the character that was trumpeted by the Puntland websites and other somali sites as being a "forthcoming" Somalilander, I wonder if they will also post his apology? These opinions are by no means mine, but some of the statements speak for themselves specially the ones related to ZamZam's mother and family members. Do any of you have any other statements related to Zamzam's family and there response to this incident? post them if you find any such information. Mister Jama seems to be flip floping faster than John Forbes Kerry and I don't know what his statements are worth anymore

In recent times there have been intruders in Somaliland as in the murder of the two elderly couple, and subsequently the apprehended men by the Somaliland Police where admittedly dressed as women with jalbaabs and I can understand the apprehension shown to outsiders who give conflicting stories specially those from Bosasso. That being said, this situation is a farce. Where is the evidence against this young girl? What happened to the trial? With the world watching Riiyaalee has managed to drag the entire country through the mud. If you ask me this little 5 yr stunt is only serving as a ploy for Riiyaalee to give the girl presidential pardon. One way or another she will be freed, because no evidence has been brought against her nor did she receive anything close to a proper trial.